Anthony Doerr—All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel

If you're looking for something to read, a novel that will appeal to men and women both and of every age, this latest novel by Doerr is the best thing I've read since CS Lewis’ Till We Have Faces. It really is that good. All the Light We Cannot See is about three children growing up during WWII, a brother and sister from Germany who have grave misgivings about Germany waging war, and a blind French girl whose country is of course devastated by it. I read a lot of books and dislike the vast majority of modern novels. This one is truly exceptional. A great story told by what is perhaps the best wordsmith I've ever encountered. In fact, if you're an aspiring writer wanting to learn how to write, forget all those silly how-to books and just read this novel. If you can’t learn how to write, and write well, after reading this book, then give up. There’s no hope for you.

Pure Joy

Nobody has more fun playing American music than the Japanese. This is a terrific jug band called The Bigood!
In case you don't know this great old tune, here are the lyrics in English:
~~~
Wahoo
(Words & Music by Cliff Friend)

Way out west where men are men and women are very sweet,
That's where I wanna be...
That's where I'm gonna be.
Way out west just once again where happiness is complete,
There's just one thing I miss...
And it is this:

OH! gimme a horse, a great big horse, and gimme a buckaroo
And let me Wah-Hoo! Wah-Hoo! WAH-HOO!
OH! gimme a ranch, a big pair of pants, and gimme a stetson too,
And let me Wah-Hoo! Wah-Hoo! WAH-HOO!
Give me the wide o-pen spaces...
For I'm just like a prairie flower,
Growing wilder by the hour.
OH! gimme a moon, a prairie moon, and gimme a gal what's true,
And let me Wah-Hoo! Wah-Hoo! WAH-HOO!

OH! I never could sing a high class thing, good music I never knew,
But I can Wah-Hoo! Wah-Hoo! WAH-HOO!
OH! I never could dance, 'cause when I dance I ruin the lady's shoe,
But I can Wah-Hoo! Wah-Hoo! WAH-HOO!
It's just a gift from the prairie...
You shout it when a bad man jigs,
And it's very good for calling pigs.
I never could speak a word of Greek, I never could poop-poop-a-do,
But I can Wah-Hoo! Wah-Hoo! WAH-HOO!

OH! you open your mouth two feet wide, and take a big breath or two,
And then you Wah-Hoo! Wah-Hoo! WAH-HOO!
OH! you wiggle your toes and grit your teeth
Like Dangerous Dan McGrew
And then you Wah-Hoo! Wah-Hoo! WAH-HOO!
Be careful not to sing soprano;
And never Hi-de-hi-de-ho,
'Cause that don't go out in Idaho.
OH! buckle your belt and fix your hat,
And spit her out (noise) ka-chew!
And then you Wah-Hoo! Wah-Hoo! WAH-HOO!

Oh, what did Miss Cleopatra say to Antony when they met?
She hollered Wah-Hoo! Wah-Hoo! WAH-HOO!
Oh, what did that roaming Romeo yell to Miss Juliet?
He hollered Wah-Hoo! Wah-Hoo! WAH-HOO!
It started way back in Eden
And Eve was the cause, and it's no fib,
She wahooed Adam for a rib.
Oh, what did Miss Pocahontas yell the minute she saw John Smith?
She hollered Wah-Hoo! Wah-Hoo! WAH-HOO!

Oh, gimme the plains, the western plains, and a bottle of apple jack
And let me Wah-Hoo! Wah-Hoo! WAH-HOO!
Oh gimme a saloon, an old spittoon, and a package of chaw tobacc
And let me Wah-Hoo! Wah-Hoo! WAH-HOO!
Give me a gal from dear old Dallas,
And play a Texas Tommy dance
And I'll cut loose with a wild romance;
Oh, gimme a gat, a cowboy hat, a handkerchief red and blue,
And let me Wah-Hoo! Wah-Hoo! WAH-HOO!

Oh, gimme the plains, a pair of reins, and my boots and saddle too,
And let me Wah-Hoo! Wah-Hoo! WAH-HOO!
Oh, lemme get at...a lariat, as a steer comes into view,
And let me Wah-Hoo! Wah-Hoo! WAH-HOO!
Give me the wide open spaces,
Each time I see a sawdust bar,
I wanna be away out thar...
Oh, show me the pal who'll steal my gal, and hand me my .32
And let me Wah-Hoo! Wah-Hoo! WAH-HOO!

I Have Asphyxiphobia

I have asphyxiphobia. There, I said it, and for some reason it's been very bad the past couple of months. I think I nearly had a panic attack a while back. I never had one before. If I owned a gun I might have shot myself. So there you have it. It comes and goes. It's been much better lately though.

