Down On Ferry Farm

Looking back over this long weekend, I have found that there are some women in my life who have disappointed me recently: - My mother: Well, it always starts at the top, doesn't it? My mother almost single-handedly soured Thanksgiving for me this year. She has always been the type of mother who says 'out of the kitchen while I'm cooking!'... so for years we've left her alone while she prepares the meal. Mind you, we bring a lot of the materials and she just heats them up or preps them. Anyhow, this year after everything was ready to go and she was about to announce this, she comes out with: "I'm not doing this anymore. This is my last year of it. I'm almost 70 years old and I'm tired of doing it". There is a dramatic pause while this sinks in before we start pointing the finger at my oldest brother and his wife taking over the duties. I'm not sure what anyone else made of it but I felt a little blindsided. A little bit later, after the foo

The other day I posed a question which, at best, was misguided. It went something like this "if a higher percentage of the population were blind, would having sight be considered a handicap?". The answer to this question is fairly obvious. The problem is that I asked the wrong question. The right question had more to do with prejudice and the inequities that we face when we're in the minority of a given population. For instance, I'm left-handed. Approximately 30% of the general population is left-handed which puts me in that particular minority. Do I feel a sense of prejudice towards left-handed people. Quite frankly, yes. There are statistics that talk about lefties being in more accidents (not just 'car', mind you) like household accidents. Well, you would be too if your house was build for right-handers. Sounds dumb, but it's true. Anyhow, this is just an example of what I'm talking about. For whatever reason I got to thinking about the short end of

This past week I learned that A-girl is leaving the company. In fact, she's leaving the area and the state. She's going to live with her love-interest in Kansas. Kansas?!? When I asked some of the women in the office about it, the basic thought was that they wouldn't move to another state for a guy unless there was a wedding ring already on their finger. I guess we all have to live our own lives... my feeling is that she has wanted to leave the area for some time now and this just provides a convenient opportunity. Trying to clean the house because it's a mess but I wanted to jot that down. Maybe I'll write more later.

My friend Superman likes lists, so here's one of mine. I call it "Things That Will Probably Not Happen To Me -- Ever". It goes something like this: 10. Family Breakfast: I always wanted that Norman Rockwell breakfast with my own family. The Dad (me) stands there in his clean white shirt and dark striped tie, drinking orange juice. I sit down at the head of the table and ask the kids what will happen that day. They sit there eating their breakfast cereal while the baby throws Cheerios on the floor. My oldest daughter, Katie, is hurrying to finish her homework while her brother's model of a volcano sits on the counter. I rush out the door (kiss my wife goodbye, of course) and drive to work in my generic sedan. Sunday morning we read the newspaper together while the kids jump on the end of the bed. The cat keeps walking over everything, trying to get our attention and the baby's diaper needs changing. 9. Movie of my life: I don't know what the plot would be but

I was having a problem with my local channels recently so I called the cable company. You see, I still have regular old analog cable. I really have not seen a need to upgrade to digital cable. I can't tell you how many people that have it say "there's nothing on. I have 261 channels and I can't find anything to watch". Plus the quality of the programming is not good lately. But I digress... I call the cable company to have a technician come out. "He'll be there between 4:00 and 6:00 pm". Okay, fine. I take off a little early from work so that I can be there in case he shows up (or else *I'M* charged -- don't get me started...) Yep, you guessed it: the guy shows up at 5:57 on the nose. I think he correctly diagnosed the problem -- old wiring -- but didn't fix it. He asked if he could return during daylight hours and replace the wiring that leads to the house. I'm thinking "if you had shown up at 4:00 like I did, the sun was shinin

Last night L-girl and I went out to dinner. We ate, talked, and laughed... a good time was had by all. She ordered something that tasted nasty, so we sent it back and ordered her some spaghetti. I ate the leftovers for lunch today. Nothing much else to report on that, I'm afraid. Tonight, I was helping my brother with a charity event that happens every year at his church. This is the second time I've been there in as many weeks. Anyhow, they do a 'silent auction' and a 'live auction' and I help data-entering the information into this database that my dad wrote. Still with me? So people are coming up, we type in their information and then print something like an invoice for them they shows everything they bid on and won. Where am I going with this? This woman walks up and she is totally and completely HOT! Extra hot with hot sauce and a hot dessert... I'm not kidding you. I asked for her ID number and then verified her last name -- Klein. I did the 'check

In doing some reflection on my life, it seems to me that I'm always on the cusp of something bigger. Everyone knows that a 'near miss' is actually a 'hit', I guess I'd be a 'near hit'. I'm always somewhere on the periphery (is that spelled right). Just outside of normal vision. For some reason, I think about all the weddings to which I 'almost' got invited. I wasn't quite 'there' in terms of getting an invitation so I had to hear about it second-hand. I could make the same case with women, but that's not my focus -- this time. When I was in high school I did some theater... never playing the lead, always filed under 'chorus', 'extra' or part of an ensemble. Never really in the spotlight, never a solo -- generally a 'supporting cast' kind of guy. In my junior and senior years I tended to lean toward the technical side of the theater. You know, behind the scenes. Even later in life I was never considered