Author Archives: Ken Hansen

A Bowl Of Nonsensical Stress Relief

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Well my dear ones, here we are in another unnecessary war. As the old John Prine song goes, “Jesus don’t like killin’ no matter what the reason’s for.” Rather than lament about all that icky stuff, I dug up a very silly story I wrote for my grandsons several years ago. So without further ado, I present to you:

The Adventures Of Gribblit And Yobo

Once upon a time, there were two finkle snarns named Gribblit and Yobo. Both of them enjoyed eating dust while watching their favorite dogfood fly into small cars. There were times when they enjoyed this so much, they would jump up and down about 14 times and roll some cabbage across the road. If they got too loud, their Mom would come outside and say, “Hey you two!! What do you think this is?? Some kind of radio hammer?” After Mom said things like that, they decided they’d better be good for at least 12 more seconds.

Last Tuesday, Gribblit came home from frog washing school and was laughing a lot. Yobo asked, “What’s so funny?” Gribblit laughed some more and said, “My cheese sandwich keeps finding pennies in people’s hair!!” Yobo didn’t think that was really funny, but he wanted to get a penny finding sandwich like Gribblit had. Yobo said, “Can you teach my sandwich how to find money? I’d really like to buy a new carrot saw so I can cut my carrots faster. Oh!! And I sure would like to have one of those battery operated nose cleaners!!”

Gribblit wasn’t sure he could teach a sandwich how to find money. So instead he told Yobo, “Well to be honest, I never taught my sandwich anything. It just started finding money on its own. But I’ll tell you what, I bet if we carry some sticks over to Mr. Camel’s house he can teach us how to make an ear brush!” Yobo crinkled his eyebrows and told Gribblit, “I think maybe you are fooling me. Everyone knows Mr. Camel doesn’t brush his ears, he licks them.” Gribblit said he was sorry, and showed Yobo a handful of pennies. “OK, well maybe we could go to the ice cream shop and I’ll buy you some chicken wire. That way we can use it to catch spiders on their way to the movies!!”

Yobo popped his doogle zinker and said, “Well all my spider friends will be very angry if you try to stop them from going to the movies. We better go to the House of Hamburgers and buy some jingle bells instead. That way we can signal the trees before they cross the road so they won’t get hit by large trucks.” Yobo also said, “After we jingle our tree signals, we can sit down for a nice glass of hot pepper juice and some pickled newspapers.”

So, Gribblit and Yobo had another very nice day that made absolutely no sense to either of them. But they stayed friends; and found out that no matter how many marbles you sing songs to, there will always be more birds who don’t like living in a cave. They will also remember that hot pepper juice doesn’t really taste very good with pickled newspapers. However, fried hammer handles can be pretty darn tasty.

As Grandma Foo Foo Looba once said, “Please, just don’t eat my kitchen door.”

The End

OK… and now because I’m an old hippie, here are some protest songs. I often put more than one video (or song) at the end of each “Happy Friday!!!”… but some folks have expressed surprise and have missed some stuff. Well there are 3 this time.

Just sayin’

Daylight Craving Time

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“What to write for tonight?” he wondered (OK, he is actually me). There’s a war going on, a nasty one too. But I doubt anyone wants to hear about that on Happy Friday!!! I’m praying all war everywhere would just plain quit but I don’t think that’s gonna happen. And yes I know prices on pretty much everything are rather nuts right now, but all I can say about all that is this reminder to all my friends: We are spoiled Americans. We live in a safe place and a free country (so far). “So again,” he wondered, “whatchya gonna write tonight??”

“I know!!” he (OK it’s really me again) exclaimed, “I’ll whine about the loss of an hour of sleep when we change the clock again!!”

So here’s how happy I am about the clock change. Some of you may remember a similar version of this rant from a few years ago. I apologize for not producing something fresh and twinkly, but my heart really hurts right now for the people who are being killed at all the horrible warring regions of the globe..

Anyway, here’s my whining:

Daylight Craving Time – Spring Ahead

Here we go again. An hour of sleep lost in honor of “springing ahead” into Daylight Savings Time. I thought about writing some cockamamie jab at the history of Daylight Saving Time, but after about 430 milliseconds of extensive research I’ve learned there are so many convolutions and wonkulary wibbledy-poof that I ran away screaming. If you’re really interested in that stuff, Snopes has a pretty good page that describes it all in a nice little nutshell, here:

http://www.snopes.com/science/daylight.asp.

