Curmudgeon Status

I remember looking askance as a young man when older folk started waxing philosophical about the way things used to be. When you’re young there’s very little reflection on that subject because there’s no reference point. I can understand that now because I’m one of those older people I used to scoff at. I know both of my children would wholeheartedly endorse that assessment. I guess that makes my transition to old curmudgeon status started if not totally complete. I can still look back at photos from the 70s and ask myself “what was I thinking?” at some of my fashion choices.

On the other hand a lot of things come up that I haven’t consciously engaged with for a long time and I’m reminded how much has changed. A case in point would be during the recent visit by the FBR. We both got up early on Saturday morning and assisted each other with breakfast prep. I was going to reward her with a cartoon and figured since it was Saturday morning that would be easy. It turns out that Saturday morning cartoons are no longer a big deal.

When I was growing up Saturday morning cartoons were a social event, something every kid knew about and cereal advertisers counted on. I know baby boomer parents counted on it because their kids, like me, would spend at least a couple hours glued to the TV with Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, or Spaceghost (a personal favorite). Those days are gone apparently. I don’t know if it’s because cartoons are readily available 24/7 on certain channels but I was a little disappointed. It’s probably a good thing because for some reason all the Saturday morning programming now seems aimed at educating kids – what a concept! So maybe I’m not a complete curmudgeon yet. I haven’t yelled at anybody to get off my lawn recently.

Ex-Front Lawn

Of course that would be problematic right now because my lawn has disappeared. I returned home last night to find a couple pieces of heavy equipment perched where the front lawn used to be. I was mildly impressed. My wife even got them to repair the blocks of granite that sit on the uphill side of the side lawn. They used the heavy equipment to reposition the sliding blocks which had made me a little nervous each time I mowed the grass there. Mowing grass would not seem to be a concern for me for the foreseeable future anyways. It will interesting to see how it comes out.

From This

To this in Just A Few hours

Side Wall Repair and New Dirt