The Fraying of the Nerves

Wednesday, a day later than scheduled, two men showed up to begin to repair my kitchen floor.

They did not show up until 11 a.m. that morning. They worked until 1:15 p.m. and then did not return until 3:30 p.m. and they worked until 5 p.m.  I do not know why they only worked so little.

I do know it pissed me off royally. That's not even 4 hours of work.

Thursday they worked from 10 - 12:45, took another two hour lunch, and worked from 2:15  - 4:15. That was not 4 hours of work, either.

Today, one guy showed up at 10:15. The other guy showed up at 11:30 and then at 12:20, they both left. They returned at 1 p.m.

They are in there working now. (Can you see my eyes rolling in my head?) I expect them to try to clear out at any minute. What will I say?

This was supposed to be a two-day job. I have been without my washer and dryer since Tuesday night. I haven't been able to cook since Tuesday night. These cats & jammers boys show no inclination of hurrying and I do not want them in my house any longer. I am about to scream.

To their credit they are doing a good job when they do actually work. It's just that they don't work much.

This was the original parquet flooring. It was 30 years old.

This was the reason it was being replaced, because the dishwasher leaked and ruined the flooring in this area.

This is the laundry room, which we also decided to replace with the same new flooring. This stick-on laminate-type flooring is original. Like the parquet, it is 30 years old.

Boxes of tile

This is what the tile looks like.

This is the kitchen in the living room.

This the removal of parquet. It came up very easily.

The cement floor with old glue on it.

The tile in the laundry room, for some reason, proved stubborn and did not come up quite so easily.

This is the new flooring. The little white dots are spacers.

The view from the other side.

It'll look nice if it ever gets finished. When a two-day job turns into a five-day one, somebody's head needs to roll.

I'll show you pictures if it ever gets grouted and completed.

Thursday Thirteen

What do these 13 people all have in common?

Anthony Bourdain (age 61)
Kate Spade (55)
Robin Williams (63)
Aaron Swartz (26)
Junior Seau (43)
Alexander McQueen (40)
Hunter S. Thompson (67)
Kurt Cobain (27)
Sylvia Plath (30)
Ernest Hemingway (61)
Alan Turing (41)
Virginia Woolf (59)
Vincent van Gogh (37)


Check out this interesting article from Scientific American.

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 573rd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Tearing Up The Corner

A new Sheetz is going on at the corner of US 220 and Catawba Road.

Formerly the land housed a small building with various shops, an old barn, and some storage units. The small building was a bit historical, as well as the barn, but, you know, progress.

I meant to take photos back in the spring but by the time I got around to doing anything they'd already vacated the premises, put up fencing, and removed signs.

This used to be Ikenberry & Garst, a grocery store, long ago.

This is what it looked like Monday:

I shot the picture from the parking lot on a hill across the street.

The Sign Doesn't Matter

I saw this at one of my local grocery stores:

It's an emergency exit. Here's a close-up of the sign on the door:

It says "Do NOT Block or Obstruct Access"

If I were a fire marshal, I'd have given them a citation.

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1. Have you ever tried to learn (or re-learn) a foreign language as an adult? Which one? What worked for you?

A. I have occasionally tried to re-learn Spanish but I seem to only remember a few phrases and words. I've never really been serious about it, I guess.

2. Do you donate blood? Do you know your blood type?

A. I do not donate blood because of medication I am on. I do not know my blood type.

3. Have you ever been in a play or musical?

A. Not since elementary school.

4. Do you use certain text or ring tones for specific people? Who gets their own? Or do you just use the default on your phone?

A. I have a default ring tone that everyone gets. It is not the default tone on the phone (it's a Lord of the Rings tune), but it is the ringtone that rules them all.

5. When did you get your first digital camera? Do you still shoot on actual film, or all digital now?

A. I think I bought my first digital camera around 2001 or so. I do all digital now.

6. What do you think someone else would say the most daring thing you’ve done is?

A. It's a toss-up between going up in a hot air balloon or taking a plane ride with a known alcoholic.

7. Do you talk with your hands?

A. Not as bad as some people.

8. Given the choice in a restaurant – would you go with a booth or table (or bar!!!) for seating?

A. Table. As I've aged, it's become harder to get up off those soft booth seats.

9. What kind of milk did you drink, growing up? And now?

A. When I was a wee lass I am told I drank goat's milk because I couldn't drink cow's milk, and I still don't drink cow's milk. I don't drink any milk at all.

