My Ship just came in, and it is the Queen Mary!

Trouble brews for ‘imported’ beers made in America

Beck’s drinkers may be eligible for a refund on claims they were tricked into believing the beer, brewed in St. Louis, was an authentic German pilsner

If you thought your favorite beer was an import, think again. It may have been brewed in St. Louis…or Latrobe, Pa., or Fort Worth, Texas.

And, if that beer is Beck’s, you might soon be eligible for a refund.

A refund for all the Becks I drank over the last 43 years?

The refund—of as much as $50 for Beck’s drinkers who can produce valid receipts—is part of the settlement of a class-action lawsuit claiming that the beer’s maker, Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, tricked American consumers into believing that the beer was an authentic German pilsner, when it is really brewed in St. Louis.

Even consumers who don’t have receipts may be entitled to as much as a $12 refund. And that’s true even for beer drinkers who have known all along that Beck’s is no longer made in Germany.

Wait.
Only 12 bucks?

Perhaps this would be better.


Ok, so contest update:

So far we have received,

uva
tissue paper
 ягоди
flower petals
ελιές

Days gone by, and a contest, of sorts

Well.
Due to a family commitment we missed Hollerin' contest day.  And every day is Panic day, around here, for one reason or another. But we did not set aside one whole day for Panicking.

This should be fun. What is this a photo of? Answers to be published soon, (Answers only, no true names will be used). So, click on the link below to submit. 

Send your answer to Kevin Maher

Who knew?

Who knew I would have six Greeks reading this? Μεγάλη κραυγή-out στους Έλληνες! 

And lets not forget Poland! Биг ВиК-вън към полюсите! 

Lets give a hand to Ukraine! Великий повідомлення від'їзду crazy українці! 

Don't forget about Italy!  Grande grida di Italia!

But, 

USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! 

Stats-n-such

Entry	Pageviews
United States	1374
Greece	6
Poland	2
Ukraine	2
Italy	1

Somehow I got bought.
In that I mean that my name is on a mailing list.
A mailing list for making financial "Zakat, Sadaqa Fitra" donations for Islam.
They want me to help to make a lasting difference this Ramadan.

Gee. let me think about that.


Last,

Big Shout-out to Larry Stoon, for being the first to enter the contest.

Oh. Wait. No real names.

Big Shout-out to Barry Stone, for being the first to enter the contest.

Good luck Barry, I will be publishing the answers soon. 

Look for answers around Insurance day.

Father's Day Pt.3

Garden Chen Take Out.
General Tao's Chicken $8.00
Hun-an Beef $7.00
Egg Rolls  $1.00 ea.
 Getting home to see they forgot to pack one container:

Rice less.

Kids: SERIOUSLY, DAD!

Father's Day

Dad: Kids, I didn't get any sleep last night. I spent the whole night worrying about where the sun goes  when it goes down.

Then it dawned on me

Kids: DAD!

Dad: The cashier asked if I wanted my milk in a bag.

 I Said, no, please leave it in the container.

Kids: DAD!

Dad: Three dads walk into a bar.

The fourth one stepped to the right

Kids: COME-ON, DAD!

Busy, busy, busy.

 I often have time on my hands in quantities usually familiar to men who heard the phrase “life without parole” before the gavel fell.

Not now, however.

It never stops. 

Today is  Fresh veggies day and I got caught short. No Fresh Veggies. Unless you consider a bag of kale, three jalapeno peppers and a lime fresh veggies.

But at least things are better than they are for Jorge Marrero, he got shot on corn on the cob day by Raphael Mora-Polanco, 26, of Hazleton. Mora-Polanco was arrested by Hazleton police while officers conducted surveillance Sunday night in the area of Second and Alter streets, about two blocks away from the recent shooting that claimed the life of Jorge Marrero, 35, whose last known address was on South Poplar Street.
Mora-Polanco told reporters he didn’t understand the charges against him. He said he wanted a lawyer and didn’t understand what happened that night.
He neglected to mention  "I forgot" "I forgot shooting someone was against the law." "Well, EXCUUUUSSSE ME!" As Steve Martin used to say.

Freeland PA

From:

The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

monachopsis
n.   the subtle but persistent feeling of being out of place, as maladapted to your surroundings as a seal on a beach—lumbering, clumsy, easily distracted, huddled in the company of other misfits.



