Rain Dazed

It was raining cats, dogs, pigs, and Wookies when I got up this morning. Not the most pleasant start to the day. I brightened things up a bit with breakfast and Tiny Toon Adventures. We're  not the only ones dealing with bad weather. In "Rainy Daze," Buster and Babs also think of ways to amuse themselves during storms. In the first story, Buster is Montana Max's much-abused rent-a-friend, until he figures out a way to turn the tables. Babs is solo in the second story. She turns a rainy afternoon into one of adventure by just letting her considerable imagination run wild. The third segment has both bunnies escaping the constant rain by burying their way out. Like Bugs, their left turn takes them into trouble, in this case rescuing an Arctic seal from a female poacher.

Worked on writing for the next few hours. Leia helps Charles repair the Falcon while Cedric fusses over Henry's burned arm. A week later, Leia finds Henry looking over the charts, preparing their course for Cloud City. She finally gets him to admit that yes, he's the Crimson Hawk, and yes, he and Luke are the ones who rescued her and have been helping the people of Naboo. Henry rescues Wookies because Charles is his dear friend. He once saved him from slavers and is now trying to help his family. He's about to tell her why he's helping Luke when Cedric shows up unannounced. The Falcon's flying again. Henry never does tell Leia Luke's secret, but he does get a kiss on the cheek from her.

Did a few Popeye cartoons while having a spinach, mushroom, and cheese omelet for lunch. "Popeye Meets Sinbad the Sailor," the first of three Technicolor featurettes the Fleischers did with the character, has him dealing with the boastful owner of an island filled with strange monsters. When Sinbad grabs Olive, Popeye goes after him and his menagerie.

The Fleischers put Popeye on the road in two shorts about cars and travel. Tired of Bluto's bullying on his ferry, Popeye, Olive, and Wimpy set out to build a bridge instead in "Bridge Ahoy!" Bluto's fancy new car outranks Popeye's little jalopy in "The Spinach Roadster." Olive learns that cars don't make the man when Bluto tries to put the moves on her.

It was still pouring when I left for work. Rose drove me there and back. I ended up getting a lecture from  her about not telling our parents what I was doing and not warning them about my financial state sooner. I wish she'd stop being a lawyer with me. She means well, but reminding me that I'm broke and have no real financial or apartment prospects is not either encouraging or making me feel better.

Spending two hours out in the rain rounding up carts didn't help, either. I didn't have a lot of help for most of that time. The head bagger had been outside literally all day and had no desire to go back out. Thankfully, another guy came in to help by 2:30. The rain slowed down a bit by then, too. I spent the second half of my shift bagging and drying off.

Rose picked me up, this time with a slightly grumpy Khai. (He'd apparently just woken up from a nap.) As soon as I got in, I changed, and decided I'd try something a little different for dinner. I found turkey legs on a good sale with a manager's coupon a while back. I rubbed two with maple-bacon spices and molasses and two with poultry spices and white cooking wine and added home-made stock to both. I think I overcooked them a little. The poultry spiced one I ate with boiled green beans for dinner tasted ok, but was a bit tough. At least the Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins I made later came out well.

Finished the night with two Marx Brothers movies. Their first movie was The Coconuts, which also happens to be the first traditional Broadway musical comedy adapted for the big screen. Groucho is the owner of a failing Florida hotel. He's hoping to make big bucks in the Florida land boom of the mid-late 20's, but con-men Chico and Harpo just make a mess of things. Meanwhile, an architect (Oscar Shaw) is hoping to court the daughter (Mary Eaton) of Groucho's only customer (Margaret Dumont), but two jewel thieves have set him up for stealing Dumont's diamond necklace/ The Marxes have to reveal the real thieves and bring the lovers together.

Monkey Business was their third movie, and their first written directly for the screen. It's also the only time we see them together as a quartet from the outset. They've stowed away on an ocean liner in herring barrels and are driving the ship's staff crazy. They only manage to avoid the brig by getting themselves hired out to two feuding gangsters. Groucho falls for the bored wife of one (Thelma Todd); Zeppo pursues the daughter of another. When the daughter is kidnapped by the rival group, all four of the Marxes spring into action!

As cute as Monkey Business is (especially in the first half), I prefer the more traditional The Coconuts, bad early talkie musical numbers and all. Neither are really top-drawer Marx Brothers, but they're fun to catch on TCM for fans of them or classic comedy.

And the rain's been off and on the rest of the night (though it sounds like it's off at the moment). There may be a little rain tomorrow, then not only are we not due to get any for a week, but it's going to get much hotter, into the 90's by late next week. Thank goodness. Lauren's visiting starting on Tuesday. A lot of what we do involves walking.