A Happy Sunnyday

I have not blogged for 19 days. I didn't realize that it had been that long until Linda B. G. wrote me and asked why I haven't been blogging lately. She was concerned that it was because of something going-on but I guess I just didn't feel all that inspired to write of late. Thank you for giving me the inspiration to write again. One of my main reasons for not writing is that I have vowed to try to stay off of Facebook for the most part. I will still check-in when out-and-about to try to promote places I like and denounce the ones that I do not but Facebook is a time-suck. I guess I will use Facebook to advise when a new blog is ready so I guess I am part of the problem and part of the solution. I did have one thing happen last week that was a bit disconcerting. I was up bright-and-early and ready to leave the house for my day at 05:30 and I fell and cracked my head open on the kitchen counter. I had not taken one of my medicines for one day and I attribute it to that. The small bump is there above my left eye but the scab fell off and, unless you were looking for the bump, you probably would just think it was part of my regular Frankenstein face.

I have been taking care of my parents on most of my free days. I am not even sure that I wrote here about my mom being in the hospital for three or four days. The family and I went and visited her there a few times and I was there when she got released. My dad is not doing very well physically so I go over to their house and take them to the store and their various doctors' appointments. I will probably call today to see what days/times my services will be needed. I have to work replacing the garbage disposal and mowing the lawn into tomorrow and Tuesday. Maybe I will end-up mowing the lawn later today after our weekly trek to Fatty's. Our weekly trek to Fatty's wound-up being to The Turf Room instead last week.

Last night Cha Cha went out for dinner and to see Star Trek Beyond. The movie was very, very, very action-packed. I am not really even sure I knew exactly what was going on most of the time but I like shoot-em-up stuff even if it is with Phasers or Klingon Disrupters or Deathstings or whatever. I really like Chris Pine as Captain Kirk. There was also a scene insinuating that Mr. Sulu is a homosexual. I had heard that rumor and that George Takei (the homosexual actor who played Sulu in the original series) thought that was stupid but it was there anyway. And, we saw Ghostbusters the previous week. Ghostbusters was pretty good (fun) though it was very similar to the original one. There were small cameos by the original living Ghostbusters and there was even a small tribute to Harold Ramis. I was sad that Rick Moranis was not included. Maybe he was and I just missed him? But, Ernie Hudson, Bill Murray, Annie Potts, Sigourney Weaver and Dan Ackroyd were all there. I was pleasantly surprised that Kristin Wiig didn't drive me nits like she usually does. Leslie Jones was my favorite though - I love her irreverence and humor. I have to admit that the original was much better but, had the original not existed for comparison, this would have been a good movie. I also heard that there is a script for  new Ghostbusters but Bill Murray refuses to do it; that is probably a good decision, in all actuality.

Cha Cha and I are sitting on the patio enjoying the nice weather listening to the John Fogherty Pandora station. We are going to see him in Las Vegas next month. Jill is very excited. I am excited too but I have been to Las Vegas several times. When I am out there most of the locals even call me Mr. Vegas. I love to gamble. I am pretty good at it because I always expect to lose and, happily, I am pleasantly disappointed in that endeavor more often than not.

A dead commie may be the best choice

I am so done with politics so I will probably not write anything about politics for a long time - maybe forever. I am not happy with any of the choices we have right now for POTUS. I will vote, as I always do, but I will not promote either of the mainstream candidates running to be our President. I just have to figure which of the choices is the lesser of two weevils. Is Gus Hall running again this time? I just looked and he died in 2000 so I guess I will have to write him in?

I am excited that The Night Of and The Jim Gaffigan Show are on tonight. Could not be more polar-opposites as far as shows but I have very bi-polar likes and dislikes.

Okay, I blogged and I have to get some other things done. It is nice sitting on the patio writing with the sun shining on me and the birds chirping. Thanks a lot for stopping by. I will try not to be such a blog stranger. I will probably write again tomorrow. Have a great Sunday and I hope you are having the weather that I am having here right not. TTTT...MITM (out) TA!

