31 Days - Phew!

This has been a very challenging month but I've enjoyed most of it. It was good to have my memory jogged to remember sweet old times with my Mother and Dad, Sister, Brother, my kids and grandkids, old friends and most of all my sweet ladies, Loretta and Lady B.

This past few days have been the most challenging and have involved everything from blogs to helicopters, worried kids to smiling nurses, lots of phone calls (the things you have to do to get your grand kids to call!) and my sweet wife, Lady B. here by my side.

Now it looks like I'm going to finally become an actual part of the technological era I've been avoiding for years - tomorrow I'll get a pacemaker. Then in a few days I'll have a whole bunch of new stories for all of you.

But today I earned my NaBloPoMo badge and Life is Still Sweet!

Old Newsie

-30-

An Old Sweet Song- Perfect For Today

Heart of My Heart

I sometimes wish I was a kid again,
Down in the old neighborhood.
Just to be with Charlie,
With little Joe and Pete,
Boy, we had a quartet that
Was mighty hard to beat!
I'd love to stand down by that cellar door,
Just to hear that quartet sing once more:


"Heart of my heart"
I love that melody.
"Heart of my heart"
Brings back a memory.
When we were kids
On the corner of the street,
We were rough and ready guys,
But oh, how we could harmonize!

"Heart of my heart"
Meant friends were dearer then.
Too bad we had to part.
I know a tear would glisten
If only I could listen
To the gang that sang
"Heart of my heart."

For some reason this sweet song about hearts has been in my head all day. I don't know how to put the music to it but I'm sure most of you remember how it goes. By the way, since I'm Charlie, I usually say "just to be with Eddie..."

Enjoy!

-30-
Old Newsie

Early One Today

I am nearly at the end of May and the May challenge.

Just to continue my record, I'll call this my Friday blog for the reason I am still a bit under the weather and might not have a topic tonight.

See you tomorrow.

- 30 -

One Of Those Days

For years I've been taking bunches of pills for bunches of assorted ailments and for years I have been having a SWEET batch of results - everything has been going well.

But today after all this time something has gone wrong and CT and CC have noticed and have taken some action to make sure things go well with me.

When CC dropped in to see me with some goodies she brought for me to snack on, she noticed a difference even to say I looked DRUNK!

Me who's never imbibed DRUNK? (Well maybe one New Year's Eve but that's another story).

Got out the blood pressure machine and it turned out I'd developed a real low pressure.. No need to worry - much anyway.

Phoned the trusty doctor and his SWEET nurse listened to symptoms and decided quickly that, even after several years of a particular blood pressure medicine, the dose now appeared too high.

An adjustment is being made effective with tomorrow morning's dose and things should straighten out soon.

But I'm too tired to think about a blog topic for tonight so let this be the blog.

Besides CT has announced he's spending the night to be sure things are OK with me and I know they will be because he's just "suggested" bedtime and it's still early. He's a SWEET son but sometimes pretty bossy.

Goodnight all.

- 30 -

Our Governor And . . .

. . . Our President

A few months ago President Barrack Obama seemed about to appoint New Mexico's Governor Bill Richardson to his cabinet as secretary of state or some other important cabinet assignment.

The governor eventually withdrew his name from any consideraion when an investigation began into some financial dealings in which the governor may, accusers say, be involved.

Mr. Richardson did not want to get into a federal post with any investigations pending so that the new president's administraion would not start off under any clouds.

But in Roswell (you've heard of that place - UFO landing spot in 1947) last week, President Obama, there on a state visit and already aware of problems brewing in North Korea with testing of missles, sought out the governor for some advice.

Governor Richardson as a former foreign ambassador has had much expererience in dealing with officials in North Korea and thus it would seem, he is the one who might best brief the White House in the current situtation.

The situation seems quite serious in that North Korea says it is now ready to use its missles on South Korea AND on United States Navy vessels.

The threat does not seem IDLE, like an issue of training. it breeds the thought of some mighty big trouble if not WAR.

Seeking out Governor Richardson advice seems to send a message - maybe just to me - that the President secretly wishes he could have engineered Mr. Richardson into his caabinet..

The TV news tonight did not have any story on what the governor may have advised the President but it is to be assumed Mr. Obama has whatever he heard under consideration.

Watch your newspapers and the television news. You may see more about the advice from New Mexico in the near future.

That's all for tonight everybody since I have visitors in the house and do not wish to ignore them because they are SWEET visitors, especially the young 'un, SWEET Mason from Arizona.

- 30 -

WAVE FOR A DAY

Back in 1944, my SWEET and only girlfriend wanted to back me up as a soldier by doing her part as well and so she enlisted in the WAVES, the United States Navy program for women.

I was not aware of her desire to be a servicewoman and was not made aware of her actions until the matter was initiated, done and then undone.
I never knew the exact details but the gist of the whole business was that
she signed up for a hitch with the Navy, was assigned to the WAVES as she desired, and was sworn in as a WAVE in Boston.

When it came time to put on a uniform, she was measured and re-measured and then once more after being told to make herself taller than the measurements seemed to indicate.

The WAVES required its members to be at least five feet tall. Even standing on her toes, Loretta's hopes were dashed when she only measured four feet, eleven inches. She was told she had to be five feet and that there was no unifom that would fit her at 4/ll.

Didn't they have anybody who could do alterations, stretch a uniform an inch taller.? All the other parts of her fit I was told but in any case, she was handed a discharge.

I needed to make this explanation after making note in yesterday's Memorial Day blog that during the cemetery services we decorated Loretta's burial site with a United States Flag "even if she did have only one day in the Navy."

We considered her a veteran nevertheless because of her intention and action.

L oretta did the next best thing and became a war effort machinist after a liittle training .

For the duration then, she manufactured, with other machinists of course, hundrds of thousands of machine gun shells for the GIs reading for battle with the enemies in Europe and the Pacfic Ocean area, working in a factory converted from jewelry findings to manufacture of munitions.

When the war was over in 1945, Loretta went back to making jewelry findings and high school class rings, a trade which helped her in her later business of selling rocks, minerals, jewelry and jewelry findings.

She was a SWEET lady.

- 30 -

Wedding Anniversary

On Memorial Day

By coincidence the day for remembering our deceased veterans and decorating their resting places falls today on the 63rd anniversary of my wedding to the short and now deceased woman that Grampa Reilly dubbed "Lil Bit" when he first met her way back in 1943.

Like Hilly and Lone Duck did a few days ago in New York state, I visited Prairie Haven Cemetery on Mother's Day for the same purpose, cleaning up the resting place and cutting the grass.

There wasn't much to do. Because we've had no rain for months, no grass has grown. Because we have had high winds, any trash and the dead flowers had blown away.

Lil Bit was Loretta, a SWEET loving wife and the mother of CT, DP, Scrabblebuff, Yarntangler and Joey, who didn't live long enough - just a day - to get himself a nickname.

It was May 25, 1946 in Attleboro, Massachusetts, that Loretta Ida Ducharme added the surname Hoye. We left Attleboro and headed for Canada on our honeymoon, so much in a hurry that we forgot to take with us the huge package of eatables including fried chicken that our parents had so carefully and SWEETLY packed for us as the recepton ended.

We toured Montreal and made our way back into Massachusets through Maine. taking up residence in my birthplace home, sans the printing press that had stood at the foot of my bed (see an April blog describing that piece).

We had a SWEET life, and five SWEET children and were headed for a 50th anniversary when five heart attacks in 1990 and 1991 called a halt to our marriage of nearly 45 years, on February 5, 1991. May "Lil Bit" rest in peace.

This morning at the annual Memorial Day services in Veterans Cove at Prarie Haven Cemetery, I with CT planted an United States flag beside her nearby monument, honoring Loretta as a veteran even if she did have only one day in the U. S. Navy as a WAVE, her service cut short because the USN deemed her "too short" at four feet, eleven inches.

We hope you have paid tribute to your veterans or will before the day is done.

- 30 -

Sunday Morning

It's an odd time to be up and around - just after midnight - but Pinky just woke me from a deep sleep.

She seemed like she was talking to someone and it sounded like "Where are you?" Pinky was wandering the house, room to room it sounded like and with a purpose in mind.

After two and a half days of missing Lady B, who's on a vacation trip to visit SWEET grandchildren and SWEET great-grandchildren as far away as Fort Worth, Texas, and Johnson City in Tennessee, it seems Pinky is on a mission to find her.

Her search is over now for the time being and she's settled down again to sleep but leaving me wide-awake, trying to garner thoughts for a Sunday blog, albeit an real early blog.

The most immediate thought is to report that after the events of Friday night and Saturday, Yarntangler called yesterday afternoon just before five and informed my answerig machine that the foursome who had been trying to come to Hobbs for a Memorial Day weekend visit was reluctantly back in Tucson safely.

The four had transmission trouble with Geezerguy's Jeep just an hour into their trip and when a hoped for quick repair in Benson, Arizona, dragged along too far, they decided it was futile to continue to Hobbs only to have to leave back to Tucson after just a few hours of visiting.

Sage Words and Chica, both of the United States Air Force, had just so much time and had to be back on post for Tuesday morning, hence the decision to abort the trip - certainly wouldn't want the AF roll call to turn up AWOLs.

With time on my hands, no Lady B here and my intended visitors there, I turned to helping CT at his place up north. He was babysitting SWEET Angel, a nephew, while doing some woodworking in his barn.

For a while, getting Angel (a SWEET young litle fellow) to fill trash bags with some material I raked up around the barn kept him out of CT's hair for a bit .

When the storm clouds rolled in with a bit of rain, SWEET Angel and CT were chased into the house to watch cartoon movies on the boob tube. The rain and approaching darkness sent me packing back home (I don't drive in the dark anymore).

I've checked my e-mail now, (nobody wrote) and read the latest news (nothing exciting) and am getting tired again I'll get back to sleep now so's I will be up again in a few hours in time for morning church.

- 30 -

Murphy's Law and . . .

. . . Cumberland' s Law

Is there a difference between those two laws?

Guess not. Murphy's says "Everything that can go wrong will go wrong."

There's another that says "Nothing is an inevitable as a mistake whose time has come." I will substitute here "break-down" for "mistake", with the explanation to follow further down.

Ralph's Law say" It is a mistake to allow any mechanical object to REALIZE that you are in a HURRY."

And then there's CUMBERLAND'S Law, which contains a lot more words than all the other laws.

I. E. -

(1) -Windshields must break on a regular schedule.

(2) - Motorhome heaters must quit on coldest nights.

(3) - Propane tanks must go empty in the middle of cooking a meal.

(4) - Motor home roofs must periodically peel off.

(5) - Vehicle (any) tires must wear out when wallets are thinest.

(6) - Well-laid plans must alway s have a (nasty) loophole.

Now to explain:

Yarnangler and Geezer, Chica and Sage Words planned a Memorial Day triip from Tucson to Hobbs to begin at 4 p. m. on Friday.

At 7 p. m . Yarnangler, on the cell phone with a lousy connection, let it be known that because of a problem (unexplained) the foursome was just getting started from Tucson.

About 7:30 p. m. Sage Words and Geezer got on the cell phone and anounced the Jeep's transmission was acting up - giving them some type of a problem- and that they were in a rest area awaiting a tow truck to pick them up and haul them to a garage for a looksee evaluation and hopefully a quick get-on-the-road-again fix.

That didn't happen. About 9 p. m. Yarntangler crisply said to Old Newsie: "Go to bed. I'll call you in a bit if we get on the road again. If not we'll go to a motel and phone again in the morning."

Morning came. No call. Saturday noon came.. No call.

So I cell-phoned Yarntangler, got Geezer, who said a mechanic was just then looking over the Jeep to see what is wrong. Once something was determined, maybe in a half hour, he'd call back.

Geezer indicated the group was in Benson, west of Willcox, Arizona, (probably in the hills of Texas Canyon, home of the legendary Cochise and location of Cochise's Hangout).

The gang was still about eight hours away from Hobbs. They are still planning on the trip UNLESS . .

Unless what? Who the heck knows? Well. now it's one o'clock and Geezer hasn't called back. To me, this does not sound hopeful but I'll keep on praying and hoping. I think I better phone Lady B and the other families down by Fort Worh to add in their prayers too. I did.

This blog is being prepared at 1:30 p. m. Saturday. Please stand by for further details.

Here we go, good news and bad news says Yarntangler.

Bad news first

"We can't make it there. The mechanic found the trouble, a broken line from transmission to radiator (to keep transmission fluid cool) but we are in a very small garage with no parts to fix us and if ordered would not be in until late today and fix tomorrow so there's no way we could make it there, have time to visit, and get back."

Rosy says: "It's simple to fix but not a guarantee to go more than back to Tucson. We will put a temporary patch over the hole and clamp it into place, a temporary fix that should get us back to the house."

[Rosy probably could have fixed this on the spot with a little gum and some duct tape if she'd had it - she's an Air Force gal].

I've fixed mufflers on several cars many times with tin cans and radiator clamps. [Comon sense - to quote Lady B].

The Good news: "It's not as bad as we thought, no new transmission needed. When Noel first noticed the problem as we drove into a rest stop (probably the one in Texas Canyon half way to Willcox) he stopped right away and that prevented the transmission from overheating and quitting.)"

Rosy says: "Maybe we can think of Fourth of July and I WILL RENT A GOOD VAN TO BE SURE WE GET THERE."

