Summertime...When The Living Is Easy

     Are we sure about that?  All I can say, living here on the West Coast in California, is that it is going to be very hot!
     That's OK because I have heard it said that it is a "dry" heat.  What is a dry heat anyway?  One hundred degrees is one hundred degrees and that is all.  Today is going to be 108 I think.  What about the other eight degrees,  are they dry? I think not, it is still hot as heck.
     What do people do in 108 degree heat.  As little as possible I would think. I am going to stay in my office and turn up the air conditioner.  The fan is going and I have work to do, so that is where I think I will hide.  "Oh honey, you know how hard I am working.  Could you bring me another fruit punch please?"  Somehow, I don't think that is going to work with Denise.
     There is one thing that is on the positive side in all this.  At least we don't live in Death Valley where it is going to be 129 degrees.

Maybe this will help you cool off.  I didn't take the picture though, Its not that great.

A Moving Story

      Today, my story is a very moving one.  Actually it is about moving.  I look around our new house and in the garage and all I see is boxes that need to be unpacked..  By the way, thanks for all the offers from you to come by and help.  We truly appreciate all the help.Hope that made you chuckle a bit, but I do thank the people that did come and help.  It was hard moving two people from two different places.  We made it to the wedding and still are alive after the experience of the wedding and the move along with other assorted bumps in the road.
     Little by little the boxes are coming into the house.  It seems as though the garage is growing, there is more and more space.  Wait a minute, its not growing.  We are just brings more stuff from out of it into the house.  The exercise bike is still out there though.  All right, we both don't like to sweat so give us a break.  We have made a commitment to loose weight and the bike will come in eventually, but not after the Baskin and Robbins schedule has been made out.  Got to keep the California dairy farmers in business.  It is our civic duty.
     My office is set up as I write this.  All of my pictures are up and my cups and nic-nacs have been put on shelves and displayed.  It is my home and I am comfortable in it.  There is a recliner and a T.V. but no refrigerator (sory, no d in refridgerator-how about that, the dikshunary wurks).  I didn't put a couch in there either.  I think that you know where I am going with this.  Denise loves me very much.
    I am a happy camper.  It is home as soon as my "Dogs Playing Poker" painting is up.  I am staring at it as we speak.  King Kong is also happy high atop his perch on the book case and he can endlessly stare at his beloved white ape.  I can even listen to my "space music" on the little CD player radio I have on my desk in my office.  Life is good.
    I still have a few boxes to bring in from the garage, but I hope to do that today.  It seems as though I have kept some things that I should have thrown away a long time ago, but I didn't. By the way, I didn't win anything from that banana contest at Wal Mart.
    Home, Sweet Home-

My office as it looks right now.  You can just make out the "Dogs Playing Poker"  painting on the right.

   

Not Guilty! Well, Sort Of

     The verdict is in.  Actually it isn't in because the decision has been given a continuance until
all parties could be present and the correct case could be presented.  The hope is that the case won't be actually heard by the judge, but the two parties could come together with the mediator and decide on a fair resolution.  At this point, this is going to be the case-- hopefully.
     You never know about the American Judicial system.  It is a good one and in most cases it gets it right.  Sometimes though, it completely misses the boat and something happens that just doesn't make any sense. I am not being specific here, and I definitely will not state an opinion about today's Supreme Court rulings as I am not here to be very profound.  According to Denise I can never be profound as my brain does not work that way. But given the system, it works in most cases. (O.J. Simpson?)
     Here is what happened.  Seth's dog Maya-I forgot, Seth is Denise's 19 year old son- got out of the back yard and ran free. She is an Alaskan Huskie, and a pretty big one at that.  Maya is a good tempered dog but likes to play with smaller animals and doesn't know her own strength.  The dog is sort of like Lennie in Of Mice and Men. ( Do you like how I threw that literary reference in there? Wow, sometimes I amaze myself. Off topic again, sorry that is just my brain working again.). Sometimes she doesn't know when enough is enough and crosses some strict societal boundaries of accepted behavior. After all, she is a dog.
     As it turns out, Maya saw a chihuahua which lived down the street and decided to play football with it, using the chihuahua as the football.  Huskies don't have hands to grasp the football, so she used her mouth to hold tightly onto the football-uh chihuahua.  When Maya scored a touchdown, she decided to spike the ball-uh chihuahua-for the victory. The ball-uh chihuahua-didn't quite do well physically with this.
     After expending all this energy scoring a touchdown and then doing her victory spike, she was hungry.  There were no hot dog stands close by so she decided to use the closest thing, the ball-uh chihuahua. She didn't do it malisciously (where's that dikshunary?), she is a dog after all.  The bottom line was Maya 1, the ball-uh chihuahua-0.
     The ball-uh, chihuahua-was taken to the vet where a $800 plus veterinarian bill was incurred by the ball's-uh, chihuahua's-owner for repairing the injuries caused by Maya.  I think that you can see where this is going.  Who was responsible for this and who was going to pay the bill?
     Denise was served with papers to appear in small claims court.  I won't go into many details of what happened before and after she was served because my fingers are getting tired from typing and I am running out of words and ideas as to how to make this more humorous. I will cut to the chase-that was bad.  At any rate, as I said before, Maya is not Denise's dog.  She is Seth's dog.  The owners of the ball-uh chihuahua-were suing the wrong person.  They were suing Denise, who is not responsible for the dog or her actions because it is not her dog.  The dog could not be sued because-well-she's a dog. Like many people in our entitlement generation, she is not responsible for her actions.
    The mediator explained to the plaintiffs that they had two

