Wednesday 15 October 2025 09:52:45 PM CST





Wednesday 15 October 2025 10:03:24 PM CST

A Song for All Seasons is from 1978, the year I enlisted in the Air Force. I was in basic training and tech school for a few months and didn't get around to acquiring it until that was over. I had some of the early ones on 8-track (Scheherazade was my first) but it was vinyl and cassettes by then. ASFAS runs just a hair under 45 minutes and was perfect for the 90-minute cassetes I used. Record it on both sides so to play it again just flip it over. Few albums were that long as twenty-five minutes was about the limit on one side of a vinyl record.

This was their last album to use an orchestra. Whether or not that was because of the increasing cost as orchestras became unionized or some other reason I don't know. The band and music generally were changing and by the early '80s Renaissance was no more. The followup to ASFAS was still pretty much in the same groove but was about the last of the sound I'd gotten used to.

It's probably the best - as good as Ashes are Burning and Scheherazade were quite good but this was their peak. Long-time lyricist Betty Thatcher contributed three pieces including the title track.

Whiskey of the day is Evan Williams green label. It's considered by some to be an economy version but it's quite good. 80 proof is OK with me. Can I tell the difference between green and black labels? Maybe, maybe not. It's only aged four years but idunno how long the black is. Some say five or so and some as many as seven. Seegars still Swisher mini mostly when I smoke'em. Something I seem to do less these days.

Gas stations sell pizza a lot these days, usually slices and sometimes they got that Hunt Brothers in the case and they get a piece out and put it in a box and I ain't crazy about that. One I hadn't had occasion to visit in a while used to have Pizza Inn mini-pizzas and when I was building the new house a couple years ago got quite a few there before my temporary place was set up. Now they got slices in little flimsy boxes. Three bucks or so instead of the five or six for the Pizza Inn ones so maybe a money thing. I'e prefer to pay more and get the good stuff.

Continuing to cool a bit and gettin' some rain. Sometimes a lot like the other day when we had near eight inches in two days. Picked up a couple of sharpshooters at Harbor Freight the other day as two of the ones I got the handles rotted out and the third one wasn't looking good. I seem to remember paying something like six to seven bucks for the old ones at Big Lots many years ago. Now Big Lots is gone. One in Jonestown was in an old Wal-Mart store over on the 63 bypass across from the new one. Got a couple new ones with fiberglass handles that should work pretty good, fifteen clams. Time to plant some trees.



Classic of the day is George R. R Martin's Fevre Dream from 1982. A bit of a side road from SF into fantasy - I guess where vampires fit in - with what some have characterized as "Bram Stoker meets Mark Twain". The vampires aren't Dracula types though being closer to Anne Rice's characters except they don't reproduce by converting regular people - they're born that way. Still scary but thinking about creatures of the night that want to drink my blood is scary whether or not they're Dracula types.

Apparently George did a lot of research or knew a lot about riverboats of the mid-nineteenth century (it begins before the Civil War and concludes afterwards) and there a lot of stuff about that and the big boats and how they work and all and the area along the Mississippi back then.

It leaves you with a bit of that haunting feeling I get from stories like A Song for Lya and Dying of the Light and Windhaven. Probably mentioned that I didn't get into the Fire and Ice stuff. I read the first one and started the second and between not having time and other stuff lost interest. Like a lot of things. Apparently quite a commercial success.



Classic movie is F/X2 from 1992. Good only slightly improbable fun. That telemetry suit thing flying the helicopter by remote control or whatever, it seemed it would need a power supply for all that activity. The first one was as I recall - haven't watched it lately - more plausible but this one more fun.

Pretty good plot well-acted by Brian Dennehey and Aussie Bryan Brown. I suppose Bryan is kind of a straight man to Brian's cool and kinda smartass bit of a joker. At least he gets most of the good lines and in the climactic scene him toying with the corrupt prosecutoress was fun.

