Yesterday, Steve from Royal Oak immediately picked up on the same thoughts I was having as I dug up this old series, specifically how difficult it was, in my youth, to get to know a girl over the phone. Or at least how difficult it seemed! I think I launch far too many old-fogey threads as it is, but I think it’s a worthwhile subject: what is it like for kids today, who are connected, individually and collectively, to one another on a constant basis? You want to talk about a societal ground-shift. Or maybe it’s just as difficult today to cold text that cute young thing in third period algebra.
181 responses to “The Christmas Caller II”
So, I am sitting here reminiscing about the ‘old days’….let’s go back to 73…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy-51ZTbFis
I was living in Corpus Christi…and one Christmas Eve night I called into the local radio station, kept him on line for at least a half an hour….giving him ‘tunes’ to play…..finally a friend got through on the land line (yes, that’s all we had back then) and said “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for at least an hour”….”you’ve been on the phone again with the radio DJ again…right, I know your tunes” Sandy said….I wonder how she is doing now…..never kept track of who I left behind when I left Corpus that night with a broken ankle and a black cat that had a club foot….my Stepmom was sent down by my Dad to “retrieve” me And I am glad she came and got me….otherwise I would not be a “poster” here.
I probably mentioned I have always wanted to have chickens (for pets, not to eat) and honey for the honey comb. I ordered myself all the Dummy books on beekeeping and hive building. Does anyone here have experience with beekeeping in a semi-rural setting, meaning we aren’t in a city, I have a large double, make that triple lot and no restrictions of any kind.
My other bucket list item is chickens. The next door neighbors have some and have since I lived here, I hear the roosters. I am looking at prefab chicken houses on the net which are probably cheaper than my possible builders. Although there seems to be some Amish maybe who build storage sheds, barns and such locally including chicken houses.
Any ideas?
Love, Jackie
Jackie…go with the Amish on building the hen houses…trust me on that one, they know how to build a barn. Just saying, from living around here in SIN with the Amish, they can put up a whole barn in one afternoon….the whole community is involved.
Debbe, those are fascinating places. There is one near me: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moundville_Archaeological_Site
Great place to walk around and climb the mounds if you are up to it.
Sam’s Club did sell them but, as with everything they sell, when you see it, buy it because they’ll never have it again. Jackie I did not realize that you had a tortie. Cilla and Spunky are both torties and look like they must be sisters but they are not. Cilla is one year older (is sitting at my feet at the moment) and talks to me constantly. As a consequence I understand much of what she is trying to tell me. If not, I just ask her to show me. That’s why I said that Arlo would never refer to Lud as “the cat”. I worried all night that I may have offended some people by my comment about Sherman. That was not my intent and I apologize if I did. My brother has been extremely active for years in civil war reenactments and would probably prefer to die on some battlefield if he can manage it. I’ve never been to one and can’t imagine what the appeal is.
Mark….I know, and I know also I’ve missed a lot on the past. I guess I was too busy worrying about the present I was leaving. I lived each day as a new day and never went down with the night.
…and about coming back to IN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egJR3K6UIJY
Jerry, it is interesting that I am learning all I am about my home in Louisiana. We still own it and the property around it, yet I never learned any of our history nor the parish/county history. I knew we were all living in poverty, that wasn’t hard to figure out but the why has been interesting.
Sherman did more to ruin and destroy our countryside and its’ economy than the rest of the conflict did. I have been trying to find how anyone had the money to rebuild anything after the war, as our house was a post war small plantation? My grandfather bought it at a sheriff’s auction and it seemed to pass through many hands before ours.
We must all be willing to examine and learn about the past if we can protect/save the future. We seem to keep reliving and fighting the same wars it seems to me.
My skin is pretty thick, so the Village can discuss just about anything and I will find it educational!
My first tortie was Madame Pele, whom I acquired in Hawaii. I have her ashes still. I think I have always had at least one tortie ever since. Meow Meow is a tortie and sleeps on my head/pillow mostly. Mama Kitty is getting tamer and lets us get close now but not catch her, she lives outside.
