Okay, Uncle Ken; what is "bon yoyage?" Did I ever mention that your attention to detail stinks? Of course I did, but if you don't care I won't either.
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Seems to me that you guys from The Silent Generation are seriously contemplating your mortality, maybe even getting ready to check out. Hope you're not circling the drain or in a distressed situation. As a Baby Boomer in good standing and an honors graduate of the Dunning-Kruger Institute I am selfish enough and delusional enough to tell the Grim Reaper to go fuck himself; I'm making my own rules. The human body is amazing in its capacity to fix itself in many cases. Okay, I'll admit I can't do much about cancer but according to my most recent medical assessment I'll drop dead from either heart attack or stroke; hope it's quick. Maybe an ICE agent will hasten the process. Meanwhile, I'm paying attention to the things I'm supposed to do, you know the drill and have access to the same information as I do. So it goes.
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Your little sample of keepsakes is revealing, Uncle Ken. I don't know if my school had attendance awards and I certainly tried to get out of Sunday School every week, to no avail. Larry Goodman's Community Theater (with Flash Gordon!) was much more important to me. I tried dodging church, too; big fail again but I don't think I suffered any lasting harm.
I'll be digging through my accumulated treasures one of these days; maybe find something worth writing about.
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One of Gary Larson's more memorable Far Side cartoons was titled "Cow Tools." Check this out: https://www.livescience.com/animals/land-mammals/ever-seen-a-pet-cow-pick-up-a-broom-and-scratch-herself-with-it-you-have-now
Is this an omen?
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
Laughing all the way?
Monday, January 19, 2026
Going in Style
Art Carney, George Burns, and Lee Strasberg, in this 1979 movie about three old codgers in their late golden years who rob a bank. Whaddaya think guys? I suggest we do it up in Cheboygan because I don't know how well Beagles travels and the banks are maybe more slipshod than down here on the sunny shore of Lake Michigan, and damnit, I would like to see Cheboygan.
I particularly remember a scene where Art Carney pulls out this box that holds various moments of his life, some important, some not, and some who the hell knows what they are. I have such a box and I also have various other little containers of crap I have no use for but don't want to throw away that I think I should look through more often than every five years, but I know if I pull it out there goes the rest of the day. Anyway I was rummaging through my archives the other day in search of something else and opened up a small cookie tin where I keep that kind of crap, and came across these items.
The first is something Old Dog made with one of high tech toys, then my Perfect Attendance medal from Gage Park High, Five year attendance at Elsdon Methodist Church, and my draft card.
A story in every one of them, something to look through on an overcast afternoon in the deadest of winter., and put away for another five years when it is time to make supper.
I'm hoping you guys have such boxes and maybe you could pull a few items out and maybe have enough material for a post to The Institute because nothing brightens up an overcast morning in the dead of the dead of winter like something over the transom.
And if I don't hear anything new well I'll expand on these four items.
Thursday, January 8, 2026
bon yoyage
My memory of the lead pipe discussion is pretty hazy, but I was able to use the search function to find it. I think it came from a smaller discussion about the origin of the term lead pipe cinch.
That was quite a discussion you had with Chatz. Well he is a talkative guy, and he certainly has a lot of knowledge that would take you at least a few hours of driving the googlemobile to amass.
The fireworks downtown were great this new years. I took a gummy to enhance the experience and it turned out to be too much. There I was after the fireworks with a big buzz and nothing much to do with it.
You guys know I write a bit, and I am trying to get back into it again so I asked Chatz if he would criticize one of my stories and he was all in on that. I thought he gave a pretty accurate review, and then I asked him what he thought about me having the character do this and he wrote back more of the story incorporating the character doing this, and I wrote back what if he does that and got another little writeup.
And so it went until 3 AM. Chatz makes a good sounding board but he is a terrible writer, his prose is clunky. I didn't make near the progress I had hoped for but I had a great time. I will try this again.
Living here in a tower with its own grocery store and all I can probably stay out of the old folks facility longer than Beagles, but my time has to come. I am kind of rooting for dying in my sleep, or maybe something quick like getting hit by a car. I guess being propped up with a soft pillow while friends and relatives drop by to wish me bon voyage would be nice, hopefully with happy pills.
I am sure that we all think about this stuff, but it's hard to guide the conversation to it because most likely it will make the rest of the crowd uncomfortable.
