Life, Nonsense, Things I Want to Remember

things i want to remember – part 33

Kari

if you’re here for the first time, welcome! you’ll be able to find the other parts of this series here.

1- animal heads on walls creep me out. imagine if animals had human heads on their walls- that would be fu**ed up.

2- i’ve always wondered how canada geese know to fly in v-formations. but maybe they look down on us on highways and think, how do they know how to move in those little metal boxes along those little lines?

3- speaking of highways, i’m a huge fan of taking the long way home.

4- have you ever heard this version of the song super freak:

5- do you remember chef tell?

6- we had a plymouth volare station wagon when i was growing up. i looked up pictures of them recently, and every one looked so vintage it made me realize how old i am. i don’t recommend doing that.

i do miss a landline phone

7- suzanne’s post made me realize that when i started this blog, i hadn’t even started texting yet. that wouldn’t happen for another two years.

8- bathrooms should be for everyone, not just customers. denying someone access because they haven’t spent money feels like we’ve lost sight of basic compassion.

source

9- last month, i drove past where the hospital used to be- the one where i gave birth to both of my daughters. it was gone, torn down. they’ve built a brand-new hospital just down the street, but i hadn’t realized the old one was gone. it made me really sad.

10- i’m at the age where i qualify for senior discounts.

11- i just found out last week that lung cancer awareness month is november- my dad’s birthday was november 4th.

do you qualify for senior discounts? still have a landline phone? do you like to take the long way home? tell me all about it in the comments.

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75 thoughts on “things i want to remember – part 33”

  1. Tara’s uncle in rural Nevada had a farmhouse full of mounted animal heads. The first time we took my daughter there, she just about freaked out.

    Truth is, I did too.

    Hunting for food, sure, I can see that. But he’s a game hunter and does it for sport. Clearly, that’s not my thing.

    Can’t say I’ve ever heard that version of “Super Freak.” I’m not sure it should even exist, but to each their own, I guess!

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  2. My nerdy, animal-loving 7-year-old self is ready for her moment: Geese fly in a V-formation because each bird positions itself to catch the upward air current created by the bird in front, which reduces wind resistance and drag; this aerodynamic benefit means the flock uses less energy and can travel much farther together, with birds taking turns at the front so no one gets too tired.

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    1. Omg! Your comment reminded me of when I learned this geese factoid as a kid. I thought it was the coolest thing!

      Thanks for sparking a happy memory! 😊

      I’ve always loved when the geese migrate – hearing the gentle susurrus of their wings as they fly overhead.

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      1. I love all the geese facts in this comment section—they’re one of my favorite types of birds.

        And I also love the susurrus of their wings! 💜

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      2. Oh my gosh, I love it!! I’m still filled with all these random facts and it’s a special kind of childlike excitement to be able to share them. 😊

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    2. This is why I love my comment section. Tell your sweet, animal-loving self that this information will live with me for the rest of my life. Canada geese are one of my favorite birds. Now, every time I see them, I will picture your seven-year-old self telling me this fact. 😘💜

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  3. Super Freak as a country-banjo tune was funny! We have two landline phones with curly cords in our house! They are push-button phones, not rotary. Quite modern! We’ve had them forever and they still work great. I do qualify for senior discounts! I need to remember to ask about them more often! I also love taking the long way home. It’s usually more scenic and less intense. I really dislike driving on the Interstate. It has an 80 MPH speed limit through most of Montana, and it’s just too fast for me!

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    1. Definitely funny! A lot of strong opinions about it, but it’s definitely a lot different from the original!

      OMG—it makes me so happy that you still have your landlines with curly cords!

      Michelle—I go with my mom to a lot of places, and we never think to have her ask for a senior discount! We probably should do that more. 🤣

      You’re not alone in disliking the interstate. I have to drive on it several times each week. I try to add extra time to my schedule so I can take the longer way for many reasons. This time of year is so beautiful, and I love to listen to my music—it seems harder to do both while driving 80 mph on a highway. 💜🍂

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  4. Oh, your dad’s birthday was so recent. Sending you love.

    I wish I still had a landline. I can’t remember the last one I had. Did we have one in grad school? No idea.

    Woot! woot! Senior discounts!

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  5. My husband only recently began liking to take the long way home. We’ve done a lot more scenic driving in the past year and have come upon some surprises (Grand Lake near Celina, OH and a really cute little ice cream shop with fabulous ice cream near Willard, OH).

    I’m sorry, but they ruined Super Freak! LOL! That was just too weird for me. We still have our landline, but it only ever gets spam. I keep it to have a phone number to give to businesses because I don’t want them having my cell phone number. We were just talking about how when we were kids, everyone ran to the phone when it rang. Now, nobody even answers their cell phone.

