Racoon in the Rafters,...
Bats in the Belfry, Cats in the Cradle, Man in the Moon

Our house is a funky 1959 home with exposed beams throughout the structure. This morning at 5:50 AM as I was heading for the gym, I walked out to get the paper and my motion sensor lights came on(normal). I happened to glance back at my car,...and noticed a furry tail in the rafters above the storage area, above my car. It was black and grey striped. I moved in for a closer look. It was a racoon! He was just lounging on the beam, probably just settling in for a long winters nap(it's chilly this morning). He seemed to have the same expression, staring into the bright flood lights, that my son has when I first turn the lights on in his room on a school day morning. But he must have known the light cycle, that they would go off in 10 minutes,...cause he wasn't moving. He didn't seem afraid of me,...and for good reason. Actually for two good reasons,....1. sharp teeth and 2. sharp claws that racoons are not afraid to use, especially if they are awakened from a sound sleep by a bright light. The photo is dim due to inadequate light(which is why he chose that spot for sleeping in the day,...they are nocturnal you know). But this morning he was "lit up" with my two 150 watt flood lights, which well illuminated the subject. He looked friendly, cute and cuddly,...but I know better. I even spoke to him(first I checked to see if I had any early rising neighbors to judge me looney) . I just spoke two words,...."kill rats!",...seems we have had a dry summer and the rat population has increased("we haven't had rain in months!", cried Minnie, then with passion in her eyes she grabbed Micky by the lapels and lustily whispered, "take me now you big rat, you!"). Then I went to the gym, after my work out I picked up the kids at 7:15 to take to school. I relayed the story to them and they wanted to stop and see if he/she/it was still there(our house is on the way),..and it was still snoozing, facing away from the light. One carpooler is a 5th grade boy and a big hunter, said he could exterminate it for me. I said no thanks,...the racoon may be exterminating for me("kill rats!"). He was still out there when I returned from the school run at 8. I don't think he's moving until evening(they are nocturnal, you know). Sleep well little racoon and appreciate my peaceful and gentle hand, for surely my ancestors would have knocked you in the head with a shovel and thrown you in the oven with some taters.

Thanksgiving for One

Well,...the big experiment is over,...and I have survived being alone at Thanksgiving. Though I had multiple invitations for Thanksgiving Dinner(wouldn't want anyone to think I smell bad or don't have any friends,...I smell good and have plenty of friends, it was "dealer's choice"). I cooked breakfast and watched a little pre-parade,...then turned to Turner Classic Movies for the rest of the day. Kind of just kept that on all day. Didn't switch to football or even channel surf prior to deciding on TCM. Couldn't really tell you the movies I watched,...it was almost like background music. I kind of cleaned up the house and vacumed and washed some clothes(they're still in the dryer). I actually walked out of my house only three times: to get the newspaper, to put something in my car and to fire up the grill for hot dogs(no turkey for me yesterday, but that's okay). Thought about going to a movie, but decided no. Thought about getting some cat litter and then I decided that I would do that on my way back from work on Friday. I didn't even read the newspaper I brought in,...nor did I look at the sale flyers for the day after Thanksgiving sales. I didn't do much of anything. I baked an apple pie,...from scratch,...I even made the crust! It was okay,...nothing to write home about. I spent most of the afternoon working on the crust mostly but the pie was out of the oven by 3:45. I am glad I did it,...but the results didn't warrant the effort to do it again. Making crust from scratch is a dying art,...kind of like drinking buttermilk. That desire for a cold glass of buttermilk was handed down to my mother, but stopped on a dime right there. The stuff hasn't touched my lips in it's raw state. Waffles or biscuits couldn't be better with buttermilk,...but that's the only way I will take it. If I could have worked it into my apple pie recipe,...that would have been okay,...but then maybe not, cause that would have meant that I would have had to go further than 10 steps from my door on Thanksgiving,...and wasn't gonna happen. Thanksgiving alone. I didn't overeat,...I didn't have to listen to listen to stories I didn't want to hear, I didn't have to do anything, except what I wanted. Thanksgiving for one,...ain't so bad.

King of the Smoothies

I have been self drubbed with this title. For years our poor blender has sat in a corner, unrecognized for its abilities and therefore, underused, neglected. At one point, we needed the counter space and decided to place it in a closet or in a cabinet. Well, that's all changed. I have put it throught its paces for the past three months. I decided my fruit intake could be better, and found the blender to be an essential part of the equation to assist me in accomplishing my new, healthy and attainable goal. This morning I saw my banana purchase was a little overkill and there were some getting ripe beyond use,...so instead of making banana pudding or banana bread, I chose an easier much more healthy two-banana smoothie. I usually have a medley of both fresh and frozen fruit(the frozen fruit chills and thickens)but you can vary your blend to accomodate rapidly ripening fruit. I have found that I can drink 4 fruit servings in a smoothie in the morning. I think an ideal intake is 5 servings of fruits or vegetables in a day.

