A little while ago I came across a local story in my news feed about a St. Louis area police officer. He had been arrested for excessive use of a belt with his children. This brought back a host of childhood memories. I shared the article and my memories with my four brothers. Like me, they had many war stories about growing up with our parents. Both our parents, but especially our mother, were strong believers in and practitioners of the old axiom “spare the rod, spoil the child.” Today they would most likely be visited by various governmental services. However, their attitude and behavior Continue reading “Pseudo-psychological Ramblings or Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child”
Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #2,889
yeah I know you did not ask!
I was reading an article about the recent Republican National Convention. The article referred to Mike Pence as Gospodin Trump’s wing man. At the time I thought, “wingnut would be more accurate.” Ruminating on that, I thought, “No, the function of a wingnut is to help hold things together.” This administration’s handling of the country is more like a turbine breaking up at high speed. Watch out for flying parts.
I am not sure what the appropriate term is for just another nut job circling around planet 666 aka Trump’s Dystopian World is, but anything I can think of is not appropriate for mixed company and children.
Really, Really Good Refrigerator Pickles
We’ve had a lot of cucumbers this year, but not from Rose-colored-glasses-firmly-planted Señora Weinhaus. She is truly the definition of an optimist. Just about every year since I have known her she has attempted to grow vegetables and herbs in the garden on the side of the garage. She has had fair success with the herbs, but just about every year the deer get the vegetables. She has tried all sort of things to keep them out. Right now we have a Mission Impossible web of fishing line around the garden. The deer have still managed to sate their appetites. If it is not the deer then it is rabbits. However, the rabbit population seems to go in cycles. Some years you see many, and other years they are as rare as Yoda using common syntax. Indubitably, spring will roll around and she will be trying again.
Question became what to do with all the cucumbers we had “shared” with us. I found a recipe Continue reading “Really, Really Good Refrigerator Pickles”
Sex Education in the 60s
An email exchange with my brothers had me reminiscing about how sex education was handled in the sixties… the 1960s smarty pants.
From my mother, and I have no idea what sparked her comment to the prepubescent me. At the time it seemed totally out of left field.
“God meant for men and women to be together, that is why their private parts fit together like a key in a lock.”
The best I can recall this was the last time she mentioned anything of a sexual nature to me.
And from my father, on the occasion of the 17 year old me washing the family car with a bosomy blonde. It was not quite up to the Cool Hand Luke scene, or in retrospect maybe it was for my father!
“A cat was napping on the railroad tracks. A train came along and chopped off his tail. He turned around to see what had happened to his tail. While he was inspecting the damage another train came along from the other direction. It chopped off his head.
Know what the moral of this story is?
Don’t lose your head over a piece of tail.”
And that is the last I heard from him on the subject.
Forget about sex education in the schools, it was not taught. Heck, I could not even buy condoms as a teenager in Rhode Island. I am thankful to this day that I did not reenact Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones. And very lucky.
Keep well.
Word of the Day – Amphigory
- Noun: Amphigory
- a nonsense verse or composition : a rigmarole with apparent meaning which proves to be meaningless
- Synonyms:
- balderdash
- baloney
- bosh
- bull
- bunk
- cant
- drivel
- gibberish
- hooey
- rigmarole
- rubbish
- Allow me to add, before someone comments, what the polite Thesaurus did not include… bullshit
- Usage:
- “Well?” she repeated more firmly
This time I openly stared.”Is that cantilevering natural? Or is there an invisible bra, you being in fact the sole support of two dependents?”
She glanced down, looked up and grinned. “They do stick out, don’t they? Your comment is rude, crude, unrefined, and designed to change the subject.””What subject? I made a polite inquiry; you parried it with amphigory.”
“`Amphigory’ my tired feet! I answered precisely.”
“`Amphigory,'” I repeated. “The operative symbols were `mad, ‘`scientist,’ `beautiful,’ and `daughter.’ The first has several meanings –the others denote opinions. Semantic content: zero.”
- “Well?” she repeated more firmly
- Encountered:
- While reading The Number Of The Beast by Robert A. Heinlein
To see more Words of the Day, visit this link: Words of the Day
The Appropriation Of Cultures
Flipping through Twitter this morning someone commented if everyone would paint the Confederate battle flag on mailboxes, Gospodin Trump and his henchmen would leave them alone. This brought back to mind one my favorite short stories of all time, The Appropriation Of Cultures by Percival Everett. I first heard it listening to a podcast of Selected Shorts.
The base premise of the story is a black professor buys a pickup with a Confederate flag on it from a redneck. For me it was one those stories that embeds itself strongly in whatever part of your brain or psyche that happens in. I am including a YouTube link to the short story parsed from an episode of Select Shorts. IMHO, it more than worth the 20 minutes of your time invested in it. Somehow it seems so perfect for right now.
My new favorite way to eat fish
When I lived in Tulsa and Mississippi I fished quite a bit. When I lived in Memphis I did not due to traveling every weekend back to St. Louis. When I moved back to St. Louis initially I also did not fish much. Working 9 hour days and commuting 1 1/2 to 2 hours each work day did not leave a lot of free time. What free time I had I chose to expend else where.
Run the tape forward and now I am retired. I have started fishing again as every day is Saturday. Since the government sees my income as only social security they chose to send me a stimulus check I did not want or need. But since they sent the money, I was going to cash it. “Well then,” I said, “Let’s spend it on something vaguely foolish.” I bought a fishing kayak made in the USA. I figured that would jump start the economy a wee bit. Owning the kayak Continue reading “My new favorite way to eat fish”
Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #4,994
yeah I know you did not ask!
If I was being truthful, I would say I really do not understand myself. I have a hard time understanding people in general, but women truly remain a mystery to me.
I had a thought this morning, “I really do not understand women”. I then had a minor epiphany and realized that for the most part I had given trying to understand the fairer sex several years ago. My goal had changed from understanding to just going with the flow. My success rate with that ebbs and flows, sometimes dramatically. However, on the whole, it is a better way of operating. I then went with my ruminations and though how much easier my life would have been if I had discovered this personal axiom of gender relationships some 50 years ago. I suppose that goes under “better late than never”.
Keep well.
Quote of the Day — Aristotle
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” ~~ Aristotle
To see more Quotes for Day, visit this link: Quotes for the Day
Cultural Diversity – How Many Continents Are There?
I am working with several iTalki.com Spanish teachers/tutors from different countries to get a wide range of accents and styles. Every couple weeks I visit with a young woman, Micaela, from Coca, Ecuador. Coca is in the northern part of the country at the confluence of 2 or 3 rivers in what looks to me to be Amazonian Jungle. I do know the primary industry of this town is petroleum.
Micaela is very personable, very intelligent and a great conversationalist. She is trained as an accountant, which in this country would imply a 4 year college degree. I’m not sure what her educational background is, Continue reading “Cultural Diversity – How Many Continents Are There?”