    The hospital where my daughters were born no long has a maternity ward, which is sad. However, my oldest daughter works out of that hospital (she does research primarily from home, but uses that hospital as her office when needed) and my mother passed away at that hospital.

    The only senior discount I’ve taken is hotel stays and tickets on vacations (like to the zoo or a presidential museum).

    I hope your week is warm and cozy!

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    1. Ooh—tell me more about the ice cream shop near Willard. I know a little something about that area.

      They did ruin it. 🤣

      I think of how lucky our kids are to have phones without a cord. Man, what I would’ve given to not have a cord attached to the phone. Oh, and caller ID!

      Oh, wow—so much history at that hospital for you. 😘💜

      Those are the kinds of discounts I really look forward to.

      Our week is very cozy! I hope yours is the same, my friend!

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  6. I do remember Chef Tell!

    I am so old that not only have all the schools I’ve attended been torn down, so has the hospital in which I was born. Sigh.

    The long way home…never. Hurrying is so deeply ingrained in me that I find I cannot do it. It’s the teacher-working mom-exCatholic lament.

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    1. Yay!

      The high school I went to was torn down, as well as the junior high, and I believe one of my elementary schools. Sigh. I do believe the hospital I was born in is still around, but it’s now a nursing home.

      I get it! I still hurry to get home most days, but when I have extra time, I really do love taking the scenic route.

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  7. That Chef Tell bit took me down the rabbit hole in the comments to a PM Magazine video and I am tearing myself away from the tab to relish later — but I’m letting Superfreak play out in this one.

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    1. Right?? I went down that same PM Magazine rabbit hole!

      There’s a lot of Super Freak Part Deux hatred right now, but it does make me very happy that I introduced so many people to this version. 🤣

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  8. I agree 100% on places allowing people to use the restroom even if they aren’t spending money. I do not like to take the long way home as I’m usually in a big hurry to get home. I’ve not heard that version of Superfreak, and not that I’ve heard it – I prefer the original version. I do not remember Chef Tell at all. It is funny, when I tell my kids about something I did back in the day – I have to explain to them . . . Yeah and I had no phone or gps and I still did that. Imgaine?! We have a landline still. The younger girls don’t have cell phones yet and we are holding off for as long as possible, so the landline is still necessary in case they are ever home alone (still not doing that either and it’s a pain in the neck) and they need to call for help or something.

    Happy heavenly birthday to your dad.

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    1. I think it depends on when I’m going home, because a lot of the time, I’m in a hurry to get home too. But if there’s time built into the schedule, I will take the scenic route.

      LOL- I am loving the Super Freak hatred. 🤣

      I don’t know how we did it without GPS. We had MAPS. Like EXPLORERS.

      Thank you, friend. 😘💜🌈

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  9. On the above … Gary Larson once did a cartoon with the human heads on the walls in the bears’ house. Just like you said.

    Geese fly in a V for the greatest efficiency – the geese in front break the force of the wind for those behind. When they get tired, they rotate to the back, and those who were behind rotate forward. They can also keep visual communication when in a V. :-) (Been an animal fan since I could stand)

    And I LOVE the scenic way home, which always seems to be the long way, doesn’t it?

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    1. Gary Larson! I used to love his cartoons—I haven’t heard his name in years! Now I feel the need to go down a rabbit hole of his work…

      OMG, I love this fact! This makes me love geese even more!

      The scenic way is the best way. I’m so glad you love it too! 💜

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      1. This makes me so happy! Your Dad was awesome. Happy Belated Birthday to him 💚

        PS. In my area you can join the Senior Center at 55 yo. I am *pysched*! I hear the Senior Center news via my Aunties & some older friends & OMG it is all the Grandma Camp activities I’ve loved my entire life. 😅

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      2. Yes, he was! 💜🌈

        Someone else said they can join their senior center at 55! I love this! I might look into ours for a yoga class—the yoga class I attended this summer had lots of older women in it, and I felt so welcomed and comfortable.

        Grandma Camp activities—you and I are so alike. 😘💜

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  12. OMG during the pandemic – let’s call it 2020, but it might have been 2021 – I was in Shopper’s Drug Mart and the woman asked if I wanted the seniors’ discount. I was 45, or possibly 46. Anyway. I stared for a second and then said “sure” because if I was going to be ASKED if I wanted it, I should get that 10% off. But then! Then she said “I’ll need to see some ID” and so I had to say that I wasn’t actually a senior and omg, it was so awkward.

    Along the same lines as Shopper’s, my husband and I had a holiday open house in December 2023, and at that time I was 48. His cousin, who is an assistant manger of Shopper’s here in Kelowna (the other story took place in Calgary), helpfully told me that Tuesdays are seniors’ days, and it was 20% off on those days. I said that I didn’t qualify and she said, super helpfully, that the age was 55. I said I wasn’t 55. Then, Kari, then she started to guess my age, working backward. “54? 53? 52?” until I just said “I’m 48” and the conversation, such as it was, ended.

