During any given day, I put notes and reminders in a notebook that sets on my desk, so I don’t forget something. I still forget almost everything, but it makes me feel like a better person just having notes. Yesterday I paid bills, opened the Comcast envelope, wrote the check, then looked frantically for the return envelope. Hmmm. Had it fallen to the floor? Was it stuck under something? Where was it? I looked everywhere. But I had not even moved since I opened the bill and paid it. I kept thinking about that silly envelope all afternoon, moving things on my desk, staring at the floor, thinking it was going to materialize soon. My sister often calls me on her way home from work, so I explained what happened and told her I was probably really losing it this time and would need full-time care soon, because of the envelope incident. She thoughtfully replied, “No worries, they likely forgot to put the envelope in with the statement. That happens to me all the time.” Oh. I had not thought of that. Or is she lying just to make me feel good? Does not matter. I made out my own return envelope and put a stamp on it. Done.
A Manhattan surgeon divorced his former ‘Miss Connecticut’ wife after finding out that she had a secret life as a high-end prostitute for wealthy men, having earned almost $800,000 since they married in 2015. Not only did she lie about college she didn’t even finish high school. Oops.
Well, well, well. If it isn’t the consequences of my own actions.
Do you remember Casey Anthony? On December 11, 2008, the skeletal remains of two-year-old Caylee Marie Anthony were recovered from inside a laundry bag in a wooded area near her family’s home in Orlando, Florida. She had been reported missing in July by her maternal grandmother, who claimed that she had not seen the child in over a month, but not reported by her mother who was out partying during that month-long period. Casey Anthony’s murder trial was ten years ago; 33 days of testimony, more than 400 pieces of evidence, and 91 witnesses testified. From day one, none of the jurors or the five alternates ever missed a day in court. The trial was televised with most of us predicting that the 12 jurors would convict her of murdering her 2-year-old daughter. They did not. It was stated that the jurors were not given enough evidence to convict. None of them liked Casey Anthony, they thought she was a horrible person, and that she probably did something very wrong, but not beyond a reasonable doubt, so they followed the law and acquitted her of the murder charge. What is she doing now? She started a photography business and works as a private investigator. She recently called the police because of an argument in a bar where a woman poured a drink over her – they had both dated the same cop. Hmmm. If she could dial 9-1-1 immediately after being wet with a drink, how come it took her 31 days to report her missing child.
My sister is clever, spirited, enthusiastic, and imaginative. The rain is coming down in buckets right now and Amazon just braved the weather to deliver a package just for me. Three very fluffy toilet seat covers in assorted colors, even one with an embroidered kitty on it. Several months ago, when we were moving my mom, I made the mistake of telling my sister how brilliant I thought she was for ordering a fuzzy toilet seat cover for our mom for Christmas. My sister obviously enjoys being told she is brilliant, so she ordered me not one, but three of my very own. She told me later that it was the same price to order three or one. I guess I should mention that she is also resourceful and thrifty. I am pretty glad I have a sister that worries about my tush getting cold.
“The great trouble with talking about saving is that people don’t like to be denied. They dislike to be repressed… Is it not unfortunate that we have the word ‘saving’ at all, with its ‘kill-joy’ implication? Would it not be better if we spoke of ‘delayed spending’ rather than saving?” Putnam’s Investment Handbook from 1919. Isn’t this great? Delayed spending. It does sound so much better.
RECENT BIRTHDAYS: Drummer Jim McCarty of The Yardbirds is 78. For Your Love. Bassist Verdine White of Earth, Wind and Fire is 70. Actor Sandra Bullock is 57. TV producer Norman Lear is 99. Singer Maureen McGovern is 72. Actor Sally Struthers is 74. Singer Patti Scialfa of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band is 68. Blues guitarist Buddy Guy is 85. Movie director Peter Bogdanovich is 82. Singer Paul Anka is 80. Jazz saxophonist David Sanborn is 76. Actor-politician Arnold Schwarzenegger is 74. Actor Geraldine Chaplin is 77. Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor in The Crown. (Singer Gary Lewis of Gary Lewis and the Playboys is 76. Singer Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones is 78. Actor Helen Mirren is 76.
Tony Bennett is 95, and still singing his heart out. He and Lady Gaga are set to release their second album together featuring all Cole Porter duets, called Love for Sale. Their first single from the new album was released this week, I Get a Kick Out of You, which is lovely. This week they have two performances at Radio City Music Hall in what is said to be their final live performance together, because of his dementia diagnosis. You can pre-order the album to be released October 1. No, I am not getting a cut, we just love Tony Bennett at our house.
Dusty Hill, one of the original founding members of the 1969 American rock band ZZ Top, died in Houston at 72. The band was on tour when it announced July 23 that Hill was heading home to address a hip issue. Hill had said that the show must go on, and so their guitar tech of 20 years, Elwood Francis, filled in to play slide guitar, bass, and harmonica that evening. He even has the correct beard. “I know that, wherever Dusty may be, he’s probably smiling, just knowing that all the notes are in place and that the fierceness rolls on.” Billy Gibbons
Jackie Mason, rabbi turned contentious comedian died at 93. Aaron L. Brody died at 90. He was an American food scientist who developed new technologies in food processing and packaging. He created the first frozen fish sticks (or fish fingers) in the 50’s, which won the Parents magazine Seal of Approval in 1956. I should have sent a card to show my respect, because we sure ate a bunch of fish sticks when I was a kid. Gorton’s fish sticks, Banquet chicken pot pies and Swanson Salisbury Steak TV dinners.
