The day that got away.

In this post: Sleep, shopping, a movie review.

I’ve really outdone myself this time, people. A few minutes ago I woke up from my first-ever SEVEN-HOUR NAP. There was a short lunch break in the middle for a can of Hormel tamales and a brief yet pleasant conversation with Sam, but I remember nothing else about Thursday, April 17. Somebody stuffed my head with sawdust when I wasn’t looking. HOLY CRAP. And I mean this sincerely.

I suspect that today’s nap-of-the-century was the result of three key factors:

THE WEATHER. It’s overcast, chilly, damp and DISMAL. Normal people don’t go outside in weather like this.

NOT SLEEPING AT NIGHT. Lately I’ve been averaging only three or four hours of sleep at night due to diabetic neuropathy pain and other annoying crapola so I guess I’m finally getting caught up.

CONTAGIOUS SLOTH. Sam was feeling run-down today, too, and enjoyed a substantial nap of his own this morning. As a couple I believe we slept through The Kennel Murder Case (1933) starring William Powell and Mary Astor and The Thin Man (1934) starring William Powell and Myrna Loy. But I really can’t be positive.

To celebrate waking up I decided to shop for a few essential kitchen tools on Amazon. We lost my favorite measuring spoons this week — please click here if you know what the hell happened to them — so I ordered a nice stainless steel replacement set (actually, I ordered TWO of them) and a Jar-Pop jar opener just like the one I bought last year. As a senior citizen with a very large kitchen and lots of mobility problems I’ve discovered that keeping duplicate kitchen tools at opposite ends of the room can save me a lot of pain and aggravation. And that’s the Howdygram’s helpful household hint of the week.

Before I start planning my next meal — dinner, because it’s already 7:30 p.m. — I’d like to offer a quick movie review for your possible interest. I refer to Carnival Boat (1932) starring William Boyd and Ginger Rogers, which turned out to be an unexpected winner. William Boyd — maybe you remember him as Hopalong Cassidy — plays Buck Gannon, who works in a logging camp somewhere in the north woods, and Ginger, his love interest, as a showgirl on the carnival boat that shows up every few weeks to keep the men entertained with drinks, flirting and entertainment. You don’t really see much of the boat and/or Ginger singing, which is fine because she definitely sucked at this point in her career, but the logging scenes are TOTALLY TERRIFIC and include dangerous stunts aboard speeding trains full of lumber, giant trees falling, fistfights and a log-jammed waterfall in the river that leads to a busted dam.

Also in the cast are Hobart Bosworth at Hopalong’s father and foreman of the logging camp, Edgar Kennedy as comic relief and Fred Kohler as the obligatory “heavy” who’s always doing nasty crap to people. Hopalong eventually beats his brains out.

Thank you for reading this. I have to eat things now.