Recent Comments

1. 3 days ago on Peanuts

   Maybe not sent out, maybe let out. When I was a teenager in the 60s, we never went anywhere without a few coins in our pocket, or our purse, or shoe. It was emergency money, to use in a pay phone.

2. 3 days ago on Peanuts

   English colonists were prohibited by the crown from using coins. During the American revolution, Spanish pieces of eight were chopped into pieces to use as smaller coins. So, a quarter of a reale was two bits and the term stuck.

3. 6 days ago on Arlo and Janis

   My husband, too. Thank you for your service. Hearing loss is the number one disability that affects ex-military.

4. 6 days ago on Arlo and Janis

   Exactly. My hubby would need to see me speaking to be able to ‘hear’ me.

   He has actually been hard of hearing ever since I’ve known him. (a few years after he came home from Viet Nam.) It took decades to convince him, (he claimed it was everyone else, not him,) and decades more for him to convince the VA that it was time served in the Army that caused his hearing loss. (Back then, it was ‘man up’ and ‘hearing protection is for sissies.’)

   For a long time he had hearing aids, but he hated wearing them. Then, this past fall, he and a veteran’s advocate made another trip to see an audiologist at the VA. Hubby got new, state-of-the-art hearing aids. He is amazed. He can hear leaves moving in the trees when wind blows, and bird song, and that annoying squeaky step on the staircase.

   The plus side to hearing loss: after all those years, he taught himself how to lip read. Now, when he removes his hearing aids, he can sleep uninterrupted by storms or sirens.

   My hearing has diminished, too. Far less than his has, and much more slowly. I hear okay, but it takes more concentration to finely distinguish spoken words, especially in a loud environment. Between the two of us, it’s more likely I’m just not listening. His words compete with thoughts in my head.

5. 6 days ago on One Big Happy

   Ruthie is supposed to choose one of those words as an answer to Mom’s question.

6. 6 days ago on Peanuts Begins

   When I was growing up, the family favorite sandwich was peanut butter and mayo—for everyone except my dad. We were on a fishing trip one hot summer day when a yellow jacket took a liking to the mayo in his sandwich. It became more attracted to his tongue.

7. 6 days ago on Peanuts Begins

   A friend of mine was a proponent of flapper sandwiches: two slices of bread with one slice of lunch meat—no condiments.

8. 6 days ago on Peanuts

   5 and dimes evolved into dollar stores. The 7 Eleven name was derived from the hours they were open (from 7am to 11pm)Of course, most dollar stores are now dollar-and-up stores, and 7 Elevens are open 24 hours.

9. 6 days ago on Peanuts

   “Penny for your thoughts.” “Ain’t worth a plug nickel.” “A dime will get you a cup of coffee.” “That and two-bits—” Wait, who even remembers what two-bits are much less why they were called that.

   Kids used to be sent out with a dime in their pocket in case they needed to phone home. Now, they are sent out with a phone in their pocket.

10. 6 days ago on Luann Againn

    My first home computer was an Apple IIe. Appleworks was the best. Compared to that, the early versions of Word were shite. The worst thing was: at work we used PCs, so I was constantly having to shift from one program at work to another at home. For a brief window in the 90s, the office had some Macs, until they switched back to PCs at the millennium.