Friday, March 03, 2023

Trouble In the Rain

Got a late start with breakfast and Match Game '75. William Shatner and Broadway star Julie Harris join in  with some interesting answers to what Optimistic Oliver says when he accidentally cuts off his finger in the kitchen. There's also some of the answers for "Rick __" on the Audience Match, and Richard Dawson giving a young man who said he was a missionary for "family values," despite not having children himself, a hard time. 

Worked on writing for a while after that. Richard climbs on his mare, then asks Betty where Governor Goodson is and why he hasn't done more for the town. Betty says his main interest is his railroad; he wants land for his own holdings and for the train, but the townspeople won't leave. She also warns that Ira and Goodson are powerful men, whom even her husband is trying to work around. Richard claims he has no desire to cross them, but Betty doesn't see that gleam in his eye...

Had lunch while watching double episodes of Sheriff Callie's Wild West. Peck thinks his mule Clementine grew "Horsefeathers" when feathers seemingly get stuck to her body. He and Toby try to teach her to fly...but it turns out there's a more likely explanation as to where the feathers came from. Peccary miners Dirty Dan and Dusty are "My Brother's Sleeper" when they compete against each other in the town's rolling bed race. They get a little too competitive, trying to bump each other off the road...but when their antics result in Dusty and Toby getting in trouble, Dusty remembers that his brother is more important than any race.

Toby and Peck have even more trouble in "Here Comes the Sun." Spooked by nighttime noises on the prairie and Callie's scary story, they lasso the sun to bring it up earlier. That just makes everything hot and everyone cross when they can't sleep. They try to lasso the moon to cool things off...but the moon is made of cheese and melts! They finally tell Callie, who reminds the duo that you can't fix a mistake with another mistake. The town has "Bug Trouble" when a swarm of critters fly in after Farmer Stinky's rootberries. The townspeople are too busy bickering about the best way to pick a berry to do anything, until Callie insists on them working together.

Headed out to work shortly after the episode ended. I should have left earlier. It took me forever to get an Uber, and when I did get them, they didn't arrive for 11 minutes. Though it didn't take them long to get there once they did pick me up, I was still almost late to work.

Work was a royal pain in the rear. It's the beginning of the month. If people aren't using their government money, they're using government cards that said government hasn't adequately explained. I got stuck in express, too. At one point, I had to read off the numbers on some people's food stamp card, because it was so worn, it wouldn't run through the ATM. I thought I did it right, but it didn't work. I did it four times before they read off the numbers and went through. I was so embarrassed and felt so dumb, and I got them upset, too. 

And I'm furious about my schedule. First of all, that availability paperwork I gave them last week clearly stated I don't want to work past 7. I'm working until 7:30 on Sunday. Second, I have one day off this week - Tuesday, the day I asked off for my dental appointment - and two 8 1/2 hour days. I'm still working on a sore ankle! I wouldn't mind the increased hours if they'd spread things around and given me a second day off. This is ridiculous. At least six people took this week off. No clue why. There's nothing going on right now but March Madness. Our vacation time starts over in May, not April. 

Did grocery shopping after work. Bought Irish soda bread scones and pistachio muffins for work this week. They're having that buy four Nature Valley granola bars, get them for $1.99 sale again, so I grabbed four. (The sale also extends to Fiber One, but they were out of the bars I like there.) The Candy Snaps red grapes were still on sale, too. Picked more blood oranges while they're still in season. Remembered tissues this time...and forgot peanut butter.

Had an easier time picking up Uber going home. This time, despite it being rush hour, it only took me 9 minutes to get one. One of my customers mentioned earlier that it had started raining. It showered very lightly when I got out, but the streets were wet. The rain didn't pick up again until well after I'd gotten home. It's poured off and on ever since. 

Went into dinner and Match Game Syndicated when I got home. Arrived in time to hear Bob Barker, Charlene Tilton, and Richard Deacon join in for "__ at Home" in the Audience Match. The others aren't overly thrilled with how Gene and Bob keep coddling Charlene, and it carries over to the next episode. Betty White gets a little tied up in the next episode, while the others help the contestant with "Tramp __."

Finished the night on YouTube with The Vigilantes are Coming, one of Republic Pictures' first serials in 1936. General Jason Burr (Fred Kohler) and Russian Count Ivan Raspinoff (Robert Warwick) take advantage of the California Gold Rush to attempt to turn it into a Russian colony and make Burr dictator. They kidnap men to work in the gold mines and kill the father and brother of church organist Don Loring (Robert Livingston) to get the gold on their land. Loring poses as "The Eagle," a masked bandit who attacks Burr and his men. He has help from the local ranchers, including his friends Salvation (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams) and Whipsaw (Raymond Hatton). 

The Russian angle makes this somewhat unique among masked western do-gooders. Livingston is a rather dull Eagle; his buddies and their antics are a lot more fun, and Warwick and Kohler make great hissable villains. 

No comments: