Proudest Monkey

According to Billy, an old Internet bud, we are all just monkeys. ..... Just a bunch of monkeys throwing shit at each other and spankin our monkeys in the tree tops. ...Hmm. .. Well maybe Billy never said it that way, but I sure as Hell think that is what he thinks of the Human Race. 

Its not like he doesn't have any proof.

Every day humans prove to anyone paying attention, that we have beaten odds we had no right to. We fool ourselves that we did this... not just survived, but look at us now, we can talk on phones we put in our pockets. 

We waste our days patting ourselves on the back and skirting any blame for the terrible prices paid to put us here. The planet is certainly not better off because of our presence. The animals on the planet are definitely not better off. And the plants, shit, the plants that sustain our air, the quality of our water, and put nutrients into our bodies are either long gone or heading in that direction.

Oh sure, we pretend to care, to give a shit. But let's face it: We're too busy playing in trees and spankin our monkeys.

So there it is, my day or two late, and dollar short Earth Day comment.

Later .............................................

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There is only one song that will do. Here is "Proudest Monkey", by Dave Mathews.

Mud Season

"I will never believe Donald Trump even if his tongue is notarized"

That was one of the responses from a potential juror during questioning in the Donald's latest court fiasco in New York City.

I did not really appreciate just how much pain and suffering sitting through hours of people denigrating him to his face would be. Here's a man who, for most of his life, if not all of it, has surrounded himself with fawning lickspittles and paid flunkies. For him to have to endure many hours per day for many weeks without being able to even open his mouth in protest is maybe the sweetest and most perfect punishment for an arrogant narcist like Trump. Seems like any result, guilty or not guilty, may not really matter. The damage to his ego will have been profound and fitting. Sitting through a six week trial without any, not even the slightest control of anything that goes on in the courtroom, well, for the orange shit gibbon, it will be like six weeks in a Guantanamo cell in Cuba. 

I freakin love it. Knowing that Trump is already being punished thrills me to no end.

 BTW here.

I wrote this because it is how I feel; not kinda feel, but down deep, truly feel about traitor, Donald Trump. And in case I somehow am picked to be on a jury in one of his trials, to ensure they won't have to ask me any questions, I'll put a link to this post on the questionnaire.

It's finally Mud Season here in the beautiful State of Maine. Celebrate!

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I did not think I could be surprised by what I could find on the World Wide Web. I was sure there were no songs about "Mud Season in Maine". Not only was there a video, there were more than a few and even a musical or two. Mainers love Mud Season.

Here is "Mud Season", by Flooded Cellar. A truly local effort that tickled my funny bone. Enjoy!

There's Someone in My Head, but It's Not Me

So Maine is once again in the national spotlight; not for anything the residents, bureaucrats, or politicians did. Maine happens to be one of 13 states to have the best vantage points to witness the planet's most recent solar eclipse.

The sweet spot here is up country around Presque Isle, Lincoln and Greenville. Motels and hotels have been booked solid for months up that way. The Maine Turnpike is all fucked up because so many folks from away want to witness something that happens all the time. Well not all the time in People time, but it sure is a regular occurrence in the Universe.

I considered driving up to Ground Zero to take a peak. Hmm.......... 

Do I really want to drive 3 1/2 hours to see something that lasts a few minutes? I took another toke and decided to stream the event later in the comfort of my own living room. Dealing with traffic and obnoxious tourist types just so I can burn out the retinas of my eyes on a Monday doesn't seem like much fun. 

Other than temporarily boosting the economies in a narrow ribbon of America, all I can hope for is that this may finally be the day of the Rapture. Evangelical Christians have been hoping and counting on proving that yeah, they were really right and they are willing to die to prove you heathens have your collective heads up your collective asses. We'll show ya. You can have the planet. We have another place to fuck up now.

If we are lucky we might even catch a glimpse of them ascending into the heavens. At least there will be a glut of new used homes available to put a dent in the recent Housing crunch. Used car prices and the price of Bibles will plummet. But best of all, I won't have to listen to them flap their pious lips anymore.

When I sat down at dark thirty this morning, I did not intend to rain on anyone's parade. Apparently I was a tad cranky from my sleepless night. I brought the rain with me and before I had finished my first sentence, any parade I was talking about would be a rain out.

