My Ears were Full of Tears

Some of you might remember a short song that I wrote a while ago that was inspired by one of Ali's posts (see her link at the bottom if you don't already read her blog!)

I promised to post a vblog of myself singing it, and almost did that today - before I wrote another 2 verses, that is. Here is the latest version, which I will vblog after my holiday along with my favourite "off the wall" song. I will be adding more off the wall songs,of course, as I still have 3 more to write - Rain; Sunburn; and Dirty Spoons...

Anyway, here is:


My Ears were Full of Tears (3 chord country-style)

When I was young and a-reckless
An’ I didn’t bathe too much
I fell in love with a beauty
Even though we never touched
One day she walked up a-too me
An’ whispered in my ear
But I never knew what she said to me
For another 20 years

I couldn’t hear
I couldn’t hear
I couldn’t hear her say
She loved me ‘cos
My ears were full of –

(Hey, I don’t want to THINK about what was in my ears in those days, I really don’t!)

One day I was out a-drivin’
An’ the DJ played a song
It was so sad, it broke my heart
‘Cos everything went wrong
A lump came to my thro-at and
The tears did start to flow
The wind it caught my te-ars and
Into my ears they did go!

I couldn’t hear
I couldn’t hear
I couldn’t hear that truck
A comin' cos
My ears were full of tears!

So now I’m outside o’ heaven
An’ I don’t know where to go
St Peter told us to listen
But that didn’t help me none
Some went into a-heaven
An’ some went down to hell
Don’t know if I should be burn-in’
Or fly-in’ with an-gels

I couldn’t hear
I couldn’t hear
I could not hear what he was
A-sayin’ cos
My ears were full of tears!

So, this is it! I will be handing over to technology for the next 2 weeks, hoping that it posts my scheduled blogs on the right days!

Have a great 2 weeks, may your God bless you and those that you love.

Rain

The rain has been incredible this summer. I can't remember the last time we had a 24 hour period without some sort of rain, and walking the dog seems to regularly coincide with a huge downpour. Not that the dogs care when they are out and of course they just love the rub-downs when we get home!

James suggested that I write a song about British rain, so I started thinking about it and forming some ideas. I think it is getting there now, but it isn't silly like the last 2 - in fact it is utterly morbid! Not sure if I will post it or not, we will see, but it will be a very good song, so thanks to James for the inspiration!

More later!

Summer time...

and the living is easy....


Today I have a half day - this afternoon I am playing toy soldiers! Woo hoo!

Then I only have 2 days left until it is holiday time!

Yay!

2 weeks off!

Week 1 will include some camping (which will be a bit wet if the weather doesn't change).

Week 2 will be spent near home, and includes my birthday! Yep, I will be 46! Alternatively, if I follow the idea of refusing to be 40 and calling it thirty-ten, I become thirty-sixteen which has a rather nice ring to it, don't you think?

Anyway, just because I will be away, don't take that as an excuse to ignore my blog. I have set up a few scheduled posts to go out while I am away, pointing out a few interesting anniversaries that I wanted to share.

More tomorrow and Friday, too, of course!

Have a great hump-day!

A Song for Terri

Terri suggested that I write a song about someone who has got something stuck in their teeth and needs to floss. Well I DID ask for off the wall subjects for songs, I only have myself to blame!

This lunchtime I had a Weird Al Yankovic moment. As a result, this song sort of goes to the tune of Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" (will need a rewrite to make if fit properly, but I hope you get the idea when you read it), with apologies to Teresa who still likes this song.


Floss Floss Baby

Dan-cin'
Feel the drum beatin'
As our eyes meet I know just what you're thinkin'

Smoo-chin'
Pullin' you close
Our tongues entwine in our very first kiss and

Hey!
What on earth is this?
Wedged right there in between your teeth?

Ugh!
How long's it been there?
Did no one teach you 'bout dental care?

Floss floss baby
It's time to
Floss floss baby

A song for Kiki

On Friday I asked for suggestions for off the wall subjects for songs that I could write.

At the time of writing I have 3 suggestions and like them all. I will try to write a short ditty for each. Today, over lunch, I penned this master-piece. Hopefully there will be more this week and I intend to sing my favourite on a vblog, so keep the suggestions coming!

