NASCAR's Natalie Decker Had A Big Weekend For Her Bikini Zone Team, Angel Hernandez Retires & RIP Bill Walton
Let's get back to work after a huge scare: The Hard-Boiled Egg Incident
There we were working in the front yard on a blustery, miserable mid-60s Memorial Day when the fire alarms started going off. My first thought was that the batteries were dead and I was getting an alert to change them.
I go through the front door and all I see is a wall of smoke. The kids were in the man cave playing and all I could think was that they'd lit something on fire, which would've been out of character, but we're talking milliseconds of reaction time.
I get to the kitchen, look left and there it was…hard-boiled eggs had exploded, but that's not what caused the smoke. Mrs. Screencaps had dropped our trusty hard-boiled egg timer (like the one I bought years ago off of Bret Bielema's wedding registry; old-school readers will remember that) into the pot, the water evaporated as we were working out front and the timer had burnt to a crisp. I'm talking a wall of smoke.
Crisis averted.
I told Mrs. Screencaps that the first thought I had was that my golf trip was canceled because the house was burning down. She didn't think that was funny since the kids were in the house.
Here I was trying to lighten the mood and she didn't go for it. SMH.
The front garden bed got edged, we ended up with a new batch of hard-boiled eggs with dinner and the 144-hole golf trip is still on.
At least one reader thinks my Weber Genesis II was a smart purchase
- Travel Ball Hardo Chris B. in Houston writes:
I really Really REALLY prefer cooking over charcoal &/or wood, but I bought I think the same Weber gas grill that you have a few years ago and... CONGRATS on a sweet purchase. It doesn't provide that yummy woody flavor - and I've tried the wood chip deal and never gotten it to work well - but it is crazy convenient and works great. Also... turn your new gas grill into a 3rd patio cooking gizmo... it can be a 'Blackstone' by just putting a large griddle pan on top of the grill.
The only negative, which is absolutely no big deal, is mine came with a tiny grease catcher pan underneath. If yours is small also, consider buying some larger foil pans and just replacing them occasionally (not trying to clean that nasty thing).
Kinsey:
Yes, it has the small grease pan. Looks like I'll be buying a bigger one.
Memorial Day
- Bill sent this reminder:
I want everyone to remember the reason we observe Memorial Day.
God Bless America. Love it or leave it.
A veteran opines on the ‘Thank you for your service’ crowd
- Marty H. in Idaho writes:
Longtime Caps reader; first time emailer from Idaho. Just stacked two cords of wood which is always a source of pride. Another issue for later is rain-sensing wipers (not a fan).
I’m a veteran so for Memorial Day I’d like to say it would be just fine with me if I never heard, "Thank you for your service" ever again. Am I the only one? Our schools and media have conditioned people to spit this out and it just rings hollow. It’s like a get out of jail free card for those that don’t care about veterans and don’t want to talk about it. You can tell most have been trained to say it, and it’s a conversation ender right there.
It would be refreshing if it was followed up (or skipped) with some original thought like you actually cared. "Were you in combat?" "How old were you?" "What service were you in?" "Where did you serve?" "What did you do?" Instead of parading veterans across a stage (my son’s school did this) why not have a writing assignment to find and interview a veteran so kids will have at least some understanding what being in the service was like.
Memorial Day is a day of honoring service members that weren’t as lucky as me. I try to go every year. It seems the "thank you for your service" crowd by and large doesn’t have time for Memorial Day services as most attendees are veterans and their families. Maybe the "thank you" crowd could show up at a cemetery and wave the American flag, our flag (not Ukraine or rainbow), and contemplate for just a few minutes during taps what that must have been like and the sacrifice made. That would be much better than a few hollow words.
Kinsey:
How do other veterans feel about what Marty is writing about here?
I don't want to put words into Marty's mouth, or on his fingertips here, but I think what he's ultimately saying is that it would be nice for people to have real-life conversations and communicate with veterans, but I think those of us who haven't served are sometimes afraid to approach the subject because we're not sure if there's lingering painful memories or whether that person wants to talk about his/her service.
That results in "Thank you for your service."
Marty's not wrong to think it's hollow in some cases. Let's not kid ourselves, there are virtue signalers that throw out that line and wipe their hands clean.
But I'd like to think there's a huge base of Americans who are truly incredibly proud of our veterans and those words aren't hollow coming from them.
Marty's idea of connecting school children with veterans seems like a way to bridge that gap between those who'd like to tell their stories and those who would rather not.
Have your say. Fire away.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com
Speaking of vets, Walter Stitt Jr. handled first-pitch duties on Monday in Cincinnati
Walter, who lives in Springfield, OH, has a book coming out in July. In "Surviving Three Shermans: With the 3rd Armored Division into the Battle of the Bulge: What I Didn’t Tell Mother About My War," Stitt reflects on letters he sent home to his family that his mother had saved and fills in the details he wasn't able to get past censors.
Last week, ahead of his first pitch, Walter shared some memories with the Dayton Daily News:
"When your tank gets destroyed, you’ve got to get out of it, and if you do, you’re right in the middle of battle," he said. "You’re a target and you’ve got no gun, nothing.
"Every time that happened to me, I got shot at. The first time it was a German burp gun.
"The second time my tank commander and I heard this "zip…zip...zip’ going by and I yelled, ‘John, they’re shooting at us with a machine gun!’
"I want to tell the Reds, ‘If you think Elly De La Cruz can run, you should have seen me move back then!’"
Walter turns 100 in July.
I have to look at this guy and know that he beat Millennial Chris B. in Bowling Green in a triathlon because MCBiBG had to take an emergency dump & his bike sucked
This is absolutely sickening on multiple levels. I can't look at Buttigieg without thinking of him passing an integral member of the Screencaps' community with that smirk on his face.
Moles!
- Michael B. writes:
I’ve got moles in the yard! I remember a year or so ago the topic came up in Screencaps or a few TMNL articles. Can you point me back to those articles or can fellow readers remind me of what they found most effective? Right now they’re just on the perimeter of the yard but I would imagine if I don’t get them knocked out within a few weeks they could ruin the yard. Thanks!
- Jake in Oregon shared this advice back in March 2023:
Hey Joe: thanks for the mole topic. I have been trapping, gassing, poisoning, drowning, human hair in their tunnels (barber thought that was a weird request) in a fruitless to quest to eradicate these things for 25 years plus. Even did the gas down the hole and then light the match gig, and yes the results can be spectacular as shown in many a YouTube video. Found the best is a carefully laid scissor trap, tell the wife i am out "running the trapline" if i need out of the house.
Kinsey:
A couple of days later, Jake sent me a photo that would've resulted in PETA coming after this column. The scissor trap worked.
The Lucas Oil Stadium pool that was constructed for the Olympic time trials
- Anonymous sent in an email on the company that handled the work:
Amazing little family-owned company located out of the giant metropolis that is Roachdale, Indiana. Look it up… Here is their Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/SpearCorporation
Kinsey:
I'll say it: I'd probably trust these guys with a pool install. Look at this project.
Things Screecaps readers spot in the wild
- Chris B., who is a member of the Johnson City, TN Screencaps gang writes:
I saw this leaving my daughter’s dance recital on Saturday. A little grandma was driving it. I thought you, or at least Hookstead, would appreciate it. There’s also a small chance that it’s Galen’s wife.
##############
That should be enough to get us going for this short week of work.
Get those emails in. Fire away.
Go attack the day.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com