Some Things You Usually Don't See

I have written several vacation blog posts on unusual things I've seen, but I had a plenty of material for this blog right here at home in Colorado.

1. Congratulations and thank you to Murphy's USA gas station for selling gas at this ridiculously low price of $2.33 cents a gallon for unleaded.  Most gas stations were selling gas at $2.70-$3.00.  Saving $.40 to $.70 per gallon is unbelievable.  In 2017, when we moved to Myrtle Beach, S.C., they were selling gas for $2.17.  The last time I paid so little for gas was during the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 and it was $1.38. (A few days later it went up to $2.97 and the next day it was $2.69 and the next day it was $2.39)

                                                

2. If you live in Colorado or another place that has breathtaking mountains, maybe you see this all of the time.  This does not look real, it looks painted.  I saw this while driving and pulled over for the picture.

3.  I picked up this book while babysitting my eleven month old granddaughter. I'm not going to lie to you, I couldn't follow the pictures and when they mentioned electrons, I was done reading. I think she likes the book.  I did not do well in physics class in high school.

4.  When do you see salt water taffy sold in a pizzeria? The pizza place in Thornton, Colorado has walls painted like the Jersey shore, a small ferris wheel, among other things.  The sign says the taffy is from Seaside Heights and the owners are from New Jersey. 

5. I took this great picture of our granddaughter Riley about thirty seconds after she woke up from a nap.  Who wakes up smiling like this? She does a lot and if you think this is easy, try smiling from ear to ear when you wake up tomorrow morning.  Please send pictures of your big smile.

6. This is a perfect sign for a bathroom and that is where I took the picture.  Someone has a good sense of humor in Colorado.  Why is it only 4 1/2 stars?

7.  Lastly, our granddaughter Riley will have her first birthday and first birthday party on August 3rd. Her parents have jokingly called her rye bread from time to time and this is the actual invitation to her first birthday party.  I know parents go to great lengths to celebrate a child's party, but this is hilarious and something you never get to see.  No, you're not invited just because you are reading this. You have to get a real invitation.

                                                                                                                                                              

          

What does James Bond Have to do with "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?"

The answer is: British writer, Ian Fleming, he created both of them. The name Ian Fleming is famous for writing the James Bond novels. His first one was "Casino Royale," and he wrote it in 1952 when he was 54 years old. He wrote eleven more Bond novels and two collections of stories about him also.  His inspiration for writing it came from some of his experiences in intelligence for The British Navy.

In 1965, Fleming wrote a children's book, "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car." The story was about an inventor who upgraded a broken down grand prix car to a flying car. The family went on an adventure to save their grandfather in another land. He used to tell his kids stories about a flying car and he decided to write it after he had a heart attack. Dick Van Dyke starred in the 1968 movie and British comedian, Benny Hill, was in it also.  The songs in the movie were written by the Sherman Brothers who wrote the songs for "Mary Poppins." 

The car in the 1968 movie was bought at one point and refurbished by actor, Chris Evans, who played a super-hero even James Bond would have difficulty beating-Captain America.

There will be a new actor playing the role of James Bond and he hasn't been announced yet. The next movie may come out next year.  And what about "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?" Believe it or not, they have started to work on a new movie with Amazon, but there's no timetable that's been announced. Maybe, they'll come out at the same time?

Covering Up The Murder

We have all seen television shows or movies where someone dies.  Maybe it's murder or accidental death, but someone tries to cover it up.  Have you ever watched closely to see how they get the blood off the floor or the walls?  I wish I had paid more attention to that. No, there was no blood I had to remove and there was no murder, but it was almost as bad.

In the immortal words of fictional detective, Adrian Monk, here's what happened:

My wife was dog sitting in another town and had our dog too.  I had a very quiet and uneventful afternoon.  My wife would not be home until the next afternoon, what could go wrong? I took a short drive to the self car wash and washed the car and drove home.  

Since we're in a construction area I decided to put my washed car in the garage for the first time. And, that's when it happened. I opened the car door and took a couple steps and made some very large footprints in the garage.  When I washed the car at the car wash, the ground was wet, I never saw the mud.

