Author: Dick

“Smiling like a possum eating briars.”

Fred Thompson apparently didn’t embarrass himself Tuesday during his first debate in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. But he also didn’t wow everyone with his debating prowess.

“I don’t think he shot up, but he didn’t hurt himself,” says Ronald Rapoport, a political scientist at The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. Early in the debate, Thompson “didn’t seem like someone who had been in a lot of movies and TV – he was the actor who didn’t really act very well,” Dr. Rapoport said. “But I think he finished much stronger.”

Well, it isn’t whether you win or lose, it’s how you show up. But what difference does it make, one must ask?

This year the public has been inundated with presidential debates. Just when it seems like everyone and their dog

Slowly, slowly, slowly, up comes Blogger. It seems when it rains computer issues it pours a river of needed updates as well as various and sundry type of cliches. As was said by the Earl of Sandwich: “I’ll have mine on rye, cut the mayo.” Yes, this is the lunacy into which I have descended due to a veritable plethora of computer woes. And it wasn’t just my computer either. No, I sent my work computer to Washington, D.C., to be fixed. With a little luck it will be back in the morning. We shall see about that.

But I am happy that I was able to fix the problem on my laptop without shelling out dollars that I definitely do not have. My repair work did require the complete reinstallation of Windows 2000, thus I lost my Office Suite and now suppose I will have to fall back on the free Open Office program. I also lost every other item that wasn’t tied down so now I will have to reconstruct my body of laptop work. It is, however, better than the alternatives. Plus, I added a printer. Constructive or no?

With that as the backdrop, I think I will wait until tomorrow to talk about Fred Thompson or Pol Pot or whomever comes to mind. Until then …

The sound of gently, falling water was heard a few minutes ago from outside. It was bright and sunny out but we were still getting a quick downpour.

Knowing that you can find practically anything on the Internets (See #8 of Top 10 Bushisms), I set about looking for an the old saying about this meteorology phenomenon also known as a sunshower.

My dad used to say whenever it was raining and the sun was shining that “the Devil was beating his wife.” I had never given much thought to whether that was some wonderfully humorous absurdity he made up, as he was frequently known to, or if the saying was some colloquialism. It turns out the latter but it would be 40 or so years before I ever really considered whether Satan was even married. It also is apparent that Southerners aren’t the only ones with strange expressions for freakish events, although where I live a sunshower is likely to happen a couple of times a day especially during the summer or early fall. According to Wikipedia:

“In Poland: the saying is that ‘when the sun is shining and the rain is raining, the witch is making butter.'”

Unfortunately, I don’t really see it. It wouldn’t strike me that a witch, as in lore rather than those of today, would like or like to make butter. Maybe she was going to give it to the devil’s wife after the Devil finished beating her. I don’t know.

This afternoon I have been plagued by the thought of someone named Mitt was running for president. The Mitt to whom I refer is, of course, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. The candidate for the Republican presidential nomination is the son of the late George Romney, a former Michigan governor and presidential candidate who lost to Richard Nixon for the GOP nomination.

Not a whole lot comes to mind when I think of George Romney, other than I wonder why he named his son after a baseball glove and that I once knew from my work as a reporter the person who wrote a biography of George Romney. I never read Dr. Dan Angel’s book — George Romney: A Political Biography — but perhaps if Mitt Romney wins the GOP nomination, I will. That is provided I can find one as I saw only two copies for sale on Amazon.com.

Oh, and there was that unfortunate gaffe the elder Romney made about being “brainwashed.”

Actually, I doubt that George Romney named his son after a catcher’s mitt although I don’t know that for a fact. However, the Romney family does have an interesting background including grandparents with multiple wives.

Of course, just because someone’s great grandparents or great-great grandparents did something doesn’t mean a person is going to take up that particular trait or activity. All I am saying is that if polygamy was still legal in the United States, just think of what a business florists and greeting card companies might do with anniversaries and Valentine’s Day.

Even if polygamy was legal I would have trouble remembering one anniversary date much less 12.

This morning I walked across the street to get my morning coffee for 17 cents but it ended up costing 64 cents. The reason was the clerk was on the phone and I decided not to bother her and tell her I had brought my own cup which would have normally cost $0.17 (US). I had the money though and I like the lady working there and so I just paid the full price. My generosity aside, I looked up at the sign near the counter and saw prices for packs of Marlboro and Camels, or whatever, it wasn’t like the really cheap cigarettes. Nevertheless, the highest price for the smokes were $4.25 a pack. I am just grateful each time I see those signs and the month of October rolls around that in October 2000, I quit smoking, as far as I know, for good.

Although I have had some edgy times over the past two years, I have only had millisecond flashes of wanting to smoke a cigarette and in my dreams I have always resisted them. After smoking for about 27 years, I think that is cig-nificant. Okay, just shoot me for that one.