OK....ain’t it about time for durn near everyone to yawn really big when the Maloof’s threaten to take their ball club ‘n move away? The only argument that makes even the slightest bit of sense for keeping them is the money that they bring to the area ‘n frankly speaking, it ain’t that darn much....well, speaking in percentages, of course....
The Kings had a pretty good run here...
they had sellout crowds for a long time before they ever became any kind of contender ‘n after they began to pick up a little bit ‘n began to look as tho’ they might even be really a Major League team, they really generated a lot of local support....’n then, ‘n then....it all of a sudden became more about the Maloof’s than it was about the fans...a new, bigger stadium that would generate more money becuz.....becuz ‘The Kings’ were so important to the area...’n of course, the Maloof’s wanted to follow that time-honored axiom of expanding their business without investing any of their ‘own’ money...I mean, if it’s so important to the Sacramento area, then the taxpayers of Sacramento should be more than willing to pay....’n pay.......’n pay....except they weren’t! Sacramento doesn’t want to pay for the Maloof’s new stadium...Sacramento doesn’t want to pay for the Maloof’s Las Vegas casino or for that matter, the Maloof’s anything....
they are wealthy...let ‘em spend their own money....’n if they don’t wanna do that, let ‘em go find another sucker......
Gawd knows, Texas Guinan was right when she proclaimed that there’s one born every minute.....
come to think on it, Texas Guinan sed it but so did Damon Runyon, Mae West ‘n W.C. Fields.....’n probly Mark Twain ‘n Will Rogers...’n me, of course.....I sed it too.....
Monday, February 28, 2011
There are two sides to the damn coin....
There are two thories about arguing with a woman 'n neither one of 'em work.....I think maybe the same two theories apply in p'litical arguments with anyone on the extreme left or extreme right....recently, I had the exact same comment from two radically different 'friends'...."Let's agree to disagree!" 'n it sounds exactly the same no matter which p'litical spectru from whence it springs...The extreme right would tear down our present government, exile Obama 'n his cabinet to some distant land 'n replace them with some isolationist neo-Christian, anti-everybody else bomb 'em if they don't agree group of Neo-Neanderthals.....while the extreme left would tear down our present government 'n replace it with some sort of fuzzy, tree-hugging idealistic commune-loving Aquarius wannabe's.....wrap everything in pink gauze 'n call it the new Nirvana....and the only thing that either of these can seem to agree on is that they each want to 'agree to disagree' with me...
And the really funny thing about it is that they both sound so sincere....seems like all that either of 'em want to do is stand on their p'ticklar side 'n scream at the other side.....you'd think that once in a while, just maybe they'd like to come into the middle of the damn road 'n have a nice quiet conversation about the abundant potholes that are developing on both sides of the road...but each of them has their own mindset 'n neither one of 'em wants to hear that there might be another side of the coin...
And the really funny thing about it is that they both sound so sincere....seems like all that either of 'em want to do is stand on their p'ticklar side 'n scream at the other side.....you'd think that once in a while, just maybe they'd like to come into the middle of the damn road 'n have a nice quiet conversation about the abundant potholes that are developing on both sides of the road...but each of them has their own mindset 'n neither one of 'em wants to hear that there might be another side of the coin...
Sunday, February 27, 2011
And for some reason, they call them the Fab 50's.....
Once upon a time, a very long time ago (well, 1958, t’be precise)....southern Ohio was in a not unusual period of recession, jobs were hard to come by, especially for the young ‘n inexperienced.....I heard about a company that needed two bricklayers. Ed Phillips ‘n I rushed to apply for the jobs.....the man interviewed us, asked about our experience and told us that he would hire us....both of us....immediately....t’say that we were overjoyed would be an understatement....he then went on to explain that these were ‘union’ jobs and that it would be necessary for us to join the union and he told us where to go ‘n who to see in order to do that......when we got there, the union representative told us that he’d be delighted to let us join the union but that we had to go back to the man who had promised us the job and get written notice that we were actually hired....so, back to the job site where we told that he couldn’t provide us with that documentation until the union representative actually enrolled us in the union....
ah well, you can probably figure out from what I’ve told you that while we were young ‘n naive ‘n not too long off the turnip truck, we managed to figure out that we were never going to get jobs laying bricks or for that matter, any other union job....I don’t think it’s any wonder at all why I would support Gov. Walker instead of King Trumka ‘n the AFL/CIO .....22 States have a ‘Right to Work’ law and all 50 States should have the same law. It is positively unAmerican to allow any union to dictate who is to work ‘n who is to starve.....
