I was awake when the clock struck five times this morning, but I opted not to roll out of bed and begin my day. I had purposefully not set the alarm on my phone. Seriously, it has taken me a long time to get to this place, but I’m now of the mindset that even though the early bird gets the worm, it is still a worm. Staying in bed past 5:00 a.m. is not a character flaw.
I sometimes mention mostly tongue-in-cheek that: “I’m as dumb as dirt”. Although I don’t play well with the rocket science group, I really don’t think of myself as dumb. I simply have an awareness of my limitations. I don’t do math in my head, but it has never been a detriment to my ability to communicate with others. On the other hand, I’m not a smart as I think. Isn’t that probably the case with most of us?
Of course, if you are going to furlough people or fail to pay them, is i really smart to eliminate the folks who pick up the trash? There is nothing that feels quite as good as getting rid of the trash. Thursday’s are trash days in our neighborhood and under most circumstances that works. I routinely set our trash container outside the gate on the roadside on Wednesday night. It is not often that they pick it up before noon, but it sometimes happens. Consequently, better safe than sorry.
I was a little concerned this Wednesday that the plastic bags were stacked high above the trash container. The trash receptacle was filled to overflowing, but I simply stacked it on top hoping that wild animals wouldn’t rip it open and scatter what was not good enough to keep. Did I mention that our garbage didn’t get picked up on Thursday? I should have anticipated that trash pick-up would be delayed. After all, Tuesday was a holiday and trash didn’t get picked up on Tuesday. That would put the folks picking up the trash behind. Consequently, I anticipated it would all be gone on Friday. Now I’m hoping that today is the day. It did not get picked up yesterday.
It was a little like rolling the dice when I put the trash out on Wednesday. So far so good. The trash is still intact inside the plastic bags, but by now I am stretching my luck. Hopefully the trash will disappear this morning. Frankly I’m tired of seeing it overflowing at the gate. This morning while I was choosing to stay in bed and enjoy the warmth of the bed, I thought about all the trash that is staking up in National Parks across the nation. “Yuck” is the first word that comes to mind.
The headlines describing the debris and human waste doesn’t make for good reading. In fact, it is enough to turn one’s stomach. Reportedly, America’s national parks are overflowing with garbage and human waste. Historically, national parks have been closed during a shutdown. This year, the President is credited with making an exception to keep them open. Reportedly, some have now closed the campgrounds dues to health and safety concerns. After all, there is no one patrolling the area or providing oversight. Rumor has it that without the oversight and supervision, the parks may never be the same.
Okay, so as I lay in bed lost in thought, my mind wandered from trash to the flu epidemic that seemingly is now in full swing across the nation. So, is it possible to have the flu and not feel sick? According to a health alert related to the flu that I read yesterday, a person could be contagious and not have any symptoms of sickness from 24-to-48 hours before they feel ill. That explains why the flu gets passed around at an epidemic rate. Infectious flu-containing particles exhaled by a person with the flu can travel at least six feet.
Like I said, I’m not as smart as I think. It never would have occurred to me that you can have the flu from 24-to-48 hours and not feel sick. Reportedly, last year’s flu epidemic was responsible for around 80,000 deaths. Who would have thought? Perhaps that is why so much emphasis is placed on the importance of the flu vaccine. Yet, I know folks who’d never consider taking the vaccine.
According to the song, there are none so blind as those who will not see. Reportedly, the most deluded people are those who ignore what they already know. In fact, there is Scripture to support this premise. The same is true of the premise, there are no so deaf as those who will not hear. Bottom line, people see what they want to see and they hear what they want to hear.
The point I want to make is that despite belief, duct tape and WD-40 will not fix everything. The General has been on my case (imagine that) for several days that I need to grease the garage door. It is no longer a virtually silent experience to open and close the garage door.
Who how do you lubricate a garage door that is making too much noise? Hey – WD-40 can fix anything, or so some believe. I’ve known a guy who regularly sprayed he elbow with WD-40. He thought it was good for his arthritis.
When we had our garage-door replaced about three years ago, the new door raised and lowered without making an appreciable sound. It is easy to grow accustomed to the sound of silence. The garage door is now significantly louder. The General who knows almost everything thinks it is time to grease the track on the garage door and eliminate the noise.
Before I backed the General’s car into the old garage door, which required a new one, we had a similar experience. At a friend’s suggestion, I bought grease and greased the track. I don’t remember if it helped or not. I backed into the door shortly thereafter and everything had to be replaced. I’d say that backing the car into the door wasn’t my fault, but the General would beg-to-differ. Actually, the garage door was open and so was the hatch back door on her car. Consequently, I have to accept responsibility.
Yesterday, I turned to U-Tube for instructions. Since it was an audio/visual presentation, there was no bold print. But the bottom line was to avoid using WD-40 and under no circumstances coat the track with grease. I’m glad I checked with U-tube before I did another grease job on the garage door track. The episode on how to do it correctly is about 7 minutes long. That is slightly beyond my attention span, but I think I’ve got the instructions clear in my head. It will require a trip to Home Depot, but it won’t be for WD-40 or grease.
Of course, under the auspices of self-care, it will probably have to wait. It is supposed to be a warm day in the neighborhood and that will signal the need to get the Miata out of the vault and go for a ride. Top down of course!
All My Best!
Don
Carpe Diem 