Any who how, even though our biological clocks get their springs and gears all wompified, most of my friends here in Beautiful West Michigan are very OK with the concept of Daylight Saving Time during the summer. I mean, who wouldn’t enjoy having daylight till 10:30 PM? Days are already getting longer, and the birds are playing their electric guitars while squirrels, possums, and racketycoons jump up and down to the beat. Deer are looking at us with that “What??” face while they munch on our muddy snow melted lawns. Starlings and grackles will soon be ready to empty the bird feeders pretty much as quickly as we can fill them. And yep, pretty soon the peepers will be peeping and the thunder will be thundering.

Oh wait… we already had some thunderboomers. Let’s hear it for climate change!!

So listen, awright?? I’m really sick up and fed with this time changing monkey business. It really seems quite unnecessary, don’t you think? Let’s spring ahead just once and frickin’ leave it that way!! This is the way of my wanting, and I hereby proclaim its necessity!! I mean, do I need to reiterate how spoiled we are here in Beautiful West Michigan during the summer?!?! Summer, after all, is my favorite time of year; and we get very long days. I really love being in the garden until it’s too dark to see; and as I mentioned earlier that’s almost 10:30 PM here during part of the warm months.

I try to remind myself of being spoiled, because I’ve experienced the other end of the toaster handle. When I was a kid growing up on Long Island, it was dark outside not too long after we got home from school. In those days, our local fire department touched off a siren every day at precisely 7 PM. Now, when you’re a little kid who has to be heading home “when the 7 o’clock whistle blows,” you still can have lots of fun with hide-and-seek because it’s dark outside at about 5 PM. We’d eat supper, go outside and play, and have gobs of fun running around “at night.” So in that regard, falling back to Standard Time was kinda fun.

I’m a couple days older now, and because I’m a senior citizen I hereby reserve the right to once again whine about the fact that I’m not really a fan of changing the clocks at all. I’m very OK with living on the far western edge of the Eastern Time Zone, so we can squeeze every last minute of daylight out of the setting sun. Arizona and Hawaii don’t observe all this saving time nonsense. I’d be OK with that, so long as we keep Daylight Saving Time.

Please write to my congressman and woman to make this happen. I’ll give you $3.40 up front for an incentive, and I’ll even bake you an Apple Surprise pie (Surprise!! I put raisins in there too!!). If you can get this done before Sunday, I’ll even make you an Apple Surprise Surprise pie (Raisins and walnuts!!) !!

Well, it’s time for me to quit writing about time now. There was a time though, back in 1973 when I had a very nice time, listening to these guys. All I could say then (and all I can say now), was WOW!!

No News Can Be Good News

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I’ve always been a bit of a news junkie. Been that way ever since I can remember really… I even remember when Berlin Wall was being built. I was the ripe old age of 6 at the time. Unfortunately, most of the news we see in the media is not very pleasant these days. Maybe it never was. Regardless, I think I’ve been paying a little too much attention and it’s starting to hurt me. There really is lots of very good news in this world, but sadly not nearly enough of it is reported in the mainstream media.

Therefore I’ve decided not to focus so much on what needs to be changed in the world, but rather try to focus on what needs to be changed in me. Specifically, I may (or may not) try to distract myself by squirting copious amounts spicy brown mustard into my nostrils every time I get the urge to watch the news. There’s actually a clinical name for this method; which I just made up. Yes my friends, I’ve named it “No News Mustard Nose.” This is not to be confused with The Beatles’ song “Mean Mr. Mustard,” although I really do enjoy that tune. However, when my nostrils are full of mustard I simply do not feel very musical.

In order to further my journey into serenity and good mental health; I’m also doing my best not to indulge in negativity. Perhaps I could achieve this by loudly blowing bubbles in a glass of chocolate milk every time someone wants to utter sounds of prejudice, racism, or misogyny (to name a few). I could even try using a straw!! This could be enhanced by humming loudly into the straw; and thereby making some very musical bubbling action. If the negative yammering continues, I could take a quick break from the bubbling and loudly proclaim, “My Musical Milk Makes Me Most Merry!!” And of course I would resume with the brightly bubbly ballad; only much louder.

