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 |   On a daily basis... things that bump around in my head and make me go... hummm! |
My new blog:
This is not just a collections of personal musing but it is a place where I can vent. Talking about daily events on the local, state, and national scene is my way of letting off steam so I don't come home and kick the dog! We are all the Captain of our own "Ship of Fools." We go where the current of the times take us and we do what we must to be able to sleep at night. Now this Captain will speak his mind about that current and about the ocean on which we each sail....... ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** {image: ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** PLEASE MAIL ME YOUR VOTE FOR BLOGGER OF THE MONTH OF AUGUST. This is a shot of Me and Mel at our wedding. We were married in a simple ceremony on a deck overlooking Lake Livingston. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** I am so proud of my new Siggy which was made by the very talented vivacious   . Thank you so very much for all the effort that went into this.** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** This was taken from the wall in the Blogville Post Office. If you see this fugitive, please do not approach, he is armed and stupid. Contact the Blogville sheriff's office at once, then take cover! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** } ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
Off topic: For those of you who have yet to read Nada  's last blog entry, you have missed a most brillant piece of writing. Seems miss Nada decided to try on ccstring's pants....and they fit very well! She managed to out-CC the master himself, not to mention she heaped quite a bit of slander my way......made me feel right at home! LOL!I beg your indulgence today, while I take a trip with Prof. Peabody and Sherman in the Way-Back Machine. We land in the year, 1965, in the town of Livingston, Texas...my hometown. I feel the need to revisit a rather humorous event that happened back in this dark age. In 1965 I am sixteen years old and at the very zenith of my teenage awkward years (this phase lasted for the next twenty years, btw). The event I want to tell you about took place one cool, fall, Friday night after our Homecoming Game. We had just defeated our arch-rivals, The Cleveland Indians and it was PARTY TIME! Now unless you were also raised in a small East Texas town, you may not understand how hard it was to actually party seriously in such a small town, during that time. You see, Livingston, like most small towns of that time, in Texas was ruled by the iron fist of the Southern Baptists. These folks looked upon teenage "fun" much the same as Tomás de Torquemada and his boys looked upon Jews and non-catholics during the Spanish Inquisition. When it came to sniffing out heritic teenagers bent on having some "fun", these guys were better than a redbone hound on the trail of a coon. On this specific evening we (assorted teenage malcontents) were determined to have a good time in spite of the adults. WE HAD A PLAN! The plot actually started about three weeks prior to the big night, when a buddy of mine actually managed to talk his dad into letting us use the second floor of his furniture store for a party. We all banded together and cleaned out the huge room which took up the whole top floor, removing old furniture and decorating the place into what can only be described as a disco in a bad acid dream. Black crepe covered the walls, glow-in-the-dark symbols decorated these walls and the ceiling, and to top it all off....A HUGE REVOLVING LIGHT BALL!! I was a part of the "refreshment committee". It was our job to find and precure....uh...alternatives to punch; both liquid and the kind you smoke! The CIA would have been proud of our secretive operations....we kept it all under wraps. NO grownup, not even the friend's father whose building we were using, had any idea what we were up to. Finally the big night came...the game was over, we were victorious and those of us on the football team got dressed hurridly and headed into downtown to the furniture store. By the time we all got there the party was in full swing. We gave the secret knock on the door, were identified, then we made our way up a rickety set of stairs to the "PARTY ROOM". As I walked into the place I was blasted with the music first....CCR, The Animals, The Beatles, Jefferson Airplane. I could almost swear that the very walls were throbbing with the wild beat. I made a bee-line to the "punch" bowl which was already surrounded by glassy-eyed teens having balance issues. After suitably fortifying myself, I checked out the attending females...as we use to say in the military: It was a target rich environment! Everywhere I looked there were sweet-thangs in mini-skirts and mini-dresses! After a couple of glasses of our special seven- alcohol mixture punch, I was READY! I had already spotted my target for the evening: Barbara Coker. OMG! She was seventeen years old, five foot, seven inches tall, with long dark brown hair and eyes like cobalt. She had legs that went forever and a rack that made a man pity every bottle-raised baby in the world! That night she was wearing this little mini-dress that seemed to stop just below her hips, showing those great legs like the bait in a wolf trap....I was trapped! I made my way, somewhat unsteadily to where she stood, surveying the dancers in the middle of the floor and I was about to give her my best pick-up line when she said: "Well it's about time you showed up, I've been waiting for you." I was dumbstruck...she had been waiting on me?? I figured I would be lucky if she even danced with me. Being very quick on the uptake, I snapped off a smart rejoiner: "Uh..." I blurted. "Me"? "C'mon," she said. "Let's dance." A slow song had just begun to play...something by the Beetles I think, so I lead her out to the dance floor. I did just like I had been taught; I put one hand on her hip and took her other hand in mine, with a good seven inches between us and started to dance. She stopped me after a couple of steps, put both my hands around her waist, threw her arms around my neck and weilded herself to my body. "There," she whispered in my ear, "that's better". The effect was electric. My whole body turned to ice...then it caught fire. I was just seconds away from experiencing complete and total melt-down. Now I have this curious quirk. When