Notes - a circumstance or a condition? / ready for bed

         Mid-morning. You have spent some time cleaning up the kitchen, setting up the new litter box, ridding the kitchen of the two smaller litter boxes and polishing the floor after Carol went over it and everything else with the sweeper and duster. This is your break.

         1003 hours. I have been working since an early breakfast and the paper. I have the old litter boxes (one was not used) out on the deck ready to be scrubbed with hose and soapy water. I like the new litter box because it is large enough for two cats and high enough with the top on for them not to be claustrophobic, not that cats really are claustrophobic. I still have a lot to do. I should have realized this is not for family cleaning it is a Fall cleaning.

         The last two nights we were out observing the Harvest Moon – always a beautiful Fall sight. We had the binoculars out the night before last. We haven’t had our telescope out for at least a year. When the boys are moved in next summer we should be able to make some good observations, as they will be more in the country. I’ll probably donate the scope in their care. Well, back to work. (1012)

         1203 hours. Time of another break. More to do, but nothing critical. Much more relaxed after a bath and a few more things put away or dusted. The house is looking good. Nature Plus men aeriated the yard really well this morning. I think we had the owner or manager on the job. They also really overseeded with fescue after working the aeriation machinery more in the sparcely grassed areas from the heavy equipment used in the earlier tree removal.

         While waiting for the kitchen floor to dry you had an idea about Grandma 3. – Amorella

         I did and I am trying to remember it – something about angels in their natural element, a part of which is our natural element at least as far as a Native American woman would assume such matters in her personal transcendental experiences. I was thinking about what would have been a counterpoint to an angel in her thinking of 8000 years ago. I don’t know why ‘angel’ came up exactly, it could have been a goddess or god of the lake or the frost or the leave or another metaphysical connection altogether. (1214)

         Transcendental philosophy hasn’t changed that much, at least we will assume this is so. When time permits, do a quick refresher course online. We will work it in, after all being a Transcendentalist is a circumstance is it not, or is it a condition? Back to work, boy. Post. - Amorella

         Dusk appears a bit earlier tonight due to thunderstorm activity. The boys are playing with varying colored block structures while Kim and Paul are up readying themselves to drive to college friends who live across from Shaker Run Golf Course in the nearby Lebanon area. You are becoming tired watching Kim and Paul and Carol playing the Owen and Brennan.

         2215 hours. Brennan and Owen are asleep. Carol and I are ready for bed. Good night.

         Post. - Amorella

Notes - readying for Grandma 3 (final) / setting background /

         Late morning. You and Carol have been cleaning the upstairs. She is sweeping presently (you dusted, cleaned, sorted and trashed all your automobile magazines earlier) and you are taking a short break.

         1058 hours. The bedroom floor is swept and I cleaned a couple of carpet stains. The bed has a pile of stuff on top. Next Wednesday we get a new queen bed (from the Original Mattress Factory), our first in at least twenty years. The twin bed in Kim’s old room also gets a new mattress and box springs. When we were in Brazil we had Danish Modern in our bedroom. It had a large beautiful piece of wood on legs about ten inches high and then a mattress, no box springs. It was quite comfortable. We have slept on the en vogue foam mattresses but prefer the old style orthopedic ultra firm mattresses and box springs we bought when married in 1967. Cleaning is always a pain until you actually begin, then it’s not so bad. I have the bathroom and kitchen floors to do but I’ll probably wait until tomorrow morning, at least for the kitchen.

         When time permits we can begin on Grandma 3. Why don’t we check the word total. – Amorella

         1139 hours. I am surprised at the 527 words. How did I let that get by?

         If you are that curious check your notes. – Amorella

         That’s what the number of words is in the original Braided Dreams. I’ll have to come up with something that focuses on ‘Circumstance’ or ‘Thought’?

         “Circumstance”. – Amorella

         I hadn’t changed the chapter title page on the working drafts. I really don’t remember all this material.

