...at my son's house about 150 miles from my apartment. Skye, my beloved mongrel is with me. So too are Winnie & Hilda my son Brendan's puppies. At what I am guessing is around 50 pounds each so far, they are more than a handful. Chubbs, who is Nikki's dog (my son's girlfriend) is absent being cared for by a relative of Nikki. Brendan & Nikki are in Germany as are my wife, daughter & grandson. Brendan & Nikki have left me here to care for their home, protecting it from all sorts of ruffians like thieves, burglars, squatters and other scoundrels. I'll be here for around ten days until they return; the rest of the clan will stay there for something like another few days to a week longer.
The only things I have to look forward to - besides the puppies being a pain in my arse (actually more in my lower back and hips) and a pain in Skye's back, as they constantly jump up on us - is not having to do much of anything. I like that last part, as it says on one of my favorite shirts 'I'm not lazy, I really like doing nothing' or very close to that. So, I will feed & water the dogs, let them out to do their necessary stuff, let them back in walk without taking any of them, except maybe Skye every couple of days, for a walk. I'll clean my messes and do the dishes and stuff but that is about it; oh yeah, I'll take out the trash and put it curbside as needed. I'll also take care of my two Hermann's Tortoises which accompanied Skye and me on our trip. Other than that, I will be a couch potato for the duration. I am surprised I am even writing this.
Right now all three hounds are doing what I like them to do most - sleeping. That is a very good thing and Skye likes it as well. I prefer the peace & quiet. Me, I have been eating a couple of oatmeal-raisin cookies and watching television on Amazon Prime. The specific show I've been watching is Monsieur Spade - Season 1. It's a show about the infamous fictional detective Sam Spade who gained a huge following due to the one and only story in which he was featured by his creator Dashiell Hammet. That story was a novel called The Maltese Falcon which of course was later brought to the silver screen starring Humphrey Bogart in a masterpiece of film noir and character acting. It is possibly the most enjoyable and best film noir ever. Certainly one of my favorite Bogart films and probably my favorite of all I have ever seen of his movies, with each The African Queen or The Treasure of the Sierra Madre a tied as a close second.
The current series depicts Sam Spade years after retirement, or at least years after he has fled San Francisco and relocated to a small town in, of all places, the French countryside. The lead actor Clive Owen is not the character actor that was Bogart - Bogart properly and marvelously portrayed the character of Sam Spade of the novel (even though in the original story he had blonde hair as I recall - yes I read it - and it & the film are true to one another in most other regards). In fact, my guess is that Clive Owen never once read the story or watched the movie because his portrayal of Sam Spade misses the mark by a million miles in my estimation.There are no other references from which to copy the character of the Sam Spade that was created by Hammet; sadly he only wrote 5 novels and Sam Spade was only in that one and sadly it seems to me that Owen does not have a clue how to mimic Bogart as Spade. Yet, the show Monsieur Spade is pretty good nonetheless if, but only if as I see it, you can get over the fact that this character no matter what he is called is not much at all the Sam Spade of infamy that was portrayed in The Maltese Falcon.
Maybe, if the mood strikes me strongly enough, it will get mine arse in gear to head to a local range to shoot the Remington Model 81 on which I had the high bid in an auction at the end of April. I brought it and about 40 rounds of 35REM ammo for it along with me. I also have an AK,a Remington 870 12 gauge with rifle sights and two Glock 26 pistols. One never knows when the zombies might become restless or when civil war might break out. About the only other things that might get me out and about away from my house sitting duties are food shopping; although, there is plenty here for at least a week I think, going to Costco to stock up on supplies to bring back to my apartment when I leave here and maybe a trip to the G&S gun show in Conway, AR this coming weekend. Wish I had known about that before leaving my digs; I maybe would have packed a few more rifles & pistols and then would have tried to sell them at the show. As it stands now, all I can do is buy something because I am not selling any of the guns I have with me and the chances of me buying any guns is almost zero because I am strapped for spending cash.
I titled this post "Here I Sit..." but that is about to change because I am about to lay me down and take a nap.
All the best,
Glenn B
