Peepers

Growing up in the country one of my favorite sign's that spring was here was the peeper. A month ago my sisters were up from D.C. so I went home to visit. It was a good time. I went out with my sister Vicki one night. We went to.....................Erie. It took me a few minutes to remember. Its been over a month, i cant remember anymore. We didn't get to wound up, but it was good to hang out with Rob again.

I don't remember what it was about, but on the way home from Erie we got into some deep conversation. I love deep conversation and its about 35 min home from Erie. We stopped at the Sheetz in Meadville to get a sausage smuffin. As we pulled out of the Sheetz and headed the last 15 minutes home i reached in the back seat and grabbed the jug of margaritas that i had pulled out of the trunk of the car as i was waiting for Vicki to get her food. Much thanks to Matt for making some Kick Ass Margarita's the other week. They are better than our regular spot, & I used to be known as one half of the Margarita People there a few years ago. Actually 'spot' is probably not the correct term, at this point in time we have more than one regular 'spot' that we drink margaritas at, my apartment, El Campasino, & Chilli's. You will find us at one of the 3 on any given weekend. We will be the ones who are talking to everyone and drinking enough margaritas to kill a mortal man. Ok, I'm rambling.

Now its almost 3am and were just gettin the party started. We drove out toward my moms and took all the back roads. You can see the pic a few blogs below of us, we were having a grand old time. Drinking on some back country roads and passing a jug of margaritas back and forth. It was great driving past the old farm and all the places we grew up. It brought back a bunch of memories. I am still irritated that they paved the dirt road that we grew up on. Such good memories. We stopped down on the old iron grate bridge and parked the car. I got out and took a leak into Sandy Creek, or Crick, depending on your accent. We hung out on the bridge for a long time. Talking and having a good time. We finally got back to my moms just before dawn. The margaritas were gone and we were to wound up to go to sleep. So we decided to hang out and the kitchen and laugh about what I cant remember, probably stupid stuff, but it was a good time. Sorry to anyone we woke up.

One of the coolest things was listening to the peepers. As we were driving down the road we used to live on I could hear the peepers chirping. I stopped the car. They sounded so clear and loud. I have heard them down here in central Pa, but I haven't heard them so close or so clear since I have been home. It was an awesome experience to just sit there and listen to them. I grabbed my digital camera and recorded a video of it. It was dark so there is not much to see, but the audio is cool. I was telling someone the story and they didn't know what a peeper was. So being the tech geek that I am I uploaded the peeper video to my Youtube account. So if your one of those people that doesn't know what a peeper is check out the coolest sounds of spring, which I hope is finally here.

P.S.
I felt like crap the next morning, it was a bad remix. LOL (inside joke)

P.P.S.
If you watch the video look for the UFO :)

Still Smiling

I have had so much on my mind recently, both good & bad. Cluttered thoughts going in so many directions. For almost 10 years now I have been keeping a journal. I started out keeping it in a note book, then scraps of paper, now i keep it on my computer. Its amazing to look back to 1997 and read what i was thinking and doing. Whats stands out even more is the spelling and grammar use. Now i have always been bad at grammar and a even worse speller but it has greatly improved over the last 10 years. My thought process and goals from year to year all laid out for my inspection.

This journal is probably the reason I started this blog a year and a half ago. I was good at math and science in high school, but never english or writing. In fact my senior year I just passed english class with a "D". And now here I am, telling my life story to people on the internet. Granted most of you have known me for a long time, but i have a few regular readers that i barely know or have never met. That just blows my mind.

Its a slow process but I am currently working on transferring all my hand written entries onto my computer. The program I use is simply called "The Journal". It really simplifies things and keeps everything nice and organized. By simply hitting 2 keys it will take me back exactly one year, this is one of my favorite options. If I have the time i like to go back and read all the entries i have entered for the specific date from year to year. Some days they are long and other times there is no entry for that date, or i just haven't transferred it from my hand written journal yet. That's what I was doing this particular night before i went to bed. On Monday April 3, 2006 I was randomly jumping around and came across a entry that stuck out. It stuck out so much I mentioned coming across it in the journal. Here is part of my entry for August 22, 2005. Its a story my Aunt Donna was telling my sister Robin. It got to me just as much tonight as it did a year ago and a year and a half ago.


Aunt Donna was on a bus trip w/ some of the people from the nursing home she works at. She was on the bus and some woman got on, stopped and looked at her like she knew her and said "Hello" then went and sat down on the back of the bus. when the bus stopped aunt Donna waited to get off last so she could see if she knew who the woman was. she never saw the woman get off the bus. At the show there were 2 of the old ladies on the right side of her, a empty seat on the left. The lady from the bus came over and smiled and said "this is where I'm supposed to sit. Aunt Donna had to pee so she asked the lady to let her out. the lady said can I walk along with you. The lady then told her you have recently lost someone close to you. a sibling. He is a big man w/ dark hair, he is also blind in one eye. She said he isn't mad at you and is sorry. you talk to his best friend every day and you deserve each other and he is smiling at you. Aunt Donna said "why are you fucking with me" the lady told her she was a psychic and she new she had to meet someone today, she just didn't know who. Then she called jap and jap seemed to not be phased. then he told her about when his daughter lost her arm. he was out in the hall and looked around to see if no one was around. there was no one there. then suddenly there was a woman there and she told jap, you daughter is in there and they are re-attaching her arm. in 2 days they will take it back off. she will be ok, and she wont loose her artistic talent, in fact it will be better, then suddenly she was gone. 2 days later the arm was dying and they had to take it off. she was right handed and that's the arm she lost. She now has to draw w/ her left and she is better than ever.



For those of you that didn't know my old man, the line about "he's smiling at you" is what got to me. He had that big shit eattin grin that nobody could forget. I guess thats why the line to get into the funeral home for the viewing was 2 1/2 hours long, in the snow.

I guess its just that time of year again :(

Jitterbug

Barenaked Ladies - When I Fall

I look straight in the window, try not to look below
Pretend I’m not up here, try counting sheep
But the sheep seem to shower off this office tower
Nine-point-eight straight down I can’t stop my knees.

Chorus:
I wish I could fly
From this building, from this wall
And if I should try,
Would you catch me if I fall?

My hands clench the squeegee, my secular rosary
Hang on to your wallet, hang on to your rings
Can’t look below me, or something might throw me
Curse at the windstorms that october brings.

I look in the boardroom; a modern pharaoh’s tomb
I’d gladly swap places, if they care to dive
They’re lined up at the window, peer down into limbo
They’re frightened of jumping, in case they survive.

I wish I could step from this scaffold
Onto soft green pastures, shopping malls, or bed
With my family and my pastor and my grandfather who’s dead

Look straight in the mirror, watch it come clearer
I look like a painter, behind all the grease
But paintings creating, and I’m just erasing
A crystal-clear canvas is my masterpiece