Thursday, May 6, 2010

Daily newspapers and the television news.

This beautiful sunny Thursday morning I woke up and looked out the door and saw a blue plastic wrapped newspaper. That made me smile. I almost shouted, "The New York Times is here! The New York Times is here!" I didn't want to scare Felice the cat, so I just got the paper. I know, I sound like such a rube. That's ok I am a rube; country gal living in the city. This is the first day of my subscription.


Half the city of Louisville was outraged Sunday when the paper did not get printed and delivered as usual. Letters to the editor appeared Tuesday and every one was another tale of out of town guests chiding their hosts because this is such a Podunk city we can't get a daily paper printed and delivered. The Courier-Journal had their huge German made, multi-million dollar press go down and no matter what they did, couldn’t get it started again in time to print the "news" sections. We received the pre-printed ads and rotogravure magazine, which were printed earlier in the week. Street sales were printed in Indianapolis. We subscribers received the rest of the paper Monday!


Wednesday there were letters from former paper carriers who told people to get a grip. That was also the day the local Insight cable was down. The report was that sometime during the night the technicians were performing routine maintenance on the router and it died. The back-up router from Lexington died too.


Like all those others I missed having the paper on Sunday to read while watching CBS Sunday, as well as not having television news early before work. I was able to endure without too much upset because I turned on the radio. While scientists tell  us that their studies show people who live orderly lives are healthier and live longer, I don't mind a change in routine.

Things have settled down and Lenny came by last night for dinner, conversation and etc.  He was laughing about my grass having grown so much from recent rains and two weeks of no mowing, as to be almost to my knees.  I told him the thing is I'm short!

Today the grass got mowed and I spent my lunch time sitting on the bench to eat an egg salad sandwich, drink iced tea and smell the scent of mown hay.  My mind wandered to clover and a poem Reggie wrote several years ago about that.  Some lines printed here by permission are:
My lawn has gone to clover.

Alone on a block of manicured lawns
My yard has native grasses.
Its wildness an affront to the orderly.

All the things we do, read, watch, talk about are not that important. I consider myself lucky to have shelter.  The question was asked the other day: Can a person be too rich? I think when someone is so wealthy they are insulated from every inconvenience and there isn't a single thing in the world they could want that they can't have, then a person is too rich.

I think that last line of Reggie's poem describes a worthy goal in our later years; wildness and an affront to the orderly.

10 comments:

  1. i don't read many poems but when i come across a nice short sweet one, i read it.

    sadly, i'll never know if a person can be too rich. but i do know it's possible for a person to be too poor.

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  2. billy: I'll pass that along to Reggie. His poem is quite a bit longer but still a good one. I was drawn to remembering that 4th line of the first stanza. My whole life I've been a "good girl" until I was widowed. Then I decided to not toe the line, so to speak, and be who I really am.

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  3. I wouldn't know about being too rich either, but if I ever get there I will certainly appreciate it, having known poor-dom. LOL.

    Although I read the news online everyday, we subscribe to our Sunday edition, mostly for the coupons and extras, and it would make my Sunday feel all weird if we didn't get it. In fact, last winter we subscribed daily and our carrier missed us several days due to ice and it annoyed me. But what can you do about a broken press?

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  4. A day without news can be quite refreshing... Hell, yes, you can be too rich, especially if others don't have enough. Roseanne Barr said it's not the minimum wage we need worry about, but maximum wage.
    As long as everyone has shelter, food and health care, I don't give a toss how much the rich have. That not being the case, ostentatious wealth is obscene.

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  5. Mrs D: You can't do anything about a broken press. That's why the raging about it was stupid. At least they have a venue to complain!

    Wolynski: We are such socialists aren't we! Not really. I think ostentatious wealth is evil.

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  6. There was a time that I really did have too much money.
    I wasn't rich,by anyone's standard,it's just that my needs are few.
    Mostly,I just blew it on friends,and let it go.

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  7. I know we aren't supposed to like having clover in our lawns, but I do.

    Why does your blog have a warning and consent to enter?

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  8. Secret: I have the warning because I might want to use a swear word or post a naked picture of a man or something. I want to be sure people know it's an adult writer for an adult audience.

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  9. i know how you feel..i have to pay almost double to get the dallas morning news delivered to my front step..and when it's not there? im a mean mad old bitch and do i raise hell? you bet..i keep telling them ..'its not fucking roket science...all you have to do is throw the fucking paper on my porch.'...sigh*

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  10. SMILE

    I know all about those rants to the Dallas Morning News. You posted some in your older blogs. I loved reading about your rage. I have raged against things but never the paper. During the three feet of snow a year or so ago, the paper started getting delivered before the mail.

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