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What I Heard This Week 08-29-2024

What I Heard This Week August 28, 2024

   

Oh, NO! This thing you are reading right now is our last publication! I have so much more information and so many stories left that I haven’t had time to tell you. The top of my desk is still FULL of notes, sections of newspapers, all with great ideas…just in case there was a struggle to pull together something really interesting for you to read each week. It just doesn’t seem fair that now I’m going to have the time to tell you, but… oh, well. Kay always said “It is what it is.”
Today, I am going to give you tiny bits of information from some of these ideas, so you can pull up the rest of the story if you think it might interest you.

Drinking tea daily may reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes by 47 percent. Autopia, part of Walt Disney’s Tomorrowland where young kids are able to experience driving for the first time, says that the polluting gasoline motors are on their way out and either electric or hybrids are on their way in. Yep, clean energy and sustainability at Tomorrowland. (If you have ever been in line there, you know the gasoline fumes are pretty stinky.) Arion Press is one of the worlds’ great printing centers, located in San Francisco, the last vertically integrated printing facility in the U.S. to make books entirely by hand, from start to finish, under one roof. Everything that is printed in their books was from a piece of metal they cast on-site. A collector’s treasure. DreamWorks Land is open at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida…splash in Shrek’s Swamp, scream loud on the Trolls Trollercoaster, learn new moves with Kung Fu Panda’s Po. OK, there is more but I’m out of time. You can figure it out.

Did you know that in order to study diseases, scientists grow human brain cells in rats? Dolly Parton has a new four-lipstick collection called Jolene Red, Honey Plum, Rosebud, and Birthday Suit. Hmmm. Mattel has a new line of dolls inspired by Wicked (the movie comes out 11/22/24.) There will be Ariana Grande’s Glinda, Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba and Marissa Bode’s Nessarose.

Have you ever sat down with a bunch of friends and suddenly everyone is talking about their aches and pains? I read in a magazine that is called and an “Organ Recital.” Love it. I’m repeating it.

The caretakers of the Alamo want/need to replace the century-old concrete roof which is deteriorating on the 300-year-old structure. If it happens, they plan to build a giant hangar-like shelter around the Alamo with complicated scaffolding at all levels, then the site would be closed to visitors for over two years to do the work. The existing concrete roof, which is up to five inches thick in places, is full of corrosion in its steel rebar. The Daughters of the Republic installed the existing roof in 1920, the U.S. Army had installed a gabled wooden roof in 1851. Architect George Skarmeas who has studied the Alamo Church in detail, has warned that efforts to save the church, “may have some of the greatest complications of any project in the world.” Hmmm.

When my kids were growing up, we had museum day – all three of us picked a museum to visit on a Saturday. (We had grocery store days, too) Think Children’s Museum, Space Center, Museum of Fine Arts, Art Car Museum, The Health Museum, the list is endless. Did you know that there is a Funeral History Museum (very nice and not morbid at all), a printing museum (very interesting for ME and older kids), the Holocaust Museum (so important that we let our children know the story), and now I just read about the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office History Museum.  It includes several patrol cars, a motorcycle, and donated memorabilia from collectors. Every little (or big) boy’s dream. 2359 Holloman in Conroe near the sheriff’s office administration building. Tues/Thurs 10am to 4pm.

Totus porcus aut nihil is a classical Latin phrase for “All or Nothing…”

It was my mother’s 89th birthday. Because my car has some age, I rent a car when I go to see her, because I know you don’t want me calling you to come save me on the side of the road. So, I went to rent my car. We are sorry but you can’t rent a car because your license expired 20-something days ago ON YOUR BIRTHDAY. Yikes. I remember receiving a letter but that was in February or so, and that was way too early. I take care of things when they catch on fire. I told the car rental that I would be right back. Yes, I ran to get that new license. Now, I might mention at this point that because of a minor emergency at the office, I had left the house that morning without any make-up or doing my hair, I had on jeans and a favorite t-shirt that I wear to work in the yard that has a permanent stain on it, and flip-flops… BUT I WAS WILLING TO HAVE MY DRIVERS LICENSE PICTURE TAKEN AT THAT EXACT MOMENT, A PICTURE THAT WOULD BE IN MY WALLET FOR SHOW AND TELL FOR THE NEXT EIGHT YEARS. I found the new DPS location in Angleton, and jumped right into line. Whoops. No appointment…no service. Plus you must bring your birth certificate this time. Sigh. I was pretty pouty when I left. I went back to my office to look for my birth certificate but I couldn’t find the keys to the fire safe. Of course. So I got online and ordered a copy of the birth certificate ($22) plus $16 extra for Express Mail… only to be told at the end of the ordering process that processing could take 20 days. ☹ So much for Express Mail. The next morning I went to the East Annex and received a copy of my birth certificate ($23) that spelled my mother’s name wrong. Sigh. I headed right back to DPS with three magazines, my phone and my giant water cup, telling them that I was willing to sit on the floor and wait until someone missed their appointment And I had washed my hair. No go! But I believe they enjoyed my enthusiasm and confidence… at least I think that’s what they were whispering about. I finally have an appointment this week and I’m going with a friend that also forgot that it was her DPS time. My sister, whose birthday is a few days after mine, was able to do hers online, since she also forgot. I guess this is my purpose in life right now – to set a good example for others… is your license getting ready to expire? I care.

This was the title of a magazine article I saved: Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Funny. I just love this title.

The Purple Rain house in Minneapolis is really nothing special to look at unless you are a Prince fan. It’s the house where Prince filmed part of the 1984 movie and wrote the soundtrack. It is quite a tourist attraction and is supposedly still owned by the late musician’s estate. It is now listed as a Special Experimental Stay on Airbnb, called an ICON, extraordinary experiences from the world’s greatest icons… which includes 11 listings requiring an application, and a random lottery pick. The first Icons included a house suspended by 8,000 balloons, one of Disney and Pixar’s most iconic homes called The UP House located in New Mexico, a night at the Ferrari Museum in a bed made from the same leather as Ferrari seats, located in Maranello, Italy, a re-creation of X-Men ’97 X-Mansion in Westchester NY, a Secret Speakeasy Chill Session and live stand-up with Kevin Hart, A Living Room Session with Doja Cat, and more, including Core Memories with Inside Out 2 with an overnight stay at Headquarters, the control center of Riley’s emotions. (I think some of these occasions may have already happened so there’s sure to be new ones added.)

Climate change is no longer some far-off problem; it is happening here; it is happening now. – Barack Obama

RECENT BIRTHDAYS: Guitarist David Marks of The Beach Boys is 76. Drummer Debbi Peterson of The Bangles is 63. Actor Barbara Eden is 93. I Dream of Jeannie. Country singer Rex Allen Jr. is 77. Lonely Street. Singer Linda Thompson of Elvis fame is 77. Fiddler-singer Woody Paul of Riders in the Sky is 75. Singer-actor Rick Springfield is 75. Jessie’s Girl. Guitarist Mason Williams is 86. Classical Gas. Actor Ann Archer is 77. Fatal Attraction. Actor Rupert Grint of Harry Potter is 36. Actor Kim Cattrall of Sex and the City is 68. Actor Loni Anderson is 79. WKRP in Cincinnati.

Actor Erika Slezak is 78. Victoria Lord on One Life to Live from 1971 through the finale in 2012. Rock singer Rick Derringer is 77. Hang On Sloopy. In 1965, the song knocked “Yesterday” by the Beatles out of the Number One spot. Actor singer Maureen McCormick is 68. Singer Jackie DeShannon is 83. What the World Needs Now Is Love, Put a Little Love in Your Heart. Bette Davis Eyes won the 1982 Grammy for Song of the Year. Her songs have also been performed by the Byrds, Ella Fitzgerald, Al Green, Annie Lennox, Van Morrison, Dolly Parton, Bruce Springsteen, and dozens of other artists.

A recent obituary noted that the deceased Houston attorney always believed there was good in everyone, saying, “You can be a buzzard or a bee: you can look for the rotten in life, or you can look for the flowers and honey; and you will find what you look for.” I liked that.

There are MANY different blood types … A, B, 0 and AB, plus so many more that the average person has probably never ever heard of. Scientists recently discovered an extremely rare new blood group called Er, the result of an interaction between two existing blood groups… and if I could understand it, I would tell you all about it… but I can’t.

Have you seen the new video of the Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga duet, Die with a Smile. It’s a pretty nice little love song from two of the greatest voices. Putting those voices together made magic. I just listened to it over and over again while I was working on this column. You can pull it up on your phone. It’s really nice.

Word of the Moment: Demure… meaning reserved, modest, coy or shy (typically used of a woman). Supposedly it’s now a social media trend that means cutesy, clean and mindful, not messy or loud. Which is the opposite of most of our world. Hope it catches on… intended as a compliment word.

First it was the 40-oz. supersize Stanley Quencher Tumbler flying off the shelves during 2022 and on into the holiday season of 2024. They retailed for $45 IF you could find one. It was released in crazy new colors, and everyone had to have at least one. Sorry, Yeti. Remember Beanie Babies. Now Buc-ee’s shoppers are going crazy over their new glow in the dark Halloween Yukon tumblers in 32 or 40-oz. Such a one-of-a-kind gift idea. Demand is high. I mean really high. They’re big re-sale items, which means is if you have money, you can find one. If that’s not your thing, then they have plenty more Halloween merchandise just waiting for your debit card.

Thank you to Janette at Animal Control, for sending pictures of Teller when he was still on the streets. Just looking at my poor baby with all the missing fur, especially his naked tail, made me sad… and happy. He is just the best… and so are you, Janette. Thank you for the love.

Aren’t security cameras great! Two suspected arsonists in Bakersfield, California, set themselves on fire attempting to burn down an immigration center. In Australia, the same thing happened to a beautiful barber shop. They shattered the glass, entered the shop, poured accelerant all over everything including their clothes and hands, then lit it. In Canada, two men smashed a window then hurled something into the building, there was an explosion, and they ran away with at least one foot on fire, as the guy’s mask fell off. Darn. Then, that led me to a video of a man that set himself on fire while trying to burn down his ex-wife’s home with her and their kids inside. Karma. I wondered if a woman would ever be so messy that she would do the same thing. Hmmm.

SPCA is celebrating 50 years of love and care in our county. The Julie Baron Memorial Fur Ball will be held October 24, 2024. I’m telling you now because I won’t be back to remind you, so go put it on your calendar right now. For more information:  renee@spca.org  The kitties and the puppies need you to be there. Please spay and neuter ALL your pets, so these great folks don’t have to work so hard with so little. BACH… Brazoria County Association for Children’s Habilitation needs your help so they can continue providing ongoing life changing services. A little bit goes a long way in a child’s life. ashleyf@bacheci.org or 979-849-2447.

As I am cleaning out my office, I am also trying to read The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning. How to free yourself from a lifetime of clutter…or in my words, get rid of your stuff before you die because they’re going to throw it all away, anyway. At least this way, it can be my idea. I’m going to miss this.

The Source Weekly isn’t (wasn’t) just a newspaper. We also tried to provide education, convenience, affordability, and love. Over the years (25 years in case you forgot), we produced many different ideas to share with our friends and customers; thousands of different bookmarkers for the schools, several years of laminated maps of downtown LJ with all the businesses and phone numbers because downtown is so darned confusing for people. We used the heck out of those maps, handing them out to all the downtown merchants so they could keep them on their counters. We used one of our old maps just today to help a man find his way. There were yearly calendars honoring local artists that we passed out to customers and the Art League. Those were fun. A Prayer for Our Nation bookmarkers National Day of Prayer. We always handed out flags on 4th of July, Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day. After I recovered from my breast cancer diagnosis, I started painting pink ribbons downtown, then donated the money to The Mermaid Project. Eventually we used cling-on ribbons (easier) and if I remember right, over the years we were able to donate over $12,000 so women without insurance could afford a mammogram. The downtown car show with State Farm where we raised over $4000 for the Military Moms and Wives of Brazoria County, thanks to Debra and Karla. Santa at the Gazebo with State Farm, PCCare, and other fabulous, caring neighbors… the trolley rides, games and a night of family fun. Coloring contests on Halloween and Thanksgiving. Paint a nutcracker at Christmas or Build-a-Snowman contest. Koozies. Jumping Beans. They made a lot of noise in the back of the office. Personalized Fortune Cookies for the Chinese New Year. The LJ Enchanted Oak Witness to History contest. We ordered thousands of paper covered hangers with our logo on them, then handed them out to all the dry cleaners in town. We won $75 for that idea at conference. Seed packets in the spring… Forget-Me-Nots. Listen, when we had money, we had fun and shared it with the community.

Oh, and have I mentioned how many First Place awards we won for years and years with The Community Newspaper Association… we won them all, each year. We were so proud!

This is where I’m going to get in trouble, naming names, because there are too many to remember, but know you are always in my heart. Thanks to every employee through the years that allowed me to raise my children at the office. Gage was two and I was three months pregnant the day we started. Anne-Elisabeth was born Thursday after the paper came out, then the following Tuesday, the two of us were back at work. I believe my kids became the wonderful adults that they are, because the village we called this office, with so many positive role models that helped raise them to adulthood. Even when Gage would call the office and pretend to be someone from a foreign land… Connie still loved him. I can still hear her when she figured it out saying, ‘Oh, GAGE BAKER.” The discipline, care and love that everyone gave them, the attention that they were provided when they were required to ask everyone in the office, “How is your day going?” on their way in from school each day. It helped teach them to be good people, to care for others, and to listen. Thanks everyone for allowing this office to adopt Teller the Wonder Dog who has come to work here every day since his adoption. It provided a way to socialize him after abuse on the streets. Thank you all for knowing this was a small “family” business and not a corporation. Thanks to Kevin for believing in me at that time. He came home one evening, said that The Bargains had closed, and I said very naively, “Well, I could do that!” And The Bargain Source was born. Beth Corbett for spending the night under the folding table with me as we struggled to go from a cut-and-paste newspaper world to everything done on a computer. We WOULD NOT have made it without her. Helen (1999) who brought years of newspaper experience to the table. She sold outside, did reports, kept up with it all and still went home on time. Amazing. Lucinda for sharing the bathroom with Gage while I was potty-training him. Gage thought everyone should talk to him while he was on the job.  Accountant Martha, and Lena; they keep me honest. Tom, for making sure that no napping babies were left behind in case of fire when I scooted off to meetings or to customers. Many thanks to the people (almost everyone) that came to work here and didn’t leave until they were ready to retire.  Tina (1999)  arrived, then encouraged her sister Connie (2007), to come play with us. Both ladies are still here and such an important part of this family. Kay started in 2003, then her daughter, Ashley, came to work in 2010. Ashley got married and then our office baby, Lydia, arrived in 2015. Thank you Ashley for making us an office baby of our very own. Three generations, and we desperately NEEDED a baby here at the office. “Hou-Bobby” Payne (1999), a part-time magician who showed us a new trick every Wednesday afternoon while the paper cooked, before we rushed to Texas City for printing. Red was one of our first delivery people in 1999 along with his daughter Novellia, then another daughter, Losha (2004) joined delivery, and over the years, Losha’s daughters, and now her granddaughters help her deliver. That’s 4 generations. Hailey joined our delivery when she first moved to town and is now doing most of our routes. Noel, our delivery driver and friend that brings all the newspapers to us on Wednesday afternoon. Blue Star Printing in Houston along with Ana.  Laura, Dawn, Janice, Michelle, Patricia, Deborah, Rachelle, Troy, Cindy B., Cole & Kayla, Cathy, Bonnie, Cindy S., Grady, Kelly, Nancy, Lisa B., Tommy, Sara, Sandra, Pam (2017), Hailey (2018), Thomas (2019). All of our downtown neighbors and friends that we see almost every day on walks or to pick up the mail, who always have time for a chat or a dog treat. Thank you all.

