Monday's Missives

• Thanks to Don and RPM for the reminder- RC Cola was the off brand soda I was thinking of that we drunk as a kid when we were even poorer than usual. It was a nickel and maybe a full dime cheaper than Coke or DP. We would sit on the step to Ray's in Decatur and drink them and turn the bottles back in so we didn't even pay the deposit. 
• Thug friends once involved me in petty larceny there. When I wasn't around they stole a case of bottles and involved me in selling them back to Ray. I hated them for that.
• Only one of those guys are still alive.
  
• A lime green Aventador would be my Red Barchetta in the post driver controlled car world.

  

  
  Me: check this out I got got it in change from a Coke machine. She: good for you Kevin you got a quarter. No it's a Susan B Anthony dollar- look. Me: Have you never seen a Susan B. Anthony dollar? She: It was made in 1980. That was 5 years before I was born...

• Although I hear the name from time to time- I have no idea who Dennis Prager is. Recently though, I got stuck watching a woman speaker in an ad for whatever he was selling while waiting for a Youtube video. It was related to abortion and Planned Parenthood. Literally everything she said was either a lie, irrelevant or did not mean what they thought it meant.

  

  Breakfast of champions.

• Clowns may not be creepiest figure at a party.

Monday's Missives

• The question was asked when talking about steroids in pro baseball,"What if it were Nolan Ryan we're talking about?" The point being if you thought all the users are scum.
• Interestingly, if talking about football the numbers may not be all that high in my opinion but, in baseball the holy hand wringing- especially say- 10 or more years ago is very, very naive- I guarantee you essentially 100% used steroids at some point.
• I hardly ever get naive or guarantee correct the first time.
• My patient died this morning before I got to them. It's a relief sometimes when that happens- like cutting class- I break out a movie, a book, go for ride or whatever, kind of fun- playing hooky. But, I always at some point in that day think of the family and hope they are OK even though I never met them or their loved one.
• The best nursing facility I've been in with easily the best nursing, rehab and dietary department etc. was a dump- literally a dangerous looking place in a bad neighborhood. The one which has easily the most beautiful facility I've ever been in in North Texas always has such a blase' attitude toward their patients when I go in, it very much borders on neglect.
• I gave Zac a piece of peach to take his sister when I made his this morning. After he gave it to her he smiled real big and said," Are you happy sister?"
• My sister is wanting to organize a regular family reunion- I hope she pulls it off- they can be fun and important. When we had them in the past we did them at the Wise County Posse Grounds in Decatur TX which was cool since a lot of the family has or had roots there and the counties reunion fair is there annually anyway.
• Sad, how often we think about reunions at of course- funerals and every time we say we need to get together... there are fewer and fewer people you call family to pull together. I do like though that there would be people from all sides of the families- in laws and outlaws etc. who would feel perfectly welcome to come if we can pull it off.
• Supposedly, if I laid out my political beliefs for you and you were an expert in political labeling you'd stamp me a Libertarian.
• Although I'd have to ask,"Is there a such thing as a qualified Libertarian?"
• Anybody who doesn't see a bias in the main news outlets toward a liberal political view seems dishonest to me. If I could honestly call myself liberal in my political thinking my response to the accusation would be along the lines of,"Of course it would seem that way if nothing else- we're right."
• A standout example on this subject: recently a guy defended his family against a burglar with a baseball bat- his aluminum ally I remember very well it being called because I simply could not check the news without hearing about one aspect or another of that story. The homeowner broke the burglars jaw and he was found in a storage shed nearby.
• You would have never heard a thing about it from any of those sources if it was a pistol he used- and have to know I'm right.

Wednesday's Digressions

• "Kavya Shivashankar wins National Spelling Bee after successfully completing the "Fill In your name" portion of the application."
• Fark headline- 
• I know someone who was referred to CPS for an injury their child received and which they subsequently sought treatment for but, this is not the point at which hilarity ensued.
• That started when the social worker came to the house and mom still had  Child Abuser playfully written on her arm by a family member who had been teasing her mercilessly about the ordeal.
• The great grandmother whose funeral was held recently was posed with her head turned slightly toward the viewer and a faint smile on her face.
• Different.
• Love having a couple of old friends who were funeral directors- lots of interesting stories and inside scoop.
• An old schoolfriend was the funeral director for my mom. Who would have ever guessed when essentially our entire 3rd grade class once got in trouble for having a rock fight on the playground we'd meet again under such circumstances? I think the teacher must have ducked into the lounge for a smoke and the rocks went flying. It's a wonder someone wasn't killed.
• You're dating yourself I guess- if you remember teachers lounges that smelled worse than any bar.

