Your Weekly Antics Beet Takes on AIC Edition...11-15-24

Well Kids, sorry for the delay. I’m sure you’ve all been sitting at the edge of your seats waiting for this week’s Antics, getting ready to send out an alert, figuring it finally happened…I got locked in a basement somewhere out in Hardwick, or Gilbertville or Old Furnace, or some other town or village of a town you never knew existed because let’s face it…when was the last time you ventured beyond Tatnuck Square other than to travel out to the Paxton’s Dunkins? Well, no such luck because I’m still here. Here’s what I’ve got…

1. With the cold weather comes the infiltration of woodland creatures into our homes and offices. In our sheds. Our attics. Our basements. They see a tiny little spot they can squeeze in to and they make themselves at home. They set up shop, unpack all their stuff and settle right in for winter. They think they’re smooth and no one will notice, but fact is, they’re like our kids coming home from college. They say they’re not bringing much and before you know it, the house is full of dirty laundry and bedding and their roommates laundry and bedding, like you’re not going to notice an entire dorm room full of useless crap wasn’t just dumped in the middle of their bedrooms - that same bedroom you had just started to organize and see the potential of turning into your place of Zen. Nope. Mice don't care.

2. The little buggers have begun to converge upon the good employees at Elder Services. A fine and sturdy building and infrastructure it is, this attack is not due to the good people of our office, we have to work and eat, right? Mice just suck and leave evidence of their creeping around everywhere they go, because as I alluded to in #1, they’re slobs. We have been advised to tidy up our workspace to help alleviate the problem, let these little bastards know they’re not welcome. I went directly to the top, thinking I had a solution, kill two birds, or mice, if you will, that would help us and the people we serve. Why not an office cat? God knows we come across enough mean, feral, mangy, would like to rip your eyes out cats in the homes we go to that are being displaced and need a home. I'm not going to lie to you people, times are desperate. Desperate times call for desperate measures...I don't think it was completely ruled out.

3. Despite my efforts to assist and improve the workplace, I quit again this week. It's pretty safe to say that no one cares, ignores me, and despite my putting my resignation in writing citing compassion fatigue and my renewed hate for the public, my resignation went ignored and I keep getting assigned reports. Whatever. I guess I really will be working my way into client hood and good luck and Godspeed future Social Workers of ESWA, I plan on being the worst client of all time. Get your section 12 paperwork ready...ya gonna need it.

4. Speaking of section 12 paperwork and going off the rails, I was talking to my good buddy Deb earlier in the week who is quite enjoying her new washer and dryer. Yes, these are the items of bliss and enjoyment we over 50 now find joy in. This subject brought us to talking about the new do-dad, the combo washer and dryer machine. Call us intrigued. This may not be a new thing to all of you, but I haven't given one much thought until this week. After further discussing this phenomenon Deb and I have decided we are going to make a day of exploration to find more out about this thing because let's face it, it seems unnatural. You throw your wash in, in goes the detergent, push buttons, it washes, then it dries itself? How do you get the dryer sheet in there? How do you avoid electrocution? We're told it does the laundry in record time, is this fact? What is this witchcraft and how do we get in on it? We have determined that this newfound appliance defies the laws of nature, and we are skeptical. With that said the plan is, Deb and I are packing our cars up with snacks and chairs that used to be reserved for the kids softball games and we're heading on over to Percy's. We're setting up our goods tailgate style and requesting a demo. When we get kicked out, we're heading to Ashland because word on the street is, Erin, a friend of the Antics may just own one of these appliances, so we, like the mice, will converge upon her and request a demonstration. I will be sure to supply video evidence of how this all goes down. You're welcome.

5. Last weekend we had several Veterans Day celebrations…not every day you get to attend an annual veteran's day pig roast, turned wedding vow renewal ceremony. Then add a Star Wars theme to the vow renewal and you get quite the trifecta. Wouldn’t have imagined spending my Saturday doing anything better. Despite what many of you may think, there is proof of life beyond the Paxton border, as we drove up through the towns and found ourselves in Shutesbury. No, not Shrewsbury, that's in the other direction, get it together, but in Shutesbury. The middle kid and I got to spend the day celebrating Nicole and Jake and seeing a college friend or two I haven't laid eyes on in 30 years. If you're so inclined and it's your thing, send good vibes out in to the universe or wherever or whoever it is you rely upon when needing some good news and fortune and send them Jake’s way. We would appreciate it.

6. Veterans Day celebrations continued with one of The Antics loyal readers and contributors, Beet. While the rest of us were in the campus center of AIC in 1993 signing up for credit cards so we’d get a free cooler that held a 12 pack of beer, Beet was enlisting in the Army where she’d spend 4 years before coming to her senses as she’ll tell you and heading on over to the Air Force. She retired last spring after spending 30 years serving our country. She was retired for a hot minute before going right back to work, because we all know she has the tendency to get in trouble when bored, so took that energy to continue to do good at Hanscom Air Force base. We at The Antics figured AIC should probably know about her accomplishments thinking maybe they'd write something about her in the quarterly newsletter, but instead, they decided to honor her at their annual Veterans Day celebration. I had the honor of spending a fabulous Tuesday on the AIC campus watching my friend be recognized for her lengthy and distinguished career. Congrats Beet, well done!

7. Beet wasn’t the only distinguished guest at the Veterans Day ceremony, the guest speaker was a young woman Adriana who enlisted with the Air Force 2 days before her 40th birthday. Not only was she recognized for her outstanding example that it is never too late to pursue your dreams but, she got a free lunch and the opportunity to spend the entire day with us, talk about a win-win. That alone is a testament to the good things she'll accomplish in her future. Keep your eye out for this woman, she’s going to do great things.

8.  In other news, preparing and getting dressed to attend these events in recent days, required socks. Now that it's getting colder out it's important to keep your feet warm. Clearly Gibson does not share this sentiment because every sock I put on had missing pieces to it. I know it was him, because he's been kind enough to return the pieces to me between 5 and 6 am this week as he has unceremoniously ejected the pieces by mouth all over the kitchen floor. Now my feet are cold and I'm out of papertowels no thanks to the cleanup involved in this gift giving.

9. Order has been restored here in the hood. Leaf blowing Joe is back and he’s up and running. We caught him out in the yard tuned into one of his audiobooks, leaf blower fired up and fighting nature’s wrath, the leaves. Now that I mention it, now that Joe has collected and discarded every acorn within a five-mile radius of our homes, I haven’t seen a single squirrel or a chipmunk. Well done Wrixon - Adios woodland creatures. Nothing to see here…  

10. In the Whatever floats your boat category of the Antics, we saw this at Arsenal Yards in Brighton last week. Interesting. Maybe I can adorn the minivan in Christmas lights after all. I’ll buzz around the streets of our fine city covered in flashing lights spreading holiday cheer while minding our newly mandated 25 mph speed limit, or not, on every and all roadways within the Woo and see if anyone will notice. Pretty hard to fly under the radar if you’re covered in Christmas lights. If they can get away with it in Boston, why not here in the Woo?

And last but not least, apparently there’s all sorts of crazy in Brighton. According to the oldest Kap kid who we don’t have to worry about pursuing a career in reporting…saw a bicyclist riding a bike covered in Christmas lights while out on a walk this week…again, we’ll have to take his word for it – no pictures. Get it together Sam - talk to Beet - she always provides photo evidence of the oddities she runs across while wandering the streets.

Have a great weekend!