Christine Baranski Friday: The Grinch (2)

I've already posted about Christine Baranski's appearance in "The Grinch" movie. And here's another picture.

This post is about Christmas specials. Does anyone have any favorites? They are sure on TV a lot now on channels like "ABC Family". I especially loved the Rankin-Bass ones when growing up. "The Year Without a Santa Claus" stands out, with Snow Miser and Heat Miser (both of whom have illustrated my blog posts). I also loved an animated religious one called "Christmas Is".

East of Honor, again

Here's the hill east of Honor, Michigan this morning. Compare to the picture in this earlier post.

Spot the Gnome?

Gnome-vember continues.

I recently found this page at about.com. They claim you can see a clearly detailed gnome in the enlarged lower-right section of the very old photo. I can't see the described gnome at all, can you?

The Where's Waldo-like illustration to the right/above has nothing to do with the old photo; it's just a gnome image for this post.

Here is another page that describes a "real" encounter with a gnome. The account, which is found in several different sites, appears below:

"I am now 22 years old, but when I was 17 I saw a gnome, and this is how it happened. My mom and I just moved to Puerto Rico. She bought an old house on a hill that she fixed it up, and soon we moved in. One day I came home early from school. No one was home, so I went to take a shower. I could hear my dog barking and chasing something, so I got out of the shower, ran to the window and saw what he was barking at: a gnome! He was standing behind a tree. He was very small, wore a white, cone-shaped hat and pointy shoes. Everything he wore was white. He saw me and we looked at each other. When I blinked, he was gone. I decided not to say anything to anyone. Then a couple of days later when I saw him again outside my window, smiling at me... then he disappeared. The next time I saw him I yelled out, "What's your name?" To my surprise, he yelled back and said, "My name is Sebastian Polizar." I told my mom and she was like, "Yeah, right..." I told her that I would prove that it was true. I yelled his name out loud and told him to come see my mom. At 1 o'clock in the morning, she saw him. She screamed and she made me promise never to call him again. But to this day I still see him. We moved out of that house because a lot of weird things kept happening, like doors slamming and voices that just didn't belong. - Lynn"

Probably some reading this can claim to have seen UFOs. Far fewer people claim to have seen little beings like these.

Today's Taraday - November 28

Three new posts in the last 12 hours. Don't forget the other two new ones below this one.

Today's Taraday, November 28, is "Mr. Giggles Turns Two Years Old!/“Spread The Love Day”: Post On Some Of Your Favorite Blogs That You Have Not Actually Visited Or Posted On In A Long Time".

So, go over to Live Life Love Life Part 2 to get your message to Mr. Giggles' mom.

I've already left posts in 3 blogs I'd not really commented in since the spring. I'll find more later today.



Nothing to do with the Taraday, but since it is Gnome-vember, here is another Gnome:

Saturday Scavenger Hunt Assignment - COLD

The Saturday Scavenger hunt word for this week is COLD. The challenge is to write and present pictures inspired by the word on Satuday. I hope I got the rules right; correct me in comments if you need to!

The Snow Miser approves of this word choice.

Super-Spy Job Prospects Bleak

I guess the high unemployment in Michigan isn't the only problem in the job market. I just saw this on the news sites today:

---

Intelligence Service a recruitment headache -- too many cranks want to join MI6. "I think it gives people a false impression of what working for the organization is actually like," the head of MI6 recruitment -- named only as "Mark" -- told BBC Radio One's Newsbeat program on Monday.
"So it does tend to turn up quite a lot of thrill seekers and fantasists and we're really not interested in them."
As well as dismissing the notion that spying was a never-ending life of fast cars, fast women and shaken not stirred Martini cocktails, "Mark" was keen to demolish another myth surrounding MI6.
"We don't have a license to kill -- we don't carry Berettas -- that's simply not true."

---

I guess if you go in to interview at a spy agency, and notice right off that the receptionist doesn't have a name that reminds you of coins or genitalia, it might not be the best place to work if your dream of working a secret agent involves tuxedos and martini's. The presence of bosses and collegues with names that have more than one letter might be a tipoff too: you are in the wrong place.

I wonder if this means that NASA astronauts don't spend all their time fighting Cylons?

Ice Storm

I could say that this is the first ice storm of the season. But no, it is the second one. The first one was the morning of "Black Friday", after Thanksgiving. So, all the shoppers were driving on sheets of ice.

It was that way today. At least Benzie County managed to salt the roads. One thing I saw this morning but did not photograph was a tumbleweed, seen rolling up the center of the highway, up the hill east out of Honor.

Alpacas

I filmed these this morning. It's just some alpacas milling around the barn door around feeding time. I saw these the previous weekend, and figured I'd swing by again with the digital camera. Since Blogger is not allowing upload of video this morning, unfortunately there is just this blurry photo for now.

