Romantic Couple Don't Even Notice The Scary Armed Robbery Right Next To Them

Romance lives on as an armed robbery progresses
in this Billings, Montana bar. The couple kiss, while
the bartender has his hands up, under orders
from the armed robbers.  

I'm happy to report that nobody got hurt during a recent armed robbery at the Tap Inn bar in Billings, Montana.

I'm also happy to report the robbery did not kill romance, at least for one couple.

The two young lovers sitting just a couple feet away from the robbery in the bar didnt even notice.

You can see the surveillance video at the bottom of this post.

I'll let NPR set the scene in the video for you:   

"Three masked assailants storm into a bar in Billings, Montana, brandishing raised weapons, security video shows. The bartender at the Tap Inn throws his hands up. One of the robbers cleans out the cash register as the others wave their guns at the terrified bar patrons.

But for one couple, armed robbery was no match for amour. The intertwined pair continues kissing - just feet from the cash register - throughout the holdup, which lasted less than a minute. Both wear baseball caps on backward and oscillate between locking lips and staring intensely into each other's eyes, apparently so preoccupied that they failed to notice the gun-toting criminals."

We're not sure how much money was taken during the robbery. At least no hearts were stolen, apparently.

The bartender in the incident is fine, and has worked there again since the crime took place.

No word on whether that couple is still making lovey-dovey.

Here's the video, passed along by the Billings Gazette:

The Most Romantic Video For Your Valentine's Day.

Screen shot from video of a woman named
Vicky telling her boyfriend she's ready to marry.
In the foreground Jon learns Vicky's parents
approve, and Vicky in the background waits
for Jon's answer.  

It's Valentine's Day, which means we must have sappy love stories to celebrate the day.

So I found this random video. I like it because the woman named Vicky who organized it is such a romantic.

Her boyfriend, Jon,  had proposed to her a couple times, but she said she wasn't ready. Then Vicky thought about it, a little time went by, and she decided she was indeed ready to marry.

But she had to tell him. So Vicky organized the event you'll see at the bottom of this post.

This video was uploaded in late August of 2013, right around the date of my first wedding anniversary. I, too, was not initially ready to marry.  My husband waited a long time for me to propose - he wanted it to be my final decision.

Of course, he wasn't terribly shy about dropping hints.

I finally did propose, and we've been happily married for two and a half years now. My decision to ask Jeff to marry me was by far the best move I've ever made.

So happy Valentine's Day Jeff!! 

Anyway back to Vicky and Jon. I'll give you a spoiler alert. Things end up going well in the video, and it turned out Jon was ready for Vicky to be ready.

Though I probably spoiled any surprised in the video, it's still such a charming thing to watch.

I hope it inspires a few hugs and cuddles with your lover. Although caution: Kleenex alert with this video:

The Least Romantic Story EVER, Just In Time For Valentines Day

Who wouldn't fall for this guy? Well, nobody would.
Charles Manson is once again unlucky in love
as Valentine's Day approaches.  

Just in time for Valentine's Day, coming up this weekend, I have what is certainly the least romantic story I've heard in ages.

Hey, I've got to be a contrarian.

Before I go on, I have to tell you I'm not making up any of what you are about to read up. My imagination isn't that good, or that sick. Maybe people involved are making a lot of stuff up, but not me.

So here it goes:

If any of this is true, and it's coming from the New York Post, so it might be embellished, it appears the expected wedding of Charles Manson is not going to happen after all.

The news is enough to make your red roses wilt on the spot, isn't it.

Manson, you might recall, is the ringleader of a weird murder spree in California way back in 1969. He and his followers thought that if they murdered actress Sharon Tate and eight others to start some sort of race riot or revolution or something, I don't know.

Manson was sentenced to life behind bars and is now 80 years old.

But, romance blooms, even in prison, or so Manson thought. A woman named Afton Elaine Burton, 27, announced in 2013 she planned to marry Manson.

Rolling Stone magazine had all the deets on the marriage back in November, 2013. At least that's how things stood, until romance faded. So sad.

But back then the love affair between Manson and Burton, referred to as "Star" in Rolling Stone, was in full torrid bloom.  

Star and her apparently ex-fiance Charlie Manson in,
um, happier times last year.  

"Star is a (then) 25 year old brunette who's been loyally visiting Manson in jail since she was 19 years old and maintains several websites devoted to defending Manson and his pro-Earth environmental causes," Rolling Stone reported.

Too bad Manson wasn't also anti-murder, but I guess you can't have everything.

Rolling Stone goes on:

"In 2007, Star moved to Corcoran to be near Charlie, who she visits each Saturday and Sunday for up to five hours a day. 'Yeah, well, people can think I'm crazy,' she likes to say. 'But they don't know. This is what's right for me. This is what I was born for.'"