Customers… you’re all our favorites… but Wally Johnson and Ralph O’Henley, both newspaper men for years and years, read The Source letter-by-letter, paragraph by paragraph, each week. Mark, for his Thursday morning calls adding fun information. Hayman, with God and his garden as his witness, made sure we never went hungry. Mr. Corder, you’re the best!

I should have done this sooner, but emotionally I wasn’t ready to leave people that have been with me and been so good to me… for so many years… without a job. But it’s time to call it quits. Hurricanes, freezing storms, Covid… they have taken their toll. We are so appreciative and grateful for your business and your loyalty.  Thank You for supporting us the past 25 years and seven months!

With Lots of Love, Connie, Tina, Ashley, Hailey, Pam, Thomas, Losha, Hailey, Lisa and Teller.

Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com

What I Heard This Week 08-22-2024

What I Heard This Week August 21, 2024

   

In case you didn’t read this column last week, I’ll bring you up to date. The Source Weekly will publish our last paper on August 29th, 2024. It just couldn’t be helped. It’s just time. Some responses from our dedicated advertisers and readers have imagined and are kindly blaming many things on our closing. Like blaming the postage stamp for losing the Pony Express. Things just change. If we need to blame something, blame Facebook, bad weather… 3 winter power outages, Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Beryl, definitely COVID, the rising costs of insurance because of ALL the bad weather… it’s just a different world with different people and different needs now than 25-years ago… Oh, and in answer to your questions… no, it is not health related, but I love you all for your concerns and questions. No, I am not marrying my ex-husband, or anyone’s ex-husband. Connie is not running off with the rodeo. Tina is not joining a rock-and-roll band… yet. Your sweet and kind messages, cards, emails and responses have made us feel so loved and needed. We are suggesting that you call The Facts or The Bulletin or any publication for your advertising needs. I’m sure they will take good care of you. But, thank you for loving us. If you want to see what kind of changes we have had in our world in the past 25 years… read on.

Have you ever wanted to know what was happening in our world on a certain date, like a birthday or anniversary? Go to Dmarie.com. Then find Time Capsule, and enter the date you are interested in. Then go to Quick Page and see what was actually happening back when. The following is just a taste of what was going on when The Source Weekly was first published back in 1999…

U.S. President: Bill Clinton
Vice-President: Al Gore
Best Picture: Shakespeare in Love
Best Actor: Roberto Benigni for Life is Beautiful
Best Actress: Gwyneth Paltrow for Shakespeare in Love
TV Shows: The Simpsons, ER, Survivor, Frasier, Friends, Who Wants to be a Millionaire? The X-Files, The Sopranos
Hot New Toys: Moon Walk Shoes, Baby Furby, Pokémon Gameboy Game, Electronic Elmo
Average Loaf of Bread: $1.99 ($2.50 today)
Average Gallon Milk: $2.87 ($3.96 today)
Average Dozen Eggs: $1.22 ($4.25 today because of a widespread outbreak of H5N1, a highly transmissible and fatal strain of avian influenza, or bird flu. The outbreak started in early 2022 and has grown into the largest bird flu outbreak in U.S. history.)
Average New Car Price: $20,686 (according to Kelley Blue Book, $48,008 today)
Average Gasoline: $1.22/gal (averaging $3 per gallon today)
Average price of a Home: $195,800 ($395,000 today)
Stamps: 33 cents each (73 cents today – we should have stocked up when the Forever stamp came out in 2007 for 41 cents)
Minimum Wage: $5.15/hr. (today $7.25/hr.)
Dow Average: 10,481 (2024 average so far is unbelievable 40,834.97 today as I write this)

Things change…RECENT BIRTHDAYS: Computer scientist and Apple Co-founder Steve Wozniak is 74. Wrestler actor Hulk Hogan is 71. Actor Robert Redford is 88. Actor Edward Norton is 55. Actor Jill St. John is 84. Singer Billy J. Kramer is 81. Country singer-songwriter Eddy Raven is 80. Singer Ian Gillan of Deep Purple is 79. Actor Gerald McRaney is 77. Bassist John Deacon of Queen is 73. Actor Peter Gallagher is 69. Actor Adam Arkin is 68. Singer-songwriter Gary Chapman is 67. Actor John Stamos is 61. News anchor Connie Chung is 78. Singer Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin is 76. Singer Rudy Gatlin of the Gatlin Brothers is 72. Singer-songwriter John Hiatt is 72. Actor-director Peter Horton of thirtysomething is 71. Today show weatherman Al Roker is 70.

THE pioneer of daytime TV talk show hosting, Phil Donahue, died at 88, after a long illness. He was married for 44 years to actress Marlo Thomas, best known for That Girl. Donahue hosted his influential talk show from 1967 to 1996, which incorporated participation from the studio audience, something not really done often at the time. Oprah Winfrey has said that while Donahue “may not have invented talking to people on television, he just did it better than anyone who came before him,” and “all of us who came after Phil Donahue owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude.”

Maria Branyas Morera, living in Spain but born in the U.S., who lived through two world wars, the Spanish Civil War, the 1918 flu pandemic and the COVID pandemic, has died at 117. Guinness World Records had officially acknowledged her status as the world’s oldest person.

Elvis died 47 years ago. Do you remember what you were doing when you heard? I was working a telephone switchboard at Forrest Chevrolet & Cadillac in Cleburne, Texas. Elvis was 42 when he died.

Wallace “Wally” Amos, of the Famous Amos cookie empire, died from complications of dementia at home in Hawaii at 88. He founded the world’s first cookie store on Sunset Boulevard in LA in 1975. In his store, he had a reading room and spent Saturdays sitting on a rocking chair, wearing a watermelon hat and reading to children. He eventually lost ownership of the company as well as the right to use the Amos name. Amos once said the Famous Amos cookies sold today are unlike his cookies, which had lots of chocolate, real butter and pure vanilla extract. “You can’t compare a machine-made cookie with a handmade cookie,” he said. “It’s like comparing a Rolls Royce with a Volkswagen.”

As of today, Tuesday August 20th, 2024, I have rewritten this paragraph three times because the information has changed every day. Look up VolcanoesAndEarthquakes.com/region/Texas. In the past few weeks, at least 103 earthquakes have rattled Scurry County in West Texas. The last two were 4.9 and 5.0 quakes. So strong that it was felt all the way to Oklahoma and New Mexico. In a week. You should look it up because I won’t be here to tell you all about it. One man said he had just fed his horses, sat down in his Lazy-Boy recliner and it turned the whole chair over.

Snoop Dogg has a very large handbag collection, and said this, “I’m not gonna call it a man purse, ‘cause it ain’t. I got less than a thousand, more than five hundred.” Hmmm. Maybe when some people smoke, they snack…maybe Snoop gets online and shops for handbags.

MTV.com is officially gone. Home Depot is having a Halfway-to-Halloween Sale. Pumpkin Pie Spice everything is here… already. They are calling it Aug-tober. The almost 90-year-old River Oaks Theater on West Gray in Houston is almost finished with renovations and ready for 365 days a year occupancy. There will be a two-theater movie theater and performing arts venue, plus lots of fun. Houston’s own Beyonce Knowles-Carter has teamed up with Moet Hennessy to launch SirDavis, a new whiskey named in honor of her paternal great-grandfather Davis Hogue. Michelle Pfeiffer will lead the next chapter of Yellowstone. New seasonal Blizzard flavors at Dairy Queen are OREO Hot Cocoa, Snickerdoodle Cookie Dough, Caramel Fudge Cheesecake, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Pie and Choco Dipped Strawberry. Use the DQ app from Sept. 11 to Sept. 24, and your Blizzards are only 85 cents each. The CDC says COVID is at very high or very high activity levels in 44 states… last week it was just seven states. Go to: CDC.gov for a COVID Data Tracker.

My mom called me and told me how much she liked watching Snoop Dogg at the Olympics and I had to remind her that she grounded me for buying his CD once.

A couple of weeks ago I was working outside, but it started to rain so I decided to cut the cat’s nails and brush them on the back porch… and watch the rain. Two cats down and everyone was doing well until I decided that I should brush Sully’s tail. She instructed me NOT TO DO THAT. I know the rules about her tail, but I thought it was going so well, that I would soldier on and finish the brushing. She bit me, I bled, I did hydrogen peroxide, band-aided with antibiotic ointment, then apologized profusely to Sully because I knew not to bother her tail. Did I mention there was a lot of blood, and I thought she had broken a bone in my hand. My thoughts were, if a cat is capable of eating a squirrel or a mouse, why in the world would I think she couldn’t bite through my skinny, bony little hands. I still have a hole, but it’s healing and doesn’t hurt as much as it did.
When the rain stopped, I got to work to finish weeding, digging and putting down new mulch where old mulch had washed with recent storms. Before I knew it, dark was upon me, and mosquitoes were arriving in record numbers. I was working on my third bag of mulch, had cut it open with my very sharp, extra-long, thin, and did I mention sharp… cutting shears, that my sweet sister had sent me for my birthday last year. As I scooted the heavy mulch bag up the sidewalk steps, the bag caught the shears that I had left wide-open on the ground, and I pulled them straight into my left foot. Now, there happened to be way more blood this time around than with a little bitty cat bite… I shuffled into the kitchen to try and stop the bleeding. Did I mention I was wearing flip-flops, not gardening shoes like a normal person? I wrapped my foot in paper towels, held pressure for a while, then secured those paper towels on my foot and shoe with a rubber band and went back outside. Yep. A rubber band. Am I tough or what? The show must go on. I was NOT finished mulching yet. My shower, about an hour later, felt pretty dang good. I limped to CVS for a tetanus shot the next day. I guess that shot makes me eligible for ten more years of bad choices.

You think it’s bad that we are closing?!? Avon just filed for bankruptcy. They have been around since 1886. Avon’s founder David McConnell started as a door-to-door book salesman in NY, offering free perfume samples as a gift, before realizing his customers were way more interested in perfume samples than books. He offered women an opportunity to become entrepreneurs… at one time the number of representatives reached one million… and they even had Avon men. Things do change…

Another opportunity to mention how much we have appreciated spending time with you…thank you for all that you’ve done for us the past 25 years.

LISA

Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com

What I Heard This Week 08-15-2024

What I Heard This Week August 14, 2024

     It is with great sorrow that I tell you this. Actually… this first part has no sorrow. When I was 15, I wanted, as all 15-year-olds do, a car. My parents told me they would help me with the insurance if I could cover the payments. So, we shopped for my first car… a ’66 Mustang purchased for $800. My payments were $56 a month and my mom bought my first tank of gas which was probably $7 or $8. I can remember seeing gas war lines at the stations. I think on one occasion, the price per gallon dropped to 10 cents. It was the 70’s. Sorry. I have regressed, as I often do. Back to my story. In order to purchase the beautiful beige mustang with the black interior that poured water on my feet from under the dash almost every time I pushed on the brakes, I had to have a job. My daddy belonged to the Shreveport Business Executives and offered (boastingly) to find me a job with one of his buddies, which really ticked me off thinking that he didn’t have enough confidence in me to think I would be able to find my own job… I now realize that it was a very nice offer. Ah, the benefits of growing up.
There was a shopping center close to where we lived “as the crow flies” but to get there without the crow, you had to go all the way to the entrance of our subdivision, then get on a super busy 4-lane street with no sidewalks, then the mall was even further down the street. So instead, I walked the fence line close to our backyard, found a spot where the fencing was injured and wide, then took clippers and cut back some of the vegetation so I could pass through in a dress. This took me straight across two streets to the mall. I walked over and applied at Sears, was hired and went to work in the Jr. Clothing Dept. Sometimes if I was lucky, I got to work in the Candy Department which was fabulous. I earned the money I needed for the down payment on the car and my parents financed the rest. I loved that car.
So, the moral of this story (if there actually is one) is that things have changed since we were 15-years old. The majority of my co-workers here at the office have also been working non-stop since they were 15-years-old. But things change… and the world is changing.
On August 29th, 2024, after 25 years, and seven months of providing affordable, effective advertising, The Source Weekly will print their last edition… Volume 26, No. 31, then we will all be unemployed. In all of those 25 years, our classifieds continued to be $5 and we only raised the cost of our display ads three times. Yep. Three times in 25 years. Except for several hurricanes and freezing power outages, we did our best to always be here for you, even during COVID. Because of rising costs of insurance, property taxes, newsprint, printing, delivery, lack of power, and (OUR) lack of interest in competing with Facebook, we are closing our doors.
     Community newspapers (yes, all of them) have been put into a most difficult position. Our want has always been to support small and large businesses, providing advertising to help sell products, support community events and functions, but still keep costs affordable for you. It’s just not possible for us anymore.
We even tried to run obituaries at the same cost as all our other advertising (did I mention it is very affordable), but Facebook kind of rules on that also. It’s hard to beat FREE, but sometimes that gets you exactly what you pay for. I’ve just never thought it was 100% respectful to honor someone’s life story or memorial with a Facebook post. But what do I know, I’m just an unemployed ex-newspaper publisher.
Over the next couple of weeks, I intend to share more (I have a LOT to say) about the past 25 years, but for now I would like to say thank-you for supporting us throughout the years – when it was good, it was fabulous and it was all because of you and your support. When we tried something new that you liked, like FREE garage sales, you applauded us. We will miss you. Now remember, you have two weeks to sell something. Come on, I know you have something that you need to get rid of. Have a great week. And remember, “Sometimes you are the cat, and sometimes you’re the hairball.” LISA

RECENT BIRTHDAYS: Garfield creator Jim Davis is 79. TV producer Dick Ebersol is 77. Actor Sally Struthers is 77. Gloria Stivic in All in the Family. Football Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy is 99. Actor Martin Sheen is 84. Lifestyle guru Martha Stewart is 83. Actor Jay North of Dennis the Menace is 73. Olympic swimming gold medalist Ryan Lochte is 40. Actor Dustin Hoffman is 87. Actor Connie Stevens is 86. Country singer Phil Balsley of The Statler Brothers is 86. Actor Larry Wilcox is 77. California Highway Patrol officer Jonathan “Jon” Baker on CHiPs.

Actor Keith Carradine is 75. TV personality Deborah Norville is 66. Basketball Hall of Fame Bob Cousy is 86. Tennis Hall of Fame Rod Laver is 86. Actor Sam Elliott (be still, my heart) is 80. The cowboy with the voice and the mustache. Soul R&B singer Barbara Mason is 77. She released Yes, I’m Ready in 1965, which peaked at #2 on Billboard R&B and #5 on Billboard Hot 100. TV host Hoda Kotb is 60. Rock musician Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull is 77. Country musician Gene Johnson of Diamond Rio is 75. Actor Rosanna Arquette is 65. Actor Antonio Banderas is 64. Rock musician Jon Farriss of INXS is 63.

Did you know? The proper name for a group of cats is a clowder, and a group of kittens is called a kindle.

