Morning Coffee! ;)

[wrbones]

'Mornin' folks! How the hell are ya this mornin', anyway? Coffee's on and it's hot and good. Ya best have a cup before ya start yer day. Paper'll be along directly. ...and leave those funny pages alone ?til I get done with 'em.

Well, another week gone, another couple bucks, huh? So what do we got goin' this mornin'? I ain't got nuthin' much myself. I been kinda wishin' and hopin? fer spring to get here pretty quick. Them buds onna trees are startin' to show up and that means the leaves are about ready to start growin'. Time to be thinkin' about some of them chores around the homestead, I reckon, huh? Well, I live inna Dakotas after all, so we're usually a bit behind some of ya here and there. I kin be lazy a little longer than some of ya! Sometimes, I like bein' lazy...'long as things are caught up some!

Summertime's about sittin' onna deck watchin' the sun come up inna mornin', listenin' to the birds a doin' their thing. Watchin' my lilies and irises grow and such. Listenin' to the wind inna trees... Enjoyin' the view I got here. Mornin's just after the sun comes up, it's hard on the eyes, 'cause we face straight East here. Otherwise, it's a view most folks'd pay a buncha money to have. I can see fer over forty odd miles from this hill. Onna clear day, I can see a bit further! Nights, ya can see cars, and traffic and house lights fer miles, then look up and see the stars. Ain't as clear lookin' at the stars here as it was out at the ranch, but it's still pretty. City lights kinda mess up yer star-gazin', ya know. 'Sides, out to the ranch, them big rocks they call mountains kinda got inna way anyhoo! Cool breeze, sittin' onna deck inna mornin', watchin' the world go by. That's kinda nice to do of a summertime, I figger. Gives a feller time to get his day sorted out some before he starts in, ya know? I like doin' that yard work inna summertime, too. Gives a feller a chance to think some. Folks tend to stay away from ya some if yer makin? noise, gettin? dirty, and workin? some! I ain?t figgered out just why that is, but it seems to be so from all I can tell!

Some of you folks got them baseball games and soccer games to go to and have fun with. Some of ya got that stuff ya gotta do to get yer business ready fer summer, too. Orderin' things and what all. Some of ya got to get things ready fer the summer holidays, too. Lots of folks get all kinds of involved in alla that, I hear. Fireworks, baseball games, bar-b-ques, pool parties, softball inna park, tennis, golf, family reunions, Sunday drives inna country, fishin', family vacations, flags wavin' from front porches...America and Americana at it's best in many ways.

Spring fever, hell! I'm ready fer summer!

It ain't summer, yet, but it's gettin' here. I figger a man might oughta get his head wrapped around it some. Lots of good things in life, and summer is famous fer a good many of 'em!

'Course, somewhere around the end of July, I'll be hollerin' about the heat, but that ain't here yet, so it don't count! I'm lookin' forward to summer.

If I'm lucky, I can steal a fresh baked pie from the neighbor lady's window... Well, there ain't no more outhouses to tip over anymore, so what ya gonna do?

I don't reckon I'll steal that pie after all. I just got thinkin'. I'm a better baker than she is by a longshot...some of those cookies she makes...

Warm up yer coffee, folks! It's a new day! We got another opportunity to get 'er right. We got another chance to get 'er all sorted out. Just as well take advantage of it, I figger.

[wrbones]

'Mornin' folks! How the hell are ya this mornin'? Coffee's on! Ya best get a cup and get some! Paper'll be along directly, I reckon. If I gotta tell ya to leave them funny pages alone again, there's gonna be trouble in paradise, boys!

Well, what've we got goin' today, anyway? You don't know? Well, drink yer coffee and get yer eyes open some, then. I reckon I can come up with somethin' if'n I gotta. Ya always make me do alla work around here...

Well, let's see... Well, this is kinda off the wall, but that's me all over, ain't it? What? Well, just a minute, I'm gettin' there. Hold yer horses, will ya? Yeah, horses'll be in this somewhere, too! ...besides horse manure, I mean.

Ya ever seen anything called a caltrop? No? Well, it?s an old instrument of warfare is what it is. It?s made with?well, ya ever see kids play with those toys they call jacks? Has a ball that ya bounce and ya gotta pick up so many ?jacks? at a time? Well, caltrops are kinda like those jacks, but bigger, No, jacks have somethin? like six points on ?em with little knobs to keep ya from hurtin? yerself too bad when ya fall on ?em. Caltrops usually have only four points, sharpened to an edge and one point always sticks up?so yer enemies can step on it and get hurt. They made ?em bigger to cripple up war horses, too. Caltrops were used mostly in two circumstances, I figger. One was to keep yer enemies from followin? ya when ya were goin? home after a raid on ?em. The other was to scatter ?em outside the walls of yer city or castle to slow down yer enemy when they were attackin? the gates or the walls. Ayup. Nasty business.

