Saturday 9: Smoke Rings

Saturday 9: Smoke Rings (1933)

   

Unfamiliar with this week's song? Hear it here.

   

1) In this song, Donald Mills of the Mills Brothers encourages us to "puff, puff, puff" our cares away. When did you most recently smoke a cigarette?

A. I tried them in high school but could not stand to smoke, so it wasn't a habit I involved myself with. I'm not sure "trying to smoke" counts as actually "smoking" a cigarette.

 

2) In the 1930s, when this week's song was recorded, an estimated 40% of American adults smoked cigarettes. By the early 1960s, that number reached a high of 42%. According to the CDC, the percentage of adult smokers dropped to 11%. Do many of your friends and relatives smoke or vape?

A. If any of my friends or relatives smoke or vape, they don't do it around me.

 

3) Donald was the youngest of the singing Mills Brothers, and he's the one who most often sang lead. That squares with popular birth order theory, which proposes that the youngest tends to enjoy being the center of attention, the middle child is the diplomat, and the oldest is the high achiever. Think of your own family and the families of your friends. Do you think this theory holds true?

A. The theory probably holds true to some extent. Some of it depends upon definitions. And generations. On second thought, no. That theory is just a theory.

 

4) The Mills Brothers were one of the first famous singing brother acts. The Williams Brothers – which featured future TV star Andy Williams – followed in their footsteps. Can you think of another group of singing brothers?

A. The Jackson 5, obviously. Also, the Bee Gees, The Everly Brothers (I guess they were brothers), and the Osmonds.

 

5) In addition to recording hit records, The Mills Brothers were a staple on radio in the 1930s. They were among the first African American artists to host their own radio show and sang jingles for Standard Oil and Crisco. What commercial do you recall having seen, or heard, recently?

A. It's election season, so most of the commercials I see are election commercials right now. There's this one: 

 

6) In 1933, when this week's song was popular, actor Robert Montgomery and his wife had a daughter they named Elizabeth. That little girl would become famous in the 1960s for her own TV show. Without looking it up, do you know what show Elizabeth Montgomery starred in?

A. Bewitched. I always wished I could twitch my nose and have a clean house. Wouldn't that be something?

 

7) Johnny Cash was also born in 1933. Do you have a favorite Johnny Cash song?

A. I like Ring of Fire and Folsom Prison. There was also one he sang with June Carter Cash, Jackson, that I recall from childhood.

 

8) In 1933, five French airlines merged to form Air France. Think of the last time you were at an airport. Were you taking a flight or meeting a flight?

A. The last time I was at an airport I was meeting a flight.

 

9) Random question: Your best friend just received a certificate for completing a car maintenance course at your community college. Would you let them work on your vehicle?

A. I would let them work on my vehicle, yes. Why not?

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I encourage you to visit the posts of other participants in Saturday 9 and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however. 

Thursday Thirteen

Quotes by famous female characters, with a little commentary by yours truly after each one.

1. “Only love can truly save the world. So I stay, I fight, and I give, for the world I know can be.” - Diana (Wonder Woman). And CD says: Oh, to be so innocent of the world, to think one can truly have only love.

2. “Even miracles take a little time.” - Fairy Godmother (Cinderella). And CD says: The miracles I've seen take a lifetime.

3. “Some walks you have to take alone.” - Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay). And CD says: All of my walks are alone. Most people's are, I think.

4. “Books! And cleverness! There are more important things! - Friendship! And Bravery!"  Hermione Granger (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone). And CD says: But Hermione, a book can also be a friend, and sometimes one is brave when one reads.

5. “When the raindrops come tumbling, remember you’re the one who can fill the world with sunshine.” - Snow White (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs). And CD says: A noble notion, is it not? To think that one can walk merrily through the day and bring about the light?

6. “Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.” - Lady Galadriel (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring). And CD says: This also holds true for mice, toads, and other minute creatures, the sight of which, depending upon location, could indeed change the course of at least a day for many people.

7. “After all, tomorrow is another day!” - Scarlett O'Hara (Gone with the Wind). And CD says: And so is the day after that one. One is to be grateful for that experience, I suppose.

