Hello on Thursday Morning

Dear Friends,

I just returned from "Retro Fitness". The Ninja guy, one woman, and me were the
only people there at 4:30 AM. It seems like more people like the 5 AM to 5:30 AM
as their arrival time. The Ninja isn't into sanitizing the equipment that he
uses. He sees the rest of us cleaning each machine or the bars on set of
weights, or cardio machines, etc., after we use them, but he never does so. I
want to turn him in, but he can crush me in about 5 seconds!

Yesterday, I forgot to mention that another family member was in the Marines.
My sister's son, T.J. Perrea, was a Marine. I knew that when I sent the e-mail
that my sister would pick up my error of omission, and she did in less than 30
seconds.
Could it be time for my sister to have her own blog? Her blogs would be very
interesting because her and her husband are staunch Republicans? Political
discussions at family gathering often stir up a little controversy.

The furniture delivery on Veteran's Day didn't go as planned. The coffee table
/ hidden work station was to big for our 14 ft. by 14 ft family room. Actually,
it was the size of a twin bed. Also , when Linda started to make sure everything
worked as the floor model did, and internal piece of wood was split very badly.
The delivery guys took back the furniture, and we got our money back.
I had alreay taken the old, but sturdy wooden coffee table to the basement. The
particle board / screw together one is now in the family room.
I am not going to return the two coffee tables to where they were originally
located.
I did miss the Veteran's Day parade because of the furniture delivery, but the
jets from Barnes Air National Guard Base did fly by our house.


While Linda was off at Walmart developing some photos, I went off to my local
auto repair place. My car has been leaking oil in my garage and on my driveway.
The repair man, a UNICO brother, fixed the problem, and replaced two burnt out
license plate light bulbs. He charged me $10, but I only had $5 in my wallet. He
said just stop by on the way past the garage (which we go by almost everyday),
and pay the $10. Country living has its advantages!

With the Thanksgiving / Christmas party season almost upon us, we have to
rethink how we serve food. I always like to put out peanuts, Chexmix, Chips and
Dips, cheese, crackers and pepperoni, shrimp, etc. With the swine flu so
rampant, we will be changing the way in which we serve food. Any food, where
people stick their hands in to get the food item, has to be changed. One safety
tip was to put snack food in mini muffin containers so that each person deals
with their own individual container of snack food. Are we getting a little
paranoid here?
One of Linda's Book Club members, who is a teacher in the Pittsfield Public
Schools, did get the swine flu. She was out of school for several days. She is
hosting the next Book Club meeting this month. I am glad that I am not going to
this meeting!

I watched ESPN Sports Center off and on throughout the day on Wednesday. They
featured military personal who lost arms and legs during battle in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Instead of saying "Whoa is me", these crippled military personnel
used prosthetic devices, and continued on with life the best that they could.
Some of these heart wrenching store rally hit a nerve in my body and mind.
There has to be a better way to solve conflicts without bombs and bullets!

Since Linda was in Walmart, she wandered over to the food isles. She saw some
frozen pizzas. While she was hovering over her selections, a Hispanic woman
asked her husband what kind of pizza he wanted for supper. Linda struck up a
conversation with the woman, and asked how the pizza's were? The lady said that
they were very good. Linda chose a 12 inch one, and we had it last night for
supper.
I whipped out the pizza stone, put in the oven and got the stone good and hot.
The pizza came out wonderful. The pizza stone made the pizza come out crispy. We
will never cook a pizza with out one. We now have to look for pizza paddles.
Mike and Danielle have one in Kansas. Kevin for sure has a couple for his
restaurant in East Boston.

Linda's BONCO went well. When she comes home from one of these sessions, I
always ask if she picked up any good stories from her girlfriends. She said that
the wife of a guy who I retired with (his wife a couple years later) is going to
be a grandparent for the third time. The first two grandchildren are boys, but
his daughter really wants to have a girl this time. I hope that she gets her
wish!
It doesn't matter to Linda and I that our third grandchild is male or female.
As long as the baby is a healthy and cute like the two grandchildren whom we
have right now, it will still be wonderful for Grandma and Grandpa.

Sports -- My Boston Celtics basketball team beat up on another weak team in
Boston last evening. I switched channels for most the the game and watched
"First Blood" with Sylvester Stallone playing John Rambo. I have seen this film
over twenty times, and I like it every time I see it!

Social Calendar -- Linda never did play Mah Jongg yesterday afternoon. There is
a session tonight, and I think that Linda might be hosting it. People like
coming to our house because we are such good hosts. I say "we" because I do have
a small role as the beverage man. I am the guy who sets up the coffee, tea
water, water bottles, and other beverages (no alcohol).
I am free as a bird! I have to clean some shelves in our garage. The other day
I grabbed something, and a dog dish came crashing down, and hit the cement floor
in the garage. The dish went out in the trash on Wednesday. We will be needing
dog dishes (we have extras) on Thanksgiving when we will be child sitting, and
dog sitting for Kevin and Kyla.

Speaking of birds, once a week we have a nature column in our local newspaper.
Several times people have asked "Where have the birds gone?" because no birds
have been coming to their bird feeders. Well, they ought to come to the Curley's
home. It is like "Wild Kingdom" at our house since I built a two piece wooden
structure which holds two bird feeders (plus three other ones in our small
yard). Everyday, furry, and feathered friends, which we can see from the sliding
glass windows from the family room, feast on the black oil sunflower seeds which
attract all kinds of birds. Sometimes the bird feeders are quiet because of two
feral cats who hover underneath my multiple bird feeders just waiting for a bird
to make a mistake by not being cautious, and aware of their surroundings.

Well, I rambled quite a bit today.
Don't tell me that my blog was a bit long, I already know it!
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad