Two of Hearts

Well, Happy Valentine's Day, for those who observe. 

This post is probably just for the purpose to use the attached photo. It's nice and all, but why no chest hair?  

Valentine's Day on a weekend.  UGH. I feel bad for every server and kitchen staff in the land. 

Our plan is to do next to nothing. We had more ice yesterday, so, even while wearing YakTracks to walk Shep is precarious. I'm curious as to how I will ru 6-7 miles on Saturday. Or if. 

Still, while I wouldn't call it celebrating Valentine's, no doubt we'll bring in food - most likely some really good pizza. Oddly enough, not from Valentinos. I eat there only in a pinch. 

I have zero desire to go out on VD, let alone on a weekend. Not without have made plans months ago. I'd much rather just chill at home with my guys. 

Shep is unconed and better, but I feel like we are still carefully watching over him. At this point, I think we'd all get separation anxiety. 

Song by: Stacey Q

12 of 12

So I'm doing my 178th 12 of 12.

Normally it is 12 pictures taken on the 12th of the month. Since I only post once per day, you get my images the following day. All pictures taken with my iPhone. Click images to enlarge, if you choose.

Created by Chad Darnell and picked up from, what I can tell, any number of random bloggers who then link back to him and vice versa. Chad is no longer doing this, nor is successor coordinating the linking of other 12 of 12'ers anymore.

04:52. Prophylactic measures. About to head to the gym where I know I'll incur soreness. 

05:15. 3.12 to be run. My second run in 11 hours. Then on to weights and core work. 

06:36. A quick shvitz before the shower. 

Until I looked at the picture I didn't realize anyone wrote "Seek Jesus" on the inside of the door. 

07:12. Took out the trash. 

07:26. Gruel. Colorful gruel, but gruel nonetheless. 

08:28. Vet visit. Waiting for someone to get his staples out and cone off. 

09:15. .....and then Blobby panicked when on a walk 4 minutes later and took him back. 

He's fine. It will have to air dry and scab. And he's not supposed to lick it, so probably a soft cone at night. 

10:09.  Taking 710's car through the car wash. 

I had his car because Shep can't get into mine with his cone. 

10:28. ....and then he got a pup cup because he was a brave little man. He was so excited. 

12:57. Successfully registered for the 2025 New York Marathon lottery.

I'll find out in three weeks if I have been selected. 

14:28. My certain driveway death. And it will be due to the need of throwing away dog poop. 

We have had multiple ice storms in the last few weeks. We just can't get rid of the prior slick stuff and then another batch coats the ground.  My YakTracks are getting a workout. 

18:43. Beer. 

My second one of 2025. Both 710 and I were a little stressed, so, you know....alcohol. 

There you go. All done. 

Ad of the Month

....and guess what?  It's a Super Bowl ad. 

...and guess what?  It's not a funny one, clever one, or even one starring Cher. 

...and guess what?  Unless you live in Los Angeles, you didn't see it. 

Kanye West - that fucked up motherfucker - paid for an ad that, well, is just weird as fuck. Just as you'd expect. His ad buy was only enough to make it an ad for the Los Angeles market. 

I'm not sure how long it will be up and thus link to my blog (or vice versa, I guess).

I would have combined this as Ad and Site of the Month, as the ad part directs you to the website. Directed. Past Tense. 

Why?  The website is shut down by Shopify (is that a thing?).  Mind you, it took two days to shut it down. 

Here is the merch Ye was selling from said website.

Here's the ad.  If it matters........

Shot on an iPhone in a dentists office............all allegedly. 

Poetic Justice

The Super Bowl game aside, I was kind of captivated by the half-time show. 

I know OF Kendrick Lamar, but other than a song here and there, and me having to SoundHound it because I didn't know the artist, I really don't know his work. 

I know he has a beef with Drake (whom I really don't know either) and vice versa - though that was probably a huge publicity stunt to drive sales for both of them.  (I have nothing to back that up.)

Visually, I thought Lamar's performance was amazing. A minimal stage, good choreography and colours. 

Musically, I liked the rhythms. I thought they worked nicely. 