Dennehey does the cool/badass pretty good - as the sheriff that FAFO'd with Rambo in First Blood and as the hick wannabe crime lord in In Broad Daylight. He does the evil with a similar cheerful smug grin that he does the good guys. The latter was a TV movie, something he did a fair number of as was the Gacy film. I haven't seen it and probably should - not that I find serial killers a pleasant thing to contemplate but would like to see how he did. Gacy was one of the scarier ones that apparently was able to seem normal to most like the BTK dude and all the time killing people. Scary too that there probably a lot that ain't been caught.

Brian Dennehey passed away at 81 back in 2020. Bryan Brown is gettting on up there - time sure gets by you.





Weird snack of the day doesn't seem to be either the best-seller or highly esteemed of ramens of the styro variety but like Armour Vienna sausages it has the most shelf space in Wal-Mart. Hafta remember to check Hays one of these days and see what they got.

Eatin' ramen kinda like eatin' Vienna sausages and other weird stuff. It's different and it's kinda strange in some way or other so's you wonder why you doin' it. The biggest selection in Wal-Mart is the Maruchan stuff and there a pretty good selection. Generally I get the chicken of shrimp and never the hot stuff. Most of that is near inedible but you might lose weight as you sweat like you in a sauna. It seems that these itty-bitty shrimp things in the shrimp stuff are actually shrimp but they both small and few.

If I want a quick fix of weird I go for one of the Marachuns in the styro cup - they got the blocks you put in water and boil but that's a lot of work. For some reason I can't resist drinking the water and that is probably not good for me. But neither is eating the ramen. I used an advert pic because it does NOT look that - the hot brown water comes up to about a half inch below the rim and the noodles are underwater.

There some other fancier brands and maybe I'll do an occasional review. Some ain't half bad for actual food.

That dream. Again. Only recurring one anyway. He knew there were others he couldn't remember.

Alex was used to it. He'd learned to recognize it, stop it. Sometimes. Wake up. Eventually.

Problem was, they didn't disappear right away - reality merged with the dream until the dream was all gone. Brain wiring still tangled.

He lay still, eyes open but not yet seeing the real world, despite the light from the large window just beyond the foot of the bed.

It was going to take a while.

He could still see the cages in the other room. The room he'd been in before they moved him. The beds had had cages around them. The patients were tied to their beds. The way he was tied. Wire around wrists and ankles. Unable to move any extremity more than a couple of inches. He heard the screams from the other side of the wall.

He lay still, waiting for the hallucination to fade, to let reality take over.

At least it happened more quickly now, or at least it seemed to. Usually.

It seemed there was another bed beside his, but he knew there wasn't. There had been a body in the bed. But now it was empty. The bed that wasn't there no longer had the body that wasn't there.

FUCK!

"You OK?"

Jessica.

She hear me? Dumb question, of course she did.

The soft voice, just above a whisper. She always came in quietly, waited for him to wake before speaking. Waited until she was sure he was at least mostly back in the real world.

And until he could speak. Sometimes he'd start to talk, try to. Not making any sounds. Wait a minute, try it again. Motor skills still degraded. Some days it seemed to be getting better, other days not so sure. Still kept his walker close, moving around was risky without something for support, furniture or walls close by. Better than the wheelchair though. Rather die than be stuck in that.

Jessica had sensed it. He didn't know if he'd have made it, if she hadn't been there, wanting it as much as he did. More probably.

Actually he did know.

The silky sleeve of her robe brushed his forehead as she leaned over, placed a hand there.

"No fever. How do you feel?"

Full vision now. Almost anyway.

How do I feel? Good question. Let me finish waking up.

Try to speak.

OK, looks like it's going to work.

"All right, I guess. Dreams won't stop."

"They seem less frequent. At least not every night like it was. Let me get you some coffee."

"No. I'd spill it. Need to get up anyway."

"OK, let me help you."

