Ahh yes Kermit the Frog. So many things are going through your mind right now. I'll clue you in.
Many years ago in the early 80's there was "The Muppet Show". I was an avid watcher. I would singing along with the tunes and laugh at all the jokes that were being said and done in the background. I had started down a road of an unusual thing. I started imitating the voices of many of the characters on the show. But one of my best impressions, is that of Kermit the Frog. I would break it out once in a while to amuse little ones that were around but that was it. Later in life I broke the voice out for my 2 boys and found another thing that I could imitate..... Elmo.
A full grown man that could do the Elmo voice was not really what people expected from me. We had purchased a Tickle Me Elmo figure for one of the boys and I could do an almost dead on imitation of him giggling and laughing with the high pitched voice. Yeah that's me.
More that a few times I would talk to people on the phone in the Kermit voice and do Elmo every now and then but didn't really have any use for it. Then the time came.....
I'm hooked on karaoke. I like to sing (not very well mind you) but it is a good stress release for me. A few beers and in my own mind I'm the greatest. Like we all think. We have fun and that's the point.
One night after a few too many I decided to sing "Puff the Magic Dragon" I started to sing it in my normal voice but a few lines into it I switched my voice to Kermit. The bar went dead silent as I sang. I had never experienced that before. People were listening to me sing. Ohh my god. I changed back to my normal voice and finished the song. If people were not already standing they stood up and well lets say I was embarrassed to say the least. I quickly sat down.
From then on I was known as Kermit around the small town I lived near. When I would go to the bar to sing there were more than a few people that would ask me to sing Puff the Magic Dragon and I would sing it and have fun with it. But the song that I knew that the D.J. had to get was Rainbow Connection. I would ask him to try and get it and he looked and looked, then the night came that he announced that he had a special treat. He called my name and I walked up and he started playing the song, my jaw dropped, but of course out came Kermit. I was on cloud nine. I finished and I think there might have been a tear in my eye. So from that day forward that was my song.
We went to another bar just down the road from us and they were having karaoke that night and low and behold they had Rainbow Connection. The D.J. there was an actual radio personality that I had listened to off and on. When I came up to sing it he was laughing because I had been the only one ever to request it. As I sang it the people in the bar would turn around and look and get a better view of who was singing. Yup it was me. On occasions at that particular bar they had a cafe off to the side and I would walk over to the cafe and see if there were any children. If there was I would walk up to the table and ask if the kids had heard of Kermit the Frog. If they said yes I would have the D.J. play it for me then I would sing it for the kids. As i looked into the cafe I would see the kids be surprised, light up at the familiar voice, and laugh as they heard Kermit. And the parents would then Begin to tell them that they knew who Kermit was. It was nice to give everyone a smile, and It still is.
On one occasion in the ER when I worked there I had to assist with a little one of about 2 years old. He had to get stitches and was really not being very cooperative. As I held the poor little guy down I started in on the Kermit voice and talking with the child, it was like hitting a light switch. He stopped crying and looked at me and smiled. The doctor had to stop because he started to laugh and the mother was shocked, but it all worked out.
Well in the near future I will post a sound clip for all to hear of one of the performances that was recorded. And remember kids....... "Some day we'll find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers the dreamers and me..."
Friday, February 6, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
R.I.P. Don McGuffin
Don McGuffin was taken yesterday to the world of beyond. May he sore with the eagles and walk again with angels and crochet with his mother again.
You see Don was married to my sister for a long time. 29 years of marriage would have come this year. Don lived life and experienced many things. And one thing we had in common was Janet.
Don was a welder, a mechanic, truck driver, heavy equipment operator and many other things. He liked to tinker and just be there in the mix. I didn't know Don as well as I should because of the distance that they lived but when we were together there was never a dull moment.
The reason that I'm this is that I am frustrated with the government system and the way that they have treated some of the veterans of conflicts and wars gone by.
Don served his country in Korea during the Vietnam war. He put in his time so to speak as well as so many others. But it seems that Don and so many others have slipped by never get all the help that they deserve. Don suffered from Parkinson's disease, nerve damage, and other undiagnosed things that were slowly taking him away. The red tape and the hoops that they had to endure was too great for the challenge of this man. Help came too late. They filled out paper work, more paper work, Don had tests (medical), paper work there, driving to and from this place and that place. More paper work. He even had a device in his brain that was placed to help with his Parkinson's. But it was to late.
There seems to be alot of this going on. Some are getting the help, and some that the help comes too late. I can see in Don's case that most of it came along later in life and was rapidly taking over his body. But that is no reason. The vets have served their country and the government has been slow to respond. The men and women that are coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan are they going to get the help they need later on in life or is the government going to be as slow for them as they were for Don ?
My dad refused to see anybody from the VA because he knew that it would be forever for something to be done. He has seen it in so many of his friends that he served with that have not really got all of the care that they deserve. Am I ranting, you be your sweet bippie.
I think the VA and the government need to take a long look at the men and women that have served this country in the past and get in touch with them and ask them. I'm sure that the answer would be similar to mine. That there needs to be a BIG change on how they are treated medically. There are so many program for the veterans out there that have helped with getting houses, jobs, loans, help with other things that they need, but medical is far at the bottom of the list. Health comes first I would think then the rest of it needs to fall into place.
Don will be missed by many MANY people. Friends from the race tracks where they worked and lived, the mine that he worked at, and many of the other lives that he crossed. He is a fallen Hero that the government let slip by.
You see Don was married to my sister for a long time. 29 years of marriage would have come this year. Don lived life and experienced many things. And one thing we had in common was Janet.
Don was a welder, a mechanic, truck driver, heavy equipment operator and many other things. He liked to tinker and just be there in the mix. I didn't know Don as well as I should because of the distance that they lived but when we were together there was never a dull moment.
The reason that I'm this is that I am frustrated with the government system and the way that they have treated some of the veterans of conflicts and wars gone by.
Don served his country in Korea during the Vietnam war. He put in his time so to speak as well as so many others. But it seems that Don and so many others have slipped by never get all the help that they deserve. Don suffered from Parkinson's disease, nerve damage, and other undiagnosed things that were slowly taking him away. The red tape and the hoops that they had to endure was too great for the challenge of this man. Help came too late. They filled out paper work, more paper work, Don had tests (medical), paper work there, driving to and from this place and that place. More paper work. He even had a device in his brain that was placed to help with his Parkinson's. But it was to late.
There seems to be alot of this going on. Some are getting the help, and some that the help comes too late. I can see in Don's case that most of it came along later in life and was rapidly taking over his body. But that is no reason. The vets have served their country and the government has been slow to respond. The men and women that are coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan are they going to get the help they need later on in life or is the government going to be as slow for them as they were for Don ?
My dad refused to see anybody from the VA because he knew that it would be forever for something to be done. He has seen it in so many of his friends that he served with that have not really got all of the care that they deserve. Am I ranting, you be your sweet bippie.
I think the VA and the government need to take a long look at the men and women that have served this country in the past and get in touch with them and ask them. I'm sure that the answer would be similar to mine. That there needs to be a BIG change on how they are treated medically. There are so many program for the veterans out there that have helped with getting houses, jobs, loans, help with other things that they need, but medical is far at the bottom of the list. Health comes first I would think then the rest of it needs to fall into place.
Don will be missed by many MANY people. Friends from the race tracks where they worked and lived, the mine that he worked at, and many of the other lives that he crossed. He is a fallen Hero that the government let slip by.
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