Friday Dispatch

• My oldest got suspended from school for a day for igniting a can of body spray and waving it around the locker room like a flamethrower. My initial reaction?





• Awesome!





• Then I realized I'm The Man now and that was not the proper response; next thought?





• Cool!





• There were 13 ducks on the pond this morning.




• R Lee Ermys show Mail Call is on Hulu now.




• Oorah!




• Watched part of Support Your Local Gunfighter last night- still very funny and a reminder of simpler times.




• When I attempted to put gunfighter in the label box it came out gnufighter.

Don't Complain About Your Sex Life

"Female porcupines are only interested in sex for 8-12 hours per year. Interested males will stand on their hind legs and spray a female with urine. If she is ready and interested, she will expose her quill-less belly to the male and they will mate until they are both exhausted. if the male tires before the female, she will seek another male to take his place. If a female is not ready or interested in a male, she will make a screaming noise and shake the males urine off herself."-List Universe

Classic Comment- Another Blog

"I wanted to be a trucker one time. I had the CB, plaid shirt, western belt with my name on the back, little white pills but I decided to go to work for Sprint then I got laid off and thought, Ya know, I like hardware so I went to work for Home Depot."

Wednesday Digressions

• “This is our 16th year, and I wish I had a big piece of wood to knock on right now, but we have not had an incident."
• A monster truck racing promoter said this the day before he was run over and killed at a Madison Wisconsin show.
• "Jack devises a plan to keep the nation safe from the latest terrorist threat"- the plot for hour 1-2 pm for this season of the show 24.
• The same as every other episode.
• A Jack Bauer joke: Jack Bauer's favorite color is severe terror alert red. His second favorite color is violet, but just because it sounds like violent.
  
• Another: Jack Bauer is the leading cause of death in Middle Eastern men.
  
• Well, one more: Upon hearing that he was played by Kiefer Sutherland, Jack Bauer killed Sutherland. Jack Bauer gets played by no man.
  
• Don't understand why a computer operates so slooooowly if it's been on for extended time periods or why it takes so long to be operational when it first starts up- it's not like there's vacuum tubes in there warming up.
• People are crazy.
• Now that I'm back in the habit of reading again I don't know how I let myself get away from it- I hope the weather allows a trip to half price books tomorrow. My favorite bookstore was in Fort Worth on Rufe Snow- lots of up to date history, bestsellers and DIY books and alway less than half price. It converted to a romance novel only bookstore- from front to back, tens of thousands of them.
• No, not kidding.

A Famous Texan

Chesley B Sullenberger b. 1951 a 1969 graduate of Denison High School where he played flute. At the age of 12 he was found to have a 140 IQ and at the age of 14 got his pilots license. From 1973-1980 he flew F4 Phantom IIs for the US Air Force but, he is more recently known for safely making the forced landing on the Hudson of flight 1549.

True Warbird

From worth1000.comClick to enlarge and make his day

Mondays Missives

• I would dearly love to have the finances and place to build a kit car- I think It would be very satisfying and that I could pull it off well.
• Never known anyone personally who has built one and I bet there are kits unfinished in garages all across the country that have been sitting for years and will never get finished because the guys bit off more than they could chew.
• It's cool to see a female working on their own car and racing and stuff like that.
• Had a friend once who totally replaced the interior of her car- by herself- when she was 8 months pregnant.
• To me Rod Blagojevich looks and comes across as a simple minded person.
• Frenchman in context is complimentary and seems to connote a certain amount of assumed respect even but, Chinaman is always pejorative and demeaning.
• Notable quotable from crowd at Obama inauguration : after being asked for a memorable quote that inspired her a crowd member replied to a reporter," Oh yeah, hope and change and what was third- confusion?" And another,"I'm just so glad there is a black, African American in the White House now!"
• When I asked my 7 year old if she knew who the president was now she said,"Of course, John McCain Luther- right?"
• My 15 year old was playing with the 2 year old on the floor the other night and acting like the baby was torturing him by trying to kiss him all over his face (after doing same to baby) and pretending he was powerless to stop it- he then started laughing so hard he couldn't catch his breath and the baby really started licking his face and big brother really became powerless to stop it he was so breathless. That baby knew exactly what he was doing and took full advantage of the situation to terrorize his big brother!
• I felt compelled to walk through the neighbors unfinished house the other day.

