A Few Words
Posted at 6:00 AM on December 29, 2009
by Dale Connelly
(16 Comments)
Today for "Toast of the Posts", a look back on one of my favorite entries - the two word caption contest. I thought this went very well and the natural artistry of the Heartlanders was enhanced by my arbitrary restriction.
Sometimes a thought can be expressed on TOO MANY words. I should know. Take a look at the original entry from March 19.
Gus's picture from the St. Olaf campus was a perfect prompt.
My favorite caption? Odd, but it turns out to be one that broke my word limit:
Biking and TextingPosted by Beth-Ann | March 19, 2009 7:04 AM
Next time there's a caption contest, I'll expand it to three words in honor of Beth-Ann's achievement.
I'm not too good at remembering jokes, but sometimes a comment will stay with me. While we were dining with friends one night, the radio played Christmas music in the background. I mentioned to my friend Rik that the song we were hearing was called "Jesus Christ The Apple Tree". His reply?
"Isn't that what Tiger's wife yelled as he headed down the driveway?"
Recall any pithy quips?
Comments (16)
oh man, Dale - my memory for jokes is way bad. even clever quips slip out of there pretty easily. but i still like Barbara from Robbinsdale's brave comment when the topic was getting all esoteric one day (think it was Dr. Heartlander and blogers' identity): "Huh?"
good morning, All
i hear tiger changed his name to...cheetah
just read yesterday's comments - such a group. every morning i get a bunch of good chuckles - like the virtual dance off, Clyde (and Donna and Joanne) it's a busy week, but i can't skip checking in on TB. thanks so much
(and Anna, thank you for your comments; i try not to bring the goats in to everything, but ooops i do. recently Cynthia in Mahtowa, some other friends and i formed a "goat ladies" group that meets monthly to talk all about goats, goat cheeses, etc. - i was hoping it would keep me quiet at other times, but i know it hasn't :-)
As usual, I'm pretty busy at work, and my time to think up responses to blog posts is quite limited. Today my headphones broke, so I can't even listen to the show!
Wishing everyone a great day.
My husband, when talking to his brother as brother was rattling on about a pet theory: " Bill, you're either on something, or onto something."
Good Morning,
I'm also not any good at remembering jokes. Perhaps elinore would like this quip that is actually the name of a comedy show now running in the Twin Cities - "Lets Out Source the Boss". With an out sourced boss her work load might be reduced.
Oh I haven't heard Walk on the Wild Side for so many years...wow. thank you!
Really thank you!
Greetings! Once again, my memory fails me. I'm quite certain I come up with zippy comebacks throughout the day, but danged if I can remember any of them! :~) Maybe I'll think of one later ... Have a great day everyone!
Oh you wild and crazy kids! Great caption Beth-Ann. Yours was my favorite too - next to mine.
Last year one of my students cracked me up when I was reading them The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Where I teach it is very very important to frequently interrupt a read-aloud to ask the pupils critical questions to ensure comprehension is taking place in their brains. Questions of the inferring sort are considered superior. When I got to the part where Mother Rabbit was sending her young ones out for the day and she warned them about not going into Mr. McGregor's garden because Father Rabbit "had an accident there; he was put into a pie by Mrs. McGregor.", I asked the children to infer what she meant by that - when she said their father had an accident there. One of my sharpest kids raised his hand and I instantly called on him because I knew he'd know and would therefore model quality critical thinking to his classmates. This was his answer: "Did it mean Peter's father went to the bathroom in the garden somewhere he wasn't supposed to?" I began to laugh uncontrollably and couldn't get back to reading for several minutes because every time I tried to start in again, I'd start laughing. I don't know, maybe you had to be there... but I'm certainly glad I was! Kids do say the darndest!
Picking up non-dancing Donna's theme:
40 years ago (whew-40 years!!) I had seventh graders write a paper in which they imagined they came back to Lindstrom in many years and it was a ghost town, where they were stuck for the night. One girl went to the Catholic church. She tried the organ, out of which came a sour not or two and much dust. So she said to herself ,"Huh, organized air pollution."
How many stories about students could we tell, Donna?
I have lots of stories about school kids that come from sub teaching and most of them are the "you had to be there kind". One I always remember is a kid that didn't like a comment I made and told me she would give me the evil eye and she did. She made a very strange face and looked at me with only one eye open wide.
Barb in Blackhoof - I like reading about your goats so I can live vicariously and not have them myself (I have a basset hound - just as stubborn, but doesn't require milking, plus I can keep one in the city).
Donna - I think if I had been reading to your class when the idea of an "accident" of that nature came up, I doubt I could have gotten back to teaching the rest of the day. I enjoy volunteering with my daughter's kindergarten class, but I don't think I'd have the patience, or the poker face, to be able to teach full time. Kudos to you.
As for quips remembered - that would require, oh, actual memory for these things. Product jingles from the 1970s? Those I remember. Phone numbers I haven't called in 25 years? Got a few of those, too. Pithy quotes? Names of friends? Nope. Need to figure out a way to defrag my internal hard drive to get those back...
Speaking of goats and students...
My name is Kristin, and I am Donna's daughter (the Donna who has twice now put Namibia on the Midwest radar through song dedications, placing her up there with the likes of Angelina Jolie! Thank you, Dongelina!)
Our U.S. college students experience a wide variety of culture shock while living in Namibia for 4 months, but nothing seems more shocking to them than the differences in the treatment of animals. I understand--sure it's a bit of a shock after having been raised on P.E.T.A. and products stamped with the proud word "VEGAN!" to see animals...being animals, performing functions apart from "looking cute." The animal rights conversations most often come up during their rural homestays, the portion of the program in which we place them with rural, subsistence, goat-farming families. They see a small number of goats, playing around, eating everything in sight, acting like the goats they've only ever seen at the petting zoo. Then they are naturally dismayed when one of those goats is slaughtered in their honor and every part of it winds up on the dinner plate. But to say that animals don't have rights in Namibia is just a coping mechanism to ignore the truth of the matter. While cars, trucks, and donkey carts would happily plow a human over if that person did not get the heck out of its way, traffic of all kinds on any kind of road will come to a FULL STOP for a single goat confused in the middle of the road over its many options of directions to go, and this traffic will not resume until that goat has made up its mind and has trotted itself to safety. Thereby, the goat has more rights than the student!
A little background about Kristin - she's been a vegetarian for 14 years, was vegan for 10, and it all started back in her high school days after attending an animal rights meeting. :)
Donna/Kristin: there's a poem I like about a tricker breaking for a dog on the road. But I cannot find it online. I have it in a book at home. I will see if I can get you a reference tomorrow on it.
Hi, Kristin - thanks for posting today!
nice to hear that goats get their way (mostly) in Namibia also! they certainly do out here.
and Anna, i would think the fact that you can't milk a basset hound would be argument enough to get you a goat! Dream, even in this cold, cold weather is giving me between three and 4 quarts/day. she will definitely be most valuable milker of the year.
fyi, yearly MeadowWild Farm awards coming soon,
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