Dan Antion

The Editor Cringed

In honor of Barb

It’s Saturday, and that means that Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday meets the crew at No Facilities Bar & Grill. Linda has switched gears on us today, and she’s making my life difficult, because events dictate the subject of this post. What’s a boy to do? Play along as best I can, I guess…

“Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is ‘earworm.’ Talk about your latest earworm, or one that habitually haunts you. Enjoy!”

If we were at the bar, you’d be trying to buy me a beer.

“I’m surprised to see you here today.”

“Why’s that? I’m almost always here on Saturdays.”

“Well, with this being such a special day, I just thought…”

“He thought he would buy you a beer, but I beat him to it – this Corona, and her lime are on the house, congratulations!”

“Thank you, Cheryl, and thank you my friend. I didn’t expect any recognition. Well, I didn’t expect any from you, Cheryl is a different story, she generally pays attention to this stuff.”

“True, I don’t keep a close count, but a thousand blog posts is noteworthy.”

“Achieving the milestone might be noteworthy. I’m not sure how many of the thousand posts fall into that category.”

“I’d say six, maybe eight.”

“Thanks. That’s closer to what I expected from you.”

“How does your wife feel about having edited a thousand posts?”

“She cringed a bit. But, she doesn’t edit all of them, so she might not be at a thousand yet.”

“On No Facilities. Didn’t she edit your other blogs?”

“Oh, that’s right. She probably crossed this bridge a long time ago.”

“You’re lucky she didn’t jump off, Dan.”

“No Cheryl, we’re lucky she didn’t jump off. I follow him on Facebook – it’s not a pretty sight.”

“I’ve given up on Facebook, but he can’t be that bad.”

“Maybe not, if you live in England or Canada.”

“Huh?”

“He’s referring to the Facebook posts I make from my phone. It keeps switching to the English spelling of words like ‘honor’ – you know, putting the ‘U’ in them.”

“Aren’t you a tech-guy? Can’t you fix that?”

“Ha! I am a tech-guy, but I don’t seem to be able to fix this. The settings indicate that my language preference is ‘English’ and my region is ‘US’ – that should do it.”

“Listen guys, I have to go check the patio. Let me know if you need anything.”

“Thanks Cheryl.”

“I didn’t notice ‘honor’ or the other ‘U’ words, but when you spelled realized with an ‘S’ – you can’t miss that.”

“I did.”

“Which is why you should always have your Editor at your side.”

“She really can’t be bothered with Facebook.”

“More and more, lately, neither can I.”

“Are you thinking of dropping your account?”

“No, but I’ve scaled back how often I go there and whom I follow.”

“That’s a popular trend. Facebook is losing the teen to twenty crowd, and the older generations are scaling back usage.”

“It’s losing value, too.”

“Trust you to focus on the financial side.”

“You tech-guys don’t understand, that’s what drives the platform.”

“I know, ‘show me the money’ – I guess that will mean more spam, spammy people and advertising.”

“It’s inevitable. And, as the core demographic shifts to our age-bracket, those ads are going to follow us.”

“Great, Facebook ads for spine surgery and arthritis medicine.”

“Wow, I leave you for a few minutes and you guys are talking about your aches and pains…”

“Actually, Cheryl, we’re still talking about Facebook.”

“That’s worse. I think you guys need another round.”

“On the house?”

“No. I wouldn’t want to deprive you of being able to buy him that celebratory beer.”

“OK, this round is on me, and toss in an order of wings.”

“Speaking of wings, I got some great shots of a Blue Heron at Great River Park this week.”

“Are you sure it was blue?”

“No. They all look like gray Herons to me, but I’m always thinking blue when I’m in that park.”

“Why? The Connecticut River certainly isn’t blue.”

Allman Brothers – from Eat a Peach

“Allman Brothers.”

“Blue Sky?”

“Exactly. ♫ Walk along the river…”

“Please, I know the song – don’t try to sing it.”

“It’s hard not to sing. It gets stuck in my head.”

“I think they call that an earworm.”

“I don’t use that expression.”

“But that’s what they call it.”

“They can call it anything they want, but I don’t use that expression.”

“Why not?”

“Because it makes me think of the scene in “The Wrath of Khan” where that creepy thing crawls out of Chekov’s ear, and…”

“Stop!”

“What?”

“I can’t stand that scene – I don’t want it stuck in my head.”

“You should have let me sing Blue Sky.”

“I’ll make you a deal. Stop talking about that scene and you can sing Jessica.”