Rod Blagojevich

A hands on leader you can depend on!

Overheard At Basketball Tournament Last Night

In the foyer of the gym there were about 20 people hanging around as the last game wound down including a monitor who had her walkie-talkie on full blast- speaker mode loud enough for everyone there to hear. An authoritative voice comes across, "Miss____ go over to the concession stand and tell them to take todays money to the ____ classroom and count the money just be sure you witness the count. Then make sure they deposit the money tonight. Oh, and don't say it too loud- you never know who might be listening!"

A Famous Texan

Chill Wills aside from having one of the coolest names ever was a noted character actor, sometimes leading man and voice of Francis The Mule was born in Seagoville TX in 1902.

Mutant Baby

Crazy Comment- Another Blog

"...But I have heard a lot about the Bush administration and its GOP allies relaxing safety regulations on behalf of their corporate masters.
Can you imagine what the story would have been yesterday if the Republican, free-market model had been in place?
I can, and it makes me shudder."

This was in regard to the airliners forced landing in the Hudson on January 15 2008.

Good grief, the things people will believe.

20th Century Martyr

Westminster Abbey 20th Century Martyrs- MLK second figure from left

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." from the I Have A Dream Speech

"And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers? Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord." From the I've Been To The Mountaintop speech- his last.

"Ben, make sure you play Take My Hand, Precious Lord in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty." Final words according to Jesse Jackson

The bullet that ended Kings life entered his right cheek descended along his spinal cord and came to rest near his shoulder. The autopsy reportedly revealed the heart of a sixty year old man.

He was thirty nine.

Looking For A Soul To Steal?

Quote Of The Day

"It's not about you. It's not about them," he continues. "If I was thinking about other people, I never would have gone anywhere. As Jesus said: They say this and that; you don't listen to them. It's not about what they say. And I have to be true to myself. I don't know."

Joaquin Phoenix on his decision to quit acting and start rapping. msn entertainment

Mondays Missives

• While letting the baby play outside one day I leaned up against the wall of the porch to watch. He noticed how I was standing, smiled and ran over and began imitating my pose and didn't stop until he had it just right and then just beamed the most satisfied smile.



• That at once made me happy and terrified me.



• Everyone I've spoken to that knows a little history has liked Tom Cruises movie Valkrie though strangely, it was getting terrible reviews early on by people who could not have seen it. The same thing happened to Oliver Stones Alexander with Internet speculation on it's homoeroticism and historicity being blamed for it losing money in the US.



• On my desk I have a mummified toad and orange.



• A buzzard swooped just a few feet over my two year old sons head the other day on its way to dine on some unfortunate animal in the pasture. He watched it fly over and said,"Wow!"



• I entered a contest the other day that the grand prize was 15 guns of different types. I text a friend and said, Imagine the standoff I could have with that arsenal!



• His response? You worry me sometimes.
• Should that have been text, texted or something else?


• The building pictured above was Uday Husseins lake house on Lake Habbaniyah. Very pleasing, interesting, simple architecture I always thought. I'm unsure if it was designed by the British firms that worked for the Iraqi government or an architect in an Iraqi ministry.

Fridays Dispatch

• Oddly, while I like the Harry Potter series well enough and watched all of the movies I can't really relate the point to the series or individual movies where I could for instance, the Lord Of The Rings.






• Also I thought it odd the author felt compelled to gush out in a press conference that the character Dumbledore is homosexual. It never was central to any of the stories and didn't seem to be something that drove his personality. Some of the other characters had romantic interests and those interests had some prominence in the later movies but, if anything Dumbledore was portrayed as asexual I thought.






