I'm Back

I think I've run out of excuses for not posting anything to my Blog spot.  After complaining about my computer for months, I finally bit the bullet and went south for a new computer.  Once I finally made the mood I went hog wild and bought a new monitor (nice and big to accommodate an aging vision), a new laser printer, a new faster modem and even a new router (kept losing Wifi on the old one.  What a difference, now I only have to find the inspiration to get started again.  You kind of lose it after awhile.  I'm not sure that today is the day for any literary gems. This cellar office is so cold my fingers are getting stiff so I'm not sure I'll be able to jump start my brain.  I'll be satisfied to get a few words on paper. It would be a great start for 2015.  I really do enjoy writing  them and look forward to hopefully making my posts a regular, at least twice monthly, thing.

I thought today might be the time to update you about golf.  If you've read my past Blogs you know that I've pretty much given up on the game, not for lack of desire, but for a pronounced decline in golfing performance.  In fact the last serious golf I engaged in was back in March of 2013.  I was able to survive 7 complete rounds of golf in seven days in Myrtle Beach.  Since then the clubs have been gathering dust in the garage.  I have no idea how it happened, but in some sort of lost weekend type trance I am told that I said yes to joining the group on this years trip.  Heaven help me, these days I'm out of breath after one of my nocturnal bathroom trips.  This should be a trip to remember.  It should at least provide me with a great deal of Blog material when I get back.

Speaking of trips, we did go on one since the last time I posted anything.  Finally took that Branson trip that everyone talks about. 

Trip started out in Saint Louis, saw the famous arch, went to Hannibal, Mark Twain's home town, then to Branson, Mo., where we were able to enjoy five different shows in three days.

Pre show entertainment

  Unbelievable how many are available.  For the record, every audience was filled with no one but senior citizens.  Tour bus companies would file for bankruptcy without us.

Sun Studios where music history was made

Elvis's Graceland. Purchased when he was only 22

Final destination was Memphis Tenn where we toured Elvis Pressley's Graceland, Motel where Martin Luther King was assassinated, and the recording studio, Sun Studio where Elvis and the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Perkins and Johnny Cash made an impact on the music world.

I've been trying to avoid all those getting old jokes that enter the internet.  Getting old is tough enough without being constantly reminded. The aches and pains are quite enough to keep us posted.. Unfortunately it's impossible to escape from one of those so-called  momentous birthdays, our 80th. Marge celebrated hers in December as will I in February so the kids are planning something next week to remind us.  I do hope they sent down to St. Augustine for a glass of water from that fountain of youth that Ponce De Leon was looking for.

Till the next time.

 

Finally a couple of diner visits

My desire to write about diners has been a real bust: an entire weekend in Pennsylvania without even one visit to a diner, what a bummer.  I started to feel that maybe I should abandon the project and just continue to fill my Blog pages with my current bitches.  I decided to continue my quest this past weekend after having breakfast twice at the “Blue Plate Diner” in Middletown, RI.  Middletown is right outside of Newport where most of our family (seventeen, missing three) was helping Marge and I celebrate our 60^th wedding anniversary.  Seventeen people walking into a restaurant without prior notice would send most places into a tailspin, but not a Greek diner.  Service was prompt, smooth, accurate, and the food wasn’t bad either.  Typical of the way diners handle things.  This diner could not be called classic, not built like a locomotive car but still loaded with chrome everywhere.  The diner appears to have been built on the spot, not transported from the factory or moved from another location.  Helping to make the diner a real diner was the usual 7 to 9 page menu.  Don’t you wonder how they can keep that many menu items on hand and still serve a meal that tastes fresh? I can’t remember ever having anything at a diner that I considered bad, but based on diner reviews I’ve read I guess I’m just lucky to have ordered the right meals.  Then again, it might be that I don’t have a very discriminating pallet.

Speaking of reviews, I read quite a few on the Athenian Diner in Middletown Connecticut where happened upon on our way from Newport.  The Athenian is in area I rarely travel in and was quite surprised to see it.  We decided to finish up our trip by having dinner there…wow, two diners.  This diner is one of three Athenians in the state.  It certainly was typical, large, lots of chrome, very clean and again about nine pages to read.  Quickly I might add because invariably after sitting and just opening the large batch of plastic covered pages, a waitress will appear with the dreaded question, are you ready to order?  I would need about thirty minutes of reading to make a decision that satisfied me since it’s not likely that there would be anything on the nine pages that I wouldn’t eat.  I settled for pastrami Rueben which was quite good.  Too big, but if that’s my only complaint, I guess I shouldn’t.  The rest of our party seemed to also be satisfied, with the only complaint being too large a portion. On a one to ten scale I think the reviews would have placed it at no better than a six.  Hopefully, some day I’ll be able to give it another shot.

Pennsylvania Reunion

My hopes and dreams for exciting new Blog material were dashed like a size thirteen landing on an unsuspecting spider.  The long planned excursion to Pennsylvania which filled me with hopes of visits to old, classic Pennsylvania diners and a side trip to see how my favorite (Yuengling Beer) was brewed never happened.   Road repairs detoured us from the diners I planned for, the Yuengling plant was not operating on Saturday, the only day we could visit and the only diner visit was the Milford on 209 for an impromptu hasty pit stop.

