Curmudgeon Alley

2023/08/16

The False Reality of Loneliness | Hello Eleanor Rigby

I am a bit skeptical of this video as this is one of those fuzzy areas people so want to believe. Plus anything associated with the Templeton Foundation sets off red flags and sirens for me. However, the video does bring up some interesting thoughts to contemplate.

The reason it caught my attention

I occasionally will write blog articles I never intend to publish, just to get things off my chest. Back in the day I use to write letters and tear them up. I am including the article I never intended to publish at the end of this one. Please no sticks or stones…

I had titled this article simply Eleanor Rigby

When I was younger, much, Continue reading “The False Reality of Loneliness | Hello Eleanor Rigby”

2023/08/12

Quote of the Day – Heather Cox Richardson

“As I try to cover the news tonight, I am struck by how completely the Republican Party, which began in the 1850s as a noble endeavor to keep the United States government intact and to rebuild it to work for ordinary people, has devolved into a group of chaos agents feeding voters a fantasy world.” ~~ Heather Cox Richardson from Letters from an American

Normally I let the quotes speak for themselves, but I feel a few comments are in order. Heather Cox Richardson is a Continue reading “Quote of the Day – Heather Cox Richardson”

2023/08/11

Matrimonial Log – Star Date 5783.222

“Matrimony… the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Casamiento Segundo, its until-death-do-us-part mission… to explore a strange new relationship… to seek out a new life and new adventures… to boldly go where no sane couple has gone before.”

I was walking from the bedroom to the bathroom when I belched with much enthusiasm and expressiveness. Growing up in a household with four brothers and a gaseous father, belching was considered an art form, a source of competition amongst us five boys.

Señora said to me, “You just burped.”

“No,” I said, “I just eructated. I have more class than to burp.”

Her reply was not family friendly, but it definitely let me know in no uncertain terms that she was not in accordance with my well considered evaluation of my behavior.

And so it goes within the confines of our matrimonial walls.

2023/08/10

I Think I Am a Little Jealous

Señora has been seeing a new massage therapist for a while now. I understand her need for massages with all the issues going on in her delightful but fragile body. However, she generally comes home crowing about what a wonderful masseuse this immigrant from Russian or Ukraine is.

Now add to this his back story of being an immigrant working seven days a week to send his child through college. Sure has my furry, bouncy, big-eyed puppy on a leash beat for touching the heart strings of the fairer sex.

I sometimes feel that if I could make Señora feel ten percent as good in bed as she seems to feel from her time on his table, she would be strutting around the barnyard clucking about Studmeister Redneck to all the world.

I think I am a little jealous.

She recommended this gentleman to a good friend of hers, La Guapa. Now La Guapa is crowing about the magical touch of the therapist.

It makes me want to go the masseuse school… barring that I am sure Señora would share his contact information.

2023/08/082023/08/08

Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #5,081

Sometimes all it takes to be nice, to be kind, to be gracious, to be compassionate, is to maintain your silence. A small effort in this maelstrom of slings and arrows of outrageousness we call life.

2023/08/052023/08/05

Quote of the Day – Stephen Chbosky

“It’s much easier not to know things sometimes.” ~~ Stephen Chbosky

Or as a fellow I know once said to me, “If you just went through life keeping blinders on, you would be happier.”

To see more Quotes for Day, visit this link: Quotes for the Day

2023/08/042023/08/04

Celebrating 60 Years of Matrimony

Okay, this is an observation that Señora has grown quite tired of, but I still find immensely entertaining…at least until I get her chancla upside my head.

It works like this. Señora was married 28 years her first go around. I was technically married 22 years, but the number of years living together were somewhat less than that figure. However, the paperwork says 22. Nuff said.

If you add those two numbers, 28 and 22, you arrive at 50 years of matrimony between the two of us.

Señora and I have been a couple for 15 years, but married only the last 10 years of that period. So much like an IRS tax form, take the number Continue reading “Celebrating 60 Years of Matrimony”

2023/08/012025/10/23

Gun Death Statistics to Ruminate On

One of the 3.141592 regular readers of my blog, upon reading Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #7,420 that dealt with the Spanish word for mass shootings, tiroteo, commented that the number of gun deaths in the USA roughly corresponds to an Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building every two days. In that terrorist attack, 168 folks were lost, including 19 children. Of course, this started me thinking once again about gun death statistics in the USA.

Some Quick Hitting Facts

According to the page on gun deaths on the web site for the National Safety Counci l: Continue reading “Gun Death Statistics to Ruminate On”

2023/07/31

Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #7,420

There is one word in Spanish that I should never had had to learn, tiroteo. The literal translation is shooting, but they seem to use in the sense of mass shootings.

Obviously with the situation with guns here in the United States, with mass shootings seemingly happening every week, sometimes multiple times, if you are discussing the news with someone in another country, the subject of mass shootings is going to come up.

It is one word/concept that I wish I had never heard of… or learned in another language.

And so it should not go.