Good Golly, Miss Molly!

(click on pics to enlarge the cuteness)

You may already be well aware that I'm an animal lover. I'm also a big proponent of adopting rescue animals; I highly recommend that anyone looking to add a 4-legged companion to their family start with any of the many local shelters that try to find 'forever homes' for their charges.

Mercy wasn't an only 'child'...she had two older adoptees that crossed the Rainbow Bridge a few years ago, but I never replaced them. Mercy is quite content in her solo role on the throne, but I've always leaned toward getting another dog for company. While I advocate adopting older dogs, for myriad reasons, it just so happened that I made a casual stop by a local adoption fair a week ago and, well, the rest is history.

I got squarely blind-sided...

Meet "Molly".....

Hard to believe she and her litter mates were abandoned. She's a Border Collie mixed with the great unknown, and as I write about 9-10 weeks old...

To say Mercy is glad to have her in her life would be a bold-faced lie, worthy of a lightning bolt upside the head. However, I have no doubt she will be a wonderful mother-figure for the wee one once Molly gets out of her pestering stage!...



She is a pistol, no doubt, chock full of personality and energy...and sharp puppy teeth that enjoy being engaged. She actually came with two speeds: full-bore and sleep. The sleep gear seems to only work for 3-4 hours at best, making for melodious overnight vocalizations...

She is endlessly inquisitive and playful, and knows no strangers...yet....

This is the only water she's been in so far...didn't do too much before hopping out, but if she hangs with Mercy she will quickly learn that creeks and lakes are pretty cool places to explore...

And so this post ends with many updates to follow, I have no doubt...let the adventurous games begin!

Love that oil step!

(click on pics to enlarge)

Nothing fancy to report this morning, except I took a group of 4 new flutes to the oiling stage, which is my very favorite part. The wood grain comes to life, and as you add finished on top of the oil it only gets better!

FYI, the flute on the left has only pilot holes drilled for the fingers...completing that step can be done later. I used Teak oil on the end flutes, left and right, and Danish wood oil on the middle two. Haven't used Teak oil before, so I'm experimenting with it...supposedly sinks into the grain and hardens, so I'm curious to try it on various woods. These particular flutes were sanded to 400 grit before the oil was applied.

First up....flame Maple with a touch of bark inclusions...over an Ebony base...


Next may well be the wood that instigated my allergic reaction, though not sure...it's Cape Beech from Africa. The 'scales' are called rays, and look like a cross section of cells under a microscope. This closely resemble the rays in Lacewood, the Australian silky oak I'm exceedingly allergic to (the dust, that is). I've done nothing more than muse if rays, regardless of species, have similar compounds that create the unique look...might give me a clear hint to stay away from woods with such rays!...

The flute on the far right is one of the Mahogany members, and while it looks like the light area didn't get enough oil, it's actually a very shimmery wood...as you tilt it in the light, what looks light will appear dark, and vice versa...just happens to be the way it looked for the picture.

By the way, from last Wednesday's post where I played my "Child's Play" song, the second flute from the left is the one I used...and it is already proving to be one of those flutes I'll have a hard time parting with (A#/Bb). All the blocks are made but in the multi-step drying process, so you only get to see the flutes in their birthday suits!

Always nice to have a little comparison shot, eh? Gearing up for this Saturday's show in Waynesville, the 26th Annual Church Street Fair...and none too pleased to see a 50% chance of rain...hope that changes for the better!

"Fried Fridays: The Four 'R's' ..."

Reading, (w)Riting, (a)Rithmatic...and Ridiculous.

Yet another story, here, of creatively dealing with the twists and turns of the economy. As the old saying goes, Necessity is the mother of Invention. To survive is to adapt, and what better way to adapt than to pool resources.

Having started a “Fried Fridays” column with those words, you are correctly saying in a low voice, “okay, what happened now…” Your next thought would be ‘what idiot…’ or ‘what government agency….’ or, uh,…oh, wait, same thing, different words…

DATELINE: IRVING TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN

(cue music and sing along…)

“And like a good neighbor, State Farm is the-e-e-e-e-re”

Call Lisa Snyder ‘State Farm’. With the economy all amuck, jobs shifting and work hours shifting and daily coordinated mayhem shifting, Lisa was like a godsend when it came to help getting neighbors’ kidlets on the school bus in the morning.

