The Bloggers Apprentice

Why didn't The Sorcerer just wave his wand and get rid of the water?

"The best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft a-gley" (or often go awry if you prefer) seemed to be the theme of my day yesterday. After I got done blogging I went downstairs to the basement to workout. I began on the bike to loosen-up and rode two miles. While I was riding the bike I was looking at the water (moisture really) on the floor. Why was there water on the floor? It made me have to change directions. I went over and opened-up the sump pit and it was full, to the top, with water. So, I reached down into the pit (after taking my shirt off because I knew I was gonna get wet - settle down ladies) and messed with the float on the pump and it would not kick-on. So I grabbed a bucket and started bailing the water out and carrying each bucket-full of water up to the kitchen and pouring them into the sink so the city's sewer system could take care of it for me. Speaking of that our water bill is due today - thank you for reminding me. Anyway, I felt like The Sorcerer's Apprentice with the 17 buckets of water. Luckily, I had a rubber gardening bucket or it would not have fit into the pit without me having to remove all of the pipes.

So, I replaced the sump pump last night (the old one was pretty rusty). We have been in this house for 11 years so I suppose that is pretty good. This new one is so much quieter than the old one because the home builder probably bought the cheapest dinosaurs that they could find. The one nice thing about the old one being noisy, however, was that I would always feel a little bit of relief when I'd hear the plastic pipes rattling when it was raining hard outside. Now, I will probably be down there every time it storms to see if I need to get the rubber bucket out. Yes, I am very neurotic - why do you think I have two neurologists? I don't know why we have a rubber bucket (we also have one metal one and about 10 plastic ones) but I was really happy that we do have a rubber, flexible, one. I guess you can never have enough buckets; what would all of the other broomsticks carry if we only had one?

I really wish there had been the "Replay Review" rule back then

It was so nice to be able to watch the St. Louis Cardinals the last two nights. I usually just have to listen to them on the AT BAT app on my phone but they were playing the Chicago White Sox (one of the teams that they count as our "local" teams" as far as the satellite company decides). If you have a favorite team that is out of your broadcast area I highly recommend this AT BAT app - it's free (just like my plug for them) and you can listen to every one of your team's games. You can even listen to the home announcers or the away announcers and you can even switch back and forth if you want. Watching and listening to baseball, for the most part, is very relaxing to me. Of course, as sports work, there are the ups and downs with the emotions as the game progresses or digresses depending on how your team is going. The Sox and Cards only had a two-game series and the Cardinals won them both. Now the Cardinals are going to play their in-state rivals, the Kansas City Royals, beginning tonight (not really rivals since one is in the American League and one is in the National League). Statistically, the Cardinals are the best team in baseball right now with a .638 winning percentage and the Royals are the second best with a .613 winning percentage. Let's hope for a repeat of the 1985 World Series with the opposite outcome this time around. Sorry, sometimes I get carried-away and too passionate when I blog baseball.

It is my friend Linda's birthday today and that made me think of cake. I'm a fat guy, we look for any reason to think about cake. Do you think, in Germany, if I order chocolate cake in a restaurant it will be German chocolate cake? Technically, all chocolate cake made in Germany is German chocolate cake, right? But, do you think all of the chocolate cakes there have the chocolate coconut, pecan frosting? You know darn well that I am going to find the answer to that for YOU. To make certain, I may have to find that out for six days, three times per day. I want to be thorough in my study so I have formed a properly educated thesis (some call it a thesis I call it a blog). I love German chocolate cake so it will be a pleasure to take this cake bullet in the name of science! Yum, cake bullets!

I have several ideas for the short stories that I am going to begin writing. Last night I thought to myself, "Self, aren't short stories and songs kind of the same thing in some cases?" If you think of songs like: "Come Dancing" by The Kinks or, "Coward of the County" by Kenny Rogers or, "A Boy Named Sue" by Johnny Cash or, "Harper Valley P.T.A." by Barbara Eden Jeannie C. Riley (I had to look-up who sang that one) or, "Copacabana" by Barry Manilow... There are many others but, maybe some of my short stories, if and when I write them, will become songs? That would be cool to win a Pulitzer and a Grammy; that would look good on my resume' right before I die. Maybe an epitaph or a tombstone anyway.

When I start talking about dying it is usually time to stop blogging. I am going to go down and check the sump pit because that is the sort of thing that dad's and homeowners are supposed to do. That reminds me - with me growing my beard back for the last week or so I have noticed that I have a lot more gray hairs than dark ones these days. I am getting quite a few grays on my head and chest too. I am not sure if they are coming from aging alone or all of the hospitals and illness things with Cha Cha and I are a contributing factor. I am not really sure if stress turns you gray like our parents used to tell us or that was simply a way to try to get us to behave ourselves. If it was just a threat it never worked. Why do I care if you get gray hair? I don't even care if I do! It looks distinguished.

Thank you for stopping-in; I picture your faces off-and-on (mostly on) as I write the blog so, I guess that makes you my muses or my inspirations or whatever you want to call yourselves. So, I truly do thank you for helping me keep my mind occupied and still mostly usable. Have a great day and, as Ray Rayner (after he graduated from Bozo's Circus) used to say for you Chicago-area people, "happy birthday if this is your birthday." TTTT...MITM  "bye, bye byeeeeeeeeee" and out, TA!