The Matt In The High Castle

Weighed in this morning and lost 1,4 pounds this past week. I am happy with any loss and even no change though even -0.1 is nice. "How about something, you know, for the effort!"

While I rode the bike downstairs for an hour this morning I watched an original series (episode one, season one) on Amazon Prime Movies called "The Man in the High Castle." It worked-out well that the show was only an hour long because I was happy doing 15 miles (one hour) instead of the sometimes 20 miles. The premier episode was really good. I love shows with a strong female lead character and, so far, this show has that. It is a show about what the world (mainly The United States so far) is like now that the Axis Powers won World War II. They have not discussed Italy too much yet but The United States is controlled by Japan to the west (California, Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, parts of Nevada and Arizona) called the "Japanese Pacific States" and Germany controls most of the rest of the country all the way to Maine and Florida. That area is called the "Greater Nazi Reich." The show takes place in the early 1960's so Adolph Hitler is still alive and in charge of the world. There is an area between the "Japanese Pacific States" and the "Greater Nazi Reich" called "The Neutral Zone" but I do not know much about that area after only one hour.I am sure it will because a big part of the show soon. Maybe that is where the people are gassed for something (only conjecture on my part)?

Right now I am making my ground turkey mini meat loafs. They are so easy to make. I just combing ground turkey and giardiniera and I put them in various-sized muffing pans and bake at 350 until I fell they are done. No need to grease the pans because the olive oil in the giardiniera takes care of that. They are great on salads or by themselves or on tortilla shells... I have not made them for awhile but they just sounded good.

I forgot... Cha Cha and I watched a new show on HBO called "The Night Of." I believe it is an eight-episode series/show that started Sunday and the second one is this coming Sunday. It seemed to be a bit long but it was pretty good I think. It is a murder mystery but they are kind of showing way too many things to try to confuse the viewers maybe? They are showing lots and lots of clues as to whether or not the suspect is guilty and are trying too hard to confuse and baffle the viewers with many possible false clues. John Turturro was introduced toward the end of the first episode and I do love him as an actor so I still have great hopes that it will all come together. He has been n many of my favorite movies including: Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Big Lebowski, Barton Fink, and Rounders...I would say I like the series but I will better decide this coming Sunday. I think I have things figured-out but I would not bet on it considering all of the leads and probably false leads they are showing. It's worth a look if you have HBO - I am sure the first episode will show many times before Sunday night.

I will be right back - the mini turkey meatloaf timer is beeping. The time is regular-sized in case you are keeping score.

Tonight is the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Baseball is my favorite sport but I will not watch this game. I think all-star games are stupid though I thought they were great when I was a youngster. Maybe they are more for the youngsters. I am happy they are there for people who like them but why take a chance having players getting injured for something that means nothing for the most part? I may just be a stick in the mud I guess. I do have Bull Durham on in the background while I write this though.

I am done for today. I think I will blog again Thursday as my dance-card opened for that day. I think I may donate plasma that day too so I am not sure what time I will blog. Thank you for stopping by, I hope you have a great rest of your day and night. TTTThursday...MITM (out) TA!

I'm a Good Deed Doer!

I started donating plasma again today. I haven't done it since like 2012 or something but thought I would start being a good deed doer again. I stopped back then because my protein levels were getting low and I thought saving other peoples' lives could fall on others for awhile. I believe I have saved some lives since then but just not through my plasma. I was very excited to learn that my pulse and heartbeat were almost too low to donate. The nurse told me that I have what they call "an athlete's pulse rate." A pulse between 40 and 50, according to her, is considered an athlete's pulse. Mine was 50 but she fudged it to 51 so I could donate today. She said that if it falls below 50 she will have to have a doctor there sign-off on it so I can go as low as 40. I guess the weight-loss and walking and biking an average of about 17 miles per day are working. Maybe the meditation is working too.

