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What I Heard This Week 05-25-2023

What I Heard This Week May 17, 2023

When I was young, my generation was led to believe that storks delivered babies. Now I question, why would a stork have been entrusted to deliver babies, and not a peacock or an ostrich? How did a story like this originate? Aah, this is where the wonderful internet comes in! Storks have white feathers, and this color translates to pureness and goodness. Storks stay faithful to one’s partner, they mate for life (cool idea), and are very (trustworthy) attentive parents. They make their nests on chimneys and roofs, (ahh, I’ve seen pictures of storks floating a blanket-wrapped baby down the chimney) and they don’t fear humans unless they are disturbed. Some storks start a 9-month migration in the summer, flying from Europe to Africa, circling back and returning to where they started exactly 9-months later in the spring to have their chicks.  Plus, the stork was a sweet, very useful image for modest and prudish Victorians embarrassed about explaining the facts of life. The image IS very sweet. OK, storks delivering babies is what came to mind when I read the following: Britain has confirmed the birth of the first babies that were conceived using an experimental technique combining DNA from three people instead of just two, an effort to prevent children from inheriting severe, rare genetic diseases such as muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, heart problems and intellectual disabilities. For a family to be eligible, they must have no other available options for avoiding passing on genetic disease. These babies will be closely monitored in their future development. I liked it better when I could believe in the stork.

An Indiana family was looking through their grandfather’s belongings when they found a hand grenade. The pin was pulled on the explosive device, and it detonated. One man died, and his two children, a 14-yr-old son and 18-year-old daughter were wounded by the shrapnel and hospitalized. Some veterans actually brought back explosives as souvenirs from World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Gulf War. If you find something like this, please call 911.

Friday nights in downtown Lake Jackson just became more fun. The Shop Local Expo is planning great things for Friday nights at South Parking Place Pavilion starting June 2nd 5-10 pm. Entertainment, Food Trucks, Craft/Business Vendors and more. The family events are designed to help promote our downtown and locally owned businesses. www.TxShopExpo.com or text 979-388-5268. Come out and support downtown or promote your own business. Always looking for new sponsors, vendors, entertainment, and food trucks.

What do you call a magic dog? A labracadabrador. (Teller gave me this joke.)

Disney officials canceled plans to build a nearly $900 million office campus in Orlando, which would have relocated 2,000 high-paying jobs from Southern California to Florida, about 20 miles from the Magic Kingdom. They cited “new leadership and changing business conditions.” Hundreds of Disney workers have already relocated and will be given the option of moving back to California.

Rock ‘n Roll bands for people my age.
1. The Grateful we’re not Dead.
2. Earth, Wind and Fiber
3. Crosby, Stills, Nash and not so Young.
(You smiled, didn’t you?)

If you are looking for something to celebrate, May 25th is National Wine Day. Autumn would love nothing better than to pour you a glass at The Wine Revue on Thursday evening, or any evening that you want to celebrate.  National Hamburger Day is May 28th. National Mint Julep Day is May 30th. There is nothing else I can say. It’s a really busy time of the month and there’s always something to celebrate.

RECENT BIRTHDAYS: Guitarist Sonny Curtis of Buddy Holly and The Crickets is 86. Musician David Byrne of Talking Heads is 71. Singer Enya is 62. Stage & film star Carroll Baker is 92. Actor Anthony Geary of General Hospital is 76. Actor Annette Bening is 65. Actor Rupert Everett is 64. Singer Melissa Etheridge is 62. Actor-director Clint Eastwood is 93. Singer Gladys Knight is 79. Seven-time Grammy Award-winner, Knight recorded hits through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her family group Gladys Knight & the Pips, which included her brother Merald “Bubba” Knight and two cousins. Musician Jerry Douglas of Alison Krauss and Union Station is 67. Actor Brandon Cruz of The Courtship of Eddie’s Father is 61.

Singer, actor, composer Pat Boone is 89. He was a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s, sold more than 45 million records, had 38 Top 40 hits, and appeared in more than 12 Hollywood films. Actor Morgan Freeman is 86. Guitarist Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones is 76. Country singer Ronnie Dunn of Brooks and Dunn is 70. Actor Lisa Hartman Black is 67. Singer John Fogerty is 78. Founded the band Creedence Clearwater Revival, was lead singer, lead guitarist, and principal songwriter. CCR had nine top-10 singles and eight gold albums between 1968 and 1972 and inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

Jim Brown died at 87. He led the Browns to the 1964 NFL championship and was one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century. He was inducted into the 1971 Pro Football Hall of Fame, retired as the NFL’s all-time leading rusher (12,312 yards) after earning eight unanimous first-team all-pro selections and nine Pro Bowl honors during nine NFL seasons. A four-time NFL MVP and eight-time rushing champ, he averaged 104.3 rushing yards per game, and never missed a game. During the summer of 1966, Brown surprised the world with his abrupt retirement while he filmed The Dirty Dozen – the classic movie that launched a successful acting career that spanned decades and included more than 50 film and TV roles.

This is just an average… Americans use about 500 million drinking straws every day, every single day. That’s enough to fill up 125 school buses a day, or 45,625 school buses a year! Those little dinky drinking straws may not seem like a lot of plastic but IT IS.  The next time you sit down at a restaurant and the server says they will be right back with water, ask for NO STRAW. If you forget and the server brings you a drink and a straw, then hand it back to them and say you’re going straw-free, or better yet, bring your own reusable straw if you feel like you shouldn’t put your lips on a glass. It is our responsibility as human beings to make a difference and it’s going to take every single one of us at this point.

A very kindhearted motorist stopped his truck on a highway in Florida, turned on his flashers, got out and attempted to save a turtle on the road. But in the process, started a chain reaction causing a several vehicle pile-up, which included an 18-wheeler. No one was hurt and the turtle was saved. Not the best idea on a busy highway.

Last week, I was driving down the street of my subdivision peering out the window at what people had put out for BIG trash day. Wait!! I questioned what I had just driven past. Was that a Christmas tree? That evening on the way home, I slowed down and got a better look. Yes, it was a very nice-sized, very dead Christmas tree at the end of May. Brown needles still clinging to branches, but a sad sight, nevertheless. I just love to daydream about the story behind something like that. Why did they still have that tree? Did they keep the tree up because someone was still coming home? Was it stuck away in the garage all this time and they forgot about it? Were they saving it for a dunes trip? Perhaps it belonged to someone that loves Christmas and thinks it’s bad luck to throw it out. The good news is perhaps it will be delivered to the mulch center and put through the woodchipper. (Please remove lights first.)

