Tuesday Tidbits

This always seems to be the Black Hole time of the year for me.  With football over and with total disdain for basketball in any form,  this is a long stretch until baseball starts again in April.  There will be the occasional fantasy article to sort of stoke the fire of caring,  but until the draft in late March there isn't much of anything worthwhile.  Yeah, I do a March Madness bassaball contest with Tommy in G-Burg, but I have civilization to save, how can I be expected to know anything about Gonzaga or Farleigh Dickinson?  

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This week was tougher than usual.  Alfred doesn't seem to want to play with shelves full of toys - but much prefers to use me as a jungle gym and monkey bars.  It is grueling.  My mind wandered to my Cabin in the Woods, perhaps a cold beer with friends either at Beer Bellies or the NH Community Center.  Adult conversation,  great and hearty laughs.  Being places where adults gather and do adult things.  Ah.  May seems so far far away.

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Good news, which means I can have a gopher from my Savannah Candy Company stash. 

After a visit to Dr. Phlegm last Monday he deemed me, or rather my nose, "awesome".  Both nasal openings.  Polyp-free.  He also said he didn't think they would grow back after this amount of time.  He said to use the last of my steroidal flush and then I am done with that.  No more.  Six more weeks of flush on Sunday's and I'm all done.  Yippee!   

Dr. Phlegm also told me he will be leaving the area in July.  Apparently what I paid this guy has given him the opportunity to provide nasal services to the rich and glamorous folks up at Amelie Island.  

So I have a final appointment with him on June 27th (a quick trip back from Northlandia) and I will be shuttled off to his replacement.  

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I hope you will applaud my effort this week in not saying a single word regarding politics.  

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Speaking of rodents,  I find Groundhog Day to be the most worthless civic festival.  Besides their own, there are no national  parties surrounding it; no get-togethers around the country to party and watch with baited breath the results (it happens at 7:00 am).  There is more emphasis on the weather than on a groundhog's eyesight.  Take the special days in Emerald City:   Dr. Ford's Jumping Frog Day at least involves competition.  Rhubarb Days is a tasty weekend of games, pies, pancake breakfast and a 5K run.  Antique Days has a car show and lots of things to buy.  

But a groundhog that is hoisted testily from a cage followed by a guy making a 6 week weather forecast is awful flimsy.  It may be great for the vendors, hoteliers and restaurateurs in Punxutawny but for the rest of America, its nothing more than a quiet belch after breakfast.

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Took this picture in St. Pete a couple days ago.  Talk about film's powerful effect on pop culture:  tell me every time you see a flock on phone poles you don't think of Alfred Hitchcock and The Birds.

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It will happen at some point.  Perhaps not soon.  But there will be some kind of catalyst that will bring the country together again.  The Divided States of America will not be divided forever.  

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See how nobody talks about the short winter days anymore? 

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Remember last week I talked about my perfect answer to a Barnes & Noble interviewer who asked what book I'd take with me on a deserted island?  

Well, I saw it this past weekend at Haslam's Bookstore in St. Pete.  

Well, I may have to revise that for something a little cheaper.  This volume of the complete works of Shakespeare costs $95.00.  Whew.  Maybe the abridged edition would do nicely.

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I also saw this at the bookstore:

Boy, were they ever wrong.

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My annual wager on the Superbowl game resulted in a rare loss.  I practically had that $20 bucks spent by halftime.  Damn Pats and damn Brady.  Neighbor Tim, I'll pay you soon.  

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I am watching the morning news and they are airing a piece on the crowning of Miss Tampa last night.  Besides Groundhog day is there anything more worthless than a beauty pageant?  Beauty is determined by so many other things than mere looks.  Sure, skin tags are worthless, too.  My only exception is that cycle-mag calendar girl hanging up on the south wall of the NH Community Center.  

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180 degree iPhone Panorama picture of an area at Waterboard.  The center is where they had a swing for kids, but they took it down.  

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I take it all back!!!  Worse than Groundhog Day and beauty pageants is Super Bowl hype.  I have to listen to brainless twits speculate on the real relationship between Brady and Trump and Brady and Goodell and the fact Houston has many immigrants and somehow I have to give a crap.  Come to think of it, Groundhog Day is like a debate between Yale and Harvard compared to the stupidly numbing hype that is manufactured not only by the networks, NFL and sponsors.  

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One final comment about the Big Game is the food and party atmosphere that is part of the ritual.  That part of it I like, of course.  A quick trip to Publix to get whatever is needed, and I saw this in the Deli section.  

I like deviled eggs.  They're kind of a holiday treat or maybe even funerals.  But I don't like them when they are this expensive.  Am I being old or is this an outrageous price for these guys.  A dozen eggs costs maybe $4.  OK there are probably 30 half eggs here and not all of them an olive on them and there are no spices sprinkled on them.  How can they be this pricey?  Maybe they are counting on a poor saps like me having to grab something quick for the party and not giving two hoots about the price, and knowing someone else is bringing the chips.