A Pirates Life

Just thought I'd share the personalized poem I found for our friend's daughter on her 3rd birthday. It was written by my namesake in the 17th century and, until some recent year, it was stored in the British museum of Curios and Trivia and it found it's way to our family when I was born.

 A Pirate's Life

 by James T. Allerton

Twas late one night on a dead calm sea

When first I saw her a starin' at me

with one good eye and a hook for a hand

A more fearsome pirate I never did see

The galley was upon us as quick as a flash

The volley of cannon tore a big gash

in the topsail of our little schooner

"Heave to" said the pirate, "Or we'll turn you to mash!"

"Heave to!" Said our Captain, "For it's plain to see"

"It's no ordinary pirate a gunnin' for ye"

"for I can hear the song they are a singin'"

"That dreadful chorus of the jolly pirate queen!"

Oh a pirates life is a merry one

Full of treasure and full of fun

and no one can take it away from me

Or they'll taste my galley's twenty gun!

The pirates pulled alongside our outclassed men

We didn't want to be food for a shark's fin

and all the while we could hear the chorus

From the pirate crew and their queen, Ashlin

Oh a pirates life is a merry one

Full of treasure and full of fun

and no one can take it away from me

Or they'll taste my galley's twenty gun!

For you newlyweds....and veteran married people too

On one of the first few days of our academy, we were out on the grass doing pushups. The first week was kind of a grind, with extra physical training tossed at us in an effort to get rid of some people that didn't have much business being there at the time.


I must have looked like I was struggling at one point, because Sgt. Roth, the Sgt. in Charge of training, leaned down next to me and politely asked what the was the hardest thing I had ever done.

Without skipping a beat, I replied, "Living with my wife!"

He kind of smirked, stalked off and left me alone the rest of the academy.

Don't get me wrong. I love my wife and I enjoy our life together. But living with her has been hard. Here's why.

In order to successfully build a marriage relationship, I have had to set aside myself in order to build our life. It no longer becomes all about my own selfish desires, but I have to think of someone else and not just myself.

That is hard to do sometimes. But it is worth it.

And, in case you think you are having a hard time with pretty much anything, check out the video I linked below. At least you are not "that guy".

MP trainee after being oc'd

The Perfect Weekend

This weekend, I am spending time with Ethan and Abigail at The Festival of Books, learning about writing, meeting authors, playing games and eating. It is one of our favorite weekends of the year..

Diane likes it too, because she gets a couple of days of quiet around the house.

You don't have to answer, but what is your idea of The Perfect Weekend?

Are you doing anything that resembles it this weekend?

Read Like a man

My reading choices for the last week or two have taken a turn for the masculine. Here's a sampling.

 

IF....

If you can keep your head when all about you   

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;   

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,   

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

    If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

 

...Rudyard Kipling

Huffing and Puffing

My wife has been working on holding me accountable in my eating choices, but it is difficult for her.

I really do want to eat better and have a definite opinion of what I should and should not eat and the effects that the unnatural food that is so readily available have on my body.

But, it is also easy for my to slip and slide away from what I know is good for me.

The other day, as I was jogging through a sandy wash behind some out-of-towners with some friends of mine, I started to feel every bit of my backsliding ways in the food department. 

Just as I was feeling about the worst, I got a message on my handy mobile computer device. It was a message from Diane, letting me know that my expenditures on local restaurants and delightfully sugar bombed coffee beverages in February was triple my January expenditures.

I think I could already feel that without her having to tell me.

On the other hand, I did have a little extra gear on.

Maybe that's what wore me out so quick.

Jack Donkey

I saw this guy at work today. While he is not the first of his kind I have encountered in my new job, he was certainly among the friendliest. And probably the most reasonable.

So, I thought I would share his picture with you.