Speaking of that, Cha Cha and I are going to start going to the Buddhist Temple in Woodstock on Monday evenings for meditation. We had been going on Saturday mornings but my new schedule fouled that all up. Then we started going to one in St. Charles (put on by the same temple we go to) but they were doing it in a yoga studio and it was rinky-dink and Cha Cha was having a hard time hearing the monk. I am happy and exited that we get to go tonight and every week thereafter as we choose. Mondays seem to be a good night for us to do this but I really like to eat in the town square up there but weigh-in day is Tuesday. I will manage because I want to keep my Jesse Owens pulse in check. I washed the FIAT and everything for this occasion.

How's that for a goose-step Adolph?!

I just spoke to my dad and he says my mom seems to be doing a little better but she probably won't come home for awhile still. Overall, everything sounds like it is going in the proper direction and everyone is optimistic that she may get out in a week or so. I hope that, should that happen, she doesn't slip back to where she is and/or was a week ago. We'll just take it as it comes like we all do every day of our lives. If we're not flexible and adaptable we might as well hang-it-up and let gravity go.

Four members of this household are playing that stupid new Pokemon APP game where they find invisible Pokemon characters living among us and they capture them and get points. I know I sound like a old fogie but I see people walking around town in packs staring at their phones like they are metal detectors. Somebody is going to get hurt watching their map and not paying attention to where they are going. Also, it won't be long until the makers of the APP will monetize it via advertising or charging businesses to have Pokemon characters placed at their establishments to get business headed their ways. I don't mean to be a buzz-kill but I know how materialistic and greedy people and companies are in this country. I would like to believe that someone is just trying to get people more active and up and moving but my radar is. most likely, spot-on on this. CA-CHING!

Well, we have our hotel reservations at the MGM Grand and our tickets to see John Fogerty in concert in Las Vegas. I have been to Vegas a bunch of times on business (monkey and funny and real work) but Jill has never been there. I think she will have a great time. I know she will have fun at the concert. She almost peed her pants when we saw Creedence Clearwater Revisited in Aurora awhile back and there was no Fogherty there, of course. I cannot believe is still so nice given all that he has been through being screwed-over by his former band mates and his record company. I am sure he is doing fine but I would have lost faith in a lot of things had all that happened to me. I guess we have all faced lots of adversity and betrayal but not on such a large and public level.

Okay, I am going to maybe take a little nap here before we head north tonight. Thank you for stopping by. I hope I distracted you from something you needed distracting from. I am pretty sure I will blog tomorrow and then I may have a bonus blog on Thursday because I have an opening in my dance card that day. TTTT...MITM (TA)!

Be well
Be happy
Be peaceful

HIPAA (Helser Is Practically Always A'bloggin)

Mom hates snakes so she would not like this logo

Happy Sunday or, as I like to call it, the beginning of my weekend! I suppose I include Saturday nights as part of my actual weekend. Last night Cha Cha and I went out for dinner after visiting my mom in the hospital. Mom has been there for about five days I guess. She has had some health issues for quite awhile and they seemed to have gotten worse of late it seems. She is in the same hospital where my dad was earlier this year though she is in a different building/department. She is getting along well enough and seems to be making friends there. I guess I am being kind of vague but I am not sure how much they want me to share at this point and I am bound by HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) not to share this information at this time. I am not really bound by HIPAA but I am just respecting their privacy and will let them tell who they want to tell. Maybe my HIPAA is Helser Is Practically Always A'bloggin' (I will try to think of a better definition for that acronym). When she first went in the kids (Splenda and Fabio) and I went to visit her. Jill was at work (in Evanston that day) the time we went. I will update on mom's progress as I am allowed and deem necessary.

