google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday, August 18, 2014 Gail Grabowski and Bruce Venzke

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Aug 18, 2014

Monday, August 18, 2014 Gail Grabowski and Bruce Venzke

Theme: Mom and Pops' bane - The start to the theme entries, taken together, put a lot of little stores out of business.

17. 1962 hit by The 4 Seasons : BIG GIRLS DON'T CRY

25. Underpass drainage channels : BOX CULVERTS

43. Products with "Walgreens" on the label, say : STORE BRANDS

55. Target convenience, and a hint to the first words of 17-, 25- and 43-Across : ONE STOP SHOPPING

Argyle here. The reveal was a help today getting the theme. Some interesting fill makes this a good start to the week.
 
Update: I didn't realize CROSS TIE and BOX CULVERT would be so unknown.
 
 
 
 
Across:

1. Arctic hazards : BERGS. Not so much a hazard...if they stay out of the shipping lanes.

6. Artist Chagall : MARC

10. Washington MLB team : NATS. Nats Insider.

14. To no __: useless : AVAIL

15. Monkey see, monkey do sort : APER

16. "Law & Order: SVU" actor : ICE T

20. Bar pint : ALE

21. Need for an Olympic vault : POLE

22. Additional assessment : SURTAX

23. Note after fa : SOL

24. In the matter of : AS TO

30. Dramatic unit divided into scenes : ACT

33. Dizzying painting genre : OP ART

34. Childlike sci-fi people : ELOI. from "The Time Machine".

35. __ Lee: dessert brand : SARA

36. Ankle-length skirt : MAXI. Doesn't necessarily mean demure.


37. Provide, as with a quality : ENDUE. If you want to ENDUE a maxi with sexuality, add a slit.
 
38. "Star Trek: T.N.G." counselor : TROI

39. Radar image : BLIP

40. Sidewalk stand drinks : ADES

41. Empty stomach sound : GROWL

42. Sizzling sound : SSS

45. Marquee name : STAR

46. Like veggies served with dip : RAW

47. How-to handbook : MANUAL

50. Ballroom blunder : TRIP

52. Key lime __ : PIE

58. Against : ANTI

59. "In your dreams" : "NOPE"

60. Turn loose : LET GO

61. Zap with a stun gun : TASE

62. Designer Schiaparelli : ELSA. "Along with Coco Chanel, her greatest rival, she is regarded as one of the most prominent figures in fashion between the two World Wars. Wikipedia" But is she Monday suitable? I think not.

63. Makes simpler : EASES

Down:

1. Ali __ : BABA. He was not a thief.

2. Rotten to the core : EVIL

3. Extreme anger : RAGE

4. Band booking : GIG

5. Exit without fanfare : SLIP OUT. "Elvis has left the building."

6. Retail complex : MALL

7. Cathedral section : APSE

8. Wine list heading : RED

9. Transverse railroad timber : CROSS TIE

10. The "N" in TNT : NITRO

11. Money in the bank: Abbr. : ACCT.

12. Trillion: Pref. : TERA

13. Underworld river : STYX

18. Throw of the dice : ROLL

19. "Darn it!" : "NUTS!". After rolling snake eyes.

23. Direction to a pharmacist, briefly : SCRIP. A shortening of prescription.

24. Stir up : AROUSE

25. Total failures : BOMBS

26. October birthstones : OPALS

27. Horizontal graph line : X AXIS

28. Ballpark hot dog seller, e.g. : VENDOR

29. Church leader : ELDER

30. Vice President Burr : AARON

31. Ballpark throng : CROWD. Can we get a picture of a ballpark thong?

32. Coin toss call : TAILS

35. Soda-sipping aid : STRAW

37. What bachelors often do at mealtime : EAT ALONE

41. Struggle (with) : GRAPPLE

43. Sports page datum : STAT. Singular.

44. Vigor : BRIO

45. "Wake Up, Little __": Everly Brothers hit : SUSIE

47. Protective trench : MOAT

48. "The King and I" role : ANNA



49. Acrobat catchers : NETS

50. Cookbook amts. : TSPs

51. Perlman of "Cheers" : RHEA

52. La Brea Tar __ : PITS

53. "Picnic" playwright : INGE. I never knew his full name, William Motter Inge.

54. They may clash on a set : EGOs

56. D.C. regular : POL. A shortening of politician.

57. Podded plant : PEA. A play on potted plant.


Argyle

Note from C.C.:

I goofed again! Belated Happy Birthday to River Doc, originally Vegas Doc, then later on Doha Doc. I mis-remembered his birthday as August 18 rather than August 16. Sorry, Doc, blame the pickles! By the way, Dave/Irish Miss, click here for the recipe I like. Similar to the Claussen raw pickles. But not so garlicky.