I removed my sneakers which looked like I had trekked through a muddy swamp. 

How do I get all the mud off the garage floor? Paper towels were not working well.  Under our kitchen sink there were many cleaners and bleach and I tried several of them.  I started to make some progress, but now the garage smelled like bleach.  I wish I had a picture of the original stain, but this is after several cleanings.

I kept the garage door open and sprayed Febreze. What is stronger, bleach or Febreze? The smell was almost gone and then I looked at those sneakers.  They were on the way out and I thought I would be able to shake the mud out, but it was imbedded in the sneakers. I threw them in the garbage in the garage. I then realized that garbage needed to be emptied-no reason to leave evidence of the crime.

This is how the new design in the garage looked with light shining in from outside.  It might be just enough for my wife not to notice it.

When I washed my hands in the kitchen sink the kitchen now smelled like bleach.  I had a small fan I brought out and let it run for a half hour in the kitchen and the smell was gone.  But, what about my hands? How long would the bleach smell last? How many times do I have to wash my hands?

After committing this crime I suddenly realized that I had become Lady Macbeth.  In my favorite Shakespeare play, Macbetth, Lady Macbeth is constantly washing her hands.  She was trying to get the blood off her hands after her and her husband conspired to kill the King.  Below is her picture and the words she said now haunt me, "What's done cannot be undone."

While looking for a picture of Lady Macbeth washing her hands, I found a perfect gift for anyone who is suspected of a crime. This box of Lady Macbeth guest soap is only $4.95! Don't miss what it says on the bottom of the box.  Will it work on bleach?

THE END: My wife came home and parked over some of the mud stain and did not say anything...yet. My hands finally just smelled like normal dirty hands instead of bleached hands.  I was going to wait a year to post this, but when she reads it she'll probably say, "I saw it right away, I just didn't say anything." 

Can You Eat a Half Gallon of Ice Cream in One Sitting?

WARNING: This is NOT a healthy blog post, but this is an entertaining one. July is National Ice Cream Month and it has been since 1984 when it was declared so by President Ronald Reagan.  National Ice Cream Day is Sunday, July 20th.  Rumor has it that George Washington was the President of the United States who loved ice cream the most and his favorite flavor was vanilla.

The Appalachian Trail is 2,190 miles and it usually takes about six months of walking to complete it, going from Georgia to Maine.  Only about 25% of  the 3,000 hikers who start the walk complete the trip which takes them through thirteen different states.  The good news is that the average weight loss is around 25 pounds, but what about the ice cream?

Half way through the journey of five million steps is the small town of Gardners, Pennsylvania.  At the Pine Grove Furnace General Store, they have had a contest that has been going on for around four decades.  They call it, "The Half Gallon Challenge." You don't just eat the 2,500 calories, but the real challenge is eating it quickly.

One dairy farmer who managed to accomplish this feat, said, "I don't think anybody should be doing this, it's not healthy." He said the experience was, "Pure misery." The record at this store for eating a half gallon of ice cream is-less than FOUR MINUTES!  I would have liked to see that.  About fifty people have finished the ice cream this year and they get a wooden spoon and their picture goes on a store bulletin board.

The next time you open a half gallon of ice cream, ask yourself, could I eat this whole thing in one sitting? 

Training Odin in his New Backyard

 

I know, it's a terrible picture, but it is reality.  Would I want someone taking a picture of me doing this? Let me think about answering that question. Training our dog Odin in a new backyard was not the easiest thing to do. He loved our backyard in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Below is a picture of the pond and the fountain in Myrtle Beach which he loved.  Each morning Odin would walk outside just to see if the fountain was still there.  He would sit on the porch and watch the water or lay in the grass in the sunshine. The second picture here is Odin thinking about whether he should come inside, which he usually did.

Our new house in Colorado had a backyard just like our neighbor behind us.  The dirt, weeds, and no fence prevented Odin from going out there for a couple weeks.  I didn't want to go out there either.  He would sit inside and look out the window, probably looking for the fountain and the water.

The above picture shows part of the patio we put in and the turf which makes me feel like I should get my golf club, if I had one.  We started taking Odin outside on a leash since there was no fence on two sides and one of them had a big hole with water in it.  He would have liked the water.

