Wednesday’s Wandering Thought

The husband and wife were complaining about cutbacks. The city had removed the drop boxes for utility bills from ‘their’ end of town, necessitating a two mile walk or drive to drop the bill off. “Hardly a drop off,” he huffed.

She said, “They keep cutting services back but we keep paying more.”

He began laughing. “We sound just like our parents.” Standing, he said in a raised voice, “I remember when they delivered the mail twice a day and stamps were three cents.”

It was funny, even if it was all true. Someday, Gen Z will complain and say that they sound just like the Boomers.

November 16, 2022 0

Tuesday’s Wandering Thought

They used to tell him, “It’s the thought that counts.” But as everyone knows who thought they won an election, or bought a lottery ticket and didn’t win, believed they were going to win a football game, or thought they had Wordle in two moves, it’s not the thought that counts. It’s the results.

November 15, 2022 0

The Cleaning Dream

I was in a place where a female friend was holding a seminar. I don’t know its subject. It was being done in the woman’s home, in a great room area, combining living and dining room with kitchen on the end. Everyone present was known to me as family, friend, or RL co-worker. When the seminar ended, the woman said something like, “We need to do something about this.” I understood she was referring to cleaning up. I jumped up and said, “I’ll take care of it.” As everyone sat there watching, I collected all the dirty dishes, taking up to the sink as I did. Then I ran water, added soap, and washed the plates, silverware, and glasses, putting them in a rack to dry as I did. The sink was small and the area was crowded. The entire time, the rest sat in chairs, watching. So I started talking to them, telling them stories. Someone came up with a red and yellow cardboard label for some food item. The printing on it was bold black. I took this and announced to the others that it was a pass to take them anywhere they wanted to go, and then walked out, randomly selected one of the others and gave it to them. The rest laughed and applauded. I returned to finishing the dishes.

The end.

November 15, 2022 2

Monday’s Wandering Thought

Seeing movement on his vision’s edge, he thinks it’s his wife walking by and turns to speak to her.

It’s not his wife, but a short and plump elderly man.

He’s astonished. Other than the color of their jackets, the man looks nothing like his spouse.

Does he tell her about this incident? Do you think he has a death wish?

November 14, 2022 0

The Two Lions Dream

I was out on a shallow ridge. Alone, grasses blew around my thighs. I was planning to walk home when I looked across the narrow plain. Two male lions had just topped an opposite ridge and were sizing me up.

Panic shot through my body. I didn’t want to run, thinking, if I do, they’ll give chase and they’re faster. I grabbed a rock and large stick to defend myself and began trying to walk calmly but quickly — but not too fast — backwards to the house.

The lions were on me before I reached the house, nosing and sniffing me but not attacking. House doors were open. They went in as I did. I told myself to stay calm and think. The house was a large, white rambling building. Everyone was still in bed. All the bedrooms were on the upper levels. If I closed the doors to the upstairs, everyone would be safe. Then we could deal with getting the lions out of the house.

I successfully snuck around, closing doors as the lions walked around sniffing. Their presence attracked the house cats. I worried about the home felines but they insisted that they knew what they were doing. I retreated without them. Going upstairs, I decided I needed to sleep.

When I awoke, the others were up and the lions were discovered. At this point, people volunteered ideas for chasing the lions out. One man decided to take a bat and chase them away. We were all insisting to him that was a horrible idea but he stalked out with bat in hand, leaving the doors open.

The lions evaded him. Now they were into the upper levels. The house was a large and old, and had odd light fixtures and controls, along with a heater and furnace. Someone had turned both of them on, along with all the lights. The house was getting very hot. The furnace’s red heat was visible through the floorboards’ seams.

My mother-in-law (deceased in RL) came out to see what was going on. She told me the furnaced needed to be turned off because it was getting too hot. I agreed. The problem: the lions were by the switch.

I got everyone back upstairs by calling and talking to them. Going downstairs to the furnace control, I discovered that several of the cats were acting like they were lions, walking about with the lions. I reached the furnace switched and turned it off. The lions sat down on the floor, looked at me and disappeared. My MIL came downstairs and said, “Good. I thought we were going to have to call someone. Let’s have breakfast.”

