The Burrow

Wasn't it wonderful to listen to reasoned arguments instead of screeds?   Did it make you smile when you forgave his verbal missteps, remembering the former guy's bloviating and appreciating the difference?   Did you find yourself clapping along - more than once?   Were you nodding and grinning as our president unveiled a vision for America that emphasized growth and healing, rather than division and discontent. There's no reason we can't....... That's the America I grew up in.  I'm glad to have it back

The CDC says it's safe for me to be outside with a few people.  It rained yesterday and the soil was more supple than usual.  The sun was out and I was ready - I was back at Prince Elementary School. The raised beds were a disaster, but we were able to save some aloe and one random plant that looked promising.  It's now surrounded by stones to remind others not to pull it. Palo Verdes have seeded themselves, taking advantage of the irrigation and lack of attention to thrive where they should not be.  It took 30 minutes of digging and wedging and cooperating, sacrificing a plastic tool or two along the way, but the baby tree and its roots are no longer embedded in the raised bed.   It helps to have strong 5th graders to do the heavy lifting, especially 5th graders who can dispose of garden waste with such style. The younger kids came in and wanted to plant, so we set up the vertical garden provided by our friends at the Department of Agriculture.  They ...

People buy amaryllis bulbs in WallyWorld, at the drug store, at Michaels, and at garden centers. They buy these bulbs from late October through the end of the year.  Sometimes they come in pretty pots.  The maintenance to display ratio is overbalanced toward beauty. The thing is, they are bought as a Christmas flower.  The red blooms and bright green stems complement the holiday decor.  In April, between Easter and Mother's Day, my tchotchkes tend toward the pastels.   Apparently, this bulb never got the memo. The first year, it bloomed in January.  Over time, its internal clock has reset itself, relentlessly moving forward through the year.  The thick leaves have been anchoring the giant pot just outside our front door, surrounded by pink and white vinca and the occasional gladiola, for quite a while.   The flowers opened this weekend.  I broke off the stalk and brought them inside.   We just got home. I have no particula...

Sitting right next to a human to whom I am not related was weird.  Not scary,  which was surprising,  but odd.   Eating in public was something new.  Hidden away,  as far as we could be from the madding crowd,  the food tasted just as good as it did at home.  Keeping six feet apart in the airport seemed superfluous.  We were all crammed into a metal tube,  breathing recycled and filtered air,  shoulder to shoulder and back to front.  There was drink service,  but no food on our short hops,  which made me very happy.  That was the piece that worried me the most. The transitions were seamless.  The security line was 3 people long.  People raced off the plane,  pulling suitcases out of the overhead bins more quickly than I've ever seen before.  The planes were full.  The rides were smooth.  There were no mask avoiders, no sneezers, no crying babies,  no seat kickers.  We ...

Happy Wedding!

 Feedburner, the RSS (which stands for Really Simple Syndication) feed is no longer really simple, at least for me.  As of July1, 2021, Bloggers's RSS subscription service will end.   I'm working on setting up something new. In order to be sure you don't get left behind (at least I hope you don't get left behind),  please send an email to  ashleighattheburrow@gmail.com.   That will put you on the list (which I should be able to find in Feedburner but cannot) which (I hope) I will import into the new RSS. I'll be posting this at the end of my verbiage over the course of the next few months, too.  

 

( This is the 8th post I ever wrote, back in 2009.  I like it just as much today as I did then.) I like Earth Day. I was there at the start, after all. Created in large part by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, in the world of 1970 it was a touchy-feely alternative to the harsher realities of the anti-Vietnam War protests. War was such an uncomfortable subject and arguing against it made your parents wonder why they were spending tuition dollars while you were telling the lawfully elected President of the United States of America that you knew more than he did. With your picture in the crowd on the front page of the NY Times. At 18 years of age, no less.  But planting trees? Recycling newspaper? Not littering? And all this in service to Mother Earth. Who could be aggravated about supporting Mother Earth? Earth Day had teach-in's. They were more fun than sit-in's, which invariably involved police and disciplinary action. They were less fun than be-in's, which owed more to Timothy...

