Sometimes this blog TORTURES ME to no end!

This blogsite is part of "blogger.com" dept.: This is the SECOND TIME I've tried to do this blog entry. As I was typing this stuff the first time around, under my blog screen, all of a sudden there appeared a little yellow triangle with an "!" inside, and the message, "connection has been lost; publishing may fail, re-connect now!" So, I spent about half an hour trying to reconnect. ACK, SHEESH, &%$*!*&!!!. I guess you get what you pay for, though; after all, this blog site is free. So, this blogsite must be run by a bunch of know-nothing BOZOS. After all, it's free. You get what you pay for. But, now, I've gotta hurriedly type everything before I get zapped off again!
____________________

This is my own individual "FESTIVUS" dept.: (A holiday for the rest-of-us, right?) I really don't celebrate Christmas like a lot of people do. Oh, I believe in all of the concepts of Christianity, but I don't do the Church thing; I don't do the "presents" thing, and I'm not especially sociable to begin with. But, TODAY is my holiday! It's the winter solstice! All the days are gonna be gettin' longer from here on in! (Although the next 2 and a half months are usually the coldest winter months!) I don't look forward to "single holidays"; rather, I like to try and enjoy every day if I can. So, inside, I'm celebrating! Yaaaay! For, better days are comin'. It's nice to have something positive to post once in a while!
____________________

Now this is my kind of holiday service dept.: I read today, that a church in Spokane holds a "Blue Christmas" service every year. No, it's not a service featuring music by Elvis imitators, thank you, thank you very much. It's a service, where people basically go into the sanctuary and meditate upon how their life is going, their frustrations, their worries and problems, their loneliness and their losses. Now, that sounds like something I'd go to. Sometimes, when I can just sit in solitude for a while, without a whole lotta bells & whistles going on around me, I actually find meself relaxing and perhaps coping with things a little better. I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, but this is a difficult time of year for me and lotsa other people out there.
____________________

Uh-oh, he's been reading the newspaper again dept.: Well, today, I felt a little more "centered", and as such, I seemed to absorb more of what I was reading in the noozpaper. It's gotta be the cheapest form of entertainment on earth. Every day, a fresh batch of news, comics and information. I'm always looking forward to seeing "what's going on". Spokesman-Review, yer doin' a good job. Some things I noticed today (with comments, of course)...

Put me in, coach, I'm ready to play...today...dept.: Great to learn that former Gonzaga basketballer Ronny Turiaf is getting ready to play again after open-heart surgery. He's quite a brave guy. I think his chances of success are good. Look at what former Seattle Mariner John Olerud accomplished after surgery for a brain aneurysm. Go get 'em, Ronny!

Is our current administration loaded with a bunch of CROOKS? dept.: A political cartoon caught my eye; down below, President Bush is saying, "So this is power! No limit to what I can do!" And up above, Richard Nixon is pointing to Bush, and saying, "I do believe he's got it!" (Not sure if Nixon's 'up above' or not, ha ha) This, of course, was in reference to Bush authorizing domestic spying on unsuspecting citizens in the wake of "9-11". I'm no political animal, but it looks like this administration keeps shooting itself in the foot.

A few examples...Bush got really popular after 9-11, but then "sunk" because of the Iraq war, which is just a big MISTAKE. The haphazard response to the hurricane Katrina situation didn't do him any favors either. Then, "Bush" began recovering a bit when the economy began improving. And now, Bush is sinking again; I have heard the term "impeachment" tossed around, because of this "spying" situation. And the Vice President is in total agreement with Bush on this issue. It is gonna be INTERESTING to see how this thing plays out!

I'll bet he's glad to be out of Seattle dept.: The Seattle Mariners are in the process of letting pitcher Ryan Franklin go elsewhere. For years, Franklin has been one of Seattle's best pitchers. However, the M's never gave him adequate run support, and Franklin grew frustrated. And, many a time, when Franklin left a game with his team in the lead, the Mariners bumbling, stumbling bullpen would give the game away. All of which made for dismal won-loss records for him. Yet, in post-game interviews, Franklin never blamed his team for not backing him up, but you could hear it in his voice, that he was achingly frustrated with the way things were going.

I wish Franklin success, and I'll be greatly surprised if he doesn't get signed with another team who is looking for a pitcher of Franklin's caliber. Yet the Mariners are keeping Gil Meche, in spite of the fact that Meche, even though he has talent, has been painfully inconsistent. You never knew what kind of pitcher Meche would be from game to game. But yet, Franklin was very consistent. So the M's dump him and keep Meche. And people wonder why Bill Bavasi and his cronies retain their positions of power in the Mariners' organization? I'm an M's fan, but I hope, that if Franklin ever ends up pitching against the M's, that the M's are SHUT OUT!

Mercenary Baseball dept.: Sometimes I think that all baseball players are basically "ringers", "hired guns" brought on board to keep teams afloat. There is no real team unity anymore; everyone moves everywhere and ends up playing for a gadzillion baseball teams during their career. The baseball player as an interchangeable cog in a wheel. So it goes for former Boston Red Sox outfielder JOHNNY DAMON, who, if he passes a physical, will become a member of the YANKEES??? Damon, who helped put away the Yankees, and helped the Red Sox win their first World Series since the Ice age? A Yankee? Gosh. Next thing you know, the Pope is going to become a Protestant!
____________________

Can you take me back, where are people, brother can you take me back? dept.: You Beatles scholars will know that line was sung by Paul McCartney at the end of John Lennon's "Cry Baby Cry" on the White album. It was an unfinished lyric line Paul had laying around, and he tacked it onto the end of John's song.

Anyway, now that you've endured all of this posting so far (if your eyes are glazed over, that's okay; I don't blame ya), I have a little visual treat for ya. Let us go back to a more pure, simpler time where there were no commissioners, no city councils, and no property taxes! (Yup, that definitely means I'm going back to the turn of the century...)


This photo postcard is from around 1910 or thereabouts; a truly idyllic setting, along the "St. Joe river, Near Coeur d'Alene", although I'd betcha this view is actually a bit closer to the beautiful little town of St. Maries. I really like that lush river country down there.

Anyway, back before property taxes, indoor plumbing, indoor heating, or neighborhood covenants, this is how our Native American friends lived. It's a view we don't see around here every day. Long, long ago, for sure. And, those "Indians" were pretty shrewd, too, as the French Settlers found out. "Coeur d'Alene" means "Heart of an Awl"; in other words, the local "Indians" wouldn't settle for any kind of shady deal that the White Man might have tried to get them to go for. The word "Idaho" also springs forth from an Indian word, "ee-dah-how", which, I guess, means something akin to "Gem of the Mountains". (At least, that's what I remember from Idaho History, which every 4th grade kid is required to study.)
____________________

In closing, I hope that, in this politically-correct age we live in, that my usage of the term "Indian" didn't offend anyone; that was definitely not my intent. You're more than welcome to leave a comment below, one way or the other. Meantime, I'm hangin' on to the fact that it's one less day 'till Winter's over! YAAAY!!!