One day my wife wasn't home and I took him outside and he laid in the grass.  I figured I'd take the leash off and sit there and watch him.  He was fine for five minutes or so until it was time to go in.  He started running everywhere, the neighbor's yard, the house next door that wasn't built, and he was moving faster than I was.  I finally coaxed him inside and decided I would never do that again.  My wife will read about this, because I didn't want to tell her after it happened.  There is no video of me chasing him as far as I know.

The backyard is getting there.  We have to try to keep Odin out of the dirt, since we don't have rocks and flowers or plants yet. We have a fence put in, we have a couple chairs ordered, we just got a table, and we're working on getting something to cover the patio to save us from the sun.  Oh, and let's not forget a doggie door that we will have to train Odin to go in and out of again.

Below are the pictures and this is what Odin sees each morning.  We may even get a little water fountain, but it will be much smaller than the one in Myrtle Beach.

America's Greatest Gift?

 

It is Independence Day, July 4, 2025 and we are celebrating the 249th birthday of The United States of America.  When you think of things that represent our country, one of them has to be The Statue of Liberty, which was a gift from the people of France.  

The story of The Statue of Liberty is one of inspiration, determination, and of course liberty and freedom.  Below are some things you may not know about Lady Liberty and it's twenty year journey to New York:

1. The original inspiration was from a French legal scholar, Edourard-Rene Lefebvre.  He was came up with the idea after the American Civil War ended and slavery was defeated.  He wanted to give a gift to The United States to celebrate the concept of liberty.

2. Frederic Auguste Bartholdi was the 31-year-old sculptor that was asked to visit The United States to get support for the project.  As he entered New York Harbor, he was inspired to immediately draw a picture of a robed woman raising a torch and he wrote, "Liberty Enlightening The World."

3. Bartholdi modeled Lady Liberty after his mom, Charlotte.

4. Many years of waiting took place before it was agreed that France would fund the statue and the pedestal would be funded by America.

5. One of the sculptors who worked with Bartholdi was Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, who built the Eiffel Tower.

6. Financial problems in financing Lady Liberty was so significant that France had a lottery that raised the remaining $400,000 and the statue was presented in Paris on July 4, 1884, 161 years ago.

7. In America, $100,000 was raised by New York World publisher, Joseph Pulitzer, who put pictures of people who donated in his newspaper.

8. The statue was taken apart and put into 214 boxes and sent across the ocean and then reassembled over fifteen months in New York.

9. President Grover Cleveland dedicated The Statue of Liberty on October 28, 1886 in front of hundreds of millions of people in New York Harbor.  His remarks ended with, "A stream of light shall pierce the darkness of ignorance and oppression, until liberty enlightens the world."

A few more random and interesting statistics: When it was built, The Statue of Liberty was the tallest structure ever built and it weighed 450,000 pounds.  Lady Liberty wears an 879 shoe and it is struck by lightening an average of 600 times a year. I'm pretty certain you did not know that.

MY MOST MEMORABLE RIDER COMMENTS IN JUNE

When she lived in Zimbabwe,  Africa she had a bill that was worth a trillion dollars, "When I was eleven years old, I was a trillionaire and I bought a candy bar with it." (It still has little value)

He: "Even the geese are nicer in Colorado than Indiana.  I had several in Indiana attack me-they are crazy and angry."

The future nurse said, "If you're not helping people, you're not living."

She: "I have one more Super Bowl ring than Jerry Jones. (Owner of the Dallas Cowboys) I inherited two of them from my mom and aunt who worked in scouting with Gil Brandt." (Legendary Cowboy scouting director)

He: "My family was renting a really nice house here for $5,500 a month.  You could fit thirty cars in the driveway." (I saw the picture, it was a compound, not a house)

Getting into my car he didn't say anything for a minute and then said something no one has ever said, "Sorry, my mouth was full of cupcake."

She: "Here's the best quote-Jerry Jones is an asshole." (He's not well-liked)

Couple: "We live on Kodiak Island on the south coast of Alaska and our retirement home is in Hawaii."

