Subconscious, Lay Down Thy Sword

I recently had a day of battle with my subconscious, except that the subconscious fights in insidious ways, not at all fairly. You know how, suddenly, you feel anxious? Suddenly, things are just not right? No? I hope you don’t, because it is not at all pleasant. It is something that has vested itself in me in these more recent, more “mature” years. My natural ability to worry about things that need not be worried about, but simply dealt with, combined with misfiring seretonins (a gift of older age) sometimes gets my system, emotional and physical, in a real dither. That is the subconscious (hereafter to be known as SC) comes in, adding to the confusion.

We have vehicle issues – nothing major, but any vehicle issue is not cheap. These are largely external – for the van it is a case of our non-winter tires getting old and wearing. The problem is, it also was out of alignment for awhile and so one tire has worn more than the other 3. I was advised of this, of course. So, of course, old SC grasped this knowledge and held it close to its heart, just waiting to dump it on me at a time of weakness. In addition, the brakes on the Honda are soft, which worries me and made me avoid driving it. So here I am, with two vehicles, each causing me worry. Worry. Because. SC. Said. I. Should. Baaaaad SC. Baaaad me, for letting it niggle and not realizing what it was doing. Because SC is very good at that, niggling, nibbling, sitting in there cackling. It takes pleasure in discomfort of its outer body and that body’s emotions.

Then there are the daily stresses – the husband having pain, the dog who decides to refuse to eat, the fact that none of us are getting any younger, and the issue of mortality having been brought home too often in the past few years. The reminder that we are all mortal. And I know this, I accept this. For the future.

So SC and Anxiety got together and pulled their ugly shroud over my head for a recent day. For part of a recent day, because not long after crawling into my big comfy chair and covering myself with my big comfy blankie, taking deep breaths, I recognized what was going on. It took a bit longer to recognize what it was that was lingering within the depths of old SC, feeding old Anxiety. But recognition finally dawned, and so I did what I should have done a week ago. I talked with our mechanic. Yes, that tire is thin, but not dangerously so. It will serve until the first of November when we have the winter studded tires put on, and new tires can be purchased in the spring. The Honda will probably need a Master Cylinder (apparently a crucial part of the braking system) soon, but not immediately soon. The Honda is rarely driven in the winter, so as winter gets closer, I shall take it in, have its Master thingy replaced (if that is indeed deemed to be the problem – and probably is, since Honda has 226,000 miles on it and has never gotten a new one of those) and new tires put on it, and now life is just fine again. And it will make the budget manageable.

Sometimes SC and Anxiety beat out common sense. When they do, I am in trouble. But all is well again. I cannot, in good conscience (not to be confused with Sub-conscious) leave you with any sense of sadness, distress or discomfort. So I will share with you a bit more – well,the first is a complaint, but the second is more cheerful.

Complaint: I just updated my iPad to iOS6, and updated my apps accordingly. I read all of my blogs, or 99% of my blogs, on Flibboard, which draws from Google Reader. Up until this update, I was thrilled with this app. However, now things have changed, and it is not just the app, it is more widespread. In reading most of the blogs, the photos all come up as thumbnails, hard to see. Tap on them and it takes me to a separate page with a way-too-large photo. Equally annoying is the fact that when I get to a blog and I tap “like” – because I liked what they had to say but have nothing to add – it blinks at me, takes me to the top of the page, and does not show that I “liked”. I have filed a complaint with Flipboard, although I am not at all certain it is their problem, and we shall see what they say.

Now, for cheer. When the Artistic One and I went to the fair nearly two weeks ago, one of the highlights of the fair was “Dock Dogs”. I suspect most of you reacted as I did – “What on earth are Dock Dogs?” So, let me show you.

The object is for the dog to sit at the far end of the “dock” while the owner gets to the end of the dock, and, when the command is given and the owner throws the dog toy, the dog comes racing down the dock, leaping off the end, into the air, reaching for the toy and ultimately landing in the pool of water. The dog that leaps the furthest wins. Here, you see dog leaping, reaching for the toy.

See the splash at the left end of the photo? That’s the dog landing. Good distance for this Border Collie.

This older Yellow Lab did not do so well, but he made a gallant effort.

This short-haired – spaniel or pointer? – preferred to play as opposed to stay.

But then, a beautiful leap

Wasn’t that fun?

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