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At Rest

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  My love affair with a cat came to an end recently. Well, not really…..Quigley died before he could manage to have one last Spring fling, but the love affair remains. He now has a peaceful corner of the yard. Here’s what I wrote on Facebook: Quigley was my side-kick for a really long time. He was never really over-friendly…..even with me. He was a one man tomcat. And I was the man. He attached himself to me as a kitten. And I was with him when he died of old age. The pictures are of me and him when he was a kitten, and then one of him in his prime on critter patrol in the front yard of our house in Ohio several years ago. I called him Quig, Q-Tip, Q-Cat, and “The Mostly Crazy White Tomcat”, as well as Quigley. He would answer to a simple calling out of “Q”. He was large, muscular, beautiful, and dangerous. He had the gait of a tiger. I’ve pretty much always had a cat as a companion, but never for as long as this guy. I’ll miss him. He was born in Santa Clarita, Califor
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Baseball--Cleveland and San Francisco

  Yep. I caught some baseball on Opening Day. Watched some Cleveland/KC and some Brewers/Cubs. Much as they’ve homogenized the game, and as much as I abhor that, I watched. And listened. It’s still baseball. Mostly it’s turned into the American League version of a “baseball-like” game, but it’s all we’ve got now. I don’t really see the purpose of even having an American League and then real baseball in the National League. It’s all the same. And that’s awful. Time was, the American league played in smaller parks, and real baseball was played in larger parks. The American League was a “bloop and a blast” game dominated by home runs, while the National League was a “grind-it-out” league dominated by batting average and base stealing. My main team is the Giants, and has been for as long as I can remember, but I lived in Youngstown Ohio for a number of years and became an Indians fan. So today, since the Giants don’t start on time (they start tomorrow at home), I put on my
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Vegetables and Capes

  Honestly…..If you insist on calling vegetables “veggies”, I will no longer take you seriously about pretty much anything. And now I hear that at Disney resorts, there is no longer a welcoming phrase of “Ladies and Gentlemen…..Boys and Girls”--It’s been replaced with the gender-neutral term “Dreamers of All Ages”. What a Bunch-O-Hooey. No more “Boys and Girls”…..Don’t even say those words at a Disney resort, I guess. Look, I have grand-daughters and grand-sons. They are, in fact, “boys and girls”. And I’d like to think that they’re also welcome at Disneyland in the off-chance that their parents can afford the entry fee. You’ve just gotta wonder where Disney stands on Mickey and Minnie Mouse these days. Or Daisy and Donald Duck. I was watching some MST 3K—Something about 50’s era spaceships and such. An old serial made into a movie, I think. What I wonder about is why did capes go out of fashion with aliens? They look right snappy. The cherry trees here in Castle
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Blue Skies

  Up here in bucolic Castle Rock, we had 2 consecutive non-rainy days. So I cut the grass. Made me feel like I live in the ‘burbs again. I actually like taking care of a lawn.   Even with all of the hoop-la about climate change/global warming the rabbits on our hill and the squirrels and all the birds seem to think it’s Spring. The cherry and apple trees and tulips agree. We have neighbors who have turkeys and ducks. Other neighbors have chickens. Maybe I could build an aviary and we could have squab. Tasty little critters. There’s also doves and American robins the size of barnyard fowl here. I bet they’d taste pretty good too.  I bring this up because the price of gasoline is causing my food budget to shrink. Commercials on TV are always louder than the programming. I have a TV that compensates, but it’s still overwhelming. I was just wondering if the advertisers know that I have a “mute” button. I also wonder if advertisers (and the programming staff of the TV station
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Mexican Meat

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  My Bride makes a dish that I really like. She has always called it Mexican Meat. I call it Messkin Meat, but I mean no disrespect by that. It’s a name for the meat dish, not the people who are now and have always been my friends. They understand that I’m actually harmless. At least they THINK that I’m harmless. You might find disagreement if you look hard enough. I like all sorts of Mexican food, and when I’ve got a cold or the flu or otherwise just don’t feel quite right, I medicate myself with Jalapenos. It’s something that works. But….Mexican Meat. Our little Terrier-Dog, Lil, gets meat scraps all the time. Parts of steaks, chops, chicken skin…..She’s a lucky dog. But she does draw the line at rancid and “sorta” rancid hamburger meat. Back to Mexican Meat. Today, I did a regrettable thing and happened by while the Bride was cooking up a Mess-O-Messkin Meat at the same time that she was preparing Lil a meat plate. Lil got some trimmings from a pot roast.
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1880

  It tickles me to watch the “weather” reports on news programs. Tickles me even MORE to watch The Weather Channel. I’ve been living in the Pacific Northwest for about 6 or 7 years now, and I’m here to tell you that we have wide deep rivers and massive lakes that are just chock full of fresh clean sweet water. It never really quits the rainy season here. The standing joke (based, of course, in truth) is that we have two seasons—Winter and August. Typically, we usually have about 3 months of decent weather—middle of July into sometime in September. That’s it. Then it rains. A smattering of snow, and that’s always a treat, but it’s rain. And, frankly, it takes the gas right out of me after a month or so. Boredom and depression in the winter are very real things up in these parts. True, we’re not as hammered as, say, North Dakota, but it’s still pretty grim. Which brings me to the weathermen (this included weatherwomen, just to make sure you know I’m not a sexist)
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Yes, Virginia, There Will Be A Baseball Season

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Looks like we will, after all, have a baseball season this year. The millionaires and billionaires buried the hatchet and agreed to disagree for another 5 or so years. Best I can tell, the biggest thing they agreed to was having a designated hitter in the National League. Shit. I don’t even like divisional play, much less this clap-trap. Pitchers are no longer baseball players. They’re just chuckers of orbs. They shouldn’t be allowed to even call themselves baseball players. Or qualify for MVP voting—that really should be reserved for players. Same goes for career designated hitters. They are not baseball players. They simply bat-swingers, and nothing more. Even though the season is starting late, they have also agreed on a full 162 game slate. This means, of course, that there’s going to be a crap-load of 7 inning double headers. More heresy, you ask me. 7 innings does not a baseball game make. They did this nonsense because the owners only pay their employees for g
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