    Along the bathroom lines, I was very pregnant and my husband and I and I think Mark, I think I was pregnant with Jake, were driving from Kelowna back to Calgary and I needed to pee. But no one would let me, this gigantically pregnant woman, to use their bathroom! I don’t remember where we finally went but it was an ordeal.

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    2. OMG—that would’ve put me over the edge. Why even ask if you have to see ID??

      OMFG—I hope there was awkward silence after. PLEASE TELL ME THERE WAS AWKWARD SILENCE AFTER. Way too many people have never been told to “shut up,” and it shows.

      OMGG PART THREE—You are not painting a good picture for Canada today, my friend. Pregnant women should always get a pass for the bathroom. Unbelievable.

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  13. “I want the senior discount” is my new favorite line (no one ever has it where I shop??!). I don’t remember chef tell. I’m beginning to think every road I take is the long way home. I do not have a landline (been years). happy belated birthday to your Dad in heaven <3 .

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    1. I remember working at McDonald’s in high school and seeing senior citizens come in for their coffee and danishes, flashing their “Golden Buckeye” cards. I used to think that was the SH**. Honestly, I think I’ve always just wanted to be a grandma—that was my life goal. 🤣

      Every road I take feels like the long way home… Ren, that is poetic.

      Thank you for the birthday wishes. It’s surreal celebrating their birthday when they’re gone.

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  14. That is a very unique version of super freak! Wow!

    I receive advertisements from the senior center in my city. Apparently, you can join at the age of 55. So technically, I can be a member. That blows my mind!

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    1. That’s a nice way of putting it! 🤣🤣

      I wonder what kind of stuff they have going on at the senior center. Might be fun to check it out! Honestly, I’d probably choose a senior center yoga class over a regular one.

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  15. hey Kari,

    the landline. I wish I had a landline and not my smart phone. I have a story Al from my childhood about having a landline.
    I was homeschooled and extremely lonely. I may have been around 11 or 12 years old. I was home alone all the time since my parents were working. I would dial a random number on my landline, and if someone answers, I’d read them a Pushkin poem. No hello, no nothing. The person will say “hello” and I would just start reading.

    then I’ll quickly hang up.

    pathetic yet so sad. I just want to hug that 11 year old Daria.

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  17. Nothing beats the scenic route.
    Heard of ChefTell but can’t remember watching him.
    I like weird I just can’t get into THAT version of Super freak (never heard it either)
    I agree with the bathrooms thing, like gas stations/convenience stores have no problem offering that to travelers at the very least offer a key like they do at my local library because people off the street would often sleep in the stall, do drugs ir have sex. But the amount if businesses these days that customers only make me not want to patronize.
    Senior discounts at 55 in illinois ? Lucky you 🫤

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    1. It seems that version of Super Freak is pretty divisive. I heard it for the first time years ago and it made me laugh, but I don’t actually enjoy it.

      I did a little research and found that you and I are still about ten years away from being eligible for senior discounts everywhere. I did discover I was eligible for one locally, and it totally floored me. Feeling better now. Thanks, Matt. 😊

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  18. I can’t do the animal heads (or butterflies in shadow boxes) either! I just can’t wrap my head around it- do you love nature? Or hate it? And if you love it isn’t it the flickering vibrancy of life, existing, that does it for ya? And if so, then these husks… make a mockery, no? I DO NOT GET IT

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  19. Kari, I’m with you – animal heads on walls CREEPS ME OUT….BIG TIME! When I was a kid, my father caught a Swordfish when he was on vacation in Mexico, and had it shipped back to the U.S., stuffed, and then hug it on our living room wall. OMG, it totally creeped me out anytime I looked at it. Thankfully, when we moved to Florida, he either gave it away or left it for the new house owners. Needless to say, I was so happy I never had to look at it ever again.

    And yes, I have definitely heard that version of Super Freak.

    I had a landline phone up until last December, when I still had Verizon DSL internet/phone service. However, I got rid of it once I switched to T-Mobile Home Internet (Wi-Fi).

    “i’m at the age where i qualify for senior discounts.” — that’s awesome! And trust me, as you get older, the discounts get more and more. I actually got a travel pass card in Philadelphia, which allows me to use all public transportation for FREE, which saves me a TON of money.

    Fun post, my friend. Hope you’re having a fantabulous week so far!

    X

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    1. Fish on the wall creep me out too! Their eyes—it’s so sad.

      I love that you’ve heard that version and had no comment. 🤣🤣

      I also love that you had a landline up until last December.

      I’m finding that I should be asking for discounts more often! My mom never does—we need to get used to doing so.

