...for saying, "It's a luvly day."
“Everybody talks about the weather but, no one does anything about it.” Mark Twain
D’ya remember that old joke, “It’s so hot, I saw a dog chasin’ a rabbit ‘n they were both walking.”
Well, Ol Fair Oaks has prob’ly got rabbits somewhere but not runnin’ free on my li’l ol street....what I got, is chickens....lots ‘n lots of ‘em....’n I got two dogs what love to chase chickens....it’s so hot this evening that Rusty (the mini-poodle) made a couple half-hearted attempts before he gave up...but Willie, (he’s the new one) Willie’s a lot more rambunctious, not to mention younger, ‘n he didn’t give up ‘til we hit the homestretch of our walk...by that time, his tongue was durn near as long as his tail ‘n they wuz both drooping......anyway, this’s like the third or fourth day of triple digit heat ‘n I sure am lookin’ for’ard to the return of the Delta breeze...’cuz it ain’t just the heat, it’s the smoke....layering over us like a tule fog....it’s bad here but it’s really bad a little farther north and higher in the foothills......
Millyrose ‘n I’ve been on the go most of the afternoon ‘n I ain’t watched the news but I’ll bet that McCain is sniping at Obama ‘n vice versa.....California is still on fire ‘n the mighty Mississip’ has played hob with a lot of little river towns....I grew up on the Ohio river and once in a while, rivers get to feeling hemmed in or sumthing and they jump their banks and go wanderin’ round ‘n about the countryside just seeing how much damage they c’n do to the unwary souls that dared to build their nests on the riverbank...
“Old Man River, he don’t plant ‘taters ‘n he don’t plant cotton....’n folks that plant ‘em are soon forgotten....but Old Man River, he just keeps rollin’ along.”
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Run for the roses.....
Big Brown...Barry Bonds....steroids made ‘em ‘n steroids took ‘em down. ‘Course, they ain’t the only ones....lotta ath-a-letes ‘n Gawd knows how many horses, but the fact is when you’re talkin’ bigtime anything, ever’body looks for an edge......’n nowhere is that more true than in that bigtime game called for want of a better word..... POLITICS!
Once upon a time, in the long ago (as opposed to the long, long ago) Millyrose wuz stumpin’ for a local Pol here in Ol Fair Oaks. She uninvited me from the tea she wuz givin’ for him after I asked her why he was spending a hundred thousand dollars to get a twelve thousand dollar a year job........
I understand that Obama ‘n the Democrat party has got about six hundred million dollars to spend to get him elected to a job that pays a quarter million a year.....
The Chicago Machine has been in business a long time ‘n they’re a direct descendant of Tammany Hall...reminds me of what my Momma said about John Kennedy, “The Kennedy’s have always been political.” She wuz sumtimes a little cryptic ‘n you just had to figure out what she meant.
Ol Barama’s a pretty savvy politician.....the Democrats have themselves a race they can’t lose but they’re riding a horse that can’t win....McCain, on t’other hand is the very model of a modern major candidate....he’s a can’t lose candidate but he’s in a race the Republicans can’t win.....t’is, as the poet said, a quandary....
So, if our leftwing, socialist candidate that can’t win can repackage himself as a maverick centrist, a McCain in sheep’s clothing, well....politics, as they say, makes for strange bedfellows....
“Fellow Texans, I am proudly standing here to humbly see.
I assure you, and I mean it- Now, who says I don’t speak out as plain as day?
And, fellow Texans, I’m for progress and the flag-long may it fly,
I’m a poor boy, come to greatness. So, it follows that I cannot tell a lie.”
Once upon a time, in the long ago (as opposed to the long, long ago) Millyrose wuz stumpin’ for a local Pol here in Ol Fair Oaks. She uninvited me from the tea she wuz givin’ for him after I asked her why he was spending a hundred thousand dollars to get a twelve thousand dollar a year job........
I understand that Obama ‘n the Democrat party has got about six hundred million dollars to spend to get him elected to a job that pays a quarter million a year.....
The Chicago Machine has been in business a long time ‘n they’re a direct descendant of Tammany Hall...reminds me of what my Momma said about John Kennedy, “The Kennedy’s have always been political.” She wuz sumtimes a little cryptic ‘n you just had to figure out what she meant.
Ol Barama’s a pretty savvy politician.....the Democrats have themselves a race they can’t lose but they’re riding a horse that can’t win....McCain, on t’other hand is the very model of a modern major candidate....he’s a can’t lose candidate but he’s in a race the Republicans can’t win.....t’is, as the poet said, a quandary....
So, if our leftwing, socialist candidate that can’t win can repackage himself as a maverick centrist, a McCain in sheep’s clothing, well....politics, as they say, makes for strange bedfellows....
“Fellow Texans, I am proudly standing here to humbly see.
I assure you, and I mean it- Now, who says I don’t speak out as plain as day?
And, fellow Texans, I’m for progress and the flag-long may it fly,
I’m a poor boy, come to greatness. So, it follows that I cannot tell a lie.”
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Family reunion.....
JP shares a birthday with the late, great George M. and what began years ago as a bash to celebrate his own birthday, morphed over the years into an annual family reunion....
George M. Cohan wrote, “It’s a grand old rag......”
And it was a grand old day, pretty much all day.... Yest’day was a family reunion day....it was a quiet day, not too hot....the kids swam, the adults talked....ever’one consumed sodas and water...JP did the bbq’ing, burgers ‘n dogs ‘n pulled pork sandwiches....We had Rusty and Willie and Buddy there with us....we had to keep 'em tethered pretty much, of course...they barked at the constant parade of people enjoying the park....families with young kids, mostly....scooters ‘n skateboards ‘n a few bicycles...most exciting thing wuz Buddy, the German shorthair diving into the lake after a gaggle of geese...chased ‘em clear to the other side before being rescued by Ashby on a tube....’Course, as Ashby rather sheepishly admitted, “I egged him on....”
After crossing the lake and giving up his place on the tube to Buddy, he wuz almost back when the motorboat ranger finally appeared and cautioned him that there wuz no swimming in the lake and Buddy wuz spozed t’be on a leash.....ahhh well, all’s well that end’s well....
It wuz the longest trip I’ve made since the Chemo thing, about two hours each way, and I wuz exhausted when we got home....Still, it wuz a nice day ‘n all in all a pretty good Independence Day weekend.....”and forever in peace, may it wave.”
George M. Cohan wrote, “It’s a grand old rag......”
And it was a grand old day, pretty much all day.... Yest’day was a family reunion day....it was a quiet day, not too hot....the kids swam, the adults talked....ever’one consumed sodas and water...JP did the bbq’ing, burgers ‘n dogs ‘n pulled pork sandwiches....We had Rusty and Willie and Buddy there with us....we had to keep 'em tethered pretty much, of course...they barked at the constant parade of people enjoying the park....families with young kids, mostly....scooters ‘n skateboards ‘n a few bicycles...most exciting thing wuz Buddy, the German shorthair diving into the lake after a gaggle of geese...chased ‘em clear to the other side before being rescued by Ashby on a tube....’Course, as Ashby rather sheepishly admitted, “I egged him on....”
After crossing the lake and giving up his place on the tube to Buddy, he wuz almost back when the motorboat ranger finally appeared and cautioned him that there wuz no swimming in the lake and Buddy wuz spozed t’be on a leash.....ahhh well, all’s well that end’s well....
It wuz the longest trip I’ve made since the Chemo thing, about two hours each way, and I wuz exhausted when we got home....Still, it wuz a nice day ‘n all in all a pretty good Independence Day weekend.....”and forever in peace, may it wave.”
Friday, July 4, 2008
A dumping ground......
“Give us your poor, your huddled masses.......”
