The Meaning of Life

I'm a daily subscriber to The Writer's Almanac. I'm a neophyte when it comes to poetry, but I know what I like. This made me laugh.

The Meaning of Life
by Nancy Fitzgerald

There is a moment just before
a dog vomits when its stomach
heaves dry, pumping what's deep
inside the belly to the mouth.
If you are fast you can grab
her by the collar and shove her
out the door, avoid the slimy bile,
hunks of half chewed food
from landing on the floor.
You must be quick, decisive,
controlled, and if you miss
the cue and the dog erupts
en route, you must forgive
her quickly and give yourself
to scrubbing up the mess.

Most of what I have learned
in life leads back to this.

"The Meaning of Life" by Nancy Fitzgerald from Poems I Never Wrote. © Poetry Harbor, 2001. Reprinted with permission.

Wake Up Call

Felt funny driving to work in the dark this morning. I woke up at 3:30, but I guess my body thinks it was 4:30, so I'm not too tired. Read the paper and had my coffee, all before 5:30. Just walked Molly this morning, so it was a far more exercising walk than it is with Mosby. I think he had a bad night. He was wakeful (VERY unlike him) and panting now and again. The vet told me a while back that the panting is a sign that he's in pain. I'll be taking him back to the vet this week, I'm afraid. Perhaps not the final visit, but I can see that happening in the not-too-distant future. The thought that chased away any more sleep this morning was what I'd do if I took him in and had to make the decision. And then what to do with him. I'd like to bury him in the garden, but he's so big! Maybe cremate him and bury his ashes. In the light of day it might sound silly, but I just can't bear the idea of his body being dealt with like so much trash. :-(

Sofa and Loveseat

My dad and his wife have ordered new sofas for their livingroom. I spoke up quickly, offering to take their old ones off their hands. I am so past ready to get rid of the crap that's in my livingroom now. The current stuff was purchased second-hand when we moved in. We hated it then, but told each other that it would only be for a year or two while we renovated. Twenty-five years later. . . the sofa will go to the curb. Well, it all will! Sofa, the one coordinating blue chair that has survived, the coffee table. . . the only part we'll save is the black slate that tops the end tables and the coffee table. I think I'll be able to arrange the livingroom with the new furniture in a way that will give Russ more guitar room. I can't wait!

Here are the sofas in their current home. It's a beautiful house. I'm going to slipcover the sofa and love seat with something that I can wash, at least for as long as the dogs are around. Russ says he'd ultimately like to have a leather sofa. If we ever get that far we'll move these sofas downstairs to replace the sectional down there. It's in better shape than the LR furniture, but that's not saying much.

Pears

I so love these pears from Harry and David. I order them as Christmas gifts, but I have to admit, it ends up being a case of "one you, two for me" before I'm done. They called me early last week with an end-of-the-pear-season sale. OF COURSE I had to have a box. I also sent a box of cheese and meats for the college boy. The local grocery store once stocked something they called pears like these, but they were vastly inferior. I bought the box of a dozen intending to share them here and there, but I don't know. . . they might not last that long.

You Showed Me Yours, Now Here's Mine

My friend Kathleen dared to show her garage (here), so I accept her challenge. Here's mine. It's not really a garage anymore. More of a bike shop. It hasn't housed a car since the days when we had a Triumph TR6 as the worlds most expensive garage shelving. Getting it out of there coincided with the boys (hubster too) getting into cycling. I tried coexisting the gardening stuff in there for a while, but all of that is now in a separate shed. It's easier to keep the garage in usable shape now that the oldest son is off to school, but it's still something of a mess. Hubster intends to "redo," but if you've read any of my earlier posts, that level of change will be a long time coming.

Sweet Molly Face

My friend Kathleen uses Photoshop to make cool pictures of her dogs (like this one). Here's a cute one of Molly-- Kathleen-- wanna give it a shot?

Windowseat

I saw this picture on Mrs. Blanding's blog (one of my favorites). I'd like to have built-ins like this with the window seat, but what to do about the pesky radiator? The spousal-unit has a real thing for underfloor radiant heating to get rid of the radiators. I like the IDEA of them, but the reality is, it will be very expensive to retrofit our wood floors.