if I could sing....
There’s just something about a rainy morning that makes you want’a yawnnnn...‘n stay in bed ‘n say t’heck with going to school....or work...or, well...whatever....
It’s not quite the same waking up to a rainy morning, feeling all lazy ‘n snug ‘n slightly guilty for not getting up when you’re one of those old retired people ‘n you c’n pretty much sleep in whenever you feel like it....
The joke that almost ever’ newly retired person makes at least a few times is that every day is a weekend now....that ‘n the bad thing about being retired is that now you don’t get the holidays off....
Still, it’s hard to beat a lazy, rainy morning when the most pressing reason to go outside is becuz little dogs want t’go outside no matter the weather....well, old dogs not so much but, the young one still views the world as a place of great ‘n wondrful adventure with chickens ‘n squirrels....’course, if you’re a retired person with young grandchildren, they’re much the same as young dogs ‘cept they don’t run quite as fast....walking in the rain on a Saturday morning with a child gives you the chance to re-see the world as a great ‘n wonderful adventure with puddles of rainwater to jump in...
I’m not sure anything in the world is quite as satisfying as jumping up ‘n down in a puddle of rainwater....
Y’know, sometimes you just gotta wait until evening to find out how nice the day has been....
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Those Autumn leaves......
Here t’is late Friday nite....well, late for a septugenarian anyway ‘n for da boyz...
Rusty’s no biggie... he just stretches out ‘n goes to sleep wherever but Willie....after awhile Willie gets impatient with us ‘n goes off t’bed on his own...independent little cuss sometimes...
We had stuffed bell peppers for dinner...’n I’m still eating them...well, still tasting them is what I really mean....we don’t have them often ‘cuz I kind’a curl my lip at their suggestion but Millyrose likes stuff like that ‘n since my appetite has sort’a gone away for awhile ‘n Millyrose gets frustrated in her attempts to find a meal that interests me, I find it’s in my best interests if I just shrug ‘n say okay to whatever she suggests....altho’ she’ll prob’ly disagree with that....on the other hand, I could point out that we’ve had several different types of soup lately ‘n I ain’t a soup person most of the time....I mean, I’m okay with soup beans ‘n cornbread....I’d like ‘em better if I could eat a chunk of raw onion with ‘em but raw onion doesn’t agree with me anymore...
I like fried potatoes with my soup beans ‘n cornbread....not that sweet yellow mush that passes for cornbread at places like Marie Callendars but white cornbread with a crust made in an iron skillet ‘n served with lots of butter.....beans ‘n taters ‘n cornbread, all washed down with a big glass of milk...if I was a real, old-fashioned Kentucky hillbilly, I’d have said a glass of cold buttermilk but I never could do that buttermilk thing....Mom ‘n Dad could, and did...but they were authentic and I came of age in the ‘fifties...
Anyways the weather is cooling now, the rain is coming...it’s Autumn, the leaves are changing ‘n it’s time for soup beans ‘n cornbread... Kentucky cornbread made with white cornmeal ‘n buttermilk ‘n baked in a cast-iron skillet.....
Rusty’s no biggie... he just stretches out ‘n goes to sleep wherever but Willie....after awhile Willie gets impatient with us ‘n goes off t’bed on his own...independent little cuss sometimes...
We had stuffed bell peppers for dinner...’n I’m still eating them...well, still tasting them is what I really mean....we don’t have them often ‘cuz I kind’a curl my lip at their suggestion but Millyrose likes stuff like that ‘n since my appetite has sort’a gone away for awhile ‘n Millyrose gets frustrated in her attempts to find a meal that interests me, I find it’s in my best interests if I just shrug ‘n say okay to whatever she suggests....altho’ she’ll prob’ly disagree with that....on the other hand, I could point out that we’ve had several different types of soup lately ‘n I ain’t a soup person most of the time....I mean, I’m okay with soup beans ‘n cornbread....I’d like ‘em better if I could eat a chunk of raw onion with ‘em but raw onion doesn’t agree with me anymore...
I like fried potatoes with my soup beans ‘n cornbread....not that sweet yellow mush that passes for cornbread at places like Marie Callendars but white cornbread with a crust made in an iron skillet ‘n served with lots of butter.....beans ‘n taters ‘n cornbread, all washed down with a big glass of milk...if I was a real, old-fashioned Kentucky hillbilly, I’d have said a glass of cold buttermilk but I never could do that buttermilk thing....Mom ‘n Dad could, and did...but they were authentic and I came of age in the ‘fifties...
