Jamey Tucker’s BlogSquat

Glanced at the odometer this mornig before heading out for my story and got a chuckle. I know, I’m 13 years old.

We’ve been having some fun around the house. Delaney came home from school saying her Irish teacher believes a leprechaun has been playing some tricks when they were out of the classroom.

Now that may be. But what happened next in our house should be remembered for a while.

First, the leprechaun’s started playing little tricks. Then Friday night while we were all out, the leprechauns left gold coins scattered throughout the house. Several in Delaney’s room. She was scared, but she laughed.

The next morning when I got up, Delaney was asleep in Trey’s bed. When she was in the shower, the leprechauns lined up all of the shoes in her room. Then when she came back from playing outside Saturday, her shoes had been stacked in a pyramid on her bed.

Sunday afternoon when she opened her bedroom door, shoes fell from the top of the door.

So Delaney and I searched the internet for history on leprechauns but what caught our attention the most was this honest to goodness news story from Mobile, Alabama’s NBC affiliate. Many of you have seen it already. But for those who haven’t:

On the first day, God created the dog and said: “Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years.” The dog said: “That’s a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I’ll give you back the other ten?”

So God agreed. On the second day, God created the monkey and said: “Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I’ll give you a twenty-year life span.”

The monkey said: “Monkey tricks for twenty years? That’s a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the Dog did?” And God agreed.
On the third day, God created the cow and said: “You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer’s family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years.”
The cow said: “That’s kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I’ll give back the other forty?”
And God agreed again. On the fourth day, God created man and said: “Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I’ll give you twenty years.”
But man said: “Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?” Okay,” said God, “You asked for it.” So that is why the first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone. Life has now been explained to you.

I’m working Thanksgiving day. I’m working the day after too. First time that I’ve had to work both days of this holiday.

I watch this episode of WKRP in Cincinnati every year. The famous “turkey episode”. I got the boxed set earlier this year but I’ll admit, this episode is not the same without the original music. In fact, in this episode they actually cut part of a scene because, without the music, it didn’t make sense. Station manager Carlson walks into the studio as Johnny is playing Pink Floyd. I don’t remember the name of the song at the moment but it’s a slow creepy song with dog’s barking. The boxed-set version substituted generic rock music and without the dogs, they wound up scrapping most of the scene. Too bad.

So here’s the best we can do…from YouTube.

Anyway…wanted to wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving. If you’ve got a lot to be thankful for, and most of us do, take a moment at least to think of what you have and say thank you to the One who makes it possible and Who gives you the blessings.

And take a moment to think of folks who are going through a tough time during this holiday. A member of our Sunday School class passed away this week. Not a month ago he was diagnosed with cancer. He leaves a wife and two young daughters. I’ll also think of former Alabama football player Siran Stacy who’s wife and four of his children were killed in a car wreck this week.

There are many others who’ll celebrate Thanksgiving for the first time without a loved one. I’ll say a prayer for those families tonight.

Can you believe this still happens on live tv?