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| SUN LAKES LIFESTYLES | MARCH 2025 | 71 Sounds like "Burt and Ernie" will be together forever! Laurie W. With friends like those… Barbara C. Sounds like Burt & Ernie are so close that they are "inseparable." Emily P. I actually thought I hope they don't live in my neighborhood…. until I read the article. Teresa S. Between a python, a missing hamster, a great uncle on the Titanic, and a oating door, plus a lady with a whistle, this story had it all! Lacey J. your comments: GET THE JOKE! Last month's joke: Now back to the Get the Joke stuff: To win a free dinner, find the ad, article or just weird, out-of-place, completely made-up (and hopefully funny) item in this month's Lifestyles. When you find it, fill out the box and email it to sunlakesnews@yahoo.com before noon on the sixth of the month (or drop it off in the Main Clubhouse). If you are the first correct guess chosen at random, you will win a free dinner. Congratulations to this month's Dinner Winner: CHARLIE FRIESE Please call Monica in the Admin. Oce for your Sun Lakes Restaurant dinner. From Courtney, the publisher: It was Jan. 15 and I went to my local Postal Annex to mail my cousin Owen his share of the family Christmas cookies my brother had made (after I said, "You have to make some for Owen!") and set aside for him. Yes, I know. I was late. I had them in the freezer so I'm sure they were fine. Anyway, I walk in and pass the UPS guy walking out. While I'm standing at the counter waiting for the owner to weigh the box and give me a total, a man walks in with a package. The owner looks at him and says, "UPS?" The man says, "Yes." "You just missed him," the owner said. I chimed in with a perky, "You literally missed him by one minute!" I don't know why I said that. In retrospect, it seems to be kind of rubbing it in. But in my mind, I thought he'd say, "Of course! Of all the luck. Darn it. Oh well, I'll try again tomorrow," because that's what I'd say. Instead he screamed, "THIS IS B*$! S%$@!" Huh? How was that helpful? But he continued, "I can't believe this (gratuitous expletive rant here)!!!" "Get out of my store!" the owner yelled. More cursing from the man. "You're being very rude," I observed. I know, it's none of my business. But clearly he needed to know. He can't just scream at someone for what is: a) out of their control; and b) his own fault for not getting there earlier. If I miss a plane because I'm late, yelling doesn't fix things. Now a time machine — that would help. Anyway, back to me calling him out. "YOU'RE AN A#$@*LE!" he screamed at me. Well, sir! That just proved my point! He stormed out of the store and I realized I was shaking. I don't encounter explosively angry people often, thank goodness. The whole episode left me with questions. I started to analyze the event. He was a mature adult man, 60s or 70s, and should know stuff happens. Surely he's dealt with disappointment before. This can't be the first time things haven't gone his way. So what lead him to think that screaming at strangers was okay? Fluoride in the water? Chem trails? Big Foot? Or too much political rancor 24/7 where mature adults scream at each other for outrageous salaries? That's my guess. We absorb good and bad from our surroundings. I think he digested a diet of yelling, angry people, that's the way his world works. It made me resolve to not put myself in the path of things that make me cranky, which now includes Owen's cookies. They cost $30 to send! Next year I'm just emailing him the recipe. I found the joke! Resident name (first & last):_________________________________ This was the joke: ________________________________________ Comments (we LOVE your notes - about anything!): _______________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ Send entries to sunlakesnews@yahoo.com or drop it at the Main Clubhouse dinner. Congratulations to this month's Dinner Winner: Please call Monica in the Admin. Oce An unlikely love story … Chester and Millie Dentarious recently lost their hamster Ernie when their friend gave them a python for a house- warming gi. But instead of being mad, they decided to look at the silver lining — now they have two pets in one! ey named their python Burt and mix in hamster food with Burt's diet so Ernie, who they know is in there somewhere, gets to eat too. "Focusing on silver linings run in my blood," explained Millie. "My Great-Uncle Jack was on the Titanic. Even though he didn't make it to land, we know he made it to a oating door." She added, "And a nice lady with the whistle tried to save him but there just wasn't room on the door. We're sure she really, really, really tried to scooch over and let him on."

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