Warning- "Dark Shadows" Alert

A couple of weeks ago I watched the NBA All-Star Weekend and got to see the 3-point shoot-out. That's my favorite part of the whole extravaganza.

It was won once again by the Raptors Jason Kapono, who was sizzling hot the final round. He tied the scoring record. That's him shooting in the photo above.

But that's, of course, not why I'm writing this post.

You see, in the above picture is Phoenix Suns guard Steve Nash (bottom right). Nash used to have much longer hair. It was quite a stringy mess until he cut it.

When I saw this picture in this week's Sporting News, I couldn't help but think that the camera caught Nash at a bad moment.

We've all had cameras catch us at less than our best. But my question is this- doesn't Nash look a lot like the fictional soap opera character Barnabas Collins in this picture?

Maybe it's the shadows or those bangs, but I half expect if Nash smiled you'd see fangs.

Maybe you don't see it. But if you don't, then at least you'd agree he looks a lot like Chris DeBurgh, the guy who sang that 1980s hit "The Lady In Red." I always thought that guy looked like Jonathan Frid anyway.

So, you be the judge. But my advice to Nash is this-

"Don't Pay The Ferryman." 'Til he gets you to the other side.

Decent Proposal

As the young Angus so aptly expressed, there was no reason for the length of NASCAR's California Speedway race this weekend. That wasn't a delay, it was an obstruction.

Nobody cares to hang around for hours waiting to start to race again. The fans, the crews and the drivers all get tired.

Once there has been a rain delay, when the race resumes, it must be guaranteed to end quickly before another delay can occur.

There's only one way to do this.

Shots.

After a rain delay, each driver and crew member must do a shot of Jack Daniels after each lap completed. Pretty soon, only a handful of cars will be left.

Last car running wins. Then we can all get to bed at a decent hour.

Boogity Boogity Boogity!

NASCAR's back and the chase is on! Who ya got? As always, I'm for Michael.

Toyota is looking better this year. I think there's a good chance they'll win a race this year. And I love Junior's new green colors.

Spring Has Sprung!

Let's play two today! I wonder what hijinks will occur this year?

The Verdict On This Post: No Good

On my drive home last night, Linda Ronstadt's 1970's hit "You're No Good" was played on the radio. And as I'm listening, it struck me how weird the term "no good" is.

I probably use this term every day, but is this even English? No good? Isn't it really supposed to be "not good"?

Who talks like this? Who puts a no in front of an adjective to express a thought in the negative? And yet it seems everyone I know says no good.

It happens all the time in sports. A missed shot in basketball is called as "no good". A missed field goal is "no good". Isn't it really just no good English.

Why would we describe something in the negative form like this? Why can't announcers just call it what it is- "a miss"? A missed tackle is not a "no tackle". Sorry, I mean a missed tackle is no a "no tackle", right?

A person should not be described as "no good"- he's a bum, a weasel, a jag, or whatever else you want to call him. But not "no good."

Can you imagine what life would be like if we applied this way of talking to everything we do?

"Honey, the food you fixed is no hot."
"That diaper is no clean."
"I work the no night shift."
"The weatherman is calling for a lot of no rain."

It'd be like living at a Tarzan convention. Only he and stereotypical Italian immigrants in B movies talk like this. So the only time a person should use "no good" is if they put an "a" sound on the end of every word.

Is anybody ever "no bad"? Could Linda Ronstadt sing a song like "You're No Bad, You're No Bad, You're No Bad, Baby You're No Bad?" I doubt it.

This whole mess is just no good.

Wee-Deedee-Dee, Deedee-Deedee-Dee...

Some random thoughts...

- How come whole milk costs more than skim or 2%? Don't they have to do less processing to whole milk, so wouldn't it be cheaper?

- Can we make cheese and ice cream out of baby formula?

- Were any of the songs in "My Music" in my sidebar ever nominated for a Grammy? Probably not. But I still like them.

- Lots of people think this is going to be a rebuilding season for the Cardinals. In other words, a bad year. Not me. I think all the new faces are going to make this season exciting. We just got a heck of a lot younger. I like our chances better now than I did at the end of last season. I'll post soon on why I'm optimistic. But one word may suffice: HUNGRIER.