• Pandering: "To cater to the lower tastes and desires of others or exploit their weaknesses"






• On the two hour special first episode of the new season of 24 there is a scene where Jack Bauer is helping a bunch of people escape some bad guys in Africa. When they start being attacked by a helicopter everybody runs into a treeline where a cameraman can be seen very plainly filming them for shots from a different angle. It was kind of strange how obvious it was not, did I just see what I thought I saw?- there was a dude standing there plain as day with a camera filming from behind a tree.





• Hulu has episodes of Bewitched, I watched the pilot- very good. I tried the second, maybe it was too soon.





• David White the man who played Larry Tate's son was one of the people killed in the terror bombing of Flight 103 over Lockerbie Scotland.
• Unsure of the meaning associated with the above poster although I assume it's a reference to Steve Irwin and if it is- how will I feel about being reminded of him, since this post has been scheduled for months?



• If I read one more account of a detective going to someones house (or hotel room) investigating a crime and after using the restroom there the toilet supposedly fails to flush and they find a gun or dope whatever- I will scream. I suppose though if a person is foolish enough to allow police into their home without a search warrant they may also be foolish enough to think the police don't already know two of the biggest places people hide things are their bathrooms and refrigerators.
• An amazing thought to me: the shuttle broke up over Texas 16 minutes before it was scheduled to land in Florida



• I was given a bag of fruit from Morocco for Christmas called Clementines. They are delicious, very easy to peel and I'm pretty sure have low acidity.



• They are just little oranges.

President Obamas New Ride

Very little is known about the Presidents new limo (which is actually called his state car). Previous versions went by the call sign Cadillac One while this one is already being referred to by the Secret Service as The Beast. My sources deeply embedded in the Whitehouse inner circle report armor 5 inches thick, chemical attack protection and diesel power.

Classic Thursday Morning Pick Me Up

Say, Hey Now to Martha Allen 1920

You Think You Have A Tough Boss?

Food For Thought

Washington Post, Jan. 1, 1897.
LICENSES FOR ALLEY COOK SHOPS.Judge Kimball Decides They Are LiableTo a Fee of $25 a Year.
The alleys of this city are filled with colored cook-shops, which heretofore have paid no license fee. Judge Kimball said yesterday, however, that every one of them must pay $25 a year. Only the police and the people who visit the numerous alleys and little streets of the city know how many of these cook-shops exist. The colored people generally resort to these places for pigs' feet, meat pie, and substantial provender prepared by the old mammies and quaint old colored men who run them, and cook dishes to the taste of the people of their race.
The police yesterday brought into court, as a test case, Keith Sutherland, who has conducted a cook-shop for many years at 1111 R street. He was released on bonds after he took out a license, and as the matter has now been tested the police will bring all the proprietors of unlicensed cook-shops to the Police Court. shorpy.com

• I bet if a person dressed like they were somebody, were very personable and clean they could make a fortune with one of those food carts in a downtown area.


• There used to be a guy called the Burrito Man in Decatur who sold me a breakfast taco one morning. About the time I realized something was wrong with the bite I was swallowing it caused me to cough and a multi bladed chunk of metal flew out of my throat and bounced off the wall. It looked like the blade from an electric razor and it was obviously part of the processor he used to shred the meat.


• Ever had hogs head tamales? I had a neighbor once who was an Indian from Mexico who would make them and give me some every once in a while. Unforgettably awesome.


• I think she was sweet on me.


• She never wore any shoes- even in the winter.


• I think she also dabbled in some kind of voodoo.


• But, man she made some good tamales.


• I think she did cast a spell on me- with those tamales- every time I think of them I get a funny feeling and my mouth waters while I sit there rocking back and forth.
• Nom, nom.


• When I was a very poor construction worker me and two Mexican dudes stood around in the kitchen and warmed corn tortillas and bologna over the open flame of a gas stove- it was very good. I remember making one laugh until he choked (I knew enough Spanish to be dangerous) and then me and the other one laughed at him.


