busy, busy, busy.....

it's not often i say this, but i've been real fecking busy!

our income tax deadline was moved from april 30 to may 5 but today is may 6 so it's all goddamned over. i've mentioned that i'm pretty much retired and this will be the last year that i'm the friendly pro bono tax preparer. it's the same every year, i tell people who owe a lot of money to the tax department that it's a fuck of a lot better than earning peanuts and getting a refund. but it's hard for me to find any solace in those words of wisdom when i prepare my own taxes. so it goes.

what does a guy do when he has a little time on his hands? put some new rubber on the iron maiden!

i was thinking of replacing the old girl but new rubber and few adjustments has brought her back to life. (don't tell the old girl, but if the right bike comes along, i'm ready.

the lovely mrs myshkin is still missing in action but i've got a few new friends to talk to:

me and sancho are ready for that grouchy old lady in waiting.

i love you sons of bitches.

the whole thing

i sat and watched/listened to a youtube video that is 1 hour 18 minutes and 54 seconds long. this has to be a record for me but it was so good i could listen to it again right now.

start listening at your own peril, you may become hypnotized like i did and spend countless hours glued to your screen.

this whole thing started when some kind soul sent me a link to SONGZA. i wasn't too crazy about the site but i heard a few tunes on the blues channel and got inspired to seek out some other blues stuff and stumbled upon sonny boy williamson in london.

enjoy sonny boy and remember, i love you sons of bitches.

role reversal

i took my new binoculars to the park this morning to conduct a preliminary turtle census and am happy to report that i spotted 6 hale and hearty baskers enjoying the spring sunshine. a few years ago there was a holocaust in the park and the turtle population was decimated. i expect the turtle headcount to increase considerably in the coming weeks as the water level drops a little and there are more basking locations that are visible to us census takers.

there are lots of carp in the lake and some of them are quite large. when the water is still and clear the large carp look like german u-boats cruising slightly below the surface. on several occasions i've witnessed chinese children catching the small carps with nets and white people giving them dirty looks. today there was a white man and his son with a net attempting to catch a few fish so i pedaled over to check it out and witnessed two chinese women scolding them for poaching the carp. i started a conversation with poachers and they had what appeared to be russian accents when the father explained to me that they were trying to catch a few fish for their backyard pond. after the niceties were over i asked if they had any plans to poach a turtle or two and they assured me that they had no designs on the turtles. all was well with the world. god bless the turtles.

white people get pissed at chinese kids poaching carp and chinese people get pissed at white people poaching carp. the universe is unfolding as it should.

i love you sons of bitches.

slow but steady

at this time last year i had failed miserably at my new year's resolution of recapturing a little of my youth by getting back into doing push ups as part of my exercise routine. as i mentioned earlier my schedule increased the number of push ups too quickly. but this year things are working out much better. having started at 1 single lonely push up back in november and increasing the number very slowly i can proudly report that i am now at 12 push ups and plan to increase it to the lucky number of 13 tomorrow. the best part is my 12 push ups are pain free. a few months ago i was in considerable pain doing 5 push ups.

if anyone had told me to try this very slow build up last year i would have laughed at them and possibly felt insulted but oh how things changed. last year was a learning experience that forced me to acknowledge that i'm not a spring chicken anymore. i guess it's better to be a slow learner than have a touch of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. the big question i'll soon face will be what number to stop and adopt as a workout standard? my revised goal remains the same, being able to perform 60 push ups within 60 minutes by my 60th birthday. this goal seems to have a certain symmetry to it. who knows, i may become the vitruvian man.

so hillary what's her name wants to be president again. here are 5 FACTS ABOUT THE LOVELY HILLARY'S FAITH. the question in my mind is are these facts true or part of a phoney baloney political campaign. carrying a bible in her purse and having daily prayers for inspiration do not inspire confidence with me. in my world, important decisions are based on verifiable facts, not on religious dogma and blind faith. so it goes.

god said to abraham, kill me a son.....

i love you sons of bitches.

it's that time again....

no, not deadwood. it's springtime and a young man's fancy turns to tomatoes. i hadn't planned on tomatoes this year since my best pal and growing partner drifted up to valhalla but after a little chat with sonny we decided the little tomato competition was a tradition worth continuing. i've planted a few plants of the variety pops liked to plant and i then planted a few crazy ones that i used to plant so everyone has moved up a notch. i guess i'm now officially the patriarch of the family.

when i was a kid it was the usual practice to plant tomatoes on the may long weekend but thanks to global warming i can get an early start. last year i over watered the little darlings after falling in love with my irrigation canals so this year the little angels will start getting pretty thirsty around the middle of august.

the real big news is i filled out an application to adopt a dog from the shelter. fuck me, in the old days they thanked people for adopting strays but now the sons of bitches in charge of strays want people to kiss their ass in order to get a dog. there's a pretty good chance i'll them to go fuck themselves if they want me to grovel and promise to enroll the dog in obedience training and a formal "socialization" program.

i love you sons of bitches.