They are on a farm in Leelanau County, a couple of miles north of the Benzie County line. They are alpacas. They look like llamas, right? No they are not llamas, but they are related, just as they are related to the Vicuna, and probably also the Push-Me-Pull-You from "Dr Doolittle" (the old movie, not the recent one where Eddie Murphy kisses rats). I bet most of you have not even seen an Alpaca. Or probably have not heard of them before.

Taraday - Favorite Store

Today's Taraday is to blog about your favorite store.

Not sure what to pick, so I will mention a few.

I like Menards... it is so huge, and there are so many things there. Aside from just the guy thing of liking a huge home-improvement/lumberyard/etc store. Also, I remember as a little kid in another state being bewildered by it. Now it is followed me to this state.

Spencers. Also from childhood, I remember when being turned loose in a big mall, I would end up at Spencers, and slowly go down one aisle and back up the other, slowly looking at everything.

I also can't forget the bookstore I worked at for 6 or so years.

Finally, there is a store that I think was called The Place. It was in another state. They had lots of fun craft things, including those googly rolling eyes you can put on little stuffed animals. That was were we got the fur to make tribbles. This was in the early 1970s, so they had a lot of psychedelic/60s looking stuff too. Recently, I found out that one of my local friends was involved in running/owning it.

Saturday Scavenger Hunt - Food

The words for today's Saturday Scavenger Hunt is "Food". So here is a picture of 3 pies moments after they were baked Wednesday, the night before Thanksgiving. I took this photo with this post in mind.

Little remains of the pies now.

"Mmmm. pie".

Christine Baranski Friday - Favorite Actresses

This week's Christine Baranski Friday is devoted to Favorite Actresses.

There's Winona Ryder, mentioned recently because she is in the new "Star Trek" movie. We're from the same obscure Minnesota city, so I remember that.

There's Christine Baranski... of course.

There's Halle Barry.. of course. No list should be without her.

I liked Jill Clayburgh in the 1970s, but without Googling, I can't remember any of the movies I liked her in.

I liked Mary Steenbergen in the 1980s, mainly now remembering her role as the schoolteacher in the third "Back to the Future" movie. Jasmine Guy is another I think of as being from the 1980s (pictured in my previous Christine Baranski Friday entry).

Then there' s all those "Star Trek" actresses. For the point of this item, I'll lump in "Babylon 5" with the Trek shows. Hey, it's "Star Trek", so I just about like them all. Some stand out more than others: Gates McFadden (Dr Crusher), Mira Furlan (Delenn of B5) Nana Visitor from "DS9" and Marina Sirtis (Counselor Troi) and some less than others: Denise Crosby, Claudia Christian, and Terri Farrell just for quitting their shows too early, and Kate Mulgrew.

I will probably think of more that will hopefully go in the responses here.

So, for the movie goers and TV watchers reading this, who are your favorite actresses?

Early Morning Shopping Expedition

The big "must-have" item for the holiday saales season appears to be the GPS. Just about every place in the huge pile of Black Friday newspaper ads was selling at least one: including hunting/fishing stores and lumberyards. After looking at web pages like this one, we decided on the TomTom One. I set out to get to Best Buy well before they opened at 5 AM, since they had the cheapest Tom Tom One deal.

(Don't know what a GPS is? It's about the size of a palm pilot with a touch screen, and it knows where you are, and can be used to display maps of where you want to go, especially when driving)

I went into the big city got to Best Buy, and joined a stream of cars that went in, looped around the building, and went out due to lack of parking. The line extended around the building! I was told later that many had been in line since the previous evening. Scratch that. I figured the line had a lot of poor saps who were going to be angry when the TomToms and the $399 laptops were gone. I doubt they were all there to get the "Spiderman 3" DVD for half-off.

So then it was off to Gander Mountain. I waited in line for 20 minutes until a guy came out and said there were no TomTom's. Oh well, that was my 2nd choice for getting a TomTom. My third was Staples, but I decided enough time was spent on the TomTom.

Next to Gander Mountain was an ABC Warehouse. ABC likes to let its employees sleep in. Unlike the 5 or 6 AM Black Friday places, ABC opened at 8 am. The picture here shows the line already forming at ABC two hours and fifteen minutes before it was to open.

Then it was off to Meijer Thrifty Acres, which is Grand Rapids' answer to the Wal-Mart Supercenter. I was hoping to get one of those 7" electronic picture frames as a gift.Those were already gone. I did have some other things on my list, which I found. While waiting in the checkout I noticed someone had a Nintendo Wii in the cart. I did not know that Meijer even had any in the morning, and they were already gone from the shelves. I mentioned that I was looking for a Wii, and had no idea the store even had them. The lady was nice enough to point out a friend who had a Wii in her cart she had just then decided she did not want. I ended up with it... that really worked out.

