In the Summertime

Slept so late, it was past 12:30 by the time I finished The Case of the Stepdaughter's Secret and writing. Watched Match Game '77 as I ate breakfast, then Tattletales. On the latter, we had comedian Jack Douglas and his sweet Japanese wife Reiko, Greg Morris and his lady Lee, and soap star Janice Lynde and her husband William Gray Espy. I believe the last-named won, even though they missed at least one question. 

I also checked my schedule while the show was on. In good news, far more hours than the last few weeks, Monday and Thursday off. However, I suspect the only reason I have more hours is that "grand re-opening" event. Most of those hours are very early and very long. There's two 8 1/2 hour days - Friday starts at 8:30! - and a 7 1/2 hour day on Sunday. At least Tuesday, while early, isn't nearly as long.

Headed out after that to run a few errands. I thought, since the Bagel Shop was listed as being open until 3 and it was nearly 2, I'd have lunch there. Turns out they'd already closed their dining room. I was able to get lunch, but I had to eat the spinach-feta cheese omelet, hash browns, Diet Coke, and blueberry bagel with butter outside on a bench. (I also bought three more bagels for breakfast this week to help them clear out their stock.) 

At least it was a decent day to eat outside. It poured late last night, but the streets were dry by noon. That once again cooled things off a bit. It remains humid, but it was also windy and a far more normal for late July lower 80's. 

Made a quick stop at Target. Mainly wanted more of those flavored nuts. Grabbed lavender honey almonds and simpler roasted honey almonds. They already have back-to-school sales on. I found purple glue sticks for 50 cents. Bought a small pair of earphones for $7.49 to keep in my purse for bus and train trips. 

Next up was the Westmont Acme for a few groceries. Ran out of laundry detergent last week. They had Arm & Hammer on a good sale. Had online coupons for cards and wrapping paper. I bought one card for my nephew Skylar's birthday on the 31st and another for Lauren and her parents, just to drop a line in between her visit here and my visit there. Also had online coupons for Clorox Disinfecting Wipes. Grabbed a larger container of Acme's generic wipes for a friend. Grabbed gift cards for Skylar and for my friend's birthday on Sunday. Picked up Propel watermelon mix and water for the way home.

After I got back in, I finished out the remaining two shorts on the Looney Tunes parodies disc. "From Hare to Eternity" from 1997 is more important than its fairly typical Bugs/Yosemite Sam pirate story would indicate. It's the last theatrical Bugs cartoon Chuck Jones directed before he died in 2002, and the only one to feature Sam. (Sam's usual animator, Friz Freleng, died in 1995.) Sam finds Bugs on a treasure he thinks is filled with 14 carrot gold. Bugs almost ends up walking the plank...but in the end, he has his own idea of what's in that treasure box.

The most recent solo Bugs theatrical short (and Sam's most recent short) is "Hare and Loathing In Las Vegas." This 2004 short spoofs the then-building boom in Vegas as Sam literally drops a casino right over Bugs' home. Bugs proceeds to win almost every last cent Sam has in the place. Sam's down to his last nickel, but he won't got down without a fight. Of course, neither will Bugs, and he gets a little help from the Hoover Dam in teaching Sam a lesson. (Incidentally, the animation here was very disappointing, not nearly as fluid as even "From Hare to Eternity." On the other hand, Joe Alaskey and Jeff Bennett made a far better Bugs and Sam than Greg Burson and Frank Gorshin. Gorshin in particular was way too gruff and deep for Sam.)

Worked on writing for a while after the cartoons ended and I put everything away. Joyce is surprised when the tornado sets her and her dog down without much trouble, other than landing on something lumpy. She finally peers outside...and finds herself in a colorful wonderland of dotted mushrooms and little blue people from the Belgian comics...

Broke for dinner at quarter of 7. Caught the tail end of Match Game '74. Sweet contestant Janet Finn continued to win in this episode, with the help of Charles. The others, including kooky married couple Donald Ross and Patti Deustch, try to help her with "Mountain __" on the Audience Match.

The Match Game '79 episodes were among my favorite from that year. The show saw its most unique panelists this week with 50's and 60's puppet favorites Kukla and Ollie. Brett spent the week flirting outrageously with dragon Kukla, while Eva Gabor tried to figure out her own spelling.

Stayed on Buzzr to finish out the night after a shower with more of their Pick & Play marathon. The Wally Brunner What's My Line continued here. You should have seen the look on Gene Rayburn's face when he realized that the first contestant was a belly dancer dubbed "Little Egypt!" We also had a gentleman who sold fake beards and mustaches. (Soupy's goatee looked silly, but Wally's mustache was rather dashing.) The Mystery Guest on the second episode was Allan Sherman, of "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah" fame. 

Patty Duke and her husband John Astin played against each other for the first time on Tom Kennedy's run of Password Plus. Patty was always excellent at this game. She outplayed her husband by a county mile, including making it to the Alphabetics bonus round.

Press Your Luck had some of its most exciting episodes of 1983 tonight. The second round on the second episode in particular was absolutely insane. The one woman and the other guy kept passing spins back and forth, amassing more and more cash in the process. The poor champ barely had the chance to play. The guy eventually won a car and a vacation, along with more than $11,000 in cash.