With a couple pulleys, a long rope, a truck and some yelling up and down the hill (“Go!” now “Slow!” now “Stop!”), we disassembled the sections of the dock, floated them over to the beach, and pulled them up onto the sand where the action of melting ice in the spring is unlikely to coax […]
Yearly Archives: 2017
Common Things
Thu, 12 Oct 2017, 08:42 PM (-06:00)
He has a habit of sitting at his desk in the evenings. Sitting, writing — typing at the keyboard. And between the moments when he’s writing-typing, the silence settles around him and a little voice sometimes speaks out loud. On this night, the voice was visiting for the first time in a long time, because […]
Honeycrisps
Wed, 11 Oct 2017, 08:34 PM (-06:00)
At the airport, they asked me if I had any liquids or food. “Two apples,” I said. “I have two Honeycrisps in my backpack.” They told me to take out the apples and put them in a tray, which I did. The thing of it is, I forgot this. I realized my mistake once I […]
A Bundle of Sticks
Wed, 11 Oct 2017, 06:59 PM (-06:00)
You might know what I’m talking about — sticks. You might know the thing my grandmother hand for sticks, for kindling. I think I’ve told you about it before. I come walking out of the woods, out from under the canopy of the oaks and pines, holding a bundle of sticks in my hand. Kindling. […]
Banana Stickers
Tue, 10 Oct 2017, 08:22 PM (-06:00)
“Do you see what he’s doing?” Jenny asked Burt. She pointed at me standing by the window. That’s where the fruit were — by the window. And I was standing there taking advantage of a few idle moments to take the stickers off the bananas (because I’m all about using idle moments efficiently). “Do you see […]
Lubricant
Tue, 10 Oct 2017, 06:42 PM (-06:00)
1. The Assignment It was a simple task. The kind of task they’d heard me talk about: Just give me a hole to dig. Or tree branches to cut. “We’re going to town,” they said. They selected a task: lubricate the attic stairs. They gave me a blue rubber glove, that I might not get […]
Lights on the Grass
Wed, 4 Oct 2017, 08:14 PM (-06:00)
There are so many things to talk about. Good things. Bad things. Things. We should work our way back into this gently. So let’s just talk about last night. We stood in the dark under a nearly full moon, the dogs and I. There was someone running on the middle school track in the distance. […]
There is an Explanation
Wed, 4 Oct 2017, 06:14 AM (-06:00)
But one thing. There was no lost data. “No,” I said. “Don’t worry. I have a backup in the security deposit box at the bank. And I have another backup sitting unplugged on my desk. And I have a third backup that’s running continuously. So don’t worry; just replace the hard drive.” Whitney sighed with […]
A Bird, a Fish and the Water
Tue, 3 Oct 2017, 10:50 PM (-06:00)
From the other side of the river, the heron said, “It was the best of times.” From its newfound vantage point, the pan fish said, “It was the worst of times.” And the water, well it just kept on flowing downstream.
Oldies
Wed, 31 May 2017, 06:07 AM (-06:00)
Oldie #1: Oxygen I’m in the office standing between two desks. Something makes me think of a song. I start to sing it in my lame, cracking voice, which for this song is just fine, because it always was a lame song. “Huh, huh, huh?” I ask Kyle. There’s no reaction. Not a surprise — […]