"Hooters..."

Now that I have your attention...

I heard quite a ruckus coming from my back porch this morning... I look out to see Blue Jays and Mockingbirds EVERYWHERE!!!

... and then I see this shape in one of my berry bushes...

HOLY COW!!!!

It seems that it is an Eastern Screech Owl...

You can read more about them HERE...   

Top to bottom, the owl can't be any more than 7 inches in length...

It seems that they are seldom seen during the day... so it makes me wonder if there is a pair nesting around here...

Also, most of the images that I can find of these birds have smaller tufts... so I am wondering if the erect tuft is due to agitation by the Jays or if it's designed to make the bird look bigger than it is... which would also be a defensive stance.

How cool!!

~shoes~

"Funerals..."

I thought it to be odd when my former students started 

getting married and having children...

Then I thought it to be strange when I learned there was a student enrolled that was the child of a former student...

Today, I attended a funeral for the husband of a former student...

This was really different...

She was so grief~stricken...

I don't "do" Death well...

Maybe in an attempt to alleviate my own anxiety,

I turned to a friend that was seated next to me

 and commented that I wanted my funeral 

to be held in a Mexican Restaurant...

As the guest of Honor, I want to be cremated and have my ashes placed in a decorative urn...

... and maybe for shiznits and giggles, a very decorative sombrero could be placed atop the urn!!

... and then funeral ... er... party favors could be stuffed into Piñatas…

... and then a mariachi band that would play my mostest favoritest Mariachi song...

My favorite Mezkin place here used to have musicians on Thursday night... these guys could play ANYTHING!!!!!

They seemed to expect that I was going to have them play 'Black Magic Woman' and 'The Wall"... you haven't lived until you have heard 'The Wall' performed mariachi~style...

There would be plenty of margaritas... for everyone!!!

That sounds pretty cool to me!!!

... and what would a party be without strippers?!?!?!?!

What a funeral...

Too bad I won't be able to experience it...

...As I said... I don't "do" Death well...

~shoes~

"You're Only Lonely..."

Part II

James Taylor and J. D. Souther...

I wrote last about J.D. Souther and his wonderful compositions... I guess I was so fixated on his work with Glenn Frey and the Eagles that I totally forgot this gem!!!!



I found an older blog post by someone that describes it much better than I can. HERE  is a link to his description.     

He has a new recording out... 'Natural History'... it would be tantamount to what one would call one's greatest hits...

"How Long"

'Natural History'

J. D. Souther

AUGH!!!!!!!!!

So stripped down and so beautiful!!

There is an interview where he said he wanted this album to sound like it would if you happened to come by his house and catch  him playing while sitting on his sofa...

What a voice...

"Best Of My Love"

'Natural History'

J. D. Souther

Still such an outrageous voice...

~shoes~

"Rock And Roll..."

'When you're only lonely...'

J.D. Souther

A younger fellow...

I'm a frustrated musician... I've told you that before.  Ever since that first night when I saw The BeaTles on 'The Ed Sullivan Show,' I was hooked on guitars and music.  I loved the song writing abilities of John Lennon and Paul McCartney... after a while, I got to where I could tell who wrote what parts of a song... and eventually, they each would write their own song for the band, but due to the agreement between them, each song still carried 'Lennon/McCartney' as the writers.

Are you familiar with a fellow by the name of John David Souther?  He is quite an accomplished song writer... if you don't know who he is, you have certainly heard his music before.  To me, he is one of those distinctive writers that just leaves his mark on his songs.

J.D. and Jackson Browne

This is one of his songs that he wrote and recorded... that actually got some air play on the radio back in the days.

"You're Only Lonely"

What a great song that is!!!

He was born in Detroit, and lived in Amarillo, TX where he was greatly influenced by Roy Orbison... I can hear a bit of Roy in his work.  In the late '60s, he moved to Los Angeles where he became friends and roommates with Glenn Frey. Another musician by the name of Jackson Browne lived in the same complex.  Souther and Frey had several musical collaborations... duos.. bands and such.

Some of J.D. Souther's great collaborations led to such songs as this one...

'New Kid In Town...'

"... they will never forget you until somebody 

new comes around..."

