FF XVIII, 31

Frank Facts and Reviews

Volume XVIII, No. 31

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Last year gave USM its finest record in football ever. They beat every tough team on their schedule, losing only to UAB and Marshal; the two worst teams in CUSA then . There was no reason they should have lost to UAB or Marshal. Saturday night, a winless Golden Eagle team, lost again to Marshal; but this time, there was a very good reason they lost 59-24: Marshal has the  best passing quarterback in the nation!. He kept the ball in the air, and right on target; scoring literally at will. So much for getting a team that USM could easily beat, making the alumni happy at Homecoming!

Just out of curiosity, I’d like to know which genius decided that the

          third game for the Eagles to tangle with, was a team I had never even heard of: and since we had never played them, WHY were  the Eagles made to fly there to get thoroughly trounced? And why am I not eager to see them playing in Hattiesburg next season (should I still be around to give a hoot)

On a lighter note: last week, I was parking at Zia’s Restaurant, on Airport Boulevard, on Thursday, only to find I was in the “For Take Out Orders Only” Section. I had a date to go inside to join Father Gorman and Steve Lentnor for lunch. I began backing out (the lot was jam packed) and the back end had gone about three feet into the lane where there was certainly no traffic (always careful about this; I have become fanatic about all driving; particularly when going backwards!) Out of the blue, a white pickup truck slammed into the rear of my Focus. I got out as quickly as I could (now I literally crawl out, at best) to find a well-dressed, young man walking around my car. He looked up at me, and commented, “I really messed up your rear end!” I looked sadly at my seven-year-old car and said, “You certainly did!” That (or some very similar exchange of ideas) was all I said. He muttered that he would call the police (I was glad that he had brought his cell phone: I never remember to put mine in the car). Soon a very young policeman came to the scene, he and the truck driver talked quite a while before the cop came and wanted to see my Driver’s License and Proof of Insurance card, and that was all. I felt confident that I was not going to have to spend a dime of my money. WRONG! In this God-Forsaken state, the person who is backing up is automatically responsible for the accident: so, I am out $500--which is my deductible.

It has taken until now to get an estimate, then getting that to my Allstate Agent, and sometime this week, I will have a brand-new back end. But at my expense: No Fair!

 

Cat Naps Quotes

“A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book.”

Irish Proverb

 

 

The Road to Ginger

       Janet was in the driver’s seat the day we brought Ginger to her new home here. “Aunt Janet” had also gone with me, each time I visited “Little Baby” in her mother’s house. The results of these visits, means that whenever Janet Morse enters this house, Ginger puts on a show for her amusement. Janet, in return, plays with her, and Ginger rolls over on her back, and allows “Aunt Janet” to do just about anything she wants with her.

       From the moment that kitten entered her new home, she has not cared to leave it. That means “At All”!  Unlike all of the other cats I have owned, she never has shown even the slightest interest in “Playing Jungle Kitty”. This was the term that Ed Kohler thought up when he used to be amused watching Judy 2, and later, Trudy’s 1 and 2 cavorting in my large yard. All of these “Tuxedo Cats” liked nothing better than frolicking in our “Mini-Jungle”. Judy 2 was also bad about wandering off, unattended, getting lost, and then sitting on somebody’s front porch (obviously mistaking it for ours) as I frantically walked and drove all over this area, weeping for my lost “Angel”. Judy was by far the worst. I remember so many times, when we were in Hattiesburg, while I would be getting the food ready for our Catered Affairs, her vanishing and then both Steve and I would go in separate cars, looking for her all over the area around his and his sister’s homes! Joanne still says that one of the cutest things she ever saw was when Steve drove errant Judy back to his house. Joanne Beverly was on her front porch, and says that Judy was sitting up on the front seat, looking all around; for all the world like a little old lady being brought home after a bit of sight seeing and/or visiting. Finally, in despair, I had a tall wooden fence built around the back yard. By this time Judy was far too fat to climb over this impediment, and reconciled herself to staying on the premises. We both enjoyed the privacy this wall provided. Hurricane Frederic knocked the entire structure down in 1979 (when it was ten years old.) The carpenter who had built it, wanted twice as much as he has charged me the first time, to rebuild it; but my good buddy, Gaines, reconstructed it for much less money. The next hurricane blew it down again. This time I had it carted off and kept the kitties in the house.

       When Trudy 2 was queen for a lot of years, she had the maddening habit of managing to find that I had failed to close the back screen door completely on many occasions. Then, she would fly to freedom, like the proverbial Bat out of Hell, as I stood in the left-open doorway, furiously screaming at her to get herself back in the house before I murdered her!

