Dan Antion

Some Like It Hot – #SoCS

You have to look closely , but the bottle of Willet Reserve is to the right of the neck of the bottle.

It’s a sweltering Saturday here in Connecticut, but we’re going to cool off at the bar while we try to incorporate Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt into our conversation. Linda has given us:

“Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is ‘frame.’ Use it as a noun or a verb or any way you like. Have fun!”

Yes, of course, Linda…fun.

If we were having a beer, you would be wondering about my week.

“Dan, it’s good to see you.”

“David. You say that like you didn’t expect me to be here.”

“I didn’t.”

“Before you ask him why not, and he starts going on about this and that and the other things, would you like a beer, Dan?”

“I would, Cheryl.”

“And, David? Can I bring you the regular assortment of beverages and glassware?”

“Yes, you can, Cheryl.”

“OK, then carry on with your interrogation.”

“Dan, the reason I didn’t expect to see you, is that I thought you were out of town.”

“Why would you think that?”

“I called you on Wednesday, but I kept getting your voice mail.”

“I didn’t see any messages.”

“Dan, you know I don’t like leaving voice mail.”

“I know, but why not?”

“It’s a transfer of power. I leave you a message and you’re in charge.”

“In charge of what?”

“I wanted to see if you wanted to meet me here for a pizza.”

“I would have called you back.”

“Exactly. But until you do, I’m stuck with pizza. What if I decided I wanted Mexican?”

“I see. It’s more about you being able to set your plans than having dinner with me.”

“Exactly. No offense intended.”

“None taken, but I wouldn’t have been able to meet you. I was at our company outing.”

“OK, but where were you yesterday?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, guys. It’s Saturday. I’m here with a cold Corona, a slice of lime, a glass of bourbon, a snifter of seltzer and a glass of ice – focus!”

“Oooh, are those cherries?”

“Yes, David, I put cherries in your bourbon.”

“And, it’s John Howell’s bourbon, right?”

“Ay-kay-ay Willet Reserve, yes.”

“Awww, thanks Cheryl.”

“Cheers, David.”

“Cheers, Dan. Now, where were you yesterday? I drove by your house because I thought you were taking Fridays off, but your car was gone.”

“I had to work. The installers came to finish the furniture installation for my boss’s secretary.”

“Your boss? Good decision to go in.”

“I thought so.”

“Where was your outing?”

“Dunkin’ Donuts Park – we went to a Yard Goats game.”

“In that heat?”

“It wasn’t too bad.”

“It was ninety-seven degrees!”

“Not in the lounge.”

“Wait, you went to the ball park but sat inside the lounge?”

“We did.”

“You went with John?”

“Yep, I took the train into Hartford, and met him at his condo. We walked to the park. We had lunch on the party deck, but it was too hot to sit outside so we watched the game on closed-circuit TV in the air-conditioned lounge.”

“Sweet. When was your train?”

“I got to John’s about ten o’clock.”

“How long did you have to hang there?”

“Until eleven, we watched ‘The Blob’ on TMC – remember that movie?”

“With Steve McQueen – ‘It creeps, and leaps, and glides and slides across the floor’ – I saw that in a theater in nineteen fifty-eight.”

“Did you turn around when the Blob oozed through the slots in the wall of the projection booth?”

“Everybody did! I guess we were easily scared.”

“You know what’s good when you’re scared, David? Another round, and maybe some wings.”

“Cheryl, that’s a great idea. Especially since Dan’s buying today.”

“I’m buying?”

“Hey, you had a free meal on Wednesday. You messed up my pizza plans – it’s only fair.”

“All right, besides, I think you paid last week.”

“Did they ever remake The Blob, Dan?”

“They did, David, in nineteen eighty-eight. They planned another remake, but they’ve never been able to get it made.”

“Now would be the time.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Remember the last frame in the movie?”

“The frozen blob sitting outside the diner.”

“Yes.”

“What about it?”

“They said the Air Force was sending a Globemaster to pick it up and drop it in the Arctic, where ‘it will never thaw out.’ That’s how the movie ended.”

“That’s right. And now that the Arctic is thawing…”

“…The Blob is thawing.”

Before you seek shelter, keeping in mind the Blob can ooze under doors, through air vents and inside pipes, you might want to take a look at Cheryl’s latest photo rendition. Also, if haven’t heard, you can now purchase the entire Brother Love story as a novella – I bought mine. If you don’t remember (weren’t born yet) The Blog, the original trailer is below the gallery.

