Fun and Games Dept

Red Sky.

The sky was a beautiful mix of red and orange at sunrise this morning. It’s going to be an interesting day of weather. They’re calling for all sorts of precipitation and winds with gusts up to 45 MPH.

But it’s a beautiful start to the day!

Moods.

I woke up in the best mood. I felt awesome. I had a great night’s sleep, my morning walk went well, the weather wasn’t horrible. I was feeling great.

After my walk I got back home and like I always do, I took a peek at Twitter and Facebook. I scrolled quickly through the latter. I don’t like lingering on Facebook too long. And then I took a gander at Twitter. Even after much attention at curating and muting and the like, I found my mood dwindling. Crazy members of congress. Wretching and the pandemic. This is not good. A bunch of woe is woo woo.

I refused to let my mood be deterred and closed down social media. I decided to watch an episode of “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir” instead. The helped bring my mood back to my “first thing in the morning” levels and all was well.

When Twitter first came around it was quite fun to participate and meet people. Today it feels like social media just screams in your face. Even if you’re looking for pictures of Bodega Cats or something.

So instead of going to Twitter, here’s a random picture of a Bodega Cat.

From the Internet.

See, isn’t that great for the mood?

Arizona.

Taken in 2006, during one of our trips to the Desert Southwest.

So the rumors are true! We are moving to Tucson this spring. As of last night we are under contract for a home on the east side of the city near Saguaro National Park East. We toured this beautiful home via a Zoom call last week; three of the five of us are going down this coming weekend to tour and inspect the house in person.

Exciting times!

Shriek.

I love it when people laugh. There’s not enough laughter in our world today, but making people laugh or hearing people laugh gives me a such a happy feeling. It’s so energizing.

You know who had an awesome laugh? Michael Landon. He had a hearty laugh that was often heard in both “Bonanza” and “Little House On The Prairie”. He had an honest laugh. It wasn’t something forced, it came from the heart and that’s probably why so many people still speak so fondly of him to this day.

Once in a while I’ll hear a laugh that is more startling than anything. Watching the clip from “The Golden Girls” above, around the 47 second mark you’ll hear a woman screaming in a very odd way. I don’t find it part of the laughter. It doesn’t give me a happy feeling. Maybe she was expressing her appreciate of Bea’s humor in the only way she knew how. Or perhaps she was making unnatural sounds to be remembered on an episode audience track until the end of time and eventually make it to my blog over 35 years later.

When I hear someone make unnatural sounds like that on a laugh track I have to wonder what that person is like in real life. Admittedly, I wonder what noises they make during sex. Do they scream like fire alarms? Do they make cattle restless? Does their amorous partner don ear plugs as part of the foreplay? Will I end up next to a person that screams like this at a movie theatre? I hope they’re not having sex then.

I guess honest expression of laughter are what fill me with happiness. Shrieks are more startling than happy. Perhaps after getting over being startled I’d laugh in a nervous sort of way while eyeing the room for evidence of some sort of psychotic action.

Laugh along with Bea. Don’t shriek at her.

Trains.

Riding the ‘L’ for the first time in four months. Family dinner tonight but we didn’t want to deal with trying to find a parking place.

Winter.

It’s starting to feel like winter in these parts. The other day it occurred to me that it hadn’t really felt like winter had kicked in yet. Temperatures have been relatively mild for this time of year and we hadn’t much snow.

This week in January has historically been the coldest week of the year. While still relatively mild, at least we’re seeing snow now.

Beach Time.

With all the pandemic stuff going on we just had to get away and see some beach. I know, it’s the middle of winter in the upper Midwest but I don’t care. We hopped in the car and drove to Warren Dunes State Park in Michigan, just so we could hear the sounds of crashing waves from Lake Michigan.

It was brisk, but it was a delight.

Road Trips.

I took this photo during our last big road trip, which was in October 2018. We’ve been going on little rides around our corner of the Midwest during the pandemic, but I’m really ready for a big road trip again. I have some vacation time leftover from last year and plenty to use this year. If only the United States could get COVID-19 under control.

I really want to see some different parts of the country again.

Distraction.

I was never a fan of “Glee”, but I have always been impressed by this performance. Here’s “River Deep, Mountain High”. I feel like we all need the distraction today.