IT'S THE TIME OF YEAR FOR STINGING AND BITING INSECTS

The best part of today was the early morning's cooler air.  Pheebs and I leisurely slipped out and cruised around a few country roads taking in Mother Nature's early July scenery.  With the amount of biting Deer Flies in the air there was no point in trying to set foot out of the Sabaru at the Bannockburn Conservation Area for a walk.  It's the time of year for stinging and biting insects in the air and especially so in the area's Conservation Areas with their creeks, ponds, and swampy areas.  The afternoon's humidity once again kept me inside.  

Al's Music Box:)) It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels is a 1952 country song written by J.D. "Jay" Miller, and recorded by Kitty Wells. It was an answer song to the Hank Thompson hit 'The Wild Side of Life'.  First performed by Al Montgomery as "Did God Make Honky Tonk Angels" on the Feature label which was owned by songwriter J.D. Miller.  The song — which blamed unfaithful men for creating unfaithful women became the first No. 1 Billboard country hit for a solo woman artist. In addition to helping establish Wells as country music's first major woman star, "It Wasn't God..." paved the way for other women artists, particularly Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, and Tammy Wynette and songs where women call out unfaithful men.  In 1998, the 1952 recording of the song by Wells on the Decca label was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.  It was preserved by the National Recording Registry in 2007.  In the late 1940s, Wells had recorded on RCA Victor, but had little success there. By 1952, she was recording on Decca Records, and recorded "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" at her first recording session.  In 'The Wild Side of Life', Thompson expresses regret his bride-to-be has left him for another man whom she met in a roadhouse, stating, "I didn't know that God made honky tonk angels." That song and its appeal to people who "thought the world was going to hell and that faithless women deserved a good deal of the blame...just begged for an answer from a woman".  The rebuttal song, as it turned out, was written by Jay Miller, although it was Wells who made it a hit.  In "It Wasn't God..." – which follows the same melody, but more uptempo – she cites the original song and counters that, for every woman who had been led astray, it was a man who led her there (often through his own infidelity). She also expresses frustration about how women are always made scapegoats for the man's faults in a given relationship.  Wells' statement was a rather daring one to make in 1952, particularly in the conservative, male-dominated realm of country music; women's liberation and their sentiments in the song were still more than 10 years away.  There was plenty of resistance to the song and its statement: the NBC radio network banned the song for being "suggestive," while Wells was prohibited from performing it on the Grand Ole Opry and NBC's "Prince Albert" radio program.   Yet Wells struck a chord with her fans, as "It Wasn't God..." went to number one for six weeks on Billboard magazine's country charts.  In topping the charts, Wells became the first woman to ever accomplish the feat, at least as a solo act; if all female singers are considered, then Margaret Whiting gets the honor (in a 1949 duet No. 1 with Jimmy Wakely called "Slippin' Around").  Wells was at first reluctant to record the song, but eventually agreed, if only to get the standard $125 session fee payment. Eventually, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels" outsold Thompson's "The Wild Side of Life," and launched the then little-known Wells to stardom. Years later, Wells told an interviewer she was shocked over the song's success and endurance. "Women never had hit records in those days. Very few of them even recorded. I couldn't believe it happened," she said.  Historian Charles Wolfe noted "It Wasn't God..." was one of the few notable exceptions to the rule of an answer song not enjoying the same success as the original.  In 2024, Rolling Stone ranked the song at #11 on its 200 Greatest Country Songs of All Time ranking.

GROANER'S CORNER: The boss of a big company needed to call one of his employees about an urgent problem with one of the main computers. He dialed the employee's home phone number and was greeted with a child's whispered, "Hello?"  Feeling put out at the inconvenience of having to talk to a youngster the boss asked, "Is your Daddy home?"  "Yes," whispered the small voice.  "May I talk with him?" the man asked.  To the surprise of the boss, the small voice whispered, "No."  Wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked, "Is your Mommy there?"  "Yes", came the answer.  "May I talk with her?"  Again the small voice whispered, "No."  Knowing that it was not likely that a young child would be left home alone, the boss decided he would just leave a message with the person who should be there watching over the child.  "Is there anyone there besides you?" the boss asked the child.  "Yes" whispered the child, "A policeman."  Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee's home, the boss asked, "May I speak with the policeman?"  "No, he's busy," whispered the child.  "Busy doing what?" asked the boss.  Talking to Daddy and Mommy and the fireman," came the whispered answer.  Growing concerned and even worried as he heard what sounded like a helicopter through the ear piece on the phone the boss asked, "What is that noise?"  "A hello-copper," answered the whispering voice.  "What is going on there?" asked the boss, now alarmed.  In an awed whispering voice the child answered, "The search team just landed the hello-copper."  Alarmed, concerned and more than just a little frustrated, the boss asked, "Why are they there?"  Still whispering, the young voice replied along with a muffled giggle, "They're looking for me."

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Golf balls are like eggs...They are both white, sold by the dozen, and a week later you have to go out and buy more.   

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