Wow it is hot outside the door in my little piece of Southern Indiana.  Yesterday it was over 90.  Where wasn’t it?  And humidity?  This morning it was 88% and all the windows in the house were fogged up. My heart goes out to anyone without air conditioning.  I remember those days when I was a kid. I know it got hot then too.  But it sure does not feel like it ever got THIS hot.

Star Trek.

My dear wife, Carrie, and I went to see the third installation of the new Star Trek incarnation.  What is this Mark V or VI?  I don’t know.  I really did not pay any attention to the ones that came on television with Captain Picard.  I think they were Star Trekkers?  Anyway, this new bunch playing the crew of the USS Enterprise are very entertaining to watch.  I know that this stuff is not everyone’s cup of tea.  I respect that.  I also know that while I was never much enamored with the old William Shatner/Leonard Nimoy Star Trek…the original one…I do like this new movie bunch.  Speaking of television and space, I enjoyed that old Gil Gerard show Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.  I also enjoyed the small screen offering that was Battlestar Galactica.  The guy that played the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz, Ray Bolger, was a guest star on that show in 1979, I think it was.  He would have been 75 at the time.

Carrie and I did not like this new Star Trek movie.  We both like the characters.  The story was a little shallow compared to the other two new ones.  The action of the movie was set in darkness a great deal of the time.  That might be great for someone whose played video games looking at something one can barely see.  I have never done that. Things did pick the last twenty minutes and all was not lost.  I won’t tell you what happened.

I do know that the actor that plays Chekov , Anton Yelchin, was killed in June due to a freak accident that had to do with an auto’s inability to stay in park.  That was sad.  He seems like such a bright spot on the screen.  It is hard not to believe he was a great chap in life as well.

A NOD TO LEWIS GRIZZARD

One thing the readers of Lewis Grizzard, the former Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist appreciated was the fact that he just put things out there.  Lewis had health issues.  He died at the age of 47 in 1994.  It is hard for me to fathom that Lewis has been gone so long.  Like him or not, he was the genuine article.   When he struggled with his health, he wrote about it.  He was blogging before blogging became blogging.

There is a history of back ailments in my family.  My mother’s side of the family is full of a number of folks reaching back with their right hand to rub on a side here or a piece there. My mother is dealing with this mightily as I write these words.  She, on occasion, wears a brace and has been given a list of ailments that are back related.  So, yes, I had an injury thirty-some years ago.  I know what the family history is.  One day, I too will get my news that the back is not what it should be.  I am 48 years old.  That news should come to me in say 10 or 12 years.  Wrong.  This week I had a conversation with a doctor about degenerative discs and arthritis and how fusing discs with surgery is probably not a good option.  Heck, I don’t remember what all was said.  So there you go.  New habits need to be made.  Sitting positions need to be decided upon.  Though I don’t carry around nearly as much poundage as I did ten years ago, I will be making a concerted effort to “lighten the load” as they say.  No fun, but I know I can do it.

Whatever comes,  we still need to press onward.  I may be holding my back…but I won’t hold too much back…I will still…speak the rights.

Danny Johnson