It's a lot for a 70-year-old OLD coot to endure.
Let's just say that, on an almost hourly basis, 2017 continues to disorder my mind.
This is the same feeble mind that forgot to acknowledge Mark Twain's birthday yesterday: Nov. 30, 1835.
And, Mark's the one who introduced me to the attributes of the word "disorder."
I believe it all had to do with Aunt Polly's sewing basket and the day she pulled the cloth off her basket and discovered a snake coiled up inside----- the scene "disordered her mind."
I don't know who was the "whodunnit" of this prank, but I'm guessing young Samuel aka Mark and his sidekicks, and I'm pretty sure the scene happened on the Clemens farm in Missouri, which Mark, as a writer, always wished he could pick up and move to some other states.
I do know for sure that the image Twain conveyed of Aunt Polly becoming disordered left a strong impression on my mind. Since the moment I first read the story, I have borrowed Mark Twain's terminology quite often in my own writing experiences.
The descriptive verb just plain works for certain occasions.
Whenever my mind disorders, it does so in a variety of ways---sometimes threatening to explode, sometimes triggering curse words, sometimes inspiring plain ol' griping or groaning.
Whenever my mind disorders, it does so in a variety of ways---sometimes threatening to explode, sometimes triggering curse words, sometimes inspiring plain ol' griping or groaning.
Let's just say this morning that my most recent "disorder," among the many this during year, occurred just yesterday after talking to my friend Ann on the phone.
In a morning email, she had mentioned something about what the Spokesman, our regional paper which doesn't always make it to my paper box, was doing.
Ann, whose second letter-to-the-editor during her 70-year-old lifetime appeared in yesterday's Daily Bee, alluded that this Spokesman-Review situation was exasperating. She expressed mild anger and suggested that I was also probably a victim of this situation.
Ann's letter to the editor: http://www.bonnercountydailybee.com/letters_to_the_editor/20171130/omission_dishonors_military_veteran
Ann, whose second letter-to-the-editor during her 70-year-old lifetime appeared in yesterday's Daily Bee, alluded that this Spokesman-Review situation was exasperating. She expressed mild anger and suggested that I was also probably a victim of this situation.
Ann's letter to the editor: http://www.bonnercountydailybee.com/letters_to_the_editor/20171130/omission_dishonors_military_veteran
Well, there was a problem. In that particular email, Ann unwittingly committed a journalistic mortal sin: she ASS-U-MED that I knew exactly what she was talking about.
I did not.
So, I called her, and she asked if I had gotten the letter from the Spokesman.
"No, what letter?" I asked.
Ann, who lives near Oden Bay, went on to explain that she and her neighbors had received a letter two weeks ago explaining that the Spokesman would no longer be delivering to rural customers.
When I told her I had received no such letter, that fact pretty much disordered Ann's mind.
By the time we ended our conversation, which did include a little griping, groaning, a cuss word or two but no explosions, Ann sounded determined to get to the bottom of why we, over here in Selle, would still be receiving our Spokesman paper----whenever the carrier decided to put it in the box while the folks at Oden Bay would never ever have to call circulation again to gripe about not receiving their morning papers.
This also seemed strange to me, especially since we have all of about three or four people on our road who subscribe to the Spokesman, while Ann lives in a lakeshore housing development.
Someone must have been tuning in to our conversation cuz a mere two hours later, when my mail deliverer (who always delivers---rain or shine) brought my mail and a package to the house, one of the letters was from the Spokesman-Review.
After Jan. 1, 2018, no more rural deliveries. If we want to read the Spokesman, we can do so online, the letter stated.
After reading the letter, I reasoned that our anonymous paper deliverer (they enjoy the highest level of privacy protection) must have been preparing us for this impending letter OR sabotaging our paper deliveries so that we would drop our subscription and save the Spokesman a postage stamp.
Well, we held out through several telephone calls to circulation, so they had to send us a letter and use that stamp.
Bottom line, we've seen other signs of this upcoming change over the past several weeks, but receiving the news in "black and white and 'read' all over," we are still reeling a bit about the upcoming major change in our longtime morning routines.
Good bye, cup of coffee with dog lounging on the couch next to me while I read the morning papers. I will still have the Bee, but being an old Spokesman-Review contributor, this is just plain personal.
I'm sure we'll adjust, just as we have this year when the previous two-way streets in downtown Sandpoint changed back to two-way after a few decades of one-way AND I am slowly getting the hang of dialing the three-digit area code with all my local telephone calls.
"You've come a long way, Baby" seems appropriate as I reflect upon "3-8-2, please," announced every day as my mother stood in our North Boyer living room, cranking up the wall phone to call Ardis Racicot for her hour-long mid-morning visit while our wringer washing machine was at work in the kitchen.
Considering that the slogan mentioned above helped Virginia Slims sell its cigarettes, I might just have to take up smoking again if all this mind disorder continues to upset my apple cart.
