Hello on Wednesday Morning

Dear Friends,



Well, the people in Massachusetts have spoken, and a Republican will represent Massachusetts for the next two years. I do agree with all the experts that the vote was against President Obama, health care, and the Democrats in general. I am ready to move on, and let us see how many campaign promises that Scott Brown can fulfill.



Our Tuesday didn’t go as planned, but it still was a pleasant one. I left the house a little before 7 AM to cast my Democratic vote. I was the first one to cast a vote at the polling station for our particular Ward. The side roads were a little slick due to the day long snow showers.

I went from voting to Retro Fitness. There were more distractions at 7:30 AM when I began my workout.



Linda’s session of Mah Jongg didn’t materialize because they couldn’t get at least four of her six friends to play. She was content to lounge around in her sweats until it was time for a body maintenance procedure, and to cast her vote.

Since I lost the urge to go ice-fishing, I was her designated driver.



I never did any rug shampooing. There were enough little projects around the house to keep me going.



The crock pot roast pork for supper was wonderful. We turned it into a pork dinner with a sweet potato and vegetables. The left over pork will used for pulled pork sandwiches today.

One of Linda’s Mah Jongg friends got a crock pot for Christmas from one of her girlfriends. She called Linda yesterday for a Crock Pot consult. The lady was going to cook a beef pot roast according to a recipe in her instruction manual. Now Linda is a consultant on crock pots and knitting.

Linda trims the herbs from our Aero Garden on a daily basis. All of our foods always have a hint of fresh herbs too.

Another Mah Jong friend got an Aero Garden for Hanukkah. Add Aero Gardens to Linda’s consultant list!



Linda even helped an elderly lady while voting yesterday. The lady wrote on the ballot “Democrat” instead of filling in the oval next to the candidate’s name. Linda explained that the ballot would be rejected, and showed her how to cast a vote.



We dropped the Neon off at 3:30 PM. The repair shop people took a quick look at the car, and said that they were going to replace the thermostat, and replace a couple of tires today. Even though the Neon is a 1996 version, the car only has around 70,000 miles of wear. Since both cars are paid for, we are really going to try and make them last for as long as possible.



Observation – While at a party over the weekend, a friend said that I was too young when I retired from teaching. Yes, 57 years old was a bit young when compared the social security figures which would like us to keep working past 65 years old. The more a person works, the less the government has to pay out in social security benefits. We teachers in Massachusetts can’t collect a teacher pension, and full social security (Reagonomics ruling in 1985). He called it double dipping. Federal workers can’t collect a pension and get full social security either. You wonder why I vote Democratic.

Getting back to the point of retiring too early, when my father retired from the paper mill, he too retired at age 62 instead of waiting until age 65. He decided back then that it wasn’t worth the few bucks more per month to keep working until 65. I guess I must have learned from him.

Another thing that I learned is that the stress of the job can take years off of your life. If you have a job that doesn’t bring on stressful situations, then work forever. A couple of years before I retired, an auto mechanics teacher, who was my ice-fishing mentor, got sick in May. We buried him on the last day of school. He never enjoyed one day of retirement even though he was preparing for it during the school year that he died.

Another teacher (same age as me) from the mathematics department, which is where I worked, retired with me in June of 2004. He died one year and one month after he retired. He rolled over in bed one morning and he never woke up. He died of a heart attack. He had other health issues, and for the past 8 or 10 years of his career had colitis which is often brought on by stress.

Linda and I love retirement. Now that grandchildren have arrived, our retirement has even more meaning. Over the past week or so we were asked to baby sit for the East Boston grandchild Max. Do you seriously think that we said that we were not available?

As a matter of fact, Linda was checking on affordable flights to Kansas yesterday to see our other grandchild, Isabelle, before her brother is born in mid May.



Of course, you also should stay working if you know that you and your partner can’t be together 24 / 7. In this situation, you have to learn the Curley “separation” technique. I think I learned that from my parents too. My mother loved it when my father went golfing several times per week. Linda has the same attitude about me and golf. Ice-fishing is the separation device during the winter. One of my friends is a little less active than me during his retirement. His wife creates projects for him to keep him busy. If he went ice-fishing with me, the projects could be postponed.

Just being together yesterday, Linda was talking about me stripping the wall paper in the first floor bathroom. I left the house to do a few errands just to avoid the conversation.



I was going to go ice-fishing today, but I just remembered that I can’t go until Linda’s car is fixed. I can’t leave her stuck in the house with no car unless she wants to go ice-fishing with me. Yeah Right! There are no portable toilets when I go ice fishing.





Linda is going to fire up the crock pot again this morning. She was talking about making a hearty soup. I can’t wait.



Have a great Wednesday.

Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad