This Stop Willoughby

About six months after we moved into our old neighborhood, a man named Tom moved into the house across the street.  He seemed like a friendly guy and would wave and say hello if we were unloading groceries or taking out the trash.  Sometimes, if we were working in the yard, he would come over to check out our project and chat.  At Christmas time, we left a tin of cookies on his porch just like we did for our other neighbors. I wouldn't say we had become friends, exactly, we didn't go to his house for cookouts or invite him to our house for drinks.  Our conversations were usually just small talk; complaining about dandelions in the lawn or gas prices, the weather and such.  We didn't really know much about him.  He was just a nice guy who lived across the street. One day, about a year later, Tom mentioned something about his wife, Darlene.  We were dumbstruck.  Tom had a wife?  We had never seen her or heard him talk about her before. ...

You may recall that we frequently have visitors of the supernatural variety in our home.  I told you about a few of them here .   There have been many more since then, but this most recent visit was different in several ways.  One, it was not human and two, it left a calling card behind.  This story is 100% true. Last Thursday evening, right around dinner time, Mr. W, myself and our daughter were sitting around the kitchen island.  My daughter and I were facing Mr. W with our backs to the doorway, but from where he was sitting, Mr. W had a view straight through the dining room and into the living room.  He was looking past us and had an odd look on his face. "Did we get a cat?" he asked. "No, why?" "I just saw a cat walk through the living room."  He held up his arm, then.  "Look, I've got goosebumps." If any cat were going to visit us "from beyond", I assumed it would be our beloved caramel colored puff ball who passed aw...

I'm 44 years old.  On a good day, I look 43 ½  .  On a bad day, maybe 50 or 55, I'm not sure.  One thing is for certain, though, the only time I look under 21 is in pictures that were taken when I was under 21.  Why am I telling you this?  Because there is a cashier at our local supermarket that insists on carding me every time I buy beer or wine.  Every. Time. When I go shopping, I like to use the self check-out lanes (we call them U-Scan).  If I'm buying a few bottles of wine or a 12 pack of Landshark (I'm not much of a beer drinker, but Landshark just tastes like summer to me) the routine normally goes like this: I scan the product, look over to the cashier and wave, she waves back, overrides the age requirement and I put the beer or wine in a bag.  Easy, peasey.   Unless "Carol" (I don't know if that's her name) is working the U-Scan station. The first time I came up against "Carol" I was buying a few bottles of wine.  I sc...

You know me, I'm always pondering something.  On my mind today: Cat Litter - We don't have a cat anymore, so I haven't bought cat litter in a long time, but I was looking at a display of one popular brand at the store.  It comes in several varieties.  One is for instant odor control, another has maximum odor control for multiple cat homes and yet another is for long lasting odor control.  My question is, why all the different formulas?  Can't each one have instant, lasting, maximum odor control?  Has anyone ever wanted delayed, minimum, or short term odor control from their cat litter? Grapefruit - Who came up with the name grapefruit?  They don't look like grapes or taste like grapes. Cookies - What if we called them bakies instead? Celebrity Endorsements - Do you think Beyonce stops at Rite Aid to grab a box of L'Oreal when her roots are showing?  Is Weight Watchers the reason Jennifer Hudson lost so much weight or could it have somethin...

When I read the newspaper, I can't help but scan the obituaries and death notices.  Is that morbid?  I don't really think it is. It's not like I'm hoping any particular name will show up. It isn't often that I find a death notice for someone I know well.  Once in a while I come across the parent of someone I went to high school with, or maybe a teacher I had or a former neighbor.  When a friend or relative dies, I always read their obituary, as well.  I'm not sure why.  It's just part of the process of accepting that someone is really gone, I suppose. One morning a few years ago, I was casually scanning through the list of names when I came across one I immediately recognized.  My own.  I nearly did a spit take with my coffee because I was fairly certain I wasn't dead.  I think I may have even called my mom to confirm it.  Once the initial shock wore off and my blood began to circulate again, I read the entry.  The deceased woma...

If you received an email from me, lately, it probably wasn't from me.  Someone hacked my Yahoo email account and sent spam laced emails to all of my contacts.  I didn't even know about it until someone mentioned on Facebook that they had been receiving strange emails from me.  When I looked into my account history, I was shocked to see that my account had been accessed from several other states and countries.  I have no idea how it happened, but I hope I've put an end to it. I did send out an email explaining the situation.  You should be able to tell it's from me (and not the hacker) by the heading which reads "My email was hacked, delete all recent emails from me".  Sorry about the confusion! My hand is feeling better and I should be back to blogging very soon! Willoughby

I'm right handed.  Very right handed.  My left hand is good for a few things.  I use it when I'm typing and for non-dexterous things like holding an object, but other than that, it is simply there to give me a symmetrical appearance.  If I attempt to write with my left hand, it looks like a child's writing.  I can't even imagine using my left hand to cut with a pair of scissors or chop vegetables with a knife.  It wouldn't end well. My dad is left handed.  When he was in elementary school, it was frowned upon to use your left hand for writing.  Teachers would force him to put the pencil in his right hand even though it felt awkward to him.  For some reason, they believed you chose your dominant hand as opposed to it being predetermined.  It did eventually serve a useful purpose for him, though.  He severed a tendon in an accident while at work.  He had surgery and his left hand was in a cast for weeks.  The company ...

I know, I know, I haven't been around much, lately.  I'm trying to get back to blogging regularly.  Really I am.  It's just that I've been so busy doing important things like developing a plan for world peace, building a perpetual motion machine and writing a literal translation of the quatrains of Nostradamus.  In my spare time I've been studying quantum physics and learning ancient languages.  Yeah, something like that, anyway. Sometimes, when I'm online doing research for said activities, I get sidetracked.  Today, I got caught up in Twilight Zone trivia.  You probably know what a Twilight Zone fan I am, so you can understand how all things TZ are interesting to me.  I love to know what inspired a particular episode or get some behind the scenes scoop.  It started out innocently enough, but I was in too deep before I knew it.  Way too deep. Alongside trivia about the original 1960's series was information about the 1983 production...