Slight Detour: The Dark before the Light

Foster did not want to get up this morning.

I coaxed him off the couch, and he just stood there shaking his body.

Then, I tried to encourage him toward the door to go outside and do his duty.

He balked and soon turned around, walked over to his bed, crawled in and curled up.

Foster knew it was much too early to go outside into the cold darkness.

I knew that too, but time in the day's schedule will not stand still, even if it's a different time from the day before.

This annual happening of one hour less sleep as we spring forward does not come easily, but once we get rolling, we'll move along as usual.

In deference to Foster, I picked him up from his bed and carried him through the door to the garage.

He eventually came awake, and we went on our morning potty walk to the hay field and back.

I promised him that once we returned to the house, he could go back to bed.

And, who knows, maybe when I finish my blog post, I can grab a few more minutes of sleep.

Welcome to Daylight Savings Time. I don't get too excited about it at first because there will once again be several mornings when Bridie and I go out for the second time, I'll have to carry a flashlight.

There is one exciting phenomenon, however. Since I carry a flashlight, and it's generally pointed toward the ground in front of me, I get to see the earth moving via worms that catch the light and immediately slither underground.

Seeing the worms crawl in is fun, but I still prefer walking in the daylight. That will come again in a week or so.

Bill will like that time change because his dog duty is in the evening where, starting today, there will be more light, allowing him to skip one of his flashlight runs.

We marveled at some magnificent and beautiful skies as the sun set last night.

Yesterday I took my garbage bag and my poop pick and walked along both sides of the roadway that goes past our property.

It was quite a collection by the time I had finished retrieving cans and other debris from the ditches on our country road, which ironically is often called the back road to the dump.

Most prominent of the garbage gremlins: the Natural Light drinkers. I noticed they like to throw their cans more on the left (our) side of the road.

I used to do this very activity as a child, and my gathering with a garbage bag extended far beyond where we lived on North Boyer Road.

That's because pop bottles taken o the recyclers could net up to five cents a bottle while beer bottles (more prevalent than cans back then) were worth a penny.

A few times each year my parents would drive me and my bags of bottles, which I had kept in the wood shed, to the recycling center near the depot.

I'd hand over the bags, and whoever was working there would hand me some cash. It might be just a few dollars, but it was big money for a kid in those days.

I did this collecting so often that when my dad would see a beer bottle, he would say, "There's a Marianne."

I have noticed this year---and maybe it's because we don't have much snow---that garbage along our highways and roads is worse than ever.

It may be just another development in our new world disorder, but it would be nice if more emphasis was placed on cleaning up after ourselves----from toddler time to old adulthood.

We're all living on this Earth together, and it would be nice if the general population could learn to respect our environment.

I've also thought that it might be a good idea to tack on a tax to beverages and hand over a penny or two for every can that doesn't get thrown along the roadways OR that gets picked up and taken to a recycler.

It worked way back when. No reason why it can't now.

The Earth was cleaner and some little country kids' pockets were full.

International Women's Day

A striking observance about great women of history in this morning's New York Times newsletter:

That pattern appeared throughout the archives.

Achievements minimized.

Talents framed as curiosities.

Women memorialized first for how they looked, or whom they married, before their own accomplishments.

And yet, the vibrant lives of these women shone through.

I salute all the women of the world who do their best at whatever their mission, their goals or the example they hope to set through their individual efforts.

We're all in this together, just as are our male counterparts.

If the two groups simply respect and support each other universally, what a great world this would be.

It's that simple.