Partners in the Grime of LIFE

In today’s crazy situation Rudy reminds me to return to simple life, to return home. He sings a happy tune as he arrives at his home base for recharging and refreshing (an empty dust bin). I often interrupt his planned schedule. Rudy always returns to the sanctity of his home. Rudy says: Use this time in life to recharge and refresh. I say: Be safe.

To you  this photo is mysterious and indecipherable.  To me it was horrifying!  I moved the quilt rack to discover a dust bunnys as big as my fist.  My initial thought-  Rudy failed at his only job.  In reality I had obstructed his access to the corner.  Who knew what "evil" lurked in the corners and edges until it is revealed? Three lessons I learned from the over-sized dust bunny seem fitting advice for today's  life challenges.  (I'm already in Day 11 of my "retreat", as I call the stay at home order.) Be thorough. Move the obstacles to reveal the situation. I blocked Rudy's path.  Rudy's not to blame.  Blame really doesn't minister to the current situations.  History will provide the look back fault finding or maybe not. I'm still looking for the unknown child who spread measles to me as a 25 year old on Christmas vacation.over 40 years ago. Be consistent.  Keep the planned schedule for success. I was guilty o...

Before After Rudy got new parts. On his first run with the replacement equipment, it seemed he zipped across the floor faster.  I imagined him smiling and enjoying his daily obligation. A Fresh Start. A positive outlook.  New Zeal for Life. Life can tarnish our outlook on life. When that happens we need a bit of new interjected into the mundane and challenging. I knew a man who felt he should move his family to New Zealand.  He didn't know why.  He just heard in his heart  "move to New Zealand."  His friend suggested : perhaps he was to pursue his current life with new zeal. The man and his family did indeed move to New Zealand. Rudy reminded me of his friend's observation.  When the routine becomes boring or lackluster, change something up.  Try new parts for a new outlook. Pursue Life with New Zeal. I hear a new outfit in my future.  Or shoes.  Life looks better in new shoes!

I came home from one of my favorite places, the quilt shop, to face a crucial decision.  My contentment was gone.  I stood frozen in front of a seriously messy situation.  As scheduled Rudy had made his daily run throughout the house.  I think he was happily recharging as I entered the door. I'd thought all had gone well.  But here before my eyes, a choice had to be made. Apparently, one of the dogs had missed their daily scheduled constitutional and had used, fortunately, the tile floor in our master bath. Unfortunately,  Rudy felt obligated to continue his daily round and plowed right through the unwanted addition to the usual household grime. Yikes, the floor was a smeared mess.  That would be the easily part of this disaster's cleanup.  After the floor had been washed twice and sterilized, laundry started to clean any cloth rags used, I realized one more clean up awaited.   Rudy may appear unscathed but underneath and within the...

"It's getting hairy. Time to clean the rollers." What a surprising message.  I expect the cliff diving message from Rudy but Hairy Rollers?   I flipped Rudy on his back, just like a turtle.  Yep.  Those rollers were clogged by tightly wound black dog hair  It took me several attempts to remove the rollers.  The internet video (because I always start with a video) skipped the release portion. Rudy's message was no exaggeration.  Scissors were needed to break the hairy grip on the rollers.  I'm not sure how Rudy felt but I was very satisfied with the removal of copious amounts of hair.  I should have photographed the hair removed. I was reminded of this hairy encounter at a bible study this week.  My sharing on  the current discussion  topic included an illustration from my employed season of life (as opposed to the current retired phase). My contribution to the topic centered around how I'd learned to handle the ov...

Ding!  The alert notification function on my phone went off.  My quilt buddies looked puzzled as I giggled. " Rudy was stuck on a cliff"  I knew I was free! My goofy smile continued the puzzled looks. I launched into the explanation of dark places interrupting Rudy's daily cycle. Early in my relationship with Rudy I became quite frustrated. Rudy would stop in the middle of my patterned carpet and claim he was stuck on a cliff, ready to fall.  Falling is the kind of message that made me jump to the rescue. I made an appointment with the information doctor, the internet, as any worthy wanna be millennial.  Again,, a friendly and informative video provided me with the cure and what appeared to be an easy return to my freedom from cleaning. Closeup of Rudy's Early Warning System The friendly voice  explained, with the aid of practiced hands (the only appearance of any human) Rudy's early warning system.  Sensors on Rudy's undercarriage triggered...