I called all the baboons into my office (comfy chair by the windows, master bedroom) yesterday for a meeting about the tainted election.
That was a mistake. Baboons do not handle controversy well. Nor do they negotiate or compromise. There was a lot of shrieking and chasing each other around the room. Stuff was thrown. Some of it was like clumps of oil washing up on a Louisiana beach. I can’t describe the scene other than to say it was horrible and I had a lot of explaining to do when my wife got home.
Now I’m going to have to paint the upstairs hallway AND the master BR.
So I sent the baboons away and decided to resolve the issue on my own, using The Wisdom of Solomon.
We have one baboon with two names. Maybe we should cut the baboon in two and name one half “Blevins” and the other half “Rhonda”. Everyone OK with that?
I thought not. We are animal lovers to the core. Baboons are interesting but not charming. When half the baboon is missing, they are repulsive.
The other idea that occurred to me is to consider the dual emotional nature of the baboon.
The animal looks very different when he is facing you compared to when he is walking away.
Why not call the very same creature by two names – “Ronda” when you can see her eyes …
And “Blevins” when you can’t? One baboon. Two “faces”. Like a pushme-pullyou.
And blevins is a perfectly useable name to describe a monkey’s hindquarters, or a hindquarters of any sort.
I suspect we have all felt like showing our blevins on occasion, simply for the reason that no one wants to see it.
It’s a freedom of speech issue. Blah blah blah indeed.
But this is not a very happy ending, and a happy end is what I most want to give you.
After all, running a blog is like owning a bar. As long as a lot of people are present and happy, there is great potential for success. And there is one thing that is virtually guaranteed to make most people happy as long as they don’t have to feed it, clean up after it or care for it in any way.
A Baby Animal.
The little one is Rhonda, of course.
We’re all called on to settle an issue from time to time.
Of what difficult decision are you most proud?
Trail Baboon 
I was going to suggest an election run-off, but I think Baby Rhonda is a much better solution… clearly you, Dale, are as wise as Soloman.
I think one of my best decisions was to go back to college to finish my degree. I quit school because I just couldn’t figure out why I was spending all my parents’ money and I wasn’t happy where I was. Then several years later, when I couldn’t get the job I wanted at my present company, I took a different job just to get my foot in the door. That’s when I found out that they get 50-60 resumes for jobs in my department every time they post the position and that they use college degree as an initial marker. No degree, no consideration. I did, after a year, get the job that I wanted, but never wanted to be in that position again. So I went back to school, while working full time and paid for it myself. I’m still at my same company after all these years so haven’t “needed” the piece of paper, but finishing up the work, doing it all by myself, and doing it well made lots of differences in my life!
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Awwwwwwww how cute. I’m still a bit misty on seeing that you did find that second baboon, Dale.
Very impressive, Sherrilee.
I have to go think about the question now. Last day of school at our house!
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Great idea-but where is the mother? Is Rhonda an only child?
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That is cute! This is what I was trying to propose yesterday: the Two-Baboon Solution. But does this mean that baby Rhonda has a garrulous drunk for a father? Poor Rhonda won’t be help help helping many others, it would seem. Who knew baboon business would be so tricky?
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i like the idea of Blevins raising Rhonda. i see him as a kind-hearted soul and i bet he’ll stop drinking so much now that he has little Rhonda to raise. Rhonda’s mom (Neveah) ran off with Bart the Bear; met him in a chat room (Bart saying he was a baboon). when they met the first time Neveah was so in love she decided that she didn’t care if he was a bear. they would make it work. so she left Old Blevins to care for Rhonda by himself. she keeps up with them on Facebook – sending falsely supporting messages to Rhonda (“i’m so proud of you!” “you are such a smart baboon!”) and she never visits even though Blevins granted visitation rights. Rhonda doesn’t care. she is strong and and growing well.
Good morning, All.
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barb
that was impressive. you have wrapped it up with a nice neat bow. we don’t even need to discuss it further. blevens will do his best. every disfunctional family has its story and blevens and rhonda certainly have theirs. dale can weave this into his morning world now for the next 34 years. bubby the perennial sophomore and the blevins and rhonda sidebar. i like it.
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This is great, Barb, how do you do that??
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Who knew that Bart the Bear was a home wrecker? He seems so gentle. (Though there are those who would say he is only a symptom of an already faltering relationship…)
Nicely tied together Barb.
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Oh, thanks. I didn’t know. Well I’m sure they’re much better off without her then.
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Two baboons is a fine solution, but I do request name tags so I know who I am looking at — all baboons look alike to me.
