October 31, 2020

Yesteryear
One year ago today: October 31, 2019, their lawful role.
Five years ago today: October 31, 2015, average balance, my eye.
Nine years ago today: October 31, 2011, the pay was lousy.
Random years ago today: October 31, 2012, that’s why they’re called spooks.

           It is confirmed, I lost an old friend from 1979 or 1980. It was sudden, so this morning was spent in quiet reflection. I spent two hour walking the doggies around the lake alone. I was moping a bit so the Reb piled me in the car and we went out to her old stomping grounds, Franklin, TN. I’ve never even driven past it unless it was in the dark by accident. That cheered me up, we stopped at an excellent restaurant, the Frothy Monkey. Everything made on premises, including the bread, worth it. A bit pricey for my wallet, but try it at least once. I had the smoked turkey sandwich.

           We walked a long way, including a tour of the old graveyard. Older than the Civil War, it began in 1799. I’ve never understood, with conditions so bad in Europe, why it took us so long to migrate into the Americas. It was bound to happen, mass migration is never easy on the aboriginals. But like Hawaii, they are actually damn lucky in the larger scheme of things. We sat outside on what is basically your perfect autumn day. Both our phones were left in the car, so here we are sharing the only hard-copy menu available. Excellent coffee.

           Franklin is an old city, the downtown is about all there is to tour except the nearby architecture. There are a lot of restorals, the downtown business community is touristy. No cultural anything, but there was a restored theater. Closed for COVID, mind you. Quite a few Halloween partiers were already on the streets by noon. The town is what you’d expect, the crowd indicates there must be some colleges or a university in the area. An awful lot of restaurants, a few bars, lots of furniture and antiques. Biggest perk, free parking. There’s a two-hour limit on the streets, though.
           We went through a few antique type stores. It’s all worth a look but beware the prices can be shocking, even by American standards. They have some fixed up public squares, although the nicest looking ones would involve dashing through the traffic. It’s a middle class community with the youth-oriented influence of the schools in the area, although I did not see any campuses or such.

Picture of the day.
Spiral staircase.
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           We took a walking tour around some the nearby residential areas. The town has a lot of architecture but I don’t know if it is all authentic. Here’s something I’ve never seen before. See this tree crossing the street? The guy is a hoot. He’s wearing a Ghillie suit covered with plastic vines. When posed on the sidewalk or a bench, he looks exactly like a potted plant. As you go past, he’s go a toy whistle that scares the crap out of you for a second.

           He fooled us until he scared a chihuahua into barking. He told me I could copy the idea, though I question the wisdom of wearing a full body costume in the Florida heat. The Reb is not fully recovered, so I’ll be here at least this week. Between that and the long dog walk earlier, I barely kept pace She knows I like used book stores, so we toured the only one in the area.

           I say toured, because it was more of a collector’s book gallery. I would have bought an old COBOL book, but texts and academic material was not strong in evidence. The Reb picked a paperback of the shelf and promptly put it back upon seeing the price tag. $80. It’s worth a look around the place, but I prefer an old-fashioned used book store where even the owner is not sure what he’s got. As for the average eatery, I know a lot of newer outlets got started with money from Shark Tank. A lot of them seemed to have opened around here.
           It’s more than plain now that I need a new vehicle. That van in the neighbor’s yard is still sitting there, getting older. He’s got to sell it sooner or later, so I should see if he’ll take $300 for it. It’s big enough to sleep in but would be cramped for camping. I would hesitate on most purchases just now due to the uncertainty of the immediate future. But if Trump gets in, the country will breathe a sigh of relief.

           Here’s Sparkie in his skeleton H’ween outfit. I had nothing to do with this. We have no trick or treaters in this area, being at the end of a no-exit winding sub-division side road. So we walked the dogs over in the next streets to watch the antics. I’ve never understood the big do about Halloween in this country since I was a kid. Pure commercialism if you ask me. And great for sales of that candy corn.

ADDENDUM
           Another hostage rescue. This time in northern Nigeria. I remain steadfast that Americans who lack the common sense to stay away from dangerous foreign places should be left to their own resources, or if they are rescued, should foot the bill. Instead, we get the ridiculous spectacle of America criticizing other countries for paying millions in ransom money while we spend tens of millions to rescue idiots.
           How about that professor who has the 13-point formula for predicting who wins elections? He’s been right every time since 1984. His tally shows that Trump will lose. His flub this time is, like the media and the polls, he has not waken up to the fact that Trump has changed the ground rules. There is a joke going around that Nancy Pelosi takes a shot of whiskey every time her people use the word “racist”, but that’s cruel so I won’t repeat it.

Last Laugh