On another topic, this old journalist and proud mother is quite thrilled to announce that the Sandpoint High Cedar Post, advised by William Love, scooped the Spokesman and at least one local paper with the following rather disturbing story.
https://shscedarpost.com/6965/news/breaking-news-racist-propaganda-spreads-to-shs/
I think I'll get me a subscription to the best student newspaper in Idaho!
And, one more item from very recent unfake news: it was really neat to see the anecdote about my devoted editor Helen and her prince charming husband Skip in today's Daily Bee.
The story featured a segment about a Senior Ball gown worn by Helen, which she purchased on time. The gown is now on display at the Bonner County Heritage Museum.
As high school juniors, Helen and Skip reigned as prince and princess at the Sandpoint High Senior Ball in 1958.
They were in love then and nearly 60 years later and, happily, THAT HAS NOT CHANGED!
Nor has my enthusiasm for our ZAGS! The Bulldogs play again tonight in the kennel and tip off against the nationally ranked Creighton Blue Jays.
ESPN2: 7 p.m. PST.
Happy Friday. GO, ZAGS!
Ann, who lives near Oden Bay, went on to explain that she and her neighbors had received a letter two weeks ago explaining that the Spokesman would no longer be delivering to rural customers.
When I told her I had received no such letter, that fact pretty much disordered Ann's mind.
By the time we ended our conversation, which did include a little griping, groaning, a cuss word or two but no explosions, Ann sounded determined to get to the bottom of why we, over here in Selle, would still be receiving our Spokesman paper----whenever the carrier decided to put it in the box while the folks at Oden Bay would never ever have to call circulation again to gripe about not receiving their morning papers.
This also seemed strange to me, especially since we have all of about three or four people on our road who subscribe to the Spokesman, while Ann lives in a lakeshore housing development.
Someone must have been tuning in to our conversation cuz a mere two hours later, when my mail deliverer (who always delivers---rain or shine) brought my mail and a package to the house, one of the letters was from the Spokesman-Review.
After Jan. 1, 2018, no more rural deliveries. If we want to read the Spokesman, we can do so online, the letter stated.
After reading the letter, I reasoned that our anonymous paper deliverer (they enjoy the highest level of privacy protection) must have been preparing us for this impending letter OR sabotaging our paper deliveries so that we would drop our subscription and save the Spokesman a postage stamp.
Well, we held out through several telephone calls to circulation, so they had to send us a letter and use that stamp.
Bottom line, we've seen other signs of this upcoming change over the past several weeks, but receiving the news in "black and white and 'read' all over," we are still reeling a bit about the upcoming major change in our longtime morning routines.
Good bye, cup of coffee with dog lounging on the couch next to me while I read the morning papers. I will still have the Bee, but being an old Spokesman-Review contributor, this is just plain personal.
I'm sure we'll adjust, just as we have this year when the previous two-way streets in downtown Sandpoint changed back to two-way after a few decades of one-way AND I am slowly getting the hang of dialing the three-digit area code with all my local telephone calls.
"You've come a long way, Baby" seems appropriate as I reflect upon "3-8-2, please," announced every day as my mother stood in our North Boyer living room, cranking up the wall phone to call Ardis Racicot for her hour-long mid-morning visit while our wringer washing machine was at work in the kitchen.
Considering that the slogan mentioned above helped Virginia Slims sell its cigarettes, I might just have to take up smoking again if all this mind disorder continues to upset my apple cart.
On another topic, this old journalist and proud mother is quite thrilled to announce that the Sandpoint High Cedar Post, advised by William Love, scooped the Spokesman and at least one local paper with the following rather disturbing story.
https://shscedarpost.com/6965/news/breaking-news-racist-propaganda-spreads-to-shs/
I think I'll get me a subscription to the best student newspaper in Idaho!
And, one more item from very recent unfake news: it was really neat to see the anecdote about my devoted editor Helen and her prince charming husband Skip in today's Daily Bee.
The story featured a segment about a Senior Ball gown worn by Helen, which she purchased on time. The gown is now on display at the Bonner County Heritage Museum.
As high school juniors, Helen and Skip reigned as prince and princess at the Sandpoint High Senior Ball in 1958.
They were in love then and nearly 60 years later and, happily, THAT HAS NOT CHANGED!
Nor has my enthusiasm for our ZAGS! The Bulldogs play again tonight in the kennel and tip off against the nationally ranked Creighton Blue Jays.
ESPN2: 7 p.m. PST.
Happy Friday. GO, ZAGS!
2 comments:
SR did that several years ago in
southeast Spokane County. with fewer and fewer hard copy subscribers and gas prices, delivery people can't even break even. Bottom line is always the profit margin. so sorry. who doesn't like the satisfaction of reading the morning paper, hard copy in hand.
Wait, Mrs. Love curses? Now I'm all disordered.
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