Hope the eclipse is everything the fans expected. ........ Enjoy.

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For my musical selection for this post, I had not considered the album,  "Dark Side of the Moon", recorded in 1973 by Pink Floyd. But them clever Google grunts pointed me to a 1994 Youtube video titled, "Brain Damage / Eclipse". The video is dated. It reflects the political scene of the mid 1990's and back. The points have not changed. Still relevant today; only the lunatics have been replaced by newer Lunatics.

The Lunatics are still in the grass. And now there are more of them.

BTW - The image at the top I created from screen shots I took while the video played. Came out nicely I think.

1968 - The Hoochie Coochie Tent - 99 Words

I was 17 years old at the Acton Fair. I was determined to gain access to the Hoochie Coochie tent. Last year, the hawker out front laughed and sent me packing.

How could I get in? Security was tight. Without an ID, it seemed destined to be a failed effort. It was no longer about ogling naked women. It was now me against the rules.

As I walked away, it came to me out of the blue.

I would come back in my military school uniform. They might let me in then.

It worked. 

Oddly, I left totally unimpressed.

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True story. I compacted it into 99 words so I could enter it in the weekly Carrot Ranch Flash Challenge. It has been awhile since I tried any Flash Fiction. I really enjoy Flash challenges. They force me to focus on the essence of the story, without all the trimmings that so often are just that, trimmings.

I have a much longer piece about this incident from my teen age years. It has languished now for at least a decade.

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I had a song picked out for this story before I even wrote it. I heard the song for the first time in college, several years after I sneaked into that Hoochie Coochie tent. Please enjoy "Sharon", by David Bromberg.

 

Recovery Saturday

In keeping with my blue tarp, car up on jacks high standards, when I decided to set up some kind of bird feeder, I immediately thought of using some of the many plastic 5 gallon buckets I had scavenged over the years. They could be found in small clusters in various parts of the back yard , in the shed, the basement, and garage. 

I love those buckets. I have used them for everything from growing pot to creating two bucket benches that I still park my butt on regularly.

It was an excellent idea to start off with them to see if feeding the birds was something I wanted to do again. Because after a childhood of dealing with bird feeders, if you are going to have one, you have to totally commit. The flying piglets will haunt you if you don't.

Growing up in many locations, one of the first things my father would do once we had settled into our new digs; he would set up a bird feeder. When I was old enough, its care was put on my allowance chore list. I forgot how much I enjoyed it. 

With a plan in hand, it took me longer to find lids for the buckets than it did to set them up. They are easy to use, portable and best of all they go with my early 70's trailer motif.

I will be setting up at least one store bought feeder for next winter. Who knows, maybe a few of them. My yard is and has long been a nesting yard for more than few birds. Cardinals, Pileated Woodpeckers, Cat Birds, Robins, and at least for a period, Baltimore Orioles. Guess it makes sense to offer them some grub.

What I had forgotten about bird feeders is they are like chum to a shark. The flying piglets will go into a feeding frenzy, especially if the ground they normally peck at is covered with 2 feet of snow. Add in the visiting gang of Pine Siskins and the feeder situation is total anarchy now. And to really spike up the tension, I spotted the Gray squirrel from across the road having his way with the bird food.

Then I spotted the little Pine Siskin above frantically trying to escape my almost completely open front porch. The birds often are confused by the one window, but in a minute or so they figure it out and escape. This little guy was still trying to find a way out after 10 minutes or so even though the exit was only a foot to his left. I took mercy on the little guy, scooped him up and booted his sorry little ass out of the front porch. Damn, Siskins are tiny. Chickadee tiny, maybe smaller.

As I said, I will be setting up at least one store bought bird feeder for next winter. It's just been too much fun watching them interact with themselves and other birds bigger than they are.

I am calling today a "Recovery Saturday". I am flat out spent from all the snow removal I participated in the last 2 days. I think I am going to eat some brownies, kick back and sleep through a couple of movies.

Later Gators ..................................

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I wasn't going to present another Coen Brothers soundtrack, but then I found this excellent studio cover of "Hotel California" recorded by The Gypsy Kings for "The Big Lebowski", the bowling alley scene. And just to double the fun, here is the bowling scene the song was supporting. 

Damn, that was a great movie. 

