A Promise and a Song

Some of the responses from the last post surprised and saddened me a little.  So many of you never had the opportunity to learn to swim or seem to enjoy the water as much as I, a confirmed water rat.  If you're ever in the neighborhood, I'll find a pool and we'll swim.  I promise.

Another song has grabbed a hold of me and I cannot get it out of my head.  So I downloaded it onto my IPod, and have been listening and listening...  John Michael Murphy did a version of this as did Cher.  The one I like the best is by Manfred Mann.  The drums, I think, captured me at first, but then I became captivated by the lyrics:  "Oh Boys, take me back, I want to ride in Geronimo's Cadillac..."

After some mini-research, I learned that in 1905, while imprisoned in Oklahoma, Geronimo was dressed in 'white man' clothes and paraded in front of photographers  with a few  'friends' in not a cadillac but a 'locomobile' -- supposedly a big deal as far as cars go in that day.  The song laments the degradation of Geronimo...  The last verse is, 

"They put Geronimo in jail down South
Where he couldn't look a gift horse in a mouth
Sergeant, Sergeant don't you feel
There's something wrong with your automobile
Warden, Warden, listen to me
Be brave and set Geronimo free
Governor, Governor, ain't it strange
You never see a car on the Indian range".

If you ever get the inkling and opportunity,  take a listen to the Manfred Mann version of Geronimo's Cadillac.

Cosmic Madness

Is the Earth off its axis or something?

This morning on the gym's TVs I watched them pull people from their cars in Oklahoma. It seems that torrential rains have caused flash floods like those in Arkansas and West Virginia that swept through crowded campgrounds. Phoenix was 'chilly' yesterday and BP's rig continues to pump oil onto our beautiful beaches and into the wetlands. And the search for the missing child in Oregon is now classified as a criminal investigation.

We rented a car from Enterprise when my husband had a fender bender two weeks ago. The car smelled funny the first day, and got worse over the next three. When he turned it in, he mentioned something to them about the smell. They called two days later to say that a rodent had crawled in the exhaust and died, but not to worry, because 'we were covered'! It took us a while to realize what they were saying. They would have charged us if we had not taken out an additional policy on the rental!!!! Now they want us to file a claim with our insurance company!!! Can you believe this?

Middle daughter is on her way to the ER having inhaled cleaning fluids she was using to scour the bath tub. The good news is that she was cleaning and that the baby was not in the vicinity; the bad news is that she mixed cleaning products -- a general no-no -- and is now experiencing burning when she breathes.

Maybe ostriches have the right idea. Me? I'm looking for some sand...