I have contemplated diversifying,...maybe in the evenings adding an adult beverage of choice. I think that would make me the daquari king. Next I may try tomatoes or carrots. Then it's a natural progression to meats and other vegetables. That reminds me of some documentary I saw about Native Americans and how the Navajo women would chew food for their babies, kind of like certain birds regurgitating for their little ones.

I might look at this as preparation for old age. I heard when you get to the nursing home or without your teeth(or both), it all goes in a blender. You will drink your breakfast, lunch and dinner through a straw. Better get a better blender or a bigger straw.

Pixelized Poetry

I was scanning Holden's "Smaug"poem from The Hobbit, trying to make it available for this blog, without typing it(I'm lazy). However, this is the product that I pulled from my scanner, but it is not what was on the glass. These were words, black on white paper as normal. Strange,...this bit of a technical difficulty reminds me of the famous cubist painting of "Nude Descending a Staircase". Oh!, I see her now. There she is in the upper right corner. See her? Va va va voom! Huba, huba! Woooooooeeeeee! Amazing detail of that ribbon draped ever so delicately across her bosom.

Politicians Royale

By accusing their critics of playing politics,...our President and Vice President have played politics. By saying that those who do not agree with the war in Iraq and question the reasoning behind it should NOT SPEAK, they have made the most unamerican statement. Our country was founded on several basic freedoms, one of which was freedom to be critical of government officials without having our heads lopped off physically or rhetorically. They would rather those who disagree with their lack of strategy to exit Iraq keep their mouths shut. They say some of the critics were the ones who voted to go,....well, isn't there a time to regroup and rethink,....or do we just continue to headlong into a war where real American kids are really dying with no end in sight. It's as though we have given Bush and Cheney and the Iraqi people a blank check on our children's lives and they will fill in the number later. The time has come to look at our strategy and reassess. Bush claimed victory in Iraq long ago,...obviously too early,....yet we are still there. And we are supposed to just let that happen without some accountability? Now's the time to be accountable for the reason we got into the war and the intelligence utilized to support the action and for a sooner-to-be-implemented-than-later exit strategy and for the reason you didn't plan that before jumping into Iraq with both feet. If Bush claims his critics language against the war to be reprehensible, then his critics can call his language to get us into Iraq reprehensible as well. I guarantee his reprehensible language has cost us more lives that the reprehensible language of his detractors. Please don't misunderstand. I DO support our troops, I just don't support the guy who put them there or why he put them there(there are plenty of tyrants even with nuclear capabilities, yet we aren't rushing into war with them). I support our troops so much that I want them to respected and honored for fighting for MY freedom, not Iraq's( I will never believe that Iraq's freedom is MY freedom anymore than I will believe that their economy is our economy). I support our troops so much that I want them to live and come back to their families alive and whole and well. We must believe that our government leaders(Republicans and Democrats alike) are fallable humans who can and do make poor decisions,...otherwise we are only deceiving ourselves into a false sense of security. We the people have every right to voice our concerns and to hold ANY public servant accountable,...for every word spoken and for every action taken.

Holden's Psycho-delic

Just in Time!

Well,...it seems that winter has arrived before fall here in Texas. Oh,...I'm sure we have a couple of 80 degree days still out there somewhere. It was freezing in some areas last night, but who knows,....tomorrow we could be at the swimming pool. I brought in my three plants that I care about,...one was a gift for my birthday, the other two were on sale at Home Depot for $5. My basil I left on the porch and just covered them with a garbage bag. It seems to be on its last leg.

We had a blustery day Tuesday when this cold front blew in. At 6AM my car thermometer said 75 and at 715 AM, it had dropped to 55. The wind was strong, it seemed colder. I noticed my pine and my pecan trees had some loose limbs that had been dislodged by the wind and fell to the ground after being suspended from other limbs all summer long.

We had very little rain this summer. I gave up on my grass in the past couple months and stopped watering. My neighbor's yard with the auto sprinklers is lush and green,....an oasis compared to my Mojave wanna-be yard. I am sure my grass prays for a breeze to blow some of the mist from the auto sprinklers its way. I still have a strong stand of St. Augustine in the front, which is what I care about. I can now turn my attention toward next year and buy a big bag of Scott's Bonus S, the fertilizer made especially for St. Augustine. Maybe this year I will be self disciplined and improve my yard attitude and apply it twice, as the bag recommends.

