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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!!

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Noodles

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

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

Greetings, fellow Song Yodelers,

Here’s wishing you the Happiest Merry of all Years, with dotted Ts and crossed eyes following all of your newly configured radial sandwich flavors.  It is very and ultra important that we greet this new year with pledges of doing remarkable things.  As you may already know, pledges are words that express an intent to do something.  Politicians know the value of a pledge.  They use them to get elected and, once in office, they do what they bloody well want.  But when you come right down to it, when people make promises about this or that at the beginning of a brand new year, they have a lot in common with politicians.  Many people make pledges, but how many fulfill them?? 

This I am unable to know.

2025 brought great weeping and gnashing of teeth for many of us. Although many thought they were voting for positive change, the changes that have been made are, in my professional opinion, too often a bit less than positive. There do seem to be some cracks forming in the walls of corruption, but all too often the same old stories persist:

1) The rich get richer, the poor become more numerous, and the working class gets to pay for all of it; and

29) War is still not the answer, even though all too many people cling to the notion that it can be “morally justified.” I know, I know… “there’s so much evil in the world;” and “we have the right to defend ourselves…” Yada yada yada. My professional opinion: The use of weapons produces a very immediate (albeit tragic) result. However, there will NEVER be lasting peace until we are ready to treat each other with respect; communicate; and persistently work together to address the roots of the issues.

Oh but hey, that stuff takes way too long. Let’s just go bomb somebody.

Oy yoy yoy.

“Tax the rich, feed the poor, till there are no rich no more…”

These kinds of ickyness just give me the warm fuzzy noodle constipation that every mom loves.  But I know that it’s always easier to find fault with others than to look inward, so I thought I’d better lay out a plan for my own self improvement.  Therefore, I beg of each of you to elect me as your next Filibuster Yakkity Yak Doo Dah Day for 2026.  My plan for self bereavement lies below.

Please be not aware that I have regurgitated the following Noo Yeer’s Revolutions:

1)   To remind myself that I need to remember those things which I can’t seem to recall.  

          What was that again?  What was I thinking about…??

R)  To lose weight, gain it back, lose it again, and lose some more until my nostrils can be used for sidewalk painting without fear of changing lanes abruptly.  

          Please pass the pepperoni flakes and the coagulated skim milk.

24) To change lanes abruptly so all weight loss can be vehemently avoided.  

          Watch out for that tree!! It has a scale near it!!

++) To boldly go where no earthworm has ever dined before.  

          Ummm… you gonna eat that compost??

3X) To be nice to all people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.  

          Excuse me sire, your toupee is on fire.  May I stomp it out for you?

T5) To dress in all recyclable clothing, in order to lighten the load on my laundry licking machine.  

          I especially favor the milk jug socks and the recycled string bikini underwear.

Z44) To unite all small countries in a global effort to stop Homer Simpson from eating my cake.

          Alright boys, this is it… you clunk him on the cake eater and I’ll spray him with a completely different shade of yellow.

And finally:

9)  To sing loudly (or sometimes softly, even silently) about how wonderful it is to be alive, ever reminding myself that life really is a joy and that complaining is tantamount to feeding dogfood to caterpillars.  In other words, no matter how badly I think I have it, I am really a wealthy person.  I have received many gifts from the Creator.  As Alistair Sim said in my favorite Christmas movie (Scrooge)  “I don’t deserve to be so happy, but I can’t help it.”  

I suspect that if you are reading this, you are wealthy also.  You don’t think so??  OK smartypants, lemme ask you these:  Do you have a car?  Do you have enough to eat?  Do any of your clothes fit nicely? Do you have friends?  A warm, safe place to sleep?  

If you answered yes to any of those, you are wealthy.  OK??

 So I hereby beseech all of you to have a most Wonderful New Year of this 2026 Universe, and that you discover New Millipedes under every log you roll.  Love your brethren and your cistern.  Love your father, your mother, and your Mother (Earth).  And please, please share what you can with those less fortunate than you are.