There aren't many events which could put me on an airplane, but Big Cuter is marrying Queen T on Saturday and TBG and I, clad in every possible layer of protective equipment, are going. A date that met all the conditions was chosen, back when vaccines were a vague hope sometime in the future.  There was no end in sight, and the kids were ready to move on.  We hoped for a vaccine that would allow us to be there, but encouraged them to plan it anyway.  We would send our love and feel safe at home. There were no hard feelings involved.  We were all on the same Keep The Parents Safe page.  TBG hates to travel anyway; on that level there was some cause for joy. This was a legal ritual certifying their commitment; an officiant and two witnesses are all they'd need.   Then there were vaccines, and we got ours in time to be fully filled with antibodies that grew comfortable for two weeks and, according to the CDC and Dr. Fauci it should be safe for us to travel....

You met him when he was Mr. 3, an adorable bundle of love and smiles and curiosity.  He was happy to climb at the playground for hours, while his mom worked and I watched. I took him to buy hissing cockroaches at The Bug Shop and crystals at The Rock Shop (those are the real names, not blogonyms.... creative, eh?).  I drove him to the park with his scooter and to play basketball at the courts partially funded by CTG's foundation.  I watched his soccer games from the sidelines and basketball from the bleachers. Today, I'll be watching him sit behind the wheel of a car, driving. Amster says she won't sign him up for driving lessons until I think he's safe behind the wheel. She thinks he's fine, but she wants confirmation.  She's the only one he's driven; he needs more practice with someone not his mom.    I am the designated "Is This Okay or Not" person, because every parent needs someone who loves their kids as much as they do  and who will step in ...

And they make me happier, too.   TBG made us breakfast and I read the Sunday paper all the way through.  I spent some time thinking about my granddaughter, who really enjoyed the clipping I sent her extolling the praises of Nandi, the Tucson zoo's elephant who is also 6 years old.  She really liked the paper; she'd never seen anything like it.  My daughter had to explain the concept of newsprint and the newspaper to a true child of the 21st century.   Then, I took the UV to the post office, mailed the current installment of FlapJilly and TBG's games of tic-tac-toe (with notes to one another) and drove to Michaels.   The store used to be on the way home from the post office, if I made a loop with more traffic lights.  TBG drove me to curbside pickup one week; the next week the website said Temporarily Closed.  The newspaper announced the opening of a brand new Michael's in the shopping center that's on the way home if I make a bigger...

I've been grumpy lately.  It hasn't been fun.  I'm going to make a concerted effort to be happier. My first step is moving to the kitchen table at sunset on a cloudy evening.  Usually, this seat is too bright to sit in for anything but admiring the view, while shading your eyes.  But tonight there's a delightfully boring grey haze behind high clouds and I can sit and look out at the view while I type to you. Now, there is a reason to be happy. Little Cuter received her second dose of the Moderna vaccine and SIR gets his next week.  We are so close to having a fully vaccinated tribe; another reason to smile. FlapJilly told us that  after reading 3 chapters in my book, I just put my bookmark in and went to sleep.   He little brother explained in great detail SIRs kindness in making ice in my water.... there is ice in there.  Facebook may be the work of the devil, but FaceTime has cemented our relationship with our grandkids that nothing in the Befor...

I've begun and rejected two posts while I've been on hold.   The phone tells me it's now been 10 minutes since I connected with my doctor's voicemail-from-hell system.  There was no obvious number to push from the instructions, so I hit O and moved from droning voice to soft rock blaring from Speaker Phone. After 5 minutes I spoke to a young woman.  She listened.  She put me on hold.  She came back and asked my identifying information before putting me back on hold.  After 9 minutes she wondered if I had a fax number for that referral; back on hold after giving it to her. Three minutes later, she's back.  Okay, we'll work on that and hopefully it will go out in time. Hopefully???????   I explained that without that referral I was on the hook to self pay a really high bill that my insurance will cover if they send the referral on time.   Don't worry.  I'm sure it will be there by the time of your appointment. No, there was no wa...

