I Never Thought I'd Be In This Situation
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That’s Entertainment!
Jinx’s reaction to today’s Storming of the Bad Steal. ~ S.K. Orr
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The Resilience of Infamy
Seventy-nine years ago today, the United States of America was the recipient of a treacherous attack by a cunning enemy. The country rallied and did battle with her attacker, making Japan pay for her act of war. Today, another attack was launched by an even more cunning enemy, an attack carried out in secret. Much damage was done, but not a single man of combat age so much as opened his mouth, much less drew his sword. They were too busy buying NASCAR hats or perusing the offerings at a microbrewery. No one on the side of right fights anymore. This is sin and scandal. S.K. Orr
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And Suddenly It Was December
The new heat pump is working splendidly, which is a very good thing, given the teeth-chattering temperatures we’ve had this week. I’m grateful it wasn’t this cold and windy while the fellows were here installing everything. I think I neglected to mention that the gentleman who owns the HVAC company brought his father along for the second half of the festivities. He inherited the business from his dad. While they worked, I chatted with the father, an amiable man with a quick smile and penetrating blue eyes. Turns out that he actually installed the original furnace in our basement. He described doing the work all those years ago, and spoke…
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Harness On Our Back
I gin to be aweary of the sun, And wish the estate o’ the world were now undone. Ring the alarum-bell! Blow, wind! come, wrack! At least we’ll die with harness on our back. MacBeth, by William Shakespeare (Act V, scene 5) We went down into town today to do some grocery shopping and to buy a new vacuum cleaner. Truly, appliances and tools are no longer well-made. They are disposable junk, without a crumb of craftsmanship in an entire acre of store. While in the store, I heard my wife mutter something with outrage under her breath. She pointed out a woman who looked like Oprah Winfrey’s big sister,…
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The Hardening Of The Heart
I managed to stay awake until almost midnight last night, intermittently checking the election returns. When I finally went to sleep at 1145 pm, Biden had 223 electoral votes and President Trump had 166. Still, things looked very hopeful for Mr. Trump. My wife couldn’t sleep and got up before 400 am to check the election status, so I got up with her. Our reaction was the exact opposite of how we felt four years ago when we awakened to the news that Hilary Clinton was not going to get to grind her boot in our faces for four years. I had been telling family and friends for months that…
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All I Can Do
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Storm Coming
Our house is quiet tonight, and the hills and dales among which it sits are quiet as well. Amazing how fast the change came…just a few weeks ago and we had the air conditioning on. Tonight, it’s the furnace. This is the way with powerful forces. They can change so rapidly it staggers anyone who witnesses the change. A flock of thousands of birds, a school of thousands of fish…they move as one when they change direction, and their energy is beyond comprehension. Our house is quiet tonight, but the land is not quiet. Tomorrow will see the beginning of something, and who can say what it will be or…
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Mountains To Moors
When I arrived at work this morning, I had to stare for several minutes at the dark beauty I saw before me. The lights in the parking lot gave fire to the orange and red ornamental maples ringing the lot. Goblins had come along in the night and stuck Poe’s flambeaux into the mulched earth and left them to burn until the sun returned to chase away the effect. Walking to my building, I heard two young men near a car talking. I winced at the tone and content of their words. It’s not an original observation to say that today’s males are not….well, men. There is a hideous softness,…
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Tang In The Air
Last night, Mrs. Orr and our little elderly dog Dixee accompanied Jinx and me when we went for our twilight walk. The sun, far below the horizon and providing just a rosy glow, gave an otherworldly cast to the air. The stars were already visible, little faraway dots of fire, and man and wife talked in hushed tones between the mowed pastures while the dogs scampered and explored. This morning, when Jinx and I went out into the lightly-frosted world, I was almost in a trance of joy, drinking in the pre-dawn chilled purity of morning, the air better than any drink or drug. I remember as a teenager, taking…
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Waiting
So many people I know have told me that the current dismal situation has affected them in unmistakable ways. One of the most common things I hear is that an air of depression-while-waiting-for-the-shoe-to-drop has settled down upon them. A sense of “Why bother?” A feeling of “I don’t want to undertake anything substantial right now because….who knows what’s coming?” A nihilistic bleakness, a sneering cynicism, a crisis-choked standstill period of time that seems like a Pink Floyd lyric come to life. It does feel that way, doesn’t it? And it’s easy, oh, so easy, to get caught up in that sort of feeling, and let it start calling the…