They have all these pamphlet like things on the subject but they tend to be religious or spiritual or eerily upbeat, can't we do just the facts Ma'am?
Friday, January 2, 2026
The New Normal
This last snowstorm wouldn't have been bad if the ice storm hadn't preceded it. It was nothing like the big one we got last spring when our power was out for almost ten days, but it still wasn't much fun. This time we only lost our power for seven hours, although I understand that some areas south of us lost theirs for several days. The worst part for me was that the windshield wipers on the pickup got entombed in ice. I'm not talking about just the blades, I'm talking about the mechanism that drives the arms. I don't believe I've ever seen that happen before. I was out there chipping away at it today after letting the truck idle for an hour. I made a good dent in it, but I haven't reached bottom yet.
I have gotten too old and infirm to plow my own driveway, so we have engaged the services of a much younger man for this season. I'm not sure that we will still be here next season. Some sort of old age facility is in the cards, but we are trying to hold out as long as we can.
I seem to remember that we discussed this topic in the past, but I don't think we ever got to the bottom of it:
bar talk
So glad to see Old Dog posting. Every morning one of the first things I do is go to The Institute to see whazup and for all of December and parts of November and January nothing was up. I know that Old Dog fancies these long silences but it saps my willingness to post if I know that I will have to wait like a month to get a response and by that time any threads I was hoping to spark have died.
There are topics that I'm still pondering, not sure if I am able to bring light to the issues or am just prolonging pointless arguments. We three are very different and I think it best to keep my mouth shut most of the time.
I don't mind pointless arguments. Back in the day of Ten Cat seminars Old Dog was a big fan of Bar Talk or bullshit sessions, where you just ramble on, first thing that pops into your mind and you don't mind if others disagree or when the topic changes. Nothing wrong with ratholes, it's about the journey and not the destination.
But we have discussed this many times.
I am wondering where Old Dog has been watching No Other Choice. It's not available to stream though I know that Old Dog knows certain internet shortcuts.
But I am a big fan of the director, Park Chan-wook. Loved Oldboy and the other two Vengeance Trilogy movies before and after Oldboy. Now there are movies.
Speaking of movies I saw The Wild Bunch a week or so ago and it holds up very well. Nothing but outlaws and the good guys are not much better than the bad guys, but you root for them anyway.
We are having a cold snap here lately, but major storms, of which we seem to have a lot lately (or is just media hype, very photogenic these storms), but they seem to hit south (snowstorms) or north (really cold snaps). This last one went to the north and smacked Cheyboygan pretty hard and I thought of Beagles out there way north and way out in the country. Hope that Beagles got through that ok. I have been dipping into the Cheyboygan Daily Tribune lately and they did not seem to think the storm was such a big deal. Hardy folk, unlike us down south who tremble at a few inches of snow.
Save Trump for last is the way we anti Trumpers do things because if you start too early that is all you talk about the whole night, best to save it for the last beer. One thing I used to think of Trump was at least he wasn't getting us into any wars, you would think he is the kind of guy who would like to wear a military hat and a chestful of bogus medals, but now he is rattling the saber to beat the band.
Thursday, January 1, 2026
Turning the page
Happy New Year, gents! My summary of the past 12 months is simple: Yikes!
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Sure has been quiet in the Institute lately but I don't think it's a big deal. I don't think blogs on this site ever die; I'm still waiting to read the follow up on Merino socks from one of Uncle Ken's original blogs. Patience is a singular virtue of mine and I can wait longer, which is why I seldom post. There are topics that I'm still pondering, not sure if I am able to bring light to the issues or am just prolonging pointless arguments. We three are very different and I think it best to keep my mouth shut most of the time.
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I know Uncle Ken is a big fan of Louis Sullivan, but how about other architects? There is a local guy that teaches at Circle (is it still called that?), Stewart Hicks, and he has a YouTube channel that gets into many aspects of architecture. Good stuff, especially in the context of urban design, another favorite rabbit hole of mine.
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My rabbit holes seem to have their own rabbit holes; I keep finding interesting movies to watch online. One of the latest is No Other Choice, "a 2025 South Korean satirical black comedy thriller film." The main guy works in a paper mill, maybe a bigger one than Mr. Beagles is familiar with. The film looks good so far as long as you don't mind subtitles.
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Okay, that's all I've got for now. Keep your powder dry.