Gas Gouge Getting Out of Control: Staying Ahead of the Grass in the Spring, the Titanic, Music in the Afternoon, the Derby, the Legion and Sunnyside

FRIDAY, MAY 6

Sure glad I cut the grass yesterday as we had rain all last night and into the morning.  Spring is not a good time to get behind in grass cutting.  I have been writing about what they ate and drank on the Titanic in my Cooter's History Thing blog and saw the movie "Titanic" on TV.  That was quite the movie.

SATURDAY, MAY 7

We went to the Fox Lake American Legion and watched one of our favorite performers, Joe Kadlec perform from 3 to 6 in the afternoon.  Where else are you going to get entertainment on a Saturday afternoon.  That Kentucky Derby, which came on after he finished his show, was really something.  That horse came out of nowhere.

SUNDAY, MAY 8

We went to the McHenry American Legion and the  to Sunnyside Tavern in Johnsburg on the way home and enjoyed talking with Elvira, who so reminds us of Liz's Aunt Lee.

--RoadDog

Past Movie Scratches: Clones-- Sith-- Guardians-- Titanic-- Millers-- Vacation

Past Movie Scratches--  Movies I saw on TV in 2020.

25.  STAR WARS II:  ATTACK OF THE CLONES--  1-27--  Evil Count Dooku, Anikin falls for Padmon.  Clones to the rescue.

26.  STAR WARS III:  REVENGE OF THE SITH--  1-27--  Sneaky, coughy General Grievous gets his.  The Sith get Anikin.  "Good."

27.  GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2--  1-27--  Quill meets his dad.   Ol' Taser Face and Lil' Groot.   "You shouldn't have killed my mom and squashed my Walkman."

28.  TITANIC--  1-27--  Who says you can't go back?   "You jump, I jump."

29.  WE'RE THE MILLERS--  2-8--  A sham family takes an RV trip.  A lot dirtier than it needed to be.

30.  VACATION--  2-8--  This was the remake and wasn't as much fun as the original.

--RoadDog

QUESTIONABLE HEADLINES:  Joint Committee investigates Marijuana Use.

Past Movie Scratches: Hitman's-- Red-- Titanic-- Gun-- Soldier-- Red

Past Movie Scratches--  Movies I saw on TV in 2020.

7.   THE HITMAN'S BODYGUARD--  1-4--  And they don't much even like each other, but learn to get along.  I'm surprised that this much swearing is allowed on TV.

8.  RED 2--  1-6--   Retired Extremely Dangerous.  Old farts show their stuff.  Pretty hokey.

9.  TITANIC--  1-6--  The epic flying scene as they approach that berg.  "You jump.  I jump."

10.  TOP GUN--  1-11--  "You've Lost That Loving Feeling.  "I feel the need...for SPEED."  Sorry about that, Goose."

11.  CAPTAIN AMERICA:  THE WINTER SOLDIER--  1-11--  Have shield will travel.  Old friend.  New outlook.

12.  RED--  1-11--  Retired Extremely Dangerous in case you're wondering.  Nothing to do with Communists. They may be very old, but as you can see, still very capable of mayhem.  She's along for the ride.

--RoadDog

STUDENT TEST ANSWERS:  New York is behind Greenwich time because America was not discovered until much later.

See If You Can Guess the Person Saying This-- Part 2: The Captain of the Titanic Talking About Lifeboats

**  Look, passengers need to ask nicely for the lifeboats if they want them.

**  We don't have any lifeboats.  We are not lifeboat distributors.

**  Passengers should have planned for icebergs and brought their own lifeboats.

**  I really don't think we need that many lifeboats.

**  And, those lifeboats we have are really wonderful lifeboats.

**We have lifeboats, and they're supposed to be our lifeboats. not the passengers' lifeboats.

**  The lifeboats were left on shore by the last captain. 

**  Nobody could have foreseen the iceberg.

Figured out who it is yet?

--RoadDog

See If You Can Guess the Person Saying This?-- Part 1: Iceberg? What Iceberg?

My wife Liz found this on FaceBook and I had to chuckle.  Had this person been captain of that ill-fated Titanic, he might have said this.