I am watching Shaun of the Dead while I write today's blog. I have seen it many times and I have always loved it. I recorded it several days ago but I have not had time to watch it. I guess I have had time but I have spent the time doing things like working and sleeping and mundane things like that. It has to be the funniest zombie movie of all time. I don't care much for zombie movies or shows but this one is much different as it is a comedy and a British comedy at that. I liked The Walking Dead for a very brief while but it grew tedious and seemed like the same show every week so I quite early on. Shaun of the Dead is a bloody good zombie movie blokes!

That's me at the zombie clinic tomorrow donating plasma

Speaking of zombies I think I may start donating plasma again tomorrow. I did it a long time ago and then I stopped because one time my protein level was too low to donate and then I just stopped. I went over a week ago or so and they took a blood sample and my protein levels are fine now. Did you know that plasma is one of the fundamental states of MATTer? The other fundamental states of matter are: solid, liquid and gas - those pretty much are me in a nutshell. I like serving mankind and saving lives so I do things like this. It must be more important that donating blood because they actually pay you for your plasma. They pay you $50 to lie in a chair for less than an hour. Win - Win! I wonder if they will use my plasma to make plasma screen televisions or something. Just think - one day a little bit of me may be sitting in your living room.

I have been quite lucky, in a way, over this past month. I belong to a club or whatever it can be classified as called Rally Squirrel. If you are a St. Louis Cardinals' fan as I am you may remember in 2011 during the NLDS (National League Division Series) when the Cardinals were playing the Phillies a squirrel ran onto the field and was kind of freaked-out and running around and then disappeared. The Phillies became so rattled that the Cardinals "rallied" and won the game and then went on to win the 2011 World Series (their 11th in team history - 2016 will be their 12th). Anyway, so I belong to Rally Squirrel. There are monthly drawings every month and I have never won anything but last month I won an autographed Peter Bourgeois baseball that just showed-up one day. Bouregois is no longer on the Cardinals but, ironically (or coincidentally) as far as I am concerned, now plays for the Philadelphia Phillies. So, I was all happy that I had won but then, two days ago a package showed up at the front stoop and it is an autographed photo (with authenticity documentation) of the World Series champion 1967 St. Louis Cardinals. The starting players are all sitting on stools in front of their lockers with their jerseys hanging in their lockers and their names and numbers facing the camera with Manager Red Schoendienst sitting on the floor in front of them. I bet you have heard of a few of these guys - Roger Maris, Tim MaCarver, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Orlando Cepeda, Curt Flood... The photo also read "The 'Million Dollar' Team" and lists their salaries for the 1967 season. I add their salaries and it only comes to $565,000 but that is only for theses starting nine players so I suppose the rest of the roster - 25-man (or 40-man after September 1)- makes up for the remainder of the salaries?

The photo I received has Red sitting on the floor not on a stool

I am going to end today as I have to go get some dog food and a few groceries. I think I am going to make my famous Turkey Giardiniera mini meat loafs. Here is the recipe - put meat (I use turkey) in a bowl. Pour a jar of giardiniera in the bowl with the meat. Mix ingredients. Make into tiny balls and put the balls into muffin pans. Cook until done to your liking. Do not fill pan too high with the meat as there will be a lot of oil (from the giardinera) when you are done.You can also make it as a regular meat loaf but we like this little loaf for ease and practicality. I have never done this with beef but I would just be careful as there is extra fat (oil / grease) in beef so you might want to keep the meat level lower yet the first time you try it. The muffin ones are great to just grab one of the mini loafs and throw it on a tortilla shell - quick and easy and delicios!

Have a great day. Jill and I will probably be at Fatty's later this afternoon signing autographs if you get bored. Thank you for stopping by and for whatever good vibrations you can send my mom's way. Good thoughts and vibrations have seldom hurt anything. TTTT...MITM (out) TA!

