Rabbit Palace and Bing

Thomas and Eler Beth finished the rabbit palace, I mean hutch, today. It is so BIG! I hope Tsune will like it.

A friend of ours passed away today. He was in his 90s, and he simply went to sleep. Thomas had known him and his family since Thomas was about 16, and I have known them for about 18 years now. He was a good old guy, always busy, still doing farm work and driving himself until early last year. He has often called on Thomas to come give him a hand mending fence or doing some other work on his land, and almost every year he would call us to come pick cherries or pears off his trees. He will be missed, and I feel for his wife. She has some nervous problems as it is, and I know this is going to be extremely difficult for her.

On a funny note -- has everyone seen those "Bing" search engine overload commercials? Well I really get a kick out of them. I saw a new one tonight and had to see if it was on You Tube. It is, so here it is for a Sunday chuckle. Bing may never amount to much, but they sure do have funny commercials.

Bing Search Overload Syndrome: Santa

Rabbit Wire, Taco Tico, and CAKE

Yesterday Eler Beth and I found ourselves on Charlestown Road in New Albany, and I discovered that there is a new Taco Tico there. I can remember when there were several Taco Tico (fast food franchises) in the Louisville area when I was a teenager. As a matter of fact I went to Taco Tico long before I ever heard of or visited a Taco Bell. But they suddenly disappeared from the area when I was around 20 years old.

So we decided we'd give them a try. Eler Beth was impressed with the soft tacos, which she said were better than Taco Bell's, and she really liked the Cinnamon Crustos. I was impressed with the Loaded Nachos, which actually were loaded with everything, unlike the Nachos Belle Grande at Taco Bell, which is mostly just nachos. I couldn't eat the whole thing in one sitting. The churros were good too!

Today Thomas started building a big hutch for Tsune, the white rabbit that Eler Beth rescued and nursed back to health this summer. Her cage is getting smaller in proportion to her growth, so we decided to give her a bit of a palace. We made a trip to Lowe's for rabbit wire and wood. Our friend who raises rabbits has a nesting box for us, so she'll be all set very soon. Thomas and Eler Beth did most of the construction this evening.

Here is another song and video by CAKE. This one is called "Love You Madly", and I like the song okay, but I really enjoy the video.

CAKE -- "Love You Madly"

I don't want to wonder
If this is a blunder
I don't want to worry whether
We're gonna stay together
'Till we die

I don't want to jump in
Unless this music's thumping
All the dishes rattle in the cupboards
When the elephants arrive

I want to love you madly
I want to love you now
I want to love you madly, way
I want to love you, love you
Love you madly

I don't want to fake it
I just want to make it
The ornaments look pretty
But they're pulling down the branches
Of the Tree

I don't want to think about it
I don't want to talk about it
When I kiss your lips
I want to sink down to the bottom
Of the sea

I want to love you madly
I want to love you now, yeah
I want to love you madly, way
I want to love you, love you
Love you madly

I don't want to hold back
I don't want to slip down
I don't want to think back to the one thing that I know I
Should have done

I don't want to doubt you
Know everything about you
I don't want to sit across the table from you
Wishing I could run

I want to love you madly
I want to love you now
I want to love you madly, way
I want to love you, love you
Love you madly

Go, You Chicken Fat, Go!

Does anyone else remember the Chicken Fat song from the sixties? We had it on a little .45 record. President Kennedy apparently sent it to elementary schools across the country in 1961, and I don't know how we happened to have gotten hold of one of them, but I'm guessing one of my sisters brought it home. I can remember playing the record and exercising with it when I was a little girl. I wondered if I could find it on You Tube. Well, of course I could; everything is on You Tube. So here it is for your nostalgic listening pleasure. And if you get the urge to do so, get up and "send that chicken fat back to the chicken. And don't be chicken again!"

I didn't realize that Robert Preston did the singing, and it was written by Merideth Wilson who wrote the music for "Music Man."

Chicken Fat Song (The Youth Fitness Song)


And check out this web site too.

P.S. I challenge you to listen to this and NOT have it going through your head all day.

What Would Beethoven Think?

Andrew recently acquainted me with an indie-rock band called CAKE. They've been around since 1994 but I'd never heard of them before this week. I like a few of their songs, especially one called "Commissioning a Symphony in C", which I am sharing here. I like their style; they are impossible to pigeonhole, really. One of their songs sounds a bit country, another may sound more hip hop, and yet another is a combination of rock and big band. I really like that. The lead singer's voice is smooth and easy to listen to without being exceptionally remarkable. Their lyrics are smart and punchy.

They were dismissed by most critics when they had their first hit, The Distance, but they have proved they are not a one-hit wonder by the hits they've had since. I like their sense of humor and their sarcasm -- and I'm sure their sarcasm is one of the things that most appeals to me about their music.

They do a cover of "I Will Survive" that is worth hearing at least once. The lead singer's voice is all wrong for the song, but he doesn't try to do anything other than simply sing it; it's the bass, the lead guitar, and the trumpet that are so superb in their version.

Below is a video of "Commissioning A Symphony in C" so you can hear it, and I'll print the lyrics below as well. When you get the chance I would also recommend their songs,"Never There" (highly recommend that one), and "Love You Madly" (LOVE the video for that one). "Sort Skirt/Long Jacket" was critically acclaimed, but it isn't one of my favorites. "Meanwhile, Rick James" and "Frank Sinatra" are two others where the lyrics really get me, especially the latter. "Friend is a Four Letter Word" is pretty good too.

I know I'm probably late to the dance and everyone else out there knows this band, but since I had to write something today, I figured I might as well write about them.

Click the link below to hear the song (love the keyboard in it):

Commissioning A Symphony in C
By John McCrae

So you'll be an Austrian Nobleman
Commissioning a symphony in C
Which defies all earthly descriptions
You'll be Commissioning a symphony in C

With money you squeeze from the peasants
To your nephew you can give it as a present
This magnificent symphony in C
You'll be commissioning a symphony in C

Completely filling the palace concert hall
It's warm and golden like an oven that's wide open
It has a melody both happy and sad
Built on victorious known triads

You've entered the room with great caution
Though no one in the hall is even watching
They are transfixed
They are forgetting just to breath
They are so taken by your symphony...
In C

You're sitting there thinking your thoughts
They are not about what is but what is not
You are sitting there breathing in your breath
You are seldom breathing life but mostly death

So you'll be an Austrian Nobleman
Commissioning a symphony in C
Which defies all earthly descriptions
You'll be commissioning...
A symphony...
In C

Rainy Wednesday

It rained yesterday and today, but that's okay. I guess we needed it.

Tomorrow Thomas is going hunting. Eler Beth was going with them but decided this evening that she's not really feeling up to it. I think she's done her part for the year, but I know she'll get back out there before season ends. We have two deer in the freezer and gave one away. I do like having my freezer full of meat for the winter. It's a very good feeling, especially when you know it's clean and preservative-free! lol

I thought I was having the house to myself tomorrow (gave Eler Beth the day off to go hunting), so I was going to do a writing marathon. I'm still going to. I told Eler Beth if she stayed out of my hair and let me write I'd still give her the day off from school. I'm going to try to do 6,000 words tomorrow.

I saw the mutt out on his own again today. They didn't keep him up long. But maybe he got out honestly this time. He ran after a neighbor lady walking her dogs, and one of her dogs is a rottweiler. But she's a sweet old rottweiler, and she didn't do anything about the little mutt yipping at her heels. The neighbor shooed him off and they went on with their walk. I'll keep my eyes on him though. If he's out a lot again, I'll have to call again.

Hope everyone is having a good week.

Got JUST Milk?

When Andrew was about two years old he tried buttermilk at my Mom's house. Of course he didn't like it. For some reason he had it in his mind that buttermilk was called "just plain milk". I honestly have no idea why. But the morning after that visit when I was fixing his breakfast I asked him if he'd like juice or milk, and he asked what kind of milk.

"What kind of milk? It's just plain milk," I answered. He refused to have any. After a lot of questioning I figured out that he thought it was the kind he'd tried at my Mom's, so I had to pour that milk out, wash the glass, and say, "Ok, well, I'll get you just milk. It's the kind you drink every day. See? It's JUST milk."

He drank it.

A few weeks later he went to spend a few days with my parents. The morning after we left him there my phone rang. It was my Mom.

"What kind of milk does Drew drink?" she asked.

And I burst out laughing. I knew! "Oh no! Did you tell him it was 'just plain milk'?"

She chuckled. "Yes, I did, and he refused to drink it. I poured it back. What should I have called it?" (She's a wise old bird, my Mom.)

I explained, and for the rest of his visit he had JUST milk.

No Boredom For Me

When I picked up my desktop from my computer geek last week I found out he'd been in the hospital for pneumonia -- brought on by H1N1!! That's the closest it has come to me.

Everyone is feeling better at my house except for me. I'm still achy and so tired and sleepy. I have also had the urge these past few days to read Kafka. Should I be worried, do you think?

Eler Beth is feeling a lot better, but she is SO BORED!!! I didn't feel up to doing anything special today like taking another downtown walk, so other than school she was pretty much on her own. Andrew took pity on her and played video games with her for a while, and she went with me to the grocery. But I read her post tonight, and she says today she was SO BORED!!! Sometimes I wish I could have some of that boredom. OR it would be nice sometimes to wander around the house, letting out huge sighs and whining, "I'm so stressed!!" Wonder what they'd do if I started doing that?