Tuesday, January 07, 2020

Before the Rain Came

Kicked off a grey morning with breakfast and getting the monthly cleaning done. Did the bathroom and the kitchen, then vacuumed. The bathroom wasn't really that bad, but I spent a lot of time baking and cooking for the holidays in the kitchen that month and it was really grimy, especially the top of the oven. The vacuuming was also really bad with fuzz balls coming off a new pair of sleep socks Amanda gave me.

Charlie and his two little dogs came upstairs while I was in the kitchen to deliver a package. I also finally got around to mentioning that the front door light had gone out. He did fix it, and it works fine now. The package turned out to be Lauren's older copies of fan-made Perfect Strangers season sets on DVD and almost all of the books in The Cat Who... mystery novel series. I've read almost all of the latter, but not in years. I might check out a few again, just for old time's sake.

Finished the Magic School Bus set while I cleaned. "Work Out" has the kids preparing Ms. Frizzle for the Teacher-athalon against muscle-bound gym teacher Mr. Sinew (Dan Marino). They don't think she has a chance, until she sends them into her muscles to show them just how air circulates and how important it is for your muscles to get air in order to keep working.

Phoebe "Gets Planted" when Ms. Frizzle turns her into a bean plant right before the kids' production of Jack and the Beanstalk. Shy Phoebe wants to know why her little bean plant didn't grow. She learns that plants need not only water and dirt, but sunlight to grow and make food...and that neither plants nor kids grow if they keep their leaves rolled and hide from the light.

Ms. Frizzle and the kids are thrilled when someone sends them a box of cocoa beans from their very own tree in the Amazon, only to discover that the tree has produced no beans. They travel "In the Rain Forest" to figure out what happened. Dorothy Ann and Tim, the designated "Rain Forest Inspectors," learn about the importance of ecosystems as they try to figure out why fussy Inspector 47's (Matt Frewer) cocoa trees won't grow fruit.

The bus "Rocks and Rolls" after ice gets into Arnold's new sculpture of their town's founder and sends it crashing down the mountain. The class and the bus follow it. learning about erosion and what water does to rocks when they get going in the process.

The "Holiday Special" is a riff on It's a Wonderful Life. Wanda is looking forward to attending the local performance of The Nutcracker. She's so upset when Arnold accidentally recycles the toy she was going to give to get in, she wishes recycling had never been invented. Ms. Frizzle and her friend Murph (Dolly Pardon) use the bus to show Wanda and the kids how overrun with garbage their town would get if we didn't recycle.

The show didn't really change much in its third season, other than occasionally expanding on the kids' personalities. What I love about this one is how well it's dated. While there's a few scientific concepts here or there that have changed, for the most part, this is still used to teach science to kids to this day and remains charming and enjoyable.

Switched to Match Game while eating a quick lunch. Gary Burgoff is still around, joining Brett, Gene, and Richard in answering strange questions. Went on to Classic Concentration as I got organized. A young college girl tried her best, but just couldn't get through the bonus round. The boy who won after her did better, winning one car and just missing a second.

Headed out around 2. It was getting even darker as I made my way down Newton Lake Park. They were surprisingly busy for the cold and clammy weather. I passed a woman with one big golden retriever barking like crazy at a man trying to hold back five or six huge dogs on one multi-leash and several packs of Canadian geese looking for snacks.

The Haddon Township Library was a lot quieter. A lot of people must have taken out DVDs over the weekend. The return rack was overloaded with discs, to the point where they were two rows deep. It surprised me when I managed to fit three-fourths of them on the shelves. Didn't take anything out this week. I want to explore Roku and Disney Plus and have discs I ordered online to watch.

Target wasn't any busier when I dropped by to pick up sugar and eggs. They have the cheapest price on sugar in the area, and while their egg prices aren't as good as Dollar General's, they're better than the Acme's. I grabbed them, paid for them at the self-checkout lines, and got out.

It started to rain just as I crossed the White Horse Pike. Good thing the Pike wasn't busy, despite it being rush hour. I dashed home as quickly as I could. The rain started to pick up as I arrived, and it's continued, sometimes noisily, for most of the night.

Went straight into writing when I got home. The cozy little shop in a nondescript building is jammed full of books and papers. It's owned by Bill (Cullen), an old friend of Gene's and a former wizard of the Summerlands court. He fled after Malade invaded and opened his shop. He's also keeping an eye on his best customer, a woman who teaches at the local school...a tall, thin woman named Marcia (Wallace) who comes in with books and asks him to borrow more.

Broke for dinner at 6:30. Had a ham steak and defrosted broccoli and cauliflower florets while watching more Match Game. Moved on to Sale of the Century while I made Pumpkin Triple Chip "Old School" Muffins. They're still doing the End of the Summer teen tournament. This time, a girl who enjoyed studying philosophy, a science geek, and a cheerleader who wanted to prove she was more than a pretty face went head-to-head. To my delight, the cheerleader not only won the game, but aced the bonus round and picked up a pair of scooters. She was loud - I guess she's too used to yelling out cheers - but very enthusiastic and obviously enjoyed showing what she could do.

Let's Make a Deal ran while I the muffins were in the oven. Monty tried selling a car three times, but almost everyone ended up taking money. He did better in the final deal, selling appliances to a woman dressed in yellow baby-doll pajamas carrying a Cabbage Patch Kid and a Madrid vacation and luggage to a woman baseball player.

Finished the night after a shower with The Harvey Girls. I go further into this rustic western vehicle for Judy Garland at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

The Harvey Girls

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