Human Harvest (2022)



The Paragould paper hasn't been updating the opionion page much so about the only recent thing is this. Not sure I ken what he up to or why and pretty sure I don't care. He went off into wherever people like Tucker Carlson recently went only he nowhere near as smart as Tucker. What Tucker is up to is anyone's guess but the answer to Mr. Goldberg's question is no. The Charlie Kirk memorial surprised even me and many on our side of the court. That from the Kansas City Star so pretty much to be expected. He should be more mad at Stephen Miller but maybe he is. Watever. As for Jonas Salk if he saw what passes for science these days he wouldn't be too happy.

Over in Paragould a liquor store owner was seen doin' something naughty with someone in public. Only reason I mention it is that the next day the NEA Report had it and I looked it up in Google on accout of the name and the AI thingy already had a thing about it. That's pretty quick. Over in Jonsestown and Paragould the Starbucks places are closing. They closing a bunch all over. Up in Rector - that's a little place up north of Paragould - there was a couple of fires. Dunno what was up with this one but some people got arrested. Drinking and stuff. The other one was a flower shop in a big old building with some other businesses.

What, Chris?

Nah, ain't been up there lately. Rector is closer than Marmaduke as I recollect. Guy I worked with back in the day lived there and I called it Belvedere to annoy him and he didn't know what I talking about. Belvedere and Marmaduke are cartoon dogs there ain't a Belvedere in Arkansas.


There was a lot of news articles on the Charlie Kirk assassination, seems most of the so-called mainstream outfits just reported it and probably didn't expect it to be so big but they couldn't just ignore it. Then they had to do all the reports of jackasses getting in trouble at work for expressing happiness about it. They had been getting away with it for years so why would they expect consequences not? ~~ Government news reports that CBS is 'moving to the right' after being acquired. What they doin' is trying not to lose money. ABC tried to use the occasion to get rid of Kimmel but chickened out and let him back in. Don't expect his contract to be renewed even if Disney still owns it then. ~~ The AP ackknowledged the facts. That must have hurt. ~~ BBC probably didn't enjoy it either but they did the usual They did the usual Americans have guns things and a feeble "both sides" thing but to anyone paying attention... well, they ain't reading BBC so whatever. ~~ New version of how the universe began? Lessee, there been at least two major admissions that Darwin don't compute and at I remember at least one universe origin revision already. This year. Okey-dokey. ~~ The Biden administration was cooking the books as usual. 900K jobs worth. Why Trump fired the BLS boss. ~~ I don't figure on Biden living long enough to build a library. What's it take, several years anyway. Dunno what happens if a former president dies and the library ain't finished and especially if nobody gives a fig.


Dunno about the last one but the top two are regglar lefty crackpots. Everbody all of a sudden sayin' violence not good and should stop. It's their guys doing it but it their people doing it. TBF I don't see the cartoonists overtly suggesting it but they don't need to take the risk - there plenty of them on the street doing that. But when you tell lies about people that get the unstable types stirred up it ain't hard to figger what'll happen. Whole Kimmel thang was Disney first going one wan and then another trying to decide it to use the opporunity to jettison an expensive embarrassment they way CBS did with the Colby dude but chickened out. Meanwhile it all of sudden about First Amendment when they actually did that for years and all this was was a couple of big dogs deciding they weren't going to put up with his shit and not carry the show. It's called business and gummint had nothing to do with it. Yeah, the FCC guy made some remarks and Kimmel WAS in violation of law by deliberately lying on the air but it was the decision of Sinclair and Nexstar to get Disney to have them shape up. Meanwhile they have problems with the people electing Republicans to run the while government. Used to be with margins that thin in both houses a RINO or two would foul things but President Trump seems to have them in line so far. Taking out the trash may seem cruel to the trash but there you are.

And then they gotta complain about the president's kid. Lemme know when she's riding around the world on Air Force Two and selling alleged art for millions. Looks like the U.S. team lost the big golf thing and since President Trump dropped in there was the opportunity to hate a little on that. Naturally some of the Euros had to behave badly once they'd won. They don't have much else to brag about these days.