Spider in the Toilet

Even though you're much bigger than me
I know you're frightened of me!
When I jump out and make myself seen
I love the way that you scream!
I had a lot of hiding places
I've strung my web so it gets on your faces!
But I've found the place with the most appeal
And I know it's gonna make you squeal!

I'm the spider down the toilet
Spider down the toilet
Spider down the toilet

Spider down the toilet
Spider down the toilet
Spider down the toilet
I'm gonna bite your bum!

Friday...

I was planning another Friday Chillout guitar moment, but can't get to my guitar, so that will have to wait until next week now :-(

So what can I do instead?

Hm, not much really...

This is going to be a really dull post...

Yep...

As dull as a really dull person who is sitting in a windowless room illuminated by one of those energy-saving-eye-sight-destroying light bulbs...

Sigh...

Hey, here's a thought...

No, missed it, its gone now...

Sigh...

Ah, got it!

Yes!

This is it!

I want to write some songs and want slightly off the wall things to write about. Suggest a title/subject for a song in the comments section. I will try to write a song to go with the best one and do a vblog singing it.

Have a great weekend! I'm off home now, hoping I don't need a canoe - we have had so much rain today it is unbelievable...

Morning conversations...

What keeps a guy happy? This is the topic on the local radio channel as we drag outselves out of bed.

The guy on the radio is much like me - he thinks he only needs 3 things to make his world turn.

• Food. A hungry guy is never happy.
• Sex, or "Special Hugs" as he put it on the radio. Most women seem to be able to switch off this urge (or at least ignore it), but guys can't...
• TV. I guess he needs something to do in between the other 2 things.

Mrs RC asked if this is really true.

Of course it is, I tell her. Guys are very simple creatures, you know that. A full stomach, good sex and something to pass the rest of the time (guitars and toy soldiers in my case) is all we need for a happy life.

Jeez, says Mrs RC, I wish my life was as simple as that!

************************************

Mrs RC is standing in front of me in a new outfit. It really shows the results of her recent diet and exercise regime.

She looks great.

No, she looks fantastic.

OK, she looks so hot I want to throw her onto the kitchen table and...

"Does this look OK?"

"Yes, you look gorgeous."

"I'll look in the mirror again."

"Don't you believe me?"

"Nope!"

"Why not?"

"Because you said I was gorgeous when I weighed XX stone! You're mad!"

A New "Women's Lib"?

Back in the 1960s, women were busy burning their bras, breaking free from their physical constraint and the social constrait that they had come to represent.

Bras are, of course, back, but do seem to be much more comfortable than the monstrousities that were in fashion in the 1960s.

But women now seem to be enslaved my new objects - hair straighteners and curling tongs! Come on, ladies, admit it. How long do you spend each day using these implements to torture your hair into shape?

Some answers have already been discussed elsewhere. Shaving your head? A bit drastic! Works for some, but certainly not all!

I have a better option.

SMASH YOUR STRAIGHTENERS!

Free yourself from their tyrany!

Shake your hair loose and let nature decide where it goes! (A bit like those women who burnt their bras, I guess ;-) )

Do it! You know you want to!

Be careful what you joke about...

Ali's comment about my Lies post (i.e. I had joked about lusting after peanut butter and she said she had heard about that sort of thing for real) got me thinking.

Have you ever joked about something with totally the wrong people?

I have.

One time I had just joined a new band and we were chatting away about various gigs we had done. I told them about one where the band I was in had supported another band. The other band had been really difficult, refusing to let us set up on "their" stage. So we built our own out of wooden pallets in front of it! (Our drummer worked for a trucking company). We played and then left, leaving them with a ton of wood to get rid of! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

The guitarist looked at me.

"That was us!"

Ooopsie....

Come on, share one of yours!

The British Summer

I know - Brits always talk about the weather.

Why?

Well I think it is partly because we are rather dull and boring people.

Another factor is probably that it is so unpredictable!

I mean, if you live in Canada you will have a good idea of what the weather will be like in a particular month - January? Up to your ears in snow. August? Trying not to fry to death. Easy!