And always remember to be kind to yourself and other living things.

Peace, Love, and Hugs,

Kenny

“And now,” as Mr. Cleese used to say, “for something completely different.”

Due to my advanced age I’m able to vividly remember when Dionne Warwick sang a most wonderful song called “What The World Needs Now.” The lyrics are simple but beautiful and are pretty much timeless:

“What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of
What the world needs now is love, sweet love
No, not just for some but for everyone…”

Ain’t that the truth!!

OK it’s like this you see: those who know me are very aware that the words “I Love You” come out of my mouth pretty regularly; and I always mean it very sincerely. I mean, I don’t just blurt that out to anyone and everyone, but I’m grateful to say that I have several close friends, blood relatives, and extended family (of choice) members whom I love unconditionally… very, very much. I’m also blessed with several loved ones who understand that I have a goofy sense of humor. One example: several times I’ve told select loved ones, “I love you, and I’m glad you don’t stink.” This is often met with the reply, “Well I do bathe somewhat regularly.”

It is in this spirit that I would now at this very moment like to compose a song that incorporates these words of friendship –

I love you and I’m so very glad you don’t stink
Your bathing is good whether bathtub or sink
Good hygiene is helpful for friendships you know
When I’m near you my nostrils don’t hurt from B.O.

So Thank You

This of course is sung to the tune of “I Love You And I’m Glad You Don’t Stink.”

On the other hand, I not only have five fingers but I have times when someone seems very intent on testing my tolerance level. At least, their behavior disgusts me greatly and I would like for them to be banished to Monster Island with no snacks or drinks. However, because of many life lessons and changes of heart, I’m come to realize that everyone deserves to be loved. The Gods Of The Universe have told all of this in many different ways. One of the more recent lessons came in the form of a person much younger than me.

I’ve often repeated an anonymous quote that describes my favorite concept of God:

“Nature is God’s reflection.”

Oh boy howdy I like that a lot!! I’ve come to believe that there is something to which I refer as God, but I have no idea what it means. I’m pretty sure it’s likely not the old man with the long white beard; but that’s just my professional opinion. No, what it means to me is that I can find God in the critters that swim in a drop of water, or in trees, birds, oceans, streams, you know… all that Mother Nature stuff. So I was again repeating the “reflection” quote to a group of friends and afterward this younger guy comes up to me and says, “So Ken, that means that all of us are part of that reflection, right?” My reply was, “Oh wow!!”

He was right you know.

Long story longer, now I have to remember that even those whom I consider to be horrible people are part of the Creation and they therefore need to be loved. So I can honestly say that I do my best to love them. Like them?? No. They are not invited for dinner. But when they get on my nerves I do my best to step back and pray for them to be happy and healthy all the day long.

Now here comes that other hand with the five fingers… I do love to play and send silly imaginary messages to those whom I’m not liking so much. Some of them are in the news… and I’ll leave it at that. But I relieve stress with silliness. So here is a song for the stinker heads of the world.

Leave me alone or I’ll bite you. You don’t talk to me like that!!
Who do you think you’re talking to? Do you keep poop in your hat??
I’m certain your eyebrows have dandruff, your ears are full of cheese.
If I was just two feet shorter, I’d bite the both of your knees.

So there.

And of course, that song would be sung to the tune of “Leave Me Alone Or I’ll Bite You.”

OK, so believe it or don’t I trust that whoever those God people are know better than me so I’ll keep on sending love to all those tolerance testers, whoever and wherever they are. What the world really does need now is Love Sweet Love, and I’ll do my darndest to spread as much Love as I can.

But some folks just won’t be invited for dinner, ya know?

