Davis Spirit B14
Davis Clipper • November 26, 2009
By Sharon May
It’s just rubble with a cause olidays and long weekends off work give a person time to notice things that usually go ignored. Like the grunge at the bottom of the toothbrush and toothpaste cup holder. I don’t think I’ve cleaned it since 1967. And my wood blinds have accumulated enough dust to send smoke signals to the neighbors when I snap them open and shut. And I know there’s pulpy squash composting at the back of the vegetable bin. When worms start knocking on the plastic or moths fly from the open drawer, I’ll finally carry the squishy bag to the trash. When I finally have time off from work, my recessive slug genes take over. I shuffle around the house, still in my slippers and my pajamas at 3 p.m. I notice all the tasks I SHOULD do – like sorting a year’s worth of unread magazines, dusting my knick-knacks or changing the 17-year-old box of baking soda in the fridge – but I don’t feel like working. On a recent long weekend, guilt over my laziness finally got to me. I strode (although in my slippers still) to my computer to do a flurry of overdue e-mailing. I paused with my fingers over the keyboard and looked, really looked at the keys. I was stunned at the collection of detritus trapped inside the keyboard! Why hadn’t I noticed this before! I turned the keyboard upside down and violently shook it until my blank document read: ZPWRKEHUYTDOIA QBM. A history of my diet fell from the keyboard and littered my desk: toast crumbs, sesame seeds, a peanut
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or two, desiccated cottage cheese, five chocolate chips, a few Cheerios, a dried apricot, a liter of trail mix and an apple core. A missing TV remote, a mouse carcass and a Fudgesicle wrapper also dropped from the keyboard. When the rain of debris stopped, I turned the keyboard over and looked between the keys. I could still see crumbs and particles stuck below the keys, probably glued to the surface by dried ice cream drips. My e-mailing suspended, I pondered how to extract the rest of the trapped rubble. I thought a paintbrush would do the trick, but the closest thing to a paintbrush I could find was a broom. I put the keyboard on the floor and swept it several times. As a result, my keyboard produced the first chapter to a Fantasy novel with a hero named “YIQZFUG.” But the crumbs were still inside. I leaned over and blew a lungful of air between the keys, blasting Chips Ahoy crumbs and pencil shavings into my eyes. I spent an hour finding the vacuum’s skinny hose attachment, but it was too fat to slide between the keys. So was the attachment to the handheld Dust Buster. I decided I needed to purchase one of those doohickeys designed just for this keyboard-cleaning task, which I remembered seeing at Walmart. It was almost dinnertime by then, and I lazily told myself I would go tomorrow. After all, I would have to change from my slippers, and that would mean confronting the dust bunnies lurking in the closet.
BY SHALYN ROBERTS Clipper Staff Writer KAYSVILLE — “It’s Christmas, with the family and the good feeling, but without the bustle.” Autumn Glow Senior Center representative Jacki Challis said Thanksgiving is important to her because it brings families together. Other patrons at the Autumn Glow Senior Center said Thanksgiving has become more enjoyable for them than Christmas because it’s a time for families to celebrate without having to worry about gifts, shopping, and all the stress of Christmas. “I’ve found that as my children have grown older and have their own families, they don’t come around for Christmas,” said Wanda Harris, who spends some time at Autumn Glow. “But they do come for Thanksgiving.” For seniors in Davis County, each center celebrated Thanksgiving as well. At Autumn Glow, seniors were served turkey, potatoes, pie and stuffing the day
Shalyn Roberts
Laughing Matters
Thanksgiving is holiday to focus on family
SENIORS AT THE AUTUMN GLOW Senior Center in Kaysville say they enjoy Thanksgiving the most of any holiday because it is family-centered without the stress of Christmas. before Thanksgiving. They’ve also tried to get into the spirit of the holidays by beginning service projects. The seniors at Autumn Glow Senior Center make hats and mittens for children in the Head Start program each year. In return, those children go to the center and put on
a Christmas program for the seniors. Other fund-raisers and service projects come up for seniors throughout the county. The friendships and projects at the center is what keeps some people coming. “When you’re single, Thanksgiving doesn’t seem as important,” said Keith Siggard, a Kaysville resi-
dent. “But we have good people here.” Harris said she was grateful for a family, but that they have been scattered. “It used to be that we’d all live in the same community,” said Anita Butikofer, who also spends time at the center. For these seniors, one of the negative sides to the holidays in general is the over-advertisement of Christmas. “They’ve started always advertising for Christmas before Thanksgiving,” said Butikofer. She, Harris and Siggard agree that Thanksgiving should be celebrated before Christmas is fully advertised. For Thanksgiving, seniors say they have a lot to be grateful for. “I am so grateful for the people who were able to rejoice in their first harvest here and have food to eat because of a successful harvest,” said Harris. Butikofer said this year, she is grateful because her son will be coming for the first time in 28 years. sroberts@davisclipper.com