59 comments:

OwenKL said...

Store Story

K-Mart and WalMart and Target
Were talking together one day
When Target proposed a wager
The other two said, "Okay."
"Let's see whose parking
Can cause the most carping!"

One had skinny aisles,
So cars must follow arrows.
One had the slots each
Three inches too narrow.
The third one used medians
To force driver obedience.

In winter, plows pushed all snow
To pack handicapped slots.
In summer, reflective concrete
Made all lots super-hot.
And thru every season
The three stores stayed even.

When the cycle was over
At the end of a year,
No one was a winner,
They were equal, I fear.
So they made a new wager:
Who was closest to slave labor!

Jerome said...

The clue for ONESTOPSHOPPING should be- What a person does when they are no longer mad

Martin said...

I finished it but I don't understand SCRIP or CROSS TIE. Perps all the way down.

OwenKL said...

Had BEARS > BERGS, want IMBUE instead of ENDUE. Found a lot of pictures of team-logo thongs, but this one I cannot un-see!

Stores pushing snow into handicapped spots are a particular peeve of mine. I could go on about it for paragraphs beyond anyone's patience.

On a related topic, I got a wheelchair a couple days ago. Haven't used it yet beyond sitting in it to see how it felt. I've been doing fine with a walker I thought, but the LW thought otherwise, so she ordered if for me, took care of all the paperwork. Insurance paid for it entirely. Guess I've gotta learn how to do wheelies! (Lumbar spinal stenosis if you're curious.)

thehondohurricane said...


I see Owen has again proven he can't count.

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

Wow! Monday's have suddenly become tougher. ENDUE -- learning moment. ELSA -- not the lioness. BTW, did you know that the lioness actually died back in 1961? I thought it was much more recent. Maybe the lioness is no longer Monday-friendly.

Anybody else immediately enter "AS IF" for 59a?

Snowbanks in the big box parking lots aren't much of a problem here in the southland. A new super-Kroger just opened not far from us. They've got extra-wide parking slots and plenty of cart-return stations. Unfortunately, they've also got plenty of high prices.

desper-otto said...

Jerome, I'm slow on the uptake this morning. Cute!

Jhart said...

Felt like a Wednesday endue box culvert nope

HeartRx said...

HaHa Jerome, Funny!!

And happy belated b-day, Doha/Vegas/River Doc! Hope it was a fun one!

I aslo wanted imbue instead of ENDUE, but IAT*, VEMDOR and ELBER all looked just a tad suspicious...

I did know designer Schiaparelli, but really didn't think that was a Monday-friendly clue. Otherwise, a fairly easy solve. I had to look twice at the theme reveal before I finally realized I wasn't looking for BIG SHOPPING, BOX SHOPPING and STORE SHOPPING. (Huh??)

Oh well, it's Monday - maybe I will wake up tomorrow. Have a great day, everyone!

Husker Gary said...

Thanks for the kind words yesterday on my secondary effort on C.C.’s lovely puzzle.

Musings
-On Friday, we will be in the city that is home to 1) Target, 2) America’s biggest MALL and 3) my favorite crossword constructor. We’re planning on seeing the latter two
-Argyle’s summation is perfect for me
-All I had to see was BIG BOX to get the theme
-Bob Crewe was watching a B-movie, Slightly Scarlet, in which Rhonda Fleming got slapped and when asked what she was going to do replied, “Big girls don’t cry”. Crewe and Bob Gaudio wrote the song the next day.
-Hmmm… Aleve (naproxen sodium) is a dollar more than the STORE BRAND
-Instead of using metal POLES, these POLES revolutionized the sport
-FA, a long, long way to run, so(l), a needle pulling thread
-No one need use a “needle pulling thread” on that MAXI
-No BLIPS on this hilarious radar (:29)
-When all else fails, read the MANUAL!
-He was rotten to the CORPS
-In a church, is it worse to get grabbed in the APSE or by the organ?
-TERA and beyond
-How to make a movie ballpark CROWD
-HBD to all those doc(s)!

Husker Gary said...

p.s. Gotta love ONE STOPS HOPPING, Jerome!
FORE!

SwampCat said...

Was this Monday? Script? Brio? Ensue? Elsa?

After solving yesterday's CC offering I was feeling pretty good. Today humbled me! But the write up and Owen's poetry cheered me.