In theory, I thought I knew what was going on, but lyrically I was in the dark. As I don't know Lamar's music and wasn't even sure if it was all new (or not) for this performance, I not only didn't know the words, I couldn't understand most of them during the telecast. 

I am painfully aware that a 61 year old white gay male is not his target demographic.   .....except for maybe his message. 

Or messages. 

Yes, as I didn't get the actual words of the performance, I looked them up. 

Allegedly, Samuel L. Jackson was not dressed up to be Uncle Sam, but Uncle Tom. 

Lamar's initial part of the performance had "The revolution is about to be televised; You picked the right time but the wrong guy." This was originally written by Gil Scott Heron in the '70s. 

The minimal stage set of which I mentioned was to have resembled a prison yard, and as all the performers out there with him were Black, it certainly sends a message on how incarcerations and sentencing guidelines are more prejudicial against minorities. 

Of course, the title image: there was more than a little play when it came to the American flag being represented. Again, all Black performers. It is speculated that it was an artistic telling on how this country was built on the backs of people of colour. 

And elsewhere in the performance he raps about “40 acres and mule, this is bigger than the music.”  

Now, I'm not sure if BLOTUS was still in attendance (as someone told me he left well before half-time), and if so, if he were listening and understanding. I'm sure his hip-as-hell family members who are down with hip hop are quoting back the lyrics to him.   (yes. that was sarcasm.)

To reference my last Sunday post: I'm 100% sure Kendrick Lamar will not be invited to the Kennedy Center to perform. 

Whether you like Kendrick Lamar or not (or don't know who he is), I have a vast amount of respect for his performance. Unlike Prince, Madonna, Beyonce etc, this wasn't a 'me me me!' half-time show. It was not a rehash of hits. It was a message. He used his time wisely. 

I'm 98.9% sure other 61 year old white males (probs not gay) are complaining about the performance. Not due to the message, as I'm 100% sure they didn't look anything up. But that it wasn't good American fun!

The video of the performance has been watched 24 million times in less than 24 hours. Plus all the people who watched it live. 

Song by: Kendrick Lamar

My Music Monday

It has bee 14 years since Alison Kruass + Union Station have had a new disk. 

That's a long time. 

Krauss has put out a solo record and one with Robert Plant in that time, but as far as I know the band has only put out one song on a Johnny Cash tribute disk. 

Technically, the album, Arcadia, isn't out until the end of March, but we have the first song, "Looks Like the End of the Road".

Save losing the extremely talented Dan Tyminski (I mean, I'm guessing he didn't want to wait a decade and a half to work again), AKUS doesn't really change things up too too much with this song. 

Krauss' voice is still amazing and Jerry Douglas still shines on Dobro, as he always does. The mandolin is great. The writing is nice, but the execution is near flawless. A criticism of their last disk in 2011 was there was almost none of Krauss' (or anyone else's) fiddle on this album, and I don't hear it on this song. 

I'm just saying, fiddle is fairly important to bluegrass music, and her playing is so strong. 

Still, "Looks Like the End of the Road" is a strong opener for their new disk. 

Massa Is a Stingy Man

Honestly, I saw Jimbo post one BLOTUS tweet and my weekend was ruined. 

Totally ruined. 

Enough so, that I'm making this a very brief post. 

First off, the chair. FUCK.  And don't tell me it doesn't reek of Kim Jong Il shit. 

Secondly: Golden Age. 

....hence my blog title* and image. I feel / fear we will be getting minstrel shows, Lawrence Welk and Up With People. 

....and probably Kanye.

This is too depressing to keep processing. 

*an actual minstrel song from 1840. 

Song by: unknown

Shotgun

Buckle Up. 

This week seems picture heavy. 

But it was not without it's problems. Shep would visit a vet (not the vet) three times in 16 hours. It was draining for me, emotionally. He's fine. 

I'll explain as we go along. 

What a lovely dude. 

Shep getting his hip stitches out. 

Later that same evening, he'd get somehow open up the supposedly healed wound and left it gaping. Our vet was closed for the evening, so off to the $$$ 24/7 place - who was less than helpful. I could go into great detail as to how, but I'll get myself worked up. 

The next morning it was back to his vet to get stapled. 

This necessitated him staying in a cone for an additional week.  

Random Simon shot. 

