Will The Fork In The Tandy Trail Take Me To The Metric System Or Kava Kava Tea

When I came to the fork in the trail, on the Tandy Hills today, that you are looking at in the picture, I was momentarily confused as to which fork to take.

Head north? Or head west?

A perfect metaphor for my current perfectly bad mood.

I called my mom, when I hit the hills today, to do the Mother's Day thing. Mom was not home. So, I left a Happy Mother's Day message on their old-fashioned, non-cell phone answering machine.

I could have called mom and dad's cell phone. But that always seems not to work out too well. Usually they are on the road when I call their cell phone. My mom can't see the phone. My dad has to answer it and then give it to my mom. This has accident potential written all over it. So, I don't call their cell phone.

I have no idea why, but last night I found myself reading the Wikipedia article about the country called the United States of America.

Til I read it in Wikipedia, I did not know that soon after the Civil War, in the 1870s, America's economy became the world's largest and has remained so ever since. With China scheduled to become #1 by, I think, 2016.

I also did not know, til I read it in Wikipedia, that America is one of only 3 nations that have not adopted the metric system. America still uses British Imperial Units, like miles, yards and Fahrenheit degrees. Burma and Liberia are the world's other two metric system holdouts. America is in good company.

I remember decades ago learning the metric system because this would soon be the law of the American land. But, that law has not come to pass.

I remember when Canada switched to the metric system. Buying gas by the liter was confusing. As were the speed limit signs saying things like speed limit 100 KPH. That sounds so fast. And 85 kilometers sound so much further to the border than 52.8165 miles. 32 degrees Fahrenheit seems so much warmer than 0 degrees Celsius. 10 liters of gasoline for $10.12 sounds like a much better bargain than $10.12 for 2.65 gallons of gas.

Anyway, I have never been at all good with math, so for me, it is a good thing America has never switched to the metric system. Even though the metric system seems logical. Isn't the American currency method sort of metric?

I've got sun tea outside brewing a big container of kava kava tea. I'm hoping this will have a salubrious soothing effect on me when I drink some later.

Happy Mother's Day To Mom & All You Other Mothers

That is my mom and dad, first week of 2009, at Fair Park in Dallas, with my dad texting and my mom telling my dad what to text.

As the years have passed I've realized more and more how blessed I was in the mom and dad department.

I've long been told I was in a Leave it to Beaver type family situation. I have never seen it that way.

Growing up I thought everyone had a mom who made them breakfast, packed a lunch and that all families always had dinner together at the dinner table.

Several times a week clothes would show up on my bed, ironed and folded. It was my job to put them away.

Each of my siblings, and myself had a job to do at dinner. I set the table and cleared it. My brother and oldest sister alternated as to who washed or dried the dishes. I took out the garbage.

My love of a long roadtrip came from both my mom and dad. No matter what happened they were unflappable. I remember our first trip to California and Disneyland. Less than 30 miles into our trip the trailer had a malfunction. My dad took the broken part off, we drove into the next town south, had it welded, drove back to the trailer and were soon on our way, with my mom making us ham and cheese on homemade potato rolls as we drove along.

We had another vehicle problem that trip. This occurred in Hollywood. Mom and dad had the car worked on while me and my brother had fun exploring Hollywood for hours. Several years later my Mustang's clutch went out after leaving Paramount studios and a TV show taping. We spent the night in a service station parking lot, calmly waiting for morning. It all worked out. Just like things always did with my mom and dad. I learned from them to stay calm and make the best of whatever it is that has happened.

I remember a flat tire in Death Valley, 5 miles from our destination of Stovepipe Wells, where I had reservations. Some in my traveling party of 6 got all stressed out. Over a flat tire. All I thought was worst case scenario, we walk 5 miles to Stovepipe Wells and get help. There was no cell phone service in Death Valley at that point in time.

Another thing I learned from my mom is how to cook. Before I left for college my mom insisted I learn how to make 6 things. I was a bit resistant, but mom told me I would be grateful later. She was right. I can't remember all 6 things, but some of them were beef stroganoff, beef and biscuit casserole and basics like how to cut up a chicken and oven bake it.

I remember getting lessons on how to iron clothes. I've never made use of those lessons. I don't think I own an iron.

Anyway, Happy Mother's Day to mom and all you other mothers out there.

Mother's Day Morning In Texas Thinking About Casinos & Oysters

Stepping outside with me in the picture, to retrieve my swimming suit, you can see that Mother's Day morning in my zone of Texas looks like it might be a bit stormy.

But, stormy is not in the Mother's Day forecast for my zone of Texas. Currently it is 70 degrees, heading to a predicted high of 91, with a Mother's Day Sunday of some sun and breeziness.

We've been having ourselves an awful lot of breeziness in these parts.

Yesterday, during my afternoon swimming session, there were whitecaps on the pool, not to the level that surfing was possible, but at one point a big gust of breeziness sent my towel flying from its resting location on a lounge chair.

I don't know what I'm making mom for Mother's Day lunch. Maybe that Ivar's Clam Chowder I got yesterday at Town Talk. My mom makes the best Clam Chowder. Better than Ivar's. Mom likely won't care for Ivar's Clam Chowder.

