USN59-79

I am sometimes confused how we use acronyms to describe relationships here on CC. For example, is DS a dear sister or dear son? Not sure what BFF means - best female friend? I assume that somewhere on CC there is a listing of these. Can someone point me to it? Thanks. Ray

Thanks for that enjoyable Roger Miller song. Think I have heard it, but didn't remember it. I was trying to think of some of the oldest things I remember. One was when our next door neighbor put up signs for Dewey for president and my father saying they can't be good people if they won't vote for Truman. Guess things never change...

Two things: First, I just found that we in the U.S. can now order an additional eight free home covid tests at www.CovidTests.gov. Just placed my order. Second, I am pretty old, but didn't get the connection between buffalos and roller skating posted by @XBGuy. Any clues? Ray

The W.C. Field quote reminds me of a conversation I once had with some Chinese friends from Taiwan. We were talking about politics and I asked him why there were so few Chinese politicians in the U.S. He said "We Chinese treat all politicians equally; with an equal amount of contempt." Have to admit that I am somewhat of a pack rat. Last week I found a box of magazines in our storage room that a friend gave me about 20 years ago. About 40 magazines, mostly Life and Life International dated mostly from 1961 to 1969. Have been reading one a day and really enjoy reading about international affairs from that time. Not sure what to do with them after I finish reading them - probably put them back in the box and hope whoever finds them will enjoy them. Ray

I enjoy the fact that I learn something new almost every day on the Daily. I had never heard of Poire-William, so I looked it up. It showed a bottle with a pear in it; no way that pear could get into that bottle. Looked farther, and found that they actually put the pear blossom in the bottle and let the pear grow to maturity in the bottle before they then add the liquor to the bottle. I expect the bottle with the pear is much more expensive than the bottle without the pear. Ray

Fred Meyer. They used to have a flyer at the entrance so you could check the different prices. Not now.

Nice to see a library in these modern times.

We had a couple of dry days, so I got in some yard work. Yesterday I started up the lawn mower and mowed the yard, then used the battery operated weed wacker to clear the edges. Today I broke out the walk behind gasoline weed wacker and did the hillside behind our house and then the battery operated one for final trim. Feels good to get this done before it starts to rain again tonight. Then we went to a local market to buy some salmon and steak that was on sale. Their pricing is complicated. First they list a price, then the price with their store card. Then for a few things they list a price with a digital coupon, which you have to download and click before you leave home. Sounds kind of stupid, but if I can save a few bucks I will go for it. With the digital coupon the t-bone steak was $5.77 a pound, down from about twelve dollars; the salmon was $4.77 a pound. I noticed that my car was low on gas and heard on the news that we can expect to see $6.00 a gallon gas next month for the summer driving season, so I stopped in Costco to fill it up. Since I bought the car in 2017, I keep a notebook in it with all the gas fillups and miles driven. Was surprised (and happy) to notice that this is the first time I have added gas since January. The car is a Prius Prime, which gets 25 to 32 miles on its battery between charges at home and 90% of our driving is less than 25 miles around town. I have thought about getting a pure electric vehicle, but since we have an extra regular car to drive if necessary, I am not too concerned that the car companies seem to be dragging their heels on making one easily available. In other words, today was a good day! Ray

Both HAL and Princess are our go-to cruise lines; Elite on Princess and five star on HAL. I enjoy having a free mini-bar on embarkation and have always enjoyed having lunch in Alfredo's and the free but limited internet was all we needed to check our email every day or two. Those are some of the positives for Princess. However, the recent change where you have to book either a suite or the most expensive balcony cabin to get a love seat and coffee table in the cabin really turns me off. Can you imagine ordering breakfast in the room and having to sit on the bed to eat it? We have a couple of hundred days on the old Amsterdam with an inside cabin and of course it included a love seat and coffee table. We often take 30 to 60 day cruises with a lot of sea days, so a comfortable cabin is very important for us. My understanding is that Princess decided to remove the extra seating in cabins that already had it - possibly to encourage us to book a suite instead. Bad decision, as it has made me more likely to not book Princess.

Looks like we will have a mostly dry day for a change, so I will be able to do some yard work. Need to take care of the bare patches in the lawn with some seed and fertilizer mix I bought last week. Late yesterday I responded to the Daily with an error. @Quartzsite CruiserLenda mentioned the date of a picture was 1963 and I was sure the car in the background was a 1965. She gently corrected me that Impalas from 1962 to 1965 all had the same look in the rear. She is correct. Ray

A minor point, but to let you know I do pay attention. @Quartzsite Cruiser Lenda mentioned the picture of her paternal grandparents was probably taken in 1963. The car in the background is a 1965 Chevrolet Impala. Ray

Really enjoyed watching the Kentucky Derby today. Nice to see a horse come out of nowhere and win. Here is a picture of my father with one of our better horses, Mad Spasm in 1937 at Playfair Racetrack in Spokane, Washington. Incidentally, my mother once stated her idea of the race horse business: "Chicken one day and feathers the next!"

Spent some time watching the races preliminary to the Kentucky Derby. I grew up around thoroughbred racing. My father raced his horses at Longacres Race Track near Seattle in the 1930s. He worked for Boeing during the war, then he bought a 40 acre ranch in Ellensburg, Washington where he got back in the business. Had some brood mares and took the foals racing when they were 2 year olds. Raced at Longacres again, trained some other peoples horses and sold hay from Ellensburg at the race track. In the winter he boarded other people's horses. I cleaned a lot of stalls and walked a lot of hots as I grew up. When my brother and sister and I were out of high school he sold the ranch and went into racing full time. Sadly, he died of a heart attack while walking one of his horses at Golden Gate Fields, a race track near San Francisco. At least, he died doing what he enjoyed. Ray

I have enjoyed all the pictures of Maui. We have stopped there on cruises, but only walked around Lahaina. It has special meaning for me as my mother's family immigrated there and my mother was born in Lahaina in 1910. She later went to school and grew up in Honolulu. We lived about a mile from my elementary school; grades 1-3 in one room and 4-6 in the other. I often rode my bike. The school was in the country and had some stalls where you could keep your horse if you rode it. However, I don't remember anyone riding their horse to school.