When I Was A Child

 In my childhood I frequently enjoyed pork chops, whizz cheese and baloney sandwiches with a glass of milk, and to this day I like pork rinds splashed with hot sauce. And a glass of milk. Yes, and I sometimes have a craving for a thick slice of salami topped with pepper jack cheese, and a slice of red onion, lots of mustard and mayo, and lettuce, on Jewish rye bread. And a glass of milk. So tasty. Oy! Already I make myself hungry. I once rented a nice little apartment from an oil man and we became friends and played many games of checkers together while his wife watched. He was a demon checker player and it made me proud when I could play him to a draw. I gave him once a beautiful inlaid checker board and some hand crafted wooden checkers. He was worth millions and sent checks to Israel. He thought that was a good thing to do. When he died it was very sudden and he died happy. Was that his reward? I doubt it. He knew not what he did, and in that respect he was much like the rest of us. But he was rich, and in that respect he was not like the majority of us. He was also horny as a stoat but that's another story. Again last evening there were heavy clouds and lightning and thunder but I had no rain. I had entertainment but no rain. About five miles east of me they had rain. We have one more good shot at rain Saturday, and then it turns hot and dry again. This morning I worked outside, early. TGIF! I have not worked for anyone in over twenty years, but I still have that TGIF feeling. Even that ONIM feeling, despite one day like another, with only few exceptions. 

When I look out this big window I see no UAP, no green fireballs, but lots of green growing things but they are earthly plants and not BEMs, and it is cloudy and looks like rain. But I don't think it will this morning. I am getting a little tired of this humidity and the general sogginess of it all. Some heat and dry air will be appreciated. 

Gee Whizz!

 It is yet another cool and wet morning. Just as the sun rose a shower of rain came down. Not a heavy shower but a desultory one with big heavy drops falling straight down, a treat to see. No wind or breeze of any kind. Lacrimosa if that's the right word, from the sky. And still we have no green fireballs or mystery booms. But that mix of rain and bright morning sunshine was prodigious enough for the likes of us. What is happening in the backyard is phenomenal. The growth! The green of it! Outside the big window in this office, it really has become a wall of green. This house is in a development at what was once the very edge of town, and it is still close to the edge of town, if town signifies "development", and it was a custom build with features no other house in this neighborhood has, like the big windows, double pane of course and well insulated, and a rather elaborate fireplace and mantel, and so on. At any rate, in this office there is an old, heavy, and quite large desk. No dinky thing is it, and it has real age to it and it is a joy to see such a thing, of real wood, and no plywood or composite material . It must weigh 500 lbs. I'm glad I wasn't the one who moved it in here. I can't even imagine how that was done. My wife told me what a task it was to get it in. The desk belonged to her father and was part of his estate. I should try someday to do something serious and consequential at this desk, because it deserves it. This blog, although gratifying, is not a serious or consequential task, alas. I am probably not capable of performing any form of serious or consequential task, am not now, was not then, and never shall be. So be it. 

And frankly, I don't give a shit. 

Storms Overnight

 Overnight storms were not severe and brought much needed rain. This could be a wet day, and the morning is rather cool. Rainfall amounts do not appear to have been very substantial. A heavy rain will leave a high water mark of debris in the driveway but I did not see that this morning. We were under a flood watch yesterday evening but that might have been a bit optimistic! I have yet to check today's forecast. I've been reading old journal volumes lately. I've kept a journal since 1980, on a regular basis, and sporadically since about 1974 but not much of that early material survives. It interests me to read about the challenges I faced then, the things that occupied me and became matters of concern in those days. Fascinating. I still keep a journal, but I have little to record since one day is so much like another. I like it like that. Stability is very important now. I wish to maintain the status quo. 

Years ago there were storms in my life. I hope there will never be such storms again. Enough. 

Rain Is Likely

 It began sunny and it has become more and more cloudy. It is warm and humidity is high. Flash floods are possible again. I was up just before 5:00 AM because I had things to do and wanted an early start but I'm having trouble staying awake now. But I know that if I try to take a nap I won't be able to sleep, or if I do sleep the rest of the day will be "off". There is a nice breeze today. Mosquitoes have so far not been a problem and that is rather amazing. Bees have not made an appearance and that is troubling. I usually have a lot in the backyard by this time. I've never been stung. I have always been able to move through them very easily. I hope they will show up. I have not seen skunks or possums or the racoon around in the early morning hours for three mornings in a row. Which makes me wonder about them. I bought two forty pound bags of black oil sunflower seeds today from Tractor Supply, which ought to last two weeks. I continue to sustain a colony of house finches, and any other birds who want to use the feeders are welcome. I fill them at least three times per day. The grackles get dry pet food. Of green fireballs we have had none, nor low grade green shit or green furballs or mysterious "booms", sonic or otherwise. No UAPs or flying saucers or orbs or any other mysterious objects in the sky. No wonder I'm having trouble staying awake. 

Good Thunderstorm!

 Hot yesterday but it got cloudy in the late afternoon and in short order we experienced a very good thunderstorm. Plenty of thunder and lightening. More rain this time, but still not enough. However, we have good rain chances almost every day this week. It was beautiful on the patio last evening as the clouds gathered and we began to receive cool outflow winds from all the storms around us. 

"First do no harm." That could be a great starting point for an ethical system. And it might be wise to view all creatures as victims, all suffering from the curse of sentience, which might be likened to a disease, and in our dealings with others see them as fellow sufferers and treat them as a physician would. Actually, "First do no harm" is not part of the Hippocratic Oath, but as a guideline one might try: "The physician must... have two special objects in view with regard to disease, namely to do good or to do no harm." And if we take the view that we ought to be each other's "physician", then with regard to others our objectives ought to be: to do good, or at the very least, to do no harm. Those others, of course, amount to all creatures, human and non-human. 

Random thoughts on a random day...