In our compound, we name things. My Beemer is the “Orange Crush”, Sharon’s new Beemer is the “Gray Ghost” named after Civil War Confederate General John S. Mosby (her car is Brooklyn Gray in color)and our home is the J-Compound, a moniker that could have been a Fire Base in Vietnam. The State Farm driving monitor is “Shikles” after the Chief Driver Examiner when I was on staff (Dale Shikles) and my carry pistol is “Mr. D”. The D is for dignity which it lends to a possible violent confrontation. So it should be no surprise that our latest acquisition, is one of those little round vacuum cleaners that has our house programed and puts itself to bed after vacuuming the place. Sharon starts the thing with her cell phone. Who would have thought?
Once upon a time, some 20 years ago, Sharon was an elementary administrator in a school some 30 miles south of our home and I drove 90 miles one way to work in Jefferson City. Our days were long and we relied on a wonderful local lady, Miss Shirley to help with our housekeeping responsibilities. Shirley is among the most thoughtful, kind people in this world and we love her as if she was a family member. As you may have guessed by now, we have named the vacuum Shirley II.
What is happening to us? I was raised in the straw broom era, when the floors were all wooden, and a dustpan full of dust was casually tossed out the screen door. Imagine my surprise a couple of weeks ago when Shirley II was ordered to vacuum the living room and demanded I pick my feet up while she worked. I am slow to embrace technology and laughed at the prospect of a lidar guided device vacuuming my house while I watched television or read. I am not laughing now…..believe me.
Sharon is the neighborhood electronic/technical warfare officer and loves this stuff. My use of a computer today is the result of her tutelage and the efforts of my last Administrative Assistant, Cathy Flannigan. (I also subjected myself to a 3 hour college course in computer science.) Sharon loves gadgetry and is far better than I am at reading schematics and trouble shooting stuff that’s runs on electricity. Between her and my daughter, who has never seen a tool she can’t use or a challenge she won’t tackle, I can sit back and languish in peace. The Shirleys of this world, backed by my personal staff of tech oriented folks make life easy for this old man. If you have not yet embraced one of these vacuums, get one soon. You will be stunned at its efficiency. As I said earlier, who would have thought?
Have a great week!
SR
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