• That was the last time I ate baloney.

Something About Me

I cannot stand the Eddie Rabbitt song I Love A Rainy Night. When I inadverdantly hear it- I'm in torment for days.

Not right.

Minute Missive

In the world of not news: Cocaine makes bees "enthusiastic and excitable" according to an Australian researcher.

Thank you Sherlock.

Vague Childhood Flashback

When I was a boy sideshows were becoming a thing of the past because of what might be termed an evolving collective conscientiousness. They were actually made illegal in some locales in spite of protests from the performers themselves who enjoyed the work, made a good living and in fact would simply have no where else to turn for employment- in any case, the public started deeming them distasteful in the 1970s and they rapidly began disappearing.

At our annual carnival called The Wise County Old Settlers Reunion in Decatur Texas the promoters had an exhibit promising some types of freaks in a tent. There were hand painted oddities of all types outside including a fat lady eating an enormous piece of cake, beside the painting was a chair with a sign saying,"Sorry Lucille is on her break". The girl watching the tent was unusually clean and pretty for the carnies-probably the promoters daughter? The exhibit would have had someone trusted regardless, as you payed cash to get in separate from the bracelet or tickets you bought for the rides.

When I went inside instead of two headed people and three breasted women there were some old photographs of medical oddities pinned to bulletin boards and pig and human fetus's in jars (called pickled punks in carnie slang) with signs beside them saying "Possible alien baby recovered near Roswell NM" or "Deformed baby born to drug addict". I must have said something to indicate my disappointment that caused the girl to look over her shoulder at me to see what I was doing so I decided to have some fun with the situation.

Every time I came to a new part of the lame exhibit I'd exclaim something in my best shocked and horrified voice like, "Oh my God!" or "That's horrible, I think I'm going to be sick!" and made gagging sounds, she would turn around looking so puzzled and in fact when I got around to a part where she couldn't see me and there was an old medical textbook picture of a hydro cephalic baby pinned on the wall I said, "That poor baby!" and started making sobbing noises.

She got up then and looking very nervous came back to where I was at. I just smiled at her and walked out the door.
I wonder if she ever thinks of that goofy kid from Decatur Texas?

Mondays Missives

• I saw the Barbara Walters interview with Patrick Swayze- very sad, a sick man who is not much longer for this world.



• One of my friends met him at an Arabian Horse show. His brush broke so he stuck his head around to the next stall to borrow one- it was occupied by Swayze, he said he was the coolest, most interesting person you would ever want to meet and they chatted for over an hour.



• Interestingly, I have another 6 degrees of separation connection with him: one of my best friends sister attended dance class at his moms studio.



• Recently a Texas death row inmate tore out his last good eye and ate it. What happened to the first one? Oh, I'm sorry- after he was arrested for cutting his family members hearts out he gouged the first one out in jail where he was then promptly found competent to stand trial.



• Something that has always colored my view of our legal system: in a town within 12 miles of where I grew up someone I knew personally was beaten by police with a club while a phonebook was placed against the side of his head (to lessen bruising- still hurt) in an attempt to get a confession for a burglary. I know for a fact that person was in another state when the crimes occurred.



• The weird thing and why it made such an impact on me is I know both the police and subjects involved- well.
  
  
• On a television show the other night a character checked a bodies toe tag in a morgue cooler and after he finished you can clearly see the dead dude pull his feet together to allow the others to zip up his body bag.


