Exit gracefully

 There was always a maid in the old movies. She was often married to the butler. She cooked and cleaned. He laid out clothes and tended to matters around the house. And he greeted guests at the door, wearing a stiff collar and matching upper lip.

There's a new definition of "maid," now that we don't live like a lot of Rockefellers. MAID is the acronym for Medical Assistance In Dying. 

TV's "Hazel."

CBS showed the story of Barbara Goodfriend this week. Ms Goodfriend was an 83-year-old widow from New Jersey. Last April, her doctor told her she had ALS,  (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), that horrible disease that devastates the nervous system and leaves one with no muscle control.

She was told that she hadn't long to live, so she opted for ending her life, rather than living it in the grip of what's called Lou Gehrig's Disease.

She went with MAID, in which a medical doctor provides a lethal medication for people of sound mind with less than six months to live. The person must take the dose themselves, which is where this differs from euthanasia, in which a doctor administers the lethal medication. Euthanasia is illegal in the U.S.

Ms Goodfriend said she wouldn't otherwise wish to die, but, "What am I going to give this up for? To be in a wheelchair? To have a feeding tube? I wish I had more time to live, but I don't want more time as a patient."

MAID is legal in ten states and Washington D.C. Last year, the Maryland legislature did not pass a Death With Dignity law.

I wonder how you feel about this.  For my part, I would never consider suicide, because there are still so many people I haven't had time to irritate yet. But living with ALS? I don't think I would.

Timing is everything

 Last week, here in my fair and frantic Baltimore, all the brass monkeys were being brought inside as the outside became Yukon cold. I mean, overnight lows were in the single digits for several nights, and the days weren't that much warmer.

We dug out our fleecy undies and vests and wool sox and knit caps and paraded around snug as bugs in rugs, until we braved the out-of-doors. Most of us ran back indoors as fast as we could, but in the end, we were fine. 

Cold, but fine. 

Fast forward to this week, and it's much warmer, and heavy coats are being tossed aside in favor of light hoodies and jackets. Sure, there's hopeful talk of going back in the deep freeze (I like it c-c-c-cold!) But everyone gets their turn for their favorite weather.

However, last night at dinnertime, and again around 9:30, power went out on our street and on the streets all around us. Facebook, the great authority on everything in the neighborhoods since Next Door devolved into a forum for reporting coyotes and door-to-door solicitation, lit up with people asking "Anyone else lose power just now?" and that's how I knew how widespread the outage was...and then it was over! 

Power and lights came back on, cable boxes and modems reset themselves, and order was restored as soon as everyone figured out how to reset the digital clocks on their appliances. 

But was I the only one thinking about what an outage of any appreciable length would have meant during the sub-freezing days of last week?  We only have so many down vests and wool scarves around here.

News about a fake

Let me tell you about a husband and wife who ought to go to Hell as fast as they can get there in their fire engine.

I know, I know, that's a lot to say. But Dustin Nehl (31) and his wife Jennifer (44) were arrested while trying to sneak into the Palisades Fire evacuation zone while those awful fires out west were running wild.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman is charging the fun couple with one misdemeanor charge each, specifically "fraudulent impersonation of a specific fire personnel, unauthorized activities with respect to badges or related matter, and false representation."

 L.A. County Sheriff’s Department personnel detained them  on Jan. 18. They were trying to enter an evacuation zone in Malibu while wearing fake firefighter gear, including Cal Fire uniform shirts, and they were driving a fire engine they bought at an auction.

They were claiming to be with the "Roaring River Fire Department" in Oregon.

Looks real, except...

I put quotation marks around that because there ain't no such a thing as the Roaring River Fire Department. 

I reckon they'll have an attorney show up at their trial, claiming they took a notion to buy a used fire engine and show up at the scene of those devastating fires with no motive in mind other than to protect and serve humanity. 

If they get away with this, I'm going to buy an old police car and go help out the local gendarmerie. Just 'cause, and all.

Policy

 Recently, we canceled our subscription to the Baltimore SUN after 50-some years. I told the person on the phone from somewhere very far away that I was sick of their editorial policy, sneaky added charges, and crooked double billing. 

