General Babble

[cineater]

I've been thinking about a metal roof for my place.  They are way more expensive then a regular roof but they are suppose to last a really long time.  Not so much my concern but I do like the look of them.  I'm wondering about the noise.  I like the idea of hearing it rain on the roof but how loud are we talking?  Am I going to freak during a hail storm and will it get dented up?  How hot is that?  I get up on the roof several times a year to do shit.  Does it rust?

[cineater]

"Artic Plunge" and "Flash Freeze", okay the driveway isn't getting shoveled.     And after it passes by me, a "bomb cyclone".  Good luck to you people in the east.

[cineater]

I had no idea people could hear you through their ring doorbell.  Nobody has ever talked to me before, they just open the door.  Pretty sure the only thing I've ever said is "hurry up, I have to pee".   

[cineater]

We'll shit, lost another year.  I know most people approach it as glad that one is over and hope the next is better.  I remember those years.  Getting through life is hard.

I have a Santa box.  We use to write all we hoped to accomplish in the up coming year and put the list in there.  On News Year Eve we would look at it and see what we had got accomplished, make lists for the upcoming year.  I'm going to switch it up.  I'm going to make a list as the year goes by of all the good stuff that happens.  I'm going to keep all those lists in there.

[cineater]

I was wondering if GNR would make my list and they came in as number one.   

[cineater]

Spring clean week.  I've decided the cabinet handles in my bedroom and kitchen are no longer to my liking.  Ordered up some new ones off Amazon.  Kind of miss those orders coming in.    Anyway I was surprised after 33 years the screws that held the pulls on the kitchen cabinets turned so easily.  It was getting them unstuck from all those years of grease in the air that was the problem.  The smell is awful.  If I had known that was going on, I would have turned that screw a long time ago.

[cineater]

So if I'm going to replace the pulls might as well replace the 33 year old shelf paper and do a little touch up paint.  I know how I got from pulls to paper and paint but I was on floors when I went to pulls.  How does that happen?   

It was nice at Lowes when they asked if rather that give me my change I wanted it to go to a charity.  That's a good idea.  Everybody stop giving out change and send it to charity.     Wait, except the quarters.  I need those for pinball.

[cineater]

Aww, Duffy died.  The guy who bought Simone to me.  Gone before the paramedics could get there and on his birthday too.  They are just having a grave side service and a party afterwards.  I kind of like that idea.  A brief good bye and a celebration afterwards.  I really have to get some winter funeral clothes.  Okay with these folks if I'm in my black jeans.  They'd think I was weird if I showed up all dressed up.  Sad to see him go, nice guy.  Not a close friend but one of those people who is always happy to see you.  Can't have too many people in your life like that.

Wow, my kitchen is starting to look good.  It's a minor little facelift with some touch up paint, handles not here yet and cabinet paper not replaced yet.  But as much as I love my kitchen floor, it's time to replace it.  And there ya go.  Didn't know how I got from floors to kitchen cabinet pulls but it all comes full circle in the end.   

[cineater]

Yes I'm still laying down contact paper.  I'd like to lie and say I was half way done but I might be a little over a third of the way.  And I have the help of a cat.  Terrapin has to lay on each piece to make sure I'm cutting it right.  She likes to lay in front of the scissors to make sure I don't cut to fast.  And since she has four paws she likes to lend a hand in laying it down.  She frequently gets squirted out of the room for micromanaging.  

Love my new cabinet handles.  Should have got the ones with bigger feet to cover the old drill holes.  If you look closely you can see some of the hole.  If you're looking that closely and it bothers you, get the fuck out of my house.  I live here.  It's not perfect.   

[cineater]

And the celebrity death news just keeps coming. 

Keith Richards, still alive.   

[cineater]

I ask myself why on every shelve.  So I finally googled it.  https://www.jamorganizing.com/blog/liner  Okay I don't care about #7 but there's still seven other reasons to do it.  Damn it!  

On the plus side, I did find my stash of Jack Daniels.  It's aging well.  It's for we're going to take care of this pain right here, right now.  May come in handy when I finish this project.   

[cineater]

Went to the Lady's High Tea (don't google that).  I never have the clothes for that but we did review the proper way to hang your laundry on the line to dry.  What to do with your tea towel.  And who was still using an iron.  I've been out classed. 

Then we went to recent deaths and onto dog deaths.  I'm really tired of death.  Got another notice today.

