Merry Christmas wishes

Todd the Blogger reminded me it's been awhile since I've posted some dead musician recordings.

We were able to close up work early today.  On the drive home, I heard this song, which I've heard a zillion times on our office radio this season, but for unknown reasons it caused the windshield wipers on my SUV to turn on.



I thought that ventricular rupture had mended.

Damn.

Note to elf...

So, as we careen from crisis to [manufactured] crisis, pondering the effects of ACA/Obamacare, Duck Dynasty, and debit cards, it's natural to reflect and ask oneself¹: Where in the world are there fewer idiots?

This being my train of thought - with most of the cars on the tracks - I was reading an online article about Iceland.  With a total population of 320,000 (less than half of Fort Worth's), beautiful views, and a population density 1/13 of Texas', maybe there'd be less freeway traffic, junk on the TV, and more time to read.

I predict good Caribou/Reindeer hunting here.

Little House on/of the Prairie

Aurora, not in Texas or Colorado.

An ice cave to keep your beer cold.

E.T. - phone home. 

Maybe the elves, or Sasquatch, live here.

Did Newbury ever see this?

This looks like it could've been taken near Wizard Wells.

I don't know if all Icelandic women are beautiful - and yeah, I'd be looking for one more, um, age appropriate for me...

Elf house

Be sure to tune in to my next travelogue - destination Bolivia.

¹ Acceptable use of oneself vs one's self, according to the Grammarist.

Sunday's snippets

We seem to have gotten a bit of ice last week - this chunk stretched almost to the driveway:

Where's the watermelon wine?

Home-baked - not store-bought - Angel Food cake is a family tradition. If those had been individual candles, it would've been a fire hazard...

Yes, we have no bananas:

One of the areas for our Christmas party last night.

And a room next to it.  It looked like it had some sort of sunroof or something.  I'm told that legions of Romans people spend huge sums of money to watch Christians fed to the lions disappointment here every Sunday.

 Since I was out last night, I went to church this morning.  This is one of the Christmas trees in the lobby:

I wouldn't buy this brand of coffee:

Seen in a close-out type of store - bra and panties display, with a try-on mirror.  I waited around for a couple of minutes, but no one did.  Probably for the best.

Is this cutting edge, or just dopey, architecture?

Is E.T. gonna come home for Christmas on that roof?  Is it a heli-pad?  A plate warmer for the Jolly Green Giant?

Sign of the times

Based on Todd the Blogger's expert translation of Mandela memorial interpreter Thamsanqa Jantjie's performance, I borrowed this bit from SNL:

I'm starting to get cabin fever

While it's interesting to see north Texas blanketed in snow or ice, staying home isn't all it's cracked up to be.

This wouldn't be a bad cabin to be confined in.

I was glad to get home though, after some precarious driving on the slick stuff.

Ms. Yearwood probably makes Garth glad to be back home again, assuming he doesn't bring Wayne.

This song's composer was 53 when he left this life.  Damned mortality.

Now, after I found the above version of John Denver's classic, I also found this. Being my blog and all, of course I had to include it, right?

• Sheesh, it was only after watching this a second time I noticed who the Walkaway Joe actor was.  Apparently one of his early appearances, before he started selling electronic thermostats.

Sending Glad Tidings Your Way

Stick with it through 3:20 or so...

'Cause I'm feelin' groovy...

Seems that today I have something in common with Herbie.

Uh, no, I didn't catch a love bug. See, for that to happen, I'd have to...well, nevermind.

• Watched the live version of The Sound of Music on NBC last night,with Carrie Underwood.
• When I first heard of the project, I thought it was a movie remake, and therefore heresy. But then I learned it was a live performance on a huge studio soundstage on Long Island.  I can live with that.
• It wasn't perfect - Captain Von Trapp was a bit stiff for most of the performance - but overall it was an excellent production, much better than the garbage usually on TV these days, and an object lesson of what television once was, and can still aspire to be.
• And apparently it drew an amazing number of viewers.
• As we left Vienna in March 1975, via Pan Am or TWA 707, not across the Swiss border, I'd admired a set of cufflinks with the Austrian crest in der Flughafen gift shop.  About 15 minutes into the flight, my Dad presented me with these.  The talons do not have the hammer & sickle and broken chain, but instead hold a banner that reads 'Österreich':

Hey Carrie/Maria, look what I'm wearing...

• No, that was not intended in a creepy way.
• I awoke about every hour-and-a-half last night, checking the weather forecasts, and for emails/texts to see if my office would open today. About five minutes before I was to leave the house, my boss phoned to tell me I could stay home if I wanted, since I live a fair distance from work.
• Yeah, I went anyway - and arrived first.  I had one employee show up.
• Before he arrived, I shoveled ice from the front walk for about 15 minutes, and put out some ice melt.
• I ended up with a mild pain between my shoulder blades afterward.  Maybe a small adult beverage before bedtime will assist in that regard.
• Just a wee dram, of course...

Small & smaller

• Despite there being easily 10 restaurants within walking distance from where I work, none was open.  I had to go to the Albertson's - hoping to get some hot deli chicken or somesuch - and ended up with pre-wrapped sandwiches, chips and bananas for my employee and me.
• We closed early. 
• After researching and checking sales for about 6 weeks, I bought an Android tablet (on sale) this afternoon.  I tried to get the sales guy to throw in a memory card as a deal sweetener - he wouldn't do it - but he did discount the card by 60%.  Fair enough.
• Hey, ya don't get what ya don't ask for.
• Driving in this morning wasn't too bad.  By the afternoon, the bridges were covered with moguls (not the Bill Gates and Warren Buffet kind).  You couldn't go faster than 5 mph - the bumps were 4-6" tall and rocked vehicles to and fro.

Phil Spector, rockin' a 'fro...

• TxDoT signs on I-20 and Loop 820 today said "Winter Weather Warning - Travel Discouraged".  
• What the heck business is it of TxDoT's to care about my traveling state of mind?
• I mean, maybe I want to travel light, or travel joyfully, or travel with a caravan; but it sure sounds like a bummer to travel discouraged.  
• Are TxDoT's messages now sponsored by the makers of Prozac or Zoloft?
• Here,  discouraged traveler Tom Joad (Hank Fonda) tends to some automobile issues.  Having leveraged his 401-k, he's planning a boutique winery in Napa Valley, hoping for a better life on the left coast - at least until all the hippies take over and plunge the Golden State into financial ruin.

• Earlier this week, Cabela's advertised 'Free Shipping' for online orders. Noting that I had a stack of gift cards accumulating, I ordered some of these lil' beauties.  They travel fast:

Ain't they pretty?

58 GR. HDY V-MAX

Hodgdon

H380

.243"

2.600"

46.0

3721

47,500 CUP

49.5

3874

51,000 CUP