Kid face

Christmas cookie man

Marwencol

Mark recommended that we watch Marwencol, a documentary about a man who suffered serious head trauma which caused him to mostly forget his previous life and and he had to create a new life for himself. His ensuing photos and the stories to go with them has made him one of the best photographers of our time. After watching the flick last evening, I too recommend seeing this dramatic new life and real life of make-believe; I surely found a bit of myself in Marwencol and I believe you will see reflections of yourself, also.

Have a great Wednesday!

Fe-fi-fo-fum

December nears and I still haven’t seen a snow flake for this winter season. Suits me fine. Skies are gray and threatening but fortunately it is a bit too warm to snow.

Hope this Jack and the Beanstalk type movie turns out to be at least decent. I like giants  now but at one time I feared them. When I was a small boy living at grandma’s house there was a giant lived in the community. Charlie Malone once ran a sawmill at the corner of our road and Boones Creek Road. When he had no more room to make huge piles of sawdust, he closed down and moved on to another site. However, when he left, the giant moved in. I never did figure out just where the giant was living under the sawdust but I do know he was there and that he was big and hairy and ugly. Many times after I went to sleep at night, I would walk down the hill to play in the sawdust and as soon as I became immersed in my doings, the giant would suddenly appear, reaching for me and roaring with all his might. I was always able to get away from him and run to the safety of home but he has remained with me all my life. After I got a bit older, I stopped dreaming about him and began playing in the sawdust a lot with other local boys but I never did stop believing that somewhere beneath the piles the giant was waiting for me. Even after the sawdust caught fire and burned away, I could shut my eyes and see the reaching, gnarly hand of the big man.

Have a Tuesday!

Sunday's child

Light

My life has been very dull lately which is not good for an ‘up and at em man’. However, I ain’t so much the ‘shake a leg’ type person these days as I used to be so I guess I can live with laying in bed an extra hour some mornings. I dream the dreams of passionate lovers, dragon slayers, courageous warriors, and little boys.

Very dry autumn this year with outside burning banned in most local areas. Several forest fires are being fought in the mountains, one near Hampton where I’ve done a lot of photo shooting. The little church I shoot (photo above) a lot in autumn is nearby as well as the beauty of Watauga lake.

I’m glad I don’t have to do Christmas shopping; being broke makes everything so simple.

Have a great week coming!

The Holidays begin … the Year begins to end

The Occupy movement is still paying dividends. We got word today that one of Bank of America’s two branches in Johnson City will be closing in February. Credit unions and small local or regionally owned banks are doing good here, especially credit unions; new branches are popping up everywhere. I can’t help but think that Occupy’s calling attention to the misdeeds of cold, corporate Wall Street entities had at least something to do with this. Our local Occupy picketed Bank of America more than once last year.

Did you ask me what the worst song I ever heard was, excluding opera? In case you did and I forgot to reply, it is Achy Breaky Heart. That song shakes my nerves and rattles my brain. I hate the song, I hate the singer, I hate the song writer, and I especially hate line dancing. Line dancing would puke a buzzard off of a gut wagon. As for opera, I just plain don’t understand Italian lyrics and I don’t know why they have to scream them. I understand screaming vocals at a rock concert but why do opera singers have to yell their words to a hushed audience. Recently, I have found one fine exception; it is a commercial jingle on TV for J. G. Wentworth. High Opera at its best!

Have a good Thanksgiving, my friends … where ever you are.

Ain't gonna study war no more

Chucky farm

Looks like congress vs. president for at least two more years. Status quo has once again prevailed in America. I’m wondering whom I like the least, John Boehner or Nancy Pelosi. One thing for sure, I have lost all respect for John McCain.

Israel: Let those people go! Get out of Palestine’s affairs and then fight your own wars. You took your Biblical ‘homeland’ but you cannot live with your head in a historical fog of four-thousand years ago and at the same time have your hand on the switch of modern mass destruction. I don’t blame you for everything but you can sure do a lot better than what you are now doing.

I’m grouchy today; I had to get my shot early this week. My knee surgery will not take place until after the first of the year. I have to be cleared by my regular M.D. and then by my heart surgeon. I will have to undergo another heart stress test; should I not do well with it, I will have to have stints or even by-pass. Phooey!

Have a Tuesday!

