Mending

If you tell the truth about how you're feeling, it becomes funny.

Larry David
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I am better today. The fight is to beat back the intruders and return to the aches and pains I'm used to. I am very thankful for all the good wishes I received from the readers of my journal. They were very helpful.

Tuesday and Wednesday I was useless. I couldn't spend more than a few minutes at the computer and I had a hard time maintaining a vertical position most of the time. Thursday, thanks to my neighbor, I made it to Walmart to buy some seed and a whistling kettle. I staggered around the place painfully until I found the kettle and then bought two large bags of seed.

I felt sorry for the birds since I imagined they must have some full nests of wide mouthed young ones somewhere. Friday morning, as soon as I was sufficiently awake, I filled the feeder and within a half hour there was a full frontal attack upon it by finches and other small feathered aircraft. And they let me know about it. Not exactly shock and awe, but close.

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening,
In the lane, snow is glistening.

When I got the whistling kettle home the first thing I found out is that it doesn't whistle. Beside the fact that we all need bells and whistles in our lives, why do I need a kettle that whistles? I am a senior citizen. I do NOT leave my keys in the refrigerator, I do NOT write my rent check and forget to mail it and I do NOT take off my shoes and put them in the trash. But I DO put the kettle on and forget about it. It merrily boils away, silently. So far I haven't burned out the bottom of the kettle or set fire to the house.

It's an old kettle and it used to whistle, but one night some scoundrel snuck in while I was asleep and stole the whistle. (I suspect Ken Riches. That would have been the same night that rascal hid my mouse pad under the table.) So it's back to the old kettle and me.

In Bangkok, at twelve o'clock, they foam at the mouth and run,
But mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.

So yesterday afternoon I risked it and walked the four blocks to my tobacconist to get my fix and to cash in my $6 lottery ticket (WOW). I took my cane but didn't really need it until the last block or so on the way back. There is some shade on the way and a very small, pocket park with benches, trees and a fountain, one of the few rest stops left in Bristol. It has become a regular stopping off place for me.

So, though not completely back to normal, whatever that is, I feel ornery enough to annoy you with a big weekend puzzle contest.

Never give up.
DB - The Vagabond
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WEEKEND PUZZLE FOR THE DANCE OF THE INDEPEN

All of these questions have to do with United States history.
(Wikipedia here they come.)

1. In which hand does the Statue of Liberty hold the torch?
2. Who was Martha Skelton?
3. Which was the last of the original 13 colonies to ratify the Constitution?
4. Who was Emma Lazarus?
5. What happened on Christmas, 1776?
6. Who was Alexandre Eiffel?
7. Which was the first of the original 13 colonies to ratify the Constitution?
8. Who was Martha Custis?
9. How many stripes on the US flag are red?
10. Who was Frederic Bartholdi?
11. What does the Statue of Liberty hold in her other hand?

Good luck
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SUMMER QUESTION

It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.

Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

7 answers so far.

You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.

DB
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