Nobody asked us, but ... Foot-in-mouth syndrome strikes again

There's that old question, "When will they ever learn?" If you go into politics, sports, television or movies and become any kind of famous, you will be under a microscope 24/7. You cannot, at any time, breathe, scratch, burp, speak, ogle, leer, or complete any other bodily function without it hitting YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, you name it, in nanoseconds. Our pro athletes, movie stars and politicians don't seem to get it. Or is living in Lala-land a prerequisite for all of them? Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Of course, we're perfect, how about you?

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Rhonda Knox sent in this fishing story (with a little help from the Internet): "I finally got around to going fishing this morning, but after a while I ran out of worms. Then I saw a cottonmouth with a frog in his mouth, and frogs are good bass bait. Knowing the snake couldn't bite me with the frog in his mouth, I grabbed him right behind his head, took the frog and put it in my bait bucket. Now the dilemma was how to release the snake without getting bit. I grabbed my bottle of Jack Daniels and poured a little whiskey in its mouth. His eyes rolled back, he went limp, I released him into the lake without incident, and carried on my fishing with the frog. A little later I felt a nudge on my foot. There was that same snake - with two frogs in his mouth."

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St. Patrick's Day must be a date night. Look at all the birthdays being celebrated this week ... Tamie Jesse, Steve Wassner, Tom Greco, Cindy Byington, Jason Fuller, Anna Montagano, Betty Mahoney, Jamie Fuller Dunn and Troy Olson. (Think about it.)

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Auditions for Wild Horse Theater's production of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" will be at 1 p.m. Jan. 23-24 at the Children's Museum. Director Jeffrey Scott is looking for strong singers/actors between the ages of 20-50 to perform in this Tony-winning show. For more information, call 443-5974. It's hysterical. St. Teresa's is selling tickets (882-1968) for its annual Mardi Gras Masquerade Ball at 7 p.m. Feb. 14 (What? No Valentine's Day party?). Tickets are $5 each, or $20 per family, for a buffet featuring gumbo, jambalaya, etouffee and king cakes. Kid-friendly food will also be available. Masks and costumes are encouraged.

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Well, we've kept our New Year's resolutions about exercise. We've hired someone else to do it for us. Hooray!

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By the way, if you're out and around, drive by the corner of West King and Iris streets. There's a sign there that points to the severe neglect of the property across the street (and it's not the only place in town that suffers, either), which was once a cute little house. The sign asks that you call the city fathers and complain. We're with them ... isn't there something that can be done? We hope they get satisfaction.

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Our sympathies go out to the Forster and Lee families. Alban Forster passed away last week, leaving his wife of many years, Iris, and son, Craig, who works at NDOT with Carolyn. Zina Lee and husband, Monte, lost her mother last week as well. We are so sorry.

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Rick Gunn will be showing his fantastic pictures of his round-the-world bicycle trip Feb. 9 at the Galaxy Theaters. Call the Carson City Library for time, tickets and details. It's a don't miss.

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To help the devastated people of Haiti, go to whitehouse.gov to see how you can assist them; or send checks to the American Red Cross (marked "for Haitian relief"), 1190 Corporate Blvd., Reno, NV 89502, or go to their Web site, www.nevada.redcross

.org and go to their "international" site. Pray for them, too.

• Carolyn Tate and Maizie Harris Jesse are longtime Carson City residents. They can be reached at editor@nevadaappeal.com.