This is an old post . Since the original one , Marie has passed away . The holocaust survivor friend moved away and we’ve lost track of her . How the Dorner shootout cabin lawsuits ended up I have no idea. I still consult neighbor-across-the-road Dave for vital mountain information . And , for the first time in several years , Ada is not preparing a Thanksgiving feast . We are expecting no guests . Later today we will go to a friend’s house for dinner . HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING ! Be thankful for the good things .
This is an old post . Since the original one , Marie has passed away . The holocaust survivor friend moved away and we’ve lost track of her . Don’t know how the Dorner shootout cabin lawsuits ended up . I still consult neighbor-across-the-road Dave for vital mountain information . And for the first time in several years Ada is not preparing a Thanksgiving feast . We are expecting no guests . Later today we will go to a friend’s for dinner . HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING ! Be thankful for all the good things.
Things go wrong . Like the oven giving up the ghost the day before Thanksgiving . Ada and I had eleven people coming to dinner .
Things work out . Luckily our neighbor Marie offered her oven . She was going to her daughter’s for Thanksgiving dinner . Usually she hosts her family , but…
There was a phase in American business when clerks in stores would yell at me as I entered . Well , not just at me , of course . The first couple of times I figured that it was indeed aimed at me and I wondered just what I had done wrong . Why else would a person shout some sharp bleating noise at me ? It was just a quick censure and then silence.
Of course it was a new ingenious strategy to welcome shoppers . Shout some loud greeting . Bark something out at whomever had just come in the door . Instantly forget any customer directly facing you at the cash register . At times I was sometimes at that register in front of that clerk who would shout as if suddenly and vehemently possessed by demons .
Some sort of corporate affliction imposed on employees , I soon realized .
Ada and I bought a new Saturn several years ago . I liked the idea that there was a set price . No bargaining with a salesperson who in other car showrooms would repeatedly dart off to see the sales manager to check vital information . It is a choreographed exercise in foolishness . In my mind if the seller can’t or won’t give a set price at the start , then I’m being set up for a swindle . It was easy to buy that Saturn . When Ada and I signed the papers and before we drove it off the lot , a group of Saturn employees gathered around to shout some kind of a cheer . It was unexpected and a bit awkward . Seemed out- of -place. I suppose it was meant to be a rah rah for the Saturn family , of which we were now part .
I think some of these business ideas came from the Japanese at a time when Japanese industry was out-maneuvering and outpacing American industry . Corporate boards were discussing the reasons for their success . Maybe some of it had to do with shouting greetings at potential customers when they come in the door . Or gathering around the customer to cheer when a big sale is made .
Maybe they do that kind of thing in Japan . I think Saturn dropped that tactic right away , though . Not ready for the American psyche , I suspect . Not ready for mine , at least .
But some stores still tell their people to shout that grating mindless greeting . I went into a store last week and was immediately barked at . Sharp and unpleasant . I presume that it was the required greeting . Most of them shout ” Welcome ! ” , I think . But who knows !
I might try that when friends come visit . I’ll shout some unrecognizable greeting . Maybe a shout of “Welcome!” would be best . Loud , right above the decibel level to be easily understood . That would be best . If someone else were to be next to me at the time I’d sound as if I were having an unexpected fit . Of illness ? Of rage ? Of insanity ? And then , if there were a group of people around , we could all gather into a tight formation and cheer the newcomers .
I think we’d all feel better if we did . Don’t you ? And we’d undoubtedly albeit inexplicably be helping the American economy . We could feel good about ourselves .
A friend of mine sent me a New York Times article about two scientists who predict a possible disastrous rain event that will affect all of California . Climate change , you know . Not that this kind of thing hasn’t happened in previous milenia . According to these scientists , it has .
I thought about getting an inflatible raft —– a quasi Ark , just in case . But where would I go ? Nevada ?
We Californians have the multi-year drought to worry about in the meantime , and spreading wildfires . Oh , and the earthquake —- The Big One .
What else ? Oh , someone might steal the catalytic converter from my Prius . There are other things to worry about too.
There seem to be a lot of mountain lions roaming around L.A. these days . And bears , or course . We had a bear in our driveway a few nights ago chowing down on food of some sort that he got from the neighbor’s trash . This is our third sighting in the last month . Never saw a bear near our house before .
Ah , let’s not leave out the squirrels ! There have been multitudes of them in the back yard during the last couple of years . A squirrel or two roaming the yard is okay , but squirrels in large numbers are a gang of thugs . They stole most of my apricots earlier this year from the tree. They make too much noise and they dig up bulbs in the yard and , I suspect , ate some of my tomatoes . They smoke unfiltered cigarettes and use foul language too. Rats in fancy coats !
I put moth balls out to discourage them . Someone told me that squirrels avoid mothballs . Seems to work . The guy in the house behind ours bought a spray from the local nursery . He claims that it chases away everything . He sprays it all over . He went so far as to buy me a bottle of the stuff , but I rely on mothballs . I think the spray is a solution of wolf pee . It may attract wolves . Who knows !
Birds eat my apricots , too , and steal the figs . At least they sing for their supper. That’s something .
Oh , and there are the usual health concerns to worry about . I won’t go into them . Old people spend too much time jawing about their health .
Let me see . Home robberies ? Car acccidents ? For that matter , how about getting hit by a bus ?
I worry about all of the small lizards that have populated the neighborhood . It’s beginning to dawn on me that there’s something afoul . Could be that they’re the lizard people who will soon be taking over the world . I’m beginning to realize that . Could be too late already .
I suppose all of these worries won’t matter when the big flood sinks the state . We’ll get a few hours warning , they say , but by then I think it’s too late . Ada and I could float for awhile in our little rubber dingy ( if we had one ! ) , but what’s the use . We’d probably catch a flesh-eating disease from the rising water. Or the lizard people would get us . Or squirrels . Do squirrels swim ?
itkindofgotawayfromyou 