Did the next best thing, had a few frosty glasses of Yuengling at a Pizza get together with a bunch of Marge’s relatives the night before the reunion.  It seems that Marge has some influential cousins in Pottsville who rented or used the entire pavilion and facilities of a Pottsville park.  More Yuengling and a lot of tasty food catered by the same Pizza Restaurant we were at the night before.  Plenty to do, basketball, volley ball, horseshoes, and my favorite, sitting and people watching.  This was a “Shields Reunion” that hadn’t been done for years.  Our Shields contingency looked pretty sharp with everyone wearing dark blue T-shirts emblazoned with a picture of Marge’s deceased mom, dad and brother……very impressive.

One of the highlights of the trip was a guided tour Marge gave us of the small town of New Philadelphia where she was born and lived some of her younger years. I think it gave her great pleasure showing some of our kids and grandchildren the house she was born in and the school she went to.  Amazingly a 96 year old neighbor still lived a couple of houses down and remembered most of her family.

I guess I’ll have to settle on a few local excursions to some of Connecticut’s classics, we do have 125 of them in our state.

Diner Quest Update

After doing my last Blog about the “Lost” Franklin Square Diner, I was quite excited about making some trips to visit some more classic diners.  Unfortunately it seems that so many of my plans, or call them mini bucket lists never seem to happen.  Since that first momentous diner discovery a few weeks ago the closest I’ve come has been multiple visits to the Liberty Diner here in Southington.  Liberty is diner by name only, no chrome, no train car appearance, no grill area to watch food being prepared and not even a nine page menu to confuse the hell out of you (their’s is only about 5 pages).  Can’t say that it doesn’t have other diner attributes, simple meals, good quantity, tasty, inexpensive and served by some very nice staff….been going there for years and have yet to be disappointed.

My plans to visit some of the classics is still on an active to-do list and in the next few days there’s a good chance I’ll be able to resume the quest.  We’re going to a family reunion (Marge’s) in Pennsylvania,  Pottsville area in particular.  Pennsylvania is home to many, many diners that fall into a classic category.  Hopefully I’ll be able visit a couple and bring you back some interesting reports. 

There might even be chance to visit the country’s oldest brewery and sample my favorite beer brewed by D.G. Yuengling & Son that has managed to produce quality beer in Pottsville since 1829.  They should know how to do it by this time.

CLASSIC DINERS AND MORE

Classic Diner on route 209 in Pennsylvania

Classic diners of Connecticut was the subject of a recent presentation at the Southington Library.  Marge and I, along with our very good winery touring friends (subject of prior Blogs) attended this very interesting program.  Later over “coffee and” we began to discuss the many interesting diners we’ve eaten in over the years.  One diner in particular peaked my interest.  When Marge was seven or eight her parents moved to a different area of town.  She didn’t want to change schools mid year, but not changing created a problem that does not exist in this day and age.  In those days, kids had to walk back home for lunch and then back again to school. Because of their new home location it wasn’t possible in her case because of the distance involved.  To solve the problem her mother bought a meal ticket at a diner near her school, Saint Joseph’s which was in walking distance for Marge to have a lunch.  Daily she would go to the Franklin Square Diner on Franklin Square, had her ticket punched and ate her lunch at her special booth in the diner.  The diner is not there anymore and hasn’t been for quite a few years.

I thought it would be interesting to do some research on the diner and learn about its history.  After days of Googling, Asking, and Binging with no results I was about ready to give up.  I made one last inquiry and only inquired about the Franklin Square area of town.  Lo and behold I found a reference to the diner in one tiny little paragraph.  It seems that the diner was moved over fifty years ago to a location in East Berlin, CT.  It’s still there, but from the outside it doesn’t resemble the classic diner that it once was.  A strip mall type structure has been built around it, but inside the old diner still remains with only cosmetic changes and a few additions.  During these years the diner has had many names beginning with Route 72 Diner and finally ending with its current name of Uncle D’s – Diner,  Hometown Grill.

With this discovery, we decided to begin making Connecticut diner visits instead of our usual winery tours.  What better place to start but to revisit the place where Marge enjoyed her solitary lunches so many years ago.  During our lunch Marge even visited the booth she sat in over seventy years ago. 

Lunch turned out to be quite good.  I opted for a late breakfast of poached eggs with their home made hash. Very good by the way.  Other meals included a very nice ham and cheese sandwich with lettuce, tomato, cole slaw and a huge pickle.  One of those old fashion Jewish Deli types.  A nicely cooked large hot dog was accompanied by some very good home made baked beans that had a great tangy flavor. Our waitress had my favorite three “P’S - polite, prompt, pleasant.  Prices were also very reasonable.  We’ll go back again when the opportunity arises.

On to the next Classic Connecticut diner.  I’m going to try to make this a regular feature along with a few food tidbits.

More food for thought

Years ago we were quite impressed when a restaurant had open air dining. That’s because we were treated to beautiful views of forests, mountains, lakes, golf course fairways and other sights making our lunch or dinner a pleasurable experience.  Unfortunately it was rare for us to experience these patio pleasures locally.  More than likely we enjoyed these on vacation trips to more exotic places.

