Just when I think I’ve got it figured out…

As readers of this blog know, I lost my wife, Betty, a little over four years ago to pneumonia. Still miss her terribly, but by now I figured I had this bachelor life all figured out. Of course, it’s had its moments. I blogged about my tussle with folding fitted sheets. I’ve also gone anemic twice in those four years…I don’t cook, you know. Toppled over a few times…once ending up in the emergency room. That earned me back surgery. Also washed my clothes using fabric softener instead of laundry soap for a month, but that’s all just part of the learning process.

I figured the learning curve was pretty well behind me until the other day. Let me explain. My wife had a small dog-sitting business when she passed away, and I’ve continued to help out two of our owners. I’ve had opportunities to take additional four-legged members from other families, but I’ve declined, holding it to just the two. One, Gizmo (or Gizzie) is a Papillion who stays with me regularly. He’s a great guy. The other, Oslo is a little white, curly-haired mix with the sweetest nature you’ve ever seen. He comes to me only intermittently, when his mom and dad travel.

All of this is a long-winded way of saying we saved all of our plastic bags to hold the pups’ poop. Betty sewed a large “sleeve” she could hang in the hall closet for easy access. She did it with needle and thread because her sewing machine pre-deceased her by decades and she refused to get another. Nonetheless, she did quite a fancy job, sewing elastic in the open end at the bottom and puting a loop at the top to hang the thing up out of the way. We’d stuff empty bags up the sleeve as a convenient place to store them until needed. I’ve continued to use this contraption since her passing.

The other day, I noticed I was getting low on my supply of bags. That didn’t make a lot of sense, as I generally acquire more than I use, but I gave it no more thought. Then one day when the weather was colder than usual, I pulled out my heavy jacket. When I put it on, six months worth of poop bags came flying out the left sleeve.

Gee, if I’d only been thinking, I could have spared Betty the trouble...and she despised sewing.

 

Next week: Back to THE BISTI BUSINESS..

New posts are published at 6:00 a.m. each Thursday.