Sweet Fancy Moses - 4 days in a row!!

Sweet Fancy Moses - 4 days in a row!!  I could be onto something here with this just "logging on and chatting at you" while I'm having my java and chain smoking... 


I almost posted yesterday afternoon and said I was going to be back at "bedtime" with an Ocho-rific Song o' the Day on Livin' in a Box.  Thank goodness I didn't because my last stop of the day was a little more mentally taxing than I had anticipated and there's no way in the Universe I had it in me to do an Ocho-rific S.O.D. last night, but I will be bringing it back soon.


My goal for my little morning post is for it to be "chatty" ... 
as if we're having java together and you're not talking... hahahaha... 


I've attempted different concepts that have never seen the light of day.  


One brilliant idea I had was that I would write my post as if I were writing a letter to someone updating them on current events at the Ocho and discussing "top neeeeews items" (as Mr. Modglin used to say) ... Some of you kids are old enough to remember that people used to write communications back and forth rather than grunt and text one another emoticons implying the state of their mood... so I thought if I were to write it as ... say for example a letter to a friend like Mendy it could be hillarious... Mendy and I bring out a comedic sides of one another that people seldom see.  


I've known Mendy for about thirty-five years and I can assure you I'm as shocked as you are to realize I'm old enough to have known someone for thirty-five years.. I first met Mendy when we played t-ball for Metropolis Drugs in probably 1979... 


Our dad's worked together at the same coal power plant... so we each have an impeccable understanding of what Mendy and I call "Union Dad Humor".   We once toyed with the idea of a skit called "Union Dad's Gone Wild"... and I was actually pondering that concept again over the weekend as I was on my cleaning and remixing gig. 


Anywho ... I'm not even sure if I'm on track anymore ... I am going to be adding a great deal of video footage and I do have a ton of it already on my hard drive, but as hard as it is to post a written piece without proofreading it a dozen times - you can only imagine how hard it is for me to sit down and critique whether or not a video is funny enough or entertaining enough to post publicly... thus bringing me to the next brilliant idea I had after "writing a letter to Mendy"...


A live video blog over morning java .. PJs, bedhead and all.  That would be incredible for my traffic... hahaha...   I don't want you to get the wrong idea with the PJs either ... they're not risque by any stretch ... in fact, last night it was pink flamingo pajama pants and a Styx t-shirt.   Anywho ... I suppose we'll see what happens with it ... but those are some of my current thoughts. 


I'm going to get to the bottom of the neighborhood yard sale today and make a decision one way or the other on that and the concert trip to St. Louis.  I've got a zillion little to-dos that I've let lapse and I'm going to have a whopping big time catching up on that stuff later this afternoon.  


But I think first I'm going to go get some bandage wrap for poor Shazbot-Moonbeam-Jackson's paw, he's had an injury - and run a couple of other errands, then I'm gonna come home and turn my music up as loud as it will go and slide off into a much needed cleaning frenzy for a few hours... 


I'm also hoping to get to *the Farmhouse* later today for more footage ... finish a bit of design work on some promotional materials ... do a boatload of laundry ... clean out my car and work out about a half dozen kinks on different things here and there ... and I sooooo desperately want to go for a bike ride later and clear my noggin a bit... I haven't been on my bike in more than a week and I can tell it physically and mentally...


That's not just a bunch of malarky about exercise making you feel better, kids.... that doesn't make it any easier for us to make ourselves get off of our fannies and do it sometimes; but if you can just put past that "not wanting to" part, the rest is downhill ... as is often the case. 


Have a Grand and Groovy Day!
Don't Text and Drive!!
For More Info on my projects Google KCoJax,  Flawn Ocho,  Ocho-rific

It's Gonna Be One of Those Days...Livin' in a Cardboard Box...

Are you familiar with those days that you just wake up knowing that all Hell is going to break loose and not yet knowing quite how it's going to happen?  I think we all are... 


I took off yesterday to run some errands and finish a cleaning and remixing job... My errands

went without incident aside from my falling backwards into a bush while I was pulling a sprinkler across a yard and then I returned to Metropolis, grabbed a cheeseburger at McDonald's (sorry SKT) and took off for the cleaning and remixing gig.

