Althouse: "We use a lot of rocks in our landscaping... Every time we take a trip, I'm somehow able to take a rock home in my suitcase."

September 4, 2011

"We use a lot of rocks in our landscaping... Every time we take a trip, I'm somehow able to take a rock home in my suitcase."

Okay... but I remember when Lucille Ball did that in "The Long, Long Trailer." It was very disturbing!

"I didn't mean to lie to you, [R]icky. But they mean so much to me! [R]icky, stop it!"

"Do you realize she could have killed the 2 of us? She and her rocks and her raspberry jam!"

(Harrowing driving scene at the second link, and if you keep watching, you'll end up with hot Lucy-and-Ricky sex symbolized by the flapping of the trailer door.)

44 comments:

Ron said...: as long as we're near the era....Althouse has no remarks on the passing of Bob Denver? Maynard G. Krebs? sigh....; 9/4/11, 10:22 AM
ricpic said...: William Saroyan kept rocks in jars on the shelves wherever he lived. Smooth beach stones to desert rocks, all kinds. To look at. In one of the most moving passages in his later writing he tells about spying a rock down at the bottom of an incline from a road he is taking a walk on and debating with himself all the while he is making his way down the incline and then dislodging the rock from its resting place and then clambering up the incline with the rock in his arms why? what the hell am I doing? what's the point? but doing it anyway and then taking the rock home and having it to look at.; 9/4/11, 10:33 AM
Bob said...: Talking about tourists and rocks recalls a news story I read one time about tourists to Hawaii bringing home rocks from the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and learning afterward that doing so is (supposedly) an affront to Pele, the volcano goddess, who curses them with bad luck until the rock comes back. So there is supposedly an office at the park with an employee whose only job is to write letters to tourist about returning rocks, processing returned rocks, etc.; 9/4/11, 10:36 AM
edutcher said...: The Blonde is still fantasizing about stone work to replace the railroad ties at the side of our driveway. I expect this sort of behavior soon.

PS Gilligan?? He died in '05.

A bit late, isn't it?; 9/4/11, 10:41 AM
Fred4Pres said...: I collect rocks from trips too. But they tend to be small.; 9/4/11, 10:42 AM
Carol_Herman said...: I never saw this!

And, I remember you rarely saw their bedroom, either. But it was twin beds.

I also think Lucy was the first pregnant star on TV. (It became part of the show.) And, they had to make a decision if she was going to have a boy or a girl. The script writers chose "boy." And, in fact, that's what she had.

Before ultrasound. Before the tests where you could tell what you were going to get.

All those changes, like time, itself, it's gone in the blink of an eye.; 9/4/11, 10:44 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I blogged about it when Bob Denver died in 2005.

Just ordered some old episodes of "Dobie Gillis" on DVD, so I'll be Bob-blogging soon. Love that Bob.; 9/4/11, 10:49 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Hey, Carol, remember Dino, Desi & Billy, and how sad it was when Dino -- the most handsome of the trio -- died?

Dean Martin was never the same again.

And who was Billy anyway?; 9/4/11, 10:50 AM
edutcher said...: Carol_Herman said...

I never saw this!

And, I remember you rarely saw their bedroom, either. But it was twin beds.

You never saw a man and woman in bed on TV until the 70s.; 9/4/11, 10:51 AM
Hagar said...: and what I sometimes see now I wish I didn't.; 9/4/11, 10:54 AM
Carol_Herman said...: Pregnancy rocks?

What would Freud say?; 9/4/11, 10:55 AM
edutcher said...: Ann Althouse said...

Hey, Carol, remember Dino, Desi & Billy, and how sad it was when Dino -- the most handsome of the trio -- died?

Dean Martin was never the same again.

And who was Billy anyway?

Billy Hensche.

His father was a friend of both families; banker, I think.; 9/4/11, 11:11 AM
Wince said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/4/11, 11:27 AM
Wince said...: "Would you like a piece of rock, Mr. Candy?"

