Strollin'

I was wrong about my Roku; it had only a 90 day warranty. For the price of the device, they should stand behind it for at least one year. Nothing they suggested for me to do worked and I am seemingly stuck with an $80 plastic hockey puck. It worked for eight months. C’est la vie!

Blackberry briars are blooming which means we should have a cool snap in the weather. I hope it means we have a lot of jam and jelly and cobblers and dumplings.

Plenty of t-storms yesterday and last evening. Nothing like ‘the delicate sound of thunder’.

The Stroll dance … yes, I well remember it; no, I never did it.

Day to day

Looks like megashot.net has some good ideas; flickr.com sure has copied a lot of them. Be aware of one thing; the very large size photos available on Flickr are perfect for stealing and anyone with a free account has access to them.

Sammy and Mason are here; I am tickled. Watching Thomas and Friends on Netflix.

My papers have supposedly worked their way through channels and are at the surgeon’s office. Supposedly. Hope to know something very soon.

Have a good evening, my friends.

Flickr'ed

Has Flickr committed suicide just like MySpace did a few years ago? A lot of folks are complaining. Just two weeks ago I renewed my Pro account and I feel really screwed.

Won’t be blogging much until post-surgery.

Have a Tuesday.

She was Prada’s and I was Chuck Tanners

My Roku has quit. I admit it was a mistake to buy the wireless-only version. Now I must shell out $100 to get the wired unit. Pisser. I like the Roku because it has so many channel choices; just last week they added PBS and it alone has enough to keep me happy for many months.


Sammy and Mason are here; I began writing this post before noon and it is now past 3:45pm; they keep us busy.

Have a weekend!

you gonna eat that cornbread

Heart doctor gave me the ok for medium-risk surgery, such as knee replacement. Waiting on his report to go through channels. Hopeful for surgery by early next month.

Maggie flattered the ‘aw shucks’ out of me by graciously placing one of my photos and a couple of my poetry attempts on her site. If you go there, do some clicking around; she is a multi-talented young lady. How she finds time for all her projects is a mystery to me. Thank you, my friend.

Jeremy is building a storefront on storenvy.com which will feature my photo efforts. When he has it ready to view, I will let you know. What a good grandson; I don’t know what his future holds but I truly believe he will  become a great entrepreneur. He is another who gets a lot done in short time. Thank you, Grandson.

With all the hard news happening in the world, what was CNN featuring last evening? O.J. Simpson in a courtroom, of course. OJ had his fling 19 years ago; let it be, CNN.

Almost Friday …

Tuesday ...

The recent seizure of Associated Press telephone documents is the most chilling thing I can remember being inflicted upon the citizens of this once great country by our own government, even worse than Watergate and Iran-gate. How low can Obama and his cronies go? How stupid can he be? First, he (his administration) has the Internal Revenue Service unlawfully making life difficult for his political enemies and now he has been caught restricting freedom of the press; both of these acts are deplorable, unconstitutional, and impeachable. I cannot wait until this evening to see how MSNBC’s top guns (Obama lovers) handle this one. If the president is allowed to get by with this grievous political move, it will eventually mean that citizens will have to turn to illegally published underground papers for a few grains of truth about our rulers. If we allow this abomination to persist, we are building our own Iron Curtain.

Barbara Walters is retiring from her celebrity interviews. Goodbye.

My thanks to Mark for the music video.

“When the president decides something on Monday, he still believes it on Wednesday – no matter what happened Tuesday.“
~Stephen Colbert

Monday 13 -- Bewitched, Bothered and Bemildred

It had to happen; Friday the 13th has fallen on a Monday. Monday already stands alone as being the lousiest day of the week and making it fall on the 13th is in very poor taste; if I were a Friday, I would call a wildcat strike.

Sammy and Mason spent Mother’s Day afternoon with Chris and Carolyn; the way Mason is going I think he will be talking before Sammy does. Two chatter boxes going at once and both demanding attention at the same time. I am blessed.

I want a new DSLR camera; I damn sure don’t need one because I don’t use the one I have which still works fine. The K200D has only 6.5 thousand shutter clicks on it. I cannot see a new one improving my photographic skills; for me it is like a hack writer wanting a new typewriter so he can turn out better stories. I am longing for a Pentax K5 IIS but the more than one-thousand dollar price tag is way out of my range. Any new major purchases will depend on how surgery goes and the kind of shape I’m in afterward.

Blessings

Slow Ride weekend

Yesterday JJ placed Carolyn’s bedroom TV on the wall where she could better see and hear it; she is in video nirvana now. It is much better up higher; I watched To Have and To Have Not last night and didn’t have to turn the volume as loud as I used to. I’ve seen the movie many times but never get enough of it; anything of Bogey’s in this period is on my favorite list. I also watched my Youtube videos and subscriptions along with my Flickr photos. They all look pretty good on big screen.