8. “When life gets you down, you know what you gotta do? Just keep swimming.” - Dory (Finding Nemo). And CD says: And if you don't know how to swim, try not to drown and at least keep your head above water.

9. “I find it poor logic to say that because women are good, women should vote. Men do not vote because they are good; they vote because they are male, and women should vote, not because we are angels and men are animals, but because we are human beings and citizens of this country.” - Jo March (Little Women). And CD says: Go Jo!

10. “I do not think, sir, you have a right to command me, merely because you are older than I, or because you have seen more of the world than I have; your claim to superiority depends on the use you have made of your time and experience.” - Jane Eyre (Jane Eyre). And CD says: Go Jane!

11. “I am the plan.” Buffy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer). And CD says: A girl should always be her own plan. Always. Even if that plan involves a dime and a no-longer-existent telephone booth.

12. “It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.” - Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables). And CD says: The "firmly" part is key to this quote. Just making up my mind is seldom enough.

13. “Once you tell your story, it can be empowering.” - Olivia Benson (Law and Order). And CD says: It can also be overwhelming, joyful, sad, entrancing, entertaining, and ephemeral. Just remember, it's YOUR story. Let it be what it must.

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while, and this is my 981st time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

The Aliens in the Night

When I downloaded photos from my game camera the other day, I was surprised by some night captures:

What are these creatures?!?*

(Ignore the date on the Stealth Cam. I never learned how to change it and make it current.)

*I'm pretty sure it's a spider.

Whistle Pig

We have groundhogs living under the outbuilding not far from the house.

Sometimes they come up to the patio.

I am not supposed to like them, because the holes they leave behind are dangerous to cattle and such, but I think they're kind of cute. 

Look at those little, tiny ears.

They may be small, but they must hear very well. Groundhogs take off fast when they get the slightest notion of danger. I have watched them zoom away on countless occasions.

This one must have been very involved in eating the clover around the patio because I was able to get these shots without it running off.

My husband calls them whistle pigs sometimes. I don't know why, exactly, except that if you can do a loud whistle, they will stand up and look at you.

I can whistle, but not as well as I used to, so I haven't tried to whistle at a groundhog in a long time.

My National Audubon Southeastern Field Guide says that groundhogs are formally called "woodchucks," although we've never called them that. We've always called them groundhogs.

The book also says they are in the squirrel family, and while I've seen one grab hold of a tree trunk and cling there, I've never seen one actually up in a tree. 

These animals are vegetarian and usually I see them eat grass and clover during the warmer months. They stay mostly in their burrows from November through March.

I guess the best-known groundhog is the one in Pennsylvania that's supposed to tell the weather.

Mine, I think, are just quiet, sweet pests and they don't have much to say about the forecast.

Sunday Stealing

 

Getting to Know You 

1) Describe yourself in three words.

A. Loyal, trusting, and intelligent

2) What's your favorite dish at your favorite restaurant? 

A. My favorite dish is sweet and sour chicken at Szechuan, a restaurant about 35 minutes away.

3) Did you set goals for 2026? If yes, how are you proceeding toward them?

A. I did not set goals for 2026, so I'm not doing very well at reaching them. I have set other goals this year, though, and I am slowly whittling away at them.

4) What's something you have learned the hard way?

A. That the people you love the most will be the people who hurt you the most.

 

5) If you could skip one item on today's to-do list, what would it be?

A. The same one that's always on the list but which I skip or leave for last: doing the bookkeeping.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

__________

I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.

Saturday 9: Somewhere Over Laredo

Saturday 9: Somewhere Over Laredo (2025)

   

Unfamiliar with this week's song? Hear it here.

   

1) In this song, Laney Wilson namechecks Tito's Vodka. Is there a product you are very brand loyal to? (It doesn't have to be liquor. Maybe you always reach for Dawn Dishwashing Liquid, even if another soap is on sale.)

A. I used to be dedicated to Cheer Free detergent, but they quit making it, so now I use All Free and Clear. I also use Dove sensitive soap. Because of my asthma, fragrances make me ill.

 

2) The lyrics start with her in a window seat on a flight out of Houston. Do you prefer the window or the aisle?

