A good Sunday

Haven’t heard this ballad since Mark posted a while back. Always been a favorite.

June's last Saturday

We kept the boys the past two days; they are about all we can handle. Someone has spoiled them beyond belief. Sammy peed in my bed on Thursday and Mason nailed it yesterday.

Knee surgery scheduled for July 17; must stop taking R.A. med immediately and by the time the scalpel is sharpened, I will be meaner and ornerier than usual. Surgery should take less than an hour and I hopefully will be confined only three days. Then comes the hard part.

Heat out west must be awesome; hope for the best for Courtney and Jeremy and all the folks, young and old, who are affected the most by bad conditions.

Bob Lawson

Bobby Lawson

Bob Lawson. Another friend from my youth has passed. I first met Bob in seventh grade and we became school friends. Bob was a gentleman and an inspiration. He married his high school sweetheart Suzanne Lyle, a beautiful lady whom I was fortunate to attend school with from first grade through high school. They eventually migrated to California and we lost contact with each other until one day about eight years ago I received an email from Bob asking if I was the Wayne Anderson who attended Jonesboro High School in the early sixties. I was thrilled to hear from him after so long. Bob proudly wore his University of  Tennessee Orange.

Ain’t got no more to say today.

Blues on my mind

I am working on some blues lyrics:
It’s Tuesday
What more can I say
It came at midnight
It’ll leave the same way
Nighttime found me crying
My Baby went away

Pieces of sleep

This sadness won’t end
Mr. Sun has no shine
My poor heart can’t mend
Old Fate has dealt
A dead man’s hand
More later …

Aches and Hackers

Still awaiting a surgery date. The doctor should release me from the pneumonia thing on Monday next. The cough is all but gone away but the backache, though greatly lessened in intensity, is persistent. Mark gave me a clue about the back pain. He mentioned that his mom’s first diagnosis was for pneumonia and I think I remember him saying she had backache also. Naturally, I googled. Back pain can be a part of pneumonia.

Do you use a “cloud service” to store or backup stuff from your PC, smartphone, or tablet? If so, be aware that my cloud account was compromised (hacked) and some porn photos were uploaded to it. I won’t say which cloud service it was because they are supposed to be investigating the mess. Anyway, I deleted all my stuff from the site and am now back to backing my files by other means. This happened to me on Flickr not long after i joined that site back in ’06. I couldn’t even delete the offending photo but when I informed administration it was quickly removed.

Enough for today.

Summer Boy

Barefoot through grass when I was a boy
A stick on a string my only toy
Speeding past Grandma’s chicken coop
Toes squishing rooster poop

Days of summer simmer my heart
Shade and shadows by an old flower cart
‘Twas when lad and summer played as one
Carefully nurtured by old man Sun

Happy Hump Day

Gotta love the camel

Happy Birthday Tammy. I am running late on everything lately.

I was back to doc on Monday; I will be recovering for a couple of weeks. Got another antibiotic shot and a cortisone shot. Butt ache by the numbers. She wanted me to check into hospital but I wormed my way out of it.

Now, my back hurts. RA, I suppose.

We gave Sammy his birthday present early; a Radio Flyer wagon. I wanted one like this when I was small but I was happy to get this one. It was still around in my teen years and was probably given to a cousin. I bought my kids one like it in late 1960′s. Sammy likes his.

I’ve found a couple of good photo ops if I can ever convince Carolyn to drive me to them. I spied them as we sped by when going to and from doctor.

Jeremy has added three more of my photos to the Walk of Art store; check them all out if you have a chance. He has also created a Facebook page for the store. I must say, the photographer is amazing.

Sunday

Happy Name Day, Jolanta!

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For my kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids on Father’s Day: I am proud of all of you.

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When your body becomes weary, make the job a mind exercise.

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Carolyn shanghaied me and forced a haircut on me; first one in a year or more.

Boys

The boys have left us; they were with us for only just more than a week but I miss them. I miss Mason's squeals of laughter in early morning; I miss Sammy playing in our bedroom every until he gets sleepy; I miss him pecking on our door to get us up. Carolyn cried for days after they left.

When kids get out of school for summer they turn around and go back for summer sessions of book lessons. When I was a school boy and out for summer, I learned many lessons by playing with my pals and roaming the woods, hills, and fields for a couple of months. I wonder if I ended up better educated than do today's kids?

