Lady Anne de Bivalve Part Two

Lady Anne de Bivalve died last night after a long and unsuccessful battle with cancer. Her actual name was Anne Schwiebert, and got the “Lady Ann” moniker from years of working at the Horton Point Light House for the Southold Historical Society (http://www.southoldhistoricalsociety.org/lighthouse.htm) as a docent and board member. She was instrumental in saving the structure and turning it into the fine museum it is today. She was called “The Lady of the Lighthouse”. She was also addicted to clamming in the pond behind her house, thus the “Bivalve”.
We went back all the way to 1950 and grew into teenagers together. Never boyfriend/girlfriend, always just friends. Her father was a fairly prominent radiologist with a very healthy sense of humor. I remember one time I was having trouble with my hotrod and she and her dad were across the street raking leaves. I called her and asked her to come over to help me check my spark plug wires. Her father started laughing, knowing what was coming next. I put the wire in her hand and told her to tell me if she could feel anything, and hit the starter. She flew back on her ass, and was not amused. Her father and I were very amused. Just a practical joke and she took it well. It was one of those things that you keep coming back to when you meet up in later life.
She was an artist and weaver and sailor, and a passionate lover of light houses. She always thought of light houses as safe harbors, safe places.
Rest in peace, Lady de Bivalve. You are in a very safe place. And you are missed.

Image: http://toddatteberry.com/New-York/East-End-of-Long-Island/Horton-Point-Lighthouse-and/779295843_f3P3C-L-1.jpg

WTF?

Here is an interesting story: Mississippians will vote soon on Prop 26 which defines a fertilized egg as a person. That means killing a fertilized egg is murder. So no IUD’s please, and no termination of tubal pregnancies thank-you-very-much, and no morning after pills, and of course no abortions of any kind for any reason. Why? Because we want to get Government out of our businesses and our lives, except we want Government to control all aspects of a woman’s reproductive process.
Men want this badly for some reason. And for the life of me I don’t know why women fall in line and help these sick bastards pass dangerous and misogynous crappy laws. Are women just so docile that they say “Yes Sir!!” to any man that wants to regulate her reproduction? Why not just vote in Sharia Law and be done with it.
Two things piss me off today: Democrats by NOT VOTING put Republicans in office. Women by not THINKING and VOTING put men in charge of their bodies.
As an Aussie friend once said “WTF Mate?”
Image: http://images.paraorkut.com/img/funnypics/images/w/wtf_mate-12876.jpg

Life and Death: What FUN!!

Time this morning for a bit of writing. But what to talk about? Politics? Too depressing. Religion? No point - - - believers believe and the rest of us don’t. Climate change? No point either - - - too late to do anything. Death? Ahhhh. Death.
There probably are few things in life more certain than death. It stares you in the eye the day you are conceived, and yes, life begins at conception or before. The sperm and egg are both alive don’t forget. But YOU are not alive until conception, and YOU are not a person until much later. Many embryos are formed imperfectly, and fail early on. Miscarriages are nature’s way of eliminating the “unlikely to succeed” category of conceptions. So the live births represent the most perfect, or at least the least defective among us. Down syndrome for example is a minor genetic aberration since the bearer survives.
Anyway, all through life the specter of death is always just a heartbeat away. For some the moment comes with pain; for some with fear; for some without any feeling at all; for some a moment of clarity. Whatever the experience, it is the final experience.
Now here is where opinion diverges: life ends with death or life after death. Think about that tiny phrase: Life after Death. Makes no sense does it? No one yet has been able to reanimate something seriously dead. So the life after death must be on another plane of existence. The trouble is no one has ever found or demonstrated that there is another plane to exist in. It exists in your head, not in your sky.
The point here is this: You can bet on Death as a reality and you can bet on Life after Death as a theoretical or you can bet on both. In any case the only strategy for life that makes sense to me is to live it while you are living, and don’t wait to “live life” after you die. There is likely nothing there after you die. Have fun now. Have friends now. Have love now. Have beer now.
IPA in heaven? I doubt it very much.
Image: http://www.metal-archives.com/images/4/3/6/2/43621.jpg

Smiley Found

Last week I wrote about our faithful friend Smiley. I mentioned that I couldn't find any pictures of him and an old friend, Stewart, came to the rescue! Last year Stewart took a series of portrait photos of old Smiley and he sent several to me. Thank you. This one is typical of the look on Smiley's face when he was looking at you. See? He really does smile!

