Friday Fill In #93

1. One of the best concerts/plays/movies I ever saw that I really didn’t think I’d like was Bed of Roses.

2. Turkey pizza with roasted red peppers and pesto is a recipe I recently made that was delicious!

3. It’s time for bed, little mouse, little mouse–darkness is falling all over the house.

4. Italian lemon creme cake is quite refreshing.

5. If I never hear the word “Play some Bob Seger” again, it’ll be too soon.

6. To one side of the curving road was a smoking wreck, and on the other was an ambulance.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to bed, tomorrow my plans include going to a church meeting, and Sunday, I want to do something interesting, but I don’t know what!

The Scooter Contest

Yesterday, Jim thought he saw my scoot parked at Wasses Hot Dog Wagon. It wasn’t me! Someone in town apparently has a blue Honda Metropolitan just like mine! I’ve been thinking I need to Billy Rhythm-ize the scoot, and now I know I have to do it. But how? Skulls? Flames? Wire wheels? I’ve been thinking some kind of sticker might be in order. So here’s the contest: find the perfect accessory for my scoot, so everyone will know “That’s Billy Rhythm.” Leave me a comment, or email me, a link to the product. If you’re the winner, I’ll accessorize the scoot with your idea, AND you’ll win a prize. Cool?

Jim’s MI-5

1. Name something a friend or loved one did for you in the last month that made you feel good.

I have had many people do nice things for me, and many within the last 24-48 hours. Susan bought me some chocolate. Jim and Gina both bought me breakfast this morning. Some dude last night gave me the thumbs up when I passed him with my scoot. (And when I mean passed, he passed me going the other way.)

2.  Name something you did for a friend or loved one in the last month and how did it make them feel?

I did something for someone who doesn’t even know it was me. They were surprised and happy. They think they know who did it. They don’t. That part makes me happy!

3.  Tell us about the first childhood family vacation that you remember. If you don’t have a memory of that then tell us the first family event memory you have.  Don’t forget to include details about that experience that stick out in your mind.

The first vacation that I remember was at Cathedral Pines campground. I remember going into Canada, and purchasing a scuba diver toy that I used in the lake. I also remember the “hermit crab burying fiasco.” My hermit crab, which we brought with us, was presumed dead. He wasn’t. As we were digging the hole, either Mom or Dad was holding onto the crab. They were holding him upside down. He didn’t like that. He showed them he wasn’t dead. We laughed. (Now that I think about it, though, I’m not sure that that happened at the same time as the scuba diver memory. It may be a different camping trip I’ve combined with Cathedral Pines. Mom? Lisa?

4.  Kids get hurt.  Tell us a time you recall as a kid when you injured yourself.

I got hurt fairly frequently. I had quite the file at the hospital. I think the time I was injured the worst was the time I fell of my bike riding in the parking lot of the Spruce Head post office. I hit my head on the curb. I seem to recall someone riding to my house and getting my parents. The drove me to the hospital. The last thing I remember was heading up “Powerhouse Hill” right before the hospital. Then I remember waking up in the hospital bed. For about that 24 hour period, I have amnesia, so I can only relate to you the stories I heard. I was apparently freaking out in the ER. I didn’t know who my parents were. Dad had to hold my head down while they took x-rays. He always told me there was a film of my head with his hand in front of it. One of my parents told me they didn’t realize how hurt I was until I came to, and when I did, the nurse in the room started crying. Apparently, that made them realize it was serious.

5.  Tell us something you want to do before the snow flies.  If you live in an area that might not get snow then before Christmas will do.

Get the house winterized. Do some leaf peeping. Mow the lawn one last time. Put 100 miles on the scoot.

Friday Fill In #92

1. October is my favorite month.
2. Susan waking from a dream and screaming scares me!
3. Leaves are falling all around, it’s time to read some Ezra Pound.
4. My favorite horror movie is Bram Stoker’s Dracula because it’s pretty true to the original book. (And, it’s not too scary!)
5. My childhood = good memories.
6. It was a dark and stormy night filled with masked pizza delivery boys, and balls of flame shooting from the eyes of giant grasshoppers, who roamed the streets, their screechy legs rubbing together with a “fingers on the chalkboard” sound.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to getting home from my gig, tomorrow my plans include some rest before my next gig, and Sunday, I want to ride the scoot!

Big Hair Thursday

It started when I came in the office door this morning. Barry was just arriving, and he said something to me and used the word “believin’.” That got me into Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.” From there, somehow, it quickly morphed into a Big Hair Thursday. We started singing Tesla tunes, and Def Leppard, and Van Halen, and who knows what else. Jim came in, and we were all rockin’ out together. Jim yelled out “Bill, sing another one!” And Barry said “Do ‘Photograph’ by Def Leppard!” So, I launched into it. As I came back around the corner, I found that Jim set me up! There he was, video camera in hand! We had such fun, I declared today as “Big Hair Thursday.” I encouraged the staff to sing/use hair metal song lyrics whenever possible. Gina had her Internet radio turned onto the hair station all day.

Videos:
I sing Def Leppard in my faux Axel Rose voice
Pete head bangs to Quiet Riot, whilst I “Rock on!”
Barry air guitars to something

Right Now

I was perusing DrumForum.org, with iTunes playing in shuffle mode in the background. Harry Connick’s “Jill” came on. I stopped, turned up the volume, closed my eyes, and listened…

“I know a girl
Who says she loves me
She says she needs me
And I have reason to believe her
Good reason
Like when we kiss
My eyes won’t open…”

Dear Lord, let me one day write something that good. And I love the recording too. The sax player, Jerry something or other, is so deep in it it almost makes me cry. And the band… The band is in a room. You can hear the room. It’s almost like they’re recording the whole thing live, with Harry and his vocal close mic’d, and then almost like the band is just behind him, pouring themselves into the tune.

Hey, here’s something special for you. Here’s the tune. Take a listen. The bandwidth is on me. If you like, go out and buy the album. (I liked the album so much, I bought the concert DVD!)

Friday Fill In #91

1. Apple cider, pumpkin donuts, and leaf jumping are some of the things I’m most looking forward to in October.

2. Sometimes I like to go downstairs and beat drums!

3. You don’t really know the future, and that’s why there is a saying, “never say never”!

4. When I’m down, I listen to sad music.

5. At the office is where you’ll find me most often.

6. A rainy day is good for sad music and red wine. (It’s not good for riding your brand new scooter! It figures we’ve got three days of rain coming!)

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to roast turkey, tomorrow my plans include hunkering down in the rain and cleaning house, and Sunday, I want to have enough sun for a scooter ride!

Paddy’s Fall MI-5

Paddy says: “Ahhh, the first few days of Fall. One of my favorite times of the year, every year … so this week’s 5 is of an autumnal nature.”

1. Describe your single fondest childhood memory of the fall season.

It’s hard for me to pick one! Fall is my favorite time of year. I guess I would have to say Halloween, but I couldn’t narrow it down to just one particular year.

2. What are your two favorite things to eat that are specific to this time of year?

Apple cider and roasted squash. I’m not really a huge squash fan, but I really like roasted squash. I like my squash really dry–more like the consistency of mashed potatoes. Butternut squash with brown sugar and cinnamon is a new favorite here in the Batty household.

3. Name three items that you dig out of the closet and wear now that the weather is turning.

There’s a particular sweater I love that has a tiny hole in the front. I love it too much to retire it. My barn coat that Paddy gave me will come out soon, as will my favorite toggle coat.

4. Tell us your four favorite activities that you enjoy between the Autumnal Equinox and Halloween (November AIN’T Fall here in Maine folks!).

Walking in the cool air, apple picking, going to the farm market, and reading spooky stories!

5. Finally, what are the top five things that you need to get done before the winter hits?

Winterize the basement, rake the leaves, trim the back hedge, wash the windows, and mow the lawn one last time. (I hope it’s the last time!)

The Scooter!

I’ve been watching the scooter market for some time. It’s been close to two years, I would bet. With gas prices going up, up, up, and with a lot of my driving being in town, I thought a scooter would be perfect. This year, though, used scooter prices are through the roof! Last year, the $800 scooter was easy to come by. This year? No way. Even Chinese scooters were selling for $1800 at the dealership 1/2 hour from here. In fact, I was bemoaning that fact just this Monday at my Kiwanis meeting.

Today, though, one of the Kiwanians I was talking to at lunch called me. She said she saw a scooter for sale (two actually) just a few miles away. I took a little ride with JP this afternoon to take a look at it.

It was a 2007 blue and white Honda Metropolitan. I called the number on the sign. The guy said that, though it was unregistered, I could take it for a test drive if I wanted. The scooter was parked at a friends house that had good visibility to the road, and that friend had the keys. I went up and knocked.

After a two mile jaunt, I knew I really needed (!) one of these scooters. It was fun, economical, and still could travel 35 mph, even with big ol’ me on it. I talked to friend who was “selling” the bike for the owner. He told me the scooter had been on his lawn since 4pm yesterday. He said he had 4-5 people look at it yesterday, and 7 people look at it today. It had nine miles on it. It seems the lady who owned the scooter crashed it on mile two. When she did, she broke her arm and wrist. Her husband, who was on the other scooter, saw the whole thing happen. After that they decided scooters were not for them. So she had a brand new scooter, just repaired, with a total of nine miles on it.

On the ride back to the office, JP and I talked. He mentioned at the price the guy was asking, if I didn’t like it, I could sell it again and get my money back. And, since it was a Honda, it would be reliable, and parts and service should be easy to come by. I called Susan, and spoke with her. She agreed that it was a good price, it was the style I liked, and since it was local, perhaps I should spring for it.

So I did!

Even though it wasn’t registered, I drove it home. I had so much fun, it was crazy! It would maintain 30mph just about everywhere, and could get up to 40mph with a slight downhill run. There was one big hill on the way home, and it slowed down predictably then, but it was quite a big hill.

Of course, now I’ve bought a scooter, and it’s almost winter, and it’ll be raining the next two days! 🙁

Another Crazy Dream

This one is kinda disjointed. It seems it was all in one dream, but the parts don’t seem to fit together.

Part the first: Susan and I are driving on a very rutted, muddy, dirt road in the countryside. There’s a farm to our left. Behind us are a bunch of military types, complete with tanks. I come to a very rutted part of the road. I decide to go off towards the right ditch in an effort to keep my wheels out of the rut. Instead, the rut is so big, I end up gettting the entire car in the rut. The Army is a little mad we’re holding them up. I decide rather than push forward, to back out, and let the Army go around us.

Next, Susan and I are at a party. She mentions to me she’s just noticed a beetle enter my right ear. She just happens to have a pair of forceps, and she starts digging around in my ear, trying to get the beetle. As you can imagine, it’s quite painful. I can feel she’s latching onto something, but she isn’t strong enough to pull it out. I eventually (and forcefully) take the forceps away from her, and proceed to get the bug myself. I eventually latch onto about three cotton balls worth of lint, hair, and cotton. Also inside is a small, see-through, blue beetle, about the color of an original iMac.

Part 3: Now it’s winter. Again, Susan and I are in the car. We are traveling on Old County Rd, heading towards Thomaston. There is so much snow, the road crews have decided not to remove it. Instead, they push the snow from one lane over onto the other lane. The result is one lane is at its normal grade. The other side is a road made of snow, several feet higher than the other side. At one point, the snow is so deep, the south bound lane starts going up-hill. The top of the hill is the height of a telephone pole! Again, this is just a giant mound of snow, compacted down. There is no type of barier or railing on the edge, just a telephone height drop onto the other lane below. I start up the hill, and I’m almost to the top, when I turn to Susan and say “I’m not entirely comfortable up here. What if we start to skid, and go over the edge? What if the compacted snow gives way, and the road collapses? I’m going to back down the hill.” There are people behind me, and they’re a little mad they have to slow down, pull over to the edge as much as they can, and let me by.

Then I woke up.

There are  two things I notice about these dream sequences. In all three, Susan is with me. In parts one and three, I’m in a vehicle that needs to back up, and people are behind me getting angry. What’s that all about?