ah well, you can probably figure out from what I’ve told you that while we were young ‘n naive ‘n not too long off the turnip truck, we managed to figure out that we were never going to get jobs laying bricks or for that matter, any other union job....I don’t think it’s any wonder at all why I would support Gov. Walker instead of King Trumka ‘n the AFL/CIO .....22 States have a ‘Right to Work’ law and all 50 States should have the same law. It is positively unAmerican to allow any union to dictate who is to work ‘n who is to starve.....
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Longer daze ' shorter nites....
A loaf of bread, a jug of wine.....
But when I wuz a boy, on those long balmy daze of summer, I’d take a book, a loaf of bread, some fresh green onions or tomatoes right out of the garden ‘n climb the apple tree in our back yard.....high in the tree, I c’d see ‘cross the railroad tracks ‘n over the willows ‘n water maples that lined the riverbank, the broad, brown Ohio....the river ‘n the green hills were the two dominant factors in the summer life of boys.....well, back then anyways....
Nowadays it’s a little bit different...seems like the older I get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for which makes it somewhat oxymoronic when I find m’self sitting in line at Costco to buy gas at $3.40 cents a gallon ‘n I don’t get at all frustrated...well, not with the line anyways...the price I have to pay is a different story..
But when I wuz a boy, on those long balmy daze of summer, I’d take a book, a loaf of bread, some fresh green onions or tomatoes right out of the garden ‘n climb the apple tree in our back yard.....high in the tree, I c’d see ‘cross the railroad tracks ‘n over the willows ‘n water maples that lined the riverbank, the broad, brown Ohio....the river ‘n the green hills were the two dominant factors in the summer life of boys.....well, back then anyways....
Nowadays it’s a little bit different...seems like the older I get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for which makes it somewhat oxymoronic when I find m’self sitting in line at Costco to buy gas at $3.40 cents a gallon ‘n I don’t get at all frustrated...well, not with the line anyways...the price I have to pay is a different story..
Saturday, February 19, 2011
There’s a vast difference, well half-vast anyway, between being lazy ‘n being just plain old downright trifling....any lazy person’ll look at a job that just has t’be done ‘n figger out a way to do it with the least effort possible while a trifling person’ll just ignore the job altogether...Justin Other Smith.
The Mail Route
Cousin Ballard had a plan. ‘Course cousin Ballard almost always had some kind of plan. That’s just the way he was. He could’t help hisself, it’s the way he was made.....at least, that’s what he said. His mind was always busy thinkin’ and plannin’ about ever’thing. What it was, he was born to be in guvverment but there wasn’t any guvverment to speak of out on Beauty Ridge. Well, except for the mailman who managed to make it around the ridge when the weather co-operated. Except the weather in the hills is an awful lot like the people in the hills and they have a tendency to be uncooperative in the best of times and just plain mulish otherwise.
Now it was 1947 and Kentucky was blacktopping roads all over the state but they hadn’t got out in the back-country yet. Folks that lived out in the hollows and the ridges pretty much lived the same way that their parents and grandparents had lived before them. That meant no blacktop roads. Heck! They were lucky to get a little gravel dropped on them and that right before election. There were no phones, no services of any kind.
But after the war, the Postal Service had got their hands on a lot of jeeps and were using them for rural mail delivery. All the old mailmen had retired and put their mules out to pasture. The only problem was them old ridge roads got difficult in the winter months. the rain and harsh weather turned those dirt roads into impassable clay mires and there wasn’t a vehicle built that could navigate them.
Except for God’s creation: the mule.
And Uncle John Sam always had a couple good mules.
And that was cousin Ballards plan. He would borrow a mule from Uncle John Sam and contract with the U.S. Post Office to deliver the mail out on Beauty Ridge.
Now when the weather was cold and there was a good hard crust on the ground, the regular mailman made his rounds in the official United States Post Office Vehicle which back there at the time was a U.S.Army war surplus jeep that had been painted white and trimmed in red and blue. And it did pretty good. When the weather was right for it.
But when there came a thaw and a little bit of rain, it was time for cousin Ballard to earn his money. The mailman would bring all the mail to Uncle John Sam’s home where cousin Ballard would be waiting with the mule. If there was an extra big load, he’d borrow both of Uncle John Sam’s mules.