Love, Jackie
Jerry, we all should know by now that war is hell on earth. It displays the worst of human nature and (at best) denotes a failure of politics to determine an issue in a fair and timely way. The only positive thing that can be said about war is that it (sometimes) settles big issues that cannot be settled any other way.
at TR…like the atomic bombs….
If Blacklight needs a new home, I occasionally come to Indiana and you can save the postage.
OF may be about to blow.
http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/webcam/oldFaithfulStreaming.html
Jackie [I think]: “Tortoise shell Mama Cat is out eating with her largish gray kitten and her apricot and white kitten. OK EMB, what are odds on sexes of those two? I can’t catch them to find out!”
As far as I know, 50:50. The gray I know nothing about: whether it results from a single locus [probably] or multiple loci [possibly]. I think gray is equally likely in males and females. I think the apricot and white is one of the loci on the X-chromosome that is part of the t.shell story. If so, such kittens are equally likely to be male or female, since males carry one X. Does it also have dark, brownish spots? If so, it’s a calico, like a tortie but splotchy rather than fine-grained, as it were. Torties and calicos are females, thus are XX, with a gene for the orange/white bit on one X and a gene for the darker pigment on the other X.
Dave: The simplest thing would be for us each to ask JJ to share our email addresses w/ each other. The series is copyrighted, as are all the columns I submit to the paper.
As my Vietnam platoon buddy and best friend likes to put it: “War is hell, actual combat is an SOB, but peace is a Mother F’er.” While war and its anguish is never easy on the war fighters, it is the civilian population who suffers most. Seventy years after WWII, the scars are still visible throughout Europe. No one continent has ever paid such a high price. Russia paid the highest price in casualties, 27+ million, plus uncountable loss of cities, etc.
Tis seasonal, http://www.arcamax.com/thefunnies/rhymeswithorange/s-1593153
Here’s another strip about what the new technology has done: http://www.arcamax.com/thefunnies/familycircus/
The Little Angel on the Top of the Christmas Tree!
One particular Christmas season a long time ago, Santa was getting ready for his annual trip but there were problems everywhere. Four of his elves got sick, and the trainee elves did not produce the toys as fast as the regular ones so Santa was beginning to feel the pressure of being behind schedule. Then Mrs. Claus told Santa that her Mom was coming to visit; this stressed Santa even more.
When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two had jumped the fence and were out at heaven knows where. More stress.
Then when he began to load the sleigh one of the boards cracked and the toy bag fell to the ground and scattered the toys. So, frustrated, Santa went into the house for a cup of coffee and a shot of whiskey. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered that the elves had hid the liquor and there was nothing to drink.
In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the coffeepot and it broke into hundreds of little pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found that mice had eaten the straw it was made of. Just then the doorbell rang and Santa cussed on his way to the door. He opened the door and there was a little angel with a great big Christmas tree.
The angel said, very cheerfully, “Merry Christmas Santa. Isn’t it just a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Isn’t it just a lovely tree? Where would you like me to stick it?
Thus began the tradition of the little angel on top of the tree.
Debbe 😉 All I want for Christmas is a cowboy hat, cowboy boots and a pair of six-shooters…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j11rwc6Sf4o
I figured it out…Bologna Bolognaise = Bologna + Mayonnaise + Light Bread.
I didn’t order nor eat it but I think you got it right, Ghost!
Thanks for the grin Ghost. I’ve been outside watching for meteorites but only spotted what I thought might be a satellite, but it was moving roughly from north to south. Do any of them do that?
Jerry in FL, maybe it was Santa on a recon flight?
Ghost and Jackie, here’s something for those who love Pogo: http://www.hamiltonbook.com/products/search?q=pogo&cat_id=&find=Find+%C2%BB
Wouldn’t have time (see previous comment). I understand that they asked former vice-president Cheny today if torture was illegal and he referred the question to his lawyer. Oh, wait a minute.
And if you are fans of a certain cantankerous duck, like me: http://www.hamiltonbook.com/products/search?q=donald+duck&cat_id=&find=Find+%C2%BB
I had no idea that you were a cantankerous duck, but that’s ok.