On this date

Thunder rumbled and heavy rains rolled through in the pre-dawn hours. I’m glad I watered the flowers and garden last night. 

Today marks 37 years since I stood in the Methodist Church and pledged my love to my wife. The intervening decades have shown lots of ups and lots of downs. I couldn’t think of anyone I would rather be with.

So it appears the break in my foot is no better or no worse. It goes 75% across the bone and is about 18mm long by 7 mm wide. My pain level is low. My swelling is high. I walk with a slight limp. The limp may go away as I adjust. I can live with it or have surgery. A screw will be put in the bone to pull it back together. The doctor suggested I try to get by a few days and see how it goes without The Boot.  

I know the answer. I don’t like it. 

Sports and politics

 Seems to me if you find your country to be a horrible place, and want no part of it, you should look for another nation to represent in the Olympics. 

If the stores are all closed

 Monday. A new work week. Yay. 

I hope you can feel my enthusiasm. 

The work week at the Big Box starts on a Saturday. The schedulers routinely make use of this to get one to work long stretches. For instance if I’m off on Monday and Tuesday, they will give me Thursday and Friday of the following week off, making for eight straight days of work. I’m slated to work 16 of the next 19 days. At no point do I get two days off in a row. I work various shifts, going in as early as 5:30 AM and ending as late as midnight. I can’t understand why my injured foot isn’t getting better…

Sorry. No one wants to read my complaints. Yes, I am taking steps to find something better.

For Father’s Day my daughter signed me up for a service that sends me questions each week. I write my story, and at the end of the year my responses are compiled into a book. That way my family will know all about me for posterity. It is a cool idea. Last week’s question was have I ever won anything, and my post about the DAR medal was what I submitted (then copied it here). I guess I could have just referenced the mass of words spewed on this anonymous blog over the years and save everyone the time. Perhaps, on second thought, that wouldn’t be so wise. I suspect my political views would make all three of my kids weep. Certainly my overuse of profanity in the early years would be a bit embarrassing. I guess I’ll just answer the questions as they arrive each week as required.

Oh well, I have to pack my lunch and head to work. Have a great Monday.

Half century old and still great

One could argue the two year period of 1971 and 1972 saw some of the greatest music ever written, at least as far as rock and roll is considered. Some might point to the mid-fifties, or the British Invasion years, but the complexity, variety, and long-term popularity of some of the music of this era dictates otherwise. Oh, for sure there was some awful stuff too. A quick perusal of the top 100 songs from 1971 will give you a sampling of the very worst in 1970’s pop.*  But the albums released fifty years ago remain the foundation of classic rock.**

Why is that? It could be that the newly popular format of FM radio allowed artists to get away from the classic three minute single that dominated the airwaves for the previous fifty years. It could be that technology allowed for not only better sound, but better recording. It could be that the  artists and bands that had been making music for a decade or more at that point had matured past the standard four chord blues into other more interesting stuff. Perhaps it was culture that drove music into a new direction. 

In any case the year of 1971 gave us both the awful “Go away little girl” and the magnificent “Low spark of high heeled boys”. ‘71 grove us some of the all-time great country songs too: from “Man in Black” to “Coalminers daughter”.

I readily confess I was just a boy in the year 1971. Nine year old me was far more interested in hearing selections from Disney soundtracks than “Riders on the Storm”. Yet somehow the music from that year has come to dominate my musical playlists. I have owned a significant number of the albums released that year in vinyl, cd, and digital formats. 

For the next however long I want to do it, I’m going to feature songs from 1971. Like ‘em or not. Listen or not. It is a free will blog here. But in the end I think you will agree that I am right. 1971 was one of the greatest musical years ever. 

We will start with what may be the most famous rock song from the era:

And one of my favorite songs of all time:

*see what I mean?

**see what I mean?

Which is it?

Biden says the idea we need the right to bear arms to protect ourselves from the government is outdated because we would need F-15s and nukes to overthrow the government…

Biden says a few hundred “insurrectionists” almost overthrew the government on January 6th…

Everyone bring a bag lunch and don’t forget your permission slips

Welcome to a rainy Friday. I have the day off so I think we are going to take the grandgirls on a field trip to the Indianapolis Children’s Museum today. I’m confident we will all have fun. 

I’m happy to have a day off. I have worked my tail off at work this week. I’m tired. I managed to watch the late from the west coast first inning of the baseball game last night then I clumped/shuffled up to bed. Once there I turned the game on my smart speaker. I think I heard one pitch before I was deep in the arms of Morpheus.  I read this morning I missed out on a winning no hitter. So it goes. 

