COCAINE

(Eric Clapton)

Wouldn't have believed it if you told me, but there it was in the paper today - and - you know - if it's written down, it must be true.

Apparently the senate and congress (or whatever it's called) passed, and The President of Mexico is expected to sign a bill that LEGALIZES small personal quantities of - get ready - heroin, ecstasy, pot, and coke.

This is said to free the police to go after the big bad cartels, etc.

Seems extreme, but not an altogether bad idea... and for some reason, I find it funny. It just seems to be another burr in Bush's saddle.

The bill says criminal charges will no longer be brought for possession of up to 25 milligrams of heroin, five grams of marijuana — about one-fifth of an ounce, or about four joints — and half a gram of cocaine — about half the standard street-size quantity, which is enough for several lines of the drug.

"No charges will be brought against ... addicts or consumers who are found in possession of any narcotic for personal use," the Senate bill reads. It also lays out allowable quantities for a large array of other drugs, including LSD, MDA, ecstasy — about two pills' worth — and amphetamines.

Some of the amounts are eye-popping: Mexicans would be allowed to possess a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of peyote, the button-sized hallucinogenic cactus used in some native Indian religious ceremonies.


Fox news covers the story

ROCK AND ROLL PNUEMONIA AND THE BOOGIE WOOGIE FLU

(Johnny Rivers)

That's the best song title POST title I can come up with. Yestreday and today my dependable computer came down with a serious virus.

I thought I killed it yesterday. Not with NoGoodNorton Anti-Virus, which told me about it and basically said - "you're out of luck, sucka." For this I pay a yearly fee to 'keep current.'

It was a Trojan. Not the foil wrapped kind, either.

I tried Ad-Aware, which not only found it again but had some tool to remove it. All ended happily.

Last night we had a pretty bad thunder storm and when I came into the office and dog lounge to comfort Jessie at 2:30AM I thought it might be a good idea to turn off the computer since I haven't backed up some very important things and it was flashing pretty good.

This morning when I rebooted, the virus booted too... and it immediately began a deluge of E mail attempts. There were so many I couldn't do anything but try to delete or stop them. I think and hope Norton helped here, as did my ISP, recognizing what must have been seen as spam, and throwing out the barrage.

FINALLY I got back enough control briefly to load a free software propgram to destroy the Trojan. This apparently worked, but it also threw out over 600 other bugs/fleas/germs.

I await consequences.

So far so good.

Later the same day... I apparently still have virii.

Norton Anti-Virus BITES.

I have uninstalled it and $50 later have a years worth of PC Doctor and PC Nurse in a short dress uniform. Or something like that. One looks for badness the other looks for more badness and spanks it. Together, after a nice 40 minute scan, they killed six more virii. I think I'm clean.

Though after such an event every time the computer pauses your stomach sinks and you hold your cyber-breath.

THE LEADER OF THE PACK

(Side two ? The Shangri-Las)

Tony Snow is the replacement Press Secretary for President Bush and his administration.

Tony Snow On President Bush: ‘An Embarrassment,’ ‘Impotent,’ ‘Doesn’t Seem To Mean What He Says’

Read more!

Nice vetting!

Maybe in an effort to save gas, the administration clowns can get one of those little circus cars and pile in all together. Skip the SUVs. Skip the motorcade.

THE LEADER OF THE PACK

(The Shangri-Las)

Clearly president Bush is trying to seize an agenda and boost his cred and also fish for support.

But he's a lame duck on crutches.

The gas saving proposals were weak and mere rhetoric. I especially loved the 'we're going to look into price gouging!" Well, there, Mr. President, you might wish to start with big oil and their record profits. Just a hunch, but that might resonate better with the public than chasing gas stations and wholesalers.

Oh - And he's delaying the payback to the federal gas reserves till after the summer - see, some of the reserves flowed to the gas companies post Katrina. Anybody else think that this would PROFIT the gas companies since by then it's not inconceivable that the price of gas will have come down, and so replacing what they received will cost them less!!!?

And he's encouraging the energy companies to seek alternative energy sources. Yup. That'll help. In 10 to 20 years.

And let's cut the subsidies to the rich oil companies. Now there's a White House "Duh."

The sad fact is, he's not a leader, but he's our leader.