I get nervous I respond with humor and I don't think I had ever been quite this "nervous" so I whispered in her ear: "You know my momma warned me that if I ever held a woman like this I would turn to stone and I be damned if it ain't starting!" She started giggling and said: "Yeah, I noticed." Well I may not be the brightest blulb in the package but I finally got the idea. "What say we get out of here," I asked her. "About time you figured that out," she said as she lead the way to the door, holding my hand as I stumbled along behind her with this dazed look on my goofy face. As we exited the party place I heard the distant sounds of sirens....The Baptist had finally gotten wind of the party and the gendarmes were on their way to break it up! Barbara and I hurridly jumped into my dad's old pick-up truck and hightailed it out of town...there was this little spot down by the river which I knew would be just perfect..... Ahh...Friday nights, homecomming games, parties and pretty girls....life really was perfect. |
| Short blog today, you are all in luck. I just got off the phone with CC and he asked me to tell everyone here at WDC that he is still alive and he misses you all terribly. He said the big "change over" takes place Saturday, the sell of the company will be offical then. Right now he is very busy getting ready for the final inventory that has to take place before the change-over. He still is in the dark about what they are going to do with him, they have not had a sit-down with CC yet so he is just trying to carry on in a "business-as-usual" manner and get everything done. As is to be expected, he is putting in some very long hours and has not had a chance to even turn on his computer, much less come into WDC. He wanted me to just let you all know that you are all in his thoughts and he can't wait for things to settle down, one way or the other so that he can come back in and play. Okay, I have delievered CC's message, so now I have to go get ready for work....You folks have a wonderful day and maybe I will be able to catch up on my reading tonight, after I get home. |
| I want to thank everyone for all the great suggestions for names you all left on my last entry, you have definately helped the process along. Today will be a short entry. I want to call attention to some other fine Bloggers on WDC. I was checking out the blog lists today and I discovered that some of my favorite blogs had risen in the standings of late. As of today, there are 1,465 blogs listed on the blog page. I discovered today that Scarlett is now listed as 15th on the list of most views. Nada is 18thzwisisis 20th sultryis 29th PlannerDan is 36thand my personal favorite...ccstringis 46th. Now what do all these bloggers have in common besides being well entrenched within the top 50? They are all wonderfully talented writers and their blogs reflect that talent. For anyone who is new to blogging, I strongly suggest that you check out each of these blogs to see how it SHOULD be done. Each of these writers have taught me, by their example how a blog should be done and I continue to learn from them every day. So, guys, this blog entry is for you....the cream of the crop, the top of the list...you are simply the best. |
| Mel has been pestering me to put this request in my blog so I have finally succumbed to her nagin...suggestions. The request is for help in naming the puppy that will soon be taking up residence in our home. At the moment the little thing is still with his mother. He is a two week old, two pound, little minature bear with the classic black and tan markings of the pure breed German Shepard. This little prince has a very long lineage from the German bred Shepard, his mother goes about 75 to 80lbs and his father tips the scales at 130lbs, so he is going to be a very big boy when he grows up. I have toyed with the idea of giving him a German name or one from German mythology, maybe a famous general from the past or maybe the name of a Texas Hero...I can't make up my mind. So I would really love to hear your suggestions. What do you think I should name him? I eagerily await your suggestions....what do you think I should name this newest member of our family? |
| There are so many smart people here at WDC, I mean really, really, intelligent folks who know so much more than I ever will. Maybe some of you folks could clue me in here, answer some questions I have wondered about for years. I guess I should give you some background on me first...kinda let you know where I am coming from with my inquiries. I am a 57 year old male. Since childhood, I have fought and clawed my way up the social ladder and now find myself comfortably encounced as a productive member of the lower-middle class in America. I was raised in rual Texas and came of age during the turblant 60's. Thanks to Uncle Sam, I experienced what I like to refer to as "Intense Life Experiences" and much of who I am today was shaped during that time. Now that is Me...it is who I am and where I came from. So now tell me, if you can, when did the world become so sad, so angry, so full of drama? When did we become bombarded with all these syndromes which seem to have infested almost every man, woman and child on the damn planet? When I was a teenager we had angst...God knows we did. We whined and sniviled and said things like "I just want to die". The thing is, when acted out and became embroiled in our own drama there was always a grownup around who just happened to love us and who would tell us to: "GET OVER IT!" To this, we invariably answered: "Okay". Then we got on with our life. None of us, that I can remember,ever suffered from Bulimia, or Anorexia, we did not slash ourselves with sharp objects. As far as I can remember, nobody, no child, no teenager in our town ever actually commited suicide. Look at kids today...when did it become common place to suffer from eating disorders and when did it become the norm and not the exception to the rule for kids to harm themselves or kill themselves? When I was in school, many of us, myself included, had a problem paying attention in school and acting up in school (I was the offical class clown). At no time did any grownup ever suggest to us that this type of behaviour was not our fault because we were suffering from Attention Deficit Disorder, nor did any doctor ever dream of medicating us for that particular problem. Instead, our mothers and fathers "medicated" us with their own brand of home remedy. The only side