Perhaps I could invite the tolerance testers for something like this:

Dear Lamp Cracklers,

Please understand that the term “Lamp Cracklers” is not meant to demean you in any way.  No, no, that is not what responsible friendly greetings are all about.   As you may have observed in the above salutation, I preceded “Lamp Cracklers” with “Dear,” which of course indicates my infection toward all who read this unscientifically formulated group of sentences; which could, I suppose, be considered an essay or perhaps just a mere document, but if any of you realize that the previous glob of text is simply appearing on your screen as a vehicle for the insertion of a run-on sentence, it’s probably true; but then if you are foolish enough to read it out loud I certainly hope to HECK you took a moment to breathe, and if you haven’t HOLY MOLY breathe NOW for goodness sake!!

Thank you.

You see my friends, I am not trying to shame anyone; regardless of their propensity toward (or lack thereof) Lamp Crackling.  But because almost everything in the news has been giving me Intestinal Volcano, I surmised that perhaps a completely nonsensical “Happy Friday!!!” might be therapeutic… at least for me.  As it was during childhood, so it is for me now:  nonsense can help me laugh during difficult times.  After all, I’m simply a child in old man’s clothing; and an occasional silly rant helps me to embrace the age old proverbs for emotional well being:  

“Don’t sweat the petty things, and don’t pet the sweaty things.”

And: 

“As the frogs say, ‘Time’s fun when you’re having flies.’ “

And of course:

“You can pick radishes before they are ripe and they will still be red.”

In spite of all this (and in spit of everything else), it has been brought to my attention that none of you are sleeping in the snowbanks efficiently.  Perhaps you are unaware of the unhealthful benefits of Snowplow Surprise that can only be realized when the road commission truck buries your sleeping bag in freshly fallen slush!  Believe you me, there is absolutely nothing that compares to a soggy awakening of such magnetism!  I mean, there you are, soundly snoring loudly during your recurring “Oh no, I ate three ounces of crunch bugs again” dream, when the snowplow whizzles past Uncle Fossilhead’s mailbox (where you’ve been sleeping since October), when you hear that ear-pickling scraping sound and then “BLAPP!!” your snowbank slumbering spot is poofled with road mush and ice cribblings.  

NOW will you remember to wear rain gear over your parka???  I guess time will tell!!!

In closing, my Dear Cramp Lacklers, next time the snowplow forgets to clean your sock drawer, please, PLEASE yodel more loudly to prevent any gradual injuries that may be caused by tasting all those crunch bugs in three part harmony.

Sincerely Yours and / or Someone Else’s,

Nerg Sneffmonken

a.k.a. “Runs With Wooden Spoons”

So there I was, ordering an extravagant gourmet meal from the Taco Bell in South Haven, Michigan, when the nice young man timidly asked me a question. He had been looking my way for a few minutes, and as I think back on the encounter I realized that the t-shirt I was wearing had him a bit perplexed. Here’s a picture of what I was wearing. Does the guy on the shirt look familiar to any of you? Well if he does, you might be old like me.

Anyway, the gentleman handed me my order and said, “What is Shemp??” I replied, “He’s one of The Three Stooges. He was Moe and Curly’s brother, and when Curly died he took Curly’s place.” The farther I went into the explanation the more apparent it became that this dude was not following. “You ever heard of The Three Stooges?” I queried. “I think so…” he answered, still visibly puzzled. So I finished up with “Go to YouTube and do a search on The Three Stooges. They did a bunch of funny short movies back in the 1930s through the 1950s.” Don’t think he was too fired up about that idea, but one never knows.

I have no idea where I got the t-shirt, but I’ve always considered the play on words and the image to be quite funny. There was a time in my life where dope (hemp) was very important to me, and I dreamed of when it might be legal some day. But I’ve been clean and sober for 36 years now so I don’t partake of such things anymore. And no, I don’t wear that shirt when I go to “those meetings,” but every now and again I put it on for the fun of it. Even though dope is legal in Michigan now, I still find the shirt amusing.

Shemp has been gone for a long time. He passed in 1955 when I was the ripe old age of one. So yes, that makes me 71 now!! Holy Frabblezackens!! During my childhood the TV was on pretty much all the time, so we got to enjoy lots of old movies. Then came the variety shows with my favorite popular music and comedy acts. Many of the performers I watched and loved have gone to the Great Beyond. Guess that means maybe I’m getting old!! Do I have an expiration date?? I just don’t know!! All I do know is that I’ve lost touch with which musicians, actors, etc. the young people are enjoying these days. I mean, we have this guy who goes by Bad Bunny getting ready to play at the Super Bowl, and until very recently I had absolutely no clue who he was. Saw him on Saturday Night Live the other night though, seems like a pretty good guy.

Losing touch ain’t so bad. I stay current enough… for me. Actually I have a pretty big boat load of gratitude for having lived in a time when I could enjoy the old and the new. Some of the music, in particular, doesn’t really rock my socks, if you know what I mean. But there’s lots of new music that is really great, I just have to go looking for it.

OK so Shemp has always been legal, but now he’s dead. Let’s enjoy some of his talent that has been preserved for us on the interwebs.

Because I’m old enough to remember when the Beatles came to the U.S. on the Mayflower, I’m also able to remember that 1969 was a pretty big year. So many really BIG things in the news! As with any other year, some of the news was pretty horrible. I’d rather not mention those stories if you don’t mind; these days I really need to maintain a positive attitude. Instead, some of the more positive stories were things like the Apollo 11 moon landing, and the New York Mets winning the World Series. Oh and yeah, and there was a pretty big music festival called Woodstock.

During that summer I was 15, and of course I was paying close attention to the counterculture and the world of popular music. My interest in all such happenings actually sprouted several years earlier, when my grandparents gave me an 8 transistor radio for my 8^th birthday (1962). Radio provided a gateway to the world at large; and I kept that thing on with great regularity. God bless our mother, she always made sure I had a working 9 volt battery.

We were definitely a media driven family. By that I mean that the TV was always on; and when it wasn’t, there was the radio. We also had subscriptions to Time and Life magazines; so we had plenty of opportunities to keep up with current events. The 60s saw our country in some upheaval due to numerous protests. Large crowds were marching for causes like peace, civil rights, gender equality, and environmental concerns. Music of the day was evolving from doo wop to rock ‘n roll to psychedelic sounds. My mind was being strongly influenced by all of it.

And I was by no means alone.

From where I and many of my peers stood, a lot of what the crap that was going on in the world made absolutely no sense. Pollution was destroying our air, water and soils. Also, strong dependence on the use of poisonous chemicals for pest and weed control was harming Mother Nature. War was killing children and other living things. And to be “successful,” you needed to be a Caucasian male. So protests and marches were staged as efforts to raise consciousness and hopefully change things for the better.

Some progress was made; but unfortunately greed, ignorance, and intolerance seem to have gained some ground over the last few years. Mother Nature is still being treated very badly; and those interested in maintaining the status quo are sparing no effort to prevent meaningful action that could save our planet. Racial intolerance and gender inequality still rob our souls of the peace and love our Creators intended for us.

The media is buzzing with horrible news of yet another assasination and yet another school shooting. Sadly, too much time is spent finger pointing on both sides of the political aisles, with nowhere near enough time being spent on how to prevent such madness.

Remember all that mention of 1969 at the beginning of this story? Well at that music festival called Woodstock, sanitation issues, scarce availability of food and water, and many other difficulties plagued the event; yet no violence erupted, and only 2 people died (one of an overdose, one killed accidentally by a tractor). Nearly a half million people gathered and showed the world that peace and love, in spite of adverse conditions, were indeed possible. There are still many children of the 60’s who cling to the belief that living in peace and love is more than just a dream. It’s a necessity.

We can do it. Together. We must face the fact that we are all children of God and we ALL have a right to be here. If we can embrace that fact, perhaps we can work together to prevent senseless violence, stop the senseless destruction of Mother Nature, and eliminate the utter selfishness that prevents us from doing so.

