To shower or not to shower ...

Latest member of the Carta family

Tammy has a new friend. I know she is ecstatic to once again have two lories to fuss at her while she works.

I wouldn’t mind being a Wal-Mart greeter for awhile; wouldn’t that make an interesting opening chapter for memoirs?

I am threatening to take a shower and it is not even mid-week yet.

Have a Tuesday!

Two for the ages

Kitty Wells 1919 — 2012

Jon Lord 1941 — 2012

Monday moans

East Tennessee

Jeremy and Courtney are settling in and are living near Los Angeles. Courtney already has a job and Jeremy has some good prospects. Good luck, young’uns.

Sammy was here Friday and again Saturday. He slept a lot of the time; he must be a tomcat at night. He did manage to stay awake long enough on Friday to completely tire-out his old g.grandpaw.

We got enough rain in the past few days to make the grass green again; still rains nearly every night.

Off the net since Friday night; someone hacked my modem. It was mysteriously back in service this morning.
Didn’t sleep well last night. Hope to be back in full swing by tomorrow.

Photo made Thursday morning near where I live.

Have a good Worshday!

Friday rain

Wringers … should’ve saved this for Worshday

Sammy is coming back today; he won’t be here long but I am looking forward to seeing him.

I am officially supporting recommending and supporting the Green Party of the United States and all of it’s candidates for public office. I hope that American readers of this blog will take the time to compare the Green Party with the bought-and-paid-for offerings of the two major parties.

All this rain is certainly welcome but I am now wishing it would spread itself out over a few weeks instead of several days at a time.

Carolyn is teaching herself to text on her new phone. I have never texted and don’t intend to begin and she now thinks she knows something that I don’t know. I cannot convince her not to drive and talk on the phone at the same time and now I have to worry about her texting while driving. I hope she doesn’t kill or maim anyone.

The photo was made with the Droid X phone camera.

Have a great weekend!

Bridge

Cross the bridge but don’t burn it behind you because a friend may be standing on the other end awaiting your return.

No Sammy today, perhaps Friday. He is spending time with his dad.

Afghanistan: Six American soldiers killed defending a scab on the ass of he earth and it is barely reported by our glam-seeking media. The world is going to hell in a hand basket while we capitalists continue to blindly chase another inflated dollar.

Have the Mother of all Wednesdays!

Telstar

By golly, I like my tab computer. I imagine a 10-inch tablet can replace laptops--and even some desktops--for a lot of people. I've already got Netflix and Youtube on board, and the silly thing can even operate as a tv remote control. Pisses-off Carolyn when I am reading my e-book and all of a sudden her tv channel changes or the sound mutes. I can act as innocent as anyone.

Sammy was here yesterday but he slept much of the time; he is supposed to be back for an encore tomorrow.

Finally got a bit of rain and there is thunder to the west of me as I write this. Still need a couple days worth of steady drizzle to soak the ground.

Have a Tuesday!

Carpe Jugulum

Neil Young’s entire Americana album

Sammy is here!

Have a great Worshday!

Days Like This

Jeremy and Courtney are finally settled in California; it was not the easiest move to make but make it they did. I will let them tell of their journey with its trials and tribulations on their own blogs. Anyway, my congratulations to them for persevering in the face of extreme adversity.

Sammy is doing well, according to the doctor. He got two more shots and a finger prick which did not please him. He is to quit using baby formula and begin with whole milk. He has a toothbrush and must use it. He needs to be read to but whomever does that will have to be fast on their feet because he is constantly on the move.

Megashot seems to be moving forward very well with many new talented members from Southeast Asia joining in the past two weeks. There are many more page loads now, and the sites popularity is quickly advancing. As much as I dislike Facebook, I must admit Megashot’s tie-in with the social site has paid mega-dividends both ways. I understand that version 2 of the site is coming along well and I know for a fact that it will be easy to use, very customizable, and even more exciting than at present. At that, the present version is still the best photo site on the web. Megashot.net is the best of everything photographic.

I’ve had a relapse the past couple of days; yesterday I was barely able to get out of bed. I fear the shots are not going to work, either. However, I am going to try to give them another two weeks to do their thing. My hands and fingers were so sore I could not hold my new ebook to read. Today is better but not near as good as was last week.

Have a good summer week, my friends!

Darling Clementine

Happy weekend!

Carolyn has gone to take Sammy for his medical checkup; he is still tugging at his right ear.
Hooray!

• Hooray for Europe following Poland's lead in slapping down ACTA.

• Hooray for France for taxing the richest citizens and companies.

I was planning to have a decent 4th when the doorbell rang and it was a process server with an appearance warrant for me due to an unpaid debt. So, I am getting sued ... again. I've been to the courthouse so much in the past two years that workers there think I am just another employee.

CitiMortgage sold the mortgage on our old house to PennyMac. PennyMac is a company founded in 2008 by the officers of Countrywide Financial which is the one company most responsible for the housing market fall and the mess I am in.

Got my shot yesterday; if the liquid medicine is going to work, it should begin doing so within a couple of weeks; until then, I will struggle on with soreness and feeling of perpetual tiredness on some days days, like the last two have been. Actually, I am much better than what I was two weeks ago.

I will try to answer the comments from the past few days when the fingers decide to work together.

Have a good Friday.

Happy Birthday U.S.A.

Link to photo information

Birthday Buddy

In about three months, Keegan will be home on leave for a while, then off to Germany. Hope he can stay away from Afghanistan.

Perfection! The moment we awaken each morning is perfect; everything is fresh and nothing is required … but only for a moment and then life reasserts itself. If we can but stretch the essence of that fleeting second to last throughout our waking day we shall have found heaven.

I know it is big argumentative, but my pick of the three best musical performers of the late hippie age were Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin. I believe that Janis performing with Big Brother and the Holding Company was the best electric blues ever performed.

 Happy Birthday, Little Buddy!

Have a Tuesday!

Hotel California

Jeremy and Courtney are in Los Angeles, Calif. and are almost to their apartment as of 11:40 this morning.

We had some dandy thunderstorms at around midnight last night. It is only the second time in my life that I’ve seen lightning flashing continuously for more than a few minutes; the show lasted for more than one-half hour before slackening. However, we got only the edge of the storms; about three minutes of hard rain. The grass is still brown.

We are up to our ears in June bugs, they are all over the yard; most I’ve seen since I was a kid.

Sammy had a good birthday party; he mostly held one person’s or another’s hands and walked. There were several small kids there and all he wanted to do was follow them around. Ashley’s dad has him spoiled.

Have a great Worshday!

Weekend update

Sammy reaching for g.grandpa

Friday was Carolyn’s and my 48th wedding anniversary; the day eased by with little to note its passing. Outside temp hit 102°F.

Ashley had Sammy his first birthday party yesterday; he was ill and sleepy at first but finally ate some sugary birthday cake and then he went hyper. He was a joy for all of us. Outside temp hit 103° (39.44°C).