I’ve heard that some folks find happiness by purchasing things. Well I already have too much stuff; but perhaps I could go shopping for such luxury items as chocolate covered herring fillets; or maybe some nonexplosive macaroni and cheese for a change. I’ve always disliked macaroni explosions. Takes weeks to get the stuff out of the crooks and nannies of my kitchen. Of course I could instead try to find something useful like a solar powered paper clip dispenser; or there’s always that right handed / left handed (for those who are ambivalent) matching set of metric screwdrivers I’ve never wanted. Maybe I won’t go shopping at all, but rather treat myself and wonderful partner to an elegant dinner of Fish Head Surprise with Mama Baloopa’s Banana Gravy. Oh and let’s not forget the famous Cinnamon Raisin Eggplant Pie Ala Mode for dessert!! I hear it’s the latest thing in the suburbs of Sasquatch, New Yingleton.

My friends, I decided to make silly tonight due to the continuation of how horribly we humans treat each other and our Mother (Nature). I’m very aware that there’s very little over which I can exert any control, so I will simply do the best I can to treat people and all other living things with kindness and love. I’ll continue to wing up prayers for those who are suffering, and I’ll continue to pray for our planet and all its creatures and plants. We’re all in this together after all. Perhaps there will come a time when humanity can really make love and not war. Being the idealist that I am, I’ll continue to cling to the hope that we can (eventually??) learn from history rather than continuously repeat it.

Until then, if you’re at my house when the news comes on, just look the other way when the mustard starts to flow; and maybe plug your ears when I reach for the chocolate milk and my straw. Then stick around for the Fish Head Eggplant Pie Ala Mode!! It’s um… well it’s really pretty disgusting.

On the other hand, perhaps the next few videos can help you have very silly diversions…

Every 212.35 Days

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So there I was, minding my own business, wondering what I should write about for this week’s Happy Friday!!! thing, when suddenly, I remembered that holy cow, last Friday was the 13th, and I should find something to write about that, and I’m not sure why I’m using bold italics but here it is happening until I tell the computer to STOP IT AWREDDY!! Whew!! So then I had a thought in my head bone: “Friday the 13th – remember – it’s full of bad luck so try not to be superstitious!” so I said “Thank you” to my head bone because I was wondering what to write about tonight and now I know so there!

Just for the halibut, I used The Google Thing (TGT) to find out how often Friday the 13th happens. Well that took me to The Wikipedia Thing (TWT), which says “On average, there is a Friday the 13th once every 212.35 days, whereas Thursday the 13th occurs only once every 213.59 days.” We get one at least once a year, but it can happen as many as 3 times in a year.

Isn’t that special?

There was a period of my life when I was convinced Friday the 13th came much more often. You know that old saying: “If it wasn’t for bad luck I wouldn’t have any luck at all.” I’m hoping that doesn’t apply to me. Back in “The Before Times” I was certain my luck really stunk; but I gradually discovered that all the “bad luck” was really a set of consequences that I inflicted upon myself due to some rather poor choices.

Nowadays I consider myself extremely fortunate. Of course, I’m trying to make better decisions. It has been especially helpful to shed my youthful follies that involved too many intoxicants; my affinity for which helped me rationalize all too many actions that were very unacceptable and too often very unkind. I don’t think I really left adolescence until I was 35 years old. After much pain and suffering (again, self inflicted) I actually got to a point where I wanted to grow up. I’m still trying to learn better behaviors… to stay teachable. I try to be kind to everyone I meet, and I’m getting better at being kind to myself.

Although I didn’t really expect it, as I reminisce about Friday the 13th it got me thinking about all this stuff. As I said, I really am very fortunate. I can very much agree with what a friend of mine often says: “90 percent of the world would love to have the problems I have.”

Well my friends, it’s winter again in Beautiful West Michigan. For those of you who escape to Florida around this time of year, please smell my toes as you understand that it’s 31 degrees and falling with lots of wind and some snow. I hope you’re happy!!! But seriously, I really am grateful for the turn of the seasons here in Michigan Land. Speaking of gratitude, now it’s time for me to say bye-bye while I plop some videos of a couple songs that have helped me “get better luck” over the years. They help me remember that it’s never too late to start all over again. Even if I have to do it multiple times a day.

Which I do from time to time… and it’s very HELPful.

This Is Dedicated To The ONES I Love

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What a beautiful time of year, don’t you think? It’s finally getting warm in Michigan, the ground and the sky will soon both be grey, the temperature is just warm enough to keep snow from falling and just cold enough to make your cheeks red. Spring is nowhere near yet, and the drudgery of winter is really beginning to wear on me and I’m thinking maybe you too. A great time to celebrate love, don’t you think??