It's Movie Time

Just because yesterday was Independence Day does not mean I take a vacation from watching The Andy Griffith Show. The 16:00 show was the episode "Andy Discovers America" where he makes the mistake of convincing Opie and his pals that history is interesting and they start the Mayberry Minutemen. That also laid the foundation for Andy's relationship with Helen Crump. He had several better girlfriends than her and I also thought she was pretty crabby. Ellie Walker was the best one in my opinion. I think he may have had five or six that were better than Crump.

I went over and paid the water bill today and I had to ask the lady what the date was for the check. Yesterday was the 4th of July so I did the math and figured it out myself rather quickly. And, yes it is 2016 and I still use checks for some things. Mainly, things like utilities. I guess I am nostalgic that way.

I weighed-in earlier today and I lost a bit over three pounds and I am down exactly 63 pounds since December 29th. I looked and a newborn hippopotamus Calf) can weigh between 60 and 100 pounds when it is born. I have lost a baby hippopotamus - there goes my chances for a job at Brookfield Zoo. Hey, that is the second time I used Brookfield Zoo as a reference. Earlier today I told Cha Cha that "I think I eat more bananas every day than they use at Brookfield Zoo.

No healthy snacks available leads to desperate measures

Tonight Cha Cha and I are taking her sister to see Finding Dory. I remember seeing Finding Nemo
in 2003 when Fabio was six-years-old and Splenda was 11-years-old. I hope I am not really lost with this new movie. I don't really care about seeing this film but I love sneaking healthy snacks into the theater: carrot sticks, apples, bananas, grapes, a salad bar..., bottles of water (I may actually buy a bottle of water there to throw the 16-year-olds that work there off of my scent). Incidentally, I do smell like I sound!

I am looking for investors to join me in buying Cabin Creek, Colorado. It is a ghost town and it is for sale. It is only $350,000 for the five acre town. That seems kind of steep at first but that includes: a gas station with a garage, an eight-room motel, a restaurant, an RV park, two houses, a private shooting range... Supposedly the town used to be very popular but after a murder there in the 1970's it turned into a ghost town. It is not far from Denver and Aurora Colorado so even as an investment it might be a good buy. It is about 58 miles east of Denver. Even if we just got somebody to shoot a movie there people would come in droves. Maybe we could say Finding Dory was shot there "on location." We could say "John Wayne Slept Here" or Kevin Costner stayed here when shooting Dances With Wolves of something. Okay, that movie was filmed in: Wyoming, Kansas and South Dakota. Okay, Identity Thief (Melissa McCarthy, Jason Bateman), The Lone Ranger (Johnny Depp), The Hateful Eight (Samuel Jackson, Quentin Tarantino, Kurt Russell... all stayed at out hotel), Furious 7, The Sons of Katie Elder (John Wayne), Bowling For Columbine (Michael Moore), Independence Day (Will Smith...), Wyatt Earp (Costner), In The Line of Fire (Eastwood), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Harry Ford), Continental Divide (John Belushi), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Redford and Newman)... I have gone on too long with that list already but this city is a money-maker. Have your people call my people and do not cut me out of that deal or I will go Poltergeist on your town! I bet we could get The Sundance Kid to do his Sundance Film Festival there if we can get a really good theater or ten built in town.

I bet they'd take $200,000

I had better wrap-up so I can get ready and get to the store before we go to the theater. I was gonna try to take a nap but I screwed that up with blogging-on at the keys again. I hope you have a great night. I will probably not blog again until Saturday night or Sunday. Thank you, as always, for stopping by for my nonsense. My nonsense is the only thing that lets me go from day-to-day. TTTS or S...MITM (out) TA!

It's Movie Time

Just because yesterday was Independence Day does not mean I take a vacation from watching The Andy Griffith Show. The 16:00 show was the episode "Andy Discovers America" where he makes the mistake of convincing Opie and his pals that history is interesting and they start the Mayberry Minutemen. That also laid the foundation for Andy's relationship with Helen Crump. He had several better girlfriends than her and I also thought she was pretty crabby. Ellie Walker was the best one in my opinion. I think he may have had five or six that were better than Crump.