effects of this medication was the inability to sit comfortably for a day or so. Look at the kids today...ADD is only one of a double handfull of letter-laden illnesses which kids are labeled with to explain poor grades. They are told over and over..."It's not your fault, you are sick!" Then they spend the next five or ten years heavily medicated. Can any of you tell me when we bacame a world of ill people, each with a different syndrome to explain away our failures at school or life in general? Now, I have noticed, it is not just our children....grownups seem to be suffering these same Syndromes now....is it an epidemic? The pharmacutical companies would have us believe it is an epidemic and that all you have to do is take their pills in order to cure all of the crappy things that happen in our lives. And finally, what is the reason I find myself with some kind of immunity to all these syndromes? Was it something in the water when I was a kid that has kept me safe? Not just me, but many people my age find themselves curiously immune and we don't know why. So there you have my questions. Maybe some of you who know a hell of a lot more than me can answer them or at least throw some light on the subject. |
| I swear to God, these animals are gonna be the death of me yet! Okay, here is yet another sad chapter in the ongoing saga... I was off yesterday and, as I usually do on Fridays, I worked on my blog and the Newsletter. It was a busy and productive day for me and I was really into it big time. I finished my blog then I wrote and posted the newsletter: "Invalid Entry"  For those of you who might want to read that. Well around five in the afternoon I called Mel at work and we chatted a bit then I relaxed in front of my 360, slapped in a new game and just enjoyed the moment. Life was good, I was happy. Then, about seven last night I decided to hop back on the computer and check out my email....I HAD LOST MY INTERNET CONNECTION! Well I didn't panic, that happens from time to time and the outtage rarely lasts more than a few minutes...... ONE HOUR LATER..STILL NO CONNECTION AND THE DAMN PHONE WAS OUT TOO! Just a little panic was beginning to nibble at the back of my mind. I checked all the connections, making sure nothing had worked loose...everything was in place. GRRRRRRRR! I then jumped in the car and drove into town to let Mel know we had a problem. She has a cell phone and I thought she may have tried calling me so I wanted to let her know about the break-down. Fast forward to 10pm. Mel is home from work...we still have neither phone nor computer...I am beginning to have tremors in the hands and a definate tic has begun in my facial muscles. Mel checks same connections as I have, her thinking was: HE'S A MAN, HE IS BOUND TO HAVE MISSED SOMETHING! Like me, she found everything connected and with power, just as it should be. We went to bed.... I TOSSED, I TURNED.....I think I began to hallucinate..... All the things I normally do when deprived of my internet fix for hours at a time. This morning...STILL NO SERVICE! Mel decided to give the wires one more inspection, closer this time. She ran her hands over the length of each wire (about 200 miles of wire) to check for any breaks. Sure enough, she found a major wire so badly chewed that when she lifted it up, it gave away all together and fell into two pieces! THERE WAS THE PROBLEM! It didn't take Sherlock Holmes to spot the marks left by litte puppy teeth.....THAT DAMN SHERMAN HAD CHEWED MY WIRES!!! The only reason that 10 week old Lab puppy has any hope of seeing his 11th week of life is because Mel stood between me and him and threatened me with a large frying pan! HOW MUCH IS A MAN SUPPOSED TO ENDURE? I kept silent when he used my favorite shoes as a chew-toy. I never said a cross word when he felt the need to climb into my favorite recliner and relieve himself... Okay, I did say a FEW words...BUT I never harmed him. I even kept my temper in check when I came home to discover he had taken it upon himself to remove the contents of the bathroom trash can and relocate said contents into the living room, under my desk! But folks...this is the last straw. He has done the Mexican hat dance upon my very last NERVE! I put my foot down. I demanded to Mel that either that dog goes or I go! You will pardon me, I have to close this out now, I have a full day ahead of me, moving all my stuff outside into this brand new dog house Mel has been so kind to purchase for my new residence.....GAWD! |
| Issue #12 of the Blogville Weekly News is now ready, if you would like to read it. "Invalid Entry" . |
Brothers and Sisters I have seen the light! I have been to the mountain and I am here to share with you The Word! For years I have stood on the sidelines and silently watched as the entire world marched happily past me, each and every one of them had something I lacked. Everyone had some kind of Syndrome upon which they could fall back on to explain some mental or physical shortcoming. Well today I get to join the parade. While innocently surfing the web, in search of a blog topic, I FOUND MY SYNDROME! I have discovered that I am suffering from MALE MENOPAUSE and the resultant IMS: Irritable Male Syndrome! Irritable Male Syndrome: IMS, is a byproduct of Male Menopause...Not to be confused with IBS (Insensitive Butt-hole Syndrome). IBS sufferers can be any age and usually have been butt-holes their whole life anyway. IMS sufferers can be recognized by some common traits and I have included some of them below...Guys, if you are suffering from three or more of these symptoms, please seek professional help. 1. Angry 2. Impatient 3. Blaming 4. Dissatisfied 5. Sarcastic 6. Anxious 7. Hypersensitive 8. Unappreciated 9. Tense 10. Unloving 11. Hostile 12. Argumentative 13. Depressed 14. Frustrated 15. Withdrawn 16. Sad 17. Defiant 18. Defensive 19. Demanding 20. Troubled So there you have it. Men, we now have our own syndrome....I am sooo excited! IMS, as I said, is a by-product of Male Menopause (actual MEDICAL term is Andropause) and there is even a whole class of different names and resultant syndromes that go along with this debilitating syndrome: Male Climacteric, Andropause, Viropause, ADAM (Androgen Deficiency in the Aging Male) and PADAM (Partial Androgen Deficiency in the Aging Male). IS THAT COOL OR WHAT! You know what this means guys? This means we now have a perfect excuse for acting like a complete Arse-Hole. Now our wives can no longer either physically or verbally abuse us for having our moods. They have to remain Politically Correct and have empathy with our disorder. The next time she catches you flirting with the check-out girl at the supermarket she can no longer slap you upside the head with a salami roll, instead she has to be all supportive and understanding of your "syndrome". If she isn't, then she could get a nasty letter from Opra! Just think of it, guys, you can finally tell her exactly what you think of your Mother-in-law without fear of reprisal. All you have to do is say: "I'm sorry honey, you know I wouldn't normally say those things about your mother, it's just that terrible IMS causing me to do it." Now I'm wondering if we can get our own Telethon. Maybe get some Hollywood stars lined up to do public service announcements on our behalf...the sky's the limit! Now if you will pardon me, I must go and growl at Mel. It is so very liberating to finally have an excuse to act like an asshole. |