[cineater]

Okay this is kind of cool.  There's a line in a song by the Grateful Dead, Franklin's Tower:  "If you plant ice, you're going to harvest wind."  As it turns out it was something Benjamin Franklin said about the making of the liberty bell.  They used ice crystals in treating the metal for the bell.  It's what caused it to crack after the first ring and now all you can hear when it is rang is the wind coming through the crack.  I always think of this line saying something about how you talk about stuff.  If you talk shit to everyone about it, you're framing the way they think about something and they regurgitate bad shit back to you.  You know, be careful what you say.

[cineater]

"What I want to know", what is The Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics book doing in the Harvard University book store?  Is that required reading for some class?

I have the first edition of this book from 2005.  Used, the price has tripled to sky rocketed, no new ones.  The second edition from 2015 is a little hard to find, online ordering for the most part from the usual suspects, out of stock in the book stores but available through two universities.  Maybe they can get anything but I find it odd they would list it on their sites.  Pretty cool that book is still listed though.  Not going to get here in time for a birthday present and if they reprint it, and they should, in 2015, that's way too late.   

[cineater]

Why would Amazon do away with smile amazon, their charity program?

I have to wrap up spring clean.  I went grocery shopping and freaked trying to stay nice and organized when I put them away.  It was those one extra cans of soup and green beans that did it.   

[cineater]

That's kind of cool.  They've invented a way to do away with all those pills bottles.  They come in pill packets that you put into refillable containers at home.  Those pill bottles aren't really recyclable.  They are under three inches and most places can't recycle them and they end up in the trash.  I'm not paying $50 for the kit but if the pharmacy gives me my meds in a packet, I can dump it into a pill bottle I have at home.

[cineater]

You ever watch Sweet's Little Willy video?  WTF, has that guy got on?     The worse rock outfit ever.  I watch the video just to put a smile on my face.  It's a head scratcher.

[cineater]

My taxes are done and waiting to be accepted.  One day before they start accepting them.  Spring clean done and it's the middle of winter.     Yeah, I'm THAT person.   

[cineater]

So you think those FBI agents have the security clearance to view those classified documents or that didn't occur to everybody when they sent them on those raids?

[cineater]

AOL changed their email.  They moved the send button from the top to the bottom right next to the attach symbol.  I keep hitting send when I mean to attach!  Then I have to send another email saying sorry I fucked up.    And every time I hit reply all to a long email with the attachment to straighten everybody out, the document is all the way down to the bottom, through several reply all responses.

[cineater]

Didn't even make it a week and Lily puked on the carpet.     Guess I'll be cleaning carpets yet again next spring clean.  Of course it was mostly mud in the water when I cleaned them and that's on me.  Never remember to take off my boots before coming into the house.

[cineater]

NBC interrupted regular programing to show the Memphis video of the police beating.  No lead in, no advanced warning of you may find the content disturbing, boom it's in your face.  "We need dirty laundry."  They're hot for something to happen or rather make happen.  They should be held accountable for that.

[cineater]

Woke up late thinking it was Monday, jumped on the computer to check all the shit I had that was scheduled to show up and nothing there.  Calm down sister it's only Sunday.     Woke me up faster than a cup of coffee.  I kind of like these day when I have so much shit going on time just blurs into what I'm doing next.  Looking for places where I can squeeze in some more shit to get accomplished.  Run with it for a while.

[cineater]

They were talking about this home owners association requiring you to submit a sample of your dog's poop.  When the HOA found dog poop not picked up they would have it analyzed.  If it was your dog, you would get a violation consequence leading up to either get rid of your dog or sell and get out of our community.     That's a little too Big Brother, imo.

[cineater]

Tried this honey garlic chicken recipe.  Easy and it turned out really good.  https://www.askchefdennis.com/honey-garlic-chicken/#recipe

[cineater]

Wow, one of those lost days.  I drew, listened to music, read for a while and even cooked a two course dinner.  Hardly anything in my in box and I didn't get a text until 7.  Nice to be home.

[cineater]

I was digging around in my treasure box the other day.  There's some good shit in there but mostly it's little junk I've picked up along the way.  My grandmother's opium pipe, a dead moth I thought was pretty, an Allman Brothers sticker.  Little stuff most people would have ignored or tossed along the way.  I think of them as gifts from the universe.  Placed at my fingertips at the time and made me smile.  Things of interest but no real value.  Kind of cool having a treasure box of things you've picked up over a life time. 

[cineater]

I hope LA Search and Rescue is on their way to Turkey.  So sad.

[cineater]

SNL is going to portray Sarah Huckabee as a Stepford wife.  I don't think she blinked.

[cineater]

I didn't think I'd be one of those people that went around showing pictures of the grandbaby but damn.  He's just so cute!   