Sadly, the best and hardest decision I ever made, was to get a divorce. I sure don’t want to go through that again. But it was the right decision. After that life was much improved, until cancer hit 4 years later and I had to make many treatment decisions. But that was OK, too. I made the right decisions. I just hit my 20 year survival anniversary. I’m alot crabbier than in my youth, but the decisions I made kept me alive!
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i’ve noticed you are kind of crabby. that makes you fit in around here.
i had a divorce change my life too. the lawyer asked when i went in to set up the paperwork if i was the dumper or the dumpee, it makes a difference if you feel victimized or guilty. i was so unexpectedly relieved by not having to deal with the daily thumping i was a new man.
congrats on 20 years of survival, i think you’ve made it.
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Thanks for the detail, Barb. You are so good at keeping track of these things. It was on the evening news just yesterday that Rhonda was left at an airport so she could fly off to visit Neveah. As luck would have it, there was another juvenile baboon there flying off to meet HIS mom. You can see this coming, right? The little baboons got switched up and flown to the wrong cities. Northwest is deeply embarrassed. Rhonda is home and happy that she didn’t have to go to Texas in June, and anyway Washington DC is a city just made to please baboons. Or that’s the way I heard it.
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Perfect Steve!
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You are on the right track, barb, but I’m not sure any of you have seen enough Disney movies to know how this goes (or maybe read Silas Marner-at least I think that is what I am thinking of-one of the joys of this blog is that there is always someone out there who knows and will kindly show you the error of your ways if need be).
Rhonda was orphaned as an infant in a tragedy we do not need to go in to too much gory detail about.
The old, isolated reprobate Blevins happens upon the helpless and crying Rhonda who immediately wraps her skinny little arms around his neck as the only warm thing within reach, and he can’t very well toss her aside (he isn’t that far gone)-and so on.
They are now close companions, as Blevins cares for little Rhonda and she shows him the wisdom and power of innocent youth. Along the way, they have scrapes and adventures (I think Paper Moon goes something like this too, but can’t be sure on that one).
Ignore that gravatar, it is cute, but not mine (property of the s&h)-I was just messing around and had no idea it would show up on something already posted.
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Ah, Catherine, I’ve just figured out that s&h is “son and heir” – been wondering for a coupla days… 🙂
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Yup, got him with green stamps-bonus points if you know to what that refers(just thought of that reading your reply, Barbara-didn’t occur to me when I was typing it-funny)
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S&H Green stamps. Pasting the stamps into the little booklets was something that my grandmother always saved for me on our Saturday mornings together. I have no clue what she ever got w/ the stamps, but it seemed to me at the time that she had millions of them. Gosh — haven’t thought of this for decades!! Thanks!
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best decision i ever made was to have a baby 33 yrs ago, so i just can’t imagine Rhonda’s mom leaving on purpose; i like catherine’s narrative ( and i named my daughter katharine!)
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Gee, Barb in BH, that sounds about right. I’m sure “wise as Solomon” like as Dale is he wouldn’t leave a baby with a drunken father. I love little Rhonda and sure don’t want to look at Blevins’ hindquarters again.
My difficult decision that I was proud of was to decide to retire early and move from Minneapolis to a small town, where my parents had retired, and be a caretaker to them. It has worked out better then I expected and my parents are very happy not to be in assisted living or a nursing home.
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Good Morning All
It seems like I have just wander in and out of things and not really decided to do any thing, but that is not really the truth. Getting married was probably my biggest decision, but that was an easy decision and a very good one. It seems to me that my major decisions have been fairly clear cut, although with hind sight I can see that I didn’t always make good choices. Actually I would not be here in Minnesota if had decided not to take the job that brought me here and which only lasted for a year and a half. However, I do like living in Minnesota, so in some ways I made a good decision on taking the job that brought me here, even thought the job didn’t turn out so good.
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Silver lining for us then!
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where did you come from jim?
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I have been here for many years and was in Indiana before moving here, but was mostly raised in Michigan and born in Wisconsin. Midwestern all the way.
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glad to have you here, u.p. or the mitten?
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Decisions? can’t make them.
I’m torn between Rhonda’s mother leaving and the tragic tale of orphaned Rhonda…the latter seems stolen from Bambi, though as I recall Bambi made it through the winter on his own…or, we don’t know that part of the story as he shows up in the spring full grown with antlers (perhaps there was a time lapse there, I’ve never seen a yearling with full set of antlers much less in the spring…but I can be corrected.)
This is beginning to sound a bit like Blevens…best quit now and go get ready for the day. Happy weekend, y’all!
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Orphan Rhonda was in no way intended to be original.
I’m thinking now Blevins hangs out at the coffee shop after Rhonda goes to Montessori School.