Jeremy and Ashley are about to exit Texas; they stopped for lunch in Dallas yesterday. Courtney tweeted that they were invaded and infested by grasshoppers somewhere in W. Texas. They both agree–”Texas is too damned big and too damned flat”. She also said that Mississippi roads are miserable to ride on. They say they will be on the coast of California tomorrow morning.
Shucks, I thought Georgia was flat.

Have a good Sunday and a great week, my friends.

Second Birth

Slow day … HOT day! I did a rain dance in my head but all I got was a clouded brain.

Got my methotrexate shot this morning; I would cross my fingers and hope for the best but fingers look and feel like sausages. Speaking of sausages, I was probably 10 or 11 years old when I found out that not all sausage came in patties. In fact, a lot of things amazed me when I first went into a super market. They still do, particularly the prices.

Obama’s health care thingy is now law but it may cost him his job. I really believe that he didn’t want it to be declared constitutionally valid so he would not have to defend the unpopular law to voters this year. Without the public option which he gave away to Republicans early on, the health act will further enrichen the richest and make life even harder on the poor.

Jeremy and Courtney are leaving for the Golden State tomorrow; we wish them a safe trip and hope they have a wonderful life in California or where ever they eventually settle.
Leaving home in a sense involves a kind of second birth in which we give birth to ourselves. ~Robert Neely Bellah

Have a good Thursday, dear ones.

Title

Politician or used car salesman?

Sammy is coming so I must be quick writing this blog.

Not much happening except heat. I can't understand how it can be so hot and humid without a raindrop to be had anywhere. Mark, the Channel 11 weatherman, says we will have only a chance of the much over stated late afternoon and evening thunder showers; no steady rain in sight. My lawn is browning into summer stupor; three weeks ago it was till being mowed twice each week.

Carolyn and Chris bought me an ebook reader; actually a tablet pc. I think it was a combination late-father’s day and early birthday gift along with a get well and get out from underfoot bribe. Not many soon-to-be 68 years-old geeks are as nerdy as I. Nohow, I can read my Kindle ebooks and my Nook ebooks along with about any other format out there. It uses standard Google Android OS as does my Droid X phone which makes it easy for a forgetful old pervert to learn.

Have a good Wednesday!

"While I was musing the fire burned" ~Psalm 39:3

How come it is that only a country singer can take a gentle love song and make it sound like a funeral dirge?

Tammy, send RAIN!

Have a Tuesday!

Memories are made of this ...

Sammy's 1st Birthday studio portrait

Carolyn hounded me for a week about today being the day I’d rescheduled my family doc’s appointment; 8:20am. For some reason it did not sound right; I thought I had put the new date on my PC reminder program but it was not popping up. Well, I didn’t sleep well last night; much shoulder pain. At 7:00am my Droid alarm went off and she had me to the doc’s office on time. The only trouble was that I was there a month too early; the appointment is for July 25. When I got home, I went to bed and caught a few minutes sleep and then came to the computer; yep, there it is on my reminder calendar for July 25. Damn, I took a bath and shaved for nothing! Carolyn’s memory has just about caught up with mine. I used to be the person in the family everyone came to to find out a birthday or an anniversary. I also remembered all my friends and their kids birthdays. In the past two weeks, I wrote a Happy Name Day greeting for Jola and forgot to click the “send” button and a few days later I almost forgot Tammy’s Birthday but I think I did send her a greeting; actually I am afraid to look at my email “drafts” folder. I am afraid my message to her is still unsent. The worst part of aging for me has been the memory loss. Now, it seems to be plaguing my bride as well; don’t be surprised if you find us walking the roads and streets with a blank look on our faces. By the way, a belated Happy Name Day to Jola and Happy Birthday to Tammy and if I missed anyone else, I offer a sincere apology and a Happy Whatever it was.

This Thursday, I will once more begin taking the methotrexate injections and forgo the ten pills once per week. I went from the shots to the pills more than a year ago and had no problems until about two months ago when I felt the RA acting up; just a little at first has now bloomed into a full-blown pain crisis. I have had the disease since childhood and I have had lots of pain and soreness but never as much as I have been enduring the past two weeks. The worst part is that the shots may no longer help me and it probably will be about three-to-six weeks before they alleviate any of this … if they do work. Anyway, I will be blogging less over the waiting period and won’t be on the net much. If you leave comments, be assured I will appreciate them and that I will read them but I may not answer them in a timely manner.

Have a good Worshday!

Wings as eagles

In a few short days, Jeremy—my grandson, my friend, my brother—will be leaving us for new opportunities on the Golden Coast of California. He and Courtney, along with Queen Remy and Prince Bubba, will load up a U-Haul and leave their home in Atlanta to seek their fortune in another part of this vast, wonderful land. His grandparents are going to miss him worse than anyone else; even though we will be as close electronically as we ever were. To Carolyn and I, the crevice between generations will become like a great divide. Age becomes the greatest part of the division; with he and Courtney standing on one side of life’s grand canyon and Carolyn and I standing on the other side.

However, I many times look back at my life and say what if I had emigrated to California during the late 60′s; I passionately craved to do so. I could not take that giant step because I had a wife and children to think of. I ended up staying in my beloved hills which I now realize was the best decision for all concerned. I can never be more than a hillbilly living with the hills beneath my feet.

Jeremy has much of the hills in him, but unlike the red-tailed hawk who spends all his years in one area, Jeremy has the blood of the golden eagle and must move on to new territory, greater heights, and better hunting grounds.

“… they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” ~Isaiah 40:31

Be safe and be well, my grandson; you shall forever be loved.

Time

Westclox "Big Ben"

I began writing this some time ago and today a nudge from a friend brought it back to my memory.

Tick … from the old Westclox Big Ben was one of the few sounds which reached my ears on a hot June afternoon in 1952. Even little boys in the wide-open countryside get bored on wonderful sunny days when there is no else around to play with and the humid air sticks to the skin and fierce sunshine tries to push the shoulders down around my waist. All I wanted was to get in some dryer shade and I moseyed into my grandmother’s living room in the small, clapboard farm-style house a mile from Jonesboro, Tennessee. Tick … Close family all referred to my grandmother as “Mom” and that suited me fine. None of her real given names were hard to pronounce–Julia Ada—but her few friends called her Ade.

Dink … the clock said “dink” every thirty minutes as it tried to get up enough nerve to sound an alarm, or maybe it had plenty of nerve but at its age a puny dink was the best it could do. Anyway, when Mom was sitting in the living room as she was this afternoon, all she had to do was look at the clock one time and thereafter the pathetic dink would advise her of time’s passing without her having to raise her eyes to the top shelf of the mantle where the aged, ivory-colored clock-face ruled over small, framed family photos.

All the windows in the house were open and sometimes a small breeze filtered through rusting screens, carrying sounds of birds and bugs and chickens and pigs as they tried to hunker down from oppressive heat. The old house was cool enough inside, particularly the north facing front where the living room and Mom’s—and mine—bedroom was located; it was the bedroom where I was born on a similar afternoon some seven years earlier. White paint on the wooden sides and a shiny metal roof sent most of the sun’s rays scurrying off to find something else to torment. Even heat from the well used adjacent kitchen dared not trespass north of its own domain.

