4-H, fair intertwine with musings

Back in the day, when my dear friend the late Tom Casey had only bits and pieces of ideas for a column, he’d begin it with this introduction: “One or two things that may or may not merit a paragraph or two.”

Finding myself in the same boat, I’ll offer these few things that may or may not  merit a few paragraphs:

•Twice last week I encountered MSG and had a reaction to it. 

What’s MSG? It’s better known as monosodium glutamate, a food additive that pops up in more things than you’d imagine. 

Lots of processed foods have it, and some Asian restaurants routinely use it.

Why? For the obvious reason that it makes food taste good. It makes good food taste even better.

But some of us — including me — react to it. In my case, my fingers swell slightly, just enough that I can’t remove a ring that Connie gave me as an anniversary present more than 30 years ago.

Ultimately, I guess, it’s the price I pay every now and then for a delicious meal.

•I’m thinking of starting a collection of TV show and movie titles from the Lifetime network. My favorites this weekend were “Killer Grandma” and “Stalked by My Doctor,” but all of them fall into the same easy-to-parody category.

•The great media transformation has hit another icon: Mad magazine. I started reading my big brother’s copies of Mad when I was in elementary school and he was in high school. When I started reading it, Mad seemed a little subversive. But it wasn’t too many years later that it struck me as tame and predictable. Satire’s tough, especially when trying to pitch it to a mass audience. Get a little acidic and you lose folks. Get a little too comfortable and you lose others. Still, it’s sad to see it go.

•Am I the only one wondering if Mike Pence might be off the Republican ticket in 2020? He’s been a Trump loyalist even when it’s been painful. But his name has been missing from a lot of the campaign stuff.

•If you missed the harness racing at the Jay County Fair, that’s your loss. Connie and I enjoyed about six heats Wednesday night with some exciting finishes. An old friend told me the next day that the only reason his father ever attended the fair was to watch the harness racing. It’s safe to say that those days have passed.

•I’m still getting the hang of the latest version of the 4-H livestock auction. Having covered it for decades, it took some getting used to when the only animals involved were the grand and reserve grand champions. Every other sale was based upon the 4-H member with no animal present. Still, it’s nice to be in an air-conditioned building. Nicer still is the near absence of flies.

•I’m having FIFA World Cup withdrawal symptoms, I think. The U.S. women’s team was simply awesome on and off the field. Soccer takes awhile to get into. But if you give it a chance, it will grab you.

•A reference to the “mouse game” in last week’s column apparently had some folks scratching their heads. Here’s an explanation. The “mouse game” was essentially a play on the roulette wheel of the world of gambling. A wheel was spun, and a live mouse was tossed into the center. Bets were made on which hole the dizzy mouse would run into.

•This year’s 4-H auction was another winner. But probably the best moment came when the reserve grand champion beef was being sold. A gorgeous animal, skillfully shown decided at that particular moment to make a large, messy deposit on the green carpet below. The moment the tail went up, the laughter started.