Gingerbread Men Generations

I picked up a plush Gingerbread Man for the Grandbaby while at Barnes & Noble this past weekend. Lots of wonderfully illustrated classic children's Christmas books were there too - but I'll wait until next year to start with those. She's more likely to try to eat the book pages at this age. She seems to be particularly fond of munching on my Sportsmans Guide Catalogs right now :)

Next year, though, there's potential that she might show interest in the actual pictures and story. Looking forward the that, I am.

Here's the little Gingerbread man that will snuggle in her stocking on Christmas day from her Mema and Scruff (that's the Mrs and me). Its along side my very own old Gingerbread Man that was given to me over 40 years ago. My Mom has kept it all these years.

Mine is a little raggedy around the edges (like me)... but seeing the two stuffed friends together gives me have hope that as weird and disjointed as life can be these days compared to when I was a little boy, loving your kids (and grandkids) is one of the constants that will see us through.

Paladin's Random Crap - Fairy Lamp Project

Finished one side of the backyard fence project this weekend, in spite of the all day rain we had Friday. Looks really good and should last a lot longer than the crap fence my neighbor put up last time. I'll try to work on the short front section and gate over Thanksgiving - weather and time permitting.

The Display table project for my Daughter's Christmas present is progressing nicely, too. Should be able to get it done by Christmas with no problem. I even had a couple of minutes this weekend to work on a lamp project.

A while back, we picked up a crappy looking old ceiling light fixture at a flea market:

Doesn't look like much, but the Mrs and I really dug the heavy glass shade. Its extremely thick and heavy. Glass on lamps today tends to be really thin and light. I'm pretty sure that I could bludgeon someone with this bad boy and not even crack it.

As you can see, the fixture itself is pretty worthless. The wiring is brittle and the metal is sad looking.

We both thought the same thing when we saw this old mess: Fairy Lamp. The glass shade would be perfect for a modern take off on the old Victorian Fairy Lamps. I found an Ebay store a while back that carries modern castings for replacement lamp parts. I ordered a short base that we liked.

The glass shade is pretty narrow, so I cut the old shade holder (harp) off the ceiling fixture and soldered it to the harp bracket for the new lamp. I picked up a bakelite pull chain socket from the hardware store and put everything together with left over connectors and a threaded lamp rod scrap. A coat of paint and an electric cord, and I was done:

It has a 25 watt bulb, which is just about perfect for beside use. The old glass gives off a nice, diffused, almost amber tinted light.

Add this to the Bucket List

This is footage from the recent launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis... I've about run out of time to see a launch in person, what with the shuttle fleet on the verge of retirement next year. Maybe I'll get around to seeing a launch of the replacement rocket they are switching to one day. I need to start a bucket list, and start checking items off.

I actually saw a shuttle re-entry several years ago. I was on my deck in the back yard in the wee hours one morning. Great big blazing, meteor-like trail of fire went across the southern sky. I actually thought it was a meteor, until I heard later that it was the shuttle.

Beautiful video, below. Makes you optimistic that we can actually do great things in this country without necessarily screwing them up every time.

Girl Friday 11/20/2009

When I started this "Girl Friday" thing... I just assumed that everyone would be familiar with the actual term "Girl Friday".

I am reminded, though, of the old saying about what happens when you "ASSume" something.

"Girl Friday" is a term coined around 1940. It's a take off of "Man Friday", which was in turn derived from the fictional Robinson Crusoe story. The Native that Robinson Crusoe saves while stranded on a desert island was named Friday, as you may recall.

A Man Friday was a trusted, indispensable assistant.

In 1940, a movie was made based on a Broadway play featuring such an assistant, and the comedic lengths to which the boss went to keep the assistant from leaving his employ.

When they made the movie, however, they decided to change the "Man Friday" to a female role. Now, you can't very well refer to a woman as a "Man Friday", and thus was born the "Girl Friday". The very title of the movie was "His Girl Friday", and it stared Cary Grant, and this week's Girl Friday in the title role.

Rosalind Russell

Rosalind Russell played the wise cracking, quick witted newspaper reporter Hildy Johnson in His Girl Friday. The basic plot of the movie sets her as the employee, and ex-wife, of the newspaper editor (Cary Grant). She threatens to quit the newspaper business in order to marry another man, and the general plot of the movie involves Cary Grant trying anything and everything to keep her on the job.

Ms. Russell had a long career, and is possibly best known in later years for her portrayal of Auntie Mame. I think my favorite Rosalind Russell film, though, is His Girl Friday.

After last week's lovelorn Lana Turner posting, you'll be happy to know that Ms. Russell married only once. That marriage lasted 35 years, and only ended due to her death in 1976.

I've got to try this....

I saw this picture on yahoo news earlier this week.... I'm thinking I have to try this in some variation.

We usually have two separate Thanksgiving dinners on Thanksgiving Day. We have lunch at my folks with my sisters, and then end up eating supper at my Wife's folks with her brother. I don't have the opportunity, or need, to cook another huge turkey just for the Mrs and me. I'm stuffed enough that day from the eating marathon as it is.

I may do this with a roasting chicken, though, later in the week :)

I Get the Blues 'bout Every Night...

I put this vid together featuring pictures of Classic Hollywood couples, but the main purpose is to showcase the 1947 recording of Dinah Washington singing "Since I Fell for You".

Whoever digitally recorded this track chose to record it from the original 1947 vinyl.

It's freaking wonderful.

Dinah Washington's voice is soulful and smokey. The lyrics to the song are outstanding. You can hear the hiss and pop of the needle on the record album.

If you watch this vid and listen to the song, and still don't understand why I love it so much - you don't know me at all...

Fishin' Saturday

The Mrs and I found ourselves with nothing to do Saturday.

Actually, that's not true. I have a TON of stuff to do. I just wasn't going to do any of it when I could be outside on a beautiful Fall day with the woman that I love.

So, we went fishing ;)

We caught a ton of bass this size and a bit smaller, at the stockpond out at my folk's place. Nice, healthy largemouth bass in the 1 to 2 pound range was the norm. We started out with jointed minnows (Rapala), and ended up fishing spinner baits. The water level was very high due to recent rains, but very clear.

We did catch a couple of larger bass, including someone you might recognize.

That's Bob the Bass, that you might remember from a previous post from last May. If you'll remember, we caught Bob a couple of times that day. We noticed his gimpy looking Nemo fin when we caught him twice that day. You can clearly see the gimpy fin in the picture above.

My Wife and I decided to make it a contest from now on - to see who will catch Bob first on the fishing trip :)

This was the largest fish of the day - Probably 4 - 4.5 lbs.

Its really nice to see the bass getting to this size. Next spring/summer should be great fishing if we can keep normal rainfall levels. Here's a pic of me with the big bass -

Damn... I'm fat enough, huh? Quitting the smokes really did a number on me. Guess its better to be plump and jolly than thin(er) and hacky, though.

Seriously, I've gotta quit putting it off and get serious about getting back into shape.

Its either that, or let my beard grow out and get a part time gig as Santa at the mall...