It took three days for cousin Ballard to make the trip around the ridge and though he gen erally stayed with the same people, sometimes he would stay wherever darkness found him.
The month of March in eastern Kentucky is a changeable kind of month. It can be warm and sunny, almost balmy one day and the n ext day see a blustering rain or snow or worse, a mixture called sleet. People used to say, “if you don’t like the weather here, just wait fifteen minutes.”
It had been that kind of month and Beauty Ridge was impassable for any kind of wheeled vehicle. Cousin Ballard had been making the round trip just about every week and had taken to grousing and complaining about the job, saying that he’d “never signed on to be a reg’lar mailman anyhow.” I expect that if Uncle John Sam’s mules could’a talked, they’d have said the same thing.
Anyway, the mailman was sitting on the porch with Uncle John Sam when cousin Ballard showed up. They were both in a pretty genial mood having made several trips to the well, so to speak, and their levity didn’t help to elevate cousin Ballard’s mood. He saddled the mule and loaded the mail bags, climbed aboard and headed up the hill.
And that was the last that anyone saw of him and the mule for the next three days. On the fourth day, Uncle John Sam began to get a little fidgety and began to fret about having trusted his mule to a layabout like Ballard anyhow. And on the fifth day Uncle John Sam went looking for his mule.
The mail bags had been a little extra heavy and about halfway up the hill the mule decided that he didn’t want to work that hard and he sat down in the path and refused to go any further. Cousin Ballard reasoned with him ‘til he lost his voice and his arm got tired, so in the spirit of democratic cooperation, decided to walk alongside the mule. Which got the two of them to the top of the hill. After a little rest, cousin Ballard climbed back into the saddle and they proceeded along the ridge.
Now because of the late start they’d had and the little disagreement between labor and management, they were more than a little behind schedule and cousin Ballard got it in his mind that he’d seek shelter with a friend of his who lived up a little hollow on the other side of the road. The road looked solid enough and cousin Ballard just naturally headed the mule toward the other side. I guess that he didn’t give enough consideration to the extra weight they were carrying and with ever’ sucking step the mule took, why he sunk a little deeper and when he sunk to his belly, he stopped.
And it didn’t matter what tone cousin Ballard took, and no matter how he remonstrated, all his pleas and threats and promises fell on deaf ears. The mule just wouldn’t absolutely no way move.
And finally cousin Ballard gave up. He got off the mules back, loaded the mail sacks onto his own back and proceeded across the road. For about six feet when he sunk so deep that he found himself stuck the same as the mule.
People that live out along Beauty Ridge are a hardy bunch but they generally stick pretty close to home in the wintertime. Especially when the only road is a quagmire. And nobody came. Nobody passed by. And cousin Ballard and the mule waited. All night. And all the next day and night. And cousin Ballard talked to the mule and to God and to himself. God knows what kind of promises he made but God ain’t talking about it any more than cousin Ballard and the mule.
Uncle John Sam was a quiet man rarely given to outbursts. I remember once when an old Nash car he was driving wouldn’t stop when he yelled for it to whoa. He lost his temper then and said some harsh words while he bashed in the radiator and taught the car a lesson. But that’s another story. On this day, Uncle John Sam didn’t say a word. He sat down beside the road, his body shaking like he had the palsy and laughed ‘til he cried.
Cousin Ballard said it was a mortifying experience and he didn’t think he’d ever want to deliver the mail again and doubted that he could get the mule to do it anymore anyhow.
The Mail Route
Cousin Ballard had a plan. ‘Course cousin Ballard almost always had some kind of plan. That’s just the way he was. He could’t help hisself, it’s the way he was made.....at least, that’s what he said. His mind was always busy thinkin’ and plannin’ about ever’thing. What it was, he was born to be in guvverment but there wasn’t any guvverment to speak of out on Beauty Ridge. Well, except for the mailman who managed to make it around the ridge when the weather co-operated. Except the weather in the hills is an awful lot like the people in the hills and they have a tendency to be uncooperative in the best of times and just plain mulish otherwise.
Now it was 1947 and Kentucky was blacktopping roads all over the state but they hadn’t got out in the back-country yet. Folks that lived out in the hollows and the ridges pretty much lived the same way that their parents and grandparents had lived before them. That meant no blacktop roads. Heck! They were lucky to get a little gravel dropped on them and that right before election. There were no phones, no services of any kind.
