dual personalities

Month: July, 2020

July 6, 2020

Cow in the road

by chuckofish

How was your 4th of July? The OM and I had a super fun time visiting daughter #1 in mid-MO. We got to eat outside and people-watch for awhile on Friday night. Schmidt and Jenko were patrolling downtown Jeff City…

…and all was well on the street until a ferocious midwestern thunder storm broke loose, causing the cancellation of the Jeff City parade and the Diamond Rio concert scheduled to be held later that night on the lawn of the Supreme Court building a block from daughter #1’s apartment.

We were bummed, but we rallied and listened to music and drank Rosé back home.

On Saturday we ventured to historic Rocheport (pop. 290) on the Missouri River in Boone County. We had lunch at our favorite, Les Bourgeois Winery and Vineyards, and drank in the beautiful scenery.

Lots of complete strangers complimented the OM on his cool shirt.

One of these is grape juice.

We also managed to visit two large antique malls and to find a couple of things to buy amid the acres of nonsense. We also FaceTimed with little Katiebelle who is endlessly fascinating.

That night we hauled our folding chairs to the roof of the House garage next to the Capitol and settled in to watch the fireworks on the river. They were the best I have ever seen and the mid-Missourians who had parked their giant pick up trucks on the roof and set up their family food stations (all appropriately socially distanced) were a friendly crowd of citizens.

Meanwhile, the wee babes were at their other grandparents’ lake house wearing this year’s trend-setting holiday outfits.

The night before the wee laddie had spent many hours in the ER after he swallowed a penny. (The text messages were flying.) They had to anesthetize him to take the penny out. It was his second x-ray in two days (see Friday’s post.) He is on a roll, but doesn’t appear to be any the worse for wear. Did I mention that he played his first round of golf?

Too much drama pour moi. Now it is time to get my head back in the salt mine game. This week is the start of our first all-online summer term. Zut alors! But first, I may have to watch a little of the real Schmidt and Jenko…

Enjoy your Monday! Stay safe and far away from emergency rooms.

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July 4, 2020

You’re a grand old flag

by chuckofish

Happy Independence Day and Happy Birthday to our dear brother! I hope that this year everyone will take a little time to consider the significance of July 4th.

The Signing of the Declaration of Independence, painted by John Trumbull

We could use a good reminder of why we celebrate freedom. People have been focusing so much attention on the negative aspects (some real, some imagined) of our fair nation that they have forgotten all the good things. Peter Schramm’s personal reminiscence (read the whole thing) offers an eloquent reminder of what this country is all about. Or read a good American history book, perhaps something by David McCullough or Shelby Foote. In his latest column, son #2 had this to say about July 4th:

“I needn’t recount all of America’s present woes here, but the entire reason we celebrate July 4 as a holiday is because we had plenty of woes before and found solutions.

That’s pretty much what all of history is. Some woes are worse than others. Some solutions come swiftly and some come slowly. Sometimes we take steps in the wrong direction, but we try.

Independence Day is all about celebrating America’s potential. When they signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, they didn’t know what was going to happen or what the future would hold. Technically, that’s impossible. But you’ve got to dream big if you’re going to get anything done.”

If you’re not in the mood to read, do something outside! Remember baseball? If you can’t attend a game, go play one.

Or have a yard sale (but do check your spelling first)!

If the spelling problem is stressing you out, take a hike — America is full of beautiful places to wander!

Montana, 2019

However you spend your day — whether you are wealthy or poor, happy or sad, healthy or sick — consider how lucky you are to live in a free country! Teddy Roosevelt once wrote, “I am an American; free born and free bred, where I acknowledge no man as my superior, except for his own worth, or as my inferior, except for his own demerit.” Mull that over… and have a great weekend!

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July 3, 2020

“Rejoice, rejoice, we have no choice but to carry on. “*

by chuckofish

Three-day weekend! Some people say the weekend doesn’t mean much since we are home all the time anyway, but I disagree. On the weekend, I am not chained to my laptop or to the feeling that I should be “doing” something. No sir.