Boy has this changed.  We can now dine with spectacular views of traffic on Queen street in Southington and many other urban venues.  If that doesn’t rock your boat why not try dining at Wood N’ Tap and view the cars parked in Friendly's and the Price Chopper’s parking lot.  Oh, and there’s another Queen street restaurant on a corner that tops that with views of not only Queen street, but a street that directs traffic to Home Depot.  This way you get an even greater thrill seeing all those trucks going up the hill for supplies.  I could go on and on describing all these newly constructed walled in patios bedecked with trees and flowers, both real and fake.

Since New England offers scant weeks to enjoy this new found phenomenon, some have even provided portable heaters to stretch the season, and perhaps marvel at the Fall foliage on the “Charlie Brown” type trees along these city streets.  Who in the world started this ridiculous trend?  I guess if one does it the rest must follow suit to avoid losing all that business created by outdoor dining….lol.  I for one am going to continue dining inside and relax in air- conditioned comfort away from the flies and bees that always seem to locate me.

Food for thought

"The entire institution of gift giving makes no sense. Let's say that I go out and I spend 50 dollars on you. It's a laborious activity because I have to imagine what you need whereas you know what you need. Now I could simplify things, just give you the 50 dollars directly and then you could give me 50 dollars on my birthday and so on until one of us dies leaving the other one old and 50 dollars richer. And I ask you, is it worth it?  A quote from Dr. Sheldon Cooper of the Big Bang Theory”

This quote came to mind when October rolled around. Birthdays and Anniversaries abound for our family in the month of October, four birthdays and two anniversaries  Years ago we decided that we couldn’t handle all those celebrations.  The solution: one big family Octoberfest to take care of them all.  I think we’ve even included the stragglers celebrating November events. This year’s Octoberfest will feature a Sunday brunch and is being hosted by my son.  The celebrations are taken care of, but now the tough stuff.  What do you buy for everyone? Grandchildren are no longer a problem since most of them covet that green stuff or gift certificates to their favorite store, but the grownups are the real headaches. 

I say we go with the “Sheldon Cooper Solution”

We’re taking a little ride up to Southern Vermont today.  Hey, how about jugs of Maple Syrup or Cheese?

It's about time - an October blog

I’m frightened.  This is day three of my attempt to enter a Blog which I haven’t done since May.

 Day one:  Not having written since May, I had loads of catching up to do. We had a great deal of work done at the house, much to write about.  We also went on two trips, one out west to visit Mount Rushmore, Salt Lake City, Jackson Hole Wyoming and other sites.  Trip two was a five day cruise to Bermuda with all eighteen family members.  Kept rambling on and wrote a whole page.  Decided to rest my brain and pick up the stories the next day. 

Day two:  Went to my documents and could not locate the Blog.  The idiot author forgot to save it.  Back to the drawing board.  Did my best to remember what I wrote on day one and created another full page.

Day three:  Will review my masterpiece, add some, correct some and send it out into the world.  Guess what?  Couldn’t find it again.  The idiot did it again.  How the hell did this happen?

During my lifetime:  I have to admit that I rarely have any tolerance for the stupidity displayed by most of the world’s populous.  A character flaw I’m not particularly proud of, but one I now have to live with since I’ve joined that segment of the population.  Excuse me for a minute; I’m going to save this now.  Twice is enough and I can’t handle anymore stupidity on my part.  Actually the whole thing surprised and scared the hell out of me. I promised myself that it will never happen again “save again”.  I’ve decided that I will not attempt to recreate those lost pages. 

Next big project:  After reaching a point of almost beating the computer with a hammer I decide to check and see when I bought this contraption. Bought it in 2005.  Can you just imagine how much crap is sitting on my hard drive?  No wonder it is constantly freezing up, not allowing me out of programs and just about anything else that can go wrong, making me spend hours just looking at my emails and checking up on my kids in facebook.  Heaven forbid I try to download anything. Eight years has seen a great deal of changes in computer technology, so much so that I’ve become a Cyber Virgin.

What should I buy:   The other day we were talking about some of the negative effects of advancing age? During my lifetime I’ve learned how to do many things, carpentry, electrical, plumbing, painting, landscaping, bartending, you name it.  Unfortunately my body now has decided that it can’t or doesn’t want to do any of these things anymore.  We recently created a personal phone book with sections such as doctors, service people, friends etc.  In case you’re curious Marge and I have one whole page for doctors and have now matched it with a whole page of “our guys”.  These are the guys we call on to do all the stuff Bill no longer does.  I recently added another guy.  This my computer guru guy, one I am engaging so that I don’t make any stupid purchases in my attempt to modernize my technology.

Here I go again

Why does it take me so long to do these Blog entries?  I enjoy writing them and am excited when someone tells me they liked the entry, so what’s holding me back.  I come downstairs each day with good intentions and inevitably get side tracked checking emails and looking at what’s going on in the world until that little spark of ambition disappears.  When I do finally regroup and key into Microsoft Word I end up staring at the blank screen waiting for an inspiration.  Looking down at my hand I see that the fingers are not moving toward the keys, just laying there in an arthritic like stupor.  Why can’t I get something going?  Just checked the records and discovered that I had not written anything since January 2^nd. 