Little local as in right near my primary undisclosed location news. Gonna have grand opening for the wind farm. I asked if they were gonna wind a ribbon around the whole thirty-forty or so square miles or just one windmill, somebody said maybe they do it at the Chamber of Commerce office there in town. I don't pay much attention to the courthouse fountain and didn't know what the status was. Idabeen OK with leaving it as is but whatever. Still got the Vietnam Huey there up on a pedestal, pointed down a bit like it goin' in to shoot up some of the supposed bad guys in Vietnam. And finally the Forrest City schools. Fewer students but with population way down and alternatives easier to come by that's gonna happen. Happening to Wynne too but a lot of the city schoo losses are to the beanfield school.

Over in Memphis they was protesting the National Guard coming in to help with the crime, like the governor asked them to. It's early yet but it seems some malefactors are not malefacting for a while. Still a lot of killings though and dunno how you prevent things that happen so suddenlike. You can round up the kids with guns on the streets but so many killings happen where two or more peoples comes together and somebody does something somebody don't like and somebody start shooting.

Retailers unhappy they can't sell junk food to EBT consumers and have to havwe some real food around. I've seen some signs on convenience stores and such sayin' they don't take EBT any more. Not sure how having to only buy actual food is hard on your budget since junk food is so overpriced.



Another article headline stated that "Congress must act" on the trillion-dollar or so auto debt. Probably if President Trump hadn't returned we would have a Dim president forgiving auto loans. Even when I wasn't rich I hated having to borrow money for a car and with them costing twice as much these days I sure wouldn't like it. While back I scored a '09 Ranger just like the one I had 'cept this one had about 150K (the other had just rolled over 250K) and like new. At $6500 I didn't even haggle - figured on eight or better so didn't need the while stack. ~~ You can be as diverse as you like as long as you treat everybody the same. Maybe they are but if so they're a rare case. ~~ Only taxpayer service I need is not having they trying to find a way to squeeze more money out of me and the fewer people they have to do that with the better off the taxpayers are. ~~ Actually the illegals can leave the 'black hole' any time they like - just go back where they came from. They're going anyway. ~~ The radical left is a barrier to all that is good and decent and sane and stuff. ~~ As always President Trump was being polite and saying nice things because he does that. Why a rare second trip? UK is bad shape and they got problems what won't be fixed by their royals but. ~~ Since you can't just go to the government and ask for a few billion and tell'em it's for cancer or gender equality research or whatever. ~~ It really ain't that hard. In fact being healthy is pretty simple. Don't eat anything that tastes good. And don't buy junk for your kids. ~~ Are any artificial dyes safe? Yeah, you gotta be careful collecting and processing the natural stuff but you gotta do what with anything you gonna eat.

Trumann was fifteen minutes or so from Jonesboro. He'd told her to take her time, no need to worry for his immediate safety.

I could fall and bust my skull as she's drivin' away, all the same. What's gonna happen, gonna happen.

You'd be better off with me gone anyway. Never gonna be able to take care of myself. You're a young woman, don't need to be throwin' your life away because someone took mine. Not your fault.

He still wasn't sure why she was here. Only what Jessica and his two sisters, had told him.

He was in his office chair, Jessica didn't want him getting in or out when she wasn't around. Didn't say anything about falling out, he thought. Not even joking, she wouldn't. She would just worry the whole time she was gone.

Roll over to the desk. Actually a big work table made of two doors at right angles, on top of file cabinets. Couple of computers on one, one on the other, printers, speakers, router. Somehow he managed to figure it all out after moving, get everything back in place.

He knew, vaguely, not really remembering, this had once been child's play. Data center at work, he built it, provisioned it, racks of servers, power supplies, firewalls and gateways for redundant fiber pipes, backed up by cloud installs on both coasts and one in Denver and one... where? Chicago.

How'd I remember all that? I can't remember the past year. Mom and Dad's funerals. Both in the three years before I got locked up in that joint.

