Existing In BFE

Autopsy Photos of a Dead Town - Part One Seaton Ball Diamond When we were kids there were places that were alive in our small village of Seaton.  The post office, Bill's Texaco station, the bank and the grain elevator.  Before that it was the restaurant.  Before that it was the grocery store.  All gone now.  There was also the ball diamond and our softball team in the Church League.  Bro Phil played center field, I played left field, and the Wombie was the catcher.  herb was our manager.   Right after school was out we'd meet up here and practice for the coming season.  Dave, Randy, Ivan, Jeff and Jeff, and Cole.  One year we even had a Japanese kid who was learning farming from the Duncan's. Marj would park her car as close to the action as she could and honk whenever we scored or her boys did anything good.  This was where we went to grade school but the building was abandoned after consolidation with Aledo a

Yesterday I went to Wal-Mart.  Not because I wanted to but because the current Mrs. Blythe did.  While there I witnessed two people who were wearing clothes many sizes too small. A few folks who looked like they crawled from under an overpass and were looking for company or a place to piss.  Two people looked like they were about to go at it over something and on the way out, three people huddled while one dramatically gossiped about a mutual acquaintance, the one talking animated like they reveled in the telling.    I've never been so relieved to get out of a place except maybe the dentist.   On the way to the car I railed on the current Mrs. Blythe to use Amazon as a way to avoid this place and that I must get out of this state.  She correctly said its not this state, its everywhere.  That was a terrifying statement.  And then I started thinking.  Maybe it is everywhere.  Everything sucks.  Everything is broken, tainted or just plain bad. Doesn't it seem that t

Taken November 2019 in Northlandia.

++++++++++ I might be the only one out there who doesn't like Bill Murray.  I've never found him particularly funny.  The gopher scene in Caddyshack didn't seem inspired to me.  He looked developmentally disabled.  The snarky, smirky, wink-wink "aren't I just too cool for words" persona does nothing for me.  But I think I am alone.  Been there before. ++++++++++ ++++++++++ In the past week or so there have been F-16's buzzing around in the area.  We aren't too far from the National Guard station at the Airport.  I have tried to get a video but by the time I get my iPhone out and into videos the thing is gone. This is the best I could do. ++++++++++ I'm so "out of it" I don't know who Billie Eilish is. ++++++++++ Read this somewhere:  It is likely there is no higher level of trust than two cannibals having oral sex. ++++++++++ ++++++++++

Bro Phil and G-Ma Mona (Seaton) Many Moons Ago

It Is A New Year First off, happy new year.  I won't capitalize it because it seems odd to see those three words treated like any other words in a sentence.  We flip a calendar page and it is all new again.  We resolve the usual things, and usually they fall to the side within days if not hours.  So what really is new?  Nothing.  Just a new page on the calendar.  It could work with any day.  Nothing is really magical from December 31 to January 1.  It could just as easily be January 22 to January 23.  It all depends on us.  Us. For the most part we spread our legs for stability and gird ourselves for whatever life throws at us.  We react.  If we get knocked off our feet, we generally pick ourselves up and then wait for the next blow.  Some don't, of course.  Some come up with their own remedies, usually to the detriment of their loved ones.   So what have I been thinking about?  My Mets, of course, who search for their second manager since November.  This t

Keithsburg Levee, November 2019

++++++++++  ++++++++++ I enjoyed most of the playoff games but sometimes the arcane clichés used by the announcers get under my skin.  One of my favorites was "He is being very physical..."  What the Hell does that mean especially in the context of football being, essentially, a physical sport? Also, he endless hyperbole is exhausting. ++++++++++ ++++++++++ Sunday I came up with an invention that is a surefire moneymaker.  I even talked to the current Mrs. Blythe and she agreed.  In the next few days I'm going to try and come up with a design or prototype.  Maybe look into patent law.  I know you are dying to see it, but give me a little time to perfect it.  I'm calling it The Pecker Pocket.  You are really intrigued now, aren't you? ++++++++++ ++++++++++ Ayla received Super Star of the Week honors at school.   ++++++++++ Chilly week.  As I write this i

Aging is not a battle.  It is a massacre. C. 2000 C.  2018 This is the old grain elevator my grandfather purchased and Dad bought from him back in the day.  We boys had a lot of fun playing in this place.  

Poignant and sad words from Charles Pierce in Esquire: “In my life, I have watched John Kennedy talk on television about missiles in Cuba. I saw Lyndon Johnson look Richard Russell squarely in the eye and and say, "And we shall overcome.” I saw Richard Nixon resign and Gerald Ford tell the Congress that our long national nightmare was over. I saw Jimmy Carter talk about malaise and Ronald Reagan talk about a shining city on a hill. I saw George H.W. Bush deliver the eulogy for the Soviet bloc, and Bill Clinton comfort the survivors of Timothy McVeigh’s madness in Oklahoma City. I saw George W. Bush struggle to make sense of it all on September 11, 2001, and I saw Barack Obama sing “Amazing Grace” in the wounded sanctuary of Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina. These were the presidents of my lifetime. These were not perfect men. They were not perfect presidents, god knows. Not one of them was that. But they approached the job, and the

Seaton from my drone.

Florida bug.  ++++++++++ +++++++++++ I'm not sure but if you click on the sentence below it might take you to a Reddit thingy. Her reaction to seeing my face after our nap from r/aww If it doesn't work, then, well I tried.   ++++++++++  ++++++++++ Saw this guy at Target this last weekend.  And no, I didn't ask. ++++++++++ Also spotted while cruising down Central Avenue was this cool Maclaren.  They had just gotten in and were taking the top down.  A used one costs about $75,000.  ++++++++++ Those cards and letters keep pouring in wondering how Whizzbang is.  We have discovered a dog park that is huge and has walking paths for owners.  Dogs run around doing what packs do and they'll check on you when they feel like it.  Whizz is worships me so she doesn't ever stray too far.  It is fun to lose each other and then finally have her spy me clear across the way.

A rainbow stuck in the clouds.

Christmas with a Collie It was Christmas Eve morning in the continent’s largest alpine valley. An inch or two of snow had fallen during the bone-chilling night. In the east, a winter sun rose, in glorious pink and gold splendor. Two sets of tracks were written in the clean white crystals: one of two feet, one set of four. The creators of these winter hieroglyphics were surrounded by the glistening snow. One appreciated the diamonds with his eyes, the other with his nose. The snowfall made for a clean slate upon which the scents of wandering rabbits and packrats stood out clearly . The man walked slowly. The Border Collie rocketed to and fro, but always kept a watchful eye on his companion. They were on a mission. The man held a pruning saw in one mittened hand. They passed the cottonwood tree beneath which a coyote was nestled in his den. The Border Collie and the coyote had made their uneasy peace long ago. Stay away from the chickens and you can have your