I'm baaaccckkk; for now

                                                        Winter is on the way!

  It's been about four months so now I've collected enough brain material that I can write for a while.  There is a whole host of things going on; government shutdown or not, an election cycle, the baseball playoffs and my own crazy stuff which will be the first in line.
  The Red Sox have home field advantage for all of the playoff series which they are in, I'm hopeful that they will make it all the way through the World Series with a win!  Time will tell.
  I just read that the NSA is checking all our social media.  Do you think they'll bother to read this?  If they do you can tell they like to waste their time.


From Pleated Jeans via the Bangor Daily News - click to enlarge

  That map up there has at least one error, North Dakota does not have the ugliest people, Wilbur is a handsome man.  He's from there and he should know.  Maine with the label of "Dumbest State" wellll?  Let me tell you what's on my mind:
  Do you ever visit Wal-Mart?  Do you read the news online?  If you read online, do you read the comments?  I do all of those things, and I make some comments too.
  When you go to a Wal-Mart store watch how many people go in the "Exit" doors, which are clearly marked with a red, round decal that states "Do Not Enter".  Aww who gives a rats rear, just go in hell it's open.  I truly believe that 7 out of 10 people enter through the "Exit".  I don't know why that bothers me, but it does - to the point of distraction!  Maybe I need help.
  If, or when, you read the online comments pay attention to spelling, or use of the wrong words.  Most often you will notice, I hope, that too is replaced by to, and their, there and they're are misused more often than not; so are then and than.  Maybe Maine is the dumbest state after all, but I am sure it's the same where you live.
  Anyway that's my take on things, as I venture out yet again.

I have a story to tell

  During my travels with Hollie we stopped in Monmouth, Maine at the Agricultural Station/Farm operated by the University of Maine.  On this farm the primary study is apples and apple trees, but they also study vegetables primarily those grown in a garden.
  A man was working with a stalk of corn and I asked him,
"what are you doing with that?"
He answered,
"trying to improve yield"
I replied,
"oh great! we've been talking at coffee about yields, you could teach people not to enter a road without yielding to vehicles already on the road"
he said,
"no.  Improving Yields, yields!"
I said,
"you could paint the signs brighter and make them bigger"
he said,
"Yield!, Yield!"
and he hit me with what he was working on and part of it stuck to me, he said,
"Yield! , can't you hear?"
I said,
"not with this ear in my ear!"


This is not a true story, just in case you're wondering, it was manufactured in my mind while driving through Monmouth.  Hollie was listening to music and my mind wanders, not too far.

A good idea or what?

This one is legit. www.theskinnerbarn.com - expand

  I was thinking; maybe we could open an old barn for a wedding business.  Since couples, when they get married, work together to make things a go like a pair of oxen, we could call it "The Yokes on You".
  It would start with the ring from our Roundup Ring Shop.  There would be a Flower Stall (is stall a good name in a wedding place?), a Clothes Rack and last but not least The Hitching Post.
  Of course as a full service place the wedding supper and reception would be at The Feeding Trough.  Rooms for the Bride and Groom would be available too in the Honeymoon Loft.  There would be a second floor deck, out back, with two matching bathtubs facing west.
  What do you think?

All ready for our guest.  www.wikipedia.org

Hey! Why don't you watch where you're going?

Trouble?  Maine Turnpike Authority photo

  When you press the gas pedal instead of the clutch when down-shifting, this is the result.  Neither the driver of toll booth attendant were injured, the Honda CRV is a mess.  This is from the Portland Press Herald todays edition.

A beginning

  I think (that's dangerous) that you could see the tracing if you click to enlarge the photo.  I already need to undo the door, or part of it.  It was kind of time consuming to do this much for reasons even I don't understand.  It could be the weather, which hasn't been cooperative, that throws me off.  It could be damn near anything for that matter.  It's going to be another hot day today, then a cold front will arrive and cool things down to normal July temps.

What a crew!

Great-grand daughter hiding out in Florida.

