Chapel Hart sings an homage to Dolly Parton, and Dolly responds

Earlier this week on America’s Got Talent, a country trio was the grand finale of the episode. They impressed the judges and Terry Crews (the host) so much that a show rule was broken just to give them a highly-sought after golden ticket to the live shows. Here was the memorable performance…

The song, written by Chapel Hart, is an homage to, and a continuation of, Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.” They cleverly titled it, “You Can Have Him, Jolene.” If fan appreciation wasn’t enough for the group to be over the moon, even Dolly Parton (for President!) herself responded on Twitter…

That’s quite the endorsement right there! I’m sure the ladies of Chapel Hart were so excited to get a mention from Dolly. Well, actually THEY WERE! Here’s their Twitter reaction…

Since the AGT debut, their album (I guess they already had an album out?) reportedly shot to #1 on iTunes. It appears as if good things are in store for these fine women! I’m very interested in how they follow up this early success once the live shows start. Time will tell! In the meantime, comment below with your thoughts about their song and Dolly’s reaction…

Thanks for dropping in!

-Out of the Wilderness

Wordle #396, a sad story

Another day, another failed wordle! Yesterday (Wednesday, July 20) I was in a good place to start the game, because I HAVE to be in the zone if I’m gonna do this. Turns out, my “good place” doesn’t really matter, I guess! Grrrrrrrrr. Here are my thoughts as I slugged through the board. 

Not starting out well with only one yellow letter on my first attempt. But then the clouds broke on my second guess!

Then I channeled Lord of the Rings with my third guess. Frodo, treat me nice!

Dang it. Sauron strikes again. But I like that I have 4 letters in the right spot with my 4th guess. Simultaneously I’m also annoyed to be in a spot where the one missing character could be 219 different letters!

*very angry emoji*

So I started my guesses, hoping I was in tune with the Wordle gods. 

Nope. Shaking my head in disappointment, like a dad watching his average son strike out without swinging in coach-pitch Little League. But then, out of the blue, he swings and gets a base hit! In other words, I barely avoided striking out. 

Double letters will be the death of me. How did you do on Wordle #396? Chime in below and comfort me in my sad state. 

-Out of the Wilderness

Talking through yesterday’s Wordle #395

Just to alleviate your fears, this post is about yesterday’s wordle (Tuesday, 7/19) so it won’t spoil today’s game. Below I’ll explain what I was thinking as I made my guesses. Maybe this will be fun, maybe not! But heerrrre we go….

Choice #1. Everyone knows the first guess is 100% a shot in the dark. So I started with a word that was heavy on consonants and light on vowels. And now as I’m typing this, I realize this was a Wordle word a few weeks back. Doh!

Choice #2. I wanted to keep the “RA” together but wasn’t sure if I should move them to the first two blocks or not. I couldn’t really think of many words that started with “RA” so I moved them to the right instead.

Choice #3. OK, back to my original idea, using them in the first two blocks. Rabid is a common word, right? Speaking of which, I saw a sick raccoon once, I think it had rabies. Video is here.

Choice #4. I might as well buy property on the 4th row because I rarely solve the riddle before this. Keeping the “RA” together doesn’t seem to be the solution, so I gotta split them up. Do you ever type in letters, assume it’s not a real word and then hit ‘enter’? Of course, I did! *Eye roll* What the heck kind of word is “ACKER”??

Choice #5. Now I’m just angry. Oh wait. Of course.

And that’s how my Wordle experience went yesterday. Like I said, I live on the 4th row but I’ve been lucky a few times to get it in two, or a handful of times in 3. Check back each day at 1pm central for new posts! I think this Wordle explanation thing will become a recurring post, so check back each day for a new post.

Thanks for dropping in!

-Out of the Wilderness

Amazon’s Back to School Ad – Celebrity, Crayons, and Comparisons

Amazon has chimed in on how to beat the high gas prices, even citing the rising fuel costs in a new ad encouraging viewers to use their service for “back to school” supplies. There’s a series of ads, but here’s the 30-sec version…

This ad is quite a bit more simple in its delivery and production than a few of their others (see Cleopatra and Medusa commercials). The star (Kathryn Hahn, on Instagram here) playfully interacts with students while trying to convince us to use Amazon for crayons, clothes, and computers.

Not to burst Amazon’s bubble, but I’ve found that Dollar Tree, for example, has an amazing assortment of products, all for around $1.25. They even have a section online devoted to “back to school.” Dollar Tree might not have celebrities endorsing them in cute ads, but what Kathryn Hahn’s says at the end of the commercial about gas prices is most certainly true. And because it’s true, finding a box of crayons for $1.25 is better for your wallet than what you’ll probably find on Amazon (Crayola crayons for $6.40).

This is not a paid endorsement for Dollar Tree, but hey, DT if you’re reading this… I’ve got a Venmo!! 😉

Thanks for dropping in!

-Out of the Wilderness

Will I have to cancel my next camping trip??

What happens when you have to schedule some repair work for your RV or travel trailer? You might have to cancel or reschedule trips! That also means feeling bummed… which is past sad but not quite as far as devastated.

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That’s exactly what happened to me recently when I brought in my trailer for a slide-out repair. The idea of cancelling an upcoming trip was becoming more and more of a reality with every passing day. I mean, with the supply chain issues and yada, yada, yada, I was almost sure the trip was a bust. The story goes like this… I dropped off my trailer at a repair shop one day, a shop that shall go unnamed, and even though I had an appointment, it basically sat in their lot for two weeks! TWO WEEKS!!!

You Dont Say Nicholas Cage GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

They hadn’t even looked at it for 10 business days. So yeah, I was 62% upset and 79% disappointed. But then I found another repair shop, that shall be named (Southern RV Repair in Quincy, FL), that just felt right so I took a chance. Could my upcoming trip still happen??

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On the same day I picked up the trailer from shop #1, I dropped it off at shop #2, fingers crossed the work could be done in time for me to still go on the planned adventure. To spoil the story, I’ll just say it this way… Southern RV Repair is now shop #1 and that other shop isn’t even on my list anymore. Advice to anyone in this situation is very simple.

1. Pray

2. Find a reliable tech

Because of the miracle workers at Southern RV, I won’t have to cancel my trip after all!

Standing Ovation Applause GIF by The Maury Show - Find & Share on GIPHY

This is huge news because the next multi-day availability at this park was waaaayyyy into 2023. Sad day, right? But it’s NOT a sad day because I kept my reservation and now I’m pumped… which is past happy and teetering on the outskirts of cloud 9. 

Thanks for dropping in…

-Out of the Wilderness