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.

My Seventy Seventh

February 28, 1935. A young woman anxiously awaits the birth of her first child at the New Britain General Hospital in New Britain, Connecticut. It’s around 8:30 on a Thursday evening. No big bang on the TV tonight only the upcoming big occasion of the baby’s birth. The unborn is enjoying this winter evening, nice and warm in its liquid paradise. Little did I know then that 30 minutes later I’ll be pushed out into a strange new world, and it’s been a strange one ever since. Even the seventy seventh time this date came around it proves to be strange.

How do you spend your 77th birthday? Let’s see, first we wait for the car dealer to come and start your dead car in the garage. Fifth time he’s had to come. Some strange night time creature in my cursed vehicle has once again drained my battery. Googled the problem as suggested by my smart brother and found, lo and behold that I am not the only one suffering this pain-in-the-ass problem. Keying in 2008 Buick battery failures filled the screen with many others who, along with their dealers, have no idea why the phantom creature in their Buick is stealing the juice form their battery overnight. Thank God the car’s death occurred in the safety of my garage every time

Well enough of that, let’s go to the exciting part of my birthday celebration. I got a phone from a nice fellow member of the local AARP. I’m a member why? Well Marge knows a great number of women and enjoys going to functions where she can see many of them. So what does that have to do with me? I’ll tell you, I’m a real nice guy and am her driver, escort and sandwich maker when it’s our turn to contribute to the food table laid out after each monthly meeting. So anyway, at most meetings of a hundred or so ancient people only about five or six are men, who look in far worse shape than me. There’s work to be done prior to meetings, tables and chairs to be moved to set up the hall. Anyway this nice old gentleman, 89 to be exact calls me on my birthday and asks if I would help him set up. How the hell do I say no to an 89 year old man stuck with the job? So the birthday celebration began huffing and puffing away hauling heavy metal tables out fro under the stage and setting them up for a stimulating meeting followed by an exciting “Tea Cup Auction”. I did, however get there in style. My dealer, who is actually great, must have felt guilty this time because they left me with a brand new Buick with only 24 miles on it.

In spite of everything the day still ended up nicely. Had a nice dinner with Brother Peter, his girl friend Kathy and two very good friends. I nice bottle Malbec didn’t hurt the cause either.

Where's the Snow?

Nearly every winter Marge and I talk about joining the so called "Snow Birds" to head South for while to get away from our New England winter weather. Of course it's all talk for us and we never end up going, but last year's miserable record snows took us from all talk into action. We booked a twelve day cruise out of Bayonne, New Jersey to the sunny Carribean islands. We're not new to cruising having been on four others, but this was our first winter one. Arriving in Port Liberty I was surprised to see the size of this ship, Celebrity's Silhouette. Seven hundred fifty million dollars worth of luxury. Over 1,000 feet long. 122,000 tons and carrying 2,886 passengers and 1,500 crew.......how does it float? And this is still far from the biggest.

These things have everything, bars, Casino, pools, hot tubs, huge main dining room,restaurans,theater (marvelous shows every night), wine cellars, a library and even lawns on the top deck with real grass. I could go on and on, mind boggling. Five nights coming and going at sea and six ports, Haiti, Puerto Rico, St. Croix, Antigua, St. Thomas, St. Maarten. Not a lot for me to do on the Islands, mostly shopping and beaches. Long ago I had decided that there was no way I was putting this marvelous body on public display. We let the wives shop, while John and I sat on benches and drank cheap Island beer (only $.99 a can). Forgot to mention we were traveling with a great couple from Enfield that we met on our trip last September. Temperatures around eighty every day.
We checked the New England weather every day in the hope for verification of our travel decision. I was actually praying you would have at least a little snow, but what happens, it waits for us to come home. Can't believe it's February and still nothing on the ground, flowers popping up and guys still out there playing golf.

Good trip, ate too much, afraid to get on a scale. Oh well, I guess that's what cruises are all about.

By the way, we've booked our next cruise. Here's the ship we're going on.

Giving up and more

Today I learned a lesson I should have learned a long time ago. This morning I went on the computer to compose a blog about quitting. Several years ago I had taken an interest in killing time by playing Freecell, the game that comes with the computer software. It was a good break from other things like work and it at least tested your brain a little. I began playing the program’s random game choices but eventually decided to begin at game one and proceed in order as far as it took me. Well, I probably went a little overboard because over the years as of yesterday I was playing game #20,725. Some games along the way were pretty tough and took quite a few attempts before winning, but 20,725 was a brute for me. Day after day I would make several attempts to no avail. Time after time and taking all the routes I could find, I was still winless.

