Hap, Hap, Hap, Hap, Happy Birthday!

Hap, Hap, Hap, Hap, Happy Birthday! - © Kent Fletcher
August 10, 2008

Just a few short notes, hopefully to a point, about a day of celebration for moi. I rose early, around 0620, due to a little dog bouncing on my bladder, telling me she needed out, too, I suppose, and that the sun was coming up. As I already had my day planned, I hit the floor running, for the back door first, for the bathroom, second, and for the kitchen and a pot of joe, third.

Got the cats fed early, which is most always a lot of fun and excitement for them, and me, too. To watch them vying for a space, for the closest bowl and the first drop of food is always changing. Most everyone gets along well, with an occasional hiss or slap across the face. There are several picky, finicky eaters, having their own special spots to eat leisurely, and I appease them, too, to keep relative calm around the yard.

So I settled on the front stoop to enjoy a brief respite from the heat. A light breeze, a couple of birds flittering about in the trees, the rueful sounds of a train passing town, and the perfunctory ambulance going somewhere, sirens blaring, all on a Sunday morning, before 0800. Didn't eat anything, as the bananas I found a couple of days ago in the store weren't too healthy looking. No muffins to be had, too lazy to do an English muffin, so I just slurped my coffee. Took my regimen of pills and played on the puter for a few minutes.

About 0830 I put on my sandals, a light-colored t-shirt, grabbed a hat and my hanky, headed out to the side yard to unload the truck. See, I had been tasked on Friday by Leona Davis to pick up Davis Caronza around 0900, go out to her house, get her truck and large trailer, along with a big old weed eater and a chainsaw, to return to my neighbor's house to clear out brush and small trees from the fence lines. Got out to her house, and whoops! no trailer. I had called Crystal on Saturday evening, when I went out to feed the animals as to the whereabouts of said trailer, and it turned out Cassidy and Rick (her latest flame) had taken it to do some four-wheeling Saturday afternoon, and had not returned it. Crystal said she would pass the word to Cassidy to get the trailer back by Sunday morning. I guess Cassidy didn't get the word.

Davis and I loaded all the gear - weed eater, chainsaw, and electrical cord into the back of her truck, and headed on back to town. In the meantime I called Cassidy, but I guess she had her phone turned off, so I had to leave a message.

I got Davis going on the fence line, and I was helping a little here and there. After all, it was him getting the money, not me. After I had not received a call from Cassidy by 1100-ish or so, I called her again, paged her, and left another message, telling her I really needed that trailer. In the long run, all my calling was for naught, as one of the tires on the trailer had blown out sometime Saturday and was still not repaired by mid-day today.

Not wishing to wait on Cassiday (you know how young'uns are these days, irresponsible when they borrow stuff), I drove back out to Leona's while Davis continued his work, got my truck and returned to the site. See, I've got a trailer, too, and instead of waiting on Cassidy, it was easier just to use my own stuff, git-er-done. While I think Davis and I could have done the dirty with one trip to the trash pile, it took three with my lil thang.

About 1500, though, I noticed my thermometer on the tree, in the shade, was at 105 degrees. Davis was getting winded, so I called it a day for both of us. Damn, that's hot, folks, especially to be outside working in it. On my birthday. On my day of celebration of freedom for 21 years. Yep, that's what I wrote: Today, August 10, is my birthday, 62 years of longevity, and what am I doing? Yard work. Not that I had planned on a real celebration anyway, but if nothing else I had something gainful to do, with help. But alas, and alack, the job is still not done. And tomorrow, Monday, August 11 is another day.

I'm "relaxing" now, writing this, and drinking a couple of brews. I need to shower, put on some clean clothes and ankle down to Grandview for a body viewing. But thinking about the heat, and how tired I am at the moment, nope, don't think so. That's part of the problem with viewing the dead, they're all made-up with cosmetics, hair is trimmed, freshly shaved, with a suit or dress on. Heck, if the family's would just sport them out in their regular everyday wear to let those who come to view the body as they knew it, it would just be so much better. Besides, when one arrives at the Pearly Gates, does St. Peter really give a hoot or a holler about what clothes one has on?

Happy Birthday, Kent! I hope you enjoyed YOUR day, today!