Sunday, October 04, 2009
Spring, It Ain't...
10/04/2009
Spring is my favorite season of the year. Spring brings new life, renewal, a chance to begin again. Spring is fresh and clean. I am most definitely a spring guy.
October brings on falling leaves. It is the harbinger of things to come - cold, snow, a grayness from dawn to dusk, short days and long nights. I ain’t no fall guy, so to speak.
Yesterday The Nancy and I were making our way out to see #3 daughter who lives about 150 miles west of us. Jackie is a nurse and works twelve-hour shifts. We knew when we started Jackie would not get home until around 7pm. We took the long, slow road.
Route 50 from Winchester, Virginia is mostly just two lanes, one east and the other west (as luck would have it). Route 50 is a very old highway, actually one of the first westward trails to be designated with a number. The road twists and winds its way through some spectacular countryside with some incredible views, both high and low.
We began the trip about 11am. The weather was picture perfect with lots of sun and a sky filled with puffy, white clouds. The Nancy drove the first leg which included a stop, you will be surprised, at the Mountain State Brewing Company, a slight detour of about twenty-five miles off Route 50 in McHenry, Maryland. After a couple of brews and some really good pizza, I took over the driving responsibility and we headed back to Route 50 and resumed our westward trek of another eighty miles.
Not being a fall guy, I have to admit it is a gorgeous time of the year. Though it has been very dry the past two months, there were a lot of brilliant fall colors to be seen on the mountains and in the valleys.
It was a great time to be out there. It was the best day ever, but as I looked at the beauty of this October day and took it all in I realized it is only 168 days to spring 2010.
And that is all I have to say about that…
Thursday, October 01, 2009
The "Lasts" - A Sign of the Future...
10/01/2009
Flight 1560 Minneapolis to Chicago. I am sitting here in Row 23 looking out the window of the right side of the aircraft into an abyss of clouds surrounding the plane with a myriad of thoughts scampering through my mind. Though this is certainly the best day of my life, I feel as though I am coming down with a cold, and while I plan to enjoy it (I do not often get one), I really don’t care for the headachy, stuffiness accompanying it.
A thought crossed my simple mind a little earlier, so out comes the laptop to record it for posterity. I got to thinking about how not too many weeks ago I let my boss know February 1, 2011 will mostly likely be my “last” day on the job. After twenty-eight years I will hang it up and very possibly enter into a post retirement career as a geriatric porn star. If that doesn’t work out I may just retire altogether.
Yesterday, as I worked with a company rep in Minnesota, the rep and I had a conversation about our company’s new fleet program. I really don’t have a whole lot of interest in it because I have been driving my “last” company supplied vehicle for over a year. I thought about that conversation again a short while ago, ergo this post.
On my way from the airport in Baltimore I have to stop by the Men’s Wearhouse store in Frederick, Maryland to pick up some slacks I had altered. While I am there I want to look at a suit to buy. The “thinking” mentioned earlier is about the suit, and the very honest fact it may well be the last suit I ever purchase. Once retired, the only occasions to wear a suit will be weddings, funerals and special occasions, and with three suits in my closet in perfect condition I cannot imagine wearing any enough times to require the purchase of another at anytime in my remaining years. Sound morbid? Nah!!! It sounds so good to me; however, I do have to wonder what “lasts” lay in store for me? Believe me when I say looking at “lasts” is a little scary, so may I suggest you do it with a smile.
And that is all I have to say …