I’m thinkin’ that Americans take independence for granted....well, why shouldn’t we? We’ve been an independent nation for a couple hundred years now and more than that, we are a nation of independent people. It sez so in our Constitution. Taught to us in our schools and celebrated in our daily lives.
Started out as a bunch of hardheaded misfits and miscreants...English, German, bullheaded Scotch Irish, French adventurers...allegiance to England wore thin over the distance of the Atlantic Ocean and the yoke of taxation by a heavy-handed King George who barely spoke English.....
Starvation is a very effective tactic when used in warfare or when dealing with a disaffected populace. The starving nations of Africa bear witness that it is as effective today as it was when the English used it against the Irish over a hundred and fifty years ago. Out of a population of nine million, over a million Irish died of starvation and over four million migrated. Many of them to America where the streets weren’t really paved with gold.....and America needed them. We put them in uniform and sent them to war. They fought and died on both sides of our bloody civil war. That war took the lives of three quarters of a million men decimating the United States forever changing the face and culture.
America is a large country and the westward expansion policies of the American government required people. Someone to do the work. The gates of America were thrown open to emigration from eastern Europe. And the european powers were eager to solve their own overpopulation prolem by encouraging the emigration of what they considered the dregs of their society. Well, heck, England had long considered America and a few other choice spots around the world as a dumping ground.
So, America got the Slavs, the Poles, the Russians, and the Italians and became a melting pot. No matter that melting pot was a derogatory term like mongrel.
America took pride in being the melting pot where no matter your country of origin, you became first and formost...American.
Richard Lamm gave a speech wherein he declared that diversity would destroy us; that our strength lay in our homogenity. I don’t believe it. We are diverse and always have been. But it’s our diversity under one roof that provides the anchor for our strength. We are diverse but we are Americans. All of us. Ever’ damned one of us, black or white or purple.
Today is the Fourth of July in the most mongrelized country in the ‘hull damn world. It’s our Independence Day! The day we all of us stand up and shout, "Hurrah for the red, white, and blue."
I’m thinkin’ that Americans take independence for granted....well, why shouldn’t we? We’ve been an independent nation for a couple hundred years now and more than that, we are a nation of independent people. It sez so in our Constitution. Taught to us in our schools and celebrated in our daily lives.
Started out as a bunch of hardheaded misfits and miscreants...English, German, bullheaded Scotch Irish, French adventurers...allegiance to England wore thin over the distance of the Atlantic Ocean and the yoke of taxation by a heavy-handed King George who barely spoke English.....
Starvation is a very effective tactic when used in warfare or when dealing with a disaffected populace. The starving nations of Africa bear witness that it is as effective today as it was when the English used it against the Irish over a hundred and fifty years ago. Out of a population of nine million, over a million Irish died of starvation and over four million migrated. Many of them to America where the streets weren’t really paved with gold.....and America needed them. We put them in uniform and sent them to war. They fought and died on both sides of our bloody civil war. That war took the lives of three quarters of a million men decimating the United States forever changing the face and culture.
America is a large country and the westward expansion policies of the American government required people. Someone to do the work. The gates of America were thrown open to emigration from eastern Europe. And the european powers were eager to solve their own overpopulation prolem by encouraging the emigration of what they considered the dregs of their society. Well, heck, England had long considered America and a few other choice spots around the world as a dumping ground.
So, America got the Slavs, the Poles, the Russians, and the Italians and became a melting pot. No matter that melting pot was a derogatory term like mongrel.
America took pride in being the melting pot where no matter your country of origin, you became first and formost...American.
Richard Lamm gave a speech wherein he declared that diversity would destroy us; that our strength lay in our homogenity. I don’t believe it. We are diverse and always have been. But it’s our diversity under one roof that provides the anchor for our strength. We are diverse but we are Americans. All of us. Ever’ damned one of us, black or white or purple.
Today is the Fourth of July in the most mongrelized country in the ‘hull damn world. It’s our Independence Day! The day we all of us stand up and shout, "Hurrah for the red, white, and blue."
