Author: thegraymaniac

“Memories from the corners of my mind”.

When I was a little kid, I found that I didn’t always have to have another person to play with in order to have fun. I guess you might say, I had a vivid imagination. I created my own worlds to play in, and stayed in them for hours and hours sometimes. Many times when I stayed at my Grandparent’s home I would go up behind their house into the hills alone, and stay there most of the day. I would hunt for arrowheads and many times would find one or two. I made myself a bow and arrow and shot at invisible enemies. I dug into the red clay dirt and made a cave in which me and my gang of outlaws hid. I climbed trees….not too high because I was afraid of heights, but high enough. I took sticks and limbs which had fallen from the great high oaks and hickories, and built little cabins. I cracked those hickory nuts, and ate persimmons and liked them. I lived many lives there. Only the way my Grandmother’s voice carried in the thin mountain air served to draw me back into the reality of the world of others.

At home I also had my sanctuaries. The old river dam at Trion was a second home. I fished there with a cane pole pulling out many a tiny bream that my Dad would look at and judge and then say “throw ‘em back…too small” I went on my own many times to the jagged limestone rocks which jutted out into the river at many places and jumped from one to another, sometimes making it, sometimes not. I swam at the “boat dock” sometimes alone, sometimes with friends like my ol’ buddy “Barbeque” who lived on the same street as me. Countless times before I ever played organized baseball, I would play the entire World Series in my back yard. Throwing the baseball up against the rugged red bricks on the backside of our house, sometimes clipping the siding…much to my Mom’s dismay but drawing very little ire from my Dad, who seemed to understand where I was coming from. Playing with my dogs, especially my old buddy Lobo..who was a mix of just about every kind of dog a man could think of, and about as tough a fighter and survivor who ever lived. He was near death so many times, and brought back to life with Peroxide and love, you would think he had a cat’s nine lives. He taught me a lot about the will to live, and how strong it is in every creature.

I also developed a knack of “inside the house” entertainment too. I would sit around and read comic books by the hour. Uncle Scrooge comics at first, and then graduating to Superman and Batman, and finally becoming excited about the “new” Marvel comic books which were coming out. Spiderman, and The Fantastic Four, Dr. Strange, The Hulk, Thor, and Iron Man. I bought them all, just as soon as they came out and then followed them religiously. They were cheap, and it was what I spent my allowance on. If my Mom hadn’t thrown them all away when I went off to college, I might be rich today. I also loved books, and constantly had my nose stuck in one. If I was inside, I was reading. Listening to music and reading. I loved the big 33’s and bought the ones which were cheapest at the store. That means I listened to a lot of Broadway, since they were usually 99 cents versus 3.99 or more for the “Rock and roll” records. I can still sing most of the songs word for word. “Some enchanted evening…you may meet a stranger…” or “I could have danced all night, I could have danced all night and then have begged for more…I could have spread my wings…and done a thousand things, I’ve never done before” Yep…My Fair Lady, The King and I, Oklahoma, Camelot…and on…and on…I was a weird child.

I’ve done so much as a child, before my adult life started, even though much of it was on my on…inside my head, that I don’t feel like I was “cheated” during my childhood. I don’t feel deprived. I feel…normal. My adult life has been equally fulfilling. A lot of you have seen the pictures of my family. I love them as much as I appear to…believe me.

Now, I don’t know how other people feel…don’t know how they experience things. None of us do. We live our entire lives side by side with other human beings, but we have no earthly idea exactly what’s going on inside their head. We assume they process and navigate information the same way we do. That can’t be so, otherwise we would have a world full of people who are essentially alike. I think one of the things which has brought the human race to where we are today, is not our similarities but our differences. We need to celebrate that fact. We need to understand that diversity is a virtue.

We are all a universe inside the frail body of a human being, and even after that body fails us that Universe will go on. Together we will go on.

May we all prosper together. Have fun tomorrow on the last day of October. Be safe. I love you all, no matter our differences.

Hopefully people who are protesting in all the towns and cities where troops and agents are being sent will remain peaceful.

I’ve seen a lot of things lately….uncalled for violence by men who are unidentified and masked, pepper spraying priests, throwing old men to the ground. I don’t like where we are headed. If you do like it, I’m sorry….we don’t agree.

I don’t like what I’m seeing. One person and his main helper, are spearheading this in order to see if enough people will fight back violently for him to call it an insurrection, invoke marshal law, and call off next years elections.

I sincerely hope that violence against this evil army that’s roaming America’s streets can remain peaceful, if so, we might can have elections in 2026. If we don’t get those, our fundamental system of government will be totally lost, if it’s not already. Sorry that’s the way I see it, with lots of corollary scenarios branching out in all directions.

I dug out my old Bible over the past few weeks and found these verses in Matthew that seem to be pertinent:

34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

I love the sunlight coming from the West. I’m not really totally sure of the reasons. It could be that the bedroom window in my parent’s house on 9th Street was facing the West. A lot of times as a kid, I’d come home from school and lay on my bed to do my homework. Sometimes I’d drift off to sleep, with the soft low light seeping in through that window, like some syrupy sleep potion. I’d dream sweet dreams about the future, about love, about accomplishments. Wonderful dreams, none of which I now can remember. Fall naps on school days. Winter naps on weekends. Summer was for fun, so there was no time for naps then.

Fall sunshine was my favorite. After all the leaves had fallen. I remember being able to look out that high window by standing up on my mattress. I loved to watch the cool winds of Autumn blow through the giant Magnolia tree that grew just outside, and watch those huge brown leaves tumble. I loved those solitary minutes that I was able to steal, as the Western sun light filtered in through that window.

At at our old house on Elm street, our living room had one window which faced West. I used to sit in my recliner many days, especially after 2011 and doze off in the evenings and daydream. In the Fall when the sunshine was “just right” it gave me a feeling of comfort and sometimes even euphoria to have the sweet sunshine lull me. I know, it sounds crazy…but it’s true. It could have been the lingering after effects of a long time on the heart-lung machine the year before. I like to think instead, it was something magical

It never happened to me while we lived in Mom and Dad’s old house on 7th street… from 2009 to 2011. The windows just weren’t in the right position. Something didn’t feel quite the same. I did take quite a few naps with baby Rue and baby Eli there though…..just like I’ve napped with Evie and Ellie in the ensuing years.

Since we moved from the old house to our place here in Ringgold, I haven’t had as many episodes of the “western light daydreaming” as I used to. We’ve certainly got plenty of light coming from the West though. We’ve got four big windows and a set of French doors! It could be light overload sometimes! Especially during the late Fall through early spring, when the leaves are off the trees.

It’s a gorgeous Western view from here though. Lookout Mountain looms just to the right as I walk out our door, and I’ve photographed many a wondrous sunset going down over the mountain. I’ve made pictures of yellow and orange full moons sinking into the eastern Alabama farmlands. I’ve marveled at the hue and color with which nature paints the heavens. What a privilege to be alive and be on this tiny planet on the edge of the Milky Way, in amongst billions of other solar systems. I don’t question why we are here, I just revel in it!

Just last weekend, I was sitting on the couch in our living room and it was late afternoon. It had been a tiring week, and as the light crept in through the closed shades, I slipped off briefly into that nether world between sleep and wakefulness, where the mind makes all things, present, past and future possible. I stayed there for only the briefest minute, but it was enough so that I knew I still could. I still could be in that precious space where time stands still.

I really hope for another decade or so here in this wondrous world. I hope if I get too old or infirm to let anybody know what I want or need, somebody will remember this and roll me over to the window in the West so I can see and feel the light shine in, and perhaps eventually find my way home.

Missing Pieces- a poem by Larry Bowers

Conservative Conservationist. No such thing?

Compassionate CEO. Luigi sings.

Underpaid Professional Athlete? Ha, ha ha!

Overpaid Teacher. La, La La.

Honest Politicians? They all died.

Current Space Missions, Russian Rides?

Starving humans, Gaza cries.

Secret Programs, Supernatural Pograms.

Global Warming, Yellowstone Warning.

Nutritious Fast Food, Mother Earth News.

Worship of Money, Bees and no Honey.

Drones with a Mission, Exploding weapons.

Religious pox, The Pope’s white Sox.

Patriarchal homicides, Handmaiden tale cries.

9 billion people sleeping, Mars rover slowly creeping.

All is said. Little is done. Solar Power from the sun.

Billionaires rule today, Billionaires rue the day.

The puzzle is on the table, but pieces are missing.

How can a person be two things at one time? Can a person be a dunce and a genius simultaneously?

How is it that a person who was considered so infallible that he was allowed to come in with unfettered power, gather all of our information, cut jobs Willy nilly through every department of government….including cutting an agency that has resulted in the deaths of thousands in Africa….was such a genius and doing such great and glorious things but is now on the outs?

Is it because he and some other people don’t agree on how to spend our money. Or more accurately, how much more debt to put our country into and how quickly to do it. Two trillion of debt over 10 years in order to cut taxes primarily for the rich and super rich…is my understanding. Cutting Medicaid via mandatory work /volunteer guidelines. Even MTG said she wouldn’t have voted for the BBB, if she’d read it closer and saw that it took away States rights to control AI for 10 years! I have to admit, this is the first time I agree with her, and wish she’d have read the entire bill before she voted yes, cause it wouldn’t have passed if she’d voted no.

Anyway Emusk called the BBB an abomination….which is a word they sometimes use for certain people, so he does not like it. He says we will never be doing anything in the future but paying interest.

That’s not good either for my little ones.

I’m no genius, I’m probably a dunce….but I just can’t make sense of it all.

I can’t understand either how come Harvard is catching so much flak? Columbia U. too.

Can’t understand why PBS and NPR are being defunded, or how come the National Weather Service has been degraded right before Hurricane Season (that the head of FEMA never heard of)

As a matter of fact, there’s plenty of other stuff to talk about that I ain’t got time to go into now.

Old Emusk paid out 270 million or so to help our current Admin (yesterday’s Wordle word btw) get elected. Probably made the difference. I guess he thinks he shoulda got more for his money. I think he should have just kept it and put it in Treasury bonds. That would have helped us more than giving it away to Superpacs. I swear that “Citizens United” thing old Scalia hung on us was a bad, bad decision.

Oh well, I’ve rambled on way too much on politics this morning. Bye bye for the day.

Warning: political post. Scroll by if you don’t want to read it.

I saw where the president fired the head of the Bureau of Labor statistics because he didn’t agree with her numbers. He agree with them while they were in his favor though. He basically tries to slant and obfuscate everything that doesn’t paint him in a positive light. As Mary Chaplin Carpenter once said in her song “I Feel Lucky”: “The stars might lie, but the numbers never do”

I’d point out a rebuttal for his need to obfuscate. This morning three businesses in Tennessee closed, putting almost 1000 people out of jobs: Perdue Farms in Monterey, Monaghan Foods in Dickson and Prarie Farms in Gallatin. These come on the heels of several other plants closing in Tennessee earlier this year in the automotive industry. All this while Tennessee governor Bill Lee is spending millions unnecessarily calling out the Tennessee national guard to help ICE. He wouldn’t take federal money earlier this year to help feed hungry kids this summer though.

I personally thought that the immigration enforcement program was going to rid the country of convicted criminals, and I saw no problem with that, but arresting and deporting people who are working jobs and paying taxes? I saw a post from a contractor in Alabama who can’t build because he depended on immigrant workers to fill his work force.

I have to mention also, the ridiculous situation in Texas, where their governor Abbott is trying to gerrymander the state map to give Trump his request for more seats in Congress. He’s threatening to send the FBI out to arrest democratic legislators who have left the state. All this will do is force democratic states to reciprocate…..and there we will go, in a cycle of tit versus tat, none of which will benefit the American people.

I could go on, but I’ll save it for later.

8/18/24 9:27pm

As long as life seems to continue in a somewhat “normal” manner, then people will continue to believe things are normal.

Everyday, people still go to work, kids go to school and parishioners still attend churches. Banks are still open, the post office delivers mail, and our electricity and natural gas are still on. Gasoline is still coming out of pumps, the grocery stores still have food. The hospitals are still taking patients, and the drug stores are still filling prescriptions.
Police are still patrolling the streets, firemen responding to fires. Everything is still somewhat normal.

But…little signs are starting to creep in, that our current normal will soon be a thing of the past.

People’s attitudes are different. There’s more selfishness than selflessness. Education is on the wane. Almost every state is providing less funding for schools now than before 2008. Wage growth is stagnant. Even though unemployment is below 4%, wages are lower than before 2008. Why? Companies simply don’t….want…to give raises. There’s no longer a middle class, there’s workers and there’s owners.
Jobs are there, but you may have to work two.

Religion is on the decline. The percentage of money given by religious organizations to the needy is down about 50% since 1990.

Most telling is the almost eery 50/50 division of cultural and political attitudes. Most distressing is the “our side vs your side” mentality, with little to no room for discussion or compromise. The notion that people with different beliefs cannot even have a civil discussion is unbelievable. Yet, when I read comments on some posts, many days I see statements that go beyond anything I have seen in anger, threats of violence, dirty and profane language….vulgarity beyond belief. Things that you surely think would be taboo. Yet they are not.

So, things are not normal….even though they may seem that they are. I have no answers for how to steer the ship back towards a more even keel. I wish I did.