Fabulous Friday Features

I got around to my regular blog reads yesterday but didn't have time to comment. So I've got some catching up today and I'll do it first here as a post.

Scooney the Switch Man. My buddy Scooney's still drifting along up on the ridge, waiting for sun to get warmer, and waiting for brown grassy stuff in his yard to turn green so he can straddle a new John Deere and make everything better. In the meantime, he's got a great post up about his days as a switch man on the IC RR. He explains why he left that job pretty damn fast, and I definitely think he made the right choice.

Buck Still Standing. Buck is still exiled in Portales, NM. I think exile means that there's some place you can't go back to, but I'm not sure where that is in Buck's case. He probably explained it all in a post that he put up before I started reading his blog. Anyway, Buck is living large in his Manor di Movil. (BTW, Buck, I just remembered, my next door neighbors as I grew up in the Inglewood section of Nashville were named Pennington; they were good people.) Before the tragic Japanese Tsunami story broke, Buck had a great music post yesterday following a "stand" thread. All three selections work for me, even though he wanted Lyle Lovett's version of "Stand by Your Man" instead of Tammy's, but the embedding was blocked. I haven't heard Lyle's version, but I'll look for it later.

Deb and Atar. Deb at Murphy and Other Stories has a great post about a wonderful dog named Atar. This dog not only sniffed out narcotics (and thus the bad guys dealing them), he worked as a search and rescue dog as well. Because of a number of injuries and many long years of service, Atar will soon be retiring to Waterton Lakes National Park. Note to Deb; the handler should've worn a Predators' jersey during those quarry training sessions. Nothing like a good pseudo hockey town's jersey to get a good Canadian dog ticked off.

George and the Gil Hodges Baseball Card. My buddy George up in Montana doesn't post too often, but when he does, it's a winner. This one from late February is entitled "I Remember, Do You?" and is a nostalgic slide show with a "Lost in the '50s Tonight" soundtrack. Good stuff.

What's on the Cook Shack Menu?  I stopped by the Cook Shack yesterday for a snack and a laugh or two and discovered that Cookie had given yours truly a link and a great promo on my book, and had honored me by posting me in the company of his two old friends, the Chief (a retired Marine) and Subvet (a retired Navy Chief Petty Officer). Thanks Cookie. I'm inviting all my blog buds to stop by the Cook Shack for a full meal. Like Cookie says in the sidebar, "Ya'll better eat at the Cook Shack...or I'll pump your sorry ass's fulla lead." Cookie was a sub-sailor so I'm posting this poster I stole off his blog. That's him in his younger days with that beautiful young thang in the picture to the left; if you want to see what Cookie looks like today, visit his site. He's got whiskers and wears a great cowboy hat!


Andy's Name That Film Gets Red Herring Award. Yesterday, Thursday I might add, Andy had a post up in which he wanted you to guess a movie title by means of a few clues that he sprinkled around. Well those clues were not really clues at all; they were Red Herrings. You coulda spent hours tracking down trails that led you nowhere slowly. Not that I did that or anything. Turns out the movie was Big Wednesday (see, I tole ya, right from the start he's posting about a movie called Big Wednesday ona Thursday), starring those magnificent thespians Jan Michael Vincent, Gary Busey, and William Katt. Ironically, in today's post Andy says he's giving up meat for Lent. Well Andy, I've got just the fish for you. Here's your Super Blogger Red Herring Award. Enjoy it Dude.