AMERICAN IDOL

Aw she's so cute... but my prediction is Kellie is out tomorrow. That was two stinkers in a row for her. And sorry to say for her chances, others were great.

Bottom 3 - do they even DO that with so few left?

Taylor (sorry, guy, you were outclassed)
Paris (she can be a star on Broadway - but she's like Gladys Knight to me - not a super star, just a star.)
Kellie - out.

Now it gets interesting.

Later the next day................

I was right. Sad to see her go - she's as cute as they come. Disarming too.

Paris is next - unless someone else just blows it badly. She's a great singer, but not as likeable. I don't know why. Maybe she's too much the older person in the younger person.

QUESTION

(Moody Blues)

Q: What's worse than a neighbor's German Shepherd that barks every time you leave the house?

A: Squealing young girls on a trampoline on the same property.

I was twice bitten by a German Shepherd when I was a kid. And squealing young girls makes me think of rats.

STAND TALL

(Burton Cummings)

You won't belileve this.

I don't either.

It's in the paper today.

Airbus industries has proposed a new way for air travelers to enjoy their flights:

STANDING. Huh? Oh yes, pack the sardine can full. You'd have a backboard to stand against and be somehow bound into it. Turns out there are no rules about actually having to sit, just to be restrained.

Boggles the mind, doesn't it?

This is so weird, any wise cracks I might make pale under the harsh light of such an idea. Wonder if they'd give you a tiny butt ledge? But then how would that be positioned? One man's butt ledge is another's lumbar support and another's spine crusher. No butt ledge then.

Laptop computers wouldn't work. No lap.

So far no airline has picked up on this option but you have to know there will be meetings about this very topic in airline boardrooms where the term "fiduciary responsibility" will stand up by itself, unrestrained.

KILLING ME SOFTLY

(Roberta Flack)

I was just out spraying Instant Sprayee Cough/Bug Killer That's More Friendly to the Environment Than It Is To You and was thinking about an article I read in today's paper. Some guy tried to commit suicide by firing a nail gun into his head. TWELVE TIMES. I was wondering why he stopped? Maybe to run to the hardware store to get longer nails? What could he have been thinking?



One: Ouch. Hey, I guess I'm still alive,

Two: Ouch. Darn. Darn? Hmm. Still alive.

Three: Ouch. Man, I should have read the instructions.

Four: Ouch. Man, this hurts more than my tatoo did.

Five: Ouch. Come ON. Wonder what this looks like. Can I make it to the mirror?

Six: Ouch. Maybe I should shoot faster.

Seven Eight Nine. OUCH OUCH OUCH. Maybe I have a really thick skull.

Ten. OUCH. Should have tried sleeping pills. Or Celine Dion CDS.

Eleven, OUCH. Don't suppose I could get my money back because the blood will scare the return dude.

Twelve. OUCH! Ok, Jesus, I get it. My bad. Hello, 911?

The docs took the nails out with a needle nose pliers and a drill. The guy is still alive.

When they call your number, they only call it once. Till then, they aren't calling.

LISTEN PEOPLE

(Herman's Hermits)

This evening the Wood Shed will fill with wimmin folk with whom Terri works, but as fate would have it - I take it as A SIGN - I have been invited to a showing of $135,000 speakers (among other things.) It's not at all inconceivable that I will hear what $200,000 worth of stereo system will do. I'll meet the manufacturer and fellow middle-aged bald guys who have invested a lot in their do-dah doing.

(My speakers are in the same product line, at a lower entry point.)



Here are panoramas of my listening room. No, no TV. This is for the glory of MUSIC.



(And no, it's not as long as it looks - that's the distortion of panorama. It's about 20 x 21 or so.)

I will take my camera and try to get some pictures of the action. You won't see the music.

This should be interesting. I will post what comments I might have below, either upon my return, or tomorrow!

------

The next morning.

I missed the wimmin sucessfully. Terri said the buff UPS guy came to the door and she said he was the 'entertainment' and the girls let out quite the ruckus, which sent him running (he wasn't the entertainment, and to be fair, he runs all the time anyway.)

