It will soon be that time of year. This old A&J from 2008 reminds me of a much older joke. President Harry Truman was lecturing White House reporters on the intricacies of rose gardening and extolling the importance of manure. A squeamish Presidential Press Secretary approached First Lady Bess Truman and suggested, “Perhaps you could suggest to the President that ‘fertilizer’ might be a more delicate word than ‘manure.'” Bess replied, “Do you know how long it took me to get him to say, ‘manure?'” Yeah, you’ve heard that one.
61 responses to “Being Rich Never Hurts”
An oldie but a goodie!
Of course today, that wouldn’t even raise a question (or an eyebrow)…
Harry didn’t use “manure” that often.
Flew to Orlando for vacation and my ears hurt. No infection but I saw an Urgent Care anyway.
Work blew up so I have had to handle a few things. Heavy snow in Michigan, so maybe I can get 3 days of peace. I am staying with our daughter, but getting sticker shock from all of food and entertainment costs!
¤ Imagine a time when Presidential diplomacy wouldn’t refer to “manurehole” countries.
Steve: I hope you enjoy your stay in my hometown – weather-wise you certainly timed it right. Of course, I’m sure you would enjoy being with your daughter no matter the location. As for food and entertainment costs, the usual advice applies: go where the locals go. For us that means, stay away from the theme park district, avoid the national chains, check out ethnic cuisine (Vietnamese and Cuban/Caribbean are especially good here), and expect to pay more if it’s hip and trendy 🙂
Jim Dyer: None of our recent presidents have shown a true gift for language. The vulgarities they’ve been caught using (or merely accused of using) are cheap and commonplace. True artistry seems to have passed with the masters, such as Mark Twain:
http://litcur.com/mark-twain-and-the-art-of-swearing-2/
Just received an email from BUMC’s top notch [ELCA] church secretary that the BUMC office would be closed Mon. 12 Feb.
Wrote back, cc. pastor and other theologs, “Of course it will, to celebrate the joint date of birth, 12 Feb. 1809, of two great liberators of humankind, Abe Lincoln and Chs. Darwin.”
Peace,
Apropos of absolutely nothing, I just saw that I am “only” 26 relationships (parental or sibling) away from Queen Elizabeth II! That plus $1.40 will get me 20 oz. of overpriced soda….
Add “marital” to those kinds of relationships.
cep- cool! Anyone else having internet issues? or maybe it is me 🙂
I thought it wouldn’t take long for the political crap to start.
SNOWED IN!
Janis loves gardening.
Janis loves Arlo.
Hm. Must be getting time for gardening thoughts. Lessee, Janis will be at the flowers, wearing her garden hat, wielding a garden tool—maybe some packets ready to plant nearby.
My favorite cartooning garden scene is from “It Was My Best Birthday Ever, Charlie Brown.” Such a scene of flowers! I don’t know anything else like it.
Then I still remember the Pottsy Sunday cartoon that so impressed me—Pottsy’s visage surrounded by a sea of holly leaves in one large panel–with Christmas wishes. All those leaves the cartoonist had to draw! My mother was not so impressed.
Let’s see, have I heard the HST joke? Well, yes, when I was about ten years old.
Without looking it up, does anyone remember what President Truman’s middle name was?
my favorite gardening scene is “there’s something about a peek”. My second favorite is the one where a storm comes along just after Arlo and Janis plant flower seeds, causing Janis to cry over her “lost” plants while the last panel has a rainbow of color spread over the hills. Good ones Jimmy!
Dearest Ghost — Yes, Truman had not been given a middle name. He chose the letter S but with no period after the letter, so no specific name.
I finally got around to seeing The Greatest Showman. My review: If you like musicals, you’ll love this one. If you don’t, don’t bother seeing it. That way we can both be happy, and I won’t have to listen to someone gripe about a masterpiece.
BTW, the show IS a fantasy, only loosely based on Barnum’s life.
Trucker:
I recommend “The Darkest Hour.”
The only G&S operetta I’ve not seen is their first, “Thespis”; its music has been lost. “Trial by Jury” and “The Sorcerer”, their 2nd and 3rd, I’ve seen only on TV. Have seen all the others live, some multiple times, and would happily see most of them again. Can see many of the songs on YouTube.
Here is a favorite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOQIiOyHpcQ
The bicycle built for 2 is not in the script, but then, nothing is, at least in the Modern Library ed. Am trying to find a complete “Ruddigore” done by this group. There are other Ruddigore videos featuring these two leads and others.
Peace,
practice, practice, practice.
emb, which group is this? I don’t see their name listed with the video so I can’t tell who you’re looking for.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKEDD1i4oGk
About the jumper Jimmy mentioned.
I heard it when it was first made up. This was at the time that there were bumper stickers saying, ‘I miss Ike. Heck, I even miss Harry.’
Ruth Anne: I have learn to be very patient down here. I did go to it Olive Garden last night because the prices were decent and I knew what to expect. I don’t like most ethnic food so I really don’t mind. My daughter recognizes that there several types of drivers down here the tours who has no idea where they’re driving some of the elderly people who are taking things very slow for the idiots that want to drive 90 in a 40 mile per hour zone.
I’m sitting here outside of Disney waiting to get in. It was always a dream of mine as a kid and I’ve been here three times before. the last being in 2000. It was always something I wanted to do is hurt you and I’m glad that I can fulfill those dreams.
Steve from Royal Oak Mi: I’m puzzled by that last sentence. Who do you want to hurt? Or not hurt?
Mark: Thanks. Don’t know, but it’s one of several videos. URL that closely follows it has the same two in the “Basingstoke” episode. The URL below is from Act I, when the man is still Sir Despard Murgatroyd, not having yet unmasked “Robin Oakapple” as his elder brother Ruthven, the rightful accursed baronet. He does it well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0cfOtuZHek
Peace,