I’ve always enjoyed Garrison Keillor’s “Prairie Home Companion,” especially the portion of the show where he intones, “It’s been a quiet week in Lake Woebegon…”

It has been relatively quiet here in my little corner of the DFW Metromess. There have been ups and downs, as usual. We celebrate the victories and we mourn our losses, sometimes with a little bit of a laugh thrown in for good measure.

For several months, we have been looking for frozen Pierogies. For those of you not familiar, think of a Pierogie as sort of a mashed potato ravioli. Ever since the onset of the “Great Pandemic,” we have been unable to find frozen Pierogies.

Believe me, I’ve looked. Had to. The better half has been wanting the things since before the “Great Pandemic” came about. The store where we do most of our shopping hasn’t had them, nor have any of the other stores near our house.

A little over a week ago, it was suggested that one of the specialty supermarkets over in McKinney might have the things, so, we trundled out to a place called Market Street in search of the elusive Polish Treat. While we were at it, we ended up picking up a few other things we had been missing from our larder. Lipton Herb and Garlic soup mix, for one. Great for seasoning things, like… Pierogies. I found the increasingly hard to find Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi. And finally, we were about to give up when the better half told me that SHE FOUND THEM!!!

There were seven boxes. They were on sale. We walked out of the store with seven boxes of Pierogies. Well, we did pay for them first. Hopefully, there are more Pierogies somewhere in the mythical “Back” for later trips to the store to get Pierogies.

Tuesday and Wednesday were “Doctor Days” for me. Saw my family doctor for a follow-up to some bloodwork he’d ordered. Everything looked good, so, after getting my flu shot, I was back down the road for lunch (involving Pierogies) and a trip later in the afternoon to have an MRI.

The MRI took a while. What made it extremely uncomfortable was the noise made by the machine. Yes, I had earplugs, but they were ineffective, making the visit an ordeal, of sorts.

Got home at sunset, was assailed by the dog Filbrix, sat down to eat supper, and before I could get in the last bite of supper, the other half noticed that the front door was ajar and that the cat had decided to fly the coop.

We spent the better part of an hour attempting to find the animal to no avail. We looked as best as we could to see where she might have gone with no results. The cat is still MIA as of the time I write this on the following Monday afternoon.

To the best of our knowledge, the cat was seventeen years old, somewhat frail and perhaps going blind. In one sense, I hope that she knew her time was short and found a place to hang out until her demise.

Part of attempting to get our geriatric cat back to the house was to put out her food and water bowl by the front door. The second morning after setting out the bowl, the food was missing. We put out a second helping of cat food. The dog Filbrix and I took our evening walk, coming back to find a ‘Possum happily chowing down on the cat food by the front door. I wasn’t too surprised at our discovery. There’s wildlife lurking nearby in what little “Green” area we have here in the immediate neighborhood. I was thankful for the thief being a ‘Possum and not one of the nearby skunks which make their presence know from time to time.

Seeing the ‘Possum gave me a bit of a smile, thinking about the first time my son encountered one of North America’s famous marsupials. He spotted a ‘Possum winding its way through the outside air conditioning units from my third-floor apartment. I was preparing a dinner when he said (loudly), “WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!!!”

He’d never seen one before. Wow. I had a good laugh at the time and recall his reaction every once in a while with a certain fondness.

Anyhoo, we lost Morticia Rose, High Priestess of the Underworld. She was a good cat. For a cat.

As I said at the outset, we celebrate our victories, mourn our losses and hope for a good laugh or two at the end of the day. It all makes for a quiet week in my little corner of the DFW Metromess.

Be Seeing You!