Scary Day Part One

Read this:

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2006_05_23/en/index.html

Sad Day Part 2

Well, a different kind of sad day here in the country.

A robin recently decided to nest just above our barn door this spring. 2 beautiful blue robin's eggs followed. Mama seemed to always be on the nest or near by, a real good mother to be.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. Babies are born, mother spends even more time on the nest, only leaving to retrieve worms. I even offer her a couple while I was gardening, but she wanted to work for her meals.

Well, this wonderful mother is no match for a large jay or crow, as yesterday morning, there were a couple of very dead baby birds strewn on the driveway with lots of serious pecking marks, a nest on the ground, and no sign of mom. Luckily, Grace is too young to figure out what happened, or we would be in family therapy right now.

And some Fu@%^ing rabbits just ate all of the leaves off my brand new cosmos that weren't even in the ground yet. Last week, they went after the parsley.

I will be seeking permission for a shotgun later today.

Sad Day

Grant McLennan died last week.

It’s okay if you don’t know who he was. Most people didn’t.

He was one of the founders of The Go-Betweens, a revered Australian pop group.

I never actually liked the Go-Betweens, even though I have promised myself to give those records another listen.

I first heard Grant (then known as “G.W. McLennan”) while driving a cargo van in the Hudson Valley with my wife. We were returning a sound mixer’s gear to his country house somewhere in Ulster County that I can’t remember when we stumbled upon this great radio station, WDST, out of Woodstock. (WDST is still on the air, and while it isn’t as great as it used to be it is better than any commercial rock station in New York City.)

“Easy Come Easy Go”, even played through those shitty rental van speakers sounded fantastic. Simple 2 part harmonies, luscious guitar hooks, and clever songwriting. I was an instant fan.

Over the intervening years, I only saw him perform once, but I bought every record and was always pleased. He was one of those performers who no matter what, I always bought his new record when it came out.

This is one of those times I wish I had something big to say. I don’t. I just enjoyed his work and am sad that he was taken before he finished making music.

Somebody call Ripley's

Did you know that Keith Richards had brain surgery today to relieve bleeding on his brain.

The reason for the operation is...

He fell out of a coconut tree while on holiday.


Could you imagine if he dies of this?
"Noted heroin addict and alcoholic dies from Coconuts."

Here is the link:
http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/news/article362885.ece

Quiz Show

Click the link for a good geography quiz c/o the National Geographic.

http://www9.nationalgeographic.com/roper2006/question_01.html


If you email me, I will tell you my score.

Why I love vacation

Becasue I can make things like this:

In case you are wondering, that is 35 bags of sand at 40lbs. each.