Billy loves all kinds of sports. His favorite is football and his beloved Iowa Buckeyes. The puzzler has Jack Nicholson seating for the Buckeye season and has promised the tickets to Billy and us when they are out of town on their various traveling adventures. You can follow the adventures of the Puzzler by clicking here.
But this year Billy is conflicted. He can use the Puzzlers football tickets whilst they are in China for this years Olympics or...are you ready for this.....he can tag along with them in China.
Billy has a hard decision to make. His passport is up to date and he travels light (unless you factor in the lung) and he loves watching gymnastics....something he was never able to do himself.
Like I say he is conflicted. There will be a family meeting today at the Crippe household and we will be there to help make the right decision for him. So stay tuned. Will Billy see the first two Buckeye games or will he be a world traveler? Time is short, the Naked Gun is making the airport run tomorrow.
Bob is a scrapper......I don't mean he likes to fight....He has been keeping copious records of people he knows since the mid- forties and preserving them in scrapbook form.
I'm sure the methods have changed as certain essentials were invented over the years ..like glue and color photography. I stopped in the other day and asked him to show me a book or two. We plopped one down on his table near his poolside bar. Thats the area you will find him on any given Sunday, dressed in his signature "slingshot"...that is if he is dressed at all. Thats why they call him Naked Gun
The books are filled with everything associated with his life. Friends and family....one family member is nephew Tom Arnold and he gets a lot of press and space in the scrapbook.
You will remember it was Tom and his family comps that forced Billy to stay in the sweltering iron lung at the theatre parking lot during the premiere of the Final Season.......but thats another post from the past.
Some bloggies say the naked Gun looks a lot like Billy's Uncle Heinie. I've posted the two side by side. You make your own comparison.
If Billy could ride a bike.....he would do RAGBRAI.....so when RAGBRAI stopped in the Amana Colonies for its second visit, Billy requested that he be front and center. I store the Hummer in a secret place in the town of Homestead, so early this morning I proceed to the storage garage and it fires to life even though it has not been driven for awhile. You see the Hummer is thirsty and unless Billy needs to go somewhere or there is a lot of snow cover, it just hibernates most of the time. (I actually have been thinking of pawning my blackberry for gas money) I'm off to Middle Amana and the second story walk-up to gather Billy the lung and the backup power supply and before we know it we are back in Homestead to see a good number of this years RAGBRAI participants stream into town.
For the blogies from outside of Iowa who are not familiar with RAGBRAI , please point your browser to here.
There used to be a lot of party people on RAGBRAI ....but nowadays it seems like a bike ride to the church picnic. Gone are the naked beer slides and people riding au natural....at least thats what I heard. Naked Gun still rides RAGBRAI, having done so for 33 times. Some of those times he was wearing his signature slingshot.
A phone call to him today confirmed what I thought...no more slingshot. Just like everything else, things are never the same as the old days.
However, the beer drinking continues and I shot a few pics to evidence that.
It appears that virgins are a rare commodity as I only spotted one in the whole group.
This whole party for the RAGBRAI people was chaired by Tony of AJ's Copper Garden. He's the one in the muscle shirt.
Anyway, today, Billy lived vicariously through the whole event naked in his iron lung and no one was the wiser.
Right before a major holiday like Thanksgiving, frequently the Ex club guys and Ex club wannabes might be found all gathered around the conjoined tables at the Moose to settle a last minute world crisis or talk about a sporting event which already occurred. Favorite topics are deaths in the news or news about some grave illness which has plagued someone we know. Most often the discussion leads to religion or politics.
In the old days the subject matter might have been the opposite gender....if you know what I mean.
This particular evening it was about the pizza baron's doctor visit that afternoon. Gary was celebrating the good news with his trademark Funnie. Mary was all smiles, knowing that her sex life would not come to a screeching halt and the rest of them could care less. It was only natural that the discussion shifted to politicians.
To the people outside of the state of Iowa and in foreign countries who follow my blog, you may not realize how equally divided the state is. However, amongst our group, it is way lopsided and we occasionally have to import a democrat to give their view.
We do have a token Liberal, Naked Gun, but he spends his winters in Key West fantasying about Festivals and trying to control the chicken population. Naked Gun has won the agitator award many times. In his absence the Gentleman Farmer, Donnie A and the retired Advertising Executive, Tommy W. will fill in for him. The Hopper usually leads the charge on the conservative view. The Hopper is a mild mannered, low keyed, laid back gentleman who has hot glued his caps lock key in the upper position. A memo from The Hopper LOOKS SOMETHING LIKE THIS. The Hopper drives a Ford Expedition with the Gas Guzzler Tax declarationn proudly displayed next to his Boston Red Sox decal and his Mitt2008 placard. The Hopper was a runner up in the Sexiest Red Sox Fan competition for Peoples Magazine. Click here for more information.He has the "I donated to the Police Dept Fund Drive" strategically placed on the drivers side window where a cop would surely see it in the event he was pulled over for a traffic infraction. The Hopper was in premed for a short time and now works for a local doctor, who shall remain nameless.
This particular evening, the table adjacent to the 'fountain of knowledge' was occupied by group of chicks who were celebrating a birthday. They were hitting on to the Ex Club guys, but the discussion had already escalated.
They could come back for Ladies Night, but the sign in the men's room(how many ladies are going to see it there) indicated it had been canceled due to the impending holiday.
[Bloogers Note this post would have published in a timely manner, but I was flat on my back for the past 36 hours fighting a nasty bug]
This is my lame attempt at blogging and so far I have been able to add posts almost every day......will that continue?........time will tell.
If you scroll way to the bottom you will see "It's all about me" This blog is about me and my friends and my life. Most of it is true.
Some of it is tongue in cheek and some of it is outrageous.
Read the parts you like...if you find something offensive skip over it. If you have any comments, praises or criticisms, email or leave comments...I can take it. Mr. B
he be a world traveler? Time is short, the Naked Gun is making the airport run tomorrow.