I went over and paid the water bill today and I had to ask the lady what the date was for the check. Yesterday was the 4th of July so I did the math and figured it out myself rather quickly. And, yes it is 2016 and I still use checks for some things. Mainly, things like utilities. I guess I am nostalgic that way.

I weighed-in earlier today and I lost a bit over three pounds and I am down exactly 63 pounds since December 29th. I looked and a newborn hippopotamus Calf) can weigh between 60 and 100 pounds when it is born. I have lost a baby hippopotamus - there goes my chances for a job at Brookfield Zoo. Hey, that is the second time I used Brookfield Zoo as a reference. Earlier today I told Cha Cha that "I think I eat more bananas every day than they use at Brookfield Zoo.

No healthy snacks available leads to desperate measures

Tonight Cha Cha and I are taking her sister to see Finding Dory. I remember seeing Finding Nemo
in 2003 when Fabio was six-years-old and Splenda was 11-years-old. I hope I am not really lost with this new movie. I don't really care about seeing this film but I love sneaking healthy snacks into the theater: carrot sticks, apples, bananas, grapes, a salad bar..., bottles of water (I may actually buy a bottle of water there to throw the 16-year-olds that work there off of my scent). Incidentally, I do smell like I sound!

I am looking for investors to join me in buying Cabin Creek, Colorado. It is a ghost town and it is for sale. It is only $350,000 for the five acre town. That seems kind of steep at first but that includes: a gas station with a garage, an eight-room motel, a restaurant, an RV park, two houses, a private shooting range... Supposedly the town used to be very popular but after a murder there in the 1970's it turned into a ghost town. It is not far from Denver and Aurora Colorado so even as an investment it might be a good buy. It is about 58 miles east of Denver. Even if we just got somebody to shoot a movie there people would come in droves. Maybe we could say Finding Dory was shot there "on location." We could say "John Wayne Slept Here" or Kevin Costner stayed here when shooting Dances With Wolves of something. Okay, that movie was filmed in: Wyoming, Kansas and South Dakota. Okay, Identity Thief (Melissa McCarthy, Jason Bateman), The Lone Ranger (Johnny Depp), The Hateful Eight (Samuel Jackson, Quentin Tarantino, Kurt Russell... all stayed at out hotel), Furious 7, The Sons of Katie Elder (John Wayne), Bowling For Columbine (Michael Moore), Independence Day (Will Smith...), Wyatt Earp (Costner), In The Line of Fire (Eastwood), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Harry Ford), Continental Divide (John Belushi), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Redford and Newman)... I have gone on too long with that list already but this city is a money-maker. Have your people call my people and do not cut me out of that deal or I will go Poltergeist on your town! I bet we could get The Sundance Kid to do his Sundance Film Festival there if we can get a really good theater or ten built in town.

I bet they'd take $200,000

I had better wrap-up so I can get ready and get to the store before we go to the theater. I was gonna try to take a nap but I screwed that up with blogging-on at the keys again. I hope you have a great night. I will probably not blog again until Saturday night or Sunday. Thank you, as always, for stopping by for my nonsense. My nonsense is the only thing that lets me go from day-to-day. TTTS or S...MITM (out) TA!

Baseball and Fireworks and Mark Twain - Happy Birthday 'Merica!

Denkinger must have had bets laid on the Royals

Before I forget I have to get this off of my chest - I HATE THAT MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL NOW HAS INSTANT REPLAY. Baseball is my favorite sport to watch and was always my favorite to play but part of the excitement is the close plays and close calls. If they were gonna start it why couldn't they have started it in 1985 when St. Louis was robbed of the World Series championship by a terrible call by umpire Don Denkinger. And, when there is a play challenge, a call has to be made to New York City at THE REPLAY COMMAND CENTER (yes, that is what they really call it). It's like that stupid old show Deal Or No Deal. Maybe the replay is to sell more commercial time and drag games out even longer to sell beer and peanuts and Cracker Jacks at the ballparks? Now we're lucky "if we ever get back."

Last night I watched Pride of the Yankees and the words were on the television screen. Lou Gehrig's (Gary Cooper) mom said to young Lou (of baseball) after he hit a ball through a window, "it's not the money, it's the time that you waste." The words on the television screen read, "it the tiny waist." That kind of changes the entire movie as I remember it. I love that Babe Ruth plays himself in this movie.

I am so tired of a-holes setting-off their own fireworks. Fireworks, on a whole, are pretty stupid and wasteful now that I think of it. Couldn't we use the money spent on fireworks shows and the like and do something altruistic with the money spent on this kind of stuff? Maybe they could use the money for glass eyes and prosthetic limb research for people who have been injured? I bet The Disney Company alone could stop poverty and hunger in half of the world if they put the money they spend on fireworks toward helping people. I have nothing against Disney - that was just the first thing that came to mind. I was curious what Sammy Clemens had to say about fireworks so I consulted one of my favorite books, The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain, and he said, "statistics show that we lose more fools on this day (4th of July) than in all other days of the year put together. This proves, by the number left in stock, that one Fourth of July per year is now inadequate, the country has grown so." I get my smart-ass side from him though, as I wrote in the blog yesterday, I keep a lot of that for the private performance in my mind these days.

The current Presidential campaign is bringing-out a lot of things I didn't know about a lot of people. There are many people that I know personally that I have discovered are more prejudice than I have known. That our country (as we know it today) was started by immigrants (even though we didn't seem to offer the same respect for the native people who lived here when out forefathers and foremothers arrived here) should make us, by tradition, much more tolerant and acceptable of people from other backgrounds and beliefs and personal preferences. It also saddens me that forefathers is a word but spell-check says that foremothers is not a word. I cannot tolerate any kind of profiling based on gender, race, religion, sexual-orientation... I think this current climate of campaigning is bringing a lot of this hatred to light again. I just deleted someone as a Facebook friend because of a post to this effect. I do not wish to see this kind of hatred and I will root it out when I see it even if that simply means unfriending someone. They will probably never even know that I did it but there is enough negativity around with me bringing it in myself by leaving that door (or window) open. Today being Independence Day in America should remind us of why we are here on this continent.

I am so happy that we have all the yard work done so I don't have to ache my bones (shiver me timbers) more today. I need today to recover my aches and pains. I think I will end now to enjoy some time with Cha Cha solving the world's problems. Have a great day and, if you're in U S and A, make sure to keep all of your phalanges in tact. TTTT (probably)...MITM (out) TA!

I am Who I Want to be (for now)

Can you find Cha Cha and I  and Waldo in this photo? We are not near one another

Happy Independence Day Eve American friends. Happy Saturday non-American friends. Cha Cha and I have had a pretty busy weekend so far. I had a rare Saturday of nothing scheduled so we went back to Woodstock after a five or six week hiatus. I finally got to check in on Facebook where we have been going all those weeks (even though I was always checking in where we had lunch and such. We have been going to the Blue Lotus Buddhist Temple and Meditation Center for meditation. When my Saturday dance-card filled-up we started to go to an off-shoot of theirs on Sunday nights in Geneva but it was not the same. Cha Cha was worried that narrow-minded people would think we were in occult or something. Most open-minded people realize that meditation is great but some people are not as enlightened. She had told some people and she got some mixed reactions but we are who we are and we like to meditate. It is really cool to spend time with these Buddhist monks too - I have met some very nice people on my life journey (many ready this right now - probably you - are among them) and these monks are among the kindest, unselfish, most caring people that I have ever met. I can see why people like: Tina Turner, Richard Gere, Herbie Hancock, Alex Rodriguez, Orlando Bloom, George Takei, Tiger Woods, Jennifer Lopez, Gordon Matthew Sumner (Sting), Brad Pitt, Bill Clinton, Oliver Stone, Uma, John Cleese, David Bowie, Rosa Parks (until her death)... were all Buddhists. I would not consider myself a Buddhist but I would not be embarrassed or ashamed to be categorized that way.