• The above picture reminded me of a memory of my time in Iraq since those guys are firing from Camp Falluja. When we would get attacked Falluja would fire onto our area and our artillery battery would fire onto theirs when they got attacked- the enemy would be too close to fire at the angle the guns needed so rounds would be fired the 13 miles or so in support of each other.
• There was a two week period where we got hit by rocket and mortar fire 2 times a day. A battery fired 36 rounds (which average 98 pounds each) into the area they were coming from after getting a good radar fix. Oddly, we didn't get hit for a long time after that morning.
• High explosives can be inspirational for both the givers and receivers.
• By the time my youngest is 18 someone under the age of 18 will have been living in my house for 31 years. Good grief, what was I thinking?
• In Bullhead City AZ an eternal flame memorial has been extinguished after the city received a 900.00 dollar bill for the gas to burn it for the first month.
• No one had the fortitude (or simple forethought) to ask, How much will this cost?
• Maybe they should run for Congress.

Next Blog Foray- Amor Eterno

Amor eterno!! Mais um ano junto... fiva a nossa felicidade.....

Amor Eterno? Maybe but, don't bet your lives on it kids.

La Familia

That's my dad in my grandfathers lap. The second person from the left is my dads favorite sister known as Mae. After a career as a queen size exotic dancer she died of heart failure at age 36 weighing over 300 pounds. My dad died from a 12 ga. shotgun blast to the chest.
Wonder what they would have done differently if they had the chance.

The Meanest Man In Texas

"A true story...
The amazing and miraculous true story of Clyde Thompson. He killed two men when he was 17 years old. The year was 1928 and the place was rural west Texas. He was nearly lynched while awaiting trial and then was sent to death row.
Thompson's killing streak didn't stop there. Nor did his desire to escape from prison. Prison officials finally gave him The Meanest Man in Texas moniker, and the prison chaplain said he was a man without a soul. Without hope, Thompson reached out for help. Then his life started to change." http://www.quarrypressbooks.com/

I mistakenly said in an earlier post this book was out of print then received a comment that it is not and is carried by Quarry Press Books. Regardless of how you get a copy- read it, you'll be surprised at what you may learn about history, prison, spirituality and your own assumptions of these issues. It was one of the most well written books I've ever read regardless of subject and as I recall I only had to open it three times to finish it- simply could not put it down.

Fridays Dispatch

• In a kind of bad neighborhood near a patients house the other day I was sitting in a restaurant and saw a homeless, female crackhead stagger in eating a banana.
• Mmm, I never thought of that one before- bring your own food to a restaurant.
• Where on earth did she get that banana anyway?
• I reduced a fellow human being to a "homeless female crackhead."
• Some people might say,"How could you know all that about her anyway?"
• Believe me, whether it's right or wrong to look at people that way- I'm right in my assessment.
• At Sonic one night a guys truck had Just Married on the back window and I Do- what she says on the side window.
• He was alone and wasn't wearing a wedding band.
• I worked on Halloween night last year. My patient said,"What are you dressed up as?" Without missing a beat I said,"A naughty nurse?".
• The day nurse helped her make goody bags to be handed out. I took it a step further and asked a couple of nice looking families to come in to the bedside and let her hand out the treats. It was the last time she got to do that- she died only a few days later.
• None of us will forget that.
• I knew a guy once who when his divorce was final tied a bunch cans and shoes to his bumper and wrote Just Divorced on his back window and drove around town.
• Maybe I'm the strange one but, I've never been big on celebrating personal failure.
• I dreamed last night I was a prison guard in a 1920s Texas Prison. It was very realistic and seemed to go on for hours.
• That would probably be like being a guard in hell.
• The rule was once blood was drawn in a whipping the guard had to stop so some prisoners when they knew a beating was coming would use a razor to to cut their buttocks open.
• They had rules for whipping another human being.
• Read The Meanest Man In Texas; it's out of print but, there were tons of copies made.

Guess Who?

Special Thursday Missives

• Continue to be amazed at peoples disrespect for law enforcement personnel- honestly. They're threatened with death daily, abused verbally and misunderstood at every turn it seems, yet society would dissolve immediately in their absence. Blaming an individual officer for any wrongs done in the past or assuming the individual is bad because their branch of enforcement has a bad reputation is like blaming a soldier for a bad war.


• If you could see my driving record you would understand how significant that sentiment is! : ) Hey, they have a job to do and so do I- can't help it if that puts us at odds sometimes.


