An Old Man and Movies

Before I get started, I want to say something. These past few months have been scary and crazy. I want to share something with you guys. In forty years of construction and raising children, I have seen mistakes, accidents, and recklessness that have caused financial problems and at times, even life/safety problems. As I have told both batches of my kids, “I don’t need to know who did this, I just want to know who is going to fix it.”

So if I could give some advice to my Spacebook friends, “Stop looking for someone to blame and concentrate on who is going to fix it”. OK, I’m off my soapbox.

This past week was an eye-opener for me. I experienced a few “first in my life’s” and a couple “first in a long time’s.”

As I mentioned last week Elaine spent the week at home, taking care of a milk cow calf, a yak, a llama, three dogs, a flock of ducks, chickens and guinea hens; while sitting at the kitchen table designing guying lines for power poles on her computer. Some would say drawing guying lines for power poles with her computer would be similar to designing weaving patterns on the computer. OK, I am the only one that would say that, and I only said it once. Elaine says you’ll notice when the power poles are crooked. There is nothing similar to sitting at the kitchen table with a computer designing power pole stuff to sitting at the kitchen table with a computer designing weaving patterns, and I will not forget it. Does anyone remember what I was talking about?

Oh yeah, Elaine was working at home. I’m still building the taco restaurant.

The week started out like any other week on a construction site. The workers arrive around 7:00 AM, stand around for a while smoking, vaping and telling stories about their weekends.

I was chatting on the sidewalk with the general manager of Restaurant #2. He mentioned he had information that the governor was going to close all restaurant by 5:00 that afternoon. I knew that was going to cause huge problems for the restaurant and the staff. I asked what was going to happen to the wait staff and cooks. As you can guess his answer wasn’t a happy one.

The owner of Restaurant #3 stopped by to check on the progress. What he said to me that morning, I have never heard before in forty plus years of construction, “I wouldn’t mind if you didn’t finish on time. I won’t be able to open the (culinary language), anyway. He had obviously heard what the governor had planned to say.

The project might need to slow down. With the changes to Spring Break at the schools, it is highly possible the workers could be babysitting their children.

I mentioned I experienced a couple “first in my life’s”. One of course, was what the owner said to me. Another was something that started with something I read on Spacebook. I saw a meme. (I didn’t and don’t know what a meme is, but I have children, and they know what to call it.) Hey, wait a minute, do you remember when computers were new; the computer geeks started their own language? They talked about bits and bytes. What the (construction language) is a bit, byte, or a gigabyte? I know what an inch is. I can show you! Stop by the store, I will show you what a foot is. Metric, I can even talk metric. Computer are getting smaller with more gigabytes. How is that possible? It isn’t! Stop it!

Wow, I don’t know where that came from, but it felt great! Anyway, I saw a meme. The meme said, “THAT LOOK YOU GET WHEN SOMETHING RELATES TO SENIOR CITIZENS AND YOU REALIZE THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT YOU” That’s not exactly what it said, but frankly I don’t remember exactly. There, go ahead, make fun of me!

I read the meme, immediately my back, hip and knees started to hurt. I needed glasses to see the keyboard. I needed to use the bathroom.

And then! That day in the grocery store, I was picking up a couple things. No, not bathroom tissue, hand sanitizer or disinfectant. At the self-checkout, the line was at least thirty people deep. I resolved myself to stand in line for a while. I made eye contact (accidentally, I felt her looking at me) with a stunning young red-haired lady, Girl Twin would have called her a “Ginger”.

Ginger: Please, go ahead of me. Me: What? Ginger: I’m just holding this place for my husband, he is still shopping. Please! Me: Are you sure? Ginger: Please.

The man standing directly behind Ginger was not amused. I didn’t look at the other twenty-five people in line. I jumped in line. No one said anything. BTW-the fact that she was stunning has nothing to do with the story, she just was/is.

The very next day, in another grocery store. I was buying a deli sandwich and OK, I’ll admit it. I found a big bottle of hand soap. Hey, it was a big bottle and it kills 99.9% of all germs. A woman with a full cart of groceries asked me to go ahead of her in the line.

Woman: Please, you have only two items. Get in front of me. Me: It’s OK, I’m not in a hurry. Woman: Please, I insist.

Again, I jumped the line. Walking back to my truck, it came to me. The meme. Those women recognized that I am a senior citizen! They saw my nearly white hair. They thought they needed to get this old guy off his feet.

I have no idea if that is why they were being so nice, but I write these stories and I do have nearly white hair.

I watched a movie this past week. Big deal, you say. Well, I haven’t watched a movie in a theater since “Cars”; I took the twins when they were toddlers. I haven’t been able to watch a movie at home since 1982.

In 1982, I was working nights remodeling a fast-food restaurant in Denham Springs, Louisiana. Working nights and sleeping in the day is tough. Have you ever tried to sleep in a motel during the day? The maids are going up and down the hallway, sunlight is coming through the window. I taught myself to sleep in movie theaters where it was dark. The $7.00 Nap! Since 1982, if I get in a chair and a movie is playing, gone!

I watched a movie with Ivy. I stayed up until 11:30PM. Not very senior citizen like, but I did it.

OK, this beervirus (construction language) is serious. Your Daily Fiber will remain open until we are told to go home. If you can’t get out, we can bring stuff to you. Knitting, crocheting, weaving, spinning; were all actually invented for self-quarantine situations. Again, I write these stories. Your job is to believe them.

If you allow me one more soapbox speech.

We need to talk about small business. The government has closed hair salons, gyms, restaurants, etc. This sends personal trainers, hair-cutters, wait staff, and cooks home with no opportunity to support themselves. But it doesn’t stop there. The small locally owned guys/stores need your help. the big box stores will survive. Use drive-up and carry out, tip generously. I’m done.

You guys stay safe out there. God Bless.

Oh yeah, Otis is fine.

Our crazy lives!

Monner