         You need not, at least at present. Post. - Amorella

         Mid-afternoon and you are in Blue Ash on the parking lot of Keystone Plaza on Kenwood Road in the shade. You just split a Marx Bagel tuna fish deluxe on a raisin and cinnamon bagel plus each had oatmeal raisin cookie for dessert while watching the cars roll by. – Amorella

         It’s a fine, fine September day and not a white whale on the horizon.

         You are sitting in a Honda, boy, not the Pequod. – Amorella

         Carol is on page 389 of Coben’s book and you began work on Grandma 3 and decided to read more about Lake Champlain.

** **

Lake Champlain

Lake Champlain (French: lac Champlain) is a natural, freshwater lake in North America, located mainly within the borders of the United States (states of Vermont and New York) but partially situated across the Canada – United States border in the Canadian province of Quebec.

The New York portion of the Champlain Valley includes the eastern portions of Clinton County and Essex County. Most of this area is part of the Adirondack Park. There are recreational opportunities in the park and along the relatively undeveloped coastline of Lake Champlain. The cities of Plattsburgh and Burlington are to the north and the village of Ticonderoga in the southern part of the region. The Quebec portion is located in the regional county municipalities of Le Haut-Richelieu and Brome-Missisquoi.

Geology

The Champlain Valley is among the northernmost valleys considered part of the Great Appalachian Valley, reaching from Quebec to Alabama. The Champlain Valley is a physiographic section of the larger Saint Lawrence Valley, physiographic division.

It is one of numerous large lakes in an arc from Labrador through the northern United States and into the Northwest Territories of Canada. Although it is smaller than the Great Lakes of Ontario, Erie, Huron, Superior and Michigan, Lake Champlain is a large body of fresh water. Approximately 1,269 km2 in area, the lake is roughly 201 km long, and 23 km across at its widest point. The maximum depth is approximately 400 ft. The lake varies seasonally from about 95 100 above mean sea level.

**

Champlain Sea

The Champlain Sea was a temporary inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, a paratropical subsea or epeiric sea created by the retreating glaciers during the close of the last ice age.

The mass of ice from the continental ice sheets had depressed the rock beneath it over millennia, causing it to rebound once the ice melted. This process is gradual and known as isostatic rebound. While the rock was still depressed, the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa River valleys, as well as modern Lake Champlain, were below sea level and flooded once the ice no longer prevented the ocean from flowing into the region.

The sea lasted from about 13,000 years ago to about 10,000 years ago and was continuously shrinking during that time, since the rebounding continent was slowly rising above sea level. At its peak, the sea extended inland as far south as Lake Champlain and somewhat farther west than the site of Ottawa, Ontario. The remaining glaciers fed the sea during that time, making it more brackish than typical seawater. It is estimated that the sea was as much as 150 m above the level of today's Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers.

Modern evidence of the sea can be seen in the form of whale fossils, (belugas, fin whales and bowhead whales) and marine shells that have been found near the cities of Ottawa, Ontario, and Montreal, Quebec, the existence of ancient shorelines in the former coastal regions, and the presence of Leda clay deposits dotting the region. From the Petawawa fault zone at Mount Pakenham, Ontario, the viewable ancient coastline to the northeast is roughly 40 km away and is known today as the Eardley Escarpment. The Eardley Escarpment is known locally as the Gatineau Hills; part of the Mattawa fault at the South-Eastern edge of the Ottawa-Bonnechere Graben, in the province of Quebec. The Gatineau Hills are situated at the Foothills of the Laurentian Mountains.

Selected and edited from Wikipedia Offline

** **

         I think I should mention something about the setting, as it is Qwinta’s circumstance some 8,000 years ago. (1548)

         By all means. We can find this useful for the native of that time period. – Amorella

         2139 hours. We watched “Broadchurch” (one more episode) and then the news. I drove to Pet Smart for a new litter box and litter, returned home and I couldn’t find my wallet (money and cards with a securing rubber band). I told Carol and checked the car, the garage, then returned to Pet Smart. The manager said he would tell employees to look for it as it was not turned in. I looked in the lot where I had parked the car and found nothing. As I headed home I was trying to remember where I had put my credit card numbers, etc. to call this evening. Once home I began a recheck and found nothing, then I went to put my phone on its charger and there it was beside the charger. For the life of me I can’t remember setting it down or even going over to the charger as I was showing Carol the new litter box. I am thankful, but my lack of memory bothers me.

