“You busy-bodies have busied your last body.”
Yesterday afternoon, the heavens opened and the rain fell. The storm started gently then roared. I got soaked just going back and forth to the car twice. Gracie, being the smarter animal, didn’t even want to get out of the car, but she had no choice. I had the leash. When we got to the door, Gracie pushed in front of me and was the first one into the house. Why did I go back a second time? I forgot the dog food in the trunk.
The extended weather report in the paper says humid today, tonight, tomorrow and forever. It’s still cloudy, but the sun peeked out for a bit this mornings, and I expect it to rally. After all, what good is humidity without unbearable heat?
When I was a kid, I loved cartoons. I remember the Saturday matinee always had one before the main feature. Most times it was Elmer and Bugs, Woody Woodpecker or Tom and Jerry. They were old cartoons, but we didn’t care. They were still funny. Television too had its Saturday cartoons. “Here I come to save the day,” meant Mighty Mouse was on the attack and cats better run for cover. I still can sing that song, and I also know all the words to Felix the Cat, the wonderful, wonderful cat.
My favorite of all time is still Rocket J. Squirrel and Bullwinkle J. Moose, informally known as Rocky and Bullwinkle. Their cartoons were hysterical and filled with the worst puns even kids could get. I loved the cliffhangers and how the next cartoon always reminded us with a voice over of how we had left our stalwart heroes. But there was so much more to Rocky and Bullwinkle: Fractured Fairy Tales, Mister Peabody the dog genius with his pet boy Sherman, and my all time favorites, Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale. I can still hear Boris yelling about getting moose and squirrel.
We baby boomers knew Russia could never win the cold war because we knew Boris, the most inept of spies, the world’s greatest no-goodnick, was always done in by a squirrel.
Today I was reading the paper about all the stuff, including the different gadgets, found in the house of those Russian spies in Cambridge. It all reminded of Boris. These spies had a Dr. Pepper can with a fake lid and a Coke can with a fake bottom. They also had a Sony PlayStation, cellphones, cameras, laptops, hard drives, memory sticks, pills and vitamins in a variety of colors and my personal favorite piece of spy gear, a bottle “that appeared to contain invisible ink…” I’m still wondering about that last one. I figure some FBI agent must have shaken the bottle.
Explore posts in the same categories: Musings Both comments and pings are currently closed.
keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
July 15, 2010 at 2:56 pm
i think they sell those pop..soda..tonic cans in head shops….boris and natasha need to step up their game!
July 15, 2010 at 10:53 pm
greg,
I know I’ve seen some in catalogs. I don’t think it was Spyware Today.
July 15, 2010 at 2:59 pm
I can´t remember they ever show a cartoon at the cinemas over here. But we saw them at tv instead. Mostly it was eastern european one, I guess they were cheaper 🙂 But they were very well done. But The Flintstones were big here. The roadrunner and coyote, Tom and Jerry and Bugs bunny were also very popular.
As You know Donald Duck and the other Disney caracters were showed at Christmas and they held the record for many, many years as the most popular program here in Sweden (and still is one of the most popular programs 🙂 ). The same old films, but who cares 🙂 🙂 I think it was the fifty years anniversary last year.
Have a great day now!
Christer.
July 15, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Oh I forgot the spy history You have now! It really contains all of the things one expects in a spy history 🙂 I wonder how long it´ll take for the film to come. Perhaps it´s to little action in it though.
Christer.
July 15, 2010 at 10:55 pm
Christer,
I figure it’s a little too boring for the movies.
July 15, 2010 at 10:55 pm
Christer,
Even at the drive-in they showed a cartoon. They don’t do it anymore. Instead, we have to endure preview upon preview of new movies, some not coming for months.
I loved the Roadrunner.
I knew that about Donald and Christmas. I figured they are colorful and fun which probably makes them perfect for Christmas.
July 15, 2010 at 5:42 pm
Yes, this spy stuff is brilliant, just when you thought news was all boring political stuff, or human tragedies and disasters, along comes James Bond and the sexy (well, at least one of them) spy from Russia!
July 15, 2010 at 10:57 pm
Brian,
The Russian spy stuff took me back a bit. It seemed almost a cliche. Then when I read about them I knew they weren’t the spies of old.
July 15, 2010 at 7:23 pm
Rocky sure wasn’t your average spawn of Satan squirrel.
I miss Beany and Cecil the Seasick Seaserpent.
July 15, 2010 at 11:01 pm
Caryn,
I had to laugh! Nope, Rocky is now a spawn of Satan nor would any other verbal flying squirrel with a moose for a friend.
I too miss Beany and Cecil.
July 16, 2010 at 2:10 am
Loved this video! But over here they would only have shown the cartoon part of it. The rest would have been seen as strictly commercial nad would have been removed. Today it´s forbidden to show commercials for toys during children programs over here.
Christer.
July 15, 2010 at 8:15 pm
I read that too. Would have made a post of it for Cat if I had my pooter back. I love spy stuff. Maybe I’ll get lucky tomorrow and be back to blogging. It’s just too hard to do things on my laptop, plus the photo file is saved on the main tower. I was thinking “Little Rascals” when I read “Tom and Jerry”. Remember them? I did a post on the little rascals and also had one planned for Laurel and Hardy. I love those two old vids. I could watch them forever and that’s the mark of an excellent production. When you go back again and again.
July 15, 2010 at 11:05 pm
Z&Me,
I too love spy stuff and read every article on our Cambridge spies. Sorry about your pooter. It would been have fun to read your post on this.
Sure i remember The Little Rascals. They were on Saturday mornings when I was young.
I remember when there used to be a library down here with all the old films, Laurel and Hardy, W.C. Fields and so many more. I’d borrow some of them and a projector from the school. We’d do a Saturday night movie.
July 18, 2010 at 11:39 am
Kat,
I heard on NPR last week that the invisible ink was the same variety that the kids buy in Magic Shops. (we used to use lemon juice, when you heated it up on a light bulb it would turn brown.)
When I was a kid the comic books used to advertise items such as “XRAY” glasses (see through clothes just like the TSA!); along with that old favorite, a Daisy BB gun. It sounds like they got their gear from an old ad. It certainly has been one of the most interesting news items of the past few years. Sometimes I long for the cold war. Seems some how better than today…..
July 19, 2010 at 9:41 am
Lynn,
I remember the lemon juice. We always thought ourselves quite clever.
I remember the Daisy BB gun, always on the back cover, usually inside where it would catch our eyes. I swear they must be the most inept of spies. I’m guessing their hearts just weren’t into it.
It is always good when we have a common enemy so we can leave each other alone.
July 21, 2010 at 6:10 pm
I’d like to check out this museum one day..
http://www.spymuseum.org/
July 22, 2010 at 1:07 am
Michael,
That wasn’t opened yet when last I was in DC, but I’m with you in wanting to see it. I have always found spy stories intriguing and even love all the novels like John le Carré’s