Look at the calendar, last year and this year on the same screen, like a big wall calendar you write stuff on, the blocks on this one got some notes. He opened the editor and moved the cursor to the block for the current date.

Dream, usual.

There had been a dream two days ago, one two days before that. Had a red star. Those were the really weird ones, he couldn't remember if they were replays. Or unrelated.

Didn't recognize Jessica, first time I saw her. Standin' the door. Didn't recognize either of my sisters either. Sometimes after several visits. See'em standin' there, wonder who.

Who's that? Comes in, start talkin', yeah. Kid sister. Or the older one. Wouldn't let'em both in at once. The Chinavirus hoax was nearing full-trottle insanity, only let one in at a time. For a little while. Bet they blamed every death in that joint on Covid. I missed most of the craziness on that one. Still drugged senseless. And tied to the bed with wire. Explain that one. What? Oh, yeah. Didn't keep the drugs on schedule. Woke up a time or two. Not bueno. At all.

Now a a beautiful young woman standin' there in the door. Younger. Should know her. But I should know my sisters after fifty-plus years.

Like an angel, out of place in that joint. Can't really describe that beauty. Not magazine-cover model or actress. They mostly fake anyway. Nah. The girl next door. That classmate in high school. No, not the cheerleader, the one in the band. Played the flute. Or the choir. Or one of your sister's pals you had a crush on...

So natural, so effortlessly enchanting... ya'know. And you found out she had a personality to match. That was Jessica.

Only I didn't know who Jessica was. For a while. Still tryin' to figure it all out.

Human Harvest (2022)






How do you balance fairness and inclusion when inclusion for the sake of including something or other is inherently unfair? ~~ She was accused of being unqualified when nominated but now that she got fired for going back to the old regime she's suddenly credible? ~~ What you do is you see if the mother is infected and if so vax the baby? Kinda like other diseases that get transmitted that way. ~~ Elon's companies have been accused? How about telling us when you know it actually happened? If it happened. ~~ Yeah, they can't very well say it ain't good but you get people worried by tellin' them that everbody else is worried. ~~ Kimmel lied and knew he was lying when he done it. ~~ If you want your company to be a political tool don't sell it. ~~ Time to changed evolutionary theory again?



Donald Trump is winning lawsuit after lawsuit against companies that suppressed his free speech while allowing the "you" to say whatever it pleased. Dunno who the cartoonist is but as usual it backward. Sometimes I suspect they actually believe it but...



I don't care if lefties bring up gun control every time some nut - whether medically or politically induced - kills a bunch of people. Their reaction to the Kirk assassination shows how sick they are. It's possible that the reaction - losing their jobs - may settle some of them down but then most of them either don't have jobs of work for people that agree with them.



President Trump didn't threaten broadcasters or anyone else. He criticized them and so did a lot of other people. The FCC guy cautioned them about flirting with illegality (deliberate mis/disindormation) but that was about it. A couple of big TV station owners told Disney to straighten up or risk losing what little audience had left. Kimmel came on and cried some crocodile tears and it's all good - Disney could have used opportunity to can him but will probably just let the contract run out in a few months. Or sell ABC, something I can see as more likely.
Kimmel is not now and has never been funny. When was on Ben Stein's show he wasn't funny. His gig with Adam Carolla wasn't especially funny even with Adam (who is) and his show on ABC isn't funny unless you're one of the .3% of the population that just hates normal and good and decent and especially Republicans/conservatives. He should have gotten a clue from Colbert but maybe figures he's rich and what does it matter - the societal climate change is real and Kimmel and his ilk have even less future with each passing debacle.

Alex@MyndCryme

They had lunch together a lot, and he might drop by mid-afternoon, but...

Something was wrong.

"I think I need to see a doctor."

He'd said that once before. What was it? Three years ago? That time he almost didn't make it. Had the flu. Thought he was over it. Friday afternoon, passed out in her office. Doctor said another hour or two, would have been too late.

He was about in the same shape now. No, worse.

Jessica punched the HR speed dial button on her desk phone.

