20 Things I Wish I Knew About Home Improvements When I Was 20
Over the past few decades, I’ve lived in more than a dozen places, bought and sold homes, and remodeled/renovated more places than I care to recall. Along the way, I learned a lot – sometimes at great expense and at other times through trial and error. Looking back, I wish I had a quick guide to alert me to issues so I compiled the following list: Read more 
What Kind of Person Does That To A Kid? A Baby? An Animal?
No abuser’s ignorance or era or condition excuses her behavior any more than her treatment of us gives us license to abuse other people. ~Eamon Dolan
Fourteen years ago, I severed communication with my mother after she called to wish me a happy birthday and then proceeded to ask me if I wanted her to send the hateful letters written about me when I was 10 years old as a school monitor – seems the gestapo-like behaviors I learned from my mother didn’t positively affect the younger school children and they expressed their feelings in letters addressed to me, which my mother kept for some unknown reason. I declined and called her out for her cruelty (why would anyone want to read a letter professing hate for the reader?). Phone calls and e-mails from my siblings, aunts, and even a sister-in-law in the subsequent months revealed my mother called them in tears claiming she was so upset and didn’t mean to hurt me (my mother found the letters humorous) only confirmed my decision that of course, my mother would make herself the victim in his scenario instead of realizing she was the aggressor and the bully whose abusive behavior would no longer be tolerated. Read more
12 Things I Wish I Knew About Life When I Was 20
Life has a way of teaching us lessons that are often painful, expensive, or just inconvenient. Whenever I have an experience and question how I missed something or what took me so long, I make a mental note to make sure to tell my daughter so she doesn’t make the same mistake. That said, read on for a list of 12 things (in no particular order) I would have told my 20-year old self: Read more
Duke Energy Sucks: Handling Existing Customer Account Changes
We recognize the essential nature of our service and strive for excellence in all we do. We work our hardest to earn your confidence and trust every day. ~Duke Energy
There’s nothing like a monopoly in the US to make you think that maybe we don’t live in a first world country. Duke Energy, an American electric power and natural gas company headquartered in Charlotte, NC has a policy that no matter how long you’ve had an account and paid your bills on time, the company will not provide power to a new home unless they run a credit check, even if you prepay for the power. Ask them why? The standard answer is “it’s our policy.” That’s not a reason. Handling new accounts without a payment history is one thing; mishandling existing on-time paying customer accounts is quite another. Read more
Pets: IMHA and One Vaccine at a Time….
A few weeks ago, my daughter took her 6-year old female corgi to a new vet who gave the dog 3 vaccinations (rabies, leptospira, and bordetello). Five days later, the dog collapsed so my daughter took her to Burlington Emergency Veterinary Specialists (BEVS) where they admitted the dog.
Bloodwork indicated she was anemic: a PCV (Packed Cell Volume that is also called hematocrit) score of 23 compared to a normal 35, and an ultrasound showed an enlarged spleen which led to the diagnosis of Immune-Mediated Hemolytic Anemia (IMHA) where the body no longer recognizes healthy red blood cells as part of the body and develops antibodies to destroy them. Without enough healthy red blood cells, the organs are deprived of oxygen, or the animal is overwhelmed by a blood clot. Read more
Food Nostalgia
The smell and taste of food can be an extraordinarily powerful trigger of nostalgia. One of my earliest food memories is the smell of homemade bread waifing through the house. I couldn’t have been more than 3 years old when that yeasty aroma of baking bread forever imprinted on my brain so much so that when I smell bread baking today – nearly 60 years later – I melt with desire (and its not for a man). All I need is a bread knife and a bit of jam and I’m in heaven.
Lest you think I grew up nourished by homemade bread, let the record be set straight. Homemade bread ended with the birth of my third or fourth brother. From then on it was Pepperidge Farm white bread, Thomas’s english muffins or white sandwich rolls. The 1960’s and 70’s changed the food landscape and nowhere was that more evident than in the home I grew up in in northern New Jersey. Out with the fresh and in with shelf stable boxed, canned, and frozen food. Convenience was the priority. Nutrition wasn’t even an afterthought. Read more
Skeeter: 2003-2021
My sweet dog, Skeeter passed away this week. He was 18 years old and I was the lucky one who spent the last 6 years of his life with him.
In the Spring of 2015, I was running on a dirt road in central Iowa when a spry lean dog that looked like a Jack Russell ran out of a distant barn and followed me home. He seemed a bit detached but intent on hanging out with me so I gave him a bath (he was filthy), fed him, and then drove him back to the barn he came from. This back and forth went on for a few weeks. I would go out for a run and Skeeter would appear and follow me home where we would hang out. How he always heard me running down that dirt road I’ll never know. Read more
The Purple Harmony Pillow
When I used to walk through an airport and see someone tugging along a pillow with the pillowcase billowing in their wake, I often stared and wondered if the pillow was for comfort, familiarity, or even a germ thing? I didn’t get it because for decades, I could rest my head on any pillow and get a decent nights sleep. But then things changed; I got older and started feeling tightness or discomfort if my head and neck were not properly supported, all of which started me on a search for the perfect pillow. Read more
I Am Not Alexa
Just a few short months ago, we were doing simple things – turning the lights on and off, playing music, and shopping on-line – all by ourselves. But, things changed around the holidays when the cloud-based voice service called “Alexa” entered our home. Thinking her dad would love to have someone turn the lights on and off, give a weather update, or turn on whatever music he wants to listen to, my daughter decided to give him “Alexa” for Christmas. But, my daughter was also thinking of me. Read more
Daisy: 2007-2020
Last Sunday, my dog, Daisy passed away. When I first started writing this essay about losing her, the focus was on everything that happened in the last 17 hours of Daisy’s life: from the moment she had the first seizure to the moment she died in my arms. The story was so sad that I just cried as I read it and decided to start over. Daisy’s life was so much more than what happened at the end. Her death was tragic but her life was not so the focus had to be on the 13 years, 4 months and 2 days she lived on this earth.
Daisy was born in Interlaken, Switzerland on January 1, 2007 ringing in a new year with her arrival. We were “allowed” to purchase Daisy because we were living in a small town outside Geneva at the time and her breeders couldn’t show her (she had faults, namely her tear ducts were blocked). To us, she was just perfect: a Pembroke Welsh Corgi that looked like a chubby little fox. Her name was chosen by our daughter because she loved to eat daises in the spring fields. Read more
Paddock Post 