It’s cold. That’s the big news where I live. Much of the deep South is about to have the coldest Christmas in decades. The last time northwest Georgia saw single digit temps was 2014. I was working with my brother in HVAC at that time. A lot of stuff broke down while other stuff froze and burst. We kept getting called away from scheduled work to answer emergency service calls. The same thing will be happening this weekend plus it’s Christmas. There are GA Power customers in our area that have been without electricity for eight hours. Pray for all those affected by the extreme cold, linemen and other emergency services, and don’t forget holiday travelers that may not make it to where they are going or will be stuck when they get there. The bright side is this will not last long. By next weekend we’ll be back up in the 60’s here.

Meanwhile up north…

How many Christmas movies are there? I found a Christmas movie database that attempts to list every film, movie, tv special and direct to DVD release ever made but it does not say how many items are listed. Then we would have to split hairs over definitions; do Die Hard and Gremlins get in, does It’s a Wonderful Life get tossed out? Yes, I’ve heard that argued just recently. Over 100 actors have played Santa Claus (not counting characters dressed as Santa) including Tim Allen, Ed Asner, Kurt Russell and Paul Giamoni. Only one, Ed Gwenn picture above, won an Oscar for it. Edmund Gwenn portrayed Santa in the original Miracle on 34th Street in 1947, a holiday classic that won three Academy Awards back in the day and has been remade numerous times since then.

If you know you, you know.

Has an airline ever lost your luggage? I flew all the way to Germany one time and learned that my luggage wasn’t lost, it was just left sitting on the tarmac in Atlanta. That was a Delta flight. Allegiant Airlines just did the same thing to an entire flight. The airline apologized and refunded the per bag cost to each customer. The luggage did eventually arrive. My advice is always pack at least one change of clothes in your carry on.

Dansby Swanson has signed with the Cubs. It’s okay, ball players do that. Greg Maddux began and ended his career in Chicago but many of his best years – and World Series wins – were in Atlanta. Did you know that Chip Carrey signed a contract to join his grandfather in the Chicago booth? Sadly Harry Carrey passed away during the off season and that collaboration never happened. Once upon a time players were signed with a team and MLB meant for them to stay for life. That was a terrible system and the vast majority of players were exploited for their talents with only the ball clubs making a profit. I thought we’d miss Freddie Freeman but Matt Olson is just as good if not better (and a little younger to boot). We wish Swanson well. Atlanta will not be hurting for lack of new talent anytime soon.

No, there has never been a Ford Mustang with four doors. They did build a prototype pretty early on and considered turning the original pony car into a sporty family sedan. While the example above looks pretty good, imho, the image of the brand would have developed differently. We may not have gotten the 68 GT driven by Steve McQueen or the Boss 429 if Ford had taken the family car route.

Mustang II was considered a disaster by many but it did save the nameplate until a time they could do better. The 1976 Ford Mustang wagon pictured above was based on the Mustang II platform and might have done it in for good if the prototype had gone into production. Chevrolet was selling the Vega as a three door compact wagon and Ford considered entering that market.

What type of Nimrod was Elmer Fudd? Nimrod is described in the Old Testament as a mighty hunter and that is the definition Merriam-Webster will give you. Bugs Bunny once referred to Elmer Fudd as Nimrod after outwitted the dim-witted huntsman. Nimrod as a slang term for idiot became popular among teenagers in the early 1980’s. While the transformation is debatable it would seem that Bugs Bunny’s clever sarcasm in referring to Elmer Fudd as the mighty hunter in the Bible went over most heads and the meaning of the word quickly became something else.

And finally… we will end with another video this week. It’s not Kelly Clarkson. This is something very different.