Absentmindedly is an adverb to live by.
Can someone not only do things in an absentminded way but also think absentmindedly? That question came to me as I brewed some chicory-laced coffee this morning. Life is good.
Tip: Use a small ordinary carafe instead of a mug to brew extra coffee even with a small espresso machine.
As I look at today’s coffee visible through the clear glass, it looks unusually pale.
Duh. That’s what can happen if you unthinkingly utilize yesterday’s grounds.
PAUSE TO MAKE MORE COFFEE.
Maybe my mind is on that novel I’ve been reading. It’s set in the somewhat Old West, meaning 1891. The protagonist is a detective à la Sherlock Holmes. I’ve never read a Sherlock Holmes novel myself, but I think the comparison fits. Sherlock’s discerning and perceptive sharp-eyed West Texas counterpart doesn’t miss a clue.
Easily influenced, I’m seeing clues everywhere.
For starters, scrutinizing myself I’d say I’m a person who drinks coffee with chicory because high gas prices are making a trip to New Orleans impractical. My use of the little carafe puts me in the clever category. The age of the machine means I don’t spend money just to keep kitchen appliances up to date.
If you want to be a detective, start with yourself. You might learn something.
Back to absentmindedness. I really was thinking about absentmindedness and not the novel when I mis-brewed this morning’s first round of coffee. You might guess my thoughts were prompted by having done something stupid, like lock my keys in the car.
Right. Only last night did I lock both sets of keys in the car. Both. But I’d already been plagued by absentmindedness earlier in the day when I was trying to juggle gun, fiddle and cell phone. Life is hard.
Why the gun? A dangerous escapee from the local mental hospital had me on guard. My weapon of choice is a .410 shotgun. Pistols are too complicated. A plain old single-shot .410 feels better to me.
But two-handed me kept leaving either the gun or the fiddle or the phone behind. Then came a brilliant thought. Why not combine phone and gun? Cell phones already do everything else. If you could somehow turn one into a weapon you could add cell phones to the Second Amendment.
Politics makes strange bedfellows indeed. Everyone who’s happy with everyone having a gun could get in bed with everyone who thinks everyone should have a cell phone.
Anyway, there you have it—an idea for a defensive cell-phone holder if not for the phone itself. How would it work? Someone could design a nifty case with a spring-loaded curare dart thrower, blow darts being passé.
Alas, it’s probably hard to get curare. A stun-gun feature would be less exotic but probably more practical.
GOOGLE PAUSE.
Sure enough, somebody’s already selling stun-gun phone cases—proof enough an absentminded person like me can have a good idea. What’s hard is being first.
I guess it’s back to curare.
Postscript from Hanaba: Readers of this publication might be interested to know the above-referenced novel is “The Wolf Hunt” by Will Brandon, pen name. It’s set in your part of Texas, and you probably know the author.
Hanaba Munn Welch is a veteran correspondent and columnist who unfailingly sums up her weekly thoughts in 501 words and dashes. Farm life often inspires her writing. Hanaba@copper.net
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