I’m a very successful magazine collector. ☹ I love to read them, but hardly ever have the time to sit down and really peruse a magazine from cover to cover… but I always think I will have time one day, so I save piles of them for that special day. Well, one special day recently, I was flipping through a 2021 Texas Monthly and I saw a recipe for Hot Pepper Jelly. I love to cook, and I love recipes. As I read the article, it mentioned… “hot pepper jelly is said to have originated in Lake Jackson in the seventies, but recipe variations go back much further.”  Well, I need to know more about this jelly originating in Lake Jackson. Wow. Just like Sweeties! If you happen to have knowledge of this LJ story, please let me know because I’m curious. The recipe is below, or you can pull it up online. This jelly might be a little hot for me, but I think it could be tweaked by leaving out the habanero and in place, adding one more jalapeno and lathering it on a block of cream cheese. The strawberries were an interesting ingredient.

HOT PEPPER JELLY
½ shallot, diced
1 habanero pepper, seeded, diced
1 bell pepper, seeded, diced
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded, diced
1 serrano pepper, seeded, diced
1 tablespoon butter
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more to taste
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
½ lemon, juiced
¼ cup strawberries, chopped (or substitute a mixture of 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water)
In a small saucepan, stir shallot, peppers, butter, red pepper flakes, sugar, and vinegar over medium heat until sugar is dissolved, and butter is melted. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the jelly has reduced and somewhat thickened. Add lemon juice and chopped strawberries (or cornstarch mixture) and cook over low heat until the strawberries are broken down and jelly thickened, about 25–30 more minutes. Remove from heat and cool. The jelly will continue to thicken as it cools, but if it’s still a little watery you can return to the heat for a few more minutes (or add more cornstarch). Store in a lidded glass jar in the refrigerator for as long as three months. I can see it poured over a block of cream cheese. Don’t forget to wear gloves.

A recent survey showed that 23% of Americans confuse Memorial Day with Veteran’s Day, which happens to honor all military veterans who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces. Only 43% of Americans knew that Memorial Day honors the United States men and women who lost their lives for our country while serving in the military. Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War and didn’t become an official federal holiday until 1971. Many Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries, decorating graves with flowers, flags and prayers, memorials, family gatherings and parades. Some still believe that it just marks the beginning of the summer season, great sales at Lowe’s or Home Depot, plus a paid day off from work. Did you know that each year on Memorial Day a national moment of remembrance takes place at 3:00 p.m. Have a great week-end, but please don’t forget the men and women that fought for your freedom so you can drink beer, BBQ and be with your family.

Lisa

Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com

What I Heard This Week 12-02-2021

What I Heard This Week December 1, 2021

On Thanksgiving Day, Anne-Elisabeth and I traveled to Waco, along with Teller. What better place to spend the day than a retirement community where everyone has been vaccinated? It felt good! Mom had not met Teller so we went with the theory that we would get there, then worry about what to do with a dog while we eat… and while we visited. The early morning trip there was terrible; massive rains, wind, and driving with our flashers on. Just general white knuckle, steering wheel gripping madness. I was worn out by the time we arrived, but the staff was ready and quickly presented two hot plates with pretty nice cornbread dressing, gravy that could stand on its own, lots of carrots and peas, and an absolutely delicious slice of apple pie. It was perfect, and I cleaned my plate! When we finished, all we had to do was stack our dishes and walk away. Actually, it was better than perfect. No cooking, cleaning house, or washing dishes. There was nice sunshine in Waco, but it was too cold out unless you were hiding from the wind. A sweet guy at the front desk named Crazy Larry told us to go ahead and take the dog upstairs to my mom’s apartment and not worry about it, so we did quickly, before he changed his mind. Teller was a perfect gentleman the entire time, laying on the rug and acting like he owned the place. He knew he had just one opportunity to make a good first impression on Grandma. I had picked up some huge, beautiful pecans on the grounds, so I sat and picked the meat out of those while having an engaging chat with my mother and her friend. AE fell asleep on the sofa. You know, just like any other regular Thanksgiving. I hope that your day was everything you wanted and needed this year. Our drive back was uneventful. I do believe that Thanksgiving Day is the best time to travel…of course, when it’s not raining.

The adult version of “head, shoulders, knees and toes” is “wallet, glasses, keys and phone.

In 2013, a 27-year-old model and actor, was left with brain-damage after accidently eating a small peanut butter pretzel. She was severely allergic to peanut butter and went into anaphylactic shock. Medics arrived, she informed them that she was having an allergic reaction and was getting no relief from her epi-pen. They should have given her intramuscular epinephrine immediately, but instead checked her blood glucose thinking she might have other legal or illegal drugs in her body because of her agitated state. Agitated state?!? She was agitated because she knew what was happening to her. Because of lack of oxygen, she is now a quadriplegic and requires round-the-clock care provided by her parents. She was awarded $29.5 million after a jury agreed that a Nevada ambulance company was negligent when treating her. This money will be used on future care, a portion donated to organizations helping people with brain injuries. Food allergies are real and can be harmful.

Support your friends’ businesses and progressions like you support the celebrities that you don’t actually know. Shop Local. (You may want to read that again…)

A good baking pumpkin is usually smaller than the pumpkins you use for carving, may be darker in color, and heavier because there is a thicker wall of flesh. Jack-o-Lantern pumpkins tend to be thinner, lighter, stringy, and are not grown for cooking. So, the heavier the little pumpkin, the sweeter the taste. HEB sent me a coupon for two baking pumpkins, but of course, I forgot to use it at checkout. Oops. I’m not surprised. So, last week I cut one of the pumpkins like I would slice cantaloupe. I lathered on good olive oil, smoked black pepper, and salt, then I roasted it in the oven until I could see some browning. I ate it the first night right out of the oven, with salmon patties and tomatoes from the garden. The second night I heated up a couple of pieces and drizzled maple syrup and a tiny bit of butter over those leftovers. Totally yummy. Well, there was still quite a bit left, so I scraped the skin, added cream, sugar, butter, flour, eggs, and maple extract, and made some of the best muffins ever. The new me doesn’t waste any food. The skins to the pumpkin and the seeds went straight to the compost for the garden.

RECENT BIRTHDAYS: Singer Billy Idol is 66. Actor-director Woody Allen is 86. Singer-guitarist Eric Bloom of Blue Oyster Cult is 77. Drummer John Densmore of The Doors is 77. Actor-singer Bette Midler is 76. Actor Treat Williams is 70. Actor Charlene Tilton of Dallas is 63. Actor Cathy Lee Crosby is 77. News anchor Stone Phillips is 67. Singer Britney Spears is 40. Singer Ozzy Osbourne is 73. Singer Mickey Thomas of Jefferson Starship is 72. Actor Daryl Hannah is 61. Actor Julianne Moore is 61. Game show host Wink Martindale is 88. Gambit. Singer Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon is 85.

