THE DAY AFTER

Today appears to be the calm after the storm. I heard nothing about any serious destruction so I guess the major targets were all missed. Pt. Orchard is still standing, the Naval ships are still floating and I fell asleep during the bombing. I guess that wasn’t the great apocalypse. Hang on, Never fear some fanatic will project a new date for the end of the world. I believe the next declaration is for October 22. I doubt I will hold my breath.

The complaining at the BBQ began last night and I will soon go to coffee and will hear the continuation of the whining. Too many people are looking at the splinters in others and missing the logs in their own eyes. The biggest beef, as usual, was over the amount of food eaten by our two mentally challenged men. Exhausting. Leave them alone. Who cares! There seems to always be plenty of food and there certainly was plenty yesterday.

But that’s only the standard complaints. A few women sat at a table located in the sun and slightly apart from the porch. All the others sat on the porch in the shade. They were called isolationists, separatists, and anti-social. In reality a couple of them were cold. Leave them alone. One of them did not want to be near a particularly loud loudmouth.

OK, there may be some legitimacy about this next one. One lady came with several empty snap lid containers that she filled before leaving. She just worked her way down the smorgasbord table and filled her five containers for future meals (or a later snack). Having watched this woman fill up her plates (yes plural) at other potlucks I know she can put away more than anyone else here. The indignation of the observers reached monumental proportions. I’m sure I was told about it with the hope, or belief, that I should do something about it. My response is, “have you asked her about the practice?” The answer is always no. Maybe she has a good reason. There is no reason for that. Maybe she would take that clarification from you. That usually causes them to walk away.

We seem to always have more food than we need. Why should I care what three or four people eat or take away from the meal? Who am I — the food monitor?

I just returned from coffee. There was no more complaining about the people at yesterdays BBQ.

There are days I love what happens there. Rocky (maintenance man) joined us this morning and announced that if we are going to do laundry (that is in our building) we needed to do it today and not tomorrow since they are going to change out the washing machines tomorrow. I have a rotten side that I enjoy letting out to breath at times. This morning was one of those times.

So I say, Are you saying that because there will be no machines in the laundry room tomorrow that we should not try to do your laundry tomorrow? Well, there won’t be any machines. So I guess the answer to my question is yes. Yes, I cannot do laundry or no, I cannot do laundry. Which is it? That caused him to explain it all again. Now let me clarify this just to be sure. No laundry on Wednesday. That’s right. But what if I need to do laundry on Wednesday. Then get a rock and go to the stream and pound them out and use a scrub board. Will the Housing Authority be providing the scrub boards with clear instructions on how to use them including the potential dangers and possible side effects? Oh Lord, take me out of here now. I can’t take any more of this. Does that mean you will be going to the creek and should I come now for instructions? At that point he threw his hands up, got up and left. That was a good thing as I had way more questions to ask.