So…if it’s just a li’l bit of Fun Stuff©…does that make it fun stuff© instead? Dunno…but the thought did occur to me.

Anyways…what’s up with us.

Happy 231st Birthday to the US Coast Guard…or the shallow water Navy as real sailors say. That isn’t quite true though…they do have some actual ocean going cutters but mostly they’re on smaller ships and boats doing search and rescue, law enforcement and other related duties…and they go out in really big storms and waves in much smaller craft than I would be comfortable in.

We got the strangest phone call this week…it wasn’t identified as spam by the software on Neil’s phone…turned out to be a real estate agent checking to see if we had any property for sale in SW FL. Neil hung up…but the house market is pretty seller free down here right now…so apparently some enterprising agents are trying to get you to let them sell your house and then obviously you’ll need a new house so they’ll be able to collect 2 commissions. Seems to me that any idiot…even a real estate salesman…would be able to figure out that IF we had any property for sale it would already be listed with an agent and on the multiple listing service…since otherwise the for sale property would be something that no buyer would know about. 

Summer continues…it’s really been brutally hot and humid the last week or 10 days with most of them being in the low 90s but with heat indexes well into the 3 digits…114 was the highest we saw on Dark Sky which gives hyperlocal conditions rather than the ones down at the airport. It didn’t feel quite that hot to us but it was hot. We’ve taken for the summer to setting an alarm at 0530 on bike days so Neil can get out of the house after coffee and breakfast by about 0900 so he’s back before we get into the serious heat part of the day. It’s also been raining…a…lot…like…a…metric…buttload. Mostly in the afternoon but a couple times in the morning but fortunately so far not on his every other day Bike Day…it looked the evening before a couple of times like he would get rained out but one the higher rain percentage shifted to later in the day and the other it was raining seriously 50 miles or so north of us and 50 miles or so south but just slightly overcast here.

We had dinner at the Lodge week before last…it was ham and only 13 people showed up…a lot of people don’t like ham down here apparently. There’s another rib/steak dinner late this month we might go to…and we (well, Connie did and Neil figures he can be her plus one) got invited to one of those financial/retirement presentation things. We get these periodically and normally trash them…but seeing that this one is at Ruth’s Chris Steak House we might go anyway…it’s probably worth listening to their dog and pony show for a free steak dinner.

And…the lodge is closed again. After the ham dinner 2 Saturdays back…turns out the bartender and her significant other tested positive after being at a wedding where people were positive. Since the positive tests were either Sunday or Monday…they obviously knew they were potentially positive before she worked Saturday and he sat at the bar next to Neil for 45 minutes or so. Luckily…all the humans at our house are both vaccinated and have had it so no real worries for us…and it’s been 9 or 10 days so we’re fine.

The other local lodge that we transferred out of has gotten themselves into even more trouble. As I previously reported way back when…the Exalted Ruler over essentially drove away (in a lot of people’s opinion) many long term members due to personality, ignoring the rules, favoritism, nepotism and numerous other things…well they’ve gotten themselves into some more trouble…both with the national group and others. Later this month there’s a special meeting called for their membership by the national organization rep…we briefly entertained the idea of attending the meeting…which any Elk can do regardless of membership in a particular lodge…just to watch the fireworks. Haven’t made up our minds yet.

Speaking of Elks…this week Connie as president of the Ladies of Elks auxiliary in addition to being a regular Elk member…delivered a whole bunch of school supplies the LoE collected to a local school. Here’s a shot of her, one of the other Ladies, and 3 of the folks from the school.

In other LoE news…Neil’s getting a bit irritated with several of the Ladies who declined to run for President but still want Connie as the President to do what they say…in other words they want to be President but without the responsibilities. She just ignores them and does the right thing under the rules and as the members voted on…but she keeps griping to him about it and he wishes the would just quit trying to boss her around…one would think that after them knowing her for years…they would have figure out by now that she doesn’t get pushed around much by anybody. He’s obviously not a LoE member since fails the lady part…so he doesn’t interfere…too much…but ya know he’s got an opinion on just about everything and he wishes they would leave it alone.

Lessee…silliness.