Thursday, July 3, 2008
And the rant goes on........
So, I wore my ‘Irish for McCain’ ball cap to the club....One guy gave me a thumbs up.....that was more’n I expected....But one guy, an emigre from eastern europe, launched into a tirade.....nobody likes America anymore....the south Koreans despise us, the Chinese think we’re naive children, the Japanese laugh at us behind our backs, the Germans and the French hate us....
and it’s all because George Bush invaded Iraq to steal the oil.....
And the rant goes on, the rant goes on.....
I tell you, I’m beginnin’ to feel almost sorry for Ol George......all those letters to the editor want to impeach him, hang him, draw & quarter him....he’s a liar, he’s a cheat, he’s a drunk and I don’t know what else but if there’s anything wrong anywhere in the world, it’s George’s fault....and Cheny helped him in ever’ thing he done.....
the price of oil is too high, it’s George’s fault...
if the rest of the world doesn’t love us, it’s George’s fault.....
if the Arabs bombed the World Trade Center and killed 3,000 people.....it’s George’s fault.....
any act of terrorism in England or Spain is George’s fault....
Heck! or as my old man used to say, “Shoot fire!” ....if there’s an act of terrorism anywhere in the world, it’s George’s fault...
My old man didn’t usually say, “Shoot fire!” He normally said “Sh#t fire” and only cleaned it up for women and somebody’s else’s children......
the rant goes on, the rant goes on......
Dick Cheney is George’s evil conspirator and according to some, the puppet master....the evil genius behind the ‘illegal’ and ‘immoral’ war in Iraq. Cheney is BIG OIL’s man in the White House and the USA invaded Iraq at the behest of BIG OIL becuz Saddam Hussein wouldn’t give them access to Iraqui oil......
And the seemingly successful ‘Surge’ was always part of the secret plan to give Iraqi assets to BIG OIL!
There is no way the surge could have worked without the connivance of BIG OIL...
The reason the demonstrably superior American forces seemed to be losing in Iraq was to demoralize the American citizenry so that they would support drilling off the coast and in the Antartic National Reserve. All for BIG OIL...
the rant goes on, the rant goes on......
Everybody knows George Bush stole the Presidency from Al Gore in 2000. Al Gore was our rightful President and we would never have become involved in Iraq or Afghanistan. Al Quaida would never have bombed the World Trade Center and the world would have loved and respected us the way God always intended...
And the libs keep poundin’ a rhythmn to the brain.....
George is responsible for the loss of homes and life in the Katrina debacle.....
Pity all those poor folk in Burma....oops, Myanmar....George only pretended that he was gonna help them.....
And the earthquake in China....George should boycott the Olympics.....
He came to look at the floods in Iowa but he didn’t do anything......
And he hasn’t been to see the fires in California.....p’haps he has no marshmallows.....
History has turned the page, uh huh
Obama is our newborn king, uh huh
George Bush is Cheney’s puppet,
and McCain is Bush’s puppet so that George can have a third term......I don’t know who McCain’s puppet is gonna be.......
And the rant goes on, the rant goes on.
Bums still cry, “Hey buddy, have you got a dime?”
La de da de dee, la de da de da.........
and it’s all because George Bush invaded Iraq to steal the oil.....
And the rant goes on, the rant goes on.....
I tell you, I’m beginnin’ to feel almost sorry for Ol George......all those letters to the editor want to impeach him, hang him, draw & quarter him....he’s a liar, he’s a cheat, he’s a drunk and I don’t know what else but if there’s anything wrong anywhere in the world, it’s George’s fault....and Cheny helped him in ever’ thing he done.....
the price of oil is too high, it’s George’s fault...
if the rest of the world doesn’t love us, it’s George’s fault.....
if the Arabs bombed the World Trade Center and killed 3,000 people.....it’s George’s fault.....
any act of terrorism in England or Spain is George’s fault....
Heck! or as my old man used to say, “Shoot fire!” ....if there’s an act of terrorism anywhere in the world, it’s George’s fault...
