Random Musings

So, yesterday I was out mowing the lawn. We are one of the few homeowners, perhaps the only homeowners, who do not have a riding lawnmower, and I'm hear to tell you that mowing a half-acre while walking the mower is a bitch.

And so am I, whilst doing so.

But I sing a few songs in my head while I heave and hoist and mow and sweat, and the one that kept coming up yesterday was that Joni Mitchell classic, "Big Yellow Taxi" and the line: They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.

Not such a bad idea.

Phyllis Diller.

"The reason women don't play football is because 11 of them would never wear the same outfit in public."

"Burt Reynolds once asked me out. I was in his room."

"What I don't like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day."

I'm gonna miss that wacky laugh most of all. But there is also the fact that she was one of the first gay diva icons for the gay community. And she embraced us as much as we embraced her. 

RIP Funny Lady 

At the Democratic Convention there will be some very strong Democratic women speakers, from openly gay Wisconsin Representative Tammy Baldwin, Illinois congressional candidate and Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth, Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski, the longest-serving female senator, Nancy Keenan, who heads NARAL Pro-Choice America, actress Eva Longoria, who is a national co-chair of Obama's campaign, Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown student who has been a surrogate for Obama since her showdown this year with Rush Limbaugh, and Caroline Kennedy. By contrast, at the GOP National convention the speakers will be all men but they'll tell us what women should be doing.

Well, well, well, it seems an old, apparently buried story about Mittsy Romney being arrested in 1981 has surfaced. 
Huh? Didn't know about it? Me neither. But here's the gist: While on a family summer vacation in 1981 Mitt Romney at was Lake Cochituate and just about to launch his boat when a park officer told him not to because his license looked "painted over." 
The officer told Mittsy if he launched the boat, he’d receive a fifty dollar fine, so Mittsy did what any upstanding American does: he waited until the officer left and launched the boat anyway. The officer returned as Mittsy was launching the boat, and placed him under arrest. 
Mittsy was booked, but the charges were dropped several days later because Mittsy argued that it wasn’t a valid arrest because he “wasn’t being disorderly.” 
I guess when rich folks blatantly disregard the law, it's not being disorderly, it's just being entitled. How's that for presidential? 
In 1994, Mittsy said, of the incident: "I figured I was at the state park with my kids. My five kids were in the car wondering why we weren’t going out in the boat, so I said I’d launch and pay the fine.” 
That’s Mittsy; he's The Problem. [source forMittsy's arrest]

So, yesterday I posted And Now For Something A Little Uplifting, about the college kid whose car was vandalized, and how Richard Henegar Jr arranged to have it repaired and updated for free. I wrote Mr. Henegar and thanked him for doing what I call 'the extraordinary thing" and he wrote me back: 

Thanks so much for your support! We never thought it would gain this kind of Attention but we're stoked to see it doing so well! Spread the word! Pay it forward! We're thinking about making this (Overhauling a deserving person's car) an annual event and calling it, "Operation Pay It Forward"! Keep in touch on Facebook for details! Respectfully, Richard Jr. Office Manager/Estimator www.QualityAutoPaintandBody.com

Good news.

Not Max & Esther

We've been having a visitor for the last few weeks. She loves to sit outside while we have breakfast, and she loves talking with our cats. She's lovely, yet we don't know where she lives.

No, it's not some old woman from The Home.

It's a gray Tabby cat that has been using our deck as a lounge of sorts. I think she belongs to someone because she looks like she eats well--unless her diet is a feral one of squirrels and birds--and I told Carlos that I hope someone is feeding her.

Besides me, I said.

He said, "You're not feeding her, are you, because we'll never get rid of her."

I said, "I'm not feeding Esther."

He said, "You.Named.Her?"

I said, "Well, she looks kinda like MaxGoldberg so I thought maybe she could be his wife. Max and Esther Goldberg. I like it."

I think Carlos is making an appointment for me with one of the doctors at The Home.