- When I learned to type, it was on an electric typewriter. I learned to reach with my right index finger to reach the '6' key up top. So how come on a Microsoft ergonomic keyboard, the '6' is on the left hand side, making the left index finger reach the '4', '5' and '6'? Now my right index finger only has to do the '7'. Needless to say, last time I checked, my left index finger is getting tired...and a little peeved.

- Let's all- that's everyone in the whole U.S.- go to the bank Monday and withdraw all of our money! Just to make Monday a little funner! Leave nothing behind. I'd love to see the looks on their faces. We can do this. Spread the word.

- Anyone know what parts of a papaya and a pomegranate you can eat? I'm trying to expand my diet.

- Let's all give this winter a big hand. It's been quite a show so far. I heard someone say we're having this wintery weather due to global warming. Makes sense, I guess, no? Here's to ever more global warming, so we can continue having these great winters.

Can't Help Myself Again

I just have to do it.

I love swimming upstream.

It would be so wrong to do otherwise.

I'll probably hate myself Monday, but it's who I am, so why fight it?

Sure, it would be safer the other way, but what fun would there be in caution?

Nope, the only way I can have a little fun is to go for it.

So I'm going out on the ledge and doing what comes naturally.


"In the jungle, the mighty jungle
The lion sleeps tonight
In the jungle, the mighty jungle
The lion sleeps tonight"


Now, hum that in your head the rest of the weekend. And don't forget to have fun with it.

Missing This?

With the end of last year a blip in the rear view mirror, I must say I was allowed to do pretty good with meeting most of my goals. I was able to finish both Old and New Testaments with time to spare. I went over 20,000 Hindu squats and push ups with time to spare.

What I didn't do so well in was in the areas of gardening and foreign language. Guten tag? What's that?

Since the weather has been so lovely the past 3 days, I'm sure you've got to be ready for the yard to go from this:




To this:





(Who's that in my yard?)



So what better time than now to yak about last year's landscape?

As mentioned previously, I was able to successfully grow the following from seed:
blue fescue grass, malvia (which produces multiple nice pinkish-purplish/white flowers and broad green foliage shown above), shasta daisy,and another plant I haven't identified because I forgot to mark what it was after it was planted. I saved all my seed packets, so once it flowers I hope to be able to identify it.

I also was blessed with green beans, radishes and snap peas from seed, but not enough to really enjoy in abundance. I'm planting more this year. The tomatoes and cauliflower are visible in the vegetable bed to the right. I am going to expand this bed greatly this spring, God willing.


I'm hoping to expand it northward up the slope up near the fence.


I also got some great marigolds from seed as seen below in July. Also visible are a new golden privet, a new boxwood, a new prunus, blue star juniper and a new Russian sage (mostly decorating in or around the new bed, which is out further from the house than the older bed in front).


Also got some multi-colored Bachelor Buttons from seed and was able to save some of this year's crop for more seed.


The oriental lillies turned out nice.

Just opening.



Full bloom.

I was unsuccessful with Scottish moss, bellflower, coneflower and a couple of others. But I still have seed for the flowers, so I will be sowing indoors (maybe this weekend?).

Partly due to a lack of weather cooperation, but mostly due to the fact I was lazy and underfunded (ran out of supplies), I was unable to finish my terracing project. It was too dry to dig until October, then the rains came, then the cold, then the ice and snow, yada yada yada...and I'm not done.

Here's the mess of a problem I've had. I took out a very old rose bush and a trellis and was left with this.


Love the trash can view. This had to find a new home.

At the base, I didn't like how the sidewalk ended, so I cut out some sod and eventually replaced this with small pavers to finish the base of the retaining wall.


Preparing the paver base:


I'm going all the way up the slope with a terrace of small retaining walls, but as I mentioned, I'm not done. Hopefully this year.


As I've leveled and shaped the slope, I've been able to move a lot of the dirt to the back, which I'm going to use to start a pond/water fall. Probably not this year.

Finally, what thoughts of spring and summer outdoors would be complete without these little guys? Hummingbirds anyone?

See that little sucker on the left of the feeder?






Aren't you glad it's winter, and that we don't have to deal with all these things right now?

I Can't Help Myself

I just have to do it.

I love swimming upstream.

It would be so wrong to do otherwise.

I'll probably hate myself Monday, but it's who I am, so why fight it?

Sure, it would be safer the other way, but what fun would there be in caution?

Nope, the only way I can generate interest in this thing is to go for it.

So I'm going out on the ledge and doing what comes naturally.

I've got the Giants.

Let the beratement begin.