"What's up?" Alysin, the HR boss.

"Help. Fast."

HR was just down the hall around the corner. No more than a minute, Alysin was there.

"We need an ambulance."

Jessica had already dialed the emergency number.

Alex had slumped in a chair, about to slide to the floor. Jessica caught him. Alysin stepped out into the hall.

"Watch for an ambulance!" she shouted to anyone in range. "Jessica's office!"

Within seconds people were emerging from doorways, looking their way.

"Help me get him on the floor," Jessica said.

"Who can do CPR?" Alysin.

"Got it," Jessica said

She had actually worked for as a nurse a couple of years after getting her RN license.

One of the reasons she quit. Didn't like seeing people dying. Selfish? Maybe, but I just couldn't take it after...

"He's got a pulse," she said. "Breathing OK, smaybe a little weak. He may be having a heart attack."

The ambulance would be coming from Arkansas Methodist over on 412.

We're out here almost to Missouri. Damn city council. Methodist ambulance has to be called first. They'll fool around for a while if they don't have a unit . Don't want to call one of the other companies if they can avoid it. Council just voted again couple of months ago to leave it that way. All about the money. Everyone knew it, they knew people knew. Didn't care. Every year, someone, several someones usually, tries go get them to put the hospital on rotation with the other ambulance operators. There were at least two locals with several ambulances. Same results. Someone's gonna die one day, because of your greed. Please don't let it be Alex. Please.

Human Harvest (2022)

What kinda news we got? The doctor in Forrest City that misbehaved is goin' to prison. This ain't the one that made naughty videos - seems that one was in Blytheville. I believe he just got disciplined by the medical board and maybe not prosecuted. I went to see a doc in FC because the Social Insecurity people said I was so crippled I might get a few hundred extra for that and it was an Indian doctor. Little old trashy place way out away from downtown or wherever the medical district is if there is one in FC.

In Wynne it's probably even less advisable to pass out in a gas station parking lot that some others. It as the needle and the spoon.... Anyhow that Shell station is on the south end of town, decent but it the one that used to have the Pizza Inn mini-pizzas and they switched to cheapo slices. Also on the south side (Union Avenue being the line) the ghetto Hays is closing. What they calll the lesser Hays store in a town that got two. This one is in walking distance of a part of town where a lot of people don't have cars and walk but there ain't near's many as there used to be. It was a Proctor's Big Star back in the day. I believe the propietor of that one did the Wynne High School football games radio broadcasts. That a long time ago. Anyway the nice big Hays store is on the north side in an old Wal-Mart store and probably ain't going away bein' about the only place besides Wal-Mart.



Haven't looked at that test in a long time. Probably don't wanna see even the new improved one. ~~ Wonder how many people know what the "MS" meant. Back in the days when the Internet was new to a lot of people - not me as I used it back in the '70s becaus I in the Air Force - and Microsoft as usual was way behind. They thought they'd have a Microsoft web site televised or something like that, people would be internettin' on their computers and watching teevee at the same time. That didn't work out real fast and soon it was just a cable channel. If either NBC or MSNBC has it' billion dollar sugar daddy for much longer I'll be surprised. ~~ That must annoy NPR as much as being defunded. ~~ Time Magazine (do they still have a printed copy? I used to see it at the grocery checkout with the National Enquirer and Rolling Stone but ain't looked lately. Anyway they remind us that PRESIDENT TRUMP was acquainted with Epstein back before Epstein was exposed and eventually disposed of. ~~ And NPR cryin' and lyin' about Kimmmel. ~~ Climate change makes you addicted to sugar? Didn't affect me. ~~ Probably some of the reduced vax consumption is home schooling. Lessee, in my immediate family eleven + four + three grandnephew/nieces homeshooled and not a disease or a criminal or druggie among them. ~~ Fluoride does seem to be goin' away. Grew up in the country with well water and got all my teeth except wisdom and a couple of molars that the dentist couldn't exlain and not one filling. ~~ Maybe Latisha and Fat Fanny and Fat Alvin will have their day in court and not the kind they want.

