I Wanna Be A Cowboy

And you can be my cowgirl...

Still busy with a BIG project starting Monday. Enjoy this picture of the Booglet playing.

Our Cat Belly

And yes...he's useless.

Toey toeys
Sleep deprived and still pretty busy so I'll have to just post this picture, which always makes me smile, and dream of warm summer days playing in the bay for now.

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Busy moving back into my office which has been being repaired since the hurricane on September 15, 2004. It's nice to be back in but I've got boxes and boxes to unpack.

Of Plane Rides, Purple Slides, and What We Want

Lord knows now I've logged some airmiles. I'm a licensed pilot myself, but I was ready to rent a car the other night rather than endure that puddle jumper. My knees just wedged into the seat in front of me enough to cut off circulation. Ya know, Americans are getting larger and the seats are getting smaller. Sooner or later something's gotta give. Bullet trains anyone?

"On that train all graphite and glitter
Undersea by rail
Ninety minutes from New York to Paris
Well by seventy-six we'll be A.O.K."
Donald Fagan

Back at home just in time to read Good Night Gorilla to the Booglet. She was excited to see Daddy and, even though tired, looked me dead in the eye as I carried her to her bed. Her eyes lit up.

"Tomorrow, we can have another adventure." I said, smiling uncontrollably at the bright little face. Feeling back at home.

"A very special day," she said, parroting what she'd heard her Daddy say before...

And it was. A fine exploration of the bayshore, some batting practice, and a birthday party filled with classmates and the "purple slide"...

The other morning I found myself in the unusual (for me) position of ordering at a Starbucks:

"Coffee, please.

No, just coffee.

What size?

Regular size, I guess.

You don't have regular?

Tall?

Is tall regular?

Grande?

Is Grande regular?

Really?

Well, what could possibly be bigger than a Grande?

No kiddin."

I'm struggling with the decision of raw sugar or refined when I hear behind me "I want _________."

Can't you say please? Maybe because I'm in the habit of making the Booglet say please and thank you. 'Gimme' is another one that makes me cringe. When exactly did we abandon the courtesies we ask of children?

That's a jazz chord!

Rock and roll darlin'...rock and roll. Music will free your soul.

By the way, that's the guitar my buddy Zack gave her for Christmas. Pretty cool huh? Uncle Zack is way cool.

Sweetheart, play guitar like your Daddy. Play it when you're happy, play it when you're sad.

Play it when you don't have enough money for beer and people will supply beers as long as you keep playing...just like they did for your Daddy when he was in grad school and took his guitar down by the pool.



I'll show you all the chords I know. You're gonna be a big star. You already are to your Daddy...

Travel Day

Just a brief jaunt. Training don't ya know.

The Road Home

I'm travelling last night down a four lane road that used to be two lanes when I drove it to my old school, and I'm thinking. I'm missing seeing the Booglet tonight. She's already snuggled down in her little girl blankies for the night, sleeping with a peace her father can no longer hope for. I'll miss her tomorrow night, and then I'm going out of town.

I'm thinking all this while driving down this asphalt runway. And I think, I remember more trees and less cars.

This is progress?

Damn Liberals

The Chairman weighs in on Liberalism today because I'm pretty busy:

Liberalism is extremely harmful in a revolutionary collective. It is a
corrosive which eats away unity, undermines cohesion, causes apathy and creates dissension. It robs the revolutionary ranks of compact organization and strict discipline, prevents policies from being carried through and alienates the Party organizations from the masses, which the Party leads. It is an extremely bad tendency.

"Combat Liberalism" (September 7, 1937, Selected Works, Vol. II, pp. 31-32.

Ah Chairman, Tom Delay would admire your gumption...

Fours
Self-tagged from Mystery Mommy's site

Four Jobs I've Had
1. Mowing Lawns
2. Tending Bar
3. Lifeguard
4. Graduate Assistant

Four Movies I Love to Watch Over and Over
1. It's A Wonderful Life
2. Blazing Saddles
3. Police Academy IX--I got nuthin' Jerry
4. Young Frankenstein--I'm with ya Mystery Mommy--my favorite, "What knockers!"
"Schank you doctor."

Four Movies I'm Forced to Watch Over and Over
1. Babe
2. Barney Day and Night (Does that even count?)
3. Charlotte's Web--the cartoon. If ever there was a movie ripe for re-making.
4. 101 Dalmations

Four Movies That Haven't Hit That Limit Yet
1.
2.
3.
4.

That's when we go to the beach...

Four Books I First Read as an Adult that I Read Over and Over
1. Moby Dick
2. The Great Divorce
3. The Richest Man in Babylon
4. A Pillar of Iron

Four Things I Cannot Do
1. Fix things
2. Play golf
3. Sing
4. 1 and a half reverse

Four Places I've Lived (as a grown-up)
1. Pensacola Beach
2. Jackson
3. Gainesville
4. Tallahassee

Four TV/Radio Shows I Love to Watch/Listen (that are still running)
1. Frontline
2. Family Guy
3. A Prarie Home Companion
4. Any episode of the BBC's "World at War"

Four TV Shows We Record for the Booglet
1.
2.
3.
4.

But she can point out the planets for you and I think is really starting to perceive General Relativity.

Four Things I Say Often
1. "court ordered counseling"
2. "don't put that in your mouth"
3. "how much?"
4. "this is jemison"

Four Places I've Been on Vacation
1. The Big Island
2. USVI
3. Italy
4. Nipper Key

Four Blogs I Visit Daily* That I Don't Link To In My Sidebar
1. Art. Humor. Larceny.
2. Mia Culpa
3. Viscounte LeCarte (and I think I misspelled it--sorry Al)
4. Go Fug Yourself (does that count?)
* I don't hit anybody every day.

Four of My Favorite Foods (that I cook)
1. Blackened Amberjack
2. T-bones
3. Roast
4. Boiled Shrimp (Bay Shrimp, with beer & lemon in the water and Zatarain's. But the lynchpin is the cocktail sauce).

Four Cars I've owned
1. 1978 Ford F250 (still do!)
2. 1976 Toyota Celica
3. 1976 Dodge Colt (my first car--the Blue Angel)
4. 1970 something Datsun B210. (my firstand only experience with flywheels self-destructing).

Thanks Mystery Mommy. That was fun.

This picture was taken by my wife. The girls all got together for some indoor gym time and, of course, some mall cruisin'. The blur captures the atmosphere perfectly--things to do, people to see--even at two.

Somewhere in there I see my obsolescence.

(Booglet's in the green--headin' up the posse of babes).

An Open Letter to Fuzzball

After winter comes the time,
quick with sunshine and color,
that warms the earth,
and wakes the soul
from the long winter slumber

Or

"Hear the children they call Annie
Every leaf must fall Annie,
May God Bless us all Annie,
wherever we'll be.."
Ronnie Lane & Pete Townshend

Good things happen to good people. 2006 will be Year of the Fuzz.

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Mercury

Coming in about three weeks--the best opportunity to see the closest planet to the sun. Check in the west about thirty minutes after sunset. Follow it as it arcs up to its highest point in the sky.

It occurs to me that many people have never seen Mercury with their own eyes. Change that next month.

Lookin'Out My Backdoor

This fella just cruised in and I got a quick shot. This is looking out my office...and yes I am working. My wife had me download some earlier pictures and the pelican and camera just got together at the same time.

He's an old fella--see all the white on his head?

Blowhard

Joseph Biden got in more than two times the words than Alito yesterday at the Senate hearings. Even assuming they were his own words and not lifted from someone else it's too much. Senator, everyone knows that the best depositions are when the subject is allowed to talk...mano a mano, like no one else is in the room. That's when they say things they didn't expect would come out of their mouths. I've seen good examples and bad. You sir, are bad. Here's a tip...shut yer freakin' pie hole! Let's hear what Sam Alito has to say about the Constitution, not you.

Quote

Man thinks, 'cause he rules the Earth,
he can do with it as he pleases,
And if things don't change soon
he will

Bob Dylan

Live Long and Prosper

Albert Hofmann, the father of LSD, celebrates his 100th birthday today.

Turns out he conducted the first two experiments on himself...one good, one not so good.

Blackberry Nation

One day our grandchildren will marvel at how easily we took the bit in our mouths, shouldered the load, and pressed on. My buddy Zack remarked how weird it was to see an old man at the Senate hearings doing the "Blackberry prayer", that sort of bowed position, bent over a screen only James T. Kirk could love, thumbs dancing.

But hold on, that's not my point. Here I sit on the pavillion of unmentionable name, turning my back to the wind, hunched in an unnatural glow...all to say this.

Chester and I had to ignore that little yappin' dog for the last block into the woods. It was pathetic really, like an animal gone mad for a reaction--any reaction. My wife, Calamity Jane, says animals (and then pauses, adds conspiratorily, and children) are a reflection of their owners. I agree--I think attention, affection and interaction work on all levels of intelligence.

Did I ever mention that Chester is a damn fine good one?..he caint hep it...

Oddly enough, after that, my Blackberry crashed. Coincidence? I think not.

Moving Away, Moving Closer

Tubby-time. I'm drawing animals in various soap/paint colors on the side of the tub, washing hair and generally chit-chatting with the Booglet. I'm washing when she turns to me and says:

"Daddy, my do it." I just love that phrase.

