I'm officially announcing winter is over; not that we really had one. Oh, there was that three day period in late December when the whole country went into a deep freeze but that was nuthin' when it comes down to it. I've always been of the mindset when I can see the sun after 6:15 pm there is no more winter. I won't try and convince this for the folks in the Upper Midwest. They have more suffering ahead. In one of our last years living in Iowa we had a fourteen inch downfall on April 11. For you old-timers does it seem winters and snow were more massive back in the 50's and 60's. I thought so, too.
It's been almost two weeks since we lost Charlie. I only teared up once yesterday. I once read when a loved ones die it takes, on average, thirty days to regain a semblance of sanity. Last night I screwed up the courage to go to a website called PetFinder.com. There are literally hundreds of thousands of man's best friends available for adoption. We're not nearly ready to take this step but I felt when looking at it I was making progress with my grief.
I came across a nice article extolling the virtues of living in Dublin, Ohio. Highlighted in the story was the new S-shaped bridge crossing over the Scioto River that runs through town. It is the longest of its kind in the world. Even so, and this is probably an idle thought, Her Majesty and I will be taking care of business in Iowa in a few weeks. While visiting we've decided to check out residences in Central Iowa; specifically Ames. It's true, I think, that as elephants go home to die humans do the same.
I'm not one to make Lenten promises. I mean, why should I set myself up for failure? But, The Queen is one of these types so I told her I'd follow suit. Usually, when she comes up with these sacrifice ideas I'll say, "I think I'll give up eating squash" which isn't too much of a challenge on my part. Last night I told her I'd forgo sweets as in, dessert. I don't know why I said that but I did. If I eat sugar free chocolate does this count against me?
The recent railroad debacle in eastern Ohio filled my mind with many memories about past jobs. I worked my way through college during two summers as a brakeman on the Ft. Dodge, Des Moines and Southern Railroad. It was a smallish outifit that ran from------where else----Ft. Dodge and Des Moines. The tracks ran around 100 miles north to south. Yes, while throwing a switch in the middle of the night I did throw the wrong switch and put two cars on the ground. It so happened the president of the company was in the town it happened and immediately came to the scene. Surprisingly, I didn't get fired. What does shock me in thinking back is I made $6,000 in the summer which was darned good money for a 21 year old kid in 1967. Think not? Well, in 1968 my coaching/teaching salary in my first job was $6850. In thinking back on those days, the ones when I was driving a 1968 Pontiac GTO I wonder how I did it all on a monthly take home pay of $404.11. Good times, huh?
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