Brendan is aboard the USS Nimitz

A Day In The Life Of Reilly

A great deal of busyness has descended upon me necessatating that I accomplish all of this work in a short amount of time. So far I have managed to burn the oatmeal. I did upgrad my cable package to include the ME channels that the government ripped me off of when they hijacked our TVs'. Ok, I need to stay on track and not get off on a tangent as I am sometimes want to do.

Ok, I am going to save this as a draft but I don't think I am going to be able to retrieve this from here.  Oh, I see what happens, it transports the 'saved draft' to my blog where I post articles at. Ok, thats cool at least don't lose it but now, I can't use that feature that allows me to start a post from my home page, oh, so what, type fool. Gonna save it again and see what happens this time.

Oh, I guess I got two things done and now on to the rest, lets just call it busy stuff.  Gonna go wash Dick's Car.  Someone asked me do I own a car and I said no, but ask me if I have access to a car and I have a small fleet.  To the best friends and neighbors do I owe such privilege.  OK, gotta go.

Now as we approach the noon hour a nap is coming on and the question is should I eat before I go to sleep or after.  I've been told it is not good to eat a turkey dinner at thanksgiving and then lay down for a nap. I think it may have had to do with the indians still hanging around I don' know.  And you know there is a team in Skokie who call themselves the Skokie Indians, so there you have it.  My eyes really are falling asleep and since typing is dep[endent upoon seeing I think we should depart from this.  I best save it first.

Back from my mid-day nap and ready to get back at it. Have to avoid this hurricane that is blistering its way through the house cleaning everything in sight.  Hey, it just might be time to throw in a picture or video.

Here we are in Los Angeles, California visiting the Getty Museum.  We being refined folks as we is, we decided to enhance our appreciation for the arts.  No one who observed us that day could tell we were from the lower trappings of life having lived in our 1 bedroom apartments back in Evanston, Illinois.  No, and infact we at one point went to Rodeo Drive to hob nob with the rich and famous.

Later in the day, I do believe it was that day or maybe another day we took Ruth to LAX, Los Angeles International Airport.  It was quite a ride where we thought we were lost and took a chance on a unidentified exit and there we were right smack dab heading for the airport.  I played like I knew it all along and was the hero for the day.

During my stay in California I even got to meet and hug a real live movie star, Stephnie Weir of MAD TV fame and sitcom The Wedding Planner. 

Now I must return to my work for the day after that brief respite to La la land.
More thanks to Hannah and Alex for their hosting us that year in 2005.

Lonely Teardrops

Oldies, and I mean oldies

The

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1166901418916&ref=mf

The Best of Intentions

Ya' Gotta Have A Fiddle In The Band

Don't Come Home A Drinkin'

I reckon will try somthing here tonight and put multiple videos into one posting.  Starting with the exciting Loretta Lynn.  Brings me back to a story when I was hitch hiking up from Tampa, Florida in December of 1970.  I had the misfortune of being picked up by people who were more broke than I was.  Yes, they had a car but not much else.  We managed to make it to Marion, Illinois. An infamous town for its having located a Federal Penitentiary there to replace Alcatraz.  Normally I wouldn't have much paid attention to such facts except I had been housed there about 3 years prior to my visit then.  I'd had about enough of my benefactors at that point given the woman seemed to have been uneasy about my presence ever since Birminham when I backed their car down into a gulley on a rainsoaked night outside a truck stop. To tell you the truth I was a little uneasy about her to seeing how she looked a lot like Bette Davis with a butcher knife in her hand.

Problem was I had a friend in Marion.  The 1st problem was that I had met him in prison and he wasn't expecting me to be dropping in like that. A B-rated movie was coming into focus here when the second problem reared its ugly head.  I had forgotten his name.  That little fact didn't seem to disturb me to much because he said his name was on the town square for his having fought in Viet Nam. Now its a known fact that convicts are no strangers to lying about exploits but to say you fought in Viet Nam and you weren't a politician, well I tended to believe him. But what was his name? 