Three neighboring moms took her up on her offer to have their kids come and wait at her home for about an hour before the bus arrived, so that those parents could go to work. Everybody got along. Everything was hunky dory, peachy keen, copasetic.

As our mornings stay darker longer (at least until daylight saving ends), picture your own neighborhood with kids having to stand out in the dark and increasing cold waiting the big yellow banana crate. Think how you would feel if a neighbor like Lisa offered for your kid(s) to come and stay safe and warm, right in front of the actual bus stop, while you scurry to get to your job that probably pays poorly with mediocre benefits, if any, just to stay afloat. We’re not talking a battalion, just the kids from 3 families that all get along swimmingly.

Now feel the lump in your throat when, in the mail, you open a note from the Michigan Department of Human Services and read the stern warning that if YOU continue to keep the kids before school that you will be in violation of state law, accusing you of operating as an unlicensed day care center.

HUH??? SAY WHAT???

Of course, you’re shaking in your boots, a good bit confused (Lisa’s words were ‘freaked out/blown away), and increasingly getting really steamed over the lunacy of it all. And rightly so.

Snyder called her husband and the three families involved, and no one had any idea where this was coming from, especially since they are all such good friends. Just so happened another neighbor complained to the state agency; in response, the government agency stated it was following official procedure. Too damned bad official procedure doesn’t seem to include talking to the alleged ‘offender’ first to establish facts, but I digress…

The unlicensed daycare law currently on the Michigan books is a poorly written one, and with the immediate (and warranted) outcry, Governor Jennifer Granholm immediately stepped in and asked the agency director Ismael Ahmed to intervene and instigate new legislation to change the current statute, admitting to the total lack of common sense in this particular situation.

I’ll give the state of Michigan a pat on the back for their new agency opinion that “good neighbors should be allowed to help each other ensure their children are safe. Being a good neighbor means helping out neighbors who are in need. This could be as simple as providing a cup of sugar, monitoring their house while they're on vacation or making sure their children are safe while they wait for the school bus.”

I’ll assume the new verbage is not yet in place, but the proverbial ball is rolling to correct the asinine interpretation that was made. Case closed, kinda sorta.

HOWEVER……(pull out soapbox)

No other articles on this could I find addressed the neighbor who filed the complaint. What happened to spur the legal effort? Did the kids make too much noise? Did they blare music or somehow wake up other neighbors? Was this possibly a revenge of sorts from some unrelated issue? From my perspective, I immediately latched onto what I see as a big problem for lots of people in lots of neighborhoods: Neighbors that are complete, total asses and jerks.

True, I don't know how this whole situation got so blown up, but the neighbor has a significant hand in it, and it doesn't seem that anyone is holding them responsible for their part, even if just to complete the 'knowledge' circle. There is a lot of cheap journalism that will turn a buck on only the most moldable story without reporting a FULL picture of what was going on. Go for the ol' info-byte to nab a reader and move on. That in itself is a sad statement on where many are choosing to let media efforts go.

Contrary to the popular saying, squeaky wheels do not automatically deserve the grease. Oops, gosh, there I go digressing again!

My sister's big day...

My sister can ever more rip up a keyboard. Soloing with her first orchestra at the ripe age of 12, and schooled through her doctorate from The Juilliard School in New York City, she has accomplished tremendous levels of achievement with her artistry over the years.

After several years on a sabbatical of sorts from the keyboard, she prepared a very special program that was performed last Sunday afternoon in Spartanburg, SC. The concert was spurred by a relative who donated a grand piano for the performance hall at the First Presbyterian Church there...but it wasn't just any church. Our great-great-grandfather, Thomas Hart Law, was the first minister of that church, which made it all very personal.


To a packed hall, with the church scrambling to bring in extra seating, Beth treated us to Bach, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, and Landrum. Rita Landrum was already composing songs at the same age and time that Beth was playing with her first orchestra...whoulda thunk then that they would later team up and blend their talents?! Actually, our families share a deep friendship that is decades old, beginning when my grandfather moved to Tryon and became fast friends with John Landrum.

Now, if you wanna talk strange coincidences (except there are no coincidences!), Rita is the great-great-granddaughter of John Gill Landrum who founded the First BAPTIST Church in Spartanburg! Surely he and Thomas Hart Law must have known each other.

