Here Is To A Great New Year And A Satisfying Rest Of Our Lives

Really, even if I don't know you at all I wish you the best. We're all in this together.
FG is in her room sleeping. She asked earlier, Will you kiss me at midnight?
What do you think- should I? I could get girl cooties.
I may have found a truck. The guy has had it since it was 1 one year old which is often better than buying it from the original owner- they aren't expecting you to pay for the privilege of saying, I bought it from the original owner!  
Zac is asleep in front of a fire he built. Did I mention he is 6?
Chloe just watched the ball drop for the first time ever.
We had very decent fajitas at Playa Maya and then played with the Light Flight flying disc in the park.
It has been a perfect day and evening.
Maybe we will have a perfect year.
Goodnight world wherever you are.
I love you in spite of yourself.

What I Really Meant

to say is I'm sorry for the way that I am

I never meant to be so cold

Monday's Missives

I think I jacked this from the HOTR lady.

• A surprise (I mean it) great cover of a great song- Uncle Kracker Drift Away. Dobie Gray who sang the most popular version is from Simonton Texas.
• When I'm asked to cover a case and they say, You were requested by name I usually know it's going to be a tough patient or a very bad area (or both). Maybe I should be flattered, but sometimes I wish there was more of me to go around.
• Some nurses feel threatened by the thought of going into the hood and staying with patients there. They aren't considering though: they're going in with a perceived sense of authority they won't have elsewhere- making the job so much easier. People there won't let anything happen to you- you're there to help and they know that if nothing else. Also, the good you'll do is difficult to over express. I will say though I had a big reality check once when I was asked to work a case in a bad area as the originally assigned nurse found out that a case manager came out to find a bullet hole in her car after a visit.
• Another favorite Uncle Kracker song- Writing It Down.

  

  This picture has intrigued me for years and 'm not exactly sure why.

• File under this could never happen to anyone else: recently I abraded my cornea. That could happen to anybody you say? A person could scratch their eye grinding metal at work, sawing firewood with a chainsaw... Let me finish then. While pulling off my shirt to get in scrubs for work the pointy part of my collar stabbed me in the eye.
• It was agony.
• The above is from an old draft.
• Handel's Messiah was on our to do list last week and dutifully marked, done. It was OK- not even as good as last year but it was enjoyable. The cellist was inspired and the violinists competent. Two of the singers I discerned from the program were married but couldn't figure out who the husband was.
• In another life I dated a girl who was a cellist for her cities orchestra. She would flex her arm back and using the forearm like the neck of a cello use her other hand to demonstrate finger techniques and notes. So, I was playing my solo and I was supposed to end with a flourish. Then there would be a couple of seconds of silence and then the piano would come in. Instead, as I was wrapping up he came in like he owned the place and totally stepped on me.! Can you believe that!? I found myself nodding, smiling and saying, Wow! That is cool. and Why is that? a lot when I thought I was supposed to do or say something when around her.

  

  Snowageddon 2013

  
  

  

  Magic Bullet did very well in the snowy wasteland.

  
  

  

  What you get when you're my FG and it is snack time on a snow day- wings in a nest of Texas garlic toast.

A Hospice Story

I just came across a piece of paper on which an old patient wrote, "Can I please have something for pain?" in a shaky hand. It took me back.

 Less than 30 minutes after bringing him the medication he got a surprised look on his face which turned to fear which gave way to a peaceful expression and then he just stared at me while I stood at his bedside. Knowing he was nearly gone I told him I was sorry, that he'd be OK, that I wouldn't leave, that I was glad we spent the time together we had and that I would always think of him as a friend. He held my hand tight. A tear rolled out of his eye as he arched his neck, then with a full body convulsion blood began pouring out of his mouth- gushing actually like nothing I'd ever seen. Urine began shooting up from his body against the wall while I was trying to support his neck to maintain his airway and hold his hand and talk him through his last moments on earth while trying to look as calm and compassionate as possible.

 He gave out a moan then stopped moving. The light went out in his eyes and the color quickly washed from his body. I released his hand and slumped down in the same chair I had watched football from with him just the night before and put my head in my hands.

