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Echoes from the Loafers’ Club Meeting

Do you still have that book I gave you for your birthday?

Of course, I do. I just started reading it.

Well, it’s due back at the library next week.

Driving by Bruce’s drive

I have a wonderful neighbor named Bruce. Deep thoughts occur as I drive past his drive. I miss those hoses that dinged when I drove up to the gas pumps and an attendant either scurried or shuffled out to fill my gas tank, clean the windshield, check the oil, radiator and tires, give directions and tell a joke. As I motored by a business that once was a gas station, I could picture that old enterprise in my mind. I wished my phone had a photo of the old gas station. A majority of people (80%) have photos or videos on their phones that they haven’t looked at since the day they took them. www.mixbook.com/inspiration/states-that-phlush-away-memories. I take cellphone photos, but I take most of my photos with a Sony camera. I enjoy taking photos and have been lucky enough to have them published in newspapers, magazines, calendars, brochures, books, etc. How good am I at labeling those photos? I’m pathetic. I am overwhelmed, underwhelmed and whelmed adjacent by the thought of completing that task. Reluctance to caption photos is a family tradition. About once a year, my mother sat down and put names to a few photos and then life got in the way. That left us with many images of mysterious strangers. 

I tend to ramble.

The road can be bumpy even when it’s not a road. My flight had been delayed because a couple of planes had arrived on time and gummed up the works. I sat near my departure gate and read a few chapters of a book. It didn’t seem long before I was moving along at 518 mph into a 43-mph headwind at an altitude of 35,011 feet. The outside temperature was -60°F. Everything was copacetic until I heard the person in the next seat on the airplane say, “The only time I wear adult diapers is when I fly.”

Signs of the times

A bumper sticker on a minivan carrying a Missouri license plate: I used to be cool.

On the wall of the dining area of Bridge Community Church in Albert Lea: The fondest memories are made when gathered around the table.

I saw a funny sign that read: The first rule of passive aggressiveness is … you know what, never mind. It’s fine.

I’ve learned

I’ve forgotten most of the things I thought I’d never forget.

Memory Lane doesn’t require a GPS.

Bees feed on flowers; wasps feed at our picnics.

A cloud of gnats and mosquitoes doesn’t provide much shade, but it’s still shade.

I’ve been traveling a bit, which leads to time spent in public restrooms. I’ve learned that the pandemic didn’t teach men they should wash their hands.

I watched a robin weighing less than 3 ounces build a 7-ounce nest with its bill. We build things and then get a bill.

I don’t know who put the bomp in the bomp bah bomp bah bomp or who put the ram in the rama lama ding dong or who put the bop in the bop shoo bop shoo bop or who put the dip in the dip da dip da dip.

Bad jokes department

What’s orange and sounds like a parrot? A carrot.

What is the ending of everything? The letter “g.”

What nut always has a cold? Cashew.

Why was the mathematician late getting to school? He took the rhombus. 

Nature notes

For centuries, scientists speculated that fish eggs reached isolated lakes and ponds by hitching rides on water birds’ feathers or feet. But findings published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, the mode of transport for at least some eggs could be more intimate: the new research provides the first evidence that soft-membraned fish eggs, eaten and pooped out by birds, can hatch into viable young.

Is it a pigeon or a dove? Pigeons and doves belong to a bird family called “Columbidae.” There is no clear distinction between the names. Today, I saw rock pigeons, mourning doves and Eurasian collared-doves. Most pigeons are larger than doves and are generally more colorful. Doves travel with their mates and pigeons roam around in flocks. Both feed their young a liquid called crop milk or pigeon milk that is produced by both parents. Racing pigeons have been able to sustain a velocity of 90 mph. 

Meeting adjourned

Keep being kind in mind.