The following 'video'/audio clip is from Sunday's concert, with Beth playing Rita's "Another Allegro" (1981):



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Beth and Rita were also my groupies at my performance the following night at Tryon Estates, sporting their Ugly Boy Flutes t-shirts and holding the Holy Grail itself, the original "Ugly Boy"!

And so wrapped up a whirlwind 48 hours of family music and entertainment!

Something new, fun, and rough!

Monday evening I gave a performance/talk on my flutes at Tryon Estates in, you guessed it, Tryon, NC. Truth be told, it's not in Tryon but just outside of Columbus, the county seat. Tryon is several miles on the other side of the interstate, but the 'known' Tryon name is oft used even if it is a stretch...there I go, digressing as usual.

The A/V person was kind enough to burn a DVD of the show for me (they broadcast it on their large campus to those that wish to watch it in their rooms on closed circuit TV); alas, my Pinnacle software can't recognize the files that burned it, so I'm unable to show you this song I thought you'd enjoy. To that effect, I had to take the audio off of my Zoom recorder I'd placed below the stage on the floor and then just stick my mug with 'kids' in order to have a 'video' to embed in this blog.

Allow me to set the stage on what you're about to hear. My performance started at 730p. I wanted to be there no later than 630p. It was earlier that morning I decided I'd take my own sound system instead of using the 'house' system, and I pulled out a neat gizmo that I'd moth-balled a couple of years ago, for no other reason than I wasn't using my sound system when I performed and, well, just one of those out-of-sight-out-of-mind things.

At approximately 2p, I set up one speaker and the mixer just to balance and test...then unearthed the JamMan, a small blue box with two foot pedals and a handful of adjustment knobs. While that little computer does many things, the feature I wanted to use was the one where I can record a few bars of a riff or sound I want to repeat, using a stop-start pedal, and it continuously loops. Likewise, I can hit the same pedal and lay another riff or sound on top of the original one, and build it as thick and rich as I want. Yes, it takes coordination and a lot of use just to get comfortable and proficient with it, which I was not, given I hadn't used it in so long.

However, I started doing silly things with it just to practice...and, honestly, this song I started stitching together from scratch and had so much fun with it I thought "whattheheck" and decided I'd set it up in Tryon and, if my first test or two went well, I'd risk falling on my face and give it a try. Too fun not to, and it would be a welcome change from a flute solo.

A couple of nights ago I watched a fairly new Adam Sandler movie called "Bedtime Stories" in which he would make up a bedtime story for his niece and nephew he was caring for that week. The movie would act out his crazy story, but then the kids would chime in and want this and that to happen, as well...so he would add that in and the movie would act out the new additions. Quite cute, the movie. Well, it just so happened that whatever the kids added in, it would happen to Adam the next day, in some way...and so was this crazy magical movie that surround the imagination of a child.

I'm a Child. I have quite the imagination, too...and so I whipped up this 'adventuresome' song in which I threw 4 children's songs, making my own imaginative bedtime story song. I called it "Child's Play", and I'm telling you right now it is ROUGH around the edges, in part because it's weird mixing major and minor scales together. I multitrack my voice first playing a bass, then adding a trumpet, then doing some percussion. Interestingly, my trumpet voice is one of my best, and it's the weakest part of this song...singing requires practice just like playing!

SOOOooooooooo...turn on your speakers to hear the premier performance of a song that I need to work on some more! Enjoy! And DARE TO DREAM!!!!!

Wise words in today's "Meditation"

Most of us have our own select list of daily emails we get from some organization, usually surrounding a thought, word, horoscope, meditation, even 'sale' of the day...and one someone mentioned years ago is from "White Bison".

White Bison is a wellbriety group (originally) dedicated to helping Native Americans kick addictions to alcohol, domestic violence, and drugs, which are overwhelming issues in their culture today. You may be unaware that as an ethnic group, Native Americans as a rule do not have the genetic code to produce enzymes that break down the alcohol molecule once consumed. "Fire Water" did as much to destroy their populations and culture as did the heinous, evil mistreatment by 'wasicus' in the constant thievery, massacres, and outright theft upon the natives.

