LABOR DAY

 It's the first Monday in September.

The day celebrated as Labor Day.

Oh, no, no, no.

Not THAT kind of labor.

THIS kind:

A day when unions are celebrated thoughout America.

It dates back 130 years, to 1894 when President Grover Cleveland signed the Congressional act that made it a national holiday.

Earlier he had sent federal troops in to crush a strike in a town just outside Chicago and 12 workers were killed.

Some people say he signed the Labor Day act as a peace gesture toward the working class.

At any rate it's been a holiday and a three-day weekend ever since and for a long time seen as the end of summer.

And you know what that means.

"You never wear white after Labor Day."

So say the traditionalists, including my wife.

But that was based on the wealthy putting away their white gowns and suits in the Hamptons and returning to work in grimy cities.

Nowadays, with the advent of casual clothing year-round, that old rule doesn't hold to be true anymore.

At any rate, fire up the grills one last time and fix some burgers or hot dogs and enjoy the day.

But it's going to be near 90 degrees where I live so don't forget the ice cream!

STILL LIVES

One perfect apple.

Chive blossoms.

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

It is such fun every week to try to come up with a new way to introduce our fun and frivolity Friday fanfare.

I think this week I will do it by thanking a mysterious but frequent contributor to the Comedy Bank.

She's a friend of a friend and I have never had direct contact with her, that I know of, but whose output is forwarded to me by my friend.

All clear now?

She will henceforth be known here as Constantly Chucklesome Carla.

Some of this week's potpourri have come, indirectly, from her so let's see what her sense of humor is like, shall we?

So that's it.

Thanks for Carla and all my other contributors.

It wouldn't be the same without you.

Now I expect all of you to labor to have a remarkable, long weekend.

MONDAY IS LABOR DAY!

Summer is (officially) over and Autumn is lurking, so they say.

Whatever is your wont, always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

( . . . oooooh, sorry to disturb you . . . )

A BIT OF RAIN

 We had a wee tad of a sprinkle from the sky this afternoon so I thought I'd show it to you.

The Blue Cat looked a bit peeved to have rain falling on his face.

PIANO MAN

Back in the day I played piano.

Not like Billy Joel but I could tinkle a bit.

I started at an early age with the legend in our small North Dakota town, Sybil McDonald.

I believe she was born in Scotland but I can't be sure.

Nor do I recall how she wound up in Stanley, North Dakota.

But she was, if not the only, the most in demand piano teacher in town.

And I spent six or seven years taking lessons from her.

As well as reprimands.

See her teaching involved, first, scales to limber up your fingers.

And then classical music from sheet music or books with the notes on the pages.

You learned what those strange spots meant and how to play them.

There's a mnemonic to remember your E-G-B-D-F notes in a scale: Every Good Boy Does Fine!

So we studied and played, some of us better than others, for years.

I, on the other hand, learned how to make notes "blue" and the songs, well, "jazzier".

When I did it during a lesson it infuriated my teacher.

After I got out from under her, a bit later in life, I learned some simple boogie-woogie songs and one cold winter night in another town in North Dakota I played in a couple of bars and got drinks bought for me and a couple of girl friends.

Not girlfriends, mind you, but girl friends.

I've lost it all now.

A couple of years ago I looked at a piece of sheet music and realized that I had lost all of my knowledge about it and didn't have the faintest idea what those splotches on the page meant.

I could have not played anything from them if my life had depended on it.

I found I could still pick out a tune or two with one finger on a keyboard but all of my training and my "bar talent" had gone down a rathole.

So just to prove that my tale is true, here's a photo of me at the piano, playing from the notes, sometime probably back in the mid 1950's.

You can probably judge the era by my haircut and that antiquated television set next to me.

Ah, memories.

GEEZERDOM

In an email exchange with an aging friend of mine this morning, the word "geezer" came into play.

I've found in recent times that I use that word to describe either my (84 year old) self or my friends of the same approximate age.

It's not meant as an insult, rather an affectionate way to greet one another and acknowledge our years of accumulated wisdom.

All of which made me smile when I received this meme from my friend Wacky Wally (who isn't really wacky).

So that's my philosophical post for today.

I hope you fellow geezers enjoy it!

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

So how has your week gone, eh?

Oooohh, that good?

Well mine has been somewhat iffy.

I had a visit from my PT guy's boss lady and she wasn't thrilled with my progress so far.

