Songs

Hum For Your Health

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Some recent studies have indicated humming could be a technique to combat chronic sinusitis.

What’s the connection? Researchers found that humming apparently increases the flow of air in the sinuses. This was deduced in one study by measuring the amount of nitric oxide in air exhaled by people who had been humming. Nitric oxide is produced in the sinus cavities (who knew?) and a sharp increase in the amount coming out of those hummer noses led to the conclusion that the sinuses were getting extra ventilation when subjects engaged in some closed-lip karaoke.

What the studies DIDN’T report – the nature of the tunes being hummed. Can you force enough air into your sinuses with classical, or would the blues do a more effective job? How about heavy metal? Can you hum that?

Personally, I would go for the ventilating power of a big Broadway number like the title tune from Oklahoma. Although you’d only be humming it, you could imagine these rhino-centric words as a form of self-medicating parody.

Aunt Eller:
There’s pressure in the cavities behind my nose.

Andrew:
My face is achin’. I cain’t get a grip.

Laurey:
Might be comin’ down with somethin’, I suppose.

Curley:
Probably a case of that postnasal drip.

Company:
Nasal drip!
Nasal drip! Gonna be a trip!
Gonna give you headaches. Headaches and secretions.
Just like Alexander
Gave to them Phoenicians.
Feelin’ like your skull is in a workbench vise,
Plenty of pressure. Ain’t so nice.
Plenty of coughing. I feels hot.
Plenty of pain and plenty of snot.

Sinusitis! Inflammation. Constant pressure. Pain!
Where the mucus flows out of my nose
And it soaks the ground like April rain!
Sinusitis! Decongestants? Go ahead and try!
Cause ya cain’t replace yer throbbin’ face.
It’s enough to make ya wanna cry.

We know this is all in our head
And it makes us all wish we wuz dead.
And when we say
Yeeow! Ayipioeeay!
We’re only sayin’
Leave me alone Sinusitius!
Sinusitis, go ‘way!

Do you like to sing or hum to yourself? Out loud?

137 thoughts on “Hum For Your Health”

  2. I do hum and sing a little to myself… unfortunately it’s usually some song that is stuck in my brain that I’d prefer to turn off (watched Sleeping Beauty on Solstice and am STILL humming “Once Upon a Dream”). Teenager finds my humming and singing in public (& occasionally dancing) to be extremely annoying to her.

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  3. Brilliant as usual Dale, but I feel a part of the research was left out.

    What about the headache producing effects on surrounding co-workers after the 105th repetition of a phrase from a classic carol (say, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus-yesterday’s selection)? If the sinusitis avoided results in a tension headache produced, is there really a net gain?

    To answer the question, nope, not a hummer, but before the voice went bad, a devoted car stereo sing-along diva. Miss that .

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    1. I have one of these coworkers! He hums, whistles, sings and sucks loudly on hard candy… He is completely oblivious to others and would be shocked to know what a pain it is to listen to him all day!

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  4. Wasn’t the original research on the value of the hum done by the renowned researcher Winnie the Pooh? His work included many hums including the following:
    A Good Hum (from the Original Pooh Treasury)

    Author: A.A.Milne
    The more it snows
    (Tiddely pom),
    The more it goes
    (Tiddely pom),
    The more it goes
    (Tiddely pom),
    On Snowing.
    And nobody knows
    (Tiddely pom),
    How cold my toes
    (Tiddely pom),
    How cold my toes
    (Tiddely pom),
    Are growing.
    Keep your toes and your sinuses warm ,Baboons!

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    1. and as Piglet will tell you, it isn’t everyone who can do the tiddley poms!

      thanks Beth-Ann, always good to have a little Pooh Bear first thing in the morning!

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      1. Barb, Sherrilee just woke me up on my Facebook chatline…are you asking me for the norwegian lyrics…uffda…I don’t know…where is my dictionary? Might Anna know?

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      2. I am sadly lacking when it comes to Pooh in Norwegian. I may know the baking and about nisse, but the language…well…(I did try to read Pooh in Russian at one point, though – that was a hoot.)