Today was the day I decided I would admit defeat and go on to some new challenge. As I sat here contemplating my prose and also thinking about what might be next on my agenda I decided to play it one last time. You know what I’m going to tell you next. I have no idea how I started or what route I took, but damned if I didn’t finally win the damn game. Now I’m really stuck with having to continue……20,726 here I come. If you play the game, why not give that number a shot and see how you do.

I obviously learned that lesson I should have learned long ago, never give up. I never gave up on things before and am a little ashamed that I was planning to do so now. So don’t give up, keep plugging away and you’ll come out a winner.

The other day, I was thinking about television programs in what I consider the “old days”. We were able to see our favorites nearly every week. Not so these days. We wait for the “new season” and are treated to a lousy 13 episodes. Think about it, we have 39 other weeks to fill with repeats that begin two or three weeks after the new season. Then there is the Frosty the Snowman period, political stuff, special sports programs, and tryouts for new shows. I guess performers get paid so much that 13 are enough to carry them the whole year. I don’t know about you, but I worked all year. I know I’m probably barking up the wrong tree with this, but I'm disgusted with television in general.

How is it that some of the favorite shows on cable are shows like Storage Wars, Pawn Stars, Cooking shows and even shows about people gorging themselves on massive quantities of food. As much as I love food, I almost can’t watch. Now we’re even treated to people chasing wild pigs, hunting alligators and chopping down trees in swamps. I don’t know about you, but something is wrong here and I won’t even go into commercials again. By the way, did you ever notice how many drugs and diseases there are that you never heard of. I really believe they invent a drug and then look for a disease they can claim to cure. I think if the drug and auto manufacturers ever stopped advertising we’d be looking at Test Patterns again. Speaking of which there are millions out there that wouldn’t know what the hell I was even talking about.

Am helping run a “Soup Night” at the church, want to come?

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND

SAINT DOMINIC MEN’S CLUB FAMOUS SOUP NIGHT

Mark your calendars so you can join us for a taste of these three heart warming soups on Saturday, March 3rd following the 5:00 pm Mass. Admission is free, but a donation to our Scholarship fund is appreciated.

Pasta Fazool Neapolitan Bean Soup ~ Pasta Fazool (Minestrone) is synonymous with the Southern region of Italy. "Fazool" is from the Italian word "Fagioli", which means "bean". The Neapolitans perfected this thick, three bean, multi-vegetable pasta soup. This entitled them to rename the dish in their own dialect, and it thus became known as"Pasta Fazool."

Spaccarelli Sicilian Split Pea Soup ~ In Sicilian, the word "spaccarelli" is a combination of the word "spaccare" (to break) and "piselli" (green peas). This authentic rendition of this heart-warming split pea soup includes carrots, peas, garlic and ditali pasta. Simply delicious.

Brodo di Pollo Chicken Flavored Noodle Soup ~ "Brodo di Pollo" literally means "Chicken Broth" in Italian. This translation accurately reflects the wholesome goodness and intense flavor of this satisfying cuisine that is very common throughout the world. The Italian version of Chicken Noodle Soup is an uncomplicated marvel. Bits of carrot, celery, onion, chicken, and of course egg pasta, are added to a hearty chicken broth to create a light, yet filling meal.

A little bit of this and a little bit of that.

Now I’m really ticked off. I’m down here in my cellar office (32 degrees when I walked in) finally writing a blog entry. Well, after spending a half hour creating I reached over for something and hit some damn key and deleted the whole freaking thing. Probably serves me right for not saving the document every so often. The bad thing is that because of my frozen brain I’ve pretty much forgotten what I had written. Why the hell did my grandparents ever settle up here, didn’t they know that there was a place called Savannah and boats actually went there. I know it was the late eighteen hundreds, but didn’t Grandpa Joe know you could play golf there all year, or wasn’t golf even created yet. New England can be beautiful, but you have to admit that from a weather stand point it’s pretty weird. Zero out there now but a week or so ago 32 friends of mine were playing golf at a local course in 61 degree weather. Oh well, to old to move, have to be satisfied with my one week of Myrtle Beach golf in March.