You'd never guess what she wants me to do.

Stand up!

From a chair!

Without USING MY HANDS!!!

I tried telling her how old I was but that didn't cut any ice with her.

Lessee, we've had a few thunderstorms this week.

One of them knocked the power off for a few minutes.

Just long enough that I had to reset the clocks on the microwave, the stove, etc. etc.

Then this morning I noticed that one of them was reading "19:45" and I had to figure out how to reset it to 12-hour time.

So that's been my week, now let's see what's happening in the Comedy House.

Oh I should have known.

But that's what people are saying about some of the humor from my Comical Cartel.

Oh well, we'll just keep trying.

In the meantime, we wish all the rest of you would join us in having a perfectly phenomenal weekend.

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

( . . . oh, is it that time again . . . )

SOLVED

 I should have reported earlier but our leaky faucet is leaking no more.

I contacted a plumber the same day and very resourceful Josh turned up as scheduled the next morning and diagnosed the problem which involved removing a pipe in the wall inside the house and installing a new one.

So no more drip, drip, drip.

It's always good to know where to find a good plumber.

LEAKY FAUCET

 I don't think we've ever lived in a place that has had more problems than our current abode.

The latest irritation is a front outside faucet that leaked awhile back and that a plumber easily fixed by replacing a grommet.

Now I'd never heard of a grommet before but was shown that it was a tiny little washer.    

The old one had worn itself out and the new one stopped the leak pronto.

A very easy fix.

Except.

It began leaking again, first just a few drops and finally a somewhat steady plop-plop-plop.

Nothing I tried with the faucet would stop it.

(Photo showing ineffectual attempt to collect the water from the turned off but still-dripping faucet.)

So this morning I went into the back yard and reached down far into a tube to turn a faucet and shut off the water.

To the ENTIRE DUPLEX!

Fortunately the other side is presently unoccupied so it will be no problem there.

But for us, it means we have no water until we either get a plumber to solve our problem (and they all seem to be overwhelmed) or I turn it back on.

Gadfrey!

Fortunately we have a caring and cooperative owner/landlord who pays the bills on the property.

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

I was just thinking it's a great day to play the lottery: 8/16/24!

See 8 times 2 is 16 and 8 times 3 is 24.

Oh, forget it.

Let's see what else we've got.

I'm just about finished with a book SWMBO got from the library recently: "Ascent to Power".

It's about Harry Truman's struggle to get out from under the shadow of the President that he succeeded: Franklin D. Roosevelt; and how he then remade the world.

Not exactly light reading but for a political junkie like me it's fascinating.

This year's presidential race has evolved into one of fascination also.

But enough about politics.

Oh! Brownie Report!

We tasted them and agreed.

They are sensational and fudgy!

Who cares what they look like!

And now let me introduce a few friends of mine to brighten your day.

After all, it's Friday, you know.

And that is what I selected from the Humor Bank to entertain you this Friday!

Now let's all plan something scrumptious for this weekend so as to feel totally enervated when we have to go back to work on Monday.

(well, some of you)

But whatever you do or wherever you go, always remember to keep laughing!

It will entertain you and give those not in on the joke reasons to point and sneer at you.

Ta-ta!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

( . . . oops, sorry . . . )

BROWNIES?

I made another batch of brownies this morning, just like the batch I made a couple of weeks ago.

But this batch had a problem.

Here's how they came out.

The edges crisped up but the center, while done according to the toothpick test, looks almost liquid and sunken.

I don't know what went wrong because I followed the recipe exactly the same as the last time.

One difference: the recipe calls for an 8x8 inch square pan and mine is 9x9.

I seem to have a memory from last time that I might have crumpled up some foil to reduce the size of my pan but I really can't remember.

So this is what I'm left with today.

On the upside, SWMBO said the house smelled heavenly while they were baking and I had to agree.

The real test will come down to the eating!

I know you're all saying "How can you resist?", but we just haven't gotten around to it yet.

I'll let you know.

(DA-DUM, DA-DUM)

In the parking lot at a medical lab I visited this morning sat this ugly monster close to our car.

SWMBO asked me to photograph it but there didn't appear to be a name on the rear and neither one of us has any idea what it is.

But I'll bet some car freak in my vast blogosphere can tell us.

It sort of reminds me of the 50's Studebakers that looked like they were going two directions at once.