Buffalo Plaid Won't You Come Out Tonight............

As the old poet noted..........

"Spring has sprung,
Fall is fell...
Winter's here.....
And it's colder than usual!

The winds are picking up and we here in the central part of Illinois are promised temperatures in the teens tonight........

It's time to break out my favorite shirt, dig the Carhartt Siberian Parka out of storage, and make sure there is enough Captain Morgan and Hot Cocoa in the pantry.

I took Cheyenne to the library last night (Wednesday night) insofar as our usual night (Thursday) fell on Thanksgiving. It so happened they were having a blood drive and , being a charitable soul, I allowed them to drain a pint of my essence into a plastic baggie on the eve of the coldest fucking night of the year...(thus far, anyway)!

It's been a number of years since I've donated blood.........I'm not sure why I stopped the practice, but from the time I was first eligible to the time I quit I gave nearly two gallons. (This is no exaggeration for the sake of sarcasm.....I had one "gallon pin" and was hard at work on the second.)
At that time, just about every junkie in creation was selling blood at least once a week for the price of a fix and the only real obstacle anyone faced in giving blood was perhaps not having drawn a living breath for greater than 24 hours before donating.
Now, of course, you have to go through a battery of personal questions (among which, I'm sure I was asked if I had ever had a prostate examination from a doctor who picked his nose and whether I enjoyed it or not), and samples of the blood are taken to test for everything from blueballs to xenophobia.

All of which brings us to tonight........and the spectacle of me on the back porch, clad in flannel, peeking out from beneath the snorkle hood of a serious parka, shivering at a rate of somewhere between 350 to 400 hertz, hovering over a Weber kettle, and grilling one pound plus of reasonably dead cow just to the point that it stopped squirming around on the grill, quit mooing about the heat (I wasn't in a sympathetic mood), and didn't scream when I stabbed it with the fork to turn it over.
We're talking a dedicated effort to rebuild the red blood cells here.

So, now I am fed, re-warmed, and ready to put on one of Kevin Costner's self financed comedies....(Robin Hood.....*snicker*)to tide me over until bedtime.
I've had a nice respite from the usual pursuits today.........slept in until almost 700 am and didn't actually do much of anything. I will get together with my Son and Daughter and Grandkids Saturday and will spend much of tomorrow getting ready for that.

I bet you thought I was setting you up for some pathetic, feel-sorry-for-the-lonesome-guy-on-Thanksgiving thing here, didn't you?

What the fuck...........are you a first time reader or what?

Have a Happy Holiday, and don't take anything so seriously that it leaves you feeling fucked up.............(unless, of course, you really are fucked up, in which case either quit whining and do something to fix it or exercise a responsible Darwinism in a fashion that is not public, messy, or dangerous to others)........be kind to yourselves.

Thus endeth the entry..........

Remembrance.............

There are days in history that divide in one instant what was from what will be.

Days like 9-11 and Dec. 7 1941.

Days that signal the end of one distinct era and define the new one.

Forty-two years ago today.......at about this time of day, was one of those days.

Ask someone near or over 50 exactly what he or she was doing that day......they may not be able to tell you what they had for breakfast this morning, but they will be able to tell you what that day looked like and smelled like and felt like.
I've spoken to people who were as young as 3 and 4 years old on that day.........it may be a hazy memory,but it is their first real memory.

In the years to follow that day, cities would be torn apart by riot, 53,000 young men would be cut down in the prime of their years, and a President would resign in disgrace, his hands soiled by the criminal abuse of the power of his office.

In the years to follow that day, we would land a man on the moon, make the first of many attempts to address 300 years of bigotry and heinous racial injustice, and set our government and social apparatus on a course to bring to bear the resources of the richest nation on earth in an effort to level the field for those born into poverty and ignorance............to give those most in need the opportunity to share in the American Dream.

All of it somehow connected with that defining moment.

It goes without saying that the best and most well-intended efforts haven't always been a rousing success. It goes likewise without saying that there have been mistakes made.........that at times the consequence of what was intended to be a cure ushered in a worse situation than existed before it......

........but don't let yourself be gulled by someone's half-baked, self-delusional nostalgia about the good ol' days.

Beware those who would take us back. Wrap a tea towel around Pat Robertson's head and listen to what he has to say.Our right wing fanatics would shroud women in the same veils and condemn mankind to the same pestilential, medieval, hell on earth that their right wing fanatics would......and do it with the same joyous, snake-eyed, and brutal enthuasiasm.

We live in a better nation and a better world than we did then.It is not enough to honor the martyr by remembering them. We honor them best by remembering why we remember them.


"Don't let it be forgot,
That once there was a spot,
For one brief, shining moment......
that was known as Camelot"

Thus endeth the entry.......

Happy Birthday Dear Emily......

Tommorrow (Nov. 17) is Emily's Birthday.......

I ran an entry at this time last year, that, as I review it, I realize that I can't really add to, subtract from or otherwise tweak or improve except to add another year to the timeframes specified in that entry. Therefore, it is not out of a sense of laziness or indifference that I offer it to you to read or reread here.

The past year, I am certain, has lent itself to the strengthening of those fine qualities I know she possesses.........I hope it has given her the happiness and prosperity she deserves. I further hope that the coming year sees the fruition of her best hopes and allows her a satisfied reflection.

After nearly a year of neglect of this website, I do not have near the readership to call upon to visit her and leave a Birthday greeting that I had at that time.....but to the faithful few who are still with me, I hope that you will take the time to wish her well.

I still haven't had the fortune to meet her in person, but I look forward to the time and circumstance that will allow that privelege with no diminished anticipation.

So, Happy Birthday, Dear Emily......

With warmest regards,

The Captn

Thus endeth the entry.............

Two Things You Wouldn't Know If........

You don't know a Marine

Today is the 230th Birthday of the United States Marine Corps.

So,........drink too much; say "fuck" a lot; kill, maim or destroy something in a particularly spectacular fashion; and, Ladies, "kiss" as many Marines as you can...............OOORAH!!!!!!

You don't listen to Gordon Lightfoot

Thirty years ago today the ore freighter "Edmond Fitzgerald" went down in a storm on Lake Superior with all hands......29 men. Have a beer, listen to the song, observe a moment of silence..............and then lighten the fuck up, for Christ's sake, and go find some Marines to party with......it's our birthday!

Thus endeth the entry.........