**  There isn't any iceberg.

**  There was an iceberg but it was in a totally different ocean.

**  The iceberg is in this ocean, but it will melt very soon.

**  There is an iceberg, but we didn't hit the iceberg.

**  We hit the iceberg, but the damage will be repaired very soon.

**  The iceberg is a Chinese iceberg.

**  We are taking on water, but every passenger who wants  a lifeboat can get a life boat.

**  They are beautiful life boats.

Any Ideas Who the New Captain Is?  --RoadDog

TRIVIA TEASER:  Who hit the baseball that trickled through the legs of Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner in game six of the 1986 World Series?

Mookie Wilson

Got My Flags Up To Commemorate the 76th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor Today

I just went out in the cold (and a light smattering of snow) and put up two U.S. flags to honor those who died and survived that attack on Pearl Harbor 76 years ago that plunged the country into World War II.

Pearl Harbor, along with the Alamo, Fort Fisher and the Titanic have always been the four history stories that have interested me the most.

Sadly, as far as I know, there are no ceremonies in our part of northeast Illinois that is having anything for it.

This being the very first major action of the war for the United States, these persons are among the very oldest of those remaining from World War II and because of it, they are dying off even faster than the others.

When I was growing up, it seemed that all of my parents' friends were World War II veterans and it is hard to imagine there coming a time when they won't be around anymore.

In observance, every one of my blogs today will be about Pearl Harbor.

Hope You Are Flying Your Flag Today.   --

"The Ballad of the USS Titanic"-- Jaime Brockett

Up way too early again and listened to the start of Lin Brehmer's morning show on WXRT.  This being the 101st anniversary of the Titanic's maiden voyage (the ship sank April 12th), Lin Brehmer said we shouldn't worry as he knew where all the icebergs were.

He opened his show playing parts of that great Jaime Brocketts song from the late 60s-early 70s, "Ballad of the USS Titanic" with bits from movies and TV about it.

Guess I'll have to dig out the album and listen to it now.  That song alone, took up one whole side.  In it, Brockett gives his own theory as to why the ship hit the iceberg "and went right on down."  It had to do something with 297 (ok, just listened to it, 497) and a half feet of rope, in case you're wondering.

By the way, you can go to You Tube and listen to it.  Well worth a listen, especially if you've never heard it before.  Watch the FULL version.  All 13:30 of it.

"And They Wouldn't Let Jack Johnson On Board."  --RoadDog

It's a Titanic-Cubs Thing: Sink or Sveum

From the April 15th Chicago Tribyne Main Event "Sink or Sveum."

Sunday is the 100th anniversary of the Titanic sinking and the Cubs are in their 104th season since last winning the World Series. Both are bad. Which is Worse?

For those who don't know, Sveum is the name of the new Cub manager. Nice play on words.

Titanic first, Cubbies second.

CULPRITS: iceberg///Justin Berg (among others)

SURVIVORS: 710/// millions

NOTABLE PASSENGERS/FANS: John Jacob Astor IV and Benjamin Guggenheim///Jim Belushi, Bill Murray

TIME TO SINK: 160 minutes///103 years and counting

COMELY STAR OF RELATED MOVIE: Kate Winslet "Titanic"///Amy Morton "Rookie of the Year"

GOAT: Captain Edward Smith///Goat

LIFEBOATS: 20///0

AFTER-EFFECTS: maritime safety improvements///generations of anguish

NEW DEVELOPMENTS: 3D///Theo Trio

Interesting...Very Interesting. --RoadDog

The 100th Anniversary of the Titanic

Even though this is history, to me this even is important enough to mention in this blog. I have been writing about the event extensively in my Ciiter's History Blog.

This event is one that has fascinated me since I was a young boy and that now is many, many, many years ago.

I still don't know where my paperback copy of Walter Lord's "A Night to Remember" is. I've got the bad feeling that maybe I threw it out.

Where's That Book? --RoadDog

A Ship Hitting an Iceberg in 2007

Strange news today, bringing back thoughts of the ill-fated Titanic. The M/S Explorer hit an iceberg earlier today in the Antarctic Ocean and started sinking.

They were taking in water from a hole the size of a fist. About 150 passengers and crew boarded lifeboats and were picked up with no loss of life, fortunately.

Let's file this under things you wouldn't expect to hear in 2007.

I unsuccessfully tried to look up a list of ships sunk by icebergs. I did find out that in 1875, the schooner Caledonia hit one and sank off Newfoundland. All of the crew survived by climbing onto the iceberg and waiting to be rescued.

When Will They Make a Movie of It? --RoadDog