the pat

Posted on by August 11, 2019

P1040499

Sparrow has a bed in our room that we put in there so that she could have a place to sleep that was close to us.

It’s a nice little bed….comfortable and only feet from where we sleep.

Some nights….like if it’s cold… or she wakes up and can’t get back to sleep right away….or if it’s a Monday….or maybe a Tuesday….or Wednesday….or….maybe Thursday….maybe Friday….or maybe it’s the weekend or something….she could end up sleeping in our big bed.

It’s funny how small the big bed feels when you have a little person sleeping in the middle.

Last night, Sparrow was sleeping in the middle when I went to bed.

I went to bed a little earlier than usual….something about the day of slipping and sliding….making the big executive decisions about which icy hills might kill me and where it was safe to deliver the mail….dealing with a scanner that stopped working early in the route….something about all that made me tired….so tired….really tired….sleepy…..so I went to bed early.

I clue in pretty quickly that Sparrow is sleeping in the middle.

Meryl Streep played a character in a movie where she got to say the line, “DINGOES ATE MY BABY!!”

I don’t want to be able to say, “I ROLLED OVER ONTO MY BABY!!”…..so I pay attention.

Anyway, a little after laying down beside her in the bed, she stirred a little and then I felt a little hand reach over and pat me on the shoulder…and then she rolled back over and kept on sleeping.

I don’t have many situations in my life where my presence is a comfort to anyone…but this little girl was satisfied knowing that I was there with her….and that was enough.

That’s a good feeling to be a comfort to someone.

I guess that I must be a comfort to more people than just Sparrow.

I’m probably a comfort in ways I don’t know or understand….maybe.

I don’t really know….most of the time.

I guess that us “grownups” (and I’ll include myself in that group….I try and pay my bills….do all the other stuff that real grownups worry about) have so much on our plates that we don’t let each other know when someone else’s presence is a comfort.

We’re too busy for a simple pat to say that we notice that the other person is even in the room.

(I guess that in the wrong context, a “simple pat” might be considered harassment….so maybe we have reason to be a little bit guarded….)

These little kids….they let it all out….nothing too crafty or tricky going on with them….most of the time.

And…that pat….a little pat at the beginning of the night that said “There you are…and I’m OK”

That was good for me,too….I needed that pat.

slickyslicky

Posted on by February 17, 2015

Ron and Paul's Montana Adventure

Oh, my.

Snow….or granulated water….all over the place this morning….temperatures predicted to be below zero in a couple of days….no one out on the roads that I can hear from my perch beside the closed and locked window.

I need to go out and clean off the windows of my car.

I may be one of the few people out on the road today.

That’s always interesting….like Charlton Heston in “Omega Man”…..roaming the beautiful empty streets, but, in my case, with not a zombie in sight.

I bought tires yesterday before the snow/ice really started to fall….bought them in town at a place that I don’t usually go to but that I’ll go back to….messy, messy, messy….no fancy waiting rooms or anything….woodstove by the old couches (the low overhead waiting room….)….and I saved 40 dollars and had a good experience.

Just a laid back tire store that sold tires.

Good.

I don’t know….you can’t judge a book by its cover….that’s such a cliche….but sometimes you try….and miss out on something that’s mellow and what you need.

It’s funny how that works.

So….soon I’ll be out and driving around in this….driving slow because I don’t have traction….driving slow because I don’t know what’s going to happen…..watching the monster trucks come screaming over the hill ….coming towards me while I sit, opening mailboxes, waiting for the monster trucks to come screaming over the top of the icy hill.

That’s scary.

I’m a sitting duck.

There is a lot of ice on everything this morning.

I’m going to go see how it feels to drive around when the smart people stay home.

It’s the perfect winter mix….all the smart people stay home, and the postal folks are required to get out and drive around.

Smart or not…..I should be safer if the smart people stay off the roads.

Right?

What I See (In My Head)

Posted on by February 16, 2015

Depending on how I read the weather forecast, it’s either going to snow 7.81 inches….or snow 1-2 inches and then ice up over the top of that.

I’m off today….President’s Day….so that part is covered.

I’m off.

But what about tomorrow?

What will I do then?

Who is going to take care of meeeeeeee?!

(I’m kidding. I’m neither whiny or afraid…..)

The forecast is for maybe somewhere between 1-2 inches….and 84 inches…..but in my head, this is what I always expect when I hear about bad weather coming.