I went up stairs to warm up my fingers for awhile. Temperature down here now is now a balmy 43 degrees. Wow, that heater’s really cranking now…not! Well since the name of my blog site is Rhino Roars, I guess I should at least include a little growl. Last October we had freak snow storm that left most of Connecticut out of power for quite a few days. At our house it was five. Well of course we gave thought as to why we should pay for all our cable services, internet, phone, cable. What should we do about it? Somewhere we heard you needed to call the Cox Cable and report your outage. My very efficient wife did just that after our services were renewed. Well here it is January 16, 2012 and no credit has appeared on our past three statements. What are they waiting for? I guess until I forget the whole thing. I do know that if I buy a movie on demand the charge appears immediately on the next statement. I guess I have to call (I really hate these kind of calls) to find out what is going on. Well guess what, we now have a credit balance on our account in the amount of $38.36. Good for at least a dinner out for the two of us. How many people out there have not received a credit? I can only imagine.

What else is new with Bill? Not very much. Still too much time on my hands, have read nearly 150 books on my Kindle. Granted they are not super long ones, but I have knocked off a few 1000 page Stephen King books. I’ve generally stuck to Mysteries or Thrillers. No serious educational stuff for me, read only for pleasure, too old to learn any more stuff…lol. That hard drive in my brain is already full of too much stuff, really should do a condense before I put any more things on it.

I do wish I could come up with some new things to bitch about. I hate repeating myself by moaning about the length of commercials on television, the lousy service in restaurants, the developing aches and pains in my aging body, the deterioration of my golf game, and traffic on the highways. Wow, I’m sounding like a broken record…..have to get a life besides, reading, cooking, and playing Freecell (completed 20,710 consecutive games). Think I’ll start including some of my recipes in these blogs again.

It's getting easier

Surviving the hectic holiday season is getting easier. Gone is the torture of deciding what to buy my wife. After 57 years of marriage we’ve run out to things to buy each other and refuse to get each other another kitchen item….I cook and love to eat. Marge’s jewelry box holds enough items to pass on to the girls and no one will really want my stuff anyway, so our gift giving has been made easy, we buy each other nothing. Unfortunately or fortunately we’ve begun to reward ourselves with more expensive stuff…..trips! This year a Caribbean cruise, we decided to escape the snow for a week or so. Although we haven’t joined the “Snowbirds” after last year’s ugly winter we decided to escape for at least a few days and get a taste of some tropical weather. Additionally a trip to Oregon in June is also on the calendar. Yah, I guess Christmas gifts would be a lot cheaper.
Gifts for the grown ups has also been solved, $25.00 grab bags. Grandchildren’s gifts no longer present any major problem since it seems that most of them already know what they want and pass that info along to their parents. Besides that, the older ones like the ideal gift, that green folding stuff.

Besides our gift solution I’ve finally convinced Marge that we have no need for a large Christmas tree, real or artificial. Replacing them is a small lighted ceramic one given to me 39 years ago by my secretary. The box it’s in even has the old newspapers I use to protect it. Once a year I take some time to read the 39 year old news and advertisements. It sits on a table in front of the picture window waiting for the oohs and aahs from passerby’s ……..lol. Even my cooking requirements have diminished. Now that the holiday celebrations have been taken over by my daughters and daughter-in-law my culinary skills are now limited to making the traditional family Polish mushroom soup.

While all these things have reduced the hectic nature of the season I can still find things to bitch about, most of them the results of television. Commercials: Just how many times to we need to watch that silly woman prepping us for that wonderful day, no not Christmas but “Black Friday”. Where and when did that ridiculous phrase come from? And how many times do I have to see mom and pop drive away and their son’s new Auidi? And speaking of commercials, does it appear to you that the breaks are getting even longer. I’m able to go upstairs, make a coffee, grab a cookie, take a quick pee and still get back in time to not miss a minute of the show. What are they charging for them these days? Is it like one of those super market things, buy one get three free? Oh well, they “got us”, there’s no escape. The days of looking out at the neighborhoods and seeing all sorts of antennas on every roof are over along with the days when we had no remote in our hands to click away wearing put batteries making Eveready richer. Three channels were all we had and we actually got up to go to the set if we wished to change the station.