During the Olympics, we all heard stories of the Seine (very polluted) River.  Two swimmers from New Zealand had their team doctor waiting for them at the finish line…with two old-fashioned Coca-Cola’s. Some say that it’s the best way to fight off infection for open-water swimmers. Evidently, multiple doctors believe coke is a gastroenterological cure-all. In my mind, I remember reading about pouring a coke into your dirty toilet, then letting it set overnight, flushing in the morning and having a sparkling clean porcelain bowl – so if it works so well on your toilet, then it should do some really (?) good things for your gut… I guess. The only time I have ever drank Coke was in Mexico, but I added a little rum and lime to it… you couldn’t drink the water, but you could ask for a Cuba libre. Maybe there is more to this story than I once heard. Hmmm.

Beginning Sept. 9, you’ll see two new products, an Oreo-inspired Coca-Cola soda and an Oreo Coca-Cola Sandwich cookie… the perfect snacking duo using one another’s flavors. Just in case you find yourself swimming in the Seine.

One minute you’re young & fun. And the next, you turn down the stereo in the car to see better.

Looks like Tropical Storm Ernesto is cruising through the Atlantic towards Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Tom Cruise at the Olympics… if you didn’t see it, you should. I saw one comment that said, “This is the MOST Tom Cruise that Tom Cruise has ever Tom Cruised.’ Yes, you should read that twice, but it makes so much sense. Jami Doddroe is the new foster Transport Coordinator for the SPCA of Brazoria County. She needs people to sign up to be foster parents. Teller would appreciate it if you could help them. Several months ago, I told y’all about the Dancing Crab baby toy that is just fabulous. I was in Academy over the weekend and saw the Dancing Crab Bubble Machine for $14.99. I don’t’ know for a fact, but I bet it is a hoot… for kids and adults.

It’s officially too hot when the lure of jumping in a cold pool is finally stronger than the horror I feel when I see myself in a swimsuit.

I never throw out the little paper packs of the silica gel beads that you get in shoes, handbags and so many other things. The beads are highly absorbent, taking up to 40% of their weight in water. You can stick them in gym bags, smelly shoes, jewelry boxes, seed packets, even inside your carved Halloween pumpkins to keep them from growing crazy stuff inside. I just put one inside my saltshaker. It works inside your spice jars, too.  DO NOT EAT. Make sure the ones you use on food, are food safe.

Before I adopted Teller, I would steal away from LJ and visit the outlet mall on 290. There wasn’t a time – except when the line of people was around the corner – that I didn’t stop and get an Auntie Anne’s hot pretzel with cheese. As you approach the store, the tantalizing scent grabs you, and pulls you in. I stole the following sentence so don’t be thinking I’m this clever. “Auntie Anne’s knows what you knead.” Auntie Anne’s is now bottling the famous aroma of their buttery mall pretzels, calling it Knead Eau de Pretzel, and they’re opening New York’s first Pretzel Parfumerie pop-up. You can also get the pretzel scented fragrance on their website. So, arrest me, but I may have to at least give it a sniff out at some point.

Smokey the Bear turned 80 years-old on August 9th. In 1944, Smokey Bear was created, and the first poster, developed by artist Albert Staehle, depicted a bear pouring a bucket of water on a campfire. It’s the longest-running public-service campaign in our country’s history. The original catchphrase was, “Smokey says, care will prevent 9 out of 10 forest fires.” Then his message of “Only YOU Can Prevent Forest Fires” was changed in 2001, to “Only You Can Prevent Wildfires” to reflect that wildfires happen in natural areas other than just forests. Smokeybear.com. You will find resources for educators, fun activities, a reading challenge, history of wildland fires and Smokey’s history, along with a pledge. DID YOU KNOW that in 2022, 87% of wildfires were caused by humans.

What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

After the hurricane Beryl loss of power, I went to work picking up limbs and leaves, off and on for a couple of days but then started feeling pretty puny… for days and days. I tested myself three times for Covid because I thought I had all the symptoms… but I was always negative. Then on our first day back at the office, I stayed behind my closed office doors because I was sure that I had something contagious. Later in the day, Hailey asked if it could be heat exhaustion… yikes, all the symptoms matched… yes, I was probably just dehydrated. I started on Pedialyte Grape – actually quite tasty – and within thirty minutes I was feeling so much better. Within 24 hours, I was back on track. FYI.

Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com

What I Heard This Week 08-08-2024

What I Heard This Week August 7, 2024

Women may understand this better than men. Maybe… because men are hunters and women are gatherers. Except, of course, when shopping. (If you YouTube “Defending the Caveman” you will be so entertained with some very funny videos about the communication differences between men and women…). So, the real reason I started this paragraph was to talk about having too much stuff. If I carry a little bitty purse, then I pack it full. If I pull out a medium size purse, then I pack it full. If I haul around a full-size bag or tote, then I pack it full. I don’t know why. It just happens. It’s the mystery of accumulation. We do it with our houses and apartments, too. Like pouring water over rocks, you just find available space. I just read an article about the questions you should ask yourself before you bring anything into your house. 1. Can I afford it? 2. Do I really need it? 3. Do I need it now?  4. Do I have something like it already? 5. Could I find a cheaper substitute? 6. Is this the best deal? Then you need to go home and think about it for a while. They suggested 24 hours, but I think it should be longer. If it’s in my cart long enough, some smart computer sees that and sends me a deal I can’t refuse. That happens a lot. I’m trying to refresh my house and tidy my garage in the next few months, so I hope I’m strong enough to follow some of these rules. I doubt it. I love my stuff.

The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit in their shade, has started to understand the meaning of life.

Per the Department of Energy: In the summer, keep your curtains closed when you can to help block the heat. Run your ceiling fan which can raise the ac thermostat by 4 degrees, and you will probably feel just as comfortable. During the Beryl power outage, I cut foamboard and placed it over five windows that have direct sun coming in… the difference was unbelievable.

At a Spanx warehouse “somewhere” there is a robot named Digit-the-robot, the first multi-purpose, human-centric robot that does repetitive tasks like moving boxes onto conveyor belts, which frees humans to do other valuable things… like be on their cellphones.

I’m having people over to stare at their phones later if you want to come by…

In case you haven’t heard, there were multiple tap water sites in Houston tested by scientists that had very high levels of a variety of PFAS aka forever chemicals… in fact, these chemicals have been found in at least 45 percent of U.S. drinking water. Not good.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (a very odd man in my book) admitted that about 10 or so years ago when a woman driving in front of him hit a small bear, he loaded up the dead bear cub in his van, and planned to skin it and put the meat in his refrigerator. He had a dinner that ran late that evening, so he didn’t have time to take the dead bear home. Because there were new bicycle lanes in Central Park that had resulted in a few accidents, he decided as a prank to dump the bear in Central Park along with an old bike that was also in his vehicle, making it look like the bear had been hit by a bike. The next morning, the dead bear was on every sort of news, helicopters flying around Central Park, with talk that officials were going to have fingerprints on the bike identified. Then it became old news. Recently a news organization was getting ready to release this story, so Kennedy decided to get ahead of the announcement. Hmmm.

RECENT BIRTHDAYS: Musician Yusuf Islam aka Cat Stevens is 76. Cartoonist Garry Trudeau is 76.  Singer Lionel Richie is 75. Actor Meryl Streep is 75. Music company executive Tommy Mottola is 76. Football Hall of Fame Bob Lilly is 85. The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger is 81. Olympic gold medal figure skater Dorothy Hamill is 68. Olympic gold medal figure skater Peggy Fleming is 76. Singer Maureen McGovern is 75. Actor Sandra Bullock is 60. Author Tom Robbins is 92. Actor – singer Bobby Sherman is 81. Actor Danny Glover is 78. Actor comedian director Albert Brooks is 77. Rock singer Don Henley is 77.

Actor Willem Dafoe is 69. Film composer Alan Menken is 75. Britain’s Prince George of Wales is 11. Comedian Ruth Buzzi is 88. Actor Lynda Carter is 73. Country singer Pam Tillis is 67. Rock musician Jim McCarty of The Yardbirds is 81. Reggae singer Rita Marley is 78. Musician Verdine White of Earth, Wind, & Fire is 73. Model actor Iman is 69. Actor screenwriter Billy Bob Thornton is 69. Former President Barack Obama is 63.

Time to get up and get going. Today’s bad decisions aren’t going to make themselves.

Elizabeth Francis is an American supercentenarian, currently the oldest-living person in the United States following the death of Edie Ceccarelli. She was born July 25, 1909, in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana and currently resides in Houston, Texas.  She was born during the Taft presidency, her mother died in 1920, and she and her five siblings were sent to different homes; she was sent to Houston and raised by an aunt. She lived next door to her older sister Bertha Johnson before she died in 2011 at the age of 106, which made her and Francis among the oldest siblings on record. She had another sister who lived to the age of 95, and her father died when he was 88. She raised her children as a single mother. She moved into her current house in 1999, where she now lives with her 95-year-old daughter Dorothy Williams and is cared for by her 69-year-old granddaughter Ethel Harrison. Williams is the oldest person in the world with one living parent. In the 1970s, Francis ran the coffee shop at KTRK-TV in Houston. She never learned to drive, relying on the bus or family members for transportation. What a great story.

Archaeologists found a recipe for beer on scrolls from ancient Egypt dating back to 5.000 BC, making it the oldest recipe in the world.

21-year-old French pole vaulter Anthony Ammirati missed his target on his third attempt when his… well, they said that his crouch knocked downed the pole at the Olympics on August 3rd. I do believe that if I was a pole vaulter (and I’m not), and especially if I was a well-endowed pole vaulter, I would have learned to package it up for the Olympics. Evidently the same thing happened at the Rio de Janeiro games in 2016, but not to the same guy. But, if you watch the most recent video, he actually hit the pole with his right knee before anything else hit.

A Texas entrepreneur working to bring back the woolly mammoth has added the dodo bird to his revival list. The dodo went extinct in 1662 as a direct result of human settlement and ecosystem competition. People changed its habitat in such a way that it could not survive. Listening?

This is such a nice quote. “The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear.” Rumi

Have a great week. 

LISA

Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com

What I Heard This Week 08-01-2024

What I Heard This Week July 31, 2024

What is Slap Fighting? Slap fighting is a one-on-one competition in which opponents – a striker and a defender – strike each other in the face until someone is knocked out or quits. Chalk is provided to participants and is used to indicate where their strikes have landed on their opponent after they have thrown a slap. A competitor’s hair must also be tied up behind their head so as to not obstruct an incoming slap from their opponent. Yes, there are certainly dangers for the brain in slap-fighting bouts; safety is a concern with competitors using mouthguards, cotton balls to protect their ear drums, and allowing sixty seconds of recovery time before delivering the follow-up slap. In 2023, Artus ‘Walus’ Walczak suffered a stroke due to the blows he suffered at an event. I’m speechless. Oh, did I mention that you can bet on this “sport”?

Don’t handicap your children by making their lives easy. Robert A. Heinlein

Seen in a magazine…CUP NOODLES, Ramen Noodles in Sauce. What flavor were they, you ask? Ahhh. Thanks for wondering. Yes, they are a Limited Edition, Campfire S’mores with chocolate, graham cracker and marshmallow-flavored sauce (with natural and artificial flavors.) Maybe it’s just me, but that doesn’t sound good AT ALL. I think I like my ramen a little more earthy tasting with chicken broth, miso, cilantro, soy sauce, bean sprouts and scallions…maybe a boiled egg and some fish sauce… BUT NO marshmallows. I thought about this as I ate my bowl of Pho on Saturday afternoon. Gives me shivers.

Time is a created thing. To say, “I don’t have time”, is like saying, “I don’t want to”. Lao Tzu

Inside Out 2 is now the highest grossing animated movie of all time. That means it surpassed Frozen II, hitting the $1 BILLION mark, just 19 days after its release. Richard Gere is starring in his first major TV show. He will join Michael Fassbender in the Showtime spy thriller The Agency, which George Clooney and Grant Heslov are executive-producing. I would watch Richard Gere in anything. A German city, Gelsenkirchen, celebrated Taylor Swifts three sold-out concerts by temporarily renaming the city Swiftkirchen. In the summer of 1954 (70 years ago), Elvis recorded his debut single, That’s All Right. The upcoming Dolly Parton Broadway musical comedy and life story is called Here You Come Again.  Did you know that Taylor Swift is the Godmother to Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds’ four children. Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock are in talks to make a sequel to their supernatural 1998 movie, Practical Magic, where they played the witchy Owens sisters.

A 2,000 lb. vending machine stuck between an ATM and a row of ice machines in downtown Canyon Lake, Texas (and Alabama, and Oklahoma), now sells ammunition. Written across the front, it says, “Need to Reload?” …with the company’s motto… Ammo Sales Like You’ve Never Seen Before. Yes, it’s an ammunition dispenser right next door to a middle school. The owner says the devices that he plans to introduce to grocery stores across Texas make it impossible for minors to buy bullets. The machines include facial-recognition technology that verifies a customer’s age and identification, based on a driver’s license. They say that after a transaction, that information is not stored nor sold. Right… even some gun owners think this might be going a little far.

Gun control? We need bullet control. I think every bullet should cost $5,000. Because if a bullet cost five thousand dollars, we wouldn’t have any innocent bystanders. Chris Rock

Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders, who flew the first manned orbit of the moon in 1968, died at 90, when a plane he was piloting crashed into the ocean close to Seattle. Titanic and Avatar producer Jon Landau died at 63 after a short battle with cancer. Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author because she was non-judgmental, funny, super-smart, and only 4ft. 7”- tall with a cute German accent, and looked like everyone’s grandmother, died at 96. She was a regular on the late-night talk shows and had her own local radio program. Richard Simmons, died at 76. He was formally a 268-pound teen who shared his successful food plans, diets and exercise videos with millions, hoping to make the world a healthier, happier place. Actor Shelly Duvall, one of the biggest film stars of the 70’s and early 80’s – best known for playing opposite Jack Nicholson in The Shining, died at her home in Blanco, Texas, at 75. Comedy giant Bob Newhart died at 94. Before he was a star, he was an accountant working in Chicago who made some funny comic tapes to amuse himself. An executive at Warner Bros. Records heard about them, which resulted in the 1960 release of his comedy album “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart.” The rest was history, including the Mark Twain prize for American Humor. Lawyer and U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee died at 74. She is only the second person to ever lie in state at the Houston City Hall rotunda. Quite an honor. She had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was undergoing treatment. Actor Bill Cobbs, known for Night at the Museum and The Bodyguard, died at 90.

NASA data shows that Monday, July 22, 2024, was the Earth’s hottest day on record… just last week. The most interesting part of this information is that on Sunday, July 21, 2024 – the day before – had just been declared the Earth’s hottest day since records began. So, in 48 hours, two records were broken and with 2023 proclaimed as the hottest year ever in modern records, I guess it’s safe to say that the Earth is getting hotter. Is human activity to blame?  Yep.

A California hiker lost for 10 days in thick Big Basin Redwoods, found waterfalls and survived by drinking a gallon of water out of his boot every day before he was rescued. He found a few wild berries, but said he craved a burrito and a taco bowl. He left on what was supposed to be a three-hour hike (sung to the tune of Gilligan’s Island… three-hour cruise…) with just his boots and a pair of pants – no shirt… but he did carry a flashlight and a pair of folding scissors. He struggled to navigate because certain landmarks had been wiped out by recent wildfires in northern California.

The CEO of CenterPoint Energy, Jason Wells, came under fire recently as we all sat in our kitchens without power, because during an interview a picture showed him sitting underneath a thermostat set comfortably to 70F degrees. Wells defended the power delays but vowed to have better communication after Hurricane Beryl. He was without power only two days, but also had a backup generator. According to CenterPoint’s “Energy Efficiency & Summer Safety 101,” residents are encouraged to keep their thermostats at 78°F or higher when at home and between 80-83°F when away to save power. Mattress Mack has started a petition calling for the CenterPoint CEO and other executives to resign as backlash over the company’s response to Hurricane Beryl continues to grow.

