Tomorrow Robins Will Sing

Tomorrow Robins Will Sing - Stevie Wonder

VERSE 1:

Now where do I start to make the point that I'll be making?

To most efficiently use time that I'll be taking

With the clear understanding that every ticking second is precious to us all

But if you let me bend your ear and listen up you will hear

Not just what I sing, but every word that I am saying

You wake in the morning from a dream with spirts dope hype

Though your real life condition is far from being alright

Your love has wronged you, your money's gone, you lost your home and everything you own

But before you do something major extreme

I've got one simple thing for you to take along with you, as you go on your lonely way

REFRAIN:

Tomorrow robins will sing

Tomorrow robins will sing

It really is no big thing, 'cause tomorrow robins will sing

Tomorrow blue jays will fly

The weather's forecast clear skies

So dry those tears from your eyes, 'cause tomorrow blue jays will fly

VERSE 2:

You borrow a dime to call up a friend that you could rely on

They put the phone down, you hear on the background (tell him I'm not home)

Your face is broken, your throat is choking, you hang up the phone in disbelief

And to make matters worse

You can remember you were the first & only one to come to him when lonely was his everyday

But if what you did came from your heart and not expecting

Then you should not waste one heart beat on any regretting

The saying's older than old yet true for today as when it was made to be told

As you sow so shall you reap

And if you've treated life sweet

Your blessing's been ordained and already on its way

REPEAT REFRAIN

BRIDGE:

Today is the tomorrow you were so worried about

Looking over your yesterday

The clouds are gone and the sun is out

And everything has worked out I'll be okay

REPEAT REFRAIN TWICE

I had this eargasm in my head most of my Sunday while at work.   Actually I have a lot of random thoughts that pop in my head during my workday while trying to break to monotony of packing or picking customer items.  I remember Tomorrow Robins Will Sing when it came out in the mid 90's on Stevie Wonder's Conversation Peace album.   The theme of the song was similar to Bobby McFarren's Don't Worry, Be Happy.    But as positive as Mr. McFarren's song was, I didn't really connect with it like I did with Stevie Wonder's hit.    A random person commented on YouTube that Stevie Wonder couldn't write a bad song if he tried.    That is so true.

Life has definitely thrown its share of lemons my way.    There are times that I feel dismayed by it all.   Thankfully I haven't done anything major extreme in hopes of the problem going away.   Because I know it won't go away.    I have to remind myself to take those lemons and make lemonade where I can.

I hate my job with a passion.   But there are a couple positives.    One is that I'm only working a part-time schedule.    Obviously that sucks in terms of my take home check though thankfully I have the option to volunteer for extra time which I've done in the past.    One of the few colleagues I befriended at the job in fact works the same part-time schedule but volunteers four additional days a week so she's basically full-time.    The benefit of doing that is that the differential pay carries over to any additional days worked.    In fact once you get the part-time schedule, it's really hard to switch back to full-time.   An additional benefit is that if you work 30 hours a week on average, you can still get health insurance.   Unfortunately my average has fallen off since I haven't worked too many extra days so I don't get insurance for now.

Another benefit is all the man candy that works at the job.   Seeing a hot guy or two, even if we don't talk to each other, momentarily lifts the sadness of my day.    In fact there's this one bearish guy that I think is family but I obviously won't ask.   I've run into him and 'his hag' during my walk to my car on break and on one occasion coming back, he had his ass crack and briefs exposed for everyone to see.   I wanted to go up and touch it but obviously that's not socially acceptable...*LOL*.   I mean a guy has to know that his ass is exposed even if there isn't much of a breeze.   I guess he doesn't care.

The other main benefit is I get to what Dom calls, shop on company time.   As I'm scanning items I quickly peruse if it may be something I'm interested in.    And sometimes you'll pick up products with half naked men (like a romance novel or briefs).    I usually keep those in the bin till the last item so I can enjoy staring at it.    I'm a mess.

But I am grateful to have some work even if it's not what I want to be doing forever.    My Salesforce class is 1/4 of the way done and I feel relatively positive about it.   It's gonna get a bit more challenging from here on out but I'm ready for it.   I'm truly praying it'll lead to sunnier skies.   

Yes indeed, tomorrow robins will sing.

Snow Flash

 Dom and I spent last weekend (July 10 - 11) in a small town in Central Indiana visiting his parents and also attending his nephew's wedding reception held in Bloomington, IN at his sister's and her husband's new home in a brand new subdivision.   The home itself is pretty nice with a lot of open floor space.   The party itself was cool and everyone was nice even with the brief political conversation that went south.   Dom's family is predominantly republican and one strongly missed 45 and felt ill will on Biden.   Dom of course argued back as I sat back and tried not to laugh.   But what can you do?

