Whitman

From The San Francisco Examiner, within the hour ... A swarm of wildfires ripped through the North Bay on Monday, killing one resident, injuring scores of others, destroying hundreds of homes and businesses, and forcing tens of thousands to flee. The blazes turned wide swaths of the Wine Country into wastelands of twisted metal and ash as firefighters sought to contain flames super-charged by powerful winds. California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for Napa and Sonoma as well as fire-struck Yuba County, seeking to streamline aid for firefighting and recovery. He said the blazes, which blanketed much of the Bay Area in smoke, were “really serious,” but added, “We are on it.” Chief Ken Pimlott of Cal Fire said at least 1,500 homes and commercial facilities had been destroyed in 14 fires now burning in eight Northern California counties. He said firefighters had “limited or no containment” on the fires, and that many communities “were just overrun.” More than 100 people were treated for injuries, including burns and smoke inhalation, at hospitals in Napa and Sonoma counties. Two patients with severe burns were in critical condition at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, officials said.

Here's some good news for you, you ... youngster ... Sometime after you have passed those intimidating milestones, 4o will seem so young. And then, before you know it, 50 will. And then, when you're still feeling just fine, you may want to revise your current exit plan.

The plastic slipcovers are the reason the cherry on top was allowed.

I swear, in my recent travels through New Mexico, I never set foot in a single room with a buffalo carcass ... or even a buffalo skin. However, I did come across this picture of Georgia O'Keeffe's house in Abiquiu and I suppose what's on the floor there may once have been on a buffalo ... http://media.guestofaguest.com/t_article_content/gofg-media/2017/03/1/48576/g_korab__45cn1a_s1.jpg But here's the same room without it. So, just a matter of how you want to decorate inside. http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/d0/2f/11/d02f1156aa770a0bb84e332490565987.jpg Meanwhile, there's a lot of natural beauty outside -- high desert, big sky, mountains, gorges.

Hmmm ... this will require some investigation.

Years ago, I left northern California to return to my East Coast roots, but with a promise to myself that I would eventually return. I've visited a lot, but living there again seems less likely now. The only thing I know for sure at this point is that I need to be someplace where there is less winter (not necessarily no winter, just less of it). A recent trip to Santa Fe and Taos has moved those two towns into consideration.

... contrary to that bit of Hollywood folklore about Astaire that the report on a screen test for RKO read as follows: "Can't sing. Can't act. Balding. Can dance a little." The test has been lost, but it definitely didn't go well. David Selznick (who signed Astaire to RKO) wrote, "I am uncertain about the man, but I feel, in spite of his enormous ears and bad chin line, that his charm is so tremendous that it comes through even on this wretched test." (Astaire later claimed that the report actually read: "Can't act. Slightly bald. Also dances.")

Not trying to lay undue responsibility on you, @TruHart1, but I have read the Forum long enough to know that you are a guy who walks on the sunny side of the street, looking for the best in the men we meet. So when you express this sort of ... uh ... is disgust too strong? ... it stands out. I don't know Beau, but back on the first page of this thread, soon after "DCMonument" (a DC monument only in his own estimation, perhaps?) revived this lapsed thread, I posted just to note the ... strangeness ... of suggesting that an escort has an active sex life and could be more susceptible than others to STIs. (I believe the appropriate expression for this is: NO DUH!) To me, it sounded like an attempt to scare people off of Beau with nothing more than innuendo. Mighty contemptible behavior, in my book. And my reaction was just what your expressed in your most recent post to this thread:

When one has fallen into disfavor with Mister Congeniality of the Realm, perhaps it's time to consider what other realms might be conquered after a retirement from this one. Just a thought...

He is clearly a man on a mission, in each case reviving old threads to launch his attacks. I can think of at least one other recent attack on another DC escort by a "newbie" poster, and I think there may have been others. Reader beware.

What!? He has an active sex life!? Now who'd have expected that. The mind reels...

Ditto. Mmhmm. I've had the pleasure of never meeting him.

Agreed. If it weren't for its four stars, would this trifle of a show have made it to a third season? (Or, conversely, if it had been cast with lesser known actors, would they have made something more of it than a look-at-me, I'm-still-working showcase?) And yet ... I'll keep watching. He needs to go back to being Jed Bartlett. And take over running the country. (When I have needed some political alt-reality lately, I have re-watched episodes of The West Wing. Now there was a president!) I have never thought all that much of her acting -- probably due to the memory of seeing her (with John Travolta as her love interest) in Moment by Moment, one of the certifiably worst movies ever made -- but she's an engaging personality and almost always fun to watch, and especially so in this show because she's inhabiting a real character and the other actors are not much more than cardboard cutouts.

Whenever I revisit this thread, I remind myself of a key detail that Reluctant Daddy shared in his original post ... that he married his husband after the sexual part of their long relationship had ended ... I'm inclined to assume that the counselor who told RD that he and his husband... ... made that suggestion on the basis of The Big Picture that RD presented to her.

Junior, I'm sorry you encountered that man, but don't let a year-and-a-half's worth of positive experience be undone by one loser. Sad to say, I'm sure almost all of us -- whatever business we're in -- have lost revenue to dishonest and disrespectful clients. It happens no matter how hard you try, no matter how fair-minded and accommodating you are. The important thing is to never ever let those experiences compromise your own ethics or values. That loser has to live with being him. You can feel good about who you are. It speaks well of you that you are grounded enough to vent and then, pretty quickly thereafter, post again and say, "I think I'm officially over it and officially going to sleep." P.S. I'm glad there's another current thread in which you've been singled out for high praise. It's a nice offset to this bad experience to know that you are seriously appreciated. All the best to you!

$200 an hour. Hmmm. Kind of "low end" these days. I would have thought God would cost more.