Not quite as warm today and cooling even more for tor the next few days; heat of summer will hit us come Wednesday when I have to go back to heart doctor. This better be the last doctor office visit before knee surgery; I am tired of waiting and the knee isn’t getting any better. I am to the point now where I don’t even try to go to the porch to sit.

Speaking of summer, Mark’s Summer would have been in a panic last evening when thunderstorms hit all around the house. He says she is fearful of thunder and we had plenty of it; not a lot of rain, though.

acta est fabula plaudite

Culinary tramping

They still make Squirt soft drinks. Squirt was never very popular in this area except as a mixer but I think they are the best citrus drink made. I haven't seen any in years but I bet the local night spots have them. I first came across the brand while tramping in West Virginia in 1970; it mixes well with bourbons and blended whiskeys.

Another brew I discovered in W.Va. was Stroh's beer. It is a Detroit beer and was more popular in West Virginia than was even the mighty Budweiser. Stroh's was an ok beer and actually much better than the bitter Bud but I will stick to my Miller High Life. A couple of brews I first tried in Pennsylvania were Rolling Rock and Iron City beers. I liked Iron City ok, but Rolling Rock's taste reminded me of how cow pee smells. My mother-in-law liked it.

I enjoyed my time tramping--except in Georgia--and could have liked living about anywhere I went with little problem. Southern Maryland was too far from the hills and I once spent 70 days straight there. They had great, fresh sea food and the best root beer I've ever bought. Still don't make up for the lack of tall oak trees on a high ridge, though.

Mark is going to have one of his photos of his house seen nationwide. Bravo television will be using it in a documentary film. Congratulations, my friend.

Are you ready for the weekend?

—————

Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.

The above lines were all I was ever required to learn of Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner … thank ye gods. The whole is a long, boring piece of verse but a darn good story and these few lines nicely fit conditions in N.E. Tennessee at present. When I was at Watauga Lake early last month, the water was as high as I’ve ever seen it. Now it is more than three feet (@one meter) higher than it was then. Fortunately I live on a high ridge which is not on the Watauga watershed but is on the Nolichucky watershed. At my granny’s house in the springtime of my life, we were on the line between the two districts; I could pee off the front porch and it could conceivably  find its way to the Watauga River. If I peed out the back door, some would eventually wind up in the Nolichucky River. Granny frowned on such practices but little boys gotta do what they gotta do.

Get ready … a great weekend coming!

Thinking out loud

Sammy and Mason visited for an hour or so last evening. I was hopping around on the crutches and Sammy wasn’t too happy about it. Carolyn was at work so I had to get his toys and entertain him the best I could. Mason laughed at me.

I would like to say the lousy, wet weather we are having is typical of early May and it is up to a point. The problem is that it is lasting much too long. The ninth of May has always been our last frost day but like a couple of years ago when it frosted on the fifteenth, I am not so certain about this gardening season. Anyway, it all keeps my sinuses clogged.

The first week in May is almost over and it will be autumn before we know it. I am longing to get this knee fixed so I can get out and live a bit.

Have a Tuesday!

Norman

The past few weeks have been saddening for me, mostly because a boy I grew up with and have known all my life passed away. Norman was seventy-one years old when he died and was the oldest of and the leader of the community kids with whom I played. Norman was my main influence to join the National Rifle Association when I was young. He had a great sense of humor which the rest of us had to pay for in sometimes embarrassing situations. He lived a good life and had a great family. The color photo is his obituary photo for the newspaper and the other one is part of our gang from the mid-1950′s. Norman is the tallest and I am the long-legged kid at his side. Others are his brother, his two cousins, and his sister. The photo was made in my grandmother’s front yard and his family’s home is the white house just over Norman’s left shoulder. Losing someone such as a life-long friend is the most difficult part of growing old; much more difficult than any physical infirmities. The memories are cherished but the reality of the present is a bit overwhelming.

It's all about the music

HE'LL HAVE TO GO

Joe Allison

Put your sweet lips a little closer to the phone
Let's pretend that we're together all alone
I'll tell the man to turn the juke box way down low
And you can tell your friend there with you he'll have to go

Whisper to me tell me do you love me true
Or is he holding you the way I do
Though love is blind make up your mind I've got to know
Should I hang up or will you tell him he'll have to go

You can't say the words I want to hear
While you're with another man
Do you want me answer yes or no
Darlin' I will understand

Put your sweet lips a little closer to the phone
Let's pretend that we're together all alone
I'll tell the man to turn the juke box way down low
And you can tell your friend there with you he'll have to go