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      6. Now I am remembering that there was an Ole Brumm picture book my grandfather had when I was a kid – just a single Pooh story in a square paper back picture book…wonder what happened to that. Hmm. (tiddeli bom)

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  5. Rise and Sniff Baboons:

    Last night I attended the Katie McMahon Christmas Concert (rescheduled from the Dec 11, blizzard night). If I could like that I would gladly hum anything out loud. She had a baby 10 weeks ago! Not only did she do the concert, she did an 11 town tour, as well.

    I have had a lifelong case of that accursed sinusitus. A friend told me years ago about this humming technique, especially if you hum Concert A. Sometimes it helps, sometimes nothing helps. Singing about it to the tune of Oklahoma is as curative as anything else. At least it makes you laugh.

    Today is my last day of work before Christmas. Next week I only work two days.

    AND YESTERDAY I COMPLETED OUR LEASE NEGOTIATIONS. I will gladly say good-by to 2010. Spiked Egg Nog awaits tomorrow and Saturday. Skjol!

    For Christmas I would like to see Blevins in a Santa hat.

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    2. J – congrats on the negotiation. I know it was tough. You know, 2010 had TWO zeros in it. That must have been a bad sign. Surely 2011 will have to be a gentler year!

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    5. congrats jacque, the lease thing is nice to have behind you. the 2010 passing is an onward and upward sort of thing. lets go 2011. it feels better already. i don’t know katie mcmahon but i loved riverdance. they can belt them out those irish girls filled with their angst and singing traditions i think its de dannin that cranks them out mary black and maura oconnell before they leave and go solo,. irish christmas, now your talking.

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    6. Jacque, I have chronic sinusitis and asthma too. The headaches can be paralyzing. Dale’s description is so accurate – do you have it too, Dale?

      I’ve had success with the use of a neti pot. It’s hard to get used to at first but eventually you become more comfortable with it. It’s most helpful for me before bed.

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      1. Thank goodness I don’t have to deal with that, Krista. But I sympathize. Do chronic sinusitis sufferers have trouble with their sense of smell? My father claims his nose always runs and he can’t taste anything.

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      2. Sometimes – when I’m really stuffed up. It’s the headaches and asthma that really get me. The women in my family have a great sense of smell inherited from my maternal grandmother’s side. She always called it the Schaumkessel Smeller. I always smell something (good or bad!) before others can and odors tend to bother me more than others. My female relatives also have near-sightedness and a paralyzed muscle in their left eyes which results in strabismus. Strange things and quite pronounced. Can’t help it… 🙂

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      3. Ditto Krista–I have an acute sense of smell. In Italy I smell the gypsies nearby before I could see them. No I am not kidding about that. Dirty bathrooms drive me to nauseau.

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      1. Steve, if things fall right, and they may not, some weekday the week after NY, my wife and I are going up to HF books, the Tea Source, and onto Grand Avenue for a bit. Maybe we could meet then.

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      2. That’s sure my neighborhood, Clyde! I’d be delighted to meet you. Hmmm, “HF Books?????” Right in my neighborhood there is a Half-Price Books and a Barnes & Noble. Not far away, on Grand, is Sixth Chamber Books (used). My home is approximately halfway between the saints, Saint Kate and Saint Thomas.

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      3. Yep, know where you live. Googled it a few months back. Half-Price Books. Should have been HP, not HF–for a couple minutes there my fingers thought they were tim’s. Unloading some books, part of the down-sizing. Know that corner very well. Tea Source is next to the movie theater around the corner from HP. Do not know Sixth Chamber. Where on Grand?

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      4. Clyde, 1332 Grand. It is close to Green Mill, if you know that place. It isn’t very far east of the Mac campus. Sixth Chamber is more of a classic used book store, not so much a remaindered book store as Half Price.

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    8. Jacque, my son-law, Zack Kline, plays the fiddle in the band backing Katie McHahon. He was also on that 11 town tour and is glad to be done with that. Katie’s mother and husband helped her with the baby during the tour.