It really IS a good time, actually. Don’t know how it came to be, but February 14 is the perfect time to celebrate warmth and care. Especially here in the temperate zone where spring is like a cake baking in a land far, far away. You can’t smell it yet, but you know Aunt Zelda is probably mixing up a wonderful batch that will be filling the air with fragrant bugs and flowery bird droppings from migratory species.

HUH??

You see, it’s like this… I for one need a nice warm fuzzy holiday at this time of year. I’m sick up and fed with the weather already. It’s a pain in the vinegaroon right now (click on that “vinegaroon” word… you’ll be amazed), and if we don’t get some kind of indication what season it is REALLY supposed to be, I will eat that big pile of dirt over there. See it? That pile of dirt?? Ha ha, I can’t eat it, it’s still frozen. Get my drift now?? Winter doesn’t know whether it’s coming or going. Weird weather… that so-called El Nino thing I guess. Warm one minute and cold the next. I’ve seen goldeneyes (migratory diving ducks) in the river flats, so I guess maybe spring is on the way. Seems like a long way off though. It’s above freezing in the daytime and brrrr-cold at night.

This is me, whining.

Anyway, my professional opinion is: the timing for Valentine’s Day is perfect. We need some warmth… and Valentine’s Day is a warm, fuzzy symbol of love. As I write this today, Friday, February 13, I can’t help thinking… this year is even more special than last year. Know why? Because this Valentine’s Day isn’t here yet, and last year’s is gone. See how I figured that out?? Isn’t that remarkable?? You know, it’s that carpe diem thing.

Sneeze the day.

Seize the sneeze.

Bless you!

Thanks!

Anyhow, Happy Valentine’s Day to all who find these words in front of your eye things. You needn’t have a sweetheart for this holiday… it’s a celebration of love, doggone it! A good excuse to do something nice, just for because. Sell a monkey some used pencils at three for a penny, for example. Or else grind up some beef flavored oatmeal and give your dog a nice treat for supper. Better yet, give all the objects in your home a really endearing nickname and offer to buy them snacks and beverages. If you want to be REALLY weird, do something nice for someone and don’t let them know who did it!

Maybe Valentine’s Day is simply God’s (whoever they are) way of giving us a little reminder that we can be warm and loving on more than just Christmas. Whatever. Just have some fun, be nice and maybe even tell someone you love them. Oh, and don’t eat too much chocolate.

Save some for ME.

Speaking of Love…it’s really all you need, don’t you think? Well… yes, absolutely.

Maus In Da Haus… Again!!

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Do not be afraid, but the title is pronounced “Mouse in da house.” This does not mean that I have rodents running around in my home. No, it refers to a delicious comfort food that I’ve shared on this silly blog thing from time to time. It’s really quite a nourishing and wonderfully satisfying mixture of mashed potatoes, barley, kale, and onions. I know I’ve written about this before but I don’t care because it’s still winter and this is a fabulous winter dish and besides it gave me the excuse to throw in a run-on sentence which is not terribly long but I’m pretty sure it qualifies as being run-on because it keeps going on and on and OK now it’s time to quit with the too long sentence awreddy.

Our dear friend Ruthie will be coming over in a week or so and is very much looking forward to enjoying this delicacy with us. And since I like to be different, this year’s Maus will be blue. Well more accurately grey with a touch of blue. It can’t be helped, you see… I grew Adirondack Blue potatoes; and they are blue inside and out! Not sure, but I have a feeling Mrs. Spoelma might get a kick out of blue Maus.

Mrs. Who Now??

God bless Mrs. Spoelma (pronounced “SPOOLma”), the “Hollander” (Michigan term for Dutch) lady who lived next door to us when we first moved to Muskegon. She and her husband were often outside in the yard, and we’d have many a conversation across the fence. That was 50 years ago (wow!!), and one couldn’t ask for nicer neighbors.