Well, I better put and end to this one before I start boring you with all that nostalgic stuff you so often get in your emails. Before I sign off I do want to wish you all a very “Happy and Healthy” holiday season. I think it’s a politically correct greeting.

When did it happen

I’m very early. The tables and chairs are nearly empty. I locate an empty one, one that gives me a people watching view of the later arrivers. I stake my claim and reserve the remaining chairs for friends who will arrive shortly. Why am I here so early? I’ll tell you why, Marge and I are infected with a very serious disease. It’s called acute volunteer-ism, can never say no. Today she’s at another table selling tickets for a raffle held at the Local AARP Chapter monthly meeting. Oh yah, that’s where we are. She handles the ticket table while I sit at the empty table and act as a “Sentinel” observing the parade of seniors marching in. Why am I even here? I’m too young to be here, these people are so damn old.

As I pondered this situation I finally realized that no one is telling me: “Young fellow you must be at the wrong meeting, you’re certainly too young to be here”. I guess these people have accepted me as one of their own. I must actually belong here. When did this happen to me? How did it come so quick? Was I fooling myself at all those class reunions when I said to myself, my God, how old they all look? It pains me to say that I appear to have been wrong; I was really one of them all along. The pain occasionally goes away when someone says: “You can’t possibly be 76, you look great for your age”. Where are those people when you need them?

You know life is full of strange coincidences. As I was writing this little piece I happened to check my emails and found one from a very “old” friend. He sent me a poem that just begs to be included in this Blog.

The Mirror - Edmund Burke, 1729 - 1797, Irish Philosopher.

I look in the mirror
And what do I see?
A strange looking person
That cannot be me.

For I am much younger
And not nearly so fat
As that face in the mirror
I am looking at.

Oh, where are the mirrors
That I used to know
Like the ones which were
Made thirty years ago?

Now all things have changed
And I`m sure you`ll agree
Mirrors are not as good
As they used to be.

So never be concerned,
If wrinkles appear
For one thing I`ve learned
Which is very clear,

Should your complexion
Be less than perfection,
It is really the mirror
That needs correction!!

Weird Month

What a weird month this has been. Went from two wonderful weeks on a luxury cruise ship to almost a week learning how the Amish live. I gained a great deal of respect for these people who have adjusted to a life without electricity, hence a life without television, telephone, cars, lights, iPods, iPads, email, internet. The recent power outage gave me the chance to learn that I could actually live without television, I learned that pizza tastes pretty good prepared on an outdoor grill, that snow keeps stuff cold for days in a cooler, that I can sleep ten or twelve hours a day and can save fuel by having a nice cold bedroom, that it’s a bitch reading by candle light, that the fire in my fireplace is only decoration and throws very little heat, that I should have had more batteries, that my trees had some weak branches. Can you imagine all these free lessons along with a lower electric and oil bill next month? This rustic Amish week was quite an adventure, some discomfort yes, but very enlightening.

With things back to normal I arranged for my brother and me to meet a very dear friend from Canada for lunch in Burlington, Vermont. We became good friends when doing business with the manufacturer he worked for as Sales Manager. It had been around eleven or twelve years since we had seen each other and we both really looked forward to getting together. The 248 miles we needed to travel each way put a little damper on things in addition to a fog which encompassed nearly all of Connecticut, Mass and Vermont. The sun finally came out and we were able to enjoy a great meeting. Three hours reminiscing about shared experiences, enjoying some nice wine and oysters (a passion the three of us share) and promises to do this at least once a year. No the bad part of the day, 248 miles to go before home.

The ride was pleasant until we got down to West Springfield……traffic, yuck! A short MacDonald’s stop helped kill some time and have some of the traffic clear up, at least until we approached Hartford. Creeping along we finally entered route 84 and breathed a sigh of relief, almost home. The relief turned into horror, accident, traffic stopped, fire engines, ambulances all on the way. Great trip suddenly ended, one mile in over thirty minutes. Can’t believe my brother who was driving stayed pretty calm. I handled it pretty well, but began to internally panic over the prospect of no bathroom, especially after having consumed a large coffee at our MacDonald stop. Well needless to say we made it.

I know I sound like a broken record when I constantly proclaim: where the hell are all these cars going. Traffic these days is horrendous. I don’t care what time, what road, what city there, the lines of cars are endless. I still have fond memories (yah, I’m getting old) of country roads with only scenery not the rear ends of cars. What has happened? I have a theory….women. Ladies, don’t get mad, let me explain. Years ago most of us lived in a one car family. You never saw women driving a car alone, especially on a highway. After the big war, luxuries like televisions began to come to market, cars once again became available. These things became difficult to acquire on one salary which was the norm, man worked, woman stayed home. But now women began to take jobs. How do they get to work when the old mans has the car. Another car hits the road, more traffic. Now with both parents driving around, heaven forbid the kids have to walk or take a bus…oops here’s another car on the road. A woman driving alone on a highway flying by at seventy miles an hour is no longer a strange sight. And that, dear readers, is why we have so many damn cars on the road. My theory and I’m sticking to it!!!

Till next time, thanks for reading.

Turkey and Greece trip

I know, I know, it’s been two months since my last blog. I have no excuse, just lazy I guess. The old excuse of nothing to write about is, however, not available this time around. Marge and I recently came home from a wonderful 14 day cruise to Turkey and Greece. Nine ports in fourteen days, Istanbul, Ephesus, Bodrum, and Marmaris in Turkey, Rhodes, Santorini, Athens, Mykonos, and Crete in Greece. Wow, quite a schedule for this old timer. Lots of walking and hill climbing but it was well worth it.

We flew out of JFK on Turkish Airlines, flight #2, #1 coming home. Never was on such a low numbered flight. Plane was a Boeing 777 and the airline was top notch. After a long 9 hour flight to Istanbul we boarded the Celebrity Ship, Constellation following a short lunch aboard we began the first of almost daily bus and walking tours. I had no preconceived notions concerning Istanbul or Turkey. Having seen many documentaries about Greece and its Islands I sort of knew what to expect in Greece, but did not know what to expect in Turkey. Istanbul an ancient city that has had three different names and now holds 13 million people was a pleasant surprise. It is a beautiful city, with friendly people, an exciting history and fascinating buildings, especially the Mosques.

The ancient city of Ephesus was next on our tour schedule. Ephesus was the site of Saint Paul’s teaching and was also the home for Mary. This ancient city was once home to 250,000 residents. In ruins now, but enough has been, and continues to be restored to make this one outstanding visit. Six thousand tourists agreed the day we were there. My camera was smoking. Thank heaven for digital cameras; I don’t think I’d be able to afford the film. The remaining stops at Bodrum and Marmaris had their own charm as we made our way down the coast toward the Greek Island of Rhodes.

No, there are no remains of the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the 7 Ancient Wonders of the world. An earthquake took care of that many years ago. Castle tour here and off we went the next day to Santorini. This volcano formed island is breathtaking, especially as viewed from the top. I’m sure you’ve all seen Santorini on some of the documentaries, believe me it’s everything they say and more. We got up there by cable car instead of the other options, stairs or mule.

Athens was next. We were lucky, no strikes or riots and we got around quite well. Athens is a far cry from the other Islands we visited. A big city, lots of traffic and crowds. Not my cup of tea, but we had to handle it because we vowed to climb the Acropolis and see the Parthenon. And Marge and I did it as evidenced by the thumbs up by Marge. Next on the list was the picturesque and wealthy Mykonos, a far cry from Athens. I would love to own a paint store on this island. Very small inventory of colors needed. Only white and dark blue colors allowed, white for the building and blue for the doors and window trim. Real pretty to see.

One more stop in Crete and then back to Istanbul for the flight (#1) back home. Ten hours of confinement in my seat (not wide enough for my body). Hope the stock market comes back up; I'd strongly consider splurging for first class.

Many, many things to write about and over three hundred pictures, each with a story, but I think I’ll be happy I held your attention this long.

Addiction and more

And another day begins.

When I turn my computer on in the morning I generally open up Freecell and play a few games, usually three or four. This kills a little time while the computer warms up and accesses all the programs. Several years ago I started doing this with game number one and proceeded to play them in numerical order. Some were easy, while some others took many, many tries over a period of days. I continued playing them in order with the exception of number 1941 which I was unable to solve and was put aside and attempted from time to time. This one too succumbed to my skills after a little clue from my daughter who had previously conquered it.

