While I am looking forward to starting school again....

To his friend...

Having gotten to FINALLY get back to reading some comics the last few days, it seemed time to post this one.  I feel like this sometimes but then glance at the file cabinets filled with comics behind me and relaize I will be okay.

The Armchair Squid asked about Montreal's Comic-Con a few weeks back....it IS tempting....

via Our Valued Customers

While reassuring his friend...

I have held on to this one for a little while.  Something about it is so innocent and sweet.  And it reminds me of how lucky I am to have Nan in my life!

Back to school full time tomorrow....

via Our Valued Customers

Ted Williams, 1940: "If I Were a Free Agent, I'd Sign With The Dodgers"

From the August 20, 1940 edition of theDubuque (Iowa) Telegraph-Herald



via Joy of Sox

Key Words

Keywords!  This is what brought folks to my blog this past week!  Which is odd, because I can't remember the last time I watched The Fifth Element!

This Day in First Lady History: August 9, 2012

Last week I mentioned that there were nine times in United States history where we had two First Ladies on a non-Inauguration day.  On this date, August 9, 1974, it was the last time (to date) and the only time (to date) the transfer did not involve the death of the President.

Thelma Catherine Nixon
Tenure: January 20, 1969 to August 9, 1974

Elizabeth Ann Warren Ford
Tenure: August 9, 1974 to January 20, 1977

The Mummy's Curse? He's only 1 ply.

From Terry Border's fabulous Bent Objects!

Super Silly Saturday: August 4, 2012

It doesn't get much more silly than this...we are preparing to head out for an all day kickball playoff.  I recognize it is some of the only exercise I get, but we went out last night to talk strategy and Nan made a late night grocery run for food and drinks.  We seem to be taking this seriously!

We are going to end the day, win or lose, with a trip to the local comic book store (Earth Prime Comics for those of you who will get the "joke") so there's that!

I'll post the results (or link to The Armchair Squid's summary of the games) tomorrow!

Final Film Festival Friday: August 3, 2012

As the title indicates, this is the last time I am regularly planning on blogging about the week's movies.  These seem to be popular posts and I have enjoyed the comments here and on some of your blogs.  I'll post about movies and update the flickchart but probably with less regularity.

This week, we hit Redbox to purchase a few flicks and on our way out of town after the golf tournament (using chewing gum to hold the power steering together!) we stumbled across a video store and grabbed a few more!

Currently #34 on my flickchart list.

Currently #73 on my flickchart list.

After watching Captain America recently, I scoured local Redboxes until I found the one selling both of the Iron Man movies.  Both were better than I remembered.  A rainout of our kickball practice last week let us do a double feature!

The video store we found sold us the next three for $21.  Considering Redbox doesn't include the boxes, I might consider this a better deal.  Nan, Haley and I watched Super 8.  The girls liked it, as I had hoped.  I grabbed Three Musketeers for Logan and Mission Impossible to add to my Sunday afternoon lesson planning rotation.

Currently #86 on my flickchart.

Currently #464 on my flickchart list.

Currently #113 on my flickchart list.

I scoured (did I already scour something else in this post?) the shelves for Thor but no luck.  I made Haley ask the boy working if they had any copies for sale and he said no.  Nan tells me I offered to buy one that they was still a rental copy and the kid said yes!  We watched it almost immediately once we got home.  Now we are ALL jonesing for The Avengers upcoming release!!

Currently #31 on my flickchart list.

First Lady Thursday: August 2, 2012

Sorry for the late post....Recently a friend of mine FINALLY moved to the same county as me.  She is usually my impetus to donate blood.  Now that we live so much closer to each other, I can get back on a regular donation schedule.  We set today up as our first day....and she was denied due to low iron count!  I still gave (Yeah me!) and then we went out to lunch....

So anyway....there have been nine occasions in United States history when our nation has had two different First Ladies on the same non-inauguration day!  Today is the 89th anniversary of one of those days...and the only First Lady who POSSIBLY murdered her way out of her title!

President Warren Harding, by most accounts, was one of our worst presidents ever.  His administration was unbelievably corrupt and scandal ridden.  When he died on August 2, 1923, numerous questions surrounded the cause of death.  There are many theories....natural causes, negligent doctors, even suicide.  However, there is one more theory which is my favorite.

Warren Gamaliel Harding
1865-1923

In 1930, a man named Gaston B. Means published a book entitled "The Strange Death of President Harding."  In the book, Means portrayed himself as the private investigator to end all private investigator.  He maintained that one of his last assignments came at the behest of First Lady Florence Harding.  Mrs. Harding, according to the book, directed Means to obtain evidence of the President's affair with Nan Britton. (I can't even BEGIN to do justice as to who Britton was....read THIS if you want more details!)

Nan Britton
1896-1991

Means eventually was able to obtain letters and other mementos from Britton and presented them to the First Lady.  Means famously recounted the sheer fury the First Lady exhibited when confronted with the President's unfaithfulness.

There are two motives put forth by Means to explain why the First Lady MIGHT have murdered the President.  The most important one was sympathy...an attempt to protect his reputation before the truth of the corruption around him and his administration came to light.

The more tawdry, second motive was revenge.  The rumor of the day, maintained by Britton until her death, was that President Harding was the father of Britton's daughter.  This was the final straw for the First Lady.  In the book, Mrs. Harding all but admits, according to Means, that she "poisoned her husband as an act of charity".

While there were rumors that Harding had been murdered almost immediately upon his death, this was different.  Mrs. Harding had been dead more than half a decade by the time Means' book was released and was unable to defend herself against the claim.

While Means gets credit for getting some things right in his book, he published it upon his release from prison after serving a two year sentence for graft.

Furthermore,  Mrs. Harding had put up with far more than Nan Britton and her daughter during her marriage to the President.  By most estimates, Harding maintained five mistresses and had a "formidable" number of brief liaisons.  As one historian notes:

"It is difficult to imagine that Nan Britton finally enraged her to the point where she murdered her husband. It could not have been the existence of a child, since Harding had already fathered an illegitimate child early in their marriage with another of Florences best friends."

It would seem that while the specter of other women might not have been a motive, protecting her husband's legacy might be more likely.  It is reported that Mrs. Harding burned many of her husband's papers immediately after his death and refused the call for an autopsy.  Within an hour of his death, Mrs. Harding had the President embalmed, dressed and in his casket.

All of this is a long way of saying, that on August 2, 1923, the nation awoke with Florence Harding as the First Lady and ended the day with Vermont's Grace Coolidge in the role.

Florence Harding
1860-1924

Grace Coolidge
1879-1957