And that folks, as Paul Harvey would say, is the rest of the story.

Everybody have a good night's sleep now, go to your church on Sunday and thank God for being merciful to the travelers.

And don't forget to pray for the safety of all our servicepeople - and on Memorial Day, remember all those who made sure I could write this blog today and you could read it.

- 30 -

Sweet Is The Word

. . . For An Advance Birthday Present

YES ! It's three weeks away yet but CT and College Cook have pulled off a big surprse for me. BIG I said, didja hear?

My little old 1979 Datsun has been languishing away for a few months in CT's back yard, awaiting a needed engine repair for which certain parts for that ancient car were hard to come by.

College Cook and CT knew I was getting antsy for some wheels so I wouldn't be dirtying up the family Dodge van all the time with my yard tools, etc., when I needed to travel up north to do some property maintainance work.

So what did they do that I consider so SWEET? They bought me a Ford van of my own for my birthday!

Now don't get the idea they are rich enough to just up and spend a bunch of money on a new vehicle for me. They just found a bargain at the right time .

Seems like the outfit that feeds all the University of the Southwest students and faculty and for which College Cook is a manager, had a van that wasn't being used anymore.

It was for sale for at least a year but wasn't drawing any buyers. It was displayed on the university's parking lot and the campus police probably were tired of seeing it there parked as if on a sales lot with its for sale sign.
With no buyers in sight and a "suggestion" to move it out, it was offered to College Cook for $100. "Hey, a bargain", she exclaims and then "I'll take it."

What a SWEET birthday gift! And I can use it, too. Now, everybody pray that the DMV will renew my driver's license again next month. If only I don't have to read down to line six again - they're sticklers on how well drivers see.

For driving, I'm OK, it's just close reading I have trouble with these days, a sign that I am begining to start to think about getting old.

So all I need when I visit the DMV next month is to remember to SWEET-talk the clerk I guess, and hope she'll be SWEET to me.

But back to the birthday gift - wasn't that SWEET of my son and his wife?

You bet, real SWEET.

- 30 -

Blog Us Down . . .

. . . That Rain, Yarntangler

I jusst woke from my nap when the phone rang, missed the call and ( since I was up now) sat at the computer to check blogs.

First up is Yarntangler with a whale of an idea for tonight's blog , SWEET, SWEET rain. Unlike Yarntangler in Tucson who has been rainless for a month , we here some 600 miles east, haven't had any really countable rain since last Summer.

So it's pouring in Tucson. Wonderful. Now as I listen to the TV weatherman, I hear that he's going to have it raining here maybe by midnight, since it's already deluging in Deming and Las Cruces and the thunder is booming in the Sacramento Mountains.

I don't really like saying this but I hope our traveling friends Jeanie, Charlie, both of Tucson, and his brother Ron of Branson, Missouri, are tooling along right now in their two cars and hauling that SWEET rain with them. They're due in a few hours from now.

Another SWEET thought is that tomorrow night, Sage Words and his SWEET Chica should be arriving here for a Memorial Day weekend visit.

And speaking of Memorial Day, I hope you are all thinking of those
white stones in the hundreds and thousands of cemeteries in our country and remembering that under those white stones are men who gave their lives so you could travel around visitng this coming weekend.

- 30 -






-

Brooklyn, New York

A Trip In The Old Ford

Don't ask when the trip was please.

All I can tell you is that Daddy and I made a one day trip sometime in the last century in an old Ford, the kind that looked like a box with an engine out front.

I guess I can give a couple hints now that I've had a few minutes nap in front of the screen. I was about 10 years old I think. And it was during the depression years when a lot of folks were scrounging around for a little extra cash even if they were working and that included my father.

Brooklyn. Not far away now that there's four lane highways and a speed limit of maybe 70 or more. Back when we made the trip it was on Route 6, a two lane road not very wide and bumpy as well. We had to leave home in the dark, long before the sun got up and it was dark when we got back home.

What a trip and I don't remember if it really did any good in the long run for Daddy who was just trying to bring in a bit more moola anyway he could to keep us all well fed and clothed.

How Daddy got into the business that took us to Brooklyn is unknown to me or un-remembered if I ever knew but it had to do with candy and that's my SWEET topic for tonight's blog.

Whatever time of the century that was, it was one when candy was cheap ==- or nearly cheap - a nickel a bar for Hershey, Baby Ruth, Snickers, Mars and some other names I knew then but aren't around anymore these days.

Those SWEETS were sold everywhere but also in candy machines and that's where Daddy and I came in. He had made a deal I guess with somebody to get some candy machines which he could fill with SWEET bars of enjoyment . He must have had a deal, too, to get candy wholesale.

He'd hang them up in the railroad station, the bus station, the downtown rest room, the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars halls and the beano parlor where hungry folks could get a snack.

He even had one in the newspaper office where the first Mr. Reed could buy a quick pickmeup.(That would be William H. Reed, father of William R. Reed for whom I worked in the late '40s and early '50s.)

Anyway, this one special day, Daddy and I took off to Providence and then down through Connecticut and into New York, arriving at the George Washington Bridge.

That bridge is quite high and underneath it, at least then, were stores, houses and warehouses. We got to one of the warehouses and saw a guy about the candy machines who first said "you got the money?"

Daddy said yes, he had the money and the guy said to give it to him. Daddy gave him some. The guy counted it and said that it was not all he was supposed to get.

Daddy said put the machines in the car and then I'll give you the rest. The fellow didn't want to do that but Daddy showed him the money and then put it back in his pocket.

The car was soon crammed with candy machines, each one about three feet by one by one foot. Back seat, floor, trunk and running boards, where they were strapped down. Daddy paid and we started again for home. Rained all the way. The roof leaked a bit but nobody got wet.

What happened after that I don't know. Later I saw the machines in lots of places around town and often I helped Daddy fill them up with candy bars, At least once a week I probably swiped a SWEET Hershey bar but Daddy knew and didn't ever say much.

How long the candy business lasted with Daddy I don't remember. The next sideline business - at least another sideline, there might have been others after the candy machines - was selling neckties.

Probably my helping to sell candy bars and neckties is what got me into selling raffle tickets on lampshades a few years later.

- 30 -

That SWEET Bar

Christmas was coming up quickly and I hadn't yet gotten a gift into the mail for my little sister up north near Boston. Too late even to send a card by snail mail.

Then came the thin catalog in MY snail mail, one I had never seen before.

"HERSHEY'S" proclaimed big letters on the cover. Maybe this is it, thought I as I glanced through the pages quickly. And there it was - a five pound bar of SWEET stuff for Christmas for my little sister.

I dialed the number that, like on TV commercials , shouted CALL NOW! Lots of other folks read those two little words also and I had to hold and hold but eventually I heard "it's a SWEET day, may I help you."

I ordered a five pound bar of Hershey's chocolate to be sent to my little sister.

Hershey bars (I still love them but don't eat much chocolate anymore)used to cost a nickel.

For a nickel I used to get a chocolate bar about six inches long, two inches wide and about a quarter inch thick. In the supermarket nowadays there is a bar that roughly is about that size but it ain't a nickel anymore, more like 79 cents to a buck.

That nickel bar after a while shrank a bit and got pricer, or maybe it was the other way around, got pricer and then shrank. The bar got to be a dime and then shrank. The process of shrinking quantity and increasing price continued, and I think it still is thataway..

Anyway, the pleasant-voiced Hershey girl on the phone took my credit card number and little sister's address and promised the five pound Hershey bar would be delivered to her the day before Christmas, just a couple days away.

FEDEX or UPS showed up at little sister's home, and left the box containing the big chocolate bar at the front door after the driver got no answer at his knock. Merry Christmas Little Sister.

Days went by and there was no phone call or e-mail from her as I expected. I was a bit disappointed that with such a big bar of chocolate I didn't get a thankyou.

So I let another couple days go by before ringing up and asking "Did you like your Chrismas chocolate?" Little Sister answered "What chocolate?"

ME: "Have you been to the front door lately? There could be a box out there." (In the Winter she often hibernates and might not have checked even for mail)

LITTLE SISTER: "I"ll check right now" and moments later "nothing there."

ME to Hershey's: "Did you deliver my five pound chocolate bar to my little sister""

THE HERSHEY GIRL: "I checked the tracking and, yes, it was delivered at that address the day before Christmas just before noontime. The driver could not get an answer when he knocked.""

ME: "She didn't find it and it sounds like I'm out lots of dollars because maybe somebody stole the box."

HERSHEY GIRL: "That might have happened. I will send another one right away." I asked what the new price would be. She SWEETLY said "I told you I will send another Hershey bar. It won't cost you anything, no shipping charge either."

In another phone call I informed my little sister another box would arrive in two days and she should be sure to watch for the FEDEX truck and meet the driver.

I phoned Little Sister again in two days and she said she did get the box.

And then came the e-mail from her.

LITTLE SISTER: "Thanks for that big Hershey bar but you know I am not eating much chocolate anymore.

WHOOPS!

"I had a little bit and then I gave some to the mailman, the paper boy, Maria next door, the boy that shovels my walk when it snows, some to Gail and some to all the kids in the neighborhood.

SWEET!

That Christmas gift apparently went to a lot of people I don't even know.
Guess it was a nickel well spent - or maybe a few nickels.

Yes, a lot of people had a SWEET Christmas, even it if was a few days late.

- 30 -

Surprise

Remember when they were a nickle?

-30-

Somebody Said Once . . .

. . . Don't Say It

I don't remember just who said it or when or even if that was the way it was said but anyway, tonight I don't seem (again) to have anything to say - so I won't say it.

That should take care of my blog for tonight.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Except that I might say the weather was a bit cool today. Laby B went to an opthamologist this afternoon and got her eyes tested and found she still can see pretty good and doesn't need new glasses, like I thought she did.

Once again she proved me wrong. She should be able to pass the eye test for her license renewal next month.

I guess I could also say I read a bunch of blogs today, even made some comments now that I've solved a little problem I've had by which the blogs wouldn't accept comments for a while - some kind of glitch I suppose that cured itself.

And I guess I could say I'm expecting Chica and Sage Words for the Memorial Day weekend. Should be a good reunion with Sage Words and a SWEET one with Chica.

Well, as I said, I haven't anything to talk about tonight so I won't take up your time reading it.

- 30 -

We Went Visiting . . .

. . .In Midland Today

It's been a year since Lady B was in Midland, Texas, at which time she picked me up at the airport when I returned from Skooba's and Paula's Washington wedding and my visit to Scrabblebuff there and then with DP in California.

She visited then with her eldest sister, Lady M, who's been ailing for a few years.
Today the two had a SWEET meeting once again after we drove the 100 miles from Hobbs to spend a couple hours.

Lady B also met her niece whom I'll call Lady BL just to make sure there's no confusion. If we sometime visit Lady B's other sister, younger than Lady M, we'll call that sister Laby BJ. I know them all. They're all SWEET ladies.

Back to the Midland story. Lady M seems to be in reasonably good health but a bit frail. Lady B has been worried about her but is relieved to see that Lady M is holding up fairly well considering age and her number of ailments.

She and Lady BL showed us a new roof and some skylights on their house which were necessitated by hailstorm damaage. Believe me I have never seen hail stones the size of those which were saved in the freezer, golf ball and orange size orbs of ice - really!

While they all chatted about family news, health and other topics, I chatted with Dan, Lady M's husband, about his frustrations brought on by health problems; no more driving, golfing, fishing or walking and briefly about his dislike - just as like mine - of loud television commercials.

Dan was happy to hear I still drive but had a question "I thought your eyes were failing on you?" I do drive despite eye problems because I can see on the road but cannot read well. I drew a good laugh when I told him "I do all right as they as they keep painting those white lines on the roads."

- 30 -

Chosen Professions . . .

. . . With Names To Match

Many years ago a young Geezerguy went to a dentist and forevermore shunned such a visit after relaxing (?) in the chair proffered by Dr. Yell.

Yarntangler this week related her husband's encounter with a Tucson tooth tender, a visit that tonight still has him a bit sore in the mouth following extraction of a chewer with entangled roots.

Yarnangler didn't mention the dentist's name but I'll wager (shouldn't because I'm not a gambler) that Geezerguy has an under-the-breath name for this latest barbarian.

The name of Geezerguy's early-on dentist brought to mind tonight the topic for the blog - names of professionals matching their fields of work but which for some reason just don't sound SWEET. There - I got the theme word in OK tonight.

Dredging my memory as best I can, I go back to early childhood and recall Mother taking me to a few dentists. One was, before she knew him and switched to Dr. Flynn, a Dr.Pullim. Could it be that this man's name even scared Mother?

I recall one of my boyhood friends, Steve, telling me of laughing a lot about his visits to an eye doctor. I didn't know the doctor and really can't verify that his name actually was Dr. Blinder.

There came a time in 1938 when I suffered a series of pains in my side, treated each time by my friend Dr. Edward J. Galligan, until he got worried enough to send me to Fall River to have my appendix removed by his friend Dr. Blood.

During World War II I had a few problems with teeth and a Pennsylvanian by name of Dr. Mussari filled a several cavities. One day he found a problem he felt needed to be treated by another doctor.

It seems two teeth had in some manner become twins, adhering to each other and needed separating. From another army hospital he imported Dr. Hammer whom I think might have been assisted by a Dr. Chisel the way things felt.

I think this incident could be one reason that I eventually had to go into Davis Park Veterans Hospital in Providence, endure some 16 or so days of swallowing up to a half dozen or more egg custards to build up some kind of strength for extraction of all my remaining teeth in preparation for a new set of choppers.

Upon discharge from the army I was needing to be . . . can I really say . . . should I say . . . cir . . . cum . . since I was about to marry my sweetheart when I got home.

Dr. Galligan read an army doctor's report, agreed and sent me to Fall River again to see a surgeon whose name was just a common name I guess since I don't know it to be strange.

But here the pattern shifts a bit from doctors with odd last names to a much-liked female high school classmate who had become a registered nurse.

This young lady, a good friend of my intended bride, showed up in my hospital room just before I was to go to the operating room.


She said she'd heard I was there and just wanted to say hello and chat for a few minutes. We talked a bit about my upcoming wedding, about the girl I would be marrying and then the orderlies began to wheel me down to the cutting room.

The nurse came along. I assumed she was walking along to keep me calm but she also entered the operating room.

When the orderlies placed me on the operating table . . . I nearly passed out without the anesthesia when my ex-classmate approached, whipped off the skimpy hospital gown exposing me to herself and the world, laughingly saying "by the way, I'm your nurse today."

I have no knowledge of what might later have been secretly discussed between my future wife and my nurse that day, - but every time thereafter when I crossed paths with that nurse, there seemed to be a smile I never got from other friends.

Back now to doctor's names. I think there are others I would have written about but I will have to read some more diary entries to recall them . Such SWEET memories.

- 30 -

Humble City . . .

. . . A Memory for Two

Near my home is a place all the older city folks remember as a once-booming place established by and inhabited by oilfield people who owned and worked for Humble Oil Company in the last century.

(EXPLAIN OILFIELD FIRST)

Oilfield is described as an area where oil wells have been drilled to produce oil which is refined into gasoline. The Hobbs and West Texas areas along the Hobbs border comprise one of the country's largest oil producing areas.

Most likely during World War II the then-bustling community of Humble City also housed a few families of airmen temporarily stationed at the Hobbs Army Air Base, spillover families who did not find room at Air Base City in the same area just north of Hobbs as it existed then.

Hobbs Army Air Base was the home of the B-17 bomber, the training base for most of the B-17 pilots and navigators, including the late actor Jimmy Stewart. The old base is now marked by a sculptured replica of a B-17 and its crew just off State Highway 18 en route south from Lovington into Hobbs.

A few of the service people who lived at Air Base City and Humble City, still live in Hobbs or did before their demise. The Humble City residents of oilfield days probably are scattered all over the country, as workers for that company often were transferred from one oil-producing well to another frequently.

Humble as a gasoline station name still exists in some areas of the country but in this particular area the name is nearly extinct, with the title only appearing as Humble Street, Humble Park and Humble City.

The heading of this blog does have a meaning to a pair of travelers who came to Hobbs nearly three years ago to visit with Lady B and me and actually to get married as well. Their visit here inspires the blog tonight and possibly will embarrass them somewhat but if so they'll take it in stride.

Their journey through the area was SWEET and funny in a way, SWEET because they were in love, and funny because of their mis-interpretation of travel directions into Hobbs.

Armed with precise directions, Hilly and Lone Duck were riding along in the dark watching for a roadside sign which says HUMBLE CITY. In the directions this was a landmark to be watching for and at which to begin following the precise directions to the home of Old Newsie and Lady B.

But to a New York gal from a big metropolis, "city" means city. Hilly and Lone Duck found the Humble City sign but they were confused, lost in darkness.

A plaintiff cell phone call came to us in Hobbs -"Grandfather, we can't find Humble City, we saw the sign but everything is dark and we don't see any lights, no city."

OLD NEWSIE - "Where are you, Hilly?"

HILLY: "We're parked at the side of the highway but it's dark and we don't see any city. We just passed the sign."

OLD NEWSIE: "OK Hilly, just go another couple miles until you see a big parking lot on your right in front of what looks like a stadium, turn in and wait there until I come for you."

About ten minutes later , we joined up and I told Hilly and Lone Duck "There is no Humble City anymore, just the sign."

I don't think they will forget that night. A few days later, they, Lady B and I traveled the road north into Lovington to find Judge Dianna Luce who officiated at their marriage.

En route we showed them Humble City, a frontage road with two houses, an oil derrick, and a couple abandoned houses and barns. They laughed.

By the way kids, when you come thataway again sometime, don't look for Air Base City - that ain't theie no more either!

- 30 -

Do You Like to Play . . .

. . . Computer Solitaire?

Across the room from me is another computer. Very often during the evening when I am laboring with composing a blog, reading somebody else's blog, reading the news or a few emails, I hear a shouted "WHOA!"

It's Lady B hollering and I dutifully holler back "congratulations. Now what's this all about you are probably asking? What's got into Old Newsie this time?

Solitaire, that's what, a game that we both enjoy but which oftentimes is no enjoyment for me. Lady B is not a blogger, just a Solitaire winner.

When I am not doing e-mail, reading news or blogging, I will sit at this computer for, she says, hours, working at Solitaire.

I shuffle cards around continually until she wins. It seems I am destined to help her win. I never seem to win. Well, that's not really so, I do now and then pound the desk, my signal that I have won a game. That pounding matches nearly nightly her ten or 15 wins and sometimes many more.

I am now about to WIN tonight a batch of games, even if it's in my imagination. So let the games begin - and, oh, oh, there's another WHOA, her fifth in the last half hour and I'm just about to start. Wish me luck.

- 30 -

Mother Was . . .

. . . A Movie Critic

I've just read three blogs that seem to dwell on what I dwelt on last night - no great or specific ideas to write about.

I was about to write AGAIN that I was out of ideas, too tired and hot to worry about the challenge and so on. The temp's been just over 100 degrees today.

But then I opened the 1938 diary once more, hitting on August 25 and what did I find - 'Took the kids to the movies tonight" written by my SWEET sainted mother gone from me since 1983.

Seems like some amateur crew of movie makers touring the country, or maybe just New England, made a movie in Taunton, featuring local people, places and events. I vividly remember seeing them doing one scene, just one memorable scene.

These days it would be nothing anybody would think about twice but in those staid days of the early 20th century, it was probably considered scandalous and if my mother knew I'd watched it, there might have been a trip to the woodshed.

The movie was called "It Happened in Taunton." As I dredge my memory, it seems that the crew of moviemakers were in the city several days. So do you want to know about that scene I shouldn't have seen (I was 15 years old at the time)?

Well, it took place on School Street in the middle of downtown Taunton and featured the firemen in the Central Station, the oldest still-existing fire station in use in the United States, built sometime just after the Civil War in the mid 1800s.