I met David Wilson, the owner of the company which built my speakers. He is very impressive in his pursuit of his "vision" if you will, of how a speaker should sound. He discussed other designs than his, was respectful of others and their way, and spoke almost lovingly of his 50 employees. That's a mark of goodness. He wasn't there to sell us, but to show off his top of the line speaker. I didn't get a great picture, mainly because the 700 pound unit (one of two) is so large. In real life it looks so much better than any pro picture I've seen of it.





Rear without cover - many adjustments!


...and even more, these electronic!

His marketing director also demoed their new small model and it was, to my ear, as impressive within limits, as the large one.

The showrooms are in a victorian house... it's absolutely beautiful. The event was catered and suprisingly not all middle aged bald guys. In fact, two women attended -one a partner of a guy and the other alone!


Beautiful showroom entry...


I had THE sweet seat for the big demo and must say I was extremely impressed. The sense of reality was there. I only wish I had been familiar with the music they played.


I estimate this at about $70,000 worth of gear. The amps (bottom left) - were the first two in the US of this Conrad-Johnson model. They sounded glorious.

All in all a wonderful time, a rare opportunity at ne plus ultra, which surely must be one of the premier high end stores in the country.

AMERICAN IDOL

American Idol will be interesting tonight. Kellie definitely screwed up her song last night. As she put it sweetly and honestly, "I butchered it." Most of the others were very good. Now we'll get down to finding out if this show is about most recent performance or popularity.

My predicted bottom 3:

Kellie
Ace
Katharine

I think Ace is out.

Although she's pretty, Katharine just doesn't sound RIGHT to me. The judges swooned last night. They loved her. Simon built her a shrine.

I don't think Kellie is as good as the top singers. I don't think they are as likeable as she is.


....

I was right. I was wrong. Ace is out. Kellie and Katharine were not in bottom 3.

OUR HOUSE

(Madness) (CSN&Y)

I have discovered an essential truth: the toilet plunger is not where you think it is.

A corollary: when needing a toilet plunger, you usually are seconds away from disaster.

Here's my story:

I take care of the houseplants. Most are thriving. The larger tropical one in the Master Bathroom seems to like it when I give it 3 quarts of water once a week. It tends to droop for several days till the watering. Well, today I noticed that it seems to be losing some of its long leaves. Since it's a pot within a pot, I thought a little exploring was in order so I lifted the inner from the outer. Inside was about 3 gallons of dark brown water, and the inner pot was leaking like a spigot.

No fool here, I held it over the sealed outer pot while it drained, then carefully plugged its one hole while I moved it to the sink to drain some more.

I hefted the large outer pot to the toilet and carefully poured, splashing only a little onto the white rug immediately at toilet front... where it will look like an 'accident.' Maybe I can blame the dog.

Nevertheless, I poured carefully, undaunted. And since I couldn't see into the dark brown water, imagine my surprise when a chunk or two of something splashed into the bowl!

I did what any man would do - I flushed my problems away.

The water rose.

The gurgling began.

I went for the plunger.

It was gone!

The water stopped centimeters from the lip - you know the one - the final lip of destiny and serious wifely disapproval.

Gurgle.

The water slowly sank in the bowl.

Manly men know that signals all clear. I flushed again.

The waters rose and rose. Maybe more weight of water would break the clog. I flush again, but the tank hadn't refilled entirely. Again, the gamble goes to the bowl... in other words, the water continues to rise.

I watch in horror.

It stops, again at the lip.

I search the plunger-lost house in my underpants. This all began after shaving and immediately before a shower. It's gone. Not in the back bathroom, not in closets or cabinets. I step into the recently named snake-motel, the garage, standing in the middle of the concrete, careful to not go too close to anything with anything under it, if you get my drift. I am figuratively (and almost literally) naked. But no plunger.

I fear the cleaning people mixed it up in their kit and took it away.

When you need a plunger you NEED it. Oh, it might sit for a year, but believe me, that wooden handle can make a big difference in your confidence when faced with an emergency.

Maybe if I flush enough the clog will break...

THE SOUND OF MUSIC

(Julie Andrews)

When we had our house built, I goofed. Originally I wanted the zoned house system (3 'extra' speaker locations) to be run from the home theater room upstairs via DVD player and amp. But my LISTENING room is downstairs, as are the CDs. It turned out to be a pain to shuttle upstairs every 55 or 65 minutes. If only I had run a wire! But the builder said that NOW we'd have to punch holes in walls in several places, etc.

