sorry...
the past few days have been very busy and to top it off, I've been up since
1:18 AM this morning because my throat hurt enough to wake me up.
Nice, huh? Also on the agenda... my sinuses are draining themselves
down the back of my throat and my ears are infected...
ughhhhhhhhhhh.
so, nothing witty here tonight, folks...
however, here is something neat in keeping with the coffee commentary of late...

feel free to steal it and use it as you like, that's how i came by it...

tomorrow night, health pending...
Kaiju Big Battel...
yeah, i know, you're mystified...
watch this space for further info.

later.

it pays to schmooze...

I guess Señor Valdez was so happy with the press I gave him that he sent along a complimentary load of coffee... looks like just enough to get me through a weekend, as long as I meter it out...

1972 California bathroom story...

You got pissed off at me when I tracked sand through your house.
You yelled at me through your bathroom door,
As I stood there in the almost dark thinking that I’d never been in a bathroom before that didn’t have a window.
The smell from the burning wax of a candle mixed with the scent of your soaps and reminded me of a place that I was once, a long time ago. Only no one was yelling at me then.
When I was finished, I got the broom and dustpan from your kitchen closet and cleaned up all traces of me in your hallway. I threw the sand out your back door where it came from and thought
“That was easy. I can remove all traces of myself with just a broom.”
I found you sitting on the front porch, smoking a cigarette and nursing the last bit of beer from a bottle. The brown of the bottle was the same color as your sweater.
“I cleaned up your hallway. I have to go now, it’s getting late.”
“It looks like it’s going to rain”.
When I got to the bottom of the stairs you yelled to me,
“It’s a new broom. How do you like it?”
“It’s a nice broom. I like the blue handle.”
“Are you coming by tomorrow?”
“I guess so.”
“Good. I’ll sweep up the sand tomorrow.”
“OK, I’ll bring my broom.”
“Sure…”
“Yep. See you.”
“Bye.”

wait... what's that i hear...
why, it sounds like the far off beating of drums and some sort of rally cry... I can almost make it out... YES! it's the battle call of the minions of POLITICAL CORRECTNESS, on the march once again!!
Gathering, no doubt to uphold the honor of Latin American coffee bean picking peasants, no matter where they might be plying their trade! All because of the return of the Hero of Caffeine Addicts everywhere...
Senor Juan Valdez!!! Oh, welcome back, our god, our savior, our purveyor of the black brew that keeps bloggers with twitching fingers up all night, hurling words and barbs in all directions! Oh, thank you, you wonderful, serape draped, chino wearing, cheap South of The Border Gift Shop Hat wearing old soul... how we have missed you and your faithful braying compadre! (what will PETA have to say about that poor, overloaded mule, being forced to impersonate a burro...I shudder to think...)
I lift a cup of hot and black in your honor! I scald my tongue and palate in toast to you!!
No doubt you will not tread among the lowly for long... those that have taken it upon themselves to protect the innocent and shelter the great unwashed from the scourge of stereotypical entendre that is sure to sweep over the land, will no doubt prevail! Oh, the horrors!!! How many of those of Latin American descent will be heading for the nearest cliff, to hurl themselves off in a great weeping mass, like so many gaily clad lemmings...? but I degress...
I'm so very, very, very glad the Columbian Coffee organization has had the courage to put their balls where their beans are and bring this icon back into the light where he belongs. Maybe this will be the start of a trend... can a return of the Jolly Green Giant and Josephine the Plumber be far behind? It blows the mind!
I'm worn out... I'm going to go make some coffee... Thank you Juan, and welcome back, no matter how short your stay!!

yeah, no shit...
I was bored... and my html book was just laying there and...
hey, even if the writing sucks, at least you have some new pretty colors to look at....

how cool...
can one cat be, man...? You're looking at the late, and oh, so great Mr. Ben Webster, my very, very favorite tenor sax blower.. I grew up listening to this man and just came across a gem of his, the Soulville album, recorded October 1957. I'm listening to it right now, and, man, can this cat coax some shit out of a piece of bent brass. This is a recording he did with his quintet, which was comprised of the wonderful Oscar Peterson on piano, Herb Ellis on guitar, Ray Brown on bass and Stan Levy on drums.
Check out that picture.
"Man, I just got done blowing my heart out, I just wanna kick here, beat this heater and finish this scotch, then go hang with the ladies at the bar, so get the fuck outta here..."
Check him out sometime, it will do your soul good...
later.

as promised...


as promised, here's a picture of one of my bearded iris', which have appeared almost overnight, thanks to the alternating days of rain and sun and heat. I find them to be quite beautiful. Their period of bloom is quite short, when compared to most flowers, they last two days at the most and then fade away overnight to a wilted, drooping mess. They are pretty, though, do you agree? Quite sensual, as well... makes me wish I was a bumble bee...
More garden pictures to come, as things progress. Probably Day Lilies will be next.
later