Oh yeah…Amazon and the Union. This isn’t an anti union report…it’s a silliness and anti-stupidity report.

You remember back in the spring…one of the unions tried to organize the workers at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama. Naturally both side kept claiming the other side cheated all through the run up to the election…but from afar it all just looked like political posturing to us. Anyway…the union lost the vote by 1,978 to 738 or 63% to 27%. The union…naturally…challenged the results of the election so after 576 votes were challenged and 76 of those resulted in rejected ballots the union still lost 71% to 29%.

Naturally…they didn’t like this so they filed another appeal to the NLRB stating that Amazon ‘illegally interfered with the vote” and included 23 or so actions that were “illegal” according to the union.

Now one of the things that Amazon did in the run up to the election was to offer to the NLRB folk running the election a drop box on Amazon property where workers could deposit their ballots…a box for which Amazon would not have the key…they were trying to make it easier for workers to submit their ballots directly to the NLRB while the union wanted to send people around door to door to collect the ballots. The former seems much less likely to result in worker intimidation to me than the latter…but no matter. Anyway…the NLRB rejected Amazon’s request and instead said that ballots needed to be either mailed in or dropped off at wherever the NLRB put the approved drop boxes. 

So Amazon…since ballots could be mailed…worked with the US Post Office to put a mailbox on Amazon property…again a box for which Amazon did not have a key…this mailbox was a regular mailbox which could get any mail dropped into it…and none of the articles I read had any information about whether workers did or did not use this mailbox to mail their ballots.

The NLRB official this week issued his opinion…which if accepted by the NLRB management means they’ll have to have a new election. Now remember…they lost the first one in a landslide…but essentially the union is now demanding a do-over…

Of the 23 supposedly “illegal” actions by Amazon that the union cited…exactly one of them was upheld in the opinion this week. Mr. Applebaum (the NLRB guy) said that despite the fact that the NLRB denied an NLRB drop box on Amazon property that Amazon “illegally worked with the post office to install one because it (editor: the mailbox) provided a clear ability to intimidate workers”. Amazon says that “they wanted all employees to vote” and that the union demanded a mail only election…so Amazon made it easy for the workers to mail their ballots.

So…the silliness. How does having a USPS owned mailbox…which Amazon has no control over and which can be used for any postal mail one might want to put in it…be illegal? But…according to Mr. Applebaum

Throughout the NLRB hearing, we heard compelling evidence how Amazon tried to illegally interfere with and intimidate workers as they sought to exercise their right to form a union. We support the hearing officer’s recommendation that the NLRB set aside the election results and direct a new election.

Further…Mr. Applebaum stated that the presence of the USPS mailbox…”violated the laboratory conditions” required for a fair election…whatever that means.

So…the union demanded mail in ballots…and got them…and Amazon made it easy for workers to mail said ballots…and the union overwhelmingly lost…and now they claim that the mailbox allowed Amazon to “intimidate workers”…and are demanding a do over.

Sounds to me like Mr. Applebaum is personally invested in getting the warehouse unionized rather than being a fair caller of balls and strikes at the NLRB. We’ll see what happens next…but sounds like somebody bought off the judge or else he has his mind made up and doesn’t want to be confused by the facts.

OK…on to the li’l bit of Fun Stuff©…or fun stuff©…whichever moniker ya prefer.

Down the road about 2 miles south of us is the Prairie Pines Preserve which is a state preserve. Neil went down a few months back as you’ll recall and got a few photos but the wetlands part of it was…well…not wet. With all the rain recently and this being the rainy season…it seemed like there would be some wet in the wetlands and hence some more wildlife. So…this week we got up early on a non bike day and got down there just a bit after sunrise…figuring that there would be some medium shallow wet in the wetlands and some birds eating breakfast.

Unfortunately…we wuz wrong…incorrect…out to lunch…whatever.

We saw precisely 2 birds, 1 rabbit, and 2 squirrels…and one of both of the 2s escaped without a picture…so I don’t got much for ya…but it is what it is as they say. We got in a nice hike of about 3/4 of a mile but both Neil and Connie needed a dry shirt when we got back…hot and humid even at 0700.