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      1. Zack was fabulous, as they all were. Lovely tone.

        I love listening to musicians who know their instrument and the library so well that it appears relaxed, yet masterful.

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      1. Congratulations to those who are going and those who are staying put! Good ends to have tied up before the holiday weekend.

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  6. yup, i can’t resist humming along to almost anything. any research on whistling, Dale? that’s my favorite. goats don’t mind my singing or humming, but just as it upsets your teenager, Sherrilee, it freaks the goats out when i dance.

    Anna – re the pic yesterday. at that age you couldn’t really tell who’s who unless you got close up from the be-hind. 🙂 Arty forgives you – he’s that kind of guy.

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  7. ayipioeeay!
    there is no second best way to start the day that with ayipioeeay. thanks dale. the clip helped. i was doing a real bad recollection of the tune until the clip popped up and then it was perfect. a masterful job. i thought the scientific approach was the way you would go but after reading it over i see that its snot.
    i am a hummer singer to the nth degree. i was 4 when my uncle paul from fargo showed up for a visit and i have no idea what he and i were doing in downtown minneapolis on a sightseeing tour together (he most likely just wanted to get out of that metropolis of urban sprawl of bloomingtons little boxes on the hillside ) and we are on 7th and nicollet just walking around and he says “come on in here” we went into a record store and the sounds were so wonderful i was blown away. he asked what music i liked and i had no idea. he talked to the guy behind the counter and they came up with this old man on the a side and surrey with the fringe on top on the b side. well that was it for me. i had been listening to my moms my fair lady album and the some other rogers and hammerstien things but it never occurred to me that all you had to do was go get an album and you could have that become part of your life. i set up the record player down by the couch in the basement and began listening to music and bouncing on the couch for hours on end. didn’t go outside as quickly in the morning, rainy day no problem i;ll bounce. singing “the rain in spain falls mainly on the plane” and all i want is a room somewhere”my life was transformed. i went to bed and woke up in the middle of the night and instead of going ot wake up my folks i started sing nothing could be finer than to be in carolina in the mororororning . no one could be sweeter than my sweetie when i meet her in the mororororning” and i remember my mom coming in at 2 in the morning and i explained i was awake and i thought id sing for a while. ( she yhought i was hurt or something bellowing out for help) so that began it. today i do old man river, we shall overcome, i got plenty of nothin, if i were a rich man, amazing grace, a full array of beatles and bob dylan and my kids and wife have learned to put up with it.
    humming as often as singing because its not always appropriate to be belting out ht ethyl merman numbers as a matter of fact its almost never appropriate to be belting out the ethyl merman numbers driving down the road, sitting in the living room or almost anywhere in your life. but then again anything you can do i can do better. have a great day form suny florida, i have access for a couple of days and will enjoy it more than the phone typing. you were right ben

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    1. I don’t know tim. The phone typing errors provided me with some really wonderful entertainment. My favorite was referring to your “sibs” as sins. It took me a while to figure it out, but after some cogitating, I got it. But even on the keyboard above, instead of “it’s not” you typed “its snot.” I think you have a gift!

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      2. i take the fifth if im cleaver this time im lucky next time. better to enjoy the moment for whatever it may be, i got a kick out of my three sins also, those were actually my mothers three sins and i was the original sin

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      4. Okay, here’s an example. tim says “if im cleaver this time im lucky next time.” And I have NO idea if he means “clever” or “Beaver Cleaver.” And that is the glory of tim. His gushes of thought are so ambiguous that you end up with multiple meanings, none of which make much sense, but all tantalizing. We are so lucky.

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    2. My favorite timism of the week is “Talk snout dysfunctional …” Cracked me up. I’m convinced snot was intentional, too perfectly synchronistic with the sinus song. Keep on singing tim.

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  8. No one in my family could carry a tune in a bucket, so I try to restrict my singing to solitary drivetimes. The car doesn’t seem to mind, fortunately.

