I woke up this morning wondering if Brian Kilmeade got my email I sent yesterday. You see Billy thinks Brian is tops. Brian Kilmeade is the black haired guy that sits on the sofa with Steve and Gretchen at Fox & Friends.
Billy likes Bob Bruce, but I think he likes Brian better because the others pick on him. Billy knows what its like to be picked on, being a lungster. I told Mr. K that Billy had a link to his sports blog on my blog.
It would be cool if Brian sends him a reply or an autographed picture or mentions Billy on his blog.
Billy will be laying by seeing what develops.
Sometimes my posts will have a lot of content and other times it will just be ramblings. Keep in mind, my day with Billy is Tuesdays and some weekends. So sometimes, its "all about me". Yesterday was pretty uneventful, unless you count a doctor telling you that you have cancer. A week ago today I had a sore that would not heal removed from m
y leg and yesterday the pathology report came back and it was confirmed to be Basal Cell Carcinoma...which I guess is the best form of skin cancer you can have. The gooder news is that he feels he was able to get out all of the bad stuff and I have recovered. Now I have a small crater in the side of my leg, which could allow me to smuggle a nickel past a TSA.
After work I stopped at two of my usual haunts..the Moose & Dublin....you see Wednesday is cop day at the Dublin. I was on the verge of being excommunicated from this group due to my recent no shows. So I felt obligated to catch up. I can't mention names because I'm not sure if they are off duty or just undercover. At any rate there is no apparant presence of firearms or badges...but I bet they are there. The main reason to be a part of this group is that occasionally they will share a secret "password" which could be very helpful in th
e event yo
u were pulled over. I really don't want to test it though.
I am way new to blogging and have been told there are syntax and grammar errors in my writing. To this I say: wysiwyg. My high school English teacher was Mrs. Ruff, about as good as they come, and I'm doing the best I can. BTW the use above about "gooder" was done on purpose. Mrs. Ruff is still living and she was old when I was in high school 41 years ago ! God bless.
Billy called me last night after watching Fox News and was all upset because he saw Ellen Degeneres crying on TV. He offered to give up Snatches so she would be "all better". What a kid.
I have added FeedBurner Site Feed to my blog... As I understand it, this allows the blog to be seen by more people and has a
click area where you can subscribe to this blog. So far there is one person who has subscribed. It also gives me an analysis of my demographics. The reason I mention this is that I will share some of the demographics with my faithful readers and Billy from time to time. Also, a new setting allow anyone to post comments. I welcome your criticisms and praises, so knock yourself out.
Okay, enough rambling...maybe tomorrow I'll have something material to post.
Billy thinks he's a liberal. I thought his family brought him up better than that. Well it was Tuesday and Tuesday is my day to take care of Billy. My day in the barrel euphemistically speaking. Tuesday is also the day that the Ex Club meets and these schedule clashes sometimes makes for tough decisions. They are after all both my "stepchildren". Regina is free on Tuesdays because she is now retired from Adult Bookworld.
Any requests to switch days with me, however, falls on deaf ears. She says its always been on Tuesdays that I take care of Billy and thats the reason not to do it any differently.
Billy wanted to go see Obama ever since we schlepped him earlier this year to Green Square to hear Bill & Hillary. ( I think he likes Bill because they have the same name or maybe its all about his "conquests" if you know what I mean.) It was the 4th of July and a friend of mine got us mafia seating. Last night we were not so lucky. The place was crawling with secret service and I remember the time the Hopper tangled with secret service during days of the first Pres. Bush and therefore we kept our distance.
There was no mafia seating and the SS looked upon the lung like it was some sort of Trojan Horse.
At first not even wanting to allow entry and later giving us the nod, but only at the rear of the Festhalle with the press photographers and writers. Everyone had their laptop going and they were checking their emails or their favorite websites. I'm not sure, but I could have sworn one of them had logged onto Billy Blog site.
