LAST OF THE RED HOTS

Our Fantasy Football Draft is Saturday at a place called Buffalo Wings in O'Fallon, IL. I'll miss it for the sixth time or so in the last 7 years. But I have a new co-owner this season and a lot of high draft picks, so I expect a good season.

Besides the camaraderie of being with the guys. Besides the tension. Besides the haggling over trades and players and draft position, I'll also miss the chicken wings.

I love chicken wings. I never met one I didn't like. My favorite are the ones my wife makes, though they tend to be a little mild for me. My next favorites are any that are hot, hot. The kind that burn your lips after you've eaten them. Maybe as long as 30 minutes afterwards.

And there's nothing you can do to quench the fire. When my wife reads this entry, she'll probably think,"Yeah, he loves 'em. He gripes about how his lips are on fire." And she's correct.

But she'll also tell you how I go back for more next time. Show me a wing I can't handle! Man, I'm really gonna miss the draft now.

ALIENS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM ARE MEERKATS

I don't like them. But that's not too unusual. I don't like mice, rats, hamsters, prairie dogs, guinea pigs, ferrets, anything that's rodent by design or appearance.

Animal Channel used to have a series about the meerkats. I wondered why. I watched one night for ten minutes or so. They're too disgusting looking for me. When they stand straight up, well, they're just spooky. Abnormal. In human. Oh yeah, I guess all animals are. But they look like alien drawings come alive.

A few weeks ago at the San Diego Zoo a woman passenger behind me on a park bus was gushing over them. Even when she couldn't see them. When I graciously pointed them out to her, I thought I was going to get hugged and kissed for making her day. I didn't look too closely at her. Maybe she had antennae or no ears. I know she had hair. But who else might like an alien that much?

Do do do do do do do do...

VIRG AND CHUTZPAH

They go together.

A good buddy of mine was taking his wife to a big UCLA game back in the day of Coach Wooden. Virg's seats were somewhere between the hinterlands and ionosphere.

Somehow he talked his way down to courtside, where he deked an usher. Virg, facing the court, acted as if he were gesturing to a nearby Coach Wooden asking, "Are these the two seats for us?"

He waited the appropriate time for a response, nodded, and sat down. No one bothered them or asked to see their tickets the whole game.

The story was confirmed by a sheepishly smiling wife Sandy who well remembered the incident. Like Yosarian in Catch-22, when I heard the story, I let out a low whistle and a shake of my head in perfect admiration at such a plan that worked so well.

FAMILY SHIELD OR CREST

As an assignment for some grad class I had one time, we had to make a shield. I forgot what the purpose was--probably something to do with Auld English. I don't know. It might have had something to do with Johari Window, too. I've forgotten about that, too.

There was some order to the making of the shield; I remember that. The top represented something, so if I had to analyze the shield in the picture, I'd say it was from a schizophrenic family, a dual citizenship family, or from the family name of Janus. The god who sat about a doorway with one head looking to the future of who entered, the other head looking to the past to whom had walked through. (See, I remember some things from college.)

Colors were vital to the display of the shield. Again, I'd be surmising to guess that red represented battle. A schizo battle, a battle of two countries, or an internal battle about someone who couldn't get over the past; or possibly about a dreamer with no solid footing.

The most outstanding feature, the most prominent was the pride of the family. In this picture, religion seems to be the focus. I'd guess Catholic by the St. or Saint. Also perhaps an architect who created a religious monument. One, who like Frank Lloyd Wright thought that doctors could bury their mistakes, but an architect's mistake had to be hidden, maybe covered up by vines.

So there you have it. A somewhat scientific explantion of the shield and the family represented by it. I'm sure I was close. I wonder what happened to my shield?

WHAT KIND OF OLYMPICS ARE THESE ANYWAY?



I wasn't very true to my word. I watched a lot of the Olympics this year. From the Opening ceremony to Mark Phelps to synchronized diving to beach volleyball. I tried to watch regular volleyball but didn't know the rules. Especially the one about the guy who wore a different uniform and was called a defensive specialist or something.

But I totally missed the cheerleaders. Not just from the host country or the US, but from Brazil, Russia, South Korea, and other countries. When did this start? And how do you get to be a cheerleader for your country?



Maybe my misogynism is showing, but shouldn't the cheerleaders for your country be from the WACs or WAVES? At least something patriotic? Maybe the DRA?



I don't know. These young women look like Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders, with lots of hair and sex appeal. I guess that's ok, but I thought I remembered when the Olympics were less Hollywood and glamour.



Jennie Finch is one thing. She's a great athlete, among others, who happen to be attractive. The 400 meter gal for the US is another. But to flaunt, to jiggle...I don't know; it just seems out of place at the Olympics.



Kinda like the gymnastics judging that penalizes one landing and turns its eyes away from another which was worse.



Sometimes first hunches, like mine not to watch much of this Olympics, are the correct ones. And I haven't even complained about all the commercials.

Monday, August 18, 2008


COYOTE FOOD AND CHILDREN'S BOOK

Those are the names of our daughters' two rabbits. Actually, they are rabbits, whom she surmises, were dumped in the canyon that borders her house in California.

One is white with a little brown spot or two on him. He lives in a bush in her front yard but comes to her back patio door for food. She's gotten close enough to touch his back as he was eating carrots she provided.

He wants to come into her house, and appears to have no fear as he approached her sleeping or inattentive cat and sniffed his tail. Just to clarify, the cat was also outside.

The mother cat is not so brave. Or hungry. She's not as punctual for feedings and is much more cautious in her approach.

Now to their unique names. In the canyon live coyotes. On some nights their call is distant; other times closer. They were quite close one night when they got to her next door neighbors' little yippie dog, who was silenced forever. Thus, Coyote Food. She says it helps her distance herself from getting too attached to the rabby as our youngest grandson used to called them.

Children's Book looks just like a beautiful rabbit, complete with white cotton ball tail, that might appear in a children's book.

Watership Down did not end well for the animals. Hopefully, they'll use their wits and wiles and stay awhile, and not live up to one of their names.
Posted by TQ at 7:56 AM 0 comments
Sunday, August 17, 2008

AT THE PARK

My wife knows about Fairs. She used to show dairy cattle at the State Fair in Springfield. We still have an expression in our family that "he stayed too long at the fair," when someone(s) overstays their visit.

We added a new family expression this past week. Our 5 year old cousin Jude wanted to go to the park when his grandfather was watching him. I won't use the term baby sitting because if you're around 5 year -olds, you know they don't like being called babies. Roy, his granddad told him it was raining.

"That's ok. I'll just put on my raincoat."

Granddad's being granddads have a hard time refusing.

Off to the park.

"There's no one else here," Jude announced.

"There's water on the merry-go-round," he continued.

"And on the slides."

"And on the swing sets."

"This was a bad idea, wasn't it?" Jude concluded.

So now when things don't work out, when we couldn't find a parking place after searching for 30 minutes in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, last Sunday after church, it was announced by my wife: "This was a bad idea, wasn't it?"

Thanks, Jude, for adding to our nomenclature and our family history.