Saturday 9: Bonanza

Heyyo. This week's theme is Bonanza, with a heaping helping of classic Michelle Obama side-eye (here, at the Trump inauguration, where it was seriously deserved...) because I never watched Bonanza with my grandpa, and that's all I remember about it!

Can we get, like, some Billie Eilish (I'm in love with her music sososo much) or Halsey (ugh, no, how 'bout Melanie Martinez instead) or gosh, Flo Rida (okay, maybe that one song isn't the best example, but it's fun and I love it!) up in here ever? You know, mix it up sometimes with fresh new artists who also have something to say? I risk being given some side-eye here myself, but it just feels like I don't know so many of the weekly themes.

 

Don't shut me out! Hear me when I say, younger people - generation after generation - are shut down from older folks' conversations over and over, because the older gens don't feel like they have any legitimate thoughts. This isn't true! Sometimes, their ideas are even better, and if we implement them, we progress! Maybe we can just mix it up a little bit more? Or am I way off base and getting that look?

So I am gonna play along, understanding that I just stirred the pot a bit, but hope y'all will understand, too. Link up if ya wanna join!

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Saturday 9: Bonanza (1959)
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) Bonanza ran on NBC for 14 seasons. Today it's rerun on Me-TV and TVLand. Were/are you a fan?

🤣🤣🤣 No. (sorry)

2) The show centers on The Cartwrights, who lived on a massive ranch in Nevada. License plates in Nevada read, "The Silver State." What's on your license plate?

Yes. It really does say "Famous Potatoes" on the plates. They were really thinkin' hard about that one. Hey, I didn't pick it.

3) Ben Cartwright made his fortune as a cattle rancher. What's the last beef dish you ate?

Hmm, I don't know. Let me call 1995, but I think it was probably my sister's lasagna. (And now I don't feel well.)

4) Patriarch Ben had his eldest son, Adam, with his refined, bookish first wife, Elizabeth. Unfortunately, Elizabeth died in childbirth. Still Adam inherited her love of the written word. What's the last book you finished?

A quick glance at my Kindle list shows me it's mostly filled with yoga stuff and vegan cookbooks. Hopefully when school starts, now that I won't be homeschooling any longer I'll actually have time to read more!

5) Ben's second son, Hoss, was born to his second wife, Inger, who was killed as the family traveled West by wagon train. Hoss inherited her open, friendly manner and her way with animals. Are there pets in your home?

Um, yes. Kind of a lot: two dogs (Paco here just turned five yesterday!), three cats, three bunnies, and two fish. Maintaining our own petting zoo is good for morale. (Except for when the dog craps on the floor or, y'know, a cat litter box needs cleaning...)

6) Ben's youngest, Joe, arrived after Ben married a third time to the passionate Marie, who died in a riding accident when her son was only five years old. Little Joe inherited her impetuosity. Do you consider yourself more spontaneous or predictable?

Oh, my God. These poor women married a serial wife killer-offer! 🤣

I'm more like a fractal. Predictably spontaneous. (And now I just want to go read endlessly about fractals some more, like the Cantor ternary set and stuff. I'm such a nerd.)
 
7) Samuel Clemons was a reporter in Virginia City at the time when the Cartwrights would have been there, and a fictionalized version of Mr. Clemons appeared in an episode of Bonanza. Without looking it up, do you know Samuel Clemons' famous pen name?

Sure do. 😉 Hubs and I - and now the kids - talk about Mark Twain quite frequently, actually.

8) Hair was a big deal in the Bonanza dressing room. Three of the original four stars -- Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts and Dan Blocker -- all wore hairpieces. (The fourth, Michael Landon, began dying his hair while still in his 20s because he was going prematurely gray.) Have you ever worn a wig or a hairpiece?

Only for a minute, after I shaved my head in 2012. The wig was awwwwwwful. Here's Hubs modeling it. He looks great, no? 🤣
 
9) Random question - Tell us the story behind one of your scars.

Did I tell you guys this one already? I was in Naples, Florida, with my marine bio classmates while in college. We were traipsing through the mangrove roots in order to take soil sample cores and determine the level of oxygen in... well, anyway. We were headed back the boot when I slipped through a tangle of mangrove roots, tearing up my whole right leg. Knowing what my major was, many people asked me about my gruesome-looking injury when I got back to my dorm later that weekend. I told them I'd been attacked by a shark, and many of them believed me. I'm not sure I ever corrected some of them! 🤣

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Well, I'm exhausted. I hope y'all don't hate me. 

Peace, love and buttercups

Fin.