Anyways the weather is cooling now, the rain is coming...it’s Autumn, the leaves are changing ‘n it’s time for soup beans ‘n cornbread... Kentucky cornbread made with white cornmeal ‘n buttermilk ‘n baked in a cast-iron skillet.....
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
A somewhat congenial spot....
O what a beautiful morning....albeit a bit chilly....’n my heater is on...when the heat comes on ‘n we’re still in October it ain’t a good sign....bodes ill for the gas bill which thank Gawd for green apples ‘n little favors, only has t’be paid during the winter months ...well, generally November thru February ‘n maybe a few days in March...
As I get older I find more ‘n more that I’m a fair-weather kind’a guy...I think that Fair Oaks should be like Camelot where the law stated that the ‘weather must be perfect all the year’...’course, it’s prob’ly unreasonable to expect that in a place like Fair Oaks which is only a reasonably congenial spot where we somewhat arbitrarily change the time which is upcoming sooner rather than later when we routinely conform to the bi-annual insanity where we Spring forward ‘n Fall back which means that we have to turn our clocks back an hour which is confusing to people ‘n little dogs....the chickens, of course, have no respect for the peccadillos of mere people..they have their own time clocks....
A lot of people who ‘simply rave about’ the fearless, feral fowl of Fair Oaks seem to have learned their chicken lore from cartoons ‘n believe that roosters only crow to wake up the sun brake for chickens when they come driving thru the village... You see a lot of people stopping to allow the chickens to cross the road....well, California has a law giving pedestrians the right of way ‘n I s’poze a lot of people think it applies to chickens as well...some of the motorists get a little impatient at the meandering chickens ‘n will toot their horns at them...they never really lay on the horn, y’understand, that’d be rude...they do the polite little tap-tap which the chickens ignore.....if they really laid on their horn, the chickens ‘ud ignore that as well....I’ll tell you what the chickens don’t ignore however....if you don’t stop for them, if you don’t even slow down for ‘em.....they won’t ignore you...they ‘ll get out of the way....’n if they make a mistake ‘n don’t move, after they come into contact with the car bumper ‘n the impact sends ‘em rolling along the pavement, they’ll cuss you out something awful....since I don’t really speak chicken, I never know exactly what it is they’re saying, but as an old southern boy, I know when I’m being cussed out......
As I get older I find more ‘n more that I’m a fair-weather kind’a guy...I think that Fair Oaks should be like Camelot where the law stated that the ‘weather must be perfect all the year’...’course, it’s prob’ly unreasonable to expect that in a place like Fair Oaks which is only a reasonably congenial spot where we somewhat arbitrarily change the time which is upcoming sooner rather than later when we routinely conform to the bi-annual insanity where we Spring forward ‘n Fall back which means that we have to turn our clocks back an hour which is confusing to people ‘n little dogs....the chickens, of course, have no respect for the peccadillos of mere people..they have their own time clocks....
A lot of people who ‘simply rave about’ the fearless, feral fowl of Fair Oaks seem to have learned their chicken lore from cartoons ‘n believe that roosters only crow to wake up the sun brake for chickens when they come driving thru the village... You see a lot of people stopping to allow the chickens to cross the road....well, California has a law giving pedestrians the right of way ‘n I s’poze a lot of people think it applies to chickens as well...some of the motorists get a little impatient at the meandering chickens ‘n will toot their horns at them...they never really lay on the horn, y’understand, that’d be rude...they do the polite little tap-tap which the chickens ignore.....if they really laid on their horn, the chickens ‘ud ignore that as well....I’ll tell you what the chickens don’t ignore however....if you don’t stop for them, if you don’t even slow down for ‘em.....they won’t ignore you...they ‘ll get out of the way....’n if they make a mistake ‘n don’t move, after they come into contact with the car bumper ‘n the impact sends ‘em rolling along the pavement, they’ll cuss you out something awful....since I don’t really speak chicken, I never know exactly what it is they’re saying, but as an old southern boy, I know when I’m being cussed out......
Sunday, October 24, 2010
A quiet, rainy Sunday morn....
It’s a rainy, quiet Sunday morning ‘n by all rights, I should be sleeping...which is what I was doing ‘n I was doing a pretty good job of it too until Willie started walking all over me....Willie starts by nudging....just a little bit at first...but he’s impatient (young, y’know) ‘n if I don’t respond to a nudge, why he just starts walking on me ‘n when he gets up close t’my face, he begins pushing with his front paws....it’s a little surprising how much weight he can generate considering that he only weighs about 17 or so pounds....anyway I’ve learned from experience that he’s not one to give up....when I finally managed to sit up, I found Rusty sitting beside the bed staring at me...I guess he’s learned that if he wants t’go out, he should just tell Willie ‘n let him do the work of getting me to my feet.....