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  9. I am a hummer, a whistler, and to my daughter’s consternation, a singer. I think it’s that she likes to hear what is being played, not that my singing is horrid (at least that’s what I tell myself…). At least no one complains when I sing along when I work on a set (though that may be why tools get louder on some songs…).

    For better or worse, when I think of “Oklahoma” I go to “Oh What a Beautiful Morning”…so I may be humming that off and on today. Daughter will, no doubt, think I’m a little nuts. 🙂

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  11. I hum when I am by myself, but hearing other people hum is like hearing fingernails on a blackboard. When our daughter was first starting on the violin she developed the habit of humming the tune while she played. She was completely oblivious that she was doing it and it was a hard habit to break. I think she was just doing out loud what she was doing in her head.

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    2. Isn’t there a classical pianist who hums when he plays? You can hear it on some of the recordings…maybe Van Cliburn?…no…it’s someone else…

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      3. A jazz piano player, Erroll Garner, hummed while he played. I don’t think he did it to accompany his playing, but it didn’t sound too bad.

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  12. I’m also a hummer and singer. I’ve even caught myself humming or singing to myself in the grocery store. I do control myself at work. I find other people’s vocalizations to be annoying when I’m trying to answer questions from the public about how fast walleyes are really supposed to grow. (There have been times in the last 15 years when I’ve wondered what happened to all the “normal” people and when I’d ever get out of this twilight zone…) So, I can control myself when I try.

    As a singer, I think if you’re using your breathing correctly, from the diaphragm, and keeping your throat open but your mouth closed, you will begin to feel a strong vibration in your sinuses. I remember being “taught” how to hum in some voice lessons. It really does feel like a vibration and the breathing almost makes you light-headed. I can see why it would work, even without the nitric oxide (really? nitric oxide?)

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  14. I wish I could whistle, but since I can’t, I hum or sing, especially while working or driving.
    When my oldest cat, Isabel, was a kitten, public TV ran a special about Joni Mitchell, to which I was compelled to sing along. Isabel came and sat on my lap and looked into my face gravely, as if to say, “Are you hurt?” (Kind of like Tim’s mom.) To this day, if I want her to sit in my lap, I sing. Usually I sing either Baby Mine, or Brown-Eyed Girl (with the lyrics changed to Green-Eyed Girl). She doesn’t mind if I’m off-key.

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  15. I have a lovely voice, or so I’m told. And apparently NO sense of pitch. Any note I sing is sure to be somewhere north or south of its true position, so I generally keep any humming, singing or whistling to myself. That time I sang to Judy Collins in New York was due to the beer, and I shudder at the memory. But Judy was drunk too, so I might have gotten away with that one.

    I am susceptible to the “stuck-in-the-head-tune” syndrome. So as I go about my business, there is usually a tune playing, like it or not, and I often figure I might as well accompany the damn thing, but at a reduced volume where only I can hear it. Alas, I find myself shopping for groceries and I’ll see people fleeing toward the produce department with fingers in their ears, and I’ll know that I have let the volume creep up a little.

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    1. there is an amazing computer program that fixes all off notes. it raises or lowers the pitch so it is still your voice but with the note altered so you sound good. it was expensive 10 years ago when i first saw it at the music industry convention but ill bet it is very reasonable today (they also have a button to push so you are singing 4 part harmony with yourself pretty cool but disturbin ) its kind of like the numbers in the phone you push to call someone take the place of remembering the numbers. computers are dumbing us down on the one hand and allowing us to do amazing things as an everyday part of life. there is an ocarina and also a humming app for the i phone that allows you to practice instead of sitting there with a moment to spare. we have no down time when humming is possible and it is required that human beings have 35% down time in order to allow their brain to recharge. it is a known fact and while i am preaching to the choir here it does need to be said. if these rules of the universe are not followed the only logical consequence retaliation from the powers that be in the form of sinusitis. we should write an article about it.

