Gas Price Update

Many apologies to you, my faithful readers.  I was remiss in posting Monday's Gas Price Update.  Here it is, better late than never:

Most expensive:  B-Line Food Mart, Cane Run Road  $2.09

Least expensive:  Speedway, Cane Run Road  $2.04

Congratulations, Kenny and Rene

TWIT would like to congratulate newlyweds Rene Zellweger and Kenny Chesney on their marriage this past Monday.  The ceremony took place on the Caribbean island of St. John in the U.S. Virgan Islands, Kenny's home.  This is the first marriage for both.  The couple have only known each other a few months - they met at the Concert of Hope tsunami relief benefit in January, where Chesney was singing and Zellweger was answering telephones.  Did anyone see this coming?  Who knew?  I give them major props for keeping this on the down low. 

I guess I can now add them to my list of Favorite Celebrity Marriages, Past and Present

Kenny Chesney and Rene Zellweger
Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
Clint Black and Lisa Hartman
Roy Rogers and Dale Evans
Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward
Sonny and Cher
Chris Robbins and Kate Hudson
Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor
Eddie Fischer and Elizabeth Taylor
Lee Majors and Farrah Fawcett
Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood
Dave Navarro and Carmen Electra
Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson
Mick Jagger and Jerri Hall
David Bowie and Iman

I Love My Trane

Yesterday, a historic annual event occurred at The Compound:  it was the day to flip the switch on the central air conditioning. 

April started out unusually warm - it felt like we went right from winter into summer.  Then the middle of the month the spring rains came and brought winter temperatures again.  But it started to warm up last week, and by this weekend it was downright hot.  With the warm temperatures came the days that I dread - waiting out the 'rents to see who would be the first to turn on the air conditioning. 

I'm warm-blooded by nature; I get it from my Grandma.  She and Grandpa had a window unit in their bedroom at home, and in the summer, I could go in there to play and take naps in the afternoons. If it was really hot, I would seek refuge in their back bedroom, but otherwise, I would be outside.  I really didn't mind the summer heat until nighttime.  We had an attic fan, and in the evenings, we'd all stick a shoe or book in the door way of the rooms and close the doors, leaving a space for the air to flow through.  We got buy, but it was just annoying having to listen to the traffic outside.  That's the part that I hate the most about weeks leading up to the flipping-of-the-switch. 

We didn't get central air in the house until I was 17 years old.  I remember sitting back in my bedroom, which faces west and gets all of the afternoon sun, trying to type a term paper for a class at school.  It never occurred to me to take the typewriter back to Grandma's room; I'd heard that all good writers suffer for the cause, so I guess I was in martyr mode or something.  Anyhoo, a few days after that near-suffication in my bedroom, my parents told me and Grandma that we were getting central air installed.  Grandma and I thought we'd died and gone to heaven. 

I had an ally in Grandma while she was there - because of Grandma's congestive heart failure, Mom or Dad would flip the switch and turn on the a/c at the first sign of warm temperatures. But when she went to the nursing home, I was on my own.  I know you might think I'm being hardcore about that, but that's the way it was.  As Mom and Dad got older, the more they started to enjoy the nice cool air in the house.  But it still was a waitinggame to see when they would flip the switch.  I would make subtle hints in the morning before I left for work, like "They said there's a chance of rain today.  I'll shut my windows just in case", letting them know my room was locked and loaded for the flip of the switch.  Yesterday, I did the same thing.  It must have worked - when I came home, the tell-tale signs were all around me: the back door was closed, the kitchen window was closed, and the best sign of all, I could hear the gentle hum of the air conditioner compressor beside the house. 

Ruthless Interrogation At Walgreens

It's true that April showers bring May flowers, but along with the flowers also comes allergy season.  This spring has been brutal.  I've talked to people who don't even sneeze during the spring months, and they've made the first of many trips ot the drugstore and allergy doctor for relief from the sneezing and itchy, watery eyes.  It's been rough for me.  I think we feel worse when we see the weatherazzi give the pollen and mold spore index during their weather forecasts.
The levels have been in the high category for a few weeks now, and they say it will be like this until the end of May.  Lovely. 

I ran up to Walgreens last night to get a box of allergy relief medication.  I'd thought about calling my allergy doctor today and begging him to refill my Zirtec prescription, but it would be the same vicious cycle that it always is: "Sorry, but we can't refill the prescription.  You'll have to come in and let the doctor examine first."  Sorry, but I'm not going to take off from work, come in there and wait for an hour in the waiting room filled with sneezing people, and pay you for an office visit and exam that consists of the doctor looking in my nose and ears.  This spring, I'll take my chances with the OTC stuff. Stacy recommended that I get Tavist D, so that's what I got. Since the new meth laws went into effect, I had to get the stuff back at the pharmacy. I walked up to the counter there was a huge line with a PAT working there. I stood there in line as patiently as I could, and breathed a sigh of relief when it was finally my turn.  Actually, with my allergies, it was more of a wheeze than a sigh.  But you get the picture. I asked the PAT for a box of Tavist D. I had my money already out and almost handed him the cash when he started to scan the UPC code on the box. Then the PAT put the box down, and started the interrogation. Here's a transcript of our conversation:

PAT: I have to ask you what you need this for.
Puddin: OK, then ask me. 
PAT: (With a quizical look on his face) Huh?
Puddin: You said you had to ask me what I needed this for, and I said ok, you can ask me.
PAT: (Still with quizical look) So, what do you need it for?
Puddin: The pollen and mold spore levels are in the unhealthy range, and it makes me sneeze all day long.  So I'd like to purchase this box of over-the-counter allergy relief medication.
PAT: OK. But you know that some people use it to make meth, don't you?
Puddin: Oh, really? (I felt like crap, but I was having fun with this) You can't be serious?
PAT: Oh yeah.  They use it to make meth.  They make it in meth labs in people's garages and stuff.

