Those Guys In Mexico

I spent the morning neck-deep in spring cleaning. I've been meaning to clean out under the sink and in the "pantry" (two shelves between the sink and the stove) forever. I think I had mice both in the pantry and under the sink this winter. While I swept up that mess and reorganized the contents, I ran two more Faerie Tale Theatre episodes. "The Emperor's New Clothes" has con artists Art Carney and Alan Arkin taking vain ruler Dick Shawn for a ride when they insist they have a cloth for him that only fools can see. "The Dancing Princesses" are six lovely royal ladies who somehow manage to get out of their locked room every night to attend balls. At his wits end, their exasperated father declares that any man who can find out how his daughters wear out their dancing slippers will win one. A soldier tries out his luck...with a little help from a gift from a strange old woman.

Headed south of the border again as I moved to scrubbing the counter and stove top. Three Amigos! is one of my favorite 80s comedies. The title characters are a trio of actors who starred in a series of silent action melodramas about three Mexican heroes (Martin Short, Steve Martin, Chevy Chase) who come to the aid of the peasantry. A young woman sees one of their films and thinks they'll be perfect to save her village from real bandits. The Amigos, now out of work, think this is their opportunity back to the big time...until they realize the bandits are real, and are really trying to kill them and the villagers. When the bandits loot the village, the Amigos realize that they now have an opportunity to become heroes for real...and show the village that they have it in them to be heroes, too.

A hilarious and underrated John Landis spoof of westerns and silent melodramas. There's cute gags here, there, and everywhere - my favorite was the Singing Bush. Randy Newman did some nice songs, too. My sisters used to go around the house doing Short and Martin's "My Little Buttercup" routine. If you love the cast or western comedies, take a look around for this one.

I ran a couple of Disney black and white shorts that were also set in Mexico and the Wild West while I made Chicken, Pasta, and Vegetable soup for lunch and got ready for work. "The Galloping Gaucho" was Mickey's third cartoon made and second released. It was also the first "Mickey rescues Minnie" short. Here, gaucho Mickey has to save bar dancer Minnie from nasty bandito Pete. "Two Gun Mickey" is a western variation on the same theme. Pete's still a bandit, but Mickey's now a cowboy, and Minnie's traded the shimmy for a cowgirl hat and is far feistier than usual.

Work was busy through most of the night, especially during rush hour. The night went very fast. By 8PM, it slowed down enough that I spent a lot of that hour helping the other cashiers and managers up front shelve candy. There were no major problems; I found out why when I emerged to a wet world. The streets were damp but not soaked. It must have rained sometime during the evening, though to my knowledge, it hasn't since then.

There was a card from Mom waiting for me when I got home. That was a surprise. She sent me a birthday card, and there won't be any reason to send me another card for months. It contained a letter with a quote about hope...and a line insisting that she believes in me. Aww. That's so sweet. I did e-mail her to thank her tonight; I hope she sees it before or after work tomorrow.