So,
we decided to go on a hike and a picnic lunch in a park on Sunday.
I said "We will need supplies." So it was off to Dollar World to pick up a few odds -n - ends.
As I walked in, the thought struck me,  When did it ever occur to me that shopping at the Dollar World would seem "Normal". But there I was.
Mary said "Don't forget bug spray."
Rodger that, on my list.
So I am walking the isles of Dollar World, and I see they have toilet plungers for a dollar. Right next to the king-sized spunow.

Oh, wait, the shelf stocker put the display in upside down. Its Mounds.

Anyhow, I find mosquito repellant, and I ask the cashier, "If I spray this on a mosquito,  will he become like a mosquito pariah? Will all the other mosquitoes treat him like a mosquito IT guy? An outcast? Shunned by all the other blood-sucking bugs?"




"Look, it's a dollar. Do you want it or not?"

Well off we went to Rickets Glenn state park with our bug spray. 13,050 acres big. With Hunting. And dog-hunting training areas.  And the "short" trail.
I have not been on a hike for almost a year.

The "short" trail was 7.5 miles.

Very nice park.  Very steep trails.  After a while I realized we were no longer on the green (easy) trail, but on the black (most difficult) trail.
I thought it best to keep that information to myself for the time being.

 (The Gang)

 At one point, we met a small group (Small in numbers, they were actually quite large) that wanted to know where the parking lot was. I said if they go back the way they came, the parking lot was just over 1/2 mile away, if they keep going in the direction they were going, it would be about seven miles. And it was 6:30.

I thought: You don't have any food, water, jackets or flashlights, you are wearing flip-flops. It is starting to rain. It will be pitch dark in a little over an hour. This trail is one of the toughest I have been on in years. Good luck.

(NOTE: I forgot to mention that by all outward appearances,  these "hikers"
seemed to lack the skills these two possess.) 

One of them said, "Is the trail steep? I think we will keep going for a while longer then turn back."
Again I thought, These "kids" are 23, 20, 17 and 15.  They are breathing hard and sweating. I am 53, and just able to keep up with them.
I will look for the headline: FOUR HIKERS GO MISSING IN RICKETS GLENN in the Luzerne County Standard-Speaker on Monday.

The Standard-Speaker; Best news always:

http://standardspeaker.com/news/no-1-place-you-don-t-want-to-be-when-the-zombie-outbreak-hits-nepa-1.1845741

Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to step away from the Funyuns.  I am charging you with misdemeanor 12-86.5, mopery with intent to gawk, leaving the scene of a cheeseburger, and intentionally getting lost in the park after dark.

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Catherine Maher

75§1371§A OPERATION FOLLOWING SUSPENSION OF REGISTRATION

  So,
Number one got pulled over and was given a summons for lapse of registration. 

Earlier that month I received a letter from NYDMV indicating I had to prove I had insurance. I sent them copies of my PA insurance, and other info.

The day #1 got the ticket, I get two letters in the mail.

Letter 1 PA insurance is not acceptable.
Letter 2 Both cars have the registrations suspended.

So I get PA plates and send back the NY plates and tell #1 to plead not guilty.

so,
Yesterday we go before Honorable Daniel O'Donnal.

In PA traffic court they make you wait in a room before going in to court.

A room with other traffic-infraction types.

We were there more than an hour.

As we sat there, we did not say a word. But they sure did. They talked and talked and talked.

In PA it costs about $150 to regester a car.

The guy next to me starts on about he and the little lady have a cottage on the Jersey shore, and he registered his cars there to avoid the PA fees.

While the State Trooper that gave him his ticket (why he was there) was standing in the door-way.
 Flicking his key-ring, hanging off his cop belt. And looking at the guy's head.

Then he asks, "Any of you guys get really wasted?"
And they all start in with their "Stoned" stories.
The woman, across from us, (there in traffic court with her teen son) fighting against Father Time, (She was wearing something Goldie Hawn would have worn on Laff-in, bleached blonde hair with pink highlights) And she said, "I drank so much tequila 18 years ago, I don't remember what happened but it was the worst mistake in my life. So no more tequila for me."

#1 whispered to me, doesn't her son look about 18?

