The Sunday Morning Muse, Sunday, December 2, 2012

The rain and 60 degree temperature today is really going to clash with the Christmas music. That said, I won't really complain all that much. I am musing about what it will be like here maybe a hundred years from now when I am long dead and this is beach front Pennsylvania property with Tampa-like Winters. The rising of the ocean water from the melting icecaps and climate change is going to be a big real estate boon for my

neighborhood someday. But I won't be around to see it. Sigh.

I didn't hit the Powerball this week. Strange but unlike past Powerball fever frenzies, I didn't spend more than five minutes dreaming about what I would do with all that money. Instead, and maybe I'm getting jaded and older, I spent more time pondering how the heck I'd resolve the practical mess that comes with that amount of winnings. A million or so? Manageable. Hundreds of millions? I'd have to call Romney and ask how I can stash some of it in the Cayman Islands and how best to set up trust funds and such. He has time on his hands right now, I'm sure he would help. I'd probably have to start with a lawyer.  A pretty good one.

Expensive. I don't know any good enough to help me. I'd have to find someone to recommend one and I don't have any rich friends. 

You see where this is going?  Suddenly being rich is a big jolt of reality. After you buy a new house, a new car, take a vacation, and come back home, you have to decide what the hell you are going to DO with all this money? It can take over your life. Perhaps that is why my automatic first response when anyone asks

me what I'll do with a lot of money, I say I'll build a moat.  I need to preserve my solitude. Keep space for myself to think. Maybe even ban Christmas music from that space for all but two weeks of the year.

Just Sayin'

Hmmm?

The Sunday Morning Muse, November 25, 2012

A light snow is falling and it is a bit foggy. It's here. Winter. The Christmas music is already blaring away in the house. Every time I hear Bruce Springsteen's Santa Claus is Coming to Town, I get a little sad thinking of Clarence Clemons who died in 2011.

I love the classic Christmas music, but not so much the "remakes" that play endlessly in stores. I can do without the rap versions, too.

 Right now "I Want a Hippotamus for Christmas" in on. If I never hear that again all season, I won't be too sad either.


I used to work in radio and I can remember us having to unofficially "ban" "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer." There were "live" DJs back then and regular listeners would call us a million times for that song. And if you played it, then others would call and say they just missed it, and could you play it again?  And if you didn't, they were smart enough to wait until the next DJ came on and talk them into playing it. Or they would just keep calling back asking when it would be on again. So for awhile we just told people we didn't have it. It was simpler that way.

I remember someone offering to buy it for us so we could play it.

Radio sure has changed since then.

Sad, really.

Support whatever "live" local stations that are left.

The Sunday Morning Muse, November 18, 2012

Cat and I looked out the window and saw stars about twenty minutes ago....now the rim of orange is over the valley, the stars are gone and sunrise is 15 minutes away.  Another day dawning.  Been trying to let things just be this week. Don't push the river. Live in the present. But it's hard to do sometimes.

Like, today is a good day to put up Christmas lights. Get ahead of the game. I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but if radio stations have already gone "all Xmas all the time," it's not me who is pushing things worse. I've already heard Grandma Got Runover by a Reindeer. Personally, I think all this is silly. I'd be happy to limit the holiday season to just two weeks. Quality over quantity.  I wasn't happy with some major retailers telling workers they have to work Thanksgiving day to get a jump on Black Friday either.
All this is motivated by greed. Let these people celebrate THIS holiday with their families, before the whole
Christmas rush starts.

I Will Be There

Just a great tune, Cheering me up today.

The Sunday Morning Muse, November 11, 2012

The Sun is coming up over the valley and it's going to reach 70 degrees today. And it is Veteran's Day.  If that's climate change, I'll take it! Wow. 

I finally bought boots. Good boots for now shoveling and also a nice pair of brown low cowboy style boots for just kicking around in, and also a couple of pairs of tights. I'm ready when it does turn cold. The woolly worm has no stripe at all this year that means we will be in for a bad winter, eventually.  BUT NOT TODAY!!!:)

After a very cold couple of nights this week, Coco, the cat on the porch, will be happy to find the "door into summer" today. She has her cat mat out there under a covered table and has been huddled in there trying to stay warm. There is nothing that makes me smile more than to see her run out into the sun to her favorite tree. Her whole mood changes. 

Veteran's day is here. I just put the flag out. It's flying low because I lost the rod you stick in to make it longer. But it is out there. I'm proud of our country. The Mad Men versus Modern Family election is finally over. I'm done thinking about it. And I could care less who General Petraeus chooses to sleep with. I'm tired of scandal mongering. And I hate that 8 minutes of a 22 minute news cast has to focus on crap like this. Of course if you choose to live in the Fox News bubble you are already being programmed to think it is a huge

conspiracy to get rid of him because he was set to testify on Libya. The whole Libya scandal mongering done by Fox prior to the election continues.  Sigh.

Slavery, Killing and Stoning. Vote the Bible.

I saw Billy Graham's ad in an Ohio newpaper yesterday. A full page telling people to vote according to the Bible. Of course he means Anti-Gay, Anti-choice, etc. He never told people how to vote, but it is pretty clear he is not a Democrat. I get a chuckle out of people sometimes.

The first thing I thought of was a few lines from the TV Show The West Wing. President Bartlett, asking questions about some bible references:

"I'm interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21 : 7. She's a Georgetown sophomore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleared the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be? While thinking about that, can I ask another? 


My chief of staff, Leo McGarry, insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35 : 2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or is it okay to call the police? 

Here's one that's really important because we've got a lot of sports fans in this town. Touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean. Leviticus 11 : 7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? 


Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother John for planting different crops side-by-side? 

Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads? 

Think about those questions, would you?"