This is all I have so far but will do some more as I feel up to it.

Swan Song

Things change in one’s life so quickly at times that it is shocking. Having said that and without going into great detail, and until things change for the better, I will be doing this blog only on days I physically feel like it; lately there have been very few of them. I will surely miss each of you on the days I can’t be here. Don’t think you can sneak off and go play somewhere else; I will be lurking about the net, reading your prose and viewing your photos and smiling a lot.

Lyrics for the video are here.

Have a good Worshday, my friends.

Sammy was with us yesterday and is here again today. Right now he is having green beans, mashed taters, and apple sauce which he doesn't care for.

Have a good Sunday!

Thursday tidbits

Blackberries from our back yard

Tammy sent Carolyn and me some more of her handmade soaps and also balm for Sammy when he has diaper rash. She sent along some of her sunflower heads for the birds and squirrels. Sorry birds; you gonna have to be quick if you want a good meal before the tree rats get it. I had fun watching the squirrels try to carry the big seed heads up the trees. I also used some more of the soap and I think I smell damn good. Thanks, Tammy.

I think I may be getting my annual case pneumonia/bronchitis. Started with dry cough but has now loosened into chest congestion. Slept only about two hours last night and I feel like I’ve been anal-probed by a giant octopus.

The first John Grisham book I read was The Pelican Brief and it is still–along with The Firm also by Grisham–one of my top 10 picks in crime fiction novels. I am rereading the book. I just finished reading Ender’s Game by Orson Scott card which is rated by some as the best sci-fi novel ever. For me, it is a decent read but nowhere near the best ever of the genre.

Have a Happy Thursday!

Shhhhh ...

Quiet today … too quiet. Haven’t heard a train since last evening; very unusual for a “normal” day of commerce. Must be a derailment somewhere. A good quietness.

This is the day we normally have Sammy as a guest but he decided to stay home until Friday. His absence is a lonely quietness.

I am eating a raw potato as I write this; Carolyn bought some new potatoes and sweet corn at market yesterday. We will have lima beans, corn on the cob (roast’nears), mashed taters, boiled cabbage, and biscuits for today’s meal … and tomorrow’s and the next day’s …

A good Wednesday to each of you.

Solstice cometh ...

Weekend was normal except that Sammy became very sick with an ear infection; Chris had to take him to hospital emergency Sunday night; he had a temp of 102.7. He got meds and felt a little better yesterday.

Heavy rain and wind last evening I didn’t hear any thunder, though. Typical weather as we get ready for the solstice turn-around in just more than a week.

So far, the smartphone is winning. Carolyn has figured out how to get to the home screen and to check her voice mail and and use her contact list to dial. She just this morning found the touch-screen dialer. I’ve not used her phone to access the net, but everything else on it works much faster than it does on my Droid X.

On this day in history, Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl living in Amsterdam, receives a diary for her 13th birthday. History.com.

Have a Tuesday, everyone.

Happy Birthday, Robin!

Attitude

 Sundays; at my age I just don’t know what to do with them.

Sammy went to the annual Covered Bridge celebration in nearby Elizabethton yesterday with his mama and granny Chris. Carolyn saw him afterward and she said he was ill as a hornet. The image is from Ashley’s FB and seems to confirm Carolyn’s diagnosis.

The Understanding Church
Sermon for Sunday, June 10, 2012 C.E.:
God gave humans a brain high in reasoning power and I suppose he meant for us to use it. Don’t be mislead by the multitudes of false prophets in their bully pulpits and shiny palaces; use your mind to think for yourself. Love.

Have a good week!

451

If you’ve never read the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, you have missed a good book. Bradbury died Tuesday but his many works and words will live for a long time.
Jump, and you will find out how to unfold your wings as you fall.
~Ray Bradbury

Why would God allow a bunch of fuck-ups like we humans to ever set a soulish foot in Heaven? If I was the best, the most moral, and the most righteous person on earth, I wouldn’t be making plans for eternity in God’s Heaven; He is smarter than to allow that to happen. The only reason it is Heaven is because people or their residual souls aren’t in it. However, if you are insistent on thinking that you are going to pass through St. Peter’s Golden Gates, all you need do is love God with all your heart and soul and everything else will take care of itself.

Have a good Thursday!

Sammy is coming to my house!

Summer grasses

Have a great Wednesday!

Dark Ages

Atop Roan Mt.

I don’t have place names or even people names for the new story, but otherwise there is some decent stuff. I am glad there is very little historical information about the European Dark Ages because it allows me to keep my tale in this world and be able to lie like a politician. I will use some politics but I will keep religious involvement to a minimum which won’t be easy because as I understand the period, Roman Church suppression of learning, knowledge, and scientific advancement is why they were called the Dark Ages. We will be in the latter part of the long era, just before the Renascence and where war is war and greed is greed and human nature is much like it is today.
The gist of it all is the question of ‘what if one person or one nation controlled the total mass-production of man-made commercial fertilizer for and entire continent and beyond’ and what if that nation had become a near-Eden because of climate changes? What if the Roman Church did not have its golden power-hungry hands heavily involved in the nation’s affairs? Of course, such a nation is doomed because the Church will not rest until it owns the wealth of land and controls the minds of the people.

Yesterday I was soaking in fluid; so much in my joints that I could hardly move without grunting or groaning. A fluid pill knocked most of it out of me and a good night’s sleep–even though I still had to pee a lot–has made me feel better today; at least good enough to agitate y’all with my literary drivel.

As Mark said on his blog, the recall election in Wisconsin will set the future of America; either we continue on the path to a modern Dark Age which Conservative’s have laid out for us or middle-class tax payers will let be known that we want to control our lives and livelihoods and reinstate the sacred Constitution of the United States of America.

Sammy is supposed to honor our house with his smiling presence come tomorrow.

Have a Tuesday!

Bionic

Reasonable weekend, so far. I have a few lines written in the new story which I have tentatively titled “The New Story”.

There is a new crack in the mystic universe … Carolyn bought herself a (drum roll) smartphone! Not any smartphone, a Droid Bionic smartphone. Carolyn is a person who can barely figure out how to call out on any phone that doesn’t have a rotary dial. I can see her and Google now arguing over transferring her contacts info to the Droid; she don’t even remember her email account name or password. I know what they are but I’ll be damned if I tell her because it will open a Pandora’s Box of “Wayne, show me how’ to do this or show me how to do that. She doesn’t have Facebook, she doesn’t have Flickr, she doesn’t have Megashot, she doesn’t read my blog. All she does is blab on the phone for hours at a time; I bet her smartphone dumbs down before she smartens up. She will not use any of that stuff; she hates computers and she nor I have ever used text. Me because my clubby fingers are not conducive to working tiny keys and she because she won’t take time to learn. She should have it traded for a regular cell phone within a week or so. The new Droid will be here mid-week; anyone want to hide me out for the duration? I don’t eat much and I am potty trained but I still have all the regular male bad habits which I will try to suppress.