[cineater]

Nail biter on this super bowl game.  I missed the half time show and the commercials.    I look up when they say touchdown.

Or when he makes a run all the way down to the 5 on a punt return!

[cineater]

I have to redeem myself at pinball tonight.  I got my ass kicked so bad last week I got knocked down from group B to C and not even in a playoff spot.     This is what happens when I'm playing with a damn good looking man and don't have my mind on the game.  And I'm still not sorry.   

[cineater]

My kid brother has been looking like life's burdens have been taking their toll.  Text him to see if he would go to the Dead concert with me.  Know he's going to say he has to work.  Yeah you've been carrying that load for too long.  Didn't give a chance to say no.  Text him it was too late, I got tickets, my treat.  Too much time has gone by without a Dead concert and connecting with my sibling.  The band members, us, any of us could be dead next year.  Call you ass in fucking sick and tired of always being the responsible one.  

Too much going down today
just can't take it in
Too much running 'round today
can't tell you where I've been

[cineater]

It's Girl Scout cookie time!  Got mine. 

[cineater]

I'm finally letting go of my 35mm film camera equipment.  It's been sitting for a good 30 years.  Can't believe I still know how to work it.  It was a little more complicated back in the day.  Cherished stuff, something I use to do.  Something that would just hit the trash when I'm dead. 

I was going to say more about the good feeling I had at having found my stuff a home but as it is, part of the reason I quit taking pictures called at the moment I typed dead.  She has terminal cancer.  Yeah, I can't explain shit like that.

Anyway, the high school still teaches a film photography class and I'm giving the stuff to them.  It will get used.  And I'm back to taking pictures again since I retired.  Hell of a lot easier now and I don't really look at the details.  The story behind the pictures are happy ones.

[cineater]

Wow, that's still sinking in.  All those kids and I never lost one.  The little guy came close.  But I got all those kids in and out without anybody dying.  I wouldn't count her out just yet.  

It was just yesterday I was telling myself I was about to get activated.  And in denial because I don't do that any more and I'm not going back to it.  I can't explain that either and way past trying too.    It's kind of nice to know I can still do that.  I've been missing it but also holding it at bay.  It's one of those things you don't believe in but it happens enough you're like, really?

Anyway, I'll stand by her.  It will probably just be phone calls.  She's kept in touch all these years.  Calls when she needs support.  Like I said, I wouldn't counter her out.  She's a fighter.  It's what I like about her.

And sorry to type that out.  It's not something I can say out loud without choking and probably full blown tears.  The only time I ever choked was the phone call about the little guy.  Only once during that call because I went to controlled pissed real fast.  Yeah I was wrong, he didn't die but 6 weeks of me saying get him out of there, I was almost right.  40 years later and I'm still pissed.  Last time I saw him, I ran into him at an airport flying out to his adoptive family.  Chance meeting but it gave me a closure.  Can't explain how that happens either but it happen often enough.  Job well done.

[cineater]

I think I changed more plant timers then actual clocks.  I like this change, it's lighter at the end of the day when I'm more likely to be up.

[cineater]

As far as I know fentanyl is not really prescribed to out patients like opioids were.  With so much out there, you have to wonder if it's not going out the front door.   I know they blame China but I'm not so sure there's some profit loss behind it.

[cineater]

I so got my ass kicked right out of the pinball playoffs.  I've been in drain down the middle or the sides mode.  Hate when that happens.  Walked up to Scooby-Doo, a game I've never played before, last night and couldn't lose the ball.  I mean I did lose the ball because the whole time I'm going wear did the ball go.  Lots of blind ball spots.  Anyway, if you aren't in playoffs you get free food, free drinks and open play while the rest of them play for places.  I'm good with that!  I have more trophies then one woman wants to find a place for and dust.

[cineater]

Today I completed 4 years of retirement.  Tomorrow I start the 5th.  The counting is kind of like being pregnant.  You have to go through the 9th month, not just get there.     That's a reality check that sucks.

My official retirement day is April 1st.  The joke's on some body but it wasn't me.  I call it drawing the permission to fuck off card.  I hear they still haven't been able to get a worker to stay around long enough to fill my desk.  It's been vacant most of the time.  I got out of there at age 60.  Left a lot of money on the table.  But I've had 4 full years of doing what I want and you can't put a price on that.  I still work but it's all volunteer time.  Busy people are always busy and I'm a busy person.