Although I never particularly liked this song, mostly because it was country and country was not cool to most of us teen cats of my day, it was immensely popular. It was known to be the basis marital disagreements, arguments, fights, brawls, mayhem, and even murder. Even my house wasn't immune to the persuasive croon of Jim Reeves at his best. When the song was on radio or TV, my mom would say something like 'hang up on him, girl' to which my dad would retort 'lady, you know you want 'im so tell the guy there with you to scram'.  For some reason I had a premonition to keep out of their "discussions" about the lyrics. Being a 14 year-old country kid, I wasn't supposed to know much about "adult" stuff. My parents arguments about it were mild, actually. The newspapers, which I dutifully read while sitting in the outhouse waiting to put them to their original intended use, had many stories about otherwise normal couples whose disagreements had led to mayhem of one sort or another. Women were divorcing their husbands because he happened to agree with the caller. Men would get "tipsy" in a bar, play the song on the jukebox, and phone their wives at ungodly hours just to aggravate her. More than one of these last jokers ended up on a mortician's slab and their wives were in jail before the night was over. Life, it's all about the music.
1959 was a very normal year; I got my first handheld transistor radio--a Motorola--for Christmas, I was miserably failing Algebra for the third time in high school, and the rest of my grades were at the C- to D level. I was too shy to talk to girls and too dumb to try to overcome the bashfulness. I still am shy and dumb about it.

May the Fourth be with You!

Rain without ... Beauty within

Teach your children well

In our great society, even 5-year-olds are allowed to own and bear firearms
http://news.yahoo.com/5-old-boy-shoots-2-old-sister-ky-161229579.html
I don’t think even Hitler stooped this low. Was this kid part of a “well regulated militia”?
What kind of parent would allow a small child to even be around something like a rifle which is made for one thing: killing?  I’m sure the NRA approves of this type of weapon usage.

Supposed to rain all weekend; maybe some shooting next weekend.

Hope Mark has a successful yard sale.

May Day 2013

Jerry came by yesterday and brought Carolyn a Mother’s Day rose bush from him and Tammy. She put it in the ground this morning and I hope it does well. I have better luck with roses than does she.

Why has Obama not brought under control Bush’s patriotic war against Americans. The answer is that he likes and intends to use that kind of power over people. He is but one step away from being a parliamentary dictator.

On the way home from work one night a couple weeks ago, Carolyn saw a coyote not far from where we live. I’ve never met one of the critters but I hear they are moving into the area. Also Armadillos are supposed to soon be here. I heard several years ago that fire ants would soon spread into the hills, but I know of none. Another rumor was that cattle egrets would be here but I don’t know of any.

I’m here and I’m what counts; I am so pretty!

Reading

Anyone besides me like Studs Terkel’s writing?

————————————————————————————
“The creak of bed springs suffering under the weight of a restless man is as lonely a sound as I know.”
― Patrick deWitt from his book The Sisters Brothers
The Sisters Brothers will be my next reread. A very good western.

Tuesday!

Sunday du jour

Much rain and some flooding across Tennessee. Even though I live atop a hill, I think I should roll-up my britches legs.

Mason went for his three-month checkup; he weighs 17 lbs (7.7 kg). He won't be three months old until tomorrow. At this rate, he will big enough to play college football when he is eight years old.

Sammy is talking more each day but most of it is still unintelligible. Mostly he says Batman and Spongebob.

I have my short poem ready to post to the The Sun; it is one I wrote a few years ago. Not counting on much but would be very disappointed in myself if I didn't try. It has been many years since I tried to sell or give away my writing. Even if this one does not sell, I'm going to submit at least one other poem (the one Mark recommended) and a story or three. I need to resurrect my rejection database and make a few voo-doo dolls and stick pins for the publishers who reject me.

I love building databases. It is the one thing I can do with techie software which makes me feel like I have accomplished something.

I am off of methotrexate at least until I can find out something from the med-squad. If by chance I am cleared for surgery, I will be one week ahead. If I am not cleared and if I have to have a heart catheterization, I will be ahead on that too because I need be off the drug for it. If I have to have a stent inserted, it will be about a year before the knee surgery can be done. Beginning in a few days, I am going to be sore and out of the real world for at least a short while.

Saturday

Does anyone care that 348 people died in Bangladesh building collapse? Tragic death only counts for news if it happens in the United States and if even in a perverted way the American Press can  make it look like terrorism. America, the cowardly selfish.

What happens to the rest of the world if the United States suddenly decides to return to some of its isolationism policies of pre-WW2. Let’s stay out of other peoples business and let each nation decide its own affairs. Keep our defense strong and in hand with some military alliances and drop others. Do away with laissez-faire trade policies and replace the lazy-fare for the rich with fairness to all parties and enforce tariffs for equality. Never take anything for granted or, as Teddy Roosevelt warned, “Walk softly and carry a big stick”.

Cool cloudy weekend so far.

Let me sleep ...

Persons 65 years of age or older should not be allowed to get out of bed before 9:00 am each day and then they should be required to cogitate for one-half hour before deciding to let their feet hit the floor. Ain’t nothing good going to happen before nine to anyone, especially geezers.

This doctor bullshit goes on and on just like I knew it would. I wish some of these s.o.b.’s understood what kind of life I am living and how much freaking pain I am living with. Pisser!

Goodbye George (Possum or No Show) Jones; I didn’t particularly like your twangy country voice but I appreciate you having balls to stick with it through the ‘pretty boy’ era of country music. George sang his life.

WEEKEND!