Early fall a.m. drive

It was a beautiful early fall morning drive on my way to work today. I started out with breakfast with my homies - a small bunch today: Bobbie, Patty, Debbie and Nancy and me.

Nan and I monopolized the a.m. talk with chat about the road. The private road by our home is becoming a county road - complete with 2 lanes, thus taking out a good portion of our side yard. Until now it's been a single asphalt lane, somewhat crushed by heavy equipment in parts. But the county agreed to take it over and made it a real road (kinda like Pinocchio became a real boy...).

Only Conovers and Goldsmiths had to sign over part of our property. And the people who will actually use the road have to help pay for it through taxes. So heavy equipment pulled in a couple weeks ago and started messing up our neighborhood. And it IS a mess! Especially after the rain! Stofferahns got 2 inches of water in their basement recently as the diggerman covered up their sump pump outlet. Oops! Paul was mad that they covered up some of our tree branches...

Lots of our neighbors have no way to get from their homes to the road in front of our house - cuz their road is gone. Many are utilizing golf carts and leave their cars down by our house. Stofferahns are parking in Jud's spot sometimes. I'll be glad when the project is done, but I sure hope the traffic doesn't pick up!

After breakfast, my drive to the big city was a pretty one. The light was perfect - sun just coming up on fields that are just maturing. Fog sat on the ponds, creeks and low spots in fields and cattle looks a bit spooky munching grass in the mist.

I hit traffic right when I got to the edge of West DM but I didn't even swear. I swear!

Good sheets and cereal

In in Waterloo, at day 2 of the trash conference. Staying at the Fairfield Inn, not the Ramada attached to the conference center. Why? That motel didn't have the $50 government rate, so I searched for a place that was and ended up here. It's not bad - a division of Marriott ya know.

And it has good sheets. Not an icky germ ridden comforter like lots of motels do. Extra pillows too. At the motel continental breakfast this a.m. I had Captain Crunch. Ah breakfast of champions. My mom was a sucker for kids asking for sugary cereal!

When we were really little, I remember eating soft-boiled eggs in a special egg cup. I got a black mark at Kindergarten (evil Mrs. Christiansen) for having egg on my face. Guess we were learning the skill of face washing. But when I got a little older, Betso and I mostly ate cereal for breakfast, while Mom smoked and did the NY Times Crossword puzzle at the table.

I'll loved all the sugary stuff. Sugar Smacks, Fruit Loops (not my fave), Corn Pops, Frosted Flakes, Cocoa Puffs and Cap'n Crunch (not with crunch berries though). Lucky Charms were good too. Then Count Chocula came out. I was a fool for that stuff - made the milk chocolaty good! We also liked Pop Tarts - my favorite was cinnamon, and Cream of Wheat with brown sugar in it.

Do you remember Carnation Instant Breakfast? I'd drink one of those AND eat breakfast. Hmmm somehow I didn't turn into a two ton tilly. Guess it was all that activity, since we only got the 3 channels on the boob tube.

Though I didn't smoke at the table, I did buy many of the sugary concoction cereals for my own kids. I know, bad mommy. Tomorrow I'm thinking of hitting the IHOP near my motel. I'm might have a waffle with chocolate chips and whip cream. Ummm just kidding - about the waffle. I'll get stuffed French Toast. Once a sweet freak...

Who's Your Friend When Things Get Rough?

HR Pufnstuf of course. Who remembers TV show? It was one of my favorites when I was a kid. I got to go to breakfast this morning with my buddies. 2 eggs, toast and coffee for $3.05. It’s a great way to start my day.

Anyway, we started talking about old TV shows and Linda brought up Pufnstuf, a Saturday a.m. classic. I liked to watch it when I wasn’t forced to go to Catholic Catechism. Yes, the Catholic kids missed the best morning of each week because we needed the nuns to teach us a thing or two. (Guess it didn’t take with me, see my blog on the swearing thing.)

HR Pufnstuf ran from 1969 – 1972 according to Wikipedia. It’s was a fairy tale with real people and some puppety things. Looking back, this TV show most likely came from some wicked LSD trips – it was the 60’s you know. It featured Jack Wild – and whatever happened to him?

Jack Wild - Oliver

This show must have run when my lotus was blossoming (I was becoming pubertized) – because I had a huge crush on that kid. I even bought Tiger Beat magazine to read all about him. He did eventually star in a remake of Oliver Twist with Mark Lester another hunk-o-rama of the day. It was back when little Michael Jackson had a real nose.

The cartoons back then were far superior to today’s cartoons because they didn’t have to send a gooey message or be politically correct. They were just damn funny. Bugs, Foghorn Leghorn, Droopy, Wily Coyote, Tom and Jerry and more. Dan Miller from Creston and I are Droopy’s biggest fans. My family even bought me a Droopy vhs tape for a gift once - I loved it!

In college we used to watch the Floppy Show (why did the man put the car in the oven?), and they ran the good cartoons on that show. When our kids were babies, 5:30 a.m. was a great time to find classic cartoons showing – just before those shady pretend religious folks – Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker pleaded for funds, with tears and everything.

The 60's, 70's, even 80's were simpler times, of course. I don’t think we expected asBmuch from things like cartoons as we do now. I must admit do enjoy Family Guy and South Park today. The Simpsons can make me laugh too. But none of them match up to a good Hanna-barbera ‘toon.

The answer is: He wanted a hot rod, of course!