Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.

Shopping in Salem, MA. It was Haloween week in the Witch City. There were a lot of costumes out and about, both on the visitors and performers.

Hmmmmm. This one fits just right......MY PRETTIES!

Suddenly, I realized this was a witches and pirates store. Yo, Ho.

Real lady. I am prone to believe she is on stilts. Or a chair, as she did not move around other than to bend down. She was super cool. Having walked most of the strip with the small ninjas to the right, I kept trying to telepathically tell her that this was the perfect time to crush them like bothersome, squealing bugs with her stick. The message apparently garbled in the cool, fall air into something like "Hey, why don't you take a picture with them?" Dang statues working for tips.

This is not a picture of the wife beneath the city's fall foilage. I will not tell you what it is a picture of, only that if you concentrate you will get a sign. (It will only make sense when biggerized.)

Pretty impressive building for a museum. For some reason, behind us (and out of the picture) is carnival food.

A tavern near Quincy Market all decorated for fall. We were eating in another one, the oldest in the city (or region or country, I can't recall other than it was really old) looking out the window at this. As we left, to state the obvious with certitude, we took this picture.

[cue music -"We Gotta Get Out Of This Place"]

Despite life being a series of consternation, I see glimmers all around me. I take my victories where I can find them, and here are some that come off the top of my slightly misshapen head:

1. Both the dogs and the cats prefer dry food. Of course, the dogs really prefer anything on your plate or in your hand. I am just referring to food served purposefully on the floor.

2. Though the cold water enters the washing machine at a mere trickle, making a wash cycle especially long, I know how to fix it. While my laziness postpones said repair, I do know how to do it.

3. An old towel over the folded fresh laundry in the basket keeps the cat hair off your slacks and shirts and is still quite acceptable to Pepe and/or Yuki. Just kidding. It keeps most of the cat hair off.

4. The newspaper is coming before I leave for work again. Now I can read today's paper at lunch instead of yesterday's.

5. Despite a hectic work schedule and a propensity for sitting outside in the shade, I still manage to keep the DVR queue cleared. Oh sure, there's a couple of Family Guys & Obama's inauguration there, but all the new shows are seen.

6. The spoon, due to it's rather stiff brush guard, can be cast right up onto the lily pads. It can be walked across them, causing enough comotion to pique the interest of the big ones resting below. As it reaches the edge of the pad bank, it will gently drop off into the water, and swim back to you with a beautiful, "injured minnow" action.

7. An old, floating boat seat cushion actually made me use the words "vinyl piranahs". I did not say the words aloud, which I take as another small victory.

Took the wife on a business trip with me, mixing, as it were, business with displeasure. OK, that is not true at all. But such a great line like that needs to get used regardless.We actually had a great time.

I was in Peabody, MA as a student for a change, and not as the instructor. So my hours were reasonable and there were no pre- or post-class requirements. I had taken a room at the Homewood Suites, so it was more like an apartment than a hotel room. And it had a kitchenette. We were right beside a Sonic Drive-In, which we did not give a second thought. But here in Tampa, Sonics are a dime a dozen. I was informed tis one was special. Apparently, they had been getting the commercials for years, but the closest restaurant was in N.Y. state. (Kohl's did that here, too, but it was only 1 year and they had already purchased their sites.) Anyway, below is an excerpt from a local magazine.

After years of amusing and enticing commercials, Sonic has recently opened it’s first drive-in restaurant in Peabody. Since it’s grand opening in late August, wait time has been up to four hours and the traffic has stretched from Route 1 onto the highway. (http://nshoremag.com/blog/)

Revolution is no dinner party, unless your dinner party is full of blood and iron. Mao Tse-Tung

It's a lot like nature. You only have as many animals as the ecosystem can support and you only have as many friends as you can tolerate the bitching of. Randy K. Milholland

Sometimes the facts in my head get bored and decide to take a walk in my mouth. Frequently this is a bad thing. Scott Westerfeld

Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends? Abraham Lincoln

I did the Mash. I did the Monster Mash, out

Ramblin' Ed

------------- Wrote in Rhyme below--------------------

Think About It All 23 & 29 July 2006

It's Saturday evening but the July sun
Just keeps hanging around
There's thunder off in the distance some
But no rain hitting the ground
Dark clouds rolling in from the south
Don't always turn to rain
Just like you swore til death we part
But that didn't mean a thing

So if you're thinking of calling me up
Making my telephone ring
If you're thinking of calling my bluff
Remember about the rain
How it didn't fall
Think about it all

I was a man. You were a woman
And we had things to do
We tossed our dreams all in together
Tried to make 'em true
You weren't willing to share no more
Than you were willing to try
We split up over something stupid
It wasn't a pretty goodbye

If you're thinking of pointing your finger
And putting the blame on me
If you're thinking of making excuses
For all your wicked deeds
Both big and small
Yeah, think about them all

You lit your Lucky from a dying candle
On the table by your chair
Said, "They say these things'll kill you dead
But sometimes I just don't care
Some days the weight's too heavy
Some days are just too tough
Some days the Devil gets me good
Sometimes I'm just fucked up"