As Joni Mitchell’s famous song proclaims, “We’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.”

Yew no, even inn this day of spell checkers and grandma checkers, lots of writing is on display awl over the place that is just plane inn correct. Weather it’s the youse of the wrong word ore sum thing is spelt badly, computers wheel only help yew two a certain egg stent, and then hay, ewe gist half two no how to spell and yews proper grandma. Shore, the spell checker will help yew often. Butt if you use words that our inn the diction aerie, and their all sew spelled write, the spell checker thinks everything is honky donkey.

Oh and hay, don’t four get about punctuation!! Gist ask my family: eye used two get total lee up set when eye saw apostrophes used badly. Yew no, like when sum won uses one to make a word plural; witch is knot watt an apostrophe is four at awl.

Egg sample: “Open 12 – 8 Monday’s through Friday’s”

Oh golly that makes me crazy. OK maybe craziER. Their should bee know apostrophe inn those words… there is no contraction nor possession.

ANYWAY… enough of such soap boxing (I never really enjoyed boxing soap anyhow). On with the topic at hand, “Sines of the Thymes.,” like the tight AL says. Sum of the sines yew sea these days are gist plane funny. Haven’t seen won in a long while, butt one of my favorites over the years has been:

“BANANAS .49 CENTS PER POUND”

First of all, how can they make any money if they only sell bananas for not quite ½ cent per pound??? Second of all, are the farmers giving away bananas and paying for the freight??? Yes, eye no they are two lay Z right the price correctly. Probably they mean $.49 (49 cents) butt it steel looks pretty funny.

On the other hand, yew have the very expensive beer sines, like:

“BUD LIGHT $1899 A CASE”

Wholly carp eye say two yew, who kin a ford two bye a case of beer for $1899 or watt ever?? That’s all most the prize of a cheep car!! Well OK knot much of a car for that kind of money these daze. Butt yew no what eye mean.

My most favorite egg sample of a goofy sine came to me from Comedy Heaven sum years ago, when I had to go to Plumbs for a few groceries. Thanks two mod urn technology, eye was a bull two get a pretty good pitcher of it sew I could Cher it with awl of yew:

Is that two cool or watt?? Knot only was cheese on sale for a pretty good price, butt yew kin all sew use them to patch yore roof!! Eye confess, I’ve never herd of shingles made of cheese bee four. Their they were though, so I bought one pack of pepper jack and one pack of Swiss. When I got them home I figured, watt the heck and I tried some.

THEY TASTED JUST LIKE CHEESE!!! No shingle flavor at all!!!

Knot shore how many rains they could take though… they looked pretty floppy. Don’t think I could really walk on them either.

Well, I wheel bee on the lookout for moor funny spellings and word miss usage. Eye reel E love thee ability two snap a photo when eye find a funny sine. And of coarse, I’m steel a bit chagrined when eye sea something in print that I’m pretty shore sum won checked with the spell checker but is steal a mess. Oh well… that’s my anal retentive spelling and grandma snootiness four yew.

In the meantime, pleas have a lovely day and eye shore hope you don’t fall for those $1899 beer “sale” prices or the .49 cents per pound bananas.

Crazy, yes?

Well ’tis that time of year when lots of county fairs are happening. It’s a great tradition and fun for the whole family. My girlfriend and I went to the Berrien County Fair today and I had a deliciously monstrous Italian sausage sandwich with peppers and onions. It was yummy for my mouth but my gut is still not happy with me. Now that the heat has died down, I think we’ll go back and maybe get some more of that County Fair food so I can really mess up my gut.

If you haven’t been to one, please go. This week’s cartoon shows exactly what the fair is all about.

So there I was, minding my own business, picking black raspberries with my new girlfriend, at her place way down south in the Berrien Springs Universe, when I was told “There are lots of good ones back there but it might be hard to get to them;” so I replied, “No worries, I know how to blaze a trail!” and I proceeded to do a very interesting walk through the brambles with my short pants on and I really think this run-on sentence is more than long enough.