Nor'easter, April 2024, - Day 3 - Are We Having Fun Yet?

I woke up this morning and discovered it was still snowing. Can't tell how much new snow yet. but from the look of the piled snow at the end of the drive, I am guessing at least another 5 or 6 inches anyway, Been quite a few years since we have seen this much snow in one storm and I have never seen one like this so far into Spring. It is fucking awesome out there. Mother Nature just bitch slapped us around as if to say:

                          " Whose the Boss Now Bitches,  cuz you sure ain't".

The meteorologists called for a lot of snow here in the Acton area. What caught them with their pants down was the storm apparently decided to punch well above its weight by dumping more snow than expected over a much wider area than predicted. Sanford, 8 miles away, was expecting 5 to 10 inches. At this point, they have north of 16 inches. Much of Sanford is out of power. Even with our power lines holding up a big pine, our power on Sam Page Road still flows. 

BA made the decision to not worry about going into her office today. She did bring home plenty of work. That takes the early morning pressure on me to get right out there for another fun filled hour or two of snow removal. I'd say I can't wait, but well, I am doing my best to make this cup of coffee last as long as I can.

Well, I headed out there to clean up some and dig out my wife's car. It was not as bad as I thought it would be. The moisture in the snow must have drained some. My tractor and snow blower had no problems. 

The tree is still across the power lines. I do not quite understand why it has not been taken care of yet. It is the main line that feeds Acton and parts of Milton Mills, New Hampshire. Over 10,000 people I was told depend on it for their electricity. 

So that's the way it is up here in the snow bound pucker of southern Maine today. Hope everyone affected by this massive weather system pulls through okay.

Keep it 'tween the ditches ....................................

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For music, again a song from one of the earlier Coen Brothers movies; here is the final scene and credits from "Blood Simple" accompanied by "It's the Same Old Song", by "The Four Tops". Makes me remember Friday night Teen Club when I was in 9th grade. ....... Always liked the Four Tops.

One thing though, the first 1:14 minutes of the video is the last scene of this very excellent movie. I think it or "Raising Arizona was the first time I watched a Coen Brothers film.

Nor'easter - April 4, 2024 - Part ll

It is 10 minutes to 3 in the PM. The snow that began in Acton roughly 24 hours ago is still pumping hard. When I came in from blowing a hole in the white crap, my wife informed me we are over 20 inches accumulation now, and the snow is expected to last well into tomorrow, April 5th.

I had mentioned in the earlier post of today that the town of Acton was shut down today. Then I said we will have to see how much longer. When I spotted the big pine down across the power line  at the end of my driveway, I knew Acton has been slammed. The plow guy told me our road looks like every road in town. We're gonna be awhile cleaning up from this storm.

So Anyway, I wanted to share some of the Kodak moments I was able to snap.

Snow is already sliding off the roof. This snow won't last long.

Stay warm ..................................

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Here is another song from a Cohen Brothers movie; "What condition my Condition was in", by the First Edition. From the Dream Sequence in "The Big Lebowski".

Nor'easter - April 4, 2024

I guess I should be happy all the meteorologists in the Universe got a weather prediction right. And how come when the they get it wrong, the shit usually hits the fan? But this time they had to nail it and shit still hit the fan?

Hmm .......

They claimed Maine, at least my part of Maine was going to wake up with a 14 - 18 inch wet white blanket smothering our dooryards. It's 10:00 AM and there is at least 15 " out there and it is still snowing; not expected to stop until this afternoon at the earliest.

Yeah, yeah,... yeah, you weather geeks are heroes. What I want to know is when will the climate Einstein's do more than just blather about they think is going to happen weather-wise. If we last long enough, I am sure that day will come.

My wife just popped in and told me she checked on power outages in Acton. 

Latest census figures put the population here in town at 2539 souls. Only 32 of us still have power. Cool. Hate to sound smug and shit but, well, for once its great to be in with the cool kids. .......... Of course, I might have just jinxed myself.

It started to snow yesterday, mid-afternoon I guess. At midnight I took out the tractor and tried to blow the 4 inch sponge of snow. Damn stuff looked like white water pouring from a culvert. It wasn't blowing, it was pouring. I did manage to clean out the ends of the drive after a semi-close call with a town plow.  