This is not Maya after the incident.  It is my son and don't worry , its only make believe.

options.  First, they could go through the time and expense of re-filing their action naming Seth as the defendant.  The second option was that they could meet with Seth and discuss the matter, and Seth could make arrangements to reimburse them for the $800 Vet bill.  This was the route that was taken,with Denise telling the mediator that she would talk to Seth and have him in court on another day.  Basically, the case did not go before the judge but was delayed until we could talk to Seth and come to an agreement, keeping it out of the court.
     We live in a great country.  Disputes can be settled in a civil manner without anyone getting hurt or angry.  I wonder what the ball-uh chihuahua-thinks about this.    


 

Star Trek Lover (Or Not)...Vote Here

     Do you know how difficult it is to come up with great ideas to write about each day or so.  It is really a hard thing to do.  Sometimes you have to just go with it.  So here goes.
     Yes, I admit that I am a Star Trek lover.  Not to the point of being a Trekkie, but I do like my Star Trek. It seems as though it has a life of its own and is continually finding a new audience. To me, the original show was the best.  It was the original screen plays and ideas that really drew me in. Afterall, who could forget "The Trouble With Tribbles"?  The show was different and groundbreaking, all done with 1960's special effects.  However I am giving you an opportunity to express your opinion.  What do you think was the best Star Trek? Please vote your conscience.  This will be one man or woman, one vote unless you live in Chicago and you do not need to be registered to vote or a citizen of the U.S., as I do live in California.
Let's be progressive about this.

These are not listed in chronological order so as not to influence the vote.

No, I didn't have one of these before I wrote this.
I did have my coffee though.

1)  Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
2.)  Star Trek Voyager
3.)  Star Trek Enterprise
4.)  Star Trek New Generation:  The Movies
5.)  Star Trek The New Movies (I Haven't seen the new one yet.)
6.) The Original Star Trek (Vote for this one.  It is truly the best.)
7.) The Original Star Trek Movies
8.)  I don't give a rip about Star Trek.  Trekkies are strange people and need to get a life.  It is the stupidist series of shows ever to reach the galaxy. (OK, that was a bit cute. Just thought I would spice things up a bit.)
9.) Write in......................................................................

     Now vote for your favorite. There is no toll free number to call and you can't text in your vote.  Voting closes tonight at midnight, depending on your time-zone so please vote soon. Those of you who are on the other side of the International Dateline will be casting an advisory vote only.  
  
