Have you seen all the young cats wearing this stuff???

They're everywhere.
Mostly young people.
It's really popular.

What I'm going to reveal to you now is just who Hollister is, and why he's in the clothing business.

Long years ago, way up in the mountains of North Carolina they used to cook up home-made liquor. I imagine that as long as there have been people in the mountains of North Carolina, they have been making their own liquor. I suppose that at one time it was perfectly legal to make your own liquor, and that was probably the only way you would get any.

Since the earliest of times, the government collected a tax on alcohol, and where this is a tax, there will always be someone trying to avoid paying it. Thus, illegal liquor.

Illegal liquor made by the cover of darkness and the light of the moon in order to help avoid detection was called 'Moonshine'.

It was also known by many other colourful names such as White Lightning, 'shine or Moon', the recipe or Papa's Recipe, Corn Liquor, Kickapoo Joy Juice, etc...

"Well in North Carolina, way back in the hills,
lived my ol' pappy and he had him a still.
He brewed white lightning 'til the sun went down.
Then, he'd fill him a jug and he'd pass it around.
Mighty mighty pleasin', pappy's corn squeezin'."

...make a hard-shelled preacher fall from grace... "

Long before Junior meant Dale Earnhardt, Jr., it meant Junior Johnson. Aint nobody faster'n Junior Johnson, boy. Junior claims to have earned his driving and hot-rodding skills by having been a moonshine runner back in his youth. It is claimed that NASCAR sprung from those ole boys competing to see who was the fastest in their moonshine cars.

Now here is the interesting part.

Way up in the hills of North Carolina, near Mayberry, there lived this old moon-shiner
named Rafe.

Rafe Hollister!

That's right, HOLLISTER.



Rafe Hollister

Click HERE to watch a video of Otis giving up the location of Rafe's still to Barney.
btw, did you know that Otis was Mr. Slate from the Flintstones, Papa Smurf, and Owl from Winnie the Poo? He makes a lot of elevators, too.

Oh...What if Ella Fitzgerald married Darth Vader??? She'd be Ella Vader! Get it???

So, back to the story...Rafe is running a still, and, eventually, Andy and Barney catch up to him, and put him in jail. In the meantime, Mayberry's choir director is distressed that he doesn't have a tenor for the solo in the upcoming annual concert. By and by, the choir director is in the vicinity of the jail as Rafe is singing to pass away the time in the slammer.

This is the song Rafe was singing...

Endearing Young Charms (Click to Listen)

Believe me, if all those endearing young charms
Which I gaze on so fondly today
Were to change by tomorrow and fleet in my arms
Like fairy gifts fading away.

Thou wouldst still be adored as this moment thou art
Let thy loveliness fade as it will
And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart
Would entwine itself verdantly still.

It is not while beauty and youth are thine own
And thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear
That the fervor and faith of a soul can be known
To which time will but make thee more dear.

No, the heart that has truly loved never forgets
But as truly loves on to the close
As the sunflower turns to her God when he sets
The same look which she turned when she rose.

Impressed by Rafe's glorious tenor voice, the director recruits Rafe to sing the much anticipated solo. Well, let me tell you, those snobby flatlanders got all in a tizzy over that! Especially that Mayor Stoner! A hillbilly, and a moon-shiner at that, was not what they thought should occupy a place in their choir, much less enjoy a featured spot in their annual concert!

To say that Rafe's feelings were hurt is a gross understatement. He was totally destroyed by the reception given him by the townsfolk of Mayberry.

Well, Andy went right to the director and the Mayor for an explanation.
The Mayor, not wanting to be exposed for the snob he was, and the director who really
wanted Rafe's voice, told Andy that it wasn't so much Rafe as it was his tattered clothing.
So Andy got Rafe a new suit and got him all dolled up and he looked just as good as he sounded.

The Lonesome Road (Click to Listen -- Worthwhile!)
Look down, look down that lonesome road
Before you travel on
Look up, look up and seek your maker
Before Gabriel blows his horn

Weary totin' such a load
Trudgin' down the lonesome road
Look down, look down that lonesome road
Before, before you travel on

True love, true love, what have I done
That you should treat me so?
You caused me to walk and talk
Like I never did before

Weary totin' such a load
Trudgin' down that lonesome road
Look down, look down that lonesome road
Before you travel on

Look down, look down that lonesome road
Before you travel on
Look up, look up and seek your maker
Before Mr. Gabriel blows his horn

I'm weary of totin' such a heavy load
Trudgin' down that lonesome road
Look down, look down that lonesome road
Before, before you travel on

Look down, look down that lonesome road
Before you travel on
Look down, look down that lonesome road
Before you decide to travel on

Look down, look down, look down, look down that lonesome road
Before you travel on

