Too Many Buttons

There is one upside to these revolving door medical-doctors' appointments and that IS it takes us away from that depressing television news with the ongoing sick Presidential campaign rhetoric. I do get another couple of breaks from the frustrating television programming when taking time out to read two newspapers and peruse the Internet.

Ah, it's a wonderful life...sounds like a good movie title. Just the other evening, we were experiencing a cold front moving through Central Illinois and I engaged our portable-floor model family room heater to 'take the chill off.' After turning the heater on, I handed the heater remote to my wife who was comfortably positioned on the couch with Toy Poodle,Yodie snuggled next to her. I noted that my wife had within arms length not only the heater remote but the television remote, a remote devise to the heating pad under her butt and the remote house phone along with her cell phone. Quite a family setting change from the late 1940's when my folks sat around one large console radio blaring the sounds of machine gun fire as the announcer said, "Gangbusters!" If that radio picked up static I was the remote turning the knob slightly to get better reception. Today, we need not move from our nearby snacks to address such issues, we have REMOTES.

I found it amusing watching my wife grab one of her five different remote devices, point it at one of the electronics and then see her expression when the remote does not match the device. One time that evening, she thought she was turning up television volume but was pointing the portable house phone at the TV. Later, she caused the floor heater to kick into 'high' as she thought she was adjusting her heating pad temperature. Poodle Yodie went to his kitchen water bowl for a drink while I stepped out the back door for fresh air. Upon re-entering the family room, my wife said, "I'm afraid I need a new heating pad. This one isn't working."

I should probably call our kids and grandkids and tell them if Nana is slow to pick up when they telephone wait a moment and try again. But then again, I think they've noticed.