I have been told that I have changed a lot since I was sick. People are equating my earlier health problems (100% gone for quite some time) with me being more quiet and less engaging... I have made a conscious effort to change because I believe I was too judgmental before. I always seemed to want to be the center of attention. I take more pleasure in other people now and I am a lot more introspective. I am happy with the changes I have made in myself because of my inner peace but I think people are thinking I have issues from my very brief illness. That saddens me a bit because I have always been a very empathetic and caring person. I actually always have, and still do, care about others feelings and emotions more than I care about my own. If you find me changed and more quite and subdued just please realize that it is a conscious effort by me to be better to you and better for me. I will be a work-in-progress until I die and I am okay with that.

Yesterday I chopped down a tree in the backyard. I used an old fashioned ax. I don;t have use for modern conveniences like a chainsaw and such he wrote on a computer to launch into the geosynchronous orbit when he was done publishing his blog. Cha Cha and I also went over to Menard's and got stuff to redo the path on the side of the garage. I worked on that for awhile yesterday and then we went back to Menard's again today get more materials and I finished the path. I think it looks really nice. While I did that Cha Cha planted several plants and flagstoned around them and then we spread some river rock to fill the gaps. She did, as she always does, a fantastic job with the landscaping. I was so smart to marry such a talented farmer's daughter (they were/are both very talented in many ways). Tonight we are going to go to our usual Sunday hangout for drinks (for me that is iced tea) and eventually dinner (salad). My friend Mike is probably coming out too (he is my friend that lost his son a few weeks ago). I hope I can stay awake for a few hours there. I am sneaking my own Splenda packets in this week. They have the white packets (sugar), the pink packets (Sweet N Low) and the blue packets (Equal). I am a Splenda man and I am going to reach that 60-lbs lost mark when I weigh-in on Tuesday!!!! It is the same way that Ulysses Everett McGill would not use FOP - he was a Dapper Dan man! I am a Splenda man!

Hey, I think I need to go get my phone so I can listen to the Cardinals' game. I wanted to go to the game today as they are in Milwaukee but Fabio has to work. I cannot think of anyone else who would be interested in a Brewers - Cardinals game. It would have been a pain in the buttocks anyway with all the work we needed to get done around the yard today anyway. I just looked and that game id delayed for some reason. I also saw that the Cubs are losing 11 - 1 in the fifth inning.

I also worked-on Cha Cha's three-wheel bike. I don't remember if I told the story how all five human member of the household were instrumental in getting her the bike. Jeff is instrumental in going with her when he rides as she leashes him to the bike and yells "mush!" He really just runs next to her while she peddles. He loves to go places and she is his favorite in the world. She was saying the bike steered oddly but, as it turns-out, it looks like the front tire was a bit low, So, since we bought it used, I aired-up all the tires, put a new screw and washer on one of the rear wheel fenders and reattached her fancy basket on front. She has a basket on the back and one on the front. She seems to really like it and I got it for just $125.00 which, I am told, it a really good price for a three-wheeled bike.

I think I am going to sign-off for now as my shoulders are aching from typing after: chopping down a tree, lugging flagstone and bricks and leveling sand and river rocks as well as a lot of digging. I am a MIDDLE-aged Matt and I really feel it today. Cha Cha just came over and rubbed my shoulders and said, "you're so bony now." I think that is good, right? Of course, I responded with an off-color remark because, remember, the work is still IN PROGRESS!

Thank you for stopping-in today. I will blog again tomorrow even though it is my current home / country's birthday. Have a nice evening - TTTT...MITM (out) TA!

BE WELL
BE HAPPY
BE PEACEFUL