When our daughter came into the world, she started bringing us food. Most often, she brought an odd mashed potato dish we’d never had before. “This is Maus,” she said when she brought over the first batch. “It’s an old family recipe: mashed potatoes, kale, and barley. Oh and a little bit of onion, too.” It was simply wonderful. Perfect food for a couple of tree huggers with a brand new baby. Free food is always pretty doggoned perfect if you ask me; especially when it’s delicious. “Maus” is not merely wonderful as a side dish for meat and another vegetable, maybe even some gravy. It’s also especially yummy the following day, reheated with an over easy egg or two on top. MMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

When I first wrote about Maus a few years ago I scoured the web for a recipe that resembled this remarkable dish. No such luck. After many variations of the words potato, mashed, kale, barley, and Dutch, I found several interesting cooking ideas but nothing that resembled what our dear Mrs. Spoelma made. After a little trial and error, I think I’ve been able to replicate the flavor pretty closely.

Because it’s so doggoned yummy, I feel it’s my duty to share the basics with you. I love to cook but I rarely follow any recipe exactly. Maus is no exception; but without further ado here is a rudimentary description. Try this and alter the quantities of barley, kale, and onions to your liking next time.

Maus: Delicious Mashed Potatoes, Kale, Barley and Onion

Ingredients:

Potatoes : enough to fill a 6 quart pot a bit more than halfway when diced

Barley: ½ cup hulled barley (pearled barley is OK but not as nutritious as hulled)

Kale: 3 – 4 tightly packed cups, chopped

Onions: one large onion or 4 or 5 small onions, diced

½ stick of salted butter

½ cup of milk

salt to taste

Potatoes (I don’t peel them), barley, and kale will be cooked in separate pots.

Add more than enough water to the barley to cover, at least 2 inches higher than the barley. Boil the barley until tender, then drain, cover and set aside.

Add 1 cup water to the kale, and cover. Bring to boil, remove from heat after 2 or 3 minutes boiling. Toss the onions in with the kale and cover again, let that sit for about 5 minutes. The heat will cook the onions just enough. Drain, then set aside.

Wash and dice enough potatoes to fill a 6 quart pot a bit more than half way (we leave the skins on). Fill with water till the potatoes are barely covered, and boil until tender, drain. Add butter and mash, adding milk and a dash or so of salt along the way. When the potatoes are creamy, add barley, kale and onions to the potatoes and mush together until mixed thoroughly. OK, you’re done! Now, don’t just stand there, it’s time to eat!!

By the way, this has nothing to do with Mouseketeers…

An Important Letter To All Zagnerbynes

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Dear Zandenbiffles,

This is to inform you that although you are now finished singing “Jingle Bells” while gargling potato salad, there will be no further ritual slayings of moldy couches in your behalf. The local law enforcement agencies have informed me that this practice is being filmed and used for soft drink commercials. We have therefore decided to laugh loudly in their faces; and tell them that their mommies are singing marshmallow songs while they go to the potty.

Ha! Ha-ha on those guys! Ha!

I was in the store yesterday and they ran out of fried pickles again. Very upset, I was, to enjoy the lasting flavors of well done deep fried dills no more:

Deep fried dills,

Deep fried dills.

One a-penny, two a-penny,

Deep fried dills.

When the fish come to visit,

We stick them in their gills.

One a-penny, two a-penny,

Deep fried dills.

That was something that came to me in a dream.

I remember chewing on a package of freshly fried pickles, wondering how they would taste if only I could get the stupid bag open. I finally laid the package down, and my cats promptly threw it in the woodstove. They have less than fond memories of me mixing diced dills into their Nine Purina Frisky Lives brand “Tuna, Oatmeal, And Dumplings; Specially Made Edible, Great, and Magically Awesome” (abbreviated T.O.A.D. S.M.E.G.M.A.) dinner in a can. They love that stuff. Personally, I don’t see how they can eat that crap.

Well, enough about delicious foods.

Let’s talk about the pajama crisis, shall we? Unfortunately, as I’m sure you are aware, the supply of pajamas has fallen far short of the demand. Many people have been improvising to overcome the shortage, using household items to fabricate sleepwear. Paper shopping bags seem to be the most popular material, but I have heard numerous complaints of the tape working loose during the night and sticking to rather embarrassing places.

This is easily remedied, of course, by first coating the skin liberally with petroleum jelly to avoid having the tape stick. Another solution is to spray yourself from head to toe with cooking spray just before bedtime. Where there’s a will, there’s a large soggy donut, I always say. Besides, Burger King bags make nice hats. Try it sometime. Take the food out first. Or not!! Perhaps you’d like to be called silly names like: you crazy Food-Head! Onion Ring Eyes! Here, come here and let me give you a Hamburger Haircut! I’m sorry. I don’t normally hurl food-based name insults in such a molecular manner.