Talking about eating some of the wedding cake from our family wedding, he said, "I ate the cake with chopsticks, you can eat a lot of things with chopsticks."

She: "Growing up my family always called me Barbara Walters because I asked so many questions."

She: "I just came back from Las Vegas and saw three concerts, because I love music. I saw Janet Jackson, Donny Osmond, and Coldplay."

He: "Embrace the good-you can change the outcome."

He: "When I got out of the military and we were going to get married I only had one shirt and one pair of pants." She: "That's why you kept asking me to go shopping."

She: "I learned how to drive when I was eight or nine years old driving a tractor over 80 acres."

He: "When they approved pot here, (Colorado), rents went up over 100%. They put the money into real estate."

He: "I'm doing some private security for Deion Sanders which is pretty cool."

He: "I was in advertising for a Dutch computer firm and they asked me if I would sell computers for them.  I half jokingly said I would if they doubled my salary. They did and I sold computers for ten years."

He: "I proposed to my wife on stage during a Widespread Panic concert at Red Rocks." (In Colorado)

Only in this country a few years, the man from Vietnam said, "I love everything about America."

MORE RIDER COMMENTS

The 25 year-old guy who served a couple years in the military, said, "I feel like I've lived a whole life."

She: "The benefits of having a dog far outweigh the inconveniences."

He: "When I was in my twenties I washed windows in skyscrapers for ten years.  I wasn't scared to do it, but I would be now." (In his fifties)

She: "My dog's name is Wazee."

He works for Meow Wolf which is an immersive art museum.  He said, "The owner picked those two names out of a hat and that's how he got the name."

Leaving Colorado after three years to go back to New Mexico where she has a number of nieces and nephews, the young woman said, "I'm ready to be that Auntie."

"I think the mountains here help connect people and it decompresses you."

Having moved to Brighton, CO six months ago, she said, "It's small, but it has everything you need.'

She: "Some of the casinos in Colorado have hot tubs on the rooftops."

He: "We're here from Canada for the 'Street Fighting' video tournament."

From Colorado: "I went to Oregon recently and the air was cooler than here, it was great."

From Texas: "It's like a breath of fresh air here in Colorado."

NEWEST BILL

Special thanks to the young man from the United Kingdom who gave me the below bill from Indonesia.  It is my 66th country to be represented in my car and my first bill from Colorado.  The bill is worth only twelve cents here, really.

AND FROM FRANCE

The two Frenchmen were vacationing through the western states and wanted a picture with me.  They sent it to me and said, "Thanks for the sunny side. Best regards." I replied, "Merci beaucoup." I sent them the picture hanging in my car and said, "You're the only Frenchmen who can say they were in an Uber in the USA and you're still there."

"WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT LIVING IN COLORADO?"

"I'm much more active here-it's been a great blessing."

"I like the nature and secondly the people."

"The mountains in Colorado are mesmerizing."

"It rains more here than it used to."

UNIQUE OCCUPATIONS

Safety Manager for Coca-Cola

Geologist from South Africa

Formerly in the film industry, Vancouver, British Columbia Canada

Manager of a mushroom grove

Former high-rise window washer for 10 years in Denver

Physical Therapist in France

Sports Videographer from the UK who travels the world

Retired Special Forces twenty years for the Army

Private security man for Deion Sanders

COMMENTS ABOUT ME AND MY CAR

Just before getting out of my car, she said, "I'm almost about to cry."

"It was great to be in the coolest Uber in the country."

The young woman was at a loss for words about my car, "It's like...wow!

"This is gorgeous."

"You are a beautiful person."

"This is the best Uber ride ever."

She: "I decided to take this flight back home to Arizona because I had a bad night last, thank you so much for this ride."

"This is like traveling the globe."

"You are an incredible person."

"This is amazing."

First Uber ride: "This was very enjoyable."

The woman from South Africa said, "This was a brilliant journey."

"I've never seen anything like this.'

"Would you ever sell all of this money?"

"I enjoyed the ride."

"You are very kind."

"I love this."

 "I really enjoyed talking with you."

"You are great, it is so amazing."

"I like what you've done with this."

"Thanks for the great Canadian story."

"Your next book should be about retirement."