So there’s a steady drip, drip, drip from the porch roof but the short path to the side yard leads me into a maelstrom..well, maybe not a maelstrom but away from the house, the wind is blowing...feels so good when you first get out of bed to walk outside ‘n have the wind blow cold raindrops down your neck....ain’t quite like taking a cold shower, more like a faint mem’ry of a cold shower but just as effective when it comes to waking a body up....ah well, a little coffee, a piece of toast ...’n the Sacramento Bee which recently sent me a notice that they were going to start charging extra for their Holiday Editions...”Hellfire!” As my old Dad use’ta say, I don’t think it’s worth the regular price they’re charging now but that’s pretty much the ‘liberal’ point of view on how business works anyway....provide less, charge more ‘n blame the public for not understanding the message......
I’m just sayin’.....
So there’s a steady drip, drip, drip from the porch roof but the short path to the side yard leads me into a maelstrom..well, maybe not a maelstrom but away from the house, the wind is blowing...feels so good when you first get out of bed to walk outside ‘n have the wind blow cold raindrops down your neck....ain’t quite like taking a cold shower, more like a faint mem’ry of a cold shower but just as effective when it comes to waking a body up....ah well, a little coffee, a piece of toast ...’n the Sacramento Bee which recently sent me a notice that they were going to start charging extra for their Holiday Editions...”Hellfire!” As my old Dad use’ta say, I don’t think it’s worth the regular price they’re charging now but that’s pretty much the ‘liberal’ point of view on how business works anyway....provide less, charge more ‘n blame the public for not understanding the message......
I’m just sayin’.....
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Weather notes.....
Just out walkin’ in the rain....me’n Rusty ‘n Willie...we didn’t even get t’the halfway point in our little stroll when the raindrops got fatter ‘n wetter...Rusty didn’t mind turning tail ‘n coming home but Willie saw no need for it at all..’course, Willie is young ‘n the raindrops don’t bother him much....
me ‘n Rusty being older ‘n California raindrops being on the chilly side decided us in a hurry howsomever ‘n in a hurryup caucus ‘n me with the deciding vote, we headed home where for the first time in months, the furnace kicked on....I guess our long summer is finally over...it was a pretty good one as summers go...better than most, as a matter of fact....Summer here in nothern California tend t’be on the warmish side, hovering in the 90’s a good bit of the time ‘n with a number of days going over the century mark....this year was an exceptional year in that regard...we only had a few days in the triple digits ‘n managed to maintain our welcome ‘n highly valued ‘Delta Breeze’....a lot of norCal don’t get the Delta breeze ‘n that’s a fact....south of Stockton don’t get it ‘n nighttime temps down there tend t’stay in the uncomfortable zone ‘n ‘way up in norCal, they don’t get it at all...ever....why one nite, a long, long time ago, I was in Red Bluff, sitting in a saloon at 1:30 in the A.M. trying to cool off with a low-alcoholic beverage ‘n passing the time with some of the local residents... the outside temperature was 113 degrees ‘n the locals were comparing it to remembered heat waves of days gone by...As I stated, this was in days gone by ‘n most taverns ‘n such weren’t air-conditioned back then....what they had was big ceiling fans that eddied ‘round ‘n ‘round to give the illusion that somewhere there might be, must be a cooling breeze....
Anyways, it appears today that our long ‘n somewhat languid summer is over ‘n we’re faced with another Sacramento winter...
Last winter, we had lots of rain ‘n lots of snow on the Sierra....(by the way, sierra is plural meaning mountain ranges, as in more than one mountain...I only state the obvious herein becuz so many teevee announcers keep referring to the sierras)
Lots of snow in the mountains is good becuz ever’body down here in the valley uses lots of water in the long hot summers.
plus, we got to send a whole big bunch of our water down to the folks in La La Land to keep ‘em from coming up here....not that I’m prejudiced or anything against those southern Californio’s...like Juan Williams, I don’t hold with bigotry ‘n racism ‘n I believe everyone should stand equal before the law....it’s just that the thought of southern Californians coming here en masse, so to speak, makes me nervous.....
