Strange Vehicle How it is used
Clange Bang Over my head. I awake. What is that racket. Then I see, passing my window, the strange vehicle on the left. I dressed and took my scooter outside. By this time the vehicle was parked by my apartment.
Roofers use the rented lifter to raise them to roof level with the tiles they are using to repair the roof. Not a mystery. Not a new item. Just amusing.
John Scalzi asked us to make a rule or two to apply to superbowl football. Well, I watched the game, and this occured to me this morning, a bit late.
Here's a real late thought: The game hasn't been the same since the forward pass was introduced. It has become merely a game of kid's keep-away. Send a man over the goal and throw the ball to him. If he catches it, he scores. Ho-hum. Even his victory dance doesn't create much excitemnet.
Also the unlimited substitution rule. Years ago. eleven men went out and matched their metle against one another. When you left the game, you were OUT, like baseball. Now there are offensive teams and defensive teams and special kicking teams and place-kickers, and even punt returners. So who is playing whom? Unlimited substitutions has ruined football, just as it would ruin baseball. What if you could call in a third strike specialist pitcher whenever the count favored the batter. Then put the regular pitcher back in when the count went the other way.
And time outs for beer commercials? How about one time out per quarter--period. And why quarters? One potty break at half-time ought to be enough, especially if you limit spectators to one beer per half.
Wow, this morning I see hundreds of birds outside my window. they are dashing back and forth from tree to tree busily doing their birdlike duties. They appeared Yesterday, suddenly.
I love to watch their antics. I wish I were enough of a "birder" to call their names. Starlings, I am told, but have no idea. My cousin in Hesperia has finches, dozens of finches.
Regularly I go to a back road that has bridge over a canal where the swallows nest each season. They arrive on schedule, March 23, every year, having flown from South America. A few scouts come a day or two early and "case the joint". Then on the appointed day they arrive enmass and set up housekeeping under the bridge.
They build their nests of mud that they gather from selected puddles along the canal. Only certain puddles will do and they flock there, squabbling and scrabbling for mud rights. I cannot see the nests because there is no way to get under the low bridge.
From March until September there is a great swirl of birds that dash out from under the bridge, up into the air, turning and diving, and then swooping back under the bridge.
When the fledglings have hatched and have learned to fly, the sky is just filled with clouds of swallows practicing for their migration. Then one day in September you go to the bridge and find they have gone. All gone, including the babies a couple of months old, on their way to Chile.
In Chile, they raise another crop of swallows. Then Grand parents, new parents, and their two month old swallows come back to Merced. That's a hell of a trip for a two month old.
The swallows that go to Capistrano have the best press agents and get all the publicity, but I like our Merced swallows just as well. Every Southern California community has its own swallows. I believe that the same swallows come to the same nesting sites each year, but I cannot tell for sure because their license plates get lost on the trip.
It is hard to get pictures of them because you cant get close to them. Maybe, this year with my binoculars with the built in digital camera. Stay tuned.
Patrick posts his Saturday Six thought provoking questions and I respond on Wednesday:
1. Who is the first celebrity you recall having a crush on?
Barbara Stanwick, although Ginger Rogers turned me on too.
I actually wrote a fan letter to Diana Lynn, and I got an answer.
2. What was your favorite amusement park ride when you were young?
The Merry go round. If you sat on the outside horse you could lean way out and grab a ring from a mechanical hand. If the ring was GOLD you could stay right on your horse and get a free ride.
Chute the chutes was great too. You get hauled up a tower in a boat and then it is allowed to hurtle down the slide into the water with great splashing and screaming. If you sat in the front seat it seemed even faster, and was certainly wetter.
3. If you could change your name (first or middle but the name you go by), would you, and if so, what would you change it to?
As a kid I wanted something more masculine than Charles. Maybe a more teutonic Karl or Max would have suited me. I never knew any kid who liked his middle name. Mine was a family surname. Soon I learned to be proud of my names, first and middle and wouldn't change them if I could. (Well, I can, in fact, but I don't.) That tells me something.
4. Go to http://kabalarians.com/ and take the "First Name Analysis" test. Do you agree with what the site comes up with?
By the time I got to try it the free name analysis was not available. So I decided to analyse theirs: Kabalarians. Cabal, an association of clandestine operatives, arians, participants in. Therefor I analyse them as Participants in a nepharious scheme.
5. Other than Johnny Carson, which former talk show host's tape archives would you most like to visit, and why?
I forget his name. Small blond intense man who ran hour long interviews late night on educational channel. Interviews were deeper and serious, not rigged to get laughs. (Dick Cavett...thank you Karen)
Oh, well, since I cannot remember his name, I choose Jack Paar. His interviews were shallow but fun, and introduced such characters as Dodie Goodman, Jose Jimenes, Coochie coochie Charo. (My name recall device is not as good on Wednesday as it is on Saturday.)(Thanks to Karen)
6. READER'S CHOICE QUESTION #44 from Jessie: If you were in good health, would you donate a kidney to a friend who's dying regardless of what your family's opinion are and if yes or no, why or why not?
I would want to, but my fear of operations would outweigh my good intentions. Sorry, Pal, you'll have to go on dialysis instead of getting my kidney.
I scooted around the parking lot of the old folks home where I live and amused myself by jotting down the names of the models of the cars there.
Priziti
Solara
Sonoma
Sonata
Corolla
Celebrity
Astro
Passiti
Prizm
Tiburon
Altima
Silverado
Accord
Big Ten
New Yorker
Give yourself a pat on the back if you can name any of the makes that go with them.
PS... LOL ... I didn't expect this to be a game. I really didn't know the makes. But folks made it into one. Congratulations. Here are the answers from my daughter Kate...see comments below.
Priziti-Saab
Solara-Dodge
Sonoma-Hyndai SUV
Sonata-Hyndai
Corolla-EVERYBODY GOT IT...Toyota
Celebrity-Chevy
Astro-Chevy
Passiti-VW
Prizm-Geo
Tiburon-Plymouth
Altima-Plymouth
Silverado-Chevy
Accord- MANY picked right...Honda...GREAT CAR btw
Big Ten-Packard
New Yorker-Chrylser
How'd I do? LOL Kate
Very good except the Big Ten was a chevy pick up.
I live alone. I awoke this morning and heard someone breathing. I listened to the slow steady inhale-exhale and I wondered who the heck was in my bedroom and why. Then I noticed the breathing was in sync with mine.
I was listening to myself.
Johnny Carson loved the silly metaphors:
Johnny: Boy is was hot today. (Pause)
Audience: How... hot...was... it?
Johnny: (Mugs for the camera, obviously enjoying the audience participation) It was so hot that a dog was chasing a rabbit and they were both walking.
So now David Letterman, a great fan of Johnny, copies the format.
David: Boy it was cold today (Pauses)
Audience:(Titters, knowing it is expected to participate, but may not..which is even funnier.)
David: It was so cold that the squirrels in Central Park were lighting fires in trash cans to warm their nuts.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