This morning I solved a milestone game, number 20,000. I know, I know, you’re going to tell me I’ve got too much time on my hands. You might be right, but remember it’s been many years since I started this and I only play a few games each time, but still, 20,000 is an impressive number. What do I do now, stop or continue? When I had hit 15,000 I was going to stop, but I guess I’m a victim of addiction. Must have caught it from my father who when he found something he really enjoyed he just couldn’t get enough of it. This held true with booze, beer, champagne, pistachio nuts, comic books and a whole bunch of other temporary addictions. I’ve fortunately eliminated most of my inherited traits, but I guess addiction is not one of them.

My recent one has been reading, mostly mysteries and thrillers. Since I bought that darn Kindle last September I’ve read over 100 books, probably more that all my previous 75 years. Oh well, can’t say this one is a bad addiction.

By the way, this “Gentleman Farmer” is having a problem with his crops this year. Unlike the bumper crop of Butternut Squash I had last year, the couple of plants I planted this year are yielding little. I tried Buttercup Squash this year and the five or six I planted from seed started out like wild fire but have all succumbed to some infestation and I had to pick a bunch of immature fruits. Thank heaven I don’t do this for a living.

Speaking of this year, do you agree with me that 2011 kind of sucks? Winter gave us a storm a week, then tons of wet weather and recently a bunch of muggy 90 degree days. I think we’ve only had a couple of those days you can call great. My personal year has also had a few ups and downs. Shoulder and arm problems screwed up an already shaky golf game. Played very few rounds this year, but several injections in the neck have taken care of most of it and I think I’ll be ready for fall golf. I recently spent three hours in the emergency room having them figure out if I was having a stroke. Turned out to be a case of Bell’s Palsy, thank heaven, but still not a pleasant experience. It appears to have gone away so it’s on to the next ailment. Vision in right eye seems to be deteriorating, so it’s off to my eye doctor next Wednesday. Got to take care of that, can’t interfere with my reading addiction.

I had a whole bunch of complaints left to go, but will save for a new Blog. You know I try to keep these things short.

A great summer evening

You could see the people in the other cars staring as the long, white, stretch limo cruised by in the passing lane. They were wondering, who’s the celebrities or big shots in that limo and where were they going? Guess what? That was me in the limo along with my wife Marge, my brother Peter, and his girl Kathy. We were roaring down the Hutchinson River Parkway heading to Yankee Stadium to a Paul McCartney concert. Peter is a huge Beatle and especially McCartney fan and has attended many of his concerts over the years. He was always after us to go with him and we finally caved in to his pleas two years ago and went to see him at City Field in New York. Now, two years later we were again talked into going to with him to a performance at the new Yankee Stadium. Not having seen the new stadium and perhaps the last chance to see McCartney I told Brother Pete to “Book it Danno”. And book it he did. With two sold out concerts he managed to get four tickets from somewhere in England…would you believe that? Hard to imagine being so popular for so many years that you can still attract over 100,000 fans in two days.

Then it occurred to me, how are we going to get there? Drive my car, in that traffic, where do you park, drive home at midnight, take a train? All questions I did not like the answers to. The hell with it lets splurge, the hell with the kid’s inheritance, let’s hire a limo and relax. And relax we did. Reclining in comfortable air conditioned splendor the ride down was great. No concerns about traffic, no bitching and moaning by me, and annoying everyone in the car. What a great idea, I thought, as I savored my brother's homemade turkey sandwich and diet Pepsi.

Just as I experienced two years ago, his performance was outstanding. I continue to marvel at his ability at 69 years of age, to perform 33 songs non stop over two and one half hours in the New York summer heat. I was exhausted just sitting and listening…..of course I’m a little older than Paul. It takes some coaxing to get this old body out of his recliner and do something like this, but Marge and I are happy we did, a very enjoyable evening. Of course we paid the price the next day. After getting home at 3:00 AM and getting up for early Mass at church I was shot for the day. I was even too tired to read my Kindle.

By the way I am now on book ninety one. Since September of last year when I bought the thing, I think I’ve read more books than I ever read the last sixty or seventy years.

Exciting Evening

Last night turned out to be a real strange one. With the temperature still climbing toward triple digits I decided this was not the night for me to prepare supper. Even something on the grill outside would prove to be unbearable for someone who’s hot when it gets over seventy. We rummaged in our coupon envelope and found a gift card (thanks to a Mother’s Day gift from our youngest daughter) for Applebee’s which suited me just fine if we could get there before the usual crowd developed. With the sky beginning to darken I found a parking spot right in front allowing for a quick trip to the car if we were leaving during a rain storm.

