AND TAKE ME BACK TO A HAPPIER TIME

 SURE DID COME ACROSS A LOT OF PEZ DISPENSERS TODAY

Another cloudy cold morning and pulling back the living room curtains I could see that it was snowing heavily.  The thermometer said 24F.  Not nice and not encouraging.  Pheebs and I never left the house:((  I sometimes wish I had a small camper van and could load Pheebs up and head for the sunny deserts and mountains of the Great American Southwest.  But, it's only a fleeting thought.  It's only an old dream now.  If I can hang on and put up with this dreaded winter weather for another three months, it will be on its way out with warm sunny feeling good days ahead.  In the Spring I can at least get outside and find things to keep me busy and occupy my mind.

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I worked away again in our spare room today. I've mentioned a few times what a daunting task this is to sift through everything trying to organize things and make it all neat and tidy.  What I haven't mentioned is the overall sadness in my heart as I hold things in my hand each day that were not long ago an integral and loving part of our lives.  With each thing is attached a memory of the loved one who has slipped quietly away.  Nearly thirty-two years of memories.  Maybe it's a handwritten note on a piece of paper, a pair of socks, a photo, a chocolate bar tucked away in a safe place.  A coffee cup, a shoelace on her desk, or an empty candy wrapper on a table by her bed.  With each box opened, a flood of new memories.  With each drawer opened, a step back in time.  With every piece of clothing in a closet, a tear, and with every pair of shoes waiting to be taken for a walk again, a sadness in my heart.  Yes, it is a daunting task with my mind knowing it has to be done, and my heart wanting to pause, put me on hold, and take me back to a happier time.

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The snow kept up pretty much all day and I just kept plugging away inside.  Two more undeniable signs this morning that Kelly's presence is here with Pheebs and I.  Beside our kitchen door sits a table and it is here where I fill up the bird feeders and also place my flip phone and two Sony cameras in readiness for heading out in the morning.  I always make sure these three devices are turned off for the night.  I was filling the second of two bird feeders when my eyes were suddenly attracted by the clear white screen light on my Flip Phone popping up.  Also at the same instant, the display screen on my Sony RX90 camera came on and I right away noticed the camera was sitting right side up on its base with the lens extended.  I never ever set that camera down that way, I always lay it down face first.  Always!!  So, what turned both those devices on at the same time and what physically set that Sony camera on its base?? Other signs have been happening and here's one from yesterday.  I put a new roll of toilet paper on the holder Friday morning.  I've probably done this thousands of times over the years and I always do it the same way.  Later in the day, I noticed that the roll of toilet paper had been backrolled a turn and slightly twisted.  And no, Pheebs didn't do that!!  Many will 'pooh-pooh' this kind of stuff but for those who have read the books, done the research, and think clearly with an open mind, know and understand exactly what I am talking about here.

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Okay, so what food items did I pick up at Jerry Raders yesterday.  Well, first off I made sure to get a large container of turnip.  Turnip is the only vegetable that I like the taste of and it goes with most anything.  A dollop of turnip with my beef lasagna and breaded chicken. I can mix it in with my chicken pot pies and hey, how about a dollop of turnip on my cereal, or mix it up with some ice cream.  Turnip and donuts, turnip and pancakes, turnip and butter tarts, turnip and apple pie.  Oh my, the possibilities are endless.  Also at Jerry Rader's Friday morning, I picked up that 'Farmer's Pizza', one chicken noodle soup, one Cream of Turkey soup, and one packet of Chicken Nuggets.  Oh, and a Turkey Salad Sandwich.  If I can ever get that frozen Butterball Turkey out of my fridge's freezer I'll be able to fill it up with even more Jerry Radar products:))

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Al's Music Box:)) I Feel Fine is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in November 1964 as the A-side of their eighth single. It was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon-McCartney partnership. The recording includes one of the earliest uses of guitar feedback in popular music.  Lennon wrote the song's guitar riff while the Beatles were in the studio recording "Eight Days a Week" in October 1964, and kept playing it between takes. He later recalled: "I told them I'd write a song specially for the riff. So they said, 'Yes. You go away and do that', knowing that we'd almost finished the album Beatles for Sale.  Anyway, going into the studio one morning, I said to Ringo, 'I've written this song but it's lousy'. But we tried it, complete with riff, and it sounded like an A-side, so we decided to release it just like that."  Both Lennon and George Harrison said that the riff was influenced by a riff in "Watch Your Step", a 1961 song written and performed by Bobby Parker and covered by the Beatles in concerts during 1961 and 1962.  Paul McCartney said the drums on "I Feel Fine" were inspired by lRay Charles's 1959 single "What'd I Say.  At the time of the song's recording, the Beatles, having mastered the studio basics, had begun to explore new sources of inspiration in noises previously eliminated as mistakes (such as electronic goofs, twisted tapes, and talkback). "I Feel Fine" marks one of the earliest examples of the use of feedback as a recording effect in popular music. Artists such as the Kinks and the Who had already used feedback live, but Lennon remained proud of the fact that the Beatles were perhaps the first group to deliberately put it on vinyl.  "I Feel Fine" is written in four quarter time with drummer Ringo Starr's R&B infuenced beat (based on the "Latin" drumming in Ray Charles's hit "What'd I Say"   "I Feel Fine" starts with a single, percussive feedback note produced by McCartney plucking the A string on his bass, and Lennon's guitar, which was leaning against McCartney's bass amp, picking up feedback. This was the first use of feedback on a rock record. According to McCartney, "John had a semi-acoustic Gibson guitar. It had a pickup on it so it could be amplified ... We were just about to walk away to listen to a take when John leaned his guitar against the amp. I can still see him doing it … it went, 'Nnnnnnwahhhhh!' And we went, 'What's that? Voodoo!' 'No, it's feedback.' 'Wow, it's a great sound!' George Martin was there so we said, 'Can we have that on the record?' 'Well, I suppose we could, we could edit it on the front.' It was a found object, an accident caused by leaning the guitar against the amp."  Although it sounded very much like an electric guitar, Lennon actually played the riff on an acoustic-electric guitar(a Gibson model J-160E, employing the guitar's onboard pickup.  Later, Lennon was very proud of this sonic experimentation. In one of his last interviews, he said: "I defy anybody to find a record – unless it's some old blues record in 1922 – that uses feedback that way."  Backed by "She's a Woman", "I Feel Fine" was issued as a single A-side on 23 November 1964 in the United States.  Public demand for the single was unprecedented, according to author Nicholas Schaffner, particularly in the US, where the market had been saturated with Beatles releases over the first seven months of 1964, "making the ensuing gap seem like forever". He recalled that fans remained "glued" to their transistor radios over the ten days between the single's unveiling on radio and its retail release and that this established a fan ritual for all the band's subsequent records.  The song topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for three weeks in late 1964 and early 1965. Cash Box magazine ranked "I Feel Fine" as the 19th biggest US hit of 1965. It was the sixth single by the Beatles to hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in a calendar year (1964), an all-time record. In order, these singles were "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "She Loves You", "Can't Buy Me Love", "Love Me Do", "A Hard Day's Night" and "I Feel Fine". For songwriters Lennon and McCartney, it was the seventh number-one they wrote in the same calendar year, which was another all-time record. The song was the first of six Hot 100 number one chart-toppers. The subsequent singles were "Eight Days a Week", "Ticket to Ride", "Help!", "Yesterday" and "We Can Work It Out".

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A young naval student was being put through the paces by an old sea captain.  "What would you do if a sudden storm sprang up on the starboard?" "Throw out an anchor, sir," the student replied. "What would you do if another storm sprang up aft?" "Throw out another anchor, sir." "And if another terrific storm sprang up forward, what would you do then?" asked the captain. "Throw out another anchor, sir." "Hold on," said the captain. "Where are you getting all those anchors from?" "From the same place you're getting all your storms, sir."

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Al's Doggy World

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Al's Art Gallery