I tried an FM transmitter but the quality wasn't good. I read about a mod and tweaked it with more power but that still sounded bad.

I researched a one watt (illegal) FM transmitter but they stopped making them available in the states.

Then someone suggested Bluetooth. And I found this device - The Motorola Stereo Gateway (DC800) at Radio Shack. Two of these did the trick. CD player downstairs, FM receiver/distribution amp upstairs.

This box spec out this way:

Audio input and audio output capabilities

Designed with advanced Bluetooth® Class 1 technology which provides a wire-free range of up to 100m (300 ft.) when used with other Class 1 devices*

RCA jacks for input and output. Plug input into one, output from the other.

What was especially appealing was the stated range of 100m! You read right.

The result: it works just as I could have wished. Let the music play everywhere!

TAKE A CHANCE

(Abba)

I noticed a Google adsense ad for SNAKE AWAY to the right, and wondered what that was - so I chanced a click - it lead me to a JEWELRY PAGE at Target. I suppose you slip a ring or bracelet on the snake and it's so embarrassed it slithers away.

The funny thing to me is that they paid for my click.

More justification for our Website Optimization company!

Over at my other blog, you can read about and even see the latest reptile found up the street today. Nasty!

RIDE MY SEE SAW

(Moody Blues)

So you got that new Hummer or Escalade but - ya know, dog, it ain't a righteous ride.

Check it out - just another 14 large and you can get some serious rims: LED powered rims that actually do lit pictures and graphics

...true.

MONEY FOR NOTHING

(Dire Straits)

Is it me?

Several items have been chewing on my peace of mind. Maybe I'm hypersensitive for no good reason.

Where do you weigh in on this?

Gas prices are up over $3.00 a gallon and they say there's no immediate relief and it's because of this or that and the reasons seem to make sense. Ethanol conversion. Plants down. Katrina-induced shutdowns still not yet fixed. Consumption.

And yet Exxon is now the largest American company.

Their former chief executive, Lee Raymond, (retired in December) was paid $144,573 a day - A DAY - from 1993 to 2005. Savants already know: that's $686 million.

Is this the free market economy at work? Or fat pig greed?

Would consumption go markedly up if prices ran back to, say, $1.99? I think not. Not much, anyway. I think people will bite the bullet and drive even when it hurts to pay the pump - they haven't markedly cut back despite the rise. But something's wrong. There's no way Exxon should be so piggish and get away with it. The press seems to buy the story given by... The American Petroleum Institute. (Not that they'd be anything less than forthright.) They say it costs so much to explore. Maybe, but maybe trimming some of that profit would help pay for it and also run down prices.

I'm ticked at the gas companies. I'm ticked at the press. I'm ticked at the government.

And on THAT subject... it seems that US-sensitive data on flash drives was being sold in Bagram, Afghanistan, at a bazaar - probably not for the info but for the drives, yet you have to wonder what kind of government allows such lax security that the air base would be so porous that workers or whomever could simply walk away with such data? Spies' lists. Personal data. Strategy. On HUNDREDS of drives. Nice work.

I say fire the men on top.

Then there's Rumsfeld. What are we up to now - 6 retired generals calling for his resignation. Rummy says, well, there are thousands of these generals, so what noise do 6 make? BUT THEY WERE THERE, involved in the war.

I say fire Rummy. Bush, of course, supports his guy. We'll get to him in a minute.

Then there's Katrina... so much waste, the job not done.

Then there's general waste in the government. It apparently leaks money that nobody knows about. The GAO, if memory serves, and some commission or other both reached the same conclusion: waste and loss is costing the taxpayers trillions.

So, who's to blame?

I say the get-nothing-done party system. I say the pork barrel party-line-tit- sucking 'leaders.' I say throw them ALL out and start over. They can't even pass a good ethics bill.

Get rid of every one of them. Vote them out. Incumbent = OUT!

I fear we are in serious trouble. I don't even want to write about the freedoms lost. I honestly wonder if some NSA computer will track this blog down as disloyal. Remember Nixon's "enemies" list and how silly it seemed - if you weren't on it? I assume it meant more if you were! Now grandmothers and bloggers are 'watched.' If you are against the status quo you are disloyal. Citizens are watched as suspicious for exercising their right to free speech while our SECRETS are for sale at the Afghan bazaar!