Next, it was off to Menard's. Maybe I can blog about this place later? It's vast. seemingly much larger than any of the Walmart Supercenters I've seen around the country. If you compare it to one, the stock is like 70% what you would find at a Home Depot, and 30% Wal-Mart supercenter stuff (toys, clothes, groceries, pet supplies, movies, books , electronics). The parking lot was nealry full, but I got in OK.

Then I got inside. First thing I noticed was no shopping carts. Yes, no shopping carts. The guy at the door laughed when I asked about it. So I was going to have to lug some pretty big stuff arund without a cart! This is the first time I'd seen a store of any kind where the carts ran out.

The first item I found was a big dog bed, so I was lugging that around. However, I soon noticed a customer towing a rolling trashcan. Eureka! I asked where he got it, and went and found one of their for-sale rolling trashcans and stuffed the dog bed in it. The rest of the items I got at Menard's went into the rolling trash can, and shopping wasn't so bad after all.

I went to a few more places. As usual, K-Mart was nice and relaxing: mostly empty parking lot, hardly anyone in the store, and nothing sold out, even thought I went there late.

Electronic prices seem to keep coming down lower and lower. Except for televisions? It does not make sense. A few years ago you could get a TV for $40 or so. Now the lowest priced TV seems to be about $150... more than 3 times as much. All the TVs I saw on sale started around this price. except for one at "ABC Warehouse" for $69, and that quickly sold it (a rare special). My mother needs a TV like that. ABC was the last place I went to, around 11 or so AM, and the TV was long gone.

That's it for now. Likely I will brave this again after 3 pm or so: there are some smaller stores I need to hit; likely I will have coupons and flyers and all. The kind of places I hit once a year.

Turkey Day

Today's Taraday is "Turkey Day". As in the country of Turkey/Turkya.

I have a Turkish friend. Actually, he lives in Germany. but he is Turkish. Last time I knew, he worked for General Motors. I see him and his family every few years.

One of my brothers finds Turkish TV to be hilarious. Yesterday, he showed me some Youtube links. There's a Turkish Star Wars, Turkish Superman, Turkish Star Trek, and Turkish Batman.

Click below to see some of Turkish Star Trek. The Youtube clip display "preview" should show you the Turkish Mister Spock:

And I hope you've been having a happy Thanksgiving.

New Books

I figured I'd get this post in early in case I wasn't going to bother with blogging on Thanksgiving... and there is a good chance of that.

I had a book gift certificate to use before it expired, and I also wanted to make sure to get an obscure book from the store before it was sent back unsold. On top of that, I read yesterday that the new Stephen R. Donaldson book was already out. So I went book shopping tonight.

So it was off to the bookstore to get some books. Here's my haul.

Fatal Revenant by Stephen R. Donaldson. It's the latest in his Thomas Covanent series of fantasy novels that started in the mid-1970s. The title character is the worst thing about the series. He's a rather insufferable man. Fortunately, he's been rather scarce since after the first three books.

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. This is only latest of many Frank Lloyd Wright books to come into my library. However, this is only the second novel about Wright that I've found. For a while now, I've thought it has been long overdue for a movie about Frank Lloyd Wright. A "biopic". Sound exciting? A movie about some guy who drags pencils at a drafting table. But no, Hollywood could have fun with this one, as a massacre by a crazed immigrant axe-murderer is part of the "plot" of Wright's life. Not to mention the adultery/betrayal, earthquake, jail time, and house fires.

Horns and Wrinkles by Joseph Helgerson. For years... decades, actually, I wanted to write a juvenile fantasy novel centered around an obscure city in Minnesota. But I never got around to it. The juvenile fantasy book category hardly even existed. But along comes Harry Potter, and now most bookstores have a large juvenile fantasy section. And here comes an author who does write a juvenile fantasy novel centered around the same obscure city in Minnesota I'd been considering all this time. There is no way I can pass this one up.

When Black Friday Comes........

This is one that sort of fits in with the "Useful Sites". It's Black Friday at Gottadeal.com. I first heard of this site a few days ago in a news story about Wal-Mart trying to censor the advertising info on the site. I rushed to the site to find that the Wal-Mart listings were still there, not censored yet.

I might be there at 5 am Friday morning. If not there, probably Best Buy or Meijer. I'm looking for a TV for dear ol Mom. And some other things. If I do what I did other years, I'll be back home at 10 or so AM and go back out at 3 for blenders, fancy soaps, etc.

