More of Life's Little Annoyances

Everyone has days when a number of things occur to add to their 'annoyance factor'.  I recently had such a day.  Here's the list in no particular order:

1. The Handshake:  The fuss conservative media made over Obama's handshake with Cuban president Castro was over the top.  The solution to these kinds of idiocy is of course not to watch shows like Fox News.  I never watch Fox News yet the comments boiled over to what one would think are more reasonable news outlets.  How ridiculous.

2. The Jogger (two actually):  As everyone knows yesterday was a very wintry day.  A snow storm occurred serving to create very slippery roads.  Schools were cancelled.  Wouldn't you think that under such circumstances  jogging along a hilly, curvy, snow-covered road would be ill-advised?  Well, not to two such people who I encountered slipping and sliding their way along the road.  I admire their quest to live a healthy life, but I think they may have missed the mark in this case.  Instead of being healthy, they're going to be in a hospital with multiple fractures.  Idiots.

3. The Realities of Life:  This morning I read that the husband of a couple with whom we used to play golf passed away. He and his family were long-time residents of Newtown.  When he retired, they moved to Hew Hampshire.  His daughter is a former fifth grade student and interestingly his father who was a surgeon removed my tonsils when I was 13 years old.  He was 'only' 73 so his death is not only sad but a tad close to home.  Years ago when I was 'young' when I heard of someone dying at the age of 73 I would think they lived a good, long life but now that I'm very close to 71 it doesn't seem so old.  My father had just turned 72 when he died but I think he would have lived much longer had he taken care of himself. 

Final annoyance of the day:

4. ME.  Yes, me.  I cleaned my wood stove yesterday and as usual the bucket was full of ashes and hot coals.  Now and then you hear about someone putting a container of hot ashes near combustible materials and the next thing you know they have a fire.  Not me.  I'm smarter than that.  I put the bucket on the driveway during the snow yesterday thinking the snow would serve to put out the coals and the bucket was far away from anything that could ignite.  Sometime later I got into my truck to go to Lockwood Lodge, backed out of the garage and, yup, backed right over the bucket.  That almost matches the time I backed through the garage door which I had forgotten to open.  Smart, huh? I manage to bang the bucket back into shape but the bottom is separating from the sides.  Think I better get a new one?  Of course I will.  After all, I'm not stupid!