Pet Peeves, Politics, & Potpourri

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[March 4 was a red letter day here. My great-grandson celebrated his 16 month birthday, also 16 months as a life member of the NRA, and got his first black eye. He's a quick learner. I doubt if he'll try to remove another blind from the windows.

While reading about Dave Morris' work experiences with switching to and from daylight savings time, it brought to mind my own experience with a time change. While on the way to Vietnam on board the USS Alamo LSD-33, we crossed the International Date Line. The captain, realizing his crew deserved an extra day of rest, timed his crossing of the date line for very late on a Sunday night. We went to bed Sunday night and woke up Tuesday morning. Giving us a 4-day work week. Coming back, it was possible to have two Sundays in a row; which we did.

More Naval trivia: When I went aboard my first ship, we had something called "rope yarn Wednesday". It came from the days of sailing ships when the captain allowed everyone not actively engaged in essential work to take Sunday afternoon off for the purpose of repairing their uniforms or hammocks. It only took place once a month. It eventually was moved to Wednesday in the more modern Navy.

I wrote a couple of years ago that the cruise control in both my Ford products quit working just after the warranty expired. I read in the Southern Illinoisan that both my vehicles were subject to recall to replace the "set" button, which can catch on fire, and they further advised not to park in a garage.

If you happen to own one on which the set button will not work, I can tell you that if you push the coast button it should work. It does on both of mine. Might even work on other brands!

Remember, one of the hardest things to imagine is that you are not smarter than average.

A grandfather is someone who carries pictures where his money used to be (Furrow).

Jack Hargis is a columnist for The Randolph County Herald Tribune.