A. My husband always wants an aisle seat. I don't really care.

 

3) She's dreaming of rodeo nights with the guy she loves. If you could spend this evening with anyone at all, anywhere at all, where would you go and who would be with you?

A. I would be with my husband, and we'd be in Paris, because, you know, why not?

 

4) Lainey is from Baskin, LA, population 200. Do you prefer big cities or small towns?

A. I have always preferred rural areas.

 

5) There's a Netflix documentary about Lainey called Keepin' Country Cool. What show have you recently streamed?

A. We just finished Season 3 of Reacher on Amazon Prime.

 

6) This week's song borrows liberally from "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," so much so that "Rainbow" songwriters Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg receive credit. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is the most beloved song from The Wizard of Oz. Can you name another?

A. "Ding dong, the witch is dead." Also "Follow the Yellow Brick Road."

 

7) In 2025, when this song was popular, more patients took advantage of telehealth than ever before. Have you ever had a virtual doctor visit?

A. I have had many virtual doctor visits. I find it a great way to deal with certain health concerns.

 

8) Also in 2025, smart home technology was integrated into more new home construction. Do you use smart devices to automate your lights, thermostat, or doorbell?

A. We do not use smart home devices. It's bad enough we have Alexa playing our music. I don't need my refrigerator, washing machine, or other appliances to talk to me, nor do I need to be able to change the thermostat in the house from 1500 miles away. And the day I am too sorry to get up and turn a light switch off or on, is the day that somebody comes and takes me away.

 

9) Random question – On which day are you happier: a) the day you take off on vacation or b) the day you return home from your trip?

A. It is always nice to get away, but it's also very nice to come home and put everything down. They are different kinds of happy.

 _______________

I encourage you to visit the posts of other participants in Saturday 9 and leave a comment. Because there are no rules, it is your choice. Saturday 9 players hate rules. We love memes, however. 

Thursday Thirteen #980

 

1. I have developed a thing for chewing gum. This started after some medication gave me something called "burning tongue" syndrome, which means exactly what it sounds like. I found that chewing gum helped. I stopped the medicine and that cleared up after a while, but the gum habit stayed.

2. My fingernails used to be the thing I gnawed on, but after more than 50 years of trying to stop, I gave it up immediately when Covid hit. "You might die if you touch this can in the grocery store and then put your finger in your mouth" apparently is a big impetus to end that kind of habit.

3. Now I pick at my fingernails sometimes. I keep them cut back very short and keep the cuticles cut, but the nails are permanently damaged from all of that biting. If I wasn't allergic to nail polish they might look better, but I have that particular allergy, so they are what they are.

4. When I was working for a law firm in 1988, I was told that I didn't dress well enough and needed to wear sexier clothes and high heels. I have flat feet that are troublesome and never could wear heels without a great deal of foot pain, so I went with nice flats most of the time. As for the sexier clothes, well, there are reasons why I stopped working there and that might be one of them.

5. I've been keeping a food journal for a month, and while I can see where I make mistakes, they aren't huge mistakes. Mostly I don't eat enough vegetables and fruit. According to something I found on the CDC, in 2019, 12.3% and 10.0% of surveyed adults met fruit and vegetable intake recommendations. So I am right in there with the majority of Americans.

6. Updated CDC information claims otherwise, though. A September 2026 report says "During August 2021–August 2023, 69.9% of adults consumed any fruit on a given day and 93.3% consumed any vegetables." Forgive me if I question anything put up by the government under the current administration.

7. My problem is I am not a cook. I don't like to cook, never have. I find playing with naked uncooked meat to be gross, and while I don't mind chopping vegetables, figuring out what to do with them next is always a head scratcher. Julia Child would have found me really interesting company if she wanted to talk about local politics or people in general, but incredibly boring if she wanted to talk about something like "Risotto ai funghi porcini." I don't even know how to pronounce that. (It's some kind of mushroom dish.)

8. Once when I was nine, the babysitter named Melinda stayed overnight. We got up the next morning and decided to fix breakfast for my parents, who had come home very late and were still asleep. She gave me the biscuit batter to stir, and recalling that when I last helped my mother make cookies that all of the batter had to be smooth with no lumps, I stirred and stirred and stirred that stuff. They came out flat as pancakes because I'd apparently beaten all the rise out of the biscuits. Did you know you could do that?