“Blah blah blah-blah bought Rhonda birkies—blah blah-blah blah blah blah-blah cute little feet.”
Just a different social beverage.
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Didn’t Bambi make it through the winter with the help of an elf and an old prospector?
Wait….never mind.
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Say, a goat was in the news yesterday. A mohair. Something about cutting a congressman’s hand.
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cutting the hand before it was dealt? the goat did right not to trust the congressman – especially in poker.
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rare form this morning barb, glad to see you are having a good day
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now there is a story worthy of the baboon following
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Modern brain research is calling into question that idea that we make decisions in a very logical thought-out manner. Our decisions are more instinctual and emotionally-driven than we want to admit, perhaps. I raise this point to explain that my wife and I are ahead of our time. We are famous for driving to town for a DQ and coming home with a new car. Since we dated for 10 days and then deciding to get married 7 weeks later, we have been that way from the first. We drove up to see my parents one nice spring weekend. I ran into the local HS principal in a store, whom I didn’t know, and got to talking. So I went home and resigned from my first teaching job so I could apply in Two Harbors.
Two tough decisions which we agonized over for awhile: 1) to take away my father’s driver’s license when he was 66 and making lots of stupid errors. Decision was obvious but tough to do. I did it so my mother would not be the target of his anger. All of that was the right decisions. He had to get deep into senility a few years later to forget it.
2.) To quit teaching and do what I have done since. Right now looking like a wrong decision to me but not to my wife.
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well stated clyde, it is an emotional rather than a logical process for me too.
the logical stuff works itself out and i just follow the lead. the emotional decisions are the ones that get you.
i just bought a motorcycle cause its so nice out. i hired a new guy because he seems nice and not confrontational like many others i have worked with lately. (whats with people that they want to come to work and argue with you) .
i married my wife because i love the way she laughs. that was not a quick decision for her. we had our third kid on the way 10 years into the relationshjip before she relented. my work has always followed my heart. it may kill me but thats part of the process too.insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results so i try to do it a little in a new way to improve the results often vastly improved over the way that had been fine until i started messing with it.it’s a continuous process.
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I like your way of thinking Tim. (With a capital “T” because your comments are too important for a small “t”…)
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thanks ben, i think thats a compliment but i really am a small t
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I like Blevins with Rhonda. They’re better together and I have to agree that seeing Blevins back side so early in the morning is a little shocking. I’m convinced at this point that Rhonda’s mother did run away with Bart the Bear.
All of my decisions have been made impulsively and with a great deal of emotion. I love beauty and don’t regret any decision I have made to live simply and try to make the world more lovely and graceful. I don’t have the wisdom of Solomon or any goats, although I would like to have both. Chickens too. (Do you have chickens, Clyde of Mankato?)
What have you been doing since you quit teaching, Clyde?
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Clyde — yes, it’s hard to limit a parent. We also had to struggle with my dad and his desire to drive (off) as his Alzheimers worsened. Finally we took his car key to the hardware store and had them make one that looked almost exactly the same, but wasn’t. So whenever he would wander out to the car, it wouldn’t start. Then he would come back in, say the car wouldn’t start and then get sidetracked by some other thought. But it took us awhile to come up w/ this plan because when he was still lucid some of the time and it hurt!
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Clever idea withe car key. Wouldn’t have worked with my dad, but clever.
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I am grateful that my dad’s eyesight diminished before his memory did, so Mom could ease him out of driving. First came no night driving, then only driving to known locations during the day, then, after he got lost driving to renew his license (really – he couldn’t read all of the street signs and got turned around, but still managed to pass the sight test to renew), he pretty much gave it up on his own. I think it was harder when he no longer saw well enough, or remembered well enough, to take the bus to the Y on his own. That hit pretty hard.
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Taking away the car keys is such a hard one, isn’t it? We took my father-in-laws keys away after he got lost a couple times and had to be rescued. For a while, he’d try to start his car with any key he could find: house keys, tractor keys, etc. He was mad at us for a while too before the memory connection to driving went away.
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my dad was losing it but he went to get his license back so he could drive to his coffee group. they tested him and he passed (he could do that on a good day) well i got a call from my mom about 11am on sunday morning and she said he had been gone since 6 or so and he must have driven off and gotten lost. they were living at leach lake and i was in minneapolis 4 hours awny and i was trying to figure out what to do to help put out a search party when into my driveway he comes. oblivious… i told him he was toast and he looked surprised. i gave him a big hug and took his keys and that was the last he saw them. i was an ass for a while but he knew life had changed, kind of the turning of a corner. tough stuff. he said that was the thing that he hated most of all. when a kid gets his license he is independant. when a parent loses it he is no longer. a big big deal.
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I’m impartial to what the baboon is named, but since a controversy ensued over two names, I’m mildly surprised that Dale ‘Solomon’ Connelly didn’t give the baboon a first and a last name: Rhonda Blevins. We can call the baboon Rhonda when it’s all cute and cuddly and we’re in a collectively good mood, and Blevins when either the baboon is unattractive or we are in unattractive moods.
Challenging Dale’s wisdom this morning may have just become my most difficult decision. 😉
Chris in Owatonna
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yeah but then what would you do with the baby baboon. you don’t want to leave it with tha awful mother do you chris?
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Thanks Chris. Challenge me, please.
Your idea sounds like Dr. Rhonda and Mr. Blevins, two vastly different personalities in the same body.
I think The Bobs have a song about this also, called “Mr. Duality”.
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Not that I’m proud of that decision!
Chris
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Dale (aka Solomon)…very clever compromise to defuse the controversy with a baby. Remember not to overuse the strategy.
In my current job I work in a program that tests babies for rare and sometimes fatal diseases. Our job is to find and treat them before they get really sick. Every once in a while at a meeting I will say, “But if you deny us that resource, babies will die”
A wise colleague once said to me that I should be careful. If I keep piling the babies’ bodies high, they may fall on me.
I think this congress of bloggers will be very helpful to Blevins as he takes on the role of single parent to cute little Rhonda!
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my point exactly
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i am on a different computer today and i see i have a last name.
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I took it to be a nom de guerre.
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yeah thats the ticket
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I don’t make decisions to be ~proud~ of, per se. I have the potential to make decisions that are ‘less worse than I could have.’ The key word being ‘potential.’
The Wisdom of Soloman
The Strength of Hercules
The Stamina of Atlas
The Power of Zeus
The Courage of Achilles
The Speed of Mercury
When youthful radio reporter, Dale Connelly, speaks the magic acronym, he is transformed into…
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a taxi?
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look up in the sky it’s a bird it’s a plane it’s………
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I knwo that’s Shazam but I don’t remember who the superhero of Shazam is, other than Gomer Pyle.
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so we need to hang a superhero lable on dale that is appropriate
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And y’know what? Captain Marvel (that’s actually his name…’Shazam’ is the acronym name of the wizard that controls the magic that transforms Billy Batson into Captain Marvel) actually was the best selling comic all through the 1940’s. Better than Superman, better than Batman! But DC Comics sued Fawcett Comics for copyright infringement saying that Captain Marvel was based on Superman. It was a long-running legal firefight from the mid-1940’s into the early 1950’s. DC never really got a clearcut victory in court but they wore Fawcett down. Fawcett finally ceased publication of the best-selling comic book in the country (14 million copies in 1944…that’s a lot of dimes!) in 1952. Eventually, DC bought the rights to all of Fawcett’s characters in 1991.
Anyway, yes, I’m curious to see what people think Dale would transform into.
And would he transform with a bolt of lightning or something else?
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Wise Guy
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Captain Marvel. Really?
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a cross between superman and underdog
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clyde i’ll bet you missed underdog. mid 60’s with wally cox as the voice. that with tom slick and george of the jungle were priceless humor. one of those deals presented to kids in a saturday morning format but done 110% for the adults in the audience
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Underdog and Hong Kong Fooey (another super hero dog, as I recall) were staples at our house. I also have a vague memory of Tom Terrific. Great stuff.
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it doesn’t get any better than this
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Cool cartoon. That’s Dick Cheney at the controls, right?
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Simon Bar Sinister. The cartoon version of Dick Chaney. Except that Simon tended to laugh more…
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I would think so.
Love your photo, mnwriterguy.
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Ooh, thanks for Underdog, Tim! I’d forgotten…
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maybe underdale vs overdale from the marines hymn
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hi, this is kay formerly in utah now in south dakota, taking over donna’s comment box! ha!
being a stickler for natural history and so forth, i can’t help but suspect that it would be highly unlikely for a male baboon to care for a baby—just don’t happen! the large baboon imho should be rhonda, and the baby blevins. so there. if you all are going to go on and on about baboons while i’m driving across the country, i feel i must do my part to escalate the controversy now that i’m back in civilisation….
(hi, dale, and everyone else! i will soon be Kay H in St. Paul)
(p.s. Donna says hi, but she is busy right now making my breakfast and doing my laundry and getting me coffee.)
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Welcome back to the midwest, Kay.
I accept your superior knowledge in this area. But I am undeterred by the information that it would be highly unlikely for a male baboon to care for a baby. That makes it a more interesting story, though admittedly farfetched.
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I’m with you Dale… clearly Blevins is a highly unusual creature… breaking out of traditional stereotypes… going where no baboon has gone before!
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“Set phasers to ‘fling.'”
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Like many my age, I wanted to be a superhero. Picking a power was problematic.
But I think it was the secret identity that appealed to me most – and the idea that people could look at you and not realize the full extent of your capabilities.
And then there’s the question of temperament. If having a super power merely amplifies your already intact personality, where does that lead?
Would there be any real need for Non-Confrontational Man?
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Actually, that was my thought. I think you’d go from mild-mannered to REALLY mild-mannered. There was a TV superhero spoof (thankfully short-lived) called Captain Nice. It was “Major Bad.”
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Dale, I think in this world a lot more non-confrontational men are needed and one could be a super hero. Peace Making Man is what is most needed, but that is too much to hope for.
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Jim – I’m with you. Peace Man instead of PacMan?
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As superpowers go, the wisdom of Solomon, per this blog topic today, might be a great superpower to have, Dale. I’d stay with that one.
I can sew, so if you would like a WiseMan cape, I could probably produce one. I sew costumes for little kids, and I’ve done more than one superpower cape.
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But anyone who has seen The Incredibles knows that capes are dangerous!
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Jacque – Cool — don’t know if I still have the pattern, but I used to sew hooded capes to sell at the Waldorf School fall festival. If we’re ever needed…
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Languages are an awesome superpower!!
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Hi, Kay the slug.
tim–vaguely know who Underdog was. Popular culture from 1963 to 1969 is a black hole of mine. Did not own a TV during those years. Wally Cox was one of the great’s. A very close friend of Marlon Brando’s.
TGitH–you should develop voices like all of those great voices of those days. Are you getting voice work?
My 5-year-old grandson is a fanatic disciple of superheroes in general. Wants his mother to leave the minstry so they can paint their van like Scobby-Doo’s. He knows a surprising range of older and modern superheroes, which has to mean it is all out there in books, TV, etc. More likely books; they do not watch much TV.
Dale’s public personna is a quiet and very nice but clever radio flunky. In his other life he is the Digital Divine, who changes reality with photoshop on the web and with powers of time travel. He is currently going back in time to sneak birth control pills into the meals of the mothers of Sarah Palin, Michele Bachman, Simon Cowell, Lindsey Lohan, George Steinbrenner. Who else should he “visit?”
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You may be hearing me on commercial radio right now. I did a spot for Treasure Island Casino promoting Bill Cosby in concert at the end of July. I’m told that it’s being aired right now but I haven’t heard it myself yet.
Might have a gig next week…haven’t locked it in yet.
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Aaaaand I’ve got an industrial film narration gig next week. YAY!
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heard it today. next time i will know its you (two shows same day for bill cosby at treasure island) congrats, you sound just like a radio guy. do you wear your hat while recording?
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well, just for the record, it is not unusual for children’s tales, especially, to have the mother killed and the father left with the child–or children–bambi, of course, but also Nemo, and many others (hence the stereotype of the wicked stepmother!)…so maybe unconventional in the real world, but not so in the world of stories…(oh, sorry, getting pedantic here, must be cranky from all the driving the past three days)
on a different topic, nope, no need for Nonconfrontational Man–or more accurately, no need for ANOTHER Nonconfrontational Man–already exists, a former boss of mine….i don’t think he’d be invited to join the League of Superheroes…
dale, you could have some sort of power using your voice—like having a voice that soothes those who are being confrontational and makes them chill out and smile and stop fighting! Velvet Fog Man!
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Love Velvet Fog Man, Kay. Welcome back!
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Well, in addition to the Legion of Superheroes (each member had to have a unique superpower), there is also the Legion of Substitute Heroes. Yes, they weren’t good enough to be actual members. They had members like Infectious Lass, whose power was to make people sick. Stone Boy was my fave…he had the power to turn himself into rock. He couldn’t move or anything…he just turned himself into a statue. Wow. Striking fear into evil doers…
Generally regarded as the most ridiculous of the actual Legion members came from the planet Bismoll. Yes, you guessed it…Matter-Eater Lad. His power? He could indefinitely eat ANYTHING and everything. And he came from the planet Bismoll. ~sigh~
Oh, and there was also the Legion of Super Pets. Oh sure, most people remember Krypto, Superboy’s dog. But did you know about Comet, Supergirl’s horse? How about Streaky, the super cat? And, most finally, Beppo the super monkey. Beppo. The super…monkey.
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Wikipedia:
“The females tend to be the primary caretaker of the young, although several females will share the duties for all of their offspring.”
