Quiz #86. Awake Too Early
How is not sleeping connected to a mysterious tale of summer love from 1995? Plus, what's behind this little girl's killer stare? Steve's Stay-at-Home Coronavirus Quiz for October 10, 2020.
4:01AM.
Saturday morning, October 10, 2020.
Awake way too early.
Again.
To stave off the unrelenting anxiety of the slow-motion second wave of Covid now poised to hit the Northeast coupled with the mounting intensity of this increasingly off-the-rails election season, I’ve been trying to stay off electronic devices in the morning. Instead, I start my day scanning old photos.
It’s mindless and as noted in Quiz #74. “Turd,” there’s a routine to scanning the images that helps to clear--if not dull--my overactive brain.
The old photos are also, of course, a walk down memory lane. This week, I found some photos of my old dog, Mitch. They can only be described as “Summer Love.”
20 years ago, my family used to go to the Outer Banks. Dogs were allowed on the beach and one evening, I walked Mitch along the shoreline. Alone with Mitch, I sat down by the water’s edge when a woman sat down next to me, petting Mitch and talking to me.
It seemed unusual, but it started off with benign dog stuff, “What a handsome dog? What’s his name?” Slowly, things turned and felt even more odd, “Is he a purebred lab?” “He is registered with the American Kennel Club?” The answers were “Yes” and “Yes.” “Is he neutered?” The answer, “No.” And with that, we were down to business.
She explained that she had a purebred female lab. The dog was back with her family at their beach rental. They’d been planning to breed their dog in the fall, but the dog had gone into heat early and unexpectedly during the beach vacation. That’s when they noticed Mitch. Would we be willing to have him provide stud services?
More than a little wary, Wendy and I agreed to farm Mitch out. The next morning, the kids, Mitch and I showed at the designated beach house of Mitch’s new best friend. It was a rainy day, but Mitch and their dog had a wonderful morning adventure on their screened-in porch. The children watching from inside, more than a little in shock. A second morning of canine connection followed.
Mitch, our yellow lab, and his unidentified beach romance.
We had a two-week rental, but the other dog family only had a one-week rental. They left and the deal we agreed to was that we’d get one of the purebred puppies if the match-making bore fruit. I got the woman’s phone number and promised to call in the weeks ahead.
Needless to say, when I’d take Mitch out for a walk during the second week of the vacation, he’d make a bee-line for the house the other family had rented--even though they’d left He didn’t realize that it was no longer his little love shack. The new renters didn’t have a clue about his excitement in passing their house--and they didn’t have a dog.
I tell this story--and am including more pictures--because while scanning the images reminded me of the whole escapade, there’s a part of the story that has always bothered me. When we called the family several weeks later, we were told that Mitch’s morning stud services had not been successful--and I’ve always wondered if that was true. Purebred puppies can cost $1,000--and how were we to know that Mitch’s morning had turned up empty. Was it all a scam?
I don’t remember the other dog’s name and I don’t remember the family’s name. This was before social media so back then we had no way of knowing much more about them than their phone number which was, as I recall, from a Maryland area code.
And so it was that in scanning the photos of Mitch and his mate, I came across an image that I had not remembered snapping. It showed the children from the other family. Do they look familiar? This image was taken in August, 1995--so all of these people should now be 25 years older. If they look familiar and if their dog had puppies in October, 1995, I would really like to know.
Do you recognize these people? If so, please let me know!
It should not surprise anyone to know that I take a lot of photos. My camera was a part of every child’s birthday party and every one of their events at church and school. Of course, I’d mostly focus on my own children, but sometimes another child would catch my eye.
In scanning images from 1995, I came across this image.
The girl on the left is not my child--and not even one of their friends. Indeed, I have no idea who she is, but seeing the look she gave my camera 25 years later made me laugh. “I may be a kid, but I really don’t want to be part of this bell choir--and if I have to be, I certainly don’t want you to be taking a picture of me. Back up, sir--and put that camera down.” 25 years later, I am sorry for snapping this photo. If the look was about stranger danger, I’m doubly sorry.
This Saturday is also the first day of “vacation” as Sara and I both take a week off from “work-at-home.” We’re planning day trips to places in New Jersey that we’ve never seen before with a focus on fall foliage. We’re also planning a socially-distanced, delayed birthday visit with daughter Annie in an Astoria park.
We will also plant about 100 daffodil bulbs, a reminder that better days are coming. The changing of the seasons is yet another reminder that the earth keeps spinning and nature doesn’t care about elections or the virus.
Another of my week-off tasks is to build a very low-tech fire pit. We want to be able to have socially distanced, outdoor visits, but it’s getting too cold for that. Our deck is wood and our yard is small so we don’t want to change things up too much. We’ve bought a so-called fire table that’s propane powered, 28 inches high and 28 inches wide.
Needless to say, Sara needed to hold me back on building the fire pit. No buying paving stones and no building a fireproof fortress. Instead, we’ve settled on a simple circle in the grass, that will be covered in gravel. In keeping with the concept of social distancing, I’ve cut a piece of wood that’s 6 feet long. I’ll use that to measure and map out the 6-foot wide area for the gravel. (“After” images to follow.)
My primary goal this week is to simply unplug. I came to SubStack thanks to Bill Murphy Jr. and his Understandably newsletter. This week, he told the story of how he went for a physical and the doctor ended the exam by telling him, “Don’t forget to be kind to yourself.”
I've heard from so many readers lately, having good days and bad—beating themselves up over their economic prospects, or how they've fallen off the fitness train, or how they've been shorter with their kids than they want to be.
Being kind to yourself is about making allowances and accepting yourself, while still pushing yourself toward the things you value and want to achieve.
It's also about love—tough love, even. Encouragement, truth, aspirations.
Holding yourself to goals, but also giving yourself room to breathe—to admit that you're only human, and you're part of a human race that's facing unprecedented times.
I think it's almost like an opposite application of the Golden Rule.
That’s about doing for others as you'd want them to do for you. This advice is about being willing to do for yourself what you'd like to think you'd do for others—when they need it.
It’s excellent advice for this pandemic--and one I hope to put into practice during this time off with Sara.
Not waking up before 6:00AM is my goal for this week. I’ll let you know how I do.
What did not happen?
A. It was Sara’s idea to get some kind of fire pit for the backyard. That evening, I was working and had a few minutes to search for fire pits on Amazon. I texted an image of one I’d picked out on Amazon. I added some comments, crediting Sara for her great idea and closing with a “love you” text. Moments later, I got a text from a coworker, “I don’t think these texts were meant for me;”
B. Will’s upset we’re getting a propane tank. He wanted a fire pit that burns wood;
C. Sara and I had planned on taking a day trip to the Jersey Shore this week but decided against that because Ocean and Monmouth Counties are becoming hot spots;
D. In the writing of this quiz, I read my previous quiz, “Turd,” and was disturbed to remember that no one has contacted me in the comments to let me know what they thought of the Netflix collection of short films made during the pandemic called “Homemade;”
E. With the recent cancellations of NFL games, as I feared, there’s been a heated dispute in the fantasy football league that I am running.
Want the answer?
If you’re a subscriber, the answer will be sent to you as a separate email when the question is published.
Want more?
Here’s the next quiz in the series: Quiz #87. Coming Attraction?
Here’s the previous quiz in the series: Quiz #85. Do the Math.
Here’s the first quiz in the series: Quiz #1. Stella and Social Distancing, March 13, 2020
Here is an archive of all the quizzes.
The quiz is explained here: Steve’s Stay-at-Home Coronavirus Quiz.
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Comments, corrections and confessions welcome.
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