Well, she's right on one point. She did seem crazy. I guess at the time we would have congratulated Star for snagging the world's least available bachelor, and the one you'd least want to take home to meet Momma.

Burton, or Star, had some pretty strong opinions. She carved an "X" into her forehead to match Manson's lovely visage.  Star strongly resembles Susan Atkins, one of the members of Manson's "family" that carried out the horrible murders back in 1969.

Jealous lover that she was portraying, Burton, or "Star" hated Atkins. "That bitch was fucking crazy....She was a crazy fucking whore."

Alrighty, then.

But as I noted, sometimes blossoming love withers on the vine. And such is the case with Star and Charlie.

If the New York Post is right, Star's intention was not to marry out of love, but for money. Yeah, yeah, I know,  Manson doesn't have any money, given that he's been in prison for what, 45 years or so?

It turns out Star is an entrepreneur!

Her plan was to marry Manson, then when he died, she'd gain custody of his corpse. And it might not be too long before Manson dies. He is 80 years old. So Star maybe thought she was getting a quick return on her investment.

How would she make money, though?

Easy! After Manson dies, she and her pal Craig Hammond would put his corpse in a glass crypt. As the New York Post put it, "The pair figured their bizarre California version of Lenin's Tomb would draw huge crowds and make big money."

There's where I question the business plan.

It is true that California draws LOTS of tourists, what with Yosemite Park, Hollywood, the redwood forests, the beauty of San Francisco, the luscious wines of Napa Valley and Disneyland Resort (despite the measles epidemic.)

Maybe I'm closed minded, but I don't think tourists would exactly flock to see Charlie Manson's dead body. If I went to California as a tourist, that would be extra low on my bucket list. But what do I know?  I'm not the lead editor at Travel and Leisure, so my expertise in tourism might not be up to snuff.

The Post reported that a journalist told the paper that the cunning Manson found out about that Star was in it for money, not love, so Manson pulled the plug on the wedding plans.

Besides, Manson reportedly had another reason not to go along with Star's plan. He believes he is immortal, so Star would have no corpse to display. No corpse, no tourist attraction, right?

As you can see, this story isn't exactly a lovely Valentine. But now you can be cheerful.

Even if there's no romance in your life at the moment. Even if Mr. or Ms. Right hasn't entered the picture yet. Even if you're going to spend Valentine's Day alone watching re-runs of "Divorce Court," your life is still much more romantic and lovely than Manson or Star's.

You've got to count your blessings, right?

A Wisconsin Winter Valentines Love Story To Warm Your Heart

Bud Caldwell leaves a penny and a daisy for his
late wife at a Fond du Lac, Wisconsin park bench.
Park employees saw this going on every day, so they
keep a path cleared in the snow for Caldwell
so he can get to the bench daily.  

Valentines Day is coming up, so that puts people in the mood for love stories.

Plus it's winter, and we all need any excuse to warm our hearts.

Which might make it strange then, that I'm now taking you to the bitter cold winter winds of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

But here it goes:

Bud Caldwell's wife of 56 years died two years ago. Caldwell, 82, bought and dedicated a bench in his wife's honor at Lakeside Park in Fond du Lac, a very nice, semi-forested area of the park.

Every day, day in and day out, Caldwell brings a penny and a daisy to the park bench so he can commune with his late wife, says television station WDJT in Milwaukee.

The songs "Pennys From Heaven" and "Daisy A Day" were the couple's favorites, so that's why Caldwell does this.

"A lot of people might think it's a dumb thing," Caldwell told Fox 11, another television station in the Milwaukee area.

That's the one thing the otherwise perfect and adorable Caldwell is wrong about. I bet everybody joins me in thinking that's the most charming thing in the world.

Needless to say, it snows quite a bit in Fond du Lac in the winter. Last year, Caldwell fell while trying to trudge through the snow to the park bench.

This year, when it snowed, Caldwell understandably didn't want to risk slipping and sliding through the deep snow to the bench.

We'll let WDJT pick up the story:

"So, he sat in his car and spoke to Betty instead, that is until two Fond du Lac parks employees noticed his routine.

Jerrod Ebert and Kevin Schultz got shovels and cleared the path for Bud.

The gesture brougth them both to tears, but Ebert and Schultz couldn't bear to see Bud not be able to leave his daisy and penny.

'We have to make sure he can get to his bench and talk to his wife,' Ebert said.

Bud said that Ebert and Schultz have vowed to keep the path clear all winter for him. So, as long as he can, Bud will leave his daisy and penny for Betty."

