N'somnia........

The sun was shining on the sea, shining with all his might
And this was odd, because it was the middle of the night. Rev. Chas Dodgson

Okay! The reason for the foto change is........ .....INSOMNIA! Imagine, it’s three in the AM & I’m sitting at the ‘puter tippy-tappying at the keyboard...
The nonsense that pours out’a my head at that p’ticklar time of night quite often bears no relation to anything real.......so I click on the foto feature.....I’m sitting in the dark & the only thing the ‘puter c’n see is my head & the grey fuzz that adorns it......& in the proverbial nutshell, that’s the reason for the foto change......
C’mon, I’m not brilliant at the best of times.....sumtimes I think I’m close to funny......sumtimes maybe a hairsbreadth away from insightful....ahhh.....Nope! Not even close to that. But sumtimes, let me emphasize that, sumtimes I get lucky with a turn of phrase..... especially when I get to ranting about chickens or politicians.....neither of which requires a great deal of study to understand......after all, Henny Penny achieved fame because she ran about shouting that the sky was falling.....and the politicians, well, it seems that was the lesson they learned in Kindergarten.....And it has served them well.........Justin Other Smith

April is..........

The 'Cruelest month' is almost over & it ain't been all that bad, at least not here in Ol Fair Oaks....

The signs are up for the coming street closures....happens every year, May 2 & 3 this year...Fair Oaks Fiesta time again....Only thing is, they've gone & changed the name...Now they're callin' it...wait for it.....'Fair Oaks Springfest'....kind'a sissy, ain't it?  Must be sum of them effete elitist newcomers...prob'ly the same bunch that keeps sending me all the mail from the 'Village Enhancement Committee'.....whatever that means...anyone that 'ud come up with a name like that would suck eggs.....dunno why sum people feel entitled to tell ever'one else how to live......

I have it on good report (my Darlin' Millyrose) that the Village Chickens have been reinforced by a couple of ducks & at least one turkey.Ahhhh, the feral fowl of Fair Oaks..what we really need is a good ol'fashioned barbeque...all them free-range birds...sighhhh!

Anyway, back to the Fiesta...all that traffic, people parking ever' whichaway, strollin' up & down, back & forth, here & there & nary a Pooka in sight.......

Millyrose, me & Rusty went to the Folsom Street Fair recently...what it wuz, wuz a couple block long garage (read junk) sale...seems to be a lot more of those recently....I think it's the economystupid thing....funny about all the so-called Democrats who say they want to raise taxes...they all seem to be in undocumented, undeclared cash biznesses.......being the honest Republican that I am, I've never been able to figger out one 'o those that worked for me......

I've had lots of people tell me how they sold the clutter they had laying around & made scads of cash....I think they're the same people that tell me how much they win at the Indian casinos & they never seem to lose....If I sold my clutter, I'd prob'ly lose money....'n then I'd have to buy more clutter.....on that proverbial other hand, if I wait until I die, my kids c'n sell my clutter on e-bay, take the money they make to an Indian casino & retire to Paradise.  I've been to Paradise but it was a long time ago.  I spec't it's grown from a small village & become a multi-cluster of mobile homes & strip malls....they're all made out of ticky-tacky & they all look just the same....rather have my old clutter.....

I told Millyrose that we c'd take care o' the clutter & clean house at the same time with a few strategically placed sticks of dynamite but she's heard that song so many times that she no longer responds to it....

It's a long, long time from May to December & I finally figgered out what Durante meant when he sang....."Did ja ever get the feeling dat'ja wanted to go but still ya had the feelin' that wanted to stay..."

Justin Other Smith

Obama-Rama-dama ding-dong.....

C'mon, if you didn't think about that, you're simply too young.....which, as I see it, is the main problem with Obama as a candidate.....

'Course, there's always the 'race' problem....s'funny how no one was gonna bring it up but there it is, bigger'n life & twice as ugly......I've been told that only whites are racist, or can be racist.....That simply ain't true, of course.  Blacks are just as human as everyone else and, by extension, heir to all the fears & foibles as the rest of us.  & that includes racist behavior.  In the Pennsylvania, 97 % of black males voted for Obama.  That's the same kind of knee-jerk reaction that makes white jurors vote for the death penalty.  Oops!  If the glove don't fit.......