• They'll still get my respect and their tab picked up in a restaurant every time.


• http://theaccomplice76234.blogspot.com/ for a blog by a local LE officer that got me on this rant.
• Texas for the second year in a row had the highest number of LOD fatalites in the nation in 2007.
• There has been over 18000 LE officers die in LOD in US history.
• Decatur Texas has had one officer murdered on duty.
• Wise county Sheriffs Office two.

Chuck Norris-ie Goodness

Chuck Norris's name is already getting bounced around for President in 2012. Good grief, that's ridiculous. Oh man, don't tell him I said that- please.

Wednesdays Digressions

• Don Cornelius was arrested late last year on family violence charges. For some reason this reminded me of a show in the 70's and early 80's called Don Kirshners Rock Concert. It was the first time I ever saw Kiss and Black Sabbath. With all the music channels on now people cannot imagine how awesome an hour and a half long live music program once a week could be especially since there was no lip syncing. I remember Kirshner had the most flat, droll delivery.




• I stopped on General Hospital the other day for a minute. Luke came to someones door looking dishevelled, in pain, drunk, needy and breathless then they broke for a commercial. Some things never change.




• I worked with a guy once who quit the last job he had because they changed his lunch hour schedule and he couldn't watch General Hospital. VCR's were only just becoming available so someone said,"Why didn't you just record it?" He said,"No way- too expensive and it's not the same anyway."



• I'm not sure but, I think the phrase You are more than welcome gets on my nerves.
• This post has been scheduled for months I know I will have gone to at least one funeral by the time it self publishes and that's a weird thought.
• As I wrote that, it reminded me of a recent patient who had severe alcohol dementia and liver cancer. She had no family and no one interested at all in her welfare but, the few of us taking care of her and was going to receive a paupers burial ( after cremation). I helped her to the restroom for the last time in her life and it occurred to me within the next 48 hours she would be reduced to a few pounds of ash and I could not get that image out of my mind.
• PS- I've been to two funerals since this was first scheduled.

Good Grief

From my email this morning: Push your banger inside lady-Your body can be the best love-machine girl could imagine.

Sounds kinky: thanks but, no thanks though.

Crazy Comments From Other Blogs

(¯`'•.¸(¯`'•.¸♥¸.•'´¯)¸.•'´¯)

• "The rocket attack on Israel is what Israel does best."A false flag attack"Those rockets are being fired by Mossad provocateurs, read about the USS liberty attack.I believe the real Nazi's that preformed the Holocaust on 6 million innocent human beings,were really the Zionist that are at the head of Israel right now."




• "Buahh que panda de descerebraos hay por aquí...Esto es el "donde las dan las toman (pero con otros...)"Batabummmm en Israel! "




• "Not much different than Bristol Palin's situation if you ask me. Especially since this is her second child, and the baby daddy's mother is a drug dealer.....yep, no different at all."




• "Shanktanitus is not a treatable disease."




• "So what I'm suggesting is: large-scale peaceful sit-ins and occupations of the offices of these vampire companies. Barge into the lobby, push your way past the guards, get into the elevators, go to the top floors, pitch your tents and prepare to stay.
  It worked for that window factory in Illinois.
  Bring crucifixes and garlic since you're dealing with vampires.
  Bring Syrup of Ipecac (puke medicine).
  Bring ketchup (fake blood).
  Bring cellphones and other communications devices (and assumed that all of them will be intercepted).
  And try at least, to bring the media."




• "looks like vin went full retard on this one.no really he looks like her developed a rare case of adult onset downs syndrome.he might start a charity program."


• "bad words is the Weapon of retarded people who can not Facing the Facts... I wish you a pleasant stay in hell "
• "I want to put on my my my my my boogie shoes."
• "Of course evolution works in reverse, we have living proof of this on our planet today with the personality calling himself George W. Bush, He is so oblivioius to the natural wolrld and its precariousl positiion, that the probelms are simply invisible to him, It's not that he is evil, its just that his brain is incapable of understanding what is obvious to most others today, Pity him, but give him time, everything eventually evolves, it just takes some people longer than others."

