Good morning, folks!  Stopped by for a bit of humour to start your week out, did you?  Or did you smell the fresh-baked goodies?  Either way, come on in and make yourselves at home!  I got up extra early today so I could do a bit of extra baking before you got here, and I even squoze the juice myself!  Did you all have a wonderful weekend?  Mine?  Meh.  Daughter Chris had a band performance Saturday morning in Indiana, then afterward went to a Reds ballgame and out to dinner with friends.  Miss Goose took the neighbor boys, Ibraheem and Yousif, to a fall festival, so I had the house to myself for several hours and thought I could get a few posts written, get ahead of the game.  But no … instead I read some other people’s posts, tinkered about on Facebook for a while, read a bit, did some laundry and washed some dishes.  And so, I’m still behind as always.  Not having slept well the past two nights left me tired, so I was grumpy and out of sorts yesterday.  But now, it’s a new week and the first day of October … where has this year gone???

I found some things to bring us all a chuckle to start the week, so grab a cup of something and a plate with some treats, and let’s dig out those smiles, eh?

Candy Canes Galore!

I wasn’t kidding when I asked where the year has gone … it seems like only  yesterday I was putting away Christmas decorations … oh wait, that was yesterday … and now there’s less than three months until that costly joyous holiday rolls around again.  Sigh.  I have one Christmas present purchased and it is residing on my night table, for if I put it away, I will forget where I put it!  Anyway … back to the point.  Novelty company Archie McPhee out of Seattle, Washington, has already begun preparing for Christmas with some new candy cane flavours for this holiday season.  How about these …Yep, you got it … macaroni & cheese flavoured candy canes!  They also have ‘pickle-flavoured candy’ and … look, I’ve found the perfect stocking-stuffer for Chris!Heh heh heh … I think I’m getting into the spirit of this thing now!  Among the other flavours of candy canes on their website are:  Clam, Bacon, Pickle, Rotisserie chicken, and coal.  Be sure and check it out … they have some really fun stuff!

A Lego Wheelchair?

The Maryland Zoo said an employee found the eastern box turtle while walking in Druid Hill Park in July and brought the reptile to the zoo to receive treatment for multiple fractures to the bottom part of its shell.  Now, the bottom part of the shell is the part that drags the ground as the turtle walks … or, rather, crawls.

“Because of the unique placement of the fractures, we faced a difficult challenge with maintaining the turtle’s mobility while allowing him to heal properly,” said Dr. Ellen Bronson, senior director of animal health, conservation and research at the Maryland Zoo.

One of the externs at the zoo, Garrett Fraess, had a friend who was a Lego enthusiast, so together they came up with the perfect solution … a Lego Wheelchair!!!  According to Fraess …

“He never even hesitated. He took off and has been doing great. Turtles are really good at healing as long as the shell remains stable.”

Watch the little ‘tuga go …

Eating … Puppies???

Take a look at this little guy …Isn’t he just adorable?  Wouldn’t you just love to eat him?  Well, grab your spoon, ‘cause this little guy is made of … ice cream!  That’s right, folks … J. C. Co Art Kitchen in Kaoshiung, Taiwan, serves up ice cream, or more aptly, gelato, in the shape of labrador, pug and shar pei puppies.  The gelato is available in chocolate, peanut and milk tea flavors, and it takes them around five hours to make 100 servings!

Some customers have said that the puppies are so realistic that they couldn’t bear to eat them!  Each puppy ice cream costs between $110 and $188 Taiwanese dollars, which equates to $3.50 and $6 in the U.S.  (Talk about inflation!!!)

What to do with those empty chip bags?

Nothing I love better than a good protest … well, maybe chocolate … I might opt for a small square of chocolate over a protest.  Anyway … what better sort of protest than an environmental protest, yes?  Apparently, Britain’s Royal Mail isn’t all that thrilled with the latest protest on that side of the pond.  People seem to be sending empty potato chip … er, potato crisp bags (over there, what we call ‘french fries’ are chips, and what we call ‘chips’ are ‘crisps’ across the pond.) and they are causing headaches for the royal mail crew.The protest, started by activist group 38 Degrees, is to protest Walker brand’s packaging, which takes 75-80 years to decompose.  Seems a worthy cause to protest, doesn’t it now?  The company announced during the summer that it was aiming to make the packaging recyclable by 2025, but protesters say the goal isn’t fast enough.  And so, they are mailing their empty crisp bags back to Walkers … as is, not placed in an envelope with postage affixed.The problem is, when items are placed in post boxes without an envelope, they cannot be processed by machines, and therefore have to be sorted by hand, per the BBC. This means that the packets could cause delays to normal postal processing.

“We strongly encourage customers not to post anything into the postal system which is not properly packaged. And if they are taking part in this campaign we would urge them to put crisp packets in an envelope before posting.”

And that, folks, is all the chuckles you get for today!  Now take thee off and go be useful, for I have laundry to do, dishes to break wash, and a nap walk to take.  Please, folks, share those smiles you are wearing right now, and have a kind word for someone who looks a bit down today.  Have a wonderful week and keep safe out there!  Love ‘n hugs from Filosofa!

By the way folks … did you know that Maxine has her own Facebook page?  Check it out!