February 15, 2019

Yesteryear
One year ago today: February 15, 2018, what about the Himalayas?
Five years ago today: February 15, 2014, Jag & I, first gig.
Nine years ago today: February 15, 2010, topping up the pool.
Random years ago today: February 15, , my last decent dates.

           Would I get to brag if I wasn’t really bragging? That’s a Trump-like question, the reason I ask is bragging's what it might come across as when I tell you about today. If you get that feeling, you may be a millennial. And this is not the blog for you. You may be a millennial if you want to clean the wax out of your ears but can't find your Subaru keys.

           So, what the hell, here goes. I got back into town ten days ago, but I’m just gradually starting to reappear at some of the local haunts. A few of the places haven’t seen me in a month, so, you know, you expect an extra hello. You don’t expect celebrity status. At the same time, if I act natural just myself, I know that I do not look, act, talk, dress, walk, think, or even stand still like the locals. This has a lot to do with my caution when people want to visit here to relax a while. That probably cannot happen, show up here and you'll stand out no matter what.

           It reminds me of the April 2013 sidecar trip to Savannah that has recently come back into focus. Things happened there I never wrote at the time, but I’ll tell you now. You can’t make this stuff up. I had a busload of tourists following me just to see what I’d do next. When I rented that bicycle, within a half-hour every bicycle in town was rented. At that bookstore, the manager stayed open hours late when I fell asleep reading in her armchair. Here’s a picture of the store. I told you about the lady at the grocery, but not about how after that the manager had to order all the female staff back to work whenever I walked in. I had joked about running off with the pretty one, and after that, well you figure out what happened.

           Not that I mind celebrity status, don’t misread me there. I love free donuts and table service where there isn’t any. On Friday’s, I have a route I generally follow to take care of business and logistics, and tend to take breaks where they have free WiFi. I’m actually beginning to think some of these people and places missed me.
           I just remembered something I forgot to tell you about. I patronize mom & pops and in Savannah, I found a shop making candy, I think it was mostly taffy. There was nothing I fancied but the owner had an almost empty jar of molasses. I offered him a dollar and he just gave it to me, just a couple plastic spoonfuls left. As I ate it, I turned around to find a small crowd of people watching me, with that look, “You mean you can do that?” I wonder if I started a trend. In fact, right now, I’m going to the kitchen for a spoonful. Try it with peanut butter.

Picture of the day.
Real log cabin.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.

           Researching eastern Tennessee for a visit, once more I’m channeled to Pigeon Forge. The websites show a supreme tourist trap, but hey, I know about nothing towns that would not even exist if not for the tourist economy. They advertise cabins, but these cabins have hot tubs and satellite TV. I guess for some that is pretty rustic. To me, a cabin is where you have to haul water up the hill for a bath and split firewood at 5:30AM. I stopped at Krazy’s to send the results to Hermitage.
           I’ll just tell you what happened. That dodo Karaoke guy was there, the one I don’t get along with. I never put my name in but within the half hour he was calling me to the stage. This is conspicuous because it is well-known we don’t like each other. FYI, that situation partially arose because I often do non-standard and comical tunes, where this

           Karaoke is supposed to be real serious, yeah-yeah. Of course I’m mentioning this because I brought down the house. My act is intentionally full of features that are difficult to copy-cat, I wonder why’s that? What worked tonight was a combination. Foremost, I memorize the lyrics so I’m not singing to the video screen like a stooge. Next, I do not eat the mic. I can project so often I’m holding the microphone a foot away, which causes a reverb-like delay with my naturally loud singing volume. (Remember how I learned this by mimicking in unison to the juke box.) Last, having just arrived from Nashville, I sang that music and a guy my age doing Robert Thicke is a jolt to the more conservative elements of Polk County.
           I should really piss the Karaoke guy off worse and pass around my own tip jar.

           Last, here’s the picture answer to last day’s riddle. The original stoop is on the left in the pictures. In the center is a copy fresh off my table saw, and the other stoop is the same with a layer of primer. Neat.

ADDENDUM
           Here’s your mini-lesson for today’s trivia. Mendel, the monk who experimented with the peas, what was the major thing he really discovered? To avoid using technical terms, I’ll just tell you what happened. Farmers had long known how to selective breed plants with desired qualities, so Mendel had peas that grew on a tall stem, and others that grew on a short stem. He thought if he could cross-breed these plants, he’d wind up with medium stems. Is that what he got?
           Nope, the entire next generation were all tall. Thus, he discovered the trait of tallness was “dominant”. Being no dummy, he planted 1,064 seeds from these crossbreed varieties and guess what he got? Funny thing, he got 787 tall plants, 277 short plants, and no medium stalks. Time after time, he he got this 3-to-1 ratio of offspring. He had discovered that the traits were separate entities that did not mingle, but were passed on by a mechanism he did not understand.
           He did know that some traits were dominant and some were recessive. Um, in case you didn’t know, being white and blue-eyed are recessive traits. It will be a sad day for mankind where there are none left, and that is where things are heading.

Last Laugh