Blevins is a modern house father, who occasionally “howls at the moon” in local bars.
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Love the baby 🙂 I think it’s perfect that Blevins is the dad and he’s taking care of his daughter (or an orphan, whichever way you go with it). It’ll teach him responsibility, so maybe he won’t be such a slush 😉 My biggest decision so far was to get a puppy. They’re a lot of work! There are times I wonder why I did it, but then he looks up at me with that puppy face and I remember 🙂 No kids, not married. Yep, getting a puppy was a good idea, haha.
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lets design one for overdale who as mild mannered blog host fight s for truth justice and the american way when he becomes…
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this was suppoised to go up by the cape entries
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by jacque amy and barbara
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alanna what di you get for a dog. my basset is relieved that she gets to keep her legs
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Haha, I’m glad your basset gets to keep her legs as well! I got a Teddy Bear, which is really a Shih Tzu/Bichon Frise mix. He shouldn’t get more than a foot tall, which works for my landlady. Right now, he’s a cute fuzzball 🙂
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Ah yes, all over the map again this morning, just like I like it.
My hard decision was also leaving a brief tho’ disastrous marriage, but it got me back to the midwest, for which I’ve been grateful ever since.
Like Clyde, Tim, Krista – I do tend to make decisions impulsively… I say I’ll try to do the logical, informed style, but every time it comes down to a gut feeling.
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When I got married I wasn’t wise enough to pick the right person. With stars in my eyes, I went to bed with a pretty Democrat and woke up thirty years later to find I was sleeping with a Republican. Life would be mighty dull if we didn’t have bad decisions to keep things complicated.
I have been more schizophrenic than usual today, with various names and avatar photos. Must integrate the selves. Must integrate the selves.
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Ah, Steve, you had me fooled! I wish you well with that Republican stuff… Peace Man must be with you in spirit.
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don’t you hate it when you you wake up with republicans in your bed. geeezze ick
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I got my first puppy, Bailey, in 2003. The most difficult decision I’ve ever made was to finally have to put him to sleep because he was so sick from a mitral valve defect. He was an angel and I was so lucky to have him, even for a short time. So, I vowed I wouldn’t get another puppy – ever. I didn’t want to have to go through that heartbreak again. But then I saw Pippin and my hardened old heart went all soft and I made yet another decision based entirely on emotion. Pippin is healthy and 9 months old now. And he looks at me with those large, soft puppy eyes and I’ll do anything for him… I’m sure that’s how old Blevins feels about Rhonda. It’ll do him good.
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Sounds like my dog story. I missed my first dog so much I had to get another one. He is the sweetest little dog, rescued from a puppy mill. What joy I would have missed if I hadn’t changed my mind.
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so true.
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Dale’s topic of the day was very precognitive in regards to me. So I am going to go think.
Have a good day all.
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I’m going to try and imagine the HR person has something positive to tell you later today, Clyde.
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Hmm…so we have traveled from baboons to superheroes. Yeah us!
I think Old Blevins will do just fine with Rhonda – regardless of their story. A family is a family, no matter how it comes together.
As for superheroes, a couple of good “grown up” novels that I would recommend to the superhero fans in the blogosphere: “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay” by Michael Chabon (it’s about many things, but mainly two cousins who get involved in the comic book industry in the 40s – the book follows their history and the history of comic books into the 60s), and “Superpowers: A Novel” by David Schwartz (not “high literature” but an interesting look at what happens when a bunch of college kids acquire super powers – with a far more realistic look at how it affects them than the average graphic novel/comic book take on it).
…but we were talking about tough decisions today, weren’t we? Oh dear…I’m sure I’ve made them, but they only seem tough lately when it’s a question of how to “parent” any Darling Husband has a different opinion than I do.
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Trust me, it is not any easier when you don’t have someone around offering a different opinion-it is a different struggle, but not easier.
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Single parents, I think, need to be super human (here we are again, back at super heroes). It’s one thing to be a parent, but to do it alone, that requires stamina, chutzpah and a few other things I don’t think I have. I may not always agree with Darling Daughter’s father, but there is comfort in not having to go it alone.
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Alas Anna — my teenager does not think I have any super single mom powers, except perhaps for maybe my power to make her miserable all the time. She’s mad today because I made her move down to the sofa this morning so the irish setter wouldn’t go crazy being alone in the thunder. I know, I know… I’m ruining her life!
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Another good ‘grown-up superhero book’ is It’s Superman by Tom De Haven. It was described to me as ‘John Steinbeck writes Superman.’ I’ve read it…it’s really quite good.