When Caldwell visits, he catches her up on the events of the day, how her friends are doing, and all that. When he leaves, he says "I'll see you later, Munchkin."

Honestly, it melts your heart, if not the snow.

Of course, visuals always help with the story. So, here's video from another local television station, Fox 11, which also covered the story.

Warning: Major Kleenex alert if you watch the following video:

Neil Young Helps Us Celebrate Tonight's Harvest Moon

The full harvest moon is about to rise over my home state of Vermont this evening.

The sky is totally clear, so we'll get a gorgeous view of it.

They call it the harvest moon for obvious reasons. It's the harvest season. You can go out and gather your fruits and veggies by the light of the moon, I suppose.

The harvest moon puts me in a romantic mood, so to complete the idea, here's the video to Neil Young's very sweet song "Harvest Moon."

I dedicate it, of course, to my husband Jeff Modereger.

Here it is:

With Tonight's Harvest Moon Shining Bright, I Bring You "Harvest Moon."

Tonight's beautiful full moon aftere a picture perfect clear day in Vermont is called the Harvest Moon.

With that in mind, I give you "Harvest Moon" since tonight's sky reminded me of the song by Neil Young

It's a great, romantic song.  So cuddle up with your lover, gaze at the moon, listen to the song, and have a beautiful night.

 

Romance Can Hurt

Pity Anthony Brasfield, 40 of Florida.

He thought it was a romantic gesture, and it was. He was with his girlfriend recently and released a dozen heart shaped helium balloons into the air as he professed his love to the lucky gal.

A balloon like released by a guy in Florida as a romantic
gesture could land him in jail.  

She appreciated it, but law enforcement watching nearby did not. They busted Basfield for violating Floridan environmental laws with his romance.

It's true maybe Brasfield should have known better than to release the balloons. The remnants of the balloons once they come down to earth can trap, strangle, injure or poison a wide vareity of creatures.

Unnecessary animal deaths are not romantic, after all. But he probably wasn't thinking about animals. He was thinking about his love for his gal. That's forgiveable.

If convicted, Brasfield faces up to five years in jail. Let's hope he doens't get that. I don't know that it's fair to keep a couple away from each other when I'm guessing just some education on how to keep wildlife safe would do.

So, I wish Brasfield luck in court and with his lady.

Money: Another Reason Why I'm Happy I'm Not in the Dating Pool

I'm so glad I'm married already and don't need to date to find a mate.

That's true now so more than ever, given the higher and higher hurdles people make their prospective partners clear before the relationship goes ahead.

On example came last month in a New York Times article describing how some people are demanding credit scores from would-be suitors, often on first dates.

Romance, Schmomance. I don't care if you're a hottie. Are you financially solvent?"

"Credit scores are like the dating equivalent of a sexually transmitted disease test," the Times quoted Manisha Thakor, who heads MoneyZen Wealth Management, a financial advisory firm.

I suppose asking about credit scores is useful, especially if the relationship escalates into love, living together, marriage. You'd hate to be tied to bad credit as you buy a home, furnishings, whatever.

Said the Times:

Dating someone with poor credit can have real implications. Banks remain wary of making loans to borrowers with tarnished scores, typically 660 and below; the best scores range from 800 to 850, and scores above 750 are considered good. A low score could quash dreams of buying a house, and result in steep interest rates, up to 29 percent, for credit cards, car financing and other unsecured loans.

All that might be true, but must dating, a first date, even, be completely a job interview, or a loan application meeting? If the maybe future partner has the goods in other departments, and is honest, which you'd want anyway, can't you work out the finances at a later date?  Get the money straightened out before marriage, yes, but a week into the relationship?

It's also a turnoff to have someone demand full financial disclosure minutes into an initial date. Yes, you don't want to waste your time with someone who is a financial train wreck, so you might want to get out early. But I'd also not want to waste my time with someone who sounds as if he or she is in it for the money.

What's next? Full interviews by an investigative journalist with any and all family members, past acquaintences, first grade teachers, kindergarten friends and strangers who encountered you in the street in 1979 to get the dirt on a would-be date?

Like I said, thank God I'm already married. Finding a mate sounds like it's too much work, too business like.

My husband Jeff and I disagree on money sometimes. But we always work it out quickly. So I'll keep the great mate I've got, and leave the financial negotiations to Match.com or something.  thanks. 

Is Spiderman Cheesy or Romantic?

"Spiderman, " really a guy dressed like him, fights off three guys who were 'harassing" his girlfriend. Then he unmasks himself and proposes marriage.

 You be the judge: Is this marriage proposal cheesy or romantic or both? It certainly caused quite a stir, given how it took place on a busy day in Provo, Utah. Watch and determine the level of corniness, or non-corniness, and tell me what you think.