I’m just sayin......
me ‘n Rusty being older ‘n California raindrops being on the chilly side decided us in a hurry howsomever ‘n in a hurryup caucus ‘n me with the deciding vote, we headed home where for the first time in months, the furnace kicked on....I guess our long summer is finally over...it was a pretty good one as summers go...better than most, as a matter of fact....Summer here in nothern California tend t’be on the warmish side, hovering in the 90’s a good bit of the time ‘n with a number of days going over the century mark....this year was an exceptional year in that regard...we only had a few days in the triple digits ‘n managed to maintain our welcome ‘n highly valued ‘Delta Breeze’....a lot of norCal don’t get the Delta breeze ‘n that’s a fact....south of Stockton don’t get it ‘n nighttime temps down there tend t’stay in the uncomfortable zone ‘n ‘way up in norCal, they don’t get it at all...ever....why one nite, a long, long time ago, I was in Red Bluff, sitting in a saloon at 1:30 in the A.M. trying to cool off with a low-alcoholic beverage ‘n passing the time with some of the local residents... the outside temperature was 113 degrees ‘n the locals were comparing it to remembered heat waves of days gone by...As I stated, this was in days gone by ‘n most taverns ‘n such weren’t air-conditioned back then....what they had was big ceiling fans that eddied ‘round ‘n ‘round to give the illusion that somewhere there might be, must be a cooling breeze....
Anyways, it appears today that our long ‘n somewhat languid summer is over ‘n we’re faced with another Sacramento winter...
Last winter, we had lots of rain ‘n lots of snow on the Sierra....(by the way, sierra is plural meaning mountain ranges, as in more than one mountain...I only state the obvious herein becuz so many teevee announcers keep referring to the sierras)
Lots of snow in the mountains is good becuz ever’body down here in the valley uses lots of water in the long hot summers.
plus, we got to send a whole big bunch of our water down to the folks in La La Land to keep ‘em from coming up here....not that I’m prejudiced or anything against those southern Californio’s...like Juan Williams, I don’t hold with bigotry ‘n racism ‘n I believe everyone should stand equal before the law....it’s just that the thought of southern Californians coming here en masse, so to speak, makes me nervous.....
I’m just sayin......
Friday, October 22, 2010
Sometimes, someone really is after you.....
”Paranoia strikes deep,
Into your life it will creep,
It starts when you’re always afraid,
You step out of line,
the man come and take you away.”
S. Stills
Millyrose is ticked off...No, more than ticked off....Pissed!...not quite furious but seriously pissed.....NPR wuz her fav’rite radio station, she turned it on the minnit she started the car....well, at least as long as I wasn’t with her...but in the kitchen, I didn’t have any say about it at all...the radio in the kitchen is set to NPR ‘n when I, on occasion, change the station, I get a really dirty look ‘n had to change it back immediately, if not sooner....
And now, she is seriously pissed because they fired Juan Williams for saying that he wuz a little paranoid about Muslims on a plane....well, hellfire as my old dad use’ta say, most Americans, at least those who fly, are a little paranoid about Muslims on a plane...same as we get paranoid when someone leaves a backpack in a public place...WHICH if you saw the nooze yestiday with the famed Galleria Mall burning....a backpack was the culprit....
See, the werido who ackshully started the fire had a backpack that someone tho’t contained a bomb....so, when the Fire Dept got to the Mall location where there was only a small, easily containable fire, they were restrained(?) for fear of the possible bomb....ain’t teevee, folks....no impossibly handsome actor rushing to save the day...
nosirreebob....so the conflagation conflaged ‘n we had a real fire with lots of Firemen, SWAT teams, snooze-nooze heliochoppers ‘n millions of dollars in damage with millions of dollars in lost income to come from all the lost jobs....Is it any wonder that Americans are just a little bit paranoid what with Muslim Terrorists, homegrown Muslim Terrorists, good old boy American Terrorists, ELF Terrorists ‘n the ever-present plain old whacked out Wonderland druggies...We got a right to be paranoid....
Into your life it will creep,
It starts when you’re always afraid,
You step out of line,
the man come and take you away.”
S. Stills
Millyrose is ticked off...No, more than ticked off....Pissed!...not quite furious but seriously pissed.....NPR wuz her fav’rite radio station, she turned it on the minnit she started the car....well, at least as long as I wasn’t with her...but in the kitchen, I didn’t have any say about it at all...the radio in the kitchen is set to NPR ‘n when I, on occasion, change the station, I get a really dirty look ‘n had to change it back immediately, if not sooner....
And now, she is seriously pissed because they fired Juan Williams for saying that he wuz a little paranoid about Muslims on a plane....well, hellfire as my old dad use’ta say, most Americans, at least those who fly, are a little paranoid about Muslims on a plane...same as we get paranoid when someone leaves a backpack in a public place...WHICH if you saw the nooze yestiday with the famed Galleria Mall burning....a backpack was the culprit....