The headline reads: Time to Prepare for Football… Are you sure?
Today, August 5th, is National Underwear Day. It is also my sister’s birthday, so I sent her a couple of pairs of emergency underpants. The underwear pellet comes in a bright red metal can, a little smaller than a can of smokeless tobacco. You just drop the pellet into water, shake them out, and there you have it… instant underpants, unisex, fits most children and small adults. I bet she thanks me. We are getting older and just do not have a real need for chocolates, books, or trivial pursuit games anymore. This is so much more useful! I feel positive that she will appreciate the thought. Like I will appreciate my toilet seat warmers on the first cold winter morning. 😊
Passengers had to duct tape an intoxicated 22-year-old man to his seat on a Frontier Airlines flight after he groped two flight attendants and punched another one in the face. McDonald’s is requiring masks for customers and staff, regardless of vaccine status. OOPS. So is Aldi, Walmart, Apple, Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Costco, CVS, H-E-B, JC Penney, Kohl’s, Kroger, Lowe’s, Office Depot, Petco, Target, Starbucks, and Walgreens, plus so many more. Netflix has become the first major studio to require Covid vaccinations on all U.S. productions. The amount of Greenland ice that melted on just one day last week could cover Florida in 2 inches of water. The average Gulf of Mexico dead zone, a body of water where there is not enough oxygen in the water to support marine life, is usually about 5,380 sq. miles. This year it is about 6,334 sq. miles, an area slightly larger than the state of Connecticut. It is created by nutrient runoff, mostly from over-application of fertilizer on agricultural fields.
WORTHLESS OLYMPIC INFORMATION
- The first Olympics only lasted one day.
- Athletes used to run naked because there wasn’t Facebook, cell phones, or TikTok, so they could do whatever they felt like. Maybe they figured a piece of cloth might slow them down.
- The first games were held in ancient Greece every four years during a religious event worshiping Zeus.
- The first Olympics was mainly running, and all competitors were
- Women have been allowed to compete since 1900.
- In London 2012, each nation sent at least one female competitor and was nicknamed the Women Games.
- The Olympic rings were created in 1913 and represent the five inhabited continents of the world.
- The Olympics have been canceled 3 times. Not just postponed, like Tokyo 2020 because of the pandemic, but really canceled. It happened during the two World Wars.
- The Olympic flame is always burning in Athens, Greece, and if it happens to go out, a backup flame is always prepared for replacement, which was also lit in Greece.
- Janos Peter Weissmuller, who played Tarzan in the 1930s, was also a competitive swimmer, winning 5 gold medals in the Olympics before acting.
- Pigeon shooting was an Olympic sport in Paris 1900, for just one year. It was too weird.
- The 1904 St. Louis Olympic Marathon was crazy bizarre. The first-place runner dropped out, then took a car back to the stadium to get his clothes but started running again when he heard all the fanfare. The second-place runner was carried across the finish line by his trainers but got the gold medal after the first-place nonsense was revealed. The fourth runner had raised money to participate in the Olympics, then lost it all in a casino right before the competition. He ran anyway, wearing normal shoes and long trousers cut with a knife at the knee level. They say that he might have been able to win if he had not stopped for an hour-long nap on the side of the track. I am not finished! In 9th and 12th place, were two students from South Africa who just happened to be in town and decided to compete for fun. South Africa did not send a delegation to those Olympics, so they were the first Africans to ever compete at the Olympic Games. They ran barefoot. The one in 9th place was chased one mile off-course by angry dogs. For the entire race of 25 miles there was only one water stop, so some of the competitors almost died because of that.
We continue to underestimate this virus, and let’s face it, we might be looking a tad foolish. Florida and Texas accounted for one-third of all new U.S. coronavirus cases last week. Oh, yes. That is so reassuring… not surprising since there are so many vaccine holdouts. Florida actually broke a national record, reporting 21,000 new cases, the most for one day in the state since the pandemic began in early 2020. On Sunday, they broke a record (10,000) for current hospitalizations set more than a year ago…you know, a year ago before vaccines were even available. Florida is now called the epicenter of Covid, with half the diagnosed in the 25-to-55-year-old range, and 97% unvaccinated. San Antonio has seen a 430% spike in Covid hospital patients. 430%! Louisiana reinstated their indoor mask mandate when the state’s largest hospital ran out of beds.
And poor little Texas can only brag about hospitalizations having doubled over the past two weeks, while Governor Stubborn has prohibited our public schools from mandating masks, because God forbid, it might be taken as a political statement. Aren’t we supposed to be the adults here, capable of personal responsibility for the little guys that cannot take care of themselves, their brave teachers, and the administrators? Grrrrrrr. Right now, I feel like the sacrifices that have been made, financially, personally, and in business, have been for nothing. Please reconsider and get your vaccine quickly. We are in this together. LISA
