Friday, July 31, 2009

Some Like It Hot

Some like it hot, but not me. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good challenge, I just don't enjoy the bad ones. Of course, after prevailing through a bad challenge, there is much to enjoy and be thankful for, not to mention a gigantic relief.

I reckon the most difficult part of bad challenges is bein' thankful DURING the bad part(s). I'm a work in progress in that department, but I am aware of it, so I give it the old college try (not to be confused with the new college try; I'm talkin' effort here, folks) (also, not meant to denigrate those that actually do get a real education, rather than indoctrination at most liberal, or to be more accurate, leftist colleges, natch).

Anyhow, to make a long story a bit shorter (too late!) there was a confluence of bad challenges to deal with this past week or so.

The first one was a bunch of bad headaches, everyday (of course they are bad, there are no good headaches-Ed).
You see, I rarely get headaches, and if I do they are usually mild and quickly dealt with afeter a few aspirin. But these headaches didn't go away, and they weren't mild. I tried drinking more (iced tea, not grog, although Skully insisted that more grog might be preferrable when they didn't stop, but alas, we are currently out of that medicinal wonder product until payday).

Needless to say, reading was practically out of the question, as was excessive noise. Headaches suck, but I tried to be thankful my head didn't explode.

Secondly, we had a helluva heat wave type of weather system that came crashin' through from California (thanks guys!), and we reached triple digits for three days, topping out at 106.
Yeah, I hear QP, Sal, Julie and Joan laughin', 'cause that's almost normal for them in the summer, but up here in Washington that's torture. Hard to believe I used to work in weather like that. I guess I have grown soft, 'cause that heat almost sucked my will to do much of anything. It was mighty hard to be thankful, but I actually was because we cordoned off the living room with plastic tarp stuff and it got no hotter that 85 in there. Walkin' the dogs was no fun, and stayin' in the same room with Patti for several days 24/7 was, um...interesting, but we didn't kill each other so I'm thankful for that.

Thirdly, we lost Cammilu, our terrier mix dog. She was only 9 years old, and it was unexpected and, well, sad. But I'm thankful she is runnin' around in Heaven now with Oscar eatin' Heavenly pork chops n' steaks and bacon! Hopefully, she ain't barkin' at the Angels. Cammilu barked at purty much everything. We miss you girl.

Forthly, I made the grave error of downloading IE 8 (internet explorer 8). I know most of you guys use Macs, but for those of you that do use pc's, DO NOT download
IE 8. It sucks. Bigtime.
So Patti, my tech support wench, takes off her clothes...ha ha. Just kiddin' (unfortunately). She takes off IE 8 and puts IE 7 back on. Hurray! Sort of. Everything is workin' fine again, except my mail...all my mail disappeared! WTH?
And nothin' is comin' in. Say what? Okay, not really say what, unless you want. So Patti says she will get to that today, maybe.
At any rate, I didn't find anything to be thankful for with IE 8, other than I'm thankful we could get rid of it and may it die a thousand deaths and experience all of the Chinese hells (the Chinese got a lotta hells).

Which brings me to today. It'll be relatively cool, I got a lovely wench, the dogs are as fun n' cute as ever, I got plenty of good friends on the innernet (thanks guys), my health is still good, and I could list a brazillion things I'm thankful for! It's a great day to be alive, but even if it wasn't, I hope I can always manage to be thankful, 'cause it can always be worse, and we got a bunch of good stuff to look forward to as we continue on our journey towards Truth.
Bein' thankful is just one of those truth's that might be kinda hard to fully realize sometimes, but we know it works.

Besides, we know precisely what bitterness n' envy does to a person. Ain't never goin' there. I might be cynical at times, but I ain't sinical, if you catch my drift, and I know you guys ain't. :^)
Now to catch up on my readin'. See you guys in the funny pages.

15 comments:

julie said...

Ben, you are one of the best purveyors of perspective that I know. I don't envy you the triple-digit temps in Washington, since there's no such thing as a dry heat in your neck o' the woods.

May your head be clear, your brow be cool, your pages load swiftly and your wench be happy. And may sweet Cammilu be resting in the best of all possible heavens, the realm of eternal slackitude.

Rick said...

Ah, Ben. Sorry about your little buddy.
Yet somehow, you lift our spirits.
Speaking of, let’s drink to our spirits, shall we?
We shall.
To Cammilu!