I had a couple of bad experiences when I was a kid that left me without air until I nearly passed out. Those were probably the source of the phobia even though it only started hitting me a few years ago. When you're young you don't think about dying, but now that I'm in those prime heart attack years, I suddenly have this phobia that's hit me. I wrote a very short tidbit about it a couple of years ago (though in a veiled context) within a novelette where one of the characters was afraid that death might be a life after death state of never being able to breathe forever. Could the fires of a real Hell be any worse? I don't believe any of that though. Not really. It's mostly just dying from not being able to breathe that I worry about. Once I'm dead I honestly don't think it will be a problem.

Strange the fears we pick up later in life. A lot of people seem to do it. When we're young we're so fearless.

Trouble Uninstalling a Program? Try This!

I somehow managed to download that crummy Ask Toolbar into my programs. As I recall, it came automatically with some other free program and the idea was to just uninstall it afterward. Well, I never could get it to uninstall. In fact, if I went into my Add/Remove Programs folder and clicked on it, I got no pop-up box of any kind. No options to do anything. Well, low and behold, Microsoft has come out with a free program called “Fix It” that will remove just about any stubborn program. And it runs online only, meaning that Fix It doesn’t get loaded to your programs folder. You just go to the MS website and use it whenever you need it. And it works fantastic with just about any Windows OS going back to 2003. Give it a try:


http://support2.microsoft.com/mats/program_install_and_uninstall

"Hot Rod Lincoln" (the fun way!)

Bill Kirchen was the guitarist for Commander Cody and Hid Lost Planet Airmen. He still performs all over the place and is still a wild man. Nobody has more fun playing guitar than Bill. This version of the song had several riffs from other well-known songs thrown in. It's always a crow pleaser.

1926 Ford Pickup - My Dream Truck

1927 was a transition year for Ford Motor Company as they switched over to Model A from Model T vehicles. Some vehicles from that year have elements of both automobile types. So 1926 was really the last year you could depend on the Model T actually being entirely Model T. I thought they went out with a bang. To me, the 1926 Model T was easily the best looking Model T and probably the best made one as well. It was also the first year that Ford introduced some colors. Up till then, every Ford was painted black at the factory. One of the nicest color schemes they came out with in '26 was green & black trim. I really like the pickup trucks from this year best. If you had one with a woody bed, it just doesn't get any prettier than this:

By 1926, Ford already had options for electric windshield wipers, heater (it got heat from the manifold), and electric start. The only thing you really need to modernize it and make it an everyday driver is disc brakes. And when was the last time you saw a pickup with a ragtop? These looked quite nice with the top down too. The 4-cylinder motor (Ford used the same exact motor for about 20-years) got about 20 MPG and had a top speed of 45 MPH. Perfect for in town use. What more could you ask for?

You may have noticed that this one has the steering wheel on the right. Ford had a factory in Australia, and that's where this particular one came from. They drive on the left side of the road down there.

I hope to have one of these for my retirement vehicle. You can pick up a fully restored one like this on eBay for around $15,000.  In fact, if some nice rich lady wanted to buy me one for my birthday I would consider it grounds for marriage! Just saying.

Annie Oakley's Poor Doggie—Dave

I found this picture on the Internet today and thought, this poor dog (his name was actually Dave) must have been shell-shocked and spent his whole life shivering. At the same time, it's kind of funny, no? Poor Dave the dog.