Rusty's Armory

Life in the mini age …

Posted on January 2, 2019

The second day of the Gregorian year, but a rather nondescript day on the Jewish and Chinese calendars arrives gloomy, cold and wet.  I don’t know what had happened to Tic, our latest canine addition, but he jumped onto the bed and was trying to hide from something that happened to him out in the rain.  He probably climbed the fence, and a big dog chased his arrogant little butt back across the fence.  So I arose before I was totally awake.  But Mr. Bladder was slowly awakening too, so I had already given up trying to snooze late.  All that never happens to me on nice days when waking early is a pleasant surprise.

I bought an Amazon mini a long while back when they first came out.  You probably know them as Alexa. But here in the wilds, internet is spotty, and it didn’t work well. I then tried the google mini and it worked very well even with the poor internet connection.  So I left the Amazon plugged in, but seldom use it for anything other than a paper weight.

It recently started glowing green, and I didn’t know what all that was about until I received an order from Amazon. Then it happily clicked and quit glowing.  Aha! Amazon is reminding me that I have an order arriving!  I get a lot of stuff from them these days.  I love not having to schlep into town for an electric plug to repair a broken one, and some gourmet items that l love are also available from them.

But it is a little unnerving to hear it go “Cleeplunk!” and start glowing on delivery day. As a geezer, I am not so worried about privacy much.  I am sure that some nefarious government agent is noting my aversion to stewed prunes and my problems with various bodily functions, but I really don’t know what evil can happen to me if the government finds out I have a slow gut.

The google mini has become my birds entertainment, and it also serves to let me know when meals are ready.  Snook has learned to use them to call me to the table leaving her free to guard the food from the beagle.  I have three set up, one in the kitchen, one in the bedroom by Snooks computer, and one in my studio. Ah! Brave new world!

So the rainy day unfolds.  But a warm coffee cup seems to mitigate the gloom and the birds early morning banjo music.  It just might be a good year after all.

Good morning!