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Explorer the Cat was waiting in bed for me after I got back from my drug and food run for the month. I spent some time in the workstation, but as soon as I got done with it and changed into my bed clothes she came right up to me in bed showing all the signs of getting over separation anxiety. She finally calmed down and is laying on my left side purring very loudly,

Well, given that you are a collector, I'll keep that in mind. Hopefully I'll have full set of spoons to deal with it later...

Here's something rare - a chance to hear yours truly actually perform on an instrument. Way back in 1984, I was part of the mallet percussion ensemble of the Houston Nighthawk Drum & Bugle Corps. Unlike today's massive pit percussion sections where people multitask, we were a 4-person section playing one instrument each, consisting of a vibraphone, a marimba, a xylophone, and a glockenspiel (a.k.a. a set of orchestra bells). What I offer here is an MP3 recording of a section rehearsal from the early part of our tour of the southern United States from 1984. I played the bells in it, which you can hear if you listen to the highest-pitched parts of the ensemble, as well as to the melodic line in most places. A note about the compositions: I wrote the mallet parts for the first piece and contributed to the mallet parts for the second piece. There are two voices on the recording. The first voice you will hear is me, introducing the ensemble and recording the date and location of the recording. I also introduce the last piece we play, using a rather silly voice (I was shouting to the tape recorder from a distance). Please feel free to download and keep a copy of the MP3 as a memento of a drum & bugle corps that died a sad, cruel death. I hope you enjoy the recording as much as I did performing the part. http://www.lbjackson.com/demo/NighthawksMallets1984.mp3

The Human came out the bedroom around 1:00 PM so he could talk to his shrink on the phone. Explorer the Cat moved from the bed, where she had been resting to the box on top of the bookcase resting area. She seems to like to rest on the knitted hats that normally are there.

You are a kind-hearted person. Thanks to you and mlooney both.

Explorer the Cat went into the bedroom early today. Because I used most of my spoons dealing with the credit union this morning I decided to join her early. Once I got undressed and into my sleeping clothes she came up from the foot of the bed and layed down on my left shoulder and just purred. I am so lucky to have her.

It's all good. I dropped twenty five into the till for the kitties.

Explorer the Cat was dashing about the house when I left to go to the credit union. Once I returned she was in bed, as is her habit when I leave the house for any length of time. I got back and she walked out of the bedroom after I had gone in there to get my morning pill and jumped up on to the bookcase and went to her "I'm resting for a while" place, meaning she is done running around the house. Any rate, here she is...

Sort, but not today, see my rant as to why. But yeah, have a couple of stars on your page of The List. Try not to do that again.

Yes! A Victrola! My grandmother had one. Hers was electric, though, with a motor for the turn table. I don't think it had any electronics at all. Pretty amazing acoustic design that it worked as well as it did. Relatively fat steel needle, too. So, I guess I scratch my head in puzzlement, "I think that old car might be laughing ... or it has asthma in it's carburetor."

No it isn't. It's hand cranked.

Aw. I had expected the sound to be kind of like the engine going BANG BANG. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTTzcXSLjhI

"Fire futon torpedos!"

Starting about an hour ago Explorer the Cat woke up and started being zippy the cat.

I've been real lucky that I haven't had a bad migraine in about 6 months. I've had less than a dozen mild ones in that time frame. Not any where near as bad as they used to be. I still wish you luck,

According to Weather Underground I'll have about 4 hours of "Scattered Strong Storms" with the chance of rain being about 40% starting about an 6:00. Given that EtC didn't have any reaction to the last 2 storms I'm waiting to see what she does this time, assuming we have a storm at all.

"Human I was sleeping. Why you wake me up?" Explorer the Cat in her medium sized box.

I wish nothing but good luck with not having any more migraines.

I can safely assume that Explorer the Cat is over running around the house as she has taken her "I'm taking a long rest or maybe a nap" position on top of the bookcase. Assuming she doesn't want to bother The Human on the computer desk, once she gets on that box on the bookcase, she stays there for quite a while. Like until she or The Human decide to go back to the bed room to read in bed.

Explorer the Cat is being extra zippy this morning. I was able to get this shot when she took a 30 second break from running around.

It's afternoon and we got up early this morning. Explorer that Cat is giving me a gentle hint that I should go back to bed and read there, not on the workstation like I have been.

I haven't ranted online in a while. Stand by for a rant. I'm on disability. One of the things that the SSA likes for you to do is have a direct deposit of your check. If you don't have a bank account, they have a system where you get a debit card and your check gets deposited in it automatically on the 3rd of the month. Works well, aside from it's web site not really having enough beans to handle the load on the 3rd and 4th of the month most months. That, however is not why I'm ranting today. The card account is a government run card account that they know how to make a deposit to and have been for several years. Until just recently I had no bank account, I didn't need one, as I had access to my money via the debit card. The IRS didn't have my information on the "where is my covid-19 check website, so I assumed that they would get the information from the SSA and make a deposit once they had it, given that I have what amounts to a government run bank account. Silly me. Once they had it, they, instead of doing a direct deposit, like they said they would, they sent me a paper check. Fortunately I have an account with the local credit union or I would have been up a creek with out a paddle dealing with that check as the banks in town have closed their lobbies. So, in short I have a monthly direct deposit run by a branch of the federal government. Another branch of the government needs to give me some money and they don't have access to any tax information because I don't have to file income taxes. They get, from the other branch my mailing address and send me a check instead of getting my direct deposit information and making a deposit. They added several steps to the process, both by them and for me for no good reason. And they wonder why people think the government is part of most problems, not the answer to most problems.

Thanks, but I didn't cross my fingers hard enough. The migraine kicked back in at about 1:30 p.m. - pain behind one eye, then everywhere. The area behind my left eye still hurts like hell, and it's not my sinuses. I'm on my second rizatriptan now. The first one just knocked me out for a couple of hours. Sound & light hurt. I imagine not as bad as yours, but bad enough to shut me down for periods of time.