I expect a pile of snow to try and do its best to keep me from making my appointed rounds.

No stinking mail is going to keep me from trying to bring the people their catalog.

It’s what I do…..

I can’t celebrate beautiful weather if I don’t have anything to compare it to.

Let it freaking snow.

Bring it.

“let it snow, let it snow, let it snow” Dean Martin

 

 

OK….so there are still good bands…..

Posted on by February 15, 2015

What’s a curmudgeon?

A cranky old whatever who shouldn’t be old enough to say or think things like, “Why, back in the day we had good bands…..bands like Yes….or even Bad Company….or Jethro Tull….or (fill in the blank)….?”

There were some pretty great bands back then!

That’s why they call it “classic rock”.

Surely, there were.

But look at this band.

Look at the musicianship….the show!

This is a pretty darn good band.

So….what do I have to complain about when there are bands like Umphrey’s McGee around?

I bought a Sirius radio to keep me company while I’m driving the mail around….and lately I’ve been listening to a station called “Jam On”.

Hah! That’s the loophole in this whole “workaday contract with the DEVIL”….I can JAM OUT while I’m driving around in circles.

Don’t tell anybody.

I was surprised how much I enjoyed a lot of these “jam bands”….and really pleasantly surprised to discover this band.

I guess that I could start doing Sudoku puzzles….or I could just start listening to Umphrey’s McGee.

I think that I’d enjoy the music more than the puzzles.

 

Love isn’t an Afterthought

Posted on by February 14, 2015

Holy Smokes!!

It’s Valentines Day!!

It’s Valentines Day and I’m writing blog posts about Glenn Miller.

Glenn Miller isn’t my Valentine.

Dang.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umq6qFNVnxs

Happy Valentines Day.

Rock Star with a Trombone

Posted on by February 14, 2015

I heard a show that (part of it, at least) was about Glenn Miller the other day and when I came home I told Jenny about hearing it.

She said something like, “Oh…..you must have enjoyed that. That’s your style of music….”

She likes to tease me about being old….now that I’m coming up on “being old”.

Ha ha.

Ha.

Anyway….this blog isn’t completely about meeeeeeeeeeeee.

This time it’s about Glenn Miller.

Did you know that he got the first “gold record” for selling a bunch of copies of “Chattanooga Choo Choo”?

Or that he had 72 top ten hits between 1939 and 1943?

That’s SEVENTY-TWO…..SEVENTY-TWO.

What the heck?

That’s like “rock star” kind of stuff….before there was such a thing as a “rock star”.

Did you know that he was 40 years old when he went missing in action in 1944?

We can talk about Kanye wanting to jump up on the stage again when Beyonce doesn’t win some award…..but this Glenn Miller guy was the real DUDE.

He makes all these pop stars today look like a bunch of punks.

Kanye jumping up on something again to shoot his mouth off…..phewwwwwwwwww.

Glenn Miller is the DUDE.

I’ve heard people talk about the “greatest generation”……maybe they’re almost right?

Of course, I think that my generation is pretty good…..but this Glenn Miller guy…..mannnnnnnnnn.

This stuff ROCKS!!

And…..at some point in my life….I want my card playing buddies to start harmonizing when I come up to share a tune with them.

How cool would that be?

Maybe that’s what heaven will be like…..harmonizing “How do you dos” in greeting?

Who knows?

 

Dancing with the Floozies

Posted on by February 13, 2015

One of the only and best experiences I ever had “dancing” (and I use the term loosely….I’m no Baryshnikov) was at a party out in Boulder,Colorado when I was visiting my friend John.

A tiny boombox….a couple of beers….and this song….must have been the perfect combination….because I danced and had fun for a while.

That doesn’t happen everyday….the song must have been pretty funky….

Anyway….here’s the song I danced to so many years ago…

“What do you consider fun?” might be the question for the ages….

So….the real reason I mention this song….and that experience…isn’t so that Jenny can say, “What? I thought you said you don’t dance? What the heck?!” (Which is sort of true….I freak out if I have to dance where somebody else is depending on me….if I’m just flailing around, being silly, I can handle that. So….I’m kind of useless in a social setting. I can handle silly just fine….) ….anyway….this post isn’t about me not dancing….

It’s about this band, The Floozies.

I heard them on a Sirius station called “Jam On”……a bunch of jam bands.

