Pearl Harbor Day

   I was only 3 years old, but I remember this; it was different behavior. We were living in the house "on the hill," now Brundige Road. I remember there being a large barn out in the back.  It had steps  in front of it, probably only a few, but I was little so the steps figure prominently in my memory. Tommy and Agnes were at our house, probably with their kids, but they're not in this slice of memory. It seems the men had gone into "town" wherever that may have been, possibly just to Tomhannock. Remember we had no electricity in that house, so if they had heard the news about Pearl Harbor, they may have driven out to find out more information. They returned.  My most vivid memory is of my father and Tommy sitting on the entry of the barn and singing "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" while banging on the floor of the barn with a hammer. I knew this was unusual behavior, even at my age. 

 I seem to remember that they drove to town again, to find out more recent developments I would now assume. And I think they bought beer. That was, what, 79 years ago.

  

Certainly Montaigne

 "I can hardly blame anyone but myself for my mistakes and misfortunes. For, indeed, I seldom consult the advice of others, unless as a polite gesture, except when I stand in need of scientific information or knowledge of the facts."

Reality Or Not

      Sometimes when  searching for something to fill the empty space in my mind, and I am done with the recalling of past memories, I slip into the imagined or dreamlike state which  I can almost convince myself is real.

   Dorothy did not like to be alone so for several years she would spend the weekends at our house.  She almost always brought the fixings for a special Sunday dinner, including the recipe, all the ingredients and even her favorite  mixing bowl. She liked to cook and we enjoyed the meals she prepared. But I remember most the evenings when Dave had gone to bed and we would watch TV. Rather she would watch her  crime-solving show while I worked on the New York Times Sunday Crossword. Oddly enough, she who never cried for herself during the horrors of her too-late diagnosis and painful medical treatments would tear up every time they played the theme of the particular show she watched. I can't recall the name of the show, CSI something, probably, but the music leading into it had a most  eerie quality.

   Broaching the sometimes fine line between the real and the dreamlike, I can recall some of  the conversations we did have and I can imagine what we would talk about now, if that could be. Tonight, one of the news shows featured a volunteer who was helping with some organization to provide Christmas cheer to children. He was a nice ordinary-appearing man, and was speaking on camera, while on his head was a pair of antlers. The thought passed through my (empty) mind that he did bear a resemblance to a reindeer, with  a mild, rather long face. And as he spoke, he nodded his head toward the camera, in kind of a horsy, or reindeer, fashion. Dorothy would have found this humorous to be sure, and we would have engaged in those back and forth silly comments. I can almost hear her laughing.  Almost.

He sprang into action:

   Dave was sitting at the kitchen table, with coffee and the newspaper. I heard what sounded like shouting out front, so I opened the door to see a man lying under the rear wheel of a large metal-framed hay wagon, attached to a tractor. He was yelling for help. The rig was pulled off to the shoulder of the road, and seemed to be teetering. I ran to the phone and dialed 911 at the same time telling Dave there was a guy trapped under the wheel of his hay wagon.

     I called 911 and relayed the address and the problem. The person there asked how old the man was. I didn't know. He asked what the crossroads were. I  couldn't say. Dave, passing by, took the phone from my hand and shouted in his loudest voice, which was really loud, GET SOMEBODY OUT HERE, and hung up. He raced outside, opened the trunk of his car, took out the jack, and jacked the tire up so the guy could free his leg. The responders showed up shortly.

Uh-oh

 Trying to pull a dog's tail while walking down an alleyway?!

Spectrum Begone

    One more home repair completed. The volume on the TV would drop out and I would have to turn the TV off and then on to retrieve it. Before calling for professional assistance, I checked the connections. I will say that the worst decision ever had been to locate the television set in a heavy oak cabinet. Trying to find the connections was a nightmare. I guess that setup made since years ago when there was a single  cord that plugged into the wall. But now with the tv isolated on an open stand, there are 5 different cables connecting the tv set to the cable box, in different colors for those who would discern such things. 

  When I touched a certain cable, the volume would lessen or disappear. The connection was firmly attached, but seemed to be slightly loose. The new cable, HDM1 arrived today, shipped from Monoprice. It was a simple matter to remove the old and attach the new. Both ends appear exactly the same, so I guess I couldn't have installed it backward. 

    

Who made khakis a thing again?

 Steve Kornacki          I hear that's true.