I had my CT scan yesterday morning. The reading doctor sent me the results. Since I didn’t go to medical school and eschewed biology in general, I do not understand most of what he reported outside of the words chronic fracture, bony spurs, arthritis, and tendonosis He reported the fracture as 7 mm wide which must be a typo. That is more than 1/4 inch. That cannot be right. My doctor has me scheduled for a follow up visit on a Tuesday, he will translate I’m certain. 

My belly is rumbling. The Republic is in peril, my coffee is hot, and life continues. Have a Good Friday.

Still Broke

 I went back to the good doctor yesterday about my foot. As I suspected, no or very little improvement. The surgeon offered up two choices.  We can keep on clumping along in the boot for another six weeks and see if it heals. If it doesn’t, then we will do a CT scan and determine what to do. Or I can go ahead and get the scan now and see if it is healing at all and then determine if surgery is required or we go with more boot. 

I go for the CT scan Thursday. 

And there you have it.

Winner, Winner

It was late spring and school was winding towards summer break when all of the Eighth graders were herded into the cafeteria. We were each given a test on American history. 

After time expired and everyone passed in the test, the teachers told us the exam was sponsored by the DAR — the Daughters of the American Revolution — and that the best score would win a prize on “graduation “ day in a few weeks.

As we filed out of the cafeteria, some kids were speculating. “I bet Greg wins, he is the smartest guy in the class”, said some. Others proposed Martha would win, since she was so good in history.

I said nothing. I knew I was going to win despite all odds. Not only had I a love affair with history since I watched the movie “Johnny Tremain” and read the Newberry winning book back in third grade, but I knew every single answer on the test. I was confident I missed none. 

Not my real medal

Awards day finally came. Perfect Attendance, sports awards, band awards all were announced. A couple of old ladies moved to the podium. They droned about the DAR and citizenship. Finally it was time to announce the winner for Excellence in History. 

My name was called. The little silver medal with the red, white, and blue ribbon was mine. I won. 

I had the little medal for years. I’m not sure what happened to it. But I still won. The first and only time I came in first. 

Interesting Topic to Study

 I saw an article today on how to stop procrastinating.

I bookmarked it so that I could read it sometime.

Happy Father’s Day

…to you dads out there. 

I miss you, Pop.

Who’ll stop the rain?

 Boo Hoo Whaa. I suspect you are all in a frazzle that I did not purposely entertain you with a musical selection yesterday. I didn’t want to. I’m not going to this weekend at all. You may soak in your disappointment or you can hike up your pants and get on with your day. 

Unsettled weather has invaded the Midwest. Heat and heavy storms rolled through in waves yesterday and overnight. Oppressive humidity filled in the holes between rain. We can expect similar today. Thunder has rumbled the last hour or so, and heavy rain is beating on the roof as I hunt and peck the keyboard. 

We are off to a family reunion later today. It appears the rain will mitigate by mid-morning, giving an opportunity to gather reasonably dry in the reserved shelter at the park. I have to throw together a batch of my famous and requested corn salad and a desert this morning before we load up the coolers and sally forth. This gathering is my wife’s family, my relatives pretty much few and nonexistent these days. Luckily, I like the wife’s kin pretty well, so I don’t mind spending time with them. 

The people across the street are hosting a graduation party for their youngest this evening. If the party is like the other two, it will go until well  into the wee hours. We will stop by when we get back in town. 

The wife and I are real social butterflies today. 

Keep your left arm straight

Let me see if I have this correct. 

George Washington, the Father of our Country, doesn’t get a Federal Holiday.

Abraham Lincoln, who freed the slaves and guided the country through the Civil War, doesn’t get a Federal Holiday.

Heck, FDR, who brought us through the Great Depression and WWII, doesn’t get a Federal Holiday.

But Juneteenth, a made up day no one outside of Texas ever heard of until a couple of years ago, gets made into a Federal Holiday? 

Memorial Day is just a “Long Weekend” but now we have  Juneteenth National Independence Day as opposed to the REAL Independence Day of July 4th (which is Independence Day for all Americans). 

Seriously? 

Pander Much, President *?

Shakin’ the tree here, boss

 Entertain yourselves again today.

Truism 137

If a headache is a good enough reason to get out of intimate relations, it should certainly suffice as an excuse not to post.

Let this entertain you instead

Great possibilities

I’m confessing right off the bat. This not a fresh post. I have a 4:20 ayem wake up call scheduled to make the opening shift today. I sniffed under the lid of the plastic Cool Whip container where I had the post stored and it smelled fine to me. Just stir it around, it’ll be OK. 

Monday was a pretty good day. The weather was fine. The two year old was being unbelievably two, but in all she is so cute you can overlook her acting like a woke liberal on occasion. I made some tuna casserole for lunch. Salad with grilled chicken for dinner. Other than that, pure boring everyday stuff of no interest to anyone, even me. 