Audrey had just gotten home from work and had on some high heel boots with pointy toes ,that could would work well eradicating cockroaches from the kitchen corners, and her feet were hurting big time. Actually the whole outfit was a killer outfit and she looked very Republican and stuck out like a sore thumb. Anyway, the lack of seating , the constant scrutiny of our entourage and listening to the same thing us Iowans have now heard for several months guided us to the back door.
OMG, as I'm writing this with Fox and Friends, at my side I hear Steven Colbert just announced that he is a candidate for President of the United States.
I'm sure Billy will want to see him too....I just hope it isn't on a Tuesday.
Last night we took Billy to a wine tasting party. That was after I went to a self induced Vodka tasting and was brutally subjected to all the Sportstalk . The Vodka tasting was at the Dublin City Pub in Cedar Rapids. This eatery/drinkery (mostly drinkery) is noted for its reasonable priced measures of the poison and its cocktail servers/teasers. They are mostly" twinkies" but occasionally we are slipped a young male studly type to bring us our much needed fortification. [Hey, if we wanted a young man to serve us drinks, we'd go next door to the Dragon]
Now you have to understand I like Sportstalk and can do it with the best of them...but only as it relates to the Iowa Buckeyes, Billy's favorite team. When they start talking about the pro games its enough to make a goose puke. The Hopper was there and he was the moderator. He is the moderator because he talks the loudest. I wanted to leave several times, but he slyly kept refilling the glass that was in front of me.
Regina, is a regular hang out at the Dublin, but she always sits at the bar with her new beau. The years have not been kind to Regina and its just as well that she stays at the bar.
Off to Amana for the wine tasting. this wine tasting was on the second floor of an old Amana house with narrow staircase and no winch to help with Billy. I have been nursing a bad back due so self infliction which I can't talk about because my beloveds' mom also reads this blog, and I was thankful for the helping hands that pushed and pulled until Billy was parked square in the center of the tasting room as if we were at a funeral visitation. the hostess, A lady who calls herself a "wine Lizzard" or something like that told us all about the different varietals and graciously filled our glasses. Its sort of like a tupperware party without the tupperware...if you know what I mean. We thought we would have the wine glasses as a "parting gift" but the wine Lizzard picked them up and carfully inventoried them before packing up her bag.
The party progressed until we drank all her wine and then Alfred's Wine entered the room. Alfred is a rocket scientist and he makes rocket fuel in his basement. He drinks it and shares it with others and I'm sure NASA used it on one of their early missions.
There was a photographer there from the Gazette who arrived a little late because he came from an assignment with the expensive haircut candidate...his name escapes me....(initials J.E)
We are told that the article will appear in the Oct 28th issue of the Gazette, so look for our pics at that time.
Tonight its off to see Obama in the Festhalle in Amana
No fancy haircut...no US Flag pin.......
Stay tuned.
I recently received this letter which I will post in its entirety. I beleive it speaks for itself:
Dear mr. bruce-
A little known car fact is that the polio epidemic of the 1950’s brought about tons of high grade scrap iron from eventually unused iron lungs. Most of these iron lungs were then moved on to places like Katz’s Iron Salvage in Marion IA. Since they were used to stem the lives of many but they also fought a losing battle for many who were not so lucky.
To honor those young lives/deaths it was decided that the auto industry would use the scrapped metal from the lungs to create new rolling tributes for those thousands who lost their battles. They were melted and shaped into steal for the funeral hearse niche of the various luxury funeral providers. The enclosed snapshot shows one such vehicle. This vehicle is in Dyresville IA and is now unused. It was the emergency vehicle for the “If you build it they will come” baseball stadium (recently posting it’s final game) and could be purchased reasonably…an ideal Billymobile.
In friendship,
jj
ps – do I actually have this much free time in my life?
I have a good friend I call JJ Shenanigans and thats just the half of it. If JJ is a friend of mine....he's a friend Billy's. JJ and I are both obsessive compulsive when it come to automobiles. We like to change them as often as we change underwear which either tells you about frequent cars or really stank underwear. You make the call.