Female cardinal.

This is the same cardinal and squirrel as the above 2 shots but Connie took a wider shot of both of them.

And her obligatory plants and flowers.

Woodpecker nest…sans woodpecker unfortunately.

Interesting things found on the net…or in our email.

Some southern humor…and yes…they’re all funny even to Neil who is as he says “American by birth…Southern by the grace of God”.

Alabama

A group of Alabama friends went deer hunting and paired off in twos for the day. That night, one of the hunters returned alone, staggering under the weight of an eight-point buck.

“Where’s Henry?” the others asked.

“Henry had a stroke o’ some kind. He’s a couple of miles back up the trail,” the successful hunter replied.

“You left Henry layin’ out there and carried the deer back?” they inquired.

“A tough call,” nodded the hunter. “But I figured no one’s gonna steal Henry!”

Georgia

The owner of a golf course in Georgia was confused about paying an invoice, so he decided to ask his secretary for some mathematical help.

He called her into his office and said, “Y’all graduated from the University of Georgia and I need some help. If I wuz to give yew $20,000, minus 14%, how much would you take off?”

The secretary thought a moment, and then replied, “Everthang but my earrings.”

Louisiana

A senior citizen in Louisiana was overheard saying … “When the end of the world comes, I hope to be in Louisiana ”

When asked why, he replied, “I’d rather be in Louisiana ’cause everythang happens in Louisiana 20 years later than in the rest of the world.”

Mississippi

The young man from Mississippi came running into the store and said to his buddy, “Bubba, somebody just stole your pickup truck from the parking lot!”

Bubba replied, “Did y’all see who it was?”

The young man answered, “I couldn’t tell, but I got the license number.”

North Carolina

A man in North Carolina had a flat tire, pulled off on the side of the road, and proceeded to put a bouquet of flowers in front of the car and one behind it. Then he got back in the car to wait.

A passerby studied the scene as he drove by, and was so curious he turned around and went back. He asked the fellow what the problem was.

The man replied, “I got a flat tahr.”

But, what’s with the flowers?

The man responded, “When you break down they tell you to put flares in the front and flares in the back. I never did understand it neither.”

Tennessee

A Tennessee State trooper pulled over a pickup on I-65. The trooper asked, “Got any ID?”

The driver replied, “Bout whut?”

Texas

The Sheriff pulled up next to the guy unloading garbage out of his pick-up into the ditch. The Sheriff asked, “Why are you dumping garbage in the ditch? Don’t you see that sign right over your head.”

“Yep,” he replied. “That’s why I’m dumpin’ it here, ’cause it says: ‘Fine For Dumping Garbage.’ “

And finally…at least for the southern jokes…

**Y’all kin say whut y’all want ’bout the South, but y’all never heard o’ nobody retirin’ an’ movin’ North.

And here’s some Irish humor…since Neil’s ancient ancestors were Irish river pirates…and no, he doesn’t remember how many greats back it was or whether it was grandfathers or 3rd cousins twice removed or whatever…you’ll have to ask Connie for those sordid details…but Neil says “ya had me at river pirates”.

Why Irish Eyes Are Full Of Laughter —
——————————————————————————–
Paddy was driving down the street in a sweat because he had an
important meeting and couldn’t find a parking place. Looking up to
heaven he said, ‘Lord take pity on me. If you find me a parking place
I will go to Mass every Sunday for the rest of me life and give up me
Irish Whiskey!’
Miraculously, a parking place appeared.
Paddy looked up again and said, ‘Never mind, I found one.’
 
Father Murphy walks into a pub in Donegal, and asks the first man he
meets, ‘Do you want to go to heaven?
The man said, ‘I do, Father.’ The priest said, ‘Then stand over there
against the wall.’
Then the priest asked the second man, ‘Do you want to go to heaven?’
‘Certainly, Father,’ the man replied.
‘Then stand over there against the wall,’ said the priest. Then Father
Murphy walked up to O’Toole and asked, ‘Do you want to go to heaven?’
O’Toole said, ‘No, I don’t Father.’
The priest said, ‘I don’t believe this. You mean to tell me that when
you die you don’t want to go to heaven?’
O’Toole said, ‘Oh, when I die , yes. I thought you were getting a
group together to go right now.’
 