The USA may be heading for a color-blind society but it ain't there yet.  The fact that a semi-black man is running for the Presidency is a good thing.  This election year is historic in that, not only do we have a black man running but, omigawd!  He has a chance to win.  Strom, ya should'a stuck around a little longer.

Oh, by the by, we also have a woman running....also historic.......even tho' most of the media has counted her out already & seems like most of 'em are advising that she quit...(for the good of the party, y'know).....HAH!  At this point in time, it looks as tho' Hillary might become just another footnote in history...(herstory?)

This country has always been a 'melting pot' & even more so today with what has been termed the 'browning' of America.  One day we will see a 'brown' President....p'raps even a brown female President........I wonder if the White House has enuff closet space for a really big shoe collection..........mmmmm, if the shoe don't fit, must we acquit?......Justin Other Smith

Dead heat on a merry go round......

What it is, or what it seems t' be is a dead heat on a merry go round...Old movie title for those of you who don't already know...one 'a those crime/caper flix out'a the sixties (better title than movie but seems to fit the Demo race for the glory.)

Lemme see if I c'n figger out the score....Hilla-ree won Penn to help close the gap 'tween her & young Obama but his supporters claim it ain't gonna make a difference...y'know, it's the old if the glove don't fit you must acquit spin on the process.....The pundits have it all figgered out in advance, how it's gonna end up in June as a dead heat when someone (consensus: Hillary) needs to cry Uncle & give up...

At the moment, the prevailing view seems to be that if Hillary were to somehow pull off a win, all the black supporters of Obama would cry "Foul!" & split the Dem party....Blood in the streets is how one pundit parsed it. 

Of course, if Obama gets the nod, all the female supporters of Clinton would......well, I dunno what they'd do.  I'm pretty sure they wouldn't go to war over it but they might vote for McCain...or not.  Might not vote at all.  Maybe just stay home & sulk.  Either way, there's enuff interference on the track that my bet's on McCain.  He may be an old horse (as MoveOn.Org sez) but I think, like the tortoise, he's got the stuff to beat the wild 'n crazy hares running for the Dems.....

The prevailing winds predict Indiana for Clinton, N.Carolina for Obama.....Oregon & Montana for Obama & Kentucky & WVirginia for Clinton....Yup!  Dead heat.  Only thing I know for purty shore is...Horse players generally die broke......Justin Other Smith

Polls R us.......

I don't put a lot of stock in polls.....that's what everyone sez but we all read the durn things & quote 'em when they fit what we want 'em to fit...

That said, I saw a poll t'other day that said almost 30% of young voters say that if Obama don't get the nomination, why they ain't gonna vote at all...So there!  Take that, mommy & daddy.....

I guess when kids agree with OF's (figger it out y'self), it's ok that they got the vote at 18, but when they're agin us, mebbe we should raise the voting age?????....

Looks like Hilla-ree got her dbl digit win in pore ol 2nd rate Pennsylvania..(nose thumb to Obama)....that ought'a keep her goin' for a bit longer....wonder how the pundits'll spin that into a win for Obama....the longer he goes, the more questions he gets asked & the dumber his answers get......I guess it's hard to explain in terms us common-folk c'n understand that mess we're in as a country is our own fault for not listening to the Liberal Elite in the first place....

Heck!  All them bright people in D.C. & Noo Yawk had me believeing it was George got us in trouble by trying to one-up his old man.......

Sumtimes, I can't seem to help myself....all that smart-alecky stuff just boils up in my throat and spills out.....at least, I don't get hit for it anymore....

Back in my waybackwhen time, I tho't I might make a career out of gettin' beat up for shooting my mouth off.....

Now in my dotage, I c'd just tell 'em......."In my youth, Father William replied to his son, I feared it might injure the brain, but now that I'm sure I have none, I do it again and again!"

A shot & a beer.....