The sans rain situation was so bad this summer that we have one less tree in the front. One of the ornamental large leafed evergreens croaked and I cut it down. It seemed like a small tree, until I started cutting it down. I always wondered why people hired men to take out trees in their yard, much bigger than the little one I removed. Now I know why. Well, maybe it will feel like Thanksgiving next week instead of Major League Baseball's Opening Day(though one year it was quite brisk on Opening Day). Here's hoping cool weather is here to stay for a while. (photo is from winter two years ago)

Smaug

Holden had to write a poem based on The Hobbit. He was able to illustrate a scene for extra credit and this was his illustration. He got a 110. I personally think this is worth more than 10 extra points, but I'm his Dad and who am I to question the grading system? I particularly like his stylized fire. I'm not sure where he gleaned that, but I think it's cool. I give him 200!

Pleasing my Dad

You never get so old that you don't want to please your dad. I still do and I'm 44 years old and at least 10 hours away. Maybe it's not so much pleasing him, but letting him know that you learned something from him and that you can do some of the same stuff he did while you were growing up,.....fixing stuff. It's sad, but if I need help on a household project I will call him and get his opinion. And if I am successful at one of those projects,...he's the first guy I call. To sort of brag. Like once our clothes dryer would spin but only blow cool air. I think I called him to diagnose the situation, which he said was the heater coil,...and sure enough, when I opened it up I saw the obvious break in the coil. I quickly looked up the nearest Sears parts store and called them and ran down and picked up a new coil and installed it. I think it was like $36.00. When I turned the dryer on and felt the wave of heat I was shocked. It had seemed so easy. I usually run into at least three snags in my pursuit of fixdom! So I celebrated like I had become a father again! And guess what I did next,....yep, made a call to Birmingham, AL to not only brag to Dad that I fixed the dryer in what seemed like record time, but to also discuss the considerable savings I had just made by completing the task myself and not hiring someone to fix it for me. The timeliness was also discussed, cause I guarantee I would not have been able to get someone out to the house before a couple of days. Yeah, Dad's the guy I want to impress, however, just looking at his record of fix-it victories, I don't know if he really is impressed or could be. My record is a little league record when compared to his major league record. But he still expresses his big league pride in me at 44,....just like he did years ago in little league,...over my trivial success,...but maybe just my call is his Big League success. Love you Dad.

Three legged Cat

Three nights ago we were filling my wife's van up with gas,....$2.19 per gallon. I was pumping gas when my wife comes around the corner with tears in her eyes asking if I had seen the poor three legged cat that was looking for food. She pointed me in the direction of a ditch into which the cat had darted. I went over caught a glimpse and it shot like a rocket across the ditch to a business adjacent to the gas station. I started down the steep slope to cross over the ditch to where ole tripod was,....and he dashed even further away toward a car dealer that was next to the business, that was next to the gas station. I still had compassion on the poor creature, thinking of my two cats, fat and sassy, probably picking their teeth in a lounge chair in front of the TV,...so I decided to break into their new bag of food I had just purchased and share the wealth with ole prong. As much as I could make of him/her(?)was it was a calico missing its right hind leg below the thigh. It didn't slow him down much. I grabbed two large handfuls of "IAMS for indoor cats"(hope it's not poison to an outdoor cat)out of the new 10 lb bag and started down the steep slope to place the food on a concrete sidewalk in front of the business next door to the station. It was steep, as I mentioned, but I made it across without much trouble,....mostly applying the breaks as I went down, but letting off enough to have enough speed to coast up the other side of the ditch to the sidewalk. A little awkward, but no problems, no dry cat food losses on my journey. I placed the food in a neat pile on the corner and looked toward the used car dealer, where I had last seen ole stump, but saw no sign of her/him. I looked at the pile of food and thought it didn't look like much. I wanted to get more, but needed to check on my gas pump,...it had probably kicked off because it was full. So I made it down the other side of the ditch, headed back, toward the steeper side, but I didn't have enough speed, so halfway up the steep side of the ditch, I stalled and began to notice that it was a little slick and muddy and I didn't want to put my hands down(though they had just been holding cat food). I started to lose my balance, but thought I could recover without putting my hands down. I felt my face flushed red with the realization that I could possibly be falling when my foot slipped out of the clogs I was wearing and began turning over, further throwing off my balance. There was a black guy sitting by the pay phone at the edge of the gas station lot in a beat up pinto watching the whole charade,...and I'm praying that it's not Alan Funt in disguise with his video camera. It was like everything was in slow motion, like in the action movies like The Matrix when the director wants us to see every blow of the fight. My arms were flailing trying to assist me in regaining my balance to make it the rest of the way up the steep side of the ditch without putting my hands down in the semi mud(in hind sight, I don't really know why keeping sanitary hands was such an uncompromisable position). Well, it seemed like 5 minutes, but was probably more like a split second, but I finally gained some footing and made a couple of steps forward and one more back and then the rest of the way up the steep slope and without getting my hands muddy. I had escaped a fall and injury,.....or so I thought. The next day, my back had a slight twinge of pain,...two days later it was more severe, three days later it was difficult to get out of bed without shouting expletives,....but I did(without shouting expletives). So, I took three ibuprofen(a miracle drug in my opinion) and the pain subsided greatly. I love Advil! So much so that I'm searching for an Advil t-shirt or baseball cap, bumper sticker, to proudly sport as this drugs biggest fan. I hope ole Hop-a-long enjoyed his lite snack,...I will probably look him up the next time I buy gas there, but I will definitley stay on this side of the ditch.

