Bert Neal offers this seasonal observation:
“You know you are getting close to home when you board a plane at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston and you discover a ‘love bug’ crawling around on the overhead compartments of your plane.”
A reader points out, “Hurricanes are routinely classified by number (1-5) according to wind speed.
“Judging by our experience with Isaac, a No. l, wouldn’t it be more realistic to include size and storm movement as criteria in determining the number?
“These factors can have significant impact on hurricane problems, as we learned during Isaac.
“I’m sure the National Weather Service will welcome the input of a nonagenarian.”
Bobbie Odom, of Jackson, says, “Bo Bievnenu’s story about his paper route reminded me of when I worked at McDonald’s Drug Store on Main Street in the late ’50s.”
Bobbie says customers who didn’t have home delivery of their newspapers would get them at the drug store.
“We had three lists of names for the paper — some got papers every day, some just five days a week, and some on Saturday and Sunday.
“We also had papers without names, which anyone could get.
“Names were handwritten on the papers, and customers went through the stack to find theirs.
“Of course, someone would pick up a paper that was not theirs. You cannot believe what a ruckus people would make if they did not get the paper with their name on it.
“I actually saw a woman cry when she could not find her paper, so I handed her one with no name.
“As for me, 50-plus years later, please don’t mess with my Advocate.”
J. Chance tells of a strange occurrence:
“Two years ago someone had a 1959 IBM Model C electric typewriter for sale on eBay.
“In describing the typewriter, the seller wrote, ‘The typewriter is still functional — it does have some quirks, however. There is no “1” key on the keypad. It hasn’t been broken off, it just isn’t there.’
“I’ll bet your readers know where the ‘1’ key is hiding.”
Regarding old comic strips, Mike Lukacin says, “I remember Joe Palooka, Daredevil and Ozark Ike, who played all the sports that were in season (back then each sport had its own season.) Stringbean was one of his basketball teammates.”
And David Couvillon says “those of us who need a Calvin & Hobbes fix” can go to the GoComics website to get this witty “gone but not forgotten” strip.
It’s at http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes.
Cindy Martrain tells this good deed story:
“T. Rockhold was stranded in traffic from Hurricane Isaac when she was rear-ended.
“As a result of her accident, the electrical system went out on the car.
“A big black cloud was about to burst when a ‘Big Angel’ came to her rescue — namely Lt. Edward Wheeler of the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office.
“He made sure the inside of her car was well protected by putting his rain gear on the windows to protect the inside of the car from the downpour.
“In the midst of the rain, he flagged down a wrecker that was passing by. The wrecker took her car to a nearby dealership.
“She stayed completely dry, and is thankful for Lt. Wheeler.”
Doug Treadway adds to our ugly-tie stories:
“In the late ’70s I was working as a designer in an engineering office in Dallas where we made oilfield gadgets.
“It was a fairly laid-back atmosphere, and nobody said anything to me about my wearing open-collar shirts while all the other men wore ties.
“But the secretaries and receptionist would give me looks.
“So one weekend I found this garish electric-blue necktie with a horribly hand-painted multicolored flower on it at a yard sale, bought it for a buck, and wore it to work on Monday morning.
“All the women in the office complimented me on my tie. So much for irony.”
(I don’t know, Doug — maybe THEY were being ironic.)
Sarah Stravinska, of Chestnut, says the mention of starch in the column reminded her of her own starch story:
“I hadn’t paid a lot of attention when Mom starched clothes, so when I was married she reminded me to ‘starch everything.’
“Well, the sheets and pillowcases were sort of OK, but the towels wouldn’t fold, so I just propped them up in the closet.
“And my husband walked real funny after that first load of laundry.
“He convinced me that ‘everything’ did not include his socks and underwear.”
Write Smiley at Smiley@theadvocate.com. He can also be reached by fax at (225) 388-0351 or mail at P.O. Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821.
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