A Bad Year For Corn

         It's been a bad year for corn. I planted two different varieties and both have performed unsatisfactorily. It looks like the two varieties became one and in their confusion they forgot to make corn. The corn that is there looks ill formed and incomplete. I've never seen anything like it in all my corn-growing days.
         Last year's crop was spectacular. I had so much corn I didn't know what to do with it. I planted one variety last year, and I made sure that the weeds were cleared. I was more meticulous. This year, I let the weeds grow in. I had a notion that the insects would stay in the weeds and leave the corn alone. But I think the weeds sucked all the nutrients from the soil and the poor corn suffered for it.    
         Who knows, really. I'm just glad I'm not a farmer. My family would starve. 

The Wizard

        There's a guitar player in the neighborhood who plays a fuzz-tone guitar. I call him the Wizard. He usually plays on weekends. I'll hear him playing in the distance, rock classics mostly. Pink Floyd's Shine On You Crazy Diamond, War Pigs, a bit of Creedence. It soothes me to hear him play. It's his tone that makes me smile. It's positively cliche, and that's brilliant to me.
        There's no telling when the Wizard's going to play next. He tends to play in the afternoon, or just before sundown. I heard him play at eight-thirty in the morning once. He wasn't shy about the volume either. No matter, he's the Wizard. He can play as loud as he wants, whenever he wants. Nobody's going to complain. No one ever complains. It's a Mexican neighborhood.