The Lone Turkey

Wife and son will be flying to Bama for Thanksgiving, but I will be staying here. I am saving my vacation for our trip to England this summer,...plus they are coming back on Friday, so I would only be there three days, not worth the large sum to fly for that short time,...and it seems like I have been driving since I got my car, a year ago Thanksgiving(well two days post), so I don't want to drive. I think I will just hang out with the cats,...in the air conditioning comfort of my home in 80 degree Texas Thanksgiving weather. Not do a thing. Cook a little turkey,...get a little can of cranberry sauce,...watch football if I want or a classic movie or a bawdy comedy or just lay on the couch and doze without someone reading off our schedule for the day. Last year we had Thanksgiving at home, just the three of us,...Ellie(our British boarder who has been with us three years,...she was family after the first month) was with her fiancee's family and will be again this year. The only thing I can't do is throw the football by myself. If you think you should invite a poor lonely guy for Thanksgiving, go ahead, only don't be surprized if he says, thank you , but I have plans. And don't be surprized if he turns around and invites you over later to throw the football.(Photo of my lovely smoked turkey from last Thanksgiving)

Fall has fell

Tearing Down a Wall

It's been my week to drive the carpool. I have two 7th graders and a 5th grader(one 7th grader is a girl,...just so you get the complete picture). Well, my son, the other 7th grader, sits in the front seat beside me. I think his main job is to select music on the multi-disc CD changer that I don't want to hear. He started to put in Nirvana this morning at 7 AM and tho I don't dislike the band,...it's got to be against some city ordinance to play music that even hints of a grinding guitar before 10 AM. Well, maybe that's a little paraphrased from the ordinance,.....okay, paraphrased a lot,.....okay, okay,...I just made it up! For Nirvana's sake as well as mine(it is a disrespectful to play Nirvana as a low volume level, it's like spitting on Kurt Cobain's grave). I relax the made-up rule when my son happens to choose something from my CD wallet. He has recently chosen Pink Floyd's THE WALL from my book. I can easily turn my head,...or a deaf ear, as it were, to the grinding guitar solos(which should not be compared to Nirvana, I know) from Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb(not the most grinding) since I remain in a college flashback throughout our journey to school while it plays. This morning the 5th grader began to comment about and actually sing along with "Crazy,...toys in the attic, he is crazy,...". He said it was kind of scary sounding. I could not disagree with him, since I bought it a year ago around this time and actually played it at Halloween as scary background/mood setting music. I then thought,...I wonder if he talks to his dad about what we listen to on the way to school? I wonder if he may someday hear a muzak version in an elevator and say,...."Hey, that's 'Brick in the Wall'!". So maybe my week to drive is a version of a music appreciation lesson. Maybe by listening to The Wall, I am helping tear down a wall revealing music history these kids may have otherwise never been exposed to? or maybe it's just good music that all generations gravitate toward, no matter their date of birth? (the photo is Pink Floyd's The Wall album cover rendered with Legos). Link to an analysis of The Wall: http://home.mchsi.com/~ttint/

My Life is a Blank Page

I just realized that I have a collection of blank journals in a variety of sizes. One of them is well used,...the others are not. I don't know why I feel the need to collect them, if I'm not going to use them. Kinda silly. Maybe there's some psychosis linked to this collecting. For the record, it's not obsessive/compulsive behavior,....I don't have a closest stacked to the ceiling with blank journals or diaries. I do have four in my office. I just brought a new one from home today. What's this fascination? Am I trying to achieve a look? Am I trying to be something that I'm not? Do I think that if I surround myself with these empty pages that I will possibly be inspired to write something brilliant,....or for that matter write at all or maybe sketch something? You know, I think I am afraid to write in them. Maybe if I make a mark in each of them that will suffice in "priming the pump" and I will begin to utilize them.