SwampCat said...

Did I say "ensue" ? I meant, of course, "endue". See? Even the auto-correct is unhappy with that one!

Abejo said...

Good morning, folks. Thank you, Gail and Bruce, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Argyle, for a fine review.

My first appearance in a few days. Friday I finished, but no time to report in. Saturday I started but no time to finish. Sunday I never started. Was busy all day until 10:30 at night. Then i went to bed. Sunday evening was different. I got home from DeKalb, IL, about 5:00. My wife was in intense internal pain. We hauled her to the hospital and after several hours there, it was determined she had kidney stones. They prescribed some stuff and we came home. Better result than we feared.

Happy birthday River Doc. Hope you have many more.

Puzzle today was fine. Theme answers came easily.

A few unknowns. ELSA, TROI, ANNA. Perps to the rescue.

BOX CULVERTS with perps.

I may try the Sunday puzzle later today. As always, i have lots to do.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo.

(4214)

Northwest Runner said...

Somewhat relieved to see others wondering if this was really a Monday level puzzle. I made it through, but our editor it going to need to endue future Monday puzzles with a bit more simplicity if he wants to attract more novices solvers.

As for Martin and others unfamiliar with cross ties, may I recommend a You Tube search for The Weavers singing "On Top of Old Smoky" which solvers of a certain age may recall getting a parody treatment with Tom Glazer's "On Top of Spaghetti."

CanadianEh! said...

I agree that this was a somewhat crunchy Monday solve. Hand up for AS IF! I wanted ENDOW before ENDUE.

Noticed 49D and 19D NUTS and NETS.

Something for everyone - ALE for Tinbeni, RED for Marti and ADES for the teatotalers.

I have filled plenty of 23D in my professional lifetime.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps the clue for 55A should be: "What one does after reading the sales ads, clipping all the coupons and going to the mall."

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers -

Hand up for Endow before Endue. The latter showed up in my computer's history, so I must have commented on it years ago, but I'll be darned if I can recall the word.

Today's theme was a little different. I'm not a fan of big box stores, but I recognize their usefulness. The main thing for me is their long hours as compared to a mom & pop.

Splynter said...

Hi there~!

Thanks for the "endued" maxi Argyle~!

Happy B-day, Doc~!

I am crushed - found out last night that Jamie's last day at the restaurant was Saturday - off to college. I didn't get to say goodbye....

:`7((

Splynter

desper-otto said...

Splynter, you get all the luck. And lately it's all been bad.

I'm pretty sure ENDUE came about when some guy confused ENDOW with IMBUE. Now we're stuck with it!

HBD, whichever Doc you're calling yourself today. DW's taking Izzy, the newest kitten, to the Doc to get neutered today. Hope your birthday plans are less painful -- physically and emotionally.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Happy Birthday to River Doc.

Easy one today after the grinders of last week. No lookups or write overs needed. ENDUE was gotten with perp help.
CROSS TIE - Americans call them ties. I think the Brits call them sleepers. Maybe Canada, too.

Have a good day.

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning;

I had no problems but agree there were a couple of non-Monday entries: endue, box culverts, the cluing for Elsa, even though I knew it, but most men wouldn't. And I only know eloi from TBBT, but it does appear often enough. Troi relied on perps.

A nice start to the week, Gail and Bruce, and good expo, Argyle.

On my way to Target to pick-up an iPad Mini which is on sale for $199.00. The Samsung I bought the other day is being returned, as I can't download some of my favorite apps.

CC, thanks for the pickle recipe, sounds delicious.

Belated Happy Birthday, River Doc. Hope you celebrated in style!

Hondo, let us know about Riley, please.

Have a great day.

Bill G. said...

Hi everybody! I agree, it seemed a little harder than usual for a Monday. I got a little flummoxed among endue/endow/imbue.

Did you see the 60 Minutes rerun on New Yorker cartoons? It's wonderful how such a simple art form can be so witty and funny.

Here's a video (at the very top) with some classic cartoons. My three favorites are the doggy who has a request at the Pearly Gates, the man in the snow globe and the two fencers. New Yorker cartoons

CrossEyedDave said...

HELP! I am being held captive at Disney World...

Misty said...

Well, I usually love Gail and Bruce puzzles, but this one should have been a Tuesday or a Wednesday. ENDUE? Really? But nice expo, Argyle.

Owen, so sorry to hear about the walking problem. Take good care of yourself.

Abejo, I hope your wife is okay today.

Happy Birthday, River Doc!

