Hut, one, two, three, four, HUT!

 It's Veteran's Day.  I'm a veteran and don't feel like celebrating.  The local Elks Lodge will toast the veterans with a shot of cognac promptly at high noon.  I ask, why in a time of "war" toast those of us who served and lived to tell about it?  Toast those fighting on the front lines and pray that they come home to tell about it at a future Veteran's Day celebration.

I also don't feel like celebrating or making a big deal of this day as back then serving was something everyone who was able (and not chickenshit) did.  A stint in the military was the law of the land.  Those who served and were lucky to come out of Viet Nam alive finished their tour of duty and got on with their lives.   For me, no thank you's are necessary.  It was the price of living in a Democracy.

One good thing about Veteran's Day:  A cable channel or two will run war movies all the live long day.  Whoo Hoo!  Break out the beer and the buffalo chicken wings.  Put new batteries in the remote control.  We are going to war on TV today.  It's going to rain so that's the perfect excuse to plop my fat white ass in front of the TV.  Gotta wear my combat helmet . . . break out the .45 sidearm.  Cradle the M-16 in my lap.  I'll be good to go.  Lock and load, people.  Lock and load.

Here's Gracie wearing Bob's military uniform.  Last week she begged me to dig it out and I did.  Damn uniform reflects a back in the day Bob.  It's a size 37.  Check your closet.   Anyone you know with any meat on their bod small enough to wear a 37?   Good lord, no!  I was all of 140 pounds.  5'10"  A lean, mean, fighting machine.  Perfect fit for a size 37 uniform jacket.  

Meanwhile, pray for our troops and forget those who been there, did that and served their country in the process - - - as well we should have.

Whooooahhhh!

Grace turns seven

Last weekend Grace turned seven.   Most of the kids in second grade turned seven long ago and are about to or have already turned eight.  Most definitely Gracie is the youngest kid in second grade at her school.  That said, even though the youngest she can run with the best of them.

She opened the gifts from us on Friday at our home.  On Saturday she had her party at her mother's home complete with most of her BFF's and other relatives. 

As you see below, Grace just had to sit with her very best boy friend.  She has it all figured out that they're getting married after college and having a slug of kids.  Tell me, just where do kids come up with this stuff at age seven?  Our rant to Grace remains the same:  Do the high school thing.  Then college.  Grad school.  Well paying job with a future.  Grow up, become a mature woman.  Play the field.  Date only those with their shit together with a great job and money in their wallet.  Go from there.

Life plays out differently.  First off, who listens to their elders anymore?  Life's errors could be avoided if they would only listen to those who have been there and done that. 

Hmmmm.  Like you and I really listened to our elders back in the day?   Learning the hard way is how life usually plays out for most of us.  Growing up it was pretty much my deal to screw things up.  Dad used to say, "Bob, you just can stand prosperity.  You always mess up a good thing."   Many of life's lessons for Bob was learned from the school of hard knocks.    Even then I often still didn't get it and I'd go back for more messing things up.   Why would I expect Grace or anyone else to live the first part of their lives any differently? 

Grace's after high school education has strings attached.  We've set aside a sum of money adequate for her to go all the way through grad school and then some but with conditions not mentioned here.  Use your imagination.  If you know Bob you know well what the conditions will be for Grace to receive her college money. 

College isn't for everyone.   If Grace decides not to take that path and be happy doing something else so be it.  We'll be happy with whatever she does and where ever she ends up.  The good Lord willing, I'll be there to enjoy that.

Great Poi Dog Pondering song from long ago. Needs some help though . . . muddy sound needs help from the EQ on your computer to lighten it up.

Bob's Thanksgiving turkey is featured dancing here (about 2:15). :) Check it out. It's a natural thing.......or is it?

'Tis Nearly the Season

 Reading the daily edition  of the San Francisco Chronicle has been a habit since age 10.   Something for everyone.  Read the Chronicle and you can bet that you know what's going on here, there and everywhere.

In reading Sunday's paper I paused on an article written about a San Francisco company, Good Vibrations.  Good Vibrations sells mostly vibrators.   Surprisingly this firm has a CEO.  I don't know why that this was surprising but it was.  I usually equate CEO with companies like Ford, General Electric and what have you . . . not with something like Good Vibrations which sells sex toys. 

The article had a bent that even in a recession bound economy vibrator sales is humming.   And I quote G.V. COEO Jackie Strano:

"We're not necessarily recession-proof because we reply on manufacturers and distributors.   Things have taken a little hit but we're definitely better off than the auto industry.  If you're going to be in industry, this is the one to be in."

Now there's a thought.  Maybe I can buy a used ice cream truck and sell vibrators door-to-door.....Bob would truly be the Good Humor man.  I'd paint, "Let Me Go Ahead and Make Your Day Vibrator Company" on the side of the truck.  Bob would have a new shelf life.

CEO Jackie continued, "But yeah, money's tight.  If people are going to spend their dollars, they want to know it's a good product.  People are staying home more, so we've directed more marketing efforts towards cheap date nights - - - for the price of a movie and dinner, buy a vibrator, stay home and have fun."  Spoken like a true CEO of a vibrator sales company.

