Day: October 19, 2020

The Monday Peeve — Moles

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Through her The Monday Peeve prompt, Paula Light invites us to vent, to let off some stream, to get something off our chests. This week, my peeve is moles.

When we lived in the city, we had to deal with mice and rats and raccoons in the streets. But now that we live in the ‘burbs, I rarely run across any of those critters. However, I did notice the other day that there are some strange mounds developing in the mulch around our bushes in the front yard.

So I called a pest control company and asked to have them send someone out to investigate these strange mounds. The guy showed up today, took one look at the meandering mounds in my front yard and simply said, “Moles.”

I said, “Get rid of them.” He gave me a quote.

I said, “Gah!”

He said, “Big job, you got a pretty large colony of moles here.”

I said, “Do what you gotta do.”

My wife said, “I don’t want to kill animals.”

I said, “I don’t want to have to pay to have our lawn replaced.”

Now my wife is giving me the silent treatment.

Damn moles.

#WDYS — Philosophy of Life

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Her ancient face was etched deeply by the years of living a life with the hardihood of a woman of her generation.

“Great grandchild,” she said, taking me to task, “you should not be the kind of man who wallows in the muddy swamp of scuttlebutt. You need to fight the urges you might have to reveal the personal and private business of others. There may be recondite factors in play for which you have no knowledge or understanding.”

I blushed with embarrassment, “Great grandmother,” I said, “you are a very wise woman. I mustn’t be the purveyor of rumor and innuendo.

“That’s right, great grandchild,” she said.

“Great grandmother,” I said, “to what do you attribute your wisdom?”

“I have gained my wisdom from having lived a long, fruitful, happy, and healthy life,” she said to me. “And I have grown even wiser by embracing my fundamental philosophy of life.”

“What is your philosophy of life, great grandmother?” I asked.

She gave me a knowing smile and said, “No bullshit.”

Written for Sadje’s What Do You See? prompt. Photo credit: Pisauikan@Pixabay. Also for these daily prompts: Ragtag Daily Prompt (hardihood), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (scuttlebutt), Word of the Day Challenge (urges), The Daily Spur (reveal), and Your Daily Word Prompt (recondite).

Share Your World — Potpourri

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Share Your WorldThis week, Melanie is giving us a potpourri of questions for her Share Your World prompt. So let’s just get to it.

The first question is courtesy of the magnificent blogger, Rory (aka A Guy Called Bloke). Rory asked, “How many people in real life or on social media (including WordPress, which has become a rather social media site) do you consider good enough friends to help you hide the dead body?”

Well, it just so happens that I answered this question already when I responded to Rory’s post on my own blog. So rather than repeat it here, if you’re interested in how I responded to Rory’s question, you may click here.

Are you ready to order? What are you having (craving) right now?

I can’t say that I’m craving anything right at this moment. However, more often than not, what we order for delivery is Chinese food.

How’s the weather in YOUR neck of the woods?

The good news is that it’s sunny and it’s only going up to 88° today and by the weekend, the highs are going to only be in the 70s. And the air quality is good. So, the weather is fine.

There has always been something. Before there was something, there was only nothing. Which do you think is more likely?

Melanie states that “there has always been something.” She also states that “before there was something, there was only nothing.” She wants to know which of these diametrically opposite statements do I believe? I believe that I don’t know and I am 100% sure that no one else knows. That said, I am inclined to believe that before there was something (i.e., before the “big bang” some 13.7 billion years ago) there was absolutely nothing. And from a personal perspective, before I was something (i.e., before I was born), I was nothing; I didn’t exist. And once I’m dead, there will, again, for me, be nothing; I will cease to exist.

Attitude of Gratitude:

What is your favorite time of year? Why?

I’m not sure why this is a “gratitude” question, other than the fact that autumn is my favorite season and it’s now autumn, so I’m grateful that summer is over and winter has not yet begun. Why is autumn my favorite season? Well, the weather is delightful…not devastatingly hot nor overly cold. I’m easy to please.

Blogging Insights — Blogging Etiquette

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Blogging insightsFor this week’s edition of Blogging Insights, Dr. Tanya has turned to Sadje, of Keep It Alive, for the questions. Sadje has asked these questions:

How long should the comment thread be? For example, if some blogger likes your post and says so, you thank them. Then they say that you’re welcome or it’s a pleasure, afterwards most shift to emojis or smiley faces. It can go on for quite some while.

If someone likes and comments on my post just to say they liked it or enjoyed reading it, I will “like” their comment and reply with a thank you. That’s where, in my opinion, it should end.

What is the acceptable protocol for reblogging?

I generally ask the blogger’s permission to reblog their post. But I’ve yet to encounter a blogger who has responded, “Don’t you dare.” I think most bloggers appreciate having their posts reblogged.

What should you do when people don’t respond to your comments on their posts? Should you stop commenting on their post or give them a reminder about your comment?

A blogger may be busy or have real life activities limiting their time to read and respond to other bloggers’ comments. So if they don’t respond to a comment I made on one of their posts, it’s no biggie to me.

Award posts: these are the trickiest regarding etiquette, as most people don’t even acknowledge that they were nominated for that particular award. What should be the proper way to deal with this situation?

I don’t know that there is a “proper” way, per se, to deal with blog award nominations. Mine is an award-free blog, but it still gets nominated for myriad blog awards. I appreciate the recognition and will typically respond to the blogger who nominated my blog with my own post thanking them for the nomination and posting my answers to the questions they posed. But I do not then, as most blog award rules encourage, nominate other specific bloggers or pose my own series of questions. Instead, I throw it open to any and all other bloggers who may wish to answer the same questions that the blogger who nominated my blog posed.

Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge #88

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Welcome to “Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge.” Each week I will be posting a photo I grab off the internet and challenge bloggers to write a flash fiction piece or a poem inspired by the photo. There are no style or word limits.

The image below is from niklin1 at DeviantArt.For the visually challenged writer, the photo is of an old man sitting in a subway car holding a large cardboard box on his lap.

If this week’s image inspires you and you wish to participate, please write your post, use the tag #FFFC, and link back to this post. I hope it will generate some great posts.

Thanks to all of you who have participated in these challenges. Your posts have been very creative. Please take a few minutes to read the other responses to this photo challenge.

Please create a pingback to this post or manually add your link in the comments.