May 2, 2009 – CountUp

– My ‘2009 Economic Stimulus Tour’ continues.
– For the 2ND Saturday morning in a row I went to Everglades National Park.
– But this time I went to the north part at Shark Valley off Tamiami Trail.
– Me and a buddy got there shortly after 11 AM.
– We took the 2-hour / 15-mile tram tour starting at 12 noon.
– Our tour guide was a crazy lady who was a child of the 1960s.
– She took us on a tour of her ‘office’ – The Everglades.
– She was good, as she definitely knew her stuff.
– She clearly demonstrated that she has an intense adoration for the ‘Glades.
– She was totally passionate about her ‘coworkers’ – the wildlife.
– She introduced us to all of her alligator friends.
– The gators were just chillin’ in the shallow water tryin’ to get some sun.
– Some showed off their teeth as if they were smiling.
– The gators are just like you and me !
– We saw a whole bunch of baby gators.
– It’s breeding season dude !
– If the gator is less than a foot long then it’s less than a year old.
– If the gator is between 5 and 6 feet long then it’s an adult.
– Most gators stop growing in length after that and start getting plumper.
– The gators are just like you and me !
– If you see a gator that’s 8 or 10 feet long then it’s well fed !
– Female gators never lose the ability to give birth to baby gators.
– In addition to the 15-mile tram tour we also did a whole lot of walking.
– I’m talkin’ several miles of walkin’ in the hot and dry Everglades.
– We hit up this tower:

shark-valley-tower

– The 18-mile panoramic view up top was really cool.
– That tower is about 27 miles due west of The Falls Shopping Center.
– I thought that I saw Macy’s from afar.
– The sound of the Everglades – incomparable to anything else in Miami-Dade.
– The smell of the Everglades – it’s pure nature – as natural as can be.
– Man has already destroyed much of what used to be the Everglades.
– But the Everglades is tough – so tough that several million acres still exist.
– I will respect the Everglades.
– I will also visit again sometime real soon.

If you were to ask me who are my favourite comedians I could probably give you a list that stretches for as far as the eye can see because comedy is my thing. I love to laugh. A smile turns in to a giggle that turns in to a chuckle that turns in to a laugh. If the laugh is hard enough then it morphs in to a full-blown crack-up. Some crack-ups are mild while others are severe. 😆

If you were to ask me who is my favourite comedian in the entire history of comedy as I know it (even from before I was born) then there is only one true answer my friends – Jack Benny. He’s my all-time favourite comedian from vaudeville, radio, and television. I’ve listened to hundreds of his original radio shows from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, as well as his television shows from the 1950s into the 1960s. He’s my favourite entertainer in the entire history of entertainment. Nobody will ever come close … EVER !

And so this week I’m combining ‘Saturday Morning Shenanigans’ with ‘Saturday Night Retro’. The following 7-minute cartoon recently celebrated its 50TH anniversary. It was released on April 04TH 1959. My little brother actually discovered it for me way back during the early-1980s when he saw it on TV, and he recognized it as something that was nearly identical to what I was listening to on the radio and on tape at the time.

This – my friends – is ‘The Mouse That Jack Built‘ – the animated version of ‘The Jack Benny Program’. I present it to you for your ‘Saturday Morning Shenanigans’ and ‘Saturday Night Retro’ review, and for my ultimate entertainment enjoyment forever and ever.