It's Important to Check Your Attitudes

No kidding: Raylan Givens got it right:

Silver Plume

Silver Plume, Colorado is a picturesque small town near Georgetown, CO. It has a lot of old buildings there.  Here's a small store that is quite beautiful because of the carpenter's Gothic facade.

Silver Plume was a product of silver mining along Clear Creek. It had a population of 908 in the 1890 Census; and 170 in the latest one.

Rider

It's not a good idea to beat a dead horse.

Riding one is different.

Wedded Bliss

Wouldn't it be romantic to have a seashore wedding,

and kiss in the surf?

The Bikini Contest at the Flora-Bama

I read that they're still doing the bikini contest at the Flora-Bama. Five underinhibited Chili Dog Sisters from MTSU did the trek through darkest Bama to the bright lights of the Gulf Coast: the Florida-Alabama state line. We were all legal, with for real Tenn. driver's licenses and bikinis. And we participated in that contest in our wayward youthful days!

None of us won, but we had a good time!

Fall Footwear

Fashions in Tennessee are partly cyclical; partly innovative. Few occasions are more serious than attending church or a U.T. football game.

Fortunately, here's a pair of heels that serve well in both circumstances! Whether you're heading for the stadium seats, or going into the sanctuary for Sunday services, you cannot go wrong by wearing these festive orange ones!

And if you wear your pair in the office during the week, you signal to others that you've really arrived and are on the fast track for promotion!

Consequences of Transgender Accommodations

There's been a lot of discussion about transgender persons, and how accommodations should be made for them. This is good; society needs a lively debate over our guiding principles with regard to right and wrong, what should be done and what shouldn't.

However, there's a situation that developed in Missouri regarding such an accommodation.  A 17-year old girl who renamed herself Lila requested that she be allowed to use the girls' locker room at Hillsboro High. The School Board and Administration had previously allowed her to use a unisex faculty facility for her needs. Upon her request, they permitted her to use the girls' toilet and locker room.

Some of the girls at the school protested, as did their families and others. Their argument was that the student in question was still a male, and they didn't want to share locker room space with a male!

I'm somewhat mixed with regard to this.

On one hand, it's nice that institutions take transgender status into account in meeting students' needs. On the other hand, the girls could have some needs too. One of which is for their bodies not to be exposed to persons of the opposite sex.  Frankly, I would not want to disrobe in a locker room with males or sexually ambiguous persons present!

I remember the awful feelings of having to disrobe in the locker room when I was one of the later maturing girls.  Taking off my bra when there are fully-developed girls also present can be uncomfortable. And girls from some of the Fundamentalist sects found the very deed of disrobing to be traumatic!

I do not offer a resolution.

However, it's just like school administrations to make decisions that impact only students, and probably not giving a damn about their effect. Damn it: at least take some of the impact. None of this, "Put on your big girl panties, and deal with it."

Guys and Christmas Trees

The only thing most guys know about Christmas trees is what they 'know' about girlfriends' chests: If it's real, say it looks artificial. If it's artificial, say it looks real.

Roadside Sign

We have a lot of roadside signs in Montana. There are the roadside memorial crosses, the standard "Seniors '10" on overpasses, and often adopt-a-highway signs. This one was edited.

Do people throw more trash along a stretch of highway in which the atheists have adopted; or do they want to keep their Christian trash off of that highway?

Occasionally the local Ku Klux Klan adopts a highway. Does that affect littering?

High School Nicknames

High school students are not always the most sensitive, p.c. type of individuals like the schools and churches exhort us to be.  Maybe it's just being obstinate, but that sort of thing does happen.

For instance, there were two Heidis in my high school class.  One was nicknamed Heidi of the Alps, apparently in homage to the Johanna Spyri character.  The other was nicknamed Heidi of the Foothills.

Tennessee kids need to have a sense of humour.  Can I now be known as Heidi of the Bitterroots?

Three Miss Americas!

Oklahoma City University, run by the Methodist Church, has an interesting claim to fame:  Three Miss Americas came from it.  In honor of this accomplishment, they erected three life-size statues of their own Miss Americas:

Not even the University of California or the University of Miami can claim this distinction.