A Monday A.M. Update and "This Week at the Ocho"?

Good morning and Happy Monday Gang! 


I have to admit I woke on the wrong side of the couch this morning after dozing off watching TV last night... now my whole self is in a kink - I'm hoping my muscles will unravel as the morning wears on.


I'm back on the cleaning and remixing gig today for what I'm hoping is the last day.  The

resident of the home didn't get the list of stuff completed that I needed him to do... thus keeping me from starting on the final rooms yesterday .. I am pleased to announce that the fellow did mow the "other half of the yard" yesterday and bag some remnants of carpet for the trash pick up, so I have really high hopes that he's going to have the rest of his list knocked out when I get there today.

A Sunday Afternoon Update

I am being inundated lately with strange dreams... I wake up as tired as I was when I fell asleep... haunted and perplexed all day by flashbacks from strange dreams. It's been my intention for a very long time to keep a dream journal, but I've never really started.

***

Allow me to delve a little deeper into the Facebook posts below ... 

you may have caught these a couple of afternoons ago on my FB news feed.... 

Kim Comer Jackson

19 hours ago near Metropolis via mobile

Standing on the corner of north avenue in an apron holding 3 pieces of ham... trying to catch a dog. I normally charge more for

this...

Kim Comer Jackson

17 hours ago near Paducah via mobile

I am pleased to announce that run-away-Pop was captured shortly after his escape ... and Mendy don't think for a minute I didn't almost go back for the camera :0) talk about missing some tremendous footage! To top it off I had on 1 of my hippy hats & my superman t shirt with my apron... purple cleaning gloves hanging out of my pocket and flailing in the wind... I can't begin to fathom how ridiculous I looked running down the street..

The breakdown of all of that is that I was on a cleaning and remixing gig and as I sat on the stoop having a ciggy, I attempted to pet the dog through the crack in the door at which time he nudged through the door and slowly meandered onto the stoop.  He sat down, he seemed like he was going to stay... he didn't.


Off we went around Marberry Drive, about six feet at a time... I'd get almost to him and he'd run a few feet more... As I began to hear the sound of traffic grow louder, I looked up and realized that Pop and I were about two houses away from North Avenue... 


A man looked up at me and grinned as he mowed his yard... I made one of those "panicked twisty faces" I like to make and shouted, "I'm trying to catch that dog... and if I catch 'im, I'm gonna ride him back!" ... did I mention this dog Pop weighs probably about 160 pounds? 


I stood on the corner of North Avenue and Marberry Drive watching Pop roam towards the road... I would truly give anything to have video and audio of the event... There was a lot of "Holy F*cking Sh*t, Pop! What the H*ll are you doing to me?" and "Oh this is ridiculous... this just can't be happening..."  


Then... a familiar face in a car turning into Marberry... the teenager who lives in the house that I'm working on... Hallelujah! Except for now, the son of the homeowner knows that I've accidentally let the dog out...


The young man got out of the car and left it running as he chased Pop across North Avenue.  I was now standing beside a running Honda on the corner of the busiest street in town at juuuuuust the time when everyone was traveling home from work, wearing a blue apron, a hippie hat, a Superman t-shirt and purple gloves ... holding a handful of ham.  


As I stood there and pondered if I should move this running vehicle down to the house and call the Mom/homeowner, I saw another familiar face... the Mom, well speak of the little lovey - here she is right now, and who's that with her in the vehicle?  Well, it's the son and Pop, of course... 


As she pulled to a stop, the son and Pop got in the Honda and I relinquished my handful of ham to the son.  I hopped into her vehicle (actually hoping that I was still in good graces enough to get a ride back down to the house) ... on our ride back to the house, we determined that Pop had found a sucker and I had obviously let her come home to more discombobulation that intended... 


In the end, she was in good spirits and Pop was safe... 
If no one's killed or maimed, it can be fixed - a'men?!


Anywho ... I'm about to take off now for what will hopefully be the last day on this cleaning and remixing project.  It's been a bit difficult as the son spends more time in the house than I had realized at the initial consultation - he's a delightfully charming young fella, but he can mess the daylights out of a house... 


