“Close, But No Cigar”

The expression “close but no cigar” is used to indicate that someone has fallen just short of a successful outcome and failed to secure any reward, or is just plain wrong. But where did this, and other colloquialisms originate? Let’s explore.

With today’s growing emphasis on quality care, clinical outcomes and cost effectiveness, spinal manipulation is receiving increased attention. The epidemic of prescription opioid overuse and abuse has also led to wider acknowledgment of the benefits of nondrug approaches to pain.

Spinal manipulation is a safe and effective nondrug spine pain treatment. It reduces pain (decreasing the need for medication in some cases), rapidly advances physical therapy, and requires very few passive forms of treatment, such as bed rest.

This article will continue the story of the C.C.C. in Union County from the book "From Hearth And Hoe: Union County, Tennessee 1910-1940". "Men signed up in droves.They were organized into 1,330 army-like companies. Fort Benning was a focal point of C.C.C. activity; the base was flooded with C.C.C. applicants. There they were issued clothing, assigned pay accounts, given physicals, and after a couple of weeks training, shipped to camps in the field.

My mother once surprised me. In a moment of frustration, she looked me in the eye and said, “If only I could be a genie for a day.”
I normally never thought of my mother thinking this way. There have been several stories and fairy tales that involved people coming in contact with a genie or Leprechaun who would grant them three wishes. Most always, those people wished foolishly and wound up in worse shape than before they had the wishes.

A sister in the Lord shared this recipe with me. I had given her my Red Grape Pie recipe. She showed up at church last Sunday with this recipe in hand. I am a believer in sharing recipes. There are those who say ”Oh, I couldn't give you the recipe for that. It's all in my head. I just throw it together.” Some just flat out refuse to share a recipe. However, no two cooks making the same recipe end up with quite the same tasting dish, don't cha know. If I have a special way of making something, I share it. I am too old to keep secrets.

With winter weather there are two distinct camps of people: those that love it and those that do not. You may have picked up in past articles that I am in the love winter camp, and cold/snow fans have actually been labeled. We are chionophiles (ki-own-a-files), those who thrive in cold winter conditions, especially in snow. It’s a Greek word that literally means “snow lover”.

You don’t see ceramic shops around much anymore. When I say ceramics, I am talking about the kind that comes out of molds as opposed to that which people form with their hands and/or on a potter’s wheel (that is usually referred to as pottery.) I have done both, but I grew up painting ceramics with my mother because in those days there were ceramic shops on the Army bases we lived on.

Rigel: So, did you hear about Betelgeuse?
Vega: Oh my, yes! It’s all over the galaxy.
Algol: What is?
Vega: You haven’t heard?
Rigel (rolling eyes in derision and disbelief): Where in the Milky Way have you been? Everyone’s talking about it. I heard Bellatrix telling Arcturas that Canopus said that Alnitak said …
Algol: Enough already! OK, OK, OK. So, I don’t know what you are talking about. I get it. I’m uncool.
Vega: Puh-lease. You? The triplet “Demon Star” not cool. Oh, you are definitely cool. But, in the know? No.

A growing body of research supports spinal manipulation:

After an extensive study of all available care for low back problems, the federal Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (now the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality) recommended that low back pain sufferers choose the most conservative care first. And it recommended spinal manipulation as the only safe and effective, drugless form of initial professional treatment for acute low back problems in adults.

All of us have been touched by the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps and New Deal whether we realize it or not. As an elementary student, I attended a W.P.A.-built school, Corryton Elementary, and swam at the C.C.C.-built Big Ridge State Park beach. We camped and hiked through the erosion-preventing New Deal era forests and park campgrounds. During the Great Depression, Union County was effected greatly by programs like the C.C.C.. The Corps' reach put men, desperately in need of jobs, to work and helped to shape the physical landscape of the county.