Thing is, life is kinda like that, sometimes. Nope. Ain?t no box of chocolates here, folks! I figger inna lot of ways life is more like a bag full of lemon drops, kinda sweet and tart. Ol? Albus Dumbledore may?ve been on to somethin? there. Anyway, back to caltrops? an instrument of war. Used only in certain situations for the specific purpose of disabling yer enemies and slowin? down troop movements. Dumbledore? Mythological archetypes, dammit. Now shut up. I?m talkin? here. ?What now? Well, caltrops are a part of our myths and legends. How many times I gotta tell there?s more to visitin? over coffee inna mornin? than ya think there is? Now pay attention.

Now I figger some caltrops in our lives today are the words, actions, and deeds we put out there. There?s other things that?ll fit, but I don?t want to get too complicated with it right now. We?ll stick with words and such some. Thing is, caltrops would not only cause the initial wound, possibly outright cripplin? man or beast, but yer enemy would end up with a festerin? wound that might not only cripple him further, but kill him as well. ?Course, after causin? yer enemy alla that kinda sufferin?, when he finally did take the walls or the gates, he wasn?t apt to be very fergivin? most times.

Caltrops can be made with a lot of different materials. All of them are materials that can be used for good and constructive purposes. A man?s words and actions are kinda like those caltrops. I know, I telegraphed it a bunch, but I wanted to make sure ya got my drift. Words can tend to wound and cripple. They?ll tend to fester in folks, too. Ain?t nuthin? worse than folks bein? emotionally crippled up or dead inside. As much as words can be used for good and constructive purposes, they can also be used to destroy. Folks who get hurt like that ain?t very fergivin? sometimes. They?ll be lookin? fer someone else to get to hurtin? besides themselves. They?ll be lookin? fer any weakness in yer ?walls? or ?gates? and they?ll take full advantage ?em, too.

Now life bein? what it is, we gotta be careful and show a little wisdom and common sense in dealin? with others. We can?t just open up our metaphorical gates to just anyone. Pollyanna might?ve had a point to make, but she weren?t real and she weren?t livin? inna real world neither. Ya start layin? out those verbal caltrops, ya best be sure yer at war with yer fellow man, and ya best be damn sure ya got good strong gates to boot. If?n ya don?t , yer surely gonna pay.

?and if you don?t pay?someone else surely will.

Myself, I do know how to use them caltrops, and they have their place, but I prefer visitin? with folks some and mebbe doin? a little plantin? instead. Mebbe if?n I use words rightly and constructively, someone?ll keep from getting? hurt too much, mebbe a wound?ll get lanced and start healin? up here and there?mebbe someone?ll learn that bein? dead inside might not be the best way to go about life and livin? it.

I do gots good strong gates and walls, though. Just in case I?m forced to throw a few caltrops around if I gotta.

It?s a hard ol? world sometimes, folks, but if we use the materials we got fer constructive purposes, mebbe we can make it all a bit easier on ourselves, and not only on ourselves, but on others as well. That way, time to time, ya can let folks inna front gate and visit over coffee some.

Warm up yer coffee, folks! Get yer head wrapped around yer day before ya head out! We got another chance to get ?er right! We got another opportunity to get ?er all sorted out. Just as well take advantage of it, I figger.

[Desdichado]

Yer preachin' to the choir, bones, preachin' to the choir...

[BLUEHAWK]

Caltrops and Dumbledore, eh Bones?

Here's one for a future Bonesary (which is a new word kinda like "syllabary", "dictionary", and "glossary" ):

(If'n the Marine sargeant should ever think it a worthy coffee topic?)

I'd like to put a few caltrops of one kind or another underfoot of a certain man I work with who does everything he possibly can to cover his ass and play it by the book while doing as little as he possibly can to actually accomplish anything more than doing something for himself... the kinda feller who'd be the shop steward if we had a Union, the kinda feller who issues a lot of memos and only reads his own, the kinda feller who'd take a "personal day" during the Tet Offensive when he was Chief Surgeon in the forward field hospital.

There, got that off my chest.

[BLUEHAWK]

Bones -

On top of all that, now I am in an afternoon getting some coffee, so my Zoomie mind gets to remembering stuff

By Drifter's thread I had become "Ripper of the Dreadnocks"

By yours I had become "Buttercup Girdle"

What's a feller ta DO with all this excess information?

I don't know whether to rip buttercups or dread girdles... dang Jarheads.