Bill G., we loved the New Yorker cartoon segment on 20/20. I'm embarrassed to say I read the New Yorker for the cartoons and only then go on to select the article or articles that interest me.

Have a great week, everybody!

Montana said...

Happy birthday, Doc!

I must admit to having a difficult time with the puzzle today resulting in a DNF.
I read yesterday's comments after enjoyed CC's puzzle and Husker's expo. That made up for my miserable showing on today's puzzle.

Have a good day everybody,
Montana

Argyle said...

Cross Tie.

Box Culvert.

They were gimmies for me so I failed to link them. Sorry.

OwenKL said...

Bill G. and other logic puzzlers, a practical problem: the Seattle Times reprints the NYT puzzle, but 6 weeks (42 days) behind. After I do the puzzle there, I want to read the commentary on the WEB website and reference it on the Cryptic clues site, but to do so I need the date the Seattle puzzle was originally published in the NYT. I've worked out how to find it, but not an easy way to express the solution.

Anonymous said...

Don't understand theme of puzzle at all. Kinda boring

Chickie said...

319121Hola Everyone, Some non-Monday entries had me hung up in the center section today. Box Culvert was an unknown and I didn't think scrip was correct for a Pharmacist's direction.

Now that I've read Argyle's writeup all makes sense. However, I did struggle today.

Vicar wouldn't fit, either in that center area. Endue was not on the tip of my pencil, so I erased and started over. It finally came together after I looked up Box culvert on Google.

Funny Jerome. LOL.

My son-in-law had double bypass surgery this morning at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. He came through just fine, now comes the recovery. They caught the blockage before he had an attack. His heart is great, just the two blockages. Nothing else is awry, so we are very thankful for that. It is hard being so far away.

Have a great day, everyone.

Chickie said...

I must be a robot, as I don't always have anything to type for my camiocam. When I do put in the numbers that appear, finally, it says I'm not correct. Gives me new number, not correct, again, then all those numbers appear at the beginning of my text when I finally do get to publish my piece.

Tinbeni said...

Arygle: Nice write-up.
Gail & Bruce: Thanks for the FUN Monday puzzle.

Did this one using (mostly) only the Down clues ...
As such, I had ICE-T, TROI, ENDUE and the ELSA I've never heard of, filled in without ever looking at their clues.

And getting back to the "Major Crossword Debate" ...
Why isn't the L&O,SVU Actor & Rapper named "ICED-T" ... as opposed to ICE-T???
I'm just glad I prefer my Scotch NEAT!

Belated Happy Birthday Vegas/DOHA/River Doc ... I hope I got them in the right order.
The "First Toast" tonight at Sunset is to you.
Cheers!!!


PS OwenKL maybe you can ask C.C. to put a link to your "Cryptic clues site" in the "Crossword Links" section.

PPS Chickie: When is says "Camiocam" (or "Photo Sphere") just type in the word "Camiocam"

Lemonade714 said...

The last time we had ENDUE was in 2011, in a Hard G. and C.C. Sunday collaboration. The other 5 appearances were all on Friday...just sayin'.

Elsa also has appeared 5 or 6 times in the 6+ years of the blog, but nothing lately.

Lemonade714 said...

HBDTY and many more Doc!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bill G. said...

Owen, thanks for your confidence but I don't understand the question well enough to be of any help.

Happy birthday Doc!

Misty, I think one of their cleverest cartoons didn't even have a caption. The whole humorous concept was entirely visual. Cartoon

I've been doing the NYT themed puzzles for a month or two now. My opinion, if you are interested, is that they are a little harder but no more clever than what we are used to. Their cluing is definitely different though, reflecting the differences between Rich Norris and Will Shortz I guess. The NYT clues seem harder and trickier but not as clever as what we are used to. At least that's my two-cents worth.

Bill G. said...

Solar energy always seemed good to me. There is a solar energy plant out in the Mojave desert. Every minute or two they experience a "streamer" as a bird catches on fire as it flies through the concentrated beams of sunlight.

Okay, okay, here are two of my other two favorite New Yorker cartoons.

Fencing

Dog going to heaven

Jayce said...

Happy birthday, River Doc!

PK said...

Hi Y'all! As usual with Gail & Bruce there were a few momentary hang-ups. BOMBS/BOX/XAXIS was today's stumper. My son had a dirt moving business and used a lot of round tube CULVERTS not the heavier BOXes. So I was trying to think what they might be called. I also didn't consider BOX because I already had one "X" in AXIS & didn't think an "X" would start the thing.

