Old Time Radio at OTRCat!

Thursday, April 30, 2015

What is WRONG with me?



When I was a tot, we had a collie, yclept "Toby", for "Tobias Smollett" (Momma was an English teacher). He was tolerant, though he did nip me once when I insisted on using him as a horse. When Momma died, and went to Live Elsewhere, Toby came with me, but I paid little attention to him (I was harangued about Being Clean, and some of it took. Smelly, slobbery dog. They opted to finally give Toby to someone with a farm, and Room to Run, and all, and blamed me because I did not pay attention to him. Never had a dog again. Lots of cats in the yard (we lived on an old plantation...which had Room to Run) so I was environmentally disposed to become a Cat Person. We currently have several yard cats, and little rodent trouble.

Some months ago, we were visited by a horse, by which I mean a black Great Dane adolescent. The Dread Dormomoo, who has had unpleasant run-ins with local dogs, was worried that the brute was after the cats, likely for a snack, so I went out as was my Manly Duty to confront the fell beast. He was, in fact, jumping at the cats, and making a snort and doing that forepaw crouch thing, and I sussed out that this was not due to hunger pangs.

Monstro wanted to play with the cats.

They studiously ignored his antics. I was utterly charmed. I did the closest approximation to his snort and puppyish crouch, but I presented too high a profile, and so he was nervous, and would not come to me. He would mirror my attempt, then dash off, stop, and do it again.

I was playing with a dog. A monstrous dog. When after weeks of his sometime visits I sat on the front steps, he came up to me and I was able...to pet the dog. He is large, and has a scent to him, and mercy, he is a drooly-Bob, but he tolerates me, and we play a bit.

I'm playing with a dog.

No, I want to roll on the grass and tussle with a dog.

What is wrong with me?
I blame Charlie. When we moved into our present business location in '05, a little dog showed up. His appearance and behavior reminded my daughter and me of the Chuck Jones dog that bedevils Porky Pig, so we named him "Charlie".

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/looneytunes/images/0/0a/759bb3d6-27fe-4671-bfe3-a8fab7c3a3cf.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20131011212814


We gave him food, and all was well. He had no ID. We got him a little collar, and I reckon that clued his owners into a need to take better heed to him, because he no longer wandered the downtown area. Sadness.

We have several dogs that wander around our tiny townlet, and I know the dangers of Petting the Puppy, or worse, feeding it. We have a wandering bloodhound who we dubbed "Lady Bird", after Hank's dog on King of the Hill. There is a small we-think-part-bassett who reminds me of an early Hanna-Barbera dog named "Snuffles" who I will pet, and who has a bad habit of wandering in the shop. He is short, squat, and ancient. And adorable.

I said that. What is wrong with me? I actually consider finding homes for our katzenkinder, and getting a smallish dog, maybe a corgi, or a not smallish one like a Great Pyrenees.

Who am I, and what have I done with me?


Friday, April 24, 2015

An Aardvark Update!

My Facebook picture!



















Two things to make "sustainability" happen.
1) Coastal desalinating plants. Why is this not a thing, now? (California, here's a hint...drop the high-speed rail project, and build desal facilities so you can have water!)
2) Geo-synchronous orbiting power satellites that take raw solar energy, convert it to microwave, and beam it to rectifying antennas in, say, the Mohave, the Sahara...desert, uninhabited places, where the microwaves are converted to electricity and fed onto the grid. Endless virtually free power, beyond equipment cost and maintenance. We could do this NOW.

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So, a pleasant chick you do not know, whose page has a lot of flag-waving and God talk, messages and wants "to chat and get to know each other better".
Isn't that sweet?

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The theta replacing the stars in the ecology flag is also the first letter in "thanatos", the Greek word for "death".
The environmental True Believers have been telegraphing their druthers the whole time!


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Roy Rogers' horse is my trigger.

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Ron Popeil...you MUST save the Earth. Make a home-bio diesel device. Pour the bacon grease, hamburger drippings, and Fry Daddy oil into the hopper, set it...AND FORGET IT!

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Y'know...when you meet someone, odds are they may say something mildly offensive, or unintentionally hurtful, or somewhat abrasive to your sensibilities.
Deal with it. Few know my hot buttons, of which there are several, and thus I am "offended" with some regularity. I assume that they are not out to intentionally ruffle my feathers, or to harsh my mellow, so I let it go.
Give it a try. Feels better than swelling in a toadly fashion and assuming offense.
This post was not intended to offend.

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So, went to the Doc. Told him my problem (severe body and joint aches, with shifting severe pain/pressure in my shoulders and back, which would inexplicably stop and move to my lower back. Kept me home over the weekend this was happening), and that I needed to re-up my BP prescriptions. I have been several days without them, because the office was closed the day I went last week.
Well, your tender Aardvark, your butter-would-not-melt-in-his-mouth Aardvark, your narcotics-trade-virginal Aardvark has a little problem.
Your pure-as-the-driven-slush Aardvark is going through withdrawal. The particular type of drug that one of my BP pills is (ACE inhibitors) has a nasty habit of payback. Heh. I'm jonesin' for my Lisinopril. C'mon, Doc, you know I'm good for it....
My sweet Dread Dormomoo just handed me The Stuff.
Yeah...THAT'S the stuff!

(days pass)

Apparently, the one-two punch of my BP pill and an anti-inflammatory is easing the symptoms somewhat. I do not feel like discorporating would be a help, so that's good. Thanks for your rapt attention to my whinging. I will let you know how it goes, since so many online expressed interest and concern.
See, this is what happens when you pet the stray puppy!

(days pass)

I made it to the St. Louis con with no issues. Feeling in fine fettle now!

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Later. I have Things to Say.



Tuesday, April 07, 2015

Le roi est mort, vive le roi !


Stan Freberg is no longer with us. YouTube is full of examples of his work. His groundbreaking "funny ad" style broke seismographs on Madison Avenue. I share here one of his ads, and one of mine that his style inspired.

He was my hero.











Monday, April 06, 2015

Thunderbirds are Gone. REAL gone!


tbrgo



Watched the new Thunderbirds Are Go pilot. Worth the wait. Better than the Frakes movie. Hitler annexing the Sudetenland was probably better than that.

Practical sets. Real, hand-made miniature sets, filmed properly. CG characters and nicely updated ships, (almost) seamlessly integrated with the sets. Hey, it's the first episodes, they will improve, what little they need to. The pacing is rapid, not frenetic like those dreadful Fox Kids butcheries in the mid-'90s. The music is a good driver for the action, and they kept the original theme. I shan't do spoilers, but I have to say I do not want to induce blunt-force trauma on Alan.

As much.