PARTLY NONSENSE- More about those Ps and Qs

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN JOEL KLAASSEN
I learned more about my Ps and Qs this week. As I was on my walk around town Monday, LaVonne Calam stopped me to let me know another meaning for “Watching Ps and Qs.” I presume she attended one of the Learning in Retirement sessions at Tabor College, where the folks from the Printing Museum at Peabody were discussing the California Job Case and said when the foundry type was put back in the drawer one had to watch his “Ps and Qs” so as not to get them mixed up when they are picked out of the drawer again.

That being the case (upper or lower) I was already watching my Ps and Qs way back in the last century during the late ’50s.

Nancy and I had a good time down in Florence during the Labor Day festivities last week. Looked like a good-sized crowd and the weather was perfect.

Those of us from this part of the county can now say we can only get to Florence in a roundabout way.

From time to time my knees hurt when going up stairs. Must be my old age catching up. Since we live in an upstairs apartment, I asked my landlord if he would consider putting in a elevator for me. I didn’t get an answer but have already figured out that if I take the steps two at a time it only hurts half as much.

We decided to head to Lawrence on Saturday to take in the football game and see our good friends the Ranneys. I also wanted to see how many people are willing to pay $35 to take a baby to the game.

There was a letter to the editor in the Lawrence Journal-World that suggested not only should they grab money from young parents with babies, but that they should extend it to all women who were pregnant and take up extra space. The writer went on to say they shouldn’t even stop there, but charge all women double in case they might be unaware of their current pregnancy status.

Folks, that is what it has come to, I’m afraid. It’s not just a game anymore. It’s a multi-million dollar business that must be fed.

Friend Dave needed a haircut, so we went to downtown Lawrence to get it. While there, we ran into the Band Day parade. People were everywhere. The sidewalks were jammed.

Then I saw a T-shirt that made me bend over laughing. On the front of the shirt it read, “How do you keep an idiot occupied?” and in small print it read “See back of shirt.” On the back of the shirt it read, “How do you keep an idiot occupied.” You guessed it. “See front of shirt.”

I don’t know which coach said it, but the saying goes like this: “If you lose the first game of the season, you can’t go undefeated.”

Even though Tabor College lost its first one, which tilted on a couple of plays, they can still go through the rest of the season with just one loss.

Here’s an idea for all of you entrepreneurs out there.

Hillsboro’s water plant has excess capacity of about 2 million gallons of water per day. If you have a tap into the water system, you can start filling plastic water bottles and never run out of water. Maybe Container Services Inc. could make the bottles and Baker Bros. Printing could print the labels.

Call it “Federal Reserve Pure Drinking Water” and a slogan such as “It’s From the Lake!” Or come up with your own name and slogan. I think you can buy 10,000 gallons for about $10 to $15.

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