         You did not once blame me for not helping you remember. I find that remarkable. – Amorella

         Why? Losing a wallet has nothing to do with writing. It never occurred to me to ask you.

         Post. We’ll work tomorrow if time permits. - Amorella

Notes - budgets / (final) 'The Brothers 3"

         You spent half the morning in bed with an aching lower back, took a pill the spent the next hour listening to Carol explaining your 2012 statements as you received them yesterday within the October 15 extension. – Amorella

         1430 hours. I did listen. I think I have the gist of it. I had told her I wanted to read all the material since I had to pay taxes on IRA’s because I’m 71. I flitted through the pages and pages. Her explanations were much better than what I could decipher. I don’t remember much if any of it presently. Then she went over the Ohio State Teachers’ Retirement papers. I don’t really understand that either but I can accept it. When we began teaching New York, Ohio and California were the top teacher retirement systems in the country. That’s why we pretty much stayed here, but we do not have social security. It is better than social security or was in those days. We are fine with it. Staying with Ohio for retirement purposes was the right way to go then, but I don’t know about now. People today who are starting out have to invest, I would say, at least twenty percent of their income each year to have enough for a good retirement. If we were starting now that’s what we would do, Carol might even have made it twenty-five percent for retirement. This, as it was then, a lifetime of strict budgeting. I don’t think people do much of that any more. We limited ourselves to one child also for two reasons; one the world has too many people; and two, one was all we could afford to give what we considered a good life style. We are satisfied with the way this has worked for us. We still budget out of habit. All those people (our parents and grandparents among them) told us to live within our means; practical home economics is the way we saw and see it. As a kid I can remember seeing the effects of that Depression even into the mid-fifties. I’ll stop now; my memory ends with a few songs from Woody Guthrie and our Jeep trip to California on Route 66 in 1960. We didn’t live in the Great Depression but its reminisce have effected our life’s style nevertheless. (1451)

         You have been waiting for Carol at Kroger’s on Tylersville after a kid’s cups Graeter’s treat after dropping off the local Mason 2012 tax material. Home built meat and cheese sandwiches for lunch. Once home you have the yard work to do that you would have completed this morning. Carol is almost finished with the clothes washing and drying and you have your work. You are home.  Later, dude. Post. - Amorella

        You have a couple of things to put away, but the majority of what you and Carol set out to do outside has been done for the time being. Out to supper? Perhaps. Why don’t you suggest it? – Amorella

         2051 hours. I did ask, surprisingly she suggested Cracker Barrel so that’s what we did. Came home watched the news and a new police comedy, “Brooklyn 99”. It was funny. We’ll watch again next week. Tomorrow we really have to kick in on cleaning the house for family no less.

         2212 hours. I have finished “Brothers 3” in 790 words. It took me several tries. I had to change colors and a couple of brushes in the process.

         At least the ink doesn’t have to dry, old man. Drop it in and post. – Amorella

***

The Brothers 3 ©2013, rho, (final) draft GMG.One

            The following day Richard walked up the steps and down the hall to Robert’s study.

            “This room is like our old club house,” announced Richard as he sat.

            Both laughed, and Robert added, “We were two of six.”

            “While walking Lady, I picked up to wilted flowers on Mom and Dad’s grave this morning. I thought I’d drop them off here before heading home.”

            Robert noted his place the recent Atlantic Monthly and closed it while saying, “Connie knows Memorial Day is coming up. We’ll put some more on.”

            “I still like walking Lady through the cemetery in the morning.”

            “Just like Papa used to do,” smiled Robert. “And, Dad too. I sometimes walk Jack past the mausoleum and down the hill to the river."

            Richie mirrored his brother’s smile, “The stones, trees and mowed grass; it was a kiddy park.”

            “Fun times,” declared Robert thinking, what are we doing today?

            “You know," said Richard, "People still say it's haunted on the west side of the Mausoleum where the old trail leads down to the woods.”

            Robert sighed, “Dad never said, but Mom thought it was haunted too. It was an old story about seeing people walking who weren’t there. I have a poem about it somewhere."

"Published?"

"It was; some years ago in our own Riverton Historical Society Bulletin."

While finger tapping on both arms of the chair Richard commented, "Mom always believed in ghosts but Dad never did."

In a sadder than expected tone, Rob replied, "I don't think Dad ever believed in anything."           

"Not in our lifetime anyway.” Both chuckled. “What are the girls up to?"

"They are getting ready to go shopping."

"Why did I even ask?" moaned Robert.

"I got the car if you want to head over to the book store."

Perked, Rob suggested, "The white one on Worthington-Dublin Road?"

"Why not, we haven't been over there for a while."

"You know I'm looking for an old copy of Ferlinghetti’s "Coney Island of the Mind".

"When Cyndi and I were in Frisco last year we stopped at Ferlinghetti’s City Lights bookstore. They had a republication his classic Coney Island of the Mind."

Robert comment ranked with caustic tone, "I used to have a signed first edition, but I can't find it.”

"Julie probably borrowed it to show her classes. Her favorite Ferlinghetti is "Coney Island of the Mind # 5". It’s my favorite too."

Rob shook his head in dark surprise, "I can't believe Julie has a popular unit on fifties Beat poetry," he paused, "she didn't have to take my signed copy though."

"She’s your daughter. Give her a call. Do you want to go booking or not?"

Robert mumbled, "Old books and poetry are what have long held in common. Let's go." Getting up Rob smiled while watching his brother heading to the door; we have long held those Bleacher girls in common too. It was inevitable that we would marry the sisters – one of those things that was meant to be.

A few minutes later Connie and Cyndi still sat at the kitchen table, drinking tea with an opened House and Garden and a Money magazine underneath.

            "It is hard to believe the boys just turned seventy," whispered Cyndi.

            "We're not far behind."

            "They been going to that used bookstore for at least forty years."

            "Was it ever a church in our lifetime?" asked Connie.

            "I suppose it was. It’s the closest the boys will go to step in a church setting. They always seem to come back with an old book or two."

            "Julie usually borrows their old poetry books to show her classes."

            Connie, whispering for no reason, commented, "Robbie always wanted Julie to go into medicine, to be a surgeon like himself."

            "You wanted her to be a cardiovascular nurse like we were."

            "Julie didn't want to be either," noted Connie. "She always wanted to be a teacher like Richard."

            "Does she still call him Uncle Dickie?" giggled Cyndi, quietly proud of Julie’s choice of careers.

            "That was Robbie's doing." Both laughed. “I used to call him Dickie when we dated.”

            “You were always the cock-teaser," joked Connie; then she abruptly changed the subject, “What kind of countertop do you really want Cyndi?"

            Exasperated, Cyndi snapped, "Richard says he doesn't care. He says that, but he won't like whatever we end up with."

            "They are both stubborn and single-minded. We knew that when we married them. Both burrow within themselves – a linked personality quirk, I suppose."

            “How did we ever decide who was going to marry who?”

            “I think we flipped for it,” said Cyndi. Both laughed independently, one never knew who was going to stop laughing first – one of the small differences between the closest of sisters.

***

Notes - upon waking / busy, busy

        Waking up during the night you had a thought. You had forgotten to include a friend or two, a counselor of sorts, to help an individual personality spirit in the initiation of surviving death, and in becoming freshly aware of the importance of the human spirit holding all that one takes to the beyond. – Amorella

         0851 hours. I thought on this for about an hour realizing that elsewhere in either notes or drafts this had come up along with children’s spirits and how a family/friend would be near to help without being obliged to do so. The Dead 3 draft was being subjugated to a harshness that was somewhat inhumane in itself. I need to correct this.