How many of you are going out into the madness? How many of you are staying home?

Super Clean Coffee

Sign for a Benzonia motel

...Because nothing can ruin the start of a great vacation day more than a cup of dirty coffee.

Useful Sites

I have a "Useful Sites" section in my blog, but so far I have very little in it. Here is a discussion of different web sites I have found to be useful.

News? For years, I've relied on The Drudge Report. He has a lot of good links, many of which go to something called "Brietbart". I've also recently discovered Reuters, which is less sensationalist.

Searching? I mainly use Google.

Movies? IMDB has proven to be great for finding out who is or was in a movie, and for information about upcoming movies. For reviews, I go to Roger Ebert, and he is fully back in the swing of things.

Blogging? Well, most of use use Blogspot and Wordpress. I should count these sites because I go to them a lot to read content, post content, or post comments. Laughingattheslut has a recent post about a blogging tool which might prove useful or fun for a while.

What's on TV? For quite a while, I had MeeVee listed. It's still there. However, lately, I've found it to be down for weeks at a time. So I went and found another one that shows promise: IMDB's own entry at "http://www.imdb.com/sections/tv/"

Online auctions? Ebay only. Last time I knew, Yahoo and Amazon offered online auctions, but they were not worth checking at all.

Am I missing something really good out there?

New "Star Trek" Movie Casting?

The casting information for the new "Star Trek" academy movie keeps rolling out, and it sure is odd. Winona Ryder has been cast, apparently as Spock's Vulcan mother. The concept of "Spock's Vulcan mother" should ring is quite wrong to you if you know anything about the background of the "Star Trek" characters.

I was not the only one hoping for Gary Sinise as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy. However, the casting in this one went to Karl Urban, known to all as the blonde horseback warrior Eomer from the "Lord of the Rings" movies.

I wonder if we can tap "Lord of the Rings" for the rest of the casting?

Gollum as Scotty (.... "my preciouss engines!"... "Filthy Klingonses! I hates you!." ." 'Warp factor 5! Warp factor 5!' Stupid fat captain")

Eowyn as Uhura. There aren't many female characters in "Lord of the Rings" or in classic Trek.

Sam Gamgee (Sean Astin) as James T. Kirk. I wanted one of the hobbits as Kirk. Kirk is well known for his fistfights with aliens, and Sam is clearly the one most likely to get into fistfights. Frodo? No way. He's in Sickbay during the whole movie either unconscious or whining about the pain from the Morgul infection in his blood. The other two hobbits, Merry and Pippin, spend the movie tampering with the replicators to get them to make real alcohol instead of synth-a-hol.

Gimli (John Rhys Davis) as Cyrano Jones. You remember him, right? The guy who sells Tribbles. He has quite a racket going, making lots of money, until people start to realize that the Tribbles they are buying from him are really that mornings's brushings from his massive tangled dwarf beard.

Legolas (Orlando Bloome) as Sulu, Boromir (Sean Bean) as Chekov. Just because someone has to fill these roles.

Elrond (Hugo Weaving) as Mr. Spock. See picture. He gets to keep his Elven pointed ears. Give him some sunglasses, and he might look really cool, right? Get some minor redshirt in the movie with the last name of Anderson so we can hear Spock talk to him: "Mister Anderson..."

Any comments on the actual "Star Trek" movie casting? Are you expecting this reboot to be more like "Starsky and Hutch" or more like the new "Batman" movie series?

Saturday Scavenger Shots #8 “Paper”

This post is late. It was supposed on Saturday, but now it is Sunday. So "Paper" is late. That quickly brought to mind the old song "Paperlate" by the classic progressive rock band Genesis.

This is supposed to be an item of pictures you take of things. I could have done that for any other Genesis album or LP; I have them all. Or so I thought I did. Until I looked at Wikipedia for this, I had no idea that there was a Genesis EP that feature Paperlate. So here is a picture; a mere common discography pic. Any other Genesis album, and I would have been able to comply with my own original picture.

"Paperlate" is an odd word, and is unique to Genesis. It appears to refer to newspapers being late. It appears to merely refer to a newspaper being delivered late. The word first appeared in a song in one of their 1973 albums, and then it became the title of an EP and a hit song in 1982.

Some of the 1982 lyrics:

"....Paperlate

I'm sorry but

there's no one on the line.

Paperlate

I'm sorry but

rest easy no news is good news.

It's too easy to live like clockwork

tick tock watching the world go by......"

As most of you read this it will be Sunday. Many of you will get Sunday papers. I hope you don't experience "paperlate" and they are not delivered late. It is annoying when that happens.

Search Links

Now I'm going to look at the links bringing readers to my blog lately. I haven't done one of these in a while. A couple of times, I left my commary as comments in Laughingattheslut's "Freaky Friday" feature, which resulted in her blog being a top destination for "Christine Baranski Nude"searches.

This time, it's a separate post on my own blog.

Any more, I'm getting the most hits concerning the Death Star. Kind of surprising, since I've only mentioned it a few times. Well, for all you Death Star fans, I'm making hte blog a little more worthwhile. Here's another picture, above right.

I get a lot of hits now looking for the band Green Day, which I have only mentioned once.

Nude neighbors? Yes, still generates interest.

Five searches for the phrase "elvira meets dr paul bearer " is a high number over the past two weeks. I'm glad someone else remembers that obscure Minneapolis horror host.

I now have one person wondering specifically where they can buy Vernor's in Dallas, Texas. As the Michican economy collapses and people continue to move there, this might become a hot item.

The Benzie Dogman and Bilbo's Pizza are still getting search hits after all these months. So is Zoltar.

And now for the funny/odd ones:

Cell Phone Death

Kellogg's Cornflakes Libido (Alright, now, hurry to the grocery store to get a box for yourself or that disappointing spouse!)

Earworms Infection Contagious (I thought it was only spread when Khan drops the things into your ear)

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No Gnome searches, even though it is the month of Gnomevember. But here is a picture of a Radio Gnome.

Taraday - Freddy Kreuger Appreciation Day

Today's Taraday is Freddy Kreuger Appreciation Day. Here is a picture of him. What a complexion. I suppose Jessica Simpson might look like this if she did not use "Pro Active". How would he do in a duel with Wolverine? or Edward Scissorhands?

Freddy is played by Robert Englund. From what I have seen of clips of the movies over the years, he looks like he is having a lot of fun in the role. I did see one movie with him in it years ago. I think it was "The Paper Brigade".

I know he is the central character of the "Nightmare on Elm Street" film series, in which he is a sort of murderous character who stalks and taunts and (I assume) harms teenagers in their dreams.

Actually, I've never seen any Freddy Kreuger's movies, including whatever recent recombinations there have been where he might battle Jason, Alien, Predator, Hannibal Lector, Gidget, Abbott, Costello, or anyone else.

So here's to Freddy...he's a definite cut above.

Christine Baranski Friday - More Singing

In this week's installment of the Christine Baranski photo feature, she is singing again. From the looks of it, she might be singing quite loudly. Maybe too loud.

If you are getting sick of Christine Baranski, I'll give you a little bit of a break this week. Here's Jasmine Guy:

Hunting Season

Today is the opening day of Firearm Deer Season in Michigan. It's a pretty big deal around here; there are a lot of local hunters who love to do it, and a lot of Detroiters and others come up here to deer-hunt as well. The city of Cadillac actually has their schools close for a couple of days to accomodate it.

I've never hunted and am not included to do so. I have a brother-in-law who hunts, and a nephew or two who hunt as well (his sons), but other than that, no relatives are into it.

As such, I don't have an deer hunting anecdotes. However, there are a lot of deer hunting jokes/etc floating around. Here is one:

Hunting Day

1:00 AM: Alarm clock rings.
2:00 AM: Hunting partners arrive, drag you out of bed.
2:30 AM: Throw everything except kitchen sink into pickup.
3:00 AM: Leave for deep woods.
3:15 AM: Drive back home to pick up gun.
3:30 AM: Drive like crazy to get to the woods before daylight.
4:00 AM: Set up camp. Forgot the stupid tent.
4:30 AM: Head for the woods.
6:05 AM: See eight deer.
6:06 AM: Take aim and squeeze trigger.
6:07 AM: CLICK.
6:08 AM: Load gun while watching deer go over hill.
8:00 AM: Head back to camp.
9:00 AM: Still looking for camp.
10:00 AM: Realize that you don't know where camp is.
NOON : Fire gun for help---eat wild berries.
2:15 PM: Run out of bullets---eight deer come back.
2:20 PM: Strange feeling in stomach.
2:30 PM: Realize that you ate poison berries.
2:45 PM: Rescued.
2:55 PM: Rushed to hospital to have stomach pumped, throw up instead.
3:15 PM: Arrive back at camp.
3:30 PM: Leave camp to kill deer.
4:00 PM: Return to camp for bullets.
4:01 PM: Load gun---leave camp again.
5:00 PM: Empty gun on bug that is bugging you.
6:00 PM: Arrive at camp -- see deer grazing.
6:01 PM: Load gun.
6:02 PM: Fire gun.
6:03 PM: One dead pickup.
6:05 PM: Hunting partners arrive in camp dragging deer.
6:06 PM: Repress desire to shoot hunting partners.
6:07 PM: Fall into fire.
6:10 PM: Change clothing, throw burned ones in fire.
6:15 PM: Take pickup; leave hunting partners and deer in camp.
6:25 PM: Pickup boils over due to hole shot in block.
6:26 PM: Start walking.
6:30 PM: Stumble and fall, drop gun in mud.
6:35 PM: Meet bear.
6:36 PM: Take aim.
6:37 PM: Fire gun, blow up barrel that's plugged with mud.
6:38 PM: Mess pants.
6:39 PM: Climb tree.
11:00 PM: Bear leaves. Wrap gun around tree.
Midnight: Home at last. Fall on knees thanking Maker.
Next day: Watch football game on TV, slowly tearing up hunting license into small pieces, place in envelope, and mail to Game Warden.