Don’t you agree??

Yes, of course you do.

About a month before, my new girlfriend, her son, her doggie and I were traipsing through the network of trails she carved into the woods with her Monster Big John Deere Mowing Machine. Along the way I was warned that an uninvited crop of poison ivy was thriving rather nicely… and they pointed them out so I wouldn’t mistakenly try to eat the leaves or rub them on my ears and into my nostrils. I successfully avoided catastrophe! I mean, hey, I’m not as dumb as I look.

Or am I??

Fast foward to the aforementioned berry picking time which was something like two weeks ago. I was very focused on picking a really good batch of black raspberries… you know, more in the bucket than what went into my mouth. I’ve picked raspberries and blackberries numerous times in short pants, the result of which would be what resembled a wildcat trying to remove the skin off my legs. But I didn’t care… I was after berries!!

Yeah well I plum ignored the possibility that maybe during my trail blazing in pursuit of those outlying berries, some poison ivy might be lurking in the thickets. Took several days, but my ignorance produced a pretty good size rash on the front of my left leg and a smaller one on the back of my right leg. Also I noticed that both of these rashes were really uncomfortable!! What a surprise!!

No. No surprise at all. The discomfort I mean. But fooey… I’ve gone berry picking in shorts many, many times but never ever had any encounters with this poison named Ivy. Just color me grateful after hearing horror stories about people getting poison ivy all over their faces, hineys, or much worse.

So Ivy and I are not friends. I waited 71 years to have this experience, and it would have been very OK with me to wait at least 190 years more. The rash seems to be subsiding now… but it still looks like I have a pretty severe radiation burn on that left leg. I think maybe I should wear long pants next time I go trail blazing in the woods around my girlfriend’s house. Or perhaps I could just stick to the trail her Monster Big John Deere Mowing Machine makes. I’ll just try not to be as dumb as I look next time.

I wonder if these guys wrote this song special for me…

A year ago today, my Beautiful Girlfriend’s spirit left for The Great Beyond. I remember the day very well… and how I didn’t “lose my shit” until after her body was removed from the house. As you may have guessed, the phrase “lose my shit” refers to crying. BIG crying. Loud crying. Many big and loud periods of crying… usually while I was alone, but not always.

Our parents didn’t like to hear us crying. More than once Dad would say, “Quit crying or I’ll give you something to cry about.” That wasn’t very nurturing; and the approach was put on my list of childhood resentments that helped me break away from home at the ripe old age of 18. I was later able to let go of those resentments, realizing that our parents simply did the best they could.

My Beautiful Girlfriend and I entered early adulthood together… so certain were we of being in control of our lives that we married when we were 19. Looking back at some of the naysayers, it was a bit early in life to embark on such a commitment. The likelihood of two kids who were madly in love but also monstrously stubborn to pull off a marriage successfully seemed dim to some. The stubbornness of youth made each of dig our heels in from time to time. But after much weeping and gnashing of teeth, we knew that we needed to be together much more than we wanted to be apart. We literally grew up together. We recovered from addiction together. In the last part of her Earth life, we reviewed our times together. In spite of some of the pains of growing up, we concluded that most of our time together was really quite good. We pulled off the marriage gig with some pretty magnificent finesse; if I must say so myself.

Just short of 51 years. Pretty damn good, wouldn’t you say?

Back in 2019 we learned that My Lovely Wife had IIPF; which translates to Idiopathic Interstitial Pulmonary Fibrosis. That’s a big mouthful of words that placed a death sentence on My Dear Honey Pie. I looked on the interwebs and got the distressing news: death comes 3 to 5 years after diagnosis. And sure enough, she left this Earth in 2024. Five years.

Wow.

We worked hard to prepare ourselves for the inevitable. We stuck close to our biological and extended family. We had very deep discussions about Life, The Universe, and Everything. Believe it or not, throughout the course of her illness we remained grateful and content most of the time. Thanks to our 12 step program and our Higher Power, neither of us had any propensity toward intoxicants to distract us from reality. Oh but we sure did enjoy lots of chocolate and other sweets!!

