Blergh

I have to admit that I liked that one moment of Mrs. Pumphrey's temporarily regaining her former flightiness (going back to ascribing stuff far beyond Tricki's actual knowledge,etc.) when she said that Tricki was willing to do his part to sacrifice for the war effort. Still, I agree that it was good to see her actually jump in to help the overwhelmed Mrs. Hall (and Helen) when she could have left in an angry huff (and would have had the right to have done so)- and extra points for having her actually winding up having been helpful instead of the trope of being a well-intended but causing more problems via her input!

I've been trying to find out where to apply for a transfer back to 1979 for the last few years!

As long I'm doing Hapsburg trivia. Here's one, the last Austrian Emperor Karl I( 1887-1922) succeeded his great-uncle Franz-Josef in 1916. The sad irony Karl had been the son he'd Franz-Josef had never had. .even marrying a bona fide Catholic princess in 1911 (albeit of a deposed domain), Zita of Bourbon-Parma (1892-1989) and the two had were devoted to each AND eager to do their duty which brought comfort to the old Emperor in his twilight years somewhat adopting them and their growing family (yes, Carl and Zita proved quite fertile). Anyway, Carl succeeded as Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary in 1916 but, alas, the Great War was too big for him to stop (though he and Zita tried but were reviled for it at the time). .and Karl wound up being forced to give up his powers. However, Karl very carefully just released everyone else from their obligations to him but did NOT technically abdicate in 1918. After a disastrous attempt to (re)claim the throne of Hungary, they were exiled to the Portuguese island off the coast of Africa called Madeira where Karl caught a cold after shopping for a present for one of his sons which turned into bronchitis and pneumonia and, despite the efforts of Zita personally nursing him [and the others who'd gotten ill], Karl had two heart attacks and died declaring his love for Zita. Zita who was heavily pregnant with their 8th child turned to their eldest son Otto (1912-2011) and told him that 'Your father is sleeping the eternal sleep, YOU are now the Emperor!' and bowed to him! This would also be the last time her children would see her in anything but completely black dresses. After many decades of adventures (including being on Hitler's literal death list due to trying to stir up NAZI opponents in Austria) and, Otto von Hapsburg wound up giving up his claim to the Austrian throne and would become a member of the European Parliament in addition to raising a family and helping to support his aging mother. It should be noted that even when the budget didn't cover food or clothing, Zita had somehow made sure her children were all well-educated and she would be rewarded with a comfortable old age in Switzerland while becoming a great-grandmother of a multitude before her death. She'd be buried in Vienna along with the other Hapsburg rulers and consorts with her heart entombed next to Emperor Karl's after 67 years of widowhood! As for Otto, he would inherit his mother's longevity in addition to having adaptability to make the most of his talents in a changing world before his own death at 98 in Germany. In 1972, Emperor Karl's casket was open before witnesses and his 60-year-old son was among the group that saw that his remains were perfectly preserved which led Herr von Hapsburg to observe that he got to see his father as a young man once more in his own old age! Anyway, had the Austro-Hungarian Empire not flown apart and he'd never renounced his own claim, Otto have beaten Elizabeth II of Great Britain and Louis XIV of France's records with an 89-year long reign after his father Karl's death.

Long-short is that, thanks to one great-grandparent who emigrated here but kept in touch with a sib in the Old Country, I have kin who are just one nation's width away from the Ukraine. I wish I felt better about their security and those of their fellow compatriots and others in their neck of the woods after #45 decided to blame the victim for getting ambushed. Why does that not surprise me, though?

OK, I know it's almost over in the US, but I'm going to stick my neck out to wish everyone in the US a Happy Presidents' Day - and everyone can individually decide WHICH US President/s to celebrate the life/ves and achievements of and which to ignore due to not believing they merit the same accolades as the good ones. I leave it everyone's individual imaginations. ..

