The Wild Sow

The most hilarious and ironic thing is that the episodes immediately following "Once Upon a Time" are "Home Again" (parts 1 and 2.) You know, the ones where "Albert Ingalls," the (non-existent, non-historical, added to the show for drama!) adopted son falls in with the gang (drama!) in Chicago (where I don't think the real Charles and family ever actually lived , so....drama!) And gets addicted to mor-PHINE (how's that for DRAMA!) And of course Pa tough-loves him through the cold turkey withdrawal (quite dramatic, no?) but it all works out and Albert grows up to be Dr. Albert Ingalls (Happy Ending after all the drama!) So, the real Laura Ingalls Wilder wasn't willing to make up stuff in her books to add drama. Michael Landon, it seems, had no such qualms! And I still think he timed the episodes that way on purpose 😜

Yes! I love that one, and thank the Powers that Be that he didn't go with the stupid "Eat Your Young." I love Hozier but even the best artists come up with a clunker once in a while, and that's his. "Nobody's Soldier" would have been fine too. Oh yeah! I wasn't even planning to watch (I can actually take or leave Martin Short), but decided to DVR it just for Hozier. And am I ever glad I did! Of course, Shane and Kirsty are irreplaceable - but that was just a lovely tribute (and as someone on Hozier's FB mentioned, it took 3 wonderful women harmonizing, to fill Kirsty's shoes - presumable "these" shoes!) Shane MacGowan actually passed away on Nov. 30, 2023. And I had stayed late at work to take down the fall decorations and put up the Christmas/Hanukkah/New Years ones for December when I heard the announcement. I just put "Fairy Tale of New York" on repeat and cried a bit while I finished decorating. I think he'll always be one of my "I remember exactly where I was when I heard he died" people. Like John Lennon (working 2nd shift processing school pictures), JFK (kindergarten!), and Kurt Cobain (driving to pick up the kids after school.) Shane was a Christmas baby himself, and didn't quite make it to age 66. 😪 TWO lyrics, actually! And did a decent job of replacing them that didn't ruin it. But I have to say, apparently the first one was OK to say on SNL back in the Jane Curtin/Dan Ackroyd days!

Yep, I was cracking up when she decided to siphon that person's gas - although it is possible to do that without getting gasoline all the way into your mouth! Hey, I've siphoned to clean fish tanks - and I think dirty fish water would be arguably worse than gasoline! Yeah, I fear for Audrey's life too. Funny, because I didn't expect to like the character, figured she was just there to be a spoiler and would be your basic soap opera manipulative b-word. But she turned out to be a pretty cool person and probably better for Bode than Gabs is at this point. But it always ticks me off when a person reaches adulthood (or any age over maybe 10!) without knowing how to swim! How the hell does that happen? It's such a basic and important life skill, and even if you're not an avid swimmer like me, it's something everyone should learn! (Sorry, every time there's a news story about an adult or older kid drowning, it almost always includes the line "so-and-so did not know how to swim....") Yeah, knowing how to swim won't stop every drowning, but it certainly gives you a fighting chance! OK, off my soapbox now....

And once again, I'm just bemused about "Once Upon a Time" and "Home Again" being back-to-back! The more I think about it, the more I'm guessing Michael Landon had to have done that on purpose!

That Goddamn Alka-Seltzer commercial with the stupid ringing doorbell was just on AGAIN! And once again, I looked over at my front door to see if someone was there. Whyyyyyyyyyy?!! It's like songs that have a realistic "police siren" sound in them. So annoying when you're driving.

The Time Machine would at least fit the category - it was written in 1895, so just under the wire! Unlike A Farewell to Arms! Which is A) by Hemingway, so American, not European! and B) set during World War I and published in 1929, so not 19th Century!

I wondered if maybe 1805 was the year Jean Valjean stole that bread! Or maybe was paroled after the 19 years. I knew the barricade part was the June Rebellion of 1832 but wasn't sure how long he might have lived as M. Madeleine before meeting Fantine and Cosette. Anyway, I guessed Les Misérables.

Yes! I have a friend who's a retired engineer, whose train was used as an instrument of suicide by a man some years ago. The guy ran down the embankment, stood on the tracks, and, in my friend's words, "flipped me and the world the finger with both hands." Of course there was not a thing he could do to stop, and the investigation cleared him of any fault - but that trauma never leaves you. So, Dr. Melendez faked his death and went on to make $$ (somehow) from "betting on forecasts of possible disasters...." (is there even such a thing??) Who knew!

I thought the outfit was why he was "Pied." I got FJ right but it was definitely a guess - just couldn't think of anyone else off the top of my head. BTW, I never did find a recording of Friday's game, preempted by some football game. Finally just played it off the archive.

Hah! He shoulda had a tattoo of Jesus on his chest, too -- and asked it for advice!

It was pickles for me. Pizzas.

I've never heard that in my entire life. I guess my teachers weren't big on mnemonics, because I didn't learn one for the colors in the spectrum or for the Great lakes either. And biology class was decades ago so I also wouldn't remember taxonomy. Might've come up with order but probably not. Roy G. Biv for the rainbow. I once used "Who is Roy G. Biv?" in a Who Wants to Be a Millionaire-style trivia quiz I wrote. One of my distractors was "Barbara Walters' husband"! For the Great Lakes, do people here use HOMES, or Super Man Helps Every One? I prefer the latter, especially since it has them from left to right (west to east.)

Taxonomy, people -- taxonomy! King Phillip Came OVER For Good Sex! (Or Good Soup if you're teaching it to children 😄!) Kingdom, Phylum, Class, ORDER, Family, Genus, Species!

Hah! I'm just wondering how many hookups that Airstream Fixer-Upper is gonna be hosting this season! Are there any couples besides Bode/Gabby in need of spur of the moment privacy right now? I can't really think of any. Major characters (Jake, Eve, Manny...all currently single and not really looking.) But I can actually see Vince and Sharon trying it out.... even though they're married to each other and have a house! Speculation, not spoiler....wonder if they'll both retire from active firefighting and run Smokey's together?

I just realized he's Rusty from The Closer/Major Crimes. (I had to look it up, realizing he looked familiar.) I recognized him from the preview the week before!