Someone ELSE can clean up the mess!
...or, I suppose we shoulda expected this all along...

Prezzident Bush is trying to build up enthusiasm over the war in Iraq. And, for the first time today, he hinted at a press conference, that some other President may end up determining when our troops come home. Isn't that kinda like if you took your full garbage can outside, and dumped it on your neighbor's lawn? "Oh, he'll clean it up, life goes on". So here we have another parallel between Iraq and Vietnam; in that we went to war under one President and got out of "said" war under another President. Oh, and of course, Bush has said all along that "Iraq is not another Vietnam". Rrrrrright....personally speaking, I think things are so fragmented in Iraq, that the killing will continue no matter what we do. My advice for President Bush: "TAKE A HIKE"!!!

Am I going nuts or did I actually enjoy the rain? dept.: Perhaps the rainfall is God's way of clearing the air? I love the sun; indeed, I think I operate on Solar Batteries, which is probably why I always feel like "uuuuuuuh" in the winter. Blah. I was in ye old coffee shoppe today when a rainstorm broke out; again, I thot, "uuuuuuuh"...when I left to walk back to my car, I noticed how fragrant the air was after the storm. It had the aroma of a fresh sea breeze. Maybe I'm going slowly senile, but I seem to notice little things like this more and more as the years go by.

Maybe this wasn't a good day to drive dept.: In my travels around town today, traffic was slowed at the I-90 offramp near Denny's...it looked like a minor accident had occurred there, but that's the exact WRONG place for an accident...cars weaving in and out of traffic lanes because one lane was blocked by police vehicles, sirens a-blazing. Then, on my way back home, a Jeep-type vehicle was stalled out at the intersection of Government Way and Appleway, in the left-turn lane. That made things tricky for those behind him, like me, who needed to turn left. Yeeks! And within sight of my house last night, two CDA fuzz were making traffic stops in two different locations; one at the corner of 15th and Mullan, the other, down the road near the Sherman Avenue off-ramp. So it looks like the CDA Cops have been really earning their "donut dollars" lately.

Just when we'd managed to forget about this jerk dept.: Kevin Coe, Spokane's south hill rapist from years gone by, has a release date coming up in September; he's spent the last 25 years counting the number of bars in his prison cell. There's always a chance he could be sent to another correctional facility in another part of Washington State if the powers that be think he's still a danger to society, for an indefinite period of time. I personally think he would have eventually killed someone in the course of his rapes if he hadn't been caught and he should never get out. Yet, if someone's served their time and they're released, they've allegedly "paid their debt to society". So, how does the legal system handle this? It will be an interesting case to watch over the next few months.

Where old rock bands go when they die dept.: I'm not sure if there's a "Rock and Roll" heaven, but you can tell that a band is in the very twilight of their career when they appear at bars in run-down cities or at Indian Casinos. That's what I thought, 20 years ago, when I saw an ad saying that Black Oak Arkansas (of "Jim Dandy" fame) was playing in BUTTE, MONTANA! If I had to live there, I'd try to OVERDOSE on something. Ackthptf!!! And, tonight, I see where Eddie Money ("Two Tickets to Paradise") and Loverboy, that Canadian aggregation of alleged bad boys, are playing at the Indian Casino near WORLEY! So, maybe in one way, I've done better than I thot. I, too, have been in bands that played in Worley. No, not the casino...downtown Worley...almost as depressing a place as Butte.

Safe and restful sleep, sleep...sleep dept.: There was an article in the paper today about how we are becoming more dependent on various medications in order to get 8-hours worth of ZZZZ's...(snore). In this regard, I am totally unique, for I am the world's touchiest sleeper. The rest of my body is going to hell, but my ears are PERFECT; I can hear a woodpecker across the street, when my windows are closed; I have to "trick" myself into going to sleep. I need to read at least an hour, and have extremely soft music playing before even considering sleep; I can't go to sleep in a totally quiet room. I also have never been able to sleep with anyone; I just can't do it. So that kinda tends to complicate the whole "relationship" thing; something I don't even think about trying anymore. I also take sleep meds; sometimes they work, sometimes not, and I can't eat anything after 7 or 8 at night, or sleep just ain't gonna happen. Maybe I should just whack myself on the head with an aluminum bat and knock myself out...that'd be easier!

