A weekend "HI" to you blog-searchers...
The address has changed, the blog isn't any more intelligent than usual!
(oh yeah, a special "YO!!!" to all you Huckleberry Hounds out there...)

What a difference one letter makes dept.: I am in the anguished throes of trying to sell a house. Well, what with the market the way it is, not a lot of available small houses in the CDA area, I'm sure a buyer will come along. But, I'm finding that buying and/or selling a house is just a wee-bit more complicated than buying a can of green beans at Spencer's IGA. A lot more involved. You sign the dotted line when you're selling. You sign when you're accepting a price. You sign when someone pulls out of the deal. You sign to enlist the services of the agent. I've been signing so many things so fast, that I'd probably unknowingly sign my own death warrant in the flurry of paperwork.

I think it's ironic that the word "REALITY" is only one letter away from "REALTY". Because the two terms are mutually exclusive! But I learned a long time ago, when you deal with the public, anything can happen. A guy wanted to buy my place a coupla weeks ago. He's in California. He was gonna have a licensed building inspector take a look. The inspector never came around. My agent told me the deal was on, whether the inspection took place or not. So he waits until TODAY, the "day of closing", to back OUT of the offer. Sheesh. I think that's why our world is so screwed up. We depend on each other. And we are all IMPERFECT, some being moreso than others. What a deal...
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They come in "two's" dept.: Newsman Ed Bradley and actor Jack Palance gone within a day of each other. I admired them both. And it seems that whenever the old guys die off, the newer ones who take their place don't have as much charm or individuality. It's hard for me to watch the "Fox and Friends" news show in the early mornings, because basically, everyone on there looks like a young GEEK. At the same time, on MSNBC, one can see the "Imus In The Morning" program. Don Imus is OLD and GROUCHY and world-weary and he freely admits it. That's why I find his show refreshing. So think about it...old music vs. new music...old movies (and movie-stars) vs. new movies (and movie-stars)...old politicians vs. new politicians...is it just me, or is the world getting homogenized, covered over with a generic blanket of blandness? That's the feeling I get these days.
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Everything old is new again dept.: One of the fine young people from Huckleberries, Phil, has been sending me a bunch of new music. He knows I'm moving away, and one of his recent e-mail messages advised me not to be afraid to listen to newer music. All right, all right, I am stuck in my time warp, I must admit. Yes, there's good music out there these days. But it sounds so jaded, wan, depressing, and if it's not any of that, it's shallow, polished and overproduced. You want music that's gonna take you somewhere else? I listened to some freaky music the other night that ain't even ROCK. I listened to some mid-period John Coltrane JAZZ...and that stuff is WILD. I'm not even sure it IS music...his quartet played for 20 minutes at a time sometimes, and would do free-style, atonal, rhythmless musical torturings, with the saxophone hitting 150 notes per second as the piano and drums bash away in the background...true anarchy...true improvisation...true experimentation. Music like that is as close to 'totally human' as can be. If it is music, that is. But it is SOMETHING, for sure. Do I like it? I honestly DON'T KNOW!
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That's what I get for thinking dept.: The consistently cold and rainy weather we've been having lately has been doing a number on my old bones. The kneecaps wanna fall off when I get up out of the restaurant booth at Denny's. The lower back shouts at loud to me when I'm trying to get into my car, or out of it. It's like, every single move I used to take for granted is becoming a major foreign policy decision anymore. So, while I was out mailing bills off today, as I was walking up to the postal counter, I thought, "well, look at the bright side of having a bad back...I can't move fast enough to be in a hurry anymore." I kid you not; when I've been sitting in front of the computer for two or three hours and I stand up, it can take me at least a minute to get comfortable on my feet before I dare to step. Well, am I old enough to be a dirty old man yet?
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Yes, I know I've been slacking dept.: (Or, more CDA History!, 1906 style...) I promised everyone last week that I'd publish an installment-a-day of Coeur d'Alene history, courtesy of an old magazine I found on the net. Well, what with all the political stuff that I feld led to lambaste, I haven't lived up to that promise. So, right now, I'll present two, Two, TWO such pages fer yew all. Be sure and click on the news items so that you'll actually be able to read them. Here ya goes...



...okay, that's one...here's the second...



I think there's three more pages to go. You'll be able to scroll thru them, print them out, and you'll have your own little magazine for a lot cheaper than what the Ebay merchant I stole this from woulda charged ya. What a deal. Who says nothing is free anymore? (oh wait...you've gotta pay for a printer, ink, paper...ack ack aaaaack...)