There is something about the chord structures.. something about the harmonies... and the tempo... that just told me when I first heard it that J.D. Souther had a hand in this song.

J.D. and his once-upon-a-time girlfriend,

Linda Ronstadt

He also helped to write 'Best of My Love,' 'Heartache Tonight,' and 'Victim of Love.'

He also contributed to this song...

'How Long'

This song, 'How Long,' was actually written back in the early 70's, and they played it but never recorded it until recently.  There is a great video of The Eagles playing this song back in 1973... you can find it HERE.

I can hear something he wrote... and just know it was him.

The Eagles had asked J.D. Souther to join the band... they even knew that he "fit,"  but he refused, citing that he didn't want to tour.

J.D.

Somewhere along the way,

we just get old...

Have I told you all how much I love music?

~shoes~

"A Thanksgiving..."

MOMENT!!!!!

WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!?!?!

or...

"I bet my thanksgiving was more bizarre than yours..."

This 'Bingo' card could easily be used to grade what a Thanksgiving with my family would normally be like... especially the "Someone Cries" block at the top.  There is an old saying in our family that it just isn't the holidays until someone cries.

I wound up traveling to spend Thanksgiving Day with my son, ~BoyShoes~...  despite the fact that I had started the week prior trying to get things planned, organized... so everyone would know where everyone else was going to be on Thursday, the fact of the matter is that  it still wound up being Thursday before all plans were settled.

Our plans were to visit several restaurants in Oxford... where he lives. Several were planning to have massive quantities of food for employees and friends of employees.  My son calls to tell me that he is heading on towards the restaurant where we will meet.... I get there just about the time my son is walking up... and he has a young lady with him.  He always has women with him... he is a babe magnet... it's astounding.

Anyway... me meet up... introductions are made... and she is reluctant to enter this one particular restaurant.  When I asked her why, she responded with 'the fellow who owns this place was trying to talk me into going home with him last night...'

M'kay... 

She goes in with us... and there is tension between her and the owner for most of the time that we are there... she tells me how uncomfortable he makes her...  she says that she has tried to tell him that she went to her own home alone the previous night... slept in her own bed...  

I'm still not too sure why this is a topic of conversation...

Oh... the food was great... delicious... wonderful...

We eventually head out to another restaurant... for more food... and to watch the Ole Miss/ Miss State football game... Ole Miss is located in Oxford, and the game was being played at State...

So we are eating more... watching the football game... ~BoyShoes~ disappears... just walks off. So his female friend and I are eating... and she says to me...

out of nowhere... out of the clear blue sky... nowhere, mind you...

"I spent the night last night with a fuck buddy..."

Never being one to be lost for words, my comment was something along the line of... "Did you have a good time?"  I mean, I would guess that if one is going to be carnally involved with another, it should be fun... no??

She goes on to tell me how cheap she felt later when she was going home... and again, not being one that is lost for words, I make some comment about the 'walk of shame'...


The she tells me that when she woke up that morning, she was alone... that he was sleeping on the sofa... and that made her feel even more used...

and I'm still thinking...

"WWWHHHHAAAATTTT!?!?!?!?!?"

She asked me how she should interpret that... and I said something along the lines of maybe your snoring was keeping him awake... and then I offered up the possibility that once he was finished, he wanted to sleep... I wasn't being ugly, necessarily...


So... later... I was thinking....  Why was she telling me all of the stuff that she told me today?  She seemed to be into ~BoyShoes~...  and I would think that if I were meeting someone's parent, I would try to make a good impression... not start talking about impromptu hook-ups...

While thinking back through the time line, she told me that the owner of this one restaurant was wanting her to spend the night with him... then she said she spent the night at her place... and then she tells me she spends the night with a fuckbuddy... her words, not mine.

Bizarre.... insanely bizarre... stupidly bizarre...

I mentioned none of this to ~BoyShoes~... not sure how I would broach the topic... I would greatly appreciate anyone's thoughts... ideas... or input on what happened...

~shoes~

"November 22, 1963..."

Wow...

This coming Friday, November 22... will be the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.  I remember a part of that day that I doubt I will ever forget as long as I live.