"Sure Sugar Bear," I hand her the washrag and she starts washing her plump belly. I watch, feeling left out. This is the way it will be, I think, with a tinge of sadness. Bit by bit, excluded from her, irrelevant, unneeded. My hands fold uselessly over the bathtub side.

"Wash Daddy's hands?" I look up and she's reaching over to wash my hands. Her little hands wrap around one of my fingers, washing them. I study her face, tilted to the side slightly, lips pursed in concentration. Washing Daddy's hands.

"Oh thank you Sweetheart." I said.

Thank you for washing my hands. Thank you for being here, which washes everything away for me: regret, anxiety, fear of a world brutish and cold. You have scrubbed me clean with your delicate little features; given me peace after so long travelling.

The Things She Says

My daughter has been watching the movie Babe now for several weeks. It's a story about a pig who becomes famous for his control of sheep. It's also filled with a lot of animal conversations and farm life. Generally it's a charming movie but I think it may have given her a new insight into the food chain.

When she asked her mother yesterday what we were having for dinner and was told chicken, she asked,

"What's his name?"

Quote

I make shoes for everyone even you,
but I still go barefoot.

Bob Dylan

Love Stinks
HIPPO: "We need to talk."

TORTOISE: "Oh oh. What's the matter?"

HIPPO: "This is never gonna work."

TORTOISE: "Don't say that sweetheart."

HIPPO: "It's," shaking head, "it's just that you've become aloof. I want to get close to you but there's this...this..."

TORTOISE: "Shell?"

HIPPO: "Yes! Shell! Oh honey, I didn't want to accuse you, I know you try. But I just feel like there's a part of you I can never reach."

TORTOISE: "The part protected by my shell perhaps?"

HIPPO: "Yes!"

TORTOISE: "No one can reach that."

HIPPO: "Oh darling, don't say that! Don't shut me out!"

TORTOISE: "No. I don't think you understand. It's just the way I am."

HIPPO: Sobbing "Oh why must you be so hard?"

TORTOISE: "Baby, it's not you...it's me. I'll call ya."

Random

"And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine."
Bob Dylan

I'm going to the cabinet for a glass. I open the cabinet door. No glasses. Tea, coffee, creamer...no glasses. This is the wrong cabinet. Dude, the glasses are the next door down. How many times have you gone to that door? Hundreds? How long have you lived in this house? Dude, you designed this house--you don't remember where you put the glasses?

What makes the mind wander like that?

I pulled a five dollar bill out of my pocket to pay. I wonder, where else has this bill, being so casually discarded by me, been? Was it given to a small child and represented a magnificent treasure? Did it pay off an evil debt? Where's it been? Ah fiver, we hardly knew ye!

"Juice money
Loose money
Blue money, honey
Breau money."
Van Morrison

Why is it that tort reform never seeks to reduce the lawyers a business or an insurance company hires, just the poor saps being tooled on?

If the green I see is different from the green you see, yet we both agree that the color is green, (I mean, we both agree that grass is 'green', the bottom light on a stoplight is 'green') does that give my universe a whole different hue? We both look at the sky and call it blue, but through my eyes it's your red...

Would you enjoy sunsets more?

Christmas Dress



On our way to the Christmas pageant. This picture warms my heart and reminds me of all the fun we had over the holidays with the little booglet. Cookies and presents, family and friends.

Now say 'cheese'...



Okay, now you can slide down and let's go!

Quote

"Just as a builder must have a plan on his paper in order to build wisely and well, so must a people have a Constitution in order to guide them. But we have abandoned our plan and our map so painfully wrought by our fathers. Hence, we have dictators, men who lust for centralized power in order to oppress us."

Marcus Tullius Cicero, The Moral Law

The more things change eh Mr. Cheney?

On Spying, Trying and, at last, Dying

President Bush on his 'Constitutional' authority to spy on citizens.

"As president and commander in chief, I have the constitutional responsibility and the constitutional authority to protect our country. Article 2 of the Constitution gives me that responsibility and the authority necessary to fulfill it."
George W. Bush

"Our President's crazy. Did you hear what he said?"*
David Byrne

A new year. Full of promise to rectify all those things you did wrong last year (or maybe the last number of year.)

I'll try:

to train for the mountain climb,
to enjoy every minute with the booglet,
to work like I don't need the money,
to remember those who can no longer carry their memories

Because this may have been my last New Year's Eve, spent with campagne, lobster, red wine and delicacies. Who knows. Do you?

__________
*My good friend Bobalouie says 'tell them you're posting from my computer if you're talking bad about the President.' Okay, Bobalouie, there you go. But I always capitalized his title and it's true. Oh well, if you are listening in, Big Brother, my name is spelled j e m i s o n. May I recommend George Orwell's classic of 1948...or perhaps Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.