[wrbones]

Aside from fightin', we're pretty good at messin' with folks' heads...

Drifter'd been laughin' his ass off over that kids name thing.

[BLUEHAWK]

Well, if'n ya should ever need some air support, I got that fer ye in spades and clubs and diamonds and hearts

[wrbones]

'Mornin' folks! How the hell are ya this mornin' anyway? Coffee's on! Ya best get a cup and get some! Paper'll be along directly I imagine. Now, dammit, keep yer hands offa the funny pages til I get through re...I mean...get through studyin' 'em.

So what ya got goin' today? Work? Work's good. Keeps ya offa the streets and outta trouble, don't ya know. I ain't got nuthin' goin' this mornin'. Been visitin' with a couple folks new to mornin' coffee. I spent some time visitin' with Barndog onna landline, and Barrio Rat and I traded a couple emails. Other than that, I didn't do much at all yesterday. Well, it was Sunday...I think...I gotta play around with lawyers and bankers and accountants (Oh, my!) and such this week, but I figger on just tellin' 'em what I got goin' and then delegatin' once we get some paperwork signed.

Let's see. What're we visitin' over this mornin' anyway? Well, I had somethin', but I fergot what it was, so I reckon I'm gonna have to make somethin' up as we go along. No, it ain't gonna be a fairy tale, either?mebbe. Alliterative verse is too much trouble first thing inna mornin', so we can leave that out right there! 'Course, once I get goin' on it, it's kinda hard to stop. No, bad puns are only funny when I do 'em. I get the joke when I do 'em.

What the hell'd we visit over yesterday, anyway? Caltrops! Man, what was I thinkin'? Common every day things reveal life to us. That?s what I was thinkin?. Those things can reveal ourselves to ourselves as well. Sometimes that's not a comfortable proposition there, ya know. I figger a feller just gots to pay attention some, turn things on their ear a bit and see how they look from a different perspective. Well, caltrops ain't common and everyday, but things like that can be used, too.

Ya see, it ain't all about what we think it is. Life and livin it, I mean. Shut up and pay attention, will ya? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Simple shit, huh? That just tells me you ain't been payin' attention none. James, I ain't talkin' about you, brother. You got 'er down, bro. It's all about dancin' inna dark, Marine. I'm just shinin' a little light on things fer other folks here and there is all.

If yer payin' attention, you can learn all about life and what's goin' on with you and those around ya...just by considerin' the usual things...or not so usual things?inna new light...from a different perspective. Just by openin' yer eyes some and thinkin' fer a bit. Wisdom surrounds us. Knowledge surrounds us. Take an ink pen, a pencil, the behavior of the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, the grass inna lawn, the gravel onna roadbed, and you can learn more than you ever thought possible. It takes eyes to see with, though. Sometimes what we see when we open our eyes some...isn't what we might think is really true, or right, or just. Whether we're watchin Harry Potter, readin' on Helen of Troy, or considerin' the caltrops in our lives.

...and sometimes a cup of coffee is just a cup of coffee. A Freudian slant to things, but Jung was just a little too weird fer me. Freud was on to somethin', I figger. I don't think he knew it, though.

Warm up yer coffee, folks! It's a new day! It's a new opportunity! We got another chance to get 'er right! We got another opportunity to get 'er all sorted out. Make sure ya take advantage of it, will ya?

[BLUEHAWK]

Bones -

Know what MORNING is?

God's little rebooter

[Desdichado]

I don't pretend to know the answer to the meaning of life, the universe and everything (and I'm pretty sure it's not 42 either). What I DO know is that the universe is finite, all things are connected, and everything you do matters.

Thuh end.

A Zen teacher saw five of his students returning from the market, riding their motorbikes. When they arrived at the monastery and had dismounted, the teacher asked the students, "Why are you riding your bikes?"

The first student replied, "The bike is carrying the sack of potatoes. I am glad that I do not have to carry them on my back!" The teacher praised the first student, "You are a smart boy! When you grow old, you will not walk hunched over like I do."

The second student replied, "I love to watch the trees and fields pass by as I drive down the path!" The teacher commended the second student, "Your eyes are open, and you see the world."

The third student replied, "When I ride my bike, I am content to chant nam myoho renge kyo." The teacher gave praise to the third student, "Your mind will roll with the ease of a newly balanced wheel."

The fourth student replied, "Riding my bike, I live in harmony with all sentient beings." The teacher was pleased, and said to the fourth student, "You are riding on the golden path of non-harming."

The fifth student replied, "I ride my bike to ride my bike." The teacher sat at the feet of the fifth student and said, "I am your student!"

Author unknown.