New River Train (Click to Listen)
Ridin' on that New River Train
Ridin' on that New River Train
It's the same old train that brought me here
And gonna take me home again

Ridin' on that New River Train
Ridin' on that New River Train
It's the same old train that brought me here
And gonna take me home again

Tryin' to find my way back home
Tryin' to find my way back home
It's been a long long time since I've been there
I'm tryin' to find my way back home

That sounds like a pretty good ending, right? Well, that aint all.
You see, Rafe never forgot what them folks thought about how he was dressed, so as soon as he had saved up a bunch of that moonshine money, Rafe went out and got himself a job in a local textile mill. It wasn't long until he was running the sewing room.
Pretty soon, people were coming to Rafe to ask him to tailor them some fancy duds like he was making for the other folks.

That's when he realised his gift, and he went out on his own making Hollister clothes!

Caint nobody tell it like...

What People Eat Around the World

A friend passed this along and I thought it was fascinating.

Each photo is of a family from around the world, and the food they eat in a normal week. I found out this is a series of photo essays from Time magazine.


Germany:
The Melander family of Bargteheide
Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07
Favourite foods: fried potatoes with onions, bacon and herring, fried noodles with eggs and cheese, pizza, vanilla pudding


The Melander's eat very well, but they dont look at all happy.
With all that alcohol in one week, you would think they would be having a hoot of a time!


United States:
The Revis family of North Carolina
Food expenditure for one week: $341.98
Favourite foods: spaghetti, potatoes, sesame chicken


The Revis family looks happy, especially the boys with two take-out pizzas!


Japan:
The Ukita family of Kodaira City
Food expenditure for one week: 37,699 Yen or $317.25
Favourite foods: sashimi, fruit, cake, potato chips



Lots of packaging in Japan.
Can we turn off the TV long enough to take the photo???
Dad looks a bit grim.


Italy:
The Manzo family of Sicily
Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11
Favourite foods: fish, pasta with ragu, hot dogs, frozen fish sticks



The most interesting thing about the first two to me is that both the German and American families have pizza, but not the Italians?
I'll bet that the Manzo's make their pizza at home.
Also, a happy looking family. Note young Enzo on the right with his jaunty composure!


Great Britain:
The Bainton family of Cllingbourne Ducis
Food expenditure for one week: 155.54 British Pounds or $253.15
Favourite foods: avocado, mayonnaise sandwich, prawn cocktail, chocolate fudge cake with cream



Pizza appears here, too.
I suppose they're smiling, but not a single tooth showing.
I see a dog and dog food. I see cat food and no cat.


Kuwait:
The Al Haggan family of Kuwait City
Food expenditure for one week: 63.63 dinar or $221.45
Family recipe: Chicken biryani with basmati rice


A mostly happy group. Look at all those empty counter tops!
Does he have more than one wife?


Mexico:
The Casales family of Cuernavaca
Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09
Favourite foods: pizza, crab, pasta, chicken


The Casales family enjoys Coke!
Again, a happy and healthy looking family.



United States:
The Caven family of California
Food expenditure for one week: $159.18
Favourite foods: beef stew, berry yogurt sundae, clam chowder, ice cream



The Caven's know how to stretch a food budget. They must be home-schoolers!


China:
The Dong family of Beijing
Food expenditure for one week: 1,233.76 Yuan or $155.06
Favourite foods: fried shredded pork with sweet and sour sauce



These guys look really happy.


Poland:
The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna
Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27
Family recipe: Pig's knuckles with carrots, celery and parsnips



A happy group. Notice the bag of peanut M&M's peeking out from behind a bag of nuts.
If you look very closely, you will notice on the table in front of Dad is a row of candy bars that goes all the way around to the front of the table.
The Sobcznscy family has quite a sweet tooth!



Egypt:
The Ahmed family of Cairo
Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53
Family recipe: Okra and mutton



The first thing I notice about the Ahmed's is the size of this family!
Also, a mixture of pleasant and grim faces.



Mongolia:
The Batsuuri family of Ulaanbaatar
Food expenditure for one week: 41,985.85 togrogs or $40.02
Family recipe: Mutton dumplings



The lady in red looks happy. The others look a little stoic.


Ecuador:
The Ayme family of Tingo
Food expenditure for one week: $31.55
Family recipe: Potato soup with cabbage



A large, very happy family!
They have more children than we do!
Do you suppose hats were on sale at the local market?


Bhutan:
The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village
Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03
Family recipe: Mushroom, cheese and pork



A large and mostly pleasant looking family.



Chad:
The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp
Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23
Favourite foods: soup with fresh sheep meat

A New Wonkie in Town

Happy Friday!
I apologise for not having posted in so long.
I guess that I have been pretty bummed out that we were not going to have any baby
Wonkies.