I don’t know what came over me.

OK, so now I’m smelling something, but during the same time span during the exact same instance of momentary quiet solitude that I smelled whatever it was during a moment of silent reflection, and I could see myself in your china. That’s very sparkly, if I must say so myself. If I must not, please tell me so before tomorrow. Tell me something right now, but save some of it for a surprise. I like surprises. SURPRISE!! Were you surprised? I wasn’t, and I couldn’t even see the word until I typed it!

There’s something to ponder now, isn’t it? Words are invisible until they are seen. We can talk invisibly, especially over the phone. But people who talk are not necessarily invisible; except sometimes. I mean, when someone who is not blind says, “I never get to see you anymore,” does this mean I am vanishing? Holy cow, that scares me! Wait, I have to go check a mirror!/a…,D>AffL”AFsd-0fop ;, 112 alright, cat, get off the keyboard! Can’t I even do an invisibility check without you messing with the computer??

Well, it’s OK. I can see myself, and although I appear to be a little less than three-dimensional, the mirror says I’m there. I grabbed my nose just to make sure. Didn’t pick it though. If I did, I sure as heck wouldn’t tell you anyway.

Now, my friends, is the time for me to stop. My Silly Battery is oozing strange powdery wooden camel hairs, and that means I must change into my Rugman suit and chase the evil Mog-Woller out of the pillow factory. Don’t forget to tell yourself something before you forget to remember not to forget about whatever it is you were supposed to remember. Where are my socks? They said hello to me this morning. Oh nevermind.

MAY LOVE SURROUND YOUR SOUL WITH GREAT WARMTH AT ALL TIMES.

Sincerely and Wholeheartedly yours,

Vigniss Pefflewonk

a.k.a. “Slush Fund Eleanor”

OK! Let’s watch some silly streamings…

So Sick Of Corporate Ick

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I’m pretty sick up and fed with all these gigantic corporations who care very much about the bottom line and very little about the likes of us. It’s really getting ridiculous… so much influence on the kind of shows we watch, what kind of news we see, hear or read. Reminds me of “the good old days” when I was working. Our department got some pretty sad news one day. Jobs that currently belonged to nine of my work friends would be outsourced beginning the following year. Wasn’t really a surprise to me. After working in the corporate universe for nearly 40 years; I had acquired a feel for such things. The sad result, of course, was the disruption my friends would experience. And I, being a caring kind of guy, felt very badly for them. Call me idealistic, but in my professional opinion, it never has to be this way. Corporations can make their money and still make employees feel valued. With rare exception though, this is not the way of the corporate world.

But what do I know??

At least my friends got a couple months notice. That could be considered kind, I suppose. I’m sure there was a cost savings to the company to have an outside service replace these employees. In the process, the Upper Crust always seemed to make sure their pockets were nicely lined with large bonuses. Of course, this wasn’t unique to our company, it’s become common all over the world. Importance of profits far outweigh any concern for the employees’ well being. If it weren’t for labor unions, all underlings would be treated even worse than they are now.

Reminds me of the Dr. Seuss book, “The Lorax.” The character called the Once-ler is confronted about the damages done by the rampant growth of his business. His company’s fortune thrives on materials taken from Truffula trees, which also happen to be the primary food source for creatures called the Bar-ba-loots. As the Truffula trees are over harvested, the Bar-ba-loots begin to starve, and suffer from “Crummies in tummies.”

The Once-ler’s response: “…business is business! And business must grow, regardless of Crummies in Tummies you know.”

Business is business… ain’t that the truth??

Of course, those of us whose necks missed the chopping block couldn’t help but wonder who was next. Nobody loves these kinds of changes, including me. However, my life experiences gave me tools to be a little better at keeping the negative fire storms out of my head. Being annoyed and sad is already uncomfortable enough. My magnifying mind can, if let loose, really run with all this and build a grudge that becomes harmful to me and those around me. I’m truly grateful to have learned that if I allow anger and resentment to fester in my heart, I’m basically poisoning myself. Being livid about things over which I have no control is about as effective as eating a poison pill and expecting someone else to die.

Of course my work friends and I tossed various scenarios about and when I pondered out loud about if (or more likely when) it would be my turn; they offered suggestions like finding an IT head hunter or maybe doing computer consulting work. Bless them… they were concerned for me. When they were done I mentioned that I’d been a slave to technology for over 40 years. I thanked them warmly and let them know in no uncertain terms that I was really ready to do something a little different. I would have been just fine to do something that may pay less but will feed my soul. Perhaps somewhere like Goodwill, and help those less fortunate than me become a bit more self-sufficient. Possibilities are only limited by how open my mind will be.