Have a good Sunday!

Happy Day

 Sammy was with us yesterday and was wired to walk. He still has to have a helping hand for balance, but he is getting better at it each day. I was in my desk chair and he had hold of my left thumb; he started walking and around and around we went until he decided it was enough and turned, changed hands and grabbed my right thumb and went the other direction for a few turns. He then went walking through the house several times with Carolyn’s and JJ’s help. By the time he had to go home, we were worn out but he had taken a long afternoon nap and was ready to go again.

The photos were made with my f/1.4 50mm lens which I plan to use a lot more since my fingers have become so sore. It is lightweight and easier to keep around my neck for long periods. Sorry about using the flash; it is a necessary evil at times.

I planned to begin writing the body of my new story today, but for some reason I am a bit tired and have a sleep hangover; I downed half a Xanax last night and it put me down hard. I have 2.5 of the pills left in the bottle and no refills; soon, I will have to depend on Ambien. It works well and leaves less hangover, but for some reason I don’t trust it.

From Rocky Top to each of you; have a great Thursday!

Presidential

Here is a link from Maggie’s blog which is very interesting
—-
President Obama writes his daily to-do list in the Oval Office:

• Hug Hillary
• Hug Michelle
• Hug Geithner
• Shake hands with Joe the vice-president guy
• Orange juice, grits, and jammy toast for breakfast
• Kill some foreign terrorists
• Kill some Americans who may be terrorists
• Wink at Hillary
• Kiss some corporate ass
• Kiss some Israeli ass
• Kiss some Saudi ass
• Ignore Pakistan
• Ignore all of Africa
• Ignore South America
• Continue ignoring Cuba
• Threaten Syria
• Make a decision about some minor something and smile for camera recording event
• Call the Pope and ask if he has heard from God today
• Call Pat Robertson and ask if has heard from God tomorrow
• Smile at Hillary
• Call Donald Trump’s office; when he comes on the line, laugh and hang up
• Call Putin and ask for more vodka
• Order vacation brochures from S. Pacific Islands
• Do anything to keep Hillary off my ass
• Lunch salad bar with Boehner; beg if I have to
• Afternoon golf with P.A.C. chairpersons
• Evening meal with family if they are around
• Watch The Jeffersons reruns on TV
• Catch late Fox News
• Do a presidential pee, salute and go to bed
• Lewd suggestions to Michelle and thank God she isn’t Hillary

Think rain!

I ain’t going to complain about the hot temperatures we are having because about six months from now I will be wishing I had them back. But, we sure could use some rain.

Ashley didn’t work today so Sammy was not here for a visit; maybe tomorrow. Carolyn bought him an inflatable swimming pool and she has plans for him to get into it tomorrow. Like most boys, he don’t even like a bathtub so I don’t have much hope for his taking to the pool very readily.

That’s all from Rocky Top; have a Tuesday.

Memorable Memorial?

Overall a pretty bad weekend with some nice highlights. Hope y’all had a good one. Sammy was supposed to come over today but he is with his dad. Carolyn has gone to work to finish up what she didn’t get done Friday.

I rode to the market with Carolyn on Saturday afternoon and made one of my best “social commentary” photos. A lot of hay being mown around the farms so the old eye allergies decided to kick in full blast yesterday. Today is sore all over day but I am gradually working some of it out.

It is sweltering hot in these hills; we badly need rain.

This coming week would have been very busy at my grandma’s house when I was growing up there. Plenty of crepe paper of many colors would have been bought along with galvanized wire for creating stems, and flower making would be under way. Back then, Decoration Day was the first Sunday in June and it was for all our past family members whether or not they were veterans. Each and every grave in our two local cemeteries got at least a small bunch of flowers, and and many plots in other graveyards around the area were visited so that passed family could have a colorful memorial. For many years, the flowers didn’t last long on the graves, night time dew took its toll on colors and shapes, the sun bleached out colors, and the least bit of rain made them look awful. Finally someone came up with the idea of dipping the finished flowers in melted paraffin and this helped them to last for a few weeks instead of just a few days.  The wax did have a propensity to dull the colors as soon as it was applied.

I have begun writing another story and it is unlike anything I’ve ever attempted. It is set in Dark Ages Europe, a time which seems dark only to historians because the people in my tale had fairly normal lives.

Have a memorable Worsh Day!

Wonderful

Gotta love the this time of year when daylight comes before six o’clock each morning and stays late so the lightning bugs will have time to play. Wish I had a way of keeping late May and early June all year long except for one week of autumn’s most beautiful colors. What a wonderful world it would be.

Got my haircut yesterday and did a bit of shaving this morning which I will finish up tomorrow before the main man gets here.

Have a great Thursday!

Haircut

Carolyn is about to drag my reluctant carcass out to the porch and give me a haircut. She has become a fiend about my hair; it was cut only last September. Next thing I know she will be wanting me to shave. Being on these crutches causes me not to be able to get to the creek for my ritual baths; been nearly a year since I was soaked in cold mountain water and scrubbed down with good old lye soap. Lye soap is the big secret to a long-lasting cleanliness; it takes about three months for my skin to grow back and another three months to mentally prepare myself to do it again. In the meantime, a shower with one of Tammy’s scented soaps does a pretty good job.

No Sammy today; Ashley is off from work. Maybe tomorrow or Friday.

Looks like rain coming; have a good Wednesday.

KISS concert abt. 1978

Carolyn, Quentin Hayes, KWA at KISS concert. Photo courtesy of Alice.

'Take it from me, there's nothing more terrible than someone out to do the world a favour.'

Lyrics

Feelin’ better today; at least I can touch the typing keys without much pain. Layin’ in bed sure ain’t my life calling. Still need a few days to get balanced as well as possible.

Mark is talking of maybe supporting the Green Party this year. I will give them a look; no way can I support Obama and certainly not the cruel rightists.

Title quote by Terry Pratchett.

Have a Tuesday!

Groovin'

Sat on the porch this morning until heat drove me back indoors. The yard and trees are filled with fledgling birds of many kinds and my feeders look like they are wearing gray fur coats. Not one train came by to louse up the peace of the countryside; a laid-back kind of day.

Sammy was over Wednesday but had a cold; we had to play with him twice as hard to keep him entertained.

I am having RA problems; I think the last prescription refill for methotrexate was not a good one. I am sore all over.

Have you noticed President Obama has said little about the latest Wall Street fiasco?  He knows who greases his wheels.

Art. You have to create it before you can know it.

Have a good ending of May; June is nigh.