I'm sorry, Darlin', that's the way of the world
Things become confused
You finally get a handle on it
And the handle comes unglued
You either walk or crawl
Think about it all

Take a moment, Honey, try and
Pull your thoughts up tight
Kick your shoes off by the door
Got no place to be tonight
I'll pour two fingers bourbon
Hell, I'll pour two fingers more
I'll pour all night, won't be the first time
I've slept on the floor

If it comes up, we'll talk about
Your lying and running around
Back then it used to tear me up
But it's nothing to me now
When the rain don't fall
Think about it all

All these things that happen, happen
I don't try to make much sense
Our lives get told the way they go
Not some future perfect tense
I've got no clue where it's going
This here "story of my life"
If you want to add a chapter, girl
Just pick up your pen and write

Yeah, I used to give a rat's ass
But the rat was not amused
And what we had in commom was
We both kept getting used
Every time you called
Think about it all

It's Saturday evening but the July sun
Just keeps hanging around

Ed
Brandon Blvd.

There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise

Been a busy couple of weeks. Was going to say rough, but no, not really. There was a lot of "run about. Scream and shout," but that was pretty much the extent of it.

Am headed up to Boston this weekend, for a week. The temps here are projected to be in the mid to upper 70s for a while. It has been in the high 80s and low 90s up til now, so the relief is welcome, but I will believe it when I actually see it.

The Coal Miner's Daughter popped up in a chat this morning and said that it had snowed in Boston. And there I was, all proud of myself for thinking ahead and telling the wife "it will probably be a little cool up there, so pack a light jacket." Well, anyway, forewarned is foreparka packed.

I had to laugh at the wife, for a decidedly unfunny situation. Unfunny for her, anyway. At least a little humorous for me, though I cannot ever say that aloud at home. The story:

(Whrrrrrrrrrr-a-whrrrr-a-whrrrrrrr--the sound of the story fast forwarding to the good part) She had a doctor's appointment that came with the requirement for an enema. The first time I had to explain that to her, which she took with a certian stoic grace, and after she went to the appointment, she was told "we sent you the wrong requirements, so you have to come back to do it again." "Oh," she said, "I did not need to do that then?" "No, the enema requirement was correct. But we should have had you drink 64 oz of water instead of 32." Prior to the second appointment we went to the drug store. We bought allergy medicine and then, as we are prone to do, saw something shiny and got distracted. As we were driving home she pops to attention, a little big eyed, and announces, "Hey! We forgot my enemy!" How could I not laugh?

OK, we don't recount reading that little story next time we meet her, OK? Thanks.

We broke out 2 pieces of plywood and a circular saw. In a little over 4 hours, with a hammer and a suprisingly large number of bent nails later, we had constructed....taa daa...a , um, box. Not really a special box, but a box nonetheless. Hey, manly though we may be, we are not that good with our hands. Therefore we took great pride in our accomplishment. To the point of not even noticing...ok, not even caring....that we had not cut a single edge straight. We feel the gaps add a certian rustic charm to the project.

I plugged my mp3 player that I bought in Taiwan into the USB port of my car. I was thinking to play all of the tunes on it through the car system. I mean, I wear that thing all day a t work and I still don"t think I"ve been through the play list a complete time yet. So I was thinking it would make a great, commercial free soundtrack.

What I should have been thinking was that plugging it into the car's USB would wipe the whole drive, since that's what it did. Took the playlist, the program, the whole shebang right off of it. I messed around and messed around trying to reset the device, but ended up having to go onto the company's website where I lucked into a free download of the firmware Well, technically it was a firmware "upgrade", but I surmised, correctly, it was just going to overwrite with a new program. Which is what I needed. I spent a couple of hours loading 4 gb of music. There is another 2.5 gb to load, but I can do that from the road. So I will.

Dogs are washed, bags are packed. We'll be in New England this time tomorrow. All I have to say about that is: Go Saints! Beat the Giants!

Stupidity is a condition. Ignorance is a choice, out

Ramblin' Ed

------------ 3 August, 1984----Balboa Park----San Diego, CA--------

A Promise Forgotten With Time

I've never had the feeling

Life was anything but real

There's been a couple times I've found it strange

I've been around a little bit

Done some things I won't admit

Sometimes I make my own rules to the game

How can I pass judgement on you?

Girl, I barely even know you

I love your smile, though. That's enough for me

It hurt me so to say goodbye

But ya had to get on with your life

I guess that's just the way its gotta be

Yeah, you'll go one direction, girl

and I'll go one direction

It might be that our paths will cross again

And if it never comes to be

well hell, we've got some memories

Sometimes that's even better anyway

Seems memories grow fonder

as the days apart grow longer

miles, they seperate us like a long, black, dusty wall

them rememberences, like pictures

that we hang up in the kitchen

to remind us someone's out there after all

I don't explain the things I do

Love's a trap for me and you

so often it's a word I seldom use

My heart, much like a spinning wheel

will break sometimes, but always feels

twisted all around when I'm with you

Just say I'll keep your photograph

then let the subject drop like that

I don't feel much like trying to explain

Perhaps I'll disappear a while

perhaps now and again you'll smile

and think about ol' "What's-his-name" again

When you think about me, hope you call me friend

Ed

Balboa Park