Whoever loves let him flourish. Whoever knows not love let him perish. Let him perish twice whoever forbids love.

Graffiti found at Pompeii

Mondays Missives

• "Thanks for being so nice to my mom and making a great burger." What her daughter said to me when she came up and hugged me the other day after I cooked out.
• Dateline did a story on a Denton TX cops murdered wife. The description said, "the forgotten murder..." Was it ever- I'd never even heard of the case. One thing that kept popping up was," not enough evidence, says prosecutors office." If it were you or me (assuming you're not a cop) they would have brought back hanging for the death penalty for us.
• My eldest has enlisted in the Army as an infantryman with Ranger option. I guess he didn't stand a chance being raised by me, his grandad and uncles. No, I wasn't a Ranger, but was combat arms (reconnaissance specialist) instead of just about any job in the Army which my scores would have allowed.
• We fed pizza to the ducks at Sunshine Lake yesterday. We brought chicken lunch meat but tossed it where mammalian life could find it later. It would have seemed an atrocity to feed a bird to another bird.
• I have never seen Footloose and that random thought about me is unlikely to change. For people who like it I would have assumed it to be a timeless classic. For people not interested for the past 30 years it seems unlikely a remake would change their minds- two reasons the recent remake seems odd to me.
• I think I may quit drinking coffee.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Monday's Missives

• We did not get to stay long at Spark In The Park this year. The first band was Josh Weathers. Man, he sounded good during his solo warm-up. The sound was clean and loud for the venue without overwhelming. They did I'll Fly Away early on which is not unusual in Texas for a band that does not hate Jesus. I am nearly certain I heard Willie do it once.
• However, I did not know it was gonna be all Jesus all the time.
• 15 minutes was plenty (or 30-whatever it was). Nobody is more down with Jesus than me but that was not what I was there for and as a bonus- leaving got us out of the insane heat and humidity.
  
  
  
  
• I saw a ridiculous road rage incident this evening on the way home. It was between a lady who if she was not 60 she was 70 and a male. She would not let him over and was on the phone in that, I am turning and leaning away from you simultaneously in an exaggerated manner- so you can see I am actively ignoring you...
• It just made me think she was positioning herself for an easy head shot when he finally snapped.
• Instead of road rage that incident was more of what mom would have called, A good old fashioned pissin' contest.
• Funny thing about those things though- nobody really ever wins and the consequences of them can be dire.
• I just saw a trailer for Blade Runner 2045. It did not spark an interest at all which I found both odd and surprising.
  

Monday's Missives

• The people who were ripped off by the Theranos lady did not deserve what they got (because you're not supposed to steal) but dang she looked crazy and what is with that phony timbre that she affected with her voice? That would have been enough to make me say meeting over- we are done here.
• Also, oddly her family defended her and said that was her real voice. Did she have them fooled also- or were they lying to protect her?
• I heard a human resources somebody from Wal Mart ask a potential employee over the phone what religion they were. I would not have believed it had I not heard it myself. It was one of the first questions she asked.
• It was so dumb and out-of-place that even the poor person being asked himself thought she said, region so he said Afghanistan.
• Yes as you can guess he was obviously Muslim as the person asking the questions on the phone also obviously presumed. I will now presume you know he did not get that job.
• My biggest regret from during the war? Behind our shower point was a large lagoon where they dumped all of the grey water from the showers and all of the poo water from everywhere else on the base. The crazy thing is that  it was home to gazillions of birds. I saw a parrot and I think an Ibis near there and a medic buddy said he saw a parrot also.  Every evening you would see flights of birds coming into there from every direction. I wouldn't go back there though because it would violate my rule of, Do to not stick my neck out unless I have to.
• It is December 15th October 2019 at 0547 hours and crickets are singing like mad outside. It is so unusual for this time of day I presume that it has some meaning to it like breeding time or weather a pending weather change or something.