PARTLY NONSENSE

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN JOEL KLAASSEN
The phone rang about 6:45 Saturday morning. A call at that time of day made me a little nervous since Nancy was out of town and one never knows who might be calling that early.

On the other end of the phone was grandson Alex Cameli. He had called to say that their soccer games were called off on Saturday because of all of the rain. When he realized that it was me and not Aunt Mary whom he was trying to call he was ready to hang up.

I said, “Don’t hang up. This is the best wrong number I have ever gotten.”

We got to talking about that I hoped their games wouldn’t be called off later this month when we will be there to visit.

He then put little brother Louie on the phone. After we had talked for a little while he said, “Where’s Grandma?” since she and I are usually on the phone at the same time.

I told him that she was in Texas at market.

He exclaimed, “Texas! No way!”

I then spoke with their mother, who said Alex, after being reticent to talk on the phone for so long, now answers it and calls people all of the time.

With the change to Daylight-Saving Time this past weekend I realized you don’t just lose one hour. It’s more like two hours for all of the time it takes to reset all of the clocks ahead an hour.

My watches are pretty easy to set and so are the battery clocks on the wall, but then you add the oven, the microwave, the alarm clocks, the VCR (never found the VCR to be easy), plus the truck and the car and you’ve easily burned another hour.

I guess this means the hour we gain in the fall is also lost to resetting the clocks. I know some people who never change the clocks in their cars because they don’t know how. At least they are right half the time.

Last week I wrote about a list of reasons why people may have less money to spend than in the past. I made one glaring omission.

Folks who are living off of interest on savings have had this income cut by 80 percent or more in recent years. There were times in the 1980s when interest paid on money market accounts was at 17 percent. Lately it has hovered in the 1 to 3 percent range.

That fact accounts for a huge difference in disposable income for many area residents.

John Cougar Mellencamp packed in a huge crowd for his performance at the Kansas Coliseum recently. Do you suppose the $25 ticket prices he charged-when compared with prices that are double or higher for other entertainers-had something to do with it?

It’s great to see Quick Flick/Radio Shack into its new digs at the center of town. So roomy and inviting, it is.

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