Posted by
William D. Dannenmaier on Saturday, August 13, 2011 4:46:09 PM
No one has heard from me in some time, so I thought a note of apology might be in order: or, at least one of excuses.
Today, is the first day in ten or twelve days that we haven’t had company at the house. If you think that I should know exactly how many days, forgive me. One tends to lose track of time when having fun.
Any way, on Sunday, July 24th, I expected my son-in-law Christopher to arrive. He was on his way to WashingtonD.C. and we are about half way there from his home. We would make an inexpensive overnight stop. Evening came, and I wondered if he might have chosen some motel as a half way point. Since it was seven o’clock and my normal bedtime is eight, I took my shower.
It always seems a waste of energy to walk the length of the house fully clothed, undress for a shower and then dress back up to return to the bedroom. Therefore, following customary procedure, I stripped to my shorts in the bedroom and took my shower. Afterwards, I sat at the computer in my office to play a game or two of solitaire before going to bed.
Comfortably un-attired, I was sitting at my computer in the front room when the door burst open and Megaera entered. This was not uncommon: Megaera has never been particularly concerned about parental privacy. I just continued with my solitaire game.
Then Shane arrived, perhaps accompanied by, or followed by, some young man that I was supposed to know but didn’t. I believe Barbara was next, bringing news from the local BaptistChurch – Sheila managed to stop her at the door, pulling the sliding door into our computer room closed. Thus I was unseen undressed by Barbara - unless she happened to look straight ahead while approaching the house from her car. In that case, it would have been possible for her to guess that I was sun bathing while sitting in the front room. After Barbara, Christopher arrived accompanied by sons Nick and Joe. I believe they were followed by someone else, but not in the mood for genial visitors, I simply went to bed.
The next morning, after finishing my morning meal of a small bowl of oatmeal and two pieces of toast while reading the news on the internet, I went to the kitchen in time to observe Sheila feeding our Andrew, Christopher, Nick and Joey a modest breakfast of hot homemade biscuits, scrambled eggs and CeeBee’s delicious sausage - a bit better than my feast of gruel and toast. Then I learned that they planned to stay for three days, leaving for DC on the fourth morning.
Christopher spent spare time expounding on the virtues of Obama and the Democratic Party (I would have been pleased to hear specifics, but Chris didn’t get that far), while Nick and Joey, under Andrews’s guidance, made trips to the creek to swim. I washed their clothes twice that day following each trip to the creek – I do clothing, Sheila does dishes. The next morning, seeking to salvage the visit from my point of view, I put Chris to work repairing my riding lawn mower and took Nick down to help me mow the grass at the blacksmith shop. As I explained to Nick afterwards, if I had mowed grass when I was his age the way he did, I would have had to pay people for the privilege. Anyway the lawn mower worked if he didn’t. He did manage to get a load of chiggers sitting and while watching me mow.
After visiting in DC, Chris and his future Young Democrats returned on August 2nd again staying for a few days and increasing my washing activity. During their visits I found myself washing a minimum of six towels a day, usually twelve. Finally paying attention, I told young Nick that if I could dry myself on one towel, so could he. Two were unnecessary. I also pointed out that a lengthy shower at six in the morning in a one bathroom house with seven people was frustrating people in need and overdoing cleanliness – that is where four of my towels had been coming from, Nick was using two every morning and two every evening.
I gave Chris more to do – my four-wheeler hadn’t worked in a few months. Now it works. It is nice to have your engineer son-in-law visit.
Anyway, the additional chores and the company, not to mention fatiguing afternoon temperatures in the upper 90s with one reaching 105, all accompanied by laziness, led to the delay in writing this blog.
Now, having exhausted myself, I’m off for another nap.