Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Water, (bottled) water everywhere


Good news is, the water's back --- started trickling out of faucets at about 10 last night. On the other hand, where am I going to put seventy-two 16.9-fluid ounce bottles of "natural spring water" acquired last night during the city-wide rush to deplete the plastic aquifer at Hy-Vee?

The brief drought had something to do, Facebook friends tell me, with broken water mains and lowered levels in the town water towers. The news came to those of us sealed in a windowless meeting room as 8 p.m. approached via text. Someone tried the faucet in the kitchenette. Nope, no water.

So I took a detour to the grocery store instead of going straight home and since water was on sale added to the tide flowing out the front door and into vehicles. You never know about these things --- but one way or another there has to be coffee in the morning.

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Obsessing about the "retired" after my name (and several others) on a freshly-printed list of board members last night, I started shopping around for a more descriptive term. "Dogsbody" maybe, or volunteer drudge. Those terms are way too negative, but we need to do better than "retired," which carries with it implied leisure.

So my "retired" friend Fred is spending his leisure this week at seminary in Dubuque on the path toward a second career as an Episcopal priest, meanwhile missing several of the meetings I'll be attending.

Here's my "retired" schedule for the day: 8 a.m. Finance Committee meeting; 9 a.m. board meeting; noon, working lunch with design technicians; 1:30 p.m. command performance at Douglass Cemetery along with a guy dressed in full Civil War uniform to entertain a busload of tourists, 3 p.m. continuation of sessions with design technicians; 5 p.m. or so, home to water the outdoor plants, some of which by now will have fainted due to lack of attention during the day (providing there's water).

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I stole this photo from my friend Mark McVey's Facebook page. As he said, it isn't every day you see a blimp in Chariton. I saw it floating overhead yesterday afternoon while running an errand in the north part of town. No, I don't know why it was here and apparently still is early this morning --- thethered at the airport. Like the water situation, I'm sure we'll find out all about it eventually.


Now I've got to do an agenda and write a script --- probably should shower early, too, just in case.

1 comment:

udell47 said...

How about "rural activist" for a title?