When I began doing these Blogs my intention was to use this as a vehicle to vent my bitches which seemed to become more and more frequent as I entered my Golden Years. Since the Blog was begun I’ve made 106 entries which dealt with many, many of my complaints.  I think my hesitation in writing is the fear of repeating myself and boring my readers. 

Well I wrote the above on Thursday, left it alone till Friday afternoon with the hope that exciting, funny, enlightening things would pop into my brain.  Sorry to report it isn’t so. I’ve been trying to take it easy in the eating department to see if I could lose a few pounds and fit into a batch of “too small pants” that have been nestled in the back of my closet.  Scale this morning shows the departure of about 9-1/2 (I’ll write it out: nine and one half, looks better).  Not too bad for a couple of weeks of behavior, but still a long way from that locked in treasure trove of pants.  Even so, I thought I’d go outside and give this slightly smaller body a test.

I grabbed the jug of weed killer and started bending over and squirting those green things sprouting from the spaces in my driveway pavers.  Key word here is bending, didn’t take long before I was sucking wind and hoping I’ll be able to stand up.  Guess what, success was mine.  I even decided I’d tackle something else.  Weeds began to take over such a large circle around a pine tree, spraying would give me a carpel tunnel syndrome and create a major rise in “Round Up” stock.  So with this new developing body I grabbed a rake and attacked.  Well about half way through the project breathing became difficult, arms got tired and sweat found its way all over my body my body.  All of a sudden my brain kicked into high gear and I leaned the rack against the fence and left the pile of raked weeds and came down here to tell you all about it.

What happened to this body of mine?   It seems to have fallen apart overnight. It’s been fun being a “Strong Polish Bull” most of my life, but I guess I’ll have to try and get used to the new me.

Do you see what just happened here?  I’m back to and aging bitch.  I’m sure if I keep writing I’ll be back to complaining about TV commercials, restaurant food and service, and my lousy golf game, so I’m signing off…….see you when an exciting thought jumps into this skull of mine.

One more little Blog

Well, all those good omen signs that I wrote about in the first Blog of 2013 didn’t even last the day.  I consider myself a very decent cook who rarely experiences any real gastronomic failures, but I didn’t even get through the first day of 2013 without having one. I decided to bake some nice boneless chicken thighs coated with a Chutney mixture, herb roasted potatoes and accompany them with those previously discussed Chinese peas. Preheated the oven, popped everything in and went to read my Kindle book. After a very nice salad I went to remove my anticipated wonderful meal from the oven.  Could not believe my eyes. The bottom of the chicken dish was coated with a crusty black Chutney residue and the potatoes looked like little pieces of coal.  After the initial shock I looked at the temperature I had set the oven at.  Well you guessed it, 475 degrees, which was a wee bit higher than I wanted. Actually it looked real bad, but it did prove edible so we made our way through this disaster that altered my thinking concerning the direction 2013 was taking.  And by the way, those Chinese peas sucked, hard as little green marbles I used to play with when I was a kid.  We ate some of them, but dumped the rest.  I think I’ll stay with fresh.

To make my day even worse, I was criticized by a good (I thought) friend for using a picture that misrepresented my true age on my Blogs. As you can see I replaced it with a picture taken on our Grand Canyon trip.  I did explain that I have very few photos of myself since I’m usually the one taking pictures and no one else seems to be interested in taking mine.  By the way this friend was also on the same trip and was where I met him and his lovely and nice wife.

I apologize for overloading you with these entries…..don’t know what’s gotten into me.

First Blog of 2013

Except for the usual morning visit of my nasty friend “Art Ritus”,  2013 started out real great.  Like the good Catholic that I am, the first order of the year was a visit to church to celebrate a New Year’s Day Mass.  It seems that Rome doesn’t know who they wish to honor on this day, but this year they decided it should be Mary.  The church trip might have set the year on a good path, because our first breakfast of 2013 was great.  Got a parking space right in front of the entrance, my sausage egg and cheese on a grilled hard roll with mayonnaise and thin slices of raw onion was done to perfection and even Marge’s

Pancakes and sausage drew no complaints. Coffee cup was bottomless and waitress was pleasant and efficient.  What the hell is happening here, is this an “Omen” of things to come?  What will I be able to bitch about if this continues?

Well, I did immediately think of something, the Fiscal Cliff!!  Are you as sick of this bullshit as I am?  Do they know that this isn’t a race with the clock like the food network “Chopped”?  What the hell were these elected fools doing the rest of the year.  America, we better get smart come next election and do some house cleaning, both parties.

In my last Blog I wrote how things develop a life of their own when they drop on the floor and scurry into the darkest inaccessible corners.  The only exception is a buttered piece of bread which doesn’t run away, but plops itself, always on its buttered side….how come, is it because that side is heavier or does it develop a nasty streak on its downward flight? It’s hard to enforce the 5 second rule when this happens.

A couple of days ago I was at Price Chopper getting a few things for dinner.  We don’t often buy canned vegetables, but I figured I’d be lazy on New Year’s Day so I strolled down the can goods section.  I immediately spotted a can of peas that was wearing a strange but attractive label. yellow with a picture of nice looking small (I like the small ones) peas.  It even had a neat name, First Harvest.  If it was the first harvest, they had to be good.  This morning I was displaying this brilliant purchase to Marge and began reading the back of the label.  Can you believe that even these peas came form China?  How can the grow them, can them, ship them, distribute them and sell them for 68 cents a can?  And what the hell is wrong with this country when we have to import peas.  The worse part is that I’m wondering what the stuff in this can is……I’ll let you know if I’m still able to.

