All The World Loves Alice

Short post – mind is blank…

One of the coolest things is to see the sun poking through the clouds off in the distance. You can see the rays of sun flowing down beneath the clouds. Pretty cool.

Torrential – I like that word. And Poppycock.

I think the bus couple (the “buple”) is a couple no more. She hasn’t been on the bus for close to a month now, but he still rides. A couple of months ago I thought I saw her one morning running from her car to his so they could sit together waiting for the bus. They definitely seemed to be “together” but I don’t think they are married to each other. Hmmmm, I say.

Bernie Taupin wrote nearly all the lyrics for Elton John’s songs while Elton wrote the music. Obviously, they are one of the best songwriting duos over the last 40 years. I wonder, tho, if Elton ever writes lyrics, or if Bernie ever writes music. I also am curious if the words come first (which I think they do in most cases) and, if so, does Bernie ever listen to the finished song and think “I never imagined that song as a ballad” or “Those were great lyrics and the music stinks!” Just curious.

Lyric of the Day: “Don’t discard me” – “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me”, Elton John

Let It Ride?

I’ve found a few cool videos on YouTube over the last month or so.

This video is of an animal called the Lyre Bird. This bird has an incredible knack for impersonations. A must see.

This next video is an acoustic cover of Outkast’s “Hey Ya”. You might think an acoustic version of a hip-hop song wouldn’t work. Think again.

Have lung, will hack.

So KQRS, a classic rock radio station here in the Twin Cities, had their annual Memorial Day countdown of the top 500 songs of all time. Let’s just say the list was a joke. There were a few songs I agreed with, but to say that Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” isn’t in the top 100 is blasphemous!! Some top 10 songs that shouldn’t have been in there -Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s “Let It Ride” (maybe in the CANADIAN top 10), Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” (it’s really his best song? No way) – great songs they both are but c’mon, top 10??? Call me when you have a REAL top 10.

Ok, so here a few songs I can think of that are top 10 worthy, but there are others:
The Beatles – “A Day in the Life”
Rolling Stones – “Satisfaction”
Lynyrd Skynrd – “Free Bird”
Led Zeppelin – “Stairway to Heaven” (Should be #1)
Bruce Springsteen – “Born to Run”
Bob Dylan – “Like a Rolling Stone”
The Who – “My Generation”
The Eagles – “Hotel California” (at least Top 20)
Aerosmith – “Dream On”
Partridge Family – “I Think I Love You” (OK, just seeing if you’re paying attention)
Queen – “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Pink Floyd – “Comfortably Numb”
Derek & The Dominoes – “Layla”
Eric Clapton – “Cocaine”

Honorable Mentions:
The Who – “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, “Baba O’Riley”
The Beatles – “Come Together”, “Hey Jude”
Aerosmith – “Sweet Emotion”
ZZ Top – “Cheap Sunglasses”
CSNY – “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”
Dire Straits – “Sultans of Swing”
Fleetwood Mac – “Go Your Own Way”
Rod Stewart – “Maggie May”
Stevie Wonder – “Superstition”
The Doors – “Break On Through (To The Other Side)”
Rolling Stones – “Sympathy For The Devil”

Lyric of the Day: “Remember when I was so strange and likeable?” – “Back In Your Head”, Tegan and Sara

Memorial Day

Thank you to all who have fought and sacrificed and continue to fight in service to this great country. Let us never forget.

“And I’m proud to be an American,
Where at least I know I’m free.
And I won’t forget the men who died,
Who gave that right to me.” – Lee Greenwood

‘The patriot’s blood is the seed of Freedom’s tree.” – Thomas Campbell

“Cover them over with beautiful flowers,
Deck them with garlands, those brothers of ours,
Lying so silent by night and by day
Sleeping the years of their manhood away.
Give them the meed they have won in the past;
Give them the honors their future forcast;
Give them the chaplets they won in the strife;
Give them the laurels they lost with their life.”
~Will Carleton

“We come, not to mourn our dead soldiers, but to praise them.” – Francis A. Walker

“Freedom is never free.” – Unknown

Lyric of the Day: “Find the cost of freedom buried in the ground. Mother Earth will swallow you, lay your body down.” – “Find the Cost of Freedom”, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

I Keep My Feathers Numbered

I love holiday weekends. Getting that extra day off doesn’t seem like it would be that big a deal but everyone looks forward to it. No sleeping in on Monday, tho. The Tahoe team gets their bikes picked up at the LLS office I think at 7:30 or 8 in the morning. The bikes will be wrapped in a blanket and loaded on to a semi. Bikes from multiple chapters will be on the same truck as it makes its way to Lake Tahoe for next weekend’s ride.

I’ve noticed that the seats on the right hand side of the bus (when sitting down) have a couple more inches of leg room, I believe because there is one less row of seats – to accommodate for wheelchairs. Don’t tell anyone else who rides my bus that, or they’ll sit their first. And I’ll be sad.

So we have an evergreen tree out our front door that stands about 10-12 feet tall. For the last couple of years a robin has built her nest in that tree – about 4 feet off the ground. Typically the girls leave the birds alone or are oblivious to the fact that they’re even there… until the last week or so.

We usually let the girls out the front door, they’ll sniff around the tree, we’ll tell them “no”, they’ll go away and do their business, no problems. Well, apparently yesterday while the girls were a few feet away from the tree the mother bird decides she’s going to fly out of the tree. The two baby birds decide to follow her (the first time we’ve seen them fly) and Gracie grabs it in mid flight.

I was at work so Julie was by herself, and she doesn’t do so well in these situations – her dog standing there with a live bird in its mouth. Julie gets Gracie to drop the bird, at which point the mother and father are quite upset and other robins join in the ruckus. Before she knows it, a dead bird is on the ground, angry birds or flying overhead and dive-bombing the dogs, and Julie is frantically trying to get them into the house. She calls me at work and notifies me that there is a bird killer in the family and a dead bird waiting for me when I get home. Wonderful.

Although, I do get a chuckle picturing Gracie with feathers flying out of her mouth, like in the cartoons. But unlike in the cartoons, the bird didn’t get out alive this time. “Fortunately, I keep my feathers numbered, for just such an emergency.” – Foghorn Leghorn

Lyric of the Day: “Everyone’s a Captain Kirk” – “99 Red Balloons”, Nena

My Tinctured Egress

Wow, has it been crazy. Does anyone even bother to come to this blog anymore? Well, I guess I’ll find out. If you still check this on a regular or somewhat regular basis then I apologize for your wasted time and thank you for still showing an interest. It has been WAAAYYY too long. I promise to update more often.

I can’t really come up with any other reason for it having been so long other than I’ve been either very busy or sick. I had been writing my posts while on the bus (which is what I’m doing now) but I’ve been using that time lately to get caught up on other things, including sleep. Although I don’t sleep on the bus - perhaps just “rest the eyes” - but it does seem to help.

We kicked off the fall season last week. This year Julie has the Twin Cities Marathon and the Dublin Marathon. So cool. We have an incredible team assembled for Dublin – awesome people who are a blast to hang out with. Like I was telling the other TNT folk this is going to be an event that will be talked about for a long time. If you haven’t signed up yet I strongly urge you to. It’s going to be great! And it’s in DUBLIN!!!

When you were in grade school did you have something on your playground that looked like a big funnel on top of a pole? There would be 4 or 5 chutes coming out of the bottom of the funnel, each numbered and a different color. You and your friends would each stand under one of the chutes and then throw a basketball or playground ball into the top of the funnel and see who’s chute it would come out of – or out of who’s chute the ball would come – or anticipate the emergence of the sphere whilst gazing upon your pre-chosen enumerated, tinctured egress tube. Where was I going with this?

Lyric of the day: “Did you ever read about a frog who dreamed of bein’ a king… and then became one? Well, except for the names and a few other changes, if you talk about me, the story’s the same one.” – “I Am… I Said”, Neil Diamond