    

Bought A New Book

     I bot a new book today.  I think it is called a dikshunary. As you know, I have truble spelling at times so I had hoped that this mite help when a word just didn't seem spelled rite.  At any rate, it wasn't that expensive to buy and I thot I mite need it someday.
     As a profesionel riter, it is my duty to be able to put things down and have them spelled korektly.  There is a standard amongst us profeshunal riters and we are held to a hier level of performance.  Our riting has to be corect in all aspects of its presentashun.  That means the words have to be spelled properly. The words also have to be used with their ther meanings as well.  That is why I bought the dictionery, so that I can bring to you in my riting that hier standerd.
     At this point, my speling woes have been fixed hopefully.  Time will tell, but I will promiz you that I will use the book whenever I am stumped on the corect spelling of a word.  I owe that hi standard of profeshunalizm to you my readers.
     Denise asked me this morning if I was interested in dinosaurs. She told me that I should get a book that talks about a particular dinosaur.  I told her that I was too old to be interested in buying anything related to the dinosaurs.  I think she called it a Thesaurus.  By the way, was the Thesaurus a plant eater or a meat eater and which period did it live in?

Many of these guys are dinosaurs, but don't tell them I said that.  Not the right kind of dinosaurs either. If you recognize yourself in this picture don't feel offended, I do this out of love.

     You will be happy to know that I am drinking my first cup of coffee right now as we speak.











P.S. Was that a better post Louis?

It's Saturday...Unless You Are In Japan

     It's Saturday today.  That means that today is a day off, so don't expect a post on my blog.  I am off to do some fun stuff, so today is not a work day. Let me see what fun things are on my agenda for today.
     Hmmm...let me see.  First I have to bring in as many of the boxes left in the garage that are filled with moving stuff as I can. Those three recliners we brought from Denise's house need to find a home somewhere so have to be moved from where they are outside the house into their final resting place in the house.  I vote the dump, but I probably would wind up in the dump as well if we did that.
     Next, I have to get the last of the stuff that is supposed to go into my office into my office. that is ok, because most of that stuff is papers that need to be gone through and thrown away.  Wait a minute, I still have use for that receipt from Wal Mart when I bought those bananas four years ago.  Maybe the banana lobby has been trying to get in touch with me in order to reward that 5 million dollar prize in that banana buying contest.  I haven't forgotten those words "Proof of purchase required". Maybe I won and don't know it. Maybe I will keep my divorce papers from my first marriage as they may be important in the future.
     It's going to rain probably early Monday morning.  We have a piano in a crate in our back yard that needs to get out of the elements so we are going to try to bring it into the garage.  Why a piano in our back yard you ask? Because it wouldn't fit in the garage, especially when we have a 6'6" Chickering Grand Piano sitting in the middle of the garage on the garage floor. That's another story in and of itself by the way. I am learning a lot about pianos and how to and not to move them.
     Times a waisting and  it is Saturday you know.  I don't have time to post today, it is time to get to the fun stuff

Oh well, maybe a nap later.

.

A Truly Moving Experience

     Halelujah, the move is finally over.  That is the moves from Merced and the move from my apartment.  Denise moved to Fresno as I have said and I moved from my apartment to our house together.  The wedding went quite well, by the way.  Now comes the fun part and we are in the middle of the move as we speak. Technically, not as we speak but as I write this, but you get the idea.
      We packed it all up and moved it all, me with my two boxes of stuff from my apartment and Denise with her 26ft U-Haul truck and two loads of 24ft U-Haul trailer loads as well as a couple of loads in a friend's van from her house. OK, maybe I had three boxes, but I was only moving an apartment.  She was moving a house with all her possessions.
     I want to be fair about this and I am looking at the couch right now. It does look fairly comfortable to sleep on. She did have more to move and I don't want to get into too much trouble.  You do know that exaggeration makes for great humor. Ha, ha.  How do you spell exaggeration any way?
     Now comes the fun part of moving.  Once you get everything into the vans or trailers, one little car trunk load for me and the 26ft U-haul truck and two 24ft U-haul trailer loads with a couple of loads in a friend's van for Denise, you get to unload the one little car trunk load for me and the 26ft. U-haul truck and two 24ft. U- haul trailer loads along with the couple of loads of the friend's van.  Where do you put the stuff-furniture, boxes and such- until you can put it all away way in their proper places on the wall and in the rooms etc..
 I look for the fun to continue for another 12 to 24 years.  I am hoping that all will be put away as a twenty-fifth wedding anniversary gift to Denise.
     All kidding aside, you know that is hard for me, I have married a wonderful woman.  Things are being put away and we are almost done.  The house is shaping up and I look forward to all the fond memories we will have together living in this house.

