So, it’s a slow, rainy Sati’day with Millyrose piled up on the couch ‘n just starting to feel the ‘other’ effects of her fall...now that she’s getting used to the pain in her shoulder (oh, I didn’t tell ev’ryone, did I? Well, she didn’t want me to say anything about her falling ‘n breaking her shoulder)...anyways, now she’s feeling the pain in her knees ‘n shins ‘n all the other places that took a little less of a beating than her shoulder....
She’s a baaaad patient, is Millyrose..she keeps wanting t’do stuff...I keep telling her that she should just pile up on the sofa ‘n give orders but she finds that frustrating....
‘n of course, I don’t take direction all that well...
We had a great T’sgiving...at Kellye’s house ‘n Kellye did the turkey but that’s another story ‘n then yesti’day we went to Kellyes for leftovers...
But t’day, t’day I scrambled some eggs ‘n threw a handful of biscuits in the oven ‘n drank six cups of coffee ‘n walked the dogs in the rain....the water just beads up on the P-dogger ‘n is easily brushed off but pore little ol Willie just gets wet all over ‘n all the way thru...he’s my little Huckleberry scamp ‘n he’s incorrigible....
Anyways, t’day is a day for old movies ‘n hot chock’lit ‘n maybe a nap or two....
take care...keep your powder dry...’n remember....Nostalgia ain’t what it use’ta be....

Life in the moment.....

Early, early, early Monday morning....the chickens get up early...the dogs get up early....’n I’m up early....”burnin’ daylite” as Big John sed in several movies....the chickens are out scratching breakfast in the neighborhood flowers, the dogs have gone back to bed (proving yet again the seeming superiority of life in the moment) ‘n I’m sitting at the ‘puter waiting for the coffee to finish dripping.....when I was a younger man, I waited for it to percolate ‘n when I was much, much younger, I waited for it to boil....’n yeah, I drank coffee when I was a boy....I liked it black ‘n in a saucer the way my Grandpa took it....by the time I got into my teens, I drank it with cream the way my Mother did ‘n since she never took sugar in her coffee, I never developed a taste for sweet coffee either....in the late sixties, restaurants all up ‘n down California began replacing half ‘n half with non-dairy coffee creamer ‘n since they all without exception added a queer ‘n unusual taste to the coffee, I went back to drinking my coffee black like my Grandpa only without the saucer...back in those halycon days of yore, Denny’s had what was arguably the best cup of coffee t’be had in the central valley...they served Kona coffee, from Hawaii, considered at the time t’be one of the premier coffees on the market...it was ten cents a cup ‘n free refills....God wuz in His heaven, the hippies were discovering the wisdom of Dog (life in the moment) ‘n all wuz right with the world.....the world should prob’ly have got suspicious when the Oakland A’s went retro, the VW Beetle went psychedelic ‘n gun barrels sprouted flowers but rationale went up in smoke ‘n the philistines paved paradise.....

Veterans Day....

old war movies on the telly, John Wayne winning WWII again...gotta luv ‘The Duke’....
It’s another beautiful day here in Ol Fair Oaks...November sunshine is a little anemic but that makes for a nice change after the long summer sun...sweater weather, or at least long sleeve shirt weather...a light breeze ruffling the drifting leaves ‘n lots ‘n lots of different ‘n evidently beguiling scents for da boyz turns our walk into a long series of shuffling steps whilst they twine ‘n entwine ‘n I have t’keep changing hands on the leashs....lots of chickens but if they don’t run, da boyz don’t chase ‘em...no school t’day but Plaza Park was empty save for two little boys who were playing a game of their own invention as far as I could tell....’n, y’know, there ain’t nuthin’ wrong with that...fact is, it’s kind’a refreshing in a way....

Turns out, it’s really a nice day...an Autumnal day, just cool enuff to be glad of long sleeves...our little daily pilgramage seems t’be covering more ground lately what with circling the California House ‘n then wand’ring off to meander ‘round Plaza Park...evidently some sort of brand new scent wonderland for the Ol P-Dogger ‘n Willie as I seem t’be spending most of my time just holding onto the brand new retractible leashes ‘n only moving a few paces at a time...takes awhile t’get around the park like that, lemme tellya...also, I gotta remember to stuff some of those plastic baggies in my pocket....
’course, there wasn’t a lotta people in the park at that time of day...one lonely little boy checking out the construction of whatever you call the climbing monstrosity that normally is covered with children...Oh, ‘n one sleeping drunk....at least, I think he was sleeping...or passed out....or maybe dead...I dunno....not a usual sight at all in Plaza Park but the recession seems t’be worsening (prosperity is just around the corner, notwithstanding)....more ‘n more people out’a work ‘n more ‘n more homeless...prices going up ‘n income going down yet much of California seems t’be in denial about it...
Millyrose ‘n I stopped at Country Waffle yesti’day...waffles were just as good ‘n the coffee just as bad but a brand-new menu with higher prices....too high for me ‘n I guess we won’t be stopping there anymore...well heck, I ain’t s’pozed to eat that kind’a stuff anyways.....
It’s all over the news that the State of California is borrowing 40 millions dollars a day to pay their unemployment...you can’t do that for very long...I have a neighbor who has been drawing over $400 bucks a week ‘n ain’t looking for work...well, why should he when the only jobs available don’t pay that much...on that proverbial other hand, I have neighbors that are working several jobs just tryin’ t’get by cuz they ain’t eligible for gov’t assistance.....t’is a puzzlement....

And after the rain, the fog....

Willie's inner clock doesn't reset as easily as the house clocks so he got me up at 5:00 in the AM...he gets pretty insistent 'n hard to ignore....he only weighs about 18 lbs or so but when those lbs are walking on a body, it does get your attention...'n if that don't work, he gets right up in your face...he is nothing if not persistent...anyways, I got up 'n took the two of 'em outside...now, it rained pertnear (sound it out, it's Kentuckyism for pretty near) all day yesterday 'n during the night the fog crept in on little cat's feet (Sandburg) so I got to walk out into an obscuring grey mist that muffled the traffic sounds from Sunrise 'n also the early risers among the chicken-folk.....so, even if my calendar hadn't told me, I'd know it was November...summer is officially gone now...the SacBee, our once upon a time newspaper that, like many bad habits, is hard to break...sez that it's going to be a La Nina winter which means that the great Northwest is gonna be wetter than usual 'n the Southwest is gonna be drier...go figure....the Sacramento area is on the cusp 'n could go either way....I dunno, sounds pretty p'litical t'me.....

November........

Once't upon a time, a very long time ago, I wrote a poem about November 'n if I c'd remember it, I'd bore you with it...fortunately for you, I can't recall it other than I rhymed cold 'n clear with brown 'n sere ' n that alone should tell you all you need to know about it.....
So the time changed ‘n the rain came ‘n I woke up this morning ‘n it’s November at last....not that I was in any great hurry for it to be November when the rain ‘n the cold ‘n the fog dominate northern California, I wudn’t ‘n I still ain’t ...still the inevitability of the seasons is a constant in an ever-changing world ‘n humanity seems to need something constant in life ‘n we certainly have that in the ebb ‘n flow of the seasons...it’s reflected in the ebb ‘n flow of politicians also but that’s another story for another day...

The Wonderful World of Make Believe....

There’s an awful lot of people taking an awful lot of pride in the fact that they ackshully went out ‘n voted...Well, voting is a good thing but going to church don’t make you a Christian anymore than standing in a garage makes you a car....
Fact is, I live in California ‘n my take on the recent election here is that If I was to agree with the majority of Californians, we’d all of us be wrong ‘n I just purely hate t’be wrong....
Notice, I never said that I couldn’t on occasion be wrong, I just said that I hate t’be wrong...I’ve always said that you can’t trust a body that don’t make a mistake now ‘n then....good judgment, they say, comes from experience ‘n a lot of that comes from bad judgment....
Anyways, California has become known world-wide as ‘the land of fruits ‘n nuts’ ‘n just t’set the record straight, Sacramento in it’s heyday was nicknamed ‘Sacotomato’ becuz it was a really good area for growing tomatoes....’n for processing said tomatoes...there was a lot of tomato jobs here in Sacramento ‘n we know a lot about ‘em...common knowledge in this area that a tomato is actually a fruit ‘n not a vegetable...Now, knowing that p’ticklar fact is one thing, having the wisdom to not put it in a fruit salad...well, the jury seems t’be still out on that....
Sacramentos other main claim t’fame is for being in between...y’might say a midway point...going up or down or sideways, we seem t’be the belly-button of California....between the oceans ‘n the mountains...between San Francisco ‘n Lake Tahoe, which is the only two places in northern California that most of the world knows anything about..
Everybody in the world knows about the La La land of southern California mainly cuz of all the movies shot down there.....the only other places that Hollywood seems t’know about is SF ‘n Lake Tahoe....all the rest of California that appears in movies just looks like the rest of the world...well, at least to Hollywood anyway....’n Hollywood is a magical land that seems to exist more in the mind than in reality...I c’d be wrong, of course, but it’s one explanation.....
I’m just sayin’......

Consequencical.....

Well, the old P-Dogger ain’t been up to snuff lately, just mopin’ around, walking slow ‘n paying almost no attention to the chickens....lost his appetite ‘n developed a fondness for grass....not the grass that got shot down in yesterday’s election but real grass, y’know....the green stuff....I spect he’s got hisself an upset tummy....well, it happens in old dogs ‘n old people...nothing sounds good ‘n you end up having toast ‘n coffee ‘stead of bacon ‘n eggs....that’s prob’ly why so many Doctors reccommend a multiple vitamin for old farts....I haven’t taken vitamin pills for many years ‘n never did take very many of ‘em...I don’t like taking pills...they all have side effects...the rule of unintended consequence applies to pills....’course, I guess ev’rything has unintended consequence if you stop ‘n think about it...especially if you stop ‘n think about it, in which case you prob’ly wouldn’t do it....’n not doing it also has unintended consequence....
I guess y’can blame pretty much ev’rything on Karma (or unintended consequence) ‘n then you don’t have to take responsibility for much of anything....well, anything y’don’t want to take credit for...here in sunny California, we the voters evidently want to be able to lay all the blame for ev’rything that goes wrong on our corrupt Legislature....that’s prob’ly why we keep electing the same old corrupt politicians....
Y’know, it’s hard to quit thinkin’ in things p’litical after having so many ads, commercials, robo-calls....if y’ain’t a p’litical maven, you just gotta be sick t’death of just about ever’thing p’litical....
It’s such a nice day, a warm day, somewhere around 80o or thereabouts, not all that unusual for November here in Ol Fair Oaks but still welcome just the same....me’n Willie ‘n the P-Dogger just went for a little stroll...the P-Dogger is feeling a little better, perking up somewhat, still not chasing chickens but we got Willie for that....’n we went a little early t’day so the chickens were still out....we’ll have t’go later as well, I imagine, but that won’t be ‘til around 6:00 or so....this coming weekend is the TIME CHANGE when ever’one has to turn their clocks back an hour....well, I spoze you don’t absolutely HAVE to turn your clocks back if you don’t want to but almost ever’one will ‘n if you don’t, you’ll oversleep ‘n be late for work...that’s an excuse that almost always works at least once at this time of year but only once....I’m just sayin’.....