Three Beautiful Things:

• Yoga to stretch out the kinks.
• Intense Vitamin D
• The first “chink” of the baseball bat

Oh yes friends, I heard it! According to the sounds in the ‘hood high-school baseball practice has started. The first hit is the sweetest. Next, we wait for The National Anthem.

Yesterday, at the undercover assignment, I ran into a familiar face: a health care professional who moonlights as a bartender at the ball park. We look forward to doing some business in a few short weeks.

Another familiar face was D, he’s an active attractive senior 70+. Champion bridge player, gets up at 5 AM to exercise, goes home and hot tubs with his HOT wife (they met on the internet), outdoors man, retired air traffic controller with a military background. And he sleeps with a poodle! He (me) thinks they are the smartest dogs EVER!

D had a lot of fun with his internet dating experience, and he said that he met a lot of beautiful women and some….not so much. He was pretty open with his parameters and would travel to meet his dates and arrive with a rose and his poodle.

Evidently age was a factor with some of the women. But one lady and he really hit off, she was a successful business woman from out of state and the relationship was progressing nicely. She approached him about spending a couple of weeks together at her place…He was game. Until she dropped the bomb.

The dog is not welcome.

Deal breaker for D.

See ya!

2008 is the year of technological upgrades in the Garden. We’re slow to change and trend towards “if it ain’t broke…..”.

The Art Director insisted that we upgrade the (don’t laugh) Sony 1.3 mega pixel camera, so based on Granny’s Consumer Report we went with the slim Sony Cybershot 7.2 mega pixel digital camera.

LOVE IT!

So this weekend, with the sleek Sony in my pocket, I wandered the soggy grounds, did a few calisthenics, assessed the damage, drug a few limbs, and started to ‘tend my land. Can you say STIR CRAZY?

Fast forward to Sunday, I’m looking for the camera, can’t find it, start retracing my steps, and found it.

In the yard.

In the rain.

You can’t have anything nice around here.

Funeral Report from PA:

The flowers were beautiful and the service was very nice..Nelda had asked the minister to do the service when Pauline’s mother died , she had picked the Legion and the caterer so most of it was done….there were 75 or more there and they stayed for the lunch and for about 3 hours after.. I have discovered an upside to cremation …you can bring the person home with you and that seems to make it easier somehow…Matt (Nelda’s grandson) gave a short eulogy and there was not a dry eye in the house as they say…he turned out to be the perfect choice…Nelda would have been so proud of the turnout….she always worried that she had no friends…..love to all in MO…..d

To my knowledge, Nelda is the first member of our family to be cremated. And for sure the first one to reside in the home AFTER the funeral. The plan is to scatter her ashes at a later date.

The student at Embalmed to the Max introduced us to Thomas Noguchi, former LA Medical Investigator, L.A. Chief Coroner, and the inspiration for the show “Quincy”. We dug a little deeper and found an interview done in 1986 and found these futuristic thoughts.

On “Psychological Autopsies”:

I hope to see the day when we do neurochemical studies of the deceased. Profiles of adrenaline, norepinephrine, serotonin may tell us much about the psychology of the dead person. We’ve been conducting “psychological” autopsies for twenty-five years — let’s add neurochemical investigation of the spinal fluid and brain tissue.

On Capturing the Last Image from the Retina:

And there is an absolutely futuristic idea — like something out of Dick Tracy This is the concept of the retina as a photographic film: I see you, my murderer, but should I die, that image would remain! This idea is scary — the “last image” as an electronic impulse that may be recaptured. In computerized tomography we can rotate the CAT machine for an image of the brain. Going further, we could key in an image from the visual center of the occipital area. This is far-out, but I don’t want to throw it away completely.

Turbo Charged Database:

I would also like to develop the software for a computer small enough to store much of the background data for evaluating possible evidence at a crime scene. I don’t want to wait days or weeks for lab reports. I want to tap into a warehouse of information based on similar cases, similar weapons, so I can make spot tests right away. One cannot, and should not have to, remember the details of all cases in the past. Say I’m looking at a head injury and it shows a specific harpoon shape, one with a bit of a tail. I’d like to know what instrument causes this wound. So I’d compare this imprint of an unknown instrument to those of many thousands of other available weapons.

On his interest in “Art Morphology” – oil painting and sketching trying to capture his experience on canvas:

I’m interested in giving artistic representation to the crime scene. Most people perceive the dead body as still and the colors of death as gray, dark green, or black. I see intense energy and use intense colors — mostly red, orange — warm colors. I’ve been asked if I believe in reincarnation. In literal terms of past lives and such, I don’t, but the concept of the separation of the spirit from the body at death is very real to me.

And Finally, “The Big D”–

And the subject of death should be continuously talked about in more honest terms. The American tradition of whitewash eulogies, of letting sleeping dogs lie, of not writing anything about death, is injurious to the living. There are lessons to be learned from death. And because these death events are repeated over and over again, we must strive to understand them.

Earlier, while in the way-back machine, I noticed that this time last year I was also ready to burn. Funny, but I’ve got that same urge today. And here’s the object of my desire:

The last one we had was….destroyed by fire. And so were my eyebrows. Anyway, the local hardware store has this in a beautiful bronze that I must have. I like my fire pit portable.

This time last year we were in sunny Florida. Most of my pix were of living green vegetation. It was ALIVE!

This is a morning pool shot. Marveling that: I. Was In. The Pool. On a February morning. Soak It Up!

Now, back to the moment.

The view out the window at World Headquarters. This is the street that sold me when I bought the shack.

