Hi! I moved to Sonoma County and now I don't want anybody else here!

 Here is another thing that pisses me off.  We have the self-proclaimed preservationists who moved to Sonoma County from somewhere else and now they are damning anybody else who wants to mover here.  

These holier-than-thou hide under the one-eyed-snake endangered species and other environmental causes to halt anybody else moving moving here and providing housing.

These self-proclaimed environmentalists have usually pumped out about 4 kids.  Tell me.  Where are THEY supposed to live?  They will need to live in places where trees need to be chopped and rivers damned and valleys paved to make room for them.   Oh, we have not even mentioned parking.  

There are people on NextDoor who constantly complain about growth in Sonoma County.  Here's the irony.  They moved here from somewhere else.  We made room for them.  Now, they want to pull up the drawbridge after THEIR arrival?  How elitist is THAT?  These same people will tell you how democratic they are and love and prosperity for all and blah, blah, blah, blah...........just don't attempt to put any affordable housing, which they loudly advocate for, anywhere near THEM.  

Here's the truth.  They moved here from somewhere else because they could not stand what they voted for and came to Sonoma County for relief from crime, homelessness, vandalism, etc.

Now they are pissed we are calling them on their own bullshit.  

Sorry, relocated SF and OAK libs, we don't want you here.  We also don't want the hairy armpit environmentalists here who demand we pull up the drawbridge conveniently after their arrival.  These people are SO FAKE!  There is one on NextDoor who pisses me off citing all these environmental crimes for the need to build more housing...however....conveniently ignores their own environmental crimes for space (and offspring) they occupy here in town.  Of course, said environmentalist moved here from somewhere else and then ordained herself as the personal environmental protector of Sonoma County. 

Again, Sonoma County has been locked up for over 100 years.  You will never be considered a local.  I don't care how many chickens and sheep you fake newbie ranchers have.  You are all wanna be ranchers thinking that donning a Carhart shirt and seed cap gives you a pass.  

When you show up somewhere with animal feces on your boots (and hands) at a location that shall not be named for fear of transplants turning it into a yuppie tourist trap we may believe you are legitimate. 

Philadelphia, PA

 As I type this I am in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the 13th floor of a historic hotel near historic landmarks.  I was here five years ago on a similar venture.  Wow.  People are honking their car horns and screaming in the streets.   Yup.  Fox news had that part right.  Sorry libs, Fox news does get it right sometimes despite your hating on it.

Sorry if the truth upsets you.

Here's tonight's synopsis.  We are here in Eagle Country representing Oakland Raiders.  I thought I would get my butt kicked because I donned a Napoleon Kaufman jersey from the 1990's along with a Raider cap. .  Nope.  I met a ton of guys who want to date me ;)       AND...... some of them have a full set of teeth :) ....and are homeless!!!!!  LOL

EXACTLY!!!!!!!  LOL!!!!!

Sooooooooo funny......  

Just having some fun in Philadelphia.  I do need to comment that people here are super friendly.  It makes me wonder where Californians are going wrong.  We have lost touch on how to just have fun and hang out.  

Think about that while you are dragging your garbage cans to the curb and recycling pickup.   When was the last time you invited your neighbors over for an impromptu BBQ?  I'm betting you're lamenting the lack of neighborliness while you isolate yourself in your cocoon.  You can't complain you do not know your neighbors when you never invite them over for even a lemonade and beef jerky on your font porch for 15 minutes. 

Try it.  You might get to know your neighbors.  

Here's today's Philadelphia Challenge:  Get to know your neighbors four doors down.  

This is why I love coming here to Philadelphia.  They push me out of my comfort zone.  They even love me while I'm wearing OAKLAND Raiders gear.  That was kind of funny.  A couple of people wanted to know where the Raiders were actually from......Oakland?   Los Angales????   Las Vegas?????   

True fans know the home base.  xxoo

How to be Minnesotan - Learn Minnesota Nice, How to Speak Minnesotan, Ho...

Gift Registries for Toddler Birthdays

 Are you kidding me?  Gift registries for toddler birthday parties?  Isn't it enough that we have already contributed to the bridal shower, wedding shower, wedding gift, baby shower, and now they want more for a toddler birthday party with yet ANOTHER gift registry?

Since when are toddler birthday parties on anybody's social radar?  Oh, yes, for the self-centered parents!  How silly of me.  Sorry, but we stopped caring about your toddler after the 1,000th picture of his dirty diapers and spit up that was shoved in our faces with gushes of, "Awwwwwwwwwwww, isn't he cuuuuuuuuute?  The pattern he leaves in his diaper resemble works of Rembrandt!"

Everybody thinks their own kids and grandkids are sooooooo special.  

Spoiler alert.  They are not that special.  They are equal to everybody else.  What?  You're against equality?  

Silence.  I thought so. 

 

Open Invitation: NOT

 I live in a fishbowl.  I have relatives across the street, down the block, around the corner, and up my @ss.  

Tonight we had a set of in-laws over who we have not hosted in a long while.   What was nuts to me was that because other family members saw another family member's car parked in front of our house, they thought it was an open invitation for them to come over as well.

It was not.

Just because someone sees another's family member's car parked across the street does NOT mean that it's an open invitation for them to come over and crash their party.

