What's in a name?

The whole world seems to be watching intently the maternity status of Kate Duchess Middleton Windsor Cambridge (I hope I got that right).  If you're like me and are easily confused by all that Royal lineage stuff, lemme help you out:  Kate's first born will be the eventual heir to the British throne.  That is once Elizabeth calls it quits, and Charles gets a turn, and William, too.  Judging by Elizabeth's tenure, that would mean the soon-to-pop little tyke will become King/Queen when he/she is about 150 years old.

But what's its name?  That's what everyone wants to know.  Traditionally monarchs have had very regal sounding names like William or John or Victoria.  People (and t-shirt vendors) all over Britain are waiting with baited breath to find out the name Wills and Kate have been keeping so secret.  (Think Edward Snowden picked it up on a wire-tap?)

Here's my suggestion....just as the new Pope, Francis, has deliberately tried to identify with the common man, maybe the proud Royal parents should also try to put a human face on the Monarchy.  What better way to do that than by giving their child a name the average bloke down at the corner pub might have? 

Something like Waldo, or Farley, or Edna, or Tyrone?  (Sorry Kate, but Honey Boo Boo is already taken.)  OK, maybe they sound more like guys in a bar in New Jersey than a pub in London, but you get the idea.

All hail King Farley I.

(Yeah, definitely an Old English 800 kind of guy.  ;)

S

Am I ahead of my time or just "out there"?

Did you hear about the two snails that mugged a turtle?  During the police investigation when they asked the turtle what happened he said, "Gee officers, I dunno.  It all happened so fast...."

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This must be a slow news day.  Every news network in the world I think has rushed at least one reporter to London to give us a puke-by-puke account of how Kate Middleton's pregnancy is going.  This is just the classic definition of Too Much Information.   I actually feel kinda guilty for not caring.   Maybe I'll send her one of those big, shiny helium balloons in a few months, how's that?

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I recently read an article in the paper about a couple in North Carolina who decided their big 3,000+ sq ft home was more trouble than it was worth.  They downsized "to one that is half that size, cutting their property taxes in half and their aggravation even more."  Been there, done that.

I think I'm more appreciative of not having all the responsibilities a big house comes with than K is.  When we met / married K called my house "a mansion".  Hardly, but comparatively speaking to her it may have been.  All I saw was a lawn that needed maintaining, never ending painting, fixing, updating, etc.  Every storm brought with it a fear of having to possibly deal with insurance adjusters and tree trimmers.  (I damn sure wasn't climbing up there!)

After renting for four years now the idea of building a small house, very small, is slowing creeping back into my mind.  But instead of thinking up all the "things" I could build in, I think about how bullet-proof I could make it, up to and including using those lifetime light bulbs. 

This would work

Or maybe even something more whimsical

The big problem is finding a city that would allow me to build such a small house.  Around here they're all still hung up on zoning for BIG houses.  That leaves building out in the country where they have no zoning restrictions, which has NO appeal to me at all.  I like being a 5-minute-drive away from everything I could possibly want.  I'd actually prefer to be a 5-minute walk away.  I wish the rest of my area would catch up with me and those folks in North Carolina.

S