SEQUESTERED

Sequestered, he squandered. Day after day. He, a mound of patience, awaited. "Soon," he said aloud to himself. Almost too loudly for he didn't want to be discovered.

The bucolic setting was ideal for hatching plans from his outpost. Above his studio apartment, a sky as blue as choking morning glories loomed. It was a day for cloud weaving. A mercurial pattern: a kaleidoscope of French vanilla shapes manicured by The Master's hand.

Inside, a solitary figure sits in unabashed silence. Sandwiched with his thoughts and inactivity, he, a ponderer. Solitude, his constant companion. As he repeats his refrain.

"Soon." More quietly this time. For they may just be listening.

TIME AFTER TIME

Almost Raven-like, her one word response was often,"Nevertheless." Even to such trivialities as "It may just rain today."

"Nevertheless, what?"

"Just you wait and see," she might add, but nothing more. No additional clue to help ascertain meaning.

Yet it was said with such ardor that finality was almost a given, almost, well assured. For quoth the spinster, "Nevertheless."

BACK IN THE 'HOOD

"I have pretty feet," she announced in a way to display them. Most would have agreed.

I couldn't tell. I was too preoccupied with the neighborhood I grew up in. A violent neighborhood. As violent as the names of its residents.

Try these on for size. Huntman, Archer, Shields, Lashbrook, Hunt, Baumgardner (Bombgardner), Vaught (Faught), Overturf, Hoxie, Torregrossa, Rhinebach, Igo, Hugo (to war).

And she thought I had time. She thought I would care about her feet. When I was just trying to survive.

OK, NOW IT'S TIME TO RAKE CELL PHONE USERS

Recently at a beach, our oldest grandson found a tiny shell. He held it to his ear. He proclaimed, "I can hear a faucet dripping." I thought that very clever, but granddads are like that. I wish more cell phone users would follow that principle of little is better.

I wouldn't talk bad about cell phones anymore than I intended to not talk bad about dogs in yesterday's missive. For you see, cell phones are terrific. They give you affordable, easy access. On our daughter's, you can even get updated scores. How handy is that? On a friend's, he can get immediate fantasy football stats and see how many catches his TE has for the on-going game while he sits at another. How could I diss such a handy tech mechanism?

But the users. Oh my! I've actually jumped when someone walks behind me on a city street and talks loudly on the phone. I always joke that it must be a long distance call that makes them talk louder.

Drivers, well 'nuff said. All know my complaints in that arena. And if you don't share them, you ain't been driving in the past 5 years or so.

Grocery store users that chatter and won't move when they're in your way. Not until they have read all the kinds of oatmeal they are perusing. I say, just make a decision. I know, it's important to get just what you want. We go to as many as 4 different stores because of the select brands or quantity that we desire. But as they say, "It's not rocket science," and you're not allowed special privileges because you have a phone.

I must confess, I'm not much of a talker on the phone. Never was. Well, almost. If I was talking to a girl in my adolescence, then I could walk away red eared, but that was it. Say what's necessary and hang up.

I guess the worst case scenario would be to see a dog owner distracted by his own loud talking (about nothing) and not notice or care what his dog was doing. When the dog was done, the cell phone owner left the remains as he made yet another call. Walking up behind someone and shouting "Where are you at?" As his scraggly dog sniffs at the back of the pedestrians heels.

DOG OWNERS AND CELL PHONE USERS



Man, how can you complain about dogs? Indie, Belle, and Queenie are three of the coolest pups I know All relatively under new ownership. And that's the key to my displeasure with dogs these days.

Not these 3 mind you. But other dog owners think they don't have to pick up after their dogs. They take them to grocery stores. Now, not around food, please. I know; there are lots of restaurants and even airlines that are pet friendly now. In fact, I even have trouble with pets in any store. Why do they need to be there? To approve or disapprove? To pay for the purchase? They probably would much rather be outside anyway. I know I would.

My final pet owner complaint is sniffers. If I don't know you or your dog, I really don't want them sniffing me. The nose is awfully close to the mouth, to the teeth, and I've heard too many times,"I can't believe he did that? He's never done anything like that before." Let's make a deal, if I offer to pet and be sniffed, then it's ok. If I get bitten, it's my fault. If I don't approach your dog, please don't have him approach me.

Cell phones will have to wait for another day. I feel too mean writing negatively about dog owners. Some of the nicest people in the world own great dogs. But you know what? Not all are so nice. Plus, not every dog is the cutest in the world. (Oh, I know I'm quitting now.)
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TAKEOFF

When I was a teacher of students I would invariably get two questions when I assigned an essay or theme as we called them when I sat on the other side of the desk. "Are you going to take off for spelling?" "Does neatness count?"

"Just do your best," was not my response.

"Of course I'm going to take off for spelling errors. Otherwise you could jumble letters to disguise meaning. Or just to frustrate me. When math teachers stop taking off for misusing the number 4, then I'll no longer take off for spelling."

Ok, I never said the last one. But it makes as much sense. I did point out that communication is broken when a misspelling occurs and that I would give them help in spelling a word they had trouble with. Sometimes I would give them something a little goofy to help them remember. For instance--embarrass has the double r because when we become embarrassed we get red--really red. I know how corny that is, but still today I think of that when I write or type the word. Other times I would have them get a dictionary and I would help them from there. I don't think I ever told anyone to look it up, because if you don't know how to spell it, then how can you look it up?

"Of course, I expect a neat paper. Who wants to read something sloppy? With scratch outs all over it, it looks just like what it is. Done hurriedly, haphazardly with little thought or little pride in the work produced. Would you send a love letter to someone with all kinds of smudges on it?"

Again, I never used the last example, but I wish I had. I wasn't all that tough a grader. I could be swayed by weak support as long as the student knew he needed to back up what he said. But I did emphasize appearance. That's the only way I got by, because most of the time I never knew very much that I was writing about.