So here it is ten-thirty in the AM and there is another foot or so out in the dooryard. Branches are touching down, many have broken. .......... Acton is officially snowed in for the day, maybe longer. We'll see.

The picture of Maggie struggling to take care of her business is a perfect Nor'easter image. That tree is basically south of the camera. Look on the east side of the tree. That shows where the snow comes from in a Nor'easter. The drooping branches show how heavy the snow is; another typical result of a Nor'easter.

So this is my day so far. When I stop writing and post this, I guess I will make an attempt to moved some snow. Keep your fingers crossed.

Keep it 'tween the ditches ..................................

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~ Story for the next Liars Club hoe down - We got so much snow, our dog Maggie had trouble taking care of business. She usually has no problem, but this storm dumped a lot of snow. How much snow fell? Well, Maggie's a big dog. At least 5 foot tall at the hips .............

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Because lately I have been thinking more about the Coen Brothers and their wonderful films, here is "Man of Constant Sorrow", by the Soggy Mountain Boys, from the film, " O Brother, Where Art Thou".

750 Feet Above Sea Level

750 feet above sea level is not very high. Year after year, all it takes to put us into a higher snowfall zone than Sanford, 8 miles away, is the 500 feet difference between the two of us. 

Again, there is a 'Nor Easter headin our way and we sit close to dead center for the most snow predicted starting tomorrow and into Thursday.

It's been an erratic winter here in Maine. There is no normal anymore. It seems this winter we received more rain than snow, and the snow that has hit us fell outside the usual seasonal parameters for the most part. By my less than precise count, we still have managed so far to accumulate over 60 inches of snow this winter, with another possible 18" accumulation by the end of the two day weather event coming up.

Our story here in Acton, Maine is no different than name any other place in the World. Region to region, the extreme climate changes may differ, but nowhere on the planet is unaffected.

This rock we call home is experiencing weather we are not used to. The weather still manifests itself in the same way it always has. Only now the weather tends to favor extreme expressions of anger, hate, and discontent. 

A big snow predicted is often much bigger than before. Hurricanes are more numerous and often more vicious. Drought conditions find their way into areas previously not used to them. And areas of traditional droughts can find themselves with more water than they can handle. Water frozen for thousands and thousands of years is melting into the sea and flooding neighborhoods all over the planet through storm surging or precipitation falling from the sky. 

Because this post is just another tune on my broken record I refer to as my climate change schtick, I won't belabor any argument about the changing climate as a result of humans shitting in the bed they sleep in. No, I won't do that. It doesn't fuckin matter who is at fault or whether this is just a natural flow of geologic events that happen to planets from time to time as they find their way to their end times. 

What matters is what are we going to do to try to mitigate the damage coming? 

Pissing on each other shoes arguing about fault does not help any of us. Yet, that currently seems to be the only answer we have. The paltry efforts to find solutions go under funded and/or ignored for the most part.

So anyway, I write this post sitting in a house at 750 feet above sea level. How long will it be before I have to change that to, "Here I sit at 700 feet above sea level"?

Just some thoughts that popped up as I sat and pondered another winter that is not playing by the old rules.

Later .........................................

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There is only one tune I want to share with this post. I have posted it before, so this song also is becoming an anthem of sorts. Here is Playing for Change with their excellent cover of that great Led Zeppelin tune, "When the Levee Breaks".

Oh yeah, it's another song to play as loudly as you can handle. Enjoy.

Seriously, No Foolin

There are times when people of serious mind and dedicated intent become tired of the pressures and loads they carry day in, day out. Most days, making sense is the objective. Then there are times when it makes sense to make no sense. This is one of those times; not making sense that is.

Not making sense on today has a long tradition. This day finds its beginnings in Europe in the late 1500s. Seems back then, the new year did not start on January 1st.  It was celebrated over the last week of March through April 1. Because news did not travel quickly in the late 1500s, many areas continued to celebrate the new year in March, even though it had changed years earlier. Those people became known as "April Fools". That created fertile ground from which the the traditions of pranking grew.

So in that tradition, this post is about nothing special except to wish ya'll .......

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Struggled some on the musical choice. Finally, I came back to a tune previously unknown to me. Here is "We are Fools", by Drug Dealer. A very nice mellow piece.