We went into court, case dismissed, and we started to leave. They were still going on like old friends, although they just met in traffic court, and I thought, the saying "The Circus is coming to town" implies, that at some point they left.

More old stuff

Going through some files, I came across a few photos of us at the March For Life, made possible by the most generous, caring person I have ever met, or will ever meet.

So,
While there, on the March for life we we met none other than the Prince of Brazil; Prince Bertrand of Orléans-Braganza

There is Daughter Number 2, with the head of the Imperial House of Brazil.

And there he is, talking with Mrs. Maher and son No. 2
He went to shake hands with son 2.


Son 2
Could not find a garbage can.
So, he palmed an apple core to Prince Bertrand of Orléans-Braganza.





That's my boy.

Follow-up on past posts

It was pointed out that a few days ago I posted that Ferris Buler's Day Off was 30 years ago, but the movie came out in 1986, so it is 29 years old, not thirty.

Well Mr. Smarty-pants, movies are not created the day you see them in the theater. (Note: insiders know "Jurassic park" did not in fact, use real dinosaurs) I have it on very reliable authority that the "day off" was June 5, 1985:

"Thanks to some heroic statistical sleuthing by Baseball Prospectus's Larry Granillo, we know the date: June 5, 1985.

Granillo pinpointed the date by scrutinizing some fragmented data in the film about the Chicago Cubs game being played during the gang's trip to Wrigley Field. "It appears obvious now," writes Granillo, "that this is a real ballgame that Ferris is at, not just something recreated for a film crew. The Harry Caray play-by-play and the Braves players on the field are pretty solid evidence of that. So what game, then, are they watching?" After examining the box scores of games during the Cubs 1985 schedule, he ultimately concludes that it was the June 5, 1985 game against the Atlanta Braves (the visitors won 4-2)".

 So there.

Next up:

The event I mentioned taking place on sun glasses day will go forward as planned. I have been encouraged to attend, with family and long time friend, Larry Stoon. Well, friend might not fit. 

Perhaps "unindicted co-conspirator"  is a better fit. 

(unindicted for reasons including grants of immunity, pragmatic considerations, and evidentiary concerns)

But that would involve leaving Freeland.  

My Dr. wanted me to get a therapy-dog, to help me out, and I thought, "Oh, good, I will ask him Who is a good boy?" And then I will feel better. But what if he doesn't know what I am saying?

It's like, my neighbor has a dog that looks at me when I sit outside.

I can't help thinking, "Does he know who is a good boy?  I mean, really?

What if I did leave Freeland?

He would look up, nobody there, and wonder,  "I am not the good boy?" "Well, Heck".

I donno.

Leaving Freeland?

IDonno.

Bows and stuff.

Number one daughter is thinking about getting a new bow.

Who am I to say no?

Utah. Omaha. Gold. Juno. Sword.

How times have changed. Seventy-one years ago, @ 6:30 am (Local time) Operation Overlord began.  The largest seaborne invasion in the history of the world.

(USMC receiving Holy Communion, Normandy, France, 1944)

And thirty years ago yesterday was Feris Buler's day off.

Go figure.


I forgot to add this morning, that  in 1944 the biggest problem was  all the Germans, on the other side of that ridge in the photo, waiting to kill all the  US soldiers.


In FBDO the big problem was he did not own his own car.

This and that

Music notes:

From the book Uncle John's Bathroom reader Plunges into Music:

The flip side of Napoleon XlV's 1966 hit single "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!"

was "!aaaH-aH ,wayA eM ekaT oT gnimoC er'yehT"

Go figure.

Making trouble for myself.

Mrs said "that box from the fan has been there by the door for over a month, why are you saving it?"

I am not saving it.

well, are you just going to leave it there forever?

Um, no. 

eventually the sun will super-nova, and fry everything we know or have ever done or seen in an instant, it will be like a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. Then the sun will collapse into a singular, angry point, and explode out with an unimaginable force, spraying cosmic particles all over the universe, in what might be called a bang, or, a big bang. And then... Wait, where are you going?

das boot

Why it bothers me so that some dude brings his boat to a work-site, I have no idea. But he does. And it does.