DUUUUUHHHHHHH

I had to shoo relatives out who appeared unannounced and uninvited as we only cooked food for the 10 invited guests and was not planning on the 17 who showed up and were straggling about looking like hungry dogs.  

Awkward.

Sorry, I'm not a restaurant. 

Tiffany Taylor doll commercial 1975

 

I had this doll growing up in the 1970's.  Watch the commercial and let it sink in the subconscious messages being sent.  This is why I have a hard time censoring history because it may be "offensive" to some.  I'm glad I could find this ad, and I remember it well, but did not realize at the time how sexist it was.  

The reason I'm even bringing up dolls from the 1970's is that my daughter, KRM, and I watched the Barbie movie last night.  I have a rant for that, but I'll save it for another post. 

Throwback Thursday: Julia Mead & Cooking with Natural Gas, 1950s

They Lie!

Everything modern that is supposedly here to 'save' us eventually turns out to be the opposite.  Here are a couple of examples that come to mind.  

Natural Gas:  I remember the Minnegasco commercials from the 1970's that touted how 'healthy' and clean burning natural gas was.  

Automobiles:  This was broadcast as to how automobiles would be sooooooo much CLEANER than those darned horses that left piles of manure in the streets.  

Joke was on us.  We believed those marketing tactics.  

Question:  Which social and environmental current marketing tactics (think pharmaceutical pushes and environmental philosophies)  will eventually turn out to harm us down the road?  

Here are a couple of blasts from the past.  Back in the day we were promised these were the be-all-end-all paths to a wonderful future.  Wow.  We were certainly sold a bag of sh**

Cornhole

 I have joined a cornhole league.  No, cornhole is not something that is the plot of a Midwest horror movie where giant stalks of corn come to life and snatch unsuspecting victims and shove them into a hell-hole to suffer and die.  

I was first introduced to cornhole when my son was in the Navy.  What IS this curious bean bag game with slanted, wooden planks on the ground with a hole in the middle?   Before I could even figure out what the rules were and how scoring was kept, some young Navy kid handed me a bean bag and a beer and said it was my turn.  

I'm sure they all thought it would be funny to watch "mom" play this game who obviously had NO clue as to what was going on.  

They were right.  I'm glad I could provide entertainment for the troops.  

Now, onto the present time.  

I have a friend, KRM, who was the very first friend I made when I moved to California from Minnesota almost 40 years ago.  We are still friends to this day.  KRM is the kind of friend who will come over to watch stupid tv with you and just chill on the couch.  She is also the kind of friend who will go on a 10 mile hike to challenge you.  She has the ability to pull me out of my comfort zone in very non-threatening ways.  

I've never been a team-oriented, athletic person.  My passions have always been dance and figure skating. I suppose the difference is that one set of sports keeps score, and the other is judged.    I guess I'm more of an artsy-fartsy kind of athlete rather than one who is after the win-kill that has a final score. Whatever. 

KRM and I have this long-standing ritual of going to Novato (KRM lives there) to get a spa service at least once a month and to get dinner afterwards.  At dinner we chat about our kids, complain about complicated family dynamics, lament about growing older, and talk about our jobs where we both have been employed for over 30 years with the same one.  

Sigh.

Where I'm going with this is that KRM is a very good athlete.  She always has been.  She enjoys softball, bowling, hiking, etc.  She is not a runner as her knees can't take it.  Anyway, after our spa treatment tonight she announced that we were going to Trek Winery in Novato as she signed us up for a cornhole league.  

What? Cornhole?  I SUCK at it.  My only experience was being the laughing stock for a bunch of young, drunk sailors.  NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I want to go home to Sonoma County. 

KRM coaxed me out of my comfort zone to get me to participate.  Yes, I had a good time.  Yes, I need to improve my game.  Yes, I met people and TALKED to them which is so against my introverted ways.

Here's the weird part.  The cornhole league meets at Trek Winery in Novato.  Trek Winery used to be Tresch Electric.  I worked with the founder of Tresch Electric, Larry Tresch, for years.  I also worked with his daughter, Maureen.  Bob Smartt also worked for Tresch Electric, and I formed a relationship with him as well.  All three are now deceased.   Their office was upstairs.  

When I was walking to the bathroom I stopped at the bottom of the stairs that led to what used to be their offices.  I knocked on the wall and said, "Hey Larry, Mo, and Bob..... it's just me saying hello.  Can you believe I'm here for cornhole?"

While I was in the bathroom I heard the walls knock back and the light flickered. 

 

16 Years

 Wow.  I've been posting on this stupid blog for 16 years.  Tell me of another blog that has had this sort of consistency?  Most bloggers post for revenue and "likes" or whatever else the ego mandates in order to feel relevant and to generate revenue.  I guess that is what makes my blog so non-special.  I don't post for any accolades whatsoever.  I have not received one dime in compensation for anything for my content.  I don't even allow comments as I don't care what you all think.  AND I'm anonymous.  I'm not doing this for the spotlight. 

Yup.  I'm non-commercial and in the shadows.  And here you all are.....16 years later. 

I'm sure AI will harvest content I've posted that may be deemed relevant for ChatAI or whatever artificial intelligence program is venue en vogue.