Image used with permission of Stewart.

Sometimes They ALL WIN!!

Special Olympics: People with disabilities participate in athletic events. We used to call them mentally retarded, then mentally challenged, then intellectually disabled and who knows what next. It is hard to keep up with the “political correctness” police. Some of us just call them “Special” and let the rest go fly a kite.
Anyway, my special son John was born with a severe mental deficiency. He never completed normal brain development and you can’t measure his IQ because he can’t understand the questions or formulate the answers. He is assigned an IQ of 20. But man, can he run. A regular Forest G. He doesn’t understand competition, though, or winning.
In his first Special Olympics entered one of the distance runs, I don’t remember which, but a quarter or half mile or so. He was lined up with the other guys and when the starter said “GO” he just stood there talking to the starter. He finally figured out he was supposed to run so he took off and soon passed all the others. Then he stopped, walked to the crowd and tried to talk to someone (he doesn’t make much sense, but this crowd understood that.) The folks in the crowd got him running again and once more he passed the field. Then, stopped and waited for them to catch up and he just ran along with them and was talking a mile a minute. In the end he finished near the back or maybe the back, but with a roar of approval from the crowd.
Believe me when I say it: John WON! And in every Special Olympic race since (he no longer does this) he won in exactly the same way. Good Old John.

Photo of the Search Boys (A few years ago) L to R: John, Hal and Matt.

Hops Strikes Again!!

Sitting in a quiet empty bar in Englewood finishing a nice pint of IPA. Suddenly, a drop of water comes down from the ceiling and hits my glass. Bugger!!! Maybe it’s a sewer leak? Or a sprinkler leaking? Or sweat from the AC? F**k it. This is an IPA. No worries at all.
Sal is pouring water out of her nose and her eyes are red. She is getting a cold. I said approximately (this avoids quotation marks) good thing you have a pint of IPA (she has one too.) Here is why: IPA hydrates because it is 94% water; it anesthetizes because it is 6% alcohol; and, it cures because hops is medicine. The perfect combination when you are sick.
I told Sal the next time I get really sick, get a 5 gallon keg of a good hoppy IPA like Hop Otten IPA or Terrapin’s Rye PA and let me drink that exclusively. Got to get better, and if not, I would be pre-embalmed. Win-Win. A total no brainer.
Image: http://www.ratebeer.com/beerimages/full_size/16690.jpg

Another old friend gone. انه مكتوب

As we were getting ready to leave for Asheville, we got a call from our Vet. Not good news.
When I dropped Millie and Smiley off at the Vet for boarding while we were away, I mentioned that Smiley had been sick for the last few days and asked Ivan to check him out. The call back was not good news. Smiley had an intestinal blockage that was inoperable due to position and his age. We were at the airport waiting for our flight to be called. We had to decide, not if but when, to euthanize our old friend.
Years ago we had a place that was fenced to keep our dogs in and stray dogs out. Our dogs started barking like crazy and I went to see what the hell they had. Crap. A dead dog someone tossed over the fence. Just lying there with fly eggs on its head. Sticky stuff all over its body. I went and got Sal and we took an old towel to roll the corpse on to take to the field to bury. As we rolled him over, he opened his eyes, curled his upper lip, and smiled at us. So began the extended life of Smiley. He had heart worms and every other kind of worm dogs get. Ivan cleaned him out and we cleaned him up. He thrived and smiled often. He was a consummate digger. One day we came home from somewhere and he had dug 40, count’em 40, holes in the backyard. FOURTY!!! The usual number was 15 or 20. What a pain in the ass. But he smiled and was forgiven. Later in life he got heavy and had a hard time running around. He mostly just ate and slept. Then the fatal blockage. He was in constant pain by then, and nowhere to go.
Maktoob. It is written.
So we authorized the euthanasia. We have been with all our dog friends when they died, but old Smiley was with his Vet friend. His ashes will be sprinkled over the dozen craters he dug at the new house.
I could not find a single picture of Smiley. Anybody got one?
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IFpg2m9UrgY/SZOTdez41hI/AAAAAAAAELc/o4-FDrfC