 Last, here are two vids from 4 years ago I just came across.

more this weekend, I hope 

Garlic H-Bomb

Memorial day week-end we ran out of gas for the stove so I called the gas company. Closed for the long weekend. I left them a message that I was going to duck-tape a propane cylinder from a gas grill to my stove to see it that would work. (I figured that would get their attention and delivery would be forthwith) No. They never called back, and when I called Tuesday morning the receptionist said "You still here? well, Ok, I can have a truck out later."
So, we spent the weekend cooking outside. HE-MAN COOKS ON FIRE anyhow.
Now, this week, the sink is broken. It is broken in that if you turn on the water, and it goes down the drain, it ends up on the floor, and your shoes, if you are standing close enough.
Well.
HE-MAN DON'T TAKE NO GUFF. However HE-MAN also does not antagonize Mrs. He-man by sloshing water all over the kitchen.
The guy shows up at 9:30, looks at the sink and says "No point in fixing that, I'll just put in a new one" "I'll go to Lowes and be back later"

He never came back.

So I wait until 4:00, write the day off as a no-show.

I have this pork roast, and I want to make Garlic H-Bomb but I have no garlic.
I decide no sink for us, no car for me and no garlic for the Garlic H-Bomb.
Life is tough.
I walked to the store for garlic, and I see the row boat is now facing South Street where yesterday it faced Front st. but nobody is around.
And I did not bring my camera because it is raining.
But I did get garlic, so we will have our Garlic-H-Bomb tonight.


Garlic H-Bomb
1 Pork roast
a boat-load of garlic (helps if you know a guy that has a friend that has a boat on the sidewalk, down the block from the market)
Cut about 8-9 cloves of garlic into 2-3 slivers each
Jab the roast with a sharp knife, and insert the slivers of garlic.
Sprinkle with salt & pepper, and garlic powder
Heat oven to 350°
Roast for about one hour
Serves a bunch of vaguely disgruntled children

Say Hi to Kevin Maher

Sometimes.

Sometimes, when I leave the house I check to make sure my hair is combed, and my face is washed.

Sometimes, when I leave the house I check to make sure I have my wallet.

Sometimes, when I leave the house I check to make sure  I have my Swiss Army™ knife and Zippo.

Sometimes, when I leave the house I check to make sure I have my camera.

Not today.

No camera.

I am kicking myself.



I had to go to the Post Office this morning.

So,
Down Walnut,  right on Main, left on Front St.
To the corner of Front and Center.

Where the contractors have been working on remodeling a commercial building. Usually the guys have a "Boom-Box" outside (YOU'RE LISTENING TO Z93 THE HOME OF NEPA'S CLASSIC ROCK, WITH ANOTHER TEN MINUTE COMMERCIAL-FREE BLOCK OF ROCK!)

Well, ok.

Today.

Today they had a scaffold going up the outside of the building, where they were putting on a new facade, and no radio.
There was a guy sitting with an electric grinder. He was grinding a bar of steel, making a huge shower of sparks. Although it was foggy, it was not raining,

He was wearing a bright yellow rain slicker with the hood pulled up over his face and red muck boots as he sat there grinding his bar of steel.


As he sat there in his row-boat, on the sidewalk.



I looked up at the clouds, back at him and almost said "Yo, Noah, 'Sup?"

I am working on it, but I really have to get into better shape before I risk life and limb taunting some people.


I mean I know if he gave chase, I could have left Front and Center, down the alley between the convine-mart and PNC bank, over the fence to the back parking lot of the post office, across the street to the park, doubled back to Danko's, up the alley to School street and home, with every third house having a barking dog behind a fence.
But if Mr Rain man lived in Freeland all his life, and knew better short cuts, or was faster than me he could have caught me.

That being said (Or, well, written)  I would guess his response would have been

"I ain't Noah"

Moral of the story: No camera; no photograph of a scraggly guy in a rain coat, grinding steel in his row-boat on the sidewalk.

Oooowww. I just thought, I should have gone to one of the dollar stores and picked up one of those fishing poles that comes with magnetic plastic fish and just climbed in next to him and started "fishing"

"What the hell are you doin?"

Shhh, shhh, you will scare the fish.

"Well I don't know what you... HEY! Ya got one!"

Don't forget, I changed it because I am Kevin Maher

So June 27 is no longer just sun glasses day, but it is now "Throw some shade for Kevin Maher Day"

Mark it. Live it.

Say Hi to Kevin Maher