Dream end.

November 14, 2022 0

Just Wondering

A recent television ad extolling Fitbit and Google’s virtues suggests, what if the two entities combined? I wondered, would they be called Goobit or Fitle?

November 13, 2022 0

A Friend’s Parents Dream

I was a young man, as I often seem to be in my dreams these days. Visiting at a childhood friend’s home. He wasn’t there. His mother, Arlene — who is deceased in RL — was hosted several of us attending a local school. While visiting, we were all watching television. I settled down on the blue carpet and went to sleep.

I awoke sometime later. Sitting up, I discovered that I was in a short-sleeved black dress. A little more explanation is needed. The dress was black, but see-through. It buttoned in the front. It had wide seams which weren’t transparent, and front pockets which also weren’t transparent. The dress came down to my knees, and I was fully dressed, in the same clothes as before.

Standing, I wondered what had happened and how I’d come to be wearing that dress. I attempted to take take it off but the buttons couldn’t be undone. It was tight, but with some maneuvering, I managed to pull it up over my head. Just as I am finishing, I hear a soft tearing sound. That stops me from trying any longer. Just then, my friend’s mother comes in with a tray of food and drink, telling me that it’s time to get ready. She goes on to explain that she put that dress on me to stay warm, sets the tray down, and hastens to help me. As she pulls it over my head and off, she tells me that she hopes she can get this off without tearing it because it’s special to her. We then hear it tear more. Looking at it, she sees that it’s torn and is dismayed, but then tells me to eat because I need to shave, dress, and go.

I eat an egg salad sandwich from the tray and drink coffee, and then start dashing around. My clothes are upstairs but the bathroom I’m to use is down below. As I hustle around, going up and changing clothes, then going down and shaving, others arrrive. I hear that my friend’s father will be arriving at any moment. (He passed away in RL a few years ago.) I want to be dressed and ready to go before he gets there. But then, he comes in.

I’m called upstairs. As I go up the steps, someone else tells me that Fred — the father — and Arlene want to see me. I step into the dining room where they are. Fred has a box on the table, and is opening. As he says hello to me, Arlene explains that Fred just purchased his first CD player and she wanted to know if I had any CDs for him to play because he doesn’t have any. I tell them that I have just the thing and dash downstairs.

I’m thinking that I’ll loan them several of my classical music CDs, which will surprise them, thinking that it’s more like the kind of music that they would like, rather than the rock I listen to. But I brought my little CD case, and there’s no classical music in it. I select a few blues CD and take them back up to them. Grinning, I explain the whole thing about the classical music CD.

Dream end.

I’ve not seen my friend since my late teens. Oddly, I’ve dream of him since then, as well as his parents.

November 13, 2022 0

Sunday’s Wandering Thought

He has noticed that as he gets older, he more frequently pronounces things as ‘just right’. It’s like he’d becoming one of the three bears who visit Goldilocks.

November 13, 2022 2

The Space Snake Dream

I was brought on to help create a new vehicle for people to travel. As I walked with the team, talking outside, I saw a small red and yellow snake. Ideas lit up my mind. I sketched out a plan for us to develop a design based on a snake. Objections quicky rose. Growing more excited, I explained how we would use small segments, giving the snake great flexibility. Each segment would be a living, working or storage compartment, etc. Our travel snake would be able to turn in multiple ways.

They told me it was supposed to be for space. I got more excited, telling them that we can develop multiple small segments, just like the other segments, which would be used for propulsion. They could be interspersed along the snake’s body.

While I was telling these things, the snake was being built. Without a short while, I saw it fly over some brown mountains and land nearby. I skipped through the sky to it. The snake’s segments were much larger than I’d suggested and its overall length blew away my expectations. Someone said, it’s getting ready to go.

By that point the sun was setting. The cloudless sky had grown deep indigo and purple. A few stars and satellites populated the zenith. Looking up, I watched the white snake, people visible in windows lit with a soft yellow-tinted light, climb into space on a blue flame.