 Earlier that same night the staff nurses were still flirting with him to keep his spirits up. I was flirting with them and he was daring me to ask one of them out by scrawling notes out in my notebook. Later I showed him a phone number written in girlie handwriting with a heart to dot the i in her name and a smiley face to the side of the number. He mouthed, Whoa! and Wow! I made him laugh until he was breathless and I would have to turn his oxygen up and put a breathing treatment on him. Then we'd laugh at how ridiculous the situation was.

 I think I then breathed for the first time since the incident started. I remember the sound of a cheap clock ticking above and behind me on the wall while watching that tear roll down his cheek, touch his ear lobe then roll down his neck.

 He was 52 years old and I really was the closest thing to a friend he had left in this world.

I'll never forget him.

In This Hole That

is me The dead are rolling over

Friday's Dispatch

No, not my children nor my dog, but if he had the chance to get on film ruining a family pic while taking a growler- rest assured, he wouldn't hesitate.

• A contractor on the house next door was thinking about stealing my kids heeler when he was looking around the site this morning. He was looking around with the dog sitting there beside him with that I'm looking around to try and steal something without looking like I'm about to steal something look on his face. The dead giveaway? When I called the dog he looked up with that, I have totally just been busted and did not see that dude standing there look on his face and put his head down and started shuffling a piece of mud on the driveway like it was the most interesting thing in the world.
• Tssk tssk- for shame for shame, but let me assure you buddy, that little embarrassment was way better than you'd got if I'd caught you stealing my kids dog. No, that would not have gone well for you I'm afraid. I would have hurt him.
• And I don't even like the thing.
• Sweet dreams cutie pattootie- the last text message I received.
• The above from an ages old raft.
• FG just took off into the wild blue yonder. She'll be gone 4 days- the longest we've been apart in a year.
• People sometimes like to argue about what it would have been like to see Muhammed Ali fight Mike Tyson- each in their prime. It is hard for me to engage in that kind of argument, not because I don't like boxing or find the idea not interesting, it jut seems such a no brainer to me- Tyson would have killed Ali. As in maybe, literally- beat Ali to death. Ali is such a legend people don't like to think of it that way but Ali's style if nothing else would have worked hard against him.
• To be filed under OK whatever: there are approximately 50 thousand people in our world who call themselves Druids- a religion that literally hardly anything is known about  except for a few writings of people other than ancient Druids- some maybe not fans and many whose assessments came from secondhand hand knowledge.
• How very cool- earlier I saw a ring made from gold, meteorite and dinosaur bone.
  

Whats Your name? Who

do you love?

Thursday's Thoughts

                                                                       Container of strawberries from my fridge. Really- no joke.

• Psycho girlfriend.
• Somebody I have to interact with occasionally has breath that smells like poo- literally and I don't know how to tell them. I have talked to total strangers about suspicious moles and once showed a child and mother who were total strangers how to properly use his crutches but, how do you tell someone they might have something wrong with them because their breath smells like doo-doo?
• There's a couple of things people who know me at least fairly well often believe about me- that are simply not true.
• On a related note, more than one person who has known me has suggested I should be a computer programmer. You would love it and be great at it! programmers have said more than once. I would rather eat dirt sandwiches for a living as a taste tester. Simply could not stand doing that and interestingly, have tried to learn a little more about it and cannot grasp the concepts in the first place.
• Today 12/23/09 at lunch I tipped a girl more than my meal cost.
• I use vinegar and baking soda a lot to clean things in the house.
• But, not together- no not good.
• You know you are or may have been a soldier at one time if your children play with things that once belonged to dead bad guys.

X-Mas Thoughts And Memories

Kind of random but a refugee patient brought this back to Texas from a trip to Turkey. It is a model of Mayflower. It got crushed in transit. I told him it was OK- I would fix it. It was a frustrating exercise in futility and I tossed it in the fire and watched it burn. As if scripted, his contact information which was written in non native English on the bottom and addressed, "To my good friend Mr. Kevin..." was visible on the bottom of the stand for 90% of the conflagration process. I may be a monster.

