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3 weeks ago | 
lancastereaglegazette.com | Mark Kinsler
Mark Kinsler, Special to the Eagle-GazettteI had determined for several years to install a vehicle lift, the sort that hauls your car aloft such that a mechanic can work on its underside without writhing like a serpent upon the cruel concrete. So a week ago I finally ordered one, and that was the easy part.
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3 weeks ago | 
lancastereaglegazette.com | Mark Kinsler
“Are you going to stay up all night?”I don’t know what exactly is wrong with me, but I have managed to completely reverse my sleep schedule. Right now it’s 7 a.m. and I didn’t get here by rising at 6 a.m. and going for a quick refreshing run. Nope, I’ve been up all night and Natalie is still asleep upstairs, having gone to sleep the untroubled sleep of the virtuous around 11.
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1 month ago | 
lancastereaglegazette.com | Mark Kinsler
Mark Kinsler, Special to the Eagle-GazetteI promised myself I wouldn’t write another column like this, but Natalie says that I have to write what’s on my mind. And what’s on my mind is that my chronic depression (“major depression,” is the official diagnosis) has returned and won’t leave, or disperse, or clear up under sunny blue skies like it’s supposed to.
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1 month ago | 
lancastereaglegazette.com | Mark Kinsler
Mark Kinsler, Special to the Eagle-GazetteWe don’t know how old our washing machine is. Maytag model A308, serial # 888032AL, when entered into several appliance-age websites (yes, these exist) generates a result that claims that the machine was manufactured sometime in 2002. It wasn’t, and we know that because we purchased the aged device from Re-Use Industries in Athens about two years prior to that date.
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1 month ago | 
lancastereaglegazette.com | Mark Kinsler
Mark Kinsler, Special to the Eagle-GazetteThat was one impressive windstorm we had the other night. Casualties included our neighbor Misty’s big wooden fence (five 4”x 4” posts broke off) and half of an ancient tree that collapsed on our neighborhood’s equally-ancient three-phase electric power feeder, neatly snapping off a cross-arm and at least one of the wires.
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1 month ago | 
lancastereaglegazette.com | Mark Kinsler
Mark Kinsler, Special to the Eagle-GazetteLancaster Eagle-GazetteUnfortunately, we’ve seen a good deal of the Vatican just lately. I rather liked Pope Francis and, more importantly, so did Natalie, a practicing Roman Catholic. Through odd circumstances, the two of us visited the place a few years ago through the good offices of Sr Nancy, Natalie’s old Pittsburgh buddy and co-conspirator, who went to Rome to be a translator for the Vatican newspaper and work in Vatican archaeology.
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2 months ago | 
lancastereaglegazette.com | Mark Kinsler
Mark KinslerSpecial to the Eagle-GazettePossible Amazon Review:“This 4’6” diameter cat exercise wheel was supplied with a set of instructions that would benefit if reviewed by a native speaker of English. I’m still trying to understand a sentence from Step 13: “Put black belt back glue mother-in-law.” I assume that this final phrase is not, in fact, instructing me to do something to my mother-in-law, whom I loved dearly and who no longer requires gluing.
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2 months ago | 
lancastereaglegazette.com | Mark Kinsler
Mark KinslerSpecial to the Eagle-GazetteWe’ve just returned home from a trip to Pittsburgh, Natalie’s hometown and home to most of her known relatives. It was a family-only memorial assembly (a niece, age 66, passed away some months ago), and apparently, I am part of the family. Everyone was nice enough to me (Natalie says they were on their best behavior), but as the senior member of the Family, she perceived that nobody was particularly thrilled to see us.
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2 months ago | 
lancastereaglegazette.com | Mark Kinsler
Mark KinslerSpecial to the Eagle-GazetteHere is the latest news from our cat-encumbered domicile:Poor Natalie. She has been elected president of her Educated Ladies’ Association. She has to lead her first meeting tomorrow morning, and I regret to report that she’s scared. Natalie? Scared? Of anything? Apparently so. She told me that she’s always nervous unto distraction whenever she has to teach the first session of any new course, and this is the same thing.
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2 months ago | 
lancastereaglegazette.com | Mark Kinsler
Mark KinslerSpecial to the Eagle-GazetteI must be feeling better, for I’ve lately been able to accomplish physical tasks, like walking two blocks without collapsing. This has not been the case for the last four or five years, for it seems that I’ve been valiantly fighting a battle with long Covid (which sounds like a Massachusetts beach). Apparently, I haven’t lost just yet, for the physical M. Kinsler has gradually returned.