         I will help in the simplified reconstruction. Post. - Amorella

         Mid-afternoon. Carol is on page 279 of Coben’s No Second Chance. You just finished your Subway picnic at the canoe livery park along the Little Miami at Foster. You ran errands and did house and yard work this morning as Carol worked on the wash and began her general cleanup for the weekend.

         Home. You have two hundred pounds of dirt to move about and grass seed to sow since you are not going to have the yard aerated until it rains enough for the plugs to pull out, most likely in two or three weeks. No grass slice seeding until later or early spring. We can work for a bit on Brothers 3. - Amorella

         1445 hours. I do not have a central ‘theme’ word for this chapter yet. It is no wonder I was taking a while with it. The word I come up with is ‘Circumstance’ but I think I wanted to use that in the last chapter so far I have ‘themes’ Slavery and Control. Amorella, you know best here.

         I think you will find that ‘Circumstance’ works well in this chapter. Certainly Dead 3 fits. Now, let’ rework that first paragraph in that segment. – Amorella

         You have been busy most of the day, plus buying mattresses, etc. for two beds. Tomorrow, dude. - Amorella

Notes - on choosing new names / (final) "The Dead 3"

         Mid-afternoon. You worked on the English ivy for an hour or so this morning, had lunch at Panera/Chipotle, ran a few errands, had Graeter’s kids’ cups; Carol is working on the ivy for a few minutes before you are off to Rose Hill cemetery for some reading time in the shade. Let’s get to Dead 3. – Amorella

         Taking a short break from a few paragraphs work you see Carol is on page 165 of Harlen Coben’s No Second Chance. A few visitors have driven by. You nodded in politeness but no one reciprocated today as far as you could see. – Amorella

         1513 hours. The day is mostly cloudy but comfortably cool. Lots of crickets in mass communication, almost like the seventeen year variety of locust. What it would be, I wonder to look about the cemetery and seeing just dates with no names. In the earlier Merlyn books it was inferred that the Dead could change their earth names if the wished. Strangely, it seems to me, most did. If you had been an evil, bad, or a no good in real life I can see why one would be tempted to go with a pseudonym, but a famous historical person, a local, regional or national hero, or an international hero like Gandhi would seem to want herorhis name to be kept (like a retired sports player’s number or locker); or, if you were a well known religious figure like Abraham or Moses or Jesus or Buddha or a saint or saint-like figure in any religion, for instance Saint John or Joan or Martin Luther. (1527)

         Orndorff, as you were think-writing the above you began to see the sense of the name allowance. The Dead may not want autographs, but there is a curiosity to envision how any of these famous or even infamous people appeared in real life. You forget already however that these people also had to reflect as to who they really were, and history, legend, myth aside, not a one decided that sheorhe was who sheorhe came to represent in real life. No one Living knows who sheorhe really is/was until after the living is done and there has been a period of self assessment. The name most people choose is the name that they feel like they are in heartansoulanmind, in their human spirit, you see, not the name they were legally given or became known as in their real life. The Dead are more comfortable being themselves, don’t you think, boy? – Amorella

         1535 hours. You make sense, Amorella, as far as the books go, which is far enough for me. It does make sense if one is only spiritual, as such, to be called by a name comfortable to hear as well as to say, so to speak, a nickname-like name of one’s own choosing.

         All for now, boy. Post when you have the opportunity. – Amorella

         1720 hours. We came home and worked for at least an hour in the English Ivy root system. Carol did a lot of pulling, I dumped extra dirt from the tree leftovers to where most of the roots were pulled or cut earlier. Tomorrow I need to buy more dirt, probably 200 pounds, to mix in with the last area before seeding on Wednesday. I will spray more Round Up on the root system left or cut and sliced. Carol found traces of new growth on a few roots under the heat pump. I may use Round Up Plus on that area. Carol is not too optimistic as she dug out a much smaller area of English Ivy on the southwest area near the house a couple of years ago and some came back the next year. It is gone finally this year, or mostly so, one new vine I think. I have more Dead 3 to do but I am making progress.

