Ya Crazy Galoot

Some words just sound good. For reasons unknown to me I just never get tired of hearing the word "GALOOT". It's even fun to say it.

Upon doing a search of "GALOOT" I stumbled across the Online Etymology Dictionary. Typing galoot into the search box returned the following information:

galoot
"awkward or boorish man," 1812, nautical, "raw recruit, green hand," originally a sailor's contemptuous word for soldiers or marines, of uncertain origin. "Dictionary of American Slang" proposes galut, Sierra Leone creole form of Spanish galeoto "galley slave." Perhaps rather Dutch slang kloot "testicle," klootzaak "scrotum," used figuratively as an insult.

Interesting! And to think Yosemite Sam used the word all the time. If you want to hear Yosemite click on button 4 - Crazy Galoot from SoundBoard

Louis B. Mayer used the word "galoot" when referring to Spencer Tracy in the following quote, "What do we need another galoot for? We've already got Wallace Beery" -- Louis B. Mayer, upon finding out that Irving Thalberg had hired Tracy to join MGM. (Quote comes from the IMDb entry for Spencer Tracy.)

Why I even learned that Carl Sandburg and Sinclair Lewis used "galoot" in their works. Bartleby. com had 4 references that I found.

Wow! I never realized that Yosemite Sam was so well read!

© 2008 Barry T Horst


This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday-It's All The Same

Somewhere in the world today it's already tomorrow. It's like I am speaking from the past. COOL! I am writing this post this morning at approximately 9 AM on a Wednesday. Someone in Melbourne, Australia will read it at the moment of posting, which would be around 2 AM on Thursday. I know this because I have looked at The World Clock page. For this reader, they will be reading during their today and my tomorrow. WOW!

For others their today is my tomorrow. I Think! I suppose that would work if it is Midnight here and 11 PM in the next time zone. Yeah, that will work. I like the saying, "Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?" I think there is a corollary statement to this that goes something along these lines: Tomorrow never gets here. When tomorrow arrives it is today and we have to wait another day for tomorrow. Also, when tomorrow arrives as today it makes today yesterday. So if tomorrow is today and today is yesterday does that make tomorrow yesterday and if it does what happened to today?

You know I was looking again at The World Clock page. I noticed that there are several areas in the world that have time zones that are 30 minutes different rather than 1 hour different from their neighbors. Some examples are: Adelaide, Darwin, Kabul, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, St. John's, Tehran, and Yangon. But what's up with places like Chatham Island in New Zealand? They are 45 minutes different, or 15 minutes depending upon your perspective. Another city that is Kathmandu in Nepal. Does it take 15 minutes longer to get to these places or maybe the sunlight reaches them 45 minutes faster. I don't know. But I am sure that the reason lies in a logical reason that is buried somewhere in history or tradition or historical tradition or the tradition of history.

If you want to see some good sites for time zones you might try worldtimezone.com, Time Zone Check, or Time Ticker. One thing I've found though is that they do not all agree. It is fun though. Enjoy

© 2008 Barry T Horst


This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

A Souper Candle????

Chris and I went shopping earlier today. We stopped in at the Dollar General in Hewitt. I was looking at candles. It's kind of fun to smell them and see how close the scent is to what they describe. I came across a candle I've never seen nor smelled. It was a Campbell's Tomato Soup Candle that sells for $2. I don't mind seeing it again. But I don't want to smell it again. EVER! It is supposed to smell like tomato soup. Chris said if she wanted to to smell tomato soup she would just take a can out and make it. Then she could have it for lunch. At least you can eat the soup, you can't eat the candle. If you don't believe me the picture of the candle is below. Don't try to smell it though. I couldn't find the right html or javascript to make it come through.

I wonder if they will ever make a Chicken Noodle Soup candle?

© 2008 Barry T Horst


This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

A Few Random Memories of New Years Past

Happy New Year to all.

This is truly the beginning of a great new year. The new year can be a new beginning for all of us. We can leave all the baggage behind that we picked up through 2007 and start anew.

I think we all start a new year with big expectations, looking forward to making changes for the better. This is a grand goal. I hope that all of us can do this. However, it takes more than a few simple ticks of the clock, or a ball falling in Times Square to do this. All of us have to want to change in our heart. then practice this change until it is now longer practice but "old hat". Unfortunately, many that started with grand intentions will slowly, imperceptibly slip back into old habits because for many of us, our situations have not changed. WOW!~This is getting to be deep. Let's move onto another subject.

I had to go to Hillcrest Hospital yesterday to make a payment. I drove by the house where I lived while in junior high and high school. Since it was New Year's Eve, it brought back a lot of memories. My parent's would always have a get together (Polite word for party) with a lot of the friends from church and work. My parents spent most of the day preparing, cleaning, cooking, and cleaning some more. For the most part I stayed out of the way. [Side note to something that is coming up--My mother loved to do crafts. She decided one day she would make some candle holders that looked like tiki torches for the yard. She used these for years. She still had them when she passed away 12 years ago. I don't have them now.] While I generally stayed out of the way, it was my responsibility to place these "tiki torches" at intervals along the sidewalk. Later, just before the festivities got under way, I was in the yard trying to light all of these.

Then people would start arriving. When I was in my early teens I stayed in my room during most of the party until on of the football games came on. Then I went to the den where the men were playing dominoes and watching the game. It seems that the game was the Bluebonnet Bowl from Houston. As I got older I spent less time at the house for the party because I had to spend more time with my friends. Regardless of my age my mother still expected me to place the "torches" in the ground and light them. By the time I was in Baylor I worked on New Year's Eve and Day, but I still put the "torches" in until my father passed away, which is when the parties stopped. Every New Years Eve I think of those parties and the good times that were had by all at them.

