Take it away, Will. Take it away.
A rare public appearance by Will “Bleeding Gums” Reber at the Park Middle School jazz band concert. You may have to listen hard, but you’ll hear his guitar solo pretty well.
Will on the steel guitar
May 22, 2009
Ellen and Will play on Christmas Eve
January 5, 2009Will accompanied Ellen on “What Child is This?” at one of the Christmas Eve services. It was Will’s first public gig on guitar and they both did a great job.
Bushisms
January 5, 2009Thank you, Associated Press, for compiling for posterity some of our president’s funnier lines.
President George W. Bush will leave behind a legacy of Bushisms, the label stamped on the commander in chief’s original speaking style. Some of the president’s more notable malaprops and mangled statements:
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• “I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully.” — September 2000, explaining his energy policies at an event in Michigan.
• “Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?” — January 2000, during a campaign event in South Carolina.
• “They misunderestimated the compassion of our country. I think they misunderestimated the will and determination of the commander in chief, too.” — Sept. 26, 2001, in Langley, Va. Bush was referring to the terrorists who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks.
• “There’s no doubt in my mind, not one doubt in my mind, that we will fail.” — Oct. 4, 2001, in Washington. Bush was remarking on a back-to-work plan after the terrorist attacks.
• “It would be a mistake for the United States Senate to allow any kind of human cloning to come out of that chamber.” — April 10, 2002, at the White House, as Bush urged Senate passage of a broad ban on cloning.
• “I want to thank the dozens of welfare-to-work stories, the actual examples of people who made the firm and solemn commitment to work hard to embetter themselves.” — April 18, 2002, at the White House.
• “There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.” — Sept. 17, 2002, in Nashville, Tenn.
• “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” — Aug. 5, 2004, at the signing ceremony for a defense spending bill.
• “Too many good docs are getting out of business. Too many OB/GYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across this country.” — Sept. 6, 2004, at a rally in Poplar Bluff, Mo.
• “Our most abundant energy source is coal. We have enough coal to last for 250 years, yet coal also prevents an environmental challenge.” — April 20, 2005, in Washington.
• “We look forward to hearing your vision, so we can more better do our job.” — Sept. 20, 2005, in Gulfport, Miss.
• “I can’t wait to join you in the joy of welcoming neighbors back into neighborhoods, and small businesses up and running, and cutting those ribbons that somebody is creating new jobs.” — Sept. 5, 2005, when Bush met with residents of Poplarville, Miss., in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
• “It was not always a given that the United States and America would have a close relationship. After all, 60 years we were at war 60 years ago we were at war.” — June 29, 2006, at the White House, where Bush met with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
• “Make no mistake about it, I understand how tough it is, sir. I talk to families who die.” — Dec. 7, 2006, in a joint appearance with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
• “These are big achievements for this country, and the people of Bulgaria ought to be proud of the achievements that they have achieved.” — June 11, 2007, in Sofia, Bulgaria.
• “Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for your introduction. Thank you for being such a fine host for the OPEC summit.” — September 2007, in Sydney, Australia, where Bush was attending an APEC summit.
• “Thank you, Your Holiness. Awesome speech.” April 16, 2008, at a ceremony welcoming Pope Benedict XVI to the White House.
• “The fact that they purchased the machine meant somebody had to make the machine. And when somebody makes a machine, it means there’s jobs at the machine-making place.” — May 27, 2008, in Mesa, Ariz.
• “And they have no disregard for human life.” — July 15, 2008, at the White House. Bush was referring to enemy fighters in Afghanistan.
• “I remember meeting a mother of a child who was abducted by the North Koreans right here in the Oval Office.” — June 26, 2008, during a Rose Garden news briefing.
• “Throughout our history, the words of the Declaration have inspired immigrants from around the world to set sail to our shores. These immigrants have helped transform 13 small colonies into a great and growing nation of more than 300 people.” — July 4, 2008 in Virginia.