 I don't even have to ask.  I know well Wifey's answer when asked this question.  Her choice between a vibrator and dinner and a movie out is obvious.  Go for the dinner out, see the movie and to hell with something that goes buzz in the night.  I would think that most wives would go for a night out, too.  And that's the name of that tune.

The photo here?  Bob, Wifey and Gracie on the good ship Sparkle Plenty.  It's the one being used on our photo Christmas cards this year.  After all, 'tis nearly the season, isn't it?  46 shopping days until Christmas, people.  Get out out there and buy, buy, buy!

Ho, ho, ho!  Happy Monday!

There's a damn hole in my nose!

A month ago I wrote here that my dermatologist had ordered up a $500 prescription of ointment.  When applied twice daily the ointment causes the skin to peel.  The idea is to eliminate the need to burn off pre- cancerous skin growths by removing them this way.  If done right they'll not come back again.

This morning I checked in my the dermatologist.

Doc:  Looking good.  Stop applying the ointment until Monday then start up again with once a day application and not twice.  Don't want to over do it.

Me:  Like I don't look bad enough?  My entire forehead is red with welts on top of the pre-cancerous growths.  Bob is definitely looking like a Leper.  Before I go would you look at an area on my nose.

Doc after looking at it:  "How did I miss that?  Did this just happen or have you had it for a while.

Me:  For a while.  It comes and goes.  I thought that it was a broken blood vessel.

Doc:  It's cancer, Bob.  You have options:  Radiation.  Freeze it and hope that it doesn't come back.  Apply the ointment you're using which might do the job eventually.  Or, cut it out.

Me:  What would you do?

Doc:  If it were one of my family I'd surgically remove it.

Me:  Slice and dice time, Doc.  Slice and dice that baby.

The procedure seemed to last forever.  First the injection of Novacaine smack dab into the nose.  He scraped and scraped.  And he burned and burned to stop the bleeding.  I just love the smell of burning skin in the morning.

Doc:  It was definitely cancer.  I got all of it and then some.  The lab report will let us know if I'm correct.

Now we wait to see if the growth comes back or if the lab finds that there's more of the growth to dig out.  I hate to think what the next step is if one of the other happens.  The Dermo says that he got all of it and then some.  Judging by the hole in my nose there's was plenty of "then some".  It's a pretty big dent in Bob's nose that's half the size of a dime and very deep.

Today Grace's school is honoring men and women who served in the arm forces.  There's an assembly with lots of singing with veterans in the spotlight.  I was going.  Was.   Bob's looking a bit too grotesque to be among 600 kids.  Think I'll sit this one out.

All said, I'm not really sweating this one out.  I'm thinking that it's all good.  But in the back of my mind there's this little voice that makes me worry just a bit about what could come next.  Worrying never helped anything.  And it won't help here, either.  I've got to quiet that voice in my head.

10 Items or Less

I caught a recent film the other evening on HBO: 10 Items or Less.  Morgan Freeman was the principle actor.  Cute film.  Not a lot of plot.  Bob's kind of movie. 

At one point in the film Freeman asked a female character to name 10 things she liked about herself and 10 she didn't like.  Then he rattled off 10 and then the other 10 on the opposing side.  I had to laugh that one of the 10 things Freeman liked was a good bowel movement.  Gee, did you ever look at life in a way that it was important to have a good bowel movement?  Eat your fiber and then it's no big deal. 

What would be your 10/10 like/dislikes?  I wouldn't name the bowel movement as being one of the 10 but something that would make my list would be having my shit together.   That's a work in progress so that's something not yet ready for this list  . . . at least not yet.   Always able to wrangle an income tax refund.  Uncanny ability to hit all green stop lights makes me smile.  The unconditional love of Wifey.  All things likable. 

Dislikes:  Let's not go there.  Focus on the positive this morning and not the negative. 

I have no clue on where this topic is going or where it should go.  It's been that kind of week:  Loose ends with nothing coming to fruition.  That's why there have been no posts here.  Bob can start but can't finish.  I'll leave it to you to finish what I can't.

I spent a large part of yesterday on the boat.  Cleaning.  Fixing.  Charging the batteries.  Bleeding all over the inside of the boat after being sliced by a sharp edge.   Enjoying the peace and the activity of the birds that you see here that are perched on the boom just outside the marina.  Cormorants.  They love fish.   The fishermen hate them.

The Parks Service was in the middle of a control burn on the south/east end of the lake.  Smoke billowed in the air and for a time went in the opposite direction of the marina.  Later in the day the wind changed directions and thick white smoke covered the lake and the marina.    That's when it was time to call it a day and head for home. 

This morning we visit the studio of the photographer who did the photographs of us on the sailboat.  She'll review them with us and help us to decide which would be best for framing.  Grace arrives on the school bus a little after two.   Soon afterward it's off to her singing lessons.   It's a busy day and as always time will fly.  Time and this life goes so very quickly.  I just wish that it didn't.