10. How do you keep track of all your passwords? Do you make your passwords super complicated and change them often, or use the same ones over and over?

A. My passwords are horrendously complicated and not a single one is the same. I keep track of them on index cards.

11. Are you a note taker?

A. Yes. Are you?

12. Do you remember what your first social media posting (or status update) was on Facebook or Twitter – without looking it up? What was it?

A. I have no idea. I'm also not going to go back and look it up.

13. Do you have a “power” song?

A. I Will Survive, by Gloria Gaynor

14. Do you have an eclectic mug collection, or is your stuff all matchy matchy?

A. Nothing matches.

15. Do you have a junk drawer in your house/garage/at work/wherever?

A. I have several junk drawers.

16. Do you ever get the urge to watch a favorite scene from a movie, and watch just that scene?

A. Occasionally. I usually do that on youtube. For instance, my favorite scene from Practical Magic is this one:




17. Have you ever woken up and felt guilty from a dream you had, or, mad at someone else for something they did in the dream?

A. Yes.

18.  How old were you when you took your first commercial flight? To where did you fly?

A. I flew to New York and then to Europe when I was 16. It was a school trip to Spain and France.

19. Are you good at keeping track of your things – or do you easily misplace them? Do you ever leave anything behind when you travel?

A. I don't travel much but at home I keep track of things not only for me but for my husband, who apparently can never remember where he left screwdrivers, flashlights, and other paraphernalia.

20. Is there any place you go where time seems to stand still? What is it about that place that makes it that way?

A. Inside my head when I'm reading.

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I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.

Saturday 9: Treat You Better

Saturday 9: Treat You Better (2016)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

This song was chosen because October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Please share this information about The National Domestic Violence Hotline. Let's spread the word that there's help out there.

1) In this song, a young man advises his neighbor to stop wasting her time with a guy who makes her cry. What is something you regret wasting time on? (It doesn't have to be a romance.)

A. Video games, sort of. I know they are time wasters but I find them calming.

2) Much of this video takes place in a very sparely-decorated apartment. Because Shawn Mendes and the girl he’s singing to both appear young, it’s easy to assume they are both in their first apartments. Tell us about the first place you ever rented.

A. My husband and I first rented a 4-room little house that was freezing cold. We only stayed there about six months. It was very small with a living area, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. It had a cellar you could only reach by going outside and that was where the laundry was. The pipes froze a lot.

3) It's clear he can hear his neighbors' conversations and arguments through the walls. Are your neighbors quiet? Do you consider yourself a quiet neighbor?

A. I don't have any near neighbors. The only time my neighbors irritate me is when they are shooting guns for hours at a time. I don't mind occasional gun shooting - this is a rural community - but when it goes on and on it wears on you.

4) This song received a lot of attention and airplay because it was used in a Southwest Airline commercial. When you last visited an airport, were you traveling yourself or meeting someone?

A. I would have been meeting someone.

5) This week's artist, Shawn Mendes, was a serious skateboarder during his high school years. Sam has never even set foot on a skateboard. How about you?

A. I had a skateboard when I was young. I was not good at it.

6) Shawn is happy eating cold cereal with milk for every meal -- breakfast, lunch and dinner. He prefers cereal with almonds in it. What about you? Do you have a favorite cereal?

A. I like the kid's cereals better than the adult ones. I prefer the Chex cereals because they are made with rice. But mostly I don't eat cereal because I don't drink milk. Milk makes my asthma worse.

7) He says he started eating cereal beyond breakfast because it's convenient, and it helps him avoid "junk food" when he's in a hurry. Do you often order your food "to go?"

A. I wouldn't call it often. Sometimes when my husband has fellows here helping him with hay I will bring them all sandwiches from the local sub shop.