• My mom loved Xmas like nobody I have ever met. It was consuming, pervasive and infectious. We were so poor I don't know how she did it but we all always had great presents, there was copious amounts of awesome food and the  shack house was always decorated. I recall only giving her one little gift as a kid but I hope I did OK for her. I can still hear her cries of , OoooOh!  Oh My! when opening some present she liked that somebody gave her and the way her face glowed with happiness.
• Sometimes I would get a present I had asked for the year before- after the fire for that had gone out. She must have saved all year and used layaway to get those things for me. God, I love her for that now. I hope I didn't act like too big an ingrate back then about it.
• Everybody knew as a boy I liked canned pears so one year my sister in law gave me a can of pears with a note that said, " Fly out to my car and get your present! "  
• I missed the note and just thought it was cool to get a can of pears. You cannot believe how poor we were and how unsophisticated I was.
• I guess you would say we were working class poor- dad always had a job but it was low paying.
• The present was a gas powered plane that flew around on a string .
• While looking for an obit for a person I was going to reference I happened upon the name of an acquaintance. I know all but one of his pallbearers. Also, I noted the death of another old friends dad. I think my generation is at that place where; we are aware of our mortality, our elder family members are old enough to be dropping like flies, we are still mobile enough to get killed in accidents, our behaviors have had time to catch up to us, our kids are old enough to get themselves killed and luck just generally runs out. We aren't so young that there are no losses, nor so old everybody else is already gone.
• I burn frankincense every year at Christmas.
• Was it George King that had the Christmas lights? Anyway, we loved going there every year. My favorite part was the Santa in the boat fishing from the lake- I lived for that and didn't care much about the rest of it. I thought my dad was hot stuff because he knew George personally. When we would come home presents would be under the tree from Santa. 
• I just realized- who put those presents out ? ! ‽ 

An E Mail To A Friend

Hey homes. I just wanted to remind you- you're best friend I've ever had and I am thankful for you. God, a lot of years too huh bro?

Who would have ever guessed the highs and lows- the gains and the losses. We've lived long enough life has stopped giving and started taking or to be more correct- it is at least taking more than it gives.

We've accomplished quite a bit I think and have helped each other figure some things out along the way.

Memories of Kill Fest 99, Blood Sport 2000 and If It Flies It Dies 01 have carried me through many dark days.

When I think of the kind of friend I want to be to people I think of how you have been for me.

So, anyway enough mushy stuff.

Take care and let me know if  can do anything for you

What I'm Listening To

Liam Lynch- Fake Jack White Song. You'd have to have listened to some of Jack White's stuff to get this one, but if you're a fan- you'll dig it.

General Observations, Flashbacks, Recipes, Memories and Pre Christmas Musings You Know- Life And Stuff

Warren Earl Vaughn Childress TX native. He was murdered and eaten by Japanese soldiers after his capture on Ichi Jima.

• In our society if a low life schmuck suicides the news will be, " So and so killed himself or even, So and So shot himself in the head ..." If it is a high toned society type it will be, " So and so took his own life " or " died by his own hand " or " chose to end his own life. "
• Reality TV shows are a good representation of all that is wrong with us.
• I cooked a very passable rib eye and steamed green beans for supper this evening.
• Well, since you asked; Let a 1 to 1 1/2 inch steak warm to room temp and season both sides with pepper, chili powder, and Worcestershire sauce. Dice up garlic over it. Heat a skillet medium to medium-hot.  Drop a tablespoon of butter and olive oil in pan. Add steak as soon as foam settles. Cook for 6-7 minutes a side. After it is to your taste remove and wrap in foil with all the juices and garlic that were left in pan and let stand for 5 minutes before you devour.
• FG is alseep on the couch and her dumb cat is asleep on the bench in front of the fireplace. I'm giving the remake of Fright Night a chance under the Xmas tree. A perfect- perfect evening.
  