The rain line to Hartford.
Fresh off the train. my friend’s condo is about a 10-minute walk.
The party deck opens for lunch an hour before the game starts.
We had lunch on the party deck. Good ballgame food.
That’s Iced Coffee and Hot Coffee – The Dunkin’ race. Yes, it’s 97.
Don’t forget Sprinkles.
Jackie Robinson (42) and Roberto Clemente (21) – both numbers retired in this park.
We didn’t try these, but…
Almost time to play ball.
OK, it’s not a stadium view, but it’s not 97°f (36°c) either.
Who doesn’t love a pretty locomotive?
CT Rail – Ready to roll.
For those of you that would be upset without a picture of Maddie.
There’s my ride home.
The Connecticut River is still very low.
Brother Love wrapped up last week, but I’m still finding Jinx.

85 comments

  1. It’s too hot for a ballgame and I feel like a blob in this heat.

    I’ve never particularly liked horror movies and I’ve never seen this one. Probably just as well.

    Hope you’re staying cool, Dan. Have a great weekend.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Thanks Joanne. I saw this in the theater with my older brother and every other kid in town. Parents used to drop the kids off for a Saturday morning double feature. I was way too young, but it’s nothing like today’s horror movies.

      We’re doing our best to stay cool. I hope you can, too.

      Liked by 2 people

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  2. I’m not a baseball fan, and summer temps don’t help! For instance, I like hockey… Hah! I feel really bad for the DD coffees and Sprinkles running around in that heat! Glad ballpark food in the ac lounge was perfect for you. And of course, a ride on the pretty train.

    I love where your brain took The Blob. Happy weekend. :)

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Thanks! I like baseball, but it was so hot. We sat in the bleachers for two innings and went back to the deck. There was a nice breeze there, but we couldn’t see the game. Once inside, there was no going back.

      Those poor mascots running in those costumes 🥵

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  5. 97° and a ball game, no, I don’t think so. It’s race weekend in NH, and I’m not going there either. :-) I love the way you use the train to get around when you can. Stay cool, Dan, it’s going to be a hot one this weekend. You and Maddie may just need a good movie from the couch in the AC. :-)

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Thanks Judy. The outing is a great idea, a nice benefit, so I wanted to be supportive. But it was hot. We saw everyone during lunch, but once in the lounge, we couldn’t leave.

      I’m loving that train. When I turn 65, it will be $3 for a round-trip to Hartford. I can’t park for that to have lunch with my friend.

      Liked by 1 person

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  6. That does sound like a fun afternoon. I love baseball. I have seen both Blobs. I can’t get past people not being able to outrun such a slow moving menace. 😏Now, invasion of the Body Snatchers still has me double taking people when they act not quite like themselves… you know, there could be lots of things thawing in the Arctic that we would rather remain in the deep freeze. Did you see Iceman? Loved that movie, wild as it was. Happy Saturday, Dan!

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Thanks Cheryl. I’m sure something nasty is going to thaw out one of these days. I hope Canada can deal with it. This movie had all the classic horror movie mistakes. My buddy and I were saying “don’t go in there” over and over. If you want to run away, run out into the open, for goodness sake.

      I might be watching some movies today, it’s gross here. I sat outside with Maddie before 7:00am, and that’s it for the day.

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  8. I did see the original Blob, but once was enough. Not a fan of horror movies.

    Thank goodness you could escape to the air-conditioned lounge for the remainder of the game, or you would’ve been a Blob on the bleachers! 😂 Those poor mascots! They couldn’t pay me enough to run around in this heat, and wearing hot costumes no less!

    Good to see Maddie resting comfortably. Always puts a smile on my face. 😃

    Same disgusting weather here….hot, humid, sticky, hard to breathe. I just hope there are no power outages. What a disaster that would be.

    Hope you and the Editor and the 3 M’s can stay comfortably cool this weekend. Monday it’s supposed to improve. 🙄
    🐾Ginger 🐾

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Thanks Ginger. We are hot here…yuck. Maddie and I sat outside before 7:00am. That might be the last time until Monday. The air is awful.

      I don’t think they should have let the mascots run in those costumes in that heat. The Hot Coffee runner cramped up and had to be helped off the field. Poor Sprinkles never had a chance.

      We’re doing our best to stay cool today. Nothing planned outside.

      Stay cool if you can. Hang in there until Monday.

