Tag Archives: Oscar Mayer weinermobile

Thursday Thoughts

Posted in Whimsies by

Do You Need Help, Because I Do
The other day I got a text message from Jll. They say you can’t detect emotion in emails or texts, but I definitely read desperation in this text message: Might Papa need a helper today? Alastair might need an outing. Alastair might need an outing. Now that made me laugh. So I checked with Bill, and he thought about some things with which Alastair could assist. One involved a sledge hammer. Scoooooooooooooooore! The other involved accompanying him to Lowes and helping him carry heavy-ish things. Alastair spent some time breaking pieces of flooring into smaller bits with the sledge hammer, and seemed happy doing so…..

After a bit, however, the big pieces were coming to him too slowly and he was getting bored. Do you think I could go home now, he asked Papa, who assured him it was probably safe to do so.

Death to Rocky the Flying Squirrel
I have been showing you ongoing photos of my garden this summer. Most recently, I bragged at how nicely my veggie pots were coming along…..

This morning, however, I went out to water my plants only to find this…..

I have been in a fight with a squirrel all summer. He is totally ambivalent about all of my efforts to keep him out of my bird feeders. He is very tame, and when I scream like a crazed banshee to get him away from the feeder, he looks at me with a sneer. He would give me the finger if he had fingers instead of claws. So, while I can’t prove it, I’m pretty sure he is the culprit who dug up my jalapeno plant. This afternoon, I am sprinkling my tomato plants with cayenne pepper. I hope the little bastard gives it a try. Sorry St. Francis of Assisi.

I Wish I Were an Oscar Mayer Weiner
I don’t wish that, really. But I heard a story on the radio yesterday that made me smile. Apparently Oscar Mayer is adding to its weiner fleet, which currently consists only of Weinermobiles…..

It is adding Weiner Drones and Weiner Bicycles. So if you look up one day and see a weiner floating by, don’t panic. It’s simply Oscar Mayer’s Weiner Drone.

Construction Zone
As construction continues on our house, I am finding fewer and fewer places to live. The other day, we had our flooring delivered. In preparation, Bill moved out most of the rest of our furniture from the family room into the living room, the only place I was able to escape up until that time. Now I have about six by six feet of space in which to spend my days….

Who’s Cooking Dinner?
I gave Bec a ride to the airport yesterday evening for the final leg of her journey home from her almost three weeks in China. The woman loves to travel, and couldn’t say enough about how much she enjoyed her trip. But I think she was ready to go home and sleep in her own bed. As we drove to the airport, she said, “I wonder if I will remember how to drive a car or make my own dinner?” Don’t worry; it’s like riding a bicycle. Or a weiner bicycle.

Ciao!

Jingles

Posted in Whimsies by

The other day I was making a gourmet lunch of hot dogs and Cheetos. Sure, some French person somewhere in Paris was eating a Croque Monsieur or Madame sandwich while sitting on a park bench outside of the Louvre, but I don’t envy him or her because I LOVE HOT DOGS.

There. I’ve said it. In fact, one of my favorite lunch treats is the buck fifty special at Costco that features a foot-long hot dog or polish sausage and a Diet Pepsi. A buck fifty. Considerably less expensive than your Croque Monsieur, monsieur!

Anyway, I had spent good money on the weenies. I don’t go for the generic brand. No Siree Bob. I put out good money to get all-beef Oscar Mayer weiners because that’s the kind that Bill used to eat at his favorite hot dog joint on the South Side of Chicago. (I know, but that is not a typo. His favorite hot dog place didn’t serve Vienna Beef hot diggities. It was Oscar Mayer all the way.)

All this is to say that our lunch fare got us to talking about advertising jingles through the years. And Oscar Mayer had two of the very best. C’mon Baby Boomers. You can sing them with me….

I wish I were an Oscar Mayer weiner
That is what I’d truly like to be-e-e
‘Cause if I were an Oscar Mayer weiner
Everyone would be in love with me.

That catchy tune aired in the mid-60s. It is not to be confused with the equally catchy

My bologna has a first name, It’s O-S-C-A-R
My bologna has a second name, it’s M-A-Y-E-R
Oh, I love to eat it every day
And if you ask me why, I’ll say
‘Cause Oscar Mayer has a way with B-O-L-O-G-N-A.

I am not ashamed to tell you that to this day I never ever misspell bologna. Of course I’ve probably only had to spell it out five times in my life and three of those five are in this blog post. Still….who couldn’t love this symbol of fine hot dog eating everywhere….

I took this photo of the Weinermobile outside of our neighborhood Walmart.

I took this photo of the Weinermobile outside of our neighborhood Walmart.

Another famous jingle that also featured hot dogs was offered by Armour Meats, also in the mid-60s.  Remember?

Hot dogs. Armour hot dogs.
What kind of kids eat Armour hot dogs?
Fat kids, skinny kids, kids who climb on rocks.
Tough kids, sissy kids even kids with chicken pox
love hot dogs, Armour hot dogs.
The dogs kids love to bite.

We must not have been too concerned with political correctness in the 60s. Maybe we were too worried about where all the flowers had gone. Because I can’t imagine a commercial today that would talk about fat kids during which they would feature a plump girl biting into a hot dog. And sissy kids? Wouldn’t happen.

But of course, catchy advertising jingles weren’t limited to hot dogs. Who can forget two-all-beef-patties-special-sauce-lettuce-cheese-pickles-onions-on-a-sesame-seed bun? Or hold the pickles hold the lettuce, special orders don’t upset us?

And after all of those hamburgers and hot dogs, you needed plop,plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is. And the next morning, once your stomach was settled, remember that the best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup. But perhaps the one easiest to remember was this: Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, and so forth. Meow Mix cat food.

All this made me think about a movie I recently watched on Netflix called The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio, starring Julianne Moore. It was an interesting movie based on a true story of a woman who helped support her family of 10 kids by winning a variety of prizes – some monetary, some less helpful – for writing advertising jingles in the 1950s. Apparently companies used to hold contests to find the best jingles. I recommend the movie.

It makes me a bit sad that nowadays there are no jingles, only pop music as the background to commercials aimed at the 18-40 demographic. But just remember, when you say Bud, you’ve said it all.

This post linked to the GRAND Social