“OK.”

“Here you go boys. A fresh cold Corona and another splash of Meiomi. Wings will be up in a couple minutes.”

“Thanks Cheryl.”

“Hey wait a minute!”

“What? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing with you Cheryl, but Jessica is an instrumental.”

“I knew that.”

Today’s gallery is from the past couple of weeks at Great River Park. Be sure to check out Cheryl’s latest post for her fun take on this prompt, and thank you all for reading these stories and encouraging me to this milestone post. Most important, thanks to The Editor for her loving service in making it appear that I understand English grammar.

Heron and ducks on the muddy shore of the CT River.
He blends in pretty well.
This is a little tributary into the CT River at the south end of Great River Park.
My morning ride. I rode about 1.5 miles. Covered more ground than I could walking.
I took the Lime Bike to the south end of Great River Park.
From the south end of Great River Park. That’s Charter Oak Landing across the river.
The Colt Dome from a different angle.
“I’m walkin’, yes indeed, and I’m talkin’ ’bout you and me…”
Peeking in through the bushes.
For the Maddie lovers.
Maddie’s is about a mile from Great River Park.
6:00 am, almost 80°f (27°c) with 94% humidity.
Blue, Green, whatever, I love the way they look in the water.
He looks calm, but he sagged a fish about 30 seconds after I took this. I wasn’t able to get a decent shot.
Driving up out of Great River Park is always interesting when the sun is rising. I hope the other drivers can see.
About 2 miles from Great River Park is a school. Off to a foggy start.

89 comments

  1. I definitely don’t like the word, earworm, but, you did the best you could with it so I didn’t tune out. :-) The photo of the dome is exceptional – you did good! And, I appreciate the smile at the “I’m walkin…”, and it’s always good to have one shot of The Maddie along with that outstanding breakfast. Life is good in CT. Have a good weekend and congrats to you and the Editor on the milestone. :-)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thanks Judy. I was happy to get some pictures from a different part of the park. The dome is pretty. “I’m Walkin” is another song that gets stuck in my head, particularly when I see birds walking.

      I hope you’re having a good weekend. I guess it’s going to get wet.

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  3. Congrats on the post count! Oh how I miss my herons. Thanks for the photos. It is difficult to get good color at dawn. Maddie looks so majestic! I love the fog photo. It has been humid here for a couple of days now. Linda did throw us an ugly gub this time, didn’t she? 😉Have a great weekend! Thanks for the link.

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      • Thanks Joanne. These pictures all were taken with the new camera, as well as about 50 that I couldn’t use because I didn’t understand how the features worked. I really liked the duck. The heron was pretty far away, and the standing mostly in the shadows, but he was looking for breakfast, so I can’t complain. I was going to Maddie’s for the same thing.

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        • It might sound like a funny thing to say, but I’m just learning how to ‘fail’. I was never comfortable with experimenting with settings and taking lots of really bad photos in the process. It’s been hard to just ‘play’ to see what the result might be and be ok with deleting 99% of my ‘work’.

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  6. How odd that “earworm” is the word of the day. I woke up with one and although I love the song, I really, really, really want it out of my head!! Congratulations on 1,000 posts and kudos to the editor as well. Unfortunately, I’m now trying to get the thought of the actual earworm out of my mind and wasn’t there another place where someone put worms into Spock’s and someone else’s ears or am I mis-remembering the example you shared? Either way, but YUCK to that!!

    janet

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    • Thanks Janet. It was Chekov and the captain of his ship who got the earworms in The Wrath of Kahn. I do try to sing the songs that get stuck in my head, sometimes it makes them go away. I really like “Blue Sky” so I don’t mind, but whenever I see a bird walking along the shore, I get “I’m Walkin” stuck, and as ridiculous as it sounds, I often can’t remember the words.

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  8. Congratulations to you and the Editor on 1000 posts!! That’s a lot of words to write and edit.

    Ewwwww to ear worms. Yuk! But it is weird how sometimes a song gets in your head and you can’t stop singing it out loud or in your head!

    Your new camera takes very crisp, clear shots. Love all the reflections and the herons. Maddie looks so content.

    Hope you and the Editor and the hairy kids enjoy a great weekend. Rain on the way, but at least it’s much cooler.
    🔹 Ginger 🔹

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    • Tanks so much for visiting, Ginger. People like you keep this process moving along. I’m liking the new camera. I won’t share the vast amount of failed attempts, but I am happy with the good pictures I’ve gotten.

