will it ever rain again?

so today is about 5 degrees hotter than yesterday. and for Sept. 10th to be at 95 degrees, i believe i am somewhere close to hell. the headline in the paper today said the area is close to being back at the drought level. so much for the great harvest i thought we were going to have to rebound from last year.

the Yankees lost last night. i watched a little. but, like the team, i think this season has run out of steam. of course, go on a 10 game winning streak and i will think they are going to the World Series. needless to say, i'll watch a little bit tonight because i've been a fan since 1982. but, much like my youth, i doubt i will have any fun watching them.

had a very frustrating night last night. the fantasy football game i was trailing by 10 i won by 16. the one i had a 33 point lead in i lost by 3.14 points. so, i spent the next 2 hours beating myself up for not playing the TE that got more points and for drafting a RB that did absolutely nothing in week 1. if either of those would have changed not only would i have won, i would have had the most points in the league. of course, come tomorrow i'll be over it as it will be time to focus on week 2.

but to better describe this sickness, i'm currently running on 3 hours of sleep.

most of my attention this evening will be on team USA vs. Mexico in World Cup Qualifying. if the USA wins tonight and gets some help from Honduras, they will clinch a trip to Brazil for the World Cup. i will be in full throat this evening. i need to release some frustration. hopefully that happens this evening.

with it being so damn hot, i've spent most of today inside listening to music. and i managed to get a certain song stuck in my damn head, not that i'm complaining about it...

that's all for today. hope this finds everyone cool.

music:

The Gospel Whiskey Runners - Hold On
The Lighthouse and The Whaler - Pioneers EP
Howlin' Wolf - The Definitive Collection
Various Artists - Sweet Relief: A Benefit for Victoria Williams
Maggie Estep - No More Mister Nice Girl
Ray LaMontagne - Gossip in the Grain

"When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice." - Saul Bellow

a cool beginning

i figured i better do this blog post now instead of waiting until later. i know damn well if the Yankees and Rangers both lose today i'll have absolutely no desire to speak to anyone.

the Yankees bats decided to take the night off last night. i'm not sure if it was due to Oakland pitching or just the usual bad habits and the inability to do the little things because everyone gets up there to hit home runs. and on a night where the bullpen was limited to say the least, you would hope CC would go longer than 6 innings. a big thank you to Adam Warren for pitching those last 3 innings and sparing everyone else. hopefully that leads to better things the next 2 games.

i bounced around last night between the hockey and basketball playoffs. nothing was really dramatic until the San Jose and Vancouver game. i did get a good laugh when the Sharks won in overtime. i'm sure Raffi Torres didn't mind sticking it to his former team.

i laughed so hard at something my sister sent me last night on YouTube that i actually fell out of the chair. literally. hopefully it will have the same effect on you:

it's a rather cool start to the morning. still dry, amazingly enough. looks like most of the rain is going to stay to the south of the farm. that doesn't bode well for the Kentucky Derby later today.

i'll try to watch a new Saturday Night Live tonight. Zach Galifianakis' humor is hit and miss with me most of the time. plus, if the show starts to suck, i'll just flip over to a new episode of ROH. at any rate, it's going to be another late night. throw in that i have dishes to do and i wouldn't mind jotting down a poem or two... as my mother would say when i was a child, busier than nine cats covering up shit in a windstorm.

hope everyone has a great day.

music today:

Tom Waits - Blue Valentine
Foy Vance - NoiseTrade Sampler
The Gospel Whiskey Runners - Hold On

"I have been enlightened. I have fallen into poetry and it has swallowed me up." - Keith Haring

things are looking up

it's been dry for almost 2 straight days now. if it actually gets to 3, maybe i'll be able to get the grass cut out here. lord knows it needs it.

had an amazing day yesterday in fantasy hockey terms. i don't think i've had that many goals scored for me in one day in years. always nice when it happens during championship week. hopefully the good fortune can continue. it's going to be a dog fight.

watched the Yankees piss away a great game from Kuroda only to be bailed out in extra innings by an absolute horrible defending team in Toronto to win 5-3. they go for the sweep later today. i'm just happy they have won yet another series. i didn't expect this team to be able to click this early.

big game for the New York Rangers later today. i'm licking my chops at their chance to eliminate the Devils from having a chance to make the playoffs. i might want to win this game more than any game since 1994.

had a lovely music discussion last night with a beautiful married woman. i can just imagine the twisted poems that are going to come from my brain. i stopped myself from writing anything last night. i want to let it brew a bit longer.

i hope everyone gets a chance to check out my poem that was published this morning at The Camel Saloon. if you have any feedback on it, please feel free to share it. thanks.
http://thecamelsaloon.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-mental-scars-only-grow-deeper.html

the poet of the day on my Google+ page is Ron Androla. Ron is one of the greats of the small press. do check out his work or read more about him online. he's definitely one you don't want to miss out on.