My old man didn’t usually say, “Shoot fire!” He normally said “Sh#t fire” and only cleaned it up for women and somebody’s else’s children......
the rant goes on, the rant goes on......
Dick Cheney is George’s evil conspirator and according to some, the puppet master....the evil genius behind the ‘illegal’ and ‘immoral’ war in Iraq. Cheney is BIG OIL’s man in the White House and the USA invaded Iraq at the behest of BIG OIL becuz Saddam Hussein wouldn’t give them access to Iraqui oil......
And the seemingly successful ‘Surge’ was always part of the secret plan to give Iraqi assets to BIG OIL!
There is no way the surge could have worked without the connivance of BIG OIL...
The reason the demonstrably superior American forces seemed to be losing in Iraq was to demoralize the American citizenry so that they would support drilling off the coast and in the Antartic National Reserve. All for BIG OIL...
the rant goes on, the rant goes on......
Everybody knows George Bush stole the Presidency from Al Gore in 2000. Al Gore was our rightful President and we would never have become involved in Iraq or Afghanistan. Al Quaida would never have bombed the World Trade Center and the world would have loved and respected us the way God always intended...
And the libs keep poundin’ a rhythmn to the brain.....
George is responsible for the loss of homes and life in the Katrina debacle.....
Pity all those poor folk in Burma....oops, Myanmar....George only pretended that he was gonna help them.....
And the earthquake in China....George should boycott the Olympics.....
He came to look at the floods in Iowa but he didn’t do anything......
And he hasn’t been to see the fires in California.....p’haps he has no marshmallows.....
History has turned the page, uh huh
Obama is our newborn king, uh huh
George Bush is Cheney’s puppet,
and McCain is Bush’s puppet so that George can have a third term......I don’t know who McCain’s puppet is gonna be.......
And the rant goes on, the rant goes on.
Bums still cry, “Hey buddy, have you got a dime?”
La de da de dee, la de da de da.........
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Life 'n lemonade.......
“Life ain’t about surviving the storm but how to dance in the rain.”
I’m a great believer in positive thinking....tho’ I’m often reminded of the old saw: “Cheer up, things could be worse. So, I cheered up and sure enuff, things got worse.”
Iowa ‘n Missouri are durn near drowned and California is burning.....the midwest is gonna get more rain this summer and California ain’t...I’m almost positive that there are some folks in the midwest that enjoy poling a raft thru downtown streets just to see what they c’n see.....’n I know for a fact that there are some Californians buying fireworks and looking forward to toasting marshmallows over the Fourth.....so, we got weather. “I mean-n, we got wea-ther.” Mark Twain sed, “Everybody always talks about the weather but no one ever does anything about it.”
500 year floods in the midwest but I don’t know how we know that ‘cuz we ain’t go that many years of records.....In hazy, dazy California, they’re saying it’s the driest year on record, but again, we ain’t been keeping records that long....’Course, talkin’ about the weather does give us a break from talkin’ politics.....“So always look for the silver lining, And try to find the sunny side of life.”
All the media, the television, the newspapers, all the pundits are positive that Obama is gonna win the Presidency....It’s revolutionary! It’s an earth-shattering milestone of an event....It’s unprecedented! The USA is gonna elect a black man to the Presidency and we’ll prove to the world that we ain’t racist anymore. One big problem with that is the ‘world’ doesn’t give a damn one way or the other.....What the ‘Libbies’ don’t understand is the same thing that the ‘Uber-cons’ don’t understand; to wit: The mass of humanity struggling in obscurity and quiet desperation don’t have time to sit around contemplating their navels, their days are taken up by life itself.
“Cause I’m never gonna stop the rain by complainin’,
because I’m free...Nothin’s worrying me....”
I’m a great believer in positive thinking....tho’ I’m often reminded of the old saw: “Cheer up, things could be worse. So, I cheered up and sure enuff, things got worse.”
