I’m limping in the rain,
Just limping in the rain.
Arthritis sucks
I’m grumpy again!
All posts by daddybear71
Today’s Earworm
Posted by daddybear71 on March 10, 2015
https://daddybearsden.com/2015/03/10/todays-earworm-618/
Today’s Earworm
Posted by daddybear71 on March 8, 2015
https://daddybearsden.com/2015/03/08/todays-earworm-617/
Snow Drivers
By now, you would think that most everyone would have either learned how to drive in winter weather, or would have been removed from the driving pool through attrition. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to have happened quite as often as I would have wanted. Here are a few of the people I have run into so far today while making my way to and from work:
- The “Eastbound and Down” – An over the road semi-driver who has been there, done that, and doesn’t seem to have learned anything from the experience. He’s got a half gallon of hot coffee, a truck full of sundry goods to move, and not enough time to get to his destination. He’s going to try to push through the worst conditions, because there are people who need that load of toilet paper and kitty litter in Des Moines. I’ll give this one a break on occasion, because sometimes he does it out of fear for his job when his manager or dispatcher tells him to push through, no matter what.
- The “35 and Alive” – This is the driver that I appreciate when the weather sucks, but want to napalm when the roads are clean and dry. They’ll make it to their destination safely, and you’ll make it home eventually, no matter how good or bad the road conditions. Usually can be identified by the AARP or “My honor student goes to the Mengele Institute” bumper stickers.
- The “Four Low and Foxy” – This bluntskull thinks that because there is a knobby set of tires on her rims and a 4WD button on the shift stick, she can power through anything, including an inch of ice on the road. In her defense, without her ministrations, I would never be able to say that I’ve seen a Hummer H2 do a pirouette on I-65.
- The “Tunnel Vision” – This oxygen thief clears a small hole in the snow and frost on the windshield, and possibly on the driver’s window, but leaves 18 inches of snow, ice, and schmutz on the other windows, along with the roof and back deck of the car. They have a field of vision that’s about as wide as their shoulders, so be aware that they may not see or hear you as you signal their error in trying to merge with your engine compartment on the freeway. They provide a service to the community, though, because where else can you test out your wiper blades and anti-lock brakes at the same time?
- The “Live to Ride” – This cretin does not care how cold it is, nor how bad the roads, he’s riding that hog every day of the year. You go from wondering at what he’s thinking, to saluting his skill at negotiating winter roads on two wheels, to praying for his soul the first time you see him hit a patch of black ice. He gets extra points if it’s not a Harley he’s riding, but rather he’s braving the Arctic blast on a Schwinn.
Posted by daddybear71 on March 6, 2015
https://daddybearsden.com/2015/03/06/snow-drivers/
Today’s Earworm
John Philip Sousa, November 4, 1854 to March 6, 1932
If you’re not rocking back and forth and singing “Be kind to your web footed friends”, you’ve obviously never passed in review.
Posted by daddybear71 on March 6, 2015
https://daddybearsden.com/2015/03/06/todays-earworm-590/
Holidays – A Modest Proposal
New York Mayor Bill de Blazio has announced that in 2015, public school students in New York will be given a day off for two Muslim holy days, Eid al-Adha and al-Fitr. One occurs during the school year, and one impacts those who go to summer school. This is in addition to the myriad other days off the typical school child will get, including Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Winter Break, Spring Break, Martin Luther King Birthday, and Memorial Day. Already, another ethnic and religious group, South Asians, is asking that their holiday of Diwali be included, as well as those of Chinese extraction, who are pushing to get the Lunar New Year off.
Since we’re adding for religious holidays here, here are a few I want added or re-added:
Mardi Gras
Ash Wednesday
Good Friday
St. Patrick’s Day (It’s supposed to be a religious holiday, not another excuse to act like a beer fueled asshat)
Purim
Rosh Hashannah
Yom Kippur
Equinox (Vernal and Autumnal)
Passover
Samhain / Halloween
All Saint’s Day (That’ll cover the myriad saints’ feast days that occur throughout the year)
Pentecost
Corpus Christi
Solstice (Winter and Summer)
That’s 14 instructional days that ought to be scratched so that students can That covers the big ones, as far as I know, for Christians, Jews, and Wiccans. Of course, we also need to consult the Buddhists, Bahai, and Sikhs. Cthulhu knows how many we’ll add once we start looking at Orthodox Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Native American religions.
Since we’ll probably be taking out a month of the school year for religious holidays, we’re going to have to get the Department of Education to mandate that summer vacation be eliminated to make up for it. That will give us a few extra days to work with, so I’ll throw in some patriotic days off to go with it:
Washington and Lincoln Birthdays
Flag Day
Anniversary of the writing of The Star Spangled Banner
Constitution Day
Gettysburg Days (Let’s stretch Independence Day out a bit)
Pearl Harbor Day
September 11
Armed Forces Day
Service Birthdays (Marine, Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard)
Kentucky Oaks (Louisville and other parts of Kentucky only. Other parts of the country can insert their own “They’re not going to show up anyway, so we’ll just declare a school holiday” day off)
There, now isn’t that a nice, inclusive list of days the little kiddies can miss school on? Makes my heart proud to say that we can interrupt education so often and still make sure that little Billy can read at grade level and little Susie can do her maths.