I think...
the reason for my seemingly constant bouts with writer's block is this damned blog...
for reasons that really escape me, I've cultivated a somewhat faithful, albeit small,
readership. I humbly appreciate that you take the time to visit here and your attention to my scratchings, however...
writing, for me, has been more than something I like to do, it is something I have to do. It's something that helps me keep my soul from spinning away and let's me keep in touch with myself, which, for those of you who know me personally, know that must be quite a feat. I feel that I've been cheating myself a little bit in that area and cheating you even more. I find myself writing to hope that I can present you with things that are amusing, or interesting, or profound, while the essence of what I need to say has been cast to the wayside. I'm sorry. I apologize to you and to myself. So, what's going to happen here is a distinct separation of church and state, if you will. For the present, I'm going to use this as a forum to spout daily blather and bilge and keep the serious stuff to myself until I feel it's worthy of your time. It will be good for me and eventually I'll be able to put stuff in here that you, as well as I, can get something out of... I hope.

saturday night...
the gray and white cat
lays on the bed with me
she's purring
my back hurts
mad jazz storms from my radio
i feel like i'm about to cave in
and explode at the same time

the gray and white cat
is laying so she almost looks flat
like a pattern on the cover
except she ripples as she purrs
she knows how to sleep
i wish she would teach me

a really short trip...
So... I'm home. The trip turned into a non event, but not without it's adventures.
I left the house at five thirty in the morning, dropped off some mail and headed for the New Jersey Turnpike. I got to the next town over a little before six and when I went oversome railroad tracks, my left rear tire blew out. It was a stroke of luck it happened where
it did, as I was only a few hundred feet from a service station, so I limped the hoopdy mobile into the parking lot and asked the nice old guy pumping gas if they might have a tire. He checked it out for me and, lo and behold, they had one. Then he told me that the mechanic wouldn't be in until eight, which is when I was supposed to be way up in North Jersey at a press approval for some new Salsa labels. I called Mrs. S.O.G. on a pay phone and asked her to call the printing company's salesman and tell him I was going to be a bit late. He told her that the press run was cancelled and I didn't have to make the trip.
"No problem", she told him, "he's at a station on the way to work and I'll stop by and tell him since he'll be there waiting for the mechanic to show up at eight and I go by there at seven".
Meanwhile, as luck would have it (I thought) the mechanic showed up at six thirty and by six fifty, I was on my way with a new tire. The Mrs. showed up at eight and found out I was already on the road, so, I ended up driving about eighty miles to show up where I really didn't need to be. I turned around and drove two hours back to my office. What fun... at least I got a new tire out of the deal, and some decent mileage for my expense report. And guess what? I get to go back up there on Monday!
So, no stories about hotel bar hangers or lobby lizards for now... maybe on Wednesday.

Oh, yeah... I'm sitting here writing this waiting for the County Animal Control guy to show up... there's a poor little brown bat laying on my patio, obviously suffering from what could only be rabies. Too bad, I'm really fond of the little creatures, as you might have read here at some time. I hope this is an isolated case and not going to effect the local bat population in general. They are too benificial to loose. More on this later, maybe.
I also mowed the entire lawn proper at Stately Sad Old Goth Manor when I got home... the back forty will have to wait until the weekend.
Gotta run, I'm starving.
Peace to you all and don't forget about the eclipse tomorrow night!!

a brief hiatus...

I will be on the road over the next few days, so, hopefully, when I get back, I'll have some interesting stories for you... I have a really hard time sleeping away from home, so I usually end up sitting in the hotel bar or wandering the lobby, observing the people and gathering ideas for stories and such.

Something to tide you over...
there's an eclipse of the moon Thursday night... pick out your location on the map below (courtesy of NASA, thanks), to see how much of the event you can witness and when to look. I hope the weather cooperates for you.


be well.

happy mother's day...

to all of you mothers out there...

Mrs. Sad Old Goth... has what I like to call the "Mother Magnet". She is a natural mother. All day long the phone has been ringing. She has been getting calls from her students, ex-students and kids that we've had living with us over the years. We've been fortunate to be able to help some really great kids when they needed a place to live and a mother to take care of them. One is a year away from getting his Master's Degree... one is an up and coming college basketball star at Rutger's University and one is in the NBA, with the Sixer's. All this and being an outstanding mother to our own two daughters. They wouldn't be where they are if it wasn't for her. I'm not a natural father, I have to work at it, but she has a gift.
So, Happy Mother's Day to her. She's something else.

it's Sunday, June 19, 1938...

and Evart, his sister Judy and their dog Toby pose for a picture on the front porch of their mother's house. It's Father's Day, but not for them... their father was killed in a barge accident nine years ago. Judging by the shadows, it looks like it's just about noon. Evart looks like he just came from church. Judy looks like she's hoping that a casting director for the next Tarzan movie might happen by... Toby looks happy that he has a roof and regular meals and someone to hug him.
Just a tiny little slice of Sunday, June 19, 1938. The photo looks like one that might have been taken by an Agfa or Kodak box camera. If so, that tiny little slice of Sunday, June 19, 1938 took about one sixtieth of a second to be recorded for all time. What else happened on Sunday, June 19, 1938...?