         Post, boy. You have leftover Papa John’s pizza for supper. It is one of your and Carol’s favorites even as a leftover.

         2122 hours. I completed the (final) Dead 3 draft in 763 words.

         After nuked pizza and last week’s “ Affair” and the news you continued the rest of the segment which you found was not so easy to put in the fewer than almost the thousand you ended up with. However, even a (final) draft will need tweaked once you complete the entire (final). Plus, once completed you should go back and listen to the whole work for your ear’s contribution. Add the draft and post. – Amorella

***

The Dead 3 ©2013 rho, (final) draft

            The Supervisor begins, “Living or Dead human beings sometimes deserve to have some free time without interruption.  The Dead like company just as the Living do. Why, because in here the Dead are still human beings. What would Heaven be like without having your humanity, you tell me? Presently the Place of the Dead has adopted a new name. The primary reason the marsupial-humanoid human-like spirits long ago chose to call this Place of the Dead, HeavenOrHellBothOrNeither. The earth-centered human spirits saw humor in their own language translations because as everyone knows there are times people want to keep by themselves for their own personal reasons, and usually the more secret these reasons are, the more the personal hell there is to it. People who have no secrets are entitled to a free pass into Heaven. The Dead have come to accept themselves, secrets and all. It’s pretty simple really. The human spirit, Earth or ThreePlanets’ centered, reasons and makes a fair or just worthiness of her or himself. The gravity or the passion that holds one's centeredness, one’s self-worth and dignity, to the spiritual rails of conscious as well as unconscious memory, the freer one is. Knowing one's self is balancing one's human’s spirit of who one was in life and of who one now is. A few of the Dead in this story, marsupial humanoids and earthlings, remain silent for a distinct period of time-which-isn’t for good reason; learning to know who one is, is a prerequisite to learning who the other Dead are.

            These are a few social rules. Having higher consciousness is not free. Each pays the Boatman.”

*

            North of Merlyn’s roughshod though comfortable wooden hut, sits our protagonist on his smoothed stone Druid’s chair. This, the throne as it were, rests on a well-laid non-granite slab to the immediate right of the large tall and stately non-oak. Merlyn glances north into the spiritual configuration of a securely woven cloth-like matrix to better dress the energetic and passionate cocoon of Merlyn's very real heartansoulanmind. This sanctuary, a vivid dream in life becomes a vivid reality in death.

            To the northeast of Merlyn’s chair rests the moss-blotched two-foot high flagstone front stage ruins on which he had first magically danced as a child. Around and beyond the stage are a continuation of a favorite Scottish meadow of grasses and flowers. A brush of bluebells and ox-eyed white daisies sets to the left and a caress of white foxglove and red poppies to the stone stage right. Further north a large stand of Scottish Pine grows grandly tall on a higher rising sloop. These are the quiet friends who interlace the solitude and Merlyn’s good fortune.

            On Merlyn's nearer right is a great bald granite dome. Skirting the granite mountain is a fence of purple heather. Watching his yellow sun rise over such a large and handsome dome of graveyard recognized cemetery head stone is a continual reminder to deadanliving Merlyn that his granite dome is how close the present physical universe lies.

            The southern aspect of his domain lies in a valley of thick oak forest blotched with hazel bushes and stands of birch. Further into southwest of this druid’s domain are two wild apple trees with red melancholy thistles scattered about, both a delight to Merlyn’s heart and mind.

            Merlyn’s private sanctuary to the West, not far from his hut and nearby granite slab on which Merlyn sits, he can see through the slightly camouflage of well-leafed young trees and bushes to the slowly moving narrow river. Merlyn has one-man tanned leather and stick framed Celtic boat, a curragh, resting on the bank. On the other side of the fishable stream stand tall and majestic oak.