Lady Anne de Bivalve

I just got an email from an old friend who has been battling a malignant cancer for quite a while. She has discontinued treatment in favor of the most peaceful end possible. This decision took great courage and I only hope that she will find peace with family and friends. We met in 1950, and have been in contact off and on since. We had laughs together and some interesting times, but went our own ways in 1958.
A year or so ago I wrote an essay about doing the “hardest thing I ever did”, and I will add this to the list. I hate that she didn’t get the therapy needed to reverse the disease. I hate that medicine can’t get to all cancers in time. I just hate all of it.
She is a good woman with core religious beliefs, and will go to her heaven when the time comes. She won’t go kicking and screaming either. She will go with dignity and with a smile. She will be an example for us all.
Damn you Cancer. Damn you.
Image: http://www.nature.org/idc/groups/webcontent/@photopublic/documents/media/prd_023218.jpg

Steve Irwin: CRIKY!!

If you ever enjoyed Steve Irwin, take a few minutes to watch this video of end the memorial service, filmed at his home base crock farm. And listen to the song of John Williamson, a balladeer of great power.
I was writing a story about Uluru and the rain and wanted to link to John Williamson’s song “It’s Raining on the Rock”. Why? Because it’s raining here, now, and that brought me to Uluru. So I went to YouTube and whilst there rediscovered the Steve Irwin video. I couldn’t help myself. I opened it, listened and watched, and had a tear as well.
At some level thus guy was a real nutter, playing with crocks, dangerous snakes, spiders and sting rays. At another he was a consummate entertainer, and at another he was a master of showing us another world. And he died the way he probably wanted to. But probably too soon, if you could ask him.
So I watched the video and thought about all the people I know who have never heard John Williamson or his songs and though “Hell, why not?” Why not indeed. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rdyVP95XiE&feature=related
Look into my eyes. Watch it. And whatever you do, DON”T MISS THE END!!!
Image: http://www.funnyheck.com/funnypicture/steve6.jpg
Image: http://www.johnnyleeclary.com/images/irwin_steve_snake_cp_10666737.jpg

There is Something Rotten in the State of Alabama: Tomatoes.

(Before you read further, notice that the sign says “my body my choice” etc.? Yeah? Try to “choose” woman’s health services in Kanas and see who owns your body, lady.)
You gotta love some state legislators. Alabama passes a terribly strict “immigration” policy and as a result on September 28th, thousands of migrant workers stream out of the state. Then the farmers find out that local people won’t work for the wages or the back-breaking labor, so crops all over the state are rotting in the fields or on the trees. Brilliant.
Watch Florida next. A massive use of migrant labor for a multi-billion dollar agribusiness, and the assholes in the legislature want to pass a “tough” immigration bill like Arizona and Alabama. If they do, they demonstrate once again how far out of touch they really are, and what morons they are. In fact, if they pass a bill like that and it gets signed into law, Morons would be embarrassed to have them join the club. We shall see. They are now busy trying to kill the “Obamacare” program, climbing into the uteri of the women of the state, and getting divorced because gay marriage is a danger to us all. Oh yeah, and breaking up the public school system with universal vouchers, privatizing prisons and killing state workers with more job cuts and security cuts (abolition of tenure for colleges and universities) which will take our already not-world-class-anymore universities down another notch or two.
At least we got a bunch of good workers from Alabama for the moment.
Image: http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSASvnkcElJhgFRGCoL9muN_6ylWae9CLamSc9rUSLVfUfyXBGTyj_st7dW