Meals on Wheels...and my newest pet peeve

No. No. It's not about delivering the meals.
I don't really mind.
It's about those people who...well maybe I'd better explain.

The senior citizens' center cooks a hot meal in the middle of every weekday. They do their best to keep the price down so people on a fixed income can still afford the pleasure of eating out. Lots of older people in our community don't get out much. Being able to meet with their friends at the center for a time of food, fellowship, and dominoes, keeps them feeling a part of the community and the human race in general.
For those people too sick, too feeble, or too handicapped to make that once a day trip there exists: "Meals on Wheels".

Local churches volunteer to go pick up the meals and deliver them to each customer's front door. 
I helped Turtle deliver meals last week.
It was fun.
It was rewarding.
However it was also frustrating. You see...

I didn't mind delivering to the old, the feeble, the sick, the blind, the paranoid. They need it and I was happy to be their servant.

What I did mind was delivering on "brisket day", when everybody decided to take advantage of the wonderful menu and order meals. I don't pretend to speak for the cooks and those running the service from the grocery end; I hope they broke even. What I minded was delivering meals to those local businesses whose employees decided to eat brisket. There were forty deliveries that day. I was in the car for an hour and a half--all stop and go traffic. The fortunate patrons on the south end of town enjoyed  hot meals. Those at the other end not only had to wait extra time for their food, but they had to heat it up in the microwave when it finally got there--or eat it cold.

The time was mine. The gas was mine. I don't begrudge my charity to those who need it, but when I delivered four meals to the local newspaper office, and saw that there were four able-bodied workers who could have driven the three blocks to pick up their own food, it upset me, especially when I had to wait for one of them to finish her phone conversation so she could bring her check for the food.  We delivered to several businesses and to the local jail. Meanwhile, a blind lady in the north part of town waited patiently for her lunch; I'm sure it was cold when we finally got it to her.

We got home late, tired, and in a bad mood...well I speak for myself.

Turtle was pleasantly oblivious to the injustice of it all.
Next time I'm going to start at the north end of town. I'm going to deliver to all those who need it.
Then I'm going to take the cold brisket and warm salad to all the business people. So there.

More Misty Moistiness

 I've never seen a more misty moisty May than the one we are having now. It's so humid outside the window panes are cloudy, and for Western Oklahoma, that's surreal. Drip drip drip...day after day. On my walk today, I took lots of pictures of this little town in the fog and not the sunshine and wind which is the norm.  Just a few years ago we were caught in a severe drought, so this is welcome water. Yes, the crops are probably gone...but the lakes are almost back to normal. We will survive it...and meanwhile I'm loving these perfect temperatures and cozy reading hours.
Here's the grain elevator, rising into the mists and fading on top.

 

All the little dingy, murky wadis have become creeks with fast running water. Several days ago, we looked out our front door toward the end of the street and saw this:

That's the creek that runs under a small bridge at the end of our street. It barricaded the driveways of the two houses next to ours but didn't come close to our yard. It's a good thing too. We might have been house bound--or sitting on the roof waiting for a helicopter...well that's unheard of in this part of the world.

Here's that creek several blocks on down the road...
just raging by and headed for the local park.

Where it has a tendency to back up onto the lawn. We're still thrilled at this point. Our ground was dry even at twelve feet down. This will help.

This morning in the drizzle there was no fear of flooding--that's all rushed away and the town is hushed and happy.  On artists' row the houses smile in their wet, faded paint. No need to work on a yard today, or fix a roof.

 

 The lawns and trees are loving it.
The tallest buildings just letting it drape their heads in a soporific cloud of blur.

Everybody's snuggled up indoors.

And I am too.
I think I'll go ride my stationary bike and watch another episode of Nero Wolfe.

Family Days

 We managed to assemble the entire clan for a couple of days in May. Our three grown children, spouses of two of them and the three grandchildren.

The youngest is delighted with his lot in life. Being the center of attention is fun...although this morning he asked me if he could "go somewhere more fun...like the park." Hence seven of them are down there now...so I'm blogging in the quiet time.