This country was founded on disloyalty - disloyalty to Britain, if you remember. The forefathers must be spinning in their graves, drilling through the dirt. Maybe they'll strike oil and save us from that mess.

REPTILE

(Eric Clapton)

I write these posts then try to find a song title to match. This one will be hard. I've overused Spiders and Snakes already.

Locally, it's snake season. You can see one in a post below, formerly starring in our garage. Luckily it was harmless, other than for testing my adrenal glands (they work well!)

A neighbor found another in his garage yesterday.

And on the news last night a local patron of the nearby Home Depot was BITTEN BY A RATTLE SNAKE which was in a potted plant! (Lawsuit?) Man, that's the height of frightening to me, the snake scaredy-pants. In fact, I check my pants before I put them on. When I see a snake I have to check them when I take them off!

It's like after JAWS came out. Some people were afraid to swim in clear water lakes, or even sit on toilets. You might not be old enough to remember, but I am and do.

As part of the snake season story the experts had some big bad reptiles to show off. If I see a Bull snake I will pass out. Nevertheless, life goes on and you can't simply skip outdoors. Luckily our pool is 6 feet off the ground. Our neighbor in Houston had to be careful with his skimmers, as they'd trap snakes.

I even thought maybe I should handle a snake for a while to desensitize myself.

Gardening this weekend should be interesting!

WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT

(Tina Turner)

What was once a car chase is now scenes with the daughter.

On 24 - a few seasons ago - the action would come to a screeching halt (although the screeching might have been provided by the viewers) as the daughter would waste time in her subplot. Maybe you need relief from the high tension? I say BRING IT ON. Cut the lamp cord - make threatening sparks in the face of the terrorist. MAKE HIM GIVE the piece of info so crucial to the plot!

Now this season's Thief has the same drama-stopping device. Dad/thief mastermind has this kid to deal with after the loss of his wife.

Is this to bring in lower demos? Show him as human? OR JUST WASTE TIME? It's called Thief, not My Dad, the Thief.

Back in the days of Mannix, there'd be car chases. Now it's goo.

WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN

(The Who)

David Caruso (Miami CSI) has to be the worst most highly rated actor working. I have to admit I play a game to see how many words are in each sentence he utters. --- Usually 4. Well, he doesn't WRITE the show, but he does posture and pose and break those four words into The first (dramatic pause) the last.

Well, who's the fool? He's likely making millions on a top show and I'm... writing a blog.

But what interests me, and the real subject of this blog, is how we tire of a show that's so formulaic. It used to be hot, is now cold. I don't care if I ever see another episode. Have I changed? Or is there a threshold beyond which we are overdosed?

The setup usually has some babes in it. I like that. Then the crime scene. "H" says 4 or 5 words, and the great intro begins. LOVE THE WHO. LOVE THAT THEME. Can't turn it off or TiVo through it. It was out when I was a young dee-jay. Monitors up full, the scream by Roger Daltry just amped adrenalin through my system every time! But then we go through the case, and it just bores me - at least they keep the co-stars present. And there's the gross out scene. Maggots in the wound of the not-dead-victim last night. "Okay, cue the maggot wrangler, we are ready for the closeup!"

Lately - bored - I've even keyed in on the color palette of each show, declaring it to Terri very early on - and then you see it so obviously (like Caruso's acting). Last night was orange. Orange ties, blouses, pants, you name it. Orange.

I read that college students play a drinking game - whenever Caruso puts hands on hips you take a drink/hit. When he takes his dark glasses off for dramatic emphasis, you take two drinks/hits. Maybe that helps!

The guy looks like a camel to me. But who's the Fool?

PSYCHOTIC REACTION

(Count 5)

Few things stress me out like car repair. I have had many bad experiences. When I had my Porsche, I couldn't get decent service in New York, St. Catherine's Ontario, Canada, or San Diego. In San Diego I would have it fixed again and again and again as each time they didn't fix the problem! Finally, in Houston, I found a GUY - not a dealership - who could make it run.

A guy putting an aftermarket radio into the Porsche blew out the engine computer, which had to be air freighted in from Germany.

On an old Camaro, the wheels would never stay aligned. But that was potholed Pittsburgh.

