Sammy's Return, the Eclipse and New Words
April 21,2014
Sammy returned from his European tour a few weeks ago. Since then, everyone has been looking a lot sharper, with fresh hair cuts and styling. He has made some changes in décor. The glossy pictures of beautiful people with beautiful hair have been vanquished. Good riddance I say. There is no need for anyone to look better than myself.
But more importantly, those great looking guys were making the local gals wonder how they had gotten stuck with Mr. Slovenly. Those models had a big advantage, with someone to tease out their hair and make sure they wore a clean shirt to the photo shoot. Our local boys might look pretty swank under those circumstances.
Sammy has put up prints of some of the famous paintings that he saw in Europe. Now, when people ask about his trip, he has something to show. He is also planning some sort of video viewing in the school auditorium for later this spring. Now, the new school principal is a fine, fine woman who does not take no for an answer. So once again, Bob and I are on the short list to run the coffee machines and the snack bar while Sammy shows us the sights of Europe. It should be good.
Speaking of travel, Gus and the Bush Wife recently drove south for the eclipse. Don’t you just love the new media word for it, “totality?” They (Gus and his Missus and not the media, although they might have learned a thing or two) were with Konner and Koanie for the eclipse. The sky was clear and the sun was reduced to a sliver. Apparently, the surroundings were bathed in a sort of twilight for about fifteen minutes. Happily, no planes fell out of the skies, so the eclipse and modern aeronautics have been declared a big success.
The trip seems to have done them a world of good. Cabin fever is gone and they are focused on their garden. Gus may have to do extra digging this year as the Bush Wife keeps planting more perennial flowers while the vegetable patch gets smaller. Gus is a bit nervous about running the rotor-tiller among all the flowers. As he points out, the tiller likes to run straight ahead. Sharp turns can be a challenge. Still, he is under orders, and no excuses will be accepted.
I have been working on my minnow traps. Some need a bit of rewiring and a few have lost the clips that hold the two halves together. The design has been around for half a century; two identical halves with a funnel at each end for the minnow to swim into. Once inside, they don’t usually find the opening back to freedom.
The great thing is the minnow preference for rusty traps. Admittedly, I don’t experiment much with new ones, but when you do see a new trap it is generally empty. I think the rust makes the traps less visible in the tannin rich pond water. Now, some will suggest a certain reluctance to part with cash, and there is some truth to it, but science, or the lack of it, would suggest the rust helps.
Now, none of us would listen to rumours. We have better manners and are above such tawdry behavior. So it is surprising to learn that word is circulating in some of the better Lonesome cliques that our barber, Sammy, may have a love interest. It seems a certain attractive woman was in a surprising number of his European photos. This came to light when the new school principal was showing Sammy how to turn his digital photos into a power point presentation. Don’t ask; it has something to do with computers. Somehow, she let it slip in conversation and by dinnertime the word was out that he was dating a Sophia Loren look alike.
Let’s hope it is true.
It’s been a long week. Time to spin “Gord’s Gold” and relax.
Ricky
PS I was in town and stopped by the garage. Bob had just finished putting a new distributor in Roy Henderson’s 1991 GMC pickup. He likes working on that truck; it reminds him of simpler times before every vehicle had computer circuits and needed a magician to repair them.
We had been discussing the eclipse and the new term ‘totality” to describe it. We both thought the term was incorrect. A totality is the sum of things, not a singular event. Roy walked in about then, and after listening for a few minutes, asked in his quiet way if we remembered when “gi-normus” was all the rage. We had “enormous”, and “gigantic”, but someone put them together and it stuck. I guess people will always make up new words, or new meanings for existing words.
He asked if I was still thinking on how to get dairy cows to take weekends off and to call him right away once I had it figured out. Apparently, his doctor told him to slow down, but neither of them can convince the cows of the virtues associated with a forty hour week. To Roy’s way of thinking, a forty hour week qualifies as retirement.
And I am pretty certain he sees guiding and minnow trapping as vacation time.
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