I say that because for the most part, that morning and noontime in my world was the same as any other day of that week... or month... or year.

It was a Friday, and most of my friends and I were ready for Thanksgiving that would come that next week.  I was in the 7th grade, and we had been outside playing during lunch recess...  the 1:00 PM bell rang to tell us it was time to go back inside and resume our work...

(... happening while we were playing...)

As we came into the hallway, we were told to get to our homerooms immediately and to sit down... this wasn't normal.  When we went into our rooms, we were told to sit down and to be quiet.  A radio was being played over the P.A. system...

(...happening while we were playing...)

... we were able to listen and eventually we heard a voice say that "... the president has been shot."  We were kids, but we knew that wasn't good... there were gasps... there were "Oh no's"... 

We listened and were hearing of places that meant nothing special to us... "Dealey Plaza"... Dallas, Texas...  the president was to make a speech.

"Dealey Plaza"

Dallas, TX

Texas Book Depository Building

And then came the radio version of this announcement...



Things really changed... I immediately started wondering what was going to happen now... we had come closer to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union... far closer than many people will ever realize... and what was going to happen now?

Someone at school decided that we needed to maintain  our class schedule for the rest of the day... and we did.  The only thing I can remember though is going to a P.E. class... playing basketball.., and actually making a shot from the free throw line.

At the end of the school day, we took the buses home... and I ran to my family's business, where I knew Mom and Dad would be.  That symbolized 'safety' for me.

We would gather around the TV that evening... and learn of Lee Harvey Oswald...

... the fellow who had been arrested and charged with having killed a Dallas police officer and President Kennedy.  One comment I remember my Dad making...

"Hell... he doesn't look smart enough to have done this..."

My Dad wasn't a Kennedy fan... and he was already guessing at who was involved in the killing of the President.  I had no idea that much of the country was wondering the exact same thing.

... and a few days later, while Lee Harvey Oswald was being moved to a "safer" location, he was shot and killed by a fellow named Jack Ruby... a very low-level mob-connnected guy.  This would just fuel more speculation about who all was involved in this act.

Mom and Dad saved copies of the newspapers for all of us... I'm sure my recently departed dear sister got all of them... they were probably used for packing and moving stuff from her house.

Later that Friday, aboard Air Force One, Lyndon Baines Johnson was sworn into office as the next president of the United States... Mrs. Kennedy was by his side... Johnson had demanded that she be there, and she made the comment that she felt she needed to be there... she was wearing the same suit that she was earlier in the day when her husband was assassinated.

... and later that evening, JFK was returned to Washington, DC...

Seeing on TV... the unloading of the casket... and then Lyndon Johnson later speaking into a bank of microphones on the tarmac... was the ending of a very bizarre day for this kid.

My recollection  is that we stayed glued to the television set for the next few days... wanting to know what was going to happen next.

~shoes~

Edited:

I 've read another blog where someone referred to the shooter/shooters of JFK as having been 'right-wing nut jobs'...  I found this photo which sheds an interesting light on such a perception.

~shoes~

"Larry Packs Porn..."

and He Don't Care...

PART II!!!

(Part I of this post can be found HERE!!)  

Scooter, aka Liam Larry... is an amazing fool....

These revelations with Liam Larry always seem to occur while we are having dinner.

Larry is fixated... obsessed... by porn, Bless his heart his little pointed head.

He laughs and jokes about it, but it isn't funny...

So... at dinner tonight, he shares with me...

"I bet I've seen 800 blow jobs in the past few days..."

So that got me to thinking...

... which more often than not, is scary.

Very Scary...

So, Liam Larry says, 

"just imagine, while I'm teaching,

More than likely,  someone is getting a blow job."

Personally, I don't want to think about 

blow jobs and Liam Larry at the same time...

AUGH!!!!!!!!!

She definitely has compression here...

OK... this may just simply be the guy coming out in me, 

but I want to see them meet in the middle now!!

Damn... I bet she hates when that happens...

Mom used to tell me that when I would cross my eyes...

That is ONE  valid argument!!!!

Oh Baby...

Well... like I said, 

I started thinking...

~shoes~