I Had To Put My Dog Down

I didn't talk about him much on this blog but for about 7 years a pit-bull dachsund mix lived with us. His name was Blue. He used to love going out to the garden with me and catching the squirrels I shot out of the trees with my pellet gun. His favorite word was "walk". Kathleen used to take him to parks around here to let him hunt ground squirrels. He was a good dog. But he hurt his back five days ago and was in a lot of pain. I never want to put another dog down as long as I live. Before I shot him I gave him a last meal of baccon and tranquilizers. He ate it happily. I feel like I should go to confession but that doesn't meet up with what my mind says is true. Why am I crying?

Duets

It seems to me, and maybe, it's just because of how old I am and the music I heard growing up, but the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s were the heyday of pop music duets.

I remember hearing the song Private Dancer sometime in the 1980s. My Mom said, "That's too bad. Tina Turner was one of my favorite rock and roll singers." I think that, propably,bthis song was in her mind when she said that. 1971 -Proud Mary - Ike and Tina Turner.

I remember hearing this song on KOIT FM back in the 1970s. What I didn't know then is that the two singers, Niel Diamond and Barbara Streisand didn't record it together. In fact their two recordings of the song were made years apart. Back about 20 years ago I met a guy on Facebook who had recently converted to Holy Orthodxy and who had been a radio DJ in, I think, North Carolina. He told me about how they splice together the two recording to make their two recordings into a duet. They probably violated all kinds of copyright laws when they did it, but the duet version was a bigger hit than the two solo versions. Here are Barbara and Niel performing the song together for the first time at the 1980 Grammy Awards.

This song was a favorite of my late brother Ken's wife. Everytime it came on the radio or teevee she would say, "Oh! Kiki Dee!" 1976 - Don't go Breaking My Heart - Elton John and KiKi Dee

I was in the 4th grade when I saw the movie Greeae. At that age (9 or 10) I didn't know what the story was about. (It was only many years later when son #3 was running the lights in his high school production of the play that I finally saw and was appallled by what it was about.) But I knew from this song that if I was ever going to have a woman like Sandi I had better "shape up". You're The One That I Want- 1978 - Olivia Newton John and John Travolta.

There is a maried couple I really want to put on this list of duets but only one of them actually sang. The other was an instrumentalist. The Capatain and Tenille had some hits in the '70s but I don't think he ever sang so I can't count them as a duet. But there is another couple who were married (Until his heroin addiction wrecked that marriage. You know there is a reason why we outlaw that drug.) This song was part of Carly Simons 1974 album Hotcakes. I remember my teacher in kindergarten teaching it to me. I didn't understand it but it was fun to sing. 1974 - Mockingbird - Carly Simon and James Taylor It is one of my favorite songs. I hope you enjoy it. And, Oh My Gosh, do you see the look of love on her face when she looks at him?

I wanted to see the movie because I was 12 years old and "in love" with Brooke Shields but my parents wouldn't let me see it. Now, having read about the film, it seems to me, thaey made the right decision. 1981 Endless Love - Lionel Ritche and Diana Ross

This song was origiinally relesased by Bob Seegar as a solo, only later was it releasd as a duet with Keny Rogers and Shiela Easton, but I din't hear it until 1985 when Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton released it. 1985 - Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers - We've Got Tonightgt

Another Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton song on this list of duets is, really, a Beegees song. (in the late 70s and early 80s I was huge Beegees fan.) This song was written by the Beegees but not recorded by them. 1983 - Islands in the Stream

in 1981 my Dad was chosen to oversee the churches of his denomination in Florida. When they first moved there I stayed in California with my sister and brother-in-law. One day I was listening to the radio and heard a song by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warrens. I loved it from the moment I heard it. All these years later I still haven't seen the movie for which it was written but in the mid-1990s I met Cocker's protoge Phil Driscoll in at a night club in San Farancisco. That is wheen I learned, if I remember correctly, that many years ago they owned, or maybe they only perfornmed, at a burlesque therater in Canada. It is hard to remember these days. Anyway - 1982 Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warrens - Up Where We Belong

I didn't even know about the exitence of Bary White until the mid 1990s but, OH HY GOSH, what an amazing phenomonon he was. Here he is singing All Around the World with Lisa Stansfield, the authhoress of the song, 1990

TELOS of this song. Though this song had been recorded by many singers between 1980 and 1989, the fullness of this song was only revealed by Neville and Rondstadt in in 1989.

