The Rooney Bin

“Shopping is a woman thing,” humor writer Erma Bombeck wrote. “It’s a contact sport like football. Women enjoy the scrimmage, the noisy crowds, the danger of being trampled to death, and the ecstasy of the purchase.”             My how the shopping game has changed since Bombeck made that witty observation. Women still enjoy shopping, but ... Read More

A green llizard took a ride on an Alleghany locomotive on the Binmeisters model train layout. Leaping lizards! The holidays are upon us, and it’s time to bring in the Christmas greenery along with the occasional lizard.  I raise the issue because it came up on the ever popular Nextdoor discussion group on ... Read More

A cold front moved in last week, a welcome harbinger of fall and Turkey Day. Many Americans envision turkey as Thursday’s delicious main course, but flocks of wild turkeys are causing a lot of indigestion for residents in the Holiday City section of Toms River, NJ. Gangs of 25 or more wild turkeys have been ... Read More

“I’m going to live until I die, and everything in between is just another excuse to eat peanut butter.”—actor/comedian Dana Gould November is the time of year when holidays and leftovers converge. First one has to get rid of the leftover pumpkin and Halloween candy to make room for the soon to be leftover Thanksgiving turkey ... Read More

Last week thousands lined up along Constitution and Pennsylvania avenues in Washington D.C., to cheer a parade celebrating the Nationals’ World Series victory, a first for that city since the Washington Senators beat the New York Giants in 1924.  Everyone loves a parade, the excitement, colors, music, costumes, cheering and significance of the occasion. St. Patrick’s ... Read More

“Yes, we have no bananas. We have-a no bananas today.” We had some a week ago, but they weren’t ripe. Then just as they turned from green to yellow some critter beat me to the harvesting punch and stripped most of a large hand of bananas off the Bin plant. Are there monkeys in ... Read More

It’s time to come up with clever Halloween costume ideas. There is less than a week before, as Shakespeare put it, “the very witching time of night, when churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out contagion to this world.” Getting ready for Halloween can be a challenge; as someone named anonymous said: “I’ll bet living in ... Read More

Halloween is October’s signature scary event, but the month of creepy creatures also is known as Bat Appreciation Month and Raptor Month. Bats, goblins, witches, zombies, ghosts, werewolves and vampires are among the frightening critters (imagined, costumed and perhaps real) you’ll see this time of year in local stores, front yards and knocking at your ... Read More

“If any event teaches you how to perform on no sleep, it’s a hurricane.”—David Muir, news anchor Yikes! Hurricanes are scary. Although the Rooney Bin survived another major meteorological event, this one actually turned my hair white. (Admittedly, it could have been the fact that the storm delayed my monthly color and cut.)  I ... Read More

I miss the good old days, when my spouse the Binmeister would talk to me and my watch wouldn’t, when my washer and drier just had on/off buttons and my refrigerator simply stayed on. Ditto my car radio that has to be programmed, but I can’t figure out how to set the channels I ... Read More