Hello on Monday Morning

Dear Friends,

I got a late start with my daily e-mail because of a busy Sunday.

Sunday events -- Yes, Linda and I made it through the Make-A-Wish Christmas Party for disabled and handicapped children and their families. My UNICO brothers and sister served pizza, chicken nuggets, and make your own ice cream Sundaes.
We went from this party to the Berkshire Hills Country Club for a going away party for our course superintendent / Christmas party. The speeches were short, but the fun and merriment for the Curleys lasted until 5 PM. We decided to go home for and hour or so to freshen up for the final event of the day, which was the 7 PM membership meeting at the Italian American Club. Once again the food, fun and merriment was great. We arrived home around 9:30 PM. I tried to watch the final professional football game of the day on television, but I feel asleep before the game ended.

Ice Storm -- Our friends, who we spent Thanksgiving with, at the other the end of the State were without power from Friday until 12:30 PM on Sunday. Jerry's father and Jerry's son and his wife, who live in New Hampshire are still without power.
Dear old Dad Broduer, who is 87 years old, left New Hampshire so that Jerry and Ginny could take care of him at their home in Tewksbury. Jerry's son and his wife have a wood store at their New Hampshire residence, but they will be taking a showers at the Brodeur's home before they go off to work today.
The Brodeurs have two gas fired fire places which could be manual started, and that was their source of heat. They would have lost all their food in their freezers and refrigerators if the power outages lasted longer than it did.
Actually, they are the lucky ones, there are so many stories coming out of the areas of the Northeast hit hard by the ice storm. The Berkshire County Hill towns still have 6000 homes and businesses without power. We were so lucky that most of Pittsfield survived the ice storm with little or no damage or power outages. It is like a tornado that passes though a town and destroys houses on either side of you, but your house experienced no damage.

Today's activities -- Our social calendar has only one item on it today. I have a UNICO membership meeting today at 6 PM.
I think that Linda is free. I use that word loosely because she was reminding me that she hasn't done any baking, or preparing for the Curley Open house on December 23, 2008.

Politics -- I see where another Union is ready to go on strike. The Screen Actors Guild is ready to authorize the walkout. They are one of the most powerful unions left in the country. This is another organization which my non liberal friends would like to see go down.

Can you believe a protester threw a pair of shoes at our President Bush who made a surprise visit to Iraq? The people of Iraq loved the Americans when they ousted Sadam, but after several years of American presence, the warm and fuzzy feeling are starting to fade.

Weather -- Can you believe that we are going to be in the 50 degree range today for most of the Northeast before we start heading downward again. The middle of the week is going to get messy again, but the type of precipitation is uncertain right now.
I just want our last Patriot Home game to be on the relatively mild side on Sunday. The game starts at 1 PM.

Sports -- Speaking of the Patriots, Matt Cassel and his team did quite well yesterday in a rain filled Oakland , California. The Raiders need a lot of improvement. The Patriot defense will not beat a top ranked team if they play like they did yesterday. The Patriots are still tied with two other teams for first place in their division.

Well, I can sit no longer.
Have to get dressed and get the body moving. The Curley Lad