YES, I AM still here looking out this window on Main Street, and I am hopeful our area doesn’t lose any small businesses during the coronavirus shutdown. According to one survey, three fourths of our nation’s small businesses are hurting because of the virus.
Keep yourself safe, but support your town’s businesses in any way you can, and that includes your hometown newspaper.
A lot of businesses are experiencing a slowdown of paying customers, and also a shaky supply chain.
And we should all keep our fingers crossed for local industry, too. We have been most fortunate in the continued availability of employment.
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SOMETHING IN THE SKY. Up early a week ago, I went out on my driveway to get the daily paper. I stayed there looking at the stars. Some movement caught my eye. About 8-9 very dim lights were moving in a mostly straight line in a northeasterly direction. I first thought was that it was an old-fashioned flight of geese. But there was no honking. There was no moon, and it was about an hour before dawn, so I couldn’t imagine where the light was coming from which dimly reflected off whatever it was that was flying past.
This was last Wednesday. Anyone else see this?
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ANIMAL CRACKERS. I’ve had this particular housefly before. I always see it at night just before I turn out the bedside lamp. It zips around and tries to land on my face. For some reason, if I can get the light off quickly enough it doesn’t bother me any more.
But where does it go? I never see it in the daytime when I go room-to-room armed with my concealed fly-swatter permit.
Is a male or a female fly? Makes no difference — it is an equal opportunity annoyer. And, how did it get into the house in the first place?
I am really, really sorry Noah let that pair of houseflies get aboard.
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GIVING BLOOD is no more difficult than pulling your neighbor’s doberman’s impacted wisdom tooth without benefit of anesthetic.
Several years ago I stopped donating blood. I think it dates back to the last time the Red Cross visited the Center Point Community Center where the Moonlighters Extension Homemakers Club hosts a drive every two months. The LifeShare folks took over blood drives in SW Arkansas, and I just used that changeover as an excuse to stop donating.
But with the arrival of the coronavirus our hospital sent out a plea for blood donors.
I went out last Wednesday to give blood. The LifeShare folks were taking donors inside a cramped bus parked on the hospital campus.
My own opinion of donating blood — even before LifeShare succeeded Red Cross — was that reading the rules and filling out forms and answering questions for a half hour in order to give blood for 15 minutes was about as bad as two days of fasting and enemas before undergoing a colonoscopy.
I went through the required questionizing and a nice young lady took a drop of blood from my fingertip just to make sure I was human. I need to mention that she also took my temperature and checked blood pressure.
Getting into the ‘chair’ to give blood was a challenge for a plump senior citizen. From my days of writing about sports I knew of two ways athletes competed in the high jump at track meets. There was the ‘scissors’ method in which the jumper ran up to the bar and ‘scissored’ his or her legs and hoped that the butt followed without knocking the bar off. The other method was called the Fosbury Flop, named after the athlete who invented it. The jumper runs up to the bar, turns his or her back and flops over the bar, hoping that the butt follows.
I used the Fosbury Flop method of getting into the blood donor chair, and immediately I began worrying how I would extract myself. When I informed the attendant that I used the Fosbury Flop to get into the chair he looked at me like I was weird. Can you imagine that?
I would tell you how I got aloose from the chair, but it’s another story and I’m sure you wouldn’t be interested. But I will tell you this: There is no such thing as a Reverse Fosbury Flop.
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REST IN PEACE for a fine gent, Charles Wright, Sr., who died last Friday. Until I read his obituary I did not know he played basketball at Arkansas AM&N, now UAPB, and taught and coached at Foreman. I knew he was retired from the Okay Cement Plant, and was active in the local NAACP and at the Farmers’ Market here. He was a man anyone could respect and admire, as I did. Peace to Vivian and the rest of his family, and thanks to the Almighty for putting such people among us.
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THINGS I LEARNED from opening (and believing) email: “RELIEF: What trees do in the spring”
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WORD GAMES. Another set of twins: Surf and Turf. For when you can’t decide between seafood or steak.
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HE SAID: “The mugger who is arrested is back on the street before the police officer, but the person mugged may not be back on the street for a long time, if ever.” Mario Cuomo, governor of New York
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SHE SAID: “Fear can be good when you’re walking past an alley at night or when you need to check the locks on your doors before you go to bed, but it’s not good when you have a goal and you’re fearful of obstacles. We often get trapped by our fears, but anyone who has had success has failed before.” Queen Latifah, songwriter and music producer
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SWEET DREAMS, Baby