            Quite satisfied with his spirit’s projected surroundings, Merlyn glances up beyond the blue and sun to see the faint outline of his basic chess-squared mind-spirit weaving his imagination and reasoning into the design and reality of heartansoulanmind. It is here that Merlyn flashes his entangled presence in the heartansoulanmind of present day Richard Greystone, younger twin brother of Robert. As such, Merlyn has met all of Grandma’s storytelling ghostly ancestors of both the Greystone and the Bleacher families, some of them in his lifetime. Such are the inter-connective realities a living person rarely zooms in on. Merlyn calls this interconnection of ancestors soul-threading and in here Grandma Earth is the Needle.

*

            Glancing at his stage, Merlyn views a fellow spirit appearing beside his spirit created ruins. "Hello, Merlyn, this is Sophia your friend, and leader of the First Rebellion of the Dead."

***

Notes - Sun's day / a probability always understood

         Breakfast and the Sunday paper. Carol is on the phone with Linda this mid-morning. You have nothing to say because nothing is going on in your head. This can be a good thing, boy. “What? Me worry?” – Amorella

         0941 hours. Alfred E. Neuman, icon for Mad magazine gone way back.

** **

History

Since his debut in Mad, Neuman's likeness, distinguished by jug ears, a missing front tooth, and one eye lower than the other has graced the cover of all but a handful of the magazine's 500 issues. His face is rarely seen in profile; he has virtually always been shown in full frontal view, directly from behind, or in silhouette. Harvey Kurtzman first spotted the image on a postcard pinned to the office bulletin board of Ballantine Books editor Bernard Shir-Cliff. "It was a face that didn't have a care in the world, except mischief," recalled Kurtzman. Shir-Cliff was later a contributor to various magazines created by Kurtzman.

It is highly probable that the Mad icon was at least inspired by a real actor appearing in an early, "turn of the century" comedic short-film made by Thomas A. Edison's studios. The youngish comedian first appears as a mischievous employee in an office, attempting to get himself dismissed for the rest of the day in order to "attend" a pro baseball game. At the game he sits atop a telephone pole near the stadium, observing the game, with all due antics, through a telescope that he has brought.

In November 1954, Neuman made his Mad debut on the front cover of Ballantine's The Mad Reader, a paperback collection of reprints from the first two years of Mad. The character's first appearance in the comic book was on the cover of Mad 21 (March 1955), as a tiny image as part of a mock advertisement. A rubber mask bearing his likeness with "idiot" written underneath was offered for $1.29.

When Mad switched to a magazine format starting with issue #24, Neuman's face appeared in a central position on the illustrated border used on the covers, with his now-familiar signature phrase "What, me worry?" written underneath. Initially, the phrase was rendered "What? Me worry?" These borders would be used for five more issues, through Mad #30 (December 1956).

The character was also briefly known as "Mel Haney." In Mad #25, the face and name were shown together, on separate pages, as both Alfred E. Neuman and Mel Haney. The crowded cover shot on Mad #27 marked Neuman's first color appearance.

When Al Feldstein took over as Mad's editor in 1956, he seized upon the face: "I decided that I wanted to have this visual logo as the image of Mad, the same way that corporations had the Jolly Green Giant and the dog barking at the gramophone for RCA. This kid was the perfect example of what I wanted. So I put an ad in the New York Times that said, "National magazine wants portrait artist for special project." In walked this little old guy in his sixties named Norman Mingo, and he said, “What national magazine is this?” I said “Mad,” and he said, “Goodbye.” I told him to wait, and I dragged out all these examples and postcards of this idiot kid, and I said, “I want a definitive portrait of this kid. I don't want him to look like an idiot—I want him to be loveable and have an intelligence behind his eyes. But I want him to have this devil-may-care attitude, someone who can maintain a sense of humor while the world is collapsing around him.” I adapted and used that portrait, and that was the beginning.”

