Does anyone else remember hearing that “w” is also sometimes a vowel?
When I was a little kid, they used to do the whole “A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y” thing with an added “and sometimes W” on the end.
In diphthongs, “w” acts as a vowel component by gliding off another vowel sound, such as in “how” or “cow.”
“W” acts as a vowel when present in a diphthong like “low” or “cow.”
(A Brush Mountain Tale)
There’s a ridge above Catawba folks don’t linger on. Brush Mountain, long and dark, the kind of rise that carries a weight in its bones. The old timers say a mountain is like a hound… feed it once, and it’ll never stop coming back. But when you feed it blood, you’ve made a pact you can’t unmake.
In May of 1971, a small plane cut through the clouds over that ridge. In it was Audie Murphy, soldier, actor, hero; a man who carried more medals than his coat could bear, a man who walked through fire overseas and came out breathing when others did not. Folks liked to say he had death by the collar. But on that fog-thick morning, Brush Mountain decided otherwise. The plane hit the slope hard, tore open trees, and burned hot enough to scorch the stones. All aboard were gone in a heartbeat.
The sheriff’s men hauled what they could out, but the mountain kept the rest. Kept the smoke, kept the screams, kept the shadow of it all.
—
Porch Talk
Years later, if you sat on Cal Dempsey’s porch of an evening, he’d tell it plain.
“Brush Mountain ain’t right,” he’d say, rocking slow, his lantern throwing shadows across the boards. “That ridge pulled Murphy down same as a snapping turtle pulls under a duck. Weren’t no accident. Mountain drew in breath, filled the air with fog, and swallowed him whole.”
Somebody would laugh, usually a young’un visiting from town. Cal would just spit and shake his head. “You think I’m telling jokes? Ask the hunter heard an engine coughin’ overhead on a clear night, no plane in sight. Ask the woman seen a row of soldiers in the mist, marchin’ quiet along the slope, uniforms gray as ashes, and then*poof* gone into the brush. Ask the boys who dared each other to sleep by the memorial stone. Not one lasted till midnight. Said the ground was too restless, like it wanted to roll over under ‘em.”
On November 13th, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence. That request came from his wife. Deep down, he knew she was right, but he also knew that someday he would return to her. With nowhere else to go, he appeared at the home of his childhood friend, Oscar Madison. Sometime earlier, Madison’s wife had thrown him out, requesting that he never return. Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?
Rewatching The Odd Couple and I am stunned that there is really nothing that stands out as racist or homophobic yet. (Amazing for 1970). There is some casual sexism, but nothing overtly hateful (more like being on a date with a beautiful but stupid gal) and I forgot that despite being a sloppy boy, Oscar really got a lot of dates.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Odd_Couple_(1970_TV_series)
I’ve heard the theory that Neil Simon wrote them as divorced so they wouldn’t seem to be an actual “couple,” but if anything, both of them are pretty on the prowl for the opposite sex, either dating or trying to get back with an ex.
Though I can see why, with the banger of an instrumental, it’s played with the lyrics from the Lemmon-Matthau movie.
No matter where they go
They are known as the couple.
They’re never seen alone
So they’re known as the couple.
As I’ve indicated
They are never quite separated,
They are peas in a pod.
Don’t you think that it’s odd.
Their habits, I confess
None can guess with the couple.
If one says no it’s yes
more or less, with the couple.
But they’re laugh provoking;
Yet they really don’t know they’re joking.
Don’t you find
When love is blind
It’s kind of odd.
But they’re laugh provoking;
Yet they really don’t know they’re joking.
Don’t you find
When love is blind
It’s kind of odd.
Bonus memory
Not over yet though. Last week vs this week.
This is one of many reasons why we don’t need any additional data centers/golf courses/
Upon rereading Fahrenheit 451, I feel that a modern title could be “I Blame Our Screens” or “TikTok Wrecked Us.”