 Clay is home for a visit from far away Texas. It isn't often that she gets off this many days in a row from her job, so it's a mini vacation.

 The boys did a lot of running and chasing, soccer and what have ya. Blaze looks older, but he is really just two and a half.












But when Blaze took his nap, quiet games prevailed. Zaya occupied himself with the construction of a transmogrifier--a la Calvin and Hobbs.

 Although I think this cautionary label was given a corollary by his Dad

 

 Mimsy listened to an Anne of Green Gables book checked out from our local library. They have a great selection of audio books.

She still loves the outdoors best.

and little Mister "Keep the World Spinning Loudly" recharged his battery with a nap. That stuffed animal on his lap is an opossum. He named it George-George.

Mothers' Day

Facebook has been responsible for lots of trends. Today it seemed to be the trend to pose with your mom. I downloaded and loved lots of pictures. My own children couldn't be here this week, but I've plans to see them in the near future. I couldn't see my mom either, but I love her well and will be seeing her soon. Anyway--here are a few of my favorite shared photos of the day.

And finally, a picture of my own momma holding me.

Isn't she beautiful. She is younger in this picture than my youngest child is today!

Summer has been really misty so far...all two days of it.

 Ok, so I know it's not officially summer, but when school's out, that's summer for me. I have so much I want to accomplish this summer, and none of it involves curriculum or instruction. (Well, we do have VBS but that's a different type of instruction and the curriculum is already written). I plan to work on my health; lose the fifteen pounds that have crept up on me and filled my jeans to a level of uncomfortable snugness; eat lots of fruits and vegetables to make up for and undo the damage caused by months of meat and potatoes; walk two miles every day--except Sundays, when I'll allow myself a nap; and work out with the Wii Fit program.

Hey! It's a start. I've kept that resolve mightily for two whole days, initiating the program anyway--except for the Wii fit stuff. (What's holding me back is the initial report and scolding I know I'll get from the fit-and-trim and also never-aging virtual coach.)

 These pictures are from our morning walk. No, I'm not using the royal plural; My daughter Carina and my two older grandkids, Zaya and Mim, are here with me for a few days while my son-in-law scopes out their future job and home in far-away Florida.

As you can see from the pictures I've taken, it's pretty soggy around town and the mist was lovely.

We tried to get our walk in before the rain, and would have managed it, but for our taking an evasive detour into the post office, forced upon us by the rather too-friendly overtures of a lion-sized, shaggy, white dog. I say "white" presuming there was white under all that red mud. He wanted to leap upon us and was not in the least obedient to "Go home" commands. When he finally got tired of waiting for us to exit the post office and transferred his undying loyalty to a guy on a bicycle, we retraced our steps and made it home by a different route just in time to welcome the first tentative drops of warm rain.

 As you can see, although this is Oklahoma and not the "Deep South", there are pockets of Confederate loyalty--maybe a shrine for ancestors. Robert E. Lee would be touched.

 And in a nearby field grazes "Traveler" I'm sure, looking majestic in the fog.

 Something about a horse is very beautiful. I never can resist pictures of them. I have folders full of pictures like this...and I don't even ride horses.













And of course, grandchildren. I never can resist grandchildren pictures either.

After Seven Years of Drought...What is this water-stuff?

I think we can safely say the drought is over. After three weeks of intermittent storms--hail, thunder, tornadoes and what have ya, the ponds are full, the streets are running, the lakes are recovering and the citizens rejoice. It's almost wonderful.

 Oklahoma red water in the creek.

 Back yard run-offs...

 Only if you've endured a drought, will you understand posting pictures of wet pavement and puddles, however muddy.

 This little calf hardly knows how to handle the wet grass.

 The horses are sensibly staying inside, away from the foreign mud stuff.

I

Of course the wheat is probably ruined and the peonies are hanging down their heads forlornly.

Some of the wheat was hailed to shreds last week. This field didn't look so bad. Hopefully, it will recover and dry out for a good harvest. It seems like farmers never get what they need out here.

 Such is life on the western plains.