Actor Frankie Muniz of Malcolm in the Middle is 36. Actor JoBeth Williams is 73. Poltergeist, The Big Chill. Actor Ellen Burstyn is 89. Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, The Exorcist, The Last Picture Show. Country singer Gary Morris is 73. The Wind Beneath My Wings. Announcer Edd Hall of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno is 63. Singer Jerry Butler of The Impressions is 82. Drummer Bobby Elliott of The Hollies is 80. Actor Judi Dench is 87. Actor Beau Bridges is 80. Football player actor Dick Butkus is 79. Singer Joan Armatrading is 71. Singer Donny Osmond is 64. Actor Patricia Wettig is 70. Thirtysomething.

Actor Susan Dey is 69. The Partridge Family & L.A. Law. Actor Raven-Symone of That’s So Raven, The Cosby Show is 36. Actor Rita Moreno is 90. Singer David Gates of Bread is 81. Actor Donna Mills of Knots Landing is 81. Singer Brenda Lee is 77. Actor Teri Garr is 74. Singer Jermaine Jackson is 67. Singer Jim Messina of Loggins and Messina & Poco is 74. Actor Jeff Bridges is 72. Actor Kim Basinger is 68. Actor-producer-director Max Baer Jr. of The Beverly Hillbillies is 84.

Country singer Johnny Rodriguez is 70. At 18, Rodriguez ended up in jail where he sang in his cell and was overheard by a Texas Ranger who told a promoter friend about him. The story is that he was arrested after he and friends were caught stealing and barbecuing a goat, but there is also a story he was in jail for an unpaid fine. He came to the attention of country singers Tom T. Hall and Bobby Bare, who encouraged him to go to Nashville. Clute and LJ are listed as locations where he lived in the past.

Philip Margo, American musician, author, and longtime member of The Tokens, died at 79. He was best known for The Lion Sleeps Tonight which was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Arlene Dahl, the red-headed actress who starred in such films as Journey to the Center of the Earth, where she played a determined widow who heads to the planet’s core with Pat Boone and a pet duck, died at 96.

American theater royalty Stephen Sondheim died at 91. Company, Follies, Sweeney Todd, West Side Story, Sunday in the Park, Dick Tracy; he touched so much of our music. One of his first jobs was writing scripts for the TV show, Topper, in the 50’s. “Stephen’s music is so beautiful, his lyrics so precise, that even as he exposes the imperfections of everyday life, he transcends them. We transcend them,” said former President Barack Obama at the Medal of Freedom ceremony in 2015. “Put simply, Stephen reinvented the American musical. ”  

In Missouri, fossils from a Parrosaurus missouriensis, a large duck-billed dinosaur, were discovered 80 years ago at a site where a family was digging a new well but had not been identified as a new species until last month. The herbivorous dinosaurs are believed to be as long as 35 feet in length and roamed the region 75 million to 90 million years ago. That’s a lot of millions. In a rock smuggled out of Mongolia, researchers found a new dinosaur species that had a bill like a duck, teeth like a croc, a swanlike neck and killer claws, flippers like a penguin, and it walked like an ostrich…but could swim. It was a small creature about 18 inches tall and it is the first time that a two-legged, meat-eating dinosaur has shown to have the ability to swim. Not that you are going to write this down, but it was named Halszkaraptor escuilliei. Just in case you want to sound really smart.

Texas Monthly says for us to get ready for the best college hoops season in Texas history… “there’s never been a better time to be a basketball fan in Texas.” I would say that is a particularly good endorsement. Matthew McConaughey says that he WILL NOT launch a bid to become Governor of Texas, after teasing us about it for months. You would probably like his book, Greenlights, and you can listen to him read it, which is pretty fun. Abba now has a UK number one album, Voyage. Their lead single, I Still Have Faith in You, has been nominated for a Grammy Award, the first in the band’s history. Supposedly, three different Las Vegas hotels are trying to secure the band’s new concert show. They’re talking about a bidding war. Jeffrey Epstein’s former pilot testified that Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, & Prince Andrew all flew on Epstein’s private plane.

In a world where you can shop anywhere… SHOP LOCAL.

Yawn. The most popular pet names of 2021 are Bella, Luna, Lucy, Daisy, Zoe, Lily, Lola, Bailey, Stella, and Molly for girl dogs. Max, Charlie, Milo, Buddy, Rocky, Bear, Leo, Duke, Teddy, and Tucker for boy dogs. Female cat names are Luna, Bella, Lily, Lucy, Nala, Kitty, Chloe, Stella, Zoe, and Lola. Male cat names are Oliver, Leo, Milo, Charlie, Max, Simba, Jack, Loki, Ollie, and Jasper. Big yawn. But there was also some really fun names listed like Grogu (Star Wars), Britney, Crazy (hit song), Zoom, Dr. Fauci, Siri, Google, Boseman (Chadwick Boseman), Doge (cryptocurrency), Taylor (Taylor Swift), Caviar, Dijon, Raclette, and Baguette (French cooking), and Metcalf and Gronk (football), just to name a few. I like Boseman.

How to Support a Small Business Every Day. 1. Comment on their posts regularly even if it is just with an emoji. 2. Share their post. 3. Instead of liking, use the love or wow! This will help their page be seen more often. Thank you for supporting small business this shopping season and every other day!

The educational American Girl dolls and the board game Risk were inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in recognition of their influence on the toy industry. Play Sand, which the group called perhaps the most universal and oldest toy in the world, was also inducted. If you feel that your toy of choice is missing from the National Toy Hall of Fame, then you can go to the National Museum of Play at The Strong and nominate it right now.

What is Omicron, besides the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet? Well, it is the newest variant of the coronavirus. Not all of them create enough concern to get their own name. The virus constantly mutates to be more efficient at its job which is to invade our immune system defenses, and until everyone is vaccinated, this will continue to happen. If you are riding the fence on the vaccine, now would be the right time to make an appointment. The drug companies are scattering to adapt their vaccines, but we should know within the next couple of weeks if Omicron is going to visit the states.