End of week sale

Wilbur Lake 2009

I let Sammy try out my tablet yesterday. He knows more about such stuff than do I. He immediately began moving screens around and moving things on the screen around.

Tomorrow is shot day; nothing like a good “fix” to begin the weekend.

Carolyn finally has her van paid for; I suppose it will break down.

Have a splendid Thursday!

Sammy was here

New Sammy video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y3k8nV2rsY

I have been singing the Spongebob Squarepants theme song to Sammy today; between my crackly voice and the song lyrics, he gets a good laugh.

Mild days and cold nights here; ok as long as the snow stays away.

A lot to think about came out of the late election; I will write some of my thoughts here if I believe they are pertinent to Obama’s big win and a few other things.

Have a good Wednesday!

Little girls and rainbows

I know of a little girl who needs her daddy to come home from hospital. If you have a moment to spare, please send them both some good vibes.

We had a mild earthquake Saturday afternoon; I felt it through my chair and the water in my glass jiggled a tiny bit. No damage done as far as I know. That was the third one I’ve felt in my life, all minor.

I had no net connection yesterday except for the Droid. I now have it on the PC and am working to restore the wireless. I’m glad I have a modicum of tech savvy.

Have a Tuesday!

Tomorrow is Veteran’s day; I think it and Memorial Day should be combined into one and that we should have another summer holiday and we should name it ‘Ken’s Day’.

Friday was the 20th anniversary of Carolyn’s business. It was also Tammy’s and Jerry’s 21st wedding anniversary.

Today is Poland’s Independence Day. Poland and independence have served each other well.

Have a great week!

Pigging out

My favorite pic from election day; the faces of Fox News anchors when they realized Obama had won

 

 

When I was a smaller kid than I am now, my dad used to take me to the stockyard to sell our shoats which usually weighed between one-hundred and two-hundred pounds (45 to 91 kilogram). For you city slickers, a shoat is a large pig that hasn’t yet become a hog. When we could, we “pen-hooked” them, saving us the cost of the auction. Pen-hooking was merely selling them from the truck; there were always several pen-hookers greeting each truck coming in.
It was easy work for me—especially if we didn’t have to go through the pens and auction—and left me with plenty of time to roam around. My favorite distraction was buying a steamy hot dog and a soda; twenty-five cents for both. Once, while scarfing my tasty meal, I looked over at the pens and one of our bigger shoats was watching me eat. I thought nothing of it at first but a few seconds later I looked back and the pig was still watching me and I swear he had a look of contempt on his snouty face. Somehow I knew the pig knew I was eating and enjoying one of his kinfolks, probably his uncle Ralph. For some reason I felt terribly embarrassed and quickly dropped the remainder of the frankfurter into a nearby trash barrel. Seeing this, the big pig grunted and turned his tail toward me and as soon as he did my guilt mostly left me and I retrieved my dog, wiped as much well-chewed tobacco spit from it as I could, and finished eating. I suppose parts of my porky accuser ended up in more hotdogs and maybe even as a country ham hanging in someone’s smokehouse. With my remorse mostly subsided, I eagerly awaited my next trip to the stockyards, knowing a fresh hotdog and soda awaited me.
Note: The stockyards were located less than a block from where Carolyn grew up; fortunately she lived up-wind from the stink of the place. She related a story to me about she and her cousin walking down to the yards one day and buying a baby goat. They led it home with them but her mamma made her return it and get her money back. A person could buy almost anything at the stockyards.

Have a great weekend, my friends.

Karl Rove + Koch Brothers = Losers

It was a hot election but now it is time to cool the engines.

Night sounds

I gotta learn how to use the Droid X smart phone. It has gotten to the point where it beeps, groans, burps, pings, sings, and gurgles at all hours of the night. They are alerts from various programs wanting my attention for some inane reason, mostly advertisements. The heck of it is on many of them, I can’t disable the audible alert without removing the program. Yahoo mail is one such and until a recent fix, Facebook was another. It isn’t bad enough that I have to lay all night and listen to Carolyn make every noise humanely possible while she sleeps, the phone seems to want to either accompany her concerts or try to out do her. The Tab is different; I’ve been able to control all it s aural rackets.

Hopefully on Monday I can call the orthopedic surgeon and make an appointment for an exam and then, within a couple of weeks, have the knee surgery. The foot wound hasn’t completely healed but the replacement is going to have to go forward; I cannot stand much more.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!