Ten Sleep, Wyoming

A small town in northern Wyoming has a strange name: Ten Sleep. It was named by the Sioux Indians because it was ten days from two Sioux camps in opposite directions.  It's a small town, otherwise not distinguishable.

This Is the Pits!

Okay, one of the strangest fashion trends is for women to refrain from shaving your armpits.  Yes, wearing your underarm hair as long as a guys!  And to compound things, dye the underarm hair in startling colors, like voodoo blue or pink!  Supposedly, pit-dyers do it for various reasons: as an expression of feminism, for self-expression, because it looks nice, or because it freaks some people out!  

Not surprisingly, Miley Cyrus died hers pink.

Anyway, you can read about it here.  Dyeing hair on the head is already done (like by me).  What is next?  Dyeing one's beaver instead of getting a Brazilian?

The Magic Mountain

Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain is one of the classics of German Literature.

Band Stand

A pretty band stand for music and other purposes.

Wednesday Evening

I can't say much in favor of Wednesday. It's hump day; it's halfway between the weekends, work gets really cranked up.  Plus television sucks on Wednesday night.
Wednesday is the time to go downtown. I should be one beery wench later on, and who knows?

A Store With an Edgy Name

Taking the Bible Literally

Did the fundamentalists ever think of these?

Passion Pants to Get a Real Buzz On

A few months ago I posted a story about a prank that had some enjoyable aspects from an embedded vibrator.  Now here's a story from a newspaper:

Passion pants. Now that's a product we can live with!

The Fellini Kroger

The Kroger supermarket on North Broadway in Knoxville is known as the 'Fellini Kroger' because of the bizarre spectacles of its customers and its surreal ambiance, very much like those old movies by Frederico Fellini. It's the only grocery story that has a Facebook page and a Friends of Fellini Kroger support organization. For cheap entertainment in the Knoxville area, go to this store!

They even have the locally used name on the cash receipts:

There are odd spectacles, and people join in the fun:

And if you wish, you may wear a t-shirt to proclaim your allegiance to the Fellini Kroger! So Bearden Kroger, Cedar Bluff Kroger, and Farragut Kroger, TAKE THAT, you losers!  (Other Krogers in the Knoxville Area.)

Here's a nice article about the Fellini Kroger:

http://knoxify.com/livin-la-dolce-vita-a-visit-to-the-fellini-kroger/

Amusing, If True

In the Mists of Elkhorn

There's something about the winter landscape in Montana that is especially chilling, and I happened upon my very favorite ghost town. Not the commercialized Virginia City, but instead distant Elkhorn in Jefferson County.  To be sure, I sought my muse in those settings; but the Muse of Blogging Prose (whoever she is) must have gone South for the winter.  The utter desolation can be welcoming or threatening, depending on how you feel about silence.

The only sound was the wind whistling in the barren landscape far away from the madding crowd or the comfort of convivial others.  The sense of loneliness began to pall, along with regrets of past loves that retrospectively seemed better with the perspective of distance.

What caused men and women to move into this inhospitable landscape?  Was it lust for gold, or the restless seeking for some new experiences that drives some humans to go away from familiar settings?  Indeed, what draws me to this deserted place with winter nearby?  Was this some errant whim?

Admittedly, I adore ghost towns; and I was blessed with several nearby ones due to early prospectors for gold and copper looking for paydirt.

No one was around apparently; but somehow I heard a faint playing of someone playing a ragtime tune.  There was also the murmur of voices; soft at first, but increasing in volume!  An uncanny smell wafted: a combination of sweat, beer, cologne, and manure.  What was going on?

Entering into the derelict Fraternity Hall, I saw men and women in period dress.  Actually, it was a scene straight out of old western they don't make any longer.  Men were playing cards; the women were dancing or cajoling men to but them drinks.  Is this for real, or is this an overplayed scene.  I mean, after all, "Buffalo Gals"?  There was a legend that once a man killed another over what kind of music the band should play.  The square dancer killed the waltz fan.

And yet, that is what we expect of the frontier west: a bawdy, expansionistic, optimistic era, not informed with the anxieties of the modern age.  We like to project ourselves into that time in our imaginations, if not longing.  May that is what I wanted.

I talked with the bartender, and requested a drink.

"You sure you want bourbon?  Believe me, it came all the way from Colorado."