Gratitude manifested itself in many ways. I retired shortly after her diagnosis, so I was able to care for her and help her die at home with dignity and peace. We had a truly amazing 50 year anniversary shindig in 2023; with a huge turnout of family, extended family, and friends. We were always very conscious of that fact that in spite of what was coming, we were blessed beyond measure compared to all too many of the poor and marginalized people that endure terrific hardships all over the planet.

Immediately after her passing, of course, came the commotion of many visits by family and friends. Then her Celebration of Life also brought so many of us together. Once all that subsided; I immersed myself in grief groups, individual counseling, and many, many 12 step meetings. I also jumped headlong into my favorite “heretical” book: The Book Of James by Susy Smith. The book gives details about The Afterlife, and it was sent to Susy in the form of automatic writing from a man who identified himself as James. I’m currently on my 6^th reading since my Lovely Bride left us.

One might ask, “Why would you read such a book 6 times in a row?” I have a couple of answers: 1) I believe it to be true, and 2) the book is brimming with what I consider to be important guidelines for living. You know, weird stuff like all of us being children of God. I put all of us in bold italics because I’m convinced that it’s really important for me to remember that. Whenever I become judgemental of a person; I need to step back and realize that we all really are children of God. So my job is to love everyone, even those whose behavior I despise.

That ain’t always easy.

Even after 6 readings, The Book Of James continues to serve as a good reminder of how I need to behave and think during my Earth portion of this journey called life.

One of my favorite analogies about God is an anonymous quote I’ve latched onto for many years: “Nature is God’s reflection.” To me, that’s everything we can’t see with a microscope to everything that can’t be seen with the most sophisticated telescope… and everything in between. A few years ago one of my friends heard me utter that quote at a 12-step meeting and he confronted me after the meeting was done. “So Ken, that means that we are all part of that reflection, right??” I certainly could not disagree.

Thanks to all the help from family, friends, and counseling, this past year’s journey has gifted me with some important epiphanies. One such epiphany is that every thought is a prayer. Huh?? Yes. It’s become quite important for me to remember. I’m convinced that prayers can be both positive and negative. If I think positive thoughts, I’m sending positive energy into the Universe. If I think negative thoughts, I’m increasing the darkness that’s all too prevalent.

When I read or hear the news, there are all too many opportunities to be angry and disgusted; and of course I could easily slip into the all too human habit of name calling or other actions of extreme displeasure. Instead, I try to remember that we indeed are all children of God; and those who seek to destroy or are blinded by greed and / or power are, in my opinion, suffering from a terrible form of spiritual sickiness. I ask The Creator (whoever They are) to help them see the error of their ways, and of course I pray for those who are suffering.

So yeah, I’ve been mourning. A lot. But I’ve also been very thankful. So long as I keep gratitude forefront in my mind, life is good. Of course I miss my Lovely Wife, but I’ve felt her hugging me all day long. We talked about what life would be after she left… her exact words were, “I don’t want you to be alone for the rest of your life.” I replied, “I don’t really want that either but I don’t know what that means.” Well, God brought a magnificent new relationship into my life a few months ago. I can’t help but think that My Beautiful Bride and her posse (those amazing, strong women we know and love who have gone before her) petitioned The Creator to pull some strings for me.

At this point I really need to say Thank You to all who have supported me and my family in the past and present. I’ve learned so much in these last few years. And I’m especially grateful to be aware that I have much more to learn. As Alistair Sim said in my favorite Scrooge movie, “I don’t know anything. I never did know anything. But now I know I don’t know anything!” As a person who was afflicted with Mr. Know It All disease, repeating that statement helps me keep my ego in remission. Going forward, I’ll be “wearing out” the following prayer:

God, grant me the serenity

To accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can,

And the wisdom to know the difference.