• I think I've done pretty well for everybody this Christmas.
• In Iraq we ate a lot- it was a social thing and a personal one to perk you up and combat boredom. As a consequence, myself and others got to where if we were slightly hungry we felt like we were going to starve to death. While a bunch of guys lost weight and got in good shape I heard it said it was the first war ever fought in the history of the world where guys got too fat to stay in the service.
• Actually, I was the one to say that- feel free to use it, just credit me in your bibliography.
• Toward the end of the battle of Stalingrad a group of homeless civilians were allowed into a gym where the Red Army had for some reason been storing scrap metal. A small boy, ( I don't recall-was he about 8 or 9? ) immediately started climbing a rope hanging from the middle of the ceiling. After he got up to a certain point he fell onto the scrap metal below. His screams faded to whimpers then to moans before without anybody attempting to comfort him he died. 
• It has been years since I read about that story but it still bothers me and I'm not exactly sure why.

Monday's Missives

• If you wonder why Rush Limbaugh is such a big deal it would help to understand the context in which he got big in the first place. For 30-50 years broadcast news readers could and would say whatever they wanted to disparage a conservative and/or promote a more liberal agenda regardless of what they were discussing. We just didn't hear anything from a conservative standpoint without really digging and looking. President Reagan could be at a Girl Scouts meeting and say to the crowd, I am an animal lover who believes in  helping poor people but the best way to help is to have a good economy so those who want to work can do so as a rising tide raises all the ships.  I also believe in a strong military to protect us and our interests. Dan Rather or Peter Jennings would come out and say, President Reagan while raping a goat at a Ku Klux Klan gathering said if it was up to him any poor people who don't want to work would be forced into the ocean by the US Army. Honestly, you would not believe how bad it was if you didn't live then or dig for the truth a little yourself..
• The Marines have been ordered to change their cover (uniform hat) for the dress uniform. Some people have attempted to be pejorative and start a false argument over the proposed replacement by saying they look too, "girly". I don't know about that but they do look literally ridiculous.

• I may be be the only person in some of my patients lives who has ever asked them about their future and really encouraged them to attend college.
• For a while SYFY has been promising a lot of good, original CGI movies. There are a lot I suppose and they may be original and yes, they have CGI effects...

  

  FG: This was my granddads.
  Me: Cool.
  FG: I bet it was expensive.
  Me: Yeah, well its priceless to you. It reminds you of him and it was his- that is cool.
  FG: I bet it cost at least 500 bucks. I mean look at all its got going on- a compass, fishing gear and sharpening stone!.
  Me Yeah.
  FG: What do you mean- yeah? OK. But it was at least 100 bucks right?
  Me: No, probably about ten dollars.
  FG: You don't know anything.

  
  
  
  

  

  Blackcomb Mongoose. Bombproof (but heavy) frame and excellent components. They didn't catch on with serious mountain bikers so you can find them like new on CL often for about 150 bucks.
  
  
  

  • 
    

Nutcracker 2013

• We saw The Nutcracker today (12/21/2013) . We almost didn't make it on time to the Bass. I literally gave up and said, We're not going to make it. Do you want to do something else? Then I realized we could cut around the side roads and have a chance so I punched it and said, Hold on.  We sat down down 1 minute before curtain.
• I went in my jeans, Henley and hiking boots as the weather was so nasty when we left. The lady next to me at first thought me a rube, then a soul mate when she realized I not only understood what was going on- I've lost count of the number of times I've seen the Nutcracker. She used terms like complex, technical and omigosh- organic when we spoke during and after intermission. She has seen it 3 times this year- of course once was New York.
• But of course dahling.
• What a sweet little lady though. I'll never forget her.
• Bass Hall is beautiful. It is literally perfect.
  
  
  
• There are not words for the sets production quality. It was breathtaking.
• A lawyer behind us bought up the whole row for his family so poor people vapors wouldn't get on him and his snowflakes.
• Yep- behind me.
• We'll never be here again- what I told FG.
  
• I couldn't find the right nutcracker for my office so I passed. The good ones in the gift shop were 40 bucks and up but I would have bought the right one.
• Every moment is a gift. What an incredible gift we have. If you're reading this- I hope you realize that before it is too late.
  