Meet Jack Chick

This is a drawing of Jack Chick, the guy who gave you nightmares as a child afraid your parents were going to die in a car wreck and be tormented because you knew they drank, vague fears of dying and having devils poking you in the butt with pitchforks if you smoked cigarettes or listened to rock music. He could also make you look at your Catholic friends in pity and swallow hard expecting fire and brimstone to come raining down when a science teacher said the word evolution.

A drawing of him is necessary as representation as there are no known photographs.

He last gave an interview in 1975

It's even been widely speculated he wasn't real or that he has died.

Chick Publications report dispensing 750 million tracts.

His tracts have been translated into 100 languages

Two particular tracts were banned in the 80s in Canada and all were banned in Apartheid era South Africa

Jack Chick served with the US Army during WWII in the Pacific theater.

Now, you know more than you ever thought you would about Jack Chick.

Mondays Missives

• Just entered Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes- my worries are over.


• Since I was a kid I've entered every contest you can even imagine. In my late 30s I won 200.00 from a Coca Cola Bottlers contest of some type.


• See, I told all you naysayers I'd be a winner!


• I have a friend that wins every time he enters some goofy contest. I told him once when we were at work,"Hey man, they're having some kind of Christmas raffle, you ought to put your name in." He dropped two tickets and won two things. On the way back from picking them up he dropped some change in a machine for a drink. The machine spit out two drinks and a dollar in change for the fifty cents he put in.


• Did I say friend? Imagine my embarrassment- I hate that guy.


• When I was a little kid my dad took me to a tractor pull where a garden tractor was given as a door prize. The tickets had it seems a 10 or 12 digit number. I had that thing nailed until the last digit making that night a story my dad would retell countless times until his death,"I thought the little goofball was going to wet himself..."


• I know a person that won 40,000 dollars in the lottery. One that got 25,000 and one who won 10,000. The last was a girl who worked for me once years ago. Two weeks before she won her house burned down and the motor in her car had blown about three weeks prior.


• I teased my childrens great grandmother once about buying me a pickup after she started talking about everything she was going to do after she won the lottery she said,"I can't do that- that money has to last me the rest of my life!"


• She was 63 at the time and as I recall she said the amount for that day was 36 million.


• I still like the story of the New Zealander who was asked to recreate a big-ish scratch off lottery win for a tv news show. He scratched it off- the color literally drained from his face, he grasped a counter for support saying,"My God I won 250,000 I just won another 250,000!"


• There has been at least one person to win both their states lottery and the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes (and I think there's actually been two) The one I'm certain of though became a single issue politician in California for LGBT issues.


• Do people ever consider how they are going to feel when they pass around lottery tickets at Christmas or other occasions and somebody wins big?


• At a gathering one time everybody was supposed to bring one and exchange them. I did not bring one but, someone thought I should have one so after scratching it off I looked at it kind of quickly then feigned a look of mild shock and then studied that thing like Watson studied the DNA helix. My look went then back to shock, forcing my face to redden I swallowed hard, looked around then slipped it into my pocket. A few people caught on and said, "Did you win something?" People would then say,"Come on, you can tell me..." for months afterward.


• One of my old friends would drive his wife nuts by picking up every scratch off ticket he saw on the ground and check if it was a winner. He would tell her, "One of these days I'll win big and then you'll be singing a different tune!"


• The last I knew he won 200.00 off of one.