I trusted that when I got to his name it would jump out at me and then what would I do. Look it up in the phone directory I suppose.  The only thing easier would be for him to holler my name as soon as I saw his name, which is exactly what he done. With a dead dear strapped to the hood of his car to boot.  Why he invited me to his home in Pittsburgh, Illinois, just down old 13, 3 miles outside of town.  I layed down on the couch and the next thing I know I'm sleeping.  Voices hung over my head "thats Richards friend." a young female voice said. A mother's size voice said, "he looks safe, he can sleep in the bed."  There were 5 of us at the supper table that night. Richard, in his mid 20's, Tammy, his 18 yr. old girlfriend, Mom and 14 yr. old Robin. And me ofcourse, with a ravenous appetite. 

There I was, still at the table, when everyone got up and settled in the living room to watch TV.  "Y'all gonna want the rest of this macaroni?" I hollered. "No, go ahead and finish it. Which I did.  I told Richard what Mom said, and he said, "man, you got it made." I said, "Where does Robin sleep."  Seeing as there just wasn't that much room in this house. "Oh, she sleeps in the bed too." All of sudden southern hospitality was taking on a whole new meaning and freaking me out.  I said ?"Richard, this ain't gonna work out, I'll do just fine on the couch. Which is where I slept that night.



Richard's girlfriend seemed to have a lot of living under her belt. Loretta Lynn was played at 5 O'Clock each night.  I looked at her with a butcher knife in her hand and thought I should limit my conversation with her as well.  Time for me to hop on the Greynhound and get back home.  We had managed to pad our accounts with the sale of some guns we had appropriated with a couple to keep for ourselves as well.  The lone cop in the pool hall was the biggest prompt however.  Our eyes locked immediately when they met and recognized each other. He the guard at Marion, I the inmate who wasn't from around these parts.  Anything gets stolen now, he's going to assume I've got.  So long Richard, see you down the road.  Which I did, in Terre Haute several years later/

Thats It

M'mmm, this is 'little johnnie' with enormous ears, how his parents didn't get him in the circus and make some money off him will never be known.  Had they he might have earned enough money to go on to some of the finest colleges in the land instead of being raised in the ghetto on the south side of Chicago.  All because his daddy didn't want to work his 40 acres even if he didn't get a mule to go along with it. Instead he moved to the big city Chicago and got drunk, and drunk, and drunk some more, so much that the question was not "was he drunk" but "will he be sober tonight" Which the answer was always 'No" he wasn't going to be sober. He was going to be drunk.  Working in a tavern on 63rd Street didn't help his condition none either. Even when the Greens Liqours" burned down around him on 63rd and Green (thats why they called it Fried Green Liqours afterwards). And they spelled Liqours when he was drunk. So much more could be written about 'little johnnie's plight but you'll have to wait until the writer gets over being drunk.       


Now this is 'little zoe' and she is telling you that she would like to have a word with you.  If shes told you once she's told you a thousand times, quit taking picures of me, I know I'm beautiful...

"I'd like to have a workd with you"

"The Ballad of Jack Thomson"

This is my proposed idea for the title to my book which I am currently working on. The whole experience of writing the book should be a book itself. I have been encouraged by folks to write my storyfor nearly 30 years. Why "The Ballad...." title? Because its the name of a song that was written some 37 years ago by some friends. I amn currently waiting to hear from them regarding my request to do so.

There are other reasons as well. My purpose for writing the book is to give my children a history of where there father came from, what he went through and by the Grace of God arrived at. It was not easy being me. (which has a ring of another possibility for a title.

Tammy Wynette "In My Room"

Tammy Wynette's last recording...Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys

Meet Tammy Wynette

  I love Country Music and there is few artists that compare to the incomparable Tammy Wynette

We're Moving

In a manner of speaking we are.  Even a blind man can see that I spend a great deal of time on Facebook weighing in on every subject imaginable.  Ok, thats a bit of a stretch.  I don't talk about soccer or swimming or fishing so its hardly "every subject imaginable."   But I do talk a lot, or at least comment a lot on a lot of stuff.

So, we are moving to my Bat Cave and writing from or for my blog, "From the Corner of My Bat Cave."  I will throw an occasional link up on FB and you may keep up with the latest news.  FB drains my time and energy from some very important projects that I need to discipline myself  to give more attention to.  Namely, my autobiography, which I am writing primarily to leave my offspsring a written history of where I've been and how we got where we got.  If it serves a greater purpose to others, Praise God.

I also am involved in raising a significant amount of money for Martha Cooper's medical expenses.  Martha is one of Mary's closest friends and if I can help in anyway Mary will be greatly appreciative.

Improving my writing skills is another area that will be greatly benefitted from this exposure and exercise and if it prooves to help us financially so much the better. 

Until next time when screaming out of sort kids are not competing for my attention, we'll see you around the corner of my bat cave.

HAPPPY BIRTHDAY MARY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARY
FROM ALL OF US HERE AT 749 SHERMAN
JOHN....CHARLIE....ZOE...BUDDY  AND CALICO

Day 26

Facebook takes a vacation on the weekends, at least amongst my friends they do.  And personally I am glad because it forces me to take a break myself.  Besides my least activity prevails on the weekends.  Not that there aren't things I can do, I just need a day or two to sort through what I need to do come Monday.

My focus this coming week is going to be of necessity taking care of my grandchildren.  Charlie and Zoe are coming for almost a week as their parents are going to Puerto Rico.  Val is from Puerto Rico and as I understand it his grandfather passed away recently and there are family matters to attend to. 

Charlie is almost 3 and Zoe just turned 1 so it helps that we have a tot lot park adjacent to our backyard.  Also, as best as we can, it is a time to enjoy them in an extended time frame unrushed by getting them ready to go back home when you've only had them overnight while mommy works. 

I have a video camera that I just purchased and plan to use it a lot filming their everyday antics and explorations.  This is the ideal age to enjoy grandchildren with their incessant energy.  So, I think I am going to take advantage of the present quiet and store up my own energy for next weeks adventure.

Shrinking Heads/shrinking brains

Ok, I didn't know I was on to something yesterday when I started talking on facebook about my over extended ears when I was a child. My ears appear to be the size of a 65 yr. old. It has taken that amount of time for my head to catch up with my ears.

My supposition was that as we grow older our heads shrink therefore leaving less room for brains and subsequently our brains shrink too. I was next going to wonder aloud what portions of the brain, the outer layer parts are responsible for what things. For example, working backward, my brother has a significant memory for what took place in his childhood, he knows names, places and events. I have a fairly good recall of phone numbers and the people who possess them. So, what goes first phone numbers or events?

But what about body deterioration as a whole. Some say memory is the first thing to go but I disagree because often times we're wondering "where are my glasses" so which goes first, the eyes or the memory?

As you might want to consider, this drivel if you will, is an exercise. something OFTEN TOUTED FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE GETTING OLDER, STAY ACTIVE THEY SAY, PHYSICALLY, MENTALLY AND SPIRITUALLY. It also helps to keep up your skills of typing, writing, and thinking about what to say. SO that is what this "shrinking heads article is all about, exercising, free flow writing if you will, it belongs to me, and I'll sort it all out later for any merit or purpose. Oh and as for the spelling and punctuation, consider it a grammatical sudoku where your challenge is to figure out what I'm saying.

Its your birthday. Your very first one. You won't remember this, you may already forgotten it, but you just got out of the hospital yesterday.

I printed out a big picture of your adorable smiling face. You also have a scrunchy smile too.

Thats a good one too but its not your scrunchy one. Let me find your scrunchy one. Okay, now I have to figure this out as I type. Maybe I pushed Image to many times. I'll have to try this again.

Old Radicals

Old Radicals