I have a horrendous hangover.
Life looks a helluva lot better when I'm in the custody of inebriation.
I'm wholeheartedly indebted to the spirit of Dionysus which inspired me to learn how to make homemade wine.
I finally (finally) have a new computer keyboard, which will enable me to blog again.
I just heard two people applaud - -
or was it one? (there's an echo in the room)
Actually, I plan to discontinue my blog at the end of this year (Dec, 2020).
For me, blogging has become much more burdensome than pleasurable. It's no longer fun like it used to be.
The most popular blogs are those filled with infinite sunshine, overt optimism, unicorns, rainbows, cotton candy, saccharine fluff, and gorgeous photos taken with expensive cell phones.
Lately I'm most often in my Heathcliff Mode - brooding, deeply melancholic - teetering on the far edge of impending doom and inevitable extinction.
That doesn't play well with generic audiences.
August?
Gone already??
It was, for me, a miserable month:
A lightning strike on my property.
Relentlessly disabling health problems
(I'll spare you the details).
Endless endless rain.
Did I ever mention that Tennessee has more rain than the Vietnam monsoon season? It's been raining here for the past six months.
August is gnat season. This year worse than ever. Thousands and thousands of extremely aggressive gnats - breeding everywhere in the house. Getting in my food...and the cat's food. I have to cover my meals when I try to eat.....I keep an electric fan on the kitchen table, but even that doesn't dissuade them.
They crawl on me and buzz in my ears when I try to sleep.
I keep old bowls filled with vinegar in every room.
Disgusting - - but effective.
A mouse infestation. Mice are everywhere. My cats can't keep up with them. They eat my cat's food.
They nest in all my dresser drawers.
As fast as I clean the mouse crap out of one drawer - they move to the next.
In desperation, I've poured black pepper in the drawers.
Discovered a mouse in the bathroom. He ate half a bar of soap (no lie)!
Snakes, anyone? I won't mention the snakes outside that slither through the brush and mud.....
Hoards of coyotes - they've been coming around here frequently the past few nights. Screeching with diabolical glee at 2:00 a.m.
These are only a few unpleasant diversions around here.
I haven't mentioned any of my serious problems......
Front yard yesterday morning
Back yard
Hello Jon, maybe I am one of those 2 people applauding your new keyboard, but I suspect there will be others. Your life does sound like a living hell, sorry there’s no way to sugarcoat saying that. Just reading about the constant and unrelenting battles against gnats, mice, snakes, heat and weather conditions Is hard for me to imagine dealing with every day. It’s sadder because it’s your daily reality. So here’s my rather bold question, is there any way you can get the $#%!! out of that wilderness and into some safer place?
ReplyDeleteForgot to add that IMO you are a much talented, creative, caring and smart human being to be languishing in such an awful-sounding place. Perhaps I'm in that minority of readers you so often mention, but there are those who care about how you're doing😢.
ReplyDeleteYikes.....To see the pictures you'd never think of the horrors of what goes on there. I remember staying with a friend once and he had a gnat problem. I came out that weekend with over 48 gnat bites all over. I don't know what he did to get rid of them, but with my gin intake, I'm sure all those gnats that bit me had to check into the Betty Ford right after.
ReplyDeleteLife does seem to be a struggle these days with everything going on. I guess I'll have to start looking for work if the virus eve eases up. Seems almost everybody I know is either working from home or laid off. So I will bide my time. Im going back into the mountains shortly to be a recluse and fall asleep but hopefully not as long as Van Winkle. Besides I don't think I'd look good with a beard. But between now and then I bet you reconsider your blog. You still get many comments from readers who adore you.
"Custody of inebriation" ... I love that! Practice makes perfect, my friend. (... jus' saying.)
ReplyDeleteI sincerely hope you'll change your mind and decide to keep the blog open. Lots can happen between now and then! Or, you could always make 'Lone Wolf' a pay-per-view. Suppose Blogger has that option?
I would NOT like those critters in the house, but it sounds like you're keeping up with them the best you can. You live in a beautiful place, although its remoteness must be wearing at times. I didn't realize that it rained that much there; everyone says that we get lots of rain in Washington. (not true, but we do have more cloudy days than many places) Glad your wine is working out! Hangovers are no fun though.
ReplyDeleteDon't quit blogging. You write very very well. Quit Tennessee instead! ♥️ Hugs ♥️
ReplyDeleteOMG you have gnats too. lived here 34 years, never saw any. this year they are everywhere. in all the places you describe. driving us crazy. thank you for the vinegar tip. going to put out bowls full of it tonight. i pity your health problems, for my body is ravaged with these issues too. too depressing to write about, i agree. but the thought of you not being in the blog world is something i will never get used to. i can't imagine it. your voice is needed dear friend. please reconsider. i don't post with regularity any more, myself. so i know the burden of writing when your heart isn't into it amid all the fluff. glad you got your keyboard. take care.
ReplyDeleteI tried twice to leave a comment, but when I posted it, I was taken to an "error" page. I came here a different way this time to see if that works.
ReplyDeleteDear Jon, Don't stop writing. In my typically unselfish way I declare the notion a great inconvenience to me. We need good minds right now more than ever to detoxify public discourse. Yours is a good mind.
ReplyDeleteI totally believe the soap thing. We had a mouse eat a can of play dough in our basement. How gross is that?
ReplyDeletePlease don't stop writing. I rarely comment but enjoy your blog.
ReplyDeleteOh man, the critters and bugs would be awful. I hate getting a few mice in my house every winter, can't imagine that many, or snakes or the gnats. I too wonder if its worth staying there? Find a better, closer place to town maybe? Wendy
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a about 11 years old I rescued a mouse from our cat. I tamed the mouse. It was extremely cute and became quite chubby in its old age. Every night when my dad would have ice cream, the mouse would rattle it's cage door and would get some licks of ice cream from his finger. It had licks of ice cream any time anyone in the house had ice cream. It would sit like a fat little mouse Buddha, with its "hands" on the cage door, ready to rattle it. Hercules the house mouse had a crook in its tail from when the cat caught until he died after about 3 years. Old for a mouse, I think.
Maybe your mice think they are being pets. I would freak out if a mouse got in my clothes storage and would have a hard time sleeping if they were in my bedroom. I would be afraid a random mouse might run across my face. Does your cat catch them, or does he/she just like to watch them scamper?