What I had thought...




"The dog can play with the volleyball in the yard".


What I now know...





-Insert obligatory Tom Hanks scream of "WILSON!" here.

Have you noticed how cities are using those light and telephone pole banners more and more today? They are pretty neat I guess. Usually, you can find them lining the main thoroughfare through a city or town.



Cities use them in a variety of ways, but mostly they offer a nice uplifting message welcoming visitors and tourists to the area. They are usually very bright and colorful, evoking a positive image of the city and surrounding area.



Local merchants use them to advertise shopping areas and specialty stores.



Seasons are popular, you can often find Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter banners as well as holidays such as Christmas or the 4th of July.



Local sports teams are promoted letting visitors know this is Cardinal or Tiger country! Oooo...scary! (ha ha...)



Yes, there are probably countless examples of banners like these. If you stop and take the time to look around, you'll see their welcoming messages almost everywhere.

Here's another one. Wow, it's black! That's definitely different. It's advertising something, let's see, "2008" something, something..."Race Riot". Wait, what?






Ok, on a serious note, the referenced race riot was a dark time in our burg's history. But, it spurned the formation of the NAACP, so something positive did come from it.

Well, in addition TO this blog post!

As spring moves into summer, many people are completing their "spring cleaning" both inside the home as well as outside. We recently cleaned up all the leaves and dead brush from our yard producing 4 bags of natural yard waste for the trash company to pick up.

Of course, one may remember that these natural yard waste bags are not free nor are the stickers you have to have affixed to them (MMeM Vol. 4 Issue 19). However, the city allows for 1-2 free pick ups a year when you still have to have the bags, but not the stickers. Of course, I always manage to miss this opportunity.

Anyway, we had 4 bags of yard waste. I have to say, I felt pretty good about that kind of production. "There", I thought, a job well done.

And then, I drove past this guy's house.








Are you kidding me? You have a yard smaller than mine. What, did you pick up leaves in the Shawnee National Forrest all week and bring them home?

Last time, I had 6 bags.



Big freaking deal now I guess. Thanks a lot Mr. Over-Achiever.

Jerk.

A while ago, I was asked to run to the store to pick up a few items for an upcoming family dinner. More specifically, I was told that we needed a soup bone for use in a soup of all things.

While shopping for the soup bone, it occurred to me that I had no idea what a soup bone was or how to pick one out. Was it pork, beef? I always knew there was a section of the meat cases that housed the unmentionables, i.e. pigs feet, ears, joints, and organs. However, I never spent much time perusing that area due to the gross out factor.

Anyway, I found what appeared to be soup bones or at least they were bones with very little usable meat on them. Now, the selection of the best one for the money. Naturally, bigger is better. So, I got this...

Apparently, this was too big...as if that is ever even possible about anything. Supposedly, something about it would be too overpowering for the development of the soup.

Here was what I SHOULD have purchased:

And here is a side by side comparison of my soup bone, which was the better bargain by the way, and the "correct" soup bone(s):

I guess the lesson to be learned here is that bigger is not always better.

I don't really believe that though.