Parade in Rittman

Every year in July
Proceeding down our main street
The sleepwalker parade
The fun can't be beat

Here come all the cars
Firetrucks and the tractors
In some of these things
We even see actors

People start their marching
They all look so dandy
And to all of the children
They throw lots of candy

All of the merchants
They all come together
To plan this event
And hope for good weather

So come out to Rittman
This July twenty four
Not just for the marching
We'll have plenty more

old and falling apart

Somedays I feel old
Like I'm falling apart
And I really do wish
I could get a restart

I feel I have pain
I feel I get sore
Gotta get things done
Gotta do even more

One knee, it gets stiff
The other's replaced
The price that I pay
For things done in haste

My back is so sore
And I can't turn my neck
But I think about this
And say what the heck

The life I have lived
And the things I have done
I look at it all
And I have had fun

Some people were born
In worse shape than I
Never even a chance
To look in the sky

It's not all that bad
To have aches and pains
Some just are payment
For all my great gains

Look out for skeeters

I live near a lake
A swamp and a creek
And all during the summer
We all want to shriek

We now all are pestered
Itching and scratching
Bothered by the skeeters
That keep on hatching

A truck drives through town
And starts all it's fogging
And bugs all the people
Who want to go jogging

The fog does it's part
The mosquitoes are sore
Gives them the desire
To attack us some more

We just get our repellent
Spray it onto our skin
Buy a bug zapper
Or forget it and stay in

Recording my thoughts

I want me a notebook

To record what I think

Because sometimes my thoughts

Are just gone in a blink

If I had something to write

Recording thoughts that I had

I just would not lose them

When my memory is bad

I can could use a recorder

A notebook, a pencil

To record these my thoughts

My dreams, they're a stencil

If you now read these thoughts

Look at these with your eyes

You should thank modern times

And the Lord who supplies

Ode to the IT guy

I. T. people at our work

Their self importance makes me smirk

They think they programmed moon and sun

Click a button and make it run

Their explanations make me snore

They think their best friend's one Al Gore

Their presence we can do without

Question them they start to pout

This poem is just tongue in cheek

Get a virus, them I seek

Server crashes, we're in trouble

Our workload then will more than double

Meet My Friends

Cliff Note: Pat J has challenged me to write a poem including all my blogging buddies. I have accepted this challenge and will not only write the poem, but I will include links. Names will be there in no particular order, just as I think of how to fit them in.

My friends are here
My friends are there
My friends all cheer
From everywhere

A TV blog
Is wrote by Tim
Read it all
And don't just skim

Pat writes about issues
All political stuff
Good sense of humor
Not all that gruff

Struke teaches video
Things we see and hear
A good moral compass
Helps him to steer

Don't adjust your screen
Because it's green
Our good nurse Bella
Is on the scene

Keeping us on our toes
Here's Cathouse Teri
She helps us think
And that's not scary

Daisy, Daisy
Not just one blog, but two
A proud Buckeye
Willing to entertain you

Monday through Sunday
Are the days of the week
Melanie is the blogger
Great faith she does speak

With her faith and her family
She's fit and runs too
From India our good friend
Is named Frasypoo

From New England comes Diamond
Quality is her game
With her weight loss suggestions
We'll soon call healthy her name

South in Mississippi
Liquid is queen
Generous in her praises
She'll never be mean

From Indiana, my friend Michelle
In Terre Haute, she's really swell
A wife and mother, but that;s not all
She also works at the Mart called Wal

Another friend from that same town
Sindi, she's special to all around
Her tater soup is all the rage
Of everyone of every age

This friend, she's down just for a bit
She's Stacy and she's getting fit
And she'll be back, just wait and see
New and improved, she'll even be

From Alabama, heart of song
She's Kathy and she'll sing along
Her son's band, of which she's proud
Though their music is really loud

Her log house is a gift of Him
Jen will tell us, her faith's not slim
Read her blog, it's called Unglazed
Feel her love, you'll be amazed

Another friend's not done a bunch
My friend Scott, I have a hunch
He's busy with post graduate studies
Scott and I are real good buddies

G'day Mate is what I say
To another blogger on this day
David McMahon is a real good bloke
He even really can take a joke

Another Michelle, across the sea
The land of Scots is where she'll be
She'll write a good story and a good rhyme
She'll visit often every time

Jessica is a very busy one
But she seems to have a lot of fun
She has her family, her dogs, her birds
She takes her pictures, and uses words

My daughter Martha, and her clan
She has a blog, she has a plan
Her three children, and their schooling
Are going places, I'm not fooling

This story's done, this poem's through

I hope that I've remembered you
If you're mad at me, and swing a bat
I'll tell you what, just go see Pat

I have been awarded.

This is probably one of very few non-poetic posts this blog will have. One of my newer friends, Daisy has awarded this blog the "Arte Y Pico" award. This is the first award this blog has received.

Here are the rules for the Arte y Pico award:

1) pick five (5) blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.
2) each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
3) each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
4) award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte y Pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award which is here: Arte y Pico.

First blog I would like to award this to is Media Matters. Struke does a great job using a newer form of communication-blogging, to give his views of the "more traditional" forms of mass communication and what they are lacking nowadays.

Second blog is Unglazed. Jen is my newest blogging friend and adds a new dimension to those on my blog roll. Her Christian views and the log cabin that was built with love are central points to this exceptional blog.

Third up, Life is a Roller Coaster. Sindi has been a good friend to many on my blog roll for quite awhile. Her love, humor, and photography make this blog a must read.

Fourth, Bella Builds a House. Our friend, aka the green nurse, is working on the next dream house she and her family will move in and wants to share the experience with us all.

Lastly, Pat J. (at least in my mind) knows it all. Pat gives his conservative political views in a very humorous way.

Check out all the winners, as well as Daisy's two blogs, Dancing With Daisy and Smiling With Daisy.

Fueling the dream

The long weekend is coming
And I can not wait
But the price of fuel
Will keep me in state

The burgers and weenies
Will all be great
I'll enjoy it at home
And sit with my mate

We'll go to the park
Watch the fireworks show
They will be shot up
And in bright colors glow

And to you, all my friends
On this Fourth of July
Keep your heads firmly up
On your dreams please fly high

Don't let the price of fuel
Steal all of your hopes
Or let all of your dreams
Slide down the steep slopes

Just learn from this day
And those here before
How they took all their dreams
And like the eagles did soar