I had a VW Dasher... and once I left the dealership with the engine literally smoking. I stopped. Lifted the hood. Found a wrench. It wasn't the cause of the smoke, but, c'mon! And c'mon!

My VW truck blew its motor.

In Minneapolis I came to trust my Audi dealership which they say was the largest in the country... 4 wheel drive being important there. Even so, there were issues and I got into an argument with a service advisor who lied to me about what had been done, about what I had said to do. I blew her in to management and she was 'retired.'

So today - if the Audi will start - and that's no sure thing - I will take it or truck it to the dealer and hope they can find what's wrong and fix it and that I can find a way home.

Last time it was in for service, I was hit by a dump truck while in the rental car substitute.

Stress. Helplessness. Expensive helplessness. What a joy. Always an adventure.

----

And so I do manage to get it into the shop. And they do manage to get it into a bay where the tech says he needs two hours (more) minimum of diagnosis. It could be this or that. The service advisor adds, or that2. This is in stock. That and that2 aren't, and will have to be shipped in.

I take a rental and put full insurance on it. If I don't total it or forget to return it, I am covered!

Oh - and my headlight with sleepy-eye: that'll be $470 plus labor. "and usually people get both, because one is nice and shiny and the other is oxidized, etc." I say the hell with that - replace the one that needs it. "Can't you just adjust it?" "No, sorry."

While waiting I fall in love with an $85,000 A-8-L. What a car!

Finally I make it home, about 3 1/2 hours after I left this morning... and I await THE CALL which will outline how quickly the service charges will add up, and how long they'll need the car to fix it. And I just put $2000 into the car.

I have crossed the threshold where I start to be nickel and dimed to death by my car. Only a nickel is now $500 and a dime is $1000.

BABY YOU CAN DRIVE MY CAR

(Beatles)

The other day my reliable Audi wouldn't start at Starbucks. I ate my donut and tried again. It turned over.

But ya know, after some years, you have a sense about things. You just know when it isn't right.

It did start again three or four times since.

And today I bought my first $42 tankful of gas. GOUGING BASTARDS! Then, after gulping hard at the pump,... nothing. And nothing again. And again. Again. Yet again. A lady lines up behind me. I get out and give her the bad news - I ain't going nowhere!

Finally I decide to see if I can push it into a parking space, which I do, and crank and wait and try and try and try again. Nope.

I call the service center - they just did a BIG (almost $2000) tuneup and service not very long ago. Well, it's tough to diagnose over the phone - could be this or that. I try again. No go. Terri picks me up.

And so I leave it there - will return tomorrow and if I can't get it started, will have it towed to the dealership.

It's not logical. We have two cars. But when mine is down, I feel trapped, even though I wouldn't necessarily use it to go anywhere. But I COULD. That's the thing.

ROCKY RACCOON / ROCKET MAN

(Beatles)/ (Elton John)

Last night while watching TV, an odd noise startled us. It sounded like perhaps a Raccoon had somehow gotten into the attic behind the TV and was hurling its rabid self from wall to wall. We tried to ignore it at first thud, but it kept up.

I did the manly thing: "Stay here." I said to Terri, as I gingerly cranked a window open. Was the noise INSIDE OR OUTSIDE? Not sure.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

Try another window. FOR GOD'S SAKE don't open the door to the attic!

THUD!

THUD!

"Oh, wait... out here on the deck... look at this!" I bravely call to Terri. And she joins me to watch the fireworks that signal the grand reopening of the golf club here on the community grounds. We had a perfect view.

BORN IN THE USA

(Bruce Springsteen)

I rarely stop at PBS while channel surfing. But it seems that, every single time I do, they are in a drive. Maybe that's when the good stuff airs. Or the good stuff that stops me. Never fails. Never.

Last night it was Bruce Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuce Springsteen and The E Street Band in 1975. I have to admit - I've never seen Bruce and don't have a single disc. I was blown away. How could I have missed Bruce? Apparently I live in a Bruce-fault zone, where the upwelling of Steely Dan (ahem) and the Doobie Brothers Plate (ahem) come together!

SPIDERS AND SNAKES (part 2)

(Jim Stafford)




It's that time of the year! This bad boy or benign boy replaced Terri's car today in the garage. I will name him Jack Abramoff. Wonder where the hat is?