As I write this, it is Tuesday, and there is a disturbance in the central tropical Atlantic Ocean showing a 40-60% chance of tropical or subtropical formation that could have Florida in its path. Lady Gaga is engaged! She introduced her longtime boyfriend as “my fiancé” to French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal at the Paris Olympics. Simone Biles got the GOLD. Have a great week.

LISA

Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com

What I Heard This Week 07-25-2024

What I Heard This Week July 24, 2024

The stegosaurus fossil known as Apex just sold for a record $44.6 million at a Sotheby’s auction. The skeletal remains from the Jurassic period (really, really, long time ago) were expected to go for $4 to $6 million.

If you choose to read this, some people may think… B O R I N G. But if you have raised a daughter, a granddaughter, or even know the little girl that lives next door … you are probably interested in the following facts, because little girls LOVE Hello Kitty. So, here it is, Hello Kitty is turning 50. Yikes, The Japanese company Sanrio first created Hello Kitty in 1974. A year later, her image, including her signature red bow, was introduced to the Japanese public on a small children’s coin purse that sold for less than a dollar.  Present day, there is so much Hello Kitty merchandise; lunch boxes, clothing, notebooks, just about everything. She’s now a TikTok star, and there are plans in the works for an animated/live action film. Her real name is Kitty White, she was born in London where she still lives with her parents, and she has a twin sister, Mimmy, who wears a yellow bow on her right ear. Kitty’s hobbies are traveling, reading and baking. In 1987, she made her debut as an American cartoon stat in Hello Kitty’s Furry Tale Theater. In 2009, Lady Gaga wore a gown made of plush Hello Kitty dolls in honor of the character’s 35th birthday. But here is the most surprising part… Hello Kitty is not a cat, she is a little girl.

I say… it’s so hot the hens are picking up worms with potholders.

During the Beryl power outage, I went to Lowe’s and purchased thick foam board to cover my kitchen and bedroom windows. It was unbelievable how much heat it reflected. Many thanks to Ashley (the best) and Joshua, for cutting the board so it would fit into my car. They went above and beyond. Even though Joshua cut the board the wrong size, his intentions were very good and his kindness was outstanding.

This is an interesting story. Vermont Republican lawmaker Mary Morrissey (age 67 – old enough to know better) spent five months maliciously pouring water into the personal canvas bag/backpack of her Democratic colleague, Jim Carroll (age – 62).  It wasn’t just a splash or a drip either, sometimes she would pour as much as a full glass of water, often day after day. Finally, a secret camera was set up, recording the act, and Morrissey, caught, has now apologized, stating that she doesn’t know why she did it. It’s funny how apologetic you become if someone records you. I love those cameras! Morrissey and Carroll have known each other since childhood. I guess some of us grow up… and some just never will.

Why do they paint parts of small plants and succulents, sometimes even gluing paper flowers on some of them, then sell them in the garden departments of home improvement stores? I wonder who buys them? That makes exactly no sense at all, and it can’t be healthy for the plant, or our Earth.

Remember the game we played when we were little called Telephone. Someone would whisper a sentence into a person’s ear, who would in turn whisper into the next person’s ear, and so on through the whole group. The last person says out loud what they heard to see how it compares to the original thing said. As many times as I played it, the final sentence was NEVER what we started out with. I’m asking that you remember this game before you repeat anything you’ve heard in the next few months. It’s too easy during this upcoming election to fact check news and information on Snopes, PolitiFact and FactCheck.org. Unless you just don’t want to know the truth.

For the ‘twisted’ kind of weather fans, Twisters, is the sequel to the storm-chaser classic Twister, which came out 28 years ago. Twisters is now showing in theaters. The 1996 classic inspired a whole generation of meteorologists and storm chasers. Remember the huge flying cow? In real life, a bunch has changed since 1996 in the models, ratings, tracking and forecasting of real tornadoes. We have much longer warning times and computing power. Scientists started to use radar more frequently closely after May 3, 1999, when a giant, 85-minute tornado killed 36 people in Oklahoma. The storm was the first use of the term tornado emergency, the National Weather Service’s highest alert level. The deadly storm was just one of 74 that hit Oklahoma and Kansas in a 21-hour period.

Just finished reading Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls. She is the bestselling author of The Glass Castle and Half Broke Horses. In the book was a quote by Rex Walls, the author’s father, who ran bootleg liquor in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. “Quality? Hell, the only time our whiskey aged was when we got a flat tire.” I loved that.

After Beryl, I asked a friend about the corn crops around Bay City. He said that it looked like they were letting the corn dry on the stalks. Hmmm. I had just read that ripe corn beat down by wind or hail is said to be “snaffled.” Or it can also be called “nickled,” “baffled,” “shuckled” or “walted.” The next time you see damaged corn stalks, you can show off and use all of those terms.

People Magazine and Pedigree have a World’s Cutest Rescue Dog Contest each year. I know you don’t believe it, but I just entered Teller in the contest. He IS the world’s cutest rescue dog, and it’s time the world knew it. The winner gets a photo shoot and his picture in People magazine, but that’s not the best part. The best part is a year’s supply of Pedigree dog food and a $1000 donation to the pet-rescue organization of the winner’s choice. Oh, my. That would be so great for the SPCA. They are overrun with kitties right now because responsible pet owners are not being responsible by getting their pets spayed and neutered. Just saying. Go to the Pedigree website on August 21 to meet the top ten finalists and vote for your favorite. I hope you see Teller there.

President Joe Biden announced that he will not run for reelection. He said, “I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country…”  I trust that he did the right thing, but I also believe it took plenty of courage to publicly admit that he is no longer the best candidate for the job of President, prioritizing the health of the nation over his own self-interest. Sometimes your work is such a big part of your identity. I just know that when both of my kids finally graduated, I felt like I had lost my job as a mom. No matter how you play it out, how strong a picture you portray, there is something really big missing when that happens. Good job, President Biden. Now, if we could just get rid of the other old one, clean the slate and start anew, with kindness and respect.

Are cutting boards an overlooked source of microplastics in our food?  Glad you asked. YES. Research shows that chopping ingredients on two specific types of plastic boards, polyethylene and polypropylene, release microplastics that cling to the food we eat. I pulled out my three plastic boards from the cabinet…all three boards are chopped to death. I always liked plastic because I put mine in the dishwasher every day. I hate glass cutting boards. I’m taking all of mine to be recycled in Pearland.

They say you become the average of your six closest friends, so if you want to be better, find better friends!

LISA

Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com

What I Heard This Week 07-18-2024

What I Heard This Week July 17, 2024

Welcome back, Brazoria County! I misunderstood when I heard Miss Beryl say she was coming for a visit. I thought she would be tired, and willing to arrive like a lady. That was no lady! I have never seen winds like we had Monday morning. Beryl was one for the record books. The storm that started in the Atlantic on June 28th, grew to a monster Category 5 storm, made three landfalls, killing at least 11 in the Caribbean and at least four in Texas after coming ashore, was the season’s first hurricane, and was the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record. We had the most unbelievable crew of repairpersons and techs that lived in our area 24-7 (and were still at the Rec Center last night when I drove past.) There are just not enough words to thank those people for putting their lives on hold to help us. The first night I had electricity, I baked cookies and took them to the mall parking lot early the next morning where the trucks and the people were preparing to leave. As I handed over the cookies, I thanked one of the gentlemen, and just started blubbering. I’m tearing up just writing this. Beryl was a very emotional experience for me. Their dedication to our repairs was so appreciated. The storm sucked a window from the front of my house, pulled the weatherstripping from a door, which allowed a huge water stain in my bedroom, but really, it was nothing like it could have been. The poor trees. I guess they were already weakened from the drought of last summer. I continue to be amazed that no matter how many times I walked into a room or a closet, I always reached for and flipped the switch. Sometimes two rooms in succession. I must have short-term memory loss. Doesn’t the AC feel good? We must never forget!

Waiting on a hurricane is like being stalked by a turtle…

Don’t laugh. The curious Pigbutt worm was first found off the coast of California in 2001. I know, I missed that, too. They are the size of a chickpea and according to Live Science, look like “the plump pink rear end of a pig from one side and Mick Jagger’s lips from the other” – using their own mucus (snot) to trap food thousands of feet below the ocean surface. If you gently prod their bodies, it glows blue, and it can emit (fart) a puff of green glowing particles. Nature is wonderful.

For future storms, if your home is hit by a dolphin, DO NOT GO OUT TO SEE if the dolphin is okay. That’s how hurricanes trick you into coming outside.

The earliest known photograph (daguerreotype) of an American first lady, Dolley Madison, has been purchased for $456,000 by the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. The wife of James Madison served as first lady from 1809 to 1817. When the British burned the White House in 1814, Dolley saved a portrait of George Washington from falling into enemy hands by breaking the frame and taking out the painting. A daguerreotype was the first publicly available photographic process, widely used during the 1840s and 1850s.

“Listening to meteorologists predict what’s going to happen with hurricanes five days out is like looking up your symptoms on WebMD. “Could be nothing – might kill ya.”

RECENT BIRTHDAYS: Musician conductor Doc Severinsen is 97. In his biographical documentary he says: Work out. Be happy. Remember that everybody experiences low points in life. Never walk on stage without wearing a suit or at least something fancy. It’s never too late. Severinsen played his final concert performance at 95. Former Beatle Ringo Starr is 84. He said all he wants for his birthday is peace and love – and a trippy two-tiered cake. Actor & TV personality David Hartman is 89. First host of Good Morning America 1975 – 1987. He always signed off with, “Make it a good day today.” He said, “My parents said, “hey, the responsibility for your life is you.  So, if you want something to happen, you’re going to make it happen – don’t wait for anybody else to bring it to you.” Actor Nancy Kwan is 85. She was considered to be the Chinese Bridgette Bardot in the 60’s. College Football Hall of Famer and former NFL player Archie Manning is 75. Manning entered the NFL in 1971 and was a two-time Pro Bowl quarterback. Then, Archie’s sons, Peyton and Eli, became NFL starters and each won two Super Bowls. Singer model actor Grace Jones is 73.

Happy 87th birthday Krispy Kreme doughnuts. You have made our lives so much better, just the way Vernon Rudolph intended back in 1937. I still remember walking into my first Krispy Kreme in San Antonio.

Joe Engle, pilot, aeronautical engineer and former NASA astronaut that commanded two Space Shuttle missions, one in 1981 and 1985, died at 91. Shannen Doherty, actor who starred on Beverly Hills 90210 and documented her 9-year battle with breast cancer, died at 53. Child actor Benji Gregory died at age 46 of suspected heatstroke while in his car. He starred in the 80’s sitcom ALF. Fitness guru Richard Simmons died one day after his 76th birthday. He hadn’t been seen in public since 2014 but said that sometimes he left the house in disguise. I bet it was a good disguise. He made many people smile. Janis Paige who danced with Fred Astaire, toured with Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Red Skelton, Doris Day, The Pajama Game on Broadway, continuing to perform into her 90’s, died at 101.

A woman was killed in Galveston when the deck attached to her home (all built in 1994), collapsed outside because the nails had deteriorated over the years. Many decking companies recommend replacing wood decks every 15-20 years, depending on location, maintenance and exposure to the elements. Never thought of that, but after Beryl, we probably need to give older, outside wooden structures a little thought.

Had she lived, Princess Diana would have been 63-years-old on July 1st. Bobby Reed is having another Reunion Show, July 27th at the Brazoria Civic Center Theater. Costco is raising their membership fees – Regular from $60 to $65, and Gold Star from $120 to $130. After 22 years in business, RedBox, the movie and game disc rental box at many corner stores, will officially close.  Mod Pizza has been saved from bankruptcy, being purchased by Elite Restaurant Group based out of LA, known for buying up underperforming chains. It is one of my favorite places to eat pizza; you pick your crust, all your favorite ingredients, then they pop it into a pizza oven and five minutes later you are eating the best pizza ever.

In 1963, the US postal service introduced zip codes. I wasn’t very old, but I do remember hearing my family members yakking about everyone being known by a number in the future. Funny. If they only knew what life is like now. You’ll pay more for stamps the next time you go to the post office. The price of first-class Forever stamps increased from 68 cents to 73 cents as USPS continues its 10-year “Delivering for America” plan intended to financially stabilize the Postal Service and modernize the postal network. Forever stamps cost 55 cents when the plan was introduced in 2021. I have always said, and will continue to believe, that a stamp is very affordable considering that you can drop an envelope in a box and send it anywhere in the U.S. for such a small amount. Send someone a card this week.

Life would be so much more fun if hurricanes had drag queen names: “Oh, here comes Hurricane Kitty Ninelives!” Or how about Trixie, Hedda Lettuce, Tess Tickle, Bob the Drag Queen, Baga Chipz, Kitty, Peaches, ChiChi, Bunny, Muffy, or Reign. Nah, I don’t think anything would have made that fun!

Both Nichole Kidman and Reece Witherspoon say that there will be a season 3 of Big Little Lies, the story of five women and their husbands – potential suspects – as they attempt to continue with their lives after a murder, along with dangerous little lies they tell themselves just to survive.

Shark populations may shift range as the oceans heat up, bringing them into greater conflict with humans, according to the scientific study. Simone Biles will be on her way to Paris for the 2024 Olympics…along with her husband who has been given permission by the Chicago Bears to miss a few days of NFL training camp so he can watch his wife compete at the Olympics. Starbucks has two new iced energy beverages.

According to the FBI, active shooter incidents in 2023 were up 89% from 2019. During 2023, there were 48 shootings as active shooter incidents. Last month, four people were killed, including a nurse and new mom that was treating a gunshot victim when she was shot, and 9 wounded in a shooting at The Mad Butcher grocery store in Fordyce, Arkansas. The 9 wounded include two police officers. The suspected shooter, 44-year-old Travis Eugene Posey, was also wounded, but arrested. No motive has been found at this time. Trump was so lucky he moved his head at just the right time, before he was shot by the 20-year-old (no known motive) with the AR-15 semi-automatic that has been called “America’s Rifle” by the NRA. According to AmericaGunFacts.com, there are approximately 23 million of these guns floating around as of 2024. That’s a lot of big, bad guns. The Secret Service were pretty sloppy at that event, and someone needs to take responsibility. But on a more positive note, a Trump-owned company is now selling $299 sneakers showing an image of Donald Trump with blood on his cheek and pumping his fist in the air right after the shooting. The white high tops are limited editions so you can show your support and patriotic pride. They’re named FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT High Tops, with only 5,000 pairs available and 10 of those pairs will be randomly autographed.

I know Hurricane Beryl was an expensive few days for everyone, and we just continue to spend on clean-up and repairs. Remember we have FREE garage sale ads, if you happen to need our services.

LISA

Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com

What I Heard This Week 05-02-2024

What I Heard This Week May 1, 2024

 

If you drive a double or extended cab, long bed truck, with an extended trailer hitch, then for the safety and well-being of those around you, and out of the goodness of your heart, please be kind enough to park where you don’t stick out into traffic. To the guy that almost hit me this morning backing out of his parking spot… I now say a simple, “good morning,” which is not even close to the words on my mind and on my lips when you pulled out in front of me. You were so kind to wait on ME to back up so you could continue your journey. (Some people ARE born without a conscience.) Long trucks… please park where the cars around you can back up and get out of their parking spots. A couple of weeks ago, I came back to find my Buick Enclave (yes, it is like driving a school bus) surrounded on each side with a long bed truck. I tried, but there was no space for me to get out because there was another long truck parked directly behind me. So, I just sat reading a book until the parking place in front of me became available and I could drive forward. Just saying.