Beautiful sunsets, a lilac bush, bird bath. It’s a good view for not much money.

But with the beauty, comes a price. At certain times of the day this thoroughfare is heavily traveled with teenagers on their way to and from school and the nearby parks (another selling point at the time). Last summer the City re-designed the intersection to slow traffic down. The kids sometimes get it on two wheels around the corner.

After 10 years of living here I can tell what time it is just by the traffic sounds, and 7:45 AM is when we start getting busy with it.

7:45 is also the time that Mr. Greenjeans conducts a sacred ceremony in the “library” and this morning services were in full swing.

Despite this 3rd round of ice, school was in session today and the world is moving according to schedule.

Right outside his window, Mr. Greenjeans could hear the traffic noise and thought to himself: “Somebody gonna hit the house!”

And then as if it were a self-fulfilling prophesy: Ker-Thunk!

A vehicle manned by a teenage boy skated through the stop sign, jumped the curb and hurtled into my house. It was bound to happen. In ten years of living here, the kids have drove through the lawn, bit my tree, hit the fence, and now……sideswiped my brand new a.c. unit.

Well, it was either that, the tree, the fire plug, or the shed full of explosives. Good God Y’all!

Mr. Greenjeans was indisposed so I sprang into action, to survey the damage. The kid had parked on the street and was pulling my ornamental iron out of his undercarriage while he dialed up Dad.

He was visibly shaken, and thankful he was able to get it sideways and back on the road. Very apologetic.

I went inside and donned my best jump suit and prepared to Meet The Parents.

Can I get a salt truck over here?

Here’s what we learned in the Garden this week:

The Executive Function of my frontal lobe appears to be diminishing. Last to develop, first to fade. God Help Me.

The frontal lobe of your brain houses your Memory Chamber and the Executive Function and controls your recall. Names, planning, managing distractions, and Multi-Tasking. Herein lies the problem. The Focus.

Add a little (d)icy weather to the mix and here we are! A precious hour was burned earlier this week chipping away and trying to break into the warehouse. I inhaled one can of de-icer and destroyed a brand new telescopic ice scraper. And no, I didn’t wear a mask, even though the label on the can suggested it.

Back to the frontal lobe. In a nutshell, evidently you can retard the shrinkage of your lobe and the fading of the functions with……DIET and EXERCISE!

The results of this week’s lobe research involved binging and interrupting the fitness schedule. New audio stimuli included sound effects. The crackle and crash of branches snapping, sounds of scraping, and frozen daggers falling from the sky. Where’s my nerve pills?

So, we practice gratitude and remember how lucky we are! We have power and have escaped the devastation of the last couple of weeks. Glory be to Jesus! (or whoever your higher power is)

Earlier this week, we received a message from one of our vendors in Memphis reporting that part of their warehouse was obliterated by the January storm that took over 60 lives.

So this would be a good time to salute our friends up north who are accustomed to the long and harsh winters. From the Winter Weather Wussies down here, We admire your strength and fortitude!

Also kudos to my friend Joel, who is a great guy and was dearly missed when he made a mid-life career change. Did he have any idea he’d be in FRONT of the camera, rather than behind it when he made the move? Now he’s in the hot seat and doing a great job.

And then: A Kind Word From A Client:

Thanks again for the necklace. It was very special to her and meant a lot to me (and to the other loved ones) that she had it on during the funeral and was buried with her. Splint (her beloved dog) is now with her always.

This has been a very terrible event in my life and I will always remember Kim and all the wonderful times that we spent together. She was truly one of my best friends, no matter how different she seemed. It seems to just now be hitting me.

One of our East Coast clients asked for your thoughts and prayers as she starts her journey into the Widow’s Club and her son mourns the loss of his father.

And finally, an email from my aunt regarding my grandmother’s ashes:

I was intending to send a small container of ashes out there that can be kept or scattered….so that a little of Nelda would be with her Missouri family….I think that she would like that…..love d

My reply: “Maybe we should take her to Branson!”

She loved that place!

Today’s Fitness Tip: Avoid consuming cabbage and fried food before strenuous exercise.

“The world is a better place without this man in it.”
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

Imad Mughniyeh was killed Tuesday in car bomb in the Syrian capital of Damascus, is accused of masterminding the 1983 bombings if the U.S. Embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut, the 1985 hijackings of a TWA airliner and two Kuwaiti jets, the kidnappings of Westerns including journalist Terry Anderson.

And he allegedly did all this before he turned 30.

The United States welcomed the death of Mughniyeh, who was indicted in the U.S. over the 1985 hijacking of a TWA airliner, the FBI had put a $5 million bounty on Mughniyeh.

“I can’t say I’m either surprised or sad (by his death). He was not a good man. Certainly, the primary actor in my kidnapping and many others,” Terry Anderson told AP on Wednesday. “To hear that his career has finally ended is a good thing and it’s appropriate that he goes up in a car bomb.”

Mughniyeh’s body was brought to south Beirut in the afternoon and was laid in a refrigerated coffin, wrapped in Hezbollah’s yellow flag.

Mughniyeh’s father — Fayez, a south Lebanese farmer — as well as Hezbollah’s deputy leader, Sheik Naim Kassem and other Hezbollah officials received condolences at the hall from allied Lebanese politicians and representatives of militant Palestinian factions. Though bitter rivals of Hezbollah, some pro-U.S. politicians including Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri offered written condolences in a gesture of solidarity.

Source: International Herald Tribune

courtesy of brandspankin.com