It was the third of June ...

It would be an interesting way to consume precious hours of life to collect a list of song that have dates featured in them. Today's selection is that sultry Sixties classic, Ode to Billie Jo. The only other song phrase that comes to mind right away is "the first of December was covered with snow," from James Taylor's Sweet Baby James.

When I was growing up, we had boxes of Finnish folk songs on dusty 78s. I used the rest of the records for target practice with my BB gun. Of course, everything old is new again. Now you can download MP3 versions of venerable tunes such as Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit Bag, He'd Have to Get Under - Get Out and Get Under (to Fix Up His Automobile), and Yes! We Have No Bananas.

The BBC is playing the complete works of Beethoven and making those performances available for download.

Before the iPod, before the Walkman, I had a pocket transistor radio. This would have been in the early 60s, when Japanese radios were still something of a novelty. My radio had an earphone. So, much as I do now, I would walk along with the earphone in place, listening to music. Such a small radio couldn't reliably pick up WMEX in Boston, so I'd listen to WORC in Worcester. (At night the whole eastern U.S. was in range.) When I was wearing a jacket or long-sleeved shirt, I could run the earphone cord down my arm and then lean my head against my hand. I was once more in a world of my own.

One time I was walking through South Gardner. A woman stopped me and said, "Oh, you poor boy, needing a hearing aid at your age." When I tried to explain that it was a radio, she walked away quickly, apparently not liking having her sympathy rejected.

How much is 10% of someone else's income?

Showing that you can get someone to pay you to do almost anything, blogging is becoming a paid position at many companies.

Or, you could just buy 10% of someone's income.

As Marley runs through the acres (hectares) of fields and woods along the shore line, I hope he gives thought to the other dogs who are struggling to get into doggie day care.

"Don't make me get the Portable Time-Out Mat!"

The guys from QE will throw out the first pitch at Fenway Park this coming Sunday. Maybe they can stay and help with the pitching for the rest of the game. True to their DNA, the Red Sox have had spectacularly uneven pitching this season. Tim Wakefield's 9-3 loss last night is a classic example. Knuckle balls that don't knuckle are heading for Lansdowne Street.

Hitting has been the strength of the Red Sox for the last 50-60 years. Not pitching, although there have been some greats. Luis Tiant, of course, with his twisting delivery that had him looking into center field before the pitch. Bill Lee, who'd throw 75 junk pitches in a complete game. Clemens, a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer but with the attitude of a teenage hood. Jim Lonborg, Bill Monbouquette, Dick Radatz. Defense could be, um, interesting, with Dick Stuart, aka 'Dr. Stranglove' aka 'Clank,' and Don Buddin, for whom his teammates made a special license plate 'E-4.'

Those who care probably don't need to be told, but Krispy Kreme is giving away a donut to each visit tomorrow (3 June).

There were people at the college reunion weekend who used avuncular and schadenfreude as though they were real words.

Sandra has brought in sweet-smelling flowers from our yard - Purple Flag Iris and Lily of the Valley. The year that we were married, Sandra's mother was concerned that the lilacs wouldn't stay in bloom until the wedding; they just barely made it. This year, with the much colder May, the lilacs are still colorful and fragrant.

Happy Birthday, Lori.

Sans Chien

We'll get used to it in a while and the time will pass quickly. We'll get used to not stopping on the hill so that we can let Marley run up the camp road. We'll get used eating a whole orange by ourselves. We'll get used to leaving shoes on the hearth and having them still there in the morning.

Sandra's parents reported that Marley went upstairs and all around the house after Sandra and Mike left early on Sunday morning. By then Marley had already had two baths. At the corner of the French Road, there's some mud along the Mitchell River. It's not just ordinary mud, though; it's mud with something dead in it. We're thinking of getting one of those car deodorizers and hanging it on his collar.

On Tuesday he had a ride with Woody and Marian to the Post Office in downtown Cardigan.

Mike and Sandra made excellent time, 10:15, on their return trip. The weather was good and the border crossing quick. It was a good chance for them to talk. When Sandra returned home, she said, "Karl, I'm a metric." After some fiddling with the buttons on the dashboard of her car, we figured out how to change the odometer, thermometer, and other ometers back to English measurements. It was fun to have different adventures and even better to be back home together.

I talked with quite a few people during my college's reunion weekend and hear a lot of anxiety. A lot of very successful people have graduated from there, successful in business, law, medicine, academia, and the performing arts, so it's easy to fall in the trap of comparing performance. Still, it was gratifying to look around the parking lot and see Hondas, Subarus, and Tauruses (Tauri?), to see that the Hyundais outnumbered the Porsches. These were people returning because they'd had a good time in college and wanted to reconnect with friends, faculty, and the campus.

On the ride there, I passed through different words, from Support Our Troops yellow magnetic ribbons on the backs of cars and trucks to Free Tibet bumper stickers. I passed signs that said "I buy houses" in hand-lettering. "No Title 5. No problem." Another place offered used cars and/or sanitation services.

Mount Wachusett still has a few patches of snow and wild turkeys slow traffic on the mountain road.

We bought a new new phone recently. Inside the instruction booklet was a slip of paper, "Need Help? Call Toll Free. 1(800)nnn-nnnn."