Tossing Salt Presents:
A Day Of Dougie
ABC, Puff The Magic Dragon & Letters
July 2, 2021
DougMaynard.com

And so it begins. Starting on Sunday, July 4th, an epic adventure the likes of which have not been seen in quite a while. Ten days of random unpredictability and sheer craziness – it’s Ten Days of Dougie. Can I do it ten days straight in a row? Hell to the yeah. And I will, starting on Sunday. You have been warned.

And now, I guess this is the warm-up. I woke up early and I feel decent for a change so, despite that I have to head out and be at the doctor’s office in an hour, let’s have a Day of Dougie. I recently added over four hundred new topics to the Magic Bag and I’ll never get that bag emptied out unless I get my ass in gear and get to writing. So why not do it now? I will. It’s Friday and this is what I hope shall be a very special Day of Dougie. Let’s do this.

And first, we go to the bag to see what our topics of discussion will be. We have (drum roll please) ABC, Puff The Magic Dragon, and Letters. Okay, this won’t take long. And away we go.

ABC…

The first three letters of the Anglo-Saxon alphabet and as easy as 1-2-3. At least that is what Michael Jackson used to say. And coincidentally, the first part of the name of the business where I am currently employed, the ABC store, also known as Aunt Betty’s Cupboard, and the place to go get liquored up. What can I say about the term A-B-C? It’s the beginning of our language and probably racist. Hell, everything else is. When I was a small child, I was told to learn my ABCs. And I did. And now I can write. And drink, responsibly of course, as well. And I guess I’ve killed enough space with this topic which to be honest, I had no idea how to address. So I’ll move on to the next topic which I definitely know how to address. And that is letters.

Letters…

When I was a young soul, we didn’t have e-mails or text messages. If we wanted to communicate, we did it in person, over the telephone, or if the person lived far away, through letters. And I loved to write letters. My style was that of talking, jumping from subject to subject, keeping it loose and random, and filling up several pages of chit-chat and conversation with my favorite people. Then they would write back a few days later and so on and so on and so on. We would keep the mailman happy. Not as happy as your Mom did, but still. Just kidding. That’s a joke. We used to tell those too in order to lighten the mood and keep things relaxed. These days, everyone is too uptight and politically correct and has a big stick up their ass, and can’t take a joke without being offended. People suck! But it was a different time and a different world. And I loved to write me some letters.

But times have changed and no one writes letters anymore. People just e-mail and text and the art of using those ABC skills to communicate are a lost cause. I used to write several letters a week, but my handwriting has gotten so bad as I get older, I barely write anything anymore unless I can type it out first. I do want for my stuff to be readable after all. And to be honest, I really don’t have anyone left to write to. Or do I? There are a few people that may enjoy a physical letter from yours truly. It’s a great way to reconnect with old friends you haven’t seen in a while to initiate contact, but it’s not a shock that requires immediate response like a phone call or text. They can sit and reflect a while first before choosing to respond or not. I just need a good printer for my computer and then anything goes. That sounds like a plan. Hmmmm…

And finally…

Puff The Magic Dragon…

I’m getting low on time and still have to get ready for my two hours in the HBO Chamber sucking in Oxygen and watching Crocodile Hunter so I’ll get lazy and go video for this one. I’m getting slack here. You all know who Puff was (is), right? A creation put to music by the folk group Peter, Paul & Mary back in the ’60s. Between you and me, I think the song was about drugs and not an actual dragon. Just a theory though. Here’s a video. Enjoy.

And here’s the movie. Well, the cartoon anyhow.

And with that, I’m out of here. Time to get ready to take care of business. My thanks for reading. Comments, questions, and any other thoughts are welcome. Just give me a shout. Or write me a letter. That would be cool too. Remember to check back on Sunday as we begin ten days of this stuff with “Ten Days of Dougie”. I have a feeling that this one should be good and will change the world forever. Okay, maybe not, but you won’t know unless you check it out. It’ll be posted here at the site and also on my Facebook and Twitter accounts so look for it. And now, I’m down and gone. Until the next time, stay safe and be awesome. I’ll see you on the flip side and never forget to make every day a good one because every day is a Day of Dougie. ‘Nuff said!

Ubuntu!