It was in the late 1980s and I was a PFC in the U.S. Army's 101sst Airborne Division when a srgeant (his name was Morrison) came in to the battlion HQ one early Monday morning and said, "PFC Karnes, you need to see Dirty Dancing. Take your wife to see it with you. That is an order." This is th on;y song I remember from that movie. 1989 Jenifer Warraens and Bill Meddly - I had the time of my life.

Finally, Beloved, I give you a duet by Al Green and Annie Lennoox. Niether claims to be ORTHODOX buth bothhave opinions of Jesus. Lennox seems to be more complicated than Green. But we should pray for the salvation of both of them. Put a Little Loe in Your Heart.

Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss

In 1971 the British rock band, The Who had a big hit with their song Won't Get Fooled Again. It reminds me of the words I sing in church every week, "put not your faith in princes or sons of men, in whom there is no salvation. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; In that very day his thoughts perish." Today Donald J. Trump took over as President of the United States.

I was in a meeting when he swore the oath and when one of the men in the meeting (he was listening to a device in his ear) announced that we had a new Prsident the other 60 people in the room began clapping and cheering. (About the meeting: I quit my job as a teacher after last semester and took a job a a salesman for a general contractor. I sell roofs, windows, doors, concrete, solar energy systems, and insulation now. Much more money than teaching.) I am glad Trump is our President but I don't for a minute think he is going to usher in an age of justice and prosperity. I think he'll do less damage to us that Biden did but that is all.

I haven't been excited about a presidential candidate since Ron Paul ran for President. Although, I must admit that the last time Trump was President he did appint good judges to the U.S. courts, but I think that is mainly because he didn't have strong opinions about judges, and just asked the Federalist Society who they want him to appoint. Admittedly, that is a pretty good way to pick people to be federal judges. Gosh, It was fun campaigning for Ron Paul. It's too bad he didn't win.

David Lynch is dead

Snyder's show came on the teevee after Carson's show signed off. I first saw his show in 1980 or 81. I watched Snyder's teevee show until I was tatally surprised by Letterman's "Late Night with David Lettermn". I was 12 years old and was completely confused when Letterman said stuff about being on the air since the 1950s. Anyway, before Letterman, one of the things I liked about Snyde is that his show dealt with seious subjects. He wasn't just after a laugh like Carson and, later, Letterman were. I'm not sure I could have articulated it back the, but Snyder seemed a bit more serious than Carson or Leterman. The first time I saw David Lynch on Carson's tonight show he had with him a "bee board". It was nothing more that a pice of card board with aabout 3 dozen bees glued to to it. I saw it but can not understand wat Lynch meant by it. Was he a genius or was I a dullard? I do not know.

Small Arms in War

I was a soldier. I qualified as an "expert" with the M16A1 rifle, M16A2 rifle, and the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (Saw gun). (I couldn't hit anything with a pistol.) My oldest son, Billy, eventually, though not at Basic Training nor at the Infantry School at Ft. Benning, qualified as an expert with the M16A2 rifle and the M60 machinegun. (He wore my "expert" badge on his uniform.) My son Anselm, a sailor, not a soldier earned the U.S. Navy's pistol marsmanship ribbon for hiss proficiency with the M9 pistol. Since I used indivual arms and my sons used or use small arms I keep up with what is going on. This video about the US Army's grenede launcher is interesting. I am especcially critical of the WAR CRIME of exploding bullets. When I was a soldier we all knew that the 30mm launched grenede was 30mm because of the laws of war. Why would they make anything smaller? Sometimes I wonder if the people in our government know what they are doing.