| I hope I didn't put you all off with my "What if" meanderings yesterday and Winda, you were right; that damn book was partly to blame. Steven King's newest book, Cell is the book I am talking about here. For those of you who have not read the book yet, or have not finished it, I won't give away the ending except to say: BAH! LOL! As you can tell by the above paragraph, I hated the dang ending of this book....the rest of the book was great though. This is a problem I have seen before with King's novels; he tends to run out of gas at the end of his books and just leaves too many things unresolved. I have always liked King's short stories better than his novels and mainly it is for that reason. With a short story it is acceptable to leave many things unsaid or unresolved in print. It is the job of the reader to "fill-in-the-blanks" you might say. After all, if all short stories resolved all conflict then they dang sure wouldn't be SHORT stories would they. Novels, on the other hand, are expected to feature RESOLUTION by the last page. The possible exception to this rule is a book written to be one in a series; where there is a sequel comming out soon. In this case there is always plot-lines left open to be picked up again with the next book. King just doesn't seem capable of doing this. After finishing Cell I briefly considered going back to WalMart and trying to return the book for a refund. I figured I could tell them that the end of the book was defective...it didn't work! Well heck, it was worth a shot anyway. Have a good day people...AND DON'T USE THE CELL PHONES! |
| Well heck, its been two days since I did a blog and I didn't explode....who would have thunk it! Actually I think I just ran out of words. I mean there has to come a time when I just shut up and read; you people don't want to hear my incessant blabbering all the time. So the last two days I have given you all a respite from me and I have sat back and read other blogs and reviewed some stuff. Well now I guess I am going to blab some more.... You know, as writers we have all asked ourselves, from time to time: "What if...." I do that all the time and it helps storys to evolve. Just the other day I was standing at work, watching a steady parade of consumers pass my station and I did it again.... I asked myself: "What if..." What if there was no electric power and no communication devices like telephone, telegraph, television, radio and so forth? What if, in the twinkling of an eye we lost all of that "stuff", what would we do and how would we live? Have you ever really thought about this, even for a moment? It could happen very easily you know. If, for some reason, be it natural disaster or terrorist attack, a major grid of our power system were to go down it would cause a domino effect which would fell the rest of the grid. If a EMP were employed against us it would cause much the same effect. EMP is a Electro-Magnetic Pulse; you get one of those with the detonation of a neuclear device or it can be generated on its own without the bomb. This pulse would fry electronics of all types...including even car motors. The death toll from one of these events could be staggering. Can you imagine hospitals with no power, or major cities with no traffic control? If it were to take place in the summer, especally down south, the death toll amoung the elderly and the very young due to heat stroke would be astronomical. It would be as bad in the winter up north or in the east...no heat...people freezing to death. Would this country grind to a halt? Would we be thrown back into living life as they did 120 years ago? What if.....? I thought about this on a personal level also. I have two children living in the state of Washington and two living in Houston with the youngest about to move to Washington....What would it be like not being able to reach them whenever I wanted to? The same holds true with the many friends I have made here on the internet....what if 1000 miles really meant One Thousand Miles, with nothing to make the world seem smaller. I would probably never again hear from those friends or know if they had survived or not. Have you ever just thought for a moment what it would be like not to have this computer, this magic box, at hand to communicate with everyone around the world. What would we do if our world shrank down to as far as we could see and hear at this moment? What would we do if there were no little green lights flashing on our modems, no little red light on the phone showing it was "charging"? Look over at your TV and imagine it just a dead box of plastic and wiring and a blank screen. We have all experienced "outtages" and have seen this for a few hours or during hurricanes we have seen it last for days...what if it lasted....forever? There is but a thin veneer of civilization covering our world on a daily basis, what would it take to peel that away for good and how would we cope with it when it happened. So there you have it...my "What if", now don't you wish I had taken a few more days off from blogging. Tonight, when you go to bed, after you turn out all the lights and lay down in the darkness of your bedroom, think about what you would do if tomorrow when you awake......those lights didn't come on again. |