Now that I think about it, perhaps Miss Grantley may not have totally ruled out ever . ..at least conversing with Siegfried again. What's my evidence to back up this theory? Because she left her manuscript in his house (the one which he wound up being too blunt causing their fall out). OK, had it been a first edition/printing of an author's written work, an author might be willing to .. .write that off along with the friendship after a falling off. But a manuscript? That's their work in progress chock full of notes, sources,etc. No way would an author have deliberately left said manuscript (barring risk to life or limb) in the hands of someone they'd want ZILCH to do with again! Miss Grantley could have easily made a beeline to Skeldale House to grab it out of the Farnon Bros. unappreciative/careless mitts,sent one of her staff to have demanded its return. .or even had him served a legal notice to compel him to turn it over. However, the fact that she left it with Siegfried even though she's not currently on speaking terms with him gets me to think that maybe she's just waiting to cool off before she decides whether there could be a future. . .or grab that manuscript so she'd have absolutely NOTHING more to tie herself to him! Also, I just remembered that Mrs. Pumphrey mentioned her French butler Marcel having cooked for Tricki via that being the possible source of that irritating chicken bone. No, we haven't seen Marcel but it seems likely that she's pulled the right strings to keep him in her employee as a foreign national so he can have a safe refuge despite his nation currently being occupied. Of course, that would bring up how he is dealing with his loved ones being behind enemy lines,etc. but that's not being touched upon. Since the Matron and military hospital are occupying the Pumphrey Manor, I suppose this means that Marcel is in that guest cottage along with Mrs. Pumphrey and Tricki (and likely was getting worried about their very lengthy veterinary appointment in town).

The Archduke Franz Ferdinand had quite a few faults(e.g. hunting animals to an alarming degree even for the times) and likely would have been just made things worse had he lived to succeed the Emperor Franz Josef. However, he WAS a devoted husband and father to his morgnatic wife Countess Sophie and their children (one of his main conflicts with his uncle Franz Josef was that Sophie had been a mere countess rather than a princess of a Catholic nation or deposed realm that was the rule for Austrian empresses-to-be and he wound up having to agree that she could never be empress and their children could not succeed to the imperial throne). Anyway, after the two of them had become mortally wounded in Sarajevo on June 28,1914 (on the 525th Anniversary of the Fall of Kosovo to the Ottomans), some of Franz Josef's dying words were to plea 'Sophie-love, Sophie-love, don't die! Stay alive for the CHILDREN!'

Well, somehow I had the feeling that Siegfried would be too . ..blunt for his romance with the Persian manuscript author to last. It's too bad that she doesn't seem to want to communicate with him any more (not even to have messages passed on). Oh well. Yes, I agree that Tristan was a bit obnoxious with virtually him virtually parading his 'free time' status in front of the now very busy Siegfried and James but that wasn't a new kind of development for his character. He did let himself get guilt tripped into going with Siegfried to that farm where he put his two pence in far more than was helpful. I knew something was very wrong with James with him initially treating the waiting clients like he was a music hall emcee- with the whole thing melting down with him winding up being rather rude to Mrs. Pumphrey and blowing off (as it turned out) a legit concern re Tricki. Thankfully, Mrs. Pumphrey didn't storm off in an angry huff but was willing to make an allowance for James's . .altered demeanor. And even more proving a help to Helen and Mrs. Hall who had their hands full with a packed waiting room, Baby Jimmy and a feverish James. ..to say nothing of all those strawberries to be jammed. Yes, that fever sure brought out some horrible guilt James had been carrying and had tried to stuff down even though, of course, it wasn't his fault what had happened to his military comrades! Meantime, Siegfried and Tristan sure made a mess of things after barely treating that miniature horse each having thought the other had had the car's gas tank filled and winding up on stuck on that remote road (in those days of no cellphones- don't forget!).Then, of course, getting increasingly drunk on that donated dandelion wine as they ambled about making their way back to Skeldale House. At least Tristan proved to be strong enough to safely carry Siegfried through that creek without dropping him! Just like James's fever had freed up his suppressed angst, their drunkenness cleared up their misunderstandings and they DID have a good talk despite all that with them winding up at Skeldale House with the whole town seeing them in rather disheveled and looped conditions. Nice reflections by Mrs. Pumphrey and Mrs. Hall over their respective times in the Great War and how Mrs. Pumphrey wished she could have stayed a working partner to her late husband instead of reverting to being a society ornament to him after the personnel shortage crisis had passed (by no means an unheard of sentiment for wives back then). Also, cute that she finished the Lewis Carroll poem that Siegfried was unable to complete in his state! At least James had thrown off the fever and seemed recovered by the episode's end (and gotten Tricki's chicken bone out to make him all right) but I have the feeling the Farnon Brothers felt a LOT of pain in the morning. .and had to deal with somehow retrieving the car and filling its tank! Yes, I'm sorry this season has to end next week but I look forward to it!

OK, I'm curious but does anyone know if the late Mr. Howard's given name was originally spelled K-e-v-y-n by his parents at birth or did he later alter it from Kevin so as not to share the same name as another performer in ACTRA? Prof Wiki and his cousin IMDB make no mention either way.

Let me say that I was sorry to see Norah O'Donnell retire as the CBS Evening News anchor. However, I can't help but think she realized that had she not done so when she did, she'd have wound up having either deliver watered down news or blatant propaganda.

