Clearing Up Stuff

Dear Readers,
Today’s blog is my opportunity to clear up some thinking that I have dealing with “little” thoughts – those that don’t warrant the concern of an entire blog.  For example, I want to let you know that I keep thinking about organizations to which I belong (large and small).

One such organization is my faith. Always a Christian, I was baptised a Baptist, and became Lutheran after marriage.

Thanks to meeting poets during a workshop I attended last October, we now have a small, but mighty, group of readers willing to read and comment on each other’s poetry. Once a month, we have a zoom meeting. Because zoom allows anyone in the world to be in the meeting, the four of us are located in Canada, in the U.S. on the East Coast, on the West Coast, and me, in the middle. Each month, each member of Poetry Rocks sends a new or old poem to all members. On the second Sunday of each month, we meet, read, discuss, and provide comment for the poems. It is nice to belong to an organization where only our passion for poetry comes to the fore.

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Warning: From here on, expect a rant – or several as the case may be!

How many of us have signed a document in our medical service provider’s office that clearly states, cancellations within a certain time frame will bring a charge of $xxx? I certainly understand that when a patient is prone to canceling appointments on the day the appointment is scheduled, this does tend to upset the apple cart. Truth be told, because I’m more than a little old, this body sometimes double crosses me with a wake-up problem. AFIB may have me in its grips. The medicines I take in the morning sometimes cause extreme stomach upset. My providers are very understanding when that happens, which I’m pleased to report is not often. The reverse happened to me that other day. I was scheduled for a 10 a.m. appointment. At about 8 a.m., I was notified that the physician was ill and would not be in for the appointment. That was well within the “charge for non show” time frame. There was, however, no mention that I would receive what I’m calling a “reverse-non-show” payment. I am pleased to note here that the provider is now well.

Have you tried getting help from those website that assure you there is help available 24/7? You know, the ones on which you can “chat” with an expert? The expert named Ted or Steve or someone who has “years of experience” and “thousands of satisfied callers with the advice given.” Now, who believes that it is a real and human being on the other side of that website, asking questions for clarification? And, when you insist on being connected to a real and human being, the “chatter” will be very willing to connect you – for a price, of course. A price that is refundable. That’s where I click off and determine to never go there again.

And, sometimes, when you try to get a manual for a product you have purchased, it is often next to impossible to find the needed manual. Or, there is a fee. There was a time when product manuals came with the product. And, truthfully, some products do still come with a manual. It is also true that other products rely on the internet from which the buyer must attempt to obtain a manual for that product, using one’s own paper and toner.

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I think that is enough of “ranting” for now. Let’s end on a pleasant note with a story. A dog story.

You’ve know that I think my infrequent visitor, Kate, is the smartest dog I’ve ever met. And, that includes all of my schnauzers who were very smart. But, Kate is in a league all of her own.

When she is at my house, she plays with a game that has covered spaces for treats. She must uncover the treats by moving the covers or removing them completely. The games are rated from easy to very hard. Very hard is #3. She’s been breezing through the #1s and #2s, so I prepared the #3 for her. This game is really hard. There are twenty spaces for treats. To allow ease in filling the spaces, this game has a drawer that can be taken out of the game. After the spaces are filled and the drawer replaced, the game is on. The top of the game is a series of sliding covers that must be moved to another place on the board to access the treat. As with the easier games where she simply has to pop the cover off of the treat space, this game requires that the tiles be moved side-to-side or front-to-back.

Do you remember the number-slide-brain-teaser puzzles? They had numbers from say, 1-15 on sliding tiles with one open space. The object of the puzzle was to arrange those little tiles in any order desired. Smallest to largest; largest to smallest, etc. The #3 game for the dogs is the same. No numbers on the sliding pieces, but a treat under the tiles if they are moved correctly. It is a hard game for a dog.

But, not for Kate. She simply pulled the drawer out, letting her have access to many of the spaces with the treats. Because she didn’t pull the drawer all of the way out of the puzzle, there were some spaces left with treats. And, she could smell them, so she knew they were there. She did worry that drawer all of the way out of the puzzle getting all of the treats.

The next time I gave her the puzzle, I taped the drawer into the game. On three sides. I figured that would make her work harder.

And, yes, she did have to work harder. I’ve never seen Kate angry, but watching her work with the puzzle, the noise was very loud. I was talking on the phone with my sister, and she asked me what was going on when she heard the sound. Was Kate angry? That may be the closest that I’ve seen to anger in her behavior. She worried and worried the tiles and was able to find some of the treats.

Then, I saw her start pulling at the tape with her teeth! Did she know she could get the drawer open if the tape was off? She returned to the tiles and literally pulled every one completely off of the game. I didn’t even know that they could be removed from the game. She got the treats.

SHE IS SOME SMART DOG!

Be Safe and Be Well
The Cranky Crone
Thoughtful comments are appreciated.