What?! Two in a row??!!

Yup. Its two in a row, alright. A little more time to burn again today so I can move my blog up on the priority list.

Saw Seth going out to his car on my way to work this morning. He hollered something at me as I went by on the motorcycle. I think it was an obscenity - ;-).

Final arrangements for the Trail of Fame meeting last night and finished them up this morning. I'm really over extended at the moment and its got me kind of "stressie" (Is there such a word?). I think 2005 will be a good year to chill a bit, but not until after I finish the show idea for March.

Reading up a bit on Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller and the "stride" piano stylings of James P. Johnson who taught Waller. Fascinating stuff and I love the sound of that piano. I dunno how to describe it exactly, but it certainly is compeling! Another one I need to learn a little more about is blues singer Mamie Smith who started the female blues singer recording mania with her classic "Crazy Blues". While Fats Waller died on a train near Kansas City in 1943 at age 39, Mamie, who was born in the 1880s, passed away in New York after serious illness when I was two years old (1946). I'm going to attempt to do justice to Fats' song "Ain't Misbehavin'" and Mamie's "Crazy Blues" for the Cabaret this weekend.

Lord, I miss hockey!! This lock-out is the *PITS*!!!

Ruminations from the past week or so...

It's been a while since I updated my blog. I finally have the time and the inclination so here's what's been going on this past week or so.

* Carolyn first. She came home from Santa Fe with a Cellulitis infection in her leg. Four days in the hospital and then home on full bed rest. Each day I took her to the hospital for an IV of antibiotic and the progress is painfully slow for her. Finally, this past Monday, the doctor stopped the antibiotics and told her she could start using the leg a little but not too much. It is still really painful for her which makes me feel pretty helpless as there is nothing I can do to make things better for her. We'll just have to wait for the healing....

* We closed Noises Off on Saturday. A repeat from 17 years ago! It was a mixture of nostalgia (Don, Kent, Kelly, Carolyn) and bright, new futures. Jill (Austin) Smith played Poppy 17 years ago. This time it was well performed by Kent's daughter, Haley Ashcroft, who was about 8 years old last time! What a neat kid she has turned out to be! Man! It made me feel old being on stage with her, though!

The greatest surprise however was my closing night gift from Joe Walker. Boy, did he ever put one over on me! I won't go into great detail on it here. Just ask Joe about it. I don't think he'll ever get tired of telling about it! He actually wrote a song about me. He couldn't have paid me a higher honor.

* This weekend will be the Grand Opening for the Depot Theater Company and the Depot. I have the day off both Saturday and Sunday so am committed to helping during the day and doing the Halloween Cabaret each night. It should be a lot of fun. Senator Roberts will be there on Saturday since he is the honorary chair for our project. I hope I can get a minute or two to show him the Dodge City Trail of Fame.

For the Cabaret, I am doing a couple of my favorite Redbone songs - well, at least they were done by Redbone - "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Crazy Blues". Great tunes from the 20s and 30s!

* Preparations are well underway for the Dodge City Trail of Fame Sponsor/Donor Reception and it looks as if we will be doing the unveiling of the big Wyatt Earp statue on Nov. 12th if everything goes right. There is also a film crew from Canada coming for this event and a look at Wyatt Earp from a motorcyclists perspective so the weekend after this coming is also going to be a busy one.

*Election day is fast approaching and the political crazy time is on full swing. The polls are all over the place and those involved have a million different stories for everything and a million different spins for everything their opponents are up to. The lies and truth stretching seem far worse this year by both sides than I have ever seen before - or is it just that the proliferation of news media available in this day and age means that I am finally hearing all the nonsense that was there all along? Who knows? I will be glad when it is all over but I am seriously concerned that the whole mess may go into litigation. If it does, that is the beginning of the downfall of our election process in this country. Once we let the courts decide an election (Wait! Did that already happen last election?) the legal system, with all its flaws and lack of public representativeness , will have put control of everything in this country into the hands of the trial lawyers. What a horrible thought that its!!

Midnight shifts suck!