A beautiful house, don't you think? It's not ours.

Homey Don't Feel To Good Today

     I think I caught a bug somewhere.  My body aches and I feel like my head is 1000 feet under water. No fever, I really don't get a fever when I get a cold or the flu and I don't know why.  What I know right now is I feel "yucky". Every muscle, yes I do have muscles, in my body hurts and I have no energy.

That's the bulldozer that I think ran over me.

     Most of the time when a bug comes to visit me I really don't get ugly sick.  I don't get to the point that I run a high fever and my stomach hurts.  Generally it is just a "yuck" that comes over me.  I feel warm, but when I go to check my temperature, I never have one. So, excuse me because I am going back to bed.  
     I realize that this is a not so great post today, but my brain is somewhere in Minnesota today.  It must be the fever.  Oh, I forgot, I don't have a fever.  I still feel terrible.

Space...Not The Final Frontier

     I remember William Shatner opening Star Trek with the words "Space, the final frontier". Of course there were others such as the bald headed guy on Next Generation, but Bill Shatner was the first and in my opinion the best.  Space is the final frontier, but in this case not the final frontier or the space you would think.  I am talking about my home office and it is not "The Final Frontier" but my frontier and special space. This is my space in the new house, and it is me.
     To the world, I may be considered an odd nut. My tastes in spacial decoration as far as wall space is concerned may be a bit "out there" but that is OK, especially when it is my apartment and I live alone.  However, the marriage has presented itself with some new challenges. Denise isn't exactly thrilled by having a stuffed King Kong climbing a towel rack to get to the top of a picture of the Empire State Building. Don't worry, the biplanes are buzzing about ready for him.
      To me, my apartment bathroom "King Kong" motif told quite a story.  It was art.  Unfortunately, some people don't appreciate some forms of art. After the marriage ceremony and we moved into the new house, choices had to be made. Love is strong, but Kong and his struggle up the Empire State Building had to go. I had to explain this to Kong and he was very understanding.  I told him that I would give him a place of honor in my new home office.
     Kong now sits on top of a bookcase overlooking and protecting the entrance to my home office.  It is truly a place of respect and importance. He is very appreciative of this honor, but is even more appreciative of the fact that I have thought of him and that I have found him a companion ape.  He is very happy in that she is a good conversationalist and companion.  They are going slow on their relationship as she lives high atop the bookcase across the room and refuses to move in with him on his bookcase. She is a bit old-fashioned about this which I like.
    One more thing and this doesn't have to do with Kong. I know that this post started out talking about my new office and how I plan to make it my own space.  I have yet again gone off on a tangent, but I wanted to explain that Kong was an integral part of my decorating philosophy. I am proud of how I have decorated my office and the things that are key to my enjoyment of the room.  I have made it mine.  I will revisit this in future posts.

Well Done, loyal and faithful servant.

Hello Again From Here

     Don't get mad at me for not posting since May.  I have been a bit busy.  My life has gone through a few changes, and I guess that is good.  I didn't quite expect these changes in such a short time. My life is based on consistency, and change is not my friend.  In this case, change has been for the better.
     Here it is folks, in a nutshell.  I know those of you who know me say that it is impossible for me in any way to share an abridged version of my thoughts, but here goes in a list in chronological order all within a space of two weeks:

1.) Packed up and moved from my apartment to a house.
2.) Packed up and moved my fiancee from her house 60 miles away to our house in Fresno where we will be living together.  More about this in later posts, or maybe not because she reads my posts.
3.) Moved my fiancee's son from the house that she was living in to his cousin's house
3.5.) Moved my fiancee's other son from his apartment in Merced to my old apartment in Fresno where I lived with my son where he will be rooming with my son in the apartment I moved out of.
4.) Moved and took to the landfill in Merced two derelict piano's from my fiancee's garage.
5.) My mother died, I am not kidding about this, and we had a memorial service for her.
6.) Got married, yes to my fiancee and not another woman.