There you have it, a post for today. I’m certain you are glad you clicked here. 

You will never get those 37 seconds back. 

Ramble on

 

Today is Flag Day, one of our lesser holidays. There will be mail. Government workers will show up. Some might even work. 

On June 14, 1777 the current basic design of the American flag, to whit, 13 stripes and a blue field with 13 stars,  was adopted by the Second Continental Congress. 

June 14 also marks the birthday of the US Army, adopted into form on June 14,1775. 

June 14 is a busy day.

I have the day off. Not because of the holiday. Nor to celebrate the Army’s birthday, but because the schedule made it so. I won’t get to coast though. I have a list of stuff to do as long as my arm. 

I don’t really have a physical list. I lied about that. Maybe stretched the truth. It wouldn’t be a couple of feet long if I did have such a list. OK, I don’t even know how long my arm is. Finger tip to finger tip should match your height. How long is one arm? Where do you start measuring - the breast bone, the shoulder? Why do you insist on complicating everything? Now I have more stuff to add to my imaginary arm length list; research arm length, measuring, and methods. 

I proudly hung my flag on the porch first thing this morning. I can cross that off my list of things to do. Despite your best efforts, the list did shrink by the size of my handwriting of the “put out the flag” notation on my imaginary list. I can say if I did actually write such a list I would certainly use a black Flair felt tip pen to write with. The list would be printed. Even I can’t read my cursive handwriting. 

This post is starting to ramble.

Speaking of which, one of my coworkers told one of the temp college kids he looked just like Robert Plant. He did too. The kid said who is that? She told him the singer from Led Zep. He allowed he might have heard of them. 

I went to the break room and cried. Figuratively.

Happy Flag day. Go forth and wave.

Outside, looking in

True confession, I chose The Moody Blues as this weeks artist solely so I could play this song:

I’ve posted it before. That’s because I like it, duh. What a fun musical tribute to psychedelia and LSD. 

Did I ever tell you the story of the one and only time I dropped acid? Note to the authorities, future employers, family members, and impressionable youth —  that story may or may not be true, it could all just be made up fiction like most stuff I post here. Anyway, if I did write the tale, maybe o not a true story, it is somewhere on the sixteen years (!) of archives. If I haven’t related the tale, I guess I have some future blog fodder. We all win.

This is a true story related to this song, though. Back in the early eighties The Moody Blues were scheduled to play over in Champaign, IL. My college roommate and I bought tickets. As was the way of things in those halcyon days, we started “prepping” early. Maybe even the night day before the concert. We certainly were cracking beers and smoking perfectly legal in every way substances by noon of the big day. Apparently, we prepared just a little too much. When it was time to leave, some concerned fraternity brothers took our keys. We missed the show. 

Ah youth. 

Enjoy the music and reflect upon the wages of misspent days. I will be a smiling helpful big box drone ready to enhance your shopping experience on this hot and sunny Sunday. 

Waddaya want to hear next week?

Dance, Clouds, Historical Jabs, Music

 

There, on the left, some weird and funky sunset clouds snapped from my phone as the wife drove us home. The view is to the northwest of the northeast suburbs. Embiggen if you do desire. Or not. It’s your choice. I run a free will blog.

The shot is ruined by the tension wires. And the need to click before the pickup in the right lane blocked the view. Too bad I didn’t have time to frame what I wanted to save better. So it goes. It is not like I have to pay for film or development or anything. Just truly point and shoot. It erases just as easily and will be sent to the electric landfill shortly, no doubt. 

I can do goofy stuff like take cellphone pictures from the passenger window since the wife has to drive me around. I might not have mentioned my broken hoof is the right one. The air cast makes it difficult impossible to drive unless I remove the boot, put on a shoe and replace the boot when I get where I’m going. 

The oldest granddaughter had a dance recital Thursday night. Of course she was beautiful and cute and perfect. It was the other six year-olds out of step! At times they all were. That’s what made it fun. The event brought back memories. My daughter danced for more than a decade; everything but ballet. I have been to more dance recitals than I care to remember. 

I saw a picture posted from the White House showing Edith Wilson Jill Biden claiming she was preparing for the coming G7 economic summit. I guess I missed the part where she was elected President. 

But you didn’t come here for the mundane scenery nor not-so-subtle digs at Sleepy Joe. You stopped by for the music.

Have a great Saturday.

Ha! You thought I would forget

 

Yup. Artist of the weekend.

Life lessons

The sun is obscured by clouds today. It was raining in the predawn hours. Not currently. Like the commercial says, no one cares if I got up early. I never, ever use a speaker phone while walking around a store though. If you do, stop. It is obnoxious. Not as annoying as bringing your dog into the store, especially if you put it in a shopping cart. Still...