I didn't plan on it but I've been reinventing myself.  I would say my profession is now gardening.  I've got a couple of new skills, still in development, pinball and doodling.  I no longer cringe when the phone rings.  I actually got a cell phone.  I take pictures and I spend money on shit like going out to eat and buying myself stuff.  I'm always happy.    There's no down side to retired.

[willow]

  Too many more years Cineater!

[cineater]

Too many more years Cineater!

My goal is to live longer than Keith Richards.    I cut off fast living before he did so I think I can get to a higher age then he does.  The again, he didn't have the stressful job.  But I'm watching Keith.  It's going to be lonely years without him but he's setting the bar.  He's not dead yet.  

[cineater]

Working on cars is no fun any more.  My car has been doing some funny shit.  Just been waiting for whatever is wrong to finally break.  The engine has been trying to stall out, occasionally it does or loses power.  It does but then it gets over it and it doesn't code.  I'm guessing clogged fuel filter, vacuum leak some where or it's just a senor.  Bingo on senor.  Cam shaft sensor coded this afternoon. 

I don't know a lot about working on cars but I've hung out in the garage helping the guys enough that I can kind of zero in on the problem.  Although 9 times out of 10 it's one of those sensors going out.  I'll be damn if I'm paying $300 a piece to replace the sensors to tell me if my tire is low.  Can they please make a sensor that last the lifetime of the car?

[willow]

They don't want you too fix them anymore. They want to do all the work and charge $$$ for everything they do.

[cineater]

Happy Spring!    Yeah it's all about gardening.  One would think it's was about the plants with me but it's not.  It's physical activity.  The end of winter comes along and I just want to sleep all the time.  That seasonal affect disorder kicks in and I don't care how much light I get, I go into hibernation mode.  It's a struggle to get moving in the spring with all the pollen out there.  Think I'm high half the time just from that.  The secret to moving is just start and don't stop until you've properly kicked your own ass.  Then drag your sore ass out of the bed the next morning and get moving.  Get those muscles warmed up and all that soreness goes away.  And all that activity is a kind of high but it brings your mood right out of the gutter.  And you're unstoppable at that point. 

[cineater]

So when you start to feel the chemical burn, it's time to stop.  I mean do something else.   

[cineater]

Carmen is getting a hip replacement.  We're wondering when she gets cremated if those metal parts will melt down or they just appear as metal chunks in her ashes?  She's going to have her ashes pressed into rocks so we're wondering if her rocks will have metal though out them.  Ashes made into rocks come out in colors based on your ash composition.  I would love to see what mine would look like but the kid doesn't like the rock idea and of course, I would be dead, so there's that.  Maybe I'll get to see Carmen's.

[cineater]

Pinball playoffs tonight.  Did not make it into the top 4, in any division.  It's okay, I'm not that good except I can keep the ball in play.  It's open play tonight and all the food you can eat while they battle it out.  We got in Scooby Doo recently and the God Father showed up this week.  Foo Fighters is coming soon.  All cool, new games aren't in playoffs so I'll get to play them.  Wonder what games he kicked out.  James Bond can go, imo.

[cineater]

I don't want to kick up the politics thread but we've all heard the any Tuesday now.   

[cineater]

Wow tornado in Montebello California.  I was born there and my grandparents had an avocado grove.  Wonder if would have even known to run for the root cellar.     We were only trained in school to take cover in case of an air raid.

[cineater]

Did anybody see Fall Out Boy on the Tonight Show tonight?  Their outfits reminded me of the Village People.     Working men's outfits but interesting.  The performance stopped me in my tracks.  Good stuff.  Suspect the lead singer is on steroids though.  If I was a much younger woman, I'd be asking who that bass player was. 

[Muerto]

Did anybody see Fall Out Boy on the Tonight Show tonight?  Their outfits reminded me of the Village People.     Working men's outfits but interesting.  The performance stopped me in my tracks.  Good stuff.  Suspect the lead singer is on steroids though.  If I was a much younger woman, I'd be asking who that bass player was. 

https://youtu.be/BahWrtvv9zw bass player doesn't fit without muscle

[cineater]

Did anybody see Fall Out Boy on the Tonight Show tonight?  Their outfits reminded me of the Village People.     Working men's outfits but interesting.  The performance stopped me in my tracks.  Good stuff.  Suspect the lead singer is on steroids though.  If I was a much younger woman, I'd be asking who that bass player was. 

https://youtu.be/BahWrtvv9zw bass player doesn't fit without muscle

He reminded me of a fisherman or somebody you would run into on the docks.  Was the drummer throwing a red toga over his shoulder at one point?  He looked very Greek like for a minute.