Trying So Hard

Should We Call Her 'Tim-my!' ????

Heart Goes Out

My Mom calls her Flip Flop
She too was born in a wood pile
Smaller than the others
And different someway

Just what can you do?

Stubborn little rascal
I find her all over the yard
Even though she cannot walk
She can only wiggle and fall

Just what should you do?

Her head bobs like a bird
I’ve seen the motion before
But cannot pin it down
She cannot walk
But she gets to places
Not where she wants to go
But she gets where she ends up

Just what does she think?

Thin as a rail
I guess she rarely ‘gets’ to eat
It’s natures way of caring
It’s natures way of telling you you’re not right
But she keeps making it through each night

Just what is to be done?

We took her home
Peggy made me do it
I said how can she use a cat box?
Peggy said there are bigger things
We feed her with spoons
We feed her with eye drops
She eats like a goon

How long can we last?

Never seen such contentment
She has ‘gotten’ to the place
Where she has kicked and scratched and
Tried to go, and she likes this place the best

Neko gives her kisses, cannot wait to play
Is hoping she gets bigger
Cannot wait for that wonderful day
Lets her lean on her and nudges with her nose

We will let Neko show the way

Visions in Portland

I am going to be bold and go WAAAAAAY out on a limb. While in Portland last weekend I had an ESP moment and I think the chosen name, first, middle and last came to me in a vision.


Ala the Great Carnac, I intend to place this name in an envelope and give it to Melissa (fan of Milton) to hold until the blessed date. If I am correct…….I expect everyone to bow to me and never talk about Kelsey’s Joe Carter dream again. I will simply ask that everyone bows to my authoritie as the newest and latest seer of the future.

If I am wrong….. I will ask Melissa to burn the envelope… will never utter another prediction and will just learn to live with my grandson being named Walter Harry Mantle Ichiro Stymie Alfalpha Graves.

Portland Paparazzi

To give Neko a break from the local media, Peggy and I traveled to Portland this weekend. Alas, as shown above we could not escape the paparazzi no matter how far we traveled from Seattle.

We had a great time. We met up with a friend, had a nice dinner and toured a very dog friendly town. Everywhere we went there were water dishes for dogs and people who wanted to know more about Neko. There was ONLY ONE place where Neko was not welcome. Plus we shot up north to Vancouver and visited with our old friends Tim & Sandy.

Even the hotel we chose, the DeLuxe was dog friendly and included a basket of goodies for dogs.

Neko even got a job at the hotel as the wake-up clerk!

And, as you can see from the first picture, Neko is NOT a morning person, or even morning dog!

#1 Source of Information About the World

I have said it many times and I will repeat it here. I owe everything I know about culture and how to live my life from cartoons and comic books. I would have to think that comic books were the #1 source as I am much more of a visual, rather than audio learner.They were my inspiration to read real books and they informed me about all aspects of our culture, from Shakespeare and Opera to my current healthy dietary habits.The following posts will take you all on stroll down memory lane from the Comic Book side of my education and maturation process.

Death Defying Toy

This is the toy. It has to be. It came out before yard darts so I am pretty sure that THIS WAS THE TOY. This was the toy that started our American trend towards law suits and all the Mothers of the world to embark on their mad dash to remove everything cool about being a kid. Maybe there were no lawyers before this toy, all I know is I couldn't believe I could get my hands on something so cool.

This toy was a mini oven/hot plate. It featured a cast iron heater that would get incredibly hot and melt these little plastic sheets into forms over molds that looked like cars, planes or any toy that could be bought from Hong Kong.

But we kids knew exactly what this toy could be. Something to fight to the death (or at least severe injury) over. Many wrestling matches ended with someone saying UNCLE just prior to having their hand pressed down on this incredibly hot little oven.

Shortly after this toy was on the market, and other great toys like yard darts (see more below***) the mother's of the country started to get tough on corporations for making cartoons with anvils dropping on heads, and bombs going off in the hands of cats, the Three Stooges, dangerous toys and fireworks. And that is when the world started to get all boring and safe.

*** Yard darts were those huge darts that had a real heavy, real pointy end. The object was to get on opposite ends of the lawn and throw them at each other, but technically you were supposed to be throwing them at a little plastic circle. It only took a few hundred ex-ray pictures of these things lodged into kid's skulls for the mothers to get this fab toy off the market.

Could Never Get These

Oh, but I wanted them soooooo bad. These or the Revolutionary War ones. I circled them every Christmas.

I Loved These

Brother Bruce had the Jimmy Brown model, and I had the Babe Ruth and Johnny U model. I sure wish I had them today.

Toys, sent away for from Comic Books

These did not work, I want my money back!

Food and all things Good

I really should sue the Hostess people for planting such a strong seed of need into my noggin. They USED my love of comics to poison my mind with a compulsion to eat their products for the rest of my life. I still stare and drool when confronted with one of their product stands. AND the bastards refuse to market my idea of Twinkie Bread!

Summer Travel Plans

Am starting to solidify travel plans for the summer. Just thought I would update all you home burglars as to when I would be away.

This weekend Peggy and I intend to tour Portland. We have been looking for a chance to get away and this weekend offered a break in the baseball activity.

Son Peter and I will be travelling to NY in July to attend Cousin William's wedding and catch up with 102 year old GG. We hope to catch the Phillie's and the Met's who will be playing while we are there. AND is it just me or does Peter have a resemblance to William??

Come August, and not sure when, me and my favorite pictured photo journalist will again traipse across Montana in search of photos and fun.