     Wow, what a fun and exciting couple of weeks. And by the way, I haven't played golf in several weeks.  

ll Hail The Mighty Yard Sale! Part Two

     So I went off on a sort of tangent yesterday.  That's what happens when you have ADHD.  Oh well, you will have to just bear with me on that one.  I have explained many times to you that I have a tendency to do that as the thoughts race through my head.  Those of you who live in Bulgaria, and I welcome you by the way, will just have to go with the flow.
    Which brings something up I just thought of.  My Bulgarian friend is probably reading this and wondering what the heck "go with the flow" means.  After all, I am not a river or stream. Let me explain it this way.  "Going with the flow" means to not try to think about what I am trying to say but just enjoy it for what it is.  Should you undertake the task of trying to figure out what I am trying to say, it won't help and you may get to the place of total confusion. I find myself in that place many times and I am the one who is writing this. Believe me, I have tried to figure out exactly what I am saying and have not been overly successful. At times, I scare myself. In the meantime I have this advice--go with the flow.

Kelsey Vinyard Winery in Avila Beach, Ca.  What does it have to do with the post today? Absolutely nothing, but I thought you would enjoy the picture.

   

All Hail, The Mighty Yard Sale!

     In this wonderful American culture of our's lives the ultimate entrepaneur. OK, so I can't spell entrepeneur ,but that word is French and we all know how we feel about the French.  I like the French, it's just that they have a weird language. I guess it could be said that English is kind of strange as well, and you can figure out what I mean by threw and through.  What does that have to do with yard sales, absolutely nothing and I don't want to insult the French even though they talk rather funny.  I still can't spell entrepeneur.
     What was I trying to say?  I forgot, oh yes I was going to comment on that peculiar--see, I can spell peculiar--American institution of the yard sale.  Many of us know it as "The Garage Sale". Why would anyone want to sell their garage or yards.  Aren't they a part of the home?  You would think that if you were going to sell a house, the yard or garage would be part of the sale.  Some houses don't come with a garage.  Does that mean that in years gone by that the owners sold the garage in a garage sale? Food for thought, so think about that one.  I try not to.  Some houses, especially on the East Coast in larger cities don't come with yards.  Did the owners sell those off? Some houses don't come with either yard or garage, is that an indication that their owners were really hard up for cash?  Who knows?
     I want to make it clear to you, my readers, that I am totally sober at this point and don't drink.  My son did bring back some wine from the Central California Coast this weekend but I only had one glass so far.  I don't drink, well an occasional glass of wine for the health and such but that is all. By the way, if you are concerned I did have my coffee this morning. It's just that with moving and getting married and such, it is beginning to effect me.

With this post I was really just horsing around.  

Move! Move! Move!

    No, I am not running a mile.  I am not on a treadmill or track.  I don't have a personal trainer screaming in my ear. I'm in the process of moving from my apartment to a house to share with my future bride.   There is a line in Lethal Weapon One where Danny Glover tells Mel Gibson "I'm too old for this..."  Oh, how right he was. I'm getting too old for this.  Hopefully, this is the last time.
     Do you realize just how much junk you accumulate in 59 years?  It seems as though it is like a virus.  As you throw things away, there is always two thing that pop up for every one thing you throw away.  What am I doing, growing bermuda grass? By the way, why do I need this receipt from J.C Penny's for the underwear I bought in 1979?  Oh wait, I may need it for the nostalgic piece on life in the 70's that I will never do.

When the going gets tough, the tough go to Waffle House.  Actually, I can't go to Waffle House because they are not out here on the West Coast.  Denny's or IHOP maybe? Not as good but will do in a pinch.

   

Bail Out! Bail Out! Bail Out! Part two

     You know, I love going to traffic court.  It is kind of like getting your wisdom tooth pulled.  In most cases, you know you did what you did but think that you can truly get away with something.  Believe it or not, the judge really is there to help you, and wants to help.
     I would not do well as a traffic judge.  I really admire and respect them for what they do. They sit on a bench and read traffic citations all day and have to listen to a bunch of hair brained stories from people who are really guilty.  That's what a ticket is for.  A traffic enforcer has caught you red handed in whatever you have done.  Be it speeding or whatever, if you get a ticket you are toast.  Pay the fine, case closed. If I were a traffic court judge and someone came before me to tell me they were not guilty of a traffic violation with the ticket in their hand and try to plead not guilty wasting my time, I would sentence them to 100 years in Vacavile State Prison.
     Here is the bottom line on all this and my experience yesterday with my day in court.  I learned a valuable lesson.  Don't make a U turn on Shaw and Palm Ave. in Fresno while Christmas Tree Lane is going on.  Observe the "No U Turn" signs that you can't see and don't make a U turn, especially when there are signs you can't see telling you that. It will cost you $300 and bus fare down to Superior Court in downtown Fresno. Boy, am I glad that the prisons in California are overcrowded.  I didn't mean to yell at you, Your Honor. Case closed.

