In full early leaf now; the yellow will change to dark green as the season progresses ... then back to yellow, then brown.
This one's a male - no pods.
It was either a pleasant view of spring leaves or a rant about the Fed spending $2.5B on renovations. So much for DOGE.
Continue reading →A very, very, very long time ago ... so long ago, Eisenhower was still president - there was this girl you see ...
3 foot two; eyes of blue. At the time.
I remember her mother and mine being good friends.
I remember Scott White ... but I don't remember getting into a fight with him over her. But she does.
I remember smoking corn silk cigarettes with her behind the garage.
I remember discovering the differences between boys and girls with her ... behind the garage. When too young to care.
I remember that garage ... :)
I remember "breaking up" when her family moved away. (Kennedy might have been President by then. Maybe not yet.)
I remember our family moving away ... then her family moving into the neighborhood we had moved to.
I remember we got "engaged" on our front porch. Kennedy was President by then.
I remember she was the first girl I saw naked when I was old enough to appreciate such things for what they were. Earlier didn't count.
(I remember it was a couple more years before that happened again.)
I remember our paths splitting apart when puberty hit. Way apart.
I remember her complaining I spent too much time studying and not enough partying (just how much was enough???)
I remember my youngest brother asking when she had gone into heat when she got pregnant young.
I remember hearing she died in a drug deal gone bad down in Mexico someplace.
I remember finding out - 40 years later - she hadn't died. (But I had gotten used to idea she had died.)
I remember finding she had tuned into a burned out, worn out, bedraggled druggie living on welfare in "public housing".
I remember finding out we had nothing in common except hazy, half-remembered, no longer desired memories.
I remember today is her birthday.
I know memories can carry more weight than reality.
Happy Birthday, Suzie. I know where you are ... and it doesn't matter anymore.
First published July 21, 2008
stay with me
as I need you most
more than any other
in the present ever.
allow what is in me
to be
awake and seeing
all I am and have.
I know I've declared winter over 'round these parts but I need to remind myself that on May 5, 2022, it looked like this outside my back door.
Weatherman suggests a high of 70 today ... with 90s by end of week (???).
Continue reading →First published June 29, 2008
and there I see,
in you, and therefore
bring to me,
much love and
hope and reasons
why
this life, today, is
worth more time
and not yet ready, in
spite of grief, to stop
and say good-bye.
a tour of “you don’t wanna go there”
written by: el gato malo of "bad cattitude", May 3rd, 2025
Suggested by ghostsniper
people are familiar with the common construct of “the third world.” they are also familiar with the idea of “the first world.” what’s interesting to me is the idea of how one becomes the other and the presumption of the causality and the pathways by which that occurs. it’s worth some exploration.
worryingly, this is a topic on which i think most people’s intuitions and utopian hopes are hopelessly wrong to the point of being outright dangerous.
in an attempt to clarify and circumvent such, i’d like to add a new construct to the list, that of “the second world” and this is important because it is not at all what most people think.
The article is here:
I don't think it's a secret that I'm half-Canadian. Mom's family comes from Scottish immigrants (refugees?) and Loyalists that had to leave after "those traitors" won the war; been in Upper Canada since at least the American War of Independence. I happened to be born a mile or so north of the border, so that makes me a US citizen ... but I spent a fair amount of time in Canada. Learned to drive, shoot, understand the only way to eat fries is with white vinegar, bale hay, milk cows among other things up there. One of the two Debbies I was desperately in love with was Canadian. God, that was so long ago ... Could cross the border without customs (or a passport) back then.
Some years back, we had to give up the family farm. I'd have been the 5th generation to work the place but life didn't take me that way. Hey, the "new" barn was built in 1902. But, given the conditions with and in Canada right now - and the last of my g'grandfather's apple trees having died - perhaps it was for the best.
But, damn, I miss the place.
Jean asked "What kinds of things hmmm?" as a comment to my post: "Just Because I Felt Like It"
Here's a list of a few of today's headlines:
Zelensky Rejects Victory Day Truce, Doubles Down on Threats to Moscow’s Parade Packed With Foreign Dignitaries – Russia’s Medvedev Hints at Nuclear Retaliation
Pakistan Test-Fires Nuke-Capable Ballistic Missile As Tensions With India Soar
Pentagon 'Covering Up' American Casualties In Yemen War: Intercept Report
Leftists Declare It 'Frightening' That "Children Will Be Taught To Love America"
Trans Teen Freed After Tesla Firebombing, Judge Cites Lack Of 'Gender-Affirming Care' In Prison
FAA Starts Probe After Two More Near-Misses With Army Helicopter At Washington Reagan Airport
9 Signs That Conditions Are Ripe For A Major Economic Crisis In The US
All quiet on the Western Front, eh?
Trouble is, it's more or less the same thing every day.
I need to stop reading the news because personally, things are going fine. Beautiful day out, no local worries, my wife's not mad at me and her garden goes well.
Life is good all in all.
I'll try for more pleasant tomorrow. Trains and critters? :)
Continue reading →From ZeroHedge:
"If it takes an executive order to enforce laws that already bar illegal immigrants from Social Security, the problem isn’t policy - it’s a government that’s given up on enforcement…"