• Blue cheese burger, fried green beans with wasabi sauce and sweet potato fries were on the menu afterwards. We destroyed ourselves.
• There is a Mark Twain statue on a bench overlooking the Trinity in Trinity Park . We took our pictures with him. FG's whole demeanor changed sitting by him- she absolutely sensed that she was touching him somehow- I love that about her.
• There were a ridiculous number of birds in and around the river..
• Peace on earth is a bit much but I have goodwill toward most.

Translating Womanspeak

Woman: You could do so much better than me.

Translation: I could do so much better than you.

The Day Is Wet

and miserable. I differ in that I am dry.

Friday's Dispatch

This is a shark skin glove that contains thousands of small synthetic thorns and costs nearly a 1000 dollars so yes- it is retarded.

• Decisions, decisions on the E Reader dilemma.
• An old friend's wife was smart, funny, kind, interesting , had a great body and took really good care of herself. She also had a face that would stop a clock. Getting to know her well and see how positively people responded to her caused me to rethink a lot of my beliefs about looks and what the persons inner self really means.
• "In 1945 the Nazis left earth for the moon- in 2018 they come back." And this time, it's no more Mr. Nice Guy.
• I slipped the last part in the description, but simply cannot wait for Iron Sky to be released.

  

  Tarzan- uh, what are you thinking man? Anyway, you need to quit it.

• People have debated whether cruise ships should make call in Haiti- when there's so much suffering in Port Au Prince. This kind of thinking isn't rational or reasonable. It is odd though- will give it that much. People make their living off the liners that make calls there, people that come ashore spend money, the vessels bring food, water and medicines (lots of each) and of course the cruise lines are giving gazillions of dollars to relief organizations.
• The above from an old draft- Iron Sky was terrible and I have decided on a convertible notebook/tablet and will order it soon-ish.
• There is still nothing in this world quite like a snow day is there?
• I still always want to call Edward Snowden Eric or Edwin.
• Malagasy was offered as an alternative to, " always " above as I misspelled it so horrifically.
• I think apart from being awful and oppressive, our government engaged in it's massive spying operation(s) on us because they can. They're so ineffectual at any kind of overseas operations that might actually do some good they engage in what can actually do well and with impunity here.
• If you don't know with all your heart the .gov healthcare site will get hacked and information misused for commercial, scamming and yes, political purposes you're crazy.

  

  Found in the garbage in Kingwood Texas

Gravity Is

a harsh mistress. 

The Tick

Wednesday's Digressions

• A fun video for a great song by the inimitable Depeche Mode It's No Good.
• "2009: Vladimir Likhonos, a Ukrainian student, died after accidentally dipping a homemade chewing gum into explosives he was using on another project. He mistook the jar of explosive for citric acid, which was also on his desk. The gum exploded, blowing off his jaw and most of the lower part of his face." From Wikipedia entry titled Unusual deaths.
• First thought- unusual- ya think? Then, a student? A student of what?

  

  Voted best book cover in the history of ever- by me.

• Normally  I am one who buys a huge bill of groceries prior to an impending storm, not because I anticipate actually being trapped in the house for any length of time- it just makes sense. You need stuff anyway and you're going to need to eat during the icy apocalypse just as much as any other day so we might as well. Consequently we're off to gear up for Iceageddon 2013 as it enters it's 24th hour.
• The Walmarts was literally wiped out of many items this evening- it looked like it had just suffered a post zombie apocalypse looting.
• Congress, after solving all the other problems of the United States had a hearing today on the search for extraterrestrial life. 
  
• Earlier I saw an article about an actress whose home was burglarized and the resulting recovery of her things. I'm ecstatic! she proclaimed. They're bringing my stuff back now. When does that ever happen? she asked. Uh, when you're rich, hot, white, an actress and the burglary of your house is national news?
• Once as I tried to get a girl I was spending some time with more interested in me she shocked me by saying to the effect, Kev, I like you but you are not my type for a relationship. I like really big guys- fat guys. Really big and fat guys are the only ones who turn me on. My last boyfriend was 300 pounds and part of the reason we broke up was he started losing weight.  With my head spinning and still partly waiting for her to say, Kevin- wake up you goober. I am kidding. I am totally into you! I dug a little deeper and found from when she got married at 19 to a dude that couldn't hardly tie his own shoes to her present 30 year old just nearly hot self she dug fatties. Weird, I thought since I was all built up and looking pretty good it would give me an edge on being with her- nope. I needed to gain 300 pounds and have heart failure. 

