Honk-pyew

I’ve been horribly tired the last few weeks. Not much sleepy-time… Last night I at some yummy organic brown rice cooked in low-fat low-sodium mushroom soup with a handful of organic mushrooms tossed in. Within minutes of finishing up with the licking of the bowl portion of the meal I was slumped over on the couch, happily snoring away, my hand in the popcorn bowl.

I woke up a little later, just a bit, when the cat jumped on me and settled in on my legs. Sometime after that I opened one eye and grunted when my beloved bride, Dagmar, shook me gently and asked, “Are you okay? You’re snorking und making funny noises.” She took the popcorn bowl off my tummy and put it on the coffee table.

At one point in my snoozy delirium I could swear I looked over and saw Dagmar sleeping with Zoey-Dog on Zoey’s little doggy-bed. We don’t let Zoey up on the couch or on the bed, so I guess if you’re gonna hug the dog you gotta get down on her level… So I’m on the couch with a cat in my lap while my wife’s on the floor down by my feet with a doggie. It’s nice to have a family.

Today I’m working at home. The cat is napping on the couch behind me. The dog is snoozing at my feet. Things are so calm and happy… I really, REALLY don’t miss going in to work at the print shop every day where I’d sit at a desk with a space heater blowing on my feet, listening to a printing press whackity-whackity-whacking away, always trying to gauge my boss’ moods.

Back to Normal, Whatever That Is

The elections are over. I’m VERY happy to be done with all the commercials, the negativity, the constant tension… I’m happy I can write about stuff in my blog that won’t upset half my friends. I’m happy I can get back to being friends with my friends again. I’m sad, though, that in my last post I wrote, “America regained a bit of pride tonight. For the first time in years I feel hopeful about the future!” only to get an e-mail from a friend who’s upset that I said that. He wondered why I wasn’t proud of America when so many are proud of America and so many have fought for America, etc.

If you read what I said, there’s nothing about MY pride or patriotism in that statement — rather I said that America as a nation has regained a bit of pride. I can be proud of America while still noting that there are periods in American history where we faltered a bit. It’s similar to being proud of your child even though the kid just got a “D” in math class. I’m proud of America, and I’m proud to be an American, but we’ve gone through a spell of mistrust, racism and bigotry that I’m not proud of. On Tuesday America regained a little pride when we took the first steps in a long time to ease those tensions.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to being able to write stuff here that doesn’t upset anyone any more. It’s not worth having opinions or values if you don’t state them and stand by them, but I’m ready for a break.

Tomorrow I shall write a blog that won’t mean anything to anyone, and I’ll be happy about it.

Siouxland Sleep Out

The Siouxland Sleep Out is scheduled for tomorrow. Monday it was 80 degrees, but the forecast for tomorrow is 25-30 degrees, 35 mph winds, and snow. There are blizzard warnings just to the west of us. A grand day to sleep out in the park.

Sadly, my band was scheduled to play the event, but there’s no way we can play outdoors in such icky conditions and keep our (mostly borrowed) equipment dry, so we’re most likely going to cancel. We just can’t justify risking thousands of dollars of (mostly borrowed) equipment to play in the snow.

We’re still taking donations, though! Just go to www.siouxlandsleepout.com and PayPal us if you want.