Anyone have any hunting tales? Do any hunters read my blog?

The picture of the sign is from this morning, and it is outside the Lake Ann grocery store. Yes, it is appearing to dear hunters. The white dots are actually snowflakes. I have no hunting pictures, but I do have a nice picture of a baby deer I can post if anyone wants to see it.

"Strange Things" Meme Follow-Up

Thanks to those who took the "Tag" (or will very soon) on the "Seven Strange Things" meme:
I Am Inspired (soon), Watter's Edge, Laughing at the Slut, Degenerate Elite, and Melissa. I usually don't outright "tag", but this worked out OK this time.

#300 - When the Night's On Fire

This is blog post #300.... well in advance of my first anniversary on this blog. I wasn't sure I'd last this long, or have this many posts.

I'm not sure what else to say at this point. I have a backlog of pictures and post ideas dating back to September, and have more ideas based on Taradays, weekly features, and monthly themes that will keep the blog going for many more posts at this point. I'll likely remain the top source of information on the Benzie Dogman and one of the top Christine Baranski -related blogs out there. At least according to Google.

I'll still have the camera with me as I roam Benzie County. I don't expect as many pictures during the winter (all white snow, not fall colors), but you never know what wildlife might show up. Some of you may feel that I see a lot of scenery and animals. However, I got this in an email from a friend yesterday: ".. this summer alone I saw a bear cub, a coyote, three moose, multiple deer, fisher cat and tons of wild turkeys, all without really driving out of the way, mainly on the way home from work". She lives in Vermont. No, I don't think I will see bear or moose! But I do have one thing to hope to see that she does not have: the Benzie Dogman.

The image is one of several I took a couple of weeks ago on Halloween evening in Benzie County near Lake Ann. As the sun set, half the sky became yellow or pink.

When is it too early?

So, when is it to early? This photo from today is from south of Benzonia, Michigan. It shows just a fraction of a yard just filled with Christmas stuff. And guess what? It's been like this for at least three weeks now. There were also several of those giant balloon Christmas figures, including a Santa lying flat on his back convulsing in the wind (seen in the very short video clip below).

We always put up the Christmas stuff right after Thanksgiving.

Are there any "Early Birds" reading this? Anyone following the lead of Walgreen and the other stores who put up Chrismas stuff right before Halloween, giving their stores a "Nightmare Before Christmas" aspect?

(And please don't miss my space heater question below. And Merry Christmas!)

Space Heaters

(Only two posts away from #300)

Winter is hitting very soon, and we need an electric space heater to help heat the house. I was curious what the readers here recommend.

The ones I know of so far are the electric/fan ones (that are loaded with safety warnings, and have hot cords and can blow fuses), and the sealed oil radiator ones (just recently tried one and it barely heated).

Everything I see seems to use 1500 watts. Is there anything lower? What space heater have you tried out and love?

Taraday - Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

I didn't blog over the weekend, but I didn't want to miss this "Taraday", so I am posting this one on Monday and back-dating it.

Thirty-two years ago toda (Nov. 10), the Great Lakes freighter Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior in a November gale. All 29 on board perished. There has been much interest in this tragedy (see Wikipedia for more details) and it has come to be a sort of "Titanic" of the Great Lakes.

There is no film like there is with "Titanic", but there is a song, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot. A lot of the radio stations around here play the song every November 10. I recall that during the last half of the 1970s, it was one of two songs that appeared to be played more than any other on FM rock radio stations. The other song was "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty. The effect on Gordon Lightfoot was to overshadow the rest of his career, making him a one-hit wonder to some, despite a prodigous output with many worthwhile songs and hits besides the Edmund Fitzgerald song.

The mother of my best friend from the school years taught Great Lakes sailors at an academy. Basic first aid, survival, etc. I'll call her Mrs. X. The night of November 10, 1975, she had a vivid dream of her students drowning and dying while trying to remember what Mrs. X had taught them. She woke up the following morning to find out that the Edmund Fitzgerald had sunk, and yes, several of her former students were aboard. This was not the only dream Mrs. X, my best friend's mom, had about tragic events before even finding out about the events.