Bail Out! Bail Out! Bail Out!

     This may seem like a very unusual title for a blog post, but it is appropriate for today.  I have to go to traffic court.  In fact I am late so this is going to be it for today. I will have more for you maybe later or tomorrow morning.

Been Away Far Too Long

     Yes, I have been away far too long.  Working a book has been very exciting, but I have neglected my blog for far too long. The bottom line is, I enjoy writing and sharing with you.  The blog allows me to do some different writing, sharing my crazy thoughts and humor.  What was amazing to me is the number of you who have been following it and been reading it even though I haven't posted for a few months.  I thank you for that, and want to let you know that I will be more faithful to you as far as writing.
     Yes, you have heard this before, but you must understand that this is not easy and it truly taxes my small brain in a mighty way.  Bottom line is I enjoy writing it and truly enjoy the fact that you are reading it. Actually, I am shocked that you are reading it. Ok, I used bottom line one too many times here, but that is the bottom line and I want to share the bottom line with you.  The bottom line is so important, and if you don't keep that bottom line in focus, you can miss the bottom line altogether.  What am I saying here? I flat don't know.  Bear with me here, you know I have a tendency to ramble.
   Anyway, welcome back and I hope that my writing will add a little humor to you life.  

Chcolate Brownie With Hot Fudge Sauce and A Scoop of Ice Cream

     Lat night it was a chocolate brownie smothered in hot fudge and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Was it great!  Did I have a good night's sleep? NO!
     Don't worry, I didn't get arrested and the cows didn't get out of the fence.  There was something about Denise's lost brother who is a multi-millionaire. I asked her about this in the morning after I woke up, but she denied it very strongly.  Is she hiding something?  OK, in her defense, this was a dream with no base in reality. The last few night have been really weird as far as dreams are concerned.
     The dream kept occurring all night.   I would try to get another dream going, but to no avail. My eyes  would close and I would drift off to sleep but the saga of the rich brother kept coming through.  He was a nice fellow, but even Denise didn't know who he was.  I know, I asked her--several times. That is a good thing, Denise being in my dreams, because now my beloved Denise is in my dreams.  I guess I was right when I kept saying she was truly the woman of my dreams. Now she is part of them, along with her non-existent rich brother.
     It seems as though my last few posts have been a bit strange.  I have an excuse, it is a lack of sleep.  In the last four nights, I have only had one good night.  If the dancing elephants show up tonight, I know I am in big trouble.

What About Chop Suey-Chow Mein

     I didn't have brussel sprouts last night.  I was scared. We went to have Chinese food at a local Chinese restaurant.  Their food is fantastic, but I wasn't exactly sure how the food would affect me.  I am happy to report that I slept well last night with no scary dreams. By the way, they found the pick up truck.

The sun came up and I got up this morning without experiencing any  arrests. By the way, this is not our sunrise, it was cloudy and rainy here in Fresno this morning so there was no sunrise.  Well, there was a sunrise, it was just obscured by the clouds.  Enjoy this one.

I Have Got to Stop Eating Brussel Sprouts!