He's Back

I know I’m always making excuses for not Blogging more frequently, but this morning I realized that it’s presumptuous on my part to think that you are all waiting with baited breath for my next literary gem.  Now that’s funny.  Seriously though, I recently lost a very dear friend, who for some strange reason thought my writing was great.  Can you believe that?  He constantly spurred me on to make an entry and even enlisted more readers for me and made sure I let them know when I made one.  I must admit that his death saddened me greatly and took a little edge off these entries.  But the more I thought about it, at least I had one real fan so I’ll keep on “Blogging”.  I think he’d want that.

During the holiday season a great deal of time is spent in the kitchen preparing all those meals.  Chopping and mixing and all the other culinary functions create many opportunities to get clumsy and drop things.  Did you ever notice that no matter what you drop, even inanimate objects suddenly develop a life and some how crawl, jump, hop or fly into inaccessible locations, under cabinets, tables, refrigerators, any place where you need to get on your hands and knees to retrieve.  Maybe it only happens to me.

Here’s something else that always happens to me.  I continue to regularly choose the wrong checkout line in stores.

·        Person in front of me will slide a credit card that won’t work.

·        They think the item is on sale.  Flyer comes out for verification, item is refused, and employee has to go five isles down to get the correct one.

·        Questions something that requires a manager decision.  She has to be hailed, but there’s a major delay finding her, smoke break outside.

·        There’s more, I think I’ve run into every delay possible. Computer even crashed when I was checking out, had to reboot.

Here’s something good.  I got a real bargain today. Most of you know that I’ve been reading like crazy since I got my Kindle, around 265 books. But I’ve been hesitating downloading a Stephen King novel, Under the Dome, because that damn author wants too much money for it, even for the Kindle edition.  I was thinking that I’d have get the courage (cheap bastard that I am) and pull the trigger since I wanted to take a real long book on our next trip and his is over 1000 pages.  Well low and behold, Amazon had a today only special of $1.99.  Can you imagine?  I’m flabbergasted, I never get bargains.

This is a perfect time to wish you all a very Happy and especially Healthy New Year.  Write you soon………………Bill

A not so beautiful morning

I spent the last thirty minutes or so trying to make up mind if I should crawl out of this nice warm bed and face the world.  Having watched all the local news channels I had already suffered through what seemed to b fifteen weather forecasts and at least the same number of useless traffic reports showing me tiny green blobs running up and down a representative highway route.  Isn’t it a shame cars don’t have a nice flat screen TV's in them so commuters could use it to find out how fast those little green things are traveling and where they would be running into problems. They’d be able to check this all out while they text their friends and adjust their makeup.  Never could figure out how this crap could help be out under my warm covers. Oh well, I guess it’s time.  Now for the morning routine, sit on the edge of the bed, get my bearings, stand up and dare not move until I’m sure these legs are balanced.  There’s no longer a jump off the mattress system even though the desire to relieve myself is strong as ever.  Ok, I think I’m stable enough to make the trip.

With this chore completed I now have to face the hard work, off to the sink.

Now in our house and I’m sure yours, there’s a mirror right above the sink. Out of habit I tend to avoid looking into it especially with my eyes half shut and squinty against the bright morning sun shining in the window.  This morning for some strange reason I looked directly at the mirror before starting to wash.  Who the hell was looking back at me?  That face cannot be mine; this must be some kind of twilight zone type event.  This thing looking back at me was some pretty wrinkled old guy who needed a shave, had hair standing up like Jack Nicholson’s in the “Shining”.  His head sat on a neck attached to an overweight body in need of some major repairs and maybe even a “bra”.  Brown age spots all over that tempted me to get a marking pen and start connecting to see the picture it would create. A closer look made me realize that the face belonged to me.  When the hell did I get that old?

Now I have a big problem.  How am I going to shave and wash each morning without seeing this horrible image? Maybe I can do it without a mirror or maybe I can manage in the dark. I’m sure there are a few things I can do to improve this image, but I guess to be realistic I have to accept the fact that I was looking at a soon to be 78 year old.  So accept I did, then brushed my teeth, washed my face, combed my hair, and covered the body with a shirt.  After a tentative peak at that mirror I decided that guy really wasn’t that bad especially after 78 years of abuse.

Bill's bitching again

Have any of you heard of the phrase "Jump the Shark"?  Just in case you haven't, here's what it means.  
Jumping the shark is an idiom created by Jon Hein that is used to describe the moment in the evolution of a television show when it begins a decline in quality that is beyond recovery. The phrase is also used to refer to a particular scene, episode, or aspect of a show in which the writers use some type of "gimmick" in a desperate attempt to keep viewers' interest.
In its initial usage, it referred to the point in a television program's history when the program had outlived its freshness and viewers had begun to feel that the show's writers were out of new ideas, often after great effort was made to revive interest in the show by the writers, producers, or network.