A Houston man was sentenced to 110 months in prison after he used more than $1.6 million in funding from the Paycheck Protection Program to buy an $85,000 pickup truck, paid off a loan on residential property, a Lamborghini, a Rolex watch, and trips to strip clubs. I think he got off easy. Way too easy. West Point cadets were attempting to seize the U.S. Naval Academy’s mascot before the annual Army-Navy football game but ended up with the wrong goat. Giggle. Just a few people, actually 61 of them, were enjoying a drink and music at Britain’s highest altitude pub last week, located about 270 miles north of London, when a late autumn blizzard brought snow and winds that blocked roads and took out some power lines, leaving them stranded. Stranded at a pub. Darn. They entertained themselves with movies, quiz night, karaoke, and music from the also stranded band. One lady said she didn’t want to leave. When life gives you lemons…

Oh, by the way, your grandma called. She said to remind you to get vaccinated so she can see you at Christmas.

LISA

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What I Heard This Week! 07-22-2021

What I Heard This Week July 21, 2021

Dolly Parton recreated her 1978 Playboy magazine cover for her husband’s birthday. “You’re probably wondering why I’m dressed like this. Well, it’s for my husband’s birthday,” Parton says, describing her bunny outfit. “Remember some time back I said I was gonna pose on Playboy magazine when I’m 75? Well, I’m 75 and they don’t have a magazine anymore, but my husband always loved the original cover of Playboy.” She continued: “I was trying to think of something to do to make him happy. He still thinks I’m a hot chick after 57 years and I’m not gonna try to talk him out of that.” Love it! She IS a hot chick!

A moon garden. You simply plant night-blooming, sweet-scented, light-colored, light-reflecting plants, because at night you tend to see a garden in a different way. First off, it is quieter and cooler in the evening, so you can hear leaves rustling in the breeze… magical and calming. Red, orange, and purple colors fade at night, so use light-colored flowers that glow in the moonlight. White, yellow, pink and lavender, but mostly white. The moon flower vine has white 6-inch flowers that open as evening comes, with a lemony fragrance. There is a white wisteria. I once had this planted on the posts of a pergola. The plants were gifts from friends, and it was so beautiful at night. Such a firm reminder of deep friendship. How about night-blooming jasmine on a trellis. I love the smell of jasmine. Try lamb’s ear, dusty miller, hosta’s, thyme, yarrow for beds… all plants that don’t have big flowers, just nice light colors. Use plenty of glass objects, garden ornaments, bird baths, or fountains, tiny string lights…even candles, but no floodlights, just soft light to reflect in your moon garden.

As I write this, the National Hurricane Center shows the Atlantic looking very calm, and the central Pacific has now downgraded Hurricane Felicia to a depression and tropical storm Guillermo now listed as a post-tropical cyclone or remnants. Could have been us.

The Delta variant is surging, now making up 83% of new cases. That is up from 50% just 21 days ago. People getting vaccinations has slowed, but almost every covid death now was an unvaccinated person. If you are not vaccinated, please reconsider. Houston Methodist had a little over 100 COVID-19 patients in their system last week. That number rose to 185 on Monday, with a majority of those infected, being unvaccinated. Among those infections, about 85% have been diagnosed with the delta variant, and the hospital has reported its first case of the lambda variant. That is the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet, just in case you are counting variants, which you should be. ☹

J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, pitched The Sorcerer’s Stone to thirteen different publishers. Twelve publishers in a row rejected it before Bloomsbury decided to give the new author a chance. J.K. Rowling is now worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and Harry Potter is a household name. The franchise is worth $25 billion in total. Bloomsbury did have a disappointing request for Rowling, to which she agreed. She agreed to use the name J.K. instead of her first name, Joanne, because publishers were worried that young boys would not want to read a book by a female author.

It is confirmed that Jerry O’Connell will be replacing Sharon Osbourne on The Talk. He will be the first male co-host in the series’ history. I have never seen the show. A Florida man who stole candles from a Bath and Body Works was able to get away because he sprayed everyone in his way with bear mace, injuring at least 30 people, some hospitalized. The Dow plunged more than 800 points recently because of fear that the Delta variant may hinder our recovery. While new cases are mostly spreading among populations with low vaccination rates, even states with a greater percentage of residents vaccinated are now implementing new restrictions as the very contagious Delta has become the dominant strain. OK. Get your vaccine. Hawaii reported 166 new COVID cases, the highest single-day increase since January.

Following the wild success of their chicken sandwich, Popeyes is now introducing chicken nuggets. They are preparing ahead of time in order to avoid the demand, hysteria, stabbings, frenzy, and violence associated with the introduction of their now famous brioche bun sandwich. July 27th. See you there.

My Netflix viewing history is just a list of movies I have fallen asleep to. Seriously.

A 23-year-old Florida woman was arrested after refusing to mask on a Delta Airlines flight. Not only did she argue with flight attendants about the mask, but she spit on the other passengers. Authorities arrived, handcuffed her, but she continued her unhappy party all the way to the jail. Oh, my. All this hate in the world lately.

The Texanist article in Texas Monthly this month, discussed whether you should or should not pop fire ant pustules. Suddenly, my interest was piqued, and I felt I should read and find out. I think I put my foot too close to an ant bed at least once a week, and of course, you don’t know until it’s too late. You start the fire ant dance, fling off your shoes, hope the water hose is close, and boogie. It is even worse right now with all the rains. The red imported fire ant is not an ant species native to Texas. It came from South America by ship in the 1930’s, first arriving in Mobile, Alabama. It took around 20 years for them to bite their way to Texas, arriving here in the 50’s. So, they bite/sting you, and several days later the zit forms. To POP or not to POP? If you do, it said you risk a secondary infection, so no, you are not supposed to pick or pop. But I do. Sometimes I remember to dab with alcohol afterwards, but most of the time I do not. I just get the gunk out. There is a couple at the Peach Tree Farmer’s Market in Angleton, that carry a jar of cream that is supposed to be magic for ant bites. We should look into that.