       But now, thank God, with sweet tempered Ginger, I have never had to worry about her going outside at all. She seems totally unaffected by Wanderlust! And that is a great relief to me. I really wonder if this was one of the many things her original owner instilled in her. From the very first day, I remember her cowering near the back door, as if she knew that it contained reason enough to be scared to death of the great outdoors. None of that “Silly and stupid” rolling over and over on the cement driveway (summer and winter made not the slightest bit of difference to my Alley Cats!) for her!

       I had Ginger “groomed” only once, at the clinic of Frank Brown and another vet or two. The clinical part of the place is top drawer; but I have never taken Ginger back after they shaved her entire body, except for that magnificent tail and her head! I was so irate when I went to get her, that I let them know how I felt. It turns out that this is the only way they “groom” pets. I searched all of the pet grooming locations, and was lucky enough to find “Adorable Do’s”. whose owner gives Ginger a bath and blow-dry, then trims with scissors (which the vets seem to think not as safe as shaving). But, not only does Ginger not mind being taken to that lovely lady (after her “peeling” at the Vet’s, she was actually ashamed to let anyone who came visiting, to see her!) And I cannot blame her for that. She looked more like a skinned rat than my gorgeous Persian kitty.

       Now, when she gets too much fur, I call, make an appointment, then take her to the salon (which is on the corner of Cottage Hill and Hillcrest ), the Hair specialist comes out to the car to get her, and brings her back to me after an hour and a quarter. I spend this time in the Wal Mart’s Corner Grocery (or whatever they call that charming store just across the road) or working my puzzles until the time has passed. Then, a glowing Ginger is brought to me in the car. I always ask if she has behaved herself, and the answer is always the same: she has been a perfect angel.

       And that is exactly how I feel about my last cat. She is unbelievably sweet, gentle, affectionate and I tell he several times a day that the Lord certainly knew what He was doing, when he guided my footsteps to where I was able to buy the perfect companion for my waning days.

       I have now lived with her for more than seven years. When I die, I am asking that she be put to sleep, cremated (as I will be) and our ashes (along with Chipper’s and Trudy 2’s) sprinkled in the back yard of the home where we have all been so happy. A few of my remaining ashes will be buried in the family plot in Ellisville, Mississippi, where all of my siblings were also born.

(To be continued)

 

 

 

 

Movie Trivia Quiz #56

1.       Crisis was a 1950 thriller from MGM, with Cary Grant as a doctor who is forced to perform heart surgery on a South American country’s evil dictator. Who played this dictator? He was a famous fictional French poet in an Oscar winning role; a French painter of great renown in another biographical film, and was always an excellent actor. His wife sang a bit, too.

2.       Luise Rainer won Best Actress for The Great Ziegfeld, then won the second Academy Award the following year: No other person had ever won two in a row. For what film was her second Oscar?

3.       Who was the first male to win 2 Academia Awards in a row?

4.       What child actor was in Captains Courageous, David Copperfield, and A Yank at Eton?

5.      Who was The Boy with Green Hair?

6.Who was The Lady with Red Hair?

7.Who played Captain Nemo in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea?

8.What young singing star was in Journey to the Center of the Earth?

9.Who was the actor who was the hero of Around the World in 80 Days?

10.    Who were two singing actors who made the film Mardi Gras? Hint: one of them was also in Verne’s  Center of the Earth movie.

 

ANSWERS TO LAST WEEK’S QUIZ No. 55

1, Boom Town had four of Metro’s biggest stars in one giant bore (as I remember it) Hedy Lamarr and Claudette Colbert were the females, Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable were the boys.

1.                   Lana Turner and Judy Garland were in Ziegfeld Girl; one of MGM’s biggest  musicals of 1941. Oh, by the way” Hedy Lamar was in it, too!

2.                   The Haunting was one of the greatest Ghost Stories ever filmed. Julie Harris and Claire Bloom were the girls in this horror story.

4,          Born Free was a true tale of Elsa, a lion

5.          Song of Love was supposedly a film biography of Robert Schumann (Paul Henreid).

6.      Johannes Brahms was played by Robert Walker, who was Schumann’s student.

7.  Jack Oakie played Benito Mussolini in Chaplain’s The Great Dictator?

8.   Jean Seborg was Joan of Arc, in Shaw’s Saint Joan.

9,   Call Me Madam featured Ethel Merman as society-icon Perle Mesta. Irving Berlin wrote the score. Donald O’Connor was the leading male star.

10.   In Old Chicago had Tyrone Power, Don Ameche and Alice Faye, all of whom who had also appeared in