Risky Business

The Ohio Cosgriffs placed upon me a great trust. I was to take the brand new Keurig they purchased for use in our vacation home in Hessel, Michigan, and see that it worked.

It has worked quite well. But I did throw caution to the wind. Despite the warning in the handy guide which came with the unit, I did not READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS before I began making coffee. Going with my gut instincts and common sense, I set the Keurig up and put it into use all by myself.

I pray I have not violated their confidence in me. 

Right Timing

I gassed up my new old van last night, and I'm glad I did. The local gas jumped 25 cents overnight. A quarter a gallon overnight.

That comes to what would have been another $3.75 to fill my tank if I had waited until this morning. 

This is absurd, friends. It's downright insane. And it's all courtesy of the man and the party who are for the unions, for the minorities, for the poor. So they claim, anyhow.

I have a hard time believing that any of them, in their hearts, are happy over this very predictable inflation, especially concerning gas prices. I know I will certainly remember President Biden and the Democrats in November. And in 2024.

Oh The Humanity

Those of you who know me well know I don't like change. Yes, yes, yes, change is inevitable, I should accept it, indeed (yuck) embrace it, blah, blah, blah. I get that. That all makes a bit of sense. Circumstantially, philosophic Marty must add. I still don't like it, and you can't make me. But even I will admit to sometimes considering absurd ideas merely to avoid a mild, unimportant change in my expectations.

When I arrived here in Hessel last Thursday I discovered that the local Church had changed its Sunday Mass time from 8:30 to 9 AM. This is a nothing change, I readily admit. But my first impulse was, 8:30 to nine? What's up with that? That, that's a whole half hour. It was thirty minutes later than I was expecting. Two percent of the day had been altered. My Sheldon clock would be off. Why would you do that to me, Our Lady of the Snows?

I thought about driving to the Soo (The Soo is Michigan shorthand for Sault Sainte Marie, the French 'Sault' being pronounced as 'Soo' or, if it helps, 'sue') to attend a 4PM Mass on Saturday at the large Catholic Church there. But dude, that's 35 miles away. You're actually going to make a 70 mile round trip which will add every bit of 90 minutes to your Saturday, with gas costing five bucks a gallon, to avoid what amounts to no huge change to your Sunday but merely an alteration of a half an hour?

Well, yeah. I thought about it.

In the end, cooler heads prevailed. I went to the 8:30, uh, 9 o'clock Mass. It was okay, too, pretty much like the old, earlier service. I ended up just fine with it.

But if they change it again before my next visit, oh, the letter they're gonna get. I will take it all the way to the Pope if I have to.

Testing Testing

The Ohio Cosgriffs were kind enough to buy a new Keurig for when we're up north in da U.P. in Hessel, Michigan. I was fortunate enough to be able to bring it this weekend.

It's a dual action coffee maker, you might say. On one side you can brew an entire pot. Meanwhile, there's  a port (I think you could call it a port) where you can make single cups. Technology. It's cool. Or hot, where coffee brewing is concerned.

I have so far made one entire pot of twelve cups and one single cup, just to test it out. It has passed the initial trial swimmingly. Of course I'll need to test it out several more times over the next couple of days. The scientific method and all that, because I need to be sure.

Old Man Coffee

One of my little pleasures in life has been getting a large coffee at the first convenient gas station or 24 hour donut shop or whatever when I begin a road trip. Then I was dinged for $2.32 at a truck stop for a 24 ounce coffee which had been $1.69 for who knows how long. I must admit the sudden leap in cost gave me a minor shock.

Consequently, on my most recent journey I grabbed a large insulated cup from my pantry and made two cups of hot java in my Keurig, as it took two to fill the mug. All the while I was quite approvingly proud of myself. Indeed, rather arrogantly proud and self satisfied.

I was using coffee which was already paid for.

I wouldn't have to stop within the first half hour of the trip. Think of the time I gained!

I was saving seventy three cents on the deal. Seventy Three cents, mind you. I'd have killed for 73 cents when I was a boy.

Who needs that fancy coffee from fancy coffeemakers anyway? Sumatran bold and Columbian supreme and Arabica dark roast, hah. I was enjoying Marty's made at home brew.

Yep. I was doing all the right things for all the right reasons. Yessiree.

Then I thought, you are becoming an old man, aren't you?

Hell, the coffee still tasted good.

Hazardous Driving

There's a road down in Ohio which sure seems to me runs along a cliff facing. At points it almost appears that the ground drops straight down from the roadside. I swear you can see Wile E. Coyote giving that sad little 'bye bye' wave right before he falls to his doom.

I think it's Malden Line by Leamington in Ontario, Canada which has the same threat. You better stay on the road because if you slide one way or the other you'll be joining Mr. Coyote before you know what's hit you. You won't even have the chance to wave. You might, however, get that far off puff of smoke like he does when you hit bottom.

Housing Rights

My mailman was kind enough to deliver to me Friday the latest bit of drivel from my local Congressional representative (notice how I avoided all those pesky pronouns in not identifying a member of Congress?) which proclaimed that safe and affordable housing is a right. I am not enlightened.

The trouble with rights is that they imply obligations. If you have a right to something, who is obliged to fill that right? After all, if a certain nondescript fellow (whom we'll call Cloyce just to give him a name) has a right to a safe and affordable house, well, mine is safe and affordable. Do I have to give it to Cloyce?

Oh, don't be silly, Marty. Of course not.

Well, okay, then, how about the heavy machinists and the carpenters and the electricians and the heating and plumbing contractors who actually build homes? Do they have to build Cloyce a home for free? And do the folks who make the materials which go into home building have to supply the lumber and wire and ductwork and lighting gratis as well?

Come on, Marty, of course not.

Well, then, who does come up with the house? Who owes Cloyce a safe, affordable home, since it's a right he has? Who must deliver on that right? Don't say the government, because that's just a longhand way of saying me, and we've already established I don't owe Cloyce a home.

And that's the trouble when you begin bandying about rights. If you aren't ready and willing to talk rationally about obligations as well, Congressional representative, you're just blowing smoke.