Starved Rock Boardwalk

We took the easy bluff walk this a.m. The frost was clinging to everything, including this boardwalk. Icy fox, raccoon and skunk footprints glittered along the way.

More Blood

Yes, I should be working... But this was funny. O Blood.

So...do you know your blood type?

Sunspot 930

Geminids

Okay. NOAA says it's only going to be partly cloudy tonight in Michiana, so there's a chance, a slight chance, that you might be able to see something, like a meteor shower, say. And you won't have to freeze your ass off to do it, either, because it's only supposed to get down to 37. Here's the link with the details from NASA: Geminids. For Pete's sake, turn off the computer and go out there. Who knows what else you might see. Best place to watch from: a cemetery out in the country, away from everything.

Hung

The heart trial unended this morning with a thud, a hung jury. I should have suspected it. The word-guy I work for and I couldn’t agree. The plaintiff's attorney is angling for a mistrial, trying to recoup his costs before they send the jurors away. He has been paying experts for each word, hemorrhaging green. The lady is still dead, while another guy I know sings about beautiful unendings. I let all the words flow over me. A few of them I take in.

The Amazing Wooten

Music to relax every muscle: Victor

The House on Quincy Hill

Settling in for the winter, thinking about places I yearn to live.

Groucho's Back

The words “independent movement” had barely passed the synapses of my brain and flowed out my fingertips onto the keyboard when the rest of my body absorbed the news. My back’s immediate reaction was to throw itself into a frenzy and spasmodically refuse to cooperate. So I’m moving like Groucho Marx, trying to coax my body into a better mood. To be honest, it probably wasn’t the words that pushed my back over the edge. More than likely, beyond a reasonable doubt even, it was the daylong bending over a filing cabinet, sorting and throwing things away that pushed my muscles over the edge. Let this be a cautionary tale: Do not try to clean out 15 years of financial documents all in one day. Better yet, do not wait 15 years to throw all those papers away.

Heart Trial

The trial has lasted months. Every week or so the guy I work for asks me to look over some of the words.

This is the problem: The lady’s heart blew up and she died. They have the heart. They’ve passed it around. The guy I work for, the one who writes down all the words, has taken the heart home with him. It’s an exhibit, preserved in formaldehyde, marked with a sticker and everything. The heart is very official, by God.

This is the question: Should anyone have noticed that her heart was about to explode? They use legalese to argue their points, phrases like standard of care and what would a reasonable physician do. They have experts argue persuasively on both sides. And they order all of their words to be transcribed.

It’s not really about the heart or the lady anymore. The heart is preserved forever; the lady is long gone in her grave. It’s about who has to pay and who gets paid when someone suffers a fatal wound. Sometimes I think I make an honest living; other times…

Breakfast View

Honey Pie & Felice peering into the dining room, waiting for their turn. Remnants of CCR dance by, looking out my back door.