Iowa ‘n Missouri are durn near drowned and California is burning.....the midwest is gonna get more rain this summer and California ain’t...I’m almost positive that there are some folks in the midwest that enjoy poling a raft thru downtown streets just to see what they c’n see.....’n I know for a fact that there are some Californians buying fireworks and looking forward to toasting marshmallows over the Fourth.....so, we got weather. “I mean-n, we got wea-ther.” Mark Twain sed, “Everybody always talks about the weather but no one ever does anything about it.”
500 year floods in the midwest but I don’t know how we know that ‘cuz we ain’t go that many years of records.....In hazy, dazy California, they’re saying it’s the driest year on record, but again, we ain’t been keeping records that long....’Course, talkin’ about the weather does give us a break from talkin’ politics.....“So always look for the silver lining, And try to find the sunny side of life.”
All the media, the television, the newspapers, all the pundits are positive that Obama is gonna win the Presidency....It’s revolutionary! It’s an earth-shattering milestone of an event....It’s unprecedented! The USA is gonna elect a black man to the Presidency and we’ll prove to the world that we ain’t racist anymore. One big problem with that is the ‘world’ doesn’t give a damn one way or the other.....What the ‘Libbies’ don’t understand is the same thing that the ‘Uber-cons’ don’t understand; to wit: The mass of humanity struggling in obscurity and quiet desperation don’t have time to sit around contemplating their navels, their days are taken up by life itself.
“Cause I’m never gonna stop the rain by complainin’,
because I’m free...Nothin’s worrying me....”
Sleepin' in......
It’s a pleasant morning....cool breeze.....’n I wuz sleepin’ goooooooood. Can’t say I wanted t’ get out’a bed but the dogs just won’t take ‘No’ for an answer....Well, Willie might....he’s still a little unsure of himself altho’ that don’t stop him from tearing up ever’thing he c’n get his teeth into....Nah...it’s Rusty that won’t take ‘No’ for an answer....he just keeps talkin’ ‘n nudgin’ ‘n pesterin’ until I can’t sleep anymore anyway so I give in and get up ‘n outside to meet the morning.....
S’ kind of funny how ritualistic everyday chores become ‘n how quickly they develop....In my way back when time, I never envisioned there would come a period in my life when my daily actions would not only become so predictable, but how a break in those routine actions c’n be upsetting.....
Back when me ‘n the world wuz new, doing the same things at the same time ever’ day wuz anathema....just cudn’t fathom eating the same thing every morning, taking the same route to ‘n from school....the enforced cookie-cutter sameness of school wuz maddening..... the military even more so....thus wuz born a generation of rebels without a cause that our parents cudn’t understand....
Of course, what goes around comes around and no generation understands the following generation.....most of us struggle just to understand ourselves....
.Now, ever’one don’t develop tolerance with age....In sum people, intolerance, like a cancer grows....and if left unchecked....spreads.
I believe in a live and let live philosphy m’self ‘n wonder why sum people can’t seem to exist without trying to run other peoples lives.
What the world really needs now, is less interference....
S’ kind of funny how ritualistic everyday chores become ‘n how quickly they develop....In my way back when time, I never envisioned there would come a period in my life when my daily actions would not only become so predictable, but how a break in those routine actions c’n be upsetting.....
Back when me ‘n the world wuz new, doing the same things at the same time ever’ day wuz anathema....just cudn’t fathom eating the same thing every morning, taking the same route to ‘n from school....the enforced cookie-cutter sameness of school wuz maddening..... the military even more so....thus wuz born a generation of rebels without a cause that our parents cudn’t understand....
Of course, what goes around comes around and no generation understands the following generation.....most of us struggle just to understand ourselves....
.Now, ever’one don’t develop tolerance with age....In sum people, intolerance, like a cancer grows....and if left unchecked....spreads.
I believe in a live and let live philosphy m’self ‘n wonder why sum people can’t seem to exist without trying to run other peoples lives.
What the world really needs now, is less interference....
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