GCR Women

The bird is back. Last summer, while visiting at Mom's. we heard a strange thumping noise.  At first, we thought the HVAC compressor was going out.  No, not that.  Air in the water pipes?  No, not that either.  The washer spinning out of balance?  Wrong again. It was a bird throwing himself at the bedroom window.  There's a large shrub that grows next to this window, and a confused but determined red cardinal perches on one of the upper branches.  Starting at dawn and continuing throughout the day, he throws his body against the glass.  He must see something in the reflection in the glass that makes him certain that he needs to fling himself at the window, thus causing the rhythmic thumping.  And even though he makes no progress, he keeps up the battle.  We thought he had figured out that his efforts were wasted and had stopped his folly, but no.  When we were at Mom's over the Thanksgiving holiday, we heard him again....

For years, I've been using the same ink pad in my calculator.  If you use a calculator in your work, you might wonder why I would do that.  Good question.  If you don't, let me explain.  Mine is a printing calculator, an adding machine.  I use it to calculate sums, distances, etc.  The ink pad allows my calculator to print in both black and red.  Over time, as the ink is used up and dries out, the printed numbers become dimmer and dimmer.  I got used to straining to read the pale numbers and forgot to order a new ink pad. It's kind of like my glasses.  For the past three or four years, I've been using the same glasses.  It's not that they continued to allow me to see clearly, especially after I stepped on them.  I just got used to looking at the world through them and seeing everything just a little blurry and double.  I kept putting off a visit to the optometrist and optician for a new pair. Sometimes I get used to lookin...