      Thank you for reading, my friend. It’s been a good week; I hope it’s been a good week for you as well. 😘💜

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  20. I am 57 and I got my first senior discount at Chic-Fil-A a couple months back. I was actually excited! When we moved we got rid of our landline. The reason I kept it so long was for my Dad when he was still alive. He had some dementia and I didn’t want to confuse him if we got rid of it. He’s been gone 7 years. I guess I procrastinated on that one! I like to take the long way home if I’m not in a hurry to get somewhere. I just did that last week when the weather was perfect and the leaves were at their peak! Hope this week has been good to you so far!

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    1. I was just there yesterday with my mom and Anna! We didn’t even think to ask about a senior discount, but we’re doing that from now on!

      I understand the procrastination. 😘💜

      Fall and Spring are my most favorite times of year to take the long way home.

      It’s been a really good week, my friend! I hope it’s been good to you as well! 😘🌈

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  21. Yup – happiness is a senior discount. Sometimes.

    I had a landline reinstalled this year because I kept losing my cell phone. It removes a huge amount of anxiety.

    I like to drive, so yes, sometimes.

    My elementary school was just demolished. It’s a weird feeling when something so connected to your past – your former hospital – is disappeared.

    It’s odd to realize how quickly the world has changed since the advent of the personal cell phone not too many years back.

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    1. 🤣

      I love this! It honestly makes me so happy you have a landline.

      My high school was demolished just weeks after my childhood friend died, and that whole summer felt heavy

      Right? So much has changed.

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  22. I hate animal heads on walls, too! I never understood the appeal. I think they’re tacky and gross.

    Chef Tell? Never heard of him! I do remember Mr Food though!

    No land line phone.

    I love senior discounts even though I don’t feel like I’m old enough to use them. ;-)

    Long way home – no, thank you. I want to get home as quickly as possible. Unless it’s the rare occasion where we aren’t in a hurry to get home and the longer drive is an especially pretty one.

    xoxo

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  24. In no particular order:

    Have you heard of Hayseed Dixie? They do country versions of all kinds of songs. This is one of my favorites: https://open.spotify.com/track/44eriZvPXHtb065mbCAfeg

    The rink where I skate gives a discount if you are 50 or older, and I skated there for months before the woman behind the counter mentioned it, and when I said I was over 50 she didn’t believe me. I did not get retroactive discounts. Now I know to ask. I plan to fully use any senior discount I qualify for! 

    The bathroom thing is hard! I agree that everyone should be able to use an indoor bathroom. I also understand why so many businesses where I live now have locks that require codes to get in. We have too many folks without access to their own bathrooms. I wish our city had facilities for them. I’d be happy for my tax dollars to go to that. I don’t think small business owners should have to provide that service. (My go-to strategy when I need a restroom is to find a library. Yet another reason to love them!) 

    OK, this is getting long. I love landline Kari. That bunny on your onesie! ❤️

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    1. I’ve never heard of them! I love things like this.

      I love getting age discounts too, and I always wonder if we don’t get asked because people are afraid of offending us.

      I agree with everything you said. And I love your idea about using library bathrooms. I’ve also heard that hotel lobby bathrooms are an option.

      I love her too. I never noticed the bunny! I was always too focused on the letter opener in my hand. 🤣

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  25. I’m floored by this Super Freak version! LOVE

    I do miss a landline. Our new house doesnn’t even have the capabilities for one if we wanted to go back in time.

    I have no idea who Chef Tell is!

    I can kind of understand the bathroom thing; there are a lot of people who would take advantage of the area and make it unsafe for others. (Drug users, thieves, etc….) But I often stop at Rest Stops, or fast food restaurants while traveling and they are open to everyone.

    The long way home? Yes, please!

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    1. Right??

      It really does feel like our childhoods keep drifting farther away.

      For the longest time, I honestly thought Chef Tell was just an Ohio thing, and then I found out he was everywhere.

      I get what you mean, especially about big cities.

      Same here!

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  26. In many areas of the UK, you can only have a “landline” which is connected to your WiFi router, and I don’t consider that to be a landline. I only kept one and and old fashioned handset to use in case of power cuts, so haven’t bothered for a few years now.

    Your comment about your old car reminded me that we had an old Woody station wagon when I was very young and living out in the hills, and then a big old Studebaker saloon when we moved to a big city. These days I drive small cars by choice, so the cars of my childhood memories seem ridiculous in size!

    Your point about animal heads is very well made. The Canada geese cartoon made me chuckle :)

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    1. I actually love that. I feel like we should also have that too, just in case of emergencies.

      A Woody! OMG, I loved those cars! Stationwagons were SO BIG. The kids today would laugh if they saw them in person.

      I’m glad I could make you laugh. 😘💜

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