Mingo's defining portrait was used on the cover of Mad #30 in late 1956 as a supposed write-in candidate for the Presidency, and fixed his identity and appearance into the version that has been used ever since. In November 2008, Mingo's original cover art featuring this first "official" portrait of Neuman sold at auction for $203,150. Mingo painted seven more Neuman covers through 1957, and later returned to become the magazine's signature cover artist throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Mingo produced 97 Mad covers in total, and also illustrated dozens of additional cover images for Mad's many reprint Specials and its line of paperbacks. Frank Kelly Freas rendered Neuman for Mad from 1958 to 1962. Current contributor Mark Frederickson has become the second-most prolific Mad cover artist, with 80 covers as of 2013.

Since that issue, and continuing to the present day, Neuman has appeared on the cover of nearly every issue of Mad and its spinoffs, in one form or another, with a small handful of exceptions. Two such departures were Mad #233 (September 1982) which replaced Neuman's image with that of Pac-Man and "Mad" #195 (December 1977) which instead included the message "Pssst! Keep This Issue Out of the Hands of Your Parents! (Make 'Em Buy Their Own Copy!)." Even when Neuman is not part of the cover gag, or when the cover is entirely text-based, his disembodied head generally appears in miniature form. The most notorious Neuman-free cover was #166 (April 1974), which featured a human hand giving the profane "middle finger" gesture while declaring Mad to be "The Number One Ecch Magazine." Some newsstands that normally carried Mad chose not to display or sell this issue.

Selected from Wikipedia  ‘History’ – Alfred E. Neuman

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         0952 hours. I read quite a few of those early editions of Mad. You brought this up though, why?

         You had nothing going on in your head so I popped in a couple of words to remind you that though nothing was going on it was all in the periphery. Now, don’t get a big head over this but think of where ‘nothing’ in your head is as space and what else in your head is as planet Earth with one orbiting Moon. This will do for most everyone by the way. Being empty-headed can give a one a view of one’s self from a distance. The sun’s out looks like it is going to be Sun’s day. Later, gator. Post. - Amorella

       I have a great NASA photo of an active sun to go with this headline:

     Now here's a concept for you. This is much better than a cartoonish light bulb coming on when one has an idea, don't you think? You can better understand the dynamics of how this is in the human mind, at least from my perspective. - Amorella

       1011 hours. When you enlarge this, wow! Look at the flames. Most awesome.

         2104 hours. We spent four hours attempting to tear out 25 by 4 feet of thick ivy about a foot tall that we attempting to kill two weeks ago. It is mostly dead but getting rid of the vines is not so easy. I would say we are half done. Later we watched last week’s “Suits” and most of a PBS show titled “Last Tango in Halifax”. We had Papa John’s, our favorite local pizza, for supper watched the news, worked on trash to the street as well as bags of dead English ivy. These are good cool days to work in the yard so that is what we do. I have not had time to edit and again I am tired.

         Carol wants to walk in the park early tomorrow morning. After that more work on the ivy vines and roots and clearing the dirt and debris from the last tree trunk. You also mowed the southwest section of the yard and trimmed. Carol has been watering the yard because of the upcoming aeration on Wednesday. Carol also wants the house and yard cleaned up because Kim, Paul and the boys are coming for a visit this next weekend. This means she wants help working in the basement for trash for a week from tomorrow. We will work when it is appropriate relative to the circumstance. “Go with the flow, boy.” Post. – Amorella

         I feel like I should be on a time schedule Amorella.

         Everybody’s on a time schedule boy, it comes with being born and ends with dying. Not much anyone can do about it. – Amorella

         2121 hours. What kind of schedule are you on, Amorella?

         A friendly one my young man and this is very fortunate for you. – Amorella

         I apologize and take a few steps back. – rho

         You recognize the possibility and even the probability that I am more than I seem. – Amorella

         I recognize the very low probability, but any possibility puts me into a respectfully polite frame of mind.

         It goes deeper than that, boy. Your 'unconscious' respect comes from heartansoulanmind, from your human spirit; otherwise, I would not be here at all. – Post. - Amorella