Apparently, these guys are a duo who play the kind of music that I danced to way back…when.

Even….cooler….a duo composed of two brothers, Matt and Mark Hill.

Check this out….

THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!!

Now that’s some FUN music.

Fun…..that’s what I consider FUN.

My new JAM, Y’all.

Fun….silly fun.

Here’s some more about The Floozies….

They let you download their music at flooziesduo.com.

 

hippies on a houseboat

Posted on by February 12, 2015

This was one of those late night discoveries when I couldn’t sleep and turned to PBS in the hopes of finding something interesting to watch that didn’t feel like a total waste of my time.

I do waste some time watching bad TV.

This wasn’t bad TV.

Atchafalaya Houseboat.…from 2008.

(Although, my version didn’t have a couple of really long “pledge breaks”. Dangit, PBS. Just when I was bragging about how I didn’t have to watch “bad TV”….along comes a pledge break.)

Of course, I missed the beginning….and trying to find it in the schedule again so I could see the parts that I missed is pretty much impossible.

Anyway….long and boring story a little bit shorter….here I find it on YouTube a couple of years later….and can watch the complete documentary.

Good for you, YouTube.

Thanks.

Does anyone else remember watching Andy Griffith sit in Floyd’s barber chair….poring over a copy of the National Geographic magazine….dreaming out loud about the strange world “out there”?

Mount Pilot was pretty exotic….Raleigh was forever away….it didn’t take much to be different than Mayberry.

But…he didn’t pine for what he didn’t have.

I think that he was amazed by what he thought might be “out there”….but he knew where he belonged.

He bloomed where he was planted….but not because he had to work hard at “blooming”.

I think that maybe it was just because he felt like he belonged where he was.

It could be on a houseboat….if that’s “your place”.

It could be where I am right now.

Belonging….that’s kind of a choice, isn’t it?

I loved seeing these people living out on the river.

It’s good to see some different options, sometimes.

Living on a houseboat is another “good one”.

back.

Posted on by February 11, 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR98wPYYqhc

What the heck, Chris McCandless?

There’s lots of young people who go missing every year….

There’s a lot of mysterious disappearances….

But here you are….still inspiring discussion….still a topic of conversation.

There must have been something a little different about you.

Here’s a documentary that follows up on some of the situations and hypothesis (hypotheses?) about the disappearance of Chris McCandless.

One of the people in the documentary said that, except for the mistakes that eventually caused him (Chris) to starve out in the bus in Alaska, it would have been the perfect adventure experience.

So close….

I have friends who push the envelope a little….but never so far (knock on wood) that they disappear like this….

The drive that pushed him to do the things he did is interesting to me….but “abandoning” his family to become Alexander Supertramp doesn’t sound so good.

I guess that all adventurers have to become a little bit of a a-hole at some point.

If they weren’t a-holes, they’d just be making another trip to the grocery store….not running away to an old bus 20 miles from the paved road…..28 miles from town….

You have to be a little bit selfish for some of the really exciting adventures.

You have to be an exciting a-hole….wild and free.

 

 

an easy smile

Posted on by February 10, 2015

Dolphin-Jump-Sunrise

Here’s Iain Matthews doing his version of a Jules Shear song…..

“on squirrel hill” Iain Matthews

 

“I use that memory now…..for an easy smile”

How many times have I pulled a little bit of memory out of the back of my mind that’s carried me through to a better time?

How many times has that happened?

I don’t know what made me think of this song….lots of songs floating around “up there”….why I thought of this one is just as much a mystery as anything that I think about….pretty random.

But….what a great song….Jules Shear writing about his old neighborhood.

If you don’t know about Jules Shear, he’s a great songwriter….I think that he wrote “Time after Time”, the old Cyndi Lauper song…..and probably a lot more songs that are familiar that I can’t remember right now.

That’s the good thing about memory…it can just destroy you sometimes if you start reminiscing about the wrong thing….but, if you pull up a good memory, something happy or something that made you feel strong, it can get you through a rough time.

And….that is a genius revelation.

I shock myself sometimes with the insights that flow after a bit of coffee.

Kidding.

I guess that maybe the secret of any of it is to surround yourself with enough good “triggers” that you remember the things that get you through.

I don’t really know.

I know that I like this song, though.

The rest will work out….knowing that this song is good is enough for this moment.