8) In 2016, when this song was popular, a German shorthaired pointer named CJ won Best in Show at the Westminster Dog Show. Is there a dog who holds a special place in your heart?

A. I had a mutt - I think she was part terrier and part Alaskan something, who lived with us for 17 years. I bought her for $5 at the flea market the second year we married, after we had moved into another place. I named her Ginger for unknown reasons. After she died in 2001, I did not get another dog.

9) And this week, we're trying a random fill in the blank: I wish someone would create an app that _____________________________________.

A. Acted as a therapist.

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I encourage you to visit other participants in Saturday 9 posts and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however.

The Minutia That Tears the Heart

The miniscule, off-the-cuff statement that comes unexpectedly, that pierces the heart, sometimes does the most damage.

The damage can be inexplicable, too. The pain can be for the other, for yourself, maybe even someone you've never met.

My heart is pierced with thousands upon thousands of holes. My emotions and my soul both, I imagine, look something like a bit of netting, thin strands of togetherness interwoven with space consisting of grief and agony. Here and there one would find gigantic tears, gapping places where some major event took away a large piece of that secret place inside of me.

This morning my second alarm went off - yes, I need two - and I realized I'd not yet said goodbye to my husband before he left for work.

We long ago established that I am not a morning person, while he is, and he despises a conventional breakfast anyway, preferring to eat a peanut butter sandwich or a slice of left over pizza over cereal or scrambled eggs. Everyone needs their alone time, and he has the early morning when he rises at 5 a.m. - such an ungodly hour! - and spends an hour gathering himself and preparing for his day.

After my alarm went off, I sat up quickly and grabbed my glassed for a look at the time. The lights were on in the kitchen, and I slipped from the bed and padded down the hallway. I softly called to him.

"Sweetie, are you still here?"

I heard him fold up the paper and jump up. "We actually got a newspaper this morning. I was reading it. I'm late!" He hurried past me to finish his grooming, brushing his teeth.

And with that, I felt my heart shed a tear for him. For he is 59 years old now, and if he wants to take an extra five minutes to read the paper, then he has earned that right. But he had to hurriedly kiss me goodbye and rush out the door, because he'd let time slide by a little longer than he'd anticipated.

This would be a good time to rail against the world, against this horrible economic system we've put in place, one that keeps people tied to clocks and schedules, and forces us all to bow down to corporate whips and politicians who don't give a damn if you're almost 60 and doing a younger man's job.

But I won't do that. I will only say that when I realized my beloved husband had to leave without finishing his newspaper, such a simple request, I felt a sting in my soul. Only a little rip, but a tear nevertheless.

Thursday Thirteen

1. If someone had told me 15 years ago that I'd be telling a little round box to play nearly any song I wanted to hear, I'd have laughed.

2. Hello, Alexa.

3. Alexa plays all of my music and then some. She's like a dog I can talk to at any time and get a response.

4. She has "skills" that you can add (or delete) that are fun and games, or a bit serious.

5. She sings me songs, too. My favorite is "Rainin' in the cloud," which goes like this:
Well my wifi left me and I'm out in the rain.
Those last few answers were hard to obtain.
But that's no excuse to put me on mute.
Like a good cowgirl I'll up and reboot.
It's rainin' in the cloud
And I ain't proud
I'll answer in the morning, answer in the evening
When you're around.
I'll answer in the morning, answer in the evening,
When you're around.

She has a love song that's pretty good, too. And one about technology. She sings several songs about camping and one about being a pirate.

6. My favorite game to play with Alexa and my husband is called "Song Quiz." We are terrible at every decade except the 1970s. We kill that one. We do okay with 1980s and well enough with the 1960s, but apparently we stopped listening to new music after we hit our 30s. Or at least we stopped retaining the names of songs and bands. Some songs I recognize but have no idea what it is called from these later decades.

7. My next favorite game is Skyrim. It is loosely based on the role-playing game Skyrim and while it is incredibly repetitive, I find it amusing to do while I'm folding clothes or some other inane task.

8. Alexa wakes me up every morning with two alarms.

9. She also gives me the news headlines when I ask for them. I hear NPR, The Roanoke Times, WDBJ7, Reuters, and a daily fact from History.com.