There is a nice video on Youtube featuring different images displayed during the song. Click here to see it.

If you were in Michigan, as some of my readers are, you probably heard a lot about it. Perhaps even those in Ohio, too. But if you were in Iowa, Texas, or Utah? They probably didn't play it on the radio that much. I wonder how much the readers from far away from the Great Lakes remember of this when it happened.

"....The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
Superior, they say, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early."

The Seven “Strange” Things Meme Revisited

I was tagged by Tara with this meme:

A). Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog.

B). Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.

C). Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.

D). Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

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1. Yes, I love "Tubular Bells". However, I have not seen the movie "The Exorcist" other than the part with "Tubular Bells" in it.

2. I have been to the Mayo Clinic.

3. I've been to Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island, and probably the Bronx, but I have not been to Manhattan.

4. I've never watched or liked a daytime soap opera (Just about any guy I know his admitted to liking at least one).

5. Today's Taraday is Hoody Day (see illustration to the right of a famous hoody wearer, well known for his Montana shack and cable-channel poker prowess). I've never been big on hoody's, and I think I just have one from college days.

6. All four or five of the original blogs that inspired me to start blogging are still active, 11 or so months after I started to read them. (This one is sort of copied from David-in-DC's #6).

7. I've never been to a science fiction or Star Trek convention, but I have made Tribbles.

Here are the seven bloggers I tag:

1. I Am Inspired

2. Watter's Edge

3. Melissa

4. Laughing at the Slut

5. Playtah

6. Degenerate Elite

7. Authorblog

Christine Baranski Friday - Singing!

This photo has Christine Baranski singing in a karaoke place. She's done other singing in movie and stage musicals.

I already know about Rachel G, but am wondering how many other talented singers I have reading this blog? As for me, I can't really sing, even though I was i elementary school singing clubs.

If you can't sing, or are really bad at it, that might be interesting to hear about also.

Easter Island Gnome

This is the month of Gnome-vember, and here is one of the few Gnome-related posts. The picture is one of those photoshop-mashups that's floating around the Net.

Political Quotes

I was thinking of doing this post, then dropped then idea. Then I saw DiDC's recent Descartes joke, and decide to run with it.

My favorite political quote was from several years ago, probably toward the end of the Clinton administration. Someone at the administration was being accused of something, and Rev. Jesse Jackson said

"I don't like the allegations. Nor do I like the allegator."

I remember when this was current news, but I can't find it on Google. I hope I am remembering it correctly.

Does anyone remember any other funny quotes from politicians? I'm looking more for the witty, and less for the career-damaging (Clinton's Lewinsky denial and Bush I's "no new taxes" or outrageous (Mayor Daley apparently saying that the city needed a white mayor. Or was that wet mayor?).

Write about Something "Green Day"

Today's Taraday is write about something Green Day. Well, Green Day is a band I've heard the name of for years, but I don't think I've ever heard them. Supposedly, the their biggest hit is "Good Riddance", and I have not heard that either. Looking them on up Amazon, it appears that Green Day is a punk band. I don't like punk. However, their album "American Idiot" is a rock opera. I love rock operas, such as "Tommy", "Pink Floyd: The Wall", and "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.". I wonder if "American Idiot" is thus worth listening to?

Are there any Green Day fans reading this? If so, it is time to chime and tell me about one of your favorite bands. Or are there any fans of rock operas?

Galloping Gertie

Also for "Bridge Day", here is the Youtube video showing the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in its rollicking splendour, and also in its collapse (If the embedded image below does not display, try clicking on this link to go directly to the Youtube page)

Taraday - Bridge Day

This bridge is, like so much of my blog scenery lately, in Benzie County. It goes over southern Beulah. This town is rather easy to get through: the bridge is sort of a bypass over the town. Then the road continues rising to the top of the hill where you will find Beulah's "twin city", Benzonia.

The bridge was recently replaced in 2001 at a cost of $2 million (see this page)

I am guessing that this is the most picturesque bridge in the county. It's not much, but it provides a birds-eye view of the village of Beulah, and of Crystal Lake. Others are small bridges over small rivers, or over waterways near Lake Michigan. No covered bridges, no chance for "The Bridges of Benzie County". Not yet, anyway. Sorry, Clint and Meryl. To the south in Manistee County, you have the Bridge Over Nothing, on the same highway this Beulah bridge is on (U.S. 31). I also know there might be some real nice bridges in the county that I just have not seen yet.

Belated - Wizard of Oz Day

It's Gnome-vember!

