The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree

I chatted with my folks on the phone today (they're doing fine, just busy), and I had a funny moment when talking to Dad. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, just a routine checkup, but we got on the subject of cancer.

Dad: Cervical cancer can be treated pretty easily now, as long as they find it quickly. Not like that other cancer women can get...what is that one...?

Me: Ovarian?

Dad: Yeah. I guess women can have that and not even know it until it's too late.

Me: It's a bad one. I've tried to learn about the symptoms so I can recognize it if something is seriously wrong.

Dad: What's that other one that's so bad?

Me: Pancreatic?

Dad: Yeah. That's what Patrick Swayze died of.

Me: Yeah, that was sad.

Dad: You know, I felt really bad about that. I liked Patrick Swayze. I never saw "Dirty Dancing," but I liked that one...which one was it where he's a bouncer and comes in to run a club?

Me: "Road House"! It's one of my favorites! We watched it the night we heard he'd died.

Haha! It just cracked me up to hear that my 86-year-old Dad digs "Road House"! We talked about a few of our favorite parts (Dad said, "Boy, he could really take care of those bad guys, couldn't he?"), and it just tickled me. This was almost as great an epiphany as when Dad told me, "You know, if I hadn't gone into the National Guard, I always thought it would be neat to run an office supply store." I told him, "So that's where I get it from!" and we laughed. We agreed, though, that we'd never turn a profit, because we'd constantly be buying out our own stock.

There are certainly worse tendencies to inherit from your parents. I'll take the quirks of loving "Road House" and office supplies over nasty traits any day!

~~~~~

I'm amazed that our hummingbirds are still here. I think this is the latest they've ever stuck around. The boys left a couple of weeks ago, but the girls are still coming up to the feeders, trying to bulk up for their flight south. I'm guessing they'll be gone in the coming week. I hate to see them go, but I look forward to their return every spring!

In the meantime, our barred owl has been very vocal lately. I hear him often at night, and Ken got to hear him the other night, too. It's such a spooky sound...I love it! Now we need to get the coyote howling at the same time. Ooooo!

~~~~~

Does anyone else watch "Hell's Kitchen"? Ken and I love it. It's a little bit of "Iron Chef," with a whole lot of the foul-tempered (and foul-mouthed) Gordon Ramsay thrown in the mix. "It's RAW!" "Feel that...it's STONE COLD!" [throws pan in the trash] "Come ON!" Last night, someone was blubbering about how they couldn't take it anymore, and I asked Ken, "Had they never watched the show before they tried out for it?" Would I want to take that kind of abuse? No way. But I wouldn't try out for a show like that, knowing that is how the Big Guy operates.

We also watched the premiere of "The Good Wife" with Julianne Margulies and Chris Noth. I thought it was quite good, and although I'm not committed to watching it faithfully, I'll definitely tune in again. Neat premise--woman's politician husband gets caught in a sex/money scandal and goes to prison, woman goes back to work as a lawyer. Very topical!

It's nice to see some of our favorites begin the fall season, even though this means the end of our summer movie watching. So many movies, so little time!

Tidying up

Some loose ends, that is.

I'm sure everyone has heard by now that Patrick Swayze died yesterday. Last night was movie tribute night, so Ken got to choose between "Road House" and "Dirty Dancing." He picked the former, naturally, which just so happens to be one of my all-time favorite cheesy movies! I try to watch it at least once a year, and I last watched it in February when Ken was on a business trip. You can find my Road House entry from then via the link. I have to add a few more lines to some of the wonderfully bad ones I mentioned back then.

Calling me sir is like putting an elevator in an outhouse.

Pain don't hurt.

You're too stupid to have a good time.

That gal has got entirely too many brains to have an ass like that.

I see you found my trophy room, Dalton. The only thing that's missing...is your ass.

This toilet is worse than the one we worked in Dayton.

Good times! It is deliciously bad, and incredibly fun. Thanks, Patrick. You had a good run, and you'll be missed.

~~~~~

Before I forget, I owe my friend Milwaukee Dan #1 a Silver Squirrel Award! He knew that the song that has a tiny voice saying "eat!" was “Martian Boogie” by The Brownsville Station. Cousin Shane also knew this (no surprise there, because I remember we really liked that song when we were in high school), but Dan rang in first with a message on Facebook. Congrats, Dan, and do with the Squirrel what you will!

~~~~~

Speaking of Cousin Shane, we were emailing last night, and he had some interesting information for me. He works for the Post Office, so he's my source whenever I have questions about...you know, mailing stuff. Recycling came up, and he wrote this:

What people don't realize is that when it comes to "bulk business mail" (what most people call "junk mail"), if you write on it "return to sender" or anything similar, it doesn't matter. That mail just ends up in the recycling bin. It does not go back to the sender and they do not honor requests to remove from mailing lists or anything like that.