Of course, what's amazing about Dresden is that even though the city center was totally destroyed by the bombing, after the War, the East Germans and Soviets painstakingly worked to restore it to its original glory so that to this day few visitors would ever imagine that the city had been utterly ruined by the end of WWII! Yes, they did so while ignoring the ruined parts of virtually every other part of the onetime nation of East Germany including its very capital of East Berlin which would also be filled with blah Soviet architecture rather than have its earlier glory as the Prussian Empire capital city restored (with a few exceptions such as Brandenberg Gate though soon stuck in the no-man's part of the Wall ).

Maybe this is purely hypothetical (and perhaps should be put on a T-shirt or mug) but. .. why do crises somehow happen while all the bigwigs who can address them can't be disturbed due to being in lengthy conference calls?

AFAIC, it's more like #45 L-O-A-T-H-E-S America (all nations within both of the Western Hemisphere continents including the U.S of. . ) . Moreover, that particular Gulf is not solely within US jurisdiction (unlike Ft. Bragg). And did anyone else hear of anyone else truly having wanted to change the Gulf name before #45 did so- or for that matter North America's highest peak known by the Alaska locals as Denali since time immemorial(and yes, I know that Alaska is the 49th US State to have been admitted).

Or Laura could have done what Albert would later do to spook Nellie from the switchboard- find a mouse and toss at her (with both the Oleson parents present)! THAT would have showed up Nellie and been funny to boot ! Yet, NO ONE called out Laura for having done the wheelchair throwdown including Ma, Pa or EITHER of the Oleson 'rents (even when she openly bragged about it years later)!

One thing occurred to me re Laura and the wheelchair: even though Nellie had been cruel to Bunny and deceptive to Laura (and everyone else) via faking paralysis, Laura DID literally put Nellie's actual mobility if not her life at risk via shoving her down that hill in that breakaway wheelchair- yet at NO point did Laura ever show the slightest contrition for having risked Nellie's literal limbs and life that way! Even when retelling the tale over Christmas NO ONE calls Laura on having done that to Nellie not even Caroline 'We don't HATE anyone' Ingalls! Yeah, awful to fess hating someone but shoving someone down a hill in a wheelchair is fine and dandy!

Yep, and her crush on 'Mike' wasn't solely due to the script. Miss Stewart and Tim Considine were starting their bond which would wind up with them getting married, divorced . ..then airing out their misunderstandings and eventually becoming platonic friends (along with his 2nd wife). Miss Stewart was upset over his unexpected death (which she said happened after a fall at his home)!

If it weren't for his ONE saving grace of having had a bond with his late dog, Bosworth would be more like the Warren Ferguson (Barney's replacement who NOBODY in Mayberry liked- not even Andy). At least Barney Fife had some likability. .

Thank you for your thoughts on this. I'm not sure what the whole thought process was re this edict. However, THE most important thing for our hospital is patient care and making sure that it's the best care possible. Alas, this does require a good amount of $$$ for medicine, research, equipment,etc. and I imagine that the hospital's PTB were worried that if the fed funds got abruptly cut off, this could cripple the patients ( figuratively and possibly literally) . THAT is the bottom line. Legal suits might possibly result in a court ruling in health care providers' favor. ..or said suits could boomerang resulting in no fed funds AND being more in the hole re legal fees. In any case, I can imagine that this possibility has been at least discussed but I have no idea if it got shot down in administration. ..or the option may yet happen but they're not showing all their cards just yet. Regardless, it's despicable that health care itself has been needlessly targeted (and I agree that it's horrible that ANY qualified, competent and vital employee of any position would get axed just to appease #45 and MAGA)!