  I've got a real things for the girls in my family.  Mostly it's because I have more contact with them I think.  Hollie is the nearest to us and she has spent parts of three days with me in the past eight days.
Every once in a while Hollie will try to pull a fast one on the old geezer.  When she's trying to bend the rules, just a little, I call her a crook, and I call her Richard Milhous Hollie.  Because she and I share an offbeat sense of humor, it has become a fun thing.  She doesn't often try to get away with anything, and it's very easy to catch her when she does.  I can turn a learning experience for her into a fun thing in an instant.
  Here is a photo Hollie doctored to resemble the real Richard Milhous:

Hollie is not a crook.

Medicine men and Mom

  When I was born things were a little different than now, that's probably true for most people, unless they're only 2 or 3 years old.
  The doctor that delivered me, Dr. Head, was also the doctor you saw when you were sick at any time during your life.  He took out my tonsils and my brothers appendix too.  There weren't a lot of specialist in small town Maine in the 1940's.
  I was thinking about what my mother kept in here "medicine closet" which in her case was one of the kitchen cupboards.  We didn't have an indoor bathroom so the stuff, along with everything else, was in the kitchen.  She kept some Band Aids (Johnson&Johnson trademark), Mecurochrome (no longer in use), Mentholatum, Aspirin, Castor Oil and Epsom Salts, that's it.
  Band Aids have been with us since 1920 when Earle Dickson, a Johnson&Johnson employee, came up with the idea.  In the 1940's they were coated fabric, plain gauze pad and sticky as the devil.  In 1951 the first "kids" band aids were introduced.  They came in a tin.
  Mercurochrome was used because kids didn't like iodine.  Mercurochrome was red, came in a glass bottle (small) and was applied to cuts before the band aid went on.  Mercurochrome is no longer allowed to be used, it contained mercury, not a beneficial mineral.  It was applied, out of the bottle, by a glass rod attached to the cap.
  Mentholatum was the Vicks Vapor rub of the day, my source says it was not made after 1935, but my mother was buying the stuff in the '40's.  Anyway, it worked.
  Aspirin was made by Bayer, period.  It came in a glass bottle, or a small tin of ten, with a screw on top, no little plastic strip or childproof cap.  The bottle was not sold in a paperboard box and I don't know if grocery stores sold it or not, maybe just the drug store.
  Castor Oil is the scourge of the earth, well maybe Dick Chaney is, horrible tasting, wicked and the damned stuff did not keep a kid from catching a cold.  It was administered every night a bedtime by the "Medicine Woman of North Lebanon, Maine" forcefully if need be.  I can taste the damn stuff just writing about it.  Ptooey.
  Epsom Salts were used for soaked sore spots, there was also some brown grain, maybe flax seed meal, she used to soak boils.  I had boils on my butt, one after the other, for a year or two, she, the Medicine Woman, would cook it up, wrap it in cloth, and hold the boiling hot stuff on my little ass until it cooled off.  She must have learned about that kind of thing from her mother - she made everything.
  So there you have it, medical care in the '40's, and I'm sure World War Two made an impact on how much of any of this stuff was available.  Things like Band Aids and Mercurochrome were probably sent to the military first and anything left over went to the public.
  Have a healthy day.  If you don't have a healthy day take some Castor oil.

What!?

Where?

I've too serious lately, that's not a good thing, for me or for you.  When I get too serious it's boring, isn't it?
How is this for a bumper sticker:     Nobody's perfect - I'm a nobody
or,                                                     Schizophrenic - Unauthorized autobiography
or,                                                     You're Just Jealous Because The Voices Are Talking To Me
or,                                                     I didn't say it was your fault - I said I was going to blame you.
or,                                                     I took an IQ test and the results were negative.
or,                                                     I like cats; but I can't eat a whole one    (I don't like this one)
or,                                                     I killed a six pack --- just to watch it die!
that's enough!

Sweet onion

.....I'll be back tomorrow!