Naturally, the SUN started calling me on the phone, emailing me, and sending me cute "We miss you" cards in the mail.

Unless they sell the paper to someone decent, we don't want this right-wing fishwrap in our house, but that's the way things are done today in business. 

And the tablets we bought from Verizon last month have had trouble staying connected to the Verizon network. So I called Verizon and was talking to a woman in some far-flung corner of the globe, and she had no idea what to do.

So she just disconnected the call!

That's no way to do business. I called back and got someone else. It took a while, but he got us back on the system. I mentioned that the previous person had hung up in the middle of a sentence and did not call back, even though she obviously had my number.

He said that was not Verizon policy.

Oh!

And he shall be Elon

 And in other Elon Musk news...

His SpaceX giant toy Starship project has been grounded by  US authorities because one of his spaceships exploded during a recent test flight.

Fun Fact: Elon was the original Fonzie on "Happy Days"

Boom boom! went the rocket. It did make it from Texas to the Caribbean before becoming smithereens. Airline flights had to play Dodge-'Em with musky bits as debris fell.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was checking into reports of property damage on the Turks and Caicos Islands. There were no reports of injuries, except to Elon's massive ego.

The line that really got me in the story I read was that "Starship is the biggest, most powerful rocket ever built, and is key to Musk's ambitions of colonizing Mars."

Why on Earth would anyone want to move to a colony on Mars? 

Sunday Rerun: Cut it into six pieces; i don't think I can eat eight

 Everyone knows of the great inventors such as Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, and Henry Ford.  Ford had such a nimble mind that he figured out ways to make money out of making money, such as taking the wood scraps from the process of making wheels for the Model T and turning them into charcoal.  Along with a relative named Kingsford, old Henry did for the grilling industry what he also did for the auto industry.

But Tom, Bill and Henry will all bow deeply to Sean Berthiaume, a man of vision and taste, a man whose notion will soon transform the way we all eat, a man employed by Vinnie's Pizzeria, of 148 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY.

We have all yearned for and sought after new toppings for pizza. Pepperoni, sausage, mushroom, Canadian bacon, ham, fried eggs, spinach, artichokes, asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes, baby arugula, mature arugula:  all have been tried, with or without extra cheese.

There's a place near us that offers a cheese steak sub pizza.  They sizzle up the steak 'n' provolone 'n' onions that they normally would put on a roll, but instead, they lovingly slide it atop a cheese pizza, which they then top with another crust and bake until you just can't stand it no more.

But Sean has seen the future of pizza and it is a pizza pizza.  That's right, a pizza topped with cut up pieces of another pizza. Here is what this slice of heaven looks like:

Bill Gates, the man who gave the world the ability to sit down in front of a screen and see pictures of dancing babies and Mitt Romney boxing with Mike Tyson, once said, "Until we're educating every kid in a fantastic way, until every inner city is cleaned up, there is no shortage of things to do."

Thomas Edison, without whose light bulb we would be watching television in the dark, once said, "When I have fully decided that a result is worth getting, I go ahead of it and make trial after trial until it comes."

Henry Ford, who got the nation out of horse-and-buggy days and into broken-down Ford cars, is famous for saying, "Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason so few engage in it."

These great minds and thoughts are all reflected in Sean Berthiaume, who will be remembered for saying, "I see inspiration all around, in the hearts and minds of the customers that frequent Vinnie's everyday (sic). Their eyes seem to say, ‘Pizza, I like it, I would like more of it.' That, and I was bored on my break."

If you can be ready by 9, we could be at Vinnie's for lunch!

The Saturday Picture Show, January 25, 2025

Now, you order a pork chop sandwich, and they bring you this, and I'd say, "hot sauce,  please, and a side of slaw...and extra napkins!"

Even an ice-cold Hershey's Kiss can warm your heart. This is what the street lights look like in Chocolate Town!"

"All employees are welcome to make use of our spacious and lighted break room. One at a time, please."

It's getting to where, if you see a rock outside that hasn't been painted, that's something remarkable!

These lights are in the southernmost point in the US, the Florida Keys.

