Winter Misery

This year’s golfing trip to Myrtle Beach will be our 27^th consecutive trip. All of them except two were to Myrtle Beach and only one that was without our regular foursome. Can you imagine, that many years with no arguments, in this day and age very few marriages last that long. After so many years, anticipation of the event each year has on occasion diminished, but this year I can’t wait to get going. Winter has become a tremendous bore. These past few weeks I feel like a prisoner. The recent ice storm has confined me to this desk so much that I’ve begun to search for some ointment to get rid of what I think are calluses developing on my posterior. Trips down the driveway to get the mail or paper have been bad enough with the snow storms, but virtually impossible after this coating of ice. I have to drive my car down to get them, and forget trying to get the rubbish down for the weekly collection. I'm even bring that down by car. I spent $12.00 on a bag of some kind of miracle stuff to melt the ice. I should have just thrown it down the toilet for all the good it did trying to clear the glacier good old Mother Nature gave me for a present.

Oh well, it is winter and it is New England, and I’ve probably just lived through too many of them. I’m not a hot weather person, but this year I don’t think it would be too difficult to make the change. So I guess you can see why I’m looking forward to the trip this year, and by the 7^th of March I might even be able to fit in my shorts again ( 15 lbs so far ). Ya, ya, I know I wasn’t supposed to talk about the diet anymore.

The other downside to this lousy weather is that nothing is going on in my life that is interesting or exciting enough to put in a Blog. Even my damn toast has been ok……lol. The other problem is finding things to occupy myself. The refrigerators, freezers, and cabinets have all been organized (Check out the picture of our downstair’s freezer). I'm even starting to bake bread and stocking up on homemade soups. Talk about being anal, it’s even starting to scare me. Hurry up Myrtle Beach before this guy really cracks up ( only kidding, but I do need to get a life ).

The Golden Years

Well a trip to the eye doctor this morning confirmed my suspicions, I am getting old!! When I saw him two years ago he said, Bill you can still go with the same glasses. Change was only minor, but this year they’re setting up an appointment to measure up the eye for cataract surgery. I’m still fifty percent though, only the right eye needs it ….......at least for now. Oh well at least I now know why my putts keep going to the left……lol.

For all you youngsters out there I have to let you know that there are very few advantages to getting old, an occasional discount here and there and being able to hit from the senior tees when playing golf. I suppose reduced hearing at times can be considered an advantage. At times you can block out things you have no interest in hearing, but believe me, the negatives far out way any of those exaggerated claims of the “Golden Years”.

The Golden Years are greeted with new aches and pains every day, more wake up calls every night, and repeated trips to doctors to make sure you’re around long enough to experience even more of them. There might, however, be some advantage to those trips. Look at all that exercise we get from walking back and forth to the bathroom during the night.

I really should stop moaning, because the Big Guy upstairs has blessed me with some real decent health over the years, but with another one of those birthday things coming up in February I start thinking about some of these things.

"HOTDOGS"

I guess that being on a diet makes everything I do lately revolve around food. I’ve even turned my food thoughts into a church event. As President of our church Men’s group I’ve even scheduled a “Hotdog Night” after one of our Masses in February. It appears to me that almost everyone loves a hotdog. A dog with ketchup satisfies us when we’re young, then a graduation to one with mustard and even some relish. Finally the big steps we take to dogs with chili, onions and even sauerkraut. Today there are hour long documentaries on the Travel Channel showing nothing but visits to hotdog places and extolling the virtues of their sometimes strange toppings. PS., I love them all. But how did this frankfurter craze begin.
In 1852, a butchers' guild in Frankfurt produced a spiced, smoked sausage product which they named frankfurter after their hometown. It was slightly curved in shape and was often called the dachshund sausage. The product was brought over to America by Charles Feltman and Antoine Feuchtwanger. Feltman sold frankfurters and sauerkraut from a pushcart in New York's Coney Island. He opened up the first Coney Island hot dog stand in 1871. Shortly thereafter, he started selling the frankfurters with milk rolls, which were the precursors to hot dog buns. The buns that we use today were probably first introduced in St. Louis by Feuchtwanger in 1904. He was a sausage concessionaire who loaned white gloves to his customers to hold the hot sausages. Since most of his customers did not return his gloves he worked with a baker to develop a bun, which people could use to hold their sausages.
You’ll notice that everything I’ve written so far refer to the sausages as “frankfurters”, but when did they become “hotdogs”? The term "hot dog" is credited to sports cartoonist Tad Dorgan. At a 1901 baseball game at the Polo Grounds in New York, vendors began selling hot dachshund sausages in rolls. From the press box, Dorgan could hear the vendors yelling, "Get your dachshund sausages while they're red hot!" He sketched a cartoon depicting the scene but wasn't sure how to spell "dachshund" so he called them simply, "hot dogs." And the rest is history.
If all this hotdog talk has made you hungry, you’re welcome to stop by my church around 6:00 PM this coming February 21st and scoff down a couple.

Progress Report

As I write this on January 7^th it has been only five days since I bit the bullet and finally decided to do something about my ever expanding body. Already I feel better. Not that there has been any great physical change in my body, although I have lost 5 pounds, but it’s a mental thing. I just feel better about myself……it’s like hurray for me, I finally did it. Surprisingly even those few pounds have made today’s pants a little looser. The real shocker is that I already feel like moving around and doing “stuff”.

The only negative is that thoughts of food seem to invade the mind and completely take over all conscious thought: What should I have for breakfast, what’s for lunch, supper, can I have a snack? Where’s the calorie book? Can I fill myself up without over doing it? Will I be eating too many carbs?

Now menu planning becomes mathematical. Let’s see, body needs 15 calories per pound of weight and for every 5oo calories we eliminate daily I’ll loose a pound in a week. Hell, to maintain my weight I have to eat 4,223 calories. Wow, if I restrict myself to 1200 or 1500 calories I’ll lose 5 or 6 pounds this week. S—t, this is going to be a snap. Not an easy task for someone who enjoys food, doesn’t dislike anything and loves to cook. I’ve accepted the fact that this isn’t going to be a walk in the park, but I’m determined to make it happen. At my age, if I’m ever going to do it, it better be now.

Unfortunately it’s going to be costly for me on the golf course. One of my golfing opponents has made me promise that I have to reduce my handicap one stroke for every ten pounds I lose. For some strange reason he thinks my game will improve if I’m lighter……I hope he’s right. It’ll be worth it. I won’t even mind paying off the bets. I’ll keep you all posted on the progress whether you’re interested or not.

Hello 2009

Procrastination is a type of behavior which is characterized by deferment of actions or tasks to a later time. Psychologists often cite procrastination as a mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting or completing any task or decision. We all procrastinate to some extent, and all though I have a few bad habits of my own, I never felt that procrastination was one of them until I gave some thought to something I’ve avoided most of 2008. Most of you are well aware of my healthy appetite, love of food, and love of cooking. Well, 2008 has been loaded with all three loves and I’m really well aware of what it has been doing to my body these past months. I’ve been able, however, to retreat from the inevitable by never looking into the mirror especially when emerging from the shower, but this is the beginning of a New Year. Well I’ve now joined the multitude thinking they will be able create a new person with resolutions that in most cases never see February.

I woke up today actually not feeling hungry or having any desire for food. The Holidays had taken their toll on even someone like me. A huge Christmas Eve buffet dinner followed by a sumptuous brisket dinner Christmas Day, followed by a roast beef dinner at friends began my inevitable collapse. Even that was not enough; all this was followed by New Year’s Day dinner of stuffed shrimp, beef Wellington and baked potato.
Wow, even writing this down is getting to me. Well I took a deep breath, took all my clothes off and starting with eyes tightly closed stepped in front of the mirror. Slowly I opened my eyes and to my surprise I saw those eight tiny reindeer from the poem, but they all seemed to be huddled in the area above my waist line…..my God!!!.....what a terrible sight. Well I think you can guess what my New Year’s resolution is. Probably a great decision, since I’ve just about run out of clothes that fit and with closets full clothes from years past that still do, the diet is a must. Diet, what a crappy word, just look at those first three letters. It’s telling me I’m going to die if I don’t and die from starvation if I do (certainly an exaggeration, but humor me).

Actually I’m not afraid of New Year’s resolutions since at 73 I’ve already given up most of life’s pleasurable things. Giving up being a pig shouldn’t be too tough, although a prayer or two from my friends might come in handy………….wish me luck.

PS: I do hope all your resolutions are met with success.