Posted by
William D. Dannenmaier on Monday, March 15, 2010 8:59:56 AM
Watching Andrew work the other day I commented, “I’d be happy to help you with that, but I’m busy doing nothing and I can’t do two things at once.” Andrew said he would remember that excuse.
Sheila drove Megaera to the doctor in Nashville. While Megaera was at the doctor’s office, Sheila visited Publix, a grocery which has an excellent bakery. She came home with some fresh baked rye bread. My delayed lunch consisted of ham and cheese on rye. Excellent! Today, coming home from the hospital, my bride gave me several choices. As the rye bread remained, I asked for more ham and cheese on rye. Then the dilemma. It was thirty degrees outside, not the temperature for cold beer. But cold beer is proper with ham and cheese on rye. It was a moral conflict, a choice between comfort and proper. My strong religious background took hold. Better proper than pleasure. I had the beer.
My son oldest Chris lived in Boulder, Colorado, for several years. He had difficulty understanding why so many of the residents there were far left liberals. I discovered the answer while in my doctor’s office this morning. The October, 2009, issue of “Outside” contains an article on mountain climbing that reports studies on the effects of mountain climbing. It seems that climbing a mountain as low as 15,000 feet causes immediate, irreversible, brain damage. Boulder is nestled high in the Rocky Mountains.
During my medical visit Sheila left the office to run a brief errand and ordered me not to see the doctor until she returned. Obediently waiting, I realized that I was suffering from a Frausheimer’s attack. I have worried about Alzheimer’s, without realizing I am in the throes of Frausheimer’s disease, a male malady accompanying marriage known to reduce independence and initiative. For those unfamiliar with German, alt means old, frau means wife.
The morning of March 7th provided all of the excitement we needed. At one in the morning Stephen reported severe chest problems and Sheila took him to the hospital while I sat on the porch and worried until they got home at 5:30. All, we think, has turned out well in that after thorough examination the hospital personnel thought he might be having severe acid reflux reaction. Talking about this at lunch, Andrew commented, “Just think Mom, Dad never had heart disease until you started cooking for him and now Stephen is having stomach troubles. Looks like it’s your cooking that sent Stephen to the hospital.” Sheila said the hospital staff kept mentioning that too much alcohol, soda pop and smoking could cause this. Poor Stephen, he doesn’t smoke or drink soda pop (which I don’t permit in the house) and his only alcohol intake is on Thanksgiving when I give everyone a small glass of wine for a toast. No moral revulsion on his part, he simply doesn’t like the stuff. Reminds me of the time I took my minister, friend and hunting and fishing partner Frank Chubb, to the officers’ club at the University of Alberta. He confessed that he had never had an alcoholic drink. I ordered him a small, sipping glass of Drambuie, a high class, expensive, liquor. Frank took a sip of my extravagance and asked, “Is this what they make all the fuss about?”
My birthday week is over and I discovered that Sheila sent out a photograph of my table of goodies (fortunately this did not include a copy to Dr. Blazer, my heart doctor). As a consequence I received a large number of pleasant and enjoyable comments including a long note from Frank. Frank and his bride, Shirley, are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary soon. I can tell lots of stories about Frank, like the time he promised Shirley that he would drive her to JasperNational Park for a vacation day, but then saw a recently killed deer lying by the side of the road. He immediately stopped, bled and field dressed the deer, stuffed it in the trunk of the car and turned around for home. So much for Shirley’s trip to Jasper. Or the sermon he gave entitled “Make Love to your Wife,” with examples. In both those cases he said the marital home was a bit quiet for a while. But I won’t tell any stories on him, he knows too many about me, mostly about my competence as a fisherman and hunter.
I was going to plant string beans today, but the snow and sleet blowing in my face when I used the four-wheeler take the trash to the dumpster made me change my mind. I finished this instead.