I’m a huge fan of the Bolshevik revolution.

Howdy-do. It’s 2:45 Wednesday morning, Sam is in bed and I’ve decided to kill a couple of hours writing a post for the Howdygram, slugging Crystal Light raspberry green tea on ice and designing mugs for my store on Zazzle.com. Also a custom blanket for my best friend’s daughter’s baby shower next month in Chicago. (No, obviously I can’t go. Stop getting so hysterical.) Yesterday I spent most of the day designing greeting cards. It’s a full life, isn’t it?

I’ve got some really big weather news … during the last 48 hours we’ve had 5¾ inches of rain here in the Dallas metro area ... free water from God to drench our lawns and trees and fill up our reservoirs! As a matter of fact, Sam says the timing of our rainfall this year has been so amazing that he hasn’t had to water our lawn even once. Please raise your hand if you think this is FUCKING TERRIFIC. Thank you.

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Even if you don’t really give a crap I’d like to highlight some favorite movies coming up in September and October on TCM. These are all worth watching, so figure out how to program your DVR and get busy! Movies with the little red stars are my top picks. I’m especially excited to see How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (fantastic songs!), Rasputin and the Empress and Nicholas and Alexandra. Those last two are stories about the Tsar of Russia and the Bolshevik Revolution. I’m a huge fan of the Bolshevik revolution! Of the two, Nicholas and Alexandra is my favorite. It’s a film of epic proportion with an enormous cast, incredible sets and gorgeous costumes. It’s also very accurate historically. Rasputin and the Empress, on the other hand, is mostly a smutty look at the life of Rasputin, Russia’s “mad monk,” which came to a bizarre end when he was strangled, shot, stabbed, beaten to a pulp, poisoned by a platter of deadly cupcakes and drowned in an alley. Lionel Barrymore plays Rasputin, Ethel is Empress Alexandra and John is Prince Chegodieff. This is only film that ever featured all three Barrymores!

EXCELLENT MOVIES COMING UP IN SEPTEMBER ...

Hell Below (1932) starring Walter Huston and Robert Montgomery – 9/1 ★
Annie Oakley (1935) starring Barbara Stanwyck and Melvyn Douglas – 9/4 ★
How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967) starring Robert Morse – 9/5 ★
A Hole in the Head (1959) starring Frank Sinatra and Edward G. Robinson – 9/6
My Fair Lady (1964) starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison – 9/13
The Princess Comes Across (1936) starring Carole Lombard – 9/15
Merry Andrew (1958) starring Danny Kaye – 9/17
Ninotchka (1939) starring Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas – 9/18
Sullivan’s Travels (1942) starring Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake – 9/18
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936) starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland – 9/21
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966) starring Zero Mostel – 9/22 ★
Murder She Said (1961) starring Margaret Rutherford – 9/25 ★
Queen of Outer Space (1958) starring Zsa Zsa Gabor – 9/26
Larceny, Inc. (1942) starring Edward G. Robinson, Jack Carson and Jane Wyman – 9/27

EXCELLENT MOVIES COMING UP IN OCTOBER …

Act One (1963) starring George Hamilton –10/10
A Damsel in Distress (1937) starring Fred Astaire and Joan Fontaine – 10/25 ★
Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) starring Michael Jayston and Janet Suzman – 10/25 ★
Rasputin and the Empress (1932) starring Lionel, John and Ethel Barrymore – 10/25 ★
Fear Strikes Out (1957) starring Anthony Perkins and Karl Malden – 10/27
And Then There Were None (10/29) starring Walter Huston and Barry Fitzgerald – 10/29
The Old Dark House (1932) starring Melvyn Douglas and Boris Karloff – 10/31 ★
The Cat and the Canary (1939) starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard – 10/31

After I checked TCM’s October schedule online I was a little disappointed to find a ridiculous abundance of cheesy horror movies playing just about every night of the month, obviously as a run-up to Halloween … they’re showing five or six shitty movies every single night, one after another after another after another. So that’s why my October list comes up short. For the record, the only “horror” movies I really enjoy are The Old Dark House (see above) and The Mummy … the original from 1932 with Boris Karloff and David Manners.

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This morning I’m pleased to offer a brand new senior citizen food review … Hormel Compleats’ Salisbury Steak with Sliced Taters and Excellent Gravy. No kidding, I’m positive this is the best Compleats meal EVER. You get a beautiful slab of Salisbury steak on a bed of perfectly-cooked sliced potatoes with excellent brown gravy. This is a fine little shelf-stable (no refrigeration required) airline-sized meal that nukes in 60 seconds … and it only costs about TWO STINKING BUCKS. Seriously!

In order to include a nice photo with this post I decided to heat up a Compleats Salisbury Steak meal in the microwave — yes, I have a microwave on my desk here in the study — for an early breakfast. My photo appears below, and I think you’ll have to admit this is GORGEOUS FOOD. I’m happy to award this meal with the Howdygram’s coveted five chopper rating.

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It’s already after 6 a.m. and I haven’t been to bed yet … although sleep is definitely next on my agenda. As for Sam, he’s sitting in the garage with a pot of coffee and the overhead door open, because now that he’s retired he likes to watch the sun come up and the neighbors leaving for work every day. Sometimes he even walks over to Northwest Drive and snickers at the cars on their way to Interstate 30. (We have a very simple life here in Texas.)

Thank you for reading this and please do your best to remember the Alamo.