17A: As soon as I had BIGGI, that song was screaming in my head.

TIES was a gimmee, the CROSS took some perps. I walked on plenty of them as a kid. I also have some along my property line, installed by a prior resident to shore up a slope.

Happy birthday, DOC! I miss you when you are not posting.

One of my friends has a retirement job whereby one BIG BOX STORE pays her to go to another ONE STOP SHOPPING place with an electronic listing device and record the prices of certain items. She's a well-paid spy, in other words. She even uses the electric cart of the store she's spying on to do the deed since she broke her leg. Blows my mind! She's such a shy little granny otherwise.

Chairman Moe said...

"Puzzling thoughts":

WEES, this was more of a challenge than most Monday puzzles. If I had a vote, I'd say to the LAT to go ahead and mix it up a bit. Have a tougher puzzle, sometimes, at the beginning of the week, and sometimes make Saturday's easier.

First fill was 30D as it was the first clue that popped out at me. Today I filled from top down, and didn't have any area that stymied me - but I will admit that when I saw the "BIG GIRLS . . ." in 17A, and then in 25A it started out with BO_, I thought, hmm, is this a GIRLS, BOY theme? . . . at any rate, when it came up BOY CULVERTS something looked strange. I chose Y AXIS at 27D (to fill in the "BOY" part). I should've remembered from HS that the X AXIS is horizontal, but I didn't.

Catching up: Sunday was a fun day as we spent the majority of it with friends - on their boat - enjoying another day in Paradise. Didn't get to the puzzle into late evening. Thanks C.C. for the "MOE" solve. Always nice to see my "name" in the puzzle!! ;^)

Chairman Moe said...

Today's limerick:

The Four Seasons sang BIG GIRLS DON'T CRY,
To this day I keep wondering "why"?
Seems whenever she's sad,
Or excessively glad,
MY "big girl" has had tears in her eye!

Irish Miss said...

Do any of the tech wizards out there have any explanation why my just out-of-the-box iPad Mini is losing its charge while being charged? When I set it up earlier, it was at 97% and is now at 85%, even though it's been on the charger all this time. Any suggestions would be appreciated. It just dropped to 84%.

Yellowrocks said...

HB Doc. I enjoy hearing from you.
CC, fine puzzle Sunday. HB, great pinch hitting. I knew right away it was you.
Ferm and Blue Iris, please check your email.

Tinbeni said...

Bill G. & Lime Rickey (thanks for THAT link)

That was an interesting article about the "streamer" as a bird catches on fire ...

Couldn't they solve/alleviate a part of the problem by opening a B-B-Q Capon restaurant nearby
featuring the "Streamer's" ???

Noticed the article also mentioned this:
"The company is proposing a $1.8 million program such as those to spay and neuter domestic cats, which a government study found kill over 1.4 BILLION birds a year.
Opponents say that would do nothing to help the desert birds at the proposed site."

I realize "the 28,000 "streamers" annually" and "cats killing 1.4 BILLION birds each year" is an apples-v-oranges argument ...
But that is a lot of birds either way. Just sayin' ...

Misty said...

Great cartoons, Bill G.--many thanks.

Jayce said...

Irish Miss, first check to be sure the charger is plugged in. Is there a little battery symbol (icon) in the upper right of the iPad's screen that shows the battery status? When charging, does it normally look like a little lightning bolt? When not charging, does it normally look like a plain cylindrical battery? What does it look like with your charger plugged in and with it not plugged in? And finally, I have to ask, are you using the right charger (i.e. is it powerful enough)?

Anonymous T said...

Hi All:

OK, jokes on me - I kept reading 16a and was wondering what pretty girl has the name IC'ET? Doh!

WEES - Tuesday hard and the center was a bugger. Ewok eventually fell to ELOI 'cuz perps were mostly solid.

I also had SUzIE at 45d at 1st until V-8 smacked me 2x.

I didn't know they were literally called BOX CULVERTS - but the latter was easy living in the Bayou City.

Fav today - STYX. Warning: if no one else links Blue Collar Man, I will.

Least Fav - SUR TAX! I just got a letter from our friends to the North saying I owe something on the 2 days I worked there last month. C. Eh? can you do something here? Hey, I still have my Maple flag patch to wear in Europe! :-)

HBD - To V-D-R-Doc! even if belated. You were so kind to give advice to someone heading to Cairo. Even as obvious as it was, it was good to know that obvious works. Thanks.

