Category Laugh a little

humorous entries with no mean after-taste

Whine Suppression

SimplyB 4 Comments

The temperature outdoors was 49 degrees when I got up today. The furnace came on several times during the night. The date? July 18, 2025. Yes.

I should explain that I was waking up on this particular day at 9800 ft elevation in beautiful Colorado.

And sadly, on that blissful cool morning we would pack everything up in our RV and head eastward toward Kansas. Man, it’s always painful to leave the mountains and go back home every summer when we vacation in Colorado.

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Fancy? Hardly

SimplyB 4 Comments

It is a snowy February day here in the South of Kansas. Snow makes me think of mountain peaks, which makes me think of Colorado, which makes me think of a gorgeous historic castle in Colorado Springs, which makes me think of the word “fancy”.

Every December for the past several years, my husband and I go on a short Christmas outing. Just the two of us. Generally we stay at a hotel in the Plaza area of Kansas City for a night or two.

This past December, however, we opted to go to a Christmas Madrigal show and banquet at Glen Eyrie Castle in Colorado Springs.

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Simple, Sweetie.

SimplyB 11 Comments

Gravity. Not my friend.

Aging has been working overtime on me, it seems. Good grief. Sagging parts. Wrinkles in the most unusual places. More chins than anyone would ever possibly need. Curious bumps and spots on my skin, some that can be frozen off by the derm doctor. Of course they find their way back to new locations, and bring their friends with them. Oh, but they are “harmless”. Except for the bruises to my psyche.

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‘Sup? oh my….SUP

SimplyB 10 Comments

My oldest daughter has an SUP. Stand up paddleboard, in case you need to know. Her mother-in-law also has one. They rave about how fun they are, how easy they are to use, how great the muscular work-out they provide.

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Yaks and Origami

SimplyB 4 Comments

For most of the month of November we’ve been volunteering at a faith-based camp on the Texas gulf. Palacios by the Sea is a lovely little spot in the universe. So low-key and friendly. About 4600 folks call Palacios home. It’s bordered by a lovely bay that connects to the Gulf of Mexico. By the way, for those of you word nerds who need to know how Palacios is pronounced: Puh-lash-us

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Shakedown Shakes

SimplyB 2 Comments

We camp in a fifth wheel. We winterize our 5th wheel late fall every stinking year. Always with a sad face. Because we love to camp and the winter feels like an eternity when we can’t go camping.

Our part of the world experienced record breaking cold temperatures this past winter. And they lasted for a record breaking fourteen day period. Why does this matter? Well, it can mean winterization fails. AKA, cracks and leaks. Ugh.

Thus, our annual spring shakedown camping trip was taken with trepidation. Actually, for more reasons than winterization fails.

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Long in the (Blue) tooth

SimplyB 6 Comments

Today I’d like to just share with you some observations on aging, really growing up a lot, becoming long in the tooth. It’s hard to come up with a palatable description for, uh, getting old. We’ll stick with the “tooth” phrase for my purposes today. You’ll see why later.

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Pep And Petrol

SimplyB 3 Comments

Small town America loves their school activities. That was certainly the case in my very small hometown high school during the 60’s and 70’s. Friday night football and Tues/Friday basketball would bring every loyal citizen who could still breathe and walk out to watch “their kids” play.

And for students, even if you weren’t part of the team, you were still part of the team. Some were in marching band. Some were cheerleaders. Some took turns working the concession stands. Some dressed up as the Lion Mascot. And the rest of us? Well we were part of the team too. Thanks to Pep Club.

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Through

SimplyB 7 Comments

I was the last chance.

My folks were the parents of three teenage daughters when, out of the blue (or pink?) I came along. Another stinking girl. I have mental pictures of my dad, age 47, going from the hope of hearing “it’s a boy!!” to “oh, well”.

I was the last chance for him to have a boy to hang out with and enjoy time together. A son, a kindred spirit, a little Benton. He had three teenage girls. Just wrap your brain around that fact for one moment. At least once a month you KNOW my dad wished he had sons.

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Rising numbers. Rrrrrrip.

SimplyB 5 Comments

My collection of numbers has become pretty large. Too many birthdays has added a ton of numbers to my age. And I seem to have an uncanny ability to add numbers to my weight. Though it’s tempting to blame COVID19 and the whole stay-at-home scene on the weight dealio, that would be a lie.

All these numbers have resulted in gravitational effects and odd changes to my already unfortunate configuration of body parts.

Continue reading “Rising numbers. Rrrrrrip.” →

Bunny, Bird, and Boo

SimplyB 3 Comments

Let me just preface this post with this statement: I love animals. Yes, I do. Now just plant that fact in your brain while you read the rest of this.

Our oldest daughter went off to college many years ago at Kansas State University and began dorm life. Our youngest daughter was four years younger, just a high school sophomore at the time.

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Mixed values; unexpected ho-hums

SimplyB 1 Comment

Got some time on my hands. You too? I refuse to use the C word or the P word though. If you’re reading this in say, 2030, and you have no clue what C and P words are, then you indeed are most fortunate. Be deeply thankful. And just go ahead and search for “historic events in the year 2020” if curiosity has the best of ya.

So while roaming about the house during the past week or so, organizing, cleaning, avoiding stir craziness, I came across a few items with stories to tell.

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Smiles, language barrier, and poop. Oh my.

SimplyB 3 Comments

A couple of days ago we found ourselves strolling through a local mall with the littlest grandboy. Malls have become pretty desolate, but there were quite a few mall-walkers utilizing the space on that day. As we were standing next to the little children’s carousel, a mall-walker woman looked our way and I smiled and greeted her. She started to walk on by then turned to speak to me. “Thank you for smiling. I’ve smiled at everyone in this place today and you’re the first one to return my smile.” I told her I understood what she was talking about and thanked her for her smile, too. She patted my shoulder and said “God bless you,” as she walked away.

Continue reading “Smiles, language barrier, and poop. Oh my.” →

Would you like some whine with that cane?

SimplyB 1 Comment

Unless you are blind, you are fully aware that my husband and I do not have athletic looking bodies.    No one looks at us and concludes that we must work out many hours each day.

We don’t look like we would be hikers.  We look like walking to the fridge is our exercise of choice.  (oddly enough, as I typed those words, the hubby strolled by from the fridge with a nice bowl of ice cream in his hand) Continue reading “Would you like some whine with that cane?” →

Unpredictable, innocent humor….oh, my sister

SimplyB 4 Comments

Since Mom’s death in 1993 I’ve been the family member most involved in my developmentally disabled/intellectually challenged oldest sister’s care.  Sharon has been so blessed with wonderful care where she lives in a group home.  (THANK YOU GOD!!!!).

Today I participated in a phone conference call to analyze and evaluate the care she is receiving.  My input was limited and really I didn’t need to say much.  They asked Sharon questions and she answered.  And I listened to it all. Continue reading “Unpredictable, innocent humor….oh, my sister” →

Unfortunate LOL. And 911 Humor.

SimplyB 3 Comments

Have you ever found yourself laughing in a totally inappropriate setting for laughter to occur? Like loud laughter with potential snorting? And nothing you try can stop your laughter. With tears streaming. You might manage to stop but then right away have a trigger that starts it up all over again.  The struggle is real. Continue reading “Unfortunate LOL. And 911 Humor.” →

Subliminal learning. The beauty of failure.

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For the first twelve years of my education I attended the same school system.  Tiny little town, tiny little school, tiny little class sizes.  There wasn’t much mobility in family life back then, so for the most part the class members in Kindergarten went through all 12 years together and graduated high school together.  Continue reading “Subliminal learning. The beauty of failure.” →

Pools of antacid and looking ahead to the future. Subtitle: So Cal, the grand finale of work travel.

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With the hubby’s retirement date approaching with alarming swiftness, I opted to travel with him this week on what will be most likely his last travel trip to a luxurious location.  No offense to St Louis, where his current project is, but Huntington Beach California appears to be decidedly more appealing.  Because of one word:  ocean.  Continue reading “Pools of antacid and looking ahead to the future. Subtitle: So Cal, the grand finale of work travel.” →

Recreational Vehicle? Depends on your definition of "recreation".

SimplyB 1 Comment

As I’ve mentioned countless times, we are campers.  Outdoorsy folks.  With limits, of course.  You will never see us riding a mountain bike up a 20% grade through thick forest and jumping the bikes over large boulders.  Or rappelling up a vertical slab of rock above a river of whitewater below.   We like to walk around on easy paths and occasionally flex our muscles in order to hoist up our smart phones and take a picture of some beautiful scene.  Yeah, that’s our style of “outdoorsy”.  Continue reading “Recreational Vehicle? Depends on your definition of "recreation".” →

A Flush to Remember.

SimplyB 3 Comments

Tuttle Creek Reservoir, circa 1964. Brand new beautiful lake.  Summertime.  Most of our family loved to fish.  The few who didn’t (MOM!!) at least loved to be outdoors.  My sister had a super nice red ski boat that she had recently purchased.

So it just seemed natural that the whole bunch of our family should take a fishing trip to beautiful Tuttle Creek lake near Manhattan.  We could fish, we could ski, we could just have a grand time.

Continue reading “A Flush to Remember.” →