That terrible scene featured a blond-haired lady jumping from a second story indow at the fire station into a big canvas rescue net held by maybe a dozen firemen.

That wasn't the scandalous part of the movie, however. That came, and I saw it, when the lady jumped and her dress flew up over her head, showing everything she had on under the dress, which if I remember right, wasn't much.

I never told Mother about seeing that part of the movie. There were some other scenes I probably saw too, like one that involved my neighbors Mary and Dan, but I don't recall anything but that flying skirt.

So anyway this particular night, Mother took me, Paul and Margery to see the show.


What a critic she was about it. She wrote one word -"PUNK".

My e-mail friend and fellow AAPA publisher Bill Venrick (now of Ohio) was involved in a similar movie although I don't know if it was called "It Happened In Hobbs" which is what led me to believe such movies were being made all around the country. This was in 1951 when he was a pastor of the church I currently attend in Hobbs.

He related he was a passenger in an aeroplane which flew around little old Hobbs on sightseeing tours for a few moments (Hobbs was a little place then, nothing like it is today) He has a copy of that movie.

Well, that idea from Mother's diary got me out of the doldrums. The other folks on the challenge have done their jobs also tonight, even though they, like me, were ready to throw in the towel. Congratulations!

- 30 -

Tuesday Night . . .

. . . . . And No Ambition

I can't break the challenge only a third of the way through the month but .

Tonight for some reason I have no ambition even as I pulled down the 1939 diary and began thumbing through for an idea.

I did some painting this morning on my house up north and got tired, maybe a bit because of the hot sun and I have lost ambition so maybe tomorrow I will feel OK.

There - I HAVE done a blog. Goodnight.

- 30 -

What I'm Learning . . .

. . . In Mother's Diaries

Looking for ideas for my nightly blogs, I have turned to reading random year diaries kept by my SWEET departed mother. Tonight I yanked 1938 off the shelf and I am at this minute finding out things about myself that I don't remember or never even knew.

I don't plan on recounting every day through the year but I just opened to January 2 and found that I was sitting in front of the Atwater Kent with Eddie Reilly intently listening to "The Shadow Knows."

On January 14 there was a blizzard and I was busy shoveling snow when I had a better idea. I built a snowplow, Mom's diary says. I haven't the fogiest idea what it looked like.

Came March 5th and the snow was melted so I got busy building my camp and office from the old henhouse in the backyard. Worked on the roof. And my new telescope came in the mail on April 11 and I spent the night looking at the stars.

It was April 26, the diary says, went I went shopping for an extension wire to put lights in my stamp club upstairs. That must have been the Whittenton Juior Stamp Club I had just organized.

Benny Goodman came to town on May 5 and I went with Dad to hear him at Roseland Ballroom. The next day, Mother's diary says, I went to Eddie Gregg's market again to count some more beans in a jar that he hopes will win him a new bicycle at the end of the month. He's going to make a guess how many beans are in the jar.

On the 21st of May I got a new job shoveling horse manure at Jim Powers' riding stable. It was a smelly job the diary says. And I went down to Eddie's market to make by guess at the bean jar so maybe I would win a new bike.

Mother sent me out in the neighborhood to see if I could get some prizes for the church whist party. I managed to come home with $39 and promises of five cakes and two pies.

And on May 28 - what a SWEET night - I WON the Silver King bicycle at Eddie Gregg'sMeat market. Next day and the day after that, Decoration day, I rode the bicycle all around Taunton all day.

I'm real tired now so I'm going to the refrigerator and get my chocloate bar I saved from Lady B's Mother's Day boxes of chocolate and have a nice SWEET snack before I go to sleep.

- 30 -

My Mother Wrote . . .

Short Diary Sentences

Today was Mother's Day, May 10 this year but in 1945, Mother's Day fell on May 13.

Looking for today's blog Idea, I figured Mother's Day in 1945 would provide a good clue.

Not much of an idea there. I didn't even get mentioned on that day in the diary. I wondered why until it dawned on me that I was in England that year.

Mother's entries into her diary were short and SWEET. Things like "Snowed. Muddy day. Church today. Baked potato dinner. No mail."

Brother Paul was home and gave Mother a pretty rosary and Margery gave her a pretty pin. "Lil' Bit came down from Attleboro with a new pair of stockings for me."

How did Mother celebrate her day? I quote her writing:

"Mother's Day. Had to stay in bed all day with sore throat and a bad cold."

Her number one son, Charles, that's me, was in England this Mother's Day. While in the service, GIs could not keep up diaries and thus I have nothing to disclose what I was doing that day.

After the war and when I was back home, I DID write diaries for the years I was away but had to rely on memory, letters home and notes I had made and mailed home. At this time I cannot locate the incomplete diaries for those years.

But not all those letters were available and what may have happened to the majority of the notes I sent home is beyond me - all I know is that Mother and Lil' Bit, whom I later married, had a big house cleaning in our apartment-to-be on the third floor and who knows what went into that backyard bonfire that burned for three days.

It does appear Mother was wished a happy Mother's Day on May 22 because on that day she received 18 V-Mails from me from England and wrote she was happy.

Mother's Day DID come for Mother on May 26. She wrote "What a SWEET DAY. got two packages from England from Charles, with nice bracelets for me and Margery. What a SWEET BOY he is."

And that was Mother's D... Month in 1945.

- 30 -

Check This Out . . .

. . A Post Office Story

On Monday, a couple days from now, you may be surprised at your local post office if you haven't been catching up on the news lately - by the way it's been a bit secretive.

You'll find out Monday that to mail a first class letter - what we call snail mail - will cost you forty-four cents, up two cents.

But there's good news. The post office has been very SWEET (right now) about reaching deeper in your purse or pocketbook to mail an ounce of something to someone you love.

And there's more good news. If you bought one or two rolls of "forever" stamps awhile back, you don't have to go out and buy the forty-four-cent stamps. Use a forever stamp on your next letter but there's a catch just the same. The envelope you mail can't be over one ounce.

How SWEET was the post office? Well, without telling anyone they would be doing them a favor, the post office didn't put the stamp increase into effect until May 11.

What does this mean? It says "weren't we SWEET, holding back the stamp increase until after everybody got their Mother's Day greeting cards into the mail at the old rate?" Yep, that sure is SWEETNESS.

Today I saw a couple more acts that I consider SWEET.

I saw a young lady hold open a store door downtown for a man walking with two canes. He thanked her but not in the usual way - he leaned toward her and kissed her check SWEET!

i saw two baby birds this afternoon slowly crossing the street in front of my house and in front of oncoming traffic. They did not try to fly.

A pickup truck driver halted his truck and also traffic from the opposing way and tried to rescue the birds. One scampered away quickly but the other, haltingly but determined, tried twice to fly away and then did it. SWEET!

And here's a final item for the SWEET theme: Fedex showed up about before 8 a.m. with a big box. It was addressed to Lady B and she lost no time in opening it. Inside, in a styrofoam container and packed in ice, was a huge sack of choclates and other goodies from a daughter. Yep, more SWEET(S).

- 30 -

Talking To A General . . .

. . .Without Saluting

When Gary Dill, president of the University of the Southwest here in Hobbs introduced me to U. S. Army General (retired) John Reppert this evening, I responded "glad to meet you, General" to which he replied "no, I'm John." General Eisenhower never said to me "i"m Ike!"

General Reppert, slated to be tomorrow's main speaker at the university's annual commencement where 143 students who have completed their four years will be graduated, was at a special reception arranged to honor area veterans now retired and those still active in our country's service.

The general briefly talked about his personal history which includes a newspapering and publishing stint, and a long association with education as a teacher in the army and in civiliam life.

General Reppert related a long association in the era after the demise of the Soviet Union, in which he was privy many times to conferences where relations between the United States, Russia and other countries were discussed.

The assembled veterans were impressed and frequently laughed as the general outlined some of his conference visits where he, fluent in the Russian language, was able to overhear many Russian comments which were not being translated accurately into English and perchance - although he did not say so as fact - could have been embarrassing if said in English.

General Reppert made it a point in both his opening remarks and his closing to express his appreciation, both personal and on the part of all military services, to the gathering of veterans from World War II, Korea and Vietnam to the present for their past and present service.

- 30 -

Yarntangler Made Me . . .

. . . Do This Stupid Stuff



My SWEET number one daughter, Yarntangler, is tying up my busy retirement years with gimmicks like "memes" and "crazy eights" and comments about my hazy memory.


I am going (again) to tolerate her whims for a bit longer starting with this blog
tonight, to humor her and maybe to encourage Geezerguy to get her back into her new novel and out of everybody's hair for the time being.

I had to think hard about one category she tagged me with - what I did yesterday. That was a difficult task because, considering what she calls my hazy memory, that was about 24 hours ago.

What I'm looking forward to was easy - you'll see and what I wish to do wasn't too bad either.

The bit about shows, well, I don't watch shows much. So let's start:


THINGS I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO -

1) Becoming 86 years old next month

2) Retaining my dwindling eyesight

3) Getting my driving license renewed next month

4) Winning a big lottery sometime soon

5) Traveling again

6) Becoming 87 next year

7) Becoming - well if number one doen't pan out, forget the rest.

8) Becoming 88 two years down the road



THINGS I WISH I COULD DO



1) Read a good book again

2) End all wars

3) Achieve world peace

4) Enable a grandson to hear and speak

5) Make all my kids debt free

6) Increase our church membership

7) Better my memory

8) Out-do YT


THINGS I DID YESTERDAY

1) Awoke and arose

2) Ate breakfast

3) Worked the crossword puzzle

4) Read a bunch of blogs

5) Ate lunch

6) Started some yard work

7) Quit work, too hot

8) Took a short nap


SHOWS I WATCH

1) Local TV news

2) CNN news

3) Anderson 360 (news)

4) Larry King Live

5) Lawrence Welk on PBS

6) The Weather

7) Dr. Phil (under protest)

8) Oprah (under protest)

THERE ! I'VE DONE IT. WASN'T THAT SWEET OF ME?

- 30 -

Yankee Candy . . .

. . . And The English Kid

English kids had it hard in World War II - as did their families of course.
The kids liked candy and in time they found out the Yanks who had come to England had it.

At the supply depot where I was stationed in a little village called Thatcham in Berkshire County over there, there was occasion probably two or three times a week when mothers would walk their daughter and son toddlers along Station Road to the front gate of the depot.

There, soldiers on break would dole out SWEET stuff like lollipops, hard candies, cookies and oher types of SWEET goodies which their parents back in the United States had sent the soldiers for THEIR enjoyment.

One of those tots was a girl about five years old who showed up in a red pedal car. I vaguely remember the car but not the girl. I know Heather now.

Found her, but not looking for her, a few years ago while trying to make a nostalgic contact with a Thatcham family that had treated me quite royally the three years I was there.

I contacted the editor of a weekly newspaper in Newbury and asked if he would insert a short notice that I was seeking contact with the Holland family.

The Holland family had given me so to speak a second home, where I could relax after a day's work, read a good book, or write letters to my parents and to the girl I intended to marry one day, which I did.

Mother and Dad Holland, their daughters Ruth and Isabelle and a British Army son whose name unfortunately I have long ago forgotten, lived at 45 Northfield Road,and they gave me a key to their home and once a week managed to fry me a couple eggs at an evening meal.

After the war years my then new wife and I regularly corresponded with the family, and many times sent "care" packages with items still unobtainable in England, silk stockings, candy, over the counter medicine, clothing and shoes.

Nothing happened from that newspaper notice for weeks. Then from New Zealand came a brief e-mail saying the writer had read my "ad" and was going to try to help find the family.

Sometime later she did find the family and still later sent along a picture evidently furnished by the newspaper, showing the girls in the family but not the parents. I assumed the parents were deceased, they having been of an advancing age when I knew them.

Subsequently, if I remember correctly now, Heather advised me that one girl in the family with whom she had contact, had made it evident she wanted nothing to do with me.

It was understandable that the woman would refuse contact for any number of reasons, most likely because she and her sister were happily married and didn't need any Yank popping up to possibly cause questioning on the part of husbands! ! !

But from that experience, an ongoing e-mail relationship between Heather and her husband Colin and brother Douglas, still in England
has developed, full of descriptions of lovely New Zealand and its attractions and often containing paintings produced by Doug, news of Thatcham and changes in the nearby countryside at Thatcham.

How did I happen to associate Heather and the child in the red pedal car? It was this way. I had mentioned in one e-mail that I was stationed at The Hut Camp on Station Road and worked at the G-45 Engineer Depot up the road a bit.

She wrote back she often went there with her mother in her little red pedal car. I replied I remembered the red car. Our "reunion" developed from there but of course you'll recall I'd never met the child.

While the Internet has its badside stories involving people around the world, particularly young girls enticed by predators, Internet has made many people happy by reuniting them with lost family members and with school classmates and acquaintences of years ago.

Nostalgia has a habit of setting in when people like me enter into what often is called "The Golden Years" and for one, I certainly enjoy it.

- 30 -

Cinco de Mayo . . .

. . . and Century Plants

Today, the fifth of May, is an important day to the residents of my community, the Mexican population, which incidently composes about 51 per cent of the local population.

The celebrations of Cinco de Mayo were held on the past weekend with picnics in the City Park, folklorico dancing for hours and thousands of people dancing to Spanish bands and marachi groups.

Mentioning the fiesta occasion brings to mind the Mexican foliage growing in our yard here in Hobbs. Although it has now died (and the picture, too, that was supposed to inset itself into this blog), this corner area was a great attraction for months.