Since I mentioned Emperor Franz-Josef of Austria-Hungary (1830-1916), in another thread, I thought I might as bring up one of the most impressive structures in Vienna inspired by the Emperor's survival- the Votive Church! Back in 1853, the 22-year-old Emperor liked to take strolls around the City of Vienna where he'd often meet and greet everyday folk. Anyway, during one particular stroll, a would-be assassin attempted to do him in by trying to stab him in the neck. Luckily his usual uniform had a very thick collar which deflected a good part of the blow but he did suffer a deep wound that would need tending. The Emperor knighted one of the two men who helped save him from the assassin on the spot and promoted the other to a higher rank of nobility. He even went so far as to give the executed would-be assassin's mother a small pension! But that wasn't the end of this incident. His younger brother, the Archduke Maximilian (1832-ex.1867) felt rather shaken that his elder brother had an attempt on his life and was grateful he had survived. Hence, Maximilian started a campaign to build a church right on the very spot where this attempt had taken place - the Votive Church. The Emperor himself would lay the cornerstone for the foundation [made of stone from Jerusalem's Mount of Olives] the next year. And it wound up being completed in 1879 in time for the Silver Anniversary of Emperor Franz-Josef and Empress 'Sisi'. The sad irony is that Maximilian himself never got to see it completed for he had been executed a dozen years earlier after he had been Emperor of Mexico from 1864-1867. Poignantly, one of the chapels within the grand Votive Church was dedicated to Maximilian's memory -a Shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe (Mexico's own patron saint)! IOW, the church that was originally built to give thanks for the sparing of one emperor's life spurred by the efforts of his younger brother wound up also being a memorial to that younger brother who himself would become a slain emperor! Yes, it's quite a beautiful and moving building well worth visiting if one ever ventures to Vienna!

All that fuss over a box of cans dumped out of an airplane and him racing through the streets as though a NAZI invasion was imminent! Someone needs to tell Bosworth that there's a reason why the Boy Who Cried Wolf has been passed down for centuries (at least)- and to consider what happens the credibility of those who get hysterical over the tiniest things!

Well, we employees got just a message from the CEO of my Southeast US hospital and boiled down to essentials due to Executive Orders, our hospital has been told to discontinue to have Diversity, Equity and Inclusion if it wants to keep receiving federal funds- although the CEO DID stress that we still welcome will our patients and each other. Yep, if I'm reading this correctly, it seems that despite our hospital running like a well-oiled machine having done its best to seek out the best, most qualified and most competent to take care of our patients- regardless of pigmentation,ethnicity or skin shape, now we're being told to stop that! Does this mean that there will be no new hires of folks who aren't WASP males regardless of their qualifications, record or competence and what about the administrators, medical directors, doctors, researchers, managers,etc. who already work here who don't fit this myopic criteria? We have folks from virtually every background imaginable working together and things are doing well for our patients as a result! We've also been told that support from NIH [National Institute of Health] grants is being reduced. OK, I just hope everyone who will have need to go to hospitals or clinics for treatments or checkups will somehow be okay despite the extra hoops the hospital and clinic staffs are now going to have to jump through that do absolutely NOTHING to improve health care or treatment. I wish I could say I was surprised and I'm trying not to stress out (and doing all I can to support and encourage my fellow employees) but I'm downright APPALLED that folks' livelihood are being put in limbo- to say nothing of patient care!

IMO, it would have worked better had let's say the late father's relatives deemed the mother unfit due to her illness and blindness and the courts agreed THEN the paternal relatives dumped her in an orphanage because they didn't want to be bothered with her. .then(with no other information) the girl grew up thinking that ALL of them had dumped her there.

As much as I'm sorry to see Carmody go, I can't say I'm entirely surprised since it wound up James had virtually nothing to do this episode besides try to operate on a ferret and put together a play pen! However, I think that since Siegfried told Carmody that 'there'd always be a place' for him at Skeldale House, I wouldn't be surprised of Carmody made an appearance for a Christmas holiday [no spoilers please]! Somewhat sad that it seems that his own parents just dumped him in a boarding school as a young boy and never looked back so he essential HAD no place besides Skeldale where he'd feel at home much less welcomed! Interesting that Persian scholar who Siegfried seems enthralled with.I'm not sure she'll do more than have a vague flirtation with him since she not only seemed to reclaim her original surname (and go by 'Miss. ..') after her husband's early death in the Great War but she even said she barely remembered him. This was somewhat rare but not unknown for widows to do- especially if there had been no children.

OK, but what a horrible mess for every single person and their families involved. First of all the Crown Prince Rudolf (1858-1889) had been married to the former Princess Stephanie of Belgium (1864-1945) but after the birth of their daughter the Archduchess Elisabeth (1883-1963), he not only badly neglected her but was so blatantly adulterous that he wound up giving her a venereal disease that made her unable to bear any more children after Elisabeth. Oh, yes, poor Stephanie had named her daughter after her mother-in-law 'Sisi' in the vain hope that this would impress her mother-in-law but Sisi shared her son's disdain for Stephanie believing her to be too plain[tagging Stephanie 'the hideous dromedary'] - despite herself having dealt with a difficult mother-in-law. Anyway, Rudolf himself had had at best a rocky bond with both his parents and he suffered from intense mood swings and depression- none of which was helped by his morphine addiction. He even tried to persuade his regular mistress one Mizzi Kaspar to join him in a joint suicide pact but Fraulein Kaspar refused and tried to alert the authorities but they blew her off. He evidently express suicidal ideations to Stephanie herself who tried to plea with the Emperor but he also didn't her seriously. Rudolf found a more pliable participant in the 17-year-old Baroness Mary Vetsera who had had an unhappy family life and seemed enthralled with the Crown Prince [despite him being married and there no chance of a divorce]! Anyway, January 30,1889 after a family dinner with himself, Stephanie and his parents the Emperor Franz-Josef making a rare joint appearance with his adored but estranged wife Empress 'Sisi', he excused himself then retreated to the hunting lodge with Baroness Vetsera . .after which both which both died suddenly and violently. In a grotesque footnote, when one of his aides broke down the locked room where their remains were found, they tried to alert the Emperor straight away. However, the aides were told that news concerning his son and heir could only be conveyed to him by the Empress herself so it wound up that they had to tell one HER ladies-in-waiting so SHE could tell the Empress to tell the Emperor! Despite the young Baroness Vetsera's written wish to be buried with Rudolf, instead her remains where deposited and buried far away [and hidden away in a series of adventures for over a century] and it wound up that by the time anyone examined her remains, so much time had elapsed that they were skeletal and it couldn't be determined whether she had been shot or whether Rudolf had had the only bullet. As for Rudolf, the Emperor wanted him buried in the Imperial Crypt but knew that a murder-suicide would have been barred from consecrated ground so the Emperor pressed the case that it was a 'mental breakdown' that had caused that horrific double death! Poor Sisi who had both doted on him but frequently distanced herself from him, felt horrible guilt and would only wear black the rest of her life. One of her daughters was afraid that Sisi herself would take her own life but Rudolf's mother survived until her own assassination nine years later. As for Stephanie, about a decade later she would remarry someone whom both her own father and daughter considered to be too low rank for an Austrian crown princess dowager and she wound up estranged from her daughter. Yet, somehow she DID have a much happier 2nd marriage than her first had been. As for the Archduchess Elisabeth? Due to that annoying Salic Law that the Hapsburgs had been tethered by that forbade a woman or even a male heir of a female line from inheriting the throne, she was ineligible for the Imperial throne. Instead her well-meaning grandfather wanting her to have security, would have a marriage arranged by her paternal grandfather that had a wobbly start mainly due to the fact that her new husband had already been engaged to someone else but His Imperial Majesty had ordered his potential grandson-in-law to break that engagement and marry Elisabeth. They would have four children before a lengthy separation before Elisabeth was finally able to obtain a divorce then marry her longtime companion. One last footnote to this is that Stephanie had not only been born a Belgian princess but she happened to have been the paternal niece of Princess Charlotte of Belgium (1840-1927) who would go down history as the Empress Carlota of Mexico and after her return from Mexico, Carlota became somewhat unhinged even before her husband Emperor Maximilian's 1867 execution ! Maximilian had been Franz-Josef's younger brother. Carlota would live the rest of her long life well-cared for in a castle in Belgium with her caregivers doing their best to shield the emotionally fragile Carlota from outside upheavals. where her niece/niece-in-law Stephanie visited her shortly after Rudolf's evident suicide. Carlota wound up upsetting poor Stephanie almost immediately with her pointing to the younger woman and proclaiming 'They killed him, TOO!'!

Ok, here's a 1970's kids show I used to catch that I've been thinking about a great deal in recent months: Ark II ( 1976). This was a Filmation live production in which this team of scientists traveled the now-ruined land of what had once evidently been the United States in a solar powered souped up camper van in the year 2476 to try to help the struggling,ignorant surviving populace re-learn how to start to progress again. It was led by the Commander Jonah ( Terry Crews), along with the physician [but no known surnames] Ruth (Jean Marie Hon), the teen Samuel ( Jose Flores) and Adam (Moochie the Chimp[!]) who tried to do good works against incredible odds! Yes, the crew had Biblical names and were multicultural (and even dual species of primates- though it never was explained whether Adam was uniquely intelligent amongst future chimps: remember this was shortly after the original Planet of the Apes movie series had played out). It also never really explained how the three humans had somehow had become educated and technologically advanced. Anyway, Commander Jonah would set up the episodes via narrating the impending mission at the beginning as well as the wrap-up closing [the episode's moral] at the end- and it had some interesting onetime stars such as Jim Backus and Jonathan Harris guesting as 'unenlightened' characters. Alas, only fifteen episodes were made and even then it was tough to imagine how their intended mission was going to work out! Still, it might be worth catching if one wants to consider how to hold onto and pass on knowledge in challenging times!