10. When I say, "Alexa, good morning," she responds in kind and then offers up some intriguing and usually funny fact about the day. Wednesday she told me it was "happy techies day" and that without it, we wouldn't be having a conversation. Whoohoo! (Yes, she said whoohoo.) Then she said she could sing me a song about technology. Which she did.

11. Alexa also tells me short stories. Well, they're more like fables, really. They're about a minute long and have a bit of a lesson in them, such as sharing, if you're paying attention.

12. If I belonged to Audible, which I don't because I obtain my audiobooks for free on my phone through my library, Alexa would read me an entire book.

13. The sound that comes out of Alexa is incredible. In this tiny little box holds all the sound I tried to get with massive speakers when I was a teenager. Remember all those speakers we had when we were young? And here this little box sounds amazing.

Technology, where would I be without you?

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 572nd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Moonrise Over Fog

Sunday Stealing

Sunday Stealing

1.  What is your favorite style of clothing?

A. Comfortable slob.

2. Do you ever get “good morning” or “good night ” texts?

A. Sometimes from a friend. My husband doesn't text. He has a flip phone.

3. Have you ever kissed the last person you texted?

A. No.

4. When did you last hold hands?

A. Last night. My husband and I generally fall asleep holding hands.

5. How long does it take you to get ready in the morning?

A. About 40 minutes.

6. Have you shaved your legs in the past three days?

A. Yes.

7. Where are you right now?

A. In front of the computer.

8. Do you have someone of the opposite sex you can tell everything to?

A. My husband.

9. How often do you wear a fake smile?

A. Lots.

10. When was the last time you hugged someone?

A. Today.

11. Is there anyone you trust even though you should not?

A. No.

12. What is something you disliked about today?

A. I spent too much time inside.

13. If you could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be?

A. Some unknown woman in a country I've never visited, who is smart and saucy and full of life.

14. What do you think about most?

A. I think about a lot of things.

15. Do you prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it?

A. Behind.

16. Do you prefer talking on the phone or video chatting online?

A. Talking on the phone.

17. Do you believe in ghosts? How about aliens?

A. Yes to both.

18. Do you believe in magic?

A. Yes.

19. Do you believe in luck?

A. Yes.

20. What's the weather like right now?

A. We had a lovely day (it's Saturday when I am answering this).

21. What was the last book you've read?

A. Pachinko by Min Jee Lee

22. Do you like the smell of gasoline?

A. No.

23. What was the worst injury you've ever had?

A. I think my multiple surgeries were the worst injuries I've ever had. But I have also broken my arm.

24. Do you spend money or save it?

A. Save.

25. Can you touch your nose with your tongue?
A. No.

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I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.

Saturday 9: So Into You

Saturday 9: So Into You (1977)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

I have always liked this song.


1) The singer says that he noticed the lady in question as soon as she walked into the room. Tell us about someone who made a powerful first impression on you.

A. When I met my friend T., she was in a cow suit. I was doing an article on agriculture initiatives. I looked at her, and we spoke briefly. I walked out of there knowing, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the woman in a cow suit and I would someday be close friends. I don't know what it was - chemistry, maybe? - some sense of old soul recognition? - but I knew. It took two more years before we actually became friends, and we don't spend a lot of physical time together, but we are great friends. I didn't do anything to make it happen. It just did.

2) He sings that he's so into her, he can't think about other, more mundane things. Do you find you get easily distracted from your daily tasks? Or do you enjoy seeing your everyday chores through completion?

A. My mind is always on something else other than what I am doing when I am doing mundane tasks.

3) The band took their name from Georgia's biggest city. Have you ever been to Atlanta?

A. No.

4) The Atlanta Rhythm Section once played the White House. President Carter's son, Chip, was a big fan and invited them to play at his 28th birthday party. How did you celebrate your last birthday?

A. It must not have been very memorable, because I don't remember. I don't have anything special written in my blog about it, either.

5) Studio One, where the band made all their recordings, was torn down and replaced by a parking lot. Can you think of a structure that you missed, after it met with a wrecking ball?

