Dumb Dog!!

Yesterday I went out to get the mail and the neighbor dogs were barking. I looked and saw a big dog in our backyard. The dog was at the gate trying to find a way out of the yard. Now, let me explain. On one side of the house there is no fence or gate closing off the backyard, which is obviously how the dog got into the yard in the first place. But, once back there he couldn't figure out he could also get out that way. He waited for me to open the gate to let him out! Okay, now I'm not saying dogs are dumb, but this one wasn't the brightest lightbulb in the pack!

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Open Mic - July

When the evening opened with a thunder and rainstorm I thought oh, boy! No one will show tonight. But, I went anyway figuring at least I'd be there if anyone wandered in. We didn't get as many as I had expected but still the turnout was good considering the weather. I had received a phone call last week from a keyboardist who had planned on coming, but I'm sure the weather kept her home as she had more to lug around than the rest of us! Hopefully she'll join us next month! Last month a challenge went out for someone to write a song about our esteemed treasurer, Thomas Ravenel, who was indicted on cocaine charges. And the surprise of the evening was the one who accepted the challenge was Dr. Cynthia Harris, who generally comes as moral support, but who wrote and sang a really funny song called 'Blow'. She put it to the tune of Ode to Joy which leant to the humor of it.

And Beth Langley had just returned from a trip to CT where she and her group had been cutting a new CD. We are waiting with anticipation of it's release and she has promised to bring a copy to play for the open mic group. I am constantly amazed at the talent around us. We also learned Beth not only writes, sings, and plays guitar, but she is also an accomplished pianist!

I am always grateful for the support Colette brings to us. Even when she is dead on her feet, as she was last night, she still comes by to share her poetry, words of encouragement, and can always get a dialogue going about the various poems and songs performed.

Had to laugh when Aaron walked in last night, because two very funny things happened. Last month he had his son Kwon with him who was a big hit with the poets and before even saying hi to Aaron the first question was, where's Kwon? Also, my good friend, Hope, who runs the center was there for awhile last night and when Aaron walked in and she heard his name she said, 'so this is the infamour Aaron.' I guess he does get a bit of space on my blog each month.

Kathleen is working on a musical with her students and shared a very moving song written for the musical about a young girl going off to college. If her song is any indication of how good the play/musical will be it will certainly be one worth seeing.

I was disappointed Linda didn't bring her guitar this month, but at least she came to support the rest of the poets and musicians. All in all we had a good turnout and fun night. Pictures posted below.

Sicko

Last night I watched one of those talking head news shows and they were discussing Michael Moore’s latest movie Sicko. One of the talking heads was arguing the 47 million Americans without health care. His argument was a good example of how to lie with statistics. First he said the govt. had gotten the 47 million down to 45 million. I thought whoopee doo! Then he said that 14 million of them were eligible for free health insurance but hadn’t applied or taken it….hmmmm…. and then he said that left 31 million of which 40% were just currently unemployed so they didn’t count because within 6 months they would probably have jobs and have insurance through the job. That to him left only 12 million Americans uninsured. Wow! Talk about playing with numbers!

So, let’s see how this works. Michael Moore’s movie comes out and shows the facts that 47 million Americans are uninsured. The govt. played with the numbers and got that down to 45 million. Okay, I’ll give them that.

But to say that there are all these other millions out there who don’t apply for the free insurance is just pulling numbers out of their asses! And then to say that 40% of the remaining will have insurance once they go back to work doesn’t take into account that yes, they are currently uninsured and also that many will not find jobs that quickly, will be on unemployment without insurance, and some of them will have to take minimum wage jobs that will not give them insurance thus leaving them ‘employed’ but uninsured. I won’t pull numbers out of my ass and make up percentages, but just use common sense and it all makes sense.

Hmmm...can't put in a title which really doesn't matter since this is a random post anyway. So many strange things on the news lately it's making me wonder if they're making up half the stories. Good tabloid press and all.

Even my favorite cafe got a bit weird last time I was there, so I've quit going again for awhile. I think they're trying to get in a much younger crowd...from the music last time I would say between 13 and 19 which seems strange since they once catered more to the family crowd. So now I have to find a new place to hang out once in awhile on the nights I feel like going out. I'm sure I'll go back once in awhile just not on Friday nights anymore. I loved the band the way it was when they played a mixture of music and songs, but last time no matter what song they played, there were three really young boys who played along with screaming guitars and going off on their own riffs that had nothing to do with the song. Too much guitar soup for my taste. You know how they say too many cooks spoil the broth? Well, too many guitars spoil the music. Especially when half of them want the spotlight and are battling for the lead guitar position.

On the fourth we had our usualy fire works display at Dillon Park. Now that's only a few blocks from here and if I liked fireworks, which I don't, I could just stand in my yard and watch. Well, it got really loud this year so Keith said maybe I should go see if Little Friend (the stray cat that hangs around) would like to come in and get away from the scary sounds. LOL! I opened the door and zoom! she was in faster than a speeding bullet. We let her come in to this room as it has an outside door and a door to close off the rest of the house. That way there are no cat battles. The other day Bug came down while she was here...they sniffed noses and he walked to the door where he likes to watch out the storm door. She backed up and looked for a place to hide! She weighs maybe 5 pounds and he weighs 18 pounds. I think she was afraid he'd sit on her. I eventually took him back up and all was well with her little world again. Haven't seen much of the original stray, Scarface, but he still comes around to scrounge a meal every once in awhile.

Yesterday the cats who live here were lucky to still be alive after I got up. When I came out to the kitchen I found they had knocked a bunch of their crunchy food all over the kitchen floor, dumped a bowl of water over it and then tried to cover up their mess by ripping up newspaper and putting it over the wet mess. That was fun to clean.

Then...I went to the dining room table and found my music had been knocked off and was all mixed up on the floor. One of my books on tape was a mess and I still can't find one of the tapes and they had emptied a box of plastic bags! I won't even get into the living room mess. Today things were much better. I guess after I screamed at them yesterday they decided they shouldn't do things like that. What I did find amusing is they knew they had made a mess with the cat food and water and actually tried to hide the evidence.

Well, have a nice weekend. I put off going to the laundramat during the week so have to go today. Whoopee!! Way too much excitement for a Saturday.

Urban Legends

My husband, Keith and I were watching The Wonder Years and he asked if I had ever gotten in trouble when I was in school. Of course not! Well, maybe the time I got into a fight in the hallway and ripped a girls blouse off. Now, he's a few years behind me but I guess the story sort of grew in those years. He remembers a girl telling him about a couple girls, a few years before them, who had gotten into a fight and ripped all of each others clothes off. Honest! It was only her blouse! And it wasn't intentional. She slugged me and tried to run so I grabbed the back of her blouse and spun her around...not my fault it was cheap fabric and ripped that easily. The principle was not pleased. Thank goodness all we got was detention. I don't think my parents were even called in for that one. I can't remember what the fight was about but I do remember the crowd we drew and the looks and gasps as her blouse tore and ended up in my hand. ah...the joys of school days!