I doubt many of denizens of Memphis watch the news or read the teevee website. Some locals still unhappy but what they gonna do. Looks like some other red states looking at requesting fed assistance. And some aren't accustomed to the authorities reallly meaning business. Apparently the state police were being more gentle. Been a few arrests and a few guns take off the streets but they got a ways to go. The blonde USAG that I ain't crazy about and needs a minder and the badass SecDef are in town - not sure why he there unless it's just to annoy them a bit more.

How can I reconstruct sixty years of life? How do I do that?

The stuff was in there somewhere. Like having the cables in the data center pulled out, some put back in the wrong places, some left out.

And what if some of them had been cut? A piece of equipment removed. A router setup trashed.

I somehow remember what that stuff is. Kind of. I started using my computers like nothing had happened. Except I'd been asleep for almost a year.

Almost a year. A year of my life I can't afford.

Someone had done something bad to him. Why? Why tie him to a bed? With wire? Wasn't those padded cuffs and straps. He'd had red rings around his wrists where the wire almost cut them. And Jessica told him, so did Charlie and Sam, they were there when he was completely out. Sat there and watched him for hours and he didn't move or make a sound. Something wrong here.

He unmounted the stick, plugged it into Savanna. He'd named the first of the new computers Jessica. Where'd he get that name? He just naturally named the first one Jessica. She know anyone named Savanna?

Come to think of it, who was he supposed to know? Besides his sisters, and Jessica? Doug? Yeah, try to visualize. Bring it back.

He started the file copy, moved back to the old computer. Open a terminal window.

Here's my home directory, /home/alex. I remember all the computer stuff. That's encouraging. Why don't I remember people? Places?

He wasn't even sure he remembered Jessica. He assumed she was part of his life, like his sisters, because they were all the life he'd had since he woke up.

When we went to the farm I felt like I recognized it. I think I did. Knew somehow it was mine. Part of my life. What else do I have?

His house in Fairfield. This house was rented. Half a mile down Perry Road, off 63. Outside town. Small working-class area, fairly new houses. Small subdivision, probably less than twenty years old. Jessica had rented it in her name. Talked about transferring the guardianship, but that meant more court stuff. Talked to Sam several times a week, Charlie too. She was thinking about buying one of the properties they owned and moving there. Their parents had left the farm and some smaller properties to them, one of them was a small place in Wynne. He'd gone to school in Wynne, didn't remember anything about it. School or anything else.

Going to his farm had seemingly stirred some memories. Probably he should have Jessica take him out to visit the others. He'd been sitting here, day after day. Go to town maybe once a week.

"You reading my mind?" he asked, as Jessica walked in.

"Why?"

"I was just thinking of you. Didn't know if I could call loud enough for you to hear me."

"I was just thinking of you," she said, "but then I always am."

Human Harvest (2022)

In Wynne news a school bus caught fire the other day. After all the kiddos were unloaded so no one harmed. Who doesn't love a yellow school bus on fire occasionally? Saw in the Wynne obits the other day a school bus driver from my days as a first grader had died. Wasn't but 87 and it seemed like he was an old guy back then but only about twenty years older. One that drive my bus died years ago, seventy-something. Anyhow they had the grand openin' of the wind farm and talking about how someone making money. Guys renting the land make some I reckon, and the square miles of solar farm up Cherry Valley those guys are cleaning up big time. No need to work or take chances farming just bank the checks. Little town of Cherry Valley maintaining the roads and they ain't even in the city. Okey-dokey.

KAIT sez they may not be able to be on Youtube NBC. Looked at a few vids on there and some had more than ten views. One of the high school football ones had over twenty. Guessing there won't be many missing them. Apparently it a NBC problem so who knows. Ain't had a lot of news lately on the website and I turn off the adblocker and read some of the clickbait. Saw the chimp woman died and didn't know she was extant. For some reason I had her associated with gorillas but seems it was chimps. At least she didn't...