Just 22 years ago, I helped get The Source Weekly to the printer, then got up early the next morning to humor Dr. Gilliland who needed to leave for a scheduled ski trip, so I reluctantly allowed him to induce my labor. I told him that I did not approve since it would change her horoscope, which would obviously affect her poorly for her entire life, but he was un-fazed, and Anne-Elisabeth Inez Baker arrived at 12:32pm (yes, I had to look at the birth certificate). My life with my beautiful daughter began. Friends were so generous, pink clothing arriving by the armloads. So much pink! To counteract pink, when I could, I dressed her in baby blue. I just knew I could change her attitude, should she have one, about pink being the only color a girl could love. I could not change her. Her baby nursery was blue and yellow, but about age 5, she picked out pale pink paint for her very pink bedroom, to match all of her pink belongings. Her brother had been gifted with a fabulous kitchen set, so I bought my girl a fabulous work bench. There would be no gender-based discrimination in our home. She now happens to be in Industrial Design wearing Dickies coveralls to school each day. Watching her grow up, it was incredible to me that a child could be so perfect. Even the worst days were great. She always listened to advise and acted on it. She trusted me to know I was there to protect, and guide her sassy, opinionated, confident self through braces, bad haircuts, proms, friendships, boys, learning to drive, and literally, a million other things. She knew I was hiding tomatoes and mushrooms in most everything I cooked for her, so she whined but ate it anyway. She also knows now that there is not a single living soul on this Earth that loves her as much as I do.  I am so excited to see what the next few years bring to you AE… graduation, grad school, boyfriends, or maybe children. By the way, I know for a fact, that you will rule the Earth one day, along with your huge, beautiful smile. I see our roles reversing somewhat now. You are starting to guide me, requiring me to listen more than I talk. Sometimes it is hard for me, but please know I try. It is so hard being a parent – wondering how much help is still necessary on any given day… will today be embraced more or less than yesterday. Will tomorrow be the last day you really need me? Most of all, thank you for being my girl.  Happy 22nd Birthday. Damn, it happened so fast, but it’s been more fun than anyone should be allowed to have! I LOVE you! MOM

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What I Heard This Week! 06-18-2020

What I Heard This Week June 18, 2020

On her way in this morning,Tina said they were playing a game on the radio about super-heroes, which got me to thinking of The Green Hornet and Kato. Go figure. That was a really, long time ago. I Googled (of course) and found that Universal is currently in development for a film based on these beloved superhero characters.The Green Hornet was first a popular radio adventure show in the 1930’s, predating even Superman. In the 1940’s, the character received his own movie serials(each chapter was screened at a movie theater for one week, and ended with a cliffhanger),and then in 1966, a TV adaptation introduced Bruce Lee as Kato. The original story line is about Britt Reid, owner/publisher of The Daily Sentinel.  Armed with knowledge from his sources, cool weapons, a supercar known as the Black Beauty and his trusty aide Kato, Reid became the Green Hornet, a vigilante crime fighter wanted by the police and feared by the criminal world. Maybe we could get them to change the story line to Lisa Baker, owner/publisher of The Source Weekly, not afraid of COVID-19, willing to do ‘most’ anything to get it under control, all under the guise of trying to sell you an ad during these hard times. Nah.I do not look good in costumes.

Yes,it is a thing. MaskClub.com. For $9.99 per month, you can be sent a new mask 12 times a year to celebrate the month. No. Let’s face it, we are going to be wearing masks for quite a while so we might as well make a total fashion statement and look good while we’re doing it. It is called fun and remember…we are all in this together. What a great Father’s Day gift.Father’s Day is Sunday. So, if you are reading this on Monday you may have missed it.

As I looked out the window on Saturday, I saw a big green grasshopper. The kind we played with when we were little and would ‘spit tobacco’ on us. National Pollinator Week is June 22-28.Our insect population is declining and this matters for our future food supply and the natural world. We need to learn to share the world with them. The plight of insects is important, so remember the next time you pick up bug killer, unless you are killing roaches. I promise not to shame you for killing roaches. Promise.

Southwest Airlines is predicting that intense competition for passengers will create a brutal low-fare environment. Then I received an email announcing $49 fares. Wow. That hurts.Quaker Oats is removing the name and image of Aunt Jemima from the brand in effort “to make progress toward racial equality.”According to Sesame Street, “like birds of a feather, we’re in this together.” C is for covering your face with a mask, A is for a park and staying six feet apart, R is for remembering to wash your hands, and E is for everyone’s job to help others.CARE.A study of 96,000 COVID-19 patients showed those treated with antimalarial drugs are tied to a higher risk of death.

My niece works at HEB in Bastrop County. They have been stricter there about masks than our county, where everyone seems to think they are invincible. After viewing video footage at the store…my niece said that a man and woman (not together) started talking about coronavirus while both were shopping on the same isle. The woman made her purchases, left the store, then came running, screaming, and yelling that this same man had sprayed her and her car with wasp spray. Well, as it turns out, she had gone to her car, sprayed it and herself with the wasp spray. Hmmm. Thank goodness it was all on video camera. I wonder what was said on the isle.

Juneteenth, a combination of June and nineteenth, is also known as Freedom Day,Jubilee Day and Cel-Liberation Day. All previously enslaved people in Texas were free on this day in 1865. Early celebrations were used as political rallies to give voting instructions to newly freed slaves. In 1872, a group of black community leaders in Texas, all former slaves, pooled together $800 (a seemingly impossible feat at the time) for the purchase of 10 acres of open land as home to celebrate Juneteenth. Today it is known as Houston‘s Emancipation Park and Emancipation Community Center. The modern holiday places much emphasis upon teaching about African American heritage.Wikipedia

RECENT BIRTHDAYS: Pro and College Football Hall of Fame Gale Sayers is 77. His nickname was Kansas Comet. Rock musician Lenny Davidson is 76. The Dave Clark Five. Actress Idina Menzel is 49. Rent, Elphaba in Wicked, & Elsa in Frozen. Rapper Cee Lo Green is 45.  Actresses Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen are 34. Singer Tom Jones is 80. Need I say more. Actor Liam Neeson is 68. Actor director Clint Eastwood is 90. Singer Peter Yarrow is 82. Puff, the Magic Dragon. Actress Sharon Gless is 77. Cagney and Lacey.

Artist Christo died at 85. He was best known for radical alternatives to traditional monuments and controversial outdoor sculptures,with his late wife and partner Jeanne-Claude. There were more than 7,500 painted oil barrels floating on a lake in Hyde Park.In 1980, they planned “Surrounded Islands,” renting 11 islands in Miami’s Biscayne Bay for nearly $13,000 and surrounded the perimeters in vivid pink polypropylene fabric. In the process, they cleaned the islands of nearly 40 tons of garbage.  It was considered crucial to Miami’s rejuvenation in the 1980’s as a cultural destination.

Annie Glenn, wife of the late John Glenn, died at age 100 from complications of COVID-19. They were married for 73 years at the time of John Glenn’s death in 2016. He was the first American to orbit the Earth and was a Democratic US senator from Ohio, who attributed his accomplishments to his wife’s strength and support.

Notice to my Kids: Changing the toilet paper roll will not cause brain damage. Just risk it.