Feedburner, the RSS (which stands for Really Simple Syndication) feed is no longer really simple, at least for me.  As of July1, 2021, Bloggers's RSS subscription service will end.   I'm working on setting up something new. In order to be sure you don't get left behind (at least I hope you don't get left behind),  please send an email to ashleighattheburrow@gmail.com.  That will put you on the list (which I should be able to find in Feedburner but cannot) which (I hope) I will import into the new RSS. I'll be posting this at the end of my verbiage over the course of the next few months, too.  

Little Cuter's elementary school friends are now moms themselves.  The newest one to join the club was feted on Sunday... all day on Sunday.... by friends and family far and wide.  This is a brave new world, denizens, and they are extraordinarily comfortable there. LilHil, whose family's dates overlap with ours in so many ways, hosted three events in a row.  His Family, Her Family, and Her Mom's Friends gathered for consecutive hours of introductions and games and memories and love. How is it possible that these kids I drove to soccer practice are now seeking parenting advice?   How is it possible that none of their moms look any different than we did when we sat at PTA meetings decades ago? Her mom sat in a kitchen that was familiar to me.  Three women who've always been together were in one room, together.  It was like old times, only different. LilHil was a master Zoom-ologist.  There were no awkward silences.  The games were silly (I eith...

I can list all all the causes for my angst -     The lady who sneezed - maskless - over the vegetables at Albertsons yesterday afternoon.     Taxes are due.     We're traveling to Big Cuter's wedding next week - airplanes, hotels, restaurants......     My irrigation is refusing to water two of my vulnerable roses.     There's an HOA meeting next door at Fast Eddie's house and I wanna stay home and Zoom.     The pool filter conked out after absorbing more than its weight in detritus; we haven't swum in 3 days.     The trilogy about Henry the VIII I'm reading is pointing out the lapses in my knowledge of        history.     Those are the facts.  The results are a stomach jumping around, a head that refuses to settle on one thought for more than 5 seconds, and hands that are shaking when they aren't otherwise occupied. My blood pressure was super high at the dentist's office this m...

Olga's comment last week about it being "a strange new world out there" resonates in my soul.  I gave myself a sick stomach last Thursday, forcing me to cancel dinner plans next door.  I think I did too much too soon.  Reading at Prince on Wednesday, a private session with The Pilates Diva on Thursday followed by a haircut and lunch out...... it was a normal middle of a normal week set in the middle of Pandemica.  It freaked me out. By Friday morning, I was anxious about reading to another kindergarten class.  I could have cancelled, but my heart wanted to share Caps for Sale more than my brain was feeling reluctant.  I overrode my thinking and drove down to school. I couldn't wait to get out of there. Nothing was different than it had ever been.  There were bright eyes shining back at me - 25 of them where before, during hybrid learning, they were 12, two days a week.  Getting used to all those extra bodies on the carpet caused some consternation...

It's been more than a year since my hair has met a pair of scissors.  That's about 2 months too long. Up until then, I was amused by the length and the variety of embellishments available.  Then, my locks refused to come down from their pony tail; it took about 30 minutes before the up do relaxed.  And the ends were frayed and lifeless; pulled into a bun they weren't noticed by anyone but me. I made the appointment the day I received my second vaccine.  It was a declaration of freedom, of a return to The Before Times.  I was only a little bit anxious. The signs outside their new location said it all:  No Mask?  Okay.... see ya next time! stood on one side of the door,  You Mask Up.... We Stay Open  was on the other.   I knew the owner, my stylist, had been vaccinated.  She offered me a chair away from the other patron, but since everyone was masked and she and I were full of Fauci Ouchies, I demurred.  I didn't know how sh...

The scholars have returned to full time, in person learning on the campus of Prince Elementary.  Masked and socially distant, they walk in careful lines, stopping on the horseshoes that have been painted on the playground.  When I came around a corner, two little ones hugged the wall until I passed. Grandma was back at school, and it was wonderful, despite COVID precautions.   There were no hugs (sigh) but there were many many smiles.  Do you remember me?  followed closely behind HI!!!!!  from the mouths kids I haven't seen for 14 months.  They've all grown.  With masks covering half their faces, identification was spotty at best.  Of course I do!  was my standard answer.  It sufficed.   Grandma's Garden is a disaster.  Even the weeds have abandoned the space.  There are 2 stray yuccas, no doubt pooped out from a burrowing beast.  The aloe vera are flowering, but their leaves are brown and sagging....