Yes, that is tomatoes on the vine in my tiny garden. In a few weeks I will have luscious fruit/vegetables with dinner. Providing the varmits don’t take a bite from the hanging ‘maters first. I put spray on and around the garden to discourage the rabbits and chipmunks, but the daily rain washes it away.  The jalapeño is blooming so I’ll be using my own peppers in homemade salsa soon too. 

The forecasted rain is supposed to hold off until early afternoon. I may try to limp through a mowing if things can dry out a bit before the next cloudburst. Me and the Doughboy are making cinnamon rolls for the grandgirls first. 

There, you have another dose of the minutiae that is my life. A whole post of words sans meaningful content. 

Seriously, don’t use your phone on speaker in public. That is your public service message for today. It takes no more effort to hold it to your ear than it does to hold it near your mouth. Just stop it. We can all hear your conversation. 

We don’t want to. Trust me.

The trees are drawing me near

It is a good day, the rain notwithstanding. Not only do I have the day off, it is my favorite girl’s birthday. Yes, my wife is redacted years old today. 

I noticed President * managed to highlight our racist past by discussing the terrible Tulsa race riots. He failed to commemorate the thousands who died on D-Day to help eradicate one of the worst racists and mass murderers in recent history. Of course WWII provides no opportunity for race baiting nor to perpetuate the notion of permanent victimhood required by the Democrat Party. 

Two more weeks of the boot, three and a half more years of the Biden. I’m not sure which is worse.

Biden, definitely.

My Bad

 Geez, I just got off work and realized I neglected to mark today as the anniversary of D-Day. Sheesh. 

Well it is the D-Day anniversary. Take a moment consider the price those soldiers and sailors paid to ensure your freedom. Imagine their surprise to learn that racism and the environment are considered by the current President and his political party to be the greatest threats to the US — ever.  Apparently those racists in Tokyo and Berlin back in 1944 were mere pikers when it comes to hate-filled cops and conservative voters in 2021 ‘Murcia. 

Relenting

 

One of my all time favorite songs

But if there's nothing shaking come this here July

 

Mighty Math Power

I’m going to depart from my usual litany of complaints. The stack of stuff that is making my life a heap of despair and anger is too large to delve into here. You don’t care and it is not your business anyway. Lawyers are pieces of whale turd and car salesmen are the bacteria that feeds on that refuse. I’ll leave it at that. 

Since I’m already in a pissy mood,I’m not posting music either. You are not interested and I can listen to whatever I want when I want. 

President * just stopped more oil leases.  He must have the brain capacity of endive lettuce since the law of supply and demand remains as complicated as spherical geometry for him. Less gas equals higher prices. It is just as simple as that. Get ready for $4 gas by year end. Don’t worry, the magic energy fairies are going to find a way to power the world with batteries that don’t have to be recharged. I hope so, since we don’t have the electric capacity to handle the load as it is. 

I know maybe we can set up a generator connected to a turnstile at the border. All of those illegals flooding into the country would probably power a midsize city or two. 

Good news though. Publishers Clearinghouse says I might already be a winner. 

Words have meaning

 A grade school teacher in Kentucky asked her students to use the word “fascinate” in a sentence.

Molly put up her hand and said, “My family went to my granddad’s farm, and we all saw his pet sheep. It was fascinating.”

The teacher said, “That was good, but I wanted you to use the word “fascinate, not fascinating”.

Sally raised her hand. She said, “My family went to see Rock City and I was fascinated.”

The teacher said, “Well, that was good Sally, but I wanted you to use the word “fascinate, not fascinated.”

Little Johnny raised his hand. The teacher hesitated because she had been burned by Little Johnny before. She finally decided there was no way he could damage the word “fascinate”, so she called on him.

Johnny said, “My Aunt Gina has a sweater with ten buttons, but her boobs are so big she can only fasten eight.”

I’m sick of The Boot

I woke about three ayem drenched in sweat, bladder full. I don’t know why the sweat. The pee thing is pretty regular. TMI. As I limped into the darkened bathroom, an idea for a brilliant post lept into my mind.  I went back to sleep. The planned essay drifted off to slumberland, never to return. Too bad for you. 

The wife thawed a Mexican casserole for dinner and I made some salsa to accompany it. It was an easy yet good meal. I sliced up some strawberries to have later with some sliced angel food cake for a snack. 

We had a great weekend. The boy was home for a wedding. It was great to see him. 

That’s it, a post filled with the usual nonsense. No weather report though. There can be no doubt I have no recall whatsoever of the genius post of the overnight hours. 

Don’t expect riveting words in the morning. I have the early shift again tomorrow morning.

So it goes.