I get most of my exercise by shaking my head in disbelief.

Kentucky Fried Chicken has taken two white-meat crispy chicken fillets, added zesty marinara sauce, melted mozzarella cheese and pepperoni, and call it Chizza (prounounced cheet-za)… you can add toppings like bell pepper and pineapple.  For those that need a more hardy meal ☹, you can have it served over rice. The Chizza first made its debut on KFC menus in the Philippines in 2015. Since then, it has become an international sensation in countries like Korea, Taiwan, India, Thailand, Germany, Spain, and Mexico. Coming to a KFC location near you. If smelling the yeast bread when you walk through the front door isn’t enough, Subway has now added their new sidekicks; a collection of 12” (that’s a whole ruler) cookies,12”  Cinnabon churros and 12” Auntie Anne’s pretzels (with honey-mustard sauce), OR cinnamon sugar and butter pretzels. Hmmm. What about cheddar cheese sauce?

An archeologist is the best husband any woman can have; the older she gets, the more interested he is in her. Agatha Christie

Question: If I have voted for one party in a prior calendar year, do I have to vote in the same party’s primary this year? No. A voter’s party affiliation ends at the end of each calendar year. Affiliation with a party in a prior year does not affect what primary an unaffiliated voter can vote in this year. (§162.010)… according to Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson.

I’ve reached the age where my train of thought often leaves the station without me.

This is important! It is time for our sweet letter carrier’s annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive on Saturday May 11th. This gives you plenty of time to clean out your pantry (you need to do that anyway) or run to the store and fill up a bag of new non-perishables.  It is the nation’s largest one-day food drive. Please set out your non-perishable food items in a brown bag (plastic if it’s raining), then place your bag/s near your mailbox. Your carrier will do the rest. Please be a part of it all and help stamp out hunger.

RECENT BIRTHDAYS: Actor Ellen Barkin is 70.  Singer Jimmy Osmond is 61.  Actor Olivia Hussey is 73.  Actor Hayley Mills is 78.  Actor Elinor Donahue of Father Knows Best, is 87. Keyboardist Alan Price of The Animals is 82. Actor Tim Curry is 78. Dr. Frank-n-Furter in the 1975 The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Singer Mark “Flo” Volman of The Turtles is 77. The actor Ashley Judd is 56. Actor George Takei of Star Trek is 87. Singer Johnny Tillotson is 86. He sang the theme song for the 1965 Sally Field TV comedy Gidget. Bluegrass musician Doyle Lawson of Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver is 80. Keyboardist Craig Frost of Grand Funk Railroad is 76.

Real or Fake? This is a real story. Steve Carell is reuniting with Tina Fey for a remake of the 1981 Alan Alda film, The Four Seasons; the story of three couples who vacation together each season. Changes in the group happen when one of the couples split up and the man brings a much younger woman on their trips. Alan Alda wrote the original story, directed it, and starred in it with Carol Burnett. Netflix won the rights to produce the show in a bidding war after the conclusion of the strikes. That’s real.  Then someone told me that there is going to be a remake of Golden Girls with Tina Fey as Dorothy, Amy Poehler as Sophia, Lisa Kudrow as Rose, and Maya Rudolph as Blanche. I’m thinking to myself…OMG, I’m going to need to get Disney+, but, alas, I can’t find any truth to this rumor. The same for a supposed 2024 remake of Overboard, this time with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson in the roles of the 1987 original Overboard with Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. Nope. I couldn’t find any truth in this story either. Dang. That group has so much movie chemistry together. Well, great ideas for the future.

The 2024 hurricane season starts June 1, and is expected to be active this year because of La Nina in the equatorial Pacific and record warmth in the tropical Atlantic. Do you have a plan in place? Preparation is the key to staying safe during hurricane season.

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.” – Mahatma Gandhi

British researchers are working on recognizing urinary tract infections using (AI) artificial intelligence and robots. Over 50 percent of women will get a UTI in their lifetime. Sensors can monitor potential signs of infections, changes in walking or sleep patterns and hopefully fight overuse of antibiotics. Two more mayoral candidates have been killed in Mexico bringing the total number to 17. Killed. Political candidates are being assassinated as criminal groups seek to clear the field for their preferred picks for mayors across the country before the election on June 2. The Federal Communications Commission announced several wireless cell phone carriers have been fined nearly $200 million… Verizon $46.9 million, AT&T $57.3 million, T-Mobile $80.1 million, and Sprint $12.2 million, for selling access to their customers’ location data to aggregators, who then sold the data to third party location-based service providers.  Don’t they need customers’ consent to do that?? (An aggregator is someone or something that gathers together materials from a variety of sources.) A 69-year-old driver of a Ford Explorer mistakenly pressed the accelerator instead of the brake, crashing into a New Mexico Thrift store front killing a shopper and injuring 14 other people.

Just once, I want a username and password prompt to say, close enough.

My desk has become a fire hazard with so many valuable pieces of paper loaded with ideas for this column, but I am trying so hard to purge right now. It’s a mindset, plus you must have an extra 15 minutes to actually follow through with purging. So, during my purge, I came across a page I had torn from a magazine advertising the estate auction of Bill Wittliff – the Lonesome Dove, Legends of the Fall screenwriter, writer/director of Red Headed Stranger with Willie Nelson… and so on. An interesting guy. So, that put me on the TexasAuction.com site which took me straight to The Collection of Vikki Carr Auction on Saturday May 11 at 1pm. Property from the life and career of the Mexican-American singing superstar. Designer gowns, jewelry including two rings given to her by Elvis, letters from Frank Sinatra and Richard Nixon, guitars and piano, fine art and antiques from her San Antonio home. Hmmm. Remember: It Must Be Him, Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, The First Time Ever I saw Your Face. Great songs. Carr has released 60 albums throughout her career. Yes, 60! OK. I’ve purged one piece of paper now.

A bored 13-year-old kept shining a laser at a police helicopter above him, admitting later (after he was caught), he didn’t realize it was the police. Hmmm. The Drug Enforcement Administration plans to reclassify and loosen restrictions on marijuana, which could make easier access to the drug for medicinal use and could boost cannabis industries in states where it is legal.

Sooner or later, we will have to recognize that the Earth has rights too, to live without pollution. What mankind must know is that human beings cannot live without Mother Earth, but the planet can live without humans. Evo Morales

A Texas mother has been arrested after mixing lemon juice, vinegar, salt, and Gatorade together, then poured it into a sports bottle for her son to give to a classmate… a bully, who had stolen her son’s drink the day before at school. The drink was non-toxic, but the bully ended up hospitalized.  Hell, hath no fury like a “mother” scorned. I cannot condone that behavior… (but as a mother, that was unnecessary but pretty clever.) Have a great week. Thank you for reading and shopping with us. Thank you to Texas Gulf Bank for the Saturday morning shredding. Thank you to Texas Roadhouse for the rolls and honey butter.

LISA

Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com

What I Heard This Week 04-25-2024

What I Heard This Week April 24, 2024

 

According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, the first Arbor Day occurred on April 10, 1872, in Nebraska City, Nebraska. It’s estimated that nearly one million trees were planted on that day.

Arbor Day is April 26th. What will you do? You could plant a tree, then take a picture of your children or grandchildren standing next to it each year on Arbor Day. Or a bigger job is to just plant a tree, don’t take pictures, but keep it watered and alive this summer. You could take kids or friends on a hike with nature. I remember taking a group of 7-year-old Cub Scouts on a hike just around my neighborhood. We found frogs, bones of animals, a tiny little skull (they loved that), flowers, rocks, ants, strings, plastic wrappers, insects, birds (lots of birds), a lake, animal tracks in the mud, squirrels, pretty leaves… there was so much to see and entertain them…and no electronics, yet every single thing was interesting to them. You could also do a family trash clean-up. Or make green Rice Krispie treats. But do something. The Earth needs you. I planted a Black Tupelo tree about three years ago. I named it Van Morrison and it is just now looking like it may live without me dragging water over the hill so often. I added another fertilizer stick to him this weekend. He should be beautiful in the fall when his leaves turn vibrant red, yellow, orange, and purple, but he is still only about three feet tall. I am patient as I admire him from my kitchen window.

Remember, someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.

The iconic Shiner brewery in South Texas is introducing a new line of spirits for our enjoyment. There is craft vodka, craft gin (8 botanicals including pecans, hmmm), and an unaged whiskey aka White Dog or Moonshine. And we all know that once unaged whiskey is thrown in an oak barrel for a couple of years, it becomes more famously known as BOURBON.

The Earth is a fine place and worth fighting for.  Ernest Hemingway

Often, my coworkers have ideas for this column, which I readily accept. There is only so much reading one can do, and so many times, I can get through an entire article, then don’t really know how to put it into words what will make the subject sound interesting and appealing. Other times I can spend thirty minutes writing the paragraph, then just delete it. It just doesn’t work. This current suggestion was the “Dune” promotional sandworm shaped popcorn bucket available at the AMC concession counter on your way to watch the movie. Actually, it wasn’t an office suggestion, it was more like a warning; “You don’t want to… or you can’t write about the Dune promotional sandworm-shaped popcorn bucket.” Hmmm. So, now I’m curious. I looked it up. So far, I haven’t found a positive mention about the wasteful hard plastic, finger-grabbing, 80 tentacle, off-color looking, waste of your time, your reputation, and your money at $24.99. Just saying. It looks like just another item for our overflowing landfills.

Like the trees, we are visitors, guests of the Earth. Kim Stafford

RECENT BIRTHDAYS:  Actor Julie Christie is 84. Remember her in Dr. Zhivago?  Life magazine said 1965 was “The Year of Julie Christie.”  She was and still is, a very beautiful woman, a contender for the role of Honey Ryder in the first James Bond film, Dr. No, but the producer thought her breasts were too small. The role went to Ursula Andress. Retired MLB Allstar Pete Rose is 83. Rock musician, and one of the greatest guitarists of all times, Ritchie Blackmore is 79. Co-founder of Deep Purple. Singer musician Iggy Pop is 77. Actor singer Patti LuPone is 75. Actor Tony Danza is 73. Actor Andie MacDowell is 66. Best hair in Hollywood. Singer Fabian is 81. News anchor Tom Brokaw is 84. Actor Lee Majors is 85. Singer Peter Frampton is 74. Actor Jack Nicholson is 87.

Louis Gossett Jr. died at 87. Fiddler in Roots, Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley opposite Richard Gere in An Officer and a Gentleman, 2023’s Color Purple. Dickey Betts, guitarist, singer, and songwriter of classics like Ramblin’ Man, Blue Sky and Jessica, died of cancer and pulmonary disease at 80. With the death of Duane Allman in 1971, he took on the lead role in the Allman Brothers Band. It was said that when Dickey and Duane played, they became one on stage. British author Lynne Reid Banks, who wrote bestselling The L-Shaped Room and The Indian in the Cupboard, died at 94. Self-taught drummer, Albert “Tootie” Heath, who played with many jazz greats, died at 88. New Orleans singer and piano legend Clarence “Frogman” Henry who toured with the Beatles in the 60’s, died at 87.

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. Native American Proverb

Squatters took over one of Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants and hotel in London, York & Albany, and are threatening legal action against trespassers…wait, aren’t they the trespassers? The business was temporarily closed while the celebrity chef finalized his lease. The squatters believe that the law allows them to be there. (2012 Legal Aid, Sentencing, and Punishment Offenders Act that states occupying a nonresidential building is not a crime.)

In a small Texas town, the mayor’s race includes a newcomer who helped lead the failed effort to pardon Tiger King Joe Exotic. His name is Eric “Big Juicy” Love. Actually, Big Juicy is the name of his English bulldog, but he wanted to pay homage to his dog by including it in his name. He is a private investigator who filmed Trump speaking on Jan. 6th but did not take part in storming the Capitol.

Words to Anything Goes written by Cole Porter for his 1934 musical.
The world has gone mad today,
And good’s bad today,
And black’s white today,
And day’s night today…

The city of Baltimore believes there was an incompetent crew on board the Dali, accusing them of negligence in the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, along with saying the ship was in unseaworthy condition before the collision. More than half the world’s population aged 5 and older (51% or about 4 billion people), are projected to be overweight or obese by 2035. With the blessings of sculptor David Adickes, Huntsville’s Sam Houston Statue, which stands on a 100-foot pedestal and rises 67 more feet into the air, will be wearing a Houston Texans City Edition Color Rush jersey until May 7th. The jersey weighs 200 pounds. The former mortician whose murder case inspired the movie “Bernie” (with Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey), said his life was in danger because there was no a/c in his prison cell. He has now been moved to an air-conditioned cell. Bernie Tiede is serving 99 years to life for killing Marjorie Nugent, a wealthy widow in Carthage, where he stored her body in a freezer for nine months. It’s a great movie.

A Peruvian Jumping Stick shed her exoskeleton as she was molting, creating a weak spot causing her head to flop back as she climbed upward, so The Houston Zoo created a neck brace from a sterile Q-tip and soft microspore tape. The brace provided support while its exoskeleton hardened, which took just a few days. A baby eaglet was knocked out of its nest when recent storms in Austin took down an entire branch of a large tree.  The dehydrated and hungry baby was brought to the Texas Parks and Wildlife where those good people there were able to re-nest it.  25-30 feet high in the same tree, they attached a make-shift nest made out of a laundry basket, securing it with rope and zip ties. The eaglet’s parents were seen at the new nest caring for the baby. Awww. Baby gorilla Jameela is bonding with her surrogate mom and nursing at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. She was born prematurely by emergency c-section at the Fort Worth Zoo, then her mother showed no interest in her.

Jason Kelce lost his coveted Super Bowl Championship ring during a chili pool diving competition. That’s when you jump into a pool full of chili, in case you didn’t know… (I didn’t know and would have never guessed that there was such a thing – and if I had guessed there was such a thing, I wouldn’t have guessed that anyone would actually do it.)

Remember to sell something…soon. Thank you for reading and shopping with us this week. Don’t forget to plant your tree.

LISA

Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com

What I Heard This Week 04-18-2024

What I Heard This Week April 17, 2024

 

The future is here. TSA Pre-Check at Reid International in Las Vegas unveiled new self-screening, futuristic-looking pre-check equipment, complete with do-it-yourself instructions telling passengers how to pass themselves and their carry-on luggage through pre-flight screening with little or no help from uniformed TSA officers. Hmmm. Having just gone through pre-check several times last week while visiting my son in Boston for his thesis, I would guess it will probably, eventually save time, but wouldn’t you feel better if the human sitting next to you on your flight had been required to look eye-to-eye with a human being before he/she got on the plane. Just saying. At one airport security, they separated us into groups of two, then a security dog (outfitted with a cute little apron that said Do Not Pet Me) walked in front of us, then behind us. I think I would trust the dog more than a machine.

I had the slowest, rudest, and most impatient cashier today.  I am so done using self-checkout.

A couple of weeks ago, my Ring doorbell sent me a neighborhood post stating that morning, a man out for a walk had seen an alligator on the sidewalk. The nice part about Ring neighborhood posts is that you can support your announcement with a picture, and there it was… somewhere on the corner of Creekside Lane and Rock Rose off Old Angleton Road in Richwood, an alligator.