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So, superhero chit chat? Has no one mentioned Incredible Betty yet? She was truly incredible. I still miss her. I used to plan my showers around the daily episode so I wouldn’t miss it. In my mind I designed a t-shirt with a cape in her honor.
Dale, where is Incredible Betty now?
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YES! Incredible Betty!
Give me a minute I’ll come up with her theme music… loved that and would whistle it often….
Dale, are all those skits *your* property or are they the intellectual property of MPR?
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Ah yes, Incredible Betty.
That was our radio serial to follow “Worldly Goods” and it was the most sophisticated bit of production we attempted.
Lots of fun. Beth Gilliland played Betty.
The script had its moments but my recollection is that the writing was not too sharp – it was built around a couple of recurring jokes and overall the project was saved by great performances and fun sound effects.
But it has been years since I’ve listened.
It would be fun to post an episode here, but alas! Everything I wrote for the Morning Show belongs to MPR.
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Okay now I am feeling sad because all the resourcefulness in the world is not going to find me a soundclip from an Incredible Betty show is it?? 😦
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I miss Incredible Betty! She was my kinda hero.
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I WAS ALSO AN INCREDIBLE BETTY FAN. Wow. How could anyone have forgotten that. Dale, will her costume fit you? I can do alterations…… And a wig should cover many, um, flaws.
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Hi Kids,
Shh — Kay’s taking a nap so I finally get a break.
The new photo shows two limbs of my neighbor’s silver maple that broke off in 75+ mph winds late last night. His tree — my yard. The superhero in this scenario is homeowners’ insurance.
Bonus points if you know the source of Kay’s “Velvet Fog Man” (name she gave superhero Dale) reference.
Have a great weekend all. I’m Chicago bound to see my son graduate tomorrow from Univ. of Chicago. Not bad, huh?
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I believe Mel Torme was the Velvet Fog, wasn’t he?
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Wasn’t it Mel Torme who Dale & Jim Ed dubbed the VF?
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woops, just say that Sherrilee already posted that. I’ve got to start reading through everything before Replying.
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mel was dubbed the velvet fog in the 40’s i believe. what a voice. harry on night courts favorite
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congrats, not just amother pretty face you raised huh?
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I think it is possible for Blevins, when not in the bars, to be a Sensitive New Age Baboon, and an excellent father.
Or he may just talk Rhonda’s ear off as well.
My most difficult yet proudest decision? To cross the Pacific Ocean twice to adopt two children. And without a doubt, it involved the most paperwork of any decision I’ve ever made (and multiple fingerprintings by the Feds, the county sheriff, background checks, essays to rival my graduate thesis, and some of the most frightening training videos devised to discourage you from doing it!).
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The paperwork for adoption is amazing (my brother has 3 adopted kids, wrote a reference for one of them, and traveled to Korea with my sister-in-law to bring the youngest home). I think every parent-to-be should have to do that sort of soul searching, if not the background checks.
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Maybe Blevins is really a super hero – after all, he’s a single parent! Maybe all that time spent blah-blah-blah-blahing in dark bars is really just his cover for his real super hero identity. Can someone photo-shop a cape that would cover that behind?
Incredible Betty!!!! 🙂 Yes!
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Clyde keep us posted on how you’re doing after your meeting.
I wonder if Rhonda ever says to Blevin “you’re ruining my *** life”? I remember when my sister reported that my niece said that for the first time after several door slams. Ahh, adolescence.
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Alright, Incredible Betty — I wish I could remember the theme song… any way someone can tell me how it went?
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ill be interested in a verbal description of a tune melody
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Completely off topic–Did anyone else get a “Please reply by June 30” snail mail from MPR (Valerie A) asking for an additional donation for budget-year-end-campaign today? I especially liked this paragraph:
“In an era of computer-programmed radio playlists coming from some far away corporate office, The Current is a different kind of music station. Real live on-air hosts pick the tracks to play for you each and every day…guaranteeing variety and new music delivery you won’t find anywhere else.”
I am disgruntled and pondering marking up the letter and returning it to them. Sans $.
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Well, looks like it was another fun day in the forest for one and all-Clyde, we have one of the disks of Underdog, should you ever feel the need of further exposure-one of my favorite things was that Underdog (Wally Cox) always spoke in rhyme.
Maybe when Dale is in his superhero persona he only speaks in haiku?
Good for you, Sherrilee on the recognizing S&H green stamps-I’d like to say deciding to become his parent was one of the tough decisions I made that I am proudest of, but I don’t really think it was a tough decision-I don’t remember ever debating things in my mind on that front.
Come to think of it, most of the big decisions for me are like that a thing just seems very right when the time comes.