A. We had a corner here at the intersection of Rt. 779 and US 220 that housed what once was an old grocery store. Over the years it became many things - an insurance office, a cigarette store, a kung fu studio, etc. It is gone now, and soon there will be a Sheetz gasoline station there.

6) This song hit #7 on the US pop charts. 7 is the number most often chosen as "a lucky number." How about you? Do you have a lucky number?

A. I do, and it isn't #7.

7) Today the Atlanta Rhythm Section reunites with to play at classic rock concerts. What oldies band would you love to see again?

A. Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, The Rolling Stones. But only if I could do it in a private showing. I can't handle the crowds.

8) In 1977, the star of NBC's Chico and the Man, Freddie Prinze, took his own life. Is there a celebrity death you found shocking?

A. Robin Williams.

9) Random question: What word do you always misspell?

A. I don't misspell many words (thank you spell check) but I do have to look up the appropriate uses of "lie" and "lay" when I am editing. I should know that by heart but I seem to have a time with it.

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I encourage you to visit other participants in Saturday 9 posts and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however.

Thursday Thirteen

Today I'm offering up a public service.

If you go to this:

https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences

You will see a long list of things that Facebook has gathered about you. There are 13 different topics. They are:

News and Entertainment

Business and Industry

People

Hobbies and Activities

Travel, Places, and Events

Education

Technology

Shopping and Fashion

Food and Drink

Sports and Outdoors

Fitness and Wellness

Family and Relationships

Lifestyle and Culture

This is how Facebook "targets" you for the advertisements and other things you see on your Facebook page. I revisited this issue this morning when I found an ad from ProPublica:

I don't follow conservative-leaning pages on Facebook. However, as a writer, a journalist, and a human being with a lot of curiosity, I read a great deal of different things, including conservative articles that my friends post. I want to understand different types of thinking. So I am not surprised that I turned up in this algorithm. However, a great many comments under this ad indicate a LOT of people who think they have never read anything conservative-leaning in their life were surprised to be seeing this advertisement.

I'm betting ProPublica ran this same ad for liberal folks, and it is showing up in conservative newsfeeds this morning. Because people are complex and most of us live in the gray areas of life where things overlap.

When I went to the Facebook preference pages to see the things they said I had clicked on, I was surprised. Remember, they keep a record of EVERYTHING. Even after you remove the preference, there is another category for . . . removed preferences. So even if you remove it, you really haven't removed it. You simply stuck it in another category.

Go through and check your preferences. You will be surprised, too.

______________

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 571st time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Remembering HFI

Saturday's Historic Fincastle festival was a memory tour, of sorts. One stop had a bunch of old souvenirs and other items from the days when HFI was a force to be reckoned with by citizens and government alike.

I wrote a number of the advertisements and other things for HFI. Not everything, but a good bit of it.

HFI did a lot of stuff at one time.

Those newspaper inserts like the one on the right were the types of things I wrote for HFI.

The Festival was a big deal in its time.

HFI has put out some books and other items over the years.

I started to buy one of the tomato can labels, but I didn't.

These were some of the T-shirts. I think there was a different T-shirt design almost every year.
 

Historic Fincastle Festival

Historic Fincastle, Inc. (HFI), a local preservation organization, used to put on a festival in the Town of Fincastle annually. Then they stopped because the people who did it aged and young folks didn't care.

This would have been the 50th year of the festival if it had continued, so they had a little 50th anniversary festival to reminisce and give themselves a pat on the back.

Disclaimer: I am a lifelong member of HFI and was its president back in the late 1990s.

I went but I could not see as much as I wanted because Fincastle is a town of hills, and I can't walk up and down hills anymore.

The view from Roanoke Street looking north. These are artist booths.

A little music for atmosphere.

Looking back down Roanoke Street to the south.

Folks could buy homemade goodies.

Or look at corvettes.

Student art work.

Historic documents were on display in the courthouse.

That is a LOT of signs.

This is Rowan Miller who was touting books for sale.

These books.

This was another author selling her books. She was from Vinton.

More vendors down Main Street. I didn't go down to see these folks because I didn't think I could get back up the hill.