Well,  I've been eating pistachio nuts since the days when they came dyed red, and pistachio is one of my 31 favorite ice creams. But I never saw them as nature intended until now! This lovely shrub is a pistachio tree in Sicily, Italy. 

"God's in His heaven, Potato's in the paddy wagon, and the window box is full of baby squirrels."

With a little turquoise paint, an authentic name plate, and some loose automotive trim, and you've got a '57 Chevy mailbox, and you're the talk of of the town!

Catch up to the joke by watching "Raising Arizona." It will make up for any recent loss of laughter! 

 

Oh Lord, it's c-c-c-cold

 With outside temperatures hovering in the balmy 10° - 14° range this week, thoughts turn to ice cream and that traditional Baltimore favorite, the snowball (known in some areas as a sno-cone).

Whatever your pleasure, be it frozen milk or cream or just good ol' ice, shaved to bits and doused with flavored syrup (make mine egg custard, please), cold treats require proper mouth management, or you will suffer the heartbreak known as "brain freeze" or "ice cream headache."

The reason this happens is that your brain has very little idea what the heck you are up to. It spends its days trying to maintain a nice core temperature for you, and you treat it like this? For shame.

Because, dunking ice or ice cream on the roof of your mouth sends a signal to your brain..."Hey! It's cold in here!"

In turn, your brain tells the blood vessels in your head to constrict, in an effort to maintain a robust core temperature. This is called a "survival reflex," like when you're flipping around on the TV and land on a channel showing nature films or Harry Potter or Snoop Dogg E. Dogg. You can't change the channel fast enough, and that's what your blood vessels do...they get smaller until the cold goes away.

However, there's this. You can now call out sick from work or blind dates just by claiming you've come down with a bad case of “sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia.” That's doctor talk for brain freeze.

Take two aspirins and call me in the morning.

Reading the crowd

Take a look at the Amazon best-selling book list these days (remember when books were all Amazon sold?) and you'll see a volume you might have seen being read during the Philadelphia Eagles playoff game last weekend. 

 Eagles star receiver A.J. Brown seems to get inspiration from one of those self-help books, so much so that he had a copy at his seat on the team bench during the game. It's a book called "Inner Excellence," by Jim Murphy.

Things happen fast these days, and so many people who saw Brown's choice of sideline reading put down their remotes and picked up their phones to order "Inner Excellence" that the Amazon was swamped.

“I was not expecting that. A real gift,” Murphy says. “I just looked at Amazon last night and it got to No. 1, so that was a surprise. It had probably never been higher than probably 8 or 9,000. In the thousands, somewhere.”

Excellence! Enjoy reading!

Better days

Ever had a bad day at work?

Of course you have; we all have. But if you misfile the Peterson papers in the Peckerson file...if you spill a tray of hot roast beef and gravy...if you forget to order new hoodies for the yard crew...these are forgivable errors.

What happened to Mark Andrews, a veteran tight end for the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday evening, was forgivable too. The normally reliable Andrews dropped a pass at the end of the Ravens' playoff game with the Buffalo Bills, a pass that would have scored two points if caught, tying the game.

Andrews, in happier days.

But Andrews dropped it, ending the local NFL season with the latest killer wave in a sea of heartache for Ravens fans.

It's tough, but it happens. Mature fans accept loss as part of life. Immature fans spew bile and vitriol, vilifying the player involved online or on sports talk radio. 

Never would they approach the 6' 5", 249-lb Andrews in person, y'unnerstan'.

But good vibes tend to win out. Up in Buffalo, fans unite in what they call the Bills Mafia, and they do good things for people. 

Having heard of the idiocy thrown Andrews's way, this Mafia decided to turn a drop into a dream, by starting a fundraiser for Breakthrough T1D (formerly JDRF), a nonprofit supporting research into therapies and treatments for Type 1 diabetes. Andrews is himself a Type 1 diabetic and has supported the charity in the past.

"As many of you know (the) Ravens TE wasn't able to catch the the game-tying 2-point conversion and upset Ravens fans," reads the fundraiser's description. "On top of that the TE has been receiving death threats and nasty comments [after] his performance last night. We want Bills Mafia to donate to Mark's charity for Juvenile diabetes. Let's reach a goal of at least 5k."