Gardening Tip: When you bury a body, cover it with endangered plants so it’s illegal to dig it up.

Last week, I found Rat cheese, the yummiest cheddar ever, at Stewart’s in Brazoria. The taste brought back memories from childhood when we would go to Nemechek Brothers meat market in West, Texas, get fresh ring bologna, cheese, linked wieners connected to each other, and fresh baked bread from the Czech bakery next door.

EARTH Day is Monday April 22. The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970 with hopes that it would bring attention to issues affecting our environment. The main message of Earth Day 2024 is the need to commit to ending reliance on plastics, says EarthDay.org. The goal is a 60 percent reduction in the production of all plastics by 2040. Plastics are bad for the environment, and a growing body of research indicates they have an adverse effect on the major systems of the body, including immune, respiratory, digestive, and hormonal systems. Studies show that we now have micro plastics in our bloodstreams. You can take your soft plastics to LJ City Hall to a collection box, and benches will be made out of the plastics.

Americans throw away 25 billion Styrofoam coffee cups every year – enough to circle the earth 436 times. It is not biodegradable, so it never decomposes.

A Georgia man wanted a woman to terminate a pregnancy because he didn’t want the child. When the baby’s mother gave birth, she remained hospitalized for a period of time. The father of the child would pick up bottles of breast milk then deliver them to the child’s grandmother who was caring for the infant, but not before he added antifreeze to the bottles. The man was found guilty and sentenced to 50 years in prison and 10 years’ probation.   Sorry, this would be a life sentence if I was on the jury. Or worse. Or better yet, let him order his favorite meal serve it with antifreeze cream sauce and antifreeze sprinkles. His cell mates will not favor him for messing with a baby.

O.J. Simpson died of cancer at 76. Most of us, even if you weren’t alive in ‘94, know the story of the white Ford Bronco, low-speed chase with Orenthal James Simpson sitting in the backseat and his best friend and former teammate, Al Cowlings, driving. That day Simpson was supposed to turn himself in after being charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. It was broadcast over live TV and radio by helicopter news, so everyone knew it was happening, while it was happening. Cars pulled over in the path and waited to witness the chase, with large crowds of people cheering and holding handmade signs. A procession of police cars followed gently behind because it was reported that O.J. had a gun to his head. It was a big deal. O.J. was an icon, a hero in our eyes, not just an accomplished athlete, but he appeared in movies, commercials (Hertz: Run, O.J., Run, PowerBurst, AT&T, RC Cola, Golden Pioneer Chicken, Boy’s Club, Made in the USA, Chevrolet, Schick, TreeSweet Orange Juice, Dingo Boots… & probably more) … O.J. had everything going for him. Sigh. Since O.J.’s death, the current owners of the Ford Bronco say the time is now for selling it, with the latest offer for the Bronco around $750,000. The owners say they are looking for at least $1.5 million. It is, after all, the 30th anniversary. They will probably get it.

Trina Robbins, comic book creator (in 1986, she was the first woman to ever draw a full run of Wonder Woman) and historian, died at 85. In the early 60’s she posed nude for men’s magazines. In her 20’s, she started a boutique named Broccoli in the East Village of Manhattan where she designed, and dressed people like Donovan, Cass Elliot, David Crosby, Jim Morrison, and she even inspired a verse in Joni Mitchell’s song, Ladies of the Canyon. As a cartoonist, she always felt shut out by her male peers, and they were all male. She also created a Marvel comics character, Misty, geared toward young women; and co-founded Friends of Lulu, a nonprofit organization that promoted the reading and creation of comics by women.

When was the last time you passed up a Lemonade Stand?? I try not to ever pass by one without stopping. Two weeks ago, there were two kids close to Buc-ee’s and Plantation Drive. I turned the car around and went back to give them a donation because as adults, it is what we are supposed to do. So, this Friday April 19th from 9am to 11am, Brazosport Christian School (200 B Willow Drive LJ), is sponsoring Lemonade Tails – A Sip & Save Serve Day. The elementary students are hosting a lemonade stand with all their proceeds benefiting the SPCA. Surely you have time for a cup of lemonade for the kids and all the abandoned fur babies. Hope to see you there.

Donation Day at SPCA. Saturday April 20th from 9am to noon. Bring your gently used donations to the SPCA at 141 Canna Lane and they will transport the items to the Thrift Shop. Clothes, shoes, purses, kitchen items, décor, sports equipment, books, DVDs, hats, jewelry and so much more. There are a bunch of fur babies in need of help. Clean out the closet. If you need a box, let me know.

Gypsy Rose Blanchard and her ex-fiancé Ken Urker now have matching husky dog tattoos as a symbol of their strong bond. Oh, my. She is also divorcing her husband that she married while in prison.

Dominique Sachse says, never say never. Her next chapter finds her back in the news in Dallas, as a part of Dr. Phil McGraw’s Merit Street Media. She is cohosting Morning on Merit Street in a program “like most morning news programs covering the latest news while also offering a lifestyle-focused approach with such topics as health, fitness, parental advice, financial guidance and more.” Go to MeritsStreetMedia.com/channel-finder/ to find out where to watch.

The infamous Mr. Darcy, wet, white, ruffled shirt that Colin Firth wore in the BBC 1995 Pride and Prejudice miniseries sold at auction for $32,000. The 26-year-old gun supervisor and armorer for Alec Baldwin’s Rust movie, received 18 months in prison after finding that she brought live ammunition on the movie set, which was responsible for the death of their cinematographer. She was acquitted at trial of allegations she tampered with evidence in the investigation and pleaded not guilty to a separate felony charge that she carried a gun into a bar in Santa Fe where firearms are prohibited. NOTE: I’m not sure how you selfie-video yourself carrying a firearm into a bar. Hmmm.  At an 80th birthday bash, 11 people became violently ill after eating their Uncle John’s infamous pea and ham soup that took him three days to prepare. Uncle John also just happened to be the birthday boy. Someone needs to tell Uncle John that after the first day, pea & ham soup is considered leftovers with just a three day life expectancy. An adored 32-year-old father died after contracting a serious infection which led to multiple organ failures, after receiving a tattoo from a man who operated his tattoo parlor from a garden shed in the back yard. Needless to say, the studio was not licensed. Campbell’s Chunky soup honored Eagles’ Jason Kelce’s retirement with a Legend #62 Edition of 620 collectible soup cans with his cute, bearded face, plus a $62,000 donation to his charity.

Happy Earth Day. Don’t forget to plant a tree so that the next generation can get air for free.

LISA

Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com

What I Heard This Week 04-11-2024

What I Heard This Week April 10, 2024

 

Well, on Monday, we certainly had a bit of fun here at the office sharing two pairs of eclipse glasses and taking turns going outside to the front sidewalk to watch the eclipse. All while listening to our downtown neighbor blasting Bonnie Tyler’s hit, “A Total Eclipse of the Heart”. You should study the lyrics if you don’t know the song by heart. It was just a FUN day. I hate that we have to wait another twenty years for the next one in 2044.  During this eclipse watching time, some of our office group talked about significant moments in our own history that we remember vividly. They’re called Flashbulb Memories when you can remember exactly where you were and what you were doing. A snapshot in time. The day President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed (November 22, 1963), I was sitting in Mrs. Post’s second grade classroom at Parkdale Elementary in Waco, Texas with many adults around me crying; then they dismissed us from school in the middle of the day. The moon landing was July 20, 1969. We lived on Lake Bistineau, outside Bossier City, Louisiana. We (my sisters, brother, mom & dad) were glued to the TV set with rabbit ears that was placed right next to the console stereo… I was wearing a Moon Racing Cams t-shirt that my uncle Mac had sent me from California. I didn’t even know what a racing cam was and still don’t, but I can remember the big moon-eyes on front of the oversized shirt. On August 16, 1977, when I found out that Elvis had died, I was sitting at my desk at Forrest Chevrolet in Cleburne, Texas. I didn’t cry, but the lady that I worked with (that was married to a police officer and had a rose tattooed on her hip that she was very proud of), was definitely in distress. The early morning 9-11-2001 hijacking attack of The World Trade Center found me sitting in a chair nursing my baby daughter while I watched the news. I yelled downstairs to the other members of the house, but they didn’t really understand the seriousness of the request, so I yelled again, “I need you to turn on the TV right now!” When the space shuttle Columbia broke apart on Feb 1, 2003 while re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven crew members, I was in the car with my young daughter on a most beautiful clear, sunny day with big white puffy clouds, driving to Austin for a baby shower. Now, this is just my own history, but I do have the most vivid mental picture of where I was sitting when the doctor told me I had breast cancer, just a few days before Christmas in 2003. I knew when he touched me on the shoulder, it wasn’t good news. Sigh. I wonder if our kids will remember the eclipse 50 years from now…where they were, what they were wearing and who they were talking and sharing with. Twenty years from now, I hope I have a snapshot in time of this day. And that I can actually remember it before I take my Geritol.

You should not be a slave to your telephone. The technology is there to serve you, not the other way around. Martin Cooper

The ad mentioned… if you’re looking for a job, love animals and don’t take yourself too seriously, an opportunity at the Blackpool Zoo might pique your interest. They were looking for five successful candidates to join the visitor services team as seagull deterrents by wearing bird costumes (think Big Bird dressed like an eagle) to scare away nuisance seagulls and pigeons that harass and steal food from visitors and in animal enclosures. The zoo had significant interest with over 200 applications from all over the world, along with enclosed videos of people dressed as bananas, pineapples, and birds. What a story. They even offered a position to James Corden. He would have been great.

Recent Birthdays: Musician Yoko Ono is 91. Actor John Travolta is 70. Fashion and Costume Designer Bob Mackie is 85. (Cher). Fashion Designer Tommy Hilfiger is 73. Former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning is 48. Country singer Bobby Bare is 89. Movie director Francis Ford Coppola is 85. Singer John Oates is 76.  Singer Janis Ian is 73. Actor Jackie Chan is 70. College and Pro Football Hall of Fame Tony Dorsett is 70.

Grammy-winning Japanese conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 30 years, Seiji Ozawa, died at 88. Henry Fambrough, the last surviving original member of The Spinners, died at 85. Some of their classics include It’s a Shame, Could It Be I’m Falling in Love, The Rubberband Man, I’ll Be Around, and Working My Way Back to You. Former NFL linebacker Carl Weathers, who graduated with a B.A. in drama, then became a Hollywood star playing Apollo Creed in the Rocky movies, died at 76. Richard Lewis, the actor and stand-up comedian known for his recurring role on Curb Your Enthusiasm, has died of a heart attack at 76.

In the nonstop tsunami of global information, librarians provide us with floaties and teach us to swim. Linton Weeks

Libraries are just the greatest places. Remember the thrill of the bookmobile when we were kids? Libraries not only serve people of all ages, income level, location, ethnicity, and physical ability, they help you grow, learn, and develop new interests along with research assistance and classes… genealogy, job search, personal finance, music, newspapers (cool idea), movies (great selection), and eBooks. Did you know that libraries are struggling to afford the costs of eBooks? For instance, let’s say the latest novel costs the library $18, it may cost $55 to “lease” the digital copy. Then, the leases usually expire after a year or so, or around 26 checkouts, whichever comes first. Then the library must renew, creating a financial strain for them and their ability to build a decent library collection. You are a taxpayer, but there is only so much money allotted for each library. In Brazoria County, there is a book sale each year to help raise money. Used books are available For Sale at each location, and donations are always accepted. Support your library system. They are here for everyone.

Libraries are only good if people use them, like books only exist when someone reads them. Nicholas Meyer

What is Imitation crab? Glad you asked. Let’s just say, if you love imitation crab, then you should stop reading right now. Well, imitation crab is made primarily from surimi which is a paste made from pulverized fish like Alaska pollock, Atlantic cod, haddock, or hake. It looks a lot like toothpaste. Then they add filler like water, starch, sugars, oils, salt, and proteins like soy. Oh, and then a very small amount of extract made from boiling, baking, and pulverizing actual crab, which is then added to give it flavor. Yum. Imagine a processed hot dog, stuffed full of all the things we don’t even want to think about. Does imitation crab taste like crab? No, it doesn’t. The video I watched was interesting… but not appetizing at all. Pull up the video on how to make imitation crab.

In Washington State, BFRO (Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization) investigated a sighting of what was  described as a 10-foot very large, human-like figure running on a ridge while making a beeline for some trees, across pretty rugged terrain. Actually, in real life, it was two high school cousins that run cross-country, easily identified as Yeti, Sasquatch, Abominable Snowman, and Bigfoot… How embarrassing.

When I write this column, I try to include something that gives you memories… makes you think… makes you smile…  makes you smarter or helps the environment. About a year ago, I had fruit flies in my kitchen. Connie told me to buy a ZEVO Flying Insect Trap, but I forgot and she got tired of waiting on me so she just bought me one. They are fantastic, collecting little tiny gnats and flies in abundance on replaceable sticky pads. They plug into your sockets with a very attractive blue light that spellbinds the bugs. In fact, I now have two ZEVO’s in my kitchen, one by the sink and one by the door. My inside kitchen lights attract an avalanche of flying critters that should stay outside, but don’t. Last night I was feeding the cats when Sully decided she couldn’t wait, and jumped up on the cabinet just as I turned to carry a full bowl to their feeding area. I shooed her down, the cat food spilled, scared her, she backed into the ZEVO with her tail, her tail stuck to the sticky pad which threw her into a panic, she screamed a cat scream which frightened the two other cats who were patiently waiting for dinner, then the dog thought everyone was playing a game and he joined in. There were four animals running, hissing, growling, howling and barking in all directions of the kitchen as they searched for their safe places. Except for Teller who thought we were having a party. I ran after Sully, fur all stress-puffed out, her tail straight up in the air, with the pad on the end, like a balloon on a string. I just wanted the sticky pad off. I finally found her under a chair in my bedroom. Hissing. It was a mess, I just had to grab the ZEVO and pull it off, along with a lot of her fur, then she wouldn’t speak to me the rest of the evening. Hope I’m leaving you with a smile. Thanks for reading and shopping with us this week. It’s perfect weather for a garage sale and they’re FREE.

LISA

Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com

What I Heard This Week 04-04-2024

What I Heard This Week April 3, 2024

 

A VERY good person sent me a thank you card last week for some love that I had extended to help prepare a proper send-off for friends leaving town. The card was unnecessary, but very much appreciated. The cute quote on the card said: A good person is a gift to the whole world. Heidi Wills.

My daughter finishes graduate school in about a month. I’m excited on several different levels. Money… I hope she can make some really soon. Expertise in her field of environment. We need people like her to help us save ourselves and our world. Graduate school has been hard, but I see she has grown so much in the past two years, both personally and intellectually. I’m so excited for her as she starts this new chapter in her life… BUT… in today’s mail at my office, she received a pamphlet announcing the new 2025 National Geographic Expeditions – travel around the world on a private jet. Yes, I opened it – the word JET got my attention. Yep, it’s a customized Boeing 757 with VIP accommodations. An Around the World 24-day Trip starting at just $107,995. That’s less than $5,000 per day. Hmmm. AE, I’m listening. Is there something you want to tell me? And all this time I was worrying she wouldn’t be able to pay her phone bill after she graduates…

Nature is not a place to visit. It is home. – Gary Snyder

According to a new study by nonprofit Carbon Mapper, more than half the landfills in the U.S. are “super-emitters” of methane.