9. I did learn to make decent fudge. When I worked for the newspaper, I'd make about 15 pounds of chocolate goodness, make up nice gift boxes, and then go around and deliver fudge to anyone who'd been helpful to me throughout the year - county administration, the Circuit Court clerk's office, library folks - anyone who'd given me a tip or offered up a bit of information.

10. These days news reporters apparently get their tips from social media. Hard to give out boxes of fudge for that. The news was better when reporters used shoe leather. That's my personal opinion, of course, but maybe you think so, too.

11. Speaking of news, I don't have any personal news to speak of, except the car seat broke earlier in the month but we had it repaired this week.

12. This was the second time the seat has broken since 2023. I wonder if they fixed it back correctly the first time?

13. I only put about 6,000 miles a year on my vehicles, so even though its 12 years old, it's still low mileage. Things shouldn't be breaking but I guess age takes a toll on us all.

_________________

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while, and this is my 980th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. Or so sayth the Blogger counter, anyway.

Space: The Final Frontier

I took the pictures below on September 14. At that time, we had a young crescent moon showing with a very bright Venus on the right in the western sky. Lucky for me, according to space.com, Venus was almost at its brightest for the remainder of 2026 the evening I captured these shots.

On October 8, the Draconids were peaking after sunset. I set the camera to capture star trails and left it sitting pointing in one direction while I watched the sky in another.

Unfortunately, I didn't see any meteors and neither did the camera.

No matter. I think star trails are cool even when they don't show up well.

There is nothing like a little evening star watching to make you realize how little all the problems of the world really are.

Eastern Box Turtle

As best I can tell, this little critter is an Eastern box turtle. It decided to take a tour of the driveway early one morning.

This is only the second time since we moved in 39 years ago that I've seen a turtle of any kind up here at the house, although we have snapping turtles down at the pond.

The eastern box turtle (terrapene carolina) is one of those small, steady creatures that quietly goes about its business in Virginia’s woods and pastures, never in a hurry or asking much of anyone. They’re long‑lived, stubborn in their routines, and oddly endearing. They are mainly terrestrial and will soak in mud or very shallow water, something we've not had much of here lately with our drought.

My husband thought the small reptile might have been drawn toward the house by the water from the hose where we had watered the flowers the night before.

I used a zoom on the camera to keep from scaring it and making it go into its shell.

Sunday Stealing

Survey Asks . . . 

1. What was the last gift you received?

A. The last gift I received was a special pen and journal from a friend.

2. Who did you last hang out with?

A. I last hung out with my husband, but I'm kind of hanging out with him most of the time. I hung out with a friend not long ago when we went to lunch, though.

3. Do you often lose the remote?

A. I am not in charge of the remote. The remote exists to please the man, and the man is in charge of the remote. Said remote in the man's hands has a tendency to run through the channels, up and down and up and down, until such time as wife finally snaps and says, "Would you please leave the TV on the same channel? You are making me crazy."

4. When did you last check Facebook?

A. Sometime today.

5. Are there scented candles in the room you're in?

A. There are no scented candles anywhere in my house. I am allergic to scented items.

6. Next time you leave the house, where will you be going?

A. I will either be going to the library, to physical therapy, or to the grocery store.

7. Do you know anyone named Steven or Stephen or Steve or Stevie?

A. I have cousins, one on my side and one on my husband's side, who are named as such.

8. Which do you prefer: macaroni salad or potato salad?

A. I prefer potato salad. My husband likes macaroni salad. But mine must not have onions. My stomach cannot handle onions.

9. Do you have an ice maker in your refrigerator door?

A. My ice maker is in the top of the refrigerator where ice makers belong.

10. When you woke up this morning, did you get up straightaway or lounge a bit?

A. When I wake up, I usually fix myself a nice cup of hot water and spend time at the computer reading the news. These days that is not such a pleasant pastime and one that I probably should wait to do until I've had my blood pressure medicine for the day. Good grief.

 Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

__________

I encourage you to visit other participants in Sunday Stealing posts and leave a comment. Cheers to all us thieves who love memes, however we come by them.