I mess fresh seafood. Where I lived in Washington, in the fertile Skagit Valley, I was a short distance from getting myself fresh dungeness crab, oysters, clams, salmon, all sorts of goodies from the sea.

A few miles west of my abode in Mount Vernon there's the Swinomish Casino. The Swinomish Casino has the best seafood buffet I've ever had the pleasure of enjoying. The Swinomish Casino buffet's oysters are made the way my mom makes them.

In Texas we don't have casinos. Texas ran most of the Indians out of town, with very few remaining. I don't see why Texas would have any better luck stopping the Indians, who remain, from opening casinos, than other states have had. I don't think the Washington tribes have ever lost a court case against the state, whether its over casinos or fishing rights.

I think I may have heard of one or two tiny Indian casinos in Texas. Or attempts to open one.

In the little Skagit Valley, in Washington, an area way smaller than Texas, both the Swinomish and Skagit Indians have big casinos. I just read that the Swinomish are adding a big hotel to their casino complex. I think they've already added a marina. I thought they already had a hotel. Maybe this is an additional hotel. I know the Skagit's casino already has a big hotel attached to it. I've been in that one.

I really don't see the harm in casinos. I am not a fan of the gambling part, but I am a fan of the other entertainments to be found in a casino.

I'm going swimming now and think about all the other things missing in Texas.

Quick Hits for May 7.....and 8th, 2010; Betty White, SNL, and a Plum for Heigl

Its another one of those days with much to talk about, and so very little time. So here I am again, copping out with QUICK HITS.


(1). Here's a thought someone called "Hugh Jee" had on TWITTER last night...."Being "de-citizenized" by Joe Lieberman's proposed "Strip The Suspected Terrorist Law"; is that kind of like being "unfriended" on FACEBOOK?".

The guy has something there, heh?

(2) So the DOW plummeted 1,000 points in less than an hour, supposedly because someone transposed 16 billion for 16 million on the future's market? Don't you think its a little too easy for one person to do some serious damage to the the economies of this nation and the world- and to millions of little guy investors? If one person could do this with a mistake, what about someone with ill intent, like foreign or domestic terrorists, or someone just doing it because they want to do it. Another case for some serious Wall Street reform, and some competent eyes to watch what's going down.

(3).Katherine Heigl of "Grey's Anatomy" fame has landed The Plum role. And "Plum" should be capitalized. Ms. Heigl will star in One For The Money, the screen adaptation of the first of a series of novels by Janet Evanovich about Trenton (New Jersey) based bounty hunter Stephanie Plum, murder mysteries that are more comic than procedural. The sixteenth entry in the Plum series, Sizzling Sixteen, will be released on June 22.

My only question is...what took so long? These novels are fun, are an easy escapist read (I have read the first 10, so I have some catching up to do), and hit home for me on several levels. I was born in the Chambersburg section of Trenton where the novels take place. Stephanie is of Italian-Hungarian decent (as am I). My Grandpa used to drive a huge blue 1953 Buick like the one owned by Uncle Sandor in the novels (Stephanie Plum is really hard on cars- she either totals one or has one blow up in every book). And I have certain family members who closely resemble that of Stephanie Plum- though my grandmothers were not as zany as Steph's Grandma Mazur. About 10 years ago I thought Sandra Bullock should play Stephanie, but as she approached 40, I switched support to Jennifer Aniston (Steph is perpetually 30 years old in the books).

As for boyfried Joe Morelli and mysterious tough guy Ranger, it will be interesting to see how the casting goes. But two people I'd love to see in the supporting cast of any future Plum mysteries; Queen Latifah as Lula (Steph's street wise former working girl BFF), and America's Grandma, Betty White as whacky Grandma Mazur. And any character who goes to funeral homes to pick up grieving old geezers is a bit whack-a-doo....and inventive, I suppose.

A long pause here....continuing the blog entry a mere 36 hours after starting it...I told you I've been busy. Hate it when people don't update their sites...I have a responsibility to give you guys information whether you want it or not. You've been warned.

(4). Now......where was I? Oh yeah! Speaking of Betty White. She's hosting SNL tonight. And who woulda thunk it? At 88, she isn't the oldest person to appear on Saturday Night Live. SNL's announcer Don Pardo, who has been with the show for all but one of its 35 years on NBC, has celebrated his 92nd birthday last February. But the oldest guest ever on SNL was probably composer-pianist Eubie Blake. On March 10, 1979 Mr. Blake guested on SNL, which was hosted by Gary Busey that night. Depending on your source, Eubie Blake was either 96 or 92 in 1979, though his 100 birthday was celebrated shortly before his death in 1983.

At any rate, below is the video of Mr. Blake's appearance on SNL in 1979, with the great and sadly missed Gregory Hines singing. Hines died much too young at age 57 in 2003.


Gregory Hines - Eubie Blake

Macgoddess | MySpace Video

(5). And finally....Happy Mother's day to all of the Moms reading this. And to all you guys who still haven't gotten anything....there's always the fresh cut flowers at the all night supermarkets. Have fun!