Freakin' Chicken

A chicken with 2 necks?   (I hope it's a neck.)

Spectre of Spectrum

  My February bill from Spectrum is $11.75 more than the January bill.  Since the monthly price is more than I like to think about anyway, I usually just pay whatever they say is owed. But since I knew I hadn't increased my services, I called today to find out why I owed more.  The representative, courteous as usual, offered to check and put me on hold for a period of time. On return, she triumphantly declared she had found out the reason:  "The campaign fell off." 
 What does that mean, I asked. The answer:  they hadn't renewed the reduction in price, having entered the wrong date. Or something like that.
    Why is it up to the customer to do their accounting or bookkeeping.  And can I possibly be the only one that mistaken increase affected? Now that Spectrum knows their campaign fell off, will they fix it for others. After all, $12 here and there adds up after a while.

As per Ken Jennings question #10

Margaret O'Brien, Ann Blyth, Jackie Kennedy, Barbara Walters, Mary Tyler Moore
   And, no, they're not all dead.

When Does the Mundane Become Memorable?

    Now: that's when: when nothing else happens of any significance.
       Today I went to the Customer Service Desk at Lowe's, and returned an  unused item I'd bought but no longer have any use for. It was inexpensive but I didn't need it taking up space in my drive to de-clutter. 
      The clerk, Nicole, was friendly and helpful, and as she handed me my refund, asked, "What  does 7.47 sound like  to you?" "Well," I said, it sounds like an airplane." She seemed to think it kind of funny.
      I browsed through the store, checking out the plants as I usually do, looked at the sale items, then found the birdseed aisle and bought a bag, the kind that is meant to  attract cardinals, since we have several apparently staying in the evergreen tree out front.
     I brought my purchase to a register, one with the shortest line.  The store was busy: the most purchased items seeming to be those  featured in the store displays---home improvement stuff. So many people buying paint.
    As it happened, the cashier was Nicole, evidently having been called over from  Customer Service.  She rang up the birdseed and said, "8.49, just a little over the 7.47 you just got back."  I told her she had a good memory.  She laughed and said, "Only for some things."
   

New Orleans 1967

It was 1967, and the stars aligned in Heaven.

 As we boarded on our way to New Orleans.

 Our thoughts were far from teaching;
 Our adventures were far reaching,..
 And although  we may have tried some different things.
 We forbore  because we knew what daylight brings,
  We withstood those evil forces,
  And returned to safer courses,
  Bidding sweet old Bayou city goodbye.
 

So True

  It's official.  At present, confirmed through eBay, I have 100 items in my house that no one else wants. Little does eBay know, I have way more than that. Though  I have a feeling that if I put these things out on my lawn with a freebie sign, they'd all be gone, weather permitting of course.  It is true that the high cost of usps shipping is a detriment.

Recipes Redux

    In my mostly failed attempts at downsizing, and because my dollar day eBay sales have been feeble at best, I resorted to a purging of paper. I did fill most of the recyclable trash container with outdated bills, warranties, receipts, bank statements, etc. (Not that there is any discernible difference in clutter reduction.) I came to a box of cookbooks and  recipes, and ground to a halt.  I'm deciding: Some of our favorite recipes, but will I ever make those dishes again?  Many earmarked but untried recipes; now I have the time to prepare them, but who will eat them?  Better to just throw all those  books and papers into  the trash. But then---"OUR COOKBOOK," a grade-school compendium of recipes from each child in the 5th or 6th grade class.  Browsing through, I came across the most well-worn page: Banana Bread recipe contributed by Warren Waterbury.
     I've baked banana bread many times over the years, using various recipes since this one got tucked away.  So last week I decided to try it one more time.  I did and it came out really well. No one else happened to be here, so banana bread was what I ate for 3 1/2 days.  Today, having nothing else to do, and nothing tasty to eat, I once again retrieved  the Waterbury recipe and made another loaf of delicious banana bread.  I wonder if anybody anywhere ever uses that recipe anymore.