Helter Skelter Revisited dept.: Gleaned from an evening newscast: Two kids have been accused of strangling a Spokane Man over a BEATLES poster? Yikes! I have a copy of the "Yesterday and Today" 'BUTCHER' cover album...I guess I'd better not TELL anyone, huh? Don't people know they'll get in a heck of a lot of trouble and go to jail if they kill someone? I don't want to kill anyone, but even if I did, the threat of a long prison sentence would deter me. I just don't get it. But, murders just keep happening. As far as I know, the only Beatles album which came with a poster was, ironically, the "White Album", which ol' Charlie Manson took just a bit too seriously. "Helter-Skelter!!! Comin' down fast!"

Enough to "drive" you nuts dept.: If you see little "white lines" on the highways near Spokane, the purpose of those "lines" (on the shoulder of the road) is so that you can be spotted speeding from the AIR. If you go from line-to-line too quickly, YER BUSTED! Of course, maybe it's a good idea not to speed anyway. Spokane police today were conducting another "revenue drive" (oops, 'traffic sting'), using a copter in the air in tandem with ground-based patrolmen. Well, at least that's more honest than using a Sergeant dressed as a homeless man, posing on a freeway off-ramp; when motorists slowed down, he'd look into the car, and if the driver wasn't wearing a seat belt, he'd radio ahead to a cop up the road. The lesson to be learned from all of this? If you think you're being watched, you probably ARE. That goes for everywhere you might happen to be, whether in a car or not.

Might as well face it, you're addicted to food dept.: There's a story on the evening news tonight about food addiction. More than 2/3's of us Amerikans are overweight. I stand (or sit) accused. So am I addicted to food? Gosh, it's not like you can QUIT. We need food, right? If I bring home something "not good for me" (like a carton of Malted Milk Balls or a bag of M&M's), I'll "snarf it" in nothing flat. If it's not there, I can't eat it. I overdid it this weekend. So, it's back to yogurt, cottage, juice and milk for me. I love all that stuff anyway. You know what I REALLY like? Fresh, hot egg rolls. MMMMMmmmmm!

Guns don't kill people, idiots with guns kill people: I think it was somewhere in Texas...a young boy was shot and killed by an irate neighbor after the kid walked on the guy's lawn. Again, I'll state my case: I don't want anyone to have their guns taken away. Yet, with guns so easily available in our nation, any stupid, maniacal jerk without a criminal record can get one fairly easily. This is a debate for the ages; I'm not about to try and resolve it here. I just hope I don't lose MY life to some stupid, maniacal jerk with a gun.

Another in a continuing series of old stuff dept.: The year was 1959. Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson) met their fate on the day the music died. I was 5. My little sister was born that year. At that time, we were living in a house on Hattie Ave. in Coeur d'Alene, which is still standing, and it's even still the same color, which I find comforting somehow. Meantime, two truant English schoolboys, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, were getting together to jam once in a while, dreaming all the while of elusive fame. (I'd say they ended up doing all right.) And, it was the second edition of Coeur d'Alene's very own hydroplane race, the Diamond Cup:



This brochure is obviously for the hardcore fan, who wants to write down the results, and maybe even take a bet or two on which hydro's would place in each race...sort of a water-bound version of horse racing, or "Nascar" with boats instead of cars. Truly an exciting event. During the time the hydroplanes occupied Coeur d'Alene, the "Pit" area (which occupied a tract of land just north of Tubbs Hill, in the area where the 3rd Street Boat Ramp is now), was almost an otherworldly place. But of course we can't have hydroplane races now! The loud engines would violate CDA's noise ordinance! Oh well...
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On the homefront, I'm looking forward to an upcoming doctor's appointment; I'm going to consult with a neurosurgeon regarding how "quirky" my lower back has become during the last half-year, and I also have an appointment with a rheumatologist for the ol' arthritis. Could it be that I actually have a sense of direction here? Stranger things have happened...