JUST SOME POSTS

I got a FEW comments and suggestions on my request from my last blog, but NOT ENOUGH!! Come on everyone, give it up! This is a good time to ask for any and all of you to start spreading this around. Anyone that you feel would enjoy and/or profit from this blog - let them know about it. I want to start getting comments from a BUNCH of people. As for the additional family names here they are - (edited by me, I did not take them all - hey I rule here!) The Godfather of Soul (I thought I did that one, but I did not go look), Father of Soul (not sure who that is!), Shaq Daddy, Big Daddy Kane (rapper for those of you not in the know), the Osmond Brothers, Grandfather of Poker (I did not know who this was either), boys of summer (another I thought I did), Son of Sam, Daughters of the American Revolution, City of Brotherly Love, Mother Bear, Papa Bear, Baby Bear. I have the Sons of the Confederacy. And, I have a thought. I just saw one of those sappy emails with the quotes and the beautifu...

I was laying there trying to go to sleep last night (without much success, as I have a toothache), and my mind was wandering. I don't know about your mind, but when mine wanders....whoa! (just look at some earlier posts) So, I was thinking about George Washington (what...you don't think about our founding fathers when you are lying there trying to go to sleep?) and how he was called "the Father of our Country". I further thought that there is not a "Mother of our Country" (unless Martha gets it by default, but I don't think so). Then I started thinking about "family" or relationship nicknames. This is to be a participatory blog. I want you all to write back with the ones you think of that I missed. Here are the ones I thought of (I was up quite a while with my tooth!): Father of our Country, the Founding Fathers, Uncle Sam, Mother Earth, Mother Nature, Mother of all battles (or bombs), a priest is called - Father, a Mother Superior runs a conv...

"How about three of dem links?" That question popped up at every meal. My formative years were spent on the road. We followed the pageant trail. Up north in the winter months - Ice Queen, Snow Princess, Jill Frost, etc. The late summer and early fall ones were my favorites though; Corn Queen, Harvest Queen, even Kumquat Cutie. We didn't have much luck in the pageants until my Uncle Francis adopted the diminutive Lithuanian girl - Ausra (means "dawn" in Lithuanian). Ausra was a beauty, alabaster skin, deep blue eyes, golden hair. If it hadn't been for the growth on her right ankle, she could have been a serious contender for Ms. America or a "real" pageant. She carried herself regally even though she had to allow about six extra inches on her right for what we all just called the "lump". Did you ever wonder what life would be like if you never wondered what life would be like? I had another uncle that was an owner of a salt mine. Y...

Hide the wimmen an' chilren - I'm rantin' again.... I just heard ANOTHER news story that contained the word recession. I am sick of the media trying to make the financial situation sound worse than it is! Does the economy face some issues - both short-term and long-term - ? Yes. It always does and always will. This latest "crisis" however is almost totally (IMHO) media based. The employment rate and number (not UN-employment, but the number working) is at an all-time high. (The unemployment is at or near historic lows, however, so don't panic about that one either) Our economy has more people working than at any time in history. The stock market, even with the recent drops, is STILL near all-time record highs. You hear reports that "the stock market took a 112 point PLUNGE today!" , and you feel we are headed for a depression. A PLUNGE - OH MY!! The problem is, a one hundred plus PLUNGE is less than ONE PERCENT! Yeah, a 100 point drop when t...

I just got back from taking Bailey to school. I was looking at the kids and was wondering some things. When (and WHY??) did it become fashionable or "in" to wear pants that are big enough for three people and a small animal? I do not understand. I am smart enough to realize that every generation has to do something to "distinguish" itself and irritate it's parents generation, but....huge clothes? Most of the guys have to keep one hand on the pants to keep them from falling down. How tough is that? In my day, a lot of skirmishes would occur. How much of a fight can one put up with his pants at his ankles? Oh well, another sign of aging.

"Lemme git a taste o dat." If I had a dime for every time I heard that one. Sure, living in the rail yard was hard. But as a kid I didn't know any better. I thought every boy had sixteen Uncle Jess's living with him in an abandoned rail car. We didn't eat that badly, and when a fruit car was on the siding for the night - HELLO PINEAPPLES! I remember once a car from Washington state was there; MAN - can you say Fuji-licious. We ate apples until we were sick and had apples every meal for a week or more. Do slugs beg from snails? When I was older, we moved to a farm in Ohio. We raised lab animals. (you know, white rats, mice, rhesus monkeys, pigs, etc) I particularly enjoyed the rabbits. Those pink eyes and that twitching nose, and what a stew! The poop throwing competitions with the monkeys would sometimes get out of hand, but a quick shot with a stick would show them the primate on top. Would a dog's business card be pee'd on? My first job was at a tax...

I have been under a bit of pressure to do another entry. This one is not as inspired as some of the others, but hopefully will offer some entertainment and/or food for thought. I was just looking up a word in the online dictionary from Merriam-Webster. While I was there I noticed a box for the M-W Word of the Year. Now, this I had to see. Most of us know about the Time Man of the Year, or the Guest of the Day (if you read this blog). I would venture that the majority have seen or heard of other superlative/rating awards for people, food, dogs, cars, weasels (OK, too obscure), etc. I bet none of you knew M-W had a Word of the Year. I use the M-W online dictionary and I did not know! Now I know if you haven't already opened up a browser window and looked at the word already you are dying to know what word won. First, remember that it is an ONLINE dictionary, even if it does carry the name of MR. Dictionary - Webster. The winner was: ...............................w00t That...