Today is my Dad’s birthday. He would’ve been 97 today if still on this earth.
Dad (Dallas McKain) holding baby Katie, with Aunt Shirley by his side and wife, Betty, looking on. Katie has the best guardian angels anyone could ask for.
And I got the best text message this morning from my friend, Sherry. It was too kind not to share…
Now you know: My Dad shares a birthday with Johnny Depp. 🙂
If you’re like me, when you find a recipe your family enjoys you make it again. There are a few people — like my Momma — that has a totally different philosophy.
When Mom makes something that everyone likes, you’ll never get to eat it again as long as you live. That stuff she had delivered to us last week? Perry mistakenly gave it a thumbs up.
Mom will now forget all about that recipe and move on to something else that may — or may not — be edible… much less good. 🙁
Now you know: Playwright Eugene O’Neill disowned his 18-year-old daughter Oona over her marriage to 54-year-old Charlie Chaplin. He never saw Oona again and never met any of the eight children she had by Chaplin.
I’m old enough to remember not having air-conditioning in the home where I lived. Heck, only 88% of US homes have some type of AC even today.
Nanny and Pap-pa had an attic fan in their small house that only ran at night. I can remember Nanny making my brother and I a pallet on the floor in front of the front door.
Yup. The very door in the photo above. The fan pulled hot air through the screen that swept over us.
I remember thinking sleeping on the floor and being able to see the stars in the sky was incredibly amazing.
I remember when we got our first air conditioning unit at home. It was a big ole’ window unit that was in the kitchen/dining room area. It was so loud that you couldn’t hear one another talking, but it was grand just the same.
I bought a brand new Toyota Celica with a sunroof and A/C… then I got married, sold that car to pay my then husband’s settlement to his first wife, and drove a red Datsun truck with a camper shell on the back and crank windows to keep cool. Young and dumb doesn’t begin to explain my stupidity.
Once Ben was born, a reliable car was necessary and I bought a brand new, BLACK Chevy Chevette… without A/C. Mom & Carl ended up with that car and they tell horror stories about sweating in that thing.
That was the last time I purchased a vehicle without A/C — it was 1982.
If so, like me, you survived. 🙂
Now you know: The U.S. uses more energy to power AC units each year than the entire continent of Africa uses for everything combined.
Last week, the Town of Crothersville let residents know they’d be working on a project that required turning off water the following Tuesday — at least 3 days notice. The alert came out on the town’s app and multiple FaceBook reminders were posted. There was plenty of time for people to get ready — fill jugs with water for dogs and coffee, and the bathtub to flush their toilets.
We’re ready to take a stand!
Yesterday morning, I had a voice message at 8:50 AM from Jackson County Water Authority that our water would be off intermittently for repair starting within 10 minutes and we would be under a boil alert afterward. The Pesky neighbors didn’t even get notified. There’s nothing on the JC Water website or on social media regarding the outage.
Jackson County Water buys water from C’ville. This was a planned project and they knew last week — but unlike the town, they kept it a secret. Starting at 3:00 PM, they started telling the town that they’d be done in a hour — town customers were inconvenienced by about 3 hours.
At about 10:00 PM, I called JC Water’s answering service. Dude was unaware of any projects, but would pass my concern to their “on call” person. Mr. On-Call called me back and said water would be on within the hour. We finally got water at about 11:45 PM
Although I mowed the day before the rain started, grass here at the barndo looked like it was on steroids. I had to call on Mr. Pesky’s towing service yet again… because the lawn mower wasn’t coming out of where I had it. ARG!
Now you know: There is a place called the Northwest Angle. It’s a coastal lake area in Minnesota that is cut off from rest of the USA because one side of the lake belongs to Canada. The area was born out of miscalculating the borders in the US-British border treaty of 1783. 149 people live there.
Colette let me know she’s been promoted to senior choir and that she loves her choir teacher. I’m not sure how the subject of today’s post came about in choir class, but Colette’s rendition of the story goes like this:
Colette says to her teacher, “Dude. My Nana is a hardcore gamer.”
Mr. Teacher wrote what she said on the blackboard, and attributed the quote to her.
She thought that was about the coolest thing ever.
Cooking breakfast isn’t as noteworthy for an old woman as talking to your granddaughter on Steam. Obviously.
If you wanna be cool like me and Perry no matter how old you are… fire up your computer and grab yourself a copy of Windrose, Valheim, Path of Exile 2, or Baldur’s Gate. It will up your rep, no cap — and you don’t even have to be “hardcore” like me. 😉
Now you know: Senior citizens are the fastest-growing demographic in gaming. Nearly half of all Baby Boomers and a remarkable 36% of people in their 80s play video games weekly. Far from a solitary pastime, this hobby is actively used by seniors to boost cognition, bond with younger generations, and find community.