It’s “Hey Rene J” Today!

When my son returned from college life in the dorm his first year, he brought a boatload of yogurt home. That was a positive move! We ate it…and then one day I happened to look at the expiration dates. Months old.

I have long believed those dates are more like suggestions – put there to keep you from suing some company in the event you get sick and in your mind you link it to something you ate. Refrigeration is a key ingredient, too. Heck – they sell eggs in Europe off the shelf of the grocery store. Fruit juice? That can keep on the counter. It’s either that or my upbringing with food left sitting in the sun at family reunions gave me some kind of immunity.

Anyway, you can tell which one I am in this marriage.

EmergencyEmail.org sends me severe weather alerts all too frequently. And when it’s not about weather, they send a notice on some meat or vegetable recall.

The newly renamed “Impact Weather Team” on our local station is also a bit over-the-top with its proclamations of storms and conditions to expect. I don’t even want to post a photo of this dire condition this morning. Suffice it to say there is no wind, a dusting of snow, small pool of water of my deck, and trees still awaiting the shedding of their cloaks.

What will I get as an alert when we truly do have a storm? I might do as I currently do and just swipe left – delete without reading.

Last week I had my well check and they didn’t even measure my height – rather unusual. So I had to take matters into my own hands.

Whenever I feel like I might be shrinking I clean the mirrors upstairs. If I can still reach the top of them without a step-stool, I’m good. It’s a rather unique method, but it gets the jobs done.

Good news – I haven’t shrunk – yet.

So, when the coach comes out to the pitcher on the mound at a strategic do-or-die point, does it really inspire anyone? It just seems like a last-ditch effort on someone’s part, probably that of the coach. To me it says, “Yeah…we still think you can probably do it.” Or, “Yeah, we’re putting in the relief guy.” I never get that feeling of total confidence.

Since I’ve never been on the mound professionally, only as a grade school player, I can’t really relate. But it did seem like the “kiss” tonight. The Yankees lost it.

I wasn’t invested in the World Series, but what am I going to watch now in the evening?

Next week we can look forward to the cessation of political ads and the inundation of holiday spending commercials. I guess that’s better? Maybe more palatable?

This unseasonably warm weather actually has me momentarily contemplating the cold and the holidays approaching. Hmmm. Thanksgiving is late this year, so our season of Advent is short. Christmas then arrives a tad earlier, though the same date. Do I start thinking about meal preparation now?

The year marches on and I’m apparently strolling along, hopefully to get in sync in the next four weeks. However, I’d run if it would make this week go faster and these ads end.

Happy Almost November.

My phone screen and my iPad are both cracked in the bottom right hand corner. Both still work, though rather unattractive in use. Kind of like me.

I was contemplating this aging business and how things break or crack or just poop out. I’m currently riding it out, limping along with the imperfections. The inner workings are still there, thankfully. They do need a little updating now and then, allowing things to purr along for awhile, until the next major episode. Which will be, of course, the visit to the dermatologist!

Pre-cancer cells will be made visible and erased and I will be in quarantine from the sun’s rays and any screen time for a few days. Shrouded in my scarves and hats I hope to clean out the basement storage room and possibly paint a room down there, and receive no visitors. It will be an ugly facade next week, reminding me of my aging technology.

I think we all need a little updating once in awhile, in one way or another.

The article on Pope Francis’s fourth encyclical brought joy to my soul. If I weren’t already Catholic I would convert!

The excerpt from the newspaper, still delivered to my door… This man has my number!

All it takes is a drive through the city to understand this one! Or perhaps wending your way through the aisles of Wal-Mart. We are a silly species at times.

This was my smile for the day, in honor of all those companions who tolerate us. A toast to Buddy and Frosty!

Perhaps that was the title of the cheer we did in high school? (Believe me, we had some nonsense encouragement for our teams.) This one came to mind as I awoke at 4:30 this morning to thunder and then hail. Yes, hail in late October.

Yesterday I had a premonition I suppose. I brought in the begonia I intend to over-winter, even though temps were mild. It just seemed like the thing to do. Aside from an inane chant, that was the other thing that came to mind as I pondered the hail pinging on our new roof.

Oh, it was more like sleet when I ventured out to look at 5:30 a.m. Kind of fun for a Monday morning, as I listen to the rain returning at 6:30 a.m. Well, we certainly needed moisture!

For years I have noticed how Shaquille O’Neal promotes so many products and companies. The ones I easily recalled were “The General” insurance, Icy Hot, Gold Bond lotion, some printer company (Epson?) and now Carnival cruise lines and JCP. As I watched the Broncos play last night I saw those last two and shook my head. (Btw…Broncos won)

So I decided to check out what Shaq endorsed and found, “The Top 50 Companies Endorsed by Shaquille O’Neal.” You mean there are more?

I learned he owns JCPenney! Well, he’s the second largest individual shareholder in the company which owns JCP. Huh? The commercial I saw last night with Martha Stewart also endorsing JCP may be helpful in reigniting the company’s image, I assume. I shall hope so, as I have an outdated JCP card. Anyway, I was superficially rewarded in knowing that I had recognized Shaq was endorsing a bazillion things. I can’t wrap my head around this kind of availability to invest….and yet he is working it! And well. 50 plus companies.

Obviously, I need worthier causes to investigate. Any ideas?