Groucho Marx is alive and well and living in Chillicothe

This'll probably lose a lot in translation, but it sent me into a laughing fit like I haven't had in months.

Me, upon observing Ziggy come out of the bathroom: "Do you know your fly is still unzipped?"

Ziggy, deadpan, without hesitating an instant: "No, but if you hum a few bars, I can fake it."

So now it's come to this?

Gawd. Can it be? Do I lead such a boring, uninspired life that a visit to a brand new grocery store thrills me to the tips of my little, pudgy toes?

Yup. Guess so.

Ok, before you say anything, I did wait a whole week to check out the new Hy-Vee in Sheridan Village.

Truth be told, I tried to check it out the day it opened, but the ginormous parking lot was chock-full-o-nuts. Good gawd'll mighty...yuppie bitches in their monstrous SUV's trying to find a parking place while running their mouths on their cell phones...people walking hither and yon with their little kids running amok...and then you had the geriatric set in their Buicks.

I decided that my life...as well as my sanity...was far more important.

So, I waited until today. I didn't really need anything from the grocery store. 'Course, that never stopped me before. I can go to the store, needing only 3 or 4 things...and come out with 5 sacks full.

As I walked up to the automatic doors, they slid open silently and I heard a chorus of angels go "Laaaaaaaaaaa!" as I stepped across the threshold.

Not really.

But it is a big, beautiful store and the sheer variety of products is dizzying.

They're cheaper than Kroger's on most things that I purchase regularly...and they have some products that I loooove that Kroger's no longer carries.

So guess where I plan to do most of my shopping from now on?

Well...until the new

Fresh Market

opens, anyway.

(sigh) Gawd, I'm old. And fickle.

A trilogy of tales

What's more fun than a barrel of monkeys?

Pammy in a hotel full of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Seriously.

I took my granddaughter home this past weekend and stayed to help the Princess find a wedding dress. Which, after shopping all bloody day, she didn't find.

Anywho...

The hotel I stayed at was chock full'o Witnesses for some kinda convention...or meeting...or

akelarre

.

Whatever the hell they have. Every time I went out to my friggin car, there was some kinda flyer on it. Which was promptly wadded up by yours truly and flung to the ground, accompanied by some quite...ah...colorful...and loud...expletives.

Ships and sails and pirate tales

Saturday, the girls took me to lunch at

Sharky's

In spite of the fact that the ole Mississloppy is flooded and we had to get there via boat...or maybe because we hadda get there by boat...it was just the coolest place.

And we saw the damndest thing.

A real, live, honest ta gawd Pirate ship!






As I understand it, some guy with a big cabin cruiser and more money than sense decided he really wanted a pirate ship. So he...repurposed...his boat and re-christened it The Gypsy Rose. It even has some kinda cannon-thingy that shoots out black Nerf balls...awesome!

I tell ya...it's just not every day ya get to see a priate ship sailing up the Mississippi River.

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig

Upon my return home, after being laid off for exactly two weeks....I discovered that I'd been called back. In fact, I got called back the very day I received my ok from unemployment.

Go figure.

Now, on one hand, of course I'm glad. I loved my job and I'm well on my way to ensure a half-way decent retirement. On the other hand, I'm somewhat apprehensive. My duties will be changing, as well as my schedule. Add to that, the fact that our fearless leader has made the comment...on more than one occasion...that this current layoff certainly would not be the last.

Two weeks ago, on my last day of work, I cried all the way home. I honestly didn't realize how traumatic it would be and I don't know if I can go through that again.

Nevertheless, I was extremely glad to get back home to my own river.

This sight greeted me last night.


And this, this morning.


We might not have a pirate ship, but we've got the Spirit.

(As with all photos, click to enlarge.)

If I hear the name "Justin Bieber" one more time...

...I'm gonna ram pencils in my ears and twirl 'em around until my eardrums are completely fubar'd.

My 10 year old grandbebe has been here since Monday.

We've shopped, went swimming, shopped some more, boated, watched movies, went swimming again, built a bear, shopped again, lunched at Avanti's and the Smo-King Pit in the mall, went fishing and oh...did I mention we shopped? If I never see Northwoods Mall again, it'll be too soon, too.

Sluuurrrpppping up some Avanti's spaghetti...Italian-style.


Ain't she cute? Even being unhappy at having to wear an old, smelly life jacket.




I'm taking her home tomorrow...and I'll miss her. She's become a "little person" with a quirky personality and a dry sense of humor...she reminds me so much of my dad...the way she phrases some things. And that's kinda funny...he never had the opportunity to meet her, dammit. He'd have been as crazy about her as he was my daughter...maybe more.



I was glad she got to see the

Nina and the Pinta

sail by the house this morning.

Well...replicas of 'em, anyway.



She proclaimed them "kinda cool".

But not as cool as Justin Bieber.

Aaaarrrrrrggggghhhhhhh!

Reflection

The river was unusually calm yesterday evening and I managed to catch the reflection of the twilight-ish sky in the water.





I also managed to catch my first fish of the season, a little perch.



They were biting like crazy...but "they" were mostly 10-12 inch channel cats...not big enough to mess with. I did manage to snag a really nice sized bullhead, though. Now I just need a couple-three of his buddies to join him in the freezer.

I should have taken photos of da Zigster and me trying to clean him. It took a ball-peen hammer, a butcher knife, a paring knife, a pair of pliers and both of us to kill and dress the damn thing. Neither of us has skinned and gutted a catfish in a lotta years, so it took a while, but we got 'er done.

Now that I'm "officially" unemployed, I plan to do a lotta fishin.

Jeremy Wade

I ain't....but I'm gonna do a lotta fishin, anywho.