What is it like in England? Let's take Sunday...

Morning. Had to wear a coat while walking the dog, it was freezing cold.

Then it rained.

Then it got hot.

Then it got windy.

Then it rained again.

Then it was just humid, hot and windy at the same time, but looking like it would rain.

So I fired up the barbeque and the clouds parted, leaving it hot, sunny and very windy! (BTW the coals seemed to love the extra oxygen that the wind provided, soaring to amazing temperatures!)

By the evening dog walk it was starting to rain yet again, with rumbling thunder in the distance.

So be warned, if you are ever tempted to visit England...

Friday already?

This week has flown past!

Number One Son (doing work experience with me) has been fantastic, really showing off how good he is with programs like Excel and also how quickly he can pick up other programs. Yesterday he created a video fly-through along part of the Grand Canyon using our mapping software, complete with tilting view at the bends. So cool! He seems to have really enjoyed himself, and has risen amazingly to every challenge that I have thrown at him. Right now he is trying to automate another Excel task for me, while I do the photocopying. Isn't HE supposed to do that sort of rubbish job?

Has anyone else been trying to keep track of Swine Flu? Over here it isn't as much in the public eye as it should be, and has been spreading rapidly. The number of deaths here has suddenly jumped too, going from 17 to 29 in the last couple of days. Haven't see a figure this morning. The Health Service also suddenly announced their worse-case scenario - up to 65,000 deaths in the UK. This is a major change from the previous "nothing to really worry about" stance. Are they really only just waking up to how bad things could get? I don't know how things are in the US or Canada now, as it rarely seems to get a mention on CNN or FoxNews - except for the couple of billion that has now been allocated to dealing with it! Mrs RC smells a "keep quiet so they don't panic" situation...

Thoughts?

Lies!!!

Michele tagged me for this! In this meme, she challenged me to tell some lies. This is not something that comes easy to me, someone who once had the nick-name "Honest John"...

Here goes, I hope you enjoy it.


Pride: What is your biggest contribution to the world?
Impossible to say. My mere existence has improved the world no end, but I believe that it is the little things that count, such as this blog, which regularly brings a ray of sunshine into the otherwise dull and pointless lives of my readers.

Envy: What do your co-workers wish they had which is yours?
Where do I start? My dashing good looks, my brains, my talent for whatever I turn my hand to?

Gluttony: What did you eat last night?
A Chinese meal for 6, 3 cheese cakes and 12 bottles of beer.

Lust: What really lights your fire?
Peanut butter.

Anger: What is the last thing that really pissed you off?
We ran out of peanut butter.

Greed: Name something you keep from others.
I am actually richer than Bill Gates, but I don't tell anyone, not even my family. If I told them they would want me to spend some of it, and then where would I be, huh? And even worse, if the news got out I would have all these pesky poor people asking for donations so that their dogs could have operations, or their kids could go to Disney Land, not to mention the charities with their bleeding heart-begging for my cash! No, it's all mine!

Sloth: What’s the laziest thing you’ve ever done?
Being too lazy to chew my own food and forcing my children to chew it for me and then spit it into my mouth.


So there you go! Genuine RCBS!

Please feel free to join in!

Update

Sunday was great - good weather, good friends, good food and drink. Of course, somehow we ended up with more wine than we started with...

I have got Number One Son here with me this week, learning a bit of GIS, web design, etc. I might be a bit scarce as a result. We are having great fun, though.

More soon - watch out for another photo - me age 11...

Friday chillout...

...maybe I will sing next time...

25 years ago...

Just found this photo of the band I was in during my late teens and early 20s. That is me on the left.

Stuff...

I had a day off, yesterday.

My daughter was going to the cinema with the school (to see Ice Age 3) as a reward for being such a good pupil. This is an odd one, really. We have had letters saying that her attendence is not as good as they want it to be, but her work is faultless and she got this reward so things can't be that bad. We know that she has days off when she just wakes up feeling like crap, but after the way things went with our eldest daughter we just don't push things. Most parents are paranoid about their childrens' health - I guess we are even more so?

