Cable Men & TVs & Men In General

I've been dusting and cleaning. 

I hate to dust. I'm allergic to it and then I itch all over. But it has to be done.

I tend to wash a few loads of laundry when I clean. 

Then I have wash rags and towels laid over furniture and coffee makers and the like, because, if you recall, I have a portable washer that I hook up to the sink.

And those things just slightly dry. That's okay. I know it's much better for your clothing if you don't dry them, but hang them instead. They last much longer that way.

I've been having strange pain at the top backs of my legs. I can't figure out what it is. I do yoga stretching twice per day. So I would think I'm certainly stretched enough.

Ever had this bother you?

I didn't get a chance to read last night. I was going to watch a wee bit of TV and then read. 

There are only two shows I now watch on a regular basis: Law & Order and The Blacklist. (Which I haven't discussed in awhile. Need to do that for those of you who watch it I suppose.)

In the past I've always watched Criminal Minds. But two of my favorite characters are now gone. (How did they kill off Hotch?) 

So I started watching Law & Order SVU, which I love, but comes on at the same time. (How many times have you called it SUV? I bet I've done that a hundred times.)

I don't think they have any new episodes for the next few months, so I thought I'd see what Criminal Minds is like without those two characters.

But the blasted cable remote went out on me. (No, it wasn't the batteries. I tried that weeks ago, and it's just slowly been going kaput). 

So then I couldn't turn off the TV. 

I had to locate a flashlight so I could see the tiny color-on-color words on the side of the actual TV (that of course no one ever uses anymore) that would tell me where on earth to turn the danged thing off. 

Horror of horrors if I had to try to sleep with a blasted TV on.

Of course that messed up the whole cable data thing. I tried and tried to fix that. And just got more frustrated.

So I've called one of the cable techs to come out. 

I hate strange people in my home. 

Maybe it's because I live alone. 

No, it isn't. 

It's because I don't like strange people coming into my home!

Sometimes I wish we could just go back to the simple TV days. No remotes to lose or mess up.

Just get up and turn the TV on and change the channel. And get up again to turn it off. 

Think how much more exercise we got having to do that. Now people become veritable couch potatoes. 

Men and TVs: Why do men change the channels constantly? 

I remember when I was married that just irritated the daylights out of me. 

How were you supposed to see enough of a program to decide if you might enjoy watching it in those few seconds?

So glad my TVs now come without a man attached to them. Because I do believe men become emotionally and somewhat physically attached to a TV. 

I think there is an invisible cord linking them to their TVs, such is their love for turning them on and surfing all the channels in boredom. While they scratch themselves. 

Ever notice that a man idly scratches at himself when no one else is around but the wife they've long since stopped trying to impress? 

Yes, that irritated the heck out of me too. Why do you think I've been divorced three times? You would think I'd have learned that after one, but I didn't.

And they want giant TVs. I've never met a man who said he wanted a small TV. 

Why is that?

So really, just how big does it have to be to watch it adequately?

Obviously I'm not a fan of giant TVs. They're just big black boxes. And ugly ones at that. That's just my opinion.

I can't stand to walk into a home and the TV is blaring. Non-stop. 

No one is usually watching it. So why is it a constant background noise?

Why is it that people NEED so much darned noise in their life? Do they not want to think?

Sometimes I think Charlie barks just to hear himself. He barks at nothing and everything. 

Many he's getting senile. Abi's not much of a barker, thank goodness.

I need silence to think well. I don't want distractions. I haven't turned the radio on in my SUV (or is it SVU?) in many years. 

That's just how much I love the sound of silence. 

Noise and I never got along very well. 

When I was a child I thought other children were awfully noisy. They couldn't just say something. They had to shout it. 

I preferred libraries, where, back in the day, you had to be very quiet. Quiet as a mouse. 

You reverently walked the aisles and gazed at the spines of books whose contents might alter your world. 

That little library in that little town sure made a difference in my life. And was an indicator of things to come. 

Reading was the reason I began to love writing.

The wind is blowing like it's trying to blow Oklahoma straight off the map. My poor gazebo has been lifting a leg and then slamming it down violently for all to hear.

I just went out there and put a brick on the little edges of the legs. Probably won't make any difference. 

One thing you can surely expect when it comes to Oklahoma: The wind comes sweeping down the plains on a regular schedule. And frequently. 

Huffs and puffs like an angry old man. 

I'm still wearing shorts and the air conditioner is on. I can't figure out this weather. (I know I've said that pretty much every day. But isn't that what we do as we get older?)

I'm sure you've had enough of my daily trivia for now. If you haven't nodded off.

Shoot. Most likely the cable guy won't be here until it completely messes up my evening schedule. Then I'll really be cranky and loaded for bear.