Boy! Are there ever some different people in this world. You'd think at my age one would cease to be amazed, but every time I get to thinking I've seen it all, along comes another weirdo! Without listing specifics (like name and location) I will say that the guy who called the office early this morning has a pretty warped idea of how he can be helpful to people. I better not say much more than that - I would like to retire soon ;-)

Doctor says Carolyn can come home tomorrow so I'll pick her up at the hospital at 4:00 pm and bring her back to the house where Chloe and Abbey will be over-joyed to see her. She has to stay off her feet for quite a while I guess (they'll give me the particulars tomorrow - or is it today!). I also have to keep taking her back to the hospital for more IV's of antibiotic to make sure we kill all the bacterial infection in her leg. I think they scared her pretty good about staying off her feet this time. Evidently the doctor came right out and mentioned the possibility of loosing her leg if she didn't take care of herself!! Anyway, I've had to take some time from work so that I can take care of her and we will see about putting a hospital bed in the living room since she won't be able to get upstairs for a while.

Joke of the day:
A blonde goes into the Chase Bank in New York city, takes out a loan for $5,000 and hands the banker the keys to a Rolls-Royce to hold as collateral. The banker is amazed at this but dutifully drives the car into the bank's underground parking garage and parks it. A week later the blonde returns, pays back the $5,000 plus $15.41 in interest, picks up her keys and starts for the door. The banker stops her and informs her that his curiousity had got the better of him. He had investigated her and found that she was a multi-millionaire!! He asked why, if she had millions, would she borrow the small sum of $5,000 and leave a $250,000 car as collateral. She smiled and informed him that for $15.41 total cost, she had parked her car safely in downtown New York City for a week while she was in Europe - considerably cheaper and safer than the airport parking.

Thought for the day:
There are three kinds of people. Those who can count, and those who can't.

All the news that's fit to print - even some that may not be!

A couple of busy days trying to get things done for TOF and other projects. Have yet to get time to install the new coil in the MG so it still waits for me. Carolyn has been in the hospital since Monday night with infection in her leg. I hope she'll get to come home in another day or two. Then all I have to do is figure out how to keep her off that leg until she's fully healed! Not easy to do as she hates to be sick. Abbey and Chloe are still trying to figure out where she is.

Had a phone call last night from a Todd Langrille of Zoom Communications in Calgary. Looks like we will be doing something along the lines of a Wyatt Earp travelog/documentary from a motorcyclist view point. They are hoping to be here early November to film some bits. Should be good for Dodge City and I'll try to spin the Depot Theater into the mix along with the Dodge City Trail of Fame and Boot Hill. Should be a lot of fun!

Joke for today:
Then there was the dyslexic ACLU lawyer who wanted to eliminate our second amendment right to "arm bears".

Thought for the day:
"I don't understand..."

Yes, It's my fault!

First of all, I haven't taken time to post a blog in days. Yes, it's my fault! I'm the one who took on way too much and now can't seem to get to all of it. So what, might you ask has kept me from updating my blog? Read on, dear reader.....

1) I was going to get the MG running this past weekend. Simple thing really, I thought. Just replace the fuel lines in places, the fuel filter and the fuel pump. Then fuel should get to the carb and it should start right up just like it used to until last week when it suddenly went dormant on me and decided on long term residency in the garage. Yes. Well, that was the theory anyway. Now I have fuel getting to the carb and the cylinders (I know this because every time I try to start it, it floods out!). However, it hasn't fired a single cylinder. I changed out the plugs (Bosch Platinums) with new NGK's and it still doesn't fire. I had bought a new Crane coil earlier intending to give it a bit more spark than stock so I started installing that on Sunday, but found I didn't have all the little connectors I need. Those I bought today at O'Reilly's where MJ Straight tried to give me a hard time about little British cars.... Maybe I can get it running tomorrow. It's not really such a big deal today however since I still don't have the required header bar so that I can put on the new convertible top and it's been raining all day. No way am I taking a little British rust bucket out into the rain with no top on it! Yes. It's my fault!

2) Last week something mysteriously happened to the Winsock file in the desktop computer rendering it useless for email and internet traffic. Of course, I didn't *know* it was the Winsock file. I had called up Alan and he suggested I try my wireless laptop connection and see if that worked. (DUH!) It did, of course, at which point he sent me a file to fix the Winsock in the Windows XP partition. By the time I'd got it however, I was working on the car, taking care of Abbey and Chloe (a full time job when Carolyn is gone!!), and doing the show each night. To make a long story short, I didn't get the Winsock file repaired until about 3 am Sunday morning right after watching the Japanese Grand Prix which Michael Schumaker won (again - yawn!). Yes. I know. It's my fault.

3) Today was pretty much a loss except for taking Abbey and Chloe out for a ride and picking up the auto parts mentioned. Yes. I know. It's may fault again - I was tired and slept in for a while.

So... in summation, I didn't get anything done for the TOF or the Arts Council in the past 3 days. Yes. Don't tell me.

Carolyn is now back from Santa Fe as I write this, but she is having trouble with her leg where the spider bite is and they took her straight to the emergency room. I'll meet her up there shortly.

The joy this week, however, has been some really great evenings spent with some really good friends at the theater and our two little "fur kids" who have been constantly at my feet and in my lap. Several trips to the park earlier in the week yielded a whole bunch of squirrels to bark and whine at and they have both been glued to my side when I get home from the theater. They didn't like going outside much today what with the rain falling. They are such dainty little things about getting their feet wet.

Well, that about brings things up to date. Bush had his head up and locked during the latest debate and didnt' jump Kerry in a lot of places so he's continuing to slip in the polls. His advisors haven't helped him much since the debates began. Oh, and FactCheck.org has now moved to big-time server support so apparently a lot of people are as hungry for the truth as I am. At least they provide their references so you can see where they got the stuff they use to dispute the politicians. Gawd!! What a miserable situation! I've never seen the country so divided over political BS. Especially considering that both candidates have been fabricating an awful lot of stuff and distorting the facts and figures! Maybe I should take a closer look at Nader? Naw!
I still have a bad taste in my mouth about him when he was saving us from ourselves.....

A new week on the way....... Yes, I know. It's my fault!!

What are we supposed to believe?!

I stayed up until nearly 3:00 am last night so I could watch the Cheney/Edwards debate being rebroadcast. By the end of the debate, I was left wondering whether I'm living in the same country that John Edwards is talking about. I can say that I have never personally witnessed any of the things he kept saying were wrong with America. Perhaps my problem is that I long ago learned to read and listen critically. I seldom swallow anything I see or hear from the media without checking the facts first. And usually, like the fake ANG documents concerning Bush and the fabricated New York Times Stories of early this year, the facts simply don't add up to what the media is presenting. If I would just start accepting without question everything Kerry and Edwards say about Iraq, Afghanistan, the economy, health care, Haliburton, Cheney, Bush, Rice, Rumsfield...etc. life would be so much easier!!

The problem I have is that nothing Kerry and Edwards are saying about the President and Vice-President adds up. Furthermore, as I witnessed during the debate last night, the two of them now seem to have resorted to name calling and personal attacks. One of Kerry's newest ads on TV actually shows in print that Bush "is lying". They actually used the "L" word! Bush, of course, hasn't been perfect either as he has occasionally taken things Kerry has said out of context, but he has never resorted to name calling and flat out character assassination.

A great article about the "truth" involved in this debate can be found at http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=272 but I warn you in advance it is only for the independent thinker! Those who are already in tow behind the dogma of one side or the other will no doubt find little consolation at factcheck.org!

Never argue with an idiot. People watching may not be able to tell the difference.

What? A new post? Finally!!

Okay, Okay. So I haven't exactly been good about updating my blog lately. I'm even short on time tonight, but I'll have time to dig into it tomorrow....

This is just to let you know I haven't forgotten, only been too short on time.

Long discussion on one of my listservs today and it led to a history lesson. Know who William, Duke of Cumberland was? Any idea what a "croft" is? How about the Jacobites and Bonnie Prince Charlie?? While you think about those, I'll close for the day and go home. It's nearly midnight.