Listen, I've traveled every road in this here land!

Pull out your trusty old atlas and follow along. Today I did Seymour, Scottsburg, Hanover, Madison, North Vernon, Hope, Shelbyville and home. All in very heavy rain. I was soaked going in and out of customers. Many refused to let me even enter the lobby because of the creeping COVID. Cold calls were a bust. A few places on my list were closed for good, probably from the economic downturn last year. I did listen to a couple of history podcasts, a little radio, and some silence as I toured the hills and curves of Southern Indiana. The Ohio was fast and muddy at Madison. 

I’m always struck about place names. Madison is not in Madison county, but in Jefferson county. Jeffersonville is in Clark county. Jefferson, the town, is in Clinton County. Clinton, the town, is in Vermillion county. Clarksburg is not in Clark county, but rather in Decatur county. And of course Decatur, the city, is not in Decatur county, but in Adams county. Adams, the town, is in a Decatur county. Confused? At least Scottsburg is in Scott county. There is that. 

I do it all again tomorrow, heading south and west towards the Territorial Capital. I suspect the Wabash will be fast and muddy too. I’ll report. You won’t care.

That’s how it works. 

Easy chicken and noodles

It looks as if fall is setting in for the next few days with cool temps and rainy weather. Just in time. I finally have tomatoes getting ripe in my garden! We had some sliced with dinner tonight and they were awesome. Small, but I’ll take what I can get. I hope to get more before a freeze.

I’ll be on the road the next two days, returning by dinner. Southern Hoosierdom is my target this week. I made a mistake today though. I was in the office this morning when I realized I was supposed to travel today, be in the office tomorrow, and back out on Thursday. Whoops. Now I’m out for two days. I think I’ll have some over-nights next week. I’m cool with that. I’m really enjoying driving my F-150. It’s been a long time since I had a truck. 

We got the shutters and front door painted Sunday. I replaced all of the hardware too. We also power washed the porch and spread some mulch in the front flower bed. *

These arrived Monday. The wife is happy. Our old (13 years old) dryer hasn’t worked for a couple of months. I should thank my dad. The settlement of his estate got us those. I would rather have him with us though. 

Wow, this post is boring.

*The finished product:

That upper left window, behind the tree, is my office. Much of the genius in this blog occurs there. You will know where to go when they make this place into a museum in my honor.

…and boy are my arms tired

The problem with not doing anything all summer is nothing got done. In my defense you can’t do many projects with crutches tucked in your arm pits. That said, yesterday found me hard at work on one of the wife’s “we need to…” lists. The shrubs in front of the house were ugly, had a lot of dead, and needed trimmed. She wanted them gone. The lady at the nursery assured her fall was a good time to plant shrubs, so I headed out with saw, shovel, axe, clippers, and maul. Despite the heat and humidity I managed to cut, hack, and dig up all three uglies. The biggest challenge was trying to dig without pushing the shovel with my right foot. 

I replaced the dug-up bushes with new uniform boxwood. Of course, since we replaced three shrubs with four, that meant four brand new holes had to be dug in that nasty Indiana clay. 

I’m feeling it today. But there is no rest for the wicked. She has moved to the next item on her list of things to be done. Today we will paint the front door and shutters. So no, I guess I won’t be watching the football game. 

I can’t wait to go to work Monday so I can rest up.

Hedge Hopping Hodge Podge

The boy’s dog is spending the weekend with us. Reasons. OK. The Boy is at a bachelor party. I don’t know why I felt the need for mystery. Anyway, the dog is whining and snuffy-barking through little corgi dreams here on the couch next to me. I’m sipping coffee and wandering through the blogosphere. As usual I end up here staring at the blinking cursor wondering what I have to offer these days. 

Work is going OK. I’m lost technically. The sales part is no problem. For a guy who continues to reassure me he is no micromanager, my boss seems to do a lot of micromanaging. I’d like to think it is because I’m a new guy, but I’m not convinced. 

I finished watching the Mad Men series last weekend. I’m sorry to see it end. So it goes. I’ve been reading a lot in the evenings. Lately I have been re-reading some old Louis L’Amour westerns. I can knock one off in an evening or two if I work hard. I have forgotten how much I like his work. Some of the later books got a little preachy. They are certainly formulaic, but he could write. 

I believe I have related the tale of my first western here. It was a L’Amour book, Tucker. My grandpa had just finished it and gave it to me to read. That must have been around 1975 or 1976. It wasn’t long before he died that he gave it to me. Thirteen year-old me was hooked. At one point I owned every book L’Amour ever wrote. I got rid of them back in the moving/can’t see to read/pre-cornea transplant book sell off. Except Tucker. That worn and frayed paperback I still own. 

Released in 1971 (changing subjects now) Led Zeppelin IV was the band’s most successful album. Featuring the epic Stairway to Heaven, it was a commercial success. Critics finally came to love it too. It has sold over 37 million copies worldwide. 

I’ve said it repeatedly, 1971 was a great year for music.

The post Labor Day holiday roll out

Remember when we used to complain about Christmas creep, when the decorations and hype started before Thanksgiving? Then things rolled to the day after Halloween. Boy, did we whine.

Behold:

Christmas displays are going up at my local Lowe’s. I snapped this photo yesterday evening. 

I don’t know why I care. I can purchase holiday stuff in mid-September or not, it is up to me. If you want to, go ahead. It is a sorta free country. 

Hey, here is a completely unrelated parting question. If it is so important to get everybody the jab, why didn’t Joe* insist that postal workers and everyone on government assistance be injected. Why go after working people? 

I’m asking for a friend.

Not a good day

 The little one, my two year old granddaughter just was diagnosed with COVID. So far she is moderately sick. The wife, her parents, and sister so far have tested negative. Keep your fingers crossed. 

A little prayer for her rapid recovery would be nice, if you are so inclined. 

If This is true, General Miley should be fired and brought up on charges. Period. 

This is what treason looks like. 

Seriously, this is not materially different than what Benedict Arnold did and he is America’s most famous traitor. This is just sickening.

The post was done for six minutes before I came up with a title that isn’t a title at all

The Colts looked like a team that had not played their starters in preseason yesterday. They were not the only team to fail to toe the mark yesterday. A couple of Super Bowl favorites also fell on opening weekend. Ah, sportsball, the little things that make us happy and sad. My other team, the Cubs, lost all weekend. Of course they did.

I BBQed some chicken breasts on the grill for Sunday supper. I made some macaroni salad, deviled eggs, and baked beans to round out the meal. My iced tea was unsweetened. The wife made up for it by adding lots of sugar to hers. I made sure my blood sugar levels were elevated by having a slice of store bought raspberry pie for desert/snack.

The eldest granddaughter came over in the afternoon to “help” the wife bake a birthday cake for our daughter/her mother. The put together a four layer multi-colored extravaganza. Now we have to keep it together until the Tuesday birthday. 

I’m off to work. Office time in the morning, on the road with the boss this afternoon. 

Look at that, a boring post for a boring Monday.

Have a good one, amigos.