Saturday, April 15, 2017

The Magic of Spring

Began a cloudy, somewhat chilly day with Rankin-Bass' first Easter special Here Comes Peter Cottontail. Peter (Casey Kasem) competes with the nasty Irontail (Vincent Price) to become the new chief Easter Bunny. Thanks to his oversleeping on Easter morning, he loses the position. With the help of peddler Seymour S. Sassafras (Danny Kaye) and Caterpillar pilot Anton (Kaye), Peter travels through a year's worth of holidays, giving away eggs and dodging Irontail's plots.

Work was on-and-off busy for pretty much the entire day. I was a bit surprised. I figured it would be far busier than it was. I helped with carts briefly, but I mostly bagged and stacked baskets. Got stuck in the register three times...including in the last three minutes of my shift. Good thing I did have a relief who was on time.

Not a bad schedule this week. All early and short shifts, 9 and 10 AM. The head bagger went on vacation this week (along with at least 6 others). In good news, slightly more hours, and the early days mean I'll be able to get a lot done this week. On the other hand, the first day off isn't until Wednesday (but I do have that day and Friday off).

Needed a fairly big order this week. Had coupons for that Chobani yogurt (went with Almond Coco Loco and Apple Crisp Twist) and Dole pineapple cups. Bought a gift card as a birthday present for Rose (her birthday was last Friday). No oranges on sale this week - went with grapefruit. Restocked apples, bananas, grape tomatoes, canned chicken, canned apricots, canned mandarin oranges, skim milk, eggs, butter, brown sugar, cereal (Quaker was on on sale - went with Cinnamon Oatmeal Squares), regular sugar, cooking oil, honey, plain Acme natural brand Greek yogurt, and peanut butter.

Did two episodes of Max & Ruby while changing and getting organized when I got in. "Max's Chocolate Chicken" is the prize for their back yard Easter egg hunt. Ruby finds the most eggs, but that doesn't mean she gets the prize. Ruby and Louise are the proprietors of "Ruby's Beauty Shop." Max is their reluctant first customer...at least, reluctant until he discovers their hair dye in wild colors. "Max Drives Away" when Ruby wants to give him a healthy breakfast. She follows his trail, but he keeps alluding her.

Put on the other disc as I cleaned up and tried to stick the Monopoly game pieces on the board. You're supposed to lick them and stick them, but they never want to stay! "Ruby's Easter Bonnet" will be the highlight of Bunny Scout Easter Bonnet competition. Max just wants to teach his frog to hop on cue. Ruby and Louise want to color eggs, but Ruby's brother wants them to lead "Max's Easter Parade." At the Bunny Scout Egg Hunt, "Max the Easter Bunny" keeps hiding the eggs the girls find. They think they're finding a ton of eggs, but get quite a surprise when they check their baskets.

Broke to work on editing my current story for a few hours. I also got a vague idea for the next Resistance Kids story, inspired by The Last Jedi trailer, "The Last Good Cop." Rey is now the first cadet at Luke Waller's police school. Luke's not sure he wants to keep training cops, especially if they all go bad, like Ben did. Luke has cause to worry. While on a mission for Leia, Poe sees his beloved black sports car be blown sky-high. The First Order is back on the streets, thanks to a mystery person posting bail. They first grab Finn and try to force him into their group. Then Hank Solo disappears, and his shop is ransacked...

While I may do a few shorter Resistance Kids stories and fairy tales in the interim, I'm probably not going to start anything major with this series until we find out more about the next movie. Call this my version of a "teaser trailer."

Broke for leftovers for dinner and a bit of Kirby's Epic Yarn. Tried Yin Yarn again, but I still couldn't get enough beads for the extra rounds, even after restarting five times in a row. Finally gave up and went back to the Whispy Woods to get the one item I hadn't been able to find before.

Ended the night with some favorite vintage Easter specials on YouTube. Brother Bear's upset that winter seems to be lasting forever in The Bernstein Bears' Easter Surprise. Mama told him he'll have a big surprise at Easter, but Easter doesn't seem to be coming. While Papa Bear decides to be the Easter Bunny himself, Brother goes to Boss Bunny to ask him why he's quit.

The Bernstein Bears' Easter Surprise

This one is from 1983, and seems to be based after the Paas Easter egg dye characters, with an unusual Pennsylvania Dutch country setting:

Peter and the Magic Egg

To my knowledge, this cutsey-but-catchy Silly Symphony is Disney's only Easter short to date:

Funny Little Bunnies

Here's a few more I don't know as much about, but are currently available on YouTube if you're interested:

A Family Circus Easter
A Chucklewood Easter (Buttons and Rusty Meet the Easter Bunny)
Easter Is
The Fat Albert Easter Special
Easter Egg Mornin'

Here's hoping all of you have a beautiful Easter (or had a beautiful Passover)! The rest of you, enjoy  your spring.

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