| Well, another week behind me and another issue of The Blogville Weekly News has been delivered to a newstand near you....or to my portfolio...whatever. "Invalid Entry" This week's guest editor was schipperke and she did a great job, you should all check it out. Wow, I just realized as I wrote that...next week will mark 3 months of doing this newsletter, how time flies when you're having fun!I need to take time to thank schipperkefor including my new short story, "Invalid Item" . As a result of the exposure from the Horror Newsletter I recieved a large number of rates and reviews on my story, most of which helped me to greatly improve the finished product.I have tried to increase my own reviewing the past week or so and I have been reminded of the different types of reviews one might give or recieve. First and foremost are the constructive reviews where the reviewer is completely honest with the writer. This type of reviewer, if they find a problem with a piece, will go to great pains to point the problem out to the author and then offer suggestions as to how the problem might be solved. zwisisis a perfect example of this type of reviewer and if you are lucky enough to have her review one of your stories you will understand how helpful she is in making your own writing as good as it can be. The other type of reviewer is the unconstructive one. We have all had one of these reviews from time to time and we have learned to live with them. You know the type I'm talking about. They are given by people who are in love with their own words, they seem to think that to be a reviewer they have to emulate those scathing reviewers they read in newspapers and see on TV. These people will tell you the story stinks, is unimaginative and unbelievable but they don't take the trouble to give you examples of each of those problems in your story. They never give suggestions on how to make the story better. Actually they don't care if you improve or not, they just want to draw blood and leave. That is not what this site is about. This site is about helping fellow writers to be as good at their chosen craft as they can be and you can only help someone if you give them directions on HOW to be better. Serious reviewing is hard work, but helping other writers and becoming better writers ourselves are why we are here. Now if you are lucky enough to get a constructive review from a serious reviewer cherish it and use it to make your story better. If on the other hand, you recieve one of those other reviews do what I do....laugh it off and forget it because if someone isn't trying to help you then they arn't worth paying serious attention to. |
| The new issue of The Blogville Weekly News is ready for your reading enjoyment. Sorry it was a bit late this week, we were experiencing some technical problems but I think we now have everything under control. This week's Guest Editor is schipperke and I can tell you right now she did an wonderful job. After you read her article be sure and drop her a line and let her know how much you enjoyed it. "Invalid Entry" |
| Off Subject: I know you will all be thrilled and happy to know that next week's guest editor will be schipperke. I eagerly await her article, I know it will be great. ************************* I strongly recommend that everyone read PlannerDan 's latest entry into his blog. This piece should be required reading for everyone. "Invalid Entry" I thought that I might take this opportunity, today to talk a little bit about me. I know, I know...boring subject but just stay with me here and let me explain. I have a small secret to admit to here...I am not the crusty old crumdugeon that I appear to be when I write my entries in Blogville. Yeah, yeah, hard to believe isn't it  but it's true. I will say it now: I love these pets Mel insists on dragging home. The dogs, the cats, the fish, the bird, they have all become like family for me too. Well, that's not really true, none of them have as yet borrowed money from me so I guess they can't really be considered family. You see I was not always like this. Five years ago this woman came into my life and started, right from the beginning, to mess with my head. She showed me what it was like to be loved unconditionally by a human then she taught me to be open enough to give and recieve love from animals. Mel tore down walls I had built over the past 35 years and she did it effortlessly. Oh I had been married before and not just once. I had kids, five of them but I had always been able to keep everyone at arm's length and never let anyone too close. I had learned at the tender age of 19 that if you cared too much then the pain was doubled when you lost these people. It took the love of a woman to tear down those walls. The thing is though, I still love to hide behind that old crumdugeon image every chance I get so you guys please don't blow my cover! Another thing about me (yeah, it's not over yet)is that I hold very strong beliefs when it comes to my Country and my Faith in God. Having said this though, I want to make it clear that I would never belittle or attack anyone for holding different opinions of those things than I do. I might debate them as strongly as possible, but I will always respect their right to disagree and I expect others to do the same for me. One of my favorite books(I have too many to list completely):Eagle in the Snow by Wallace Breem. This is the story of a Roman General's lone stand, with only one Legion in an effort to thwart an invasion by Barbarians in Gaul. It is not just a military story but the story of one man's journey through life and what brought him to his one defining moment. It is a personal story of his victorys in life as well as his failures. Favorite Quote from a Movie: "I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a-hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them." The Shootist, starring John Wayne. This was a line spoken by Wayne's character at the beginning of the film. I love this quote because, as a child, my father spoke words very similar to me in his effort to pass along his own strongly held beliefs and I have tried ever since to live by those words....it was a shock, so many years later, to hear them in a movie. So there you have it....more than you ever wanted to know about me, but then this is my blog so I figured; why not. I would love to hear more about each of you...don't worry about the length of the comments...just tell me some of your story. Favorite Quote, Favorite Book...whatever you want to share...I'm listening and I want to know. |
Just a short entry today...I am about to head out to work soon. I just finished reviewing a new piece by Alabama . Do yourself a favor and go read this story and give it a R&R.
The German Shepard puppy we are going to get was born three days ago and yesterday Mel and I drove over and had a look at the new babies. I gotta tell you, that pup is a beauty! I am actually looking forward to his arrival in our home. He is going to be a nice sized dog, I think. His mom weighs in at about 75lbs and the daddy was a whooping 130lbs. I better buy stock in a dog food company! Well, that's it for me...sorry to be so brief today but duty calls...its off to work I go! |
| As most of you who are regular readers know, I am from Texas and though I have traveled to almost every other state in the Union and a few foreign countries, I have never found another place that stirs my soul the way Texas does. The thing about Texas is how varied the scenery is as you travel to different parts of the state. I happen to live in a portion of Texas that looks nothing like how the state has been depicted in movies and even books. I live in what they call: The Piney Woods, north of Houston. Around here the land is dominated by large tracts of inpenetrable pine forests. The land, itself is fairly flat; no mountains or even hills to break the green wall of forests. Now I know that all of you have seen movies where Texas has been depicted as a vast badlands with mountains and canyons and bordered by desert. Great wide open spaces of inhospitable land teeming with snakes and scorpions. Well you can still find places like that in Texas...out south and west where we have counties larger than some small states and maybe 1000 people living in the whole county. The truth is you can find almost any kind of geography you like without leaving the state, from mountain ranges to sea shores, from flat, featureless plains to rolling hills dotted with oak and misquite trees. Of all this diversity of landscape the one that makes my heart sing the loudest is not where I happen to live now but the rolling hills of North Texas. We once had a hunting lease near the town of Throckmorton, Texas. This is a very small town in the middle of nowhere whose single claim to fame is that it happens to be the birthplace of Bob Lilly, the legendary defensive lineman for the Dallas Cowboys. This hunting lease was as close to heaven I think I will ever get while still drawing breath. The lease consisted of a collection of mesas and small canyons and draws between the mesas. The ground was covered by grass and prickly-pear cactus and everywhere there were small stands of the hardy, iron-hard mesquite tree. As beautiful and wild as the land was in the daylight, it was the nights that took my breath away. I can remember spending cold November nights sitting away from the camp and near the edge of a tall mesa and just soaking in the beauty. The air was clear and crisp and the sky was always full of stars. As I lay on my back and stared up at the sky it always seemed as if I could just about reach out and snatch one of those stars from the heavens.....millions of stars, hovering just above my head...the light show was humbling in the extreme. I always knew as I watched those stars, just how small and insignificant man is in the great scheme of things. Then there were the wolves.....at night I was always lulled to sleep listening to their lonely howls that would reverberate across the darkened land. They were telling all in hearing range that the night belonged to them...the ultimate hunter. I haven't been back there since the year after my father died and sometimes, especially lately, I have found myself yearning to see the night from a high mesa once more, to feel at once, insignificant yet at one with God and Nature. I know that everyone has their own idea about what makes up "God's Country". This is mine. I would love to hear what your idea of that beautiful, perfect example of nature would be. |
| Off subject: I would like to congratulate Cassie Reynolds on being promoted to Preferred Author. Way to go lady, I think it is long overdue and I know you will be a great addition ot the Preferred list. As happens so many times, I got the inspiration for for my blog today by reading PlannerDan 's great blog entry "Invalid Entry" . I strongly recommend reading this entry to everyone.Dan, my simple answer to you is yes, we do forget. We have been forgetting and apologizing to the world for our actions ever since Vietnam and it has become second nature for our country. Now this isn't a rant about THAT war and I don't really need to get into the history of the Vietnam war, suffice to say Vietnam taught the world a very important truth about America: We no longer have the moral fortitude to totally commit to fighting a war. They showed the world that if you can inflict heavy casualties and draw out the conflict, sooner or later America will cave in and leave. Why are we like this? Well I am far from an expert and certainly not as smart or as educated as many of our members here and the conclusions I have reached are simply a combination of my own experiences and what I have observed first hand in the people around me, so please take what I say with a grain of salt. First and foremost I have to lay blame with the modern media. In Vietnam, for the very first time, war was brought into our living-rooms and we digested it along with our evening meal. This was a great shock to Americans. You see folks war, by its very nature, is a bloody affair. People are killed and they kill and it is not clean nor is it easy. This has always been the case, but now the war was not hidden in behind a screen of censorship but it was shown in all its bloody glory. Civilians could not handle that and I really don't blame them, killing is not something one should become use to. This lent fuel to the anti-war movement and eventually led to our pulling out of Southeast Asia. Now the Islamic Extremists have taken the lessons taught by the history of Vietnam and they are waging the same kind of war....they know America will tire of it soon and they will leave Iraq and Afganastan. Yes, Dan, we have become a nation of people who live by the Emergency of the Moment. Once the crisis has ceased to be the lead story on TV we think the problem is solved...or should be solved. We are then ready to move onto the next emergency. We have become a people with the attention span of a MayFly. Now Dan was wondering if the passage of time would dull the memories of that terrible day when the Towers were brought down. Well, a few days ago I happened to overhear a discussion in our Break Room at work and one guy actually said: " Well yeah, they call it the War on Terrorism, but it's not like we are in a real war. I think it's more symbolic like 'the War on Poverty.'" I asked him how "symbolic" was it to the families of the people killed in the twin towers. To which he stated: "Well that was years ago, for God's sake, ancient history." This is the kind of thinking that is prevalent in today's society, Dan....it is ancient history so why are we picking on the poor extremeist now? I think that until we have the guts to ignore the Television reports and accept the casualties it takes to fight a war to the bitter end, with our enemy on its knees, then we will never be free of fear. But, all of that is just my opinion and I'm just a plain old country boy who has walked down that path a ways myself...what do I know. |
| Well it is Saturday and I seemed to have survived "Black Friday" and the now infamous "CCnese" article in the Newsletter.....so far. I know I left you all hanging yesterday at the close of my blog but, as I promised, Mel came in here this morning and did HER blog and explained her latest outrage which she has visited upon me. The thing is, as usual, she told her own version of the story. She has glossed over what it was really like. So now, if I may be so bold, I would like to give MY side of the story..... Yes, she did call me at work just as I was about to clock out and head home...that much was right. The thing is I reacted like any normal male would react with an unexpected call from his wife. Different thoughts automatically ran through my mind as I rushed to the phone. 1. There's been an accident. 2. WHAT DID I DO WRONG? 3. A family member is ill. 4. WHAT DID I DO WRONG? 5. She just discovered we had won the lottery 6. WHAT DID I DO WRONG? You guys know what I'm talking about; either it's bad news and it is of course YOUR FAULT, or its good news and it's YOUR FAULT IT HADN'T OCCOURED SOONER! Either way, we can't win. Sorry, I got sidetracked there...where was I? Oh yeah, she called.... Well she did, in fact, launch into that lame story about finding a blonde guy. That went over like a lead balloon. She wasn't fooling me for one dang minute, I KNEW what she had done. That smart-arsed was met with stony silence. Finally I answered her: "WHAT KIND OF ANIMAL IS IT THIS TIME?" I demanded. "Oh, sweetie, why would you say such a thing. Just come by the school and pull around back." You know that honeyed tone women can use. I hung up the phone and trudged out the door, my shoulders slumped, my head hanging. I could of swore I heard a voice in the background yelling: "DEAD MAN WALKING!" Sure enough, when I got to the school and pulled around to the back entrance there she was, caught in the glare of my headlights and there was my "surprise" cavorting happily at her feet. As I opened my car door and stepped out into the night air she immediately launched into her well rehearsed sob story about rescueing the poor little puppy. I had heard it all before and it made no impression on me whatsoever. The first thing I thought upon hearing her story was: "Another dog just won the lottery". That's what it is, you know. Ever since we have been married a steady parade of strays have stumbled onto our doorstep or crossed paths with Mel at some point and they are at once whisked from their status as simi-starving vagrants, to the lap of luxury complete with HUMAN servants. You see there is a fundamental difference in preception at work here. Where she was seeing this poor, mistreated, malnurished and helpless little puppie that was crying out silently to her for rescue, I saw seven pounds of pee and poo enclosed within a scruffy, flea-infested hide and sporting a mouth full of baby teeth just crying for the chance to chew my favorite pair of cowboy boots! The thing is....I knew I was lost. There was no amount of reason I could use to dissuade her from taking this puppy into our home. When she spots these mutts it is as if all her MOTHER instincts come out in a rush. There is no changing her mind. Hell I would just as soon slap a mother grizzly bear in the head and steal her cubs as try to reason with Mel when she is in her "SAVE THE BABY" mode. So yes, I took the dog home and YES, he demands to sleep right next to me. It is either let him sleep there or listen to puppy barks and howls all night. I swear it is like having a 2 year old toddler in the house, he is constantly into everything and when he is not chewing my shoes or bounding after the highly incenced cats he is leaving "puppy deposits" on the rug for me to retrieve and dispose of. AND IN 6 WEEKS WE GET ANOTHER ONE! What am I gonna do, I haven't had a good night's sleep in three days. KARMA, that's what it is. I am just being punished for having so much fun at my buddy's CC expense. It figures. After four years of constant battle, I finally pull the ultimate practical joke on CC and instead of being able to sit back and enjoy his misery while trying to do that newsletter, I have been too busy picking up dog poo! I tell ya, sometimes it just sucks being me! |