So… remember those “heretical documents” to which I’ve been referring? Well here are some testimonials that illustrate the talking points of what I’ve been reading. Hope you’ll take the time to check them out.

Hello my friends. I must confess that it’s rather difficult for me to watch the news these days. So rather than exponkulate (which is not a word) on the terrible sloshing noises of icky events and behaviors; I’ve decided to inject some random silliness into this week’s Happy Friday!!! thingy bopper.

So what follows is not something I just invented with my brain thing. No! These are reprints of very silly notes I actually sent to work friends via instant messaging office-type electronic hello.

Yes.

You see, I retired from the rather high-stress world of IT, where computers were both our livelihood but also the bane of our existence. To lighten up the mood, I’d send random notes to my friends. Then one day someone told me, “I hope you are saving these, they’d make a great book some day.” Well, I don’t know about that, but after looking over them again I did give myself some smiles. Is that the mark of a sick mind??

I hope not!

Anyway, after my friend told me about saving my silly notes, well by golly that’s just what I started doing. I made a text file and would add to it as I went along, and before I retired I sent them to my home e-mail. And now I’d like to share some of them with you. I gave each note a little title, That I Will Put In Bold, which didn’t appear to my friends… only the text that followed. OK, enough introduction, here goes the sharing.

Weather Have you seen the weather lately??  What are these tiny white flakes falling from the sky??  Little tiny airborne ice crystals!!! Kinda pretty… I’d love to snow what they’re really called.

Nozzles I’ve installed Nostril Nozzles to increase my snorking efficiency.  Hopefully this will enhance my ability to sort snot snorkenwibbles.

Snacks Some Of The Most Delicious Snacks Are Capitalized To Enhance Their Complete Lack Of Nutritional Value.

Enjoyments Many of my enjoyments have wriggled right out of Mars and other parts of the Aurora Borealis.  I hope my cat learns to speak German soon.

Mizzlepop Some of the best Yo Vonkeny can be found under the Mizzlepop Trees.

Acorns I’d like to know who planted the acorns in my knees. Now that they’ve sprouted, people are starting to talk… I hear whispers of a new nickname:  “Oak Knees.”

Chowder This coming Sagnerday I will illegally change my name to Frapzak Mizzlepop, which of course was never a Native American name meaning “Slumbers With Chowder.”   Used donuts and apple chowder vinegar will be served in celebration.

Science In the interest of Science, I will be formulating experiments involving TV viewing habits of small reptiles.  Also, I hope to learn whether they can smell their favorite color of the alphabet.  Feel free to send large cash donations in support of these efforts. 

Thank you.

Turkeys I’ve been trying to get the neighborhood turkeys to speak English, but when I talk to them their replies are unintelligible. All I hear from them is “Garble!!  Garble!!  Garble!!”

Foods During my retirement I’ll be inventing foods like Peanut Butter & Garlic Sandwiches (PBGS), and perhaps Eggs On The Half Shell (EOTHS).  Then I’ll invite all my friends over for a snack and we’ll wash it down with Banana Peel Surprise (BPS).

Fuzz I don’t understand all this purple fuzz growing out of my molars.  I’ve tried to style it with a small comb, but it gets messed up every time I eat.

Dust Here comes the Dust Monkey.  His name is Maroo.  He’s got plenty of dustings for me and for you. I offered him candy to eat on his break.  He told me, “No thank you, I prefer cake.”  “I don’t want your dust now!!” I started to whine. “Well just go and put it where the sun doesn’t shine.”

And finally…

Muffins Clang! Clang!  Clang! go the muffins as they are squeezed by the opening door.  Feathers slam to the ground with a loud thud.  My ears are filled with taco sauce!!  These are some ways Happy Friday can be enjoyed.

So there you go. Now you have seen some of the random thoughts that fell out of my brain thing while I was being exceedingly productive at work.

And now how about some old fashioned nonsense from my favorite silly but long gone favorites.