There comes a time in your life when you need to make a decision. I decided to re-caulk the master bathroom shower at my house. I have saved and saved over the years to re-do part of the bathroom, but something always comes and eats that money. COVID-19 is chewing through it right now, so I decided to just re-caulk the shower and be done with it for now. I gathered my supplies. Months ago, I had googled the best caulk to use and had already purchased it. Silicone. I had pulled out most of the old caulk except where someone in the past had used a sanded version, so some places were impossible to remove without a chisel. I had razor blades, paper towels, gloves, and Windex ready. I cut the first tube. Dang, it was white, and I needed bisque. There were 4 different kinds and colors of caulk used in this one shower and one of them was white, so I thought to myself, surely it won’t look that bad. I did a tiny area. It looked terrible. Another trip to Lowes. No small tubes in the right color so I bought the big one that required a caulk gun. Hmmm. Will I be able to find one of my caulk guns? I knew that my daughter had taken one to school. I was in luck and I climbed back in the shower, then remembered I needed a glass of ice water. One trip to the kitchen. Sigh. I loaded the caulk, then read the side. “Take off tip.” My hands don’t seem to grip as well now, and the tip was not budging. Google, “How to Remove Tip from GE Caulk Tube.” It said to use pliers, so back to the garage. They lied. When I couldn’t get the tip off, another search told me that there wasn’t really a tip. So, where was the cutter that was supposed to be on the caulk gun? After careful inspection, I just used a razor blade to open it and then tried to caulk, but the stuff just wouldn’t come out. I read a little further on the instructions. Ahhh. You must pierce the foil inside. Another trip to the garage where there were no nails long enough or thin enough to use for this purpose.  So, I found my wire cutters and cut a coat hanger, impatiently pierced the foil, and started caulking. Oh, and I bent the hanger piece and attached the wire to the caulk gun for next time.(I am assuming it’s like having a baby, you forget the pain and after a while I will try to do the other bathroom.) Wait, I need a wet towel. This time I yelled for my daughter. Several times.  She brought me three wet towels (I am raising such a smart girl.) One of the cats had arrived at this time to watch and snicker. About 45 minutes later I was finished, and the shower looks surprisingly good for 22-year-old tile. Now, about that carpet. Who carpets a bathroom?

County Judge Matt Sebesta says that Brazoria County “is losing ground” in efforts to control the spread of COVID-19. When that happens, our hospitals will be full very quickly. The most infected age group is 30 to 49. As I write this, Texas continues setting a new one-day high number of cases for the seventh time in eight days. Texas is also reporting the highest number of hospitalized patients since the outbreak began. Counties are begging to issue more restrictive orders than Governor Abbott has suggested. A new research model shows that over 201,000 people will most likely die in the U.S. by October 1st. This is not the second wave;we are still in the first.

Texas Monthly says, “…Texas is entering the most dangerous period of the pandemic yet…”  India recorded 11,929 new cases in a 24-hour period.Science Magazine says that a new study shows roughly 1.7 billion people have at least one of the underlying health conditions that can worsen cases of the virus.  That is 1 in 5 people. Increasing evidence suggests that smokers are more likely to become ill and die from COVID-19 than non-smokers, so many life-time smokers are now putting down their cigarettes for good. As we set another daily record for virus hospitalizations, Abbott says he is confident the state can continue reopening while controlling the spread of infections. Then the next article said that Abbott is scolding Texans in their twenties for refusing to wear face masks or practice social distancing. Good grief. Twenty-year-old’s still need clear and precise instructions. You are the Governor of the State of Texas. Make it mandatory. Today.

On Mother’s Day (May 10th) there were only 2 cases of COVID reported in Brazoria County that specific day while we partied and got together with family for the first time. Two weeks later, on Memorial Day Weekend (May 24th) there were 3 cases reported while we partied and got together with friends and family.  Fast forward a whole twenty days to this past weekend (June 14th) and we had 42 cases reported in just one day. That’s huge. Paying attention? Are you a part of the solution or part of the problem? We want so badly to be done with this, that we are not doing what we need to do. It is spreading quickly. It was explained on Meet the Press yesterday that we are past a pandemic and are now classified as an endemic and it will continue to be an endemic until a vaccine is found, because people are not doing what they need to do. If every person that is now sick, passes the virus to just one other person, then we are stationary.There is no more working towards the curve. We found the curve, flipped it the finger and went on our merry way, because it’s easier than self-discipline and accepting personal responsibility for our actions. Just because you wake up in a free country every day, does not give you the constitutional right to cause harm to others when they are using common sense. Your needs are not more important than everyone else’s. The rules have been explained to us, oh, so many times. It should be a no-brainer by now. Because you may be contagious but not show any symptoms, social distancing, wearing a mask and keeping our hands clean can almost eliminate the possibility of someone spreading the virus.According to Johns Hopkins University researchers, one person who has COVID-19 can infect two to three other people. If those three each go on to infect three more people, the first person in the chain, patient zero, will have led to 12 cases. And if that plays out just 10 times,the first case will have led to more than 59,000. Hang on. You know the drill. PS – New Zealand is now having soccer games, with people in the stands, no social distancing, and no masks…do you know why? Because they did what they were supposed to do when they were supposed to do it. There is no virus in their country now. If I sound upset, it’s because I am. I feel like we just lost three months of our lives, but I will be nicer next week. Stay safe. Thanks for reading us.

Lisa

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What I Heard This Week! 06-27-2019

What I Heard This Week June 26, 2019

Some weeks, I must ‘search’ for information that I think will be entertaining for you to read, then other weeks it’s everywhere I look. Hope you enjoy this week.

Oh, NO. Did you hear that Whataburger sold a majority stake in their company to a Chicago-based investment firm? Chicago is known for hot dogs and deep-dish pizza not burgers. The same week, Schlitterbahn announced the sale of their water parks in Galveston and New Braunfels to a corporation in Ohio. Ohio is known for Buckeyes. What the heck is a buckeye? Whatadisgace. Chicago and Ohio are so, not Texas. J.J. Watt, urged his more than five million followers on Twitter to “all chip in and buy Whataburger back and add kolaches.” Hmmm. One man tweeted, “182 men didn’t die at The Alamo just so we could give Whataburger over to Chicago.” Schlitterbahn did sell leaving the Henry family with an extra $261 million in their pockets, so that’s understandable, but still…Don’t Mess with Texas.

On a happy note, Texas Monthly has a new billionaire owner. Her name is Randa Duncan Williams and Forbes ranks her as the 290th wealthiest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $6.4 billion. Williams is a Houstonian and will take over Texas Monthly on June 30. At least someone from Texas is buying the magazine instead of Maine, Louisiana or China. Long Live Texas Monthly.

