I was reminded by Ace of Spades HQ that this is the 40th anniversary of a movie that probably could not be made today, although Django Unchained may have been the serious and un-comically blood-spattered version. Yes, indeedy, Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles debuted four decades ago, and certain western and cowboy tropes will never be the same, especially the scene of cowboys eating beans around the fire… which always reminds me of one of our innocent young lieutenants assigned to Det 8, Hill Combat Camera, during my assignment there. This one was especially innocent, having come from a sheltered background and done his ROTC time at Baylor University, where apparently they were such observant Methodists that they didn’t even know any rude cadence-count chants.
He also had a problem digesting MREs – they gave him such awful intestinal gas that no one wanted to share a pup-tent with him on field deployments. The major commanding at the Hill detachment heard of this, and waxed exceeding humorous, telling the young Lt. that it recalled the famous campfire scene … whereupon the innocent young Lt. looked totally blank and confessed that he had no idea what the major was talking about. The major immediately ordered him to rent Blazing Saddles from the nearest Blockbuster, to watch it in entirety over the weekend, and turn in a report to him on Monday.

Sigh. There is a website for Combat Camera – I have sent an email to the administrator, asking for log-in privileges. We’ll see. I guess it is a reflection of my experience as a broadcaster that I am much more interested in reconnecting with the Combat Camera units that I was assigned to, rather than any of the broadcast outlets. I will be sixty on the 21st of this month, and another two years will see me retired from the military for as long as I was in it.

Cold. It’s unnaturally cold here in Texas – has been for a good few weeks, off and on – even to the point of having to scrape ice off the windshield of the cars once or twice. I am fairly certain that I had some ice-scrapers in the glovebox of the Very Elderly Volvo, but I think that they went with the Volvo when I sold it, along with one or two other things in the trunk – like the roadside survival kit packed in a surplus ammo can. I definitely should have kept that; it may be still in the garage somewhere.

Ah, the garage. It’s packed full of stuff that Blondie brought home from her stint in the Corps, and additional stuff that she has bought at yard sales. There may be a small wandering black hole in there as well. We will have to sort out the garage one of these days … after sorting out some other stuff. Like the closets. We did make progress on the cupboard which houses the washer and dryer last week. The washing machine died, after twenty years of good service – and it turned out it was just easier to buy another one, from the provider of all quality appliances at cut-rate prices – the Scratch and Dent Superstore. Slightly dinged, or chipped – but usually brand-new. And they deliver, install and take away the old unit. We added some more wire shelving units to to hold cleaning supplies and sorted out a number of useless things which had gravitated there. Mose of them went straight to the trash can, and now the laundry closet is a thing of beauty to contemplate. Since it is too darned cold to work outside in the garden, we’re looking at indoor projects. The kitchen pantry closet is next. And that was my week…