But after the war, the Postal Service had got their hands on a lot of jeeps and were using them for rural mail delivery. All the old mailmen had retired and put their mules out to pasture. The only problem was them old ridge roads got difficult in the winter months. the rain and harsh weather turned those dirt roads into impassable clay mires and there wasn’t a vehicle built that could navigate them.
Except for God’s creation: the mule.
And Uncle John Sam always had a couple good mules.
And that was cousin Ballards plan. He would borrow a mule from Uncle John Sam and contract with the U.S. Post Office to deliver the mail out on Beauty Ridge.
Now when the weather was cold and there was a good hard crust on the ground, the regular mailman made his rounds in the official United States Post Office Vehicle which back there at the time was a U.S.Army war surplus jeep that had been painted white and trimmed in red and blue. And it did pretty good. When the weather was right for it.
But when there came a thaw and a little bit of rain, it was time for cousin Ballard to earn his money. The mailman would bring all the mail to Uncle John Sam’s home where cousin Ballard would be waiting with the mule. If there was an extra big load, he’d borrow both of Uncle John Sam’s mules.
It took three days for cousin Ballard to make the trip around the ridge and though he gen erally stayed with the same people, sometimes he would stay wherever darkness found him.
The month of March in eastern Kentucky is a changeable kind of month. It can be warm and sunny, almost balmy one day and the n ext day see a blustering rain or snow or worse, a mixture called sleet. People used to say, “if you don’t like the weather here, just wait fifteen minutes.”
It had been that kind of month and Beauty Ridge was impassable for any kind of wheeled vehicle. Cousin Ballard had been making the round trip just about every week and had taken to grousing and complaining about the job, saying that he’d “never signed on to be a reg’lar mailman anyhow.” I expect that if Uncle John Sam’s mules could’a talked, they’d have said the same thing.
Anyway, the mailman was sitting on the porch with Uncle John Sam when cousin Ballard showed up. They were both in a pretty genial mood having made several trips to the well, so to speak, and their levity didn’t help to elevate cousin Ballard’s mood. He saddled the mule and loaded the mail bags, climbed aboard and headed up the hill.
And that was the last that anyone saw of him and the mule for the next three days. On the fourth day, Uncle John Sam began to get a little fidgety and began to fret about having trusted his mule to a layabout like Ballard anyhow. And on the fifth day Uncle John Sam went looking for his mule.
The mail bags had been a little extra heavy and about halfway up the hill the mule decided that he didn’t want to work that hard and he sat down in the path and refused to go any further. Cousin Ballard reasoned with him ‘til he lost his voice and his arm got tired, so in the spirit of democratic cooperation, decided to walk alongside the mule. Which got the two of them to the top of the hill. After a little rest, cousin Ballard climbed back into the saddle and they proceeded along the ridge.
Now because of the late start they’d had and the little disagreement between labor and management, they were more than a little behind schedule and cousin Ballard got it in his mind that he’d seek shelter with a friend of his who lived up a little hollow on the other side of the road. The road looked solid enough and cousin Ballard just naturally headed the mule toward the other side. I guess that he didn’t give enough consideration to the extra weight they were carrying and with ever’ sucking step the mule took, why he sunk a little deeper and when he sunk to his belly, he stopped.
And it didn’t matter what tone cousin Ballard took, and no matter how he remonstrated, all his pleas and threats and promises fell on deaf ears. The mule just wouldn’t absolutely no way move.
And finally cousin Ballard gave up. He got off the mules back, loaded the mail sacks onto his own back and proceeded across the road. For about six feet when he sunk so deep that he found himself stuck the same as the mule.
People that live out along Beauty Ridge are a hardy bunch but they generally stick pretty close to home in the wintertime. Especially when the only road is a quagmire. And nobody came. Nobody passed by. And cousin Ballard and the mule waited. All night. And all the next day and night. And cousin Ballard talked to the mule and to God and to himself. God knows what kind of promises he made but God ain’t talking about it any more than cousin Ballard and the mule.
Uncle John Sam was a quiet man rarely given to outbursts. I remember once when an old Nash car he was driving wouldn’t stop when he yelled for it to whoa. He lost his temper then and said some harsh words while he bashed in the radiator and taught the car a lesson. But that’s another story. On this day, Uncle John Sam didn’t say a word. He sat down beside the road, his body shaking like he had the palsy and laughed ‘til he cried.