Saint John

Although a little goes a long way I like sax heavy jazz and a little bit of avant garde jazz music. Something I did not know is John Coltrane was worshiped as a god by a group of people in SF. Here, Wiki can explain it better than I: "After Coltrane's death, a congregation called the Yardbird Temple in San Francisco began worshipping him as God incarnate. The group was named after Parker, whom they equated to John the Baptist.^[31] The congregation later become affiliated with the African Orthodox Church; this involved changing Coltrane's status from a god to a saint.^[31] The resultant St. John Coltrane African Orthodox Church, San Francisco is the only African Orthodox church that incorporates Coltrane's music and his lyrics as prayers in its liturgy.^[32]

Samuel G. Freedman wrote in a New York Times article that "the Coltrane church is not a gimmick or a forced alloy of nightclub music and ethereal faith. Its message of deliverance through divine sound is actually quite consistent with Coltrane's own experience and message."^[31] Freedman also commented on Coltrane's place in the canon of American music:

In both implicit and explicit ways, Coltrane also functioned as a religious figure. Addicted to heroin in the 1950s, he quit cold turkey, and later explained that he had heard the voice of God during his anguishing withdrawal. [...] In 1966, an interviewer in Japan asked Coltrane what he hoped to be in five years, and Coltrane replied, "A saint."^[31]

Coltrane is depicted as one of the 90 saints in the Dancing Saints icon of St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco. The icon is a 3,000-square-foot (280 m²) painting in the Byzantine iconographic style that wraps around the entire church rotunda. It was executed by Mark Dukes, an ordained deacon at the Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church, who painted other icons of Coltrane for the Coltrane Church.^[33] Saint Barnabas Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey included Coltrane on their list of historical black saints and made a "case for sainthood" for him in an article on their former website.^[34]

Here is Naima a composition he named for a wife.

Monday's Missives

Get over yourselves Godless dudes and dudettes.

• An old acquaintance was on my mind like white on rice the other night and spite of the fact I'd only talked to him once in ten years and never ever on the phone while I was thinking of him- he called. He got my number from a mutual acquaintance who is my best friend.
• Here's my number call me and we'll go out. You'll love it- I'm a blast to be around and you won't want to miss the way I kiss. Oh yeah? she says.  Believe it I say,  It's like a spring thunderstorm- you'll see lightning flashes and feel the ground move like it's thundering right over us.
• She giggled.
• Whoa- those 2 thoughts are from some old draft! I have been with FG for over a year now. Don't tell her about that second bullet point- OK? That is the kind of stuff I used to pull but I'm a reformed, good boy now.
  

  

  I am always very sure people who like this slogan have no idea of it's origins. The Mexican government out of the kindness of it's heart loaned a cannon to some Texicans in Gonzales colony (who knew it was a loaner cannon ) to protect against Indians on the warpath. When the Mexican government wanted it back to keep it from being used against their troops this rallying cry was born.

• Fewer homeless people hanging out in library- must be out of town for the holidays.
• I just nearly have no patience for video games. They seem an incredibly sad waste of time.
• The role unmanned aerial vehicles will soon play in our day to day lives honestly can't be imagined by most of us I think and definitely cannot be overstated. They may deliver wings and pizzas yes but they will monitor traffic, respond to disasters and gather weather data and this will all be sooner rather than later. The first real commercial use I foresee is in real estate- interested in a property? You'll be able to do a flyover with a click from a stored video and developers will use them for active scouting of properties. Yep, they'll be abused by cops and governments in general but I hope that doesn't hinder the good they can do for us.
• I heard a comedian joke about Dave Matthews Band playing a festival, Sing Crash and let the next band have the stage! He is right. DM while not a one hit wonder (necessarily) is definitely an oddity. If there aren't a 1,000 more talented douchebags on college campuses in the US alone there are 10,000 but yeah- that song is pretty great in my book. Interestingly, I didn't know until 5 seconds ago there are multiple black guys in that band.
• Zac is outside exploring our frozen, winter wonderland (12/06/2013). I wonder if he will remember this day 20 years from now?

