Beech Tree News Network

Seven naked Barbies and one naked Ken are soaking in the kitchen sink.  Their clothes have been washed and are currently in the dryer.
    I’m so weary of the cold.  I try to be grateful for little things, like watching the mercury finally move up into the double digits and not having to milk cows.  One of customers at New Image Car Care told my husband, Garey, about milking cows during the winter of 1963.  The temperature was 20 below zero.  I remember that winter.  I was in the third grade.  Our little beagle froze to death.  My dad brought him in and put him by the heater, but it was too late to do any good.  It was an image an eight-year-old doesn’t soon forget.
    When it has been as cold as it has been for as long as it has been, I pretty much go into hibernation mode.  Garey says I winter like a bear.  He’s right.  Especially on the weekends, you’ll see me in this mode.  I eat and sleep.  If insomnia takes over, I eat and watch TV.
 Today, Saturday, I got up early and made myself a list, hoping it would motivate me to do more, hence the naked Barbies and naked Ken soaking in the kitchen sink.  My granddaughter discovered my daughter’s case-full of dolls, and every time I try to play with her, Barbie and Ken, I sneeze constantly; so, while she is with her dad for the weekend, I decided some cleansing was in order.
I decided I could take a TV break while the clothes were laundering, so I watched two episodes of “Midsomer Murders” (a British mystery series on Netflix).  On one episode, a man had a pet fox who yelped and howled a bit, so I was able to answer the pressing question put forth in the popular YouTube video (What does the fox say?), which means the time wasn’t a total waste.  I try to give myself credit for small accomplishments.
I tried to make myself cook dinner.  I usually do cook dinner every evening, because God knows, I’m not going out into the dark and cold to eat at a restaurant.  I just couldn’t get motivated, even after watching a program featuring how Richard Dyson and Paul Mitchell made their billions.  Paul Mitchell sold encyclopedias door to door and lived in his car before becoming the hair care mogul he is today.  Richard Dyson made 5,127 prototypes of his vacuum cleaner with the pivoting ball and cyclone technology before he made one that worked for him. 
 You’d think either story would have been enough to get me off the couch, but it wasn’t.  When Garey came into the house, I told him how worthless I’d been all day.  He saw the evidence for himself on the empty stove.  Garey said that he was a big boy and he thought he knew how to fix himself something to eat.  God bless him!
I just heard the dryer stop, which means the clothes are ready.  The naked Barbies and naked Ken aren’t going to dress themselves—that’s a challenge for an inventor with more motivation than I have today.  Maybe, the dolls can stay wrapped in a bath towel for tonight.  Their hair is still wet, after all.  I just saw a preview for an action movie coming on TNT.  I bet Garey would pop us some popcorn.