Category: daily drivel

  • Rolling Rock

    I had a late lunch today and needed a drink that I chug along with the calzone I was going to wolf down before I scampered back to the work shop to play with power tools some more. When I opened the fridge this bottle of Rolling Rock was in the front and I thought,… Read.

  • Infestation

    We have cats. We have cats the same way we have mice, or might have any other vermin infest Our Humble O’Bode. The cats come prowling around our house at night, and I know that because he, she, they or it have been crapping in the planter next to our front stoop. I have quite… Read.

  • Late Bloomer

    I’ve never seen the lilacs in our yard bloom more than once, early in the spring, but the bush against the front of the house has squeaked out two small blossoms. I was about to give it a good going-over with the hedge trimmers when I saw two bright splashes of violet at the ends… Read.

  • Socked Away

    “I was moving the bed out of your old room and I found a sock between the box springs and the mattress,” I told Tim, while he was here to buy some quarters so he could wash his clothes. “Do you want it?” “Uh, no?” he said carefully, watching me out of the corner of… Read.

  • Lightweight

    My Darling B works with people who sure know how to have a good time. After picking her up from work at the usual hour we drove just a couple blocks to the Great Dane tavern near the Hilldale Mall to down a few cold beers, maybe eat some greasy food and tell stories. Mostly… Read.

  • Only a Test

    I had to go to a class yesterday morning to learn how not to be unemployed. Now that I know, I can get to work on that right away. In one of those letters “requesting and requiring” my presence, Job Center of Wisconsin asked me to attend a meeting of the newly-unemployed at their classrooms… Read.

  • Hats Off!

    Every Saturday morning for at least a month, maybe two, I’ve been picking over the VHS tapes on the shelves of the Saint Vincent de Paul thrift store looking for a copy of The Quiet Man, John Ford’s mash note to Ireland, and every weekend I’ve been disappointed. The shelves are loaded down with hundreds… Read.

  • March Against N.O.M.

    It’ll be a long time before I forget these protesters chanting, “YOU NEED A HUG! A BIG, GAY HUG!” at the counter-rally on the steps of the capital building where twenty or thirty members of the National Organization for Marriage assembled to tell everyone how scared they were that the Defense of Marriage Act was… Read.

  • Go Hone

    Is it just me? Or is “hone in” a phrase that makes you wince and look away, same as you would if you were watching a kid get a sound spanking while you were waiting in the check-out line at the grocery store? “Hone in” is one of those English-language mashups that I don’t think… Read.

  • Flying Fort

    ,

    Lots of planes fly over our house. When the wind is right they cruise past, low and slow as if they’re going to land right in the middle of our street, on the way to the airport north of town. I’ve gotten used to the sound of jet planes, which often sound oddly like prop… Read.

photo of the author and the author's best friend