God forbid you ever have to, Anna, but you could be a single parent if you had to-it seems to me that, like Blevins, if something needs to be done, we baboons would find the way to make it work-its who we are.
Maybe the children’s story of Blevins and Rhonda will be your first book, Dale?
Now, how is it that I am COMPLETELY clueless as to Incredible Betty? I know I was out of the the area for quite a few years, and the first few years of this century, I was the mother of a busy toddler, so am not taking any responsibility for remembering much.
Clyde, are you going to check in?
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Incredible Betty was part super hero, part Miss Manners. She fought for truth, justice, and polite society. It seemed like the episodes were on pretty early in the morning (I remember once one of my Morning Show pals told me about her resetting my alarm so I could hear the episodes…which meant waking up at least 20-30 minutes earlier…). I think Beth Gilleland was the voice of Betty.
And I’m wondering about Clyde, too. Hope all is well in Mankato.
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Whew! You all have been some busy today. I was in the car all day. (I am not sure why I’m posting at this point, since I bet no one reads the blog at this time of night (except for people who like the name Rhonda, I guess….) )
I’m fine with baboon multiplication, though I still pick Tabitha.
I’d love to see, er hear, Incredible Betty again…and thanks to whoever reminded me of her existence again!
I want to report that, when I called MPR to make SURE that they had not misunderstood my “cancel my sustaining membership; I’ll get back to you later when I’m done being furious” letter (sorry Dale; I’m using my vote in another way, as they say when they pull the lever for the third party), the woman on the other end of the phone sounded positively mournful when she said “I’m sorry.” This woman was a Dale fan; I just know it. She positively HATES what she has to do right now. She wanted to say “I know; can you beLIEVE what they’ve done????” Instead, she had to say “I’m sorry,” and pack every ounce of meaning into those three syllables (not even a whole haiku line).
I thought about the whole hard decision thing all day in the car (I read the blog this a.m. before embarking), and I must admit it feels, oh, awkward and Exposed to tell total strangers about difficult decisions I might have made. (Of course, as I’ve already noted, all the total strangers have gone home for the day, so I’m really just writing to myself and the Rhondaphiles, so what’s to fear?)
Anyway, blah, blah, blah, blah, you crazy hippies, I’ll just say this: what I’ve realized thru the day of thinking about the topic is that all the decisions of significance I can recall making are actually ongoing processes, rather than fixed points that Changed Everything Afterward Forever.
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Lisa – many of us read and post late into the night — but your feelings are safe here. Thanks for sharing your insight.
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Clearly there are a few stragglers here late on a Friday night…and Lisa I think you’re dead on with Big Decisions often being more of a process than discreet moment in time decision (it took a full year of thinking and pondering and talking before Darling Husband and I decided to get married…far different than Clyde’s whirlwind romance).
Glad you checked in on the conversation!
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A Rhondaphile here. I read (but rarely post) late at night because that’s when I have the time.
I always have lots of replies to lots of things in my head.
What was my point? Oh, who knows.
(I’m the one in Minneapolis, not the one by the bears.)
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or early morning before the new blog eding o the day or after reading todays topic i will reread yesterdays posts to get caught up and think about todays response.
agree with the ongoing part of the process, nils and anna agree. make the decisions and now continue on with that as an added part of your life story.
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Bringing up the tail end here…
In recent years, I find I have been quoting Thomas Jefferson more and more often — “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” (“Mad Eye” Moody barked a shorter, sharper variant: “Constant vigilance!”)
Combine that with “From those to whom much is given, much is expected ” – a phrase which probably strikes some as being overused, but which I first came across in a Bill Gates commencement speech that remains one of my favourites of that genre – and I think my most recent difficult decision-making process has to do with making a conscious effort to move in the direction of speaking or acting in the interests of balance when a wrong is done. I’ve grown so tired of seeing so many conscientious, hardworking folks get the shaft, and be unable to protect themselves for being too good-natured and honourable to do anything about it.
In a perfect world, self-defence and survival skills would not be necessary. But it’s a jungle out there, and I’m starting to come around to the idea that one has to be Bart the Bear and growl periodically, or at least have Barts around to growl on one’s behalf. My hope is that we do not allow the loud and ill-informed to win in the end.
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nice post mn tx. you are a great addition to the group. thanks for speaking up. while we are all screwing around you can tie it together with unique perspective. this help me rhonda and old blevins group does indeed have much to be greatful for . we are loud and ill informed but not in the way you mean, we are peace man superhero types who adopt new age baboons as our mascots and meet in the wifi world of underdales new blog.
100 posts a day with not too much mention of goats in space. remarkable
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Nicely said, tim, and MN-TX.
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