Fried

"Be careful what you wish for" goes the Sage Old Advice...

I watched KCRA's Noon News today. On the third hot day of June the whining has become deafening! The poor tiny weatherwoman genuinely looked sorry for the seasonable temps.

I was on the road early, and I sat in the car for a half an hour listening to the radio before 11 AM. It was already pushing 80°F

I finally got into the garden at 3PM. It was uphill of 90°F, but my chore was in the shade of our big cedar deodara tree. I spent a leisurely 90 minutes trying out my new classic Felco F-2 Hand Pruner. There's no substitute for the best tool for the job, whether your talking carpenter's tool, gardener's tools, or grooming machines.

About the time I started picking up my work area, my Mom came out and said: "There's a deer in the front yard"! "No kidding"? I replied, and I walked my sweaty body down the street and had a look-see. No Bambi in sight. I finished cleaning the cedar sap off the Felcos, oiled the blades and the spring and headed back inside. Mom was in the living room, and damn if that deer wasn't right outside the front window!

Mom and I were less than eight feet from the yearling doe, but the deer's attention was riveted down our street somewhere. You don't think of glass as decent camouflage, but it did the trick in this instance.

The deer stayed there in the shade of the redwood tree for a while. I kicked back with the internet, and looked for some SF Giants injury reports. No news is good news I guess...

Mom came in with the newspaper. She found a book review of a new tome: "Go the F**K to Sleep"  Published this week, she thought it would be great for my cousin who after retiring a Full-Bird Colonel from the Army, just adopted his first-born grandson. I clicked over to Amazon and ordered a copy for Cousin Brad, and one for Mom. Published Tuesday, Amazon's order page said it would ship in 7-9 days. Like the review said, Mansbach's "Children's Book for Adults" is a hit.

Not fifteen minutes later, I was scanning my Facebook wall, and there was a link to a YouTube video of Samuel L Jackson reading from "Go the F**K to Sleep"! I laughed out loud at the cosmic synchronicity. The link was posted by Cap'nDan, a groomer who worked with me 20 years ago. He and his wife became parents for the first time this spring, and we commented back and forth for a few minutes. 

Somehow, our exchange knocked some cobwebs out of my brain, and I started searching for a song I've been trying to identify for months. Cap'n Dan posts a lot of YouTube videos of classic rock, jazz, and blues. The song starring in My Quest is a throbbing Delta Blues number that's the soundtrack of a Porsche commercial that's been playing on every Formula One race I've watched this spring. In fact, I searched YouTube yesterday to no avail.

I searched via ixquick.com with a couple of new search strings, and then searched Porsche Owners Clubs. I landed on a Porsche.com page with a bunch of Flash Video links, and there was the spot complete with title. I ixquicked that and there was my latest Holy Grail.

Listen to the fine Delta Blues...don't succumb to the sports car pitch!



The late artist Junior Kimbrough's "Feels So Good #2" rocks my world, but turned into yet another head-scratcher. The tune is from Kimbrough's "First Recordings" album which is not available on CD! Vinyl or MP3 download, even a 10 inch vinyl pressing, but no CD.

I surrendered, and downloaded the tune from iTunes. I really want this guy's music on CD...in WAV format...call me old fashioned...

Satisfied but stymied, I tuned in the radio for the Giants' Pre-Game. It was 106°F outside and 80°F inside Chase Field in Phoenix. Some wag actually said; "It's a dry heat"...if it hadn't been so hot, I would have done a spit take!

The Giants won and there were some real Highlight Reel defensive plays including an almost impossible relay throw to Home to get the runner at the plate! Not torture, but exquisite none the less.

It's half past midnight and still hot in the house...I'm hittin' the showers.