A year or two later, still at Baylor, we had one of our New Year's Eve ice storms. We had freezing rain, sleet, and snow until the entire city was shut down. I couldn't go to work because no one would be out shopping. I was trapped in my apartment. Just me and my cat. My roommate had gone home for the holidays. Thank goodness I had cable TV. Not cable TV like we have now. This cable TV from the 70's in Waco, TX. It was 12 channels. One channel was a "Weather" channel. It had a camera that panned across a thermometer, anemometer, and wind direction indicator. High tech stuff for Waco, TX in the 70's I guess. Another channel was a "Movie" channel. It showed a variety of 8 or 9 movies daily and changed the times for each movie daily for one week. After a week the movies would be changed. High tech stuff for Waco, TX in the 70's I guess. After that our channel choices were Channel 6 (NBC) and Channel 10 (CBS), both from Waco-Temple. The other available channels were 4 (CBS), 5 (NBC), 8 (ABC), 11(Independent), and 13 (PBS). The movie channel I mentioned earlier was on 12. I really can't remember where the weather dials were; I think maybe they were on 9. That leaves 3 channels that I believe were random scrolling messages and advertising for Cablevision, the provider at the time. Can you imagine being trapped in your house for a couple of days now and that is all you had to watch; no computer, no DVD's, no VCR's, no 200+ cable channels, no cellphones. And we thought we were civilized and living in the lap of luxury then? (If you are from Waco and remember the cable "from the day" write me and I'll add to the post.)

Better go now! It is late or early-Depends upon your perspective on this New Year's Day.

Once again, I would like to wish all of you a Wonderful and Blessed New Year!

© 2008 Barry T Horst



This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

This Just Can't Be Right!!

I snapped this picture today. I suppose this Burger King should "resolve" to check their spelling and then be "resolute"in correcting their sign.

© 2007 Barry T Horst



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Retro Goes Only So Far

I was flipping through the latest issue of Old House Journal yesterday. I came across an ad for Big Chill Retro Appliances. For those of you that do not know, there is a massive business in this country and others helping the world take a step back in time. I decided to see what I could find.

I began my search in earnest at the Big Chill web-site. I came across fridges and stoves that certainly looked out of the 50's but were equipped with many of the amenities that we come to expect today (Ice-maker, Frost-Free, Radiant burners under glass, etc.). Many of the colors are truly retro. Although, I am not quite sure about red and orange. The web-site indicated they also had dishwashers but I never located them except on the Price Sheet page and in a few of the customers pictures.

I continued my search for retro-appliances and wound up at Elmira Stove Works in Elmira, Ontario. They have a complete line of 1850's style stoves to 1950's style models. They also have refrigerators and wall ovens. ESW advertised dishwasher panels. Apparently they do not make the dishwashers, only a panel to place on the front. At first I thought that's probably what Big Chill did. I looked back at their site for the price, $1695. Nope, that's got to be a real dishwasher. ESW shows a microwave also. Their web-site says the microwave is a "...deluxe 2.1 cu.ft...that matches the entire Elmira line." At least it is not as big as the first commercial microwave which was introduced in 1947 and was nearly 6 feet tall and weighed in at over 750 pounds. The first domestic microwave was introduced in 1957.

Moving to something smaller, I found a line of small appliances by Hamilton Beach that are somewhat reminiscent of some small appliances from the 1950's. The line is called Hamilton Beach Eclectrics.

Doing the research I found a fellow that made a scooter out of old appliance parts. I thought it was interesting and so I included it here. Give "The Retro-Future Scooter" a look.

For the past few years I have been seeing a lot of radios and phonographs designed to look like their distant cousins from the 1930's to 1950's. Of course, these have been modernized with current electronics as well as current features. Imagine, a radio from the 1930's with a cassette slot on the side or a CD slot on the front. Now they even make a retro phonograph with CD burner so you can record your old vinyl to CD. Cool!! If you would like to check out some more retro radios, clocks, juke boxes, etc. try CAMZ Retro, Inc, Retro Wonders, or Crosley Radio.

If you need other items for the kitchen, say a diner booth or some boomerang laminate then you need to visit Bars & Booths. You could spend like forever on their site looking at all they carry. Also, they have a page with links to several of their other web sites devoted to retro items. Click here and scroll to the bottom for the links. You can also try Lehman's. They offer many retro items. They stock various items ranging from hand crank ice cream freezers and butter churns to old fashioned steel cut nails and spoke pointers. You see, much of their trade is directed to the Amish. To help out with the retro feeling in the bedroom you can get an iron bed at American Iron Beds.

When you are almost finished with the decorating and remodeling and need a rest you can visit Kiddie Records Weekly and listen to many of the children's records from the 1940's and 1950's. Or visit Radio Spirits or Radio Lovers and listen to many of the radio shows from yesteryear. Another interesting site is Classic Themes.

I guess I'm through for the day. I suppose tomorrow I'll work on the bathroom and bring it up to retro specs. Would you like one hole or two? Do you prefer the Sear's catalogue or a corn cob? Or maybe just a chamber pot will do for the cold weather. Maybe that's taking this whole retro thing a little too far. I reckon I'll just pass and be content with the modern bathroom for now.

© 2007 Barry T Horst



This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.