| "HELP, I'VE FALLEN AND I CAN'T GET UP!" The above pretty much sums up how I feel right now. I have just finished this week's edition of the Blogville Weekly News "Invalid Entry" .This is the long awaited debut of ccstring so I know you guys will very soon be feeling the same way I do right now......YOUR HEAD IS GONNA EXPLODE! I have a favor to ask of you all...could you guys plug the Newsletter in each of your blogs so that we can be sure EVERYONE gets the opportunity to experience a CC headache first hand. I am sure that all of you have readers who read your stuff but don't read mine...this way we can get them ALL! Personally, I am now going back to bed and starting an Advil drip. Come to think of it, maybe we should all get on the phone and buy stock in Advil...I think they are about to get a big boost thanks to CC. There is one more bit of news but I won't share it with you just yet. I have told Mel that, since she is totally to blame for what has happened around our house the last few days, she is going to HAVE to come in and do a blog to explain it all to you....she has nailed me again! Now Quick, go read the newsletter and be sure to direct all the hate mail to CC...HE DID IT! |
| Have you ever had one of those days? Many of you out there who are in close proximity to my age probably know what I am talking about, I mean one of those days when you just want to walk away. I had a day like that yesterday. The feeling hit me out of the blue, while I was at work. I suddenly had the overpowering urge to just walk out the door and keep going. It occured to me, at that precise moment in time, that what I really wanted to do was man a sail boat and sail around the world! I saw it all in my mind. There I was, sailing into the unknown, my boat cresting the waves of the great Pacific ocean at break-neck speed like an arrow fired from a bow, headed toward adventure in exotic lands. "Hey, Door-Greeter", the harsh voice issuing from a wizened old lady jerked me back to reality. "Where the hell is my electric cart, you can't expect me to walk can you?" (BLINK BLINK) "WHAT?" I snaped at the old crone. "I was half way to Tahiti and you gotta have a dang CART?" I sighed heavily as the old lady puttered off on her electric cart, mumbling about "dang retail slaves who didn't know their proper place!" I knew I had to do something to thwart this growing feeling of unrest so I began to look at it in a purely analytical point of view. I thought about what would be the reality of actually DOING what I was spending time dreaming about.... First of all let's just say I get the boat then actually climb aboard and make ready to shove off on my grand adventure....the moment I untied from the dock I would collapse over the side of the boat and suffer terminal sea sickness! The reality is, I can do anything I want on fresh water but you get me within two miles of the sea and I start getting queasy! Then, if I do manage to get underway, my unerring navagational skills would kick in and I would become hopelessly lost while trying to get out of port. If by some miracle I managed to make it out of port I can just see it now....after a month at sea and nearing starvation (I would have run out of peanut butter) I finally make landfall....I HIT FLORIDA! That did it....I was once again back to reality. I knew that what I was experiencing was a form of male menopause...mid-life crisis. You see, there comes a time, in the lives of people over a certain age, when you realize that new beginnings and high adventure are not really in the cards. You have to come to gripes with the fact that this is it....this is the life you will finish up with. The trick is to make the most of it. I figure I saddled this horse and by God I'm gonna ride him. Yeah, sometimes I miss the fact that I will never sail around the world and explore new and exotic places but then I think about the adventure awaiting me each day right here in my real life. You see, I am lucky. I am married to a woman who makes sure that life is never dull. She see's to it that I am placed well outside my comfort zone on a regular basis and that, my friends, keeps me young! So, I will go back to work and smile at the people and wonder....what's she gonna get me into next! Pretty damned adventurous if you ask me. |
| Today is Wednesday and the worse day in the week for me to try to blog. The reason is simple: I work mid-shift today...start at 11 and end at 8. This leaves almost no time to do a blog before work...I have to read all the others during that time and no time after work because I have to do email and read more blogs then the time difference causes me to be late in entering before the daily cutoff. Anyway...I will just slap in a short one here to keep the day blue. I want to hear from all of you who have recieved emails from ccstring since monday. You know the emails I'm talking about, the one where he is crying and snotting and begging for help to do this week's newsletter. Go ahead and let me know, I promise I won't tell a soul!! .How many of you has he tried to enlist to be "ghost editors" for him? Has he offered money yet? He will before Friday, thats for sure. Okay...I gotta scoot outta here....leave me a comment and tell me how bad CC has been whining to you and don't worry, I am the soul descretion. LOL LOL! |
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Congrats on 500 entries, and we are all looking forward to the sequel.