Hola, Sneakers! Welcome to the 512 episode of Sneaky Dragon, the podcast that’s seen the best mind of its generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix and stuff.
This week: freedom haters; CV jeebies; Excel-ence; useless danger; tasteful butts; former Christian bias; books are burning; fictional horse mysteries; blame the Dutch; phony centenary; old folks in context; wear a raincoat; select views; thinking can be an issue; bubble memories; community action; flossing; nostalgic dental care; silly awards; fuck the Pulitzer; acceptable fucks; shroom trips; the best Swift; love a man in uniform; no milk today; clapter; unconvincing podcast; Eminem by the numbers; the more famous Ian Boothby; Dork Shadows – The Children’s Hour; Tile Tales™; Question of the Week – Sneakers respond; plenty o’horses; Flinstones theory; horse snub; child assassins; rockin’ dentist; Monkeeshines; Southern comfort foods; intricate modern world; penpals; and, finally, squirrel nuts.
Question of the Week: Have you ever been involved with a community activity?
Sub-question of the Week: Do you floss regularly? If not, do you feel guilty?
Thanks for listening.
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Question of the Week: Have you ever been involved with a community activity?:
I was involved in community theatre where I gained my love for theatre.
Sub-question of the Week: Do you floss regularly? If not, do you feel guilty?:
Not as often as I know I should.
Ian and Dave, you are absolutely correct about people not wanting old books. There is a lot of guilt involved with getting rid of old books- probably because books were valuable a hundred years ago and because we were all taught to take care of our books, don’t mark in them, don’t dog ear them, handle them carefully, etc. People struggle with the thought of tossing books- it feels wrong, someone else will want it, it cost me good money, and so on… We are on the receiving end of a lot of this declutter guilt. We get a call asking if the library takes donations, yes, yes we do. Someone shows up in a pickup truck loaded to the brim with boxes of Aunt Ethel’s Harlequin romances and encyclopedias from 1972 that have sat out in the woodshed for 20 years and are covered in cobwebs. And! The donors request the books to go into our collection for the whole town to enjoy. We say thank you, make them sign a donation form giving us permission to do what we want, and the books are given to waste maintenance to be sold as bulk recycling paper. Unless it is something really cool which may end up on our shelf or sold at the book sale.
Oh my goodness, have I ever been involved with a community activity? Remember what I wrote a few weeks about not being able to say no? Yeah. I wear a lot of hats, mainly because we are a small town with a lack of people willing to help; but also because I am so passionate about supporting my community, that people know they can rely on me to make their job easier. Go ask Crystal, she won’t say no, she’ll do a good job, and that is one last thing for us to worry about. Right now my staff and I are planning a costume contest, parade, and opening ceremonies for our local fall festival. Three months ago, we were planning our annual community concert. Three months before that we were planning our summer STEAM activities. Get the picture? It’s not all bad though. There have been awards and honors. My library was one of four national finalists for the 2021 Penguin Random House Library Award for Innovation for creating lasting innovative community service programs. We were the only small, rural library in the list of finalists and competed against big places like Los Angeles and New York which bigger staffs and budgets that would make me cry if I knew exactly how much larger they are. Last month, the Chamber of Commerce presented me with the 2021 Heart of the Community award. So chances are, if there is a community activity going on, I’ve been asked to be involved.
Flossing is important. People should floss. I should floss more regularly than I do, but you know what? I flossed while listening to this week’s episode then brushed with Crest. You should get an award for encouraging good habits.
I floss regularly. This spring, on the advice of my hygienist, I also started using a Waterpik and mouthwash daily to help prevent gum disease. Plaque between your teeth and below the gum line can turn into tartar which can lead to bacterial infections and tooth decay. I’ve watched my elderly mom suffer from painful gums and abscessed teeth and I hope to avoid that. So floss. Your future self will thank you.
I think the mushrooms Ian was talking about are morels. My niece came out to BC to pick morels a few years ago. They were growing in areas burned by wildfires. She had to carry “bear bangers” (noise flares) in case of bear attacks. The morels are dried in the field then sold to brokers. She gave us a couple of Ziploc bags of them. I’m not that fond of mushrooms but morels are extremely tasty rehydrated and cooked up in an entrée or as a side dish.
Question 2: yes, I floss regularly, for the whole week before I visit the dentist once every six months. Like clockwork. That counts as regular, right?!? And yes, I do feel guilty. I think me claiming I floss regularly is not fooling my dentist.
Question 1: yes, I have been involved in community activities: when the girls were in elementary school, I tried hard to attend PAC meetings and helped out when I could at regular school (like hot dog day) and seasonal (like the September BBQ, or the Halloween carnival). I also served on the School Planning Council. through church, we were involved in the Garden-to-Table initiative, which was a bit of a double header – we had/maintained a community garden (one summer I was dripping by twice a day to do the watering), and that morphed into a feeding the homeless/disadvantaged in the area. In the equine community I have been involved in the Canadian Pony Club for decades, and volunteer regularly in a number of capacities, but probably most prominently as current National Education Chair.
I was lucky to grow up with a mom who thought it was vital to support and volunteer in a range of community activities, which she did, serving in PAC, the local community club, the local co-op, the Arthritis society, and a bunch of equestrian organizations.
I’m proud to say that the owners of my company, Idea Planet, take part in quite a bit of philanthropy. Idea Planet is in a predominantly Jewish part of Dallas and my two owners, also Jewish, are involved with the local community. There are two Jewish schools nearby which we’re involved with as well as the fire department across the street that we’ve brought meals to. One owner has a lake house southeast of Dallas that we visit every Summer and we always have something lined up as far as community service. In my eleven years with the company we’ve worked the food bank many times, sent care packages to troops overseas, visited elder homes, handed out food vouchers dressed as superheroes, and even painted a disabled woman’s house and built a wheelchair ramp for her! The two owners are extremely generous guys and even though we haven’t been to the lake house in over two years because of COVID, we’ve found other ways to get involved near the office. The food bank I mentioned actually moved right up the street from us so it’s really easy to volunteer now. We also had a clothing drive during the winter and collected hundreds of coats for those who needed them…yes, it does get cold here sometimes. I’m proud to say my company always has something around the corner for us to get involved in and it’s a great feeling.
I do floss regularly because I love the way it feels and I have tight teeth! Taking into the economic benefits of flossing, I figure it’s cheaper to pay $3.79 for floss every other month than it is to pay for a costly root canal. Keeping that in mind will always remind you why it’s important, especially if you can’t afford it.
Adding to some of the mushroom talk you guys had going, I took a Logic class when I was in junior college back in 1987. The class was taught by an old hippie turned yuppie so there were a to of those quasi-intellectual types in the class with me. However, there was one guy in the class, Collin Cringle, who looked like he had been magically transported from 1967, an honest to goodness counter culture hippie. My god he looked the part too, with his sandals, fringe jacket, John Lennon Granny glasses and headband, Collin was almost a Tommy Chong clone. Anyway, he was always carrying around a huge binder and assorted folders, just a ton of stuff on paper. We asked him one day, “Hey Collin, what is all that? What are you carrying around there?” Collin looked into space and around the room as if to tell us a secret he didn’t want anyone to hear. Quietly, Collin whispered, “I’m working on a book about mushrooms man, been working on it for years man.” Then just nodded for about 30 seconds.
I sometimes wonder what happened to ‘ol Collin Cringle, maybe he finished his mushroom book or maybe the mushrooms got the best of him. Or maybe, he got back in his time machine to 1967 man….