Rock Hudson, on I Love Lucy.; 9/4/11, 11:29 AM
Jennifer said...: Beth - I was going to say that I hope he doesn't travel to Hawaii! I've never quite gotten over all the legends I grew up around.; 9/4/11, 11:34 AM
Jennifer said...: Aside from the legends, the fact that I grew up in Hawaii colors how I feel about this in other ways. If every one of the people that visited us took part of the natural landscape home with them, what would we have left? It would be picked clean! I find the practice hugely disrespectful.; 9/4/11, 11:35 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: Yeah, like the petrified forest. Who wouldn't want to bring back some of that?; 9/4/11, 12:09 PM
A. Shmendrik said...: Bob Denver dead? I didn't even know he was sick!; 9/4/11, 12:16 PM
Donna B. said...: I always had my rocks in my carry on (a soft-sided briefcase that fit under the seat) and was always amazed that TSA let them through without a word.

They were distracted by the cigarette lighters maybe? I learned early that they seemed so pleased to confiscate one from me that I packed several. Never did they take all of them, but I wouldn't know if all of them were found.; 9/4/11, 12:19 PM
Anonymous said...: I thought I was the only crazy person to bring a rock back from vacation!

But it gives me a physical reminder of where I've been and what I was doing there.

My favorite:
Ely Greenstone from the Ely, MN area.; 9/4/11, 12:20 PM
Captain Curt said...: I remember watching the Long Long Trailer as a kid. Of course, the symbolism of the flapping door went right over my head... (as did the train entering the tunnel at the end of an Alfred Hitchcock movie, North by Northwest, I think).; 9/4/11, 12:29 PM
raf said...: If everyone always carried rocks with them on their travels, they could do an exchange when they see one they fancy. A sort of cultural exchange program. Rock Culture.; 9/4/11, 12:30 PM
Mary Beth said...: You never saw a man and woman in bed on TV until the 70s.

Except for Desi and Lucy's neighbors, Fred and Ethel. Or Ozzie and Harriet Nelson. Or Herman and Lily Munster. Or Darren and Samantha Stevens.

Florence Henderson claimed they were the first (on The Brady Bunch) but she was wrong.; 9/4/11, 12:39 PM
Dan said...: loved that movie growing up...so funny!; 9/4/11, 1:10 PM
Will Cate said...: What a weird, little movie. I had completely forgotten that existed.; 9/4/11, 1:27 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: We lived in a trailer at that time and traveled across country for my parents work. It was our daily life and it really wasn't all that funny. I've spent more time on Route 66 than Tod Stiles or Buz Murdock.

My mother could back up and maneuver the trailer better than in the movie. Many of the scenes in the movie were just plain stupid.

Although I must admit my fear, even today, of driving on highways that are on the edge of steep cliffs or embankments derives from our experience in pulling a trailer from Crescent City down to the Bay Area on Highway 1. Scary!!!; 9/4/11, 1:45 PM
ndspinelli said...: My kidney and gallbladder[recently removed] collect rocks. A crusty veteran nurse @ the ER gave me sympathy when I came in w/ a kidney stone. She said, "Only men who are passing a kidney stone truly know the pain of birth." She then gave me some powerful narcotics, but it only took the edge off. I would not wish a kidney stone on Carol "Ditzy" Herman. The gallbladder removal eliminated those attacks..painfull but not like a kidney stone.; 9/4/11, 2:05 PM
David said...: Wow!

1. Lucy was hot,
2. Desi ain't Bogart.
3. Cars were cooler then.
4. Fabulous trailer--color!
5. Where was that road?
6. TV stars not movie stars.
7. Desi playing to type (unfortunately.)
8. Quite daring, and quite sad, knowing their history.
9. Make up sex!; 9/4/11, 2:37 PM
Michael said...: It is, of course, illegal to remove rocks from National Parks. Just a head's up.; 9/4/11, 2:39 PM
BJM said...: I'm shocked! Rocks belong to Gaia, you may not keep them as pets or impound them in your suburban garden gulag.

Seriously, you have to be careful from where and what kind of rocks you take. Rock collectors in CA have been grousing for years about ever tightening state and BLM restrictions and prohibitions. Family friends have been rock hounds and amateur gemologists for decades and they are finding more areas off limits each year.