      I had to include Maddie. We had just come in from sitting outside for about 45 minutes. I think she was pleased.

      I have a little bit of work to do outside, before the rains come, but it should be a nice weekend. I have a busy week at the day-job, so it can rain Mon-Thur. I was happy to have a cool morning for our walk.

      I hope you have a great weekend!

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  9. Earworm…I hear Kai Ryssdal say that every afternoon on my drive home from work: “It’s an earworm, isn’t it?” You can never go wrong with anything by the Allman Brothers! Congrats on 1000 posts, Dan.

    Liked by 1 person

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  14. I have a very vivid memory of a blue heron in Florida as I walked up the beach. He came up behind me and was about a foot above me when he squawked at me to evidently get out of his way. It was rather nerve racking.

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  15. Congratulations Dan and to The Editor as well!

    The image of the Gazebo across the water is lovely. Great comp, and light. The walking goose was cute, and that framing on the Colt Dome is lovely.

    I’m looking forward to the next 1000 posts. 😉

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  20. Hi Dan – well I’m enjoying Blue Peach or is that Blue Sky … not an earworm I’m glad to say.

    1,000 posts – well done … with or without the Mistress Editor … and with or without English corrections … they do highlight things that might be odd = eg spammers …

    Yes they look grey to me too – did you spell it gray … ah well … slate is meant to be blue too … but it always seems grey to me!

    Happy rest of the weekend – cheers hIlary

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    • Thanks Hilary. I should have used grey. As far as I know they are either blue or green. Both drift toward grey for me.

      Blue Sky is such an uplifting song. I love it.

      I hope you’re enjoying the weekend.

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  21. Thanks for the video at the end, Dan — There are several Allman Brothers songs I like. And sometimes I can’t stop singing “Tied to the Whipping Post” at work… But I couldn’t remember that song until I played it. What a great earworm to have. Very unlike the Wrath of Khan! LOL.

    A thousand blog posts? Holy Hannah! Congratulations, my friend. I’m only halfway there after 5 years. Nice work, Dan. Happy weekend hugs.

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    • “Tied to the Whipping Post” – That’s a sad song to have associated with work – I am sorry. Blue sky is a feel-good tune.

      You may not have the quantity of posts, but you have a quality body of work over at your place. I hope you’re having a great weekend. Thanks so much for your support!

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  23. Congrats on your 1,000th post, Dan! And kudos to The Editour for being your Grammar Queen. It takes a special person to apply correct English standards on a weekly basis for years and years and years and…

    I haven’t noticed herons of any kind around here, but I can tell you that the geese are starting to group and honk their way south. We northerners know what that means, right?

    500 bonus points for the Wrath of Khan mention, but -500 bonus points for the Chekov/worm mention. Ewww.

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    • Thanks Mary. I’ve been at this for years, and I appreciate the Editor and all of the people who come by this place.

      Thanks for the bonus points, but boo to losing them. At least I used the scene where the thing was coming out, not where it went in.

      I don’t see the herons very often. Maybe it’s only when the sun is at the point it is these days. Geese? We got plenty of honkers. I know what that means, but I hope we have a nice autumn first. We didn’t have much of a spring, and summer was brutal.

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  24. Congratulations on your 1000! I enjoyed listening to Blue Sky while looking at the photos. Much better than the Wrath of Khan scene. Blue sky, blue sky, blue sky……. and better than Facebook which can be like walking through a mine field looking at the blue skies and then stepping into someone’s can of worms.

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      • I neglected to congratulate you on your post milestone, Dan. That is really worthy. And somehow you were able to work that into an earworm blog post. Well done! I’m glad I stayed with you, too.

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  31. Not even kidding, I was a kid when I saw Wrath of Khan, and I am STILL not recovered from the ear insect scene. Like, that was NOT okay. Ooher. Now and again, I will speak to my husband about this issue. He tries to comfort my inner child.
    Anyway, Congratulations! on your 1000th post! :D

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  35. Some beautiful pics, Dan. How appropriate for your 1,000th post. Congratulations! And to think, we’ve both been blogging for the same amount of time, and yet I just passed 200 … :P

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Thanks PAul. As I mentioned to Teagan, you may not have the quantity of posts, but yours are of an amazing quality. I hope to let some recent information from you inspire this coming Saturday’s bar conversation. Of course it depends on what Linda gives us for a prompt, but I hope to have a reason to link to your site.

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