If you pray, please pray

Soooo, Irma is coming through Naples, my hometown. And we're here, me and my insane old dad. He won't go. He won't even go to a shelter nearby, let alone my boyfriend's house which is built to withstand at least some measure of hurricane. Even he and his family are leaving for the eastern coast…

HBD Pappy

My father turned 62 today. We keep telling people he's turning 40 and he rolls his eyes and chuckles almost mirthlessly. Then he makes inappropriate comments about what he'd be doing if he was only turning 40. Then he chuckles mirthfully and we take our turn rolling our eyes and chuckling mirthlessly. I've been realizing…

Was that really a week?

(I should start off by saying, unrelatedly, that if you read my last post and were wondering, my sister's surgery went without a hitch, so she is successfully recovering and trying to deal with temporarily being confined to crutches.) My friends came to visit me! Various friends from all over the country visit from time…

Blood and Harmonicas

Today has had its ups and downs. It ranged from children nearly passing out at the sight of tremendous amounts of blood to nasally performed harmonica playing. Unrelated? Yes. But all in a day's work. Admittedly I'm writing this blog post to take a break from the insane amounts of research I've been conducting on…

The Art of the Booty Call

Step One: own a cellphone, preferably a phone with a touch screen, or easily pressed buttons. the glitchier the better. Step Two: place cellphone in your pocket. preferably your back pocket. kudos if you manage it from another pocket. Step Three: move around. sit on it. dance. wiggle. bend over. anything to frustrate your already finicky…

Sam Shovel

Sam Shovel is my father. My father's name is not Sam Shovel. My dad is one of those characters who had a different name in every circle he ran in. I suppose he did this for anonymity's sake, but regardless of the reason, it has always been something I enjoy about him. One of the…

Dog Names…

My father says that if you want a really good name for a dog, you should find something with as few syllables as possible, to make repeated calling of the name less tedious, and that it should be composed of the sort of sounds which carry farthest and loudest when screamed. My father wants to have a…

My First Memory

Five o’clock pm of July 26 was the time of my first breath in this world. It was 1991, and we were in northern Idaho. My first memories were not emblazoned upon my mind for years to come. We moved to the east coast when I was two years old, which didn’t leave much to…