Olive - my friend Bob's dog. She loves me and it irks her owners that this is true. 

My sister was stuck on a plane and texted, asking if I could pick up Bailey from the kennel and drop her at their house.  Of course. 

But I couldn't leave Shep at home alone - so he got a car ride that did NOT have us stopping at the vet. 

I wasn't sure how the ride would go, but it took them 7 seconds to ignore each other. 

Riding shotgun. 

I hate that, but I couldn't risk putting them both in the back not knowing how they'd react. 

It turns out Blobby CAN walk two dogs at once. I just didn't like it. 

Bailey's place. 

Both got treats, then Shep and I left. My sister was home two hours later. 

The Gatekeeper. 

Outside looking In. 

I was taking Shep for a walk, when starting down the driveway, something caught my eye IN the house. 

{sigh}

Song by: Duran Duran

Everybody's Gay

I've held off a week writing this one, though on our Sunday call, I was encouraged to do so. 

So, last Saturday was our Old Man's Running Group annual banquet. Food. Desserts. Two drink tickets and a presentation. 

As we are a charitable non-profit, there is a little presentation about how much we raised, and where those funds ended up going. There is also an awards ceremony. And for the last two years this couple I normally really like have done a slide show of their trip(s) overseas. Yes, they were marathon (Berlin last year, Paris Olympics this year) related, but then we saw all their side trip stuff. 

I left during that last year. And my plan was to leave during it this year. 

The president, is a nice enough guy, but is in his late 60s (not that much older than me, right?) and has a Ph.D in English and teaches, or at least taught, high school kids. 

I cannot effectively put up here a slide he had about his classroom rules (there were five.....kind of) that he was using for tonight's presentation in some weird capacity, and he claims the first rule came from Monty Python. 

1).  No Poofters

Now, I don't know that Monty Python-ism, but it's not out of the realm or probability that they would have used it.

The woman sitting next to me (straight and maybe 45) and knowing I'm gay leans into me and goes, "does that mean what I think it means?".  I said, I have no idea if there is another meaning for it. She pulls out her phone...........there is no other meaning for it. 

Homosexual Man.  That's it. 

Now, I could have been offended, but let's face it, I've been called a LOT worse. And he wasn't calling me a poofter directly. At least I don't think. 

And yeah, I saw the problem, but you get to a point where you kind of shrug your shoulders. 

Fortunately, or un, right after that was the slide show, so I said a goodbye to our table and attempted to sneak out.  Another guy, a great guy, catches up with me outside and asks why I'm going. I just said it was late and I had a sick dog at home. I didn't want to say, "g-d, I can't take another European slide show". 

Ironically, I was not looking to offend. 

The next day - actually the same night, I just didn't check - I got an email from the president of the club. With the subject of: Sorry if I Offended

Blobby, 

After I my presentation tonight it was brought to my attention by two people that the archaic meaning of "pufters" was a derogatory name for you guys. I apologize for this mistake. I should have known to check on any word used by Monty Python.

Oh, man. "you guys".  Or was it supposed to be "you gays"? 

So, I'm assuming I know the two people who talked to him. The woman I sat next to, and I'm assuming (after the fact) that Andrew thought I left early because I was offended.  Just my guess. 

Both are allies, as Carey's brother is gay, and Andrew is a librarian who is all for drag queen book reading and participates in Pride. 

I groaned audibly when I read the email. 710 said I should write back and I should. I just haven't.  Folks on the Sunday call were right that if he is still teaching, and using that slide, any kid who is struggling with their sexuality, this is a bad thing. 

So, for that, I will reply back to him. Thanking him for the note and concern. Telling him, while I wasn't offended personally, I can certainly see why others would and I applaud him in recognizing it and changing his slides for his students. 

It kind of lets him off the personal hook, while hopefully being a teaching moment. 

Honestly, I don't think he meant harm in anyway. It's just one of those oversights. A show and a phrase he's known for 50+ years. I'm not letting him off the hook, but I kind of get it. 

Of course, now that I'm in (half) marathon training, I won't see him this Saturday, which people might take to think I'm butt-hurt and not showing. 

I'm kind of ok with that perception. 