Splynter - there's more fish in the sea (but, wow! not like that) or chase her and enroll too :-)

Crud - I missed a C.C. yesterday :-( I do wish the Cron didn't run old NYT puzzles (yes D-O I've mailed them 3x). I'll see if I can still print it off of the Mensa site.

Cheers, -T

fermatprime said...

Greetings!

Very chewy for a Monday, but I prevailed. Thanks Gail, Bruce and Argyle!

Never heard of BOX CULVERT or CROSS TIES, but easy from a few perps!

Happy very late birthday, Doc!

Did I tell you that my only grandson, whom I had not seen in years, visited yesterday? He is starting at Occidental College today. (I went there for bachelor's.)

Hotter than heck again. Swimming partner still sick.

Cheers!

Boo LuQuette AKA Boudreaux in Eunice, La. said...

Did all across then downs today. Finished like that so I didn't have to re look on across for a second time. That meaning ensue was filled auto. Knew William Inge. If he was a 45 across would he be called top Billing lol !! Au revoir from Cajun Country

Northwest Runner said...

Irish Miss, are you charging from a wall socket with house current or your computer? If it's the latter there may not be enough current to keep it charging. If you do a google search on "ipad is discharging faster than it's charging," you'll see that you're not the only one experiencing this. Good luck.

Anonymous said...

Great job, Gail and Bruce. I used the puzzle to unwind after my 4 hour drive home. Thanks, Argyle, for the expo.

This was the fourth installment of siblings meeting at the folk's home to work on cleaning it out. I won't say that Mom was a hoarder, but there was lots of "stuff". We can see that the end is still far off, but it's in sight.

I had a few unknowns, but perps filed them in so it didn't bother me. This puzzle was easier than any of them last week for me, so I'm not complaining.

Belated Happy Birthday Vegas/Doha/River Doc!

Have a wonderful week!

Pat

Irish Miss said...

Jace and Northwest Runner: I'm not sure what the problem was, but I turned the unit off for few hours, turned it back on, and TADA, 100% charge. (I was charging from a wall outlet, not a computer.). Thanks for your input; I hope the issue is resolved.

Manac said...

Irish Miss,

Most new devices like that, cell phones and even (Gasp!) Cordless tools require a few cycles (full charge/discharge) of the battery to operate properly. It probably mentions this in your manual. I'm sure that's all it is. Enjoy your new toy.

JD said...

Good evening all,
Like many others said the middle was a bit hard for a Monday but doable. I didn't agree with a few of the clues, but I'm sure they were Just fine. Nothing jumped out as a favorite...funny...as I usually get a kick out of Gail and Bruce's creations.

Owen, a wheelchair should give you greater freedom for longer outings. When needed. you must have a very caring wife. Love your poems every day.

Am up at Lake Tahoe, but most of the family has departed as school starts tomorrow. Can't believe that our 2nd grandson will start K. Tomorrow. It flies by so quickly, so we are enjoying each and every day.

Chickie, I'm so happy for the family that all went well.

need to catch up on the last few days.....

Anonymous T said...

I warned ya' Blue Collar Man. Yes, looking back, we were that ugly in the '80's :-) If you get the same advert I did, your in for a funny little treat.

Irish Miss - So glad your iThing finally charged. Nothing worse than a new toy not working.

Bill G. I blame you & NOLA. You introduced me to the card throwing video. Eldest & I practiced all weekend (no watermelons impaled yet). Then NOLA; I saw a guy do a one-handed cut flourish & spent all weekend getting the butterfly cut down.

I may have shared this before... A-A-RON.

1/2 done w/ yesterday's C.C. pzl - no spoilers :-)

Cheers, -T

JD said...

C.C., loved your CW theme, although I never would have seen it...clever girl. Gary, WONDERFUL write up. Looks like you had a great vacation...sorry I missed you.

Husker Gary said...

Thanks, Judy! We missed seeing you too. We mostly just saw traffic in your city!

Bill G. said...

AnonT, I'm glad I could be of help with your gradual decay into things like card throwing, etc. I'm always there for you...

I've never seen a dog quite this protective of a bone. Dog and his bone

Anonymous T said...

Well sonnava... I just heard Don Pardo passed. If you need a nudge - he was the announcer on SNL. Here's a bit of suggestive criticism to the constructors Use Shorter Words :-) Cheers, -T

Anonymous T said...

Sorry for the back-to-back, but I just found the Gray Lady's write-up of Mr. Pardolink if you're so inclined. To pinch from Tin... a toast to him (er, Mr. Pardo; but what the heck, another to Tin). C, -T