• “The people in Louisiana must know that all across our country there’s a lot of prayer — prayer for those whose lives have been turned upside down. And I’m one of them. It’s good to come down here.” — Sept. 3, 2008, at an emergency operations center in Baton Rouge, La., after Hurricane Gustav hit the Gulf Coast.
• “This thaw — took a while to thaw, it’s going to take a while to unthaw.” Oct. 20, 2008, in Alexandria, La., as he discussed the economy and frozen credit markets.
Pardon me, is that an execution?
January 2, 2009This is a great list of the year’s funniest political moments.
* Obama channels Karl Marx
* Palin goes rogue (and Prada)
* A guy slaughters turkeys on national television
Fair and balanced
January 2, 2009Check out the ticker line at the bottom of this screen shot from a Fox News broadcast. And they claim that they are fair and balanced.
Ouch!
The news ticker may say more than they intended.
A couple of things from the Intertubes
October 6, 2008This is a great article on the Niobrara (although I take issue with the writer’s phonetic pronunciation of the name). She says it’s pronounced (nigh-oh-BRAH-rah). I have always pronounced it (nigh-oh-BRER-uh). Doesn’t mean I’m right. I’m just sayin’.
She wrote a fantastic description of the Sandhills.
To the south are the Sandhills, grass-stabilized dunes that roll and ripple like a gigantic rumpled bedsheet in a hundred shades of green, blue and gold.
I also loved this little gem:
Charting the maverickness
Coincidence?
September 17, 2008
You be the judge.
My friend Joe sent me this image recently. The resemblance is remarkable!
It makes a lot of sense. As Joe said, “There’s an uncanny resemblance. When McCain came over to interview her, Hank probably fired up the propane grill and they enjoyed a rousing game of Boggle. The rest was history.”
Will scores an electric guitar
August 15, 2008
It's more black.
It’s just a Gibson Les Paul Epiphone Black Beauty, it’s no big deal.
Will has worked extremely hard on his guitar lessons, so we rewarded him with an electric guitar. We went to Music Go Round last night to see what they had after looking online and at local pawn shops. Will has wanted a Les Paul but we didn’t think we could afford one. Turns out this used one at MGR was pretty close to our price range.
I don’t know much about electric guitars, but one feature we liked about this one was that it has three pickups, which gives you a wider variety of choices to make the guitar sound like you want it to.
We couldn’t afford to buy an amp, so Will is getting a dose of delayed gratification. He’s hoping to make some money mowing lawns and scooping snow to buy a small amp. If you know of anyone who has an amp they’d like to sell, let us know. Cheap is our M.O.
It's a fist
The case for the guitar came with some pre-stenciled attitude. We are in the process of creating a back story to explain the killer stencil. Apparently there was once a band called At Arms (and whatever the “M.F.” stands for). 
I’m throwing out Anti-Authoritarian Method Force as the back story, but Will will probably come up with something better that involves poop.
For those of you who haven’t heard the story, I was talking with Will about potential band names this summer when he mentioned that he thought a good name for his first band would be The Cure. I mentioned that a band with that name has already seen considerable success, offering instead something with some local/regional significance. “Like, The Tiger Beetles,” I offered. (The Salt Creek Tiger Beetle is an endangered species here.) “Then you could shorten it to The Beetles.” He didn’t think that was funny.
I then offered Endangered Species as an alternative and Will was on it. “No, I know!” he said. “We can called it Endangered Feces!”
I love this boy.
Circa 1915?
July 22, 2008
Gerald, Lillie and Gladys. Circa 1915 when they lived in Alvo or Elmwood.
I’m just guessing on the date, but here’s Grandpa, Lillie and Gladys in an old family photo. My favorite things about this photo?
1. Lillie’s hand on Grandpa’s waist.
2. They look happy. In lots of photos from this time, people often look pretty sour.
3. Grandpa’s tie. Pretty sharp!
4. Gladys’ long hair.