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  16. Greetings! I tend to be a singer, but only in the chorus. I was in musicals in college, but never a solo part. As a young woman I was sang baritone in Sweet Adelines, which was great fun — love barbershop style!

    My claim to fame in high school (a vey small high school) was playing Snoopy in “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” I still remember bringing the house down after belting out “It’s Suppertime!” Such a fun and charming show.

    Nowadays I just sing along with songs I hear at home or in car — I refrain from singing at work for the obvious reasons. I don’t have a trained voice and I know I don’ t hit the notes very well anymore as I have a decent sense of pitch. I guess I just don’t do humming or whistling.

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      1. That number was our theme song as we tried to finsih our senior papers at Luther!

        Suppertime is a great one for pulling out all the stops-lucky you, Joanne!

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      2. Funny, but I don’t remember that number. I remember the “What’s an Enigma?” song — sort of — that was quite funny. Yup, “Suppertime” was a very fun number to do. The director pretty much gave me free rein, so it was a little different each performance. But always big, Vegas showgirl kicks, a lot of hamming it up, etc.

        The director did it in a Laugh-In style set with small doors, which was perfectly suited to the vignette style of the scenes. My “doghouse” was an opening on the top center, so I was in view the whole show. There was a fireman’s pole from the top to the bottom of set right by my opening. I only used it one time during show — to slide down for my big “Suppertime” number. Once I got used to it, it was quite a showy entrance. Such fond memories …

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  17. Good morning to all, la, la, la.

    I some times sing along with music that is playing or in the sing along part of a concert. I think my singing is okay, but apparently, from the feed back I get, I’m not real good. Some times we sing terrible sounding songs at our house for fun. People shudder when I volunteer to sing happy birthday to them.

    I would like to try singing in the shape note style some time. I can’t remember exactly what this is called. I think it is a simplifed approach to singing for large groups that sing without accompaniment.

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    1. Shape note singing is grand fun – belt it out, and if you’re a little off, that’s okay. I have been to a couple of Sacred Harp sings. If you do it right it really clears the sinuses…

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      2. There is (or used to be) a group here in town that gathered monthly I think. They also do some larger “sings” during the year. I can probably dig up some info on it if you want (I have a friend who is a “regular” with the group…).

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      3. Anna, I don’t need a contact right now. Maybe some time in the future. Thanks for offering to find this information.

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  18. I have not made any vocalization of any sort for years, at my family’s request. My daughter has essentially perfect pitch and has long had hard time listening to anything off pitch. Besides, it hurts my throat to sing.
    As you can tell, I am back. Been through a trauma or two, which will be ongoing. Am fully severed from work. I do pray I will be ready to face all what comes. In the meantime, we go over to our daughter’s today ahead of another significant snowfall.

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    3. onward and upward clyde. i would suggest that you figure out what you would like to do without the confines of the job telling you what the parameters are. i know there would be many recipients of whatever you choose to follow as your mission from this point on. just be ready to roll with the punches. ho ho ho for this week lets see what next week brings in resolution form. my favorite saying is ” all things in moderation, including moderation.” i think it must apply here somehow.

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  19. Afternoon–

    I’m a whistler. Not much of a hummer but I do sing along, quietly, to myself when no ones around… or only people that wouldn’t be offended by my singing. Like the cows. They never cared. Or at least they never said so…

    My wife, saint that she is, will never tell me my whistling bothers her but I get it later. Like when I told her the blog question today, she informed me that 1:00 in the morning when I’m baking bread is an annoying time to be whistling. I guess I was content; I whistle when I’m content…

    We have family coming to the farm for Christmas on Sunday so I pushed up a big pile of snow for them to play on. (Since I use a big snowblower I don’t end up with ‘piles’).

    Travel safe everyone, stay well, enjoy…

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    2. nice of you to have the piles arranged perfect for king of the hill forts snowball areas of domain. or sledding for real small ones. some of my best winter stuff was on hills form snow plowing at the outward limits of the parking lots. enjoy the company for christmas. im sure it will be great. try whisteling on the inward breath. the sound quality changes as does the breath control requirements but its almost impossible to get loud shrill whistles out that will warrant after comments.