There was a ‘Love or Money’ survey. 8/10 people prefer love over money. My mother always said, “You can love a rich man just as easy as you can love a poor man.”

Remember ‘The Brady Bunch’ which aired from 1969 to 1974? Of course, you do. “Very Brady Renovation” is a new HGTV special that will be aired sometime in September. The Brady house was built in 1959 and is located in what should be a quiet neighborhood in North Hollywood, if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s ‘one of the most photographed houses’ in the country. For the original sitcom, the famous house was used only in exterior shots and all interior scenes were filmed at a studio. But for this special project the entire home will be renovated to look just like it did in 1969. Orange kitchen counters, open staircase and much more to reminisce about. In addition to Marcia, Peter, Cindy, Bobby, Jan and Greg, they will be joined by HGTV stars Steve Ford and Leanne Ford – Restored by the Fords, Jasmine Roth – Hidden Potential, Karen E. Laine and Mina Starsiak – Good Bones, Jonathan Scott and Drew Scott – Property Brothers and Lara Spencer – Flea Market Flip. The 2,477-square-foot home that sits on a 12,573-square-foot lot in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley was first listed last year for $1.88 million, but because it is a part of Hollywood history, there were many offers. HGTV was in a bidding war with former ‘NSYNC member Lance Bass and ended up paying $3.5 million for the home.

Facebook announced that it plans to launch a cryptocurrency called Libra. The digital cash will use encryption technology to make it secure and plans to work like Bitcoin, but with a stable value. A separate company, Calibra, is supposed to keep Libra users’ financial information separate and safe from the social network. Facebook hopes to recruit at least 100 partners who are willing to pay $10 million each to be a part of the Libra venture. Just recently, Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook, stated that Facebook is too big. Hmmm.  Facebook won’t run Libra, but will form a nonprofit called Libra Association, headquartered in Geneva, that will oversee the new currency and its use.

A judge announced that the trial for Dimitrios Pagourtzis, the suspect accused of killing eight classmates and two educators during the May 18, 2018 Santa Fe High School massacre, has been moved to Fort Bend County. Attorneys filed a motion in January requesting a change of venue, saying their client could not receive a fair trial in Galveston County because of pretrial publicity. Trial is scheduled for early 2020. I can’t imagine how changing the location of ‘this’ trial could change anything.

RECENT BIRTHDAYS:  Composer Lalo Schifrin is 87. Theme from Mission: Impossible, Dirty Harry, Starsky and Hutch, Cool Hand Luke, Bullitt. Rock singer musician Ray Davies is 75. The Kinks. Country singer Kathy Mattea is 60.  Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses. Singer Barry Manilow is 76. I Write the Songs. Copacabana. Actress Frances McDormand is 62. Movie director John Korty is 83. The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. Pop singer Tommy DeVito is 91. The Four Seasons.

Senator Elizabeth Warren is 70. Rock Musician Jeff Beck is 75. The Yardbirds. Rock musician John Illsley is 70. Dire Straits. Actress producer Mindy Kaling is 40. Singer Solange Knowles is 33. Singer Peter Asher is 75. Peter and Gordon. Actress Lindsay Wagner is 70. Jaime Sommers in The Bionic Woman. Actress Meryl Streep is 70. Singer Alan Osmond is 70. He was the oldest of the seven siblings who could sing, as the two oldest brothers, Virl and Tom, are hearing impaired. Baseball Hall of Fame Lou Brock is 80. Recognized for being one of the most prolific base stealers in baseball history with 938 steals.

Sir Paul McCartney is 77. (can’t be...) Actress Isabella Rossellini is 67. Actress Gena Rowlands is 89. Actress Kathleen Turner is 65. Actor Bill Cobbs is 85. He was Reginald, a security guard on the verge of retirement in Night at the Museum. Boxing Hall of Fame Roberto Duran is 68.  Actor Danny Aiello is 86. Moonstruck. Actor John McCook is 75. VERY handsome actor known for The Bold and the Beautiful, Magnum, P.I. and The Young and the Restless. Rhythm & blues singer Lionel Richie is 70. Rock musician Michael Anthony is 65. Van Halen. Rock singer Grace Potter is 36. Grace Potter & the Nocturnals.

Best-selling author, Judith Krantz, died at the age of 91. She will be remembered for her racy romance novels, Mistral’s Daughter, I’ll Take Manhattan, Scruples and many others. Before she became a novelist at age 50, she was a writer at Good Housekeeping, Ladies Home Journal and Cosmopolitan.

Claus von Bulow, known for being convicted and then acquitted of trying to kill Sunny, his millionaire, American heiress socialite wife in 1979, died at 92. This left her in a temporary coma, as well as insulin overdose in 1980 which left her in a persistent vegetative state for the rest of her life. The 1990 movie and book were called “Reversal of Fortune” and the book was a very good read.

About 23 years ago (I was pregnant with Gage so that’s how I remember,) I drove to Waco and brought my granddaddy back to LJ. My grandma had just died, and I needed to spend some time with this special man. H.I. Tipps was a barber in Waco and growing up I realized that he knew just about everyone. We had the best conversations as we traveled through every little town, each one leading him to a memory about the people that he had met through the years. It was great, and I mean REALLY, exceptional great. We ate, antique shopped and stopped at a roadside stand to buy a watermelon. He told me everything to look for in a perfect melon. Either I wasn’t listening, or I didn’t think it was important or I wasn’t a very enthusiastic learner…whatever, but I now wish that I had listened to what he was trying to tell me. After three bad watermelon purchases last month, I Googled it. 1.) If the stem is green, it was picked too early. If the stem is brown, then the melon ripened on the ground. Perfect. 2.) Look for obvious yellow spots where the melon was allowed to bathe in the sun to ripen. The bigger the yellow (not white) spot, the better the melon. 3.) Press on the yellow spot and if it has a little ‘give’ to the melon, then it’s ripe. If the melon is too hard, it’s not ripe. 4.) Tap or thump the melon – if it sounds hollow then it’s high-water content and will be super sweet and juicy. If it doesn’t sound hollow, then it is not juicy. I do remember that Granddaddy was a great thumper. I sure wish he was still here because I would listen hard and take notes. He was one of the smartest, most gentle, loving men I have ever known.  (Don’t forget your saltshaker.)