It's the idea of college bloggers Nicholas Howard and Ryan Patato, and as of yesterday they had already raked in over $5,000. The new goal is $20,000, and let's hope they get there, and lets hope the Bills beat the Chiefs on Sunday so they can go to the Super Bowl this year.

Next year will be the Ravens' turn, and I hope the winning touchdown is carried by the capable hands of Mark Andrews. 

 

Splat

One of the therapeutic exercises the physical therapist has me doing is squeezing a soccer ball between my knees for ten seconds, five times. 

Beside helping me regain my loping, lumbering gait, these exercises might just pay off for me in a field I had never even heard of, until I read that a Turkish woman squashed five watermelons in one minute, using only her awesome thighs. 

This feat accomplished by Gozde Dogan set a new world record, you should know.

There's a video showing Ms Dogan seated, surrounded by watermelons, picking up one at a time and giving it the thunder-thigh treatment. And she cleans up her mess, which is not a feature of the July Fourth Hot Dog eating contest.

It would probably take me many years to achieve the level of proficiency displayed by Ms Dogan, and watermelons aren't cheap, but it gives me something to plan for this summer. 

For the Rev. Dr King

   “With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.” - Dr Martin Luther King, Jr

Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. was a preacher in from Atlanta, serving as minister of a Baptist church in Montgomery, Ala. It's hard to believe, but this occurred in America sixty-some years ago: Black citizens were required to ride in the back of the municipal buses (they did pay the same fare as all others), and were not allowed to shop in certain stores, dine at some restaurants, or even use public toilets or water fountains. Or Vote. 

Inspired by the resistance of a hard-working seamstress named Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her bus seat to a white man and move to the back of the bus, Dr King led a boycott of those buses.  It took almost two years, but in the end, the buses in Montgomery were desegregated, open to all.  

Today, we pause from the day-to-day to honor a man who had the courage to lead the nation away from the awful practices of legal racial prejudice and discrimination.

 He went on to lead the fight to allow all citizens to vote.  Again, I am writing this for the benefit of the young, who might find it hard to believe there was a time and place in this country when a man or woman of legal voting age could be denied the right to vote because of the color of their skin.

Of course, even the young can see that a political platform that damns an entire race or religious group or seeks to keep them from coming to the Land Of The Free is based on "hair-brained" foolishness.

There was an interesting article in the Washington POST the other day about the Dr King Memorial in Washington.  National Park Service guide John W. McCaskill, stationed there, encounters all sorts of visitors to the monument.  Some are just learning about the fight for civil rights in the US, and some are people who were there on the front lines of the fight - literally.

One day, he met Rev. C.T. Vivian.  In 1965, Rev. Vivian was on the steps of the Birmingham municipal building, trying to register new voters. And a violent sheriff, one Jim Clark, stood in their way and said they could not register.  

Vivian stood firm for the right to vote. Clark hit Vivian so hard that he broke his hand. As blood poured from his nose and mouth, Rev Vivian had the courage to say this to the news cameras recording this horror:  

   "We are willing to be beaten for democracy."

And that courage flowed from the heart of the man whom we honor today. 

Please remember that, the next time that voting seems an inconvenience, or kindness to persons of a different faith or background seems to be too much trouble. 

Sunday Rerun: Bottom of the Barrel

 I don't see why we have to keep going through the same stuff all the time. 

This is America, land of the free, but that freedom does not extend to a point at which we get to tell each other how (and whom) to worship.  

If you disagree with that sentence, you might as well stop reading this now and try an animal camera site instead, because I have trouble coping with people who have decided that their religion and method of experiencing it is the only way for everyone to live.

And here is what got me all cheesed off today.  Down in South Carolina, a Cracker Barrel waitress served an apparently married couple in their 50s their supper and then found, in place of a tip, a note that told her she should be home and not working! 

And of course, because she is out working, her husband comes home from work and then goes out visiting Cheat Street because she's not home, according to Mr and Mrs Selfrighteous. 

They gobbled their chow and then left the dining area, darting back in to drop off a napkin with the mean note (poorly) written on it. Here is the text, and I won't trouble you with adding a "sic" to every spelling or grammar error.  For once, that's not the point!