  

  I do not know why this guy is standing in front of a trash truck holding a .50 cal rifle

  
  

  

  nor do I know why these little girls are chasing a bunch of baby skunks around.

The First Day Of Christmas...

• The season's first Christmas party I attended last night was great- simply great, a few people in a fine home, awesome food, a bunch of guns and a lot of dead stuff on the walls. The guys spit, drank and watched the NFR. The women drank womenly drinks (except for one- she drank moonshine) and played some very busy and complicated looking domino game. The women filmed themselves  twerking in front of the Xmas tree with a bunch of teenage girls.  There was an old dog to pet and a fireplace on the back porch- it may have been a perfect evening.
• I was up 'til after 3 AM. Honestly, I'm not even sure the last time that happened.
• We drove moonshine lady home. She only acquiesced to the assistance after telling her she could park the car once we got to her place. It took her longer for her to stuff the car in the driveway than it did for us to get her home. I hope she didn't leave again after we split but you can only do so much for people.
• She was the typical drunk- really funny at first, then the bit wears thin but I am glad she had a good time. 
• If the ceiling in their house wasn't 16 feet- it was 18. The home is literally nearly perfect. They killed themselves to make it happen. It is easy to be happy for them and respect what they have.
• I'm still not sure what twerking is- they banned us from coming into the living room but they were howling with laughter and screaming and stuff was getting knocked over. The cat ran out of the room like he feared for his life.
• We had enchiladas and the best salsa I have ever had along with some very passable pico de guyo.
• Kev, I think you got the best one of the bunch!: another party goers estimation of FG when comparing spouses and significant others.
• FG and I drank Dr Peppers and H2o.
• The host-dude has an antler on display which is the only remnant he has of the buck as he actually shot the horn off the animal. He said, He dropped in his tracks like he had died of a heart attack. He hit the ground like a sack of rotten potatoes. I thought I had brain-shot 'im. When I went to round 'im up he started coming around. He staggered around and groaned and then took off at a dead run. He saw the antler on the ground and figured what happened as the event transpired. He was asked why he didn't shoot again to take the buck down. I knew the answer before he spoke- it would have been wrong. The deer deserved to live after that close call.
• I can't wait to hear the story though, when that deer catches up to him and shanks him in the neck with that remaining horn.
• Yes- deer have long memories and are very vengeful.
  

  

  Not our party

  
  

  

  Not his one either

I'm About To

head out for a Xmas party. Wayne- help me get in the spirit.

Ladies And Gentlemen Say Hello And Goodbye To Mr. Ray Price

Ray is getting ready to check out and I am trying to keep my act together before my kids see me bawling. He has been a favorite for most of 50 years. He is at his home now in East Texas eat up with cancer. If you know Ray- this is the song you were expecting...

I never know- put up a picture of how they are, or how they were?

Friday's Dispatch

• I dislike needlessly complex questions- to wit:" Are you coming over or not? Or are you doing something else?" which was the last text message I received. What would be wrong with, "You coming over?"
• Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs Iraq war vet liar.
• I: give so much of my time to those around me, am generally so respectful of others peoples time, and require so very little attention from others that I really, really can't stand being blown off- by anybody.
• Me and Zac are off to the pawn shop to look for some movies.
• Yes, my son is only 3 and already being introduced to the seedy underbelly of Weatherford TX.
• I'm often asked the inspiration for the name of my imaginary 45 ft. Fountain Powerboat Sweet Lucy- well here it is

Thursday's Thoughts

Fancy hammered copper table at Copper Creek. It turned FGs hands green.