Cousin Ballard said it was a mortifying experience and he didn’t think he’d ever want to deliver the mail again and doubted that he could get the mule to do it anymore anyhow.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Ya just gotta wonder sumtimes.....
Sweet home Alabama, there’s a guy poisoning oak trees....not sure what it is that he don’t like about oak trees, seems t’be about football...most of the world is concerned about the middle East, the failing economy around the world, a lack of jobs here in the good ole US of A ‘n rising food prices...I mean to tell ya that there are lots of really serious things to worry about, things that c’n keep normal, ever’day people awake at night ‘n here’s this old boy in Alabama so pissed off over a football game that he takes it upon hisself to go ‘n poison two really old Oak trees by pouring herbicide on their roots....’n it ain’t even a felony, only a misdemeanor....what they ought t’do, they being the good citizens of Alabama, is to take this old boy ‘n hang him from one of the highest branches of either one of those trees ‘n not take him down until the trees survive....’n if they don’t make it, why just leave him there for the birds who would undoubtedly look upon him as a giant piece of suet....
Sweet home Alabama, there’s a guy poisoning oak trees....not sure what it is that he don’t like about oak trees, seems t’be about football...most of the world is concerned about the middle East, the failing economy around the world, a lack of jobs here in the good ole US of A ‘n rising food prices...I mean to tell ya that there are lots of really serious things to worry about, things that c’n keep normal, ever’day people awake at night ‘n here’s this old boy in Alabama so pissed off over a football game that he takes it upon hisself to go ‘n poison two really old Oak trees by pouring herbicide on their roots....’n it ain’t even a felony, only a misdemeanor....what they ought t’do, they being the good citizens of Alabama, is to take this old boy ‘n hang him from one of the highest branches of either one of those trees ‘n not take him down until the trees survive....’n if they don’t make it, why just leave him there for the birds who would undoubtedly look upon him as a giant piece of suet....
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Ever wonder about the sound of one hand clapping....
Watta day...watta day.....I ain’t sure if it’s sunny interspersed with showers or versa vice....or izzat vise? I walked da boyz ‘n even tho’ the sun was shining, the wind was so cool I needed a jacket..."rained all night the day I left, the weather it was dry, sun so hot I froze to death....."
I got home ‘n it poured down rain...then it stopped ‘n the sun came out....we got in the car ‘n went to Roseville (me ‘n da boyz) ‘n we had rain ‘n sun ‘n overcast skies ‘n wind....stopped at the Fair Oaks library where a book sale is underway but didn’t buy any.....didn’t even look cuz if I had looked, I’da bought something ‘n I got too many books already...came home ‘n had a p’litical conversation with Opinions of Sacramento...I’m prob’ly too damn old for them...I think mostly pollsters only want to get opinions from younger people who’ll prob’ly be around longer...they asked me how likely it was that I’d vote in the 2012 Presidential election....I told ‘em that I don’t like to buy green bananas but if I wasn’t doing anything else by then, I’d certainly vote...I dunno....I’m thinking that the nicest thing about the future is that always starts tomorrow...I’ve noticed that you c’n be having a nice conversation over the phone with someone that you don’t know ‘n if you happen to slip in a joke without letting ‘em know it’s a joke, what you get is silence on the other end....
I got home ‘n it poured down rain...then it stopped ‘n the sun came out....we got in the car ‘n went to Roseville (me ‘n da boyz) ‘n we had rain ‘n sun ‘n overcast skies ‘n wind....stopped at the Fair Oaks library where a book sale is underway but didn’t buy any.....didn’t even look cuz if I had looked, I’da bought something ‘n I got too many books already...came home ‘n had a p’litical conversation with Opinions of Sacramento...I’m prob’ly too damn old for them...I think mostly pollsters only want to get opinions from younger people who’ll prob’ly be around longer...they asked me how likely it was that I’d vote in the 2012 Presidential election....I told ‘em that I don’t like to buy green bananas but if I wasn’t doing anything else by then, I’d certainly vote...I dunno....I’m thinking that the nicest thing about the future is that always starts tomorrow...I’ve noticed that you c’n be having a nice conversation over the phone with someone that you don’t know ‘n if you happen to slip in a joke without letting ‘em know it’s a joke, what you get is silence on the other end....