What, Chris?

Alrightalready. The chimp that ripped off the woman's face and stuff was a pet and was on drugs.

NEA Report has this. Dunno if it's what we used to call brass knuckles. Tellya the truth dunno if the ones we called brass knuckles was brass. Just what we called them. Something like aluminum be easier to swing but might not hit as hard as brass if you could swing'em fast enough. And they had another LEO that shouldn't have been trusted. Makes you wonder how many times he done it afore he got caught and how many ain't been caught yet.



I ain't tryin' to get one and probly won't be. Dunno how many still doin' it. ~~ US Losing Race to Moon and Space X? Space X is about the only one can get anything done. NASA left a some they got up and couldn't get back down for months before Trump got elected and had Space X do it. ~~ Electric tractors? They got big trucks - take a lot less energy than tractors - that you get a few hour use in a day and the couple hundred miles. Days work for a tractor like a fully loaded 18-wheeler going five-six hunnerd miles. ~~ Yeah, pollution makes some creatures changed sexes of have both sexes and some creatures naturally change sex to balance the population. So what? ~~ President Trump talkin' about Tylenol and all, and twenty-thirty years ago they told women what was with child or about to be that way not to use it. ~~ Illegal what got out of lockup ought to consider herself lucky and try not to get caught again. ~~ President Trump was kinda like dressing down naughty schoolboys but this is more serious. ~~ At least they admitted that the guys that laughed fiversix years ago ain't laughing now. ~~ I'd say the future of MAGA is bigger and better all the time. Don't even need a hint from BBC. They and the Dissociated Press are pretty far behind on everthing. The the alphabet outlets - two or more of the three-letters and the five-letter pretty much irrelevant - turn back towards the center will further tip the scales.

What, Chris?

Just kiddin'. Signing off for a while. Here's another bit of Human Harvest.


"Morning."

Jessica been waiting, there or nearby. Heard him. Didn't ever wake him, just let him go with his own timing.

Look up.

"Going to try some pushups?"

He was lying face down, arms under his chest. Jessica was wearing a - what color is that?

Jade? Jade's not a color. It's a rock. They call some shade of green jade. Because most of it's green I guess. Women's clothes. Paint. Furniture. Why'm I thinking about what color jade is? Someone...

Switches. Rows of them in racks. Labels. AT&T. Ritter. Suddenlink. What are those? Local-1. Local-2.

In the main data center in...

Paragould. Where's that?

Someone holding a cable. Looking at the switches. Someone there. Who?

"No, number three".

Who's that? On the phone.

"OK, try it now."

Waiting for something.

"Hang on."

Sit down at a table. Couple of workstations on it. Typing. Picks up phone, looking at the screen.

"Got it? Great."

We're in the data center. Troubleshooting a network problem. Something not working. Something got unplugged, plugged in the wrong place. Rows and rows of ports on the boxes, cables in most of them. Something got disconnected. Or wrong-connected.

Mind a network, infinitely more complex. And fragile, easily damaged. No one there to holler at have them check something. All on my own. How'm I gonna put all the wires back in place?

So she's wearing a jade robe. Satin. Jessica likes satin. Or maybe it's silk. Dunno what satin's made of. It's smooth and shiny, Jessica looks good in it. In anything. Kneeling beside him now.

"OK?"

Am I? Don't feel bad. Had an extra drink before bed. Maybe why I didn't want to get up.

"Yeah. Think I fell out of bed."

"I thought you might be trying to do your morning pushups. Before... you used to do a hundred, first thing every morning. Slide out bed, onto the floor. Always woke me up if I wasn't already awake."

What?

"It's why you built the bed that way."

"We... slept together?"

He rolled over on his side. A little dampness under the eyes. She wiped it away.

"We stayed over at each others' places a lot. I spent some weekends out at the farm. And at my place or yours in town."

It was probably hurting her more than him, he thought. He didn't remember what he, what they, had lost. She remembered it all.

Human Harvest (2022)