This one is inspired by Matthew, who put it into my head when he saw a variant of the following picture:

• Irish Woman has had a spring head cold these past few days, and I finally got her to go to the doctor on Friday.  His advice was to consume honey, drink more water, and rest.
  • You know, I never thought I’d hear advice like that from a civilian doctor.  Only thing he missed was a 90 day supply of Motrin.
  • Somehow, I don’t think this is what he meant, but it seems to be working.
• It takes real talent to talk to me about making a donation to your semi-political cause, and have me come away convinced that I need to make a donation to your opposition.
• I can build strong, and I can build ugly.  Apparently, I cannot yet build something that is easy to disassemble.
  • Removing fence staples that have been properly hammered into posts is not fun, in case anyone was wondering.
• I’m lucky in my choice of mate.  It isn’t every woman who would be pleased with a galvanized stock tank for Mother’s Day.

As a kid, here were my choices for Saturday morning entertainment:

• Anvils falling on coyotes and a cross-dressing rabbit making life hell for an anal-retentive duck.
• A mouse and a cat attempting murder upon each other.
• Robotic and human action figures shooting millions of laser beams but never causing more than minor property damage.

Here’s what I have this morning:

• The last five minutes of an episode of a 1950’s Batman serial, followed by selected scenes from 1970’s white guilt “Aren’t you ashamed that you grew up in the suburbs instead of the urban cesspool we’ve plunked you down into?” movies.
• A very nice man painting a very nice picture of a very nice bell pepper.
• A 90 minute commercial for a blender that also works as an ice cream maker, juicer, paper shredder, flour grinder, and countertop log chipper.
• Political commentary and yellow journalism masquerading as real news, on multiple channels, from multiple viewpoints.
• Semi-interesting rerun of an art show of guy making happy trees.  (Boo found this fascinating.  Irish Woman, who is the one parent he has that can see more than 4 bit color, let him eat his breakfast in front of the TV for this one.

I gave up, enjoyed my coffee, and went back to reading a friend’s novel.

A friend passed this to me, and I thought I’d pass it along:

The author of the The Lonely Libertarian Blog, all around good woman, mom to 2 autistic daughters, friend to all in need, has found her laptop in disrepair. Help her replace it. It’s unable to type the letters T or H.

Hiswiserangel has been blogging since 2012, and I’ve enjoyed her writing and the comments she’s left at other blogs.  If you’ve got a few extra dukats jingling in your purse, please consider doing something nice for one of our own.

Here are the movies that had posters in the theater and previews on the screen tonight:

• Max – Old Yeller meets American Sniper.  I will not cry.  I.  Will. Not. Cry.  Might make a good date night movie.
• Terminator Genisys – In yet another reboot of part of my childhood, Kyle Reese tries to harvest more money from the past before we all pass Judgement Day on this franchise.  Pass, unless the studio can guarantee that Schwarzenegger is lowered into a real vat of molten steel this time.
• The Peanuts Movie – 3D rendering of Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and the rest of Charles Schultz’s gang.  I’m hoping this is worth the wait until November to see it.
• Hotel Transylvania 2 – Count Dracula and his rat pack of monsters are back, and apparently he has a grandson.  Trailer looked funny, and the original has grown on me.  Probably worth the matinee.
• Minions – The backstory of Gru’s little yellow sidekicks from Despicable Me, in which they travel to Orlando to meet the most evil woman to be found in 1968 (My ex wasn’t born until 1971).  Looking forward to this one.
• Inside Out – Pixar’s summer movie for 2015.  A young girl moves to a new school, and her emotions, which are apparently a large part of the speaking cast for this movie, start having problems.  Since the character of “Anger” is voiced by Lewis Black, I’m definitely looking forward to this one.

• I started writing an uber-post about the Sad Puppies controversy, but like most things, others have said what I want to say and said it better.
  • Let me say this:  I would rather be entertained than be knocked over the head with the message an author wants to convey.
  • Also, word-smithing and being clever are secondary to telling an engaging and entertaining story.
  • I read what I enjoy, write what I enjoy, and watch what I enjoy.  I used to play what I enjoy, but to be honest, I haven’t pulled my bag of dice or the controller to the game system out of the closet in years.  Everything that I don’t enjoy gets discarded and forgotten. This is all regardless of the politics and demographics of the creator.
  • Example:  2001, A Space Odyssey, is at least 50% literary and cinematic navel gazing.  It was good for a single read of the book and a couple viewings.  2010, the sequel, on the other hand, is one of my favorite movies, mainly because it doesn’t descend into an esoteric exploration of the author’s third eye.
• When the tire on a garden cart has a catastrophic failure due to dry rot and over-inflation, it sounds a lot like a shotgun.  Also, Girlie Bear can scream as if she were shot when that happens.
• Beaver droppings are full of sawdust.  If you think about it, that makes sense.  It just never occurred to me before I saw it.
• Irish Woman has started watching a television show about people hunting alligators.  It would appear that the .22 Magnum is the caliber of choice for large reptiles, but the .223 Remington and .45 Colt seem to get the job done quite well.
• It’s a lot more fun to acquire, haul, and stack a couple ricks of firewood in April than it is in July.

Today’s a two-fer.  Louisville was ‘blessed’ with several inches of rain last night, and creeks are turning into rivers and roads are turning into creeks.

Next, to commemorate the rather large fire at the GE appliance plant a few miles from where I work, we have this:

If we get locusts next, I’m going to start packing.