Need I say any more? The sneezing and itching doesn't seem to bad when compared to what I had to go through to get the allergy meds.  It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase about the cure being worse than the cause

Happy Mother's Day, Mom

To my Mother, Minnie -- Happy Mother's Day, Mom.  You're the best.  Thanks for putting up with me and my shenanigans.  I have a spotless criminal record, and there's not much dirt they could dig up on me if I ran for public office, so I'd say that you and the Lord did a pretty good job of getting me through the past 42 years. 

She'll probably give me grief for posting this picture of her, but it's hilarious.  The t-shirt she's wearing is from Rod Stewart's "Out Of Order" tour, and it just kills me. This was taken a couple of weeks ago when she and Dad were putting up the Martin birdhouse.  It's not your typical Mother's Day tribute picture, but she laughs and makes jokes about the t-shirt when she wears it, and I think life is about laughing and enjoying it, so I think it's very appropriate. 

She got a new gardening hat, gloves, pants, and knee pads, so I'll have to take a picture of her new Mother's Day gardening attire for another journal entry. 

Happy Mother's Day, Mom.  I love you.

Link Of The Week

I could type paragraph after paragraph about songwriter and guitarist Pam Rose, who I got to see Friday night.  But it's hot back here in the house, and the pollen and mold spores in the air are making me miserable, so I really don't feel like staying back here in the computer room any longer than necessary tonight.  So go check out Pam's website at www.pamrose.com.  You can read about her career, see some pics of Pam with some very cool people, and you can listen to samples from the songs from her "Morpheus" cd.  Click on "Music" and then click on "buy it" and it will bring up a separate page where you can hear a two-minute portion from every song on the cd.  You can even buy the cd while you're there.  I hawk too many products on TWIT, nor does something get the TWIT seal of approval unless it's too awesome for words.  But I highly recommend "Morpheus."

Pam Rose, You Rock

Having lived in Louisville all of my life, I've celebrated Derby Eve a "few" times over the years. I was brave enough to go down to Central Avenue when it resembled Bourbon Street at Mardi Gras; I've waited with hundreds of other people out in the street below the Barnstable party waiting to get a picture of a celebrity; I've partied down at the Chow Wagon.  I have to say that last night was my best Derby Eve ever.  Sorry to disappoint any of you hardcore partyers, but last night's Derby Eve didn't involve the least bit of drunken debauchery.  I spent Derby Eve at a concert by the awesome songwriter and guitarist Pam Rose. 

There were only about 20 people in the audience at the Plum Alley Theater in Elizabethtown, but Pam performed as if the place was filled to capacity.  I had to stare at her hands a few times during the concert - I was sure she had a few extra fingers when she was playing.  I've played the guitar for 30 years, and I'm not easily impressed by guitarists but last night, I was blown away.  It's hard enough to play perfectly with standard tuning, but when you add in playing with open tuning or other non-standard tunings, you've got to be a pro to pull it off.  And Pam Rose sure pulled it off last night.  She could have played there for days doing just songs she's written or co-written, and the mixture from her 3 cd's was the perfect sample of her talent.  Her version of "I'll Still Be Loving You" was awesome.  I bet she wishes she had a dime for every time that song was performed at a wedding in the 80s and 90s.  The song went to #1, and was in the top ten on the Adult Contemporary charts for a half a year.  It earned Pam a Grammy nomination, and was BMI and ASCAP's Song of the Year  "Please Don't Make Me Say Goodnight", a cut from her "Morpheus" cd had me on the edge of my seat.  "Morpheus" is Pam's first solo cd.  The highlight of the concert was a song she dedicated to me, "Safe In The Arms Of Love."  It was on Pam and songwriting partner Mary Ann Kennedy's first cd "Hai Ku."  I had asked Pam if she would sing "Love Like This", one of my all time favorite songs, but she said that she only sings that with Mary Ann, so she asked me for a runner-up song.  It rocked. 

If you've followed country music for the past twenty-plus years, I'm sure you've heard tons of songs that Pam Rose has written or co-written.  That's how I became a fan of hers.  I've always been a big country fan, and when I would go buy albums, there would be at least one or two songs on there that would just reach out and smack me.  I soon discovered those songs had a common denominator - Pam Rose was listed as one of the writers.  She and her writing partners were creating songs that truly reached out and touched the listener.  I did some research (this was the days before the internet) and found the address of Pam's publishing company, and wrote a letter to her and Mary Ann, saying how their songs really touched me, and how important the songwriter is to the music world.  Even with their busy schedules, they took the time to write a letter back, and for the next few years, we corresponded and kept in touch.  Through the past few years, I would see where they would be performing in Nashville, but was never able to go down and see them.  Then a few weeks ago, I read where Pam was going to be in Elizabethtown, so even though the concert was on Derby Eve, the big party night of the year in Louisville, I didn't give a second thought about it.  I knew I would be there.  And I'm glad I did.