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
When it's raining......
have no regrets......
Ah well, the rain came back yest’iday tho not very much...enuff to get Willie’s belly wet ‘n dirty ‘n t’day is cloudy, the wind picking up ‘n the forecast is for heavy rain t’nite....’course, it’s still dry for the moment ‘n I’d better take da boyz for another walk while it’s still dry....got some beans on the stove (Millyrose wants chili).....the big question is, do I use dried onions or get in the car ‘n go to Trader Joes ‘n get a real one...t’be or not t’be, right?.....a question for the ages....
if we get a heavy rain, it’ll knock down a lot of the blossoms...the roses up the street bloomed nicely but they’re kinda wilty ‘n ev’ry time the sun comes out for 15 or 20 minutes, the oxyalis in my yard blooms...it’s a weed, I know, but the yellow flowers are pretty ‘n later on this Spring, it knocks down easily...still, it spreads like wildfire ‘n appears to have aspirations beyond the south forty.....
Can’t complain overmuch tho’.....February in Kentucky is harsh.....well, it ain’t harsh like the far north but it’s cold ‘n wet ‘n windy ‘n more or less uncomfortable clear thru March ‘n into April altho’ it seems t’me that I can recall a few Aprils where we’d go barefootin’....well, once we were out of sight of our Moms....mostly, April was a rainy month....April showers, etc, etc....
Ah well, the rain came back yest’iday tho not very much...enuff to get Willie’s belly wet ‘n dirty ‘n t’day is cloudy, the wind picking up ‘n the forecast is for heavy rain t’nite....’course, it’s still dry for the moment ‘n I’d better take da boyz for another walk while it’s still dry....got some beans on the stove (Millyrose wants chili).....the big question is, do I use dried onions or get in the car ‘n go to Trader Joes ‘n get a real one...t’be or not t’be, right?.....a question for the ages....
if we get a heavy rain, it’ll knock down a lot of the blossoms...the roses up the street bloomed nicely but they’re kinda wilty ‘n ev’ry time the sun comes out for 15 or 20 minutes, the oxyalis in my yard blooms...it’s a weed, I know, but the yellow flowers are pretty ‘n later on this Spring, it knocks down easily...still, it spreads like wildfire ‘n appears to have aspirations beyond the south forty.....
Can’t complain overmuch tho’.....February in Kentucky is harsh.....well, it ain’t harsh like the far north but it’s cold ‘n wet ‘n windy ‘n more or less uncomfortable clear thru March ‘n into April altho’ it seems t’me that I can recall a few Aprils where we’d go barefootin’....well, once we were out of sight of our Moms....mostly, April was a rainy month....April showers, etc, etc....
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Over the river 'n thru the woods....oops! wrong song.....but we did go day-trippin'....all the way to Santa Rosa.....did the cemetery thing 'n lunch at a golf course with famb'ly....nice day for a drive to 'n fro altho, truth be told (which I strive for daily, more or less) the fro part of the drive got a little tiring long towards the end but was made up for by the greeting we got from da boyz who evidently tho't we had abandoned them f'rever 'n f'rever....anyways got home just in time for another spectacular sunset....'n just in time to hear that we're going to return to winter weather during the nite....ah well!
Friday, February 11, 2011
A quiet Friday.....
Hot time in the old town t’nite.....at least in Cairo, Egypt..... as opposed to Cairo, Illinois....which has absolutely nothing to do with anything at all except I’ve been thru Cairo, Illinois ‘n I doubt seriously if I’ll ever get to Egypt but if you’re watching any nooze at all on teevee ‘n then we’re all plugged into the crowd scene....historic times, according to Pres Obama but y’gotta remember that he’s basically a ‘collitch perfesser’ at heart ‘n views the world thru the truncated glasses of academia...
So, on to more prosaic goings-on... a trip to Costco where an impulse purchase on my part resulted in a red-leafed bamboo plant sitting in my side yard whil’st I figger out what to do with it....’n two walks with da boyz....getting so they expect two walks now, I guess I’m spoiling them...
So, on to more prosaic goings-on... a trip to Costco where an impulse purchase on my part resulted in a red-leafed bamboo plant sitting in my side yard whil’st I figger out what to do with it....’n two walks with da boyz....getting so they expect two walks now, I guess I’m spoiling them...