Because of JJ's compulsion, he often rides shotgun with me to the big city auto auctions. (Oops, did I forget to mention that I am also in the car business) On the way we share stories about cars and other things that can't be printed in a public blog. He also acts as my adviser when we consider certain cars for resale. He knows I hate the idea of buying Black cars due to the maintenence issues associated with the color and consequently I can barely see them in the sea of cars available for picking.
Well, JJ always thinking of Billy, seeks out a Tricked out. Black, PT Cruiser Custom and laid the biggest guilt trip on me about how Billy would love to transported in style. JJ also likes hotrods and I think he wanted to live vicariously through Billy in the cruiser.
You guessed it, home we go with the Black cruiser. Black IS Beautiful....in Billy's eyes.
We got up early and trekked to the Carver- Kinnick Arena so Billy could watch his Buckeyes. People who are not familiar about iron lungs probably can't appreciate the situation. People in the know, known as "lungers" will understand.
When we left the house, the weather was mostly cloudy and misting. We had to hook up the battery pack and auxiliary heater. If you are not a lunger, you probably don't know that Billy is naked inside. The insulation value is not that good and auxiliary heat is always welcome. We usually allow Billy to have his favorite blanket. The blanket is actually a shop worn fender cover with a Rolls Royce logo on it and it is "construction pylon orange" in color. Its not very thick, but the main purpose of the blanket/fendercover is for modesty. Being in his predicament usually draws some gawkers and now that Billy is approaching puberty, he values the blanket even more.
As we roll onto the tailgate paddock we are dodging young football star wannabees throwing a football back in forth. I suppose they think there is some sport scout amongst the throngs of partiers that make the last Mardi Gras look like a high school cakewalk. Thank God for alcohol ...it makes it all so much more tolerable. I suspect these are all inner city youths or else they would go in their own backyards to throw that football.
One of the early Marti Gras people we encounter is Peter. Peter is a food connoisseur and cigar aficionado. He no only gets the magazine but actually has the goods. He offers me I Cuban and I fire up a stogie, being careful not to let any of the smoke waft over to Billy. Steve and his wife Jerry are also in the loop and they came just for the tailgate affair because they couldn't stand the massacre that was destined inside the arena. Peter and Steven are both Ex Club wags as are a lot of the others we encounter both before and after the game.
Randy is there from the Moose McDuffys with at least one "Moosette" in tow. We do miss the old Moosemobile setting there like it was ready to mount the next passing Miss Moose. That is after all, where I met dear Regina.
There was the Hopper and his latest Mrs, Dick & Sherry and the rest of their tailgate consortium. As always, they were most generous with their spirits, food and outerwear.
The Hopper has know Billy for quite a while and is trying to convert Billy from the Buckeyes to the Boston Red Sox. He even got a Red Sox bumper sticker and displayed it predominately on the lung. The Hopper is loaded and Billy secretly hopes that maybe he is in his will and his life will turn around.
We head for the game in a light drizzle and are thankful we remembered the 3 in 1 oil. We don't want to have that thing freeze up again like the tin man in the Wizzard of Oz.
After schlepping Billy up to Row 61, we settle down to watching the game. The guy next to us had a big bucket of popcorn, but it was obvious he was not sharing. [You can read about the game in the Gazette]
As we rolled back to the Hummer, dodging more football wannabees we reflected upon the day and knew it was time to go. You see the Diehard was about to give up.
What's this all about......
This is my lame attempt at blogging and so far I have been able to add posts almost every day......will that continue?........time will tell.
If you scroll way to the bottom you will see "It's all about me" This blog is about me and my friends and my life. Most of it is true.
Some of it is tongue in cheek and some of it is outrageous.
Read the parts you like...if you find something offensive skip over it. If you have any comments, praises or criticisms, email or leave comments...I can take it.
Mr. B
Click on any photo in a post to supersize it.
Refrigerators and microwaves are built here. We are also famous for other things and
you can get that information on the internet at amanacolonies.com.
rooted a motorhome in the back yard.
w you can see whats for sale. God Bless.