So many politicos have law degrees, I’m wondering if they got into politics becuz’ they failed at Law......I’m minded that a few years back, we had an asst DA who ran for the DA’s office & got beat......He moved to San Jose where he opened a pizza parlor & went broke..... ya gotta wonder what kind of brain he had to go broke selling pizza & beer.....that being a sort of no-brainer business.....after going broke, he somehow managed to get a job managing the Ca state lottery....he didn’t last too awful long at that becuz’.......well, he was awful....he was such a bad attorney that he cudn’t even make it in politics & that’s just sad.......
I saw in the ‘Letters’ segment of the Bee several people that tho’t it was a good idea to elect a really smart person like Obama to be President...they claimed they wanted someone smarter than themselves...I think that’s another no-brainer....anyone who would write such a letter has to be dumber than a post & there ain’t a awful lot o’ posts running for President.....’cept for all them failed lawyers.....
I saw Hillary tossing back shots & chasing them with beer....I ain’t done that since I was....well, way back in the way back when time of my life.....a shot & a beer is a quick way to get alcohol into your system tho’...helps to numb down the knowledge that you ain’t part of the ‘Elite’...Heck! The elite don’t meet in bars that specialize in a shot & a beer........A shot & a beer...that’s like a boilermaker, ain’t it? My dad was a boilermaker & he liked his sour mash but he never chased it with a beer.....beer was for those warm afternoons tellin’ lies about way back when.....I s’pect that Jack McCain is the only candidate that ever really did the shot & beer thing anyway.....& I doubt that he did much of it once he got out’a school....takes the strong stomach of youth to be able to do that on any kind of regular basis.....
ah well, most of us are just part of that mass of humanity leading lives of quiet desperation.....
Justin Other Smith

A dangling what?......

So. Shore Pop: 1248
So. Portsmouth Pop: 762
(as of 2000 census)

Lettuce spray.......I’d almost forgotten the way priests run their words together....’Course, if you don’t go to mass at least once in ever' blue moon or so, you’ll never hear ‘em anyway.....what brought it to mind was the Pope’s visit & the confirmation of Zoe....(Francisca’s g’daughter for those who don’t know)....One of the pundits (& I don’t have any idea which one) made the statement that while religion was waning in Yurrop, it was waxing in the good ol red, white, & blue ...so I imagine Il Papa had a good time in the States....at least, that’s what it looked like on the telly.....cheering crowds, obeisant politicos, & only poor ol snide Billy Maher to chide him......& I guess if Billy wants to keep working on HBO, he’ll have to apologize....sumbuddy on Fox news remarked that the mainstream media had ignored Maher’s remarks but it ain’t like Maher is a really funny mainstream comedian anyhow.......I dunno...maybe I’m jaded but I don’t give a durn if Maher don’t get noticed by the media....any media.....
The population figures at the top refer to a conversation I had with brother John about the size of South Portsmouth & South Shore back in the way back when time.....John’s mem’ry sez they were much larger then while I think they were a little larger but not much.
John thinks So. Ports was about 12 to 1500 & So. Shore was at least 2000.........of course, it’s a little different t’day....Fullerton, which abuts So Shore, is pretty much gone altogether while So Ports, which starts at the end of the US Grant bridge is missing just about the first mile of itself....and it ain’t filled in all that much at the bottom end.....the ‘hull conversation started when I remarked that Beattyville was almost gone & a few more floods would prob’ly take it away f’rever....”Oh well, easy come, easy go,” he shrugged.
Well, y’know it’s true. Towns are born, they live, they die.......like people, some live longer than others....a thousand years or ten or so is (maybe) a mere twinkle in God’s eye..
I paid $3.73 a gallon for regular gas t’day.....nuthin’ I c’n do about it ‘cept cut out unnecessary trips....McCain sez he’d like to cut out the federal tax on gasoline for the summer....’s a good idea but I don’t think anything will ever come of it....all our legislators will do is talk, talk, talk....but if they wanted to stimulate the economy, cutting $.40 a gallon off the price would do it far better and cheaper than a refund check. A similar plan might help in California....least we wouldn’t have to put up with media stories about students protesting cuts in education......Heck! Education is one of the places that needs to be cut drastically. Especially in the administrative departments wherein lies most of the actual waste. I just tho’t I’d phrase it thataway so’s I wouldn’t end a sentence with a dangling participle.......so there......Justin Other Smith

Gather ye rosebuds.........