Without the enzyme, alcohol gets in and stays in the body until ultimately excreted, whereas those that produce the enzyme will dismantle an ounce of alcohol in an hour or so...going on a 'nine-day drunk' was commonplace among the tribes that had access to spirits, and I'm not talkin' the good kind...a tragedy still in the making today.

Anyway, White Bison puts out a daily meditation that I like to read everyday...sometimes the messages don't hit me with as much 'ooomph' as others, but today's was especially meaningful on a universal level...just might trip your trigger, too:
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Elder's Meditation of the Day - September 28

"Love is something that you can leave behind you when you die. It's that powerful."

--John (Fire) Lame Deer, ROSEBUD LAKOTA

The Old Ones say, love is all anyone needs. Love doesn't go away nor can love be divided. Once you commit an act of love, you'll find it continues. Love is like setting up dominos one behind the other. Once you hit the first domino, it will touch the second one which will touch the third one and so on. Every love act or love thought has an affect on each person as well as touching the whole world. If you live a life filled with love, the results will affect your friends, relatives, and other people, even after you go to the other side.

So...Love…(and I add, ‘love often’).

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You can sign up HERE if you would like to get the White Bison daily meditations.

"Fried Fridays: Hold it right there!"

I often find myself musing about "Life" in general...how it used to be so large and is now such a small-sized publication (sorry, just felt like going off on that tangent...)

Seriously, there are so many important facets to life at every age. Youth. Adult. Mature. The Golden Years. The more years you live, the more you've seen, the more you've experienced...and the more you get set in your ways...

DATELINE: LAKE WORTH, FLORIDA

Robert E. Thompson must be one of those elders with a rich collection of memories at the spry age of 91. Still lives by himself and takes care of himself, too...and very well, it would appear. He also owns a sweet pup that's a Rottweiler-Doberman mix... ol' Rhett.

It just so happened that early last Saturday morning Thompson was startled from his sleep by Rhett, who was vigorously responding to a hapless (read 'drunk') fence jumper and burglar-to-be Jose Pasqual, a 26 year old ne'er-do-well.

The elder Thompson immediately called the police, then quickly grabbed his trusty .38 calibre pistol, heading straight toward the fray. When the intruder came at him, he quickly fired a warning shot that let the young miscreant know he meant business.

So, there stood the apprehended trespasser with a deadly weapon trained on him...an elderly man who was dead serious...and a dog that, by pedigree, would love 'dibs' at the first breath of a command. The police soon arrived to wrap the matter up.

Well, all but one part of it.

Thompson was buck naked.

He never bothered to put on any clothes before he went into action. There wasn't any more information to this succinct story, which is probably a good thing. I guess these can be called the bare facts. The important thing is the police got to the bottom of the matter.

The end.

"Pentatonic" fun!

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

I am in a busy week full of 'stuff' to do and take care of so not getting around to much more posting...but in my searching out intervals for the various pentatonic (and other) musical scales from around the world, this particular video segment popped up and I though you might enjoy it, even if you're not a musician. Just click on it to play.

Bobby McFerrin is an amazing vocalist...I have not delved into the above conference to read anymore about it, but if Bobby is a part, I'm all ears. Many moons ago I worked in Atlanta, and Bobby McFerrin was in concert at the Fox theater there. I had recently purchased his "Don't Worry Be Happy" album and had it almost memorized by the time the concert came to town.

Paid for a phenomenal seat 3 rows from the front, almost dead center...and as he does in most concerts he asks for some volunteers from the audience. I know you think I might be shy (NOT!) but I immediately raised my hand and was picked first. 8 of us were brought up on stage, and he split us into 4 pairs, giving each of us a specific vocal riff to sing. After getting us up to speed, he went into his classic improvisational singing with us doo-wopping, kinda sorta...and I am here to say that after he finished and shook our hands, I didn't want to wash it ever again!

So I hear there may be uninterrupted sunshine in the Carolinas by Monday? What a novel idea....!

'Nudder cyberlink I like...

While I do have an MP3 player, I'm not one to have or have had an iPod, Zune, or other such media gizmo. I do love music, and at times I like to play it through the computer and not have to deal with shuffling CDs in and out. And while I have a library of tunes saved to the onboard iTunes, I like new stuff. If that sounds like you, then have I got a nice site for you to download....