Well, I watched all of the CBS sit comb presentations and feel strongly that they all jumped the shark.  Terrible, terrible.  I can't imagine that none around the table discussing the episode did not find a way to convince the higher ups not to air these atrocities.  I very nearly decided that I was going to sell my TV set and read even more than I currently do.  What trash.  I held off the decision only because we do have such a thing as Public Television.  I used to enjoy the history channel, but what's on now?  Swamp wars, guys picking thru trash in barns, people trying to get rich selling their crap in pawn shops, even Cajun ones.  Let's face it, when you create hundreds of channels operating 24/7, how much quality do we expect to get.  In my opinion we get very little.  And talk about sports.  Don't get me wrong I've played many of them and enjoy watching at times, but just try to watch something besides a football game on Saturday...talk about overkill.

Don't start me on the commercials again.  How much are they charging these days, can't be much because every break gives you at least ten of them.  All of poor quality I might add.  A couple of nights ago as I was surfing channels trying desperately to find something, I stumbled on an absolutely atrocious program. I was was astounded to see that even this miserable program was still able to attract the usual ten commercials.  Something is wrong here.  So long as I'm in a bitching mood, there's one more thing.  Background noise behind everything, music, just plain unidentifiable noise in back of commercials, announcements, everything.  Most of the time you can't even hear the person speaking.  And canned laughter.  Pay attention to it just once and you'll be unable to not hear this annoying addition to the program.

Not going to give up on TV altogether, but I'll continue to make sure my Kindle is fully charged and keep reading. 

Morning Adventure

I can’t tell you how happy I am to see that ugly, hot humid weather disappear. I might be wrong, but I really can’t remember many decent days this past spring and summer. These past few days have been glorious. Unfortunately with the change come signs that fall and then that “bad” season, winter, is right around the corner. When I finally decided that I should rise from this chair and venture into the great outdoors I discovered other signs of the changing season. My tomatoes are not turning red, the butternut vines are shriveling and the hanging plants are hanging on for dear life. Decide that it was time to clear out some of that dying summer growth. I filled up a large barrel and headed for my disposal area which is up a slight hill then over a small stone wall and into an abandoned orchard. It seems like yesterday when I would be able run up the hill, jump the wall and quickly finish the task. Today was so, so different. Dragged (slowly) the barrel up the hill. Didn’t dare try to carry it over the wall for fear of falling on my you know what. Reached over and deposited the barrel while I gingerly went over the shortest group of stones I was able to avoid most of the tree branches on the journey and made it a little way into the woods. Dumped most of the debris, but lost hold of the barrel which now slid down a little slope. Made my way down, almost losing my balance, but was kept from falling by a bush of thorns which proceeded to make some blood flow and add to my many senior citizen scars. Finally retrieved the barrel and made my way huffing and puffing down the hill. Small job like this and I had to go back to my chair in front of this machine and get my breath back. When dear friends, did I get so damn old and out of shape? There are a lot of other things on the “get the area in shape for winter” list, but I decided that since I escaped this morning’s escapade virtually unscathed I would take the rest of the day off. Visualizing the rest of the chores and weighing it against a vision of a glass of nice Italian Red wine, a piece of Kerry Gold cheese, my Kindle and a recliner, the latter vision one out. And you know what? I don’t feel guilty at all. After seventy seven years of hard work, trials and tribulations I decided that I’ve earned these precious moments of relaxation, especially the wonderful glow achieved after a glass of 16% alcohol “Vino Rustico” (my absolute favorite jug wine). You’ve got to try it. By the way, speaking of old, Marge and I had the pleasure of attending our 60th class of 1952 New Britain Senior High School reunion. Eighty were able to attend which is a pretty good number after all these years.

A LITTLE ACTIVITY UPDATE

We are experiencing a downturn in the economy of our country, possibly enough to consider it a recession. This is what the media has been throwing at me for the past few years. They can’t possibly be wrong, yet everywhere I go I seem to be unable to find any real evidence of its existence. While traveling to Rock Hall, Maryland recently for a fishing excursion, my prostate challenged system required frequent rest stops to ensure my comfort. Squirming in my seat was not my idea of a pleasant trip. I could not believe how crowded the parking lots were at every stop. $4.00 per gallon didn’t seem to keep many people home even with the terrible mileage those big SUVs in the lot manage. And the lines inside for food…..unbelievable. Of course the lines might also be a result of the “fabulous” service at these places. I firmly believe you need an IQ below 100 to even apply for a job at these places. Needless to say the traffic on the highways reflected the crowds at the stops. I ask the same question every time I venture out on the road………where the hell is everyone going? I don’t care what road, what day of the week, or what time of the day, there are cars everywhere. Certainly not a sign of a big recession. Other situations also seem to put a damper on the media’s claim. This past winter we went on a Caribbean cruise to get away from the New England snow storms, which by the way, never materialized. We traveled with another couple and although we had booked fairly early we were unable to get two rooms together on a ship that held nearly 3,000 passengers. Can you believe it? A ship holding 3,000 totally sold out in this disastrous economy. Oh well, off the soup box. Our fishing trip was a success as evidenced by these pictures. Capt. Bob was skunked most of the morning, but finally found us enough fish to keep our party of six happy. Everyone was able to take home a few nice meals of Chesapeake Rockfish (striped bass).