Thankfully I was able to retire before my particular job was outsourced (which it was). As my retirement grew near, I decided to show them guys (the corporate big shots)!! I continued to work at the job and just tried to be happy!! I bet they never saw that coming!! Well OK they didn’t care… but I did my darnedest to avoid dipping into the poison pot about corporate dysfunction. After all, the only thing I had any control over is how I reacted to all these “wonderful” things that were changing at the workplace.

Even today, (maybe especially today) when my serenity alarm goes off, I need to remind myself to run through my “gratitude list.” I am healthy and I have the love of an amazing woman. Both of us know what it’s like to lose a spouse after many years of a good marriage. I’m convinced those God People (whoever they are) helped us find each other. On top of that, I have cars that work, a nice home, plenty to eat. I have loving relationships with our offspring, relatives and friends. Life really is very, very good.

No poison pill for me thanks. We all have the right to be happy, and I’ve been taught the only way to achieve that is to take care of myself.  I need to make gratitude my attitude.  I need to say “thank you” to The People Upstairs (you know, those God People) regularly.  Sometimes it takes a bit of work to pull it off, but life is much more peaceful when I succeed. Who am I fooling… I need to work at staying calm and grateful pretty much every day, and that’s very OK with me.

Can you tell I’m practicing?

OK.  Time for a chuckle… I did some hunting and found this gem by Monty Python.  A good way to poke fun at the corporate universe and its absurdity!  But again, that’s just my professional opinion…


Spring Really IS Coming

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Been a lot of whining around these here Beautiful West Michigan parts lately. Folks have been crying and rolling on the floor, thrashing their feet about and all such nonsense. “When’s it gonna warm up?!?!?! I’m sick up and FED with all this cold and snowy weather!! I can hardly wait to start mowin’ my lawn awreddy for cryin’ out loud!!! WAHHH WAAAHHH WAAAAAAHHHH! “

Crybaby kaka-roaches…

Holy moly I haven’t thought about that in a long time… when we was kids in Noo Yawk we’d sing to the whiny babies:

Crybaby kaka-roach!

Wash your face in gravy!

Wrap it up in bubble gum

And sell it to the Navy!!

Made absolutely no sense, but when we were very young it seemed to have a nice ring to it. Oh, and don’t forget the “Nyaa nyaa na boo boo!!” for good measure!!  Anyway, to all youse whiny kids out there who are all upset that spring is taking so long, I have a news flash for you: too much warm too early makes badness with the crops!! Sheesh!!

That was technical talk, by the way…

If you’re old like me, you surely remember that winter came in around Thanksgiving and stayed icy cold until the end of March or so. Then the weather would gradually warm up and ease into summer. A few years back, unfortunately, we had several 80 degree days in March, which is simply not natural. Not for these parts anyhow.

Consequently, all the fruit trees woke up and said, “Huh?? Time to make babies?? OK!!” And of course they bloomed way too early. Usually we get enough fruit here to ship out to the world and still have enough to stash in various cold storage facilities. But that year, the inevitable frost came with a vengeance and nuked much of West Michigan’s fruit crops. That caused me to become an “apple snob.” I’d rather be sad and miss my Michigan apples than buy from far away. Now I know the farmers in other parts of the country have to make their money, but there’s simply no comparison to the quality of locally grown fruit. I confess that I’ve resorted to buying some Washington (state) apples some years ago. They looked and felt nice, and were crunchy and juicy. Nice, yes? Ummm… well… this apple snob is don’t liking them so good. They remind me of crunchy, juicy water globes with a subtle apple aftertaste somewhere in the dingle weeds of taste bud world. Takes some effort in the later parts of winter, but I still try to buy Michigan apples.

Good Lord willin’, we’ll have a spring that will be kind to the fruit trees this year. I am always eagerly awaiting the newly picked, simply amazing flavor of local fruits. There’s a cornucopia of yummies we spoiled Michiganders get to enjoy each year. All youse naysayers can bark all you want, but in my professional opinion, climate change is very real. A lot can happen between now and the traditional frost sensitive planting date of Memorial Day. Let’s hope things stay on track.

