Brave Roo World

 My Amazon Alexa device has made my life more fun and easier in many ways.  She is also a source of endless frustration, which I sometimes wonder if it is on purpose. I like being able to add to my grocery list as I run out of items.  If only she understood me all the time.  I was planning on making collard greens so I needed a ham hock.   "Alexa, add to shopping list" "Sure.  What can I add." "Ham Hock" "I'm Hawk added.  Anything else?" "Broccoli" "Rockleigh added.  Anything else?" "Mozzarella Cheese" "How's The Rella Cheese added.  Anything else?" (Sigh)  "Nothing." I was able to use Alexa to find my phone.  She used to say, "Calling Roo" and my phone would ring and I could find it.  Somehow she forgot how to do this so I assumed that I had to add a new skill to find my phone. I started by saying, "Alexa, find my phone." She asked for the phone number.  Good start. No...

Jenga is a great metaphor for the year 2020.  According to Wikipedia, Jenga  is a  game of physical skill  created by British board game designer and author  Leslie Scott , and currently marketed by  Hasbro . Players take turns removing one block at a time from a tower constructed of 54 blocks. Each block removed is then placed on top of the tower, creating a progressively more unstable structure. Like most people, my husband Dave and I are not getting out much during the pandemic, so it seems our weekly grocery shopping has become one of our only forms of entertainment.  It also feels like security to have a freezer full of food. If we are unable to get out, we have at least a month's worth of food to keep us going.  The only time this could backfire is if we a) lose power or b) receive a gift of food or c) have left overs.   Today we received a very generous gift from my mother-in-law.  A box from Omaha Steaks.  Filet mignon,...

 2020 is Trash:  Observations from suburbia 8/12/2020 There is a sunny side of the street but I prefer the shady side. I was silently admonished for not doing enough by a Lowe's lawn and leaf bag. The slogan on the bag, "What did YOU do this weekend?" My first reaction was guilt. Instead of toiling away at lawn work, I was eating blackberry ice cream (which dripped on my Winnie the Pooh dress, which is ok because Eeyore is already purple) and wandering aimlessly through a sunflower field where most of the heads had already been lopped off. Then my second reaction to the bag: F*** you. I'm 55. How much longer do I have anyway? One street I walked down today had a medium sized mutt tied in the yard while his handler read a book. The pup yipped at me. Obviously it had no idea that my love for dogs far surpasses my love for people. The owner commanded "leave it" repeatedly, as if I were on the same level as a chicken bone that fell out of the trash or a d...