Good... And Good for You

this year i got my gardening under control rather early and easily which meant i could turn my attention to... the birds. i bought a bird feeder and a bag of bird seed and i found the perfect little area in my yard and i began to nurture the neighborhood birds.  it quickly got out of control. i'm now nurturing a large, assorted flock of very fat birds that go through a 20 pound bag of bird seed every two weeks.  midsummer, these fat birds learned a very harsh life lesson about complacency when the neighborhood cats found out about my yard. the flock became smaller and i felt accountable. for i was the one who let the birds get fat and complacent. i was the one who shielded them from the world so they weren't prepared to face its dangers.  have you ever had the weight of dead quail babies on your soul?? i have tried to explain to the cats that my backyard isn't their personal hunting ground, but they don't listen to reason. every few days i'll hear the birds squawk

i had to take my car to the mechanic's the other day and since i don't live too far away, i walked home after i dropped it off. i forced ziggy to come with me for a few reasons: first, walking a dog is fun. it's relaxing. it's norman rockwell and apple pie. second, after any walk that lasts more than 10 minutes, ziggy passes out for the rest of the day and i can go about my business in peace. third, i realized early in our relationship that ziggy is the ultimate "canine" protection. do you know what's better than a dog that will attack a sketchy person? a dog that charms sketchy people into protecting you. i'm not kidding. it's the old cliche "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." there is no context in which ziggy or i can beat anybody. so ziggy joins them and takes me with him. it is uncanny.  my 14 block walk up main street, detailed: the first 2 1/2 blocks, ziggy and i were escorted by a man who i will not formally classify as

one of my favorite shows of all time is "newsradio." i quote it a lot and since most people haven't really watched it, they think i'm funny. there's this one episode where the incompetent matthew earns the chance to go to the new hampshire primaries but of course he ends up not wanting to go to new hampshire and when asked why not he says, "um, ya... i have cats." i am matthew. partly because i'm incompetent. mostly because i had a couple of "i have cats" conversations this weekend. one of my favorite people was visiting this weekend and during dinner he asked if i was still yearning to move to arizona,  land of warmth and sunshine and no winter inversions.  and also no daylight savings. i had a very weird, matthewesque reaction to his very natural question where i was like, "um, ya, i have cats." and okay, i don't have cats but i have family, and friends, and neighbors, and a place to live, and stuff to do, and a ziggy. i do

i was watching an episode of "northern exposure" last night and i think i kind of resemble a moose. i'm just saying. do you ever play that game where you decide what animal people look like? i do- usually when i'm watching tv or really bored at church- but here's some advice... don't share your opinions because there is only one animal comparison people will be flattered by and that is the chipmunk. or maybe a bunny. i wish i had more to say.

during the last 37 years of blogging, i've talked a lot about my grandma (mom's mom) whom i lived with and also my grandfather (dad's dad) who kind of didn't like me, but i don't think i've ever talked about my other grandmother (dad's mom). so let's get into it. my grandmother is a sweet, funny woman who talks exactly like judy holliday in "born yesterday." she grew up in the bronx with her brother, mother and cab driving, cuban stepfather. during ww2 she joined the w.a.c.s and that is when she met and married my grandfather. someday i'll put a clip on here of my grandfather telling the story of their first date. spoiler!: it involves my grandmother almost falling out of the airplane my grandfather was flying. top that. anyways, my grandmother and i had lunch together today (and by that i mean that i was visiting my grandmother when the "meals on wheels" lady made her delivery and gave me one of the extra meals she had (have y