• I just (11/29/2013) left the On The Run Store at Martin Drive and Main in Weatherford. The car wash  wouldn't take the code from the  wash I bought a couple of days ago when I bought gasoline . I should have known there was going to be trouble when the wash monkey said, Are you sure neither one of you used it? After he backed everybody up  behind me so I could get out of the wash line I went inside where the cashier said, I can't just give you one. I'll have to talk to Sam about this. (insert face palm) . After literally 10 minutes of her going back and forth between me and his office with inane questions Sam finally came out and looking down his nose at me said, Yes, sir?! in that smug way that is designed to establish who is boss and let you know if you get your way it is only out of his good graces. He asked where the receipt was that was printed by the machine when the transaction failed. He literally rolled his eyes and shook his head when I told him the wash guy took it. He then slovenly plodded toward the wash area expecting me to follow. To make a long story short I didn't have time for that and if he thought I was trying to beat him out of the 6 bucks he makes on the cheap car wash he is giving me a lot of credit setting him up for that kill as I go in there at least twice a week not including outside gasoline transactions and have been doing so for years. He knows my face. Anyway- weird, he was worried about getting beat out of a few bucks and neither I nor FG will ever go back there again- literally never. He is famously cheap but he lost at least 300 dollars of business a month quibbling over a wash that might have cost a dollar (his cost) . I can't figure people out sometimes.
• Wow, it is beautiful outside. It is literally perfect. There is a breeze that swishes the leaves and the temp. is about 60 degrees. It couldn't be any more perfect.

  

  I love compasses- from the old time type to most modern electronic and own a few versions of each. Ships captains in the days of old might not carry anything off their ship at ports or in emergencies but their charts and instruments but they would not be separated from them. This is actually called a lifeboat compass. It may not have been a perfect instrument but it was protected well enough to be as reliable as it was when it was  made so it would be useful in an emergency.

• Another related thought to the first bullet: a store that treats you well enough when things are going their way- that doesn't mean much. Why wouldn't they treat you well ? You're handing them money. You find out about your relationship to them when they have a chance to make something right they have screwed up.
• To be filed under it had to happen somewhere sooner or later: a Japanese man has sued a hospital after a mix up in the nursery 60 years ago caused him to be raised in poverty instead of  by his wealthy birth parents.

  

  How did we let this crazy punk capture our imagination so? Forty years on and we still let him scare us and he is in the news at least once a month.

• In the big picture I am not sure how DFW compares to other airports but I always get in and out very easily when picking somebody up and find it easy to navigate once inside when departing/arriving for flights but I am also always super unsure about where I am going in there until I get to the gate.
• I am never sure how to use someone or somebody in a sentence.

Zacism

"She's the fisher and I'm the worm."

Zac's philosophical take on being asked to help his sister with the bait by picking worms so he could more or less play a supporting role allowing me to focus on getting her some fish.

Wednesday's Digressions

• Although I think the tendency dissipates with age it isn't uncommon when we love somebody intensely to not be able to recall what the person looks like if they're not right in front of us. Why is that true? 

• A not very nice person in an associated clinic at work is leaving and is going around and engaging in pleasantries and fishing for well wishes. In her mind she is undoing all the nasty things she has done and leaving others with a better opinion of her. That isn't how it works. If we think or speak of her at all after she leaves it will be to recount how nasty she was and what a lame attempt she made at improving her legacy but in reality she will hardly ever cross anybodies mind in the first place and it will be even more rare that we speak of her.

  

  Self checkout bum station

•  I can't get these bullets to move closer together. If I try they disappear altogether and to get the bullet to show in the first place I have to delete the period from the last sentence of the previous thought and then tap it in again and then hit enter.

  

  Another sweet project vehicle. Don't worry champ- that'll buff right out.

• My arm is sore from my flu shot yesterday (09/26/2013). The dummy who gave it to me put herself in an awkward position causing her to place and consequently withdraw the needle at an odd angle. 

•  I just read that various US government agencies have spent 5 million dollars on drones for use in the US. Impossible. If they haven't spent 4-5 times that they haven't spent a nickel and I wouldn't be surprised if the figure isn't closer to 10 times that amount.

•  "All we have to do is tell the Chinese that eating Buffalo dong makes your wiener bigger and they'll be gone in six months."   

•  The above was from a comments section about the wild European bison- the commenter is exactly right.