Question: How can I change my party affiliation? After affiliating with a party by voting in a party’s primary or by taking an oath of affiliation with a party, a voter cannot change their party affiliation during the calendar year. (§162.010) However, affiliation will automatically expire at the end of the calendar year…

Have you seen the Joe Namath hearing aid commercial? It made me sad. I was young but I remember Broadway Joe in his controversial pantyhose commercials stating with a chuckle, “Now, I don’t wear pantyhose. But if (Hanes) Beautymist can make my legs look good, imagine what they’ll do for yours.”

April 8 • Partial Solar Eclipse at BASF Planetarium: Local skywatchers are invited to observe the solar eclipse at BASF Planetarium from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM on Monday, April 8. This event is FREE and open to the public! The eclipse will begin locally at 12:18 PM when the moon will first touch the sun’s edge. At 1:38 PM, viewers will experience the maximum eclipse when the moon will be closest to the center of the sun. The eclipse will conclude by 2:59 PM when the moon will leave the sun’s edge. Eclipse glasses will be on sale for 2/$5 at the planetarium during the event. Please remember that it is never safe to look directly at the sun without specialized eye protection designed for solar viewing. 979-265-7661

A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life. Henry Ward Beecher

There is discussion about Kathie Lee Gifford being a perfect candidate for “The Golden Bachelorette” set to premiere sometime in Fall 2024. Hoda and Jenna of the Today show. unofficially nominated Kathie Lee on the air. Hoda said, “The storyline would be really good because, first of all, you’re not someone who would ever go sucking face with someone in a hot tub…” Hmmm. That already sounds more appealing than what I saw with The Golden Bachelor. Those women were sometimes a touch on the trashy side.

Walmart plans to remodel 650 stores across 47 states creating thousands of jobs. In addition to improved layouts, the remodel will be part of its Store of the Future concept with new paint, new signs, shopping carts, expanded product selection, technology, and a friendly, welcoming atmosphere. The pharmacies will be moved closer to the entrance and vision centers will be upgraded. I guess they are working on the Walmart in LJ because I saw new paint and designs on the outside of the building as I left the dry cleaners this morning. I will add that I’ve started ordering online from Walmart instead of Amazon (they tend to be gobbling up small businesses), plus Walmart has superfast delivery and you can get almost anything you need online. FYI

Back in November, a 70-year-old woman in Uganda gave birth to twins, (a boy and a girl) after in vitro fertilization. Each twin weighed 3lbs., 7oz. and were just recently last week, discharged from the hospital. I wish I knew the back-story on this. One report said that she also has a daughter born in 2020 with the help of IVF. Interesting that the same report says that her partner abandoned her when he realized she was having twins. Now, I’m scratching my head because the woman’s eggs were donated but the doctors used the father’s sperm and in order to have that happen, he really had to agree to the whole procedure. I’m just a little confused. I try to fact-check but always remember, just because you read or hear it, doesn’t make it true.

I am so lucky people can’t hear what I’m thinking.

Dicephalus Conjoined twins, Abby & Brittany Hensel, who had their own TLC reality series about their journey as they prepared to graduate from college and travel to Europe, revealed that three years ago, twin Abby (34) secretly married Josh Bowling, a nurse, US Army veteran and divorcee with one daughter. The twins are now fifth grade teachers. Nice, I bet that when they were born, all their parents wanted for them was a healthy, normal life. Against all odds, it sure looks like they’re getting their wish. Then today, I read that a paternity case was filed by Josh Bowling’s ex-wife. What?!? – but he acknowledges he has a daughter. What? Yep, a normal life in today’s world.

A rare Rothschild’s giraffe was born at Chester Zoo in the UK. The yet-to-be-named six-foot tall baby giraffe was delivered by Orla, his mom, after just a 3-hour labor which was captured by video. Punxsutawney Phil, famous mostly on Groundhog Day, is now a dad, welcoming 2 healthy groundhog babies with his wife, Phyllis. It was a surprise because no one knew Phyllis was expecting.

What is a popular social activity that can help ward off dementia? Bingo played often. It can help improve memory, thinking, orientation and even language.

Police found a hidden camera under a bathroom sink at a California Starbucks, then the search began for who put it there. They found him… along with about 20 firearms, an assault rifle, unregistered firearms, high-capacity magazines, and many more micro cameras. From just one-day of footage, police have identified more than 91 victims that the camera caught using the bathroom, as young as 4 and as old as 85, in graphic detail. How disturbing.

A veterinary tranquilizer, Xylazine, a powerful horse sedative, is being mixed with the powerful opioid fentanyl and related illicit lab-made drugs, in order to increase profits. Injecting xylazine can lead to skin wounds that cause necrosis which often requires amputation or limb removal. Addiction is scary and can be deadly.

As I sat at my computer writing this column, the words “selling goods” seemed necessary in order to explain something in a new paragraph, but selling just wasn’t the word I was looking for. I thought of the word hawking or hocking but just wasn’t sure which was the right spelling to use. According to Grammarist; as a verb, hawk means (1) to sell goods, especially noisily or aggressively on the street, and (2) to clear the throat of phlegm. One definition of hock is to pawn. Because hock and the first sense of hawk both have to do with selling things, the words are easily confused.

Trump has sold much merchandise with his name on it; steaks, vodka, neckties, furniture, digital trading cards, Victory 47 cologne, mug shot t-shirts, mugs, sweatshirts, coolers, posters, gold champagne glasses, jellybeans, gold sequined pillows, $399 gold sneakers, (actually now that I’m researching it I realize there is not enough room in the column to list it all) and now a $60 God Bless The USA Bible complete with copies of the U.S. Constitution. My initial thought: Perhaps it should come with copies of the Ten Commandments. Just saying. Have a great week and thank you for reading and shopping with us.

LISA

Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com

What I Heard This Week 03-28-2024

What I Heard This Week March 27, 2024

 

Typically, each morning around 7, I boil water and then fix myself a pour-over coffee, climb back in bed, watch the news, and receive enough cat love to start my day properly. But surprise, there were no cats in the bed waiting for me when I got back, so I strolled back to the kitchen thinking that 3-cats and 1-dog were waiting there to tell me some heart-breaking story about me forgetting to feed them, for like months… like cats always do on a normal day.  But no cats were there to mention that they were starving… but listening, I could hear cat-talk chirping chatter. I found the four of them all lined up at the back windows to the porch, excited and watching something. There was the cutest little baby squirrel going back and forth from window to window, entertaining each one of my babies. It was like he was asking if they could come outside and play. I watched for a few minutes, scanning the creek waiting for an irate mother squirrel to come running up and scold the little fellow. It was so cute. I slowly opened the back door, the baby hesitated, then ran back to the creek with a great story about finding new friends.

Pets aren’t our whole lives… but they make our lives whole.  

How to Walk a Human
A Dogs Guide

  1. Humans need exercise. If they don’t get it, they become chubby. It’s up to you to save them.
  2. Allow your humans to tether themselves to you. This keeps them from wandering off or running away.
  3. Your human will probably need breaks. Be considerate, stop and sniff
  4. Bark Humans have very short attention spans.
  5. After you potty, walk away. If you have trained your human correctly, they will pick it up so you don’t have to scratch the ground to keep your territory clean and fresh.
  6. Periodically drag your human as fast as you can. This is called internal training. Do not allow your human to shorten the walk. They are being lazy. Sit in protest if you must.
  7. Once back home, allow your human to remove their tether, then lick their face many times. This is positive reinforcement for a job well done.
    Readers    , hope you like this. Since mom read it, she seems to be much more patient on our walks, almost welcoming to my stop and sniffs. Humans just take time to break in… or you can always send them off to PetSmart for classes. Teller

Anybody who doesn’t know what soap tastes like never washed a dog. – Franklin P. Jones

Happy 25th anniversary to Grapevine Gifts located by Hobby Lobby. Such nice people, who give so much back to our community.  I am always surprised at the great novelties, specialties, and unusual items they carry in their gift store. Hmmm. Especially the chocolates. Sometimes I stop and select just four chocolates that they box up for a simple little gift for a friend. To our sweet friends, we say congratulations… from “your” friends at The Source Weekly.

The headline said: I Hope You All Feel Terrible Now. The reference is to how Princess Kate was hounded into revealing her cancer diagnosis. I remember vividly what it was like to have two kids under the age of 7, trying to figure out how to explain to them that first I was going to have surgery, then the doctors were going to give me some super strong medicine that was going to make me really sick, but then that same medicine would make me better. I was going to be very tired, my hair would fall out, but it would come back. All you pray for during times like that, is for normalcy in your life and the lives of your children. And yes, you think quite a bit about dying and how it would affect your children. Yes. Shame on everyone that gossiped and trash-talked Kate. I hope you do feel terrible now, but you can’t ever really understand until it’s you in that same situation.

My life coach just informed me that I did not make the team.

Since the weather has been so nice, I have been trying to get my frozen yard back into shape. I had installed three new LED fixtures at the back of the house that go on at dark so I can work until 10pm if I want to. LED lights are so much brighter than old fixtures; I have them on the lowest setting and it’s still too bright. Anyway, last week it was late, and I was in-and-out the back door fertilizing plants on the back porch. I reached down to brush something off my pants and felt a strange lump on my leg. Uaah! Almost immediately I realized that it was a June bug and then the dance started. I hate those things. It had crawled up my pants legs, past my knee without my knowledge. Never has a woman removed her clothing so fast. There is an old Frank Zappa song… There Will Come a Time When You Can Even Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance. Yep.

A total solar eclipse is about to hit Texas.  On April 8th, the path of totality will begin before 1:30pm near Eagle Pass crossing Texas, moving northeast towards Oklahoma and Arkansas, then on to Maine. Texas is expecting millions of people to come see it. My sister is in Georgetown where they are telling people to stay home because they expect the roads to be jammed packed full. The path of the eclipse will be so dark that Texas electric grid managers are forecasting a sudden, brief drop in solar power as the eclipse crosses the state. Go to: GreatAmericanEclipse.com.

I’m fairly certain that the person who put the first “r” in February also decided how to spell Wednesday.

Rumor has it that there will be a third and final film of Downton Abbey, according to Imelda Staunton, who portrayed Queen Mary’s lady-in-waiting Maud Bagshaw in the first two films. The Conservancy of SW Florida caught a nest of 11 Burmese pythons weighing 500 pounds, including one that was 16 feet long. Olivia Munn, 43, revealed she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a double mastectomy several months ago. Supposedly Aaron Taylor-Johnson has received a formal offer to play the next James Bond. The Esperanza “Hope” Andrade is the first ferry to be added to Galveston Ferry Fleet in more than a decade. Hope cost $33 million, is 293 ft. long, 66 ft wide, and will carry passengers across Galveston Bay in 18 minutes.

Shohei Ohtani, Japanese baseball star and MLB’s highest paid player, signing a 10-year, $700 million deal with the Dodgers, says he was duped by his now-fired, long-time interpreter who, guess what, has a massive gambling problem with at least $4.5 million wire-transferred to an illegal bookmaking operation. Hmmm. This was a guy that had been with Ohtani for years and was considered to be a friend. Hmmm.

April Fools’ Day or All Fools’ Day is Monday April 1, a day where jokesters play harmless pranks or fibs to your friends and neighbors. I’m telling you so you have time to think about what you’re going to do. Thinking about it reminded me that as a parent, you really lie every single day, not just April Fool’s. Remember the spaghetti tree, or being told that if you picked the sesame seeds off the hamburger buns, you could grow a hamburger tree. How about NOT swallowing watermelon seeds because you were guaranteed to have a watermelon vine grow out your ear. Or you would go blind if you sat too close to the TV. Or that I wasn’t born, they found me in a cabbage patch. Or if the ice cream man plays music, it means they are out of ice cream. Or my grandma’s favorite; when it thunders, God is just moving furniture. Or when Grandaddy told me that all my freckles would spread together when I turned 18 and I would just look like a had a nice tan. (What actually happened was I turned 18 and didn’t care anymore that I had freckles – he was such a smart man!)  I personally told my own two kids that when we went through the toll tag E-ZPass electronic toll tunnels, that if they would just sit very still and pay attention, they could feel it when we went under it. Then I would say, “Get ready, we are almost underneath the toll thingy. There! Did you feel it?” They felt it every time, and yes, I’m a bad mom. A very bad mom. Have a great week and Happy April Fool’s. Don’t be mean!

LISA

Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com

What I Heard This Week 03-21-2024

What I Heard This Week March 20, 2024

 

A man walks into a bar with his dog and says to the bartender… Whoa! Wait a sec. Wrong story. I will need to start over. A man in Tennessee walked into a Buc-ee’s with his 3-year-old Pekin service duck named Wrinkle the Duck.  Wrinkle was situated in a pet stroller and had her service animal certification, so she was allowed to stay in the store for a short time, but only if leashed. The owner mimed putting a leash on the duck. Then Wrinkles’s guardian/owner, trainer, parent, and best human friend, posted a YouTube video. You should also know that Wrinkle belongs to two circus jugglers just trying to make a living. Oh, and I should also mention that Wrinkle has 2.75 million YouTube subscribers (at least, as of today – can’t imagine what the numbers are now…) and 4.2 million followers on TikTok. Her video, I Took my Duck to Hooters and I Took My Duck to Petsmart, have quite a few million views. Anyway, eventually the police arrived, and a citation warning was given explaining that Wrinkles is not to trespass on ANY Buc-ee’s property in the future. Health Codes. What a great story. Customers were amused, even the police took time to pet Wrinkle. I haven’t laughed this hard in quite a long time and I believe this story to be real and not exaggerated. (Wrinkles has even run the NYC Marathon, can fist bump with her beak, and what if…Beaver Aplin’s nickname had been Duckie... we might be driving to Duckie’s to get gas, an iced tea and a breakfast burrito… instead of a Beaver Dynasty, it might be a Duck Dynasty… wait, that’s already taken… but see how your destiny can change depending on your name…) On Wrinkle’s website, you can buy merchandise including calendars, toys, sweaters and Quackson Pollock paintings – you know like Jackson Pollock. Giggle. Go to: seDUCKive.com

Wrinkle posted: I’ve always loved Buc-ee’s. And now I can’t go to Buc-ee’s anymore. Because it’s illegal for me to go to Buc-ee’s. It’s sad to think. We’ll never be able to experience Buc-ee’s ever again. Our road trips will never be the same.

A positive attitude and a sense of humor go together like biscuits and gravy. Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton says, “What’s cookin’, good lookin’?” Dolly and her sister Rachel Parton George, believe that good food and good times are the next best thing to pure love. You can pre-order their new cookbook called Good Lookin’ Cookin’ or wait until it comes out September 17th. More than 80 delicious recipes including country ham and biscuits, barbecue spareribs, Family Favorite meatloaf, Slaw of Many Colors, watermelon fruit salad, mac and cheese and strawberry shortcake, along with hosting tips, menus, and pictures.

The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain. Dolly Parton

Martha Stewart is making a return to Sports Illustrated in the magazine’s 60th anniversary “Legends Photoshoot.” She will join two dozen former cover models, including Christine Brinkley, Paulina Porizkova, Kate Upton, Tyra Banks, and others when the swimsuit issue debuts in May. Last year, Martha became the oldest model ever to be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated wearing a gorgeous white bathing suit and gold wrap.

Netflix has a comedy-drama based on David Nicholls’s 2009 bestseller, One Day. There was also a movie by the same name released in 2011 with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess which I haven’t watched yet but intend to. The Netflix adaptation is really good. It’s listed as BINGE worthy by PEOPLE magazine. I agree.

