This has been stuck in my head for days… In case you are wondering, no it’s not really about a dead horse, it referrs to a custom observed onboard ship when a sailor has made back his months advance.  There are multiple version of the song, that shoudl be no surprise really.  I personally have the version from “Pirate’s Life” by the Shantyman stuck in my head, so here it is.
Dead Horse Shanty

A poor old man come riding by
And we say so, and we hope so
A poor old man came riding by
Oh, poor old horse.

Says I, “Old man, your horse will die.”
And we say so, and we hope so
Says I, “Old man, your horse will die.”
Oh, poor old horse.

Well if he dies we’ll tan his skin
And we say so, and we hope so
And if he lives we’ll ride him again.
Oh, poor old horse.

Well for one long month I rode him hard
And we say so, and we hope so
For one long month we all rode him hard.
Oh, poor old horse.

Well now your month is up, old Turk
And we say so, and we hope so
Get up, you swine, and look for work
Oh, poor old horse.

Get up you swine and look for graft
And we say so, and we hope so
While we lays on and drags ye aft
Oh, poor old horse.

He’s as dead as the nail in the lamp-room door
And we say so, and we hope so
And he won’t come a botherin’ us no more
Oh, poor old horse.

We’ll use the hair of his tail to mend our sails
And we say so, and we hope so
And the iron of his shoe to make deck nails
Oh, poor old horse.

Well we’ll haul him up to the fore yard-arm
And we say so, and we hope so
Where he won’t do us sailors any harm
Oh, poor old horse.

Well we’ll drop him down with a long, long roll
And we say so, and we hope so
Where the sharks will have his body and the
Devil take his soul
Oh, poor old horse.

I’m home from St. Louis.   Thanks again to Bob, Jen, and Jenn for putting up with me on the ride back.  Thanks to Neisha, Chris and Juli too.  I had a pretty decent weekend overall.  It was a little to hot at times, but I dressed lightly and managed to survive the weekend without much trouble.

I didn’t take as many photos as I probably should have, but the ones I took are posted in my gallery.

Saturday

Sunday

In just a few short hours the trip to St Louis begins.  I’m mostly packed…  I’m mostly ready…  I think…    I’m looking forward to getting to play again.  There will be some rough moments I know, but that just can’t be helped.    I think it will be a good weekend over all thgouh, and I’m goign to do my best to enjoy it.

Oh and one more thing.  Thank you again Karl. You’ve made a big difference the past two days.

This morning after the thunderstorm passed, I managed to get outside and actually do some yard work that needed to be done.  I worked off and on until Karl arrived around 1:30. Then he helped me finish up a couple things.  One of the more impromptu items was the removal of a diseased tree to one side of the sidewalk.  The tree was very sickly looking and had a lot of dead branches.  (A good half of it was torn down in an ice storm two years ago and it never really recovered)   I walked up to it and grabbed the trunk and and gave it a good shove. When I did I felt and heard a pop and a crack, so I pulled the opposite direction and felt a few more telling pops.  At that I grabbed on to it firmly with both hands, and ripped it right out of the ground at the root base.  Karl had a pretty priceless look on his face as I carried the tree to the rubbish pile and layed it down.  He then helped me take out the other trunk (all together it had been four seperate trunks )
“I wish I had my camera…”

“What?  Isn’t that how you take out trees?”

“Uhhhh… Nooo…”

“Huh, well it seemed easier to me than getting out a saw…”

At that he helped me take out one of the other sections in a simmilar fashion. Some times it’s good to be the ’shop ogre’

I’m home, I had no trouble on the drive. I think it’s going to be an early night tongiht, I’m pretty tired.

I think I have survived openeing weekend. My calf muscles will argue that point with me for a few days I’m sure. I really haven’t slept well in the hotel thoguh, which I suppose isn’t a compleete surprise. Overall I had a pretty good time thoguh.

This weekends photos are posted in my St Louis 2006 Gallery

Highlights of the weekend:

• The moth coming out of it’s cocoon and then riding on the King.
• Seeing Juli’s shop do well.
• Being “Shop Ogre” and dispatching the pesty giant furry spiders with my axe, my dagger, and my foot.
• Being “pressed” into tape wench service once more (thanks Bill), and getting the entire pub sing audience laughing. (I just can’t help myself)
• Stalking Bounding Main for their shows and being the “seed” audience.
• Getting recognized by a number of cast, and even a few mundane patrons. (”Hey look it’s that 4 guy!!!”)

I have safely arrived in St Louis.  I’m checked into the hotel, with only a little difficulty.  (Expedia will be getting a call about this…)   I’ve found Juli, or she found me.. or somethign.. and we will be goign to dinner and last minute shopping.  It seems someone put a campfire in teh mittle of her spot for her tent so she needs a rake to clean it up…  Anyway…  I’m here, it’s humid… and I’m hungry…

Time to go wander…

A friend took the kingdomality personality test today. I haven’t taken it in a long time so I thought I’d see what I’d get again…
The results should be no real surprise I think.

Your distinct personality, The Dreamer-Minstrel might be found in most of the thriving kingdoms of the time. You can always see the “Silver Lining” to every dark and dreary cloud. Look at the bright side is your motto and understanding why everything happens for the best is your goal. You are the positive optimist of the world who provides the hope for all humankind. There is nothing so terrible that you can not find some good within it. On the positive side, you are spontaneous, charismatic, idealistic and empathic. On the negative side, you may be a sentimental dreamer who is emotionally impractical. Interestingly, your preference is just as applicable in today’s corporate kingdoms.

I caved in yesterday.   After years of convincing myself it was pointless for me to do it…  I broke down and bought an actuall iPod.   I got the 30 gig iPod video.  I’m hoping it will be big enough for me.  I’m pretty sure it will take me quite a long time to put everything on it that I listen to.  There were a few reasons I bought it, main one is I’m tired of never having the song I want to listen to with me.   So now I take on the task of re-creating my music collection.  Should be fun…

The college I work for is currently undergoing a lot of growth. As part of the growth they have decided to hook the college into the metro water reclimation district. I’m not arguing weither or not it needed it. I’m pretty sure it did.   What is really disturbing me is the destruction that has come in the name of “progress”.  Behind my building there is a nicely wooded area that has provided home to countless animals, and a santuary to me when I just needed to get away at lunch.   Today when I arrived at the building I was appallad to discover that a large section of this relaxing, coool, beautiful forest is now nothing more than a pile of mulch.

Progress…

Right…

Well this weekend was an interesting one.  Saturday morning, rather than just sit around the house like I have been doing (yeah I know… )  I had a burst of creativity and acted upon it.  In doing so I actually came very close to compleeting a longstanding project taht I’ve really been feeling guilty about.  If all goes well, it should be ready to go by Friday.  I also did a little work on a more recent project I should have spent the weekend on, but when the creative side hits on something I am not about to wrestle it away.  If I had forced myself both projects would have suffered greatly and theres no point in that.
Sunday brought Mothers Day, and all sorts of drama, and emotions.  I took my mother nd aunt out for lunch to the little local greasy spoon my mother likes.   She reall wanted to go to the movies, but I’m a terrible son and didn’t take her.  I just cannot bring myself to go see United Flight 93…  I couldn’t have watched it before the recent events and I know now would be worse.   So after the fun at lunch, and a subsequent breakdown at home I got in the car and went for a drive.   At some point I ended up hopping from Target to Target in search pants… Why pants? Well why not pants? After I found a pair I thoguht I could live with I continued to drive.  I finally woke up from the funk sorta when I realized I was in St. Charles. At that point I called Karl and Gabbi and took them out for dinner.