Skip to main content

Tuesday Tidbits

Political press secretaries, campaign managers and surrogates do nothing but shovel BS.  When they are on TV yapping you'd be better off doing a lump exam on your testicles.  
++++++++++++++++
Word was received this week of the continual slide into oblivion of the Mary Davis Home.  They have, at present 10 kids, no cook and no programming.  When I left we averaged 35-38 kids, had 2 full time cooks and some type of program for each kid.  

It seems the place has come full circle: when I first started there we averaged 10 kids, we did all the cooking.  Actually it is worse now than then, since we at least had a counseling program way back then.  Apparently the reason is funding.  Probation departments don't have the funds to place kids there, opting instead for cheaper home detention.  

It is sad to see and of course, with Illinois, finding funds for such things will be hard indeed for the foreseeable future.  My sympathies to the staff: I harped endlessly about how great it was to work there because where else could you truly have the opportunity to change lives.  The pay wasn't too hot for the majority of years I worked there but I always got some consolation that in the 1000's of kids I came in contact with, perhaps a few may have changed their lives for the better having been with us for awhile. 

++++++++++++++++



Casual Thursday

 ++++++++++++++++
I'm going to tell you  a little story here.  It's has a sad ending.  But up until the end it is a fun one.  On Fridays if I have the afternoon off, like I did last Friday, I walk an hour up to where the current Mrs. Blythe parks her car at work.  It's a good walk and generally I enjoy it.  After I get to the car, I drive a short distance where I pick up Norah at the Kid-A-Rama VPK school.  From there we go a short distance to a Dunkin Donut where we have a treat.  Norah enjoys the strawberry with sprinkles and I get a couple of glazed mini balls.  

Norah always wants chocolate milk that she never finishes and I have a white milk.  



The bill always comes to $5.42, which seems expensive to me for a donut and half and a couple milks.  But its their shop and they can charge what they want.  It's no big deal because we are having fun on a Friday afternoon.  


After that we head on over to the 6 story office building to wait on the current (never more accurate than this election season) Mrs. Blythe to get off work.  There we ride the elevators up and down and invade the mucky-muck office lobby's.  When we have pennies we toss them down to various floor window ledges.  We also like the stairwells for their spookiness.  So that's what I do on Friday afternoons when I have them off, which isn't as often now that I babysit Alfred. 

What is the sad part of the story?  I handed the young clerk at Dunkin' Donuts $6.00 and he was unable to make change.  I stood there while he fumbled with his cash drawer - picking up this and that coin - hesitant and finally he said he was sorry.  He grabbed some coinage and I said just put it in the tip jar.  Now I'm no math wizard but given enough time I would have come up with change amounting to .58 cents.  Frankly, I doubt if I see him when I get another chance to do our Friday thing, but, gee, an education is a valuable thing.     

+++++++++++++++


How starving do you have to get to pick up seaweed for a snack?

++++++++++++++++++



Cheech and Chong


Screech and Dong

(I take full credit, or blame, for this little funny.  It came to me on Saturday - and is not Facebook inspired.  If you see this anywhere else, they stole it from me.  I'm thinking of making T-shirts.  Naturally, if you are Hillary fans or Bill fans I kind of apologize, but its more hollow than sincere.) 

+++++++++++++++


Can't wait till I head up to Northlandia to spend some time in my cabin in the woods.

+++++++++++++++



And finally, Norah and I went swimming last Sunday morning for the first time since Winter.  A bit chilly, but just fine once you got used to it.  She is, I swear, half fish.

P.S. Norah wanted changed when we got to the car so I put my phone on top of it.  When I got back to my Norah's place I noticed no phone and returned to the pool area and retraced my steps.  Panic mode set in.  Kenzie called and a nice man answered and said he saw it fall off the car and tried to wave me down but to no avail. We went into St. Pete to meet him at a Wawa where I was reunited with my phone.  Note to self and others: There are still nice people around.
    


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Flashback Friday

Class, Or Lack Thereof The Dwight Vice gravestone in Oquawka, Illinois. I bring this old chestnut out every so often just to remind me that class is classless.  Dwight Vice was killed in his home near Oquawka in 2001.  It was one of those things that can generate crime:  two guys thought Dwight had a lot of money stashed at home because of his pot-selling sideline to supplement his fishing job.   Not really one of those big drug deals gone-bad things.  Marijuana was, according to the trial, about the only stuff Dwight sold.   But these two guys barge into the house and killed Dwight and attempted to kill his 11 year old kid, Darryl, before they took off with what money they could find.   His son, now 23, was stabbed in the back and left for dead.  He survived and is wheelchair bound and has undergone several surgeries to repair his wounds.  He will be paralyzed for life.   None of this is pleasant.  Reading the facts of the murder and attempted murder are most unpleasant
Post a Comment
Read more

Summer Swim

It's Monday and the start of another work week.  Except for me.  I have the week off because the parents of my daycare charges are taking the week off, too. This is one of those wordless posts I love on Mondays so I can put my laziness in full view of loyal readers.  These pics need no words.  Why muddy the waters?   They were taken at the pool at Sinkhole Estates aka Death Valley.  The nice thing about this pool is it is heated in winter.  If one must find positives in one's situation, I suppose that is one.  But, please, no more.   
Post a Comment
Read more

Florida Air Museum - Part 3

Welcome back to a pretty neat tour of the Florida Air Museum in Lakeland Florida.  There's a lot to see and a couple of the old Geezer Gold Wing guys are already sitting down instead of walking around looking at the exhibits. That's John who is wore out and making a call to his wife.  In all honesty, John was pretty well bushed before the ride.  He told me his daughter's family was down from one of the Carolina's with the grand kids and he must have played with them too much.   He's about to take off on his own and head for home, but he's going to miss a couple of neat things out on Hangar A.   But, before we walk over there, we have lots yet to see here.  If you saw The Aviator with Leonardo DiCaprio playing Howard Hughes, you'll remember that he went up in a plane during the filming of one of his movies to prove a point about flying.  He crashed trying to execute a roll and this is a picture of the plane he crashed.  Note the propeller
1 comment
Read more