Life in the fast lane--where's the on ramp?

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Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Giving Myself a Good Talking-To...

If you read me yesterday you could tell I was in a snit. Not just a bad mood, but a major hissy fit. I let myself fall into a pattern of "ain't it awful" thinking about what schmucks people can be. And I'd read something online about how the football franchises are considered non-profit... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Games, games games

Superbowl eleventy nine or whatever number this last one was. It cost a working class guy two month's pay to attend the game and sit in the cheap seats, assuming he makes $15 - $20 an hour or so. The cost of attending the Olympics has long-since been a way of weeding out the pikers. We may enjoy the... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, February 17, 2014

Galvin School - 1947-48 - the county-wide music festival

From August 1947 until June 1948 my kid sis, kid bro and I were in a foster home, a farm along Lincoln Creek a "few furlongs" past Galvin and north of Centralia. "Uncle Sam" and "Aunt Ethel" usually took only one kid at a time, usually those who'd been ripped out of a family by authorities because... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

You could get a Hershey bar for a nickel...

1947: A nickel got you a full-sized bar, larger than the 'regular' candy bars on the shelf today that cost $1.49. In those days a waitress made $2 or $3 a shift plus tips - about the equivalent of the minimum wage at around 35 Cents an hour. A quarter-pound standard burger with a pickle and a... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Dream Theory - what's it mean, and do you want to know?

From time to time I have this dream where I'm in a big public place - a large train depot or a sports arena, at the university or a mall, and when I head for the ladies' room all the stalls are occupied and there's a line. Either that or there are no doors on the stalls and if I decide to go I have... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, February 14, 2014

Everything Old is New Again

Last week some time my son Joe stopped by, checkin' in to see if I needed anything from the store. I told him I was out of bird seed, so within the hour he was back with a 20# bag of it. The cardinals and doves and sparrows and squirrels are set for a six week stretch of free lunches... We talked... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

The Privileged Class

We don't talk about it, but everybody knows there's a class system in the USA. As a kid I knew it the same way I knew you don't try to pet a skunk. The powers-that-be were the money men like Weyerhauser Lumber which employed most able-bodied men in the Cascade foothills. Somewhere up there were the... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Tuesdays with ... well, not Morrie

Last Tuesday, the 3rd, Howard and Ellie came in to the Center as usual, he working his way with the cane, but able to sit down now without her assistance. The new knee he had installed the day after Thanksgiving is finally workable. Ellie said "Yesterday he even drove the car. No problems." Howard... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear.

Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't fuzzy, wuzzy? On Feb. 2, First Sunday, my turn at the Library Friends book shop. It was nasty, blowing, colder than hell, and I made an "executive decision" to stay home. I called myself a lily-livered chicken with a mile wide yellow streak down my back,... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Center Gossip

Faye stopped at the front desk to whisper a little gossip behind her hand. She had on another one of those cute knit hats with a little bill, all her hair tucked in. She didn’t even wait till she’d hung up her coat to complain to me about her friend Mary. Faye gives Mary a ride to the Center every... Sign in to see full entry.

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