Since there is pretty much nothing going on in our flyover city this 4th of July weekend and the boy and his wee family are going to be at the lake, the OM and I have opted to fly the coop and head to mid-MO to visit daughter #1 in our state capitol. We will probably not join the hoards that may gather to celebrate, but we can watch out her apartment window. And there will be fireworks on the Missouri River.

We will raise a toast to our big brother whose birthday is on the 4th of July.

Yippee-ki-yay, pardner!

The wee babes were going to come over to frolic on Thursday morning, but the wee laddie fell off the deck at their house on Wednesday night and had to go to the doctor to get checked out in the morning, so I had Lottiebelle all by herself. We had a fun time playing. She is truly the queen of imaginary play and I find that if I just give a funny voice to any and all stuffed animals I am hilarious.

After the wee laddie was given a clean bill of health–he was fine, no broken bones–and they picked up Lottie and all went home, I went back to my Zoom meetings (and using a normal voice). Life is pretty strange. I try to go with the flow.

I want to give a shout out to TCM, which has quite a good line-up of movies in July. Tony Curtis is the Star of the Month (my DP will not want to miss Captain Newman, M.D. on July 13!) and John Ford movies are on the schedule every Friday. Today is a particularly good day!

I will also note that I just watched Logan Lucky (2017) again (on Prime) and I have to say, I really like this movie.

It has a smart script and a great cast: Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Daniel Craig, Riley Keough, Hilary Swank, and others you will recognize in smaller roles. It is rated PG-13 for Pete’s sake. The Hillbillies win. What’s not to like?

And this cartoon from Liz Climo is my life at the moment.

Let me say, this is just too perfect. (PS I’m the bunny. I live with the bear.)

Enjoy the weekend! Let your freak flag fly. God bless America!

*Stephen Stills

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July 2, 2020

Oh, what’ll you do now, my darling young one?*

by chuckofish

July 1st was a big day, marking three years married to DN and four weeks with our darling daughter!

We decided to celebrate by taking our first family photo, which turned into an hours-long affair of setting up a new tripod, learning how to use the self timer, making ourselves look presentable for the first time in weeks, and trying to catch the baby happy and awake. (As anyone who has had the privilege of FaceTiming us knows, Katiebelle still has a pretty narrow “wake window” before she fusses for her nap!) Well I applaud DN for getting this shot. We look pretty good for newborn parents, right?

Don’t worry, the wee one let us know when she was done with the photo shoot. “That’s enough of that!”

*Bob Dylan (this song actually always makes me think of my brother, who was very touched by it after the birth of his twins, a blue-eyed son and a darling young one of his own!)

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July 1, 2020

It’s like the fairy dust of the food world.

by chuckofish

It’s funny that my mother did a “this is how my mind works” post yesterday because I planned to do one today! This is how my mind works.

Don’t look too closely….

I’ve been working on my sewing–and while steaming a seam this weekend, I started thinking “I’ve got steam heat” which made me want to watch this:

In retrospect, that is a rather odd number to perform at a union rally. Anyway, anytime I think I about The Pajama Game and how it is really one of my favorite musicals, I am reminded of how I didn’t see it on Broadway starring Harry Connick Jr. when I was an intern in New York City and I’m just so eyeroll emoji.

Anyway, from there, I was reminded of the blog post I meant to write last week but couldn’t remember what it is was when I sat down to write. I was going to talk about how I’ve been watching more videos on YouTube at night instead of trolling instagram getting triggered by virtue signalling. Aside from videos showing how to install zippers and box corners, I’ve found myself watching and laughing over Jim Gaffigan videos.

Do you notice anything about these bits? They are my favorite things! And they are all about fatty foods. Now I’m concerned that I have too much in common in with a comedian most famous for his bit about Hot Pockets.

Well, this is how my mind works. And I think it is time for a snack.

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