Immersed

View Out Front This Morning

The old phrase “one legged man in an ass kicking contest” seeps into mind when I consider yesterday morning. After the events of Sunday I spent two hours bounding between real estate agents, USAA, and lawyers on either the phone or internet. It’s comment on just how connected the world has become. In that two hours I obtained representation from a lawyer, secured a home loan, and arranged a home inspection of the new house. This would have taken days before the internet. On top of this my wife was after me to secure Broadway tickets and hotel reservations next week for her and the musqueteras.

The Back Deck

When I asked my wife how her day was on this strangely snowy April day she said she was frustrated by her lack of activity. However as I walk around the house I’m amazed at all the little, subtle changes she’s made since her arrival home; small changes that only I would notice, like moving items around and setting the house aright. She’s been anything but inactive. It’s so good to have her back riding herd on me, although the time spent on the receiving end of educational discussions has increased geometrically.  

Wife Took This Of Me Last Evening

It struck me as patently unfair to be out with the snow blower yesterday with wind chills in the single digits. We got six inches of snow but Worcester kind of shrugged it off; they didn’t even cancel school. As the snow tapered off late in the day the entire neighborhood went outside to clear driveways and sidewalks, despite the cold. It was almost as if we were collectively thumbing our nose at winter’s last gasp.

A great thing on a cold night (or day for that matter) is a good book. I finished Nowhere to Run by CJ Box, my latest Joe Pickett novel. Joe is riding the high country of Wyoming when he is waylaid by two very scary survivalist types and barely escapes with his life. Joe feels like he’s been robbed of part of himself with this turn of events and inevitably returns to the mountains to bring his brand of justice. He’s accompanied by his Reacher-like friend Nate for the thrilling final confrontation. I really enjoyed the read, as usual with Box, as he doesn’t paint the plot with a lot of blacks and whites; an extremely talented story teller.

Here are some of his words from Nowhere to Run, as Joe heads for that climatic confrontation:  “When Joe was growing up, he’d read everything he could about Old West outlaws and gunfights. He’d found himself disappointed. In real life, showdowns like the ones portrayed in movies and myths were almost non-existent. Men rarely faced off against each other on a dusty cow town street at high noon, with the fastest gun winning. Much more likely was an ambush, with one man firing a rifle or a shotgun at his enemy before the victim could draw his weapon, or a gunman sneaking up on someone and putting a bullet in the back of his head from a foot away. Men didn’t face off if they could help it. He remembered what Nate had told him:  It’s about who can look up without any mist in their eyes or doubts in their heart, aim, and pull the trigger without thinking twice. It’s about killing. It’s always worked that way.”