Garden and Recycling Tip: In the heat of the summer, it’s hard to keep a garden alive in South Texas. Fill an empty gallon milk jug (water, orange juice, iced tea, soda bottle) with water and set it next to your thirsty garden plant. Take a safety pin and puncture 2-3 holes in the bottom close to the plant that needs watering. Do this in the evening then go do something else. The jug will slowly water your plant, so the water doesn’t run off. I guess you could add your fertilizer to the jug too. You might want to put a little pea gravel in the bottom to keep the jug in place until you water again. In the past, I have taken my jugs and put nail-size holes in the bottoms of the jugs, then buried all but the lid of the jug, close to the new plant, then just fill the jug up with water. It’s a perfect size hole for the water hose. This method tends to water deeper for plants that need deep roots, but both ways are good. One source said to punch a single hole at the top, so the jug doesn’t constrict. Another source said to be sure to put the lid back on to prevent excess evaporation and it will help keep mosquitoes from laying eggs inside the jug.

Four years ago, Kentucky expected to bring high-speed internet across the state. Because of delays, cost overruns and “ravenous squirrels” that have chewed through quite a bit of wiring and cables, company representatives are asking for an additional $110 million to finish the project. Yikes. In Texas, we just feed corn, acorns and peanuts to our squirrels.

We all love the “Grand Ol’ Christmas Show.” Greg Essington, Zack Kibodeaux, Catherine Clark, Will Hearn, Claire Kibodeaux, Kirsten Gatewood and many, many others are rehearsing right now to entertain us with a new show called “The Grand Ol’ American Radio Show.” Their tour of Texas begins this weekend at the Clarion in LJ. Blue Water Highway band will be backed by the Liberty Radio Orchestra & Gospel Singers celebrating the culture and music of a feel-good American summer. The music is great. www.GoShowProductions.com/tour. Remember that it’s THIS Saturday and Sunday.

Thank you to the 2 sweet ladies that weeded and trimmed the roses at the entrance of my subdivision last week. It looks great! I am working to get the city to put down some mulch for weed control. Thank you, Ray Jess, for reading this column and commenting. Thanks again to Cora for always smiling when she checks me out while I’m buying cat litter at Walmart. I’m on a journey to find the BEST cat litter in the world 😊. Thank you to the checker at Nordstrom Rack that gave me a wad of paper towels on Saturday because an incredible rain came while I was in the dressing room and I had left my windows cracked. Thank you for the manager at Home Goods who went ahead and gave me store credit for the pillows I returned. I swear, the receipt was in my hand when I left the house.

Chip and Joanna Gaines have introduced a $10.4 million plan to expand shopping at The Silos in Waco. They are calling it a new retail village at The Magnolia Market and will feature more shops, a whiffle ball field, a historic church that will be relocated to the area and some other attractions. This area draws around 30,000 visitors a week and construction has started. Wow. It is fun to see how they have single-handedly changed the Waco that existed 10 years ago.  It sure makes it hard to find an affordable hotel room now, but Waco desperately needed something like this.

Dr. Marijuana Pepsi Vandyck just received her PhD; writing her dissertation on unusual names. Her aunt said that cannabis was everywhere in 1972, the year that Marijuana was born and after smoking, her parents enjoyed cooling off with a sweet, fizzy can of Pepsi. So, when you think you’ve got it bad, please remember Marijuana Pepsi. She could have changed her name, but she didn’t. By the way, her older sister is named Kimberly and her younger sister is Robin. Go figure.

Thanks again for reading this. Don’t forget to give your Granddaddy a kiss and a hug (from Lisa.)

  • What I Heard This Week 10-26-2023

    by on October 25, 2023 - 0 Comments

    Former US astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, recently remarried for the fourth time, which also happened to be on the occasion of his 93rd birthday. This time it was to Dr. Anca Faur, his 63-year-old, long-time companion (who looks like she wants to be 27), has a PhD in chemical engineering, and is now the executive vice president of Aldrin’s company, Buzz Aldrin Ventures.  He was first married to Joan Ann Archer in 1954 until divorcing in 1974. The next year he married Beverly Van Zile; they divorced after three years. His third marriage was to Lois Driggs Cannon in 1988 on Valentine's Day, divorcing 23 years later. Looks like he hasn’t given up on ‘love’ quite yet. He has sued two of his children and his former business manager claiming they stole money from him and are slandering his legacy, and that they also undermined his "personal romantic relationships" by forbidding him from getting married. His children say he is also spending money at an alarming rate. Sounds like those children are out of luck. There is a new sheriff in town and her name is MRS. Aldrin. ☹ Notes: Aldrin is also a strong advocate for human exploration of Mars. In 2002, he escaped assault charges after punching a man who demanded he swear on a Bible that the Moon landing was not staged. Good for him. He also said, “Tang sucks. “

  • What I Heard This Week 11-30-2023

    by on November 29, 2023 - 0 Comments

    Former US astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, recently remarried for the fourth time, which also happened to be on the occasion of his 93rd birthday. This time it was to Dr. Anca Faur, his 63-year-old, long-time companion (who looks like she wants to be 27), has a PhD in chemical engineering, and is now the executive vice president of Aldrin’s company, Buzz Aldrin Ventures.  He was first married to Joan Ann Archer in 1954 until divorcing in 1974. The next year he married Beverly Van Zile; they divorced after three years. His third marriage was to Lois Driggs Cannon in 1988 on Valentine's Day, divorcing 23 years later. Looks like he hasn’t given up on ‘love’ quite yet. He has sued two of his children and his former business manager claiming they stole money from him and are slandering his legacy, and that they also undermined his "personal romantic relationships" by forbidding him from getting married. His children say he is also spending money at an alarming rate. Sounds like those children are out of luck. There is a new sheriff in town and her name is MRS. Aldrin. ☹ Notes: Aldrin is also a strong advocate for human exploration of Mars. In 2002, he escaped assault charges after punching a man who demanded he swear on a Bible that the Moon landing was not staged. Good for him. He also said, “Tang sucks. “

  • Much Ado About Nothing - Texan in Winter

    by on December 6, 2018 - 0 Comments

    The power went out at my house last night for four hours. While this may not seem like a major catastrophe as it was the middle of the night and […]

  • Much Ado About Nothing - “Human Bait”

    by on January 16, 2020 - 0 Comments

    My dad always told me to have a backup plan in case my current job doesn’t work out. I wasn’t sure what that’d be until I saw this ad: “HUMAN […]

  • What I Heard This Week! December 20, 2018

    by on December 20, 2018 - 0 Comments

    The AK-47 is a type of assault rifle originally manufactured in the Soviet Union in 1949. A 17-year-old Humble High School student accidently shot herself recently with an AK-47 that […]

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