I was trying to explain Hee Haw to my boyfriend. And it is a bit difficult to explain…. right? An old American television variety show with a bit of a country flare is the best way I could find. I said, one minute, I need to find a clip online. My favorite when I was young from Hee Haw was the “PFFFFTTT song”. With a strong country accent – “You met another and PFFT, you were gone.” I mean seriously, what else is better than singing and then doing PPFFFTTT in someone else’s face for the fun of it?
Here is a celebrity clip from Hee Haw’s PFFFT song. Enjoy! And now I have this going through my head. But I LOVE it. Awwww, I miss Hee Haw.
HOLA! I want to thank all of my followers for um, well, following me. You guys totally rock.
And I just want to make a quick apology (which they say, as a blogger, you shouldn’t do). I know I have been absent on the blog and I am SUPER sorry. LO SIENTO!! Things are crazy, school is coming to an end and all the class times are changing. So some parents are wanting more English classes from me and my schedule has been a bit screwy. I have some great blog post ideas so please check back soon. I hope by next week things will have calmed down a bit.
Not sure how I missed mentioning country legend Mr. George Jones with my last Track Tuesday post. But this time, it is all for him. George Jones died last week at the age of 81. His life was full of music, drinking, wives and riding lawn mowers – pretty much the usual country stuff.
For the last 20 years of his life, Jones was frequently referred to as the greatest living country singer. Country music scholar Bil C. Malone writes, “For the two or three minutes consumed by a song, Jones immerses himself so completely in its lyrics, and in the mood it conveys, that the listener can scarcely avoid becoming similarly involved.” Waylon Jennings, in his song “It’s Alright” expressed a common jealousy when he said, “If we all could sound like we wanted to, we’d all sound like George Jones.”
He was married four times but his most well-known marriage was to country singer Tammy Wynette. But one of his best drinking stories happened when he was married to his second wife, Shirley Corley. Jones recalled Shirley making it physically impossible for him to travel to Beaumont, located 8 miles away, and buy liquor. Because Jones would not walk that far, she would hide the keys to each of their cars they owned before leaving. She did not, however, hide the keys to the lawn mower. Jones recollects being upset at not being able to find any keys before looking out the window and at a light that shone over their property. He then described his thoughts, saying: “There, gleaming in the glow, was that ten-horsepower rotary engine under a seat. A key glistening in the ignition. I imagine the top speed for that old mower was five miles per hour. It might have taken an hour and a half or more for me to get to the liquor store, but get there I did.
Poking fun at his past, three country music videos would feature Jones arriving on a riding lawn mower. The first was Hank Williams Jr’s “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight” in 1984 while the second was Vince Gill’s One More Lst Chance” in 1993. Gill’s song mentioned the mower with the lines “She might have took my car keys, but she forgot about my old John Deere” At the end of Gill’s video, he is leaving the golf course on a John Deere tractor and greets Jones with “Hey, possum.” Jones, arriving at the golf course driving a John Deere riding lawn mower with a set of golf clubs mounted behind him, replies to Gill “Hey, sweet pea.” The third is John Rich’s “Country Done Come to Town” and shows George mowing grass on the rooftop on a zero turn mower.
Sounds like quite the life! George Jones had several top hits over the years, “White Lightning”, “She Still Thinks I Care”, “Golden Ring” (with Tammy Wynette) and “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool” (with Barbara Mandrell). But my favorite is the video below – “He Stoppped Loving Her Today”. This video shows a much younger George Jones from 1980. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Hey! It’s Earth Day, earthlings. What do you do to help save our world?
While I know I can do more, here are some things I regularly do:
1. I have a compost pile which I use for soil around my trees and new plants or flowers. I get such a strange satisfaction to throw in my leftover vegetables, fruits, etc and then mix it all up. It is amazing to see how rich and dark the soil is when I get around to using it. It works!
2. I recycle. Full stop. I recycle everything – plastic, paper, glass. If it can be recycled it goes in my recycling bin where once I week I take it to the bigger bins that Spain has placed everywhere around Mallorca.
3. I pick up litter. I definitely do this around my neighborhood. On my way to the trash I pick up things on the ground, in the lots nearby – here there are usually three big trash cans within a block or two away that the garbagemen come by to empty every day except Saturday. That’s right folks, even on Sunday. And I do try to do a monthly bike ride on the sole purpose of picking up trash around my town and dropping it in the recycling bins.
And then there are random things – recycling household things for teaching – toilet paper rolls to make into owls or whatever animal we are learning about, taking things to charity (clothes, furniture, appliances) and who knows what else.
I do try to be conscience on my ecological footprint. So, please, do the same! It is the only earth we’ve got!
1. I realized the other day that you are still cool if you are the person the little kids want to sit by at dinner time. I love going back to AZ where my oldest nephew proudly proclaims at every dinner with me – “I want to sit by KimmiComo”! And Felix’s niece Kate always want me to sit by her. Yeah, I still got it.
2. Do you ever feel swamped by all the news these days? I found a great site where you are emailed the top news of the day and why it is important. All written very clever. Check it out, the Skimm is a daily newsletter that simplifies the headlines for the educated professional who knows enough to know she needs more. We do the reading for you and explain it with fresh editorial content, breaking down what you need to know to start the conversation.
3. Is it really spring?! I am dying to go shopping for new clothes but I am saving up for a little car for me. I am thinking a Mini Cooper. I love them! So cute.
4. I had to check out this game that everyone was playing. Candy Crush Saga. Thanks. I’m now addicted.
5. This week is Mallorca’s “spring break” and most of my classes are canceled. So I decided to take the extra free time and try to organize all my teaching papers that have been in one huge pile that makes me start hyperventilating every time I glanced at them. Check it out! Organization at its finest! Being sarcastic … organizing has never been my strongest suit. I get irritated at all those organizing tips I continuously see on Pinterest. I always blast past them saying, nope, not gonna work here.
Hmmmm, maybe I do need some help. The cat even looks ready to flee.
Look at this cute lil guy that was hanging out in my backyard this morning! What in the world? Why do I have a chicken running around my backyard? He is super adorable though and I was just thinking about dyeing some eggs for Easter.
Happy Easter y’all! From me, five cats and the latest member of the family – Mr. Chicken. BAWK.
GOING NINETY MILES 