It was nice having a weekend off from Amazon even though I did work two extra Tuesdays to try and make up some of the missed pay since I took Unpaid Time Off.    Speaking of UPT I was so pissed losing two hours of it both Tuesdays due to missing second half of shift by a minute.   Not realizing that I needed to deduct a minute of my vacation time to make the difference, the system instead automatically deducts an hour of unpaid.   I'm really praying a better job comes along.

But back to the story at hand.   The original plan was for Dom to drive both his parents and I to Bloomington.   Unfortunately though his Mom was experiencing leg pain and was suspecting a possible blood clot.    So not wanting to risk anything she opted to stay home.

So the 2 1/2 to 3 hour ride to Bloomington took almost 5 hours due to stopping at McDonald's for breakfast, Walgreens for last minute party favors. and some hole-in-the-wall truck diner for lunch that served the best fried mushrooms.    And then there was food at the party.

Driving back to his parents did take about 3 hours thankfully.    The trip to and from took the whole day which was draining even though Dom did all the driving.

So we left his parents for our own home on Sunday morning.   Dom and I wanted to stop at the Walmart near his parents to get a tower A/C unit like his folks had that blasted.   Then he wanted to meet an old college friend of his that currently is a den Mom for a school in Culver.    Finally we wanted to pick up dinner before getting home.

Everything went as planned.   We didn't find the exact unit but a close enough replica.   Dom and I both enjoyed hanging out with his friend and them catching up on their lives.  Dinner pick-up went ok even with the way overpriced chicken wings I got at Quaker Steak & Lube while he opted for a burrito at El Salto.   

Monday came and I wanted to get a card and a gift card for Tasha's 50th birthday.   (OMG we're getting old...*LOL*).    Dom was having issues with getting his metaformin refilled from the clinic that he goes to.   He was hoping to run to Costco and then the clinic to find out why they haven't responded to refilling his prescription for the last month.

I go out to the garage to get to my car.   I unlock the door and hear something scurrying somewhere inside.   I freak out wondering if it's a mouse or a rat.   I stand silent for a minute and then open the main garage door.  I walk up to my car and just when I'm about to open it, I hear a cry that sounds like a cat.   The only thing is I have no idea where he is.    

There's a bunch of branches and items on the floor near Dom's caravan and I don't want to spook it.    I try to call Dom and message him but he's not responding.   I finally run back to the house to find Dom asleep.   I tell him what's going on and he's a bit unfazed by the situation but I tell him that we need to find the cat.   At the same time I needed to get to the store so I could mail off Tasha's card before the mail pick-up.    

Confirming that the sounds were not coming from my car, I slowly back out and run my errands.   I get back and the cat is still crying.   I rack my brain trying to figure out where it's coming from.   I feel hot and the mosquitos are unfortunately in full force so I go back inside to cool off.    Dom in the meantime is napping totally unfazed...*LOL*.  

I return to the garage and I have the idea to go on Youtube via my horrible T-Mobile MotoG7 phone and play a video of kittens meowing.   I start to play it and then he starts meowing.    Something tells me that the cat is actually a kitten.   I begin to wonder if perhaps he hitchhiked his way back to our home underneath Dom's engine.

I look underneath Dom's caravan and do not see anything underneath.   But the crying persists.   It's a

 

bit frustrating since I can't seem to find the source of the sound.    I begin to think it's all in my head when it dawns on me to open up the hood of the caravan.   It takes me a few minutes to find the lever to push it open.   I finally do and then I get a glimpse of the little fella.   He's sitting snug as a rug inside of the engine crying out still.   I'm in a state of shock.   It's a relief to see him and know I wasn't going crazy.   I try to do everything I can to convince him to come out.   I try to reach for him but the engine is too tight to safely pull him out and he also backs away when I try to get him.

I take a break and go back inside.   I tell Dom about it and he's shocked.   I share my theory about the kitten hitching a ride.   Dom expresses disbelief that he could've been in the engine the whole time we traveled since we made several stops along the way and any hitchhiker would've hopped off as soon as the car stopped.   He believed the cat came in from the narrow opening of our garage doorway.

I go back outside later on to try and convince the kitten to come out.   This is to no avail.   I get frustrated because I unfortunately needed to retire soon.   I also felt like Dom wasn't taking the situation seriously at all.   I finally get Dom to come out to the garage to try his luck.   Unfortunately it didn't work and rather than continue to be bitten by mosquitos, we decide to retire for the night.

I wake up at 3:30 AM Tuesday morning to slowly get myself ready for work.    From the kitchen window I can hear the kitten crying out loud.    He's so loud in fact I wonder if he actually left the garage.   I step outside and since it's dark I use the flashlight from my phone to see if I can spot him.  I didn't see him so I went back inside to eat breakfast, try to relax, and then get ready for my early morning commute.

I get ready to leave and try to make sure that he's nowhere near my car.   After feeling sure that he's not in or near my car, I back it out of the garage.   I go inside to make sure that he's still around and after a minute, he does cry out.   So since he's there I proceed to head to work and send Dom a message letting him know that the kitten is still in the garage.

Dom tries his luck during the day to try and lure him out.    But similar to how he acted around me, he moved deeper into the engine area and kept crying.    Dom wanted to go to Costco but he's afraid to start the car with him inside.   He contemplates walking to the fire station (which is only a few blocks from us) to see if they could help get him out.    He also found out that there's a Humane Society not to far from us.    The rub was that they were closed on Tuesday and wouldn't reopen till tomorrow.

I got off my work shift at 3pm and I tried to see if there was another Humane Society open still.   There was one in Munster but they were only open till 4 and I knew I wouldn't get there in time.    So I started to think about where I could borrow an animal trap to catch him.   Unfortunately Snow (the name I finally gave him) was skittish around us and wouldn't let us touch or lift him without running back under the caravan.

When I got closer to home I first stopped at an Ace Hardware.   I asked if it was possible to rent an animal trap but they said they don't rent them but I could buy one.    A few doors down I saw there was a veterinary clinic.    I took a chance that maybe I could borrow a trap there.   Unfortunately they didn't have any either.   I was getting tired but decided I'd just have to buy a few pet items instead.   I went to Big Lots and purchased a couple cans of cat food, a small pet bed, litter, and a small toy.   I also purchased some catnip at Meijer's.

Before going in the house, I try to get Snow to come out from under the car.   But he doesn't budge.   I decide to place the cat mat along with an open can of cat food and some water.    I also put some cat litter nearby and then retreat inside.   I came out two hours later and I saw that he did eat some of the food and his little paw prints were in the litter box.     But he still doesn't come out.   I decide to call it a day and take back the cat food for the night so other vermin doesn't get in it.

Wednesday morning Dom calls the Humane Society to see if they have people that come over and take pets away.    They mentioned not doing that service but recommended a few animal control folks.   Dom proceeded to leave a message with one service but wasn't sure if they'd call back.    After not hearing back from them, I wonder if perhaps the Humane Society may have traps that we could borrow.    I called them and they said they had one available for a $40 charge which they pay back once you return the trap.    I go get the trap and after looking up some instructions on Youtube (yes you can find anything on Youtube it seems), I set it up just besides the caravan.

Just as I'm getting back in the house to tell Dom about the trap, we get a knock on the door from animal control.   I answer the door and tell the lady that I was able to obtain a trap and already have one set in the garage.   She asks me what I plan to do with Snow once I capture him and I tell her that I'll take him to the humane society.    She is okay with the answer and leaves.

In all honesty I was starting to catch feelings for Snow and wanted to keep him.   Dom wasn't feeling it but said he was willing to have Snow be an outdoor cat.   I wasn't keen on that idea but figured it was better than nothing.    But then Dom changed his mind and said once we catch Snow we should set him free into the neighborhood.   I objected to that idea as well.

It took a couple more hours but I waited patiently in the garage for Snow to come out from under the vehicle.    He kept crying throughout while staying hidden.    He finally slowly came out and I did my best to stay still as one slight move and he would run back under the car.    He walked around the outside of the trap, smelling the canned food I left in the corner.    Finally he made his way into the trap itself.   I hoped that his body weight would be enough to trigger the trap.   It was.

He was momentarily stunned and then began crying some more.   I moved him into another corner of the garage.    Dom and I were hungry for dinner and went out for a bit.   I had left my own car outside overnight but was able to bring it back in safely without having to worry about running over Snow.

I was finally able to send pictures of Snow to Dom's family to confirm identity.   Dom had finally convinced me that there was no way Snow could've been riding inside our engine the entire time.   But Dom's sister confirmed that it was indeed Snow, except she called him Flash because of the small patch of black on top of his head that she thought was shaped like a lightning bolt.    We were shocked.

His sister learned of our plans to take Flash to the Humane Society and immediately was against the idea, suspecting that they would put him to sleep.   She implored us to find someone that would take him.   I tried again to appeal to Dom once more thinking we could keep him in the laundry room.  But Dom pointed out how that wouldn't work in the winter since we kept the basement closed to keep the cold weather out.    He was thinking we'd have to build small trap doors for Flash to get through.   So that was out.

