Wild Kingdom

Grocery shopping day. I was thinking about a funny conversation I had with my mom when I was a preschooler. We were at the grocery store and I watched her pay the cashier. The cashier gave her change. When we left the register...

Me: Why did you give money to the lady and then the lady gave money to you?
Mom: I gave her too much money, so she gave me some back.
Me: Why didn't you just give her the right amount?

Right?! Ha! Kid logic. I was quite perplexed.

There is an outbreak of flattened animals at our house. Not any large ones, thank goodness- just tinies. Still disturbing.

Let's look!!

Lizard I ran over in the driveway. We had another one inside the garage door jamb, but we got rid of him.

Froggie. He just dried out on the screen porch. Not sure what's up with that.

Um. MOUSE IN THE BACK DOOR! Gross. I thought he was another lizard.

Sometimes I think we live too close to nature.

Okay! Let' do this weekend's Saturday 9.

Saturday 9: A Summer Place (1960)
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This song highlights the soundtrack from the movie A Summer Place, which is about two teenage lovers named Molly and Johnny. Did you ever have a youthful summer romance? If so, what was his/her name?

I never had a short-term romance. I was either dating around or involved with a long-term boyfriend, but nothing really in between.

2) The "summer place" of the song/movie is a resort along the Maine coast. What "summer place" are you day dreaming about this winter morning?
Lounging on the deck of a cruise ship at sea.

3) In the movie, Johnny was played by Troy Donahue, who is remembered as nice looking but not terribly talented. Can you think of one of today's actors who you could describe as "nice looking but not terribly talented?"

Pierce Brosnan

4) Molly is played by Sandra Dee, a perky blonde who was one of 1960's bankable movie stars. Two other blondes -- Doris Day and Debbie Reynolds -- joined Sandra Dee in the Top 10. The only brunette to sell a lot of movie tickets that year was Elizabeth Taylor. Do you believe men find blondes more attractive than brunettes or redheads? 

Not at all. Each of us has certain physical attributes we find attractive. There's a stereotype that blondes are more promiscuous and sexually adventurous than other gals, so maybe that has an effect on who some men approach, but I don't think the majority of men find blondes "prettier."

5) "A Summer Place" was by far the best-selling record of 1960. Also in 1960, two brothers in Ypsilanti, Michigan, opened a pizza place called Dominick's. That was the beginning of a chain now known as Domino's. What's the last food you had delivered to your front door?
Pizza Hut

6) In 1965, one of the brothers sold his share of the business to his brother for cash so he could buy a VW Beetle. Tell us about a time you had buyer's remorse.
I wish I hadn't bought the Keurig model we have now. It's noisy and slow to warm up. At least it works! It's the first one we've owned that didn't stop working within a year.

7) In 1960, novelist Ernest Hemingway returned to the United States from Spain and settled in Ketchum, Idaho. Tell us about the last book you read. Was it a novel or non-fiction?
It gave me instructions for use and care of my new Le Creuset pan. Non-fiction. Very short. Lots of pictures.

8) In December, 1960, John F. Kennedy, Jr. was baptized in the Georgetown University Chapel. His godparents were Charles and Martha Bartlett, the couple who originally introduced young John's famous parents. Do you have godparents?

My godparents are my mother's mom and dad.

9) Random question: You're at dinner with a married couple who begins to fight. Would you intercede and try to make peace? Or would you just sit back stay out of it?

I try to lighten the general mood with a quip of some sort, to provide an easy escape for one or both of them, should they wish to take advantage of it. I try not to get involved in the argument itself, which would be a bad idea!