As we sat in our window booth enjoying our Mozzarella Stick appetizer we watched as the sky grew darker and darker and the tree in the parking lot began to bend with the breeze. Breeze soon became an understatement as the wind increased along with an ever darkening sky accompanied by lightening and thunder. Even all the TV sets reacted to what started to develop as a real big storm and ceased to function. Strangely enough the building appeared almost soundproof as we watched but did not hear the results of the storm. It was a little surreal enjoying a quiet dinner while watching a torrential downpour and heavy winds outside. In an effort to delay our departure we even went overboard and ordered dessert and coffee.

The rain finally slowed a little, so we ran to the car and made our way home. What a surprise! Sitting in the restaurant and watching during dinner we knew the storm was a heavy one, but our trip home offered another perspective, branches, leaves and rubble everywhere. My immediate concerned was a power shut down at the house and me with no key and an electric door opener which would prove worthless. As we turned into the man road to our house we saw cars turning around from what appeared to be a huge tree across the road. Well, no problem, we turned around and headed in the other direction to take a longer route home. We didn’t get more than 100 yards when we saw cars turning around on this road since another huge tree blocked this route too. Well ok, we’ll go back the way we came and go all around the reservoir and hope that no other trees block our way. Thoughts of having to spend the night in the Holiday Inn Express crossed my mind, but thank heaven we were able to head the rest of the way home with no trees to block us. The other fear of no power at home was unnecessary since the houses we passed had their lights. Now, what will our yard look like, how many of our trees will be down?

As we approached the house we let out a sigh of relief, the yard looked undisturbed. I was just going to let out a cheer until we looked in the pool area. Everything on the south side was gone. Everything went for a swim. A heavy glass table with umbrella was sitting down in the bottom of the pool like a World War 2 submarine. Chairs joined the table. Even chairs that were stacked together in anticipation of the storm had disappeared. They were thrown at least thirty feet and now rested on the bottom of the pool’s deep end. Actually the disappearance of all the furniture struck us funny and kept me from displaying my usual agitation (putting it mildly). I guess thinking about what people have been going through with floods and tornados made this experience something easy to live with although I didn’t particularly relish the thought of retrieval the next morning. Actually couldn’t sleep thinking about it so I was out there at 5:00 am. Pleased to say that retrieval went well with actually not one sear word uttered.

Rhino's roaring again!

Why do we go out to eat in restaurants? I don’t know about you, but I want to sit in a comfortable chair, relax, have someone serve me well and hopefully have a meal which, since it’s being prepared by a professional, will be better or at least as good as what I can prepare myself. How come it so rarely happens, at least not for me? As far as I’m concerned good service will overcome a mediocre meal, but a good meal is rarely able to overcome bad service.

By no stretch of the imagination can I be considered a world traveler, but I have had the opportunity to visit several other countries and have usually been very impressed by the high quality service I’ve experienced in their restaurants. Perhaps European patrons just do not tolerate what we in the states seem to consider normal. Here in the US, we get excited when we’re lucky enough to have some top notch service.

Have you had any of these experiences? I certainly have.

The hostess sits you down at your table, hands you a menu and says, Cindy your waitress will be with you shortly. Not quite sure what her definition is of “shortly”, definitely not mine since Cindy has somehow disappeared off the face of the earth and when she does finally show off and goes to a table of patrons who just got seated.

Quite the opposite also occurs. Hostess completes your seating and hands you an elaborate nine page menu (especially if you’re in a diner type restaurant). You have just leafed through it and located the appropriate section and there’s Cindy pencil in hand, “can I take your order?” Sure Cindy after I finish reading this novel in front of me.

Then you ask a question, “What’s today’s soup?” Well now that’s a real tough one for our informed girl….lol... Wait, I’ll go check. My goodness what a tough job to find out the soup of the day before you start waiting on tables-duh!

And here’s one that seems to always happen to me. I love soup and frequently will order a cup with a sandwich to follow. I sit patiently for my soup, but as more and more time goes by I know I’ll be getting the soup with my sandwich. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like eating soup with my sandwich. If end up having to, you know the soup will be get cold before you finish. So what do you do, to get her attention and ask for your soup to be served before your sandwich?

