The temperature was a mere 49 degrees outdoors when I finally got up this morning. Long before I got up, I had an argument with myself, insisting on the one hand that I should get up and experience the day and, on the other, refusing to emerge from the warmth of the bed. Two hours after I first awoke, the argument ended; I gingerly emerged from the covers and rushed to throw on a bathrobe and my flip-flops, neither of which are particularly good at keeping me warm. We've still not turned on the heat (knowing full-well that this brief tease of Fall weather is a trick). Inside, the temperature was a much more comfortable 61 degrees. Now that the sun is fully engaged in its effort to burn this side of the planet into a black cinder, the temperature inside has reached 64. Outside, though, the temperature has inexplicably dropped to 48. I guess it's the morning dip...and the rise inside is due to sunlight beating on the asphalt shingles.
Let's see, what experiences can I report?
Yesterday afternoon, as my wife and I were walking to my car parked in front of my house, we noticed an old dog across the side-street, wandering around the curb. We worried that it would step into the street as a car came by, so we turned toward it with the intent of getting it to go up into a yard. Just then, an SUV came whizzing by and the young woman driving it hit the breaks hard and swerved toward the center of the street. An older guy in the passenger street looked over at us and shouted, "real good!" It was obvious he thought it was our dog and that we were being irresponsible owners. My wife shouted back, "it's not ours" and I chimed in, much louder, "moron!" It just pissed me off that this nitwit would find fault with US for not watching out for "our" dog, when his daughter or trophy younger woman or teen lover or whoever was speeding through the neighborhood. I really wanted to chase the guy down and beat him senseless with an axe handle, but my wife would have been annoyed with me for doing so, so I sulked, instead.
There is a light bulb shortage in our house. Lately, light bulbs have been burning out at an alarming rate. It's mostly the simple 60-watt variety, but two hard-to-find specialty bulbs that go in the light fixture attached to the bedroom ceiling fan have gone out recently, as well. And, there's the big transparent globe in the half-bath, one of four or five "makeup" bulbs in the fixture that I've always despised. The 60-watt bulbs are burning out very, very fast. I've been buying flourescent replacements, but it will take some convincing to get my wife to accept them, since the delay between flipping the switch and achieving full brightness is an annoyance to her. I must go out today to find bulbs; I'll have to trek to several stores to find all I need.
The cool temperatures are making me think, again, of making Indian soup. Unless my wife has other plans, I'll make my Chana Dal/Garbanzo/Tomato soup. A former full-time employee who now comes in to help sometimes on weekends or when we're just overwhelmed came was in the office to help yesterday and brought us home-grown lemons from the Rio Grande Valley. I'll probably use them in lieu of limes as a condiment for the soup. I've rarely, if ever, made a complete Indian meal when I make this soup; I've always treated the soup as the meal. Maybe I'll do something different today. Perhaps a nice Gobi Manchurian; I've made it before (not as an accompaniment to my soup, though), but I may try a different recipe this time, perhaps >this one. Speaking of Indian food, a great source of recipes and good ideas is a blog called Indian Food Rocks.
One of my brothers and one of my sisters and her friend are on their way to visit another brother and his wife in Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico. They're driving the latter brother's VW Cabriolet. I would guess they may already have reached Ajijic by now; if not, then soon. I'm anxiously awaiting word that they've completed the trip without incident. My sister and her friend took Amtrak from California to Houston to meet my brother. I'm curious to hear about that trek, as well. My favorite wife and I have talked about the possibility of taking a train trip from Dallas to Alpine over the Christmas holidays (though that's diminishing in likelihood, as we talk about other options), so we're curious about how Amtrak is doing, in terms of customer service.
Speaking of Amtrak, I've read a bit about Amtrak of late and have come to the reluctant conclusion that, as much as I want this country to have good cross-country rail service, subsidizing Amtrak is not a wise investment. I don't have the answer, but am convinced that the government's involvement is only making the situation worse. The money spent on Amtrak should be diverted to more pressing social issues like healthcare and poverty.
Yesterday, when my wife and I were in the checkout line at the grocery store, the cause-of-the-day was breast cancer. I assume most grocery store chains across the U.S. have begun to collect contributions for various and sundry causes...it seems like a good time to get to people...when they have their pocketbooks open. At any rate, I tend to offer a dollar or two when asked. My wife tends not to. I think she is skeptical about how the money is spent, where it goes, how much of it actually goes to the cause-of-the-day. Back to yesterday. Ever since my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, I've been much more attuned to requests for help. So, before they even asked yesterday, I suggested to my wife that we should make a donation. I suggested $5. When the question came and my wife said yes, we'll donate $5, the cashier seemed shocked that we'd give so much! I was shocked that a $5 donation was considered large. But I'm wondering, too, how much of that $5 is actually going to fight breast cancer? I don't even know what organization is going to get it...I just know that Tom Thumb Stores is collecting the money. Hmmm. I need to know more. I have a soft spot for lots of causes...but I hate the idea that my soft spot may be making me a 'mark' for money that gets skimmed.
OK, my wrists and fingers are calling for a moratorium on blogging for the moment.
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