Guilt

I love watching the local news at Noon here in Youngstown, Ohio.  Always good for current events and weather.  Also, always good for a laugh. Seems that this Sunday kicks off  Stop The Violence Week, sponsored by a host of community groups and Youngstown State University.  They're having a parade. I suppose there will be speechification and oration too.  Hardly could be a community event without it. Followed by a fist-fight and a stabbing.  ONLY KIDDING!! At the risk of repeating myself here, there's nothing wrong in Youngstown that can't be fixed quickly and permanently by a liberal dose of incarceration.  A parade simply won't do it.

While I’ve written about the “How To” section of the MyGoogle Internet start page in the past, today’s offerings require a minor league comment— Here’s the three offered this morning, in order: 1)       Happy 40 th Anniversary Greenpeace!   How to get involved with Greenpeace 2)       9 (Yes, 9) Ways to Peel a Banana 3)       How to Give Your Dog Eye Drops And now, my immediate responses, in order: 1)       4 decades of word-smithing.   How time flies. 2)       A boon for the newlyweds.       3)   WHA!?!

When Robert B. Parker unexpectedly died at his desk in January 2010, I thought my days of reading about the Chief of Police of Paradise, Massachusetts, Jesse Stone, were gone. I was wrong. His long-time collaborator Michael Brandman is continuing the story.  I bought the latest installment, Killing The Blues, and read it today.  In one sitting.  That's how it usually happens with Jesse Stone and me.  I don't read the stories as much as inhale them. Thanks for the breath, Mr. Brandman.  I'm in your debt.

I try to keep up.   I really do.   I’ve been watching some programs on the channel previously known as SciFi and enjoying the crap out of them—Eureka, Warehouse 13, and Haven.   All three were far and away too good for the train wreck that SyFy has become, or maybe always was. So I Google around a little and find that Eureka has been cancelled—we have a season “in the can”, but then it’s over.   Warehouse 13 and Haven can’t be far behind, I fear. The reason given by the brain trust at SyFy is that it’s just plain too expensive.   OK.   Fine.   They have to pay writers and actors and creative types.   Very costly. I wish…..I wish…..I wish…..I wish that I had been present when the decision was made to cancel Eureka—Had to go something like this: “Eureka’s a great piece of programming and it has a massive and dedicated audience, but, well, we can probably sell just as much advertising on another installment of Battlestar Galacti...

Our 5 day fair has run its course.  There was heat and humidity that melted ice cream, shoe polish, and families, as well as thunderstorms that made mud pits out of the parking lots. There was harness racing and farm competitions and baked goods and country concerts and the list just goes on.  A grand time was had by all.  But mostly, for my money, there was the Pumpkin Building--the home of the largest squash at the fair . There was the sort of sunset that you can only find in North East Ohio.  Mahoning County, Ohio, is the home of Youngstown, and all of it's "Rust Belt" baggage, but Mahoning County is, to the largest degree, farm land.  You know, the corn is as high as an elephant's eye, and all that. The Largest Squash Sunset At The Fair The Pumpkin Building A Tower of Squash   We Have Our Priorities The Beauty Queen (And A Squash) Welcome A Row of Squash Checking the list of the Grand Champi...

The Canfield Fair is wrapping up today, but there’s a few things that really need to be explained about the fair—I took some pictures to illustrate this point:  Some things that seem, well, “funny” in other parts of the country are quite normal here.  I give you Beaver Drive, and at the end of it, at the grandstands, the Canfield Cock. We also play a bean-bag game here called “Cornhole”, but that’s a story for another day. Beaver Drive Grandstand Entrance

Last year at this time, I was excited--giddy, in fact--at the prospect of the Giants going to the post season.  Had no idea, of course, that they might actually win the World Series, but giddy nonetheless. This year, I just want it to end.  They’ve lost so many players (starting with Buster Posey to that assault perpetrated by Scott Cousins) either for the season or substantial parts of the season to injury that it’s amazing that they’re not in last place.  If they don’t start to win a couple of games, though, they might actually be overtaken by the God forsaken Dodgers—Who, in a side note, look to be in the process of being bought by Chinese interests.  Christ. So, the Giants need to end this year’s charade and let some minor leaguers take over for these last three weeks of being the defending World Series Champs.  The eternal cry of the fans of the San Francisco Giants--Wait 'Til Next Year!!

This is the weekend for the Canfield Fair in, well, Canfield, Ohio.  It's a pretty big deal in these parts.  We attend ever year.  There's a place to milk a cow, in the event that you've never done that sort of thing before, and we have an entire barn devoted to squash.  No, really. The website for the Canfield Fair is www.canfieldfair.com .  As if you didn't know. Glenda Milks A Cow Our Tent At The Fair Did I mention that I'm an elected member of the Mahoning County Republican Central Committee?  No?  I thought I had.  Sorry .  

He lit a match To check gas tank That's why They call him Skinless frank Burma-Shave 

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The monkey took One look at Jim And threw the peanuts Back at him He needed Burma-Shave