Fear not, before we know it the spring peepers will be peeping. A sure sign of spring. Then the grass will be clovering and the dandelions will be dandelioning. And yes, we’ll get snow, and then it will be gone, and then it will come back, and then it will melt again; and that’s gonna happen for the rest of our living lives here in Beautiful West Michigan so unfortunately we’ll just have to get used to it whether or not we enjoy writing run-on sentences that keep going past their expiration date, but at least they don’t smell bad or get gooey and mess on the carpet.

Thank you.

How’s about a nice springtime cartoon or two??

Yes, have some.

A Little Silly Sunshine For YOU

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Well holy moley. This year has started off with much weeping and gnashing of teeth, and I don’t know about youse kids but this here kid is not only about to embark upon a run-on sentence, but I’m gonna repeat the Serenity Prayer at least 187 times per second, possibly for the next 3 years if necessary unless things in our world change abruptly which of course doesn’t seem likely so I guess I’ll just do that prayer I just mentioned and in case you are don’t knowing what it is I will present it to you at this time:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

The courage to change the things I can,

And the wisdom to know the difference.

And then I read / listen to / watch the news and I say, “Oy yoy yoy!!” and I pray some more.

But on the other hand, I hope you have 5 fingers but even if you do not, I still love you. And because of that, I thought I’d share some very silly thoughts that came out of my brain and onto the keyboard during my work years. My work friends and I were in the IT computer universe, so the job got a bit hectic at times. In other words, stress would cause us to roll on the floor while drooling and singing songs backwards.

Those of you who know me are aware that I am often silly. Therefore, my “go-to” reaction to stress is to write nonsensical ha ha stuff. Text messaging software is a marvelous tool for “spreading the cheer,” so to speak, and by golly that’s just what I did. I sent at least one silly message a day to many of my friends, using cut-and-paste to plop my silly stuff, one text at a time, to my peers. Was this a good use of work time?? YES!! My professional opinion: if work is no fun, find another job, am I right??

One of my friends asked me, “Are you saving these?? You could make a book!!” So lo and behold, I made a document and started saving them. So without any further ado, I’m gonna share some with you. I’ve categorized them with a little title on each little ditty. Hope these help you stay distracted for just a little while.

OK… here goes:

Mastodons

In prehistoric times, Neanderthals employed Mastodons plow their fields.  However, they also learned that Mastodons only understood “ugga bugga,” a language that never existed.

Vote For Me!!

In the upcoming 2026 election, I’m running for Resident of The United States. Although I have 71 years of experience, I don’t care about the number of votes.  Just kick in to my fund raising campaign at www.kakahead.com

My Cat

By applying mustard on my cat’s eyebrows, I can feel confident his festive appearance will give him great joy among his peers.

Barking At The Moon

Tonight I plan to enjoy a nice dinner of Cream of Dogfood Soup with a grilled Kibbles ‘n Bits sandwich.  All this will precede a raucous 3 hour session of barking at the moon.

Mustard

Not sure who the culprit is so I’m asking everyone:  please stop substituting my mustard with the Purple Sludge.  The fridge is starting to vibrate between 2 and 3:37 AM.

Shrimp

Tomorrow’s breakfast:  Please prepare some shrimp on the half shell with a side dish of deep fried moth tongues.  I’ll wash it down with a nice avocado / eggplant smoothie; after which I’ll run for the men’s room.  Thank you!!

Noodles

None of my noodles fizz anymore.  Therefore, I have concluded that my pasta harvesting rake is defective.

Growing Hair

I’ve decided to grow my hair out of follicles instead of pulling it out of those tiny access hole thingies.  Besides, everyone knows that chocolate does not grow on fleas.

Raisin Bran

My least favorite food additive is carbon fiber monoxide.  It’s supposed to keep me “regular,” but it’s made by filtering auto exhaust through a bowl of raisin bran.  It’s also illegal to make this product everywhere except on the subtropical island of Okka Pitoo.

Used Muffins

During my retirement I may need some supplemental income.  I will have used muffins for sale by the pound.  These are multipurpose:  serve them to your least favorite people or add them to the soil in flowerbeds or beneath shrubs (not recommended in the vegetable garden).

And last but probably also least…

Happy Friday

Happy Friday!!  May your ears enjoy delicious flavors; and may your nostrils flutter softly in the breeze.

Peace, Love, and Hugs,

Kenny

Well I hope that helped. Just to make sure, here comes a silly cartoon.