Hello on Friday Morning

Dear Friends,



I was unsuccessful for a second consecutive day on the frozen pond. I left the house in the dark. I was all set up by 7:30 AM. The good thing is that I finished savoring another book. I read half the book on Wednesday, and the other half on Thursday. It was another one of those top ten books. Actually, I would have preferred to tend to flags going up by fish attacking my live bait.

I had another day of being by myself. A Lee Goomba did stop by, and we chatted about the luck that he has had at the same lake. He was there the day a person caught one of those aged 8 pound breeder salmon through the ice. He said that it was a beautiful fish. Why couldn’t it have been me?



Linda had an okay day functioning at her own pace. She still didn’t like putting on winter clothes to retrieve the newspaper at the end of the driveway for a second day in a row. She was out doing a couple of errands when I called her to pick me up at the car repair shop as explained in a paragraph below.

Actually she requested that I stop involving her in my e-mails. I told her that she provided me with some great material for my daily blog. I told her to laugh at herself, and laugh at life in general. She felt better after I made that statement.

Think of comedians, not that I am trying to be one. The best material from their jokes comes from family and friends. As an example, I like to use the treadmill at Retro Fitness that faces the parking lot of the mini mall. There is a Panera Bread place in this mini Mall which opens at 5:30 AM. Most of us Retro Fitness people go from our workout directly to our car, and then to home or work. There is this one full figured guy who leaves the gym several times per week, and he heads directly to Panera Bread. The size of the bag that he carries out doesn’t just hold one cup of coffee. How do I know? One day I decided to go into the place and grab a cup of coffee. I watched him place an order. It was mostly high calorie breakfast food.



On the way home from ice-fishing, the “Check Engine” light went on in the Sabaru. I dropped off my ice-fishing gear at home, and headed toward my favorite repair shop at 4 PM (the shop closes at 5 PM). I told the guy that I needed the car for a trip to the eastern end of the State for Friday. He said that he was short some workers, and that he had jury duty on Friday. He said that the repair shop was so busy and so short handed, that he wouldn’t be able to get to the car until next week. I was in a state of shock.

Besides the baby sitting gig on Friday night for our grandson in East Boston, I had also planned to participate in a little ice fish derby with Linda’s godson in New Hampshire on Saturday. This is a derby among friends, and not an official one.

We do have a Neon, but I don’t trust the car going east on the Mass Pike. The transmission slips badly, and one tire needs to be replaced because it has a slight bubble in it. Also, the Neon can’t hold my auger, and tip ups, XL sled, etc. I would have to leave Linda home.



To my surprise, the repair guy took a quick look at my car when he went to move it to the back of the shop. He called me, and said that he found a cracked spark plug plus some other things which can be fixed next week. He said to call the shop at 9 AM this morning, and my car should be ready to make it safely through this weekend’s adventure.



Observation – It appears to be the same old, same old in the nation and world. Another unhappy employee decided to kill his boss and a few fellow workers before killing himself in St. Louis. What is it with these people? Why can’t people handle the stress in a situation like this in a less violent manner? If you can’t deal with the problem, is it necessary to kill innocent people? Most of us baby boomers grew up with a respect for ourselves, and our fellow human beings. Maybe if some one taught them the “Ten Commandments” when they were children, they might have remembered the one that said: “Thou shall not kill!” While I am trying to enjoy every breath, and every moment that I am on this earth, these wackos are killing innocent people including themselves.



As a good portion of the country is dealing with snow today, we are not in the Berkshires. We might get an inch due some snow showers, but that is it.

The temperatures should be okay for the ice-fishing adventure for me on Saturday in New Hampshire.



Sports – The gun toting professional basketball player got suspended indefinitely. He will be fighting the suspension. It will cost the player about $150,000 per game if the ruling is upheld.



I am still trying to figure out how I am going to watch the Patriots in their playoff game on Sunday. I do have several options. I could watch the game at the Brodeurs where we will be staying on Friday and Saturday night. I could watch the game with my son in East Boston. My other thought was to drive back to Pittsfield early Sunday morning, and watch the game in the comfort of my own home. Our daughter-in-law said that she heard tickets for the 1 PM game were still available which takes place at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts. Decisions, decisions! What am going to do?



Our friends in Florida continue to say that the mornings are a bit brisk lately. They said that it still better than being back in the Berkshires with temperatures in the 20’s all day long as well as for day after day.



Well, have a great weekend.

As you see, we will be having a fun, but busy weekend.

Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad