PACEMAKER BLUES

I had a pacemaker installed after I was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation a few years ago.  Since then I've had it replaced once.  Actually what I have just under the skin and above my heart is called an Implanted Cardioverter Defibrillator.  But everyone just calls it a pacemaker. 

About every three months a guy from the manufacturing company runs a check on it to make sure it's still operational.  That happened today.  No problems.  Everything intact and working correctly.  He did say that the machine indicated I had no natural heartbeat.  I responded to that with "let's be sure we keep that pacemaker working then."

Frequently the medics ask me if I feel better.  I always say the same thing.  I never even knew I had the atrial fibrillation before it was diagnosed and nothing has made me feel any better. 

The guy who checked me today said "in this business, no news is good news."

So I keep on (artificially) beating along.

All of which reminded me of this band.



I don't know whether any of those young men have ever had heart problems that caused them to have pacemakers installed. 

But they sure have gotten older.

Same band, same song . . . different era.

 

BIRD(S) ON A WIRE

I know I've used this image before.  Not this exact one.  I just snapped this one today.  But a similar one.  Or maybe even "ones".  I may keep returning to this theme.  It's just that a flock of birds . . and they're not all the same kind . . gathered on wires like this just fascinates me.

When I was a little kid, there was a big tree in an alley about a half a block from my home.  It was called "the Big Tree."  I don't remember what kind of tree it was but it was huge and was easily climbed by a young squiggler such as myself.  I could get high in the tree and not be seen from the ground because of the leaves.  And there were places where the branches formed hollows and resting places, where I could lie back and contemplate the universe.  Or maybe the hurts and insults I had been dealt on any given day.  It was my hiding place.  I can remember that there were some wires that ran through the very top of the tree.  Probably telephone wires.  But I can remember one particularly dark day when I climbed to where I could easily reach those wires and I leaned forward and took one of them into my mouth.  I had no idea what would happen.  I assumed maybe instant death.

That must have been a particularly dark day.  But what happened?  Nothing.  I think there was only about a voltage of 9 volts in those wires and low amperage.  Had they been electrical wires, I think I would have had to have instant contact with two of them at the same exact instant to do any harm.

Who knows why kids in their moments of despair . . now long forgotten . . do the things they do?

Well.  I know this.  This photo I took today and these dark thoughts gave me a reason to introduce the great K.D. Lang in a bravura performance.  Bird On A Wire.



SING THAT SONG!

During the short time that I lived in Austin, Texas, I found a huge number of talented songwriters and performers.  Many of them I discovered after hearing them on some of the many great radio programs at KUT, the station at the University of Texas.  They have one announcer who does a program of nothing but Brazilian music on Friday afternoon, another guy who does a '50's doo-wop show, and the incredible musical programming of John Aielli and his program Eklektikos.  Aieilli has been doing his panorama of music mornings for decades, featuring everything from opera to punk rock.  He also has live music at times in the studio.  It's a great show and you can tune it in on the Internet.

One of the performers I first heard in Texas and learned to love was Jimmie Dale Gilmore.  He was born in Amarillo, grew up in Lubbock, the home of Buddy Holly.  Gilmore's early influence was Hank Williams.  He's known for saying "Here's another one of my songs.  Hank Williams just happened to write it."

Jimmie has one of the most unique voices I've heard in popular music.  Give a listen as he joins Nancy Griffith on stage.

NOVEMBER RAIN

Sunday dawned a wet morning.  But it wasn't raining hard.  Just a steady mist, like something on the Oregon coast.  I wonder if bamboo grows in Oregon.

 Whether it does or not, it makes a good pallette for my Arizona raindrops.

As I said, it didn't rain hard, just enough to make the ground damp and leave some pearlescent raindrops clinging to leaves.



With that kind of dark, Holmesian day . . it was better to retreat inside to the Sunday paper.

HIPPIES!

Yup.  AZ is absolutely correct.  Yesterday's picture showed a close-up of a rosehip.  It's what is left over from the bloom of a rose and, yes, Steve, some people make tea from them.

I guess it's time for me to realize that you gentle readers are too smart for me!

QUIZ TIME

Do you have any idea what this is?

I'll tell you tomorrow.

VETERANS' DAY - 11/11/11

It's a day to remember all of the young men and women, many of them now older, who have served their country in the Armed Forces.  I had two uncles who were in World War Two.  One came home, one didn't.  In more recent times, a veteran in our family is our grandson Rusty, known as Sergeant Russell Milburn II, shown here with his fiancee, Kayla.

After several hitches in the Army and tours of duty in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan, the Sarge has decided to opt out of future service.  He may be a full-time civilian now but we thank him for his service.

To him and all the others - you done good.