Millyrose has been wanting fresh strawberries for awhile now & I keep telling her that it's too early for the strawberry fields here.... doesn't matter, she wants fresh from the field strawberries..so, last week we stopped at Farmers Mkt...too late, they were sold out..We bought some at Costco but y'know how that goes, not quite the same as fresh from the field...OK, t'day we went to Farmers Mkt again, only earlier....they got berries & they're making a killing on 'em...I understand, strike while the iron is hot & all that, but $13 for a half-flat is a lot of rosebuds.....durn near twice as much as last year...Well, if you're an early bird & ya want the durn worm, ya gotta pay the piper, I guess.......I had Rusty on a leash, he was very excited that he was allowed to go with us & not haf'ta sit in the car & wait..Trubble is, Farmers Mkt has a big sign, "No Dogs Allowed!"....so back to the car we went...I don't have a purse large enuff to tote him in & he prob'ly wouldn't like it anyway...not to mention the fact that I'm not atall sure how it'd look, big ol burly unshaved me toting a dog in a purse...so we ignored the women walking around carrying l'il dogs & went back to the car...we don't care.

We stopped at Kellye's to drop off Sophie's homework & give Rusty a chance to see his buddy, Buddy.....Buddy is easily twice the size of Rusty & prob'ly triple his weight..it's a hoot watching the two of 'em dashing madly from here to there & back again....& they both seem t'be scared t'death of the new kitty.....'Course, Buddy is a confirmed killer of chickens & squirrels & if he ever chomped down on Carmel Kitty....but we won't dwell on that...in the meantime, Carmel Kitty rules.....& that's the way it goes in Wonderland.....

where you can be what you would seem to be--or, if you'd like it put more simply...Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been if you have appeared to them to be otherwise.  Justin Other Smith

Jibber-jabber........

Kansas or Oz??

If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense.  Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't.  And contrary-wise, what it is would't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would.  You see?

I dunno, I just can't seem to help myself when it comes to all the political jibber-jabber on the tube...Ev'ry Sunday I find myself watching 'Meet the Press' & what's worse, listening to the various & sundry pundits discourse on what seems to be the prime directive, to wit:  Read the directions and directly you will be directed in the right direction.

I find myself more in agreement with the Republican pundits than the Democrats....on that proverbial other hand however, if you add a little salt to the mix (& according to the tee-shirts at Chili's Bar & Grill, salt adds character)..cudn't resist throwing that in.....if you add a 'leetle mite o salt to the pundits prose, ya gotta know they're being paid not only to defend their side but to attack the other side......they ride for the brand......& in politics, while they might say it's about character, it's really about winning......As the pragmatic Dodo sez, "Have to run with the others.  First rule of a caucus race, you know."

In politics, as in war.....winning isn't the only thing, it's everything.  Ad infinitum, ad nauseum, cuz it don't matter who you listen to.....it's all jibber-jabber.

Justin Other Smith (with an assist from L. Carroll)

On Rusticanus & waffles.......

Rusticanus, the Poodleus Minor, has seemed sort'a depressed since Trudy died.  Kind'a needy, loss of appetite, etc......I wuz thinkin' he might need some Prozac but it turned out that he had an ear infection....both ears, akshully, tho' the right ear is worse than the left......I dragged him off to the vet where he behave admirably...it was almost embarrassing, he didn't pull on his leash, didn't bark or whine uncontrollably, jumped on the scales on command as tho' he'd been doing it all his life, (22 lbs, he's a lot smaller since we got his hair cut).....he even jumped onto a bench and thence to the exam table and sat there like a cartoon dog.....the vet tho't he was well-trained and most obedient, (go figger)......ah well, he's a pretty good dog for a Poodleus Minor & he suits me....

Anyway, it's another one o' those 'Thank God it's Friday' days, the sun is shining, temp headed for the low 80's.....I guess Spring has finally sprung....OK by me.....

Cary called me while I was with the vet & pulled in behind me as I was leaving.....she uses the same vet.....she claimed that she was starving as she'd been working since the wee hours....I suggested we stop at Country Waffle which is just down the street......well, she said she wanted breakfast.....I had a 'normous big waffle....I don't have waffles very often on account'a the sugar stuffk but what the heck?  They have a purty good waffle......

She said Dave had got his visa for India but that they had messed up the dates so his 6 month visa was really only going to be good for 4 1/2 months......that'll either be way more time than he needs or way less...I s'pect he'll find out.....

I think Cary is s'pozed to return from Spain on the 20th of May & Dave is to leave on the 21st.. Millyrose & I will 'sellabrate' our 49th on the 23rd.....the merry month of May is gonna be a busy one, I guess.....Justin Other Smith

Tangled tho'ts......

