Little Grandpop

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Fuzzy’s working late again tonight, and I know his brain is fried, because he typo’d in IM in such a fashion that it made me worry for his job. (It was just a typo. His job is fine.)

Whenever he goes to work in inclement weather, or stays so late at night, I remember my mother teasing me about the day he wanted to drive in despite there being a freeway closure because a building exploded. “Make sure you’ve got affordable life insurance,” she said. “And make sure the policy is updated.”

On the surface, it’s funny, but the reality is that the one thing I don’t have to worry about is what might happen AFTER, if, God forbid, something…happens. We’re covered well enough that the house would be paid off, and then some.

But, I do worry that Fuzzy works too hard, that he isn’t sleeping well.
And I confess that as soon as I know he’s on the road, I barely breathe til I know he’s home.

Yes, sometimes I’m that much of a stereotypical wife.

Sitting in the summer sun, with a bottle of cold water in my hand, I watched my dogs basking in the sun. Zorro likes to be on his side, and will toast one half of his tiny body, then roll over and toast the other half. Miss Cleo likes to flatten herself into a black and white puddle of fur, but she’s easily distracted by butterflies, birds, bees, a leaf blowing across the deck…

Turning my head, I watched a writing spider spinning a new web. They can shake the web when they feel threatened so I watched as a bird flew close and the web began to reverberate like a plucked string. I try to keep Miss Cleo away from that corner of the yard.

The wind was a warm, friendly presence as I had my sojourn in the sun.

The air conditioned house felt too cold, by comparison, so I made a pot of coffee, and returned to work.

Clearing memory sticks so I could take more pictures of the dogs and the new writing spider in the back yard, I found a batch of photos left over from a trip, two Thanksgivings ago, to Branson Missouri.

It was a trip that Fuzzy’s family organized, and I remember really dreading it when we were on the way up. I wanted to be home in our cozy house, and at the time, money was tight, but we’d bought a friend’s timeshare stay, so we had a cushy place to stay, that even had enough room for us to give the fold-out couch to my sister-in-law’s foreign exchange student, a lovely young woman from Switzerland with a smart-ass sense of humor, and a mischievous streak we really appreciated.

I wasn’t expecting to have fun on that trip, but we did, even seeing a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, that was quite good.

I also wasn’t expecting to fall in love with the Ozarks. I thought my mountain appreciation was all centered in the Rockies and Sierras, but there was beauty in those lush green hills, and starry skies.

I remember telling Fuzzy that I wanted to go back, maybe do a weekend in a B&B and go quilt shopping.
I still want to.

Questions:

1. Do you check your email once a day or more? Explain: More. I completely do not understand people who only check email once a day. I almost never turn it off.
2. When you receive SPAM emails, do you just delete them or take the time to mark it as SPAM? Explain:
   I try to mark them, but sometimes I’m in a hurry.
3. When a friend/acquaintance emails you a “forward” email like a joke or chain letter, do you forward it to your friends or just delete it? Explain:
   Generally? Read, delete, move on. Unless something is so original and funny that I’ve never heard it before AND it makes me laugh.
4. 
   Who are two people whose emails you look forward to receiving? Explain: Oh any of my real life friends, but Sky and our family friend Helen most of all.
5. Do you believe that email has completely replaced other forms of communication? No. And I hope it doesn’t. Email is great for immediate contact, but there’s something so satisfying about a really thick letter, or a phone call.

Pop-Up
What TWO things come to mind when you think of:

The Zoo: Pacing tigers and stoic gorillas
The Beach Surf and sand
The Mall Noise and the scent of caramel corn
The Weekend Sleep and comedy
The News Violence and weather