Well, we made it thru another day of bitter-cold, and hopefully after the sun went down, that evil northwest wind will come to a halt, as it’s been what caused our wind-chill to be brutally low these past several days. Truth be told, I wasn’t outside anymore than five minutes this morning, and even though I had gloves on, my fingers were starting to feel like icicles by the time I got back inside.
As I was driving to office this morning, I noticed several cars which appeared to have become stuck in snowdrifts, and likely the people driving them, were those who haven’t yet learned how to drive in blizzard conditions. You can be sure I’m overly cautious when driving in such weather.
When I arrived at office, the first thing I had to get accomplished, was having a much-needed spiritual experience during my Sunday morning contemplative prayer session. Yes, it took longer than normal to wash myself of all the temporal ‘gunk’ which had built up, and especially glad to finally I’d rid myself of that deep anger over that nincompoop who sent a childish envelope to my office address. I’m still wondering what my regular postman must’ve thought of it. Oh well, I have it all in the past and fully over that random act of stupidity.
After migrating thru the online news feeds this morning, I was saddened to find another past client of mine had suddenly passed away last week, and unfortunately it wasn’t publicized like they’ve normally been. I actually wouldn’t have seen it had I not gone on the website of one of our local funeral homes. I’ll definitely have to go and purchase another sympathy card, as I’ve done a great deal of work for that family over the years.
Oh, I forgot to mention, one of my past clients informed me several weeks ago that the cost of placing an obituary in the Globe Gazette for a recently passed relative, cost over six hundred dollars. My gosh! If that be true, I’m sure there’ll be more families who’ll not be placing obits in the newspapers. I almost challenged what was told me, but I just kept still when knowing at a later date, I’d be doing my own investigating.
The rest of my morning and part of the afternoon was spent working on that project I’d taken on several weeks ago, and hopefully after today’s five-hour long session, it’ll be fully finished-up by the end of next weekend. I knew it was going to take longer than most would think, and only because what I’m doing, is very tedious and time-consuming, but at least I was indoors and snug as a bug.
Before heading home, I stopped to pick up a few things at Hy-Vee, and while there, one of my favorite clerks came up and asked how my last two days have been with this weather. Of course we talked about snow removal, and as chance would have it, we got on the subject of homes situated on corner lots with sidewalks going in two directions, along with extra-wide driveways which also need shoveling. I asked if she remembered when about ten years ago we had snowfall at least once, and sometimes twice a week, and of course she remembered. Well, I had to tell her, that was the winter I injured my shoulder when scooping snow and throwing it high upon an already mountainous snow bank. Yes, that was over at my mother’s house, and after that winter nightmare, I swore I’d never want to live in a home with that much sidewalk and driveway. I’m sure it wouldn’t be so bad if a person didn’t have anything else to do, but having to stop either in the early morning or after work to shovel so very many times that winter, ended up being my baptism in fire. I’m sure to this day, each and every ‘reli’ would say all the extras I freely and willingly did for my mother over the many years, were figments of my imagination. Yes, even families are filled with ‘fake news’.
Speaking of ‘fake news’, I’ll be exceptionally grateful when those caucuses are over tomorrow because I’ve had it up to my eyeballs with all our local news feeds that have been filled with reports on the various visits Mason City and Clear Lake have had by those Republicans who’re running for President. I know fully-well that working with the general public on a daily basis, I’m supposed to be ‘vanilla’ when it comes to politics, but anyone with even an ounce of common sense should know they’re all telling their constituents, exactly what they want to hear, and nearly all politicians who end up being elected, rarely ever follow-thru with the promises they’d made.
Now that I’m talking about loud-mouthed people, I couldn’t help thinking about a ‘reli’ who lives out of State who for whatever reason, always has to be the center of attention, and God help you if you’d happen to disagree with even one opinion. There were many times while on the phone, I’d give subtle hints that I needed to get back to work, but most of the time, I’d end up having to tell a fib or two, just so I could get off the phone. Yes, I’m ever-glad that was another door that I had to permanently close, which in the end, will have been the best of choices. Who needs toxic people in their lives?
Having arrived home early again, I proceeded to get some additional cleaning and tidying-up, and fully enjoying it because the low sun was sending warming rays within. After getting a good look at everything, I’m more than sure that when Spring arrives, I’ll be gifting some additional items to those who’ll be appreciative. I smile to myself now when remembering a line from a book which said, we spend half of our lives accumulating ‘stuff’, and the other half getting rid of it. So true. Honestly, there’s only a small percentage of my ‘stuff’ which I have a great desire to keep, and most are items which I picked up over the years, or came from one of my long-deceased relatives. Yes, that’s about it.
Tonight’s One-liner is: Few things are brought to a successful issue by impetuous desire, but most by calm and prudent forethought.