Have you ever tried to get the eye of a waitress when you needed them for a situation like this or if you wanted a coffee refill or even to just ask a question? Well now for some reason or other this girl’s eyes are surrounded by some sort of invisible blinders. She will never, ever turn your way. You begin to wave your hands frantically to no avail. Then you start calling, oh miss, miss, loader and loader. Unbelievable, the whole restaurant hears you in your desperation except for Helen Keller who eventually just continues her stroll and disappears. Oh well, screw the coffee, I’ll just sip my water (if I ever even got one).

I could go on and on and I’m sure after you think about it you would be able to add many of your own.

And I don’t even want to start on food quality. That’s fodder for another blog.

Project completed, almost

Well, almost a month has gone by since the kitchen project was begun. I’m happy to report that it is now around 95% finished (as evidenced by the pictures). All that’s left is some painting and the replacement of the drawer fronts which were ordered incorrectly. When putting everything back together we managed to actually throw some things away although not as much as I had hoped for. Even though I am not one of those savers, even I was infected with that “You never know when you might need it” syndrome. I try not to dwell on that inevitable fact that we will at some time need to depart this world, but when I do, I think about how our kids will hate us when they have to get rid of all our accumulated crap. We have devised a plan. Marge and I must get rid of at least one of our possessions each week. We figure that if we live long enough we’ll be leaving the kids a house devoid of need I say the word again, crap. It really is remarkable how much we accumulate, although you have to realize we’ve been married for almost fifty seven years. While reorganizing the shelves I looked at some of the stuff and said “I don’t even remember where, when, or even why we have this thing”. Those were the easy things to throw away.

It will be nice to put this project to bed and get outside (if we ever have some warm weather) and do some different work. The cold has not been the only things holding me back, still fighting the shoulder problems and then stupid me I lifted a heavy box in the garage the wrong way and severely pulled a muscle in my lower back. This put another kibosh on plans. Having a real problem accepting the fact that I’m not that Polish “Bull” anymore and have to live with the fact I’m getting to be an old fart. Oh well, with golf on the back burner look at all the money I’m saving.

The aches and pains have created another problem. I’ve done little these past few months except sit around, read books on my Kindle, and unfortunately eat. A long put off visit to the doctors revealed the errors of my way when I stepped on his scale. I will not reveal the results, but just let me say it was not very good. Let me just say that a substantial amount of my hard fought 45 pound loss of last year has reappeared. I should have realized this quite some time ago since for some strange reason the pants in my closet have begun to shrink without the benefit of washing. Needless to say, with very little left to wear, a renewal of my diet is in order. Progress report to follow.

P.S. Have the seeds for this years little garden started. A little different stuff this year.

Keeping you up to date

Our coffee maker is on a small serving table out on the porch. A great portion of our possessions are spread out on the porch floor. Hundreds of wine glasses adorn a table in the living room. Our dining room table is seventy five percent covered with dishes, cups, glasses and other assorted household items. The downstairs freezer now contains about a weeks worth of frozen dinners. Yesterday, I spent the morning crawling on my belly cleaning areas that had not seen a wet rag in a very long time, and right now some guy named Steve has begun to tear apart parts of our kitchen.

Why has all this happened? Two possible reasons, one, Marge and I have totally lost our minds, or two, the house has been infected with the HGTV virus. This virus has begun to infect many wives. It appears that after many hours of exposure to the HGTV cable channel women have insatiable desires for granite counter tops, stainless appliances and escape from the seventies cabinets. This virus makes women feel that if your house is not equipped with these things it is now considered worthless and unsellable.

The treatment for our infection began quite some time ago with advance diagnosis and demonstrations of possible cures. I think therapy should be first administered before the required viewings of hundreds of doors, knobs, handles, stoves, sinks, faucets, refrigerators, paint chips and even multiple visits to cold warehouses to look at slab after slab of Brazilian granite.

Thank heaven most of the decisions have been made and the long treatment has begun. Wish me luck.

Next problem is how to eat with no kitchen and all the stuff on the porch floor? I think the local restaurants will be seeing a lot of us the next week or so. Besides the annual Myrtle Beach golf trip and what’s been going on at the house you can probably understand the lack of Blog entries.

As long as my sanity holds out, I’ll try to give you a progress report.