I'm sad tonight.  Almost too sad to write. and that strikes me as funny since I haven't spoken to her since she called me in the hospital to express her outrage at the NYTimes reporting on my shooting.. You are not 59 years old.  I know this because R'y isn't 59.  I know what year this is; you are both 58. R'y is her brother and they are my first cousins and we lived next door to one another, our fathers working together and commuting together, then not; our parents best of friends, or not; but the kids never were involved in that drama.   Instead, we ran the in and out of one another's houses, relying on their pretzels and our bread and butter for an afternoon snack, asking which ever mother was available a question, playing in whichever yard was available, the only real demarcation our swing set and their cherry tree along the back fence. Every once in a while, she'd be  Annie Oakley with me, skulking around corners, snapping caps in the handguns we pulle...

This is  what I saw when I opened the blinds this morning. The flowers are fabulous up close, too. The yard guys were here and used their youth and strength to dig holes for my new roses. They look much better now that they are out of their black plastic pots.   This beauty shed her protective leaf soon after Matt put her in the ground. And then, there are the pots.  My annuals turn out to be perennials and surprise me every year.  This pot in this spot was an unhappy home for a rose bush and a variety of refugee plants from other parts of the garden.  But the globe amaranth ( Gomphrena Fireworks) comes back year after year after a drastic haircut in the fall, and the snapdragons reseed and flourish, creating beauty with no effort on my part.   I was entranced by these pansies in the nursery  and brought a bunch of them home. It took them a month or so to settle in, but the hot days and cool nights have put a smile on their faces.  Faces, you...

Pandemica is expanding her reach.  Before vaccination became available, there were very few choices. What began as restrictive soon became a comfort.  As long as we stayed inside our own personal space (and weren't we glad it is such a nice personal space) we were safe.   Washing the groceries became unnecessary once the virus was determined to be airborne and short-lived on surfaces.  DoorDash and the grocery stores figured out how to keep us fed; no one came closer than the trunk of the UV or the pony wall at the edge of the courtyard. There were no sports - to play or to watch.  There were no parties or meetings or appointments to keep.  There was just Pandemic.  We soldiered on.  What does that call up for you?  I'm thinking of mindless masses walking in formation, following the orders from above, not knowing or caring where we are going or when it will end, just plowing along in an orderly procession, hoping that those in charge kno...

Dr. Le retired last April.  I loved her and she's gone.  When I asked if her replacement was a nice and kind as she had always been, the response was heartening - If anything, she's nicer. I didn't think that was possible, but I made the appointment anyway.  This morning, I was able to confirm the initial assessment.  She's absolutely delightful. The office is in Walmart.  I know, that's a weird place to go.  I tried an optometrist in a private office when we first moved; I left before seeing the doctor.  The floors were filthy, the receptionist was rude, and there were too many waiting patients for the chairs available.  Later that week, I walked past the Vision Center at the Wally World around the corner, and it looked spiffy so I made an appointment and began my love affair with Dr. Le.   For 15 years we chatted about our children, their education, their progress, and our roles therein.  I helped her with some things I knew about...

Look, here's the deal.  America is falling behind in infrastructure.  Bridges are in danger of collapse, 400 some of them in dire need of immediate replacement.  And how about those roads and no wifi in outlying areas. Our enemies are aware of our shortcomings, and are prepared to capitalize on them.   Unions built the middle class and the middle class built America.  I have nothing against millionaires and billionaires and big, successful companies, but working class families shouldn't pay 22% of their income in taxes when Amazon pays nothing.  I have an idea to make them pay up, and it's a better deal than they had up until 2017.   I'm not wedded to my funding scheme.  I welcome input and new ideas.  Just don't think about adding any tax burden to anyone earning less than $400,000 a year. Oh, and we're going to replace every lead pipe carrying water to humans.  Every one should be able to drink clean water. My plan is certain...