"Thank you for your excelent service today - Your a good waitress. Here's your tip: The womans place is in the home. You're place is in the home. It even says so in the Bible. You may think that your contributing to your household by coming into work, but your not. While your in here 'working' this is the reason your husband must see another women on his way home from a long day at his work. Because you should be takeing care of the household duties. You may think what you are doing 'working' is right, it is really essentially a disgrace to his manhood and to the American family. So instead of coming to your 'job' and looking for hand out's to feed your family, hows about going home and cleaning your house and cooking a hot meal for your husband and children, the way you're husband and God intended, and help make America great again. Praying for families and our nation."

I added the emphasis to "make America great again" to show what sort of people believe this country is not currently great. 

In an ironic twist, the couple ends the note "Love" and their last name.  

Not that it's any of their business, but it turns out the server is not married to anyone, but is working to earn money toward her higher education, and has a supportive boyfriend.  

She told the local news down in SC that the couple were friendly and polite during dinner, and that this deplorable (!) note was all the more surprising, given their earlier kindness.

This whole stupid story brings to mind several things about people.  The comments from the news station site contain statements from Cracker Barrel habitués who said that many times, they have tied on the feedbag at the Barrel on a Sunday and heard other diners telling their servers that it's sinful for them to be working there on Sunday!

While they're eating there on Sunday.

How very kind.

And of course, there is a need some feel to decide that their religion is the only worthwhile faith. And the tendency of some to make a religion of being penurious and miserly. It's almost a sport for some to sit and figure ways to cheat servers out of the money they deserve for plopping down plates of Uncle Nutsy's Pancake Breakfast and a side of grits before them and then watching them mop their maws with a paper napkin.

So what?  So tip your server, live your faith, and don't use one to stint the other.

The Saturday Picture Show, January 18, 2025

 

Every time you go to someone's place for dinner or what-have-you, you know that if they're going to use paper plates, they're going to look like this!

We have an ancient measuring cup a lot like this. I guess the dishwasher removed all the numbers and lines. I still use it, because why not? It's fun to guess, and sue me if there's any big difference between a third of a cup,  and a quarter of one. 

Someone's desert Mansion appears heavily fortified.

On the other hand, when people decided to abandon this mossy-roofed farm, they seem to have said, "Let's get outta here RIGHT NOW!," leaving behind a ladder and who knows what-all else.

I also don't know what happened to this tree. Could be wind damage, maybe kids bouncing on a weak limb, but it showed a lot of heart❤️.

People will speculate about this forever, but who can say why, with acres and acres of total destruction in the Palisades fire out west, this one blue VW microbus escaped unscathed? 

This week's free wallpaper shows an on-ramp at the beginning of a beautiful day, or an off-ramp at the end of one.

It doesn't have to be a glamorous setting. The best photos combine light and dark, angles, and something special that makes you keep looking. 

Paul Simon once described a "freshly-fallen silent shroud of snow." Here's some snow sliding off a car hood like a plush snuggly blanket.

I don't know if it's a porcupine or a platypus, but ain't it cute?

Oh, behave!

So, you're a fan of the Green Bay Packers, and you and your fiancé decide to go to Lincoln Financial Field,  home of football's Philadelphia Eagles, to see your team play the Eagles in exciting playoff action...

But you wind up in the upper deck, in front of some crapulous ninny who spent the length of the game vilifying you and your partner, on the grounds that you showed up togged out in Packers regalia.

The Eagles won the game, by the way.

As these things happen in Our Modern Era, every bit of the Eagles fan's foul tirade was captured on cell video, and has been viewed and reviewed 31 million times (and counting).

And, another good aspect of 2025 is that this hooligan's former employer, BCT Partners, specializes in DEI work. That's why the status "former" attaches to his work history. 

The as-yet-unidentified and probably-well-ashamed-by-now Eagles rooter is also barred for life from games at Lincoln F. Field.

So, a fun day at the football game for this fool, a day spent slinging vile insults at a woman whose only offense was wearing Packer green and gold. In return, he'll have to use the spare time he once spent at the games ironing out his revised resume. 