Anyway, after the movie she was going to be left in town, so I wanted to be around to meet her and come home with her. Work has been quiet - workwise, that is, the drilling in the foundations is less quiet - so I took the whole day and we decided to make the most of it.

Got the kids to school.

Walked the dogs (Custard and my dad's dog, Spot).

Collected my dad's pension for him.

Went shopping for party food.

Did the house work.

Were "married" to the sound of a distant thunderstorm, only for there to be a massive clap of thunder seemingly right overhead at the vital moment. Nearly died laughing at that!

Collected my daughter and walked her home while she told me about the insane nurse who had given her a jab that morning.

Apparently she stood there with a huge needle and told my daughter that she was tense, needed to "relax like a teenager".

"How do I do that?" Good question.

The nurse grabbed her by the shoulders and SHOOK HER!

"What are you doing?"

"Relaxing you."

"Well that really didn't work!"

The nurse then stabbed her in the arm, said "Oh", pulled it out and stabbed it in again in exactly the same spot! Nice!

Oh well, it is all done now.

Then in the evening we played Poker with the Michael Jackson tribute on TV. Brooke Shields talking about her friendship with Michael and Jermaine Jackson singing Smile had me going. A sad end to a very sad life, IMO!

The weekend

What a weekend!

The weather was amazing (hot and sunny all day with rain at night to keep the plants happy) so we got stuck in to sorting out the garden for our party next week.

Next Sunday would have been my eldest daughter's 22nd birthday, so we are having an open house with food, drink, games systems (Sega Mega Drive and N-64 in the shed, Wii in the living room), tombola with prizes, etc, etc. My daughter loved things like this so it is another way of remembering her in a positive way.

Mrs RC really went to town on the gardening while I took the garden truck to the DIY store for gravel - 2 trips in the end, but well worth it as my barbeque area is now all gravelled and great to work in. I thought about my American friends as I slaved away - I was sure that they were having a much more relaxing 4th of July than I was!

We also dismantled the trampoline that the kids have grown out of, which makes the garden feel much bigger. Our garden is rather small and we have to make the best use of the space we have got. The trampoline is on its way to a new home where it will hopefully serve for a few more years.

Sunday was more relaxing - a stroll into town for a bit of shopping and then back for a barbeque in my new gravelled area. It was great. We had a mix of fab sausages, gammon slices and tuna steaks. This was my fiirst time with tuna and it was really good - I suspect that this will become a regular thing for us now.

Oh, as I rarely do gardening, I had forgotten how dirty you get. Sunday morning I got up and looked in the bath and saw the muck that I had left behind! ICK! I was appalled! I could probably have grown rice in there!

Anyway, this is getting a bit long, so I will sign off now!

Bye!

Spiderman, Spiderman

My dad has been feeling a bit under the weather lately, so we have taken to walking his dog for him.

His dog is a white, short haired Jack Russell terrier called Spot. He is a fun little dog, who seems to enjoy his walks in the fields with Custard. We don't let them run loose, but have them on those extending leads that wind back in automatically.

Normally, Mrs RC and I take one each when we go out, but when one of us has to do it things can get quite entertaining, as they often decide that the most exciting sniffs are in opposite directions. Mrs RC says that when this happens she feels like Spiderman.

Last night I had to walk them on my own.

Hm, Spiderman, eh? I wonder if you could do it for real, swinging along streets, with dogs on leads? Maybe if you had a pair of bull terriers (or maybe Boston Terriers if you were fairly light?), you could hurl them up so they grapped onto something with their teeth, so you could swing on them? Then, once the second one had a grip the first would let go ready to grab hold of something else? Interesting idea, don't you think?

Better go now, before you get too worried about me!

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

Hot Stuff!

Today, I really feel like Hot Stuff!

Why?

Well, apart from the obvious:

Today is really hot! Today is apparently the hottest in 4 years! Yeah, I am loving it!

Tuesday I was at a school sports day, watching my youngest go through his paces. While watching, sitting in the sun for 3 hours, I fried my legs. My knees and lower thighs are bright red. Ugh! We make sure the kids are protected, but I forgot about me!

Sizzle...