Quiet On The Porch

Secret fog clinging to trees

  Feels like winter now  

Ralphie                                                                                                                            

Emma T. WienerDog

A listener asked for more photos of Emma The WienerDog. Her full name is Emmapajama von Schnizengruben.

Emma will be 16 the day after Christmas!

Here is Emma the day we brought her home!

And here in her golden years!

                   Basking in the sun...do you see a pattern?

She is still very active, but kinda senile, which can be sad and funny all at the same time.

Emma used to be on the radio , joining me on the air when I worked 7 to midnight. She has many fans around the world!

In her later years she has turned her back on showbiz…I’m ready for my close-up Mr. Demille…

Emma’s favorite things are:

Food

Treats

Food

A sunny spot to sleep

Food

A warm bed with lots of blankies

Treats  

And

Food

In that order!

That's all for now!

Ralphie

Requiescat In Pace

I’m sitting in the Felton cemetery…it’s an old cemetery, with dates going back to the 1800’s. It’s quiet and interesting and I like coming here because there’s no one around…well, no one who is going to bother me!

I’m sitting here looking out at all the markers, some fancy, some not so much. Most are very old, some more recent.

There’s gonna be two dates on your tombstone, everyone will read ‘em

All that’s gonna matter is the little dash between ‘em

Some of the markers are tilting, others have fallen over. Some are so old you can’t even read them. Some are gone, leaving no trace…

The grass is dead, the weeds are overgrown…it looks like a movie set. That’s why I like it…it’s very surreal, and very peaceful.

It’s hard not to think about the people here who died so long ago. Looking out at the various markers, which acknowledge that this person existed and for this long, I wonder about all these people…

All the lonely people, where do they all come from…

I wonder about their lives, their loves, joys, triumphs and sorrows. I wonder about their hopes and dreams, desires, faults...about their concerns, successes, failures. Real people who lived and breathed and had families.

Did the family breakdown as they came here to bury their loved one, or were they stoic?

Did they die with regrets? I think everyone has some regrets, no matter what they say. If I died right now, I’d have a few…

But then again, too few to mention…

That would be ironic if I died right now, being in a cemetery and all…

I find myself wondering how many of these people suffered; suffered from physical or mental disease. How many suffered from depression, or were bi-polar, back before they even knew what it was! A scarey thought!

Were they poor? Did they live well? Were they born here? Did they go to church? Where did they work? Would I have liked them? Would they have liked me? Did they even have families to miss them?

I sit here and I think all this, as the wind blows through the trees, and I feel a little sad.

As I look out across this old cemetery, I can almost see a family gathered ‘round a grave, with someone singing Amazing Grace, and I know that someday they’ll be gathered ‘round for me.

That sounds like a song…I’ll work on it!

Ralphie

My Attic

My attic is full of stuff…some heavy, some not so heavy.

Visions of my past are in here.

There’s lots of music in here.

There is art in here.

There are triumphs and sorrows in my attic.

The clutter is maddening !    

Cluttered, but clearly mine

There is also work in my attic, covering 22 years on the air…that’s a long time so it fills a good portion of the space.

Work your fingers to the bone what do you get? Boney fingers

There are toys in my attic. Some I’ve had for a long time and I need to get rid of. Some I can’t let go of. 

Funny how that is…

Yep, it’s gonna take a lot of help to clear out my attic. 

Ralphie

September 29th

It was 33 years ago today,
The preacher asked us what we say,
We've been married now for quite a while,
And our clothes from then went out of style

So let me say I love you dear,
To the girl I've know for all these years -

Ellen and Ralphie's Anniversary!

OK, so it's not gold, but it's from the heart...plus, it's early and I haven't had my coffee!


Ralphie

A Taste Of Soquel

Thanks to all the planners, volunteers, musicians and restaurants who helped make this event a success.

Today we raised over $6000 for Second Harvest Food Bank!

For every dollar, they can provide 4 meals to the hungry in our community, many of them children!

Do the math…

No really, do the math…I’m not very good at math!

I think it comes out to a whole lotta meals!

That’s all I got

Ralphie

Spanks For The Memories

I found a bunch of notebooks from when I was 18. In these books there are some mindless and mindful ramblings. Reading these notebooks shows me how bi-polar, with OCD and ADHD rising, I was!...I am!...What I'm saying is, that I feel like I could have written some of it in the last few years!  

Also in these notebooks are some strange things that I drew, references to music and how soothing it was, and there are also the earliest references to Ralph Anybody. It’s the name that popped up a few times in some silly thing I was writing.

Now…I am Ralph Anybody!  

But how did I get here?

Or…am I really here at all?

Reading these notebooks has sent me on a spiral (much like the notebooks!) into a sea of nostalgia. And it’s not always a calm sea.

Right now I’m sitting here. I’m sitting here and my mind (what’s left of it!) begins to wander into those dark, dusty places called memories.  The places I’d prefer not to go. For my head strays not into the good memories, but into those down, sketchy memories which are hard to see clearly, yet are impossible to forget totally.

The grey coldness outside is a perfect reflection of those times, and it helps (not that I want it to) to bring those memories into focus. It has not happened in a long time…but now I am sitting here, trapped…trapped within my past.

I feel very depressed, and I’m not always sure why. I am unable to think clearly, but I must hide this fact from others and be, OK. I fidget a lot , I’m very nervous….

Now, or then?

Is this just the past that I’m remembering, or is it presently happening? My mind clears enough for me to realize that it is both!

I’m confused…my mind is racing and I can’t seem to make any sense of anything.  I must try to relax.

The sides of this slope are slippery, and my mind can’t grab hold. Smiles help, but memories are stronger, and they force me down.

It’s strange that the past can be stronger than the present.

And it will spank your brain!

Ralphie