Anyway, we have this other cat. Her name is Doug. That’s right, Doug

.

The Salt Monster named her.









She has a son, Doug Junior, and they look just alike.



I don’t know why the Salt monster named her Doug, he just did. Most of his actions are impossible to explain using the limited knowledge of Man. Understanding the Salt Monster requires a depth of knowledge available to only the Almighty.

As you may know, Daddy calls all the cats Wonkie, so in his terms Wonkie is the son of Wonkie who is the daughter of Wonkie. For the rest of us, Doug was once a baby wonkie from Bubba. Doug Junior obviously was a baby wonkie to Doug.

Having established that Doug is, indeed, a female by the production of a litter of baby wonkies,



we now can say with a heretofore unknown level of uncertainty that Doug is expecting baby wonkies.

We base this on the fact that the orange cat about town has been about our home, and he has frequently left his cologne on our front door. In an even more exciting turn of events, he was able to leave his unique cat cologne in the air handler of our heating and air system which produced an overwhelming bloom of fragrance throughout our entire home.

Daddy was NOT amused.

In addition to the appearance of the orange rake*, we also have witnessed Doug initiating the mating dance.

If you have never been exposed to the mating dance of the domestic house cat, it is a bit like watching young sirens trying out for their place on Dance Wars: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann, which, by the way, should have been won by Carrie Ann. Her group had two hot chicks (according to Daddy, and three if you count Carrie Ann) and they were a whole lot better group than Bruno.

So, considering the evidence, we assume that Doug will, once again, be providing us with a few baby wonkies. Don’t get your hopes up, however, because there is always a chance that they will be dashed upon the rocks of despair just as they were with Bubba.

Speaking of Bubba, we have to give her a pill and some stuff that’s mostly alcohol every night to stave off the effects of her heart condition. We wait until night so that Daddy can hold her while we administer her treatments. As everyone knows, cats are quite fastidious at keeping themselves clean. They do so by licking themselves. There is not any portion of their bodies that they omit. Daddy says that he is quite sure of it based upon the smell of her breath as she is taking her medicine!

Well, that’s all I have for today. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Mommy and I will be attending the Winter Jam in Columbia tonight. One of the groups will be Mercy Me. They tell the story that they were trying to come up with a name for their group when Bart’s Grandmother said, “Mercy me, Bart. Why don’t you get a REAL job?”
So that’s why they’re called Mercy Me!

*Rake; Short for Rakehell -- one unrestrained by convention or morality; specifically : one leading a dissolute life; Libertine;

It's still icy in China.
Check out the latest on aid to the orphanages in need HERE.

Wonkie Watch -- Dénouement

Hyper-trophic Cardio-myopathy

That's what Wonkie has, rather than a set of baby Wonkies.

So let's take that apart so we can understand just what it is and why it's not Wonkies.

'Hyper' comes from Latin and Greek and means Over, Above, or Excessive.
'Trophic' also comes from Latin and means of, relating to, or characterised by (such) nutrition.
So 'Hypertrophic' would mean overly nourished, or excessive development of an organ or part;

'Cardio' comes from the Greek, and means Heart.
'Myo' comes from the International Scientific Vocabulary and means Muscle or Tissue.
'Pathy' comes from the Greek and means Disorder.
So 'Cardiomyopathy' means a disorder of the muscle or tissue of the heart.

Therefore, Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy literally means a disorder of the heart that causes it to become excessively large or over-nourished.
Dont you just love word etymology? I do!

The condition causes the heart to pump inefficiently, which leads to fluid buildup in the lungs and around the heart. This fluid is referred to as 'congestion' and leads to congestive heart failure. Fortunately, it can be treated with 'Beta' or 'Dan' blockers, which help the heart function and relieve the congestion. She will have to eat the blockers for the rest of her life.

Right now Wonkie is still at the vet. She went in yesterday, and they have been siphoning off the fluid, while Wonkie is floating around on Zantac or Valium or some such...

That's all we know, and we are very disappointed that there will be no baby Wonkies to greet Jasmine when she gets home later this year

We already had several names, too;
Spock, Wraith, Ronon Dex, Teyla, Sheppard, Daniel Jackson, Thor, Sha'uri, Rodney, Beckett, and
Radek.

Because of this disease, which is hereditary, we expect to get Wonkie 'fixed', which, ironically, actually 'breaks' her!

Andy would be good at that! Daddy says he breaks everything! Ha-Ha! Jonathan said that until Andy went there, that mountain was simply known as Back Mountain!











Well, that's all we know, but I'll keep you informed...

Today is Jasmine Hope's very first birthday! Happy Birthday!!!!
We made a very red Red Velvet Cake in the shape of a heart to celebrate.
I will post pictures tomorrow!