Sal said...

Aw, I'm sorry to hear that, Ben. It's so hard when the pets leave you.

I was making my own thankfulness list this morning- a healthy Bubs, the wonderful folks at Children's Medical, good friends, kind people like the electrician who got a couple of elbow connector down off the high shelf for me, the garden, all the freedoms we still enjoy. Glad your world is better, too.

(I think I know where your cold air went- we've been having days in the low 90's here for almost a week...)
Be well.

Joan of Argghh! said...

I'm so sorry for your loss of your little pup, Ben.

I'm thankful for your always-appreciated efforts at communicating with us. Your path and insights and grand heart all work to hearten us in our own journey.

And yeah, what Sal said. It's practically a cool spell here in Florida -- the low 90's are tol'able.

hugs!

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Thanks, Julie!

Maybe I should consider perspectin'. Skully is always sayin' "thar's gold in dem dere hills." :^)

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Thanks, Rick!

I'm raisin' my glass to your most excellent and comfortin' toast! :^)

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Hi Sal!

I'm also relieved to hear that Bub's will be okay. I hope n' pray his ears heal quickly, and that he is without any earaches.

Low 90's in Texas? That's spring weather, ain't it? :^)
I'm glad you folks are havin' a mild summer at the moment. I hope it continues for ya. We had a very cool summer last year so we're kinda due for a hot one.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Thanks, Joan!

Yes, we miss her a lot, but she's in good hands, and now I bet she's catchin' those rabbits she always went after.

You're havin' a mild summer too? That's great! Having spent a few years in Hollywood, Florida, I know how stifling the heat and humidity can be there. It's a lot like the south pacific in that respect.
Y'all deserve a break down there in FL and TX. Next time let's try to send the really hot weather to Minnesota for electing Al Franken. It's the least we can do to show our appreciation. :^)

QP said...

Ben, you are the poster man for grace under fire. I can only imagine the trying and unwonderful moments you've been through. May this respite be not brief.

walt said...

Bummer about Cammilu! I'll miss her too. I guess it's a blessing you've got a couple of new ones, but the ones that depart always are so bittersweet.

It's been hot around here too. A guy at the gas station said "112° at my house," but I'm pretty sure he was on drugs. Maybe he meant it was 112° inside his head?

But it's been inching into the 80s, and all us Weather Wussies have been running around in tee shirts, and desperately looking for shade!

Hopefully our Northwest air conditioning will kick in purty soon!

Jimmy J. said...

Yep, some like it hot. As for me I've been sweatin' like a pig on spit. Aaaaaarrrghhh!! 98 outside - 100 inside.

But the bride of my youth has been waltzin' around like it was paradise. She avers it's the first time she's been truly warm since we moved to the People's Republic 16 years ago. (It figures: She's an Arkansas Razorback.) Different striokes and all that.

Only 89 today and it does feel like the Big Cahuna done turned the air conditioning on.

Whah, if it weren't for the weather what would we complain about? Not like there's anything amiss in the world these days. LOLS! All this too will pass.

Blessed be the memory of Cammilu.

May the coolth be with you.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Hi QP!
Thanks! It seems my mail ihas indeed entered the twilight zone, but I can use hotmail, and still keep the same address.

After reloading a bunch more stuff everything works better, but my MSNMmail is incognito, and if I go there I get a zillion msn pop-ups and the computer freezes.

I will call MSN...eventually. But for the next few days ayt least I wanna do some reading and commenting before somethin' else happens.

Okay, that was kinda cynical (although meant as humorous too). Nonetheless, I'll add I'm thankful I can do so in any compacity. :^)

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Hi Walt!

Aye. Bittersweet indeed. I catch myself calling her name still when it's time to walk the dogs, and they still look for her.


I'm glad the heatwave is finally over. All 70's now for the foreseeable future, if in fact, one can call it foreseeable as far as weather forecasters go.
They asre still wrong about half the time, but it is cooler right now, so I'll give 'em credit for a good forecast today. :^)

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Hi Jim!

Your wife LIKES hot weather? I am in awe. Those Razorbacks are tough cookies. :^)

Thankfully, it's much cooler now. It feels great! So good I can forget about MSN, IE and computer programs gone wild. :^)

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