It's taking a long time, too long in fact, for some people (men) to realize that you just can't act like a misogynistic galoot anymore. 

On deck

 Baltimore loves Ray Lewis, the retired Raven known as the greatest linebacker of all time. 

He still shows up at home games, comes out and does his "squirrel dance" to fire up the crowd, and gets a heaping helping of Baltimore love.

But there's a reason why he fought so hard to make the tackles and interception he made, and there's a reason why he wore jersey #52 for his entire career.

When Ray was young, his mother was in an abusive relationship, and this caused him grief, as he wasn't big enough to challenge the abuser.

So he asked his mom for a deck of cards, and every spare moment he had, he dealt himself a card. And then he did push-ups corresponding to the number on the card. 

I guess he wore out that deck of 52, but the exercise paid off. There came a time when Ray was able to confront the man who was tormenting his mom.

The man cleared out.

If you ever saw an angry Ray Lewis, you would have, as well. 

Cane and able

I'm happy these days because my post-knee replacement rehabilitation has progressed to the point of "Goodbye walker, hello cane!"

Not having to push that walker around like that creepy movie producer Weinstein is a nice step forward, if you'll pardon the metaphor. 

I have to say, the tennis balls are essential. They help the walker glide. Why walkers don't come like this from the factory, I can't tell you. 

Anyway, I'm strutting around like Michigan J. Frog

from the old WB Network these days, and I was telling my old friend Lee, down Texas way, about it, because just the other day, he had a surgeon saw his leg in half and install a new knee. I wanted him to know he'll be strutting soon enough.

We're both history nuts, so before long, the topic turned to 1856, when, in the US Congress, Representative Preston Brooks, a slaveholder from South Carolina, beat the bejabbers out of Senator Charles Sumner, an abolitionist from Massachusetts. The whole thing started when Sumner made a strong speech against slavery, and the gentleman from South Carolina could not abide that.

Sumner almost lost his life in the attack, and was out of work until 1859. This sad affair contributed to the great divide in this country over whether it should be legal to own human beings. They fought a civil war over it, the outcome of which is still being debated deep down South.

I promise not to strike, or goose, anyone with my cane while I use it. I can't promise not to hook a shopping cart, or push an elevator button with it, but even if you are pro-slavery, I won't hit you. 

Heaven will take care of that. 

 

If you can't say something nice...

 Oh, how nice it would be if talented people were allowed to enjoy their lives, sharing their blessings and making people happy. 

I'm thinking of Karen Carpenter, the singer who performed with her brother Richard in the 70s and 80s. Her velvety contralto voice sweetened the air as The Carpenters had hit after hit. She comes to mind today because I read an interview with the late great Hal Blaine, the drummer who kept the beat on the greatest songs of the rock and roll era. 

As Karen and Richard began making records, she was the drummer, and his keyboards provided accompaniment to her divine singing. But her drumming, although good, was not great, and Herb Alpert, head of their record company, brought Blaine in to spice up the beat.

Hal arrived at the studio to find opposition from...the mother of Karen and Richard, who sought to make the decisions, musical and otherwise, for the duo. Blaine said that Mrs Carpenter was telling Richard he was the star, and had little regard for Karen's talent. She wanted him in the spotlight and Karen behind the drums, while she was ten times better as a singer than drummer. 

They wound up making great records, but Karen was never made to feel worthy. No wonder she developed the eating disorder that would cut her life way too short.

No one asked me for advice, but if you have a child who displays talent at some creative venture, how about encouraging them, and urging them to do their best? Why hurt them by belittling them?

Let's all sing!

Chances are, you know this Elvis song. It's "Kentucky Rain," recorded in the spring of 1969, and a fair-sized hit for the King in winter 1970.

Considered that it's about a guy whose mate took off unexpectedly, and he's tracking her through every podunk town in the Bluegrass State, it's a catchy tune, one that I've enjoyed singing with E in every empty car I've driven for these 53 years. 

And for every minute of those years, I thought that the line where he sings "And up ahead's another town..." I was thinking and singing "Another hedge, another town..."

Hey, I didn't know. At least I knew Jimi Hendrix wasn't saying, "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy!"

Now, let's all sing along!

 https://youtu.be/Czuc4q4axqU?si=O5HDyhQRtQymhIsk

Seven lonely days and a dozen towns ago

I reached out one night and you were gone

Don't know why you'd run, what you're running to or from

All I know is I want to bring you home

So I'm walking in the rain, thumbing for a ride

On this lonely Kentucky back road

I've loved you much too long, my love's too strong

To let you go, never knowing what went wrong

Kentucky rain keeps pouring down

And up ahead's another town that I'll go walking through

With the rain in my shoes (rain in my shoes)

Searching for you

In the cold Kentucky rain

In the cold Kentucky rain

Showed your photograph to some old gray-bearded men

Sitting on a bench outside a general store

They said, "Yes, she's been here"

But their memory wasn't clear

Was it yesterday?

No, wait, the day before

Finally got a ride with a preacher man who asked

"Where you bound on such a cold dark afternoon?"

As we drove on through the rain, as he listened, I explained

And he left me with a prayer that I'd find you

Kentucky rain keeps pouring down

And up ahead's another town that I'll go walking through

With the rain in my shoes (rain in my shoes)

Searching for you

In the cold Kentucky rain

In the cold Kentucky rain

In the cold Kentucky rain

In the cold Kentucky rain

In the cold Kentucky rain

In the cold Kentucky rain

In the cold Kentucky rain

Songwriters: Eddie Rabbitt / Dick Heard

Sunday Rerun: Tell the teacher we're surfing

 I always thought that no day at work should go by without at least one laugh. And I used to love leaving gag messages for other people in other offices, such as "Just tell her I have arrived in Venice to find the streets flooded. What to do?"  

I only steal from the best. That one was from Robert Benchley. 

Now, about the real things going on in Venice: the mayor over there got up a search to for two unidentified miscreants who were using motorized surfboards to zip around the canals over there. These two jokers turned out to be Australian tourists who left a lot of commotion in their wake. And now the mayor wants them to be assessed big fines.

Mayor Luigi Brugnaro called them "imbeciles"  and said they were making a mockery of Venice.

Hizzoner had a great way to round up these surfin' dudes: he offered a free Italian dinner to anyone who could help bring the pair to justice.

"Venice is NOT Disneyland," the mayor wrote on a post showing video of the No Beach Boys hanging ten under an arched bridge in the city's serenely beautiful Grand Canal.

It didn't take long for the two to be arrested, their boards seized, and trials looming.

According to the local newspaper, La Nuova di Venezia e Mestre, the two Popeyes received fines of 1,500 euros (about $1,509), and still the mayor wants them tried for the crime of harming Venice's image.

Four years ago, Venice passed a new law forbidding personal watercraft such as paddleboards and kayaks from its municipal waterways. The gondolas and vaporetti (water buses) could hardly make their way around for all the tiny crafts afloat.

In our country, any time there is flooding or high tides due to hurricanes and whatnot, a large contingent of people with kayaks, surfboards, rafts, and canoes just about break their necks to get out on that extra water. 

Why they do this, we may never know. 

  

The Saturday Picture Show, January 11, 2025

 

It's fortunate that we didn't deal with iced-over trees from this week's snowstorm. It was the most snow we've seen for years, and it was enough to deal with!

Some of the old microwaves looked enough like TVs that you could watch the Today show on them while your muffin toasted. 

I'm still not certain this isn't AI...I don't recall seeing (or hearing!) a keyboard boom box!

Today's free wallpaper reminds us of how pretty fog is until you have to drive in it!

Is someone 👀 out there with a timer?

If you force a fruit or vegetable to grow into a certain shape or appearance, plant and raise it in a formed mold. Not recommended for children. 

Someone knitted a scarf that brings along its own toys!

Popular new menu item comes with fries and a small salad. 

They do not mess around in China, no they do not. If you don't want to sell your property to make room for a new highway, they'll just make your property part of the highway! 

I'm not saying you shouldn't do this to your cat. I am saying, you will owe your cat a lot of treats and its own blanket in a nice warm spot.