Thursday satire

The bitch I have with Elton John coming to Freedom Hall is the well known fact that he is g-a-y! He was also gay the last time he was in Johnson City. No, I am not anti-gay; I'm anything but anti-gay. Unless you are an American whom is dead, blind, deaf, and have no sense of smell, you know what a stink our religious/political leaders are raising about gays being an "abomination" in the eyes of God. Yet, since it was announced that John would be here in concert, I've not heard one squeak of a desent, either for his appearance 12 years ago or the forthcoming event in September, about an openly gay person performing for the clean, heaven-bound souls of Johnson Citians, God's chosen people. For Christs's sake, Elton Twinkie has been seen wearing huge, pink-framed eye-glasses with windshield wipers on them ... that actually work! How perverted can a person be! Apparently his freakish attire and ungodly mannerisms are fine with the religious-political community. Heaven help us. Welcome back to Johnson City, the new Heart of Old Dixie. Mr. John.

In the late 1990's when it was announced that Marilyn Manson was supposed to perform in concert at the same Freedom Hall Civic Center, all hell (literally) broke loose. Many a pastor, preacher, priest, reverend and saint for miles around bombarded the local rags with letters of protest about the "Devil Worshippers" bankrupting the precious young ears of the community of their God-given Souls. City leaders were inundated with a united effort using everything from reason to pleads to threats against their families if Marilyn Manson was allowed to soil the pristine and holy mountain air. In the end, the City Commission voted to disallow the concert and once more peace and harmony was waged across area. The good people went back to their Sunday pews, pulpits, and hangovers, knowing the only devils left to fight were other religious denominations—mainly Catholic—doing business just up the street.

After the dust settled, JC found that it had been blacklisted by most rock-and-roll musicians, as well as jazz and bluesmen; this delighted the religious bigots. All the city could book was an occasional country act, a washed up opera singer, ice shows, rodeos*, a few religious or gospel music events, and a few "I-used-to-be-somebody" acts like Elton John; wholesome stuff no young folk wanted to see. The city and its businesses have lost hundreds of thousand of dollars in tax revenue and income because the few were allowed to dictate to the many. Young people now travel to Asheville, Knoxville, Charlotte, and Roanoke to see concerts that Johnson City could have presented.

Both these entertainers are showmen, and the people of the area should be able to spend their money to see them if they so choose; if citizens don't want their children exposed to such, keep them at home and deny them access to television, newspapers, radios, and internet. Parents and preachers shouldn't blame their own inadequacies on the rest of us.

Have a Yee-Haw Thursday, my friends!

*Rodeos, circuses, etc. should be banned due to their cruelty to animals.

Croc

Big Burley

Buddies

Last week, our water heater went bad. Had I been a homeowner, I would have to come up with the money to have it replaced. Being a renter, Carolyn made one phone call and a new unit was in place the next day.

Johnson City’s last tobacco warehouse is no more. Sunday it burned into mostly ash and wreckage. JC used to be a hub for burley tobacco sales from farmers to corporations which produce cigarettes. In my day, there were at least three of the huge buildings around town but when cigarette sales in the U.S. fell and the government no longer supported tobacco prices, the city bought two of them and and had them demolished. The Johnson City Development Authority moves in a mysterious manner. The last time I was inside the one which burned on Sunday was the mid-1980′s when they had car shows in summertime. Burley tobacco was for years the main cash crop of local farmers; it mostly sold in November and December and it made clothing and Christmas presents possible for many children in the “Burley Belt”. In the 1940′s and 1950′s, JC was the home of a football bowl game; the (you guessed it) Burley Bowl which took place on Thanksgiving Day. It usually pitted the team from East Tennessee State College–now University–against one of the college teams from across region. JC had their Christmas parade the morning before the big game and people came from miles around to enjoy the revelry.

Elton John is coming to town in September! Oh, glorious day. Thoughts about this in a later post.

Have a Tuesday!

Mr, Gnome

Bless his ever-lovin’ blue-eyed soul

Teeth

Sammy now has five teeth; he is ready for corn-on-the cob … or an unwary finger.

Sammy is now crawling … forward. He could crawl backward for a long time but it only made him mad at the world. Hopefully, he will be with us again Wednesday.

A man I admired for most of my life died last week. Carroll Shelby, a designer of such performance cars as the Shelby GT, the Mustang Shelby Cobra, and many other performance rides, died in Dallas, Texas.

I am not a winner, at least when it comes to prizes, bingo, lottery, and such. However, one of the blogs I read almost everyday had a jellybean counting contest. There was a candy jar nearly full of the multi-colored sweets and I had no idea as to the count. The blog owner was good enough to furnish us with the brand of beans therefore I asked for help from a higher power. I googled and found that a bag of that brand had a certain number of  beans. I went back an took a good look at the jar and decided it must have two bags of the delights so I sent in my guess of 935 after deducting a few and behold, I won a little gnome. He is at present on my desk watching me write this blog. He has his eyes turned up as if saying “I can do a better job than that” or maybe it is because my desk is so messy. I will post a photo of him as soon as I make one. I wonder what happened to the jelly beans? Other than a yellow ducky sponge at a fall festival in school, I’ve never won any kind of prize. Maybe my luck has changed; mega-millions is next.

Have a good Worshday; mine is unsettled weather.

Weekend

Carolyn is working this morning and has to work this weekend. She and Vicki put in 10 hours of stripping and waxing floors last Saturday and she will be working at least one day of each weekend this month. We need the extra money but I hope it does not hurt her health. She had a doc checkup yesterday and all was ok except her blood pressure was up a bit. The clinic also did a diabetic eye exam for her but we won’t know results for a week or so. They dilated her eyes and she came home wearing ZZ Top’s cheap sunglasses; clinic issue. That woman cannot keep up with her own sunglasses.

I remember when farmer’s markets were little more than a few local gardeners getting together and selling produce from roadside stands. They have evolved into not only veggie purveyors but also flea markets, live music pickers and grinners, mimes, and some grocery sales all with hundreds of shoppers on Saturday mornings. A discerning browser can find about anything at today’s farmer’s markets.

Have a great weekend!

Pat the Pope

East Tennessee State University graduated more than 1700 students last weekend. Mountain States Health Alliance (local hospitals, etc.) is firing 160 workers, blaming it on Medicare. Balanced economy.

America has a new self-appointed Pope! There has been a void in our communications directly to God since Jerry Falwell died a few years ago, but now televangelist Pat Robertson has had instructions directly from the Creator appointing him as the sole Soul-man and spokesman for God in what is becoming Godless nation. Somehow, God failed to mention his choice to anyone but Reverend Robertson. Praise the Lord and send Him your Social Security check via Pope Pat’s ministry.

Have a great Wednesday, my friends.

Is it Friday yet?

Nolichucky Valley

Another “down” weekend; feeling a little better today.

Don’t you just love those smiling, lying faces on the BP TV commercials? They would have us think BP has been the Gulf’s savior instead of its destroyer. The sad part is that enough people will believe them so that it will be ‘business as usual’. The company will no doubt have record profits this fiscal year.

Hooray for the voters of France and Greece; they know austerity on its own will only destroy what has been hard earned by middle-class workers over the past decades. There is always a balance somewhere but, unfortunately, there are also greedy people who will quickly have a thumb on the scales. America, take heed!

Have a great Worshday!

Pieces ...