As I left the house a couple of days ago, I poked my head into the den to say goodbye as this fellow and his buddy played a video game... I said, "You mentioned you weren't working tonight and I wanted to let you know you could save your Mom a little chunk by doing the dishes in the kitchen..."  
"Okay..", he said.


"Also, could you tell me ... is there anything I need to know about starting the mower?  Your Mom's timeline for project completion is this weekend and I know that was on her list.." 
"I'm gonna do it...", he said.


"Okay ... that and the dishes then ... we've got a deal?" 


"Yup!", he said cheerfully....


Now ... I'll come back later and tell you how that turned out ... 
I think you probably already know... 


Were we really all procrastinating, contankerous, know-it-all teenagers at one time?
Yikes...


Have a grand and groovy day!! 
Don't text and Drive!! 

A Thursday Evening Wrap Up at 12:30 in the A.M. on Friday...

Is it Thursday evening?
The Holiday has me as confused as all daylights...
***
I've been working this week on the last phase of a project that began in January.

BEFORE

Immediately After

After Mounting TV on Wall, removing superfluous furniture and
Adding a Second Column of Shelving

*** 

I've also been working more shooting time into my daily routine and I've been putting more focus on Flawn Ocho...  As far as the KCoJax Local Flavor branch goes - I had planned to find a very lofty location from which to capture last night's Independence Day fireworks.

In fact, on Tuesday afternoon as I crossed the I-24 bridge while driving home after a quick trip to Paducah I pondered whether or not there are still any friends of the family working at E.E.I..  My dad's been retired from there for many years, but I've heard many times from him about the phenomenal Fourth of July view from the tops of the decks at the plant and I was wishing then that I would've thought of that location early enough to try and worm my way in somehow.

Tuesday night I crept around town to spy a couple of shots of the moon and continued to wish with all of my might that friends would call with a spot for me on a boat... that would be my ideal location - 

I captured the images below on Tuesday Evening... 

*** 

I returned home in a flurry on Wednesday afternoon from hanging shelves .. still not quite sure where I would perch myself to view the Metropolis Fireworks.  I got cleaned up and readied myself for wherever I might wind up and stepped out onto the back patio to ponder my next move.

I lit a ciggy and scanned the sky as I evaluated the pros and cons of locations.  I'd had invitations to join friends at two different places, one of which I think would've been an incredible view - but I was feeling hermitish and didn't really feel like meeting up with people.

After I found I couldn't get onto the roof of the Ocho without causing a scene, I decided to just hop in my car and see where I wound up - but I went in the direction of Dorothy Miller Park.  I arrived by the 3rd shot of fireworks or so and using my phone to light my path scurried among the people all sprawled out on their blankets in an attempt to get as close to the river as I could.  

My goal for shooting the fireworks was to experiment with shutter speed and aperture settings.  I've been doing that a bit with some night shooting, but as a real test I wanted to try something as vivid and delightfully active as fireworks.  Per usual, my decision to run late was not a good one - causing me to sit by a gaggle of folks who'd brought their cocktails along with them - thus they were extraordinarily and abruptly noisy...  causing me to be a bit jittery... and making me wish I'd brought a tripod along... 

Nervous Firworks

This one reminds me of "Sideshow Bob"...

Getting out of the mess of traffic wasn't "too" terribly bad, although I am really hoping that teleportation becomes a mainstream form of transportation in my lifetime - because obviously that would've made it quicker still...

Until Next Time...

Have A Grand and Groovy Day

and
Don't Text and Drive!

For More Info on my projects
Google KCoJax,  Flawn Ocho,  Ocho-rific

Tap.. Tap.. Tap... Is this thing on? ...

Here I am gang ... and once again the rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated... 


I wanted to share something with you real quickly before I take off to revamp an entertainment center ... My site Flawn Ocho, just in case you've never checked it out ... 


Flawn Ocho is where you can find the images and graphics that I create on things like coaster, t-shirts, magnets and whatnot ... Be sure to share it with your friends!

You can click 
Here - www.cafepress.com/flawnocho


You can *Like* Flawn Ocho on Facebook --> Here

Until next time ... Have a grand and groovy Day!
and Don't Text and Drive!


For More Info on my projects Google

KCoJax,  Flawn Ocho,  Ocho-rific