• I don't know if she started singing a different tune or not

Saturday Pre Funerary Thoughts

• I watched the first episode of Rocky and Bullwinkle last night on Hulu I wouldn't have guessed it was first aired in 1959. It was also more grownup oriented than I remembered.
• Ate a Mr. Goodbar for the first time in my life today.
• In spite of using the same coffee in the same amount, same maker- everything the same to make coffee in the morning- it always tastes different.
• Also, I can use the same cup to warm some in the microwave for the same amount of time and one time it's just nice enough to drink- the next I won't think anything of it and it will scald my mouth.
• That and windy days are really the only things I can't stop from putting me in a bad mood.
• I'll bet it will be standing room only at my children's great grandads funeral.
• Will tell some more stories about him later when I have pictures. My favorite? We were fishing on Bridgeport Lake up in a tree covered slough so we got surrounded by a storm by surprise. Coming back to his house in 3-4 foot waves the prop fouled in a trotline so I had to get out in the water and cut us free. The rear of the boat would pitch up so high I couldn't reach the prop and would have to swim back away from the boat until it slammed back down in the water and then dive under the motor to get to the prop.
• A Perfect Storm Wise County- Directors Cut.
• Have to go get ready for the funeral
• Would rather take a beating
• A severe one.

Fridays Dispatch

• Joe Arpaio Maricopa County Arizona Sheriff has a new reality show called Smile, You're Under Arrest. Love him or hate him that's your business but, he speaks of himself in the third person.


• You cannot trust a person who speaks of himself in the third person.


• I want to make a nice rocking chair before I die.


• This morning I read the whistling part of Otis Reddings Dock Of The Bay was meant initially to hold the place of another unwritten lyric but, was left as a tribute after the song was finished for him after his death.


• I could eat out every meal and live in hotels if I had the means.


• My favorite chair is a rocking chair made of mulberry from a tree that was in the builders neighbors yard. It fell during a storm and was given to the builder. He was selling them on the side of the road and as I drove by I noticed his arm was in a sling so I decided to stop and help him unload. He said the arm was broken but, I don't remember how. The rocker was marked 200.00 but, since I helped him unload I got it for 125.00.


• I know, I know- that arm had probably been broken for a year and the wood came from a telelphone pole and shipping crates but, it's still a pretty rocker and I've used it with all my children and nieces and nephews.


• I can still remember being under my dads chair scared out of my mind watching some horror movie when I was little.


• Did everyone have monsters under their beds? I used to stand on the end of mine and jump toward the door to get out of my room to avoid them. It's a wonder I didn't kill my self.
• From 1997 to 2007 there were over 1000 new species of plants and animals identified in Vietnams Mekong Delta alone. Not ameobas and grass mites- hares, snakes, birds, lizards and spiders as big as dinner plates.
• This world is still so much larger than most of us can grasp.
• I hope that butterfly feeling I get when I meet someone I'm attracted to never goes away.

Special Bonus Missives

• People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.


• Still absolutely mystified by peoples actions and words following a persons death.


• Having a bit of a tough time absorbing the death of my children's great grandfather and told someone in a conversation recently,"I spent a year in Iraq, I'm a hospice nurse, I might know a little about death- why is this so hard to get my mind around and accept?"


• My son was the first great grand child is one component


• Another, I admired him like no other and he respected and like me- that made feel like a better person I suppose.


• When he was nearly 80 I was going to tease him when I saw him first in a grocery store by bumping my cart into his rear end- however when I tried it only smashed his heel on the lower frame of the buggy. Without missing a beat he turned, stepped around that buggy and punched me in the stomach!


• You gotta love someone who at 80 would direct physical violence against someone less than half his age for fun.


• Someone on another blog (sorry, don't remember who) said to the effect, "How many rockets would Russia wait to rain down before they retaliated?" In regards to Israels strikes in the Gaza strip and the Russian mediation to end same.


• One
• Then the offending country would be flattened.


• Bought a new tent- a fancy schmancy Eddie Bauer 7 person model. It didn't last through one night of 30 mph winds. It's the third tent I've owned in as many years.


• They better not hassle me when I return it.


• What will I do?


• Whine, moan and bellyache like an impotent jerk and then stomp out of the store probably.
• I would be rather be that cobra than one in that pack of mongoose any day of the week.

Fair Warning