In fact, the City Commission beautification committee that year chose our place as "Home of the Month" (I forget which month).

The attraction was our Century Plant. It grew from our xeriscape (no-grass landscaping) at the rate of about five inches a day, and eventually began sprouting five-inch wide blooms of red, yellow, orange and various combinations of those colors.

The plant reached approximately 30 feet high, towering over our house and our red van parked in the driveway. By the time it reached that height the plant exhibited dozens of wide blooms.

Those many blooms may have signaled the demise of our century plant, which after months of soaring high over Houston Street, began to sag southerly and over our parked red van (which you should have seen here).
It took a few weeks in its alternate sagging and trying to straighten up, much to the amusement of passing students and teachers of the Houston Junior High School a few blocks south of us.

We backed the van out one morning to go shopping and returned to find the century plant laying across the driveway and an adjacent alleyway. It took a couple hours with a chainsaw to clear the area.

Although research seems to indicate that the roots of the plant should have produced another sky-reacher, it didn't happen, and the sword plant from which it had emerged also died.

The research I did on the plant says it is Agave Americana, also called
Maguey. While a Mexican plant, it also grows and excels in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa ad Europe.

I learned that after flowering, the Century Plant does die but leaves roots which continue yearly growth for about 28 years. Hey, something went wrong here on Houston Street - that did not happen.

So how does this fit into the month's theme - SWEET? Cut into the flower stem before the plant flowers. This will produce a SWEET liquid called agua miel, meaning honey water. (honey - again SWEET). You then ferment this liquid to produce a drink called "pulque."

Leaves of the plant yield fibers, known as pita, suitable for making rope, coarse cloth or matting. And then there's agave syrup, also called agave nectar, now marketed as a healthful, natural SWEET sugar sustitute.

Lastly, the giant plant also carries the American name aloe, and that four-letter word shows up in a lot of medicinal salves.

My backyard neighbor told me the roots of the century plant produce a liquid which when harvested and properly boiled, results in that ever popular Mexican brew, tequila.

That neighbor planned to make some tequila for me but just never got around to it. That's OK, David, I don't drink anything more potent than milk anyway.

- 30-

On My Desk Tonight . . .

. . . I Found A SWEET Spot

And in that spot, slabs of chocolate. Now where did the slabs come from?

No mystery, however, for I knew Lady B was probably thinking of a topic for my SWEET blog for tonight while I was up north working with a contractor on repair of my rental house.

Nothing was said of the surprise when I got home. All I was told was that College Cook had left me a nice lunch when she visited this afternoon. I just found the chocolate surprise when I sat a the computer.

It's nice to receive a surprise. This lunch was another of four today because at least for me, this was the day my Social Security check and my meager pension fund was credited to my bank account -

AND - my contractor really got to work fixing my rental house on the day he said he would start.

Business is getting poor for a lot of service folks but promptness is getting much better, The last job he was hired for took nearly two weeks to be started after a scheduled start day. Hooray!

Everything turned out SWEET today including my contractor's remark to Lady B this morning when he arrived "aren't you pretty, all dressed up so nice for me."

- 30 -

I Woke This Morning . . .

. . . And Staring Me In The Face

Was the lead headline on the Lifestyles section of the local newspaper - - "SWEET Science" on a photo of the executive chef at the local Zia Park Race Track and Black Gold Casino.

The accompanying story described a new trend in food preparation, moleecular cooking , explained by chef Manny, known to me through son CT and his wife College Cook.

Without my going into the story at length, it seems Manny and his deputy chefs have mastered a technique taught by very few master chefs, mostly in Europe, a technique which produces many SWEET menus

That should take care of the SWEET theme for tonight.

But wait jest a minit! Here's more on that theme. It seems Yarntangler thought after my Saturday blog that I was issuing a secondary topic for May but twasn't so. I must compliment her for rising to a perceived challenge, however, with her recipe for SWEET and SOUR. Nice going daughter one.

What else brings to mind the word SWEET?

My late mother adopted a saying from her Irish father. How often he uttered the saying is unknown to me except that Mother once told me she probably picked it up the day Grandfather got off the trolley on Bay Street, after his workday at the Revere Copper Works, walked down to the house, saw his chickens in the backyard staggering drunk and hollered "Sweet Mother of Jesus."

From that day on whenever something drastic took place, and even , in time, when I began to comprehend language, Mother very often could be heard exclaiming "Sweet Mother of Jesus.," like the night our homemade root beer exploded and broke the jars of our newly-made jelly, plastering it all over the walls and into her hair, too.

- 30 -

Jackie Gleason Once Said . . .

. . . ."How SWEET It Is"

There, I've got my SWEET blog in for tonight.

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Just kidding around while I think of tonight's topic and now I think I have come up with it.

But first let me say that my number one daughter Yarntangler seems to be trying to outgun me.

I did some research last night on Google to come up with the word SWEET , as in songs, wooing ways, baking cookies, making candy, and here she announces in her Saturday blog she did too. And Spiritual Astronomer apparently may have done the same.

So - let's try something with the word SOUR and turn it into SWEET.

This morning Lady B and I, still exhausted from our first day or organizing and staffing a yard sale, got up at 6:30 to begin the task of getting the junk out in the driveway for another try.

We found it to be a SOUR beginning to the day, temperature down below
50* (a big change from Thursday's 100*), cloudy and dark, breezy, with a rumble of thunder in the distance and Pinky trembling terribly (she's the thunderstorm forecaster even when one is hours away) - yeah, quite SOUR.

With sweaters on and hot coffee brewing, we got to work and then waited for our first customer - for an hour and a half. When he arrived, his first comment was "cold, gonna rain soon" - a very SOUR comment I'd say.

BREAK -BREAK - WE INTERRUPT AT THIS TIME, 7:32 PM AS WE WRITE - TO ANNOUNCE A SEVERE THUNDERCLAP SIGNALING THE ARRIVAL OF PINKY'S FORECASTED STORM. THE POWER MAY GO OUT SO MUST CONCLUDE REAL FAST.

Returning to the theme, it was about 11:30 when Mother Nature apparently sprinkled the sky with sugar - making it SWEET as the clouds rolled away.

Within an hour the sun SWEETLY shone brightly, there was no breeze and the temperature rose to about 70*.

As Jackie said "How SWEET it is."

- 30 -

Thinking Sweet . . .

. . . Day By Day in Song

Does the word SWEET, this month's contest topic , bring back nostalgic memories of songs that sounded SWEET?

I am trying to recall my once-memorized words to an old song, the first words of which were "SWEET Adeline" but at three in the morning I am drawing a blank.

But at least I've got my first SWEET blog done for this month!

SWEET dreams everybody!

- 30 -