Movies

In the last couple of years it has come to my attention that people rarely go to the cinema to see movies anymore. I know I don't, I can count on one hand the number of movies I've seem in the last two years. It is a strange change in my life, and I guess I am thinking about it because David Lynch died three days ago. But several years before I saw my first David Lynch Film (I986, Blue Velvet, the only movie I saw after reading a review in a newspaper) I used to watch Siskel and Ebert on KQED chanel 9 out of San Francisco. It was my favotite show on the teevee. I don't think I missed a week. But my movie going memories really started years before I started watching Siskel and Ebert. The first three movies I remember seeing were Fantastic Planet at theMountain View Theather in Mountain View, California with my Brother-in-Law Dan, The Gumball Rally with my brother Mark at the Moffat Drive-in in Mountain View California, and the Swashbuckler at the Century 21 cinema in San Jose, California. All of those cinemas, the Mountain View, the Moffet Drive-in, and the Century 21 are gone now. The 1980s and early 1990s were to me the golden age of cimema for me. A Room with a View, Out of Africa, Big Trouble in Little China, Leaving Las Vegas, Remains of the Day, Romancing the Stone, Stand by Me, Howards End, Platoon, Glory, Nuch Ado about Nothing, Body Heat, and Gump were some of the best movies I ever saw. Hmmmm. Nostalgia might not be a good thing.

Left Over Ham

A ham is a big piece of meat. After you've cooked it it can last all week in your refrigerator. Yes, of course you took the bone out and made hearty ham and lentil soup but you still have all this ham meat in plastic bags in the fridge. And if your wife is not especially fond of ham, really, what are you going to do with 8 pounds of ham? Well, tonight I made something I haven't made in about 20 years. I made an Easter ham pie. It is the easiest thing.

Ingrediets
About a poud of ham, diced small
1/2 of a diced yellow onion
6 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1 cup heavy cream
sliced mozzarella chese, enough to make a 1/8"-1/4"layer in a 9 inch pie pan
1 cup ricotta chese
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon dried thyme
4 tablespoons grated Parmagiano Regiano.
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
2 Marie calendars frozen pie crusts
2 cups baby spinich

Directions
1. bake one o the pie crusts at 350F until it is golden brown, about 30 minutes
2. while it is baking put all the onoion, all the mushrooms, 1/2 the thyme and 1/2 the garlic powder, and all of the butter in a pan over bedium heat and cook (stirring occasionally) until the onions are translucent.
3. put the eggs, cream, flour, the rest of the garlic and thyme, the black pepper, the ricotta cheese, and about three tablespoons of grated Paragiano Reggiano into a bowl, mix it up. Pour about 3/4 cup into anouther bowl to use later.
4. When the pie crust in the oven is golden brown (it is okay if it puffs up a little) take it out of the oven and put a then layer of the ham/onion/mushroom mix into the bottom of the pie crust. Make sure the bottom of the pie crust is covered. You will have a lot of ham/onion/mushroom mix left over.
5. add the remaining ham/onion mixture to the large bowl of the egg/cream/flower mixture. Mix in well.
6. the next thing to ad to the pie crust is youor sliced mazzarella cheese. totally cover the ham/mushroom/onion mix in the bottome of the crust.
7. now pour the rest of the egg/cream/ham/mushroom mix on top of that mozzarella
8. Now put the baby spinach on top of that. It will be higher that the top of the pie crust. Don't Worry. 9. Pour the little bowl (from step three) of the egg/cream mixture on top the the spinach. Try to cover all of the spinach. dont just dup it in the middle of the pie.
10. take the remaining pie crust and invet it on top of the pie.
11. sprinkle the rest of the Paragiano Regiano on top for looks more than anything else.
12. Put it in a 350F oven for 10 minutes. Raise tem to 400. Bake for 30 more minutes.
My wife, Kathleen said it is her favorite ham dish.