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Round ' n about.....
Dogs pretty much live life in the ‘Now’.....they eat, they sleep, they wander ‘round ‘n about sniffing at the most Gawd-awful things y’ can imagine....’n gen’elly speaking, they’re happy souls.....less of course, you happen t’be taking ‘em to the Vet or the Groomer....
Money’ll buy you a dog ‘n Gawd knows you can spend a lot on Vet bills ‘n grooming if you’ve a mind to but all it takes to get ‘em wagging their tails is kindness....well, maybe a snack here ‘n there.....
So, I wuz down to Plaza Park with Rusty ‘n Willie....we ‘uz checkin’ out the chickens ‘n the spots where other dogs had been....lots of small branches in the park t’day from all the wind yesterday....lots of fresh green ‘n Spring blooms...not too many people there this morning tho’ it’s a bright, beautiful, sunshiny morning here in Ol Fair Oaks....one lonely little kid on the swing set ‘n way off in a corner of the park, there wuz a guy just sitting ‘n watching his dog wander ‘round ‘n about... ‘thout a leash...don’t see that too often these days tho’ it use’ta be quite common...did it m’self back in the ‘old daze’....different world t’day, howsomever, ‘n I got to thinking that some people just shouldn’t be allowed to own a dog.....it’s one thing, if you have a fenced yard, to let your dog wander around without a leash but there’s more’n one reason for the leash law..
‘n one of the reasons is for the protection of your pet...’n if a person is too damn shiftless to take responsibility for his pet, they shouldn’t be allowed to have a pet in the first place...
On the whole, I believe that society has ‘way too many ‘Thou Shalt Not’s’ and I’m not seriously advocating for another unenforceable law... Uh-uh! I’m just venting.....but it’s the idiot pet-owners who allow their dogs to wander free that are responsible for the proliferation of laws against some of the more aggresive breeds like Pit Bulls....’n while I agree that society just can’t have ‘mean’ dogs running around loose ‘n such animals should be humanely euthanized, it might not be a bad idea to at least think about euthanizing the idiot human responsible for the ‘mean' dog also.....
I’m just sayin’.......
Money’ll buy you a dog ‘n Gawd knows you can spend a lot on Vet bills ‘n grooming if you’ve a mind to but all it takes to get ‘em wagging their tails is kindness....well, maybe a snack here ‘n there.....
So, I wuz down to Plaza Park with Rusty ‘n Willie....we ‘uz checkin’ out the chickens ‘n the spots where other dogs had been....lots of small branches in the park t’day from all the wind yesterday....lots of fresh green ‘n Spring blooms...not too many people there this morning tho’ it’s a bright, beautiful, sunshiny morning here in Ol Fair Oaks....one lonely little kid on the swing set ‘n way off in a corner of the park, there wuz a guy just sitting ‘n watching his dog wander ‘round ‘n about... ‘thout a leash...don’t see that too often these days tho’ it use’ta be quite common...did it m’self back in the ‘old daze’....different world t’day, howsomever, ‘n I got to thinking that some people just shouldn’t be allowed to own a dog.....it’s one thing, if you have a fenced yard, to let your dog wander around without a leash but there’s more’n one reason for the leash law..
‘n one of the reasons is for the protection of your pet...’n if a person is too damn shiftless to take responsibility for his pet, they shouldn’t be allowed to have a pet in the first place...
On the whole, I believe that society has ‘way too many ‘Thou Shalt Not’s’ and I’m not seriously advocating for another unenforceable law... Uh-uh! I’m just venting.....but it’s the idiot pet-owners who allow their dogs to wander free that are responsible for the proliferation of laws against some of the more aggresive breeds like Pit Bulls....’n while I agree that society just can’t have ‘mean’ dogs running around loose ‘n such animals should be humanely euthanized, it might not be a bad idea to at least think about euthanizing the idiot human responsible for the ‘mean' dog also.....
I’m just sayin’.......
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Happy Hour....
Boy, I’ll tell you what....I think I’ve reached the age where the ‘Happy Hour’ is a nap....
It’s a breezy day....so darn breezy in fact that a big branch off an old(er) oak tree up the street came down ‘n blocked off the ‘hull damn street for awhile....well, it only blocked one part, the crew that was gonna cut it up blocked the other part....someone came ‘n looked at it, put up some street-blocking detour signs at the foot of the hill ‘n went away for a couple hours.... s’alright as I wudn’t going anywhere anyway ‘n our little block has been losing population anyway so it ain’t like there was a lot of people clamoring to get out....