The Taraday for Nov 3 is:

“Wizard Of Oz Day” - “The Wizard Of Oz” First Televised In 1956

Well, as you can tell I missed the Ozzy celebration on that date, so I here I am catching up.

This month is Gnome-vember, and for the first gnome-related entry for the month, I am including a gnome who was the main villain who antagonized the Land of Oz. This is not from the beloved 1939, movie, of course, but from L. Frank Baum's 14 Oz books and the many more books by other authors that followed.

Let's look at Oz villains. The Wizard himself? Not a nice guy, but certainly not a villain. One can not blame him for having a bad attitude when he has the ludicrously long name of Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Issac Norman Henkle Emmannuel Ambriose Diggs.... for which the initials are O.Z.P.I.N.H.E.A.D. Yes, read about it here . How about the Wicked Witches of the East and West? Dead in the first book. The Wicked Witch of the North soon follows (ding-dong: she dies too)

There are plenty of villains in the Oz books, but none comes close to the Nome King, Ruggedo by name. It was rarely spelled Gnome King, because Baum thought that Gnome was a confusing word for children and he dropped the "G" of the front of it. Who is the Nome King? He's a bad-tempered underground villain who lives across the desert from the Land of Oz, and is always trying to invade, conquer, or destroy it. He's Oz's Gargamel... it's Darth Vader.... it's Lex Luthor. He's deathly afraid of chicken eggs, and he eats rocks for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He makes his first appearance in the third Oz book, "Ozma of Oz", and appears in many books after that. There is a good Wikipedia entry about him here. I bet you thought that villainy in the Land of Oz was limited to witches and winged monkeys?

The Nome King made an appearance in the live action Oz sequel movie "Return to Oz". The film was a muddled mess, but the Nome King's apperances were a highlight. Happy Gnome-vember!
By the way, the Nome King turned 100 this summer. He doesn't look a day over 99! The book he first appeared in, "Ozma of Oz", was published in July 1907.

Big Ice Cream Cone

Here's the big ice cream cone picture requested by Indiana Joe, a new reader. Yes, the cone is still there, by the octagon building. It's about 5 feet tall.

Rich's Roadside Cafe is located east of Honor in Benzie County; close to the Platte River Fish Hatchery. I don't think they were selling many cones tonight: it was cold and snowy.

Bad weather. Do you think it is time to move to Texas or Georgia or someplace reasonable like that?

Hauling Away Halloween

I saw this Friday, on the highway between Benzonia and Lake Ann. It looked like a truckload of stuff being hauled to the dump. Included with the load are three jack-o-lanterns, peering forlornly over the tailgate.

It just struck me as odd that anyone would haul jack-o-lanterns anywhere at all after Halloween.

Saturday Scavenger Photo Hunt - SIN

I thought of doing the Saturday Scavenger Hunt - SIN challenge by photographing the "Seven Deadly Sins" as implied by different things seen in around in Benzie County. However, I could not find anything for "Lust" (like a sign at a strip-joint, for example). Please visit Live Life Love Life for a good example of a "Seven Deadly Sins" post.

I decided to focus on one sin: gluttony. There are no Chinese buffets in the entire county. However, I did find a hotdog as long as a Nissan. Here it is. I am sure it is the largest hotdog in Benzie County. If you find the prospect of eating a real hotdog of such size appealing, then you must be a victim of the sin of gluttony. This is in fact the largest hotdog I have seen anywhere.

Christine Baranski Friday - Acting

Christine Baranski is an actress. The "related topic" on this Christine Baranski Friday post is rather simple. What acting experience do you have? Have any of my readers at one time aspired to be a famous actor or actress?

As for me, I don't like getting up on stage. Other than the inevitable Christmas pageant type thing when I was very young, the only thing I can recall was a class play in the 4th grade in which I played a British general during the Revolutionary War.

Ashton's Punk'd Punkins?

Today's Taraday is "Smashed Pumpkins Day". I set out to find the usually November 1 evidence of anti-gourd mayhem in the form of slimy orange gourd-shards in the middle of the street. I did not have much time to look, but the first pumpkins I did see had been tossed in the gutter. So here are the smashed pumpkins for this year's Halloween:

The house near the gutter had a nice huge spider crawling up it, so I figured I'd snap a picture of that:

Not far away is a nice house where Ashton Kutcher lives. Yes, that Ashton Kutcher. A friend of mine swears on her life that Ashton lives in this house some of the year. He has been the host of the MTV prank show "Punk'd". I doubt he lives there, but knowing what I do of Kutcher there is a definite chance that he does. So I went there to see if someone had punk'd the pumpkins that supposedly belonged to Ashton Kutcher. What I found was this nice undamaged holiday display with a nice undamaged pumpkin in the very front: