Gone But Not Forgotten

It seems that lately I've missed mentioning some of the more significant events of our year. Like: I totally forgot to warn everyone to prepare themselves for last week's Friday the 13th. Then there was spring that got here yesterday. Another item I almost forgot to mention was the big race; the 12 Hours of Sebring. I'm not sure if there is anyone at the track who is reading this column today, but they may well take it home so I'll offer, "Welcome race fans have a safe trip home."
Then in last week's column I left out any reference to St. Patrick's Day, a day that has extra meaning for me because it's the anniversary of my introduction to the military.
Traditionally we once made it a point to show up on the steps of Takis' Restaurant on March 17 to have some of Mama's distinctively flavorful corned beef and cabbage. Of course that was before the couple retired. Then we just kind of forgot about tradition. But as luck would have it we saw Caddyshack's ad in the paper for corned beef and cabbage to be served on the saint's day.
Chef Gabriel Mentoza over at the popular restaurant infused some his Peruvian heritage into the meal. Combined with a generous portion, using part of 40 large-size cabbages bought for the day, and accented with carrots to add color to the plate gave us pause to consider that a new tradition was in the making.
A Show Of Hands
Which do you find more irritating, lawyer ads or drug ads?
At least some humor can be found in the drug ads. We get to see people running to the bathroom, talking to stylized room identifiers and laying out under the stars in a pair of matching bathtubs waiting for when the moment is right. Or can you see yourself sitting in your doctor's private office as he tells you about the side effects of taking the pill he just prescribed? Now that's funny.
I've been wanting to make a list of all these advertised drugs, take them to my bodyhealer and ask if any of them are right for me. I guess the reason for all the disclaimers is that the pill pushers watch all these ads featuring vulturous lawyers ready to pounce at the first sign of pill-related heartburn.
Unlike the drug ads there is no humor in the legal ads. Everyone is so serious. There are no happy people in their ads. What would be a nice touch is to show a lawyer on the steps of the courthouse handing over a check to smiling clients.
Back To The Basics
It is said that you can find anything on the Internet. I don't doubt that. The other day I was pondering, with newspapers cutting back I have more ponderable time on my mind, about the lost art of pea shooters and cap guns. Boy I can't tell you the number of bad guys I put away with those weapons of individual destruction. Then when I checked on the fountain of knowledge I found to my surprise that these toys are still available.
Pea shooters are little tubes, like a straw, that the shooters blow peas through. Not the peas of the peas-in-a-pod kind but the dried ones. And not split peas because their irregular sizes and shapes seriously affect their effectiveness. One thing we found to be great for pea shooters was tapioca. They were round and fairly consistent in size. Sadly because of the war (WWII) we couldn't get our ammo of choice so the weapon ended up in the toy box.
Cap guns (actually cap pistols for us) catapulted us all to new levels of imagination. With a six-shooter we were transformed into a Lone Ranger and with an automatic we hunted and dispatched any threat to our country.
Caps themselves were like little explosive charges that the gun's hammer set off when the trigger was pulled. They came on rolls of maybe 25 or so keeping reloading to a minimum. An advantage to caps is that they added a gunpowder smell to any creative conflict.
This of course was before toys like these were deemed to be "dangerous to your health."
Overheard
Overheard at the checkout counter: Now is the time for us to change from the "me" generation to the "us" generation.