Anyways, me ‘n da boyz strolled down to take a look...didn’t impress Willie all that much, mostly because there was a small chicken herd on the other side....with a Pea Hen standing guard...not that the Pea Hen is aggresive, she ain’t....but she’s tall ‘n got good eyesight ‘n when she sees Willie ‘n Rusty, she just naturally heads in the other direction....’n just as naturally, when the chickens run.....Willie feels compelled to chase ‘em....’n when Willie starts chasing anything, he doesn’t hear a word I say until he gets all the way to the end of his leash.....which, now that I’m growing older I’m beginning to think might have been my problem all along...
It’s a breezy day....so darn breezy in fact that a big branch off an old(er) oak tree up the street came down ‘n blocked off the ‘hull damn street for awhile....well, it only blocked one part, the crew that was gonna cut it up blocked the other part....someone came ‘n looked at it, put up some street-blocking detour signs at the foot of the hill ‘n went away for a couple hours.... s’alright as I wudn’t going anywhere anyway ‘n our little block has been losing population anyway so it ain’t like there was a lot of people clamoring to get out....
Anyways, me ‘n da boyz strolled down to take a look...didn’t impress Willie all that much, mostly because there was a small chicken herd on the other side....with a Pea Hen standing guard...not that the Pea Hen is aggresive, she ain’t....but she’s tall ‘n got good eyesight ‘n when she sees Willie ‘n Rusty, she just naturally heads in the other direction....’n just as naturally, when the chickens run.....Willie feels compelled to chase ‘em....’n when Willie starts chasing anything, he doesn’t hear a word I say until he gets all the way to the end of his leash.....which, now that I’m growing older I’m beginning to think might have been my problem all along...
Monday, February 7, 2011
Ah, the day after...
''' ‘Thuper Bowl Thunday’....
As my old buddy Jack C. would’a sed if they’d had the Super Bowl ‘way back then.which they didn't 'n which really has nuthin’ t’do with the present time....
It is a beautiful very Spring is sprung-like day here in Ol Fair Oaks....shorts ‘n tee-shirt weather....a few early blossoms, the paper-whites mostly, ‘n some confused roses at one of my neighbors....a few geraniums here ‘n there....
s’kinda funny if you stop ‘n think about it....
cold ‘n snow back East, a long, long winter...a cold front out’a the frozen north sweeps in north of California ‘n across the whole country ‘n meets up with some really unhappy weather coming off the Atlantic ‘n becomes one of the coldest, most destructive winters since we been keeping records.....’course, back in them good ole days of yore it wouldn’t have cost quite so much...we didn’t have that many roads ‘n streets to clean ‘n not nearly so many people to worry about ‘n the people weren’t so dependent on the big power companies anyhow.....fewer people, smaller homes, wood ‘n coal fires for heat ‘n lots of people still had ‘n used regularly, kerosene lamps for light....sounds pretty damn Spartan t’day, don’t it? Them good ole days of mem’ry sound more like good ole daze of mem’ry lapse.......
As my old buddy Jack C. would’a sed if they’d had the Super Bowl ‘way back then.which they didn't 'n which really has nuthin’ t’do with the present time....
It is a beautiful very Spring is sprung-like day here in Ol Fair Oaks....shorts ‘n tee-shirt weather....a few early blossoms, the paper-whites mostly, ‘n some confused roses at one of my neighbors....a few geraniums here ‘n there....
s’kinda funny if you stop ‘n think about it....
cold ‘n snow back East, a long, long winter...a cold front out’a the frozen north sweeps in north of California ‘n across the whole country ‘n meets up with some really unhappy weather coming off the Atlantic ‘n becomes one of the coldest, most destructive winters since we been keeping records.....’course, back in them good ole days of yore it wouldn’t have cost quite so much...we didn’t have that many roads ‘n streets to clean ‘n not nearly so many people to worry about ‘n the people weren’t so dependent on the big power companies anyhow.....fewer people, smaller homes, wood ‘n coal fires for heat ‘n lots of people still had ‘n used regularly, kerosene lamps for light....sounds pretty damn Spartan t’day, don’t it? Them good ole days of mem’ry sound more like good ole daze of mem’ry lapse.......
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