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  9. First off, Dan, I don’t see a link to your post over at Linda’s place. Is the heat getting to you?

    That looks like a really nice ballpark and place to hang out with a friend…in the cool of the lounge. It was hotter than Dutch love (not related to Brother Love) here yesterday and storms last night, but the weather guy is telling me that by Sunday, the temps and dewpoint will drop. I will try to send it your way because I think you’ve been suffering a lot longer.

    Stay cool, have a pizza, another beer and say hello to the furry ones for me.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Thanks so much for mentioning the link, Mary. I could have sworn that was in there. Must be the heat. Or, since I wrote this during lunch, maybe my coworkers got to me ;-)

      The heat is awful. It looks like it’s going to break here on Monday, if you call 85 cooler (we do at this point).

      We sat outside for two innings, but it was miserable. We found two seats at a table right below that TV. Cold beer, A/C, nothing was taking us back outside.

      I hope you have a great weekend/week!

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  10. I’m with Joy. I like hockey. I like baseball when you can be at the game and sit outside but I agree that it would’ve been much too hot for that. As for your title, I like it hot when there’s air-conditioning inside. Thankfully we have that now.

    I was alive when The Blob came out but never saw the movie. I’ve never been much for horror movies. When I was growing up we mostly saw westerns and or army movies.

    Stay cool this weekend if at all possible.

    janet

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Thanks Janet. I’m glad you can be cool this weekend. I think you suffered too long without the A/C. We always went to the Saturday morning kid’s double feature. It might have been to give our parents a break. Cheap tickets, 2 movies, a bunch of cartons and one of those big Hershey bars. I was probably too young to be watching this movie, but… I don’t enjoy “modern” horror movies. They are too gross. This was actually pretty tame.

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  11. Maybe they can combine the Blob remake with Harry Potter. “It who never should have been defrosted!” As for this heat well it is summer. It makes the beer taste better. Or I should say more satisfying. Right until you run out of beer and pass out. And if one has the foresight to put fans in ones outdoor shade structure well it makes a perfect place to sip and observe the garden. It even works with coffee in the morning. One more round and then we shall upgrade to the cold and wet stuff… some do find ways to enjoy the hot.

    Liked by 1 person

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  12. I used to watch Saturday afternoon horror movies and Outer Limits when I was a young girl. Loved those lazy afternoons. It was my at-home double feature on Saturday. I had to save up for a few weeks to see a double feature at the theater in those days. I was probably 10 or 11 when I saw the Blob at home on T.V. I never did see the newer version, and as the movies got more and more gruesome I stopped watching horror movies.

    Those Mascots are to commended and hopefully, got a nice bonus and an ice-cold drink after running the races in that heat!

    I really enjoyed going to the local Class A team when I lived in Silicon Valley. Those games were lots of fun and the bbq was delicious! I never went to a game when it was 97 and humid out though. No thanks!
    I should see if there’s a Class A team in the nearby BIG town and see what their games are like could be a fun date-night for He-Man and me.

    The trains! I really like the black and red one, it’s nice-looking.

    It’s going to be in the low 90’s here, but our dew point is a lot lower than yours. I hope you stay cool this week-end!

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Thanks Deborah. I gave up on horror movies when they started relying on blood and gore instead of a hint of plot. I still watch The Outer Limits (on Hulu, but I have the DVDs) and “Demon With a Glass Hand” is my favorite episode. I saw The Blob in the theater. I was probably too young, but I had an older brother and I wanted to do what he did.

      This is the list of all the MLB minor league teams. https://www.milb.com/about/teams

      Those games are fun, the good is good and the beer selection is good and cold.

      I love the color scheme of the CT Rail trains.

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  14. My memory of the blob was silliness. “The blob’s gonna get you!” and we’d blow up our cheeks and open our arms wide while moving with a slow wobble. I’m with Cheryl on the Body Snatchers. Now that was scary. She did a nice job distracting the interrogation by the way.

    Liked by 1 person

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  17. It is pouring rain over here and has cooled down considerably….aka our A/C isn’t running. I’m not a fan of horror or science fiction, but this trailer looks funny enough that I could watch this movie. “Steve McQueen and an exciting cast of others…” Sorry folks whose names mean nothing to us. Gotta love the spin on words… Hope it gets cooler for you, Dan.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Thanks Lois. This is one of those really bad horror movies along the lines of “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” – it’s fun to watch, if nothing else for the old scenes. There is nothing horrific in here, certainly not by today’s standards for horror (which I don’t watch).