PANDORA internet radio

On the site you can read about the 'music genome project' they undertook to tag millions of songs with markers so you can design your own station format. For instance, as I'm typing I'm listening to "Barbershop Quartets". Earlier I was on my "Celtic Woman" channel...I've got one for Mary Youngblood and native american artists....and when I need to get a little jiggy I click on my "Louis Jordan" station.

This is NOT a site where you can save or download the music, it's just for listening pleasure as it happens. The site has restrictions placed on it by the music industry that music cannot be on demand, or a particular artist have more than a certain number of songs play in a limited time frame...but I find the constant mix pleasurable.

You search an artist or song...and the 'project' selects songs by that artist or title and other artists and songs that closely match it in markers. As it ultimately starts playing selections, you get to see a little thumbnail of the album and artist, with the name of the song, etc. If you start hearing a song you really don't like, you can click on a 'thumb-down' icon and not only does it remove that song from playing on your station, but if there are other songs that closely line up via those markers, it won't play those either.

Yes, it's free, and what ads there are are minimal. I'm real testy toward 'free' sites that run annoying ads and pop-ups, and this site doesn't bother me in the slightest. Netflix is behind this project, fyi. I often use an air-card with my laptop, and it doesn't stutter and stop like trying to watch a video segment on a weak signal.

I simply get it going and minimize the window in my tray and go about my other computer work. It's fun and easy, and it's exposing me to a lot more music in about an easy a way as I've ever experienced it. Figured some of you might like to investigate it and give it a whirl!

Computer-help godsend!

Thanks to computer guru Ashley Carr for saving me from pulling my hair out Sunday afternoon! PPD in Wilmington should be grateful to have such a talented IT trouble-shooter on their staff...

Many of us have been in this same boat: trying to help a less-computer-savvy family member deal with problems they're having with their computer. Over the phone. Trying to explain or understand what's on a screen, what's going haywire, what isn't doing what it should be doing, and what's doing something that either it shouldn't or it's never done before. Often, just by the very nature of the dilemma, you start talking apples and oranges and it just doesn't go smoothly...

(I LOVE YOU, MOM!!!!!!!)

Not sure what exactly got changed or even more so how it got changed, but mom's 'internet options' got really screwed up, be it through spyware not yet found, etc. Her screen was doing things and going places she did not intend, and just when I considered diving off the back deck into the ivy patch, a lifeline akin to manna from heaven was thrown to me, thanks to a quick cry of help to Ashley...

CrossLoop.com

In short, the above link lets you (and your troubled cyberkin!) download a freeware program that allows one to, only with coded approval from the other, pull up their desktop and control their mouse. In very short order I had my mom's desktop on my laptop (sans her wallpaper), and I could control her mouse and do everything for her while she simply watched me move the mouse and listened as I told and SHOWED her what I was doing.
Badda-BING, Badda-BANG, Badda-BOOM!

There is an option where you can pay a CrossLoop techie to do the same thing to help you out of a jam, but otherwise it's a freebie option of untold value to me. As safety precautions would necessitate, I can't get into her computer without her permission and access code (a new 12-digit one is created every time you open the program), so it's secure.

After solving the problems of the world on that screen, I pulled up her security software to do a quick sweep in case I missed anything, giving her explicit instructions to leave the computer alone until I can see the results....once they see their empty desktop back up, then they could have at it on the computer.

I stepped away for a few minutes to handle other things, then realized the scan must be done....mom had gone to a rehearsal, and there...on the screen...was Roger playing a game of Spider Solitaire (one of my favorites!). Imagine the fun I had when little horns grew out of my head quickly...and I started moving his cards in all the wrong places! I never said anything, made some crazy (bad!) moves with his cards, and logged off! Sorry 'bout that, Roger Dodger! Couldn't resist!

"Fried Fridays: A Toke'n of Appreciation"

Bartering can be cool. Been around for ages. Trading time and talents instead of money between individuals.

The economy has brought even more of it about for all the obvious reasons. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Nothing could be simpler.

And nothing could be more complex...

DATELINE: FOX LAKE, ILLINOIS

41 year-old Kym Krocza teaches algebra and calculus at Grant High School in Fox Lake, Il. Teachers have always been underpaid and undervalued, that's a given. Long hours. Commitment of soul and concern for student welfare. Parent-teacher meetings. And so much more.

Lucky for her that Ms. Krocza befriended a couple of teenage girls in her neighborhood that soon became students at her school. Convenient set-up it was....they all lived in the same neighborhood, the teacher needing help with cleaning and laundry, the teenage girls happy for a chance for some income.

Or at least some 'income' of sorts.

You always wonder how a story like this comes to the forefront, truly. Somehow, somewhere, under some circumstances, the story got more interesting...and more public.

Oh yeah, and illegal.

Apparently, this 40-something teach opted for the age-old bartering system that the teenage students agreed to...only it involved contraband.

"Let's see...you do my laundry and clean this that and the other...and for your efforts I'll give you marijuana, alcohol, and Zoloft to help your self-awareness develop more fully. That work for you?"

Guess for a while it worked swimmingly. Until the teen heads got to swimming a wee bit too much., that is.

Cutting to the chase, while free on bond for the moment, it should come as no surprise that Ms. Krocza has been suspended from her duties at Grant High, now facing felony charges. She didn't return calls made to her home phone, either.

I guess having to do all your own cleaning and laundry takes you away from handling other communications...

An open letter to the Prez...

Dear President Obama,

Talk about ‘Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride’….2009 has been a whirlwind, maelstrom, hurricane, and flood all in one, eh? Even with all the hullabaloo in the news these days, sure seems like many people have forgotten you didn’t create our massive problems – you inherited them.

As always, there are trade-offs, options, and consequences to actions taken. Some complain about all the money you spent to bail out banks and auto companies. I cringe to think what would have happened had they been left to die on the vine and get no assistance. I will say the old Wall Street way of doing things and paying obscene bonuses needs to be corralled in, and there is not clear-cut information on what your administration has done to address that…on the other hand, “Washington” is all about intense lobbying pressure and efforts that most citizens simply can’t fathom. Want as we might to change the way some business is done on The Hill, there are practical limitations on what can be realistically achieved. *SIGH*

In sort of the same vein, I have been very disappointed in the banking industry's response to having their butts saved. They talked a big game about how they were lending again and helping homeowners out in various ways, but I pretty much take it largely as a lie. The lending rules change weekly, and it's damn near impossible to refinance except under the most stringent of conditions. And I sure hope credit card reform efforts will overcome banking lobbyists opposition. I see banks continuing to try and pull fast ones over consumers' eyes, now in new ways...seems like the same old shell game, if you ask me.

I have been greatly saddened by those that condemn you as a Nazi, socialist, and other such absurd terms…I guess what REALLY bothers me is that many of those people have already pro-created and spread their genes to new life forms. I think we VERY much need a public option health-plan…I know, as I buy my own insurance through Blue Cross Blue Shield, which I fight hard to hold on to month after month. Many simply can’t afford it. And be damned those ‘spin doctors’ who purposefully manipulate the media to twist what your well-intentioned plans and dreams with false words and statements. I’m sorry that there aren’t more citizens who choose to engage their own brains and make intelligent decisions on information presented. All too many hear only what they want to hear so they can sit their butts up on their band-wagon-of-choice tailgate.

I’m glad that at least so far your daughters are allowed to be real kids and not subjected to idiotic news stories daily. I’ve worked in media for 20 years, and I’ll be the first to raise my hand and say that the media has acted irresponsibly on too many an occasion, pushing a news story with no intrinsic value except to turn a ratings point and a buck. Sadly, that process seems to be only intensifying, especially with the conservative Right talk show hosts. Egos are about as hard to crack as the insurance lobby shell, ain’t they? An “Amen!” from the choir is good enough for me.

The “War” you inherited is almost a no-win situation any way you turn. The soldiers are definitely over-stretched and need immediate relief…and we need them home, sooner as opposed to later. We have the responsibility to help others as much as feasibly possible, but there is also the opposite need to stop our own hemorrhaging, lest we do much harm to ourselves within our own boundaries.

You have so much on your plate, and I am but a small fish. Thank you for having the courage to go up against the status quo and stand your ground. Isn’t it a hoot that the ‘status quo’ has no idea that their very ideologies got us to where our ‘status quo’ is?! Humor can always be found even in the darkest of times.

As Shakespeare would say, “Lay on, Macduff!” And godspeed. Don’t let the turkeys get you down.

Sincerely,

Flute Boy