An encore salute to a great movie and song

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Walking the walk ...

Sammy was here yesterday. As per this photo which his mom made, he really does grin like this when he is walking. He came strutting into the office–with Carolyn’s aid–with a smile and when he saw me watching him, he smiled even bigger. He is also learning to keep rhythm to music by moving his body; going to be like his uncle Jeremy. I will try to get good videos when he comes back next week.

Let Freedom Ring … today is Constitution Day in Poland.

Have a good Thursday!

A good garden may have some weeds. ~Thomas Fuller

Looking at the pic of Tammy’s garden made me realize a thing or two. People these days can grow a lot of good stuff in a small space. Urbanization has shrunk our personal worlds from acres down to square feet yet we probably get as much yield from the smaller places as we did from what seemed like endless rows when I was a boy on my grandma’s (mom’s) land. Another thing, even though she had huge vegetable gardens each year, but she never grew flowers in or near them … with one exception. Gladiolas. Every year saw a single, long row of  glads of various colors smack in the middle of the garden, and until I was looking at the pic, the fact that mom did this hadn’t tweaked my mind. Now, I wonder if the flowers were there for decoration or if she had a purpose for them, such as maybe some scent from them deterred bugs or birds. She kept a lot of old traditions and notions about how things should and must be done. Mom loved flowers and her house and yard were surrounded by as many kinds as she could get to thrive from March through October. Were the glads banned form the yard or were the other flowers banned from the garden? Anyone have a clue? Personally, I think they were there to break the monotony of seeing the same green plants all the time. Mom was quite a lady; shy and old-fashioned but still a woman who loved the beauty of nature.

Did you know that if you plant certain tomatoes close to potatoes that the potato plants may grow tiny green tomatoes? Fact!

If the weather was any prettier than what it is today, it would be taxed by the government.

Sammy is on the way … O’ glorious day!

Have a great Wednesday, my friends.

"How fair is a garden amid the trials and passions of existence' ~Benjamin Disraeli

Tammy's 7' (2.1meter) tomatoes ('maters)

I began preparing this post last Friday before going to doc’s office. After her examination, I wasn’t in much mood  to finish it. Except for some unexpected degeneration in my hands, wrists, and shoulders, she said I am exceptionally healthy for 90 year old man, and much better than most 67 year old men. She is continually astounded by the results of my blood tests over the 18 years she has been seeing me; she says I have the blood of an 18 year old which made me feel good because my heart doc says I have the circulatory system of someone many years younger than I. I’ve told them both the reason for the anomaly is because I refuse to grow up; no way do I want to completely mature emotionally, mentally, or physically. That little white-haired boy I knew in 1948; I must forever be seeing the world through his eyes; I must feel the cool spring mornings as he felt them; birds singing over a misty lawn, scented apple blossoms surrounding the house, bees and critters making so many tiny sounds that they became a a needed part of the ambiance. I became aware they were a necessary part of my world an my life and I must seek out the same  secrets of summer. I am 67 going on 10; a perfect vintage in any man’s age.

Saturday I was sick; the doc’s examination necessarily consists of checking flexibility of all my joints and most of the joins are very limited in any kind of movement, at best. Other than the artificial joints, I am mostly stiff in them. Doctor was gentle, but the slightest rotation on a non-replaced knee causes excruciating pain as well does any slight lateral movement to the knee. Using the crutches are wrecking my shoulders and she had to flex and rotate them, also. While talking about my young blood and for the first time ever, she asked if I was still sexually active. I suddenly had many cute retorts for any number of conceivable scenarios, but I reddened, hung my head, and muttered that I still got stiff erections. The answer seemed to satisfy her without really addressing the question she asked; ‘am I still getting any?’ She knows how shy I am.

Even not being at my best Saturday, we went driving to the Nolichucky area to the market and I persuaded Carolyn to drive across highway road and a mile or two into the mountains along Clark;s Creek. Quiet, peaceful, beautiful. By the time we got back home, I was barely moving; my old body was revolting against its young counterpart and filling with fluid. Most of it was gone by Monday night and I am back to near-”normal” today.

Monday morning came and no internet except for the 3G DroidX, which served to answer  a couple of short emails and do yesterday’s blog post.

Sorry I was late getting your photo posted, Tammy; the maters are probably ready to pick by now. I like the sunflower, too.

Hope y’all had a good Worshday and that you are having a Tuesday.

Freedom Fries!

If you haven’t seen this hour-long documentary and if you are an American or anyone interested in the craziness of its modern citizens, this is a must show to see. Freedom Fries: And Other Stupidity We’ll Have to Explain to Our Grandchildren is also on Netflix and Hulu.

Getting ready for a visit to the doc. Hope to get Sammy for a while tomorrow. Sunday ‘is get out of this damned house for awhile’ day.

Have a good weekend!

Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil. ~Jerry Garcia

Chris is at home. She had a heart stress test yesterday morning which showed abnormal. She then had x-rays yesterday afternoon which showed nothing wrong so the doctor released her from hospital last evening. She does have high cholesterol but they are blaming the heart attack on stress. Thank you good folks for your cares and prayers.

Thunderstorms this morning. Tomorrow and Saturday should be decent but with more storms mixed with sunshine.

My R.A. doc checkup is tomorrow afternoon.

Why do states and municipalities seem to be hung up on naming public buildings, roads, bridges, etc. after politicians? Seems like electing and enriching the crooked sons-of-bitches to begin with would be tribute enough. If they want to draw tourists and their money, name the sites after people and other places of historical importance.

On this day in 1986, the world’s worst nuclear accident to date occurs at the Chernobyl nuclear plant near Kiev in Ukraine. Source: history.com.

Have a good last Thursday of April.

Chris

Chris, our daughter, is ill and in hospital. She is undergoing tests this morning. Carolyn is with her. As I learn more, I will post it on this blog.

The National Rifle Association is pushing the Republican dominated Tennessee Legislature to pass a law which allows employees to carry concealed and loaded weapons in their cars while at work on private company property. Is that crazy or what? Every day will be a Gunfight At The OK Corral when workers get pissed at each other or their supervisors. Actually, it is typical of the bought and paid-for General Assembly of this state. Employers for the most part are against the bill and it probably will not be passed during this election year. However, if and when the nut-cases are reelected, I’m sure the N.R.A. will have its way. The N.R.A. is not interested in protection of the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution except where it applies to firearms manufacturers being able to sell more handguns to the public and make higher profits.

Have a Happy Wednesday!

Tuesday ... all day long

Not much going on today; Sammy is sicker than he was so it may be awhile before we get him out and about. Ashley is doctoring him and I hope we can get to keep him before the weekend comes.

Carolyn is off to hairdresser and I am playing a game on the PC; one of the old Atari “Breakout” clones. Don’t tell me I’ve nothing to do.

Have a Tuesday!