I guess all I have to say is thank you, Post Office, for recycling, even when others won’t...from someone who recycles even her grocery lists and price tags on clothing. It all adds up, and our actions do have an impact.

~~~~~

I made a trip to the library today to pick up the next book on our book club list, The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow. I haven't finished Angle of Repose yet (still loving it), but I'm getting close. One thing I've started doing when I request that a book be transferred to our branch is to look for the oldest edition available. This latest one is from 1953. I'm not sure why I enjoy these older books so much; most newer editions have some sort of Foreword about the book or author. Maybe that's one of the reasons I prefer the older editions. I enjoy reading them as someone from that time might have read them, before the books were recognized as literary classics. I try to not read much about the book before going into it, so that I don't have any preconceived notions about it. I don't mind reading that stuff after I've read the book, but I kind of enjoy going into it blind. I also think I just enjoy the smell and look of older books, and knowing that many hands have held it and turned its pages before me. Sometimes I wonder what they thought of the book.

I always stop at the Books For Sale section on the way into the library, and I got three great bargains today! A 1951 edition of the Wise Garden Encyclopedia (bought mainly because of its age), a huge native plant reference book called Botanica North America, and just for fun, I Am America (And So Can You) by Stephen Colbert. I think the guy is hilarious, and this book should be a fun read. Three books...three bucks. You can't beat that with a stick, and I dare you to try!

But here is the absolute best part of my visit to the library, and this totally made my day. As I was getting out of my car, I saw a large bird flying toward the parking lot, and it landed on one of the light poles. It some sort of raptor! As I watched him (I don’t know if it was male or female, but I’m calling it ‘him’), he flew down to the shrubs by a nearby house, and grabbed something off of the ground. He turned around to face me, and it was some sort of rodent. The bird tore into the thing, and it was gone in two bites. WHOA! He flew back up to the top of the light pole, and just sat there for a while. I got a really good look at him, and I probably looked like an idiot standing there in the parking lot gaping at this bird! At first I was thinking that he might be a peregrine falcon. They're rare, but we have a nesting pair, Zephyr and Guinevere, who live in downtown South Bend, and they have chicks every year. I looked in a Sibley's in the library, but looked further in my books when I got home, and I'm pretty sure it was an osprey. They hang out near water, and maybe the library's small ponds are enough for them. He had more of a striped head like an osprey, rather than the "helmet" that a peregrine has, and his chest was mostly white with little speckling.

It was the coolest thing. I told the woman behind the counter that I thought I saw a peregrine, and I think I'll send an email and say that I believe that it was an osprey instead. Oh, if only I'd had my camera! He was maybe 20 feet away from me, munching on Rodent Tartar. A very handsome bird--I think raptors are amazing! When I left the library, I was still so excited about it that I had to force myself to concentrate on driving! Have I mentioned that I'm easily amused?

Reasons I love "Road House"

Let me count the ways:

1) The guy from "Emergency" is in it (Kevin Tighe, not Randolph Mantooth).
B) The name of the club is the Double Deuce, a really cool name.
3) The Double Deuce is frequented by over-the-top, booze-swillin' rednecks and slutty babes who dance on the tables.
4) Dalton has no other name...just Dalton.
F) He has a degree in Philosophy but works as a cooler.
8) The line "It's my way or the highway."
C) Dalton is kind of a pacifist and fights only when provoked.
E) He gets provoked a lot in this movie.
'Leventy-'leven) The pretty blonde doctor staples his chest, hoping that hers will be stapled to it later.
$) She gets her wish, in a big way.
~) Even though everyone keeps telling Dalton "I thought you'd be bigger."
12) Ben Gazzara plays Brad, the bad guy, who turns out to be not just bad, but psychotic.
Ö) A grizzled Sam Elliott plays Wade, a legendary cooler, a rough-looking biker dude with a heart of gold.
¿) When Wade first arrives at the club, he calls it the Double Douche.
Æ) The look in Dalton's eyes when...well, what happens to Wade happens.
£) Jeff Healey (R.I.P.)
¶) Dalton doing Tai chi in nothing but a pair of sweat pants.
§) Brad's slutty girlfriend does a striptease. Dalton gets her off the stage and tells Brad, "If you're gonna have a pet, keep it on a leash."
µ) The great fight scene between Dalton and the main henchman. Roundhouse kicks! Five finger death punch!
Ø) The final showdown between Dalton and Brad and his gang. Knives are thrown! Spears are chucked! Polar bears are toppled!
¥) Dalton and the townspeople prevail; Dalton and the doc go skinnydipping.
Ü) And last but not least, Patrick Swayze ass. (Is it real, or body double ass? I think it's real.)