      We are supposed to sink down into the 80s on Monday. Right now, it’s oppressive – the temp in in the upper 90s and the heat index is 114 :( – feels like Florida ;-)

      Liked by 1 person

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    • You’re welcome, John. I think you’re safe if it thaws. It has to eat its way through Canada and most of the US before it gets to Texas. We tried to sit outside. We made it exactly two innings.

      Liked by 1 person

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  19. It is the weirdest thing, Dan, but I was thinking of the movie The Blob about two hours ago. I read a book called Congeal and I couldn’t think what it reminded me of and, when I discussed it with my mom, she said The Blob. Now, I never saw that movie. I knew what it was about because I saw the trailer during the “at the drive in” scene in the movie Grease. Isn’t that strange?

    Liked by 1 person

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    • That is weird, Roberta. I’ve written about things we never knew that appear suddenly more than one time. It’s called “Baader Meinhof” effect or “frequency illusion”. It feels very strong (at least to me) when it happens.

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  22. Dan, I think maybe Jinx is finding you, rather than the other way. ;) Heartfelt thanks for the shout-out about the novella version of Brother Love.
    It looks like you had a great, fun day! I can’t imagine wearing those costumes in summer heat — let alone running. I love that locomotive. Hugs on the wing!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thanks Teagan. Perhaps Jinx is finding me. This one was on a lamp in a Target parking lot, of all places. It was a nice outing. 10 degrees cooler would have been perfect, but it beats a day in the office, and it’s always a good day when I get to ride a train. I felt so bad for the coffee and donut gang running the warning track. Poor Sprinkles just didn’t have it in her.

      Liked by 1 person

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  23. Seems as if that bird is somehow attached to you, Dan. Hmmmm ….. My two fav pictures are of the train track and of the train that shows the engineer car (first car …. do I have that right?). And of course I must comment on Maddie who is playing smart and staying cool in AC. Even she doesn’t want to lay outside. Just too dang hot! I went to go to an appt. the other day and as I stepped into our garage from our house, my glasses fogged up. Yep. And I’ll be very aware of the blob cuz like you said, our Poles are melting. Stay cool! 🤗

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Thanks Amy. We have been sitting outside with Maddie, but before 7:00 am! I’m glad you like the train tracks. I always find them interesting. I hope you’re in for some cooler weather soon. And yes, the locomotive is the engineer’s car, but this time it was last – the loco was pushing that train.

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  29. I took my two younger sisters to see “The Blob” one Saturday morning when the movie came out . They had nightmares for weeks afterward and so my mother blamed me . Funny you should mention the Blob . Enjoy the hot weather, Dan . Go to a movie to cool down for a couple of hours.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Thanks Dan. Chalk up one more similarity with my older brother (the retired teacher). He took me to that movie on a Saturday when I was way too young to see it without nightmares.

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  30. I sure would hate to be running a race in a body-costume in this heat! Unless the costume is air-conditioned. Even then….

    THE BLOB! I haven’t thought about that one in a while. Man, did I love it! Saw it on TV, so I missed the thrill of feeling like it was right there in the theater with me. I loved it, that the kids saved the day because they remembered their science lessons. :D

    And all right is two words. Just sayin’. YES, I know the language is changing, and I know that alright is becoming more common, but all right is TWO WORDS, dad gummit! And you kids get off my lawn!

    Liked by 1 person

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    • All right, Marian. The error has been noted and the correction has been made. I’ll pass this along to The Editor, who will most likely blame her oversight on the heat. So as not to toss her completely under the bus, I will add that Microsoft Word doesn’t put the little red squiggles under ‘alright’ – but, I notice that the spell checker in my browser does.

      Liked by 1 person

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    • I got sidetracked. The Hot Coffee runner was leading the pack until her/she cramped-up near the finish line. Iced Coffee won, and Sprinkles came in third. You couldn’t pay me enough to run that race.

      Liked by 1 person

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  31. There is absolutely no way I’d head out for a ball game in that sort of heat. Even making it to the lounge and collapsing would leave me exhausted and sweaty — ick.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • I guess I won’t sign you up for the Mascot Run – I hear Sprinkles (the donut) is looking for an understudy). At least we were able to escape the heat after two innings. I do appreciate that our company offers an outing, during a business day, and that’s the only weekday day game the Yard Goats play.

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