The local fair has arrived so I drove up there yesterday and they wanted $10 to park while nothing was open yet so I headed over to the Wishy Washy and my friend who runs the place let me park there. Then I walked into the place without a ticket because, nothing was open yet. I was walking around feeling great because I hadn't spent a dime yet, taking pictures with my Sony, and then I tripped over some big electrical cords that were laying across the walkway because, nothing was open yet...

I was holding the camera in both hands so to protect it I let my body absorb the fall onto rough jagged blacktop. All I can say is that it's a good thing I'm in shape because it would have taken out most 75 year olds but I walked away with just some bad cuts and a sore hip.

6,000 rubber duckies released into Shoal Creek today, what could go wrong...

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I'm totally over coffee now but I do miss a hot beverage (or two) in the morning so my new thing now is Lemon Water. You can read up on all the benefits, so I won't bore you here, but I want to tell you about my method.

Krogers sells a 5lb bag of big lemons for six bucks. First thing every morning now I grab one and slice it in half, for two drinks. Then I fill my old coffee cup up with spring water and nuke it for a minute and a half.

Then I use my new Squeezer to drain every drop of juice from a lemon half, into my hot water, and done! The device is solid, made out of metal and does the job perfectly, highly recommended!

I just experienced a very weird event. At 1230 this afternoon I was sleepy so I laid on the top of my bed for a quick nap. I was naked because my shorts were damp from just walking the trail and gettin caught in the rain, so I stripped them off. I had this weird dream of an ex-FBI neighbor and his kid and these caves behind his house where aboriginal people lived. They were jet black from the sun with long hair and they bathed in a filthy conduit that ran between his house and the cliff.

All of a sudden I began falling into a state where I could hardly move and began yelling out for help but nobody came. I was trying to pull this veil off the right side of my face, somehow knowing I was asleep. I began panicking, thinking if I could not wake up soon, I never would.

Finally I did and I looked down at my naked body on the bed and screamed out "Yes"! I looked at my watch and it said I was asleep for exactly one hour, no awake time, no REM, thirty minutes of light sleep and thirty minutes of deep sleep!

Suns out, think I'll go finish that walk...

I threw together some of those video clips of Shelby and Shannon in the kitchen, slowed them down, brightened them up, and added a beat. I think it works!

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I was setting my Sony's zoom lens into Action mode today and needed a subject. What better than the vehicle id on the firewall.

I suppose I could look up that number through the Mazda web site and learn all about her origins, but she is what she is, 33 years later. I've dealt with countless issues, and fixed them all. Now she roars like a lion, purrs like a kitten, and rides the roads as smooth as homemade Tennessee moonshine.

This baby was made in Japan by hand, steel fabricated by Japanese craftsmen. Note the weld joint on the left...

Riley and Jess have checked into their hospital room and are sending photos to me. I've created a photo set that you can view by clicking the photo below. As new ones come in I'll send them up to the set. Save the link and come back whenever you like to check for new ones.

PhotoSet ↑

Jess is delivering their baby today! She and my son Riley have been working really hard for years to make this day a reality, and after a trip to a hi-tech fertility lab down in Arizona, eight embryos, down to two, they finally have this baby girl. Grandpa is very happy and can't wait to see her.

Hopefully Riley can get some photos to me and I'll post them here tomorrow. In the meantime, my pet sitter Molly was fully booked this weekend so I'm making a modified run to Memphis, land of the delta blues. I'll get Piper all stocked up and leave early Saturday morning, back Sunday morning. I think she can hang for 24 hours without the daddy, beats a cage surrounded by barking dogs. Here's the link to the Street Fair.

Piper and I have been hanging out in the shade provided by our large trees out front. She's still hangin while I'm uplodading this video, and no, she never breaks my skin, just lets me know she could if she wanted to.

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I have a friend who was havin some issues in life and he told me the other day, in the most southern way possible, I'm fixin to have a come-apart. Then I don't see him for about four days and I figured that his shit had come apart and he was in jail.

He dropped by today to tell me everything was fine, fixins under control, issues resolved. He had just been hangin low from a second Covid shot that knocked him on his ass. Very interesting, my arm just hurt for a couple days.

So here it is Sunday afternoon in my little house on the creek in Southern Tennessee, sitting at my computer, Piper kissing me for treats, thinking about come-aparts. For anyone who has ever had a come-apart in your life, raise your hand. I've had a couple, fortunately they only involved busting shit up, but I've been there. I'm so glad my friend is not in jail.

Also, thinking about Jess, her baby girl waiting to make an appearance. And life in general, what the hell am I doing other than walking a lot, working out and eating like a California hippy? My evenings are spent talking to my cat with soft humms that emulate hers while she emulates mine. We had an amazing conversation last night, her sitting in one big black chair, me in the other...

I drove down to Loretto today (8 miles) to check out the new pet boarding place. Met a nice young couple and their two little girls and Derrick showed me the kennel area he built in what used to be his shop. Six cages (two for cats) and a play area behind them for the dogs. They love animals and just decided to make a business out of it.

Unfortunately, it ain't going to work for Piper. Stuck in one of those cages along with food, water and a litter box, along with incessant dog barking, would be hell for her. Quite frankly I've never seen the Northside Vet accommodations where I normally leave her, could be the same or worse. Places like this are just not an option for my old fat spoiled partner.

Fortunately, I'm back in text touch with Crissinda's young friend Molly who does on-site pet sitting. She will come by the house twice daily, feed the old girl, give her treats and change the litter box. It's a perfect solution for a couple nights out of town and I look forward to meeting her next week!

I never get political on this blog but I'm making an exception today. Twenty years ago I was a supervisor for a large paratransit company in south Seattle. I had driven my company van home that morning to take a break and watched the towers come down live on TV.

Not really knowing what to expect I got back in the van, turned my radio on that was in communication with about sixty active routes, and listened to them fall apart. Drivers were pulling over, in shock, in tears, and just wanted to get home to their families. We managed to get everyone in and it was shit for days.

Now after thousands of lives lost, tens of thousands wounded, and trillions of dollars spent securing that country, Biden has thrown it all away for a political stunt, to be the president who brought the troops home after twenty years. I am sickened by this and I won't be watching any of the tribute crap on TV. Fuck 911, I've had enough.

Food is a really big thing here in the South. As folks go through their daily routines, it seems like they're sharply focused on the meal events as the highlights of their day. A big breakfast with a chocolate mocha to go, a hearty lunch, topped off with a big piece of meat and all the fixins, plus dessert, for supper. It's the consumption of food that satisfies their inner soul. And of course, they need sodas and snacks to get them to the next meal!

I was listening to a local radio DJ this morning talking about Deep Fried Cheesecake. He said "I'm fat, so I can eat that". What a revealing statement! Being fat is accepted around here, almost like a badge of honor that says "I can eat whatever I want, and as much as I want".

The County Fair is coming up at the end of this month and I'm going, stripping my shirt off and strutting around like a peacock. Go ahead neighbors, chow down...

Did a walkthru of the David Crockett Museum in downtown Lawrenceburg this afternoon. I turned the light on inside which caused a few reflections but if you've never been there, it's an interesting take.

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I've converted the planter box off my front porch into an outdoor litter box for Piper. It used to have some shrubs and a tree growing in it so I pulled those out with my truck and a tow strap, borrowed Daniel's shovel and rake, threw some diatomaceous earth in it to kill fleas, and voilà!

She's been using the area lately to do her business since she can step out the door and right into it, even when it's raining, and now she has lots of room.

If she passes before we move from here, I'll bury her there.

I had the funniest thing happen this morning. Piper gets up on my desk first thing and starts bugging me for treats while I check my mail. She head butts me and gives me kisses (licks on my forehead) while I'm trying to see my screen behind her fat body. It's our routine.

I get myself a nice cup of cold water first thing, instead of coffee these days, and I set her treats down on the corner of my desk near the window to get her out of the way. This morning I heard a slurping sound and looked over to see her drinking from my cup! "Oh look, daddy's drinking the same thing I drink". Sorry Piper, boundary crossed.

After getting a new cup of water I set it off the desk, right next to the TV controller that she's always knocking to the floor, spilling the batteries all over, with her tail.

Life with a cat has it's moments...

Man, I feel fantastic and just wanted to share it here on my blog. Next Tuesday marks one month clean, sober and caffeine free. It's also the day I hook up with my neurologist to see if I can get my new wonder drug Primidone bumped up a few notches. That shit has changed my life, the tremors are down to a buzz and I think I created my Will way too early.

I start my day now with a protein berry smoothie, walk three miles (laps), workout (adding one rep a day to an amazing routine) walk two more miles, eat dinner and then walk two more. My upper body is muscling out, my waistline is dropping, and I'm getting very tan since all I wear on the trail is shorts and walking shoes.

There's a new pet boarding place opening up down the road in Loretto and they are expecting me on their 9/11 opening. Looks like a great alternative to the Vet, and they're cheaper. Pipers first visit will be 9/17 when I head to downtown Memphis for the Cooper Young Festival, where I can strut my new body, enjoy some music, and see what kind of mischief my sober single self can get into. Stay tuned...

I've been writing computer code for fifty two years now. Since the advent of the web I've created a ton of code and tossed it up against that big virtual wall in the sky, and nothing has really stuck. Reality is finally gob-smacking me in the face and it stings. It's time to give up the ghost.

I'm going to let all of the domain names I've coded for die a quiet expiration death, all within a year actually. I'll keep my blogs (busdriverjim and oldmanjim) but that's it. May all that carefully crafted code rest in peace...