Referring to the present N.S.A. fiasco, instead of trying to cover their asses I think the powers should give us good reasons to trust them. They cannot. I really don't know what the big surprise is about the domestic spying. Bush unabashedly bypassed the constitution to allow it and it was widely publicized as was Obama's decision to expand surveillance at home and in foreign countries. If people had watched The Spy Factory on PBS's Nova when it came out several years ago, it tells nearly everything that is just now being "found" by the popular press. The documentary can be seen online here or can be found on Netflix and other sources.

Referring to Mark's diet, Carolyn and I ordered takeout cheeseburgers from the Cottage, my old time watering hole. It was Friday after I had chest x-rays. The burgers were huge and juicy.

I have a full-blown case of pneumonia in both lungs. So far, I am dodging a stay in hospital. Thursday at a doctor visit I had a nebulizer treatment which helped a lot and a shot in my butt.

Two months from diagnosis 'til death. My cousin and closest buddy from my teen years died Friday from leukemia. I will miss you Bull. "Bull" was my personal nickname for him. He was 67 years old.

We dodged a bullet, my friends. Friday 13 fell on Thursday this month.

Passing through

Happy Birthday, Robin! Robin was the first person to ever comment on one of my blog posts.

Carolyn placed a flower container on the front porch which was soon taken over by a pair of housekeeping Carolina wrens. The eggs have hatched and a lot of peeps and tweets are emerging from the nest. Nature is wonderful.

The weather today is perfect for a Worshday; rainy and gray.

I'm sleepy.

Happy day, my friends.

Sunday not in the Park

I am so happy to not know whom Justin Bieber is; all of a sudden and for the first time in my life, I feel like an adult. Hold me Mommy …

The boys are both crying but their mama is with them; it is making me nervous, though.

Carolyn is working but I can’t get a thing done at the PC; just a blah day. Even the weather looks gloomy.

Sammy is now standing beside me watching videos of himself. I think Ashley found someone to sit with the boys while she goes to work.

Have a good week, my friends.

Boys and berries

Typical hippie/stoner music from the day

Ashley and the boys are staying with us for awhile. My days are filled with either entertaining Sammy or with Mason on my lap or both things at once. Sammy’s favorite Youtube actor is … Sammy. He loves most of the videos I made of him, especially ones with music. Mason is spoiled and wants to sit up all the time. They are with Chris for the remainder of the afternoon.

In college I was assigned to read Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. I knew it was classic American literature but when I tried to read it I had problems with the language of the times and the Yankee view of life in that period. I ended up borrowing a copy of Cliff’s Notes which allowed my to get a passing grade for the course. About two weeks ago I decided to tackle reading the entire book; it is easier going this time but still a slow read. Thoreau was a remarkable man and he has come to symbolize our need for nurturing the natural world. Besides, anyone who can enjoy eating groundhog has to be a special person.

It has been a very wet spring in these hills; grass is almost as green and lush as it was in mid-April. Blackberry briars in the backyard are laden with green fruit even though there was not as many blossoms as last year. Somehow that don’t make sense but I suppose it is what it is.

Looks like I am going to have to visit an auto mechanic to have my knee fixed; the medical profession surely is not interested in that line of work.

Wish I was able to be out and about this glorious weekend.

Happenings

Photo by Ashley

Congratulations to Alice's step-granddaughter Kelssie whom graduated from Science Hill High School last weekend. I hope she and Allie continue their educations. College is good.

Sixty-nine years ago today allied forces began the massive invasion of Europe which would oust Adolf Hitler from power in less than a year. To my mind, World War II is the only justifiable war the U.S. fought in the 20th Century.

Cannot shake off this cold; yesterday I thought I may again have pneumonia. Today the cough is not as bad but the head cold is worse. Phooey.

Ashley and the boys are with us; it seems so strange to hear Sammy's footsteps running through the house. It is usually the last thing I hear at night and the first thing I hear each morning.

Jeremy opened the store for sales of my photos. I need to do some work on many which he has not yet displayed. Thank You, Grandson!

Thursday.

Sunday

Been down with a cold and some RA for the past few days Today is a bit better with the cold.
Alice’s granddaughter, Allie, graduated from University High School. Congratulations to her and proud granny Alice.

I still haven’t heard from the knee surgeon; I am clear for the operation. Just waiting and getting sorer.
Mark wrote a nice tribute for his good friend and brother-in-arms. Sorry for your loss, my friend. I as well as anyone know the heartbreak of parting with dear friends when they are so young.

Back to bed for me.

Have a great week.