GENERAL STORE

       I've always dreamed of having a general store out in the country, and this old poem by Rachel Field made me smile.

 

GENERAL STORE

Some day I'm going to have a store

With a tinkly bell hung over the door,

With real glass cases and counters wide

And drawers all spilly with things inside.

There'll be a little of everything:

Bolts of calico; balls of string;

Jars of peppermint; tins of tea;

Pots and kettles and crockery;

Seeds in packets; scissors bright;

Kegs of sugar, brown and white;

Sarsaparilla for picnic lunches,

Bananas and rubber boots in bunches.

I'll fix the window and dust each shelf,

And take the money in all myself.

It will be my store and I will say:

"What can I do for you today?"

 

 

 

 

MY VIDEOS LISTED IN ORDER OF POPULARITY, WITH LINKS

Dale Sneaks into a Nudist Camp 

Sasquatch Encounter
Hello, It’s Me, the Cyclops
How to Get Ants Out of Your Mailbox
Galloping Gertie
Ozee
In the Middle of the House
The Bride of Frankenstein at the Crossroads of Life
A New Creation – an Invitation to Communion and Liberation
Baby Learns He Can Fight Off Tickling Monster
Ozee with the Picture Machine
Googling the Butter Rum Cartoon
Wanderlove
What, Me Worry?
Butter Rum Cartoon sung by Three
Rebel Rails Railwear
Want to See My Yodeling Pickle?
Penny on a Hanger Trick
Butter Rum Cartoon – the Song
German
My Favorite Car – the Citroen 2CV
The Clothesline
Chaplain Clarence H. Lund Shaking Hands
The Rodent Raiser and the Buttlick
Butter Rum Cartoon World Headquarters
Peeking
Butter Rum Cartoon
Celebrating Tarantula Enthusiasts
Ambrosia
My Life in Brief – 1949 to 2010
Wind Chimes in the Butter Rum Cartoon
Frogs Without Legs
The Return
The Toy Gun
Animal Breeder
Vintage TV
Dress Rehearsal for the Yuletide Feast
Passing by Two Gully Boys
The Clone
A Stayover
Music Appreciation
Three New Paperbacks
My First Beer
The Beat is Not Dead

Ozee and the Kite
Learning to Fly
Comic Books from When They Were
Fly Me to the Moon
Monsters
Movies Recommended by the Butter Rum Cartoon
Remembering School
How to Get Rich
Old Friends on TV
A Diversion
Fun
Cheese
Dance of the Promise
Idiots

 

 

 

 

THE LONE RANGER FAN CLUB

 

       This is a really neat and informative fan club.  Its "Silver Bullet" newsletter, though, is online, not by mail; and membership runs through each calendar year, from January 1st to December 31st, so if you join later in the year, your membership will be shorter for the first year.  If, like me, you treasure printed publications, you can print the e-publication yourself (if you have a printer).

       

The Lone Ranger Fan Club

 

 

 

 

 

THE THREE STOOGES FAN CLUB

       Their 15-page quarterly journal is really neat, and the dues for a year are only $9.  And unlike the Lone Ranger Fan Club, this one shuns the internet, except for the first step linked below, with which you get a membership application you mail in.  I like old school.  So did the Three Stooges.

 

The Three Stooges Fan Club 

CIRCUS FANS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA

       I discovered the Circus Fans Association of America in my reading of Emmett Kelly's excellent 1996 autobiography, Clown.  On page 138 he writes:

 

       "There is in America a remarkable group called the Circus Fans Association.  It was organized a quarter of a century ago by business and professional men and artists who at heart were still the small boys who wanted to run away with the circus.  This group makes it a hobby to study and visit circuses and to help the shows with local problems when they come to town.  They call the various chapters 'tops,' which is an expression for tents in America, and name them after circus people who either came from the community where the 'top' is or who are favorites of the Fans thereabouts.  The Fans at Hagerstown, Maryland, honored me by naming their 'top' for me a few years ago.  The CFA has a fine magazine called White Tops for its membership."

 

       And it's true, White Tops is a top-quality magazine, and members get four printed issues a year, access to "Members Only" area on website, circus route sheets updated monthly, and more.  Dues for regular membership are $55.  I crawled under the tent with my brother-in-law's younger sister to get into a circus free.  I went with my parents to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth. And I befriended the owner of a circus that came to Sultan WA and was one of the lucky kids who walked with him and his elephant down the streets of my town.  And there is still the circus.  This membership brings them all the closer.

 

The Circus Fans Association