Better Than Mere Smarts, a Random and Happy Tuesday Post

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It's time once again for a random and happy Tuesday, linking up with Stacy's Random Thoughts at Stacy Uncorked and Sandee at Comedy Plus.  

The first stop at Carl's is always the laundry room.

Once again, the laundry room light wouldn't come on.  The closet light and the little battery operated lantern they keep in there, along with the flashlight from my phone, had to do until it decided to work later in the morning.

Last Monday they were down to two dryer balls, then by Thursday when i went back to clean the house, back up to five.  Now there are four.  Carl is the one who buys them, i have no clue where they go when he loses some or how he finds them later.

Carl was already in his sleep chair and the timer set when i arrived, so i figured he had work.  He hasn't managed to bring home a copy of his schedule from work in several weeks, so it's an adventure to guess when he'll be there and when he won't.

Once in his room, i noticed a few things right away.

When Ms. V and i went to the ladies' meeting last Tuesday, she mentioned she couldn't find the winter coat she'd just bought the year before.  By Thursday when i showed up to clean the house, she'd found it -- in the coat closet by the back door where it belonged.

Well, of course, if you're going to put it away where it belongs, who's going to think of looking there, right?

Anyway, this coat looked suspiciously like it, but a quick examination showed it was her old one, which apparently fits Carl.  It's now his, because he's not allowed to buy new ones, just thrift or hand-me-down, as he loses so many of them.

And of course, the old one is still around.  We're frugal, after all, and get rid of nothing which still might have some use to it.

Last Wednesday at the cat shelter, i'd snagged two new ice chest/coolers for Carl's lunches, as they just throw out the ones medications are shipped in.

Already he's lost a bottom and a top, and the bottom and top he has left do not match, as they were two different sizes.  He's quick, that one.

The usual mess was there and unusually he'd only used one bath towel for the whole week, the one i set out for him last Monday.

Generally he's used all five of them, so i wsn't sure what was up with that.

Carl sometimes tries to clean.  Tries.

I say tries because, as with trying to clean the hair from his electric razors, it only ever partly works out.

While he slept i got the laundry gathered, including sniff testing several items, always a risky activity.  I also remembered to look up in the closet, as he's taken to stuffing clothes up there again and you never know if they're clean or not.

Things were well on their way when his timer went off and when i noticed he was out of the sleep chair and in the hall bathroom, instead of wondering whether he'd actually get up or sleep longer, i sort of made the decision for him by snatching his pillow and sheet.

Once i saw him, he asked how i was doing and i told him i was doing well and asked him in return how he was.  "Sleepy!" he said, "wanted to sleep more," and he went off into some mumbling.

The problem, of course, is he always wants to sleep more and his last minute rushes not to be late to work are infamous around here.

After he'd been shooed into the shower, laundry was started and i began investigating what was available for lunch.

In Carl's fridge, not much.

And no amount of tea in the cup or food in the container is too little to save in his book, so if the fridge is empty, he's really down to the bottom of the barrel.

The bag on top of the fridge only had the cough drops and some change (and the usual random assortment of paper towels), which is rare, too.

He came out of the shower only partially dressed, not liking some of what i'd left in there for him to put on.  It was raining and i'd chosen some pants with a waterproof outer shell, but he wanted his regular khaki pants under them.

It seems hot to me to wear all that, but it's his choice.

Next he said, "Powder?"

You're out and have been for a while, i told him, you need to buy more.

Carl grabbed his shoes and socks and went to the hall bathroom to use his mother's stash.

While eating, he talked about the online articles he was reading, including something about highway workers in Central America uncovering an ancient pyramid no one knew was there.  He's very interested in science and archaeology and whip smart, if he'd not been deprived of oxygen at birth, he probably could have been a scientist.  As it stands, he has no executive function but he enjoys life, and maybe that's better.

As i packed his lunch, he seemed anxious and eventually got very impatient, absconding with the cooler i'd pulled out to fill for him.  I had to pull it back in from the car and found he'd packed a mostly empty package of beef jerky and this.