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      1. I do whistle both ways tim… you are right.

        I was a trumpet player in high school so I have the diaphragm and embouchure muscles to whistle well…
        But I’m still working on the loud, piercing ‘finger-in-the-mouth’ style of whistling… My Dad could whistle like that without his fingers. That was our ‘alert’ call; that whistle…. I’m working on it but it’s not like his yet…

        I created a theme for our family gathering Sunday… but mostly for my own amusement…. nobody will pay any attention to it and I don’t have the energy for full fledged follow-through. But we’re calling it ‘A Magical Christmas in King Arthur’s Court Under the Sea’.
        I have chainmail and Hostess mini cruller donuts. That works don’t you think?

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      2. Is your chain mail the knitted kind, or hammered links? I am also being rather dense-how do the crullers fit into the theme (or do you just really like them??) ?

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      3. Hi MiG-
        Knitted chain-mail our costumer had used in the last play… it’s warm; I might not get through the whole day wearing it.
        Crullers? Well they look like something you would find under the sea don’t you think? I’m going to scatter them around the house… but they are best eaten frozen I believe.

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      5. thanks mig i was windering too. sounds like a fun theme ben momorable too. how can you get tie in costume s for the little rugrats? give them each a potato and tell them they are serfs? or lets see undersea they could each tie a rock to their leg and say they didn’t want to float to the top.

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      6. Ben you are still a trumpet player cmon get that banjo out from under the bed, put the mute in the trumpet and whittle away at it. Sketched of Spain or kiind of blue are my favorite miles Davis tunes

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  20. The NY Times must follow the trail…I found this line in today’s edition

    providing the inspiration for Dorothy Parker’s most withering review, when she responded, in her Constant Reader column, to Pooh’s line that “pom” makes singing more “hummy” with the comment, “And it is that word ‘hummy,’ my darlings, that marks the first place … at which Tonstant Weeder Fwowed up.”)

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      2. Milne” “no writer of children’s books says gaily to his publisher, ‘Don’t bother about the children, Mrs Parker will love it.'”

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  21. This is what I’ll be bringing to my brother’s in Minnetonka tomorrow. I made a pretty big change in that I don’t have four mini springform pans.

    Ginger Cheesecake (from Williams Sonoma)

    Preheat oven to 325 degrees

    Filling:
    20 oz softened cream cheese
    ½ c. water
    ½ c. sugar
    ¼ c. grated fresh ginger
    Grated zest of one lemon
    2 eggs
    ¼ c. heavy cream
    1 t vanilla extract

    Crust:
    1 c. gingersnap cookie crumbs
    2 T. finely chopped crystallized ginger
    ¼ c. sugar
    2 T. unsalted butter, melted and cooled

    Soften the cream cheese in your big mixing bowl; set aside. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine water, ½ c. sugar, fresh ginger and lemon zest; bring to a simmer, stirring until sugar is dissolved, then remove from heat. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat cream cheese on medium speed until smooth. Add eggs, cream and vanilla and beat until smooth. Strain ginger-lemon syrup through a fine mesh sieve set over a bowl. Fold the syrup into cream cheese mixture until blended.

    In a mixing bowl, combine cookie crumbs, crystallized ginger, butter and ¼ c. sugar and stir until blended.

    Divide the crumb mixture between four mini springform pans (I used one medium sized one – might have been able to use a large one). Press the crumb mixture evenly into the pans with the back of a spoon. Divide (or not) the filling among the pans. Bake until filling is set 15 – 18 minutes for the mini pans or 30 – 35 minutes for the medium pan.

    Cool on racks then refrigerate at least 3 hours before serving.

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    1. Krista… this sounds wonderful. I already have ingredients for the dish I’m supposed to bring tomorrow night (Potato Cheese Frittata) but this sounds like a great thing for the New Year’s festivities here! Thanks.