Or, and tell me if this sounds too crazy to be feasible, we could let parents send in a note with little Akhmed and Fatima saying that they’re practicing Muslims and will be taking the Eid off. That way, families can celebrate their cultural and religious holidays without giving everyone else a day off to sit in their parent’s apartment and watch Sponge Bob. Now, as crazy as that sounds, it would let people do their thing and let the rest of us educate our children.
Nah, never work. That would assume that parents know what days are important to their family, and the state wouldn’t be mandating observance of someone else’s religious holidays. Can’t have that, can we?
Posted by daddybear71 on March 5, 2015
https://daddybearsden.com/2015/03/05/holidays-a-modest-proposal/
Musings
- I had a hard time convincing Irish Woman that “Put your ass behind the shovel and give that snow a push” was a verse from a popular Norwegian love song.
- Irish Woman also did not care for me telling her that I promised to take her to Florida this summer, but I never promised to bring her back.
- It would appear that several hundred automobiles, including over 200 trucks, were stranded on the interstate about 30 miles south of Louisville, because apparently in this age of Internet weather pages, cellular communications, and a motel or truck stop at every exit between Nashville and Louisville, nobody thought it would be a good idea to find somewhere to hole up for a day or so.
- One of them appears to be the wife of race baiter social activist Jesse Jackson, who is pitching a fit that nobody put their own life in danger to come out and make sure she didn’t suffer from the consequences of her own actions.
- That’s OK, y’all. The National Guard didn’t have anything better to do today, anyway.
- There’s something to be said for a hot cup of coffee and a roaring fire on a cold day.
- You wouldn’t think that a 16 inch tall dog would enjoy 15 inches of snow, but then you’d be wrong. I thought I’d never get Derby out of the back yard.
Posted by daddybear71 on March 5, 2015
https://daddybearsden.com/2015/03/05/musings-122/
Today’s Earworm
Posted by daddybear71 on March 5, 2015
https://daddybearsden.com/2015/03/05/todays-earworm-616/
Picture of the Day
So, last night winter heaved its carcass up and hit us with one last blast of snow. Some parts of our area got 19 inches or more of snow. We got about 15. Needless to say, the roads are rather treacherous and schools were closed today.
Girlie Bear seems to have decided that sleeping in was for chumps, because she got out of bed and cut a path to our next door neighbor so that she could take him his meals today. She would have made him a path to his garage as well, but he stopped her. No way is that 89 year old man going to brave the frozen wastes today.
Here she is, pajamas and all.
Posted by daddybear71 on March 5, 2015
https://daddybearsden.com/2015/03/05/picture-of-the-day-11/
Today’s Earworm
Posted by daddybear71 on March 4, 2015
https://daddybearsden.com/2015/03/04/todays-earworm-615/
Musings
- It is a good sign, when doing research, when you go to find a highlighter while reading the introductory chapter of a new book.
- There are few things about modern civilization that are worth more than anesthesia and a gentle ophthalmologist.
- Boo seems to be disappointed that I will not need a pirate’s eye patch.
- Apparently telling the nurse the exact address of my pharmacy does not necessarily preclude her from calling a prescription into the pharmacy 8 miles further down the road.
- After today’s snow day, Girlie Bear will be going to school into June. At this rate, our vacation over the Independence Day weekend may be in danger.
- I swear that I am going to find the spell to raise the dead, then bring back Johnny Cash, Johnny Paycheck, and Hank Williams, and send them all to whoop the ass of the program manager who thinks that Garth Brooks is classic country. For bonus, I’m going to have Minnie Pearl come back and make him a nice meal so she can sit him down and give him the ass chewing that only a Southern woman can deliver.
- Here’s a hint – If your ‘country’ has a guitar solo or synthesizers that sounds like it would have been played on a Top 40 station in 1985, then you need to take off those boots and hat, pilgrim.
- Meteorologists – If you’re broadcasting on a local television station, I don’t give a damn about what the weather looks like 200 miles away from here, unless that weather is going to be here in the next 24 hours. Try zooming into the local area so that I can see a 50 by 50 mile area for most of your weather report. It might actually be useful. Also, putting a couple of landmarks on your 17 color, computer enhanced, predictive satellite picture wouldn’t hurt either. Or maybe, you could just put up a piece of plexiglass and draw on it with a grease pencil, which would give me about the same amount of useful information.
Posted by daddybear71 on March 4, 2015
https://daddybearsden.com/2015/03/04/musings-121/
DaddyBear
DaddyBear’s Den 