     Yes, I admit that I do like Brussel Sprouts.  The little cabbages taste great steamed with a little garlic powder and just a touch of bacon grease. Just a touch of bacon grease for flavor mind you because you want to give them a bit of flavor but not cancel out their nutritional value with added fats. However, they don't like me. They do strange things to me, and I guess my body reacts rather harshly to something so healthy being allowed to enter it. I ate the brussel sprouts for dinner last night with some strange results.
     I went to bed sort of early last night. I had a very busy day and was very tired so off to bed I went. As far as I know, my sleep was very deep.  What happened during the night was unexpected as I snored away. It had to be the brussel sprouts.
     Many people don't recall the dreams they have during their night's sleep. I can remember many of them and last night's journey into my subconscious was just such an occassion. This morning, I vividly recall my nocturnal movie and it was strange. The brussel sprouts had struck again. Let me describe the event to you.
     I am a city boy.  To me, a farm animal is only seen at the county fair in the fields grazing on grass or smelled in the dairies along the highway. The supermarket is where I deal with farm animals and bowing to the respects of animal activists, that is all I will say. Enter the scourge of the brussel sprout.
     The dream opened with me parking a pickup truck by the Fresno State animal farm.  Why there I have no idea.  I broke down the fence and proceeded to acquire a cow, for what I still do not know. Things kind of got out of hand from there and a lot of the dream is a blur.  However, I do remember confiscating two cows and putting them into the truck. They didn't want to go, needless to say.  The fun began.
     I am not a cowboy, I can make that statement with complete clarity and conviction.  Can you imagine this non-cowboy trying to wrangle cows? If I didn't dream it, I wouldn't have believed it myself.  It was quite comical actually, if I say so myself. What a sight, and I suppose that I could have laughed myself awake right then and there but I wanted to see how this was going to pan out. To make matters worse, as I was dealing with the cows, someone stole the pickup truck.
     Now, the sheep were becoming interested in what was happening.  They came over and found the fence down and thought it to be a good idea to explore the community around them. I tried to round them up and put them back inside the fence and grabbed them by the hindquarters trying to steer them back inside the fence, because that is what I heard was the best way to herd sheep. It was a mess.
     It didn't take long before the car with the red and blue flashing lights to show up.  The nice man, who was carrying a gun and had a badge, came up with a very strange look on his face.
     "May I ask what you are doing?" he questioned me.
     "Uh, I don't know." I replied to his fair question.  I couldn't tell him this was all a dream, I think I would have woken up.  I didn't want to do that because this was so entertaining.
      "You are under arrest," he said and handcuffed me with dream handcuffs and carting me off to the campus police department in his police cruiser with the dream lights flashing.
       Here I was interviewed.  They checked my record, which was clear and the detective came out laughing.  They told me that they were going to let me go because this was just to crazy to believe. I am old and the story was too outlandish so they weren't going to press charges. The story they came up with to cover me was that I had noticed that the fence had come down and I stopped to get the animals back inside the fence. The truck was stolen in the process and the thief drove off having corralled two cows onto the truck.  An APB was put out for the truck.  I went from thief to good Samaritan who had an unfortunate experience.

I know this is not a cow.  It is not even a sheep.  These are the only pictures of farm animals I have.  Give me a break.

     My ordeal ended and the case was closed, especially after I awoke in a cold sweat. This is all a true story, and it will be a long time before I eat brussel sprouts again.  It happened before, it will happen again should I give in to the urge to eat brussel sprouts.    








                   
           

Rainy Days And Mondays Always Get Me Down

     With respect to the Carpenters's, Denise's favorite group, rainy days and Mondays don't get me down.  I am an optimist. Life can be tough, but I would rather celebrate the downs as well as the ups and look on them as part of life. Life is good and is a great adventure.
     It is supposed to rain today in Fresno and the Central Valley.  I love the rain, and since I don't have a car I am pretty much stuck in my apartment. That could be a very depressing situation, but I have so much to do today that I can accomplish from home that I refuse to let it get me down.
      High on my list of things to do is to call my TV provider to see if they won't change my package.  I pay  almost $100 a month for my service.  I received a flier in the mail for a package for $39.  What's up with that.  Can you spell I will go to the competition? They are going to get a call from me. If it is for new customers, I don't care. We will see.
      I love rainy days.  It seems as though as the rain falls there is a quietness and stillness that comes.  Everything gets quiet as I guess the sound is muffled by the falling raindrops. The sound of the rain is like music to my ears. It is such a special sound, from a gentle sounding ballad of a light rain to a booming roar of heavy rain or down pore, sounding like a  freight train rumbling across the tracks .It is all a pleasure to the senses. The lighting is very special as well as well as the smells which is fresh and new. The sights, sounds and smells make rainy days are special, not depressing.

The day started dark, dreary and rainy but the sun came out and the day turned out to be a delight. 

     After the rain ends, the sun comes out clear and bright. It mirrors the cycle of life.  What was old ends and the new begins. I like the rain, so bring it on.