Paddy was in New York ..
He was patiently waiting and watching the traffic cop on a busy street
crossing. The cop stopped the flow of traffic and shouted, ‘Okay,
pedestrians.’ Then he’d allow the traffic to pass.
He’d done this several times, and Paddy still stood on the sidewalk.
After the cop had shouted, ‘Pedestrians!’ for the tenth time, Paddy
went over to him and said, ‘Is it not about time ye let the Catholics
cross?’
 
Gallagher opened the morning newspaper and was dumbfounded to read in
the obituary column that he had died. He quickly phoned his best
friend, Finney. ‘Did you see the paper?’ asked Gallagher. ‘They say I
died!!’
‘Yes, I saw it!’ replied Finney. ‘Where are ye callin’ from?’
 
An Irish priest is driving down to New York and gets stopped for
speeding in Connecticut .. The state trooper smells alcohol on the
priest’s breath and then sees an empty wine bottle on the floor of the
car. He says, ‘Sir, have you been drinking?’
‘Just water,’ says the priest.  The trooper says, ‘Then why do I smell wine?’
The priest looks at the bottle and says, ‘Good Lord! He’s done it again!’
 
Walking into the bar, Mike said to Charlie the bartender, ‘Pour me a
stiff one – just had another fight with the little woman.’ ‘Oh yeah?’
said Charlie, ‘And how did this one end?’
‘When it was over,’ Mike replied, ‘She came to me on her hands and knees.’
‘Really,’ said Charles, ‘Now that’s a switch! What did she say?’
She said, ‘Come out from under the bed, you little chicken.’
 
Paddy staggered home very late after another evening with his drinking
buddy, Finney. He took off his shoes to avoid waking his wife,
Kathleen. He tiptoed as quietly as he could toward the stairs leading
to their upstairs bedroom, but misjudged the bottom step. As he caught
himself by grabbing the banister, his body swung around and he landed
heavily on his rump. A whiskey bottle in each back pocket broke and
made the landing especially painful.
Managing not to yell, Paddy sprung up, pulled down his pants, and
looked in the hall mirror to see that his butt cheeks were cut and
bleeding. He managed to quietly find a full box of Band-Aids and began
putting a Band-Aid as best he could on each place he saw blood.
He then hid the now almost empty Band-Aid box and shuffled and
stumbled his way to bed..
In the morning, Paddy woke up with searing pain in both his head and
butt and Kathleen staring at him from across the room. She said, ‘You
were drunk again last night weren’t you?’ Paddy said, ‘Why would you
say such a mean thing?
 
‘Well,’ Kathleen said, ‘it could be the open front door, it could be
the broken glass at the bottom of the stairs, it could be the drops of
blood trailing through the house, it could be your bloodshot eyes, but
mostly , it’s all those Band-Aids stuck on the hall mirror.

Our friend Randy from thisistrue.com…and you should really go and subscribe to his newsletter in either the free or paid versions…one of the weekly additions is the “honorary unsubscribe” which details the life and death of somebody that deserves some recognition. This week’s recipient was involved in the invention of frozen fish sticks, the microwave, StarBurst, and other food technologies…go read about his life at thisistrue.com…it’s worth it. The newsletter specializes in “thought provoking entertainment via social commentary on weird news”.

And those math weiners have been at it again.

And the Hardy Ramanujan Number…which is the smallest number that can be expressed as the sum of two different sets of cubes…my thought on them is…who…cares?

I especially like the brand name on his grill.

Guess this answers the age old question…

And no matter which side of the argument you’re on…

And finally…we keep hearing about how the United States should shift to the metric system because it’s so much better and we’re the only major country that doesn’t use it…in fact there are three countries total including Liberia and Myanmar but who cares about these two. Now ‘round these parts we’re just find with either metric or imperial measurements and can use either…and we recognize that there are both pros and cons to both shifting to the metric system in the USofA or in sticking with imperial system…but the sentiment in this one is right on.

‘Nuff said.

Cyas.