Sunday started well with a breakfast of egg, veggie sausage, and cheese on maple biscuits, which was honestly better than a McGriddle. We are having the house AC inspected this morning. Afterward, I plan to visit a new mechanic named Jarl. On our ride home Saturday, the yellow check engine light came on… I hoped that tightening the gas cap would fix it, but it didn’t. Hopefully, Jarl can resolve the issue, and I also want to explore upgrading our headlights for better visibility.
Speaking of Saturday, we had a pretty successful outing for gathering little treasures. We picked up some cute stickers and four mystery date books: James, God of the Woods, Life Cycle of the Common Octopus, and From Blood and Ash. We also grabbed a bunch of craft supplies, including some wooden pieces to paint, craft yarn, and tiny watercolor paint sets.
Along with an autumn puzzle and some treasures for friends, I found some great Matchbox cars. I picked up three art cars, specifically two ’57 Chevys, with letters all over them and a smashed-up Mondrian design. I also grabbed a lucky cat, a hot dog, and a sushi car, which were all picked out for BHK. While we were out and about, we managed to spot a red, white, and blue train all painted up for America’s 250th.
Tonight, we are keeping dinner simple with quesadillas. For screen time, we will be polishing off Nautilus since we have one episode left. It was a cute, albeit non-canon, diversion for 10 episodes.
deer flyby
whoopie pie skunk
went to radford, visited a couple of neat spots. hot wheels store, paper assembly, and a creative reuse spot. picked up a couple of art cars, lots of art supplies.
Came home, watched a bit more nautilus, enjoyed some Arnold Palmers with BHK, and we read a bit, recharged a bit
Just sold off some excess grapes from the vines- made $100, and we still have plenty to snack on and jelly this season.
Kept mostly the green grapes, as they dont sell as well, but are still delicious.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautilus_(TV_series)
Probably better than it had any right to be, honestly.
It took quite a few liberties with the source, but not so many that it is a crime against nature. (Fair to good acting, nice sets and FX, nice anti-imperialist message.)
Nemo is a little young (I always pictured him as 40-50 in the book), and his personality isn’t really the same as I remember. I miss the much larger crew, but they had some other characters to add for various reasons. I’d say it is more of a prequel, sort of a “two decades before the book” kind of thing.
https://archive.org/details/warnerbros.cartoonspecialnormannormal1968videodailymotion
Warner Bros. Cartoon Special Norman Normal 1968
deer flyby
Day 21,013 – 570613031302
An audiobook listing for “The Communist Manifesto” written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. On the left is the book cover featuring a sketch of Marx and Engels. On the right, the text reads “The Communist Manifesto,” followed by the authors’ names, and “Narrated by Adam West.” Below the title details, icons and text indicate it is an audiobook, unabridged, with a duration of 1 hour and 19 minutes, and eligible for a benefit or credit.
deer and birds
This is pretty neat, going to try it out later.
xpiatio.github.io/Hearthwave/
Hearthwave turns any home server into a shared radio station you reach from any browser. It transcribes what comes over the air and speaks what you type — so no one is left off the channel.
Via Wonder Woman #777 (2021)
— Scottobear (@scottobear.bsky.social) 2026-08-10T21:08:32.679Z
This is some garbage level reporting, with the AI formatting on top to take bad/incorrect information and make it into an unreadable, useless bit of text that only shows how little the Rambler now cares about content curation and fact checking.
AI can be a useful tool, but the way that article was slapped together and implemented was an embarrassment to news media.
rocket the baby skunk(speedy baby) and angel skunk (has scapula and head marks) aug 12 2026
#backyardzoo #roanokeva #skunk
Do you ever think about how certain types of stones make certain Pokémon evolve and how you probably haven’t touched every kind of stone on Earth yet?
Food for thought.
Stills from the intro of Snoopy, Come Home (1972) dir. Bill Melendez
Yeah, I’m not getting in a plane under this administration. Here I thought Reagan tossing air traffic controllers to the wolves back in the 80’s was a terrible idea.
Trains are very nice.
(Abandoned passenger train cars located at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, Virginia. The train featured prominently in the center is an EMD E-unit locomotive.The tall building visible in the background is the Norfolk & Western Railway Office Building, now named the Robert B. Claytor Building)