Hacking is like walking a dinosaur

Sunday, Facebook was again hacked; this time megashot.net’s Macro page was taken over by someone else. The page belongs to Cyrus Khamak and he had himself and I as administrators. When he found out he could not access the admin. tools, he asked me to help him but I then found out that I was also removed as admin. As I understand the situation, after some sleuthing Cyrus found who the thief was and cajoled them into giving his his site back.

The Megashot pages–there are several covering different genres–are very popular with Facebook members and anytime something on the net becomes popular, green jealously pops up and begins trying to find ways to make other people’s lives as miserable as theirs. Mostly, Cyrus has done all the hard work to make Megashot possible along with the Facebook pages which allow more people to have their artwork and photographs seen by more people. However, there have been several more of us helping out in our limited ways trying to make the best photo site on the net even better.  Some of us were there testing features as they were coded and placed into the main body to make sure they worked like they were supposed to and that they got along with the other features; many times they didn’t and had to be debugged more than once. Finally, after two years of building and testing, Cyrus presented the site to the public in a “Beta” form, meaning we were still testing and things might not all work and and there could be outages. Now, as Cyrus works to bring version two of megashot.net into reality, photographers and artists should support his efforts by sending him a kind word of appreciation; after all, not one member has been asked to pay any money to use and enjoy the site.

All any of us ask is respect for the huge site and the ongoing effort that went into making Megashot and its satellite Facebook pages a reality and successful. Hacking isn’t nice.

Thank you.

Happy Birthday, Chrissy!

Sammy was here yesterday; he was sick with a cold and sore gums.  Hope he is feeling better today.

Supposed to be fairly nice day here then turn colder with possible snow showers on Sunday night.

Have a good day, y’all.

Friday!

Respect

Have a good Friday and a splendiferous weekend!

‘I never could get the hang of Thursdays’ ~Douglas Adams

Punk' N Center

So much for the “new” Blogger. The first couple of day’s spams were more numerous than ever but now they are back to the normal flow of a few each day. WordPress is molasses-slow and difficult to work with, but it is so much safer than Blogger; I will stick with it as my main host.

The mountains are socked-in and rain threatens. The frost last week heavily damaged the mountain apple crops by killing blossoms. Many tender leaves on the trees at my house have turned brown and we noticed a lot of damage in the area while we were out Sunday.

Let’s see today’s headlines: BP oil spill fish are sick; U.S. Secret Service agents get some Colombian nooky; TV legend Dick Clark dead; India tests new nuclear-delivery capable missile; Pat Summit quits as Tennessee Lady Vol head coach. One of these events bothers me much more than do the rest of them; can you guess which one? Nope, not Pat’s retirement; it’s the BP sick fish.

I had to buy a new hard drive yesterday because I know all these photos I’ve made over the years will be worth billions of dollars some day and I need a backup. I ordered from Amazon yesterday afternoon; it shipped from Nashville last evening; it is now on the UPS truck headed to my house. I’ve never had anything but no-hassle excellent service from amazon.com.

Hope we can keep Sammy tomorrow.

Have a Thursday to fondly remember!

A Frog Prince and Daffoidil Ladies

Thanks to Tammy for the photos; she should consider having these matted, framed, and placed on a wall where her family and friends can see them. They speak Spring. I did very little editing to these shots, but I suggest that with the crop I did to the daffodils, the photo be flipped horizontally; in this case and for me, it enhances the compositional flow: left-to-right and top-to-bottom. We should read photos like we read the page of a book. Actually it is a matter of subjective taste.

Maggie is home from her three-week tour of China; Welcome back, my friend.

A sleeping pill and nearly 12 hours sleep, along with a drearily-overcast sky and half-closed window shades has me seeing good enough to write this; the past two days were hell without the heat. I’m so grouchy when my eyes are misbehavin’ so that I cannot stand to be around myself; Carolyn has almost learned to stay as far away as she can. My Jekyll and Hyde alter consciences struggle at the edge of a dark abyss; so far, Jekyll has won out but I know Hyde becomes stronger because the struggles last longer and at times Jekyll wants to step into the bottomless darkness as he flips a bird at Hyde. Yep, I’m a certified, 24-karat, card carrying nut case.

I need a Sammy fix.

While rowing my boat through Alice Springs
From a far shore I heard reindeer sing
A sound so melancholy I covered my ears
My heart wasn’t ready for Christmas jeers

Have a cheery Wednesday!

Muddlin' through

Barn Art--Telford, Tenn

Taxes are all done and sent off … I am bored …

Mostly cloudy and milder weather today in East Tennessee; we need a break from the heat and some rain would be nice also. Off and on cloudy skies are giving my eyes a bit of relief; even inside the house sunlight through windows bothers them when I have allergies. I figured allergies would become worse as I grew older but they seem to be about the same severity or even less than when I was 25 years younger. Nohow, I won’t be on the net much today as I try to subdue my brain from needing my eyes so much.

Italian Cheeses
Is riding a cheese wheel across old Rome
more sacred than riding a cheese wheel at home

Have a Tuesday!

Decent weekend

Fancy!

Sammy was with us for a few hours Saturday and his dad came home yesterday; he will be doing some of the Sammy-sitting now and we won’t see my Buddy as much. He is usually with us on Mondays but maybe we can get him later in the week. I saw the antique tricycle sitting on a crate in front of a candy store in Jonesborough. Now, I must somehow coerce the owners into selling it to me for Sammy to use. I’ve never before seen a tricycle as fancy as this one, nor a great-grandson as fancy as Sammy.

We got out into the countryside again yesterday; a satisfying jaunt but not many photos of note. We parked along Main Street in Jonesborough for our last stop; the little tourist-trap town has many good photo ops for a walking person. Some of the shops have closed down; three of them are adjacent and it is possible the landlord may have raised the rent to where carrying on equitable trade wasn’t possible.

I was out in the farmland long enough to have a dandy case of eye allergies this morning. Moisture drops, allergy drops, and Claritin are allowing these words to be written.

Beautiful, very warm weather once more in East Tennessee; pop-up thunderstorms are expected this afternoon.

Have a good Worshday!

Happy Birthday, Jola

A Friend’s Birthday on Friday the 13th should be an extra fun celebration!

Google’s Blogger is changing their interface once more. I am trying it out on the three blogs I have hosted there, including the clone of this one. I sure hope it gets rid of the comment garbage; every day I get at least one spam comment wanting to sell me Viagra which I don’t yet need, or a penis enlarger which all men claim they don’t need but secretly most wish they owned one.

A British author has come out with a new book about the history masturbation; many men will want to get their hands around one. Probably some stiff reading, though.

I can think of a bunch of quips for this hard fact.

On my desk I have a brochure from some company selling penis pumps–EREC-TECH– which “will produce an instant erection sufficient for sexual intercourse for any man (it doesn’t mention if it is sufficient for a woman’s pleasure).” The best part is that Medicare Insurance pays for it. They sure get to the meat of the matter when it comes to handling flaccid phalluses and wayward weenies. I wonder if the device comes complete with a porn film for men whose wives still won’t put out?

Have a great weekend, my handy friends.

Fragile ...