As the days dwindle down........
Ah, dwindling days......y’know, it don’t really matter how you view life, the longer you live, the sooner you’ll die.......Is that a classic oxymoron or what?.....Showbiz folk say, “Dying’s easy, comedy’s hard.” Twenty something’s die every day but they don’t expect it... when you’re in your twenties, you’re immortal or, you think you are which is durn near the same thing.....death is practically incomprehensible but if you live to be......oh, say eighty or thereabouts, then you’re pretty darn close to dying....so close, in fact, y’might want’a think twice before buying those green banana’s.....(old joke, but some truth).
All of the foregoing comes from the fact that I saw Maurice Chevalier in an old movie t’other day (go figure....I like old movies) and he sang ‘Autumn Leaves’ and the darn thing has been running thru my head ever since....
Chevalier once said that his highest ambition was to be a Parisian Boulevardier (he was a classic example & possibly the last).....He was considered by many Francais to be a Nazi collaborator because he continued working as an entertainer during the German occupation of Paris.
Chevalier, with his classic Gallic shrug & deferential smile explained that he was “just an entertainer.” Pretty darn good one, too, even tho’ he was too old for leading man roles by the time Hollywood got around to ‘discovering’ him.......In the movie, ‘Gigi’....he played a supporting role (& purty much stole the movie).....One of the songs he sang, “I’m glad I’m not young anymore”... .......he claimed they were the stupidest lyrics he’d ever heard & I tend to agree with him....
There’s a lot to be said for aging but while some wines improve with age, sum of ‘em turn to vinegar.....some vintage automobiles are fantastic but they don’t make good daily drivers......same with people. Some people age well, acquire wisdom, live & die respectably & are mourned by all who knew them.....some irascible SOB’s rant & rave, fight with their neighbors & families & the world gives a sigh of relief when they go......most of us fall inbetween.....regardless of politial affiliation & no matter how much we may deny it, most of us live & die as Centrists......I think most politicians, no matter what they say, tend to sit on the fence reading polls while trying to decide which side to jump.....& they don’t want to jump too far becuz they might mis-speak & have to jump back......Politicians mis-speak, reg’lar folk lie.....Mark Twain (or Disraeli, take your choice) claimed there are three kinds of lies: Lies, damn lies, & statistics. Our modern society has coined a ‘hole new word for political mis-speaking.....it’s called ‘spin’.....T’ain’t really a lie, t’ain’t really the truth. T’is what t’is. The Brits called it, ‘dithering’.....the Irish called it, ‘blarney’...
My mama called it lying.........but Pop....well, he always claimed he wuz jus’ tellin’ a story.......Justin Other Smith

Trudy........

Monday, March 31...../08

Trudy died this morning about 9:30.....very quietly, as she did most things.....she was absolutely the most gentle dog I’ve ever known.......

When you own a dog, or sumtimes more appropriately, when a dog owns you, it becomes a symbiotic relationship and you develop a feeling of responsibility. P’raps that is part of the explanation for why people (adults) acquire pets for their children (l’il people). Anyway, dogs take care of their people and look out for them to the best of their ability. And people are s’pozed to take care of their dogs.
Trudy was older when she came to us.....six or seven, at least & becuz we were older also, the SPCA didn’t charge us an adoption fee......we never knew what kind of life she had before us.....we postulated that she may have been a breeder, kept in a kennel & while she may not have been abused, she seemed to be lacking in some ways........she was with us for months before she ever barked & it was then we found out what it meant for a dog to have been ‘debarked’......’Course, she didn’t know that she’d been debarked & once she found out that we didn’t discourage her from talking, she yapped incessantly when she wanted.....she had a hoarse bark, sort of like Lauren Bacall which, now that I think on it, might have been a better name for her than Trudy.
Her previous name had been Treasure. We found that out when our Vet traced her history for us. Millyrose didn’t like that name and Emily & Sophia suggested Trudy.
And Trudy she was....our dowager Princess, dignified & too beautiful to be bothered with undognified behavior..
She became Millyrose’s shadow except when she wanted out in the mornings & when she wanted her treats when she came back inside.......
I’ve had a lot of dogs over the years & the passing of each of them has left a void...or so it seems at the time of their passing. But that’s a misnomer.....thinking back, I c’n recall all of them...each and every one of them.....
Justin Other Smith