I tried looking at options online for homes for Flash but nothing panned out.   In the end Dom let me know he talked to the family and they agreed to meet at a halfway point to transfer Flash back to his home.   And that's just what we did.   Flash has quite the story to tell his posse once he gets over the trauma.  

The Apple Tree

 For some reason this past Fourth of July the fireworks in the neighborhood seemed to be extra loud.   It could've been because there wasn't much in terms of fireworks in 2020 due to COV-ID.    As Dom and I were settling in the living room for an evening of Mr. Selfridge, we couldn't help but be distracted by the explosive action happening just two doors down from us.    As an aside if you haven't watched Mr. Selfridge you're definitely in for a treat.    The series focuses on the life of the extravagant Mr. Selfridge as he works his way to opening his self-named London department store.   And it doesn't hurt that the man playing the title role is none other than hottie actor Jeremy Pivens whom I've had a crush on for years.   I even dated this guy years back for longer than I should've because at certain angles he resembled the actor.

But back to the issue at hand.   So it got to the point that as the fireworks progressed, we even saw flashes of light coming through our living room window.   At that point Dom had enough and ran up to our mud room to yell at the offenders (who were a bunch of preteen boys).   I ran up behind Dom trying to tell him not to make the situation worse.    From my vantage point it looked like the boys momentarily stood still when hearing Dom yell and I saw an adult emerge to seemingly direct the kids to back off.    But as I figured would happen, they were back at it within ten to fifteen minutes and it seemed to get worse before they finally stopped two hours later. 

As I thought more about the situation, I was realizing how my reactions mirrored how my Mom used to react in similar situations.    There were many times growing up where certain things people did would set my Dad off and my Mom was always trying to calm the situation much to the chagrin of my Dad.  The worst one I could remember was when our old neighborhood was in decline and drug dealers were pretty much taking over the street.   They would even leave their drugs under our front mats.   There were a couple of them that would decide to pee right by our side door.    My Dad decided to confront one of them directly.    My Mom and I were very nervous and she tried to stop my Dad but he wouldn't listen.    Thankfully nothing happened and for a New York minute, the peeing stopped but of course it resumed again.

I chuckled when realizing that Dom and I were playing the roles of my parents.   Dom himself is definitely not afraid to confront people when they're doing wrong whereas I prefer a more passive aggressive approach.

Unfortunately one thing I worry about is that I see myself getting overly worried about our house when we're both gone for several days.    Sadly we did get our home robbed in 2016.    We immediately suspected a no-good former Church member who I mistakenly invited to pick up an old dresser that I wanted to get rid of.    That person came over with the shadiest "friend" that looked like someone who did time in prison.   They wanted to get in the house but Dom wouldn't let them (since he found the friend suspicious as well) and we all just walked to the garage from outside where I had the dresser.   

A few days later Dom and I left home for a trip to Vegas.    We were gone for about 5 days and when we came back our home was robbed.    We immediately suspected the aforementioned former Church member and his shady friend.   Unfortunately we couldn't prove it and the Gary police department wouldn't even do their job.    The officer refused to go in our house to see what had happened and when we asked about fingerprints, they said they wouldn't do fingerprints unless a murder was committed.    Plus they didn't interrogate our neighbors like I thought they would to see if they saw something.   As a not so funny aside they labeled Dom and I as "roommates" on the official police report.

The one mistake I made was not talking to our next door neighbors myself.   The thieves gained entry way through our back door and often our neighbors would be outside in their yard and from their vantage point they could possibly see from their kitchen window who was going in and out.   Plus at the time they had a yippy dog who always used to bark whenever one of us came out in the yard.    I felt like they may have saw something but due to my personality, I didn't talk to them.

A potential opportunity came a day after the robbery when Dom and I were coming back from walking around the block.   I told Dom that while we were outside we should go up to the neighbor's door and see if we could talk to them.   He didn't want to so we didn't.   But hindsight being 50/50, I should've gone myself to do so.   If nothing else to let them know a robbery had occurred and to see if there was a history of that in the neighborhood.

Ever since that happened I've developed a complex about leaving the house empty even if it's for a few hours.    This was something my Mom used to do as well.   I remember always telling her that things would be okay and Dom tells me the same.    She would refuse to go anywhere and it got worse when she was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1999.

Dom and I have gone on trips since that robbery and thankfully haven't had anything happen.    We also since have gotten "The Ring" installed around our property and have purchased a couple timers to plug our lamps to come on at different times of the evening.   Plus we use a security lock in the back.    But I still worry.   In fact we plan on being gone again for a few days in the near future.   I'm sure things will be okay.   But again I still worry.   I haven't gotten to the point where I'll refuse to go anywhere but I can't help but wonder if that may be my future as I get older.