Timber Valley SKP Park of Oregon, Inc

‘Twas too hot to vacate my air-conditioned house,
Not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.
It’s so hot that the tires on my car want to melt.
Yes, I’m sure it’s the hottest that I’ve ever felt.

Rattle snakes were all nestled so snug in their beds,
“It’s too hot out there”, I’m sure they all said.
I put on my sunhat to go for a walk,
Don’t wait, it will soon be seven o’clock.

Cotton-tail bunnies hide out of sight,
No more romancing til later tonight.
They know how to multiply but not divide
Even tho they discreetly all hide.

The cactus must love this hot sunny shine,
They put out blooms that are so very fine.
Palo Verde’s tiny yellow flowers
Drift all around me in sneezy showers.

Come afternoon we’ll hide in air-conditioned spaces,
No one wants to go out to other places.
Look out the window at the sky so blue
Not a cloud anywhere to mar the view.

I’m back from my walk so now I’ll stay put.
Wait. First check thermometer that sits on my deck.
One hundred eighteen! Oh, come on, it’s not yet May.
One eighteen, oh that can’t be, what more can you say?

I’ll load up my stuff and I’ll pack up my car.
One thousand one hundred eighty one miles I go far
Thru mountains and valleys and deserts I go.
To home in the North where the cool winds will blow.

The mountains so grand rise up high on my way.
Mt. Shasta is gorgeous, the Queen of the Day.
It’s up and it’s down and it’s all around.
I don’t drive an RV, so motels I have found.

The mountains so green, they’re no longer all brown
No palm trees, no cactus in vales or in town.
The evergreen trees rise straight up to the sky.
They welcome me back as I travel by.

A home in the South and one in the North.
Good folks wherever I travel forth.
I’m so blessed to be loved by friends in both places.
To see smiles of welcome on all of their faces.

So put to bed this travesty of a poem,
Apologies go to Clement Clark Moore.
Originally he published anonymously
He’d surely disown this mess written by me.

Yes, I talked to soap bubbles. As I prepared to wash dishes (accumulated from the last month) tiny little iridescent soap bubbles wafted upward. They were so cute. Most of them dashed themselves to death on the cupboard but one little guy was more resilient or determined than the rest. He floated upward and then down several times as I cheered him on. Ultimately he met his fate on the rim of the sink. Oh Woe. Life is short and then you die.
My attempts to cheer him on (how do I know it was a him??) didn’t work. Maybe if I’d talked nicer to my Keurig coffee maker it would have lived longer, (didn’t help the soap bubble much, did it?). Things like “Come on Slow Poke” and “I know I gave you more water than that. What did you do with it?” haven’t helped. It just got slower and more sluggish every day. I think it probably needed a diuretic. But did you know that the newest diuretic costs about $400 a month?? No Keurig is worth that.
Google it! Yah, my solution to all life’s problems. Google described taking the cup part off and inserting a straightened out paper clip up into the Keurig. Hokay! Unplug. I have a healthy respect for electricity, since I don’t understand it. I mean how can the light for a lamp travel through those black cords and liberated come out clear and light? And voices and music? A mystery. Anyway, I reamed out the little hole and tried again.
Sheesh! Ugh! I had used vinegar in an attempt to descale the Keurig and apparently it had held on to the vinegar. Ever try coffee creamed with vinegar?? Yuck! That’s why McDonald’s has a drive-through, right? A senior cup for now and a large to be divided tomorrow and the next day. Of course, that implies I don’t spill it before I get it home. But that’s another story. So now for the next two mornings I’ll have “nuked” coffees. And my Keurig can hog all the water and vinegar it wants.
Quarantining and social distancing are doing weird things to me. Knowing that I CAN’T (well, I’m committed to not) go anywhere is making me WANT to go. Talk about perverse nature. Does it affect you that way too? I still can get in my car and drive somewhere-anywhere I won’t have close personal contact. But what fun is that?
“Social distancing”, had you ever heard of that before? I wonder who coined that phrase. “Don’t get near me! Don’t touch me!” Isn’t that more like it? OHH, but that would be “socially unacceptable”. Now that’s a familiar phrase, it covers everything from professional to sexual behavior. Useful phrase. But will “social distancing” stand the test of time and be useful twenty years from now? Come to think of it, I don’t believe I’ll care twenty years from now.
We had a Friday night ritual, about eight or nine of us, “Fish and Chips”. Battered, deep fried fish. I don’t really like battered and deep fried anything. But I ate it just to be sociable. Now! Now! I yearn for Fish and Chips. Silly, isn’t it?
I know: Buck up! Pull yourself up by your bootstraps! And all that good sort of stuff. Hup! Hup! Hang in there! The sun will shine again. And the humming bird outside my window will come by every morning.