NewscomaGot A Two-Pack Habit And A Motel Tan

There was a cat that had died when I was around 10. I think it got nicked by a car and had some outrageous internal injuries that it didn’t survive. It was a regular gray cat.

They are everywhere here. Not a lot changes. There are always cats around here. Cats apparently procreate.

I don’t know if the cat was male or female but we watched it over a series of days. It went from being just a dead cat to a science experiment. The day we saw the buzzard, we backed away.

Buzzards are serious business. You don’t mess with a buzzard.

I had never seen a dead animal before and I have never seen one succumb to nature and the process that goes with it. It went through just being dead to rotting into a pile of maggots and one of us, I can’t remember which one, poked it with a stick although I think it was me. The cat was in bad shape. That action didn’t help.

So any time I see Stand By Me, which is on AMC tonight, I think of the cat.

I always do.

I haven’t had a Twinkie in about 30 years.

But, well, there’s this:

What is the shelf life of a Twinkie? If I found a Twinkle packed way with my college stuff from 15 years ago, can I still eat it?

Your better run if you find a Twinkie next to your “Top Gun” poster and lava lamp in the dusty box marked “College” that’s sat behind the water heater in your basement’s nether region since the Reagan administration.

It’s not going to be pretty.

“The preservatives in Twinkies prohibit mold growth for about 21 days,” said a spokesman for Hostess, who wished to not be identified. “Contrary to the popular myth out there, Twinkies don’t last for years and years.”

Well, who knew. I always thought they tasted 15 years old but maybe that’s just me.

Not to be confused with the Twinkie Defense.

She never had the commitment needed to run this country. She’s asleep right now anyway snoring blissfully and most likely dreaming about kibble. She will settle for a cabinet position under Barack Obama as Head of Canine Affairs.

Barack Obama gave an interview with Cathleen Falsani while he was running for the U.S. Senate in 2004 which she has reposted at The Dude Abides.

It’s a long yet fascinating interview.

Here’s a snippet:

GG:
Do you believe in sin?

OBAMA:
Yes.

GG:
What is sin?

OBAMA:
Being out of alignment with my values.

GG:
What happens if you have sin in your life?

OBAMA:
I think it’s the same thing as the question about heaven. In the same way that if I’m true to myself and my faith that that is its own reward, when I’m not true to it, it’s its own punishment.

There’s more. I recommend it highly.

H/T Terry Heaton

Photo credit

$4.00.

We live in historical times, my friends. From the democratic presidential campaign this year to a war we went to on false pretenses to gas costing $4.00, it is a time, in my humble opinion, that we will look back to as we grow older.

All the economists and pundits in the world can say what they want about this, people can say that the United States got a pass for years with lower gas prices, but the bottom line is it doesn’t matter when a person is trying to keep to a budget. Where are local governments going to get the money for their gas budgets?

People like you and I.

The bottom line is that our gas budgets have increased 10 percent in one month. That’s a spanking.

People are losing their jobs due to the increase in gas prices and the economy. Every single day you hear of working folks losing their jobs.

$4.00.

Rural America has already been hit hard due to location. There are no buses. Farm land spreads us out.  That’s food, campers. What’s going to happen next?

Yeah, I’m a bit cranky this morning. Not only are we going to end up paying over and over again, but my nieces and nephews will take the brunt of it as they enter adulthood.

Okay, I’m done. It’s a blog. I can bitch.

I am not afraid of monsters. I’ve never seen one.

This, however, is much more frightening to me than monsters.

News reports said the man jumped out of the truck and began stabbing the people he’d knocked down, then turned on horrified onlookers. The attacker grunted and roared as he slashed and stabbed at his victims on a street crowded with Sunday shoppers, reports said.

“He was screaming as he was stabbing people at random,” another unidentified witness told NHK.

Police confirmed seven deaths — six men and one woman — but they could not say whether the victims died from injuries from the truck or were stabbed to death.

Police said they arrested Tomohiro Kato, 25, at the scene.

Seriously, stuff like this gives me the shivers.

In 1998, my mother died after a battle with cancer that was intense. I don’t think she was ready to go but who really is.

And I fell into myself. I smiled at work, I went through the motions and I grieved harder than anyone can imagine. To think about that year, I honestly can say it was a blur. Food lost taste, I slept a lot because I was obviously depressed and I don’t think I’ve ever been through anything like that experience. I don’t want to go through it again, I can tell you that much.

And baseball saved me.

The chase to break Roger Maris’ home run record brought me back to life. Before congressional hearings and steroid use shamed Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire, it was a joyous time for baseball. I became obsessed with it, watching the Cubs and the Cardinals with a fervor that I cannot explain. I was transfixed, planning my days to watch the teams to see what was going to happen next. Squirrel Queen and I would trek up to Busch Stadium and watch McGwire although I have to admit I never saw him hit a home run. Didn’t matter.

So yesterday I’m watching one of those shows that was focusing on the greatest moments in baseball which included Ozzie Smith hitting a home run and collectively clinching the world series (that wasn’t his forte) and Kirk Gibson serving Dennis Eckersley when he hit that famous home run that you’ve seen a million times.

And then it showed McGwire beating Maris’s record and the joy of that moment that included having Sammy Sosa meet him as he crossed home.

This is where I’m a baby. I’ve saw this event when it happened live and probably dozens of times since then, but yesterday I got all teary-eyed.

It’s amazing how things, when a person is as full as I am a bit right now, wash over you. Grief can hit you at anytime.

And it was that baseball season that helped me get through mine.