The only damper to the trip was a letter which arrived a week after our return home. In that letter there were pictures of my nice looking Buick Enclave leaving Rock Hall. I was real pleased until the letter also told me that my car was going 42 miles per hour in an area with a slower posted speed. I don’t remember if it was 30 or 35. Anyway they requested that I lighten my wallet by $40.00. Wasn’t it nice to have Maryland say good by, come again, in such a unique way?

Back from the Oregon trip

When learning that Marge and I were going on another trip, the obvious question from our friends was, where are you going? When we answered that our trip was to Oregon and parts of Washington they said, oh, do you have relatives there? None seemed very excited about our destination, neither was I until we began to learn a little about the state, which by the way is beautiful. Without question the state experiences a great deal of rain, but on the plus side contributes to its lush green beauty. Fir and pine trees were everywhere making it the Christmas tree capital of the world and insuring that we’ll not run out of lumber. In between delightful sunshiny weather it did rain nearly every day, but luckily for us it was always when we were on the bus. I was happy to hear that the trip included a visit to Mount St. Helens. I was anxious to see the recovery Nature had provided after the destruction 32 years ago. We all watched it on television, but in no way can you imagine the power of that blast and what it did to miles and miles of the surrounding landscape. Huge trees snapped off like matchsticks and entire valleys covered with mud and rubble. Miles away we saw an a-frame buried nearly up to its roof as a result. Plants and trees are once again flourishing and forests have been replanted by the Weyerhaeuser lumber company. St. Helens was spectacular, but was not the only visited mountain since a stop at Mt. Hood was also on the calendar. Here we visited Timberline Lodge at the foot of the mountain. It was quite strange to seen people climbing the mountain, trudging thru the snow and even watched people snowboarding and this in late June. This was not the last of snow sighting. We had a chance to see some rather substantial drifts at Crater Lake National Park where the get forty feet of snow a year. It even hailed a bit before we got back on the bus. Never thought, by any stretch of the imagination, would we do some of the things we did on this trip. Dune buggy ride in the Oregon Dunes (forty miles of sand dunes)….spectacular, a jet boat ride on the Rogue River, and even a dinner cruise down the Willamette River (fabulous beef tenderloin by the way). This trip turned out to be much, much more than expected, and to my misfortune left me almost nothing to bitch about, I would be remiss if I did not tell you about my one bad experience. On one of our days we traveled along the Oregon coast and made a lunch stop at a famous creamery where we could sample special sweet cheeses, ice cream and all the other goodies provided by this type of enterprise. Busy, busy place, but we decided to make an attempt at lunch, hopefully a quick one since we have a boarding time to meet for our bus departure. Well we decided to order one of my favorite, Mac and Cheese accompanied by a small salad. Thought this would be a quick one. Wrong, wrong, wrong. We waited and waited. Thirty minutes go went by and still no meal. Panic starting to set in as the time to get on the bus draws closer and closer. Marge goes over and convinces them of our plight and they manage to pack the meal up to go so we could take it on the bus. Let me tell you that I was treated to the absolute worst Mac and Cheese on the planet earth. Macaroni had just been boiled and what appeared to be a slightly cheese flavored warm milk poured over it. This was topped with a sprinkling (small) of disgusting shredded cheddar. Salad also sucked, wilted iceberg along with bitter old cucumber slices. Those of you who know me are well aware of this guy’s mood for the rest of that days ride. There is always a plus to the negatives. I at least now know that I can never get a worst meal for the rest of my life because I already experienced the ultimate disaster.

Progress Report

Well, the new filter’s been installed and the pool’s been opened. It didn’t take long before the chipmunks began their suicidal plunges into a chlorinated hell. I have no idea why they take the plunge. It’s bad enough ridding the pool of the usual accumulation of dead leaves, worms and other exciting goodies, but handling their funerals is even worse. Do I sound negative, you bet, I hate this part of the process, but I will admit that once the pool is rid of the debris and crystal clear, it’s nice and relaxing to sit by it with a cold one (along with my ever present salt shaker) and watch the hummingbirds enjoying their sugared water. Have to get this pool work completed this week since we’re going on a week long tour of Oregon’s highlights. Anyone that’s been there reports that except for frequent rain it’s a beautiful state. The trip does sound interesting and hopefully fun. I don’t use the word exciting because the trip organizers are intent on bringing us old timers home alive and kicking. Excitement is of a limited variety but the jet boat trip down the Rogue River might produce some required medical attention. Of course a new Mount St. Helens eruption would certainly create excitement. All kidding aside it will be interesting to see how Mother Nature has rebuilt the area after the eruption. Will give you a trip rundown in a future blog. By the way, squash and tomatoes doing nicely in my little gentleman’s garden……might even have to build a stand in front of the house to sell some off. Can only consume so much butternut squash soup.