I think I made a face, and sipped my drink that, actually, wasn't bad for having come from that bourbon-producing state, Colorado.  I was talking with a handsome miner, and he apparently took a shine to me.

"You sure are a purty red-hair gal.  I could go for you."

Not very demurely, I said, "I like the cut of your jib, too."

"Oh, a sailor gal!  Ho ho!"

A mist soon moved in, and I thought it was time to drive back to Missoula before it got too dark.  I took my leave, saying that I would be back.

Was it real, or not?  I'm not sure.  But maybe in the metaphysical sense it was as real and real could be.  The province of imagination is quite large.

Gilliam Hall and Fraternity Hall, Elkhorn

Banning Yoga Pants

Rep. David Moore (R-Missoula) recently proposed a bill that would "ban any device, costume, or covering that gives the appearance or simulates the genitals, pubic hair, anus region, or pubic hair region." This was offered to strengthen the already-present public decency laws of Montana, which are unremarkable. However, a loose comment by him declared that yoga pants should be banned too, even though the law did not specifically mention yoga pants. The committee that considered it laughed it out of the room! 

Wouldn't this apply to tight jeans too? And what about Daisy Dukes? 

Apparently Rep. Moore did not consider the unforeseen consequences of his law. Somehow, in the Treasure State I don't see a disapproval of hiney display, whether female or male!

As for our representative, he reminds me of some of the doofuses in the General Assembly in Nashville!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2015/02/12/absurd-things-that-almost-happened-montanas-yoga-pants-ban/

The Dorkistan Bikini Team Makes an Amphibious Landing

The Peoples' Republik of Dorkistan, following the example of President Vladimir Putin of Russia, engaged in some aggressive moves against nearby 'stans. However, in order to maximize their strengths while producing little expense and casualties (and boosting morale among the soldiers), they deployed their famed bikini team as shock troops! 

Clearly, the volunteers were well-prepared to storm the beaches of the Caspian Sea and what's left of the Aral Sea! Commissar Natasha, Hero of the Revolution (the blonde in the middle), developed an amphibious landing plan much like MacArthur's Inchon landing with a single pleasure boat. The goal was to provide a suitable distraction while the main Dorkistan invasion force sailed in on a rusty old tramp steamer such as the kind sometimes seen in those parts.

Ekatarina, the ginger next to Natasha, provided a distraction by unhooking her top while she was lying on a towel on the beach. This attracted the Rumpistan soldiers guarding the beach while the other six played beach volleyball in their revolutionary swimsuits! Just then, the tramp steamer plowed into the beach, allowing the Dorkistan soldiers to swing down using ropes into the shallow, wadeable water.
They quickly overpowered the Rumpistan soldiers while experiencing few casualties. Hail the Revolutionary fervor of the Bikini Shock Brigade of Dorkistan!

Pro Second Amendment

I support the notion that big game hunting should be legal in Montana; but we should also level the playing field.

Hanged

In 1864, in response to an epidemic of lawlessness in Virginia City, MT, a Vigilance Committee was formed and this group hanged 21 alleged miscreants, including the local sheriff, Henry Plummer.  Needless to say, this episode still remains controversial in Big Sky Country.

Thomas J. Dimsdale, The Vigilantes of Montana.

Bad Neighbor

I think this is a questionable house selling strategy, except maybe in Murfreesboro, where bad behavior is considered entertainment and is subject to an amusement tax. Strangely, it's more common where the entitled Gen-Xers live and commute to Nashville.

Kiss a Ginger Day

Today is 'Kiss a Ginger Day.' Pucker up!

Fifty Shades of Gray

A Tabloid Updates an Old Fairy Tale

Recently some British scholar claimed that The Iliad and The Odyssey were not the product of a single author (Homer), but instead stemming from the oral tradition of a culture over an extended period of time. Ho! The Greeks were barbarians!

Revisiting of cultural traditions is not exclusive to hoity-toity learned scholars in ivory towers; even the tabloids have gotten into the act.

Specifically, the Anaconda, Montana Daily Butt Squeeze reported on some recent exposé made by a local scholar of an old fairy tale. This seems credible. Will Disney make an updated version? 

Nueter Sign



All relatives or only the weird ones?