The whole box of breakfast biscuits.  I took those out and put in an actual lunch, sandwich and all, then put it back in the car for him.

As he was gathering things to leave, he asked if he should buy bottles, meaning of water, and said he needed cards.

Christmas cards? i asked.

He nodded and added, "And sympathy."

It seems someone at his church lost a parent.  He's very empathetic and thoughtful, and a kid at heart, and if you don't believe it, here's his current work hat.

Time for more Christmas funnies.

Have a blessed and beautiful week, everyone!

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It's International Animal Rights Day!

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Today is:

Anniversary of the Victory over Daesh/ISIS -- Iraq

Chief Red Cloud Day -- marking the Sioux leader's death in 1909; defender of Native rights, son of Lone Man and Walks As She Thinks

Constitution Day -- Thailand

Dewey Decimal System Day -- anniversary of Melvil Dewey's birth

Do Something Wild and Crazy with Velveeta Day -- guess they mean besides turn it into Hillbilly Hor d'oeuvres (melted with Rotel and served with chips)

International Human Rights Day -- anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948

Jane Addams Day -- Hull House Museum, Chicago, IL, US (sponsored by the American Association of University Women-Illinois) 

Lux Mundi -- Ancient Roman Calendar (honoring Libertas as the bringer of light into the world)

Namibian Women's Day -- Namibia

National Lager Day

Nobeldagen -- Sweden (Alfred Nobel Day, presentations of the Nobel Prizes at the Stockholm Concert Hall)

     Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony -- Oslo City Hall, Oslo, Norway

Sister-Friend Day -- internet generated, but if you have a sister who is a good friend to you, it's worth celebrating

St. Eulalia of Merida's Day (Patron of runaways, torture victims, widows; Merida, Spain; Oviedo, Spain)

Whirling Dervishes Festival -- Konya, Turkey (through the 17th)

Anniversaries Today:

Mississippi becomes the 20th US State, 1817

Birthdays Today:

Raven-Symone, 1985

Bobby Flay, 1964

Kenneth Branagh, 1960

Susan Dey, 1952

Gloria Loring, 1946

Dan Blocker, 1928

Harold Gould, 1923

Dorothy Lamour, 1914

Chet Huntley, 1911

Hermes "Pan" Panagiotopolous, 1909

Mary Norton, 1903

Melvil Dewey, 1851

Emily Dickinson, 1830

Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, 1787

Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Wings Over America"(Album release), 1976

Lawrence of Arabia(Film), 1962

"The Mighty Mouse Playhouse" (TV), 1955

Grand Ole Opry (first radio broadcast), 1927

Today in History:

Martin Luther publicly burns the papal edict demanding that he recant, 1520

Isaac Newton's paper De Motu Corporum in Gyrum, containing the derivation of Kepler's laws from his theory of gravity, is read to the Royal Society by Edmund Halley, 1684

The Massachusetts Bay Colony becomes the first American Colonial government to borrow money, 1690

The metric system is formally established in France, 1799

The first traffic lights are installed outside the Palace of Westminster in London, 1868

Women's suffrage is granted in Wyoming Territory, the first in the US, 1869

Women are granted suffrage in Tasmania, 1902

The 10,000,000th Model T Ford is assembled, 1915

The Grand Ole Opry makes its radio debut, in Nashville, Tn, 1927

UN General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948

Ralph J Bunche becomes the first black to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, 1950

The United Nations General Assembly approves Pakistan's proposal for establishing nuclear free-zone in South Asia, 1981

The last shift leaves Wearmouth Colliery in Sunderland; the closure of the 156-year-old pit marks the end of the old County Durham coalfield, which had been in operation since the Middle Ages, 1993

An archive documenting the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda is revealed in the capital city of Kigali, 2010

Mary Barra of General Motors becomes the first female CEO of a major automotive company, 2013

Governor Jerry Brown tours Southern Californian wildfires and declares them "the new normal", 2017

The first fully electric commercial plane, a retrofitted seaplane, completes its test flight in Vancouver, 2019

Rare December tornadoes strike four American states, 2021