A Rather Blustery Day

Began a sunny morning with breakfast and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. Daniel learns his mother's pregnant, and "The Tiger Family Grows." He's a little reluctant to be the dad when he and Katerina play Mom and Dad, but he finally realizes that he's ready to help take care of a new sibling. "Daniel Learns About Being a Big Brother" when he helps his parents set up the baby's room. He wants to keep some of his old things at first, until he realizes how much he's grown out of them.

Headed out to work shortly after the cartoon ended. Work began very well. I spent the first half of the day outside, pushing carts before the gale-force wind could fling them in the way of cars and rounding up the outside trash. More help came in during the afternoon...after which I was pulled and dropped in a register for the last hour. 

Jumped straight into grocery shopping after work. Had big online rewards coupons for free butter and eggs and a dollar off the order, and smaller ones for bananas, yogurt, and mayo. Ben & Jerry's pints are buy one, get one. I don't often do Ben & Jerry's because their ice creams are so full of bits and pieces, they tend to be too decadent for me. Cherry Garcia is only cherry ice cream and chocolate flakes, and the new Chocolate-Banana-Peanut Butter Cup didn't seem that bad. Found a bag of soft sugar cookies on the bakery clearance rack. Bought whole-grain tortilla chips for a recipe I intend to do next week. Restocked ground chicken, oranges, jam, canola oil, lime juice, and milk.

Mixed feelings on next week's schedule. In good news, no hours later than 5, and bagging all week except Saturday. In frustrating news, long hours all week except Saturday, including a 8 1/2 hour day on Wednesday. Wednesday is one of the head bagger's regular days off, and a lot of people may have taken this week off as well now that our vacation cycle's starting over.

Came home in time for the tail end of Super Password. The second-to-last puzzle included "Favorite" and "Year" as clues, leading Richard Moll to guess his then-Night Court castmate Selma Diamond. She was indeed in My Favorite Year (in a brief but very funny role as the wardrobe mistress), but the actual answer was Peter O'Toole. 

The only panelists I recognized on Tattletales were Patty Duke and her then-husband John Austin, but they actually came in third. The big winners were, rather amusingly, a nationally syndicated columnist and her producer ex-husband, the first divorcees to appear on the show. Press Your Luck was just as crazy. Whammies slammed everyone throughout the entire episode. The champ finally prevailed when the other woman Whammied out at the last minute. 

Worked on writing next. Ira all-but-threatens Richard, telling him in veiled comments what'll happen if he tries to dig too far into the railroad's holdings. Richard outwardly agrees with him, insisting he has no interest in anything but keeping bar fights from getting out of hand...but he has a gleam in his eyes...

Broke for dinner at 6:30. Had leftover ham with broccoli and pasta and a salad, with strawberry shortcake for dinner while watching Match Game '79. Everyone gave some rather unusual answers to "Afternoon __," ignoring the most obvious at the time...the hit song "Afternoon Delight." Elaine Joyce was equally concerned to answer "New Orleans __." 

Brian Billick, later the coach who lead the Ravens to a Super Bowl win, didn't have nearly as much luck on Match Game PM in 1977. In fact, his answers weren't very good. He never matched any of the panelists. The winner had her own trouble choosing an answer to "Madam __."

For some reason, they skipped way ahead to Thanksgiving week 1988 on Sale of the Century. Once again, it was a very close game; this time, one of the ladies pulled ahead in the Speed Round. She too had trouble in the Bonus Round.

Finished the night online with the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version of The Painted Hills, the last Lassie movie released by MGM. A kindly older prospector (Paul Kelly) discovers a vein of pure gold in the hills, intending to give it to the widow of his partner (Ann Doran) and her son (Gary Gray). He tries to give his faithful dog Shep (Lassie) to the kid, but the dog returns to him. His other partner (Bruce Cowling) kills him for the gold, then tries to poison the dog. Native healers bring Shep back from death, allowing her to lead the kid back to the hills and find out what really happened to that poor old prospector.

Genuinely enjoyed this one. Ok, so it was corny, the dialogue wasn't spectacular, and Cowling was a pretty obvious villain. There was gorgeous scenery in the real-life California hills (even in the scratchy public-domain print they viewed) and a tense story, and the Natives were treated surprisingly well for a western from the early 50's. Recommended if you're a fan of Lassie or the darker westerns popular in the early 1950's.