|
|
|
People have asked how our holidays were at the Marble house. Everyone assumed that due to the large snowfall that I worked a lot over the Christmas break.
In all honesty, I was in the office.
Nothing compared to the folks who were out working in the storm, I was only answering phones and sending news releases.
My biggest inconvenience came when Fez “the wonder beagle” became bored. One evening when I was home, he and I sat downstairs in front of the big sliding glass door and watched the snow. It felt good to rock in our big overstuffed recliner, loving canine curled at my feet. Little did I know the dog was simply waiting me out, hatching his fiendish plan to take my favorite 20-year-old pair of boots for his own.
When dogs claim shoes, they don’t plan to wear them. They plan to chew on, gnaw upon and otherwise destroy the shoes.
That’s what happened to my boots. Coming home the next afternoon, the twins met me at the door, offered to take my coat, asked how my day went, etc.
My mom radar was on high alert.
“It’s about your boots,” said Dexter. “Fez kinda ate them.”
Sure enough, my boots were just a slobbery half-chewed shell of their former well-worn self. I blew my cool briefly, as much as from the loss of my favorite winter shoes, as from the strain of riding home in a car with no consistent windshield wipers.
For some unknown reason my wiper “amplifier” had gone on the fritz that same day. One minute they would wipe away, the next they were stuck, stopped in the middle. They had a mind of their own. They wiped fast. They wiped slow. They refused to wipe when asked.
My snow storm troubles were few, but odd.
Driving to work Monday, enjoying the sun and forecast lacking any form of precipitation, I listened to a newscaster talk about how this was the annual “no pants” day on the New York subway.
Apparently, over the past eight years, every Jan. 10, several regular subway riders just strip down to their underwear and ride.
One of the organizers was quoted as saying their purpose was to spread panic and joy. That struck me as hilarious and representative of the recent winter weather.
Anytime it snows on a busy travel day, panic is sure to ebb and flow. It was a panic situation to leave Big Al and the boys with one of Elmer’s amazing aged roast, and ask them to prepare Christmas dinner. And it was a joy to come home and find it done and better than I could have pulled together.
As much as I panicked at the lost of my shoes, it turned into laughter filled joy to watch Fez bring me back my shoes, piece by piece over the next few days, snagging chunks of leather from his crafty hiding places.
Panic and joy; a worthy description of this past holiday season.
Lori Marble writes a weekly column for the Daily News.
People have asked how our holidays were at the Marble house. Everyone assumed that due to the large snowfall that I worked a lot over the Christmas break.
In all honesty, I was in the office.
Nothing compared to the folks who were out working in the storm, I was only answering phones and sending news releases.
My biggest inconvenience came when Fez “the wonder beagle” became bored. One evening when I was home, he and I sat downstairs in front of the big sliding glass door and watched the snow. It felt good to rock in our big overstuffed recliner, loving canine curled at my feet. Little did I know the dog was simply waiting me out, hatching his fiendish plan to take my favorite 20-year-old pair of boots for his own.
When dogs claim shoes, they don’t plan to wear them. They plan to chew on, gnaw upon and otherwise destroy the shoes.
That’s what happened to my boots. Coming home the next afternoon, the twins met me at the door, offered to take my coat, asked how my day went, etc.
My mom radar was on high alert.
“It’s about your boots,” said Dexter. “Fez kinda ate them.”
Sure enough, my boots were just a slobbery half-chewed shell of their former well-worn self. I blew my cool briefly, as much as from the loss of my favorite winter shoes, as from the strain of riding home in a car with no consistent windshield wipers.
For some unknown reason my wiper “amplifier” had gone on the fritz that same day. One minute they would wipe away, the next they were stuck, stopped in the middle. They had a mind of their own. They wiped fast. They wiped slow. They refused to wipe when asked.
My snow storm troubles were few, but odd.
Driving to work Monday, enjoying the sun and forecast lacking any form of precipitation, I listened to a newscaster talk about how this was the annual “no pants” day on the New York subway.
Apparently, over the past eight years, every Jan. 10, several regular subway riders just strip down to their underwear and ride.
One of the organizers was quoted as saying their purpose was to spread panic and joy. That struck me as hilarious and representative of the recent winter weather.
Anytime it snows on a busy travel day, panic is sure to ebb and flow. It was a panic situation to leave Big Al and the boys with one of Elmer’s amazing aged roast, and ask them to prepare Christmas dinner. And it was a joy to come home and find it done and better than I could have pulled together.
As much as I panicked at the lost of my shoes, it turned into laughter filled joy to watch Fez bring me back my shoes, piece by piece over the next few days, snagging chunks of leather from his crafty hiding places.
Panic and joy; a worthy description of this past holiday season.
Lori Marble writes a weekly column for the Daily News.