enjoyed the start of the NBA playoffs yesterday. the only time i even give a thought to watching a full NBA game. if the playoffs are going to be like some of the games yesterday, they're going to be an instant classic.

had a good laugh at ROH tv last night. Kevin Steen going after Matt Hardy was pretty good. not sure how well Steen as a babyface will go... i have no doubt he can pull it off. just not sure if it has any legs past the SCUM angle. should be interesting to watch.

hope everyone has a great day. if you don't see a post from me for a long time in the next few days, rest assured, i have squeezed in the 6 hours needed to mow the grass.

music today:

The Gospel Whiskey Runners - Hold On

"Nobody understands me, I'm really sensitive." - Iggy Pop

sports, cats, music, life and not being able to balance all of them

i'll work myself backwards here. just got in from feeding the cats, taking out the trash, etc. i figured while i was outside, i might as well look for my cat, Langston Hughes. i checked all the places the cats usually hide when they are having kittens. no luck. then, i checked all the places where i have found dead cats before. no luck in those places either. sadly, i do believe the cat may be gone. i'll do what i did with all the others, give it 30 days. if Langston doesn't show up by then, i'll sadly have to admit that she's gone.

thankfully, Manchester United won this morning 2-0. it was so nice to see Robin van Persie score again. been way too long. only 7 more points to go to clinch the 20th league title.

i did enjoy Saturday Night Live and ROH tv last night. or, at least what i remember watching of them. the events prior to that drained me.

Louis C.K. new HBO special was hilarious. i laughed my ass off the entire time. thankfully the New York Rangers game and the college hockey national championship game both got done in time for me to watch from the start.

congrats to Yale for winning the college hockey national championship.

the New York Rangers had a playoff type victory over the Islanders last night 1-0, in OT. Hank picked a nice place to get his first shutout of the season. highlights below:

the victory beer tasted oh so sweet after that one.

The Yankees got some shitty, shitty, pitching yesterday from Phil Hughes and lost 5-3. the bullpen did great after Phil dug quite the hole. maybe a few clutch hits along the way and the Yankees could have come all the way back, but it was not meant to be. they play the Sunday night game tonight on ESPN. i'll flip between that and Veep on HBO and Nurse Jackie on Showtime.

the poet of the day on my Google+ page is Leah Angstman. it's hard to believe that i've known Leah for damn near 20 years. she's quite the publisher, poet, future novelist, etc. do check out her work if you get the chance. a good place to start is her website: http://leahangstman.blogspot.com/

i'll be glued to hockey stats all evening as i'm oh so close to pulling off a fucking miracle in fantasy hockey. hopefully i will have great news on that front tomorrow.

hope everyone has a great end of the weekend. the weather has warmed here and the winds have died down. might actually open a window this afternoon as golf puts me to sleep.

music today:

Nine Inch Nails - With_Teeth
The Gospel Whiskey Runners - Hold On

"Creativity takes courage." - Henri Matisse

before the fun stuff starts

it's been raining here all day long. more of a persistent drizzle, which is not actually bad, as it seems like it's really going into the ground pretty good. should make for a decent start to the planting season at least. of course, the fun stuff is supposed to be coming tonight. i'm not a big fan of night storms, especially ones that have the potential to be damaging. could be a restless night ahead for me.

what the rain has really done, along with the heat of the last couple of days, is make the farm much greener. which says to me, fuck, i've got grass to mow here soon.

the poet of the day on my Google+ page is Doug Draime. Doug is one of my favorite poets around. i urge all of you to check out his work. a quick search on Google should give you plenty to read.

the Yankees game last night was rained out. i have no clue if they will actually get tonight's game in or not. seeing that this is their only trip into Cleveland this season, i hope they get this one in. it's bad enough they will have to use an off day to go back there to make up last night's game.

seeing that the Yankees weren't playing, i was able to give my full attention to the New York Rangers last night. a better defensive effort, even though they gave up 2 damn goals to a guy on my opponents fantasy team for the second game in a row, resulting in a 3-2 shootout win. highlights below:

i really enjoyed the victory beer after that game. 2 HUGE points. they now get a couple of days to rest up for a Saturday night match with the Islanders. that should be a nice bloodbath.

other than a little baseball tonight, i might check out a little college hockey. the frozen four starts tonight. that is of course if the power stays on and the Directv doesn't go out. it has a tendency to go nuts in the really bad storms. and judging from the radar, this one could be a bad one.

if i see any spectacular damage come morning, i will try to get some pictures. i'm hoping there won't be any.

i got some awesome free music on NoiseTrade today. check out The Gospel Whiskey Runners here: http://noisetrade.com/gwr/hold-on

music today:

Tori Amos - Under The Pink
The Gospel Whiskey Runners - Hold On
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Bassnectar - Freestyle Mixtape

"Faith has to do with things that are not seen and hope with things that are not at hand." - Thomas Aquinas