States have differing laws about what you can take from the wild, including minerals (rocks) and you never know when an overly officious state-employed nanny or an eco-snitch is watching...to wit the recent woodpecker rescue kerfuffle.; 9/4/11, 2:55 PM
BJM said...: @DBQ

...from our experience in pulling a trailer from Crescent City down to the Bay Area on Highway 1. Scary!!!

I hate that road! It's still scary as hell. We stay at a friend's place in Sea Ranch a couple times a year and it's always a white knuckle drive for me. I cut inland at Jenner, but the Spousal Unit grinds down to Pt. Reyes.; 9/4/11, 3:18 PM
BJM said...: @raf

If everyone always carried rocks with them on their travels, they could do an exchange when they see one they fancy.

HA! Yeah. I can see 'splaining that to the TSA maroons.; 9/4/11, 3:21 PM
lemondog said...: sigh William Saroyan... loved his stuff.
You sons of Bitches; 9/4/11, 3:49 PM
Jose_K said...: Only once, found at the top a southamerican mountain in the desert with a fosilized trilobythe. it was not by then a national park yet.; 9/4/11, 6:26 PM
Anonymous said...: Too funny. I have Ricky & Lucy's "New Moon" trailer (no provenance)up in the western Smokey Mountains just outside of Asheville in the idyllic mountain town of Sylva, NC. I've owned it for almost 40 years now decked in over a mountain brook. I've got pics for proof. LMAO!; 9/4/11, 6:27 PM
Toad Trend said...: It’s in the bag.; 9/4/11, 7:03 PM
Michael K said...: She said, "Only men who are passing a kidney stone truly know the pain of birth." She then gave me some powerful narcotics, but it only took the edge off. I would not wish a kidney stone on Carol "Ditzy" Herman.

Art Buchwald wrote a hilarious column about his kidney stone. Years later, he died of renal failure after stopping dialysis. He even wrote a funny piece about that.; 9/4/11, 7:20 PM
MadisonMan said...: I bring rocks home from trips as well. My kids think I am crazy.; 9/4/11, 7:33 PM
A. Shmendrik said...: That movie had to be a stunning amount of 2nd unit work - with Desi and Lucy filming inserts with rear-projection at a studio in Hollywood. I just wonder what that feels like - to be out in bumfuck NV shooting long shots of a car, driven by doubles, and a trailer, while tilting the camera to make it look like uphill/downhill. Had to be a lot of walkie-talkie stuff back in that day. I think this movie bombed in theatrical release. Come to think of it it probably didn't burn up DVD sales either.; 9/4/11, 8:25 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Every time we take a trip, I'm somehow able to take a rock home in my suitcase.

My music career was based around that concept,...

I've got a new Glenn Reynolds-based post up as well.; 9/4/11, 8:29 PM
Humperdink said...: I built a rather large stone fireplace while the stepson was in the Air Force in Oklahoma. Brought home some beautiful OK red stones and incorporated them into the fireplace. We don't have red stones in Pa.; 9/4/11, 8:38 PM
JAL said...: @ Surfed

Have you checked out The Fugitive train wreck just down the road in suburban Dillsboro?; 9/4/11, 10:36 PM
Indigo Red said...: I found a rock at a rest stop on a freeway in California. It was nothing special when I spotted it, but I picked it up anyway. While I held the rock, about the size of a large grapefruit, I heard a distinct snap and the rock fell from my hand in three pieces. It's now on my dining table, reassembled, awaiting an unsuspecting guest to move it, whereupon,it falls apart.; 9/4/11, 10:54 PM
Deb said...: Heh! This made me laugh. While unpacking the Jeep from our recent trip to Wyoming and Idaho, my husband reached under the back seat and said. "What are you going to do with all of these rocks?" This video made me think of that. Yep, I'm a rock stealer. Always have been. The rounder and smoother, the more likely I am to take it. I can't get enough of them. I'm not proud of it but there it is.; 9/4/11, 11:06 PM