Of course, now I am looking at hoses, extension cords, and rope with MUCH suspicion and I am pretty sure my adrenal gland still works just fine, thankyouverymuch!




You can't see it but the snake could flatten considerably around the head, not unlike a python. I looked through the Snakes Of Taxes website and couldn't find a close match. But that also helped elevate my alert status to double red plus neon plus fluorescent.

With the help of Malcolm Pigford, this snake has been identified. Eastern Hognose Snake: Heterodon platirhinos: A shy and harmless snake.

I DON'T LIKE SPIDERS AND SNAKES

(Jim Stafford) - in case you haven't noticed, I am seeing if I can keep going with song titles as my blog titles.


Wimp test! I passed. But show me a snake and I climb air! I even helped the little bugger (and a partner) out of their trash bin-jam. And when prodded gently with a stck, the ungrateful bugger ran toward me. So I told him what I've learned from Geo Bush about freedom and he ran back under the bin.

Reptiles? Bin laden (!) with cans. Freedom? It's a DC day.

SING A SONG

(Earth Wind and Fire)

I'll climb out on an AMERICAN IDOL addiction limb.

It's a limb because I can't predict how callers will vote, but, based on last night's performances, to me, the 3 lowest vote getters will be:

Mandisa - sorry - she sure can sing but didn't do a good job PLUS her outfit was extremely unflattering. Since others were so much better, I think she'll be in the bottom (no pun) 3. But as I said, maybe the voters of America are plus sizes and empathize, so who knows? Mandisa is a great GREAT singer, is beautiful, has great spirit, but based on last night, I think she's bottom 3.

Taylor - no spark, no vibe, and to my ear, whined through the song. I like the guy, but... bottom 3. I don't think he'll be the one kicked out though.

Bucky - the production covered his perfromance nicely but if you listened with the volume up, it was just fair. He's never really nailed a performance yet. The others are better. He gets booted.

---

I was only part right. Mandisa go the boot. Taylor and Bucky were not in the bottom 3. Wish I could figure out how America votes! Next week they do the music of QUEEN. That should be interesting!

YES WE CAN CAN

(Pointer Sisters)

Last night while watching TV, I heard a noise from the cabinet across the room. I ignored it. Later another noise, perhaps louder. I ignored it, but it worked on me - a mouse? A rat? What could it be? Too distant from a window where a bird might have flown into the pane.

I investigate.

The built-in refrigerator draws my attention.

I open the door.

Like a war zone, cans of diet coke (non-caffeinated) have exploded... one, two, three. And the debris is frozen solid to the walls. Except for the little pool that somehow escaped into the carpet then dried.

I kneel there, dumbfounded (I didn't think that mini-frig would go that cold though I had turned it to colder the other day.) I also realize I am staring at live grenades with a demonstrated propensity for explosions. And I throw some towels in, reduce the cold setting, and retreat.

Later, perhaps today, I will enjoy the sticky by-then-melt and try to clean it all.

It's always something!

BOOK OF LOVE

(Monotones)



Today is Terri's birthday.

For her birthday I put together a picture book of our 20th anniversary cruise to the Grenadines on a chartered sailboat. I used a service on line and it took days and days and days to sort, design, and build the book. It was a big hit!

Today I tried to send out the book electronically to some friends... but much to my horror (and to my way of thinking, consistent with the awkward Shutterfly.com way of doing things) - they sent permissions to see all the raw pictures, not in sequence or design or with captions. And of course they have no good interface that answers a simple question like, how can I share my project AS FINISHED!!!???

You almost get the sense they lack logic.

But, as I wrote, the book was a hit and if I can get a straight answer from Shutterfly, I'll make it available.

It was extremely difficult to sneak around and get it done when I knew Terri wanted to see the pictures that I had hidden. I kept putting her off. Whew! I am not a good sneak!

SOMETHING IN THE AIR

(Thunderclap Newman)

Don't know what it IS but there's a sweet smell in the wind today. Almost like incense. Take a nice breeze and 80 degrees on April 1, then scent the breeze and you've got heaven. (No, it's no illegal hempage.)

Bought a cactus today.

Went to a very nice art fair and avoided buying anything expensive beyond Gellato!

I'm too mellow to write anything clever. Come back later, we'll see.