The Rooney Bin

 “The future ain’t what it used to be.”—baseball great Yogi Berra It’s January, so dust off your crystal ball, shuffle that deck of Tarot cards, gather round the Ouija board and drag out your prescient cat. Cat? Yes, cat. That famous prognosticating groundhog Punxsutawney Phil is but one example of animals that predict the future. Since time began, ... Read More

Thanks for everything! It’s Jan. 5 and there are only 360 days until Christmas. I’ll never make it. In fact, I’m not yet ready for Christmas 2018. We didn’t fully deck-the-halls, and much to No. 1 daughter’s dismay the stockings weren’t hung by the chimney with care; they were draped on a chair next to ... Read More

Hang the mistletoe Hang the mistletoe and pucker up, but first make sure you’ve had a flu shot. Not to be a wet blanket, but the holiday smooching season coincides with flu season so one should consider the pros and cons of greeting options: kissing, hugging, handshakes or fist bumps. ... Read More

Going to the North Carolina mountains the week before Thanksgiving put us behind in the holiday decorating ritual, so we forfeited the annual light-the-bushes competition with the across the street neighbors. We won last year, by untangling nets and strings of lights three weeks after Halloween…boy were they surprised. Decking halls ... Read More

“Veni, Vidi, Visa” (I came, I saw, I went shopping), and amidst the holiday shopping crush, I spotted a couple of familiar faces. As they passed, I said, “I don’t know what possessed me to get into this crowd.” The wife smiled and charged ahead, but her husband nodded in agreement ... Read More

Which came first, the turkey or the Big Green Egg? According to my spouse the Binmeister, the turkey may have come first, but there has never been a turkey like the one that is expected to emerge from his Big Green Egg on Thanksgiving Day. Look out! Binmeister is in ... Read More

Native American Indian Totem Pole Clipart November is Native American Heritage Month, a time to honor the rich culture of Native American communities. It’s a legendary time, when Americans come together to reenact the first Thanksgiving and give thanks their internet is working so they can read email and play ... Read More

“We gain an hour today. At my age you appreciate any extra time on the clock.”—Maxine cartoon Autumn began Sept. 23…somewhere, but not in Florida, where the temperatures have been hot and hotter. The weather finally is cooling down, and tomorrow morning Daylight Saving Time reverts to Standard Time, an indicator ... Read More

That scariest time of the year is almost here. William Shakespeare called it “the very witching time of night, when churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out contagion to this world.” Today it’s called Trick or Treat, a night when costumed kids go door to door collecting sweets, including ... Read More

Beep, beep, beep! Help! It’s an alarming time of year, and the Rooney Bin is being held hostage by a hi-tech security system. If hurricanes, ghosts and goblins don’t get you, a dead battery could be your undoing. “The most disturbing sound in the world comes from the alarm clock at ... Read More