Singer, actress Vanessa Williams (Miss America 1984 but later resigning her title due to controversy about nude photos published in Penthouse magazine), is set to play editor in chief Miranda Priestly in London’s stage adaptation of the 2006 film, The Devil Wears Prada musical. Meryl Streep would be a hard act to follow. Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre’s new cocktail line, called Gin & Juice, comes in apricot, passion fruit, citrus and melon flavors. The new Michael Jackson biographical musical drama film will have his lookalike, 27-year-old nephew, Jaafar Jackson portraying the superstar. “Michael” is scheduled for release in April 2025. Timothee Chalamet will play the young Bob Dylan in a new biopic project. The 4th Ghostbusters movie, Frozen Empire, is coming out this week. Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, and others reprising their roles from Afterlife, alongside Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, and others reprising their characters from the earlier films. Cheech and Chong’s Last Movie explores their 5-decade career of performing stand-up, making records, and starring in hit films. This detailed history and bio-doc covers their lives, comedy partnership, and lasting influence on pop culture. It’s a lot of fun, man!

Attention Golfers. Brazosport College Foundation Gator Classic 25th Annual Golf Tournament on Friday April 19, 2024. www.brazosport.edu/classic. 979-230-3234. Maybe you don’t play golf but want to donate to the Silent Auction, be a sponsor, or donate to the scholarship fund so kids can go to college.

Let’s get back to the Princess of Wales… the frenzy continues. So, Kate wanted to keep her medical information private (good for her) and reported she will be back after Easter, but rumors and conspiracy theories continue… like the couple are divorcing, or Kate is dead (until she was videoed this past weekend in public with her husband, looking good and healthy), or perhaps now she has a body double. Haven’t you even heard of someone whitening teeth or taking off a zit in a picture that you just happen to be sending out to the world. It’s done all the time. At this office, we even thinned someone’s thighs in an ad that we did about 25 years ago here at The Source Weekly. At their request, of course. Yes, conspiracy was involved but the customer is always right.

Be the woman who fixes another woman’s crown, without telling the world that it was crooked. Amy Morin

Buc-ee’s had a float in the RodeoHouston parade downtown Houston last month, which marked the start of the 2024 rodeo season. Despite bad (really bad) weather, the Jonas Brothers set an all-time attendance record of 75,600, beating the record set just days before by Los Tigres del Norte, who sold five (5) fewer tickets. The Jr. Market Grand Champion Steer of Show was Woozy, a beautiful animal shown by Blaize Benson, who then sold at auction for $1 million, tying the rodeo record set in 2022.

Don’t squat with your spurs on.  Will Rogers

If we pollute the air, water and soil that keep us alive and well, and destroy the biodiversity that allows natural systems to function, no amount of money will save us. David Suzuki

Mount Everest has an estimated 12,000 pounds of human waste each year – not just leftover meals, it’s empty fuel cans, bottles, plastic and discarded climbing gear, and miscellaneous pieces of old camp sites, in addition to human excrement, aka poop. With climate change, there is also melting snow exposing dead bodies. The mountain has been called the world’s highest garbage dump. Humans are unbelievable. Climbers are now expected to take their own doggy poop bags and carry everything back down with them. Teller thinks it’s a cool idea. Have a great week-end and don’t forget to sell something!

LISA

Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com

What I Heard This Week 03-14-2024

What I Heard This Week March 13, 2024

 

It’s not easy being green. Kermit the Frog

Miller64, the ultra-light beer from Molson Coors (which I have never seen or purchased at the store, (probably because I’m hanging around the really good high calorie stouts). Anyway… what was I telling you? They are rebranding to Miller Extra Light – now flaunting their low alcohol content (2.8% ABV), instead of the low (64) calories in a 12 ounce can. Their advertising campaign debuts in April and will have some kind of presence in pickleball, the fastest growing sport in the country. The new Miller Extra Light will also be available in 24-ounce cans which it seems, is very popular with the convenience store crowd – you know who I’m talking about, those that put their open can in a brown bag so the rest of us have no clue that they’re drinking… hmmm.

May you have the hindsight to know where you’ve been, the foresight to know where you are going and the insight to know when you have gone too far. Irish Proverb

Rupert Murdoch first tied the knot in 1956, married for 11 years with one child. He married his second wife in 1967 and remained married for 32 years with three children. He married his third wife in 1999, was married for about 14 years and had two children. He was married to Jerry Hall from 2016 to 2022, with no children, but she was SO OLD. About a year ago, he announced his engagement to a retired dental hygienist and former San Francisco police chaplain but broke off that engagement after just two weeks. Rupert Murdoch (92) is now engaged to a retired molecular biologist (62) with plans to marry in June on his California vineyard and estate, Moraga. She was previously married to a billionaire. Must be love this time.

Be sure to wear green on March seventeen, or else Irish leprechauns pinch your bones clean! Richelle E. Goodrich

Two young Colorado women vacationing in Playa Del Carmen, visited a pharmacy there and bought what they thought was oxycodone for a friend, then smuggled the drugs back into the U.S. in multi-vitamin containers, where their friend then paid $300 for the drugs they delivered. The next morning the guy’s roommate found him dead, and a lab analysis found that the pills contained fentanyl. The “ladies” pleaded guilty and were given three-year’s probation and 240 hours of community service, along with paying $10,000 to a nonprofit that promotes substance abuse awareness. The victim’s family requested that the women avoid a prison sentence. Now come on, why did they get off so light? Smuggling drugs is smuggling drugs, no matter who you are…

In the long run, you make your own luck—good, bad, or indifferent. – Loretta Lynn

A 66-year-old NY man who killed a 20-year-old woman after she and her friends were lost and made a wrong turn into his driveway… was convicted, receiving 25 years. The group had lost cell service and realized they were at the wrong house then were pulling out when the man felt threatened, firing a warning shot with his shotgun, then said he tripped over nails sticking out of his deck, which caused him to fire a second shot that killed the woman. The group traveled five miles to call for help because they did not have cell service. Oh, and did I mention that he was also sentenced to 2.1/3 to 7 years for reckless endangerment and 1.1/3 to 4 years for tampering with physical evidence… to run consecutively. “Every person out there needs to know that you can’t murder someone because they accidentally pulled into your driveway,” the judge said.

May your home always be too small to hold all your friends. Irish Proverb

The article mentioned that Suzanne Somer’s (who died last year at 76) beloved 28-acre desert hideaway and five-building compound, was on the market again. She and her husband owned it for over 40 years, and it is accessible by an open-air funicular. Well, I didn’t know what a funicular was. According to the dictionary, it’s a cable railroad, especially one on a mountainside, in which ascending and descending cars are counterbalanced. Hmmm.

Here’s to a long life and a merry one. A quick death and an easy one. A pretty girl and an honest one. A cold beer – and another one! Irish Proverb

Many schools are now bringing back the SAT/ACT test score system. A recent study at Harvard found that standardized test scores have more power for predicting academic success in college than GPA’s.  Brad Pitt will team up with Quentin Tarantino for a third time for The Movie Critic, said to be Tarantino’s last film. Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone invested in Big Nose Whiskey described as really smoky whiskey. Another celebrity liquor. So, the Princess of Wales isn’t very good at Photoshop, making minor improvements on the family picture… but she seems to be a really good mom who just had some surgery and now has some extra time on her hands. If she was as good at Photoshop as she is a princess, then we would all be worried about our own jobs. I vote, leave her alone as she recovers. Jon Stewart called Marjorie Taylor Greene a bridge troll. Giggle…

Before the Ethan Crumbley school shooting in Michigan, the 15-year-old made an entry in his journal saying, “I will have to find where my dad hid my 9mm before I can shoot the school.” Then he wrote about having access to the gun (that his dad had bought him on Black Friday) and the ammo, along with an entry about having mental health issues, but his parents wouldn’t get him any help. So sad. His father, James Crumbley, had jail communication privileges restricted after threatening statements he made over the jailhouse phone and by mail while awaiting trial. Hmmm. Not smart.

Victor Allen’s Coffee Cinnamon Toast Crunch bottled Iced Coffee will be available at major retailers this month. I bet it’s great with rum. Just saying. For something that is also delicious, try the following.
Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cocktail
Ingredients:
3 oz. Rumchata
1 oz. Vanilla Vodka
½ oz. Fireball Whiskey
Cinnamon Sugar
Wet the rim of a lowball glass then roll the rim in the cinnamon sugar. Mix the three ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice, shake and strain into the glass. Serve immediately. I like mine over ice.

May you be at the gates of heaven an hour before the devil knows you’re dead! Irish Proverb

During a recent Madonna concert, the superstar shouted to a fan in a wheelchair, “What are you doing sitting down over there? What are you doing sitting down?” Then, after walking to the end of the stage and realizing her mistake said, “Oh, OK. Politically incorrect, sorry about that. I’m glad you’re here.”

Here are a few things you might need to know about Leprechauns.
Leprechauns are fairies.
There are no female leprechauns.
There’s a leprechaun colony in Portland, Oregon.
Leprechaun means small body.
Sometimes leprechauns are red.
Leprechauns have a troublesome cousin called the clurichaun.
Leprechauns are the bankers and cobblers of the fairy world.
Leprechauns are sneaky.
But leprechauns can be generous if you’re kind to them.
In 1989, a man claimed to have found the remains of an actual leprechaun.
Leprechauns are protected under European law and have their own sanctuary.
Some believe that leprechauns can live underwater.
Leprechauns might have a divine heritage.
You can pretend to be a leprechaun for a good cause.
You can make your own leprechaun trap.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Don’t forget to wear green so the leprechauns don’t pinch your bones clean.

LISA

Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com

What I Heard This Week 03-07-2024

What I Heard This Week March 6, 2024

 

The Oscars air on Sunday, March 10th and we gifted you with a cheat sheet ballot on page 6 of The Source Weekly, so you can follow along, or to use as a reminder of the great movies you just haven’t seen yet. One of the highlights in the Barbie movie was when America Ferrera delivered a short speech about the impossible double standards of being a woman. Greta Gerwig, an amazing woman, wrote it.  It took two days to shoot the scene, with 30 to 50 full runs. Whether you have seen the movie, plan to see the movie, or refuse to see the movie, you should read these words in print… male or female. After you read it, you might change your mind about it “just being a movie about Barbie and Ken.” It is truly an amazing movie despite Greta Gerwig snubbed as a director and Margot Robbie left out of the best actress category. Here’s the speech.
“It is literally impossible to be a woman. You are so beautiful, and so smart, and it kills me that you don’t think you’re good enough. Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow, we’re always doing it wrong.
You have to be thin, but not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin. You have to have money, but you can’t ask for money because that’s crass. You have to be a boss, but you can’t be mean. You have to lead, but you can’t squash other people’s ideas. You’re supposed to love being a mother, but don’t talk about your kids all the damn time. You have to be a career woman but also always be looking out for other people.
You have to answer for men’s bad behavior, which is insane, but if you point that out, you’re accused of complaining. You’re supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you’re supposed to be a part of the sisterhood.
But always stand out and always be grateful. But never forget that the system is rigged. So, find a way to acknowledge that but also always be grateful.
You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line. It’s too hard! It’s too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says thank you! And it turns out in fact that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also everything is your fault.
I’m just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us. And if all of that is also true for a doll just representing women, then I don’t even know.”

The performers on the list for this year’s Oscars show are: Jon Batiste performing “It Never Went Away” from American Symphony. Becky G performing “The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot. Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell performing “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie. Scott George and the Osage Singers performing “Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon. Ryan Gosling and Mark Ronson performing “I’m Just Ken” from Barbie.

“I, uh…I have a television, so I’m going to spend some time here to tell you some things. [To orchestra conductor:] And, and…and sir, you’re doing a great job, but you’re so quick with that stick, so why don’t you sit. ‘Cause I may never be here again.”  Julia Roberts, Best Actress, Erin Brockovich, 2000

First off, my two children were in the public school system, therefore I know that there are many different forms of bullying… in class, lunch table, swim team, student council…it’s incredible, and it comes in so many different forms. Kids are mean and they’re getting meaner. As parents, are we so lacking in kindness in our actions, that we are not teaching it to our children anymore. At Lake Travis High School in Texas, there is a big, strong kid (Carter Mannon) that plays on the football team that is “off the charts” allergic to peanuts. Even if he just touches a peanut. Everyone at school knew because during his freshman year he required a trip to the emergency room plus two Epi-Pen doses after eating an unmarked cookie. During his sophomore year, teammates (I hate calling them teammates) went into his locker and dumped peanuts everywhere… in the locker, on his jersey and in his cleats. One boy came back and tried to clean it up, but when Carter pulled out his jersey, peanuts fell everywhere, and where they hit him, the hives started. Some students laughed, a few did not. It was reported to the school and the boys were benched for two whole days, had to switch locker rooms and do extra runs at practice… basically nothing. Then the bullying started back along with verbal retaliation, a peanut butter granola bar in his backpack, along with his older sister being harassed with fake accounts on Instagram. The incidents were reported to the school board, an investigation was opened, and it was decided that it did not qualify as bullying. According to the Texas Education Agency, bullying is defined as “physically harming a student, damaging a student’s property or placing a student in reasonable fear of harm to the student’s person or of damage to the student’s property; is sufficiently severe, persistent, or pervasive enough that the action or threat creates an intimidating, threatening, or abusive educational environment for a student.” Hmmm.

Richard Lewis, stand-up comic, and actor, died at 76 of a heart attack. Lewis played Prince John in the 1993 film Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Rude Awakening, 7th Heaven, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. In April 2023, Lewis announced he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease two years earlier.

Iris Apfel died at 102. I’ve told you about her before. She was a fashion icon, interior designer, furniture maker, geriatric starlet (as she sub-titled her biography), and a huge role model for women everywhere. At the age of 97, she signed a modeling contract with IMG. In 2005, the Costume Institute at Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY presented an exhibition, Rara Avis (rare bird): The Irreverent Iris Apfel, showcasing her style. The Museum of Lifestyle & Fashion History in Boynton Beach, Florida, is designing a building that will house a dedicated gallery of Apfel’s clothes, accessories, and furnishings, which is huge. In 2013, she was recognized as one of the Best-Dressed over 50. Apfel was the star of a documentary called Iris, which I own because… well, because I can, and it makes me happy. In 2018, Mattel created a Iris Apfel Barbie doll, making her the oldest person to ever have a Barbie made in her image, and… wrinkle-free. An extraordinary person that loved style. Think Edna Mode who appears in the animated film The Incredibles and sequel Incredibles 2. Apfel said, “More is more and less is a bore.” In her 90s, Apfel had 3.5 million followers on social media.

“Oscar and I have something in common. Oscar first came to the Hollywood scene in 1928. So did I. We’re both a little weather-beaten, but we’re still here and plan to be around for a whole lot longer.” John Wayne, 1979 Academy Awards honoree – two months later he died of cancer.

IHOP has teamed up with Lay’s Potato Chips to bring us Rooty Tooty Fresh ‘N Fruity chips, featuring the flavor of IHOP pancakes, sweet notes of strawberries and maple syrup, finished off with a hint of savory bacon, and served on a light-textured potato chip. I wonder if it’s actually a real kettle-cooked potato chip, or the baked and manufactured chip made from powdered potatoes? It’s hard to tell from the picture. In my book, that would make all the difference in the world. Available at Walmart for a limited time.

Daylight Saving Time:  Don’t forget to SPRING forward. Thank you for reading us and don’t forget to sell something this week… 979-285-9200.

LISA

Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com

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  • 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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