Song by: Lizzo

Cooking with Blobby

Another grim day of news bites. I can't even deal with that today.....or yesterday, as it were. 

So, let's eat our feelings, shall we? I mean, technically, I do this even when I'm not in the doldrums. 

I feel I've made a version of this in a slow cooker, but I"m a bit lazy to figure out if that is true. This is not a slow cooker post, but you know, it's only a few ingredients and it comes together somewhat quickly. 

Anyhoo, it's honey-garlic chicken. Or garlic-honey chicken?  Oddly, the green onions are covering the head of garlic in the above picture. 

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts

Flour

3-5 cloves of garlic, minced (I used five since they were small)

5 T butter (separated)

1 T - vinegar

2 T - soy sauce

5 T - honey

Salt

Pepper

Instructions

Score the breasts. ....and these things were huge. It's the last time I let Instacart pick poultry. 

Salt and pepper these suckers. 

Melt 3T of butter in a medium low pan. 

Add the chicken after you dredge it in flour and shake off the excess. 

Cook on both sides. Brown it. Brown it real good. 

These things took forever, far far too big. 

Add another 2T of butter and add in your garlic. 

Let it cook for 30-60 seconds. 

Add in your vinegar, honey and soy. 

Cook for a few minutes. Things will thicken and meld as you mix it in. 

Turn the chicken a few times in the sauce to it gets coated evenly. 

Spoon some of the sauce over the breasts. Top with the scallion greens. 

Serve up. Add more sauce if you'd like. 

I liked it. I didn't love it. I'm not a huge fan of honey. Maybe if I cut back by a tablespoon or two and added another of soy. It was a bit too sweet for me. Not sickeningly so, but I can't red pepper flake everything now, can I? 

710 liked it more than I, which was good. 

I don't know if it was the chicken, all the butter or the scoring, but I'm not sure I've had chicken as tender as this. 

The breast size (again) was too much. Neither of us finished ours, so we boxed it up the leftovers where it will be an ok lunch. 

It's easy enough, and pretty quick. I'd do it again, but make a few changes. 

Keep On Movin'

While yesterday's post was not really an aberration, I just sometimes hide my despair better than I did yesterday. The actual post may have seemed a departure from the norm a bit, but in my pea brain, it really wasn't. 

After the post published I was at the gym before the crack of dawn and worked out hard. Cardio. Weights. Stretching. Shower. 

Never discount the feeling of a good shower. 

Since my stress fracture, cardio and stretching have all I've been doing. I reintroduced some weights with PT, but a lot of that went to the side when I was rehabbing and just focused on recovery. 

The rest of my day was staying at home and looking after a still recovering Shep - more on that with the Saturday post, but believe me, the post from yesterday included some of that angst as well. 

710 stayed home for part of the morning but then headed to the office. I told him I would skip running last evening so he wouldn't have to rush home to keep tabs on the doggo. 

He insisted I go run. He knows me well enough to know I (and he) would be better if I continued to workout and get my endolphins. 

Honestly, I was looking for a reason to skip the 4 mile run. It was going to be in the teens and dark and as I've said before, when depression hits, it is REALLY easy to skip activities. With his correct insistence, I geared up and went. 

Eventually, I'm glad I did. The gym doesn't always get me out of my head, but running does. As I've said before, I'm not good enough of a runner not to have to think about it constantly while it is happening. 

And for as long as I've done this, I always forget one of the first truisms of running: the first mile is always a lie. 

This first mile sucked. The cold air spurred my asthma. Blech. I thought, I'll just do three miles. But at 1.5 my breathing was better (not good) but my stride really picked up. My thing is not really about catching up with and passing people in my group. I'm happy just to keep up. Yet here I was passing some really good runners. 

I'd end up in the top half of all out there and I even finished before all the folks who opted for only three miles. My time was the best it's been since I've been back and I even stopped briefly. 

As I sit here and type this, I feel better than the few days before this. I know it won't last, but it is a nice respite from what has been a constant barrage of bad news and my overall feeling of dread. 

Ok. Time to wrap up. Have to be at the gym at 05:30. 

Song by: Soul II Soul

Help Me

Honestly, there are days when I see my shrink where I'd think a 5¢ bill is considered massive overcharging. 