Frosty this morning; 27°F (-2.7°C) at 4:00am. ‘I pity da fools’ who planted garden early.

Didn’t sleep well; woke up at 2:00am and never went back to sleep. Read some more of Bouton’s book and did a bunch of thinking. Don’t remember what I thought about but I’m sure it was deep and would have made the world a better place for all people. Now I am sleepy.

When Sammy was here Tuesday, he and I agreed; women are fickle. Well, at least he didn’t disagree. I look forward to a lot of long and meaningful talks with my Buddy.

One of my photos I like a lot (you probably will not like it) made Megashot’s Explore ‘Image of the Day’ yesterday in Architecture category. I have been fortunate to have garnered more than my share of photo awards on the site. On Flickr, I went more than three years without having a photo appear in their Explore feature.

Microsoft Windows XP did an update yesterday and it must have been a doozy. The harddrive with all my photos for the past 10 years was inoperable when I booted the PC this morning. The discs had a lot of other files and important stuff on them, too. Fortunately, most was backed-up to another drive and I lost only what I had done in the past two weeks. I think all of Sammy’s photos are safe but I must get another HD and transfer to it from the backups.

Have a pleasant Thursday!

Softly

Another day of ‘up before the sun’. Another day of eye allergies, too. Cold last night; 31°F (.5°C) and supposed to be about the same tonight and tomorrow night. Chilly today but should be warm for the weekend. O’ Spring … how I miss ye!

I also miss Sammy on the days he isn’t here and there will probably be a lot more days without him from now on. We played with him extra hard yesterday because his dad is coming home and we will not see my Little Buddy as much. Carolyn’s eyes were damp after she came back from taking him home yesterday and our house was so was quiet; Sammy’s toys were still strewn about the floor and signs of his presence were everywhere. The sudden loneliness grabbed me a bit, too. Maybe we can keep him at least one day each week.

Have a great Wednesday!

Baseball was made for kids, and grown-ups only screw it up. ~Bob Lemon

Jonesborough, Tennessee

Damn, I hate to get up before the sun; it is blasphemy.

I will miss Mike Wallace, but I suppose there are many people whom he interviewed who will not.

I am finally reading Jim Bouton’s baseball chronicle, Ball Four. I put off reading it for nearly 40 years, but Amazon had a Facebook special of the day and I got it for $.99. The reason I had never read it was some of the reviews from the early nineteen-seventies had me thinking it was a tattle-tale story from a player in his last years as a professional. I was already becoming disillusioned with the big league game and I figured by reading the book it would belittle what few dreams I had left of the old days and heroes like Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Whitey Ford, and Yogi Berra. All these guys were teammates with Bouton for the New York Yankee organization in the late fifties and early sixties. It has turned out to be a very good book, written with humor by a man who knows the insides of baseball and uses his knowledge to tell an entertaining story which is not a tell-all about the game or its players.

Sammy is coming; have a Tuesday.

'Monday is the root of all evil'

Watauga River

Didn’t do much this weekend other than edit a few old photos. Saturday and Sunday were both pretty days, especially yesterday.

I’ve started adding a few b/w photos to Facebook’s Black and White group via Megashot; some good work there.

Hope everyone had a meaningful Easter weekend. I celebrate spring each day of the year so Easter does not have a lot of significance for me.

Sammy is here and still feeling poorly.

Have a good Worshday!

Spring

Dogwood

‘Jazz washes away the dust of every day life’ ~ Art Blakely

I’ve been watching Ken Burns’ very good ten-part made for Public Television documentary about Jazz. I watched episode nine last evening and it leads into the modern era of musicians. Jazz is complicated, and my opinion is that to be good at playing it, a person must be somewhat of an intellectual, if not genius as many of the greats were and are. With a few arguable exceptions, Jazz is the music of the black man, I believe. It is a celebration of freedom of spirit and of being black in largely racist white America; born in New Orleans early last century, brought into screaming adolescence by Louis Armstrong, nurtured in Chicago, and still maturing in New York City. Unlike most genres of music and ages of old men, Jazz will never be set in its ways. Even at ten episodes of one and one-half to two-hours per program, Burns is able only to scratch the surface of what Jazz really is; actually, I don’t know if anyone has a clue as to what it means, even to themselves, be he lyricist, composer, performer, or listener. Critics damn sure don’t know and all but the self-righteous of them will admit they are in the dark as to its meaning. I am not a great Jazz fan, but I do like much of it, particularly the free jamming variety where the artists just let it all hang out at the same time, and I respect the effort it takes creators of all styles of music to strive to become the best they can be.
“Anyone can learn what Louis Armstrong knows about music in a few weeks. Nobody could learn to play like him in a thousand years.”
~ Benny Green

Thursday is Maunday this week; have a good one.

‘A man growing old becomes a child again’ ~Sophocles

Sammy didn’t get shots yesterday. Twenty-two pounds and 30 inches long.

Courtney—Jeremy’s fiance—has a very good personal blog on WordPress. She expresses well and in detail her harrowing experience with cancer. Our family is very proud of her and Jeremy and wish them the best on their forthcoming California quest.

The U.S. National Archives now has images of the 1940 census online. I found it a bit difficult to use at first, but when I got to where I wanted, I found several dates on family members which didn’t jive with what I already have in my genealogy program. If you have need of a good and free ancestry program for your PC (English), look at Gramps. It is designed for Linux systems but independent developers have created Windows and Mac versions. I have tried the the Windows version on my PC and it works well and I use the Linux version on on my Linux H.D. Long before I discovered Gramps, I bought a commercial program—Family Tree Maker—for Windows and still use it.

Have a pleasantly wreakless Wednesday!

“Okay, Houston, we’ve had a problem here”

Podlasie, Poland

Sammy is nine months old today and has a checkup appointment with the doc; I hope he doesn’t have to get shots. He will be over here later today.

Nudism should be on the rise since the U.S. Supreme Court decided that anyone can be strip-searched after any offense, even for a minor traffic infraction. If it is that easy to force us to take our clothes off, why not get naked before leaving home thus freeing the coppers time for making love to donuts?

Looks like I was a bit premature in judging the Occupy movement as not having much life left. I don’t know that there will be as many huge encampments as there were last autumn but protests are beginning to increase around the country as is head-cracking by our protector’s bludgeons. When citizens are peacefully protesting, they have a lawful right and moral responsibility to protect themselves and each other from unwarranted attack, including abuses by law enforcement personnel and paraphernalia.

Thanks to Jola for the spring landscape photo made in the beautiful Podlasie region of north-eastern Poland; hope she doesn’t mind my bit of editing/cropping.

Title quote by John Swigert, Jr, Apollo 13 Astronaut.

Have a Tuesday!

Happy Birthday, Mark!

Happiness is Peeps and a new mouse

Ninety-eight percent finished with federal income tax forms … I hope.

Sammy isn’t with us today; Ashley is off work.

Whoops! Guess who just came in?

This past weekend was as flat as they come; I didn’t even go out of the house.

Have a good Worshday!