Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Now ... I can't state we have the largest, most extensive, keenest and most envious collection of The Wizard Of Oz collectible in the continental United States ...

However, I can state we have a few items in the collection which are pretty cool.

But this isn't about how cool this household's Oz acquisitions may or may not be.

It IS about the loss of one piece of memorabilia in particular, however.

The beloved Tin Man doll.

I'm currently in the midst of cleaning and rearranging our media room.  Leaning against the base of a Wicked Witch Of The West nutcracker was said Tin Man doll.  When I reached to remove him I discovered he was "stuck" to the Witch's base.  I didn't remember it being part of the Witch figure so I lifted both gingerly.  And, to my surprise, I was greeted with a tacky stickiness from The Tin Man as I attempt to pull him away from The Witch.  

The material he was made of had somehow denigrated to the point it was virtually melting.  He had "glued" himself to The Witch and wasn't easily being removed, as if he'd lovingly become "attached" to her, contrary to his fear and loathing of her in the film.

It was quite evident Tin Man was toast as I stripped him away and left residue of him attached to her base.  He had obviously met his end and it was time for him to exit stage left.

Goodbye, Tin Man ...  

 

 

.......... Ruprecht  (Heart? STOPped )

 

Success!

 

It was around August of 2012 Steve Richter started his Cartoon Caption Contest.

And that means I've been contributing captions for 12 years.

But it wasn't until this latest competition I actually won coveted bragging rights in the form of first runner-up!

 

Persistence pays off! 

.......... Ruprecht  (doesn't know the word STOP when it comes to captioning cartoons )

One Collection I Don't Need ...

 

 

No. Just ... no ...

 

I pass the couple items of clutter on the kitchen counter on the way to getting water for my morning coffee ... and it was as if a wave of déjà vu struck me.   

An errant soft drink cup from the night before featuring an image of the titular character from the program Reacher emblazoned on it got me thinking:
 

"When am I going to be able to collect the Monsieur Spade promo cups with the new series featuring Clive Owen bowing on AMC in just a few days?"

 

Absolutely not

 

You know ... promo cups akin to those of the Marvel character Slurpee cups of old I collected from 7 Eleven in my youth.

 

And then I realized: I don't give one rat's ass about collecting Monsieur Spade promo cups ... even if they existed.  Not even if the image of Spade's backside is featured as in the teaser trailer for the program ...

.......... Ruprecht  ( STOP déjà vu-ing about Monsieur Spade already )

 

Ran Dumb (/ˈrandəm/)

 

 

So ...

When I think of old school Star Trek functionalia, the first thing that comes to mind is a Trek themed hand-molded hot pad.

That being said ... in space, no one can hear your scream when you burn yourself with scalding tomato soup.  So there.

 (P. S. I have no idea where I got this.)

.......... Ruprecht  ( STOP the randomness )

The Pillbox Incident

 

 

 

Not too long ago ...

I was privy only to the part of the conversation heard from this side of the phone call.  

 I didn't hear what the caller was saying throughout but, from the receiver's end and the reactions that came about as a result of what was being said, it was an animated call to say the least.

And then the call ended.

"You're not going to believe this," I was told.

"For whatever reason (anonymous) picked up (their) pillbox to take (their) medication and noticed a droplet on one end of it.  (Anonymous) licked the whatever it was off the corner of the pillbox ... and then realized it might be hand lotion or something.  (Anonymous) said (they) weren't certain what it was on reflection.  (Anonymous) panicked and decided to immediately go to the emergency room ..."

"What?!?  Why didn't (Anonymous) call us?  We could have taken (them) to the emergency room.  Wait ... better question:  Why didn't (they) call poison control first and find out what to do prior to running down to the hospital?!?  How dangerous could a drop of hand lotion be if ingested?  I mean ... were (they) ill after licking the thing?  Hold on, hold on ... WHO LICKS SOME UNKNOWN SUBSTANCE FROM A PILLBOX ... !??!??"

Not too long after the entire incident ...

 
(Anonymous) survived the ordeal with nary a consequence from (their) actions.  

.......... Ruprecht  ( STOP licking whatever's on the end of the pillbox, for Pete's sake )

 

 

Calendar Chicanery

 

Well, well, well ... let's start off the New Year with a brand spankin' new episode from Assault Of The 2-Headed Spacemules!

 

Host Douglas Arthur and I discuss the month of January as provided by my recently acquired 2024 Holiday-A-Day calendar. Enjoy!

 

Since the dawn of time (well ... since the very first episode of Aot2HSMs) I've been contributing to Douglas' podcast.  Why?  Sometimes even I have to ask myself that question ...

 

 

 

.......... Ruprecht  ( STOP what you're doing and give it a listen already )

 

Three Restaurants, Three Months: The NorCal6

Ahhhhhhhh ... the maintenance of the 'ole blog when it comes to The NorCal6.

Sometimes it's effortless, other times not so much.

June and July were mostly non-events.  We hit The Melt in Folsom and Danette's Brick Oven Pub in July, the latter having been visited in a previous year. Both?  Were adequate when it came to food and atmosphere.  

No drama, no surprises and it was agreed we'd return again.

Now ... Rocker Oysterfeller's in downtown Placerville last month?  Different story all together.  Oh, the drama ...

 

The food was rather good.  I partook of Louisiana Hot oysters (even though I know it's rarely a good idea to order seafood far, far away from the sea) and some Blackened Gulf Shrimp Tacos.  Tasty stuff indeed, despite being a bit on the pricey side.  (And, truth be told, I was kind of pressured into ordering oysters ... but I really didn't mind getting hornswaggled in that department.)  Pete and Missy ordered the same thing, Smashburgers.  Pete said his was delicious.  Missy's was a letdown, she said - overcooked and not very tasty.  My failing recall forgets what Laurie ordered but I do remember Grant got the Molasses & Bourbon Pork volcano Shank which he enjoyed right down to the very last.

So, overall, the food worked.  The appetizers?  They did start off the evening with any sort of anticipation once served ...

A plate of Bear Battered Onion Rings was proffered while we were all talking and, by the time I got a chance to take a gander at them, there were 3 rings left ... and pretty anemic looking ones at that.  I didn't remember seeing anyone going for them so I surmised the order was a singular half dozen rings, all told.  

"What happened to the rings?!?" I asked.  With I would have nabbed a shot of them for evidence.  Grant ordered some Cheesy Jalapeño Pull-Apart Bread and, if I didn't know any better, it came from the middle of Death Valley.  It was that dry.  No dipping sauce or butter or other was offered with it, so butter was requested ... but by the time it got there it was too little too late.  (Skip this item if you go there.  Trust me.)

And, in the mix, was our waitress who was not only scatter-brained but appeared out of sorts with the entire concept of waitressing.

The first couple beer orders I attempted weren't available.  On the third try - a Henhouse Stoked! Hazy Pale Ale I ordered with emphasis on the "Stoked!" because of the exclamation point - she asked me "The dessert?"

"The dessert?!?" I responded.  "No ... the beer."  I had not idea what she was talking about.  And, apparently, neither did she.

"Oh, yeah ... okay.  Got it."  And off she stumbled to put in my order.

It took an inordinate amount of time for the drinks to come but the food came in relatively quick order.  But ... most of it was served to the wrong person.  As noted:  Our waitress wasn't the sharpest took in the shed.

Interestingly and at one point ordered an additional brew ... and I attempted to so same.  But each time I was spurned, ignored as if I was a ghost.  This was rather amusing to Grant but let me flabbergasted.  I could see our waitress' tip diminishing to a trickle as the moments ticked by.

And then when all was said and done the checks came ... complete with automatic 20% gratuities already attached.  

On the inside?  I was slow burning, on the way to fuming.  But ... on the inside.

I wasn't going to allow the substandard service of this gal get in the way of everyone's enjoyment of the get-together nor was I going to expose my inner asshat.  

But come on ... an automatic gratuity for a "large party" as detailed on the receipt?  Since when did 6 people encompass a large party?  I buried any comments I wanted to unleash and pleasantly paid the bill without incident.

Tasty food (though a touch pricey), terrible service.  

It's going to take convincing to get me back there, this I know.

.......... Ruprecht  ( STOP bad, ditzy waitressing )