Crazy Father's Day, and all that

Father's Day is coming this weekend and we are going to be crazy and celebrate it on Saturday. Melissa is hosting a brunch and we are all going to show up and celebrate ME. But I resent such occasions and holidays. I will accept all the lavish gifts and I will let my children gush all over me but for me the celebration will be about them, my pride in them and how much I enjoy their company. Don't really need no day invented by Hallmark to have this, but I guess it is nice to be forced to take the time to think about fatherhood and what it all means.

I think it means different things to different people and it means different things in different directions at different times. It is a bond we all have as humans and we all have different bonds. And it is a different bond coming and going, and the bond and expectations change over time, in both real and opined ways. The real and the sub-real, how we want it in conscious state and what we wish for in unconscious ways. We have up-stream and down stream bonds and it can be the most wonderful connection and yet the most painful. It seems we figure it out and then confuse ourselves all over again.

I find it best to drop the bond and live the moment. Nice words with no true escape in either direction. My father simply was, and at times that worked and at times that caused pain, but my love was the most when I knew that he simply was and I am, and nothing would change what was. We are and we can; that is all there is.

And this year it starts again, new roles, new directions and more love and happiness.

What the Queen of the Universe Want to do All Day Long

If she could, Neko, the Queen of the Universe would chase after her little blue orca whale all day long. She just loves the way the carpets slide when she jumps on them to capture her prey

Major League Draft Day

Above is a picture that captures the age of my heart as a ball player. Even though I am 52 years old, in my heart I am young and cannot wait to get to the field. Today I break my old record and set a new record. Today is the 34th year where I sit by the phone, look at the website and expect to "go" in the June Major League Draft. I have inside information this year that the Phillies have my name written in under catchers, but have been told there was no highlighting of my name. On one hand this feeds my hope, but the lack of underlining could be seen as a bad sign. It probably depends on who is taken ahead of me and what the Phillies' needs are late in the draft. I remain optimistic.

Personally I think Congress needs to do more regulating of Major League Baseball. If MLB is to have this exemption from anti-trust laws, then MLB needs to make some concessions to the public. For starters I think they MUST be made to accommodate any and all people who wish to pursue a career in baseball. Lets face it, they are the only game in town and don't they know it. I am starting to come to the conclusion that I am being personally black balled from the game as every year the draft comes and I am not picked. MLB should be forced to take any and all potential players that simply sign up. MLB would then assign us "unchosen" free agents to spare teams that the rest of the leagues would have to play. Congress could then implement some benchmark rules whereby guys like me would 'have to' move up in the ranks based on arbitrary statistics. In effect I want to rid the game of the politics that have kept me from having the career that should have been mine!

Mid Week Lull

It has been a busy but unproductive week so far. Month end is a busy time at work and that has been keeping primarily occupied. I did get a chance to sneak out to the Mariner afternoon game on Wednesday. Boy, they are in a sad state right now. It is hard to be a Mariner fan these days. It just seems they can do nothing good.

Also found time to hit the golf course on Tuesday evening. Found time to get seven of nine holes in before the rain hit. My golf game makes the Mariners look productive, that comment is not a picture but I think it too says a thousand words.

Speaking of pictures, above is Neko, the wild beast. This pic was taken on a walk to hers, and my, favorite place, the beach below Lincoln Park just north of Coleman pool. A quiet setting where a rebel dog can dare to go off-leash and play cat and mouse with the waves and roll in all that smells good on the beach. Neko may have found her purpose in life. I think she is a clam digging dog, in a world where clams are hard to find.

Say Ken Griffey June-Yah

You say it's your Birthday
Say Ken Griffey June-Yah

I do not think they do it anymore, but at Mariner games in the ole Kingdome the M's used to play the Beatle's birthday song as they listed the folks at the game that were having birthdays. To those uninformed of the Beatles, or lyrics to this song it went:

'You say it's your birthday
It's my birthday too, yah!'

or as my son heard it

'You say it's your birthday
Say Ken Griffey June-Yah

At one such game my little boy Peter asked me, "Why are they asking us to say Ken Griffey Jr.? He thought the lyrics went as posted above. It took me a while to understand his question. It was not until I heard him singing along that I understood his confusion.

Well, little Peter is 27 today. I am still guessing that there are lyrics that still confuse him, I know I have mine.

I am proud of my son. He is a King County Deputy and a fine young man. He enjoys his work, he enjoys his life and both of these facts are quickly evident when you meet him. It makes a father proud that his son has found his calling and is a happy man.

Oh, of course I would have much rather have had him follow my unresolved dreams, but Peter had no love for being a long haul truck driver (but on the bright side, he does love old time country music and appreciates a good chicken fried steak, with a side of biscuits and gravy). He also expressed no interest in running off to Bismark ND and working in a diner and raising jack-a-lopes as a side business. Maybe someday, if I live long enough, after Peter retires we can be an old man, father/son team of long haul truckers who roam from town to town setting people straight, solving crime and busting the local strong arm dude. What with my love of long haul truck driving, his background in law enforcement and our mutual love of lame TV shows we might just pull it off.

Just like the old show 'Movin On". See review below and the pictures above. Yeah... this could be us in 25 years!


Sonny and Will were two gypsy truck drivers who came from radically different backgrounds. Sonny was a burly veteran trucker,(yeah this could describe ME) owner of the giant rig that they operated, and prone to settle most of his arguments with his fists. Will was much younger, a law school graduate (better get to work on this part, Peter) who had turned to trucking as a means of learning more about himself. His legal training and quick mind often prevented disagreements from turning into brawls. They were good for each other; Sonny's outgoing gregariousness counterbalanced Will's quiet,reserved personality, while Will's rational approach to problems counteracted Sonny's sucker-prone willingness to help anyone at anytime. Together they traveled back and forth across the country in search of adventure and freight to haul.