Stuff Happens

So far, on this first morning of the new decade, not much of any news value has happened here at the Lovestead.

I did not get up at my usual 5 a.m. I got up at 6.

I have not found any dead mice.

Only two barn stalls have been cleaned. When I get up at 6 instead of 5, I must change my routine and feed those horses before drinking my first cup of coffee. Desiring that first cup of coffee all the time I was feeding, I left two dirty stalls.

The newspapers have not arrived.

That means Willie, Bill and I have had very little banter this morning.

Willie and Debbie did not sleep in their new home last night. They said a wood stove that works will be far superior to baseboard heating. They said their first night at the new home was like "winter camping."

The wood stove needs its stove pipes, so they have opted not to start a fire, just yet. Besides, they have no wood to start a fire. That will come.

So, they slept the first full night of 2010 here at the Lovestead. If there had been a newspaper we could have enjoyed yet another morning of commentary.

Bill and I did banter a bit over a letter I read on the Daily Bee website. When the papers do not come, I satisfy my need for journalistic stimulation by reading the responses to past Daily Bee articles. They're usually pretty opinionated, sometimes lacking in factual accuracy, often mean-spirited and usually anonymous.

This morning I read a letter penned by "Poor Little Airport," written in response to a story yesterday about how the airport provides a vital link to the outside world. In this case, the link involved medical emergencies of late.

Well, in response to the story, Poor Little Airport thinks stuff has not happened right over the past several years at the local airstrip. Poor Little Airport, chronicled recent events and, in so doing, stimulated my New Year's morning 2010 mind into considering once more how fortunate we have been to live in Selle rather than at our former residence west of the airport.

Poor Little Airport talked about folks, with visions of deep pockets being filled with all kinds of money, making decisions about the county airport that have not been good for business.

PLA (that's Poor Little Airport) mentioned Silver Wing, the high class air park, which got started in the field south of our house where Canadian geese and Mallard ducks used to hang out in the wetlands and delight the heck out of me each early spring.

I drove by Silver Wing a couple of days ago and decided that it now looks like another county gravel pit site. I wonder if stuff is gonna happen there this year to create some better ambience.

I do know I'm glad I don't have to look at that God-forsaken mess out my front windows, and I'm sure the geese and ducks have found a better place to hang out---maybe the City Beach.

Anyway, that's what Bill and I talked about this morning when no papers came. We each quietly counted our blessings.

Now, back to this "Stuff Happens" discussion. I came upstairs to my old computer to look for a piece I'd started a few years ago on New Year's Day. It included a description of what Bill was cooking for breakfast and what I was gonna resolve to do that year.

Before I found that item(I know it must be somewhere on this computer), I found the file "Stuff Happens: The Best of Slight Detour."

Apparently, that was the title for another book I was gonna write. I opened the file and found that not much stuff had happened in there. Now, I'm wondering what could have been if I had just stuck with it.

Well, on this New Year's Day, 2010, just after I've heard the first giant blast of the decade up at Schweitzer followed by grandpuppies Todd and Brooke barking at the blast, I figure that maybe I ought to resolve to keep track of stuff that happens and put it into book form.

Yeah, that will be my resolution for 2010. Gee, now I feel all determined and excited and ready to write the book of the decade. But then I think, "Who's gonna buy it? And, who's gonna read it?"

And then I think, "I've done my duty on this New Year's Morning. I've made a resolution and by the time the second Schweitzer blast has gone off and the dogs have barked once more, I'm probably gonna break that resolution and just go on with life."

Besides, it's probably best to just let the stuff happen and chuckle about it all anyway.

Happy New Year to all. May good stuff happen in your lives.