See, the werido who ackshully started the fire had a backpack that someone tho’t contained a bomb....so, when the Fire Dept got to the Mall location where there was only a small, easily containable fire, they were restrained(?) for fear of the possible bomb....ain’t teevee, folks....no impossibly handsome actor rushing to save the day...
nosirreebob....so the conflagation conflaged ‘n we had a real fire with lots of Firemen, SWAT teams, snooze-nooze heliochoppers ‘n millions of dollars in damage with millions of dollars in lost income to come from all the lost jobs....Is it any wonder that Americans are just a little bit paranoid what with Muslim Terrorists, homegrown Muslim Terrorists, good old boy American Terrorists, ELF Terrorists ‘n the ever-present plain old whacked out Wonderland druggies...We got a right to be paranoid....
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Leftovers.....
I asked Millyrose what she had in mind for dinner t’nite....it was just a casual kind of question cuz if she didn’t have anything special planned, I wuz gonna suggest pizza....She whirled to face me ‘n barked out, “We’re having chili. It’s on the stove.”
I tho’t she was daring me to object to what wuz ackshully leftovers cuz she knows I don’t much care for leftovers...
Taken aback, I c’d only stare for a moment, then mainly cuz I’m too durn old t’fight ‘n too lazy t’run, I busted out laughing...’n the more I laughed...well, heck...the more I laughed...until I was crying ‘n my stomach ached ‘n Millyrose was laughing also but she didn’t know why we were laughing ‘n the more she asked me, why the harder I laughed....which come to think on it, ain’t that durn funny anyway.....
So, we had leftover chili for dinner...’n some crackers...I put butter on my crackers when I have chili...it’s a habit I picked up many years ago from a buddy I had back then by the name of Larry Harkins...well, his name was Paul Laurence Harkins ‘n he wuz from Bakersfield, California...before I met him, I’d never had butter on crackers, had never even tho’t of it....Heck! I didn’t even butter my bread back then....well, except for toast...I buttered my toast but that wuz about all...didn’t eat a lot of butter back then...
We were in Okinawa ‘n the cooks at the chow hall where we ate always toasted the bread becuz the bread wuz always stale...
I never buttered my bread but I always buttered my toast so I began to butter my toast that I had for ev’ry meal....One day we had chili ‘n Larry Harkins buttered his crackers...I tho’t that was funny ‘n said sumthing about it...he said he’d always buttered his crackers ‘n didn’t know anyone who didn’t ‘n tho’t it was a little werid that I didn’t butter mine....well, t’make a long story even longer, I began to butter my crackers.....that was ‘way back in ‘57 ‘n I’m still doing it...He wuz the guy that introduced me to tortillas also....I had never tasted a tortilla, didn’t even know what they were but his Mother made really good tortillas...
I tho’t she was daring me to object to what wuz ackshully leftovers cuz she knows I don’t much care for leftovers...
Taken aback, I c’d only stare for a moment, then mainly cuz I’m too durn old t’fight ‘n too lazy t’run, I busted out laughing...’n the more I laughed...well, heck...the more I laughed...until I was crying ‘n my stomach ached ‘n Millyrose was laughing also but she didn’t know why we were laughing ‘n the more she asked me, why the harder I laughed....which come to think on it, ain’t that durn funny anyway.....
So, we had leftover chili for dinner...’n some crackers...I put butter on my crackers when I have chili...it’s a habit I picked up many years ago from a buddy I had back then by the name of Larry Harkins...well, his name was Paul Laurence Harkins ‘n he wuz from Bakersfield, California...before I met him, I’d never had butter on crackers, had never even tho’t of it....Heck! I didn’t even butter my bread back then....well, except for toast...I buttered my toast but that wuz about all...didn’t eat a lot of butter back then...
We were in Okinawa ‘n the cooks at the chow hall where we ate always toasted the bread becuz the bread wuz always stale...
I never buttered my bread but I always buttered my toast so I began to butter my toast that I had for ev’ry meal....One day we had chili ‘n Larry Harkins buttered his crackers...I tho’t that was funny ‘n said sumthing about it...he said he’d always buttered his crackers ‘n didn’t know anyone who didn’t ‘n tho’t it was a little werid that I didn’t butter mine....well, t’make a long story even longer, I began to butter my crackers.....that was ‘way back in ‘57 ‘n I’m still doing it...He wuz the guy that introduced me to tortillas also....I had never tasted a tortilla, didn’t even know what they were but his Mother made really good tortillas...
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