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    4. Wow, I’d like to try this, it sounds wonderful. When you say you used a medium pan – does that mean smaller than a 10-inch? I have a 7-inch and a 10-inch springform pan – which would be best?

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      2. piffle, tim, I have a 10″, 7″ and a heart-shaped one-all three came together in a reasonably priced set-cheesecake is important (but not as important as root beer).

        Martha I am not, but if I could stay up until 1am whistling and baking bread, I might just get there (and have themed costumes for Christmas as well :D!)

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      3. Me too… not Martha, but completely besotted by kitchen stuff. I also have 3 springform pans, but not a heart-shaped one. Wow, something else I “need” now!

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  22. Hello Kids,
    Last week one of my students told me he had a song stuck in his head and that it was called …. then he paused a moment to keep me in suspense … Jingle Bells!

    I’ve been humming the whole day to help reduce the swelling in my head that was caused by reading the compliments yesterday about my post to Tim the night before. That was extremely humbling because, truly, I admire and respect you baboons more than any other opposable thumbed species.

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    1. Speaking of opposable and on-oppsoable thumbs: My 2nd grade grand daughter Lily came home from school yesterday and said they had watched Avatar as part of their party. Her mother was wondering about that, getting a little upset at who would show Avatar to 2nd graders. So my daughter asked Lily if she got afraid. Lily, the girl who bails out on almost all movies and who is quite intelligent but can be a ditz, said only when the monkies did something. So my daughter asked if it was really Avatar. Lily said maybe it was called something like Natzar. It was Tarzan, of course.

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  23. “Ah, that was a proper 1919.”
    Bought a gallon driving through New Ulm this afternoon.
    If you do not know what 1919 is, well, you should learn.

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      3. You stop at an outlet, such as the Cashwise Grocery Store, and they draw you a gallon, as in a plastic jug like milk. You can also buy mini-kegs. At my daughter’s wedding reception as a picnic in a park in N. Mankato, we had rootbeer floats with 1919, with a whole keg.

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  24. A little Tarzan trivia: Cheetah is 75, alive and fond of watching Tarzan movies. He’s also gay.

    Maureen O’Sullivan, the most famous Jane, wrote: “Cheetah bit me whenever he could. The Tarzan apes were all homosexuals, eager to wrap their paws around Johnny Weismuller’s thighs. They were jealous of me, and I loathed them.”

    Steve, doing his best to keep this site educational.

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  25. If I had been on yesterday, I would have posted a vignette of the day. I saw a Hutterite young lady in Target talking on a Blackberry and scanning the gift registry. The dress and the technology just do not mix.

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  26. I am off work for a few days now. Neighbors, friends and clients brought in enough sugary stuff today to feed an army. So I ate it, which I try not to do most days. But it has left me with a sugar buzz and way too much energy. I guess I should go eat some protein now.

    Barb from BH, love the Santa hat on the goat. Festive. If said goat eats the hat, can you still ID it from the other end? Our late cat, Felini, used to eat the tinsel off our trees, thus garnering the nickname “Tinselbutt.”

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    1. It is for this reason that we do not put tinsel on our tree. I am a firm believer in strings of silver beads. Much harder for the critters to eat. (And it cuts down later on festive yuletide poo.)

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      1. One of our cats (the tinsel eating one) also is quite fond of the water the tree sits in. She won’t drink from the dog’s water dish, so clearly it’s not just a need for water. But she is like a moth to a flame when it comes to water gently flavored with pine sap. Odd cat.

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    3. I had an Irish Setter once, named Scarlett, who after several years of peaceful co-existence with the holiday tree, decided one year that popcorn strings were simply too much to be borne. I came through the room and she was sitting next to the tree, looking like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth and a piece of string about 6″ long hanging out the side of her mouth. No popcorn at all on the bottom half of the tree. I pulled the string and felt like a magician pulling scarves out of my pocket. 12 feet of string in all. I have never put popcorn strings on a tree since!

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  27. We’ll keep our dinges crossed that the correctional facility will provide just such a vehicle. I do not like sweets but I love cheesecake and tiramisou

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