Yesterday was one of those days. 

Generally, I like my doc. I think there are some days I just don't like myself. Or my surroundings. Or anything. 

Yesterday was one of those days. 

We had not talked since the inauguration and well, let's just say, the conversation from my side was not pretty. 

It's kind of his fault. He opened with, "how are things going.....?"  I mean, c'mon! It's almost like he was asking for it. 

I covered every doom and gloom thought and scenario I had in my head. My hyper-anxiety was also on the agenda and attached to the doom/gloom thing. It really just came down to how much evil there is and no one seems to care enough to do a thing - and I don't know what to do. 

My problem with yesterday was I was looking for answers and while logically I know that's not what he's there for that specificity, I still wanted................something.  Anything? 

I have no idea what that something / anything was, but more than just pivoting to my meds and if I think they're sufficient. 

My dosage increase happened at first of the year, so that uppage might be off-set by post-inauguration. We both think it might be too soon to keep increasing the dose or just changing tactics where pharma is involved. 

Yeah we talked about the fine line eliminating all social media vs burying one's head in the sand. He already knows I don't read or watch news and while I've whittled down social media, it still sneaks through. People talk too. I can't avoid everything. 

I won't say he was without suggestions. Suggestion. Singular, I suppose.  Have I thought about leaving the country. 

Constantly. 

How much of a reality that actually can be is another discussion. 

On the upside (?) we for the near future, we will be meeting more often. That seems necessary - at least on my part. 

Song by: k.d. lang

My Music Monday

I was going to post about the passing of Marianne Faithfull, but I went in a much darker direction at the time and opted to hold off until My Music Monday. 

I knew "As Tears Go By", but more the Stone's version than Faithfull's. At the time I'm not sure I could have pulled her name out of a hat. 

1979 was when I truly became aware of her with the release of her "comeback" disk Broken English. 

Comeback. She was 33 at the time. 

My 16 year old self assumed she was 50+, but she lived hard and the voice on that record barely resembled her 1960's recordings. 

 Broken English is an amazing disk. At least it was for a teen me. Raw, is the best way to describe it. There is nothing pretty about it and it was considered 'new wave' at the time. 

The title track (today's selection), "Guilt" and the "Ballad of Lucy Jordan" really center the disk, though there were only eight tracks total. 

This disk really set her up for a much more artful 'second half', with critical praise for Strange Weather, Trouble in Mind and a Secret Life - the last one working with David Lynch's composer, Angelo Badalamenti.

The Broken English and going forward version of Faithfull truly made her one of a kind. 

I'm Going Out Tonight

Groundhog day and I'm on repeat. 

I had a post planned.................in my head. And then dry January ended. 

While it did, I had one full beer last night. Hardly the big falling off the wagon. 

It was the Old Man's Running Group annual banquet. 

The idea is nice and all, but not a lot of folks were there, and almost none that weren't at the bakery at 10:00 that same morning.  ....and I'm running with many of them this morning. 

I stayed for two of the four hours, had one of my two beers and that was enough. 

So I ducked out early and came home. My threshold for socializing is very limited at times. 

I'll reschedule what I had in mind for today for this upcoming week. 

Song by: Mary Chapin Carpenter

These Eyes

While we are not all about Shep, we are Shep heavy today.

The man has been home all week being watched and tended to more than normal. Almost 24/7.  The man is a champ and adapting fairly well, though we were thrown a slight complication. 

If we are still on track, and I think we are, he should be out of the cone and have his sutures out this upcoming Monday. 

Shep gives good side-eye when he's begging at the table. 

But he still gets a pup cup because he's a good boy. 

Yeah - we see you there!

Injured or not, he still expects car rides on weekends. 

We have to use 710's car. Rear doors do not accommodate his cone. 

He looks surprised

The setback: Shep either undid some sutures on his back leg, or they came undone during normal movement. He had to have them stapled, with a protective covering. 

And the covering needs a covering when we go out - as he's not allowed to get it wet, which is not easy in the middle of winter. 

....and I spend most of my day with him, including nap time. Just to make sure he's ok. 

The great news is: the bump on his leg was not precancerous. The one on his hip was, but they got everything. So that is a big relief. 

Song by: the Guess Who