Death of a golf game

I’ve been trying to come up with the proper words that will accurately describe my last two rounds of golf and came up with the following: atrocious, abominable, awful, dreadful, painful, terrible, unspeakable. After giving it a little more thought I decided that these words didn’t quite cover it. Replaying those rounds in my head provided me with the inspiration to come up with a few more: irritating, dreadful, indescribable, indefinable, awful, sore, odious, unnamable, execrable, horrifying, frightful, amazing, horrendous, severe, dreaded, dire, afflictive, flagitious, grievous, monstrous, ineffable, painful, detestable, awing, awed, wicked, dread(a), awe-inspiring, unspeakable, horrific, nasty, terrible, horrible, frightening, unutterable, awesome, fearsome, fearful, direful, untellable, and just plain ugly. Are you now sufficiently aware of the quality of my golf game? I’m not blind to the fact that with my advancing age and a body that needs a lot of help my game is bound to deteriorate. My real problem is that my memory has not gone as far downhill as my golf and I do remember when I actually played the game fairly well. Is it any wonder that golf has come way, way down on my list of things to do on a Saturday morning? Problem now is to find a decent substitute to keep me happy. Watching cartoons or working on the household to-do list are not viable options, going to need some help in this area. Oh well, I guess everything has something on the plus side. All the Saturday money I’ll be saving will help pay for the $1,000 cost of the four nineteen inch monster tires I put on the Enclave. I guess I will work on the to-do list. I’ve been ignoring things because we’ve had an on going question, should we or shouldn’t we sell the house and go into a one level condo, should we open the pool or fill it in and plant tomatoes (just kidding on the tomatoes). Too late now to fill the pool in so guess what, found out we needed a new filter. Only another $1,000. Well the tires answered the question on trading the car. No way now with the new tires. Now, close the pool, no way with the new filter. Questions all answered without even trying. And Marge surprised me by having someone stop and quote us on putting in central air in the house. Believe me, if the quote is as much as I think it will be and we do it, another question will be answered. Won’t be looking at anymore condos. I’ve accepted my fate and started to clean up the pool area, planted my little gentleman’s garden and resurrected the to-do list. Besides, that my daughter who is an extreme Hummingbird enthusiast, bought me a Hummingbird feeding ensemble for my birthday and now polices me like a Nazi storm trooper to make sure my unit is kept clean and filled with fresh sugar water. I really had little faith that those little guys would actually come and feed since weeks went by with absolutely no activity. But, lo and behold they’re at it all day long now. Interesting little creatures. These guys only drink cheap sugar water. The rest of the birds around the house will eat your wallet dry…..unbelievable little pigs. Can’t keep the feeders and suet cage full. One cake of suet per day. Will let you know about all the exciting things, yah right, that I come up with in place of golf.

Long Time No Blog

I realize that it is hard for you to believe that I really enjoy doing these entries to my Blog site, but I do. I still have a problem wondering why I can’t seem to do them on a regular basis. I think it goes back to my high school and college days when a term paper was due on Monday and I was on the couch watching 60 minutes on Sunday. Thank heaven for my mother who would get on my behind and get me going. Otherwise I’d be up at six on Monday rushing to get it done. I always have something on my mind to write about, but for some strange reason I just can’t seem to get going. Although my mother has been gone for quite some time and can no longer crack the whip I’m fortunate to have a very good Canadian friend who seems able to spur me on to the keyboard. Have absolutely no idea why he likes to read my stuff, but without him giving me an occasional push, my Blog site would go the way of like a Texas ghost town with cyber tumbleweed blowing thru my computer. Wow, pretty poetic, say what? Any way, here I am again. I probably do have a few good reasons for not doing any entries this past month………it’s been a busy one, starting with cataract surgery on my left eye along with the required doctor visits. Happy to report that it went well and I can see like an eagle now. I’ll even be able see where the ball lands after some of my huge drives (all of 150 yards now). My involvement in Church activities has also kept me busy. 60th Class reunion meetings (Guess whose running that), Men’s Club meetings which include Scholarship application reviews. Work on a “Hot Dog Night” at church, AARP meetings. I better stop now because I know I’m boring the hell out of you by now. It hasn’t been all work type stuff. Marge and I had the great pleasure of attending our grandson Robert’s college graduation at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. This was two day affair for us since the day before graduation he was honored along with only 37 others for achievement in an Honors program. The following day graduation for 1012 students was held out on the lawn of this spectacular campus on the shore of the Hudson River. The night before we took Robert out to dinner at a unique, out of the way restaurant that specializes in utilizing mostly all locally grown products. Even after all my eating experience we were exposed to stuff I had never heard of. One of the vegetables used in the menu was “Ramps”. Ever hear of it……look it up. The name of this restaurant was named “Red Devon”. Had to look that one up too. Found out it was a breed of cattle with a ruby red coat originally from Devon, England. It’s never too late to learn. Weekend didn’t even slow down on Sunday. Went to church twice, once in the morning at our church and then to a wonderful Mass at Saint Joseph’s Cathedral in Hartford celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the cathedral’s consecration in 1962. The ceremony was spectacular beginning with an organ, horn and choir concert. 210 Diocesan Parishes were represented along with many other active and retired bishops and a large contingent from the Knights of Columbus. After all this activity Marge and I went to a local restaurant for nourishment and relaxation. It was at this quiet dinner that I learned that my weekend and day was not over. Lo and behold I still had a Birthday Party for my 14 year old granddaughter to attend. Pretty busy stuff for an old guy like me. Oops, almost forgot, we have a concert to go to tonight. Two of our grandchildren will be tooting horns for us at a middle school jazz concert. Thank heaven I had the energy this afternoon to make a nice meat loaf for supper. Sorry these past few days gave me nothing to bitch or roar about. I’ll try to make up for it on the next one.