On Sunday, June 19, 1938,a cloudburst near Custer Creek, Montana (near Miles City) caused a train wreck killing 48 persons. An estimated 4 to 7 inches of rain deluged the head of the creek that evening and water flowing through the creek weakened the bridge. As a result, a locomotive and 7 passenger cars plunged into the swollen creek. One car, a tourist sleeper, was completely submerged.

On Sunday, June 19, 1938, NJ State Trooper Vincent C. Vosbien succumbed to injuries from a motorcycle accident one year earlier while on duty in Raritan Borough. He had been with the agency for one year.

On Sunday, June 19, 1938, in the old Olympic stadium of Colombes, near Paris, 50,000 spectators witnessed the triumph of Piola's Italy over Sarosi's Hungary in the final of soccer's third World Cup.

On Sunday, June 19, 1938, "Cosmic Corkscrew", Isaac Asimov's first story, dealing with a view of time as a helix where time travelers could cut across from one ring to an adjacent ring, was completed.

On Sunday, June 19, 1938, in Henderson County, Texas, Ella Elizabeth Honey, born July 27, 1899, died.

On Sunday, June 19, 1938, Evart, Judy and their dog Toby posed for a picture on their mother's front porch, at just about noon.


.

dear readers...
I know you're out there...

My Site Meter map is showing hits from the Eastern, Central and Pacific time zones... and, if you look real closely, there is a small percentage coming from somewhere way over there... perhaps some lonely soul stuck out on the Kamchatka peninsula, with nothing to do but drink Stoley and surf the net... hmmm, not so very unlike myself.
I'd really like to know who you are and where you're from, so, please, please, please, please, please log onto my Guest Map and stick one of those queer little icons someplace and say hi.

ya know...

You just have to admire the attitude of Western civilization in the face of adversity... here these poor folks had their home destroyed by one of the many tornadoes that plagued the Midwest over the past few days and yet they still have enough of a sense of humor to put up a sign like this... sure beats all the wailing and head holding you see in other parts of the world when something like this happens. Maybe that's why we'll always be around while other societies will eventually fall... we have the ability to laugh at ourselves and with each other once in a while.

spring has sprung...



here's at least one picture of the garden right outside my kitchen window. I'm amazed that anything survived the winter we had. My pinks are going wild and the iris' right behind them have loads of buds... they were transplanted from another bed two years ago and I haven't had a bloom since then, but I guess the cold and snow really got them worked up. They are a true bearded iris, a lovely light violet color with cream centers and a bright yellow bee. They are almost translucent in the summer sun. The rest of this bed gets filled with a different mix of annuals each season and it's a joy to see it every morning when I go out to work. I'll put some more pictures up here throughout the summer.

hmmm...

I just had a revelation whilst sitting at my desk here this morning...
when I wake up on the morning of July 15th, I will be completely out of debt,
with the exception of my mortgage and my monthly bills...
This opens a whole new world of possibilities...
more thoughts on this later.

this old lair...


so... I put the new roof on the breakfast nook of stately sad old goth manor this weekend...
it wasn't as bad as I feared.
here's a picture after I took all the old shingles off.




and... here I am, running one of about a hundred decking screws into the old underlayment.
doesn't that look like fun???
note the cool no socks look...





here's the new roof!! pretty cool, huh? still have a bunch of siding to replace and rehang
the rain gutters... and replace that really attractive mid 60's storm door.. it's a real beauty, huh?
I found a place that manufactures period style screen doors and will be ordering one in a week
or so.

next weekend... replace the siding on the living room wall... oh, joy.

later, some early spring garden pictures.

see ya.

sorry...

i fell asleep before i had the chance to put these up...
no story, you get to make up your own...






just another interesting road trip with the wise and wonderful Bob...

as promised...

here's the photos of the trip to the Giants Draft Day Party with the
wise and wonderful Bob..

and later tonight, some very interesting pictures for your amusement....

later...

it just never stops...

Looks like this insanity will be a good bone to chew on for a while...
I lifted this off Tounge Tied this morning. You can visit there to read this and further insanity by
clicking on the link in my left hand banner.
I feel one hell of a rant coming on...

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Peaceful Playgrounds



Officials at a school district in Pennsylvania are launching a “Peaceful Playground Project” to cut down on competition and conflict during the daily free-for-all at elementary schools there, reports the Bucks County Courier Times.

Officials at Neshaminy School District will install "peace mazes" at its eight elementary schools. Kids on the verge of violence will be asked to wander through the mazes’ seven steps of "conflict resolution" and think about their anger for a spell.

Team captains are banned, as is the game tag. The latter will be replaced with something called "Motion Pictures" in which photographs of different points around the school playground are placed in a basket and kids will be expected to pluck out a photo and scramble off to tag it before returning. Team captains are also banned, as are any sports that don't stress inclusiveness.

Neshaminy wants to change recess into "purposeful playtime," said Marcy
Spigler, the district's violence prevention coordinator.

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