It's a Stormy Day, Charlie Brown

Began a gloomy morning with breakfast and Green Eggs and Ham. E.B's saying "To Yookia With Love" when she manages to dodge the guards and finds Looka again. He shows her around Yookia...which, to E.B's surprise, is exactly like Dookia in almost every way. They even have a huge water park. They find out why the countries are so much alike when they discovered in an abandoned part of the museum that they were once one nation called Ookia, until their rulers argued over which side to butter their toast. Looka finally takes her back over the wall, but they promise to see each other again. Meanwhile, Michellee sends a very important package to Guy, but he's preoccupied with his inventions.

Called Uber soon as the cartoon ended. It wasn't raining when I left, but it was windy and cold, and it was supposed to get worse later. Thankfully, there was no trouble this time. The man driving me in the morning arrived in 4 minutes. The guy picking me up in the evening came in 2. Neither took longer than 5 minutes getting home.

Work was a royal pain in the rear. It was far busier today than it has been, and people were a lot more annoying. Either everyone came back from vacation early when they got fed up with the weather, or they were all bored at home and needed something to do. It's also the beginning of the month, and a lot of people only just got their money now. 

It rained heavily for a lot of the afternoon, which meant I spent a lot of the day wet. I even heard thunder briefly at one point around 4:30. I also had to sweep the store, put away carts full of cold items people didn't want or couldn't afford, and clean up messes, including a broken baby food jar. Needless to say, I was more than happy to grab soda and get money for the Cherry Hill Library book sale tomorrow and hurry home soon as I finished.

Went straight into Match Game '77 when I got home. The young man whose innocent answer kicked off the infamous School Riot reappeared in this episode. Considering some of Rich's comments, I suspect he was still annoyed about the whole thing. Thankfully, the young man did much better this time around, despite one really strange answer from Fannie Flagg as to what a guy accidentally ordered at a Japanese restaurant.

Match Game '90 got even wilder. Bruce Baum may be annoying, with his ridiculous inventions like the handless baby carrier he showed off in the opening of the second show, but he's darn good at the Match-Up segment. Karen Wittier proved she's more than just a pretty face by doing very well at the Head-to-Head twice in a row. 

Finished the night with four vintage animated specials. At least three Peanuts specials revolve around the kids' baseball team, beginning with Charlie Brown's All-Stars from 1966. The kids are fed up with their lack of success on the field and finally quit. Charlie Brown convinces them to get back on the field when a sponsor is willing to give them uniforms. They're angry when the sponsor withdraws, but then Linus reveals that the man wouldn't back a team with four girls and a dog. Even the girls decide Charlie Brown deserves a uniform, but Linus isn't too happy with what they use to make it.

It's Spring Training, Charlie Brown from 1992 is pretty much the same idea. A sponsor will give the kids uniforms, but this time, they actually have to win a game. Freida's little brother Leland insisted on playing with the big kids, but it's his height and lack of experience that may help them finally get those uniforms.

Lucy Must Be Traded, Charlie Brown, as she's the worst and most annoying player on Chuck's loss-prone team in this 2003 story. Peppermint Patty will only trade for Snoopy, but the guys she tries to send to Chuck won't play for him. She finally trades Lucy for Marcie...and both sides regret it. Marcie is a very sweet girl, but is hopeless at baseball and only plays because her best friend does, and Peppermint Patty tolerates Lucy's incompetence even less well than Chuck does.

Switched gears to The Butter Battle Book. This is the Dr. Seuss story that provided the basis for Green Eggs and Ham: The Second Helping. Zookia and Yookia are still warring over which side to butter their bread. The two countries keep coming up with bigger and bigger machines to humiliate the other, until both sides invent a tiny bomb that could obliterate both countries. The special, like the book, ends in a stalemate, with no one dropping anything. 

This Cold War parable is by far the darkest Seuss book and special along with The Lorax. Ralph Bakshi, who was known for his dark, edgy animated films, may have been the perfect person to direct this one. Seuss later called it the best adaptation of his work...and really, he's right, down to the non-ending that's scarier than any big battle would have been. Show this to your older kids, especially if they've read the book or seen Green Eggs and Ham, but be prepared to answer a lot of questions about the Cold War era and what happened during that time.