Hot in Salado

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Reminds me of a poem that a really smart person said I could recite to my students during band class.  He never explained why I should.  I'm thinkin' he was coveting my job.  I could be wrong.  Rarely am I.  

POEM BY WHO KNOWS - Probably was stolen from the Milton Berle show.

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Spring has sprung.

Fall has fell.

Summer's comin'.

and it's Hot as ......

well ya'know, it's gonna get really hot.

They're already talking heat index and "feel's like" temperatures.

And during all this heat, some guy or gal will come running by my house in shorts and a tank top sweating and dripping...happy he is getting into shape by suffering.  And a holier than thou smile hiding the grimaces.

No pain, No gain.  I heard that throughout high school and college.  

They are wrong.  I have chosen not to have that pain - and I certainly have gained.  So there.

My Fair Lady =>  Mad dogs and Englishmen come out in the midday sun.

I'm neither.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I'm wonderin'  -- when it's 100 degrees in Texas ... go south into Mexico - let's say Cancun - is it not 100 degrees in Cancun too?  They're on the water, so we know they are not at a higher altitude.  Maybe it is attitude?  The Bahamas - or any other tropical paradise - surely they are as hot as Texas.  Surely.  I bet I could find that online.  Suppose I'd have to be motivated to look.

later,

m   (94 degrees right now in Salado)

Pot Pouring (potpourri)

Potpourri - according to Wikipedia - no wait, who cares?  look it up yourself.    Even though this may have an aroma, it is just words on the page.  On my phone they list the Wikipedia explanation followed by an Amazon adv. for poo-pourri .... that would be toilet spray.  But my favorite addition from my phone are the potential alternate words:  melange, pastiche, hodgepodge, mishmash, patchwork.  

That is what this is.

#1  tear jerker sorta:  Local Salado Village Voice (you should get a subscription) has an article about a 99 yr old guy named Carl Reid.  He lives in a veterans hospital in Big Spring, TX.  He was in World War II as an 18 year old.  When asked what he wanted for his birthday, he said, "I want 100 birthday cards."  Actually, the article just says "cards."  I assume they mean birthday cards.  If he wants a deck of cards (that's 52 cards + jokers), he only needs 2 decks to reach his goal.

I have my card selected, stamped, and signed.  It goes out tomorrow.  What?  the cost of a stamp and a cheap card?  Make an old man happy.  address is:

Mr. Carl Reid     

Re:  100 for 100

c/o Lamun-Lusk-Sanchez Texas State Veterans Home

1809 N. Hwy 87    Big Spring, TX 79720

it is a nice thing to do.    When I reach 100, send me cash.

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#2  I've noticed as I age that Gravity is becoming a bigger and bigger part of my life.  I suppose it was there when I was younger, but who paid attention?  Today, getting dressed, I dropped a sock three times.  This is not so serious.  Yet, I had to bend over three times to pick it up.   Not long after, I got this pill out of its RX plastic container.  I laid it on top of my metal drinking cup which has a lid and a straw.

I fumbled around & hit the cup.  The stupid pill got right up and rolled down the straw hole into the liquid.  This might not be so bad except the pill was my wife's prescription.  I didn't need it at all.  All was poured down the drain, and I started again.  Gravity took the ice and liquid down the drain.

Gravity rules my life.  My stomach is affected too.  Without gravity I might look like the "old" Arnold Swartzenneiger  - I was right.  His name went straight to spell check as wrong.  doesn't matter.  you know who I mean.  The OLD Arnold from years past.  

People are paying millions of dollars to fly into space and experience no gravity.  Well, that is the "GRAVITY" of the situation.  I could give you numerous examples.  Bet you have your own.  Is it best to have gravity?  or is the moon a better place to be with less?  Your decision.   I am (ready?)  DROPPING the subject right now.

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#3 The final nonsense.  Reading Heloise's column in the Temple Paper, someone wrote in about getting hot toast out of the toaster.  Well, yeah, that is a thing.   I usually use a fork or a knife.  Their instructions say, "No, don't use a fork or a knife."  I dood it anyway.  Maybe I'll be electrocuted and my family can sue the toaster company for riches.  If you can sue McDonald's for hot coffee or chicken nuggets, why not the toaster folks?

Back to Heloise.  The writer told of giving her friend a set of toaster tongs.  Have you ever heard of anything like that?  toaster tongs!  surely not.  Off to Amazon.Com.  type in toaster tongs.   Hundreds of toaster tongs came up.  Where have I been all these years.  Bamboo ones,  plastic ones, ones with cute fingers, others with a magnet, red, blue, green, you name it.  toaster tongs.

I look around the kitchen and found that I own several toaster tongs that are presented in the advertisement.  I chose a red one to match our red toaster.  It works.  This all happened on Tuesday.  Forever in my house Tuesdays will be known as:

TOASTER TONG TUESDAYS!!

Complete your life now.  Get a pair today.  I have; and, my life is better for it.

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#4  Medical.  For those who keep up.  Gave a jar of blood yesterday for testing.  My PSA is still below .01     they call it <.01    I suppose I will live a little bit longer now.

love ya

m

I'm sad

 Short.

Went out back with dogs.  I looked at garden.  Big dog was by the fence barking at neighbor.  I went over and shushed her.

As I walked back, a bird flittered by me and landed on a fence.  It was a baby learning to fly..

I thought I could get passed it without causing panic.  I was wrong.

It tried to fly away from me landing in the grass 20+ yards away.

My dog Sadie ran and grabbed it.  Dead in less than a second.   A male red winged blackbird was flying in and out of the encounter.  Sadie killed a baby bird.  I'm sad.  Nothing to do now.

Misc report - disasters and otherwise

June 1st - year 2023 - nice day - sun shining - sprinkler system worked this morning with no problems - 3 dogs in residence today - #1 child working today - wife watching TV and coloring - I'm taking care of business online and other places because it is the 1st of the month.  Note:  today starts Pride Month.  Worthless events highlighted by the press as wonderful.  We move on.

We just returned from a flying trip (in the car) to Lubbock for my #3 and last grandgirl's high school graduation from Frenship High.   Nobody knows why it is spelled Frenship - just cause.  

It was a nice event running 635 or more students across the stage in about an hour.  No speaker other than H.S. Salut and Valdic - they were just fine.  Being somewhat deaf, I'm not sure what they projected for the future.  Both speeches got right to the point and included only a bit of remembering childhood.

We left Friday - attended a grad party of Sat. - grad was at 3 p.m. on Sunday.  Yes, Sunday.  They had it at the United Supermarket Spirit Arena - or whatever it is contractually named.  The Lubbock schools had the arena booked up on Thur/Fri/& Sat.  The place was full of screaming mommas and other relatives.  Since I got out of high school, I don't suppose I have held these Commencement Services in too high of regard.  Mine was important of course.  Theirs?  not so much obviously.

One of my bits is to send Graduation Cards in the mail.  I sent each of grandgirls cards.  The bit is to send more than one.  Each received maybe 10 cards spread out over 3-4 weeks.  Some were serious; most were dumb.

Since I taught 38 years, I attended 38 high school graduations, some better than others.  Some were like attending a circus - I particularly remember Tascosa H.S. in Amarillo as close to riots.  Tascosa had recently (3 or 4 years earlier) gone through a court case in which the name Rebels was removed by the court.  They were no longer the Tascosa Rebels and by court order, the rebel flag could not be flown AND Dixie could not be played as the fight song. Thus, locals who were irritated would bring rebel flags and whistle Dixie - so forth.

Aside: the administration with student help picked a new mascot -  The Rebel Kid.  Drawn as a cowboy with a gun.  So, they were still the Rebels, weren't they?

At graduation one year I was there, someone figured out how to get into the rafters of the Amarillo civic center.  They installed a garage door opener.  At the appropriate time, the opener worked pulling out a large Rebel flag and a tape player blaster out Dixie from the ceiling.   I wonder what that cost. How did they find the electricity up that high.  It was effective to a degree.  The students loved it and the Administration was duly embarrassed.  Tascosa was always a circus.

But, enough of that.  We enjoyed the Lubbock trip while we were there.  The 300 mile drive each way is another story.

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On Tues. before we left, my wife was at the front door watering out inside plants.  She has her little watering can - bends over a bit and sprinkles.  Something went wrong - perhaps a dog running through or ? who knows.  She got top heavy and went down.  Nothing serious.  Nobody even knew it except her.   A few moments later, Christine walked through the room and saw blood all over BJ's white shirt.  My wife was unaware that she was cut.

I was called back inside.  We looked.  There was a cut behind her ear and blood had squirted out.  By the time I arrived, it was not bleeding - surface cut.  

After a bit of dabbing and attempting to clean, the shirt was changed - a call was made to local Baylor Scoot & White clinic (4 p.m. plus) - and a quick trip was made to the doctor's.  No doctors were there at 4 p.m. of course on this Tuesday.  A nurse practitioner or maybe just a nurse gave aid.  I stayed in the waiting room while the 2 girls went to the back.  I don't care to watch blood.

BSW was fantastic.  2 stitches went in and cleaning took place.  It was a good experience considering. $5 Copay.  Of course I may get a bill later for $5 million.   Yesterday, out came the stitches.  Another fine experience, considering.   no copay this time.

Life is full of these little dramas.   We have a theory that she bumped the side of her head slightly against the corner of the piano bench just enough to tear the skin.  

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another event perhaps worth reciting:  while in Lubbock we completed our doctor papers  - the ones where you give someone else the right to decide your medical fate.  A friend of the family came over and did the notary work. Papers have been signed and posted.  Another joy-of-living taken care of...

more later if there be a later,

M3

p.s. not proof reading this.  You correct errors for me.