a gaggle of geese

the snow geese visit often.  today i parked along side of them but as i got out of my car something startled them and the huge flock rose up, honking and raucous and were out of sight beyond the trees in seconds, leaving behind some surprised and stodgy mallards.  they looked around as if to say "what's their problem?" and waddled slowly about their business in the grass.  by the time i was up the stairs and meeting archie's soft round mewing head at the door, the gaggle was back circling the field and wildly flapping as they landed.  i stayed and watched them, amused.  here's some clicks i took one saturday in january.  january 26th to be precise.

i like the feet in the upper right corner.  i like how they glide in like airplanes before they drop with a flutter.

if last friday's paper route was a poem, yesterday's was not.  a couple of times i seriously considered throwing the papers in the watery ditch and going home.  yesterday's papers were super thick.  they didn't all fit in my cart.  they didn't come close to fitting.  the best i could do was stack them in, stuff down the sides and then keep stacking.  they reached far above the handle.  it was raining so i draped my tarp over the lot.  when i went to push the beast, the front wheels wouldn't budge.  it seems the papers were so heavy that the bar was pushed over the stop and down on the wheel.  somehow i managed to tip the tower back and rest it on my chest as i clumsily steered it on it's back wheels. hard to steer and heavy to boot.  stopping to deliver at my first house, a pile of papers slid out from under the tarp and fell in the wet dirt, flyers scattering everywhere.  i delivered a few wet and muddy papers as a result.  then a while down the road it happened again.  grrr.  grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.  instead of throwing the whole cart and it's load in the ditch and storming off with my thunder feet, i wrapped the tarp a different way, leaned the cart against me and jogged towards the next houses.  before long it all became more manageable and after a while i was able to lift the bar off of the wheel which was a great relief.  there was one insert that received the hate of my heart.  a little booklet about richmond attractions.  it slipped out of the folds of the paper countless times causing my everlasting enmity towards it.  at one of my last houses i was walking confidently down the drive in the pitch dark.  suddenly my ankle turned at an exact 90 degree angle, bouncing off the grass beside the drive and snapping back up.  i felt three things: surprise, pain and resignation.  i hobbled on, finished my route and rattled home with my empty cart.  my shoes and socks and pants were soaked.  i shed them all at the door, quickly ate some lettuce wraps and then climbed into bed.

please let the papers be smaller tomorrow.

at work right now i'm working on this project.  i'm going to hang pictures of all sorts of fruits and vegetables in the dinning room.  i'm writing health benefits on the backs.  i'm learning lots of things, like cabbage leaves can be used as a poultice for arthritic joints and tomatoes are native to south america, the cherry tomatoes from then andes, are the oldest.  almost every fruit or vegetable fights against cancer, helps your heart or skin, or eye sight.  apples can help your diarrhea OR constipation.  wild eh? avacados, besides being the perfect because it has protein, healthy fats, and carbs, helps with mood swings, depression and exhaustion.  potatoes have enough vitiamin c to protect against scurvy.... anyways, i'm enjoying this project, which i work on in all my spare time at work.

today sarah and i were texting about what she was going to make for dinner.  i felt it was a good time to ask her "are you going to have another bebe?"  her answer was "and yes.  we're going to make the bebe on the cruise. winky face."  great.  we're all sharing the same room.  guess i'll have to spend time at the late night buffet.