Hello on Friday

Dear Friends,

Linda is up right now. She had me whip a piece of toast so that she could take a pain pill. She can't wait for the pill to kick in because she is hurting. It appears that she won't be doing jumping jacks today. It also appears that she could never make it through the WolfTones concert unless she was under the influence of pain killers. When the pain pill does kick in, she usually starts to fall asleep. Linda is not having a good start to this day.

I feel great!

I don't mind being the caregiver since Linda spent a lot of time taking care of me when I had quadriceps tendon surgery in January of 2006. She was my caregiver for months not days. I couldn't drive a car which added another dimension to care giving. Wearing a leg brace for months added a further dimension of Linda's taking care of me.
Linda is mobile which I wasn't for weeks.

I will be the only one leaving the house today. I have to sign some papers at the tax preparation guy's office.
I am going on the Radio Talk Show program at noontime to discuss unions. I called up the radio talk show program on Thursday, and the host on WBRK 1340 on your AM dial said that he wanted to continue the discussion today.

It does appear that I will represent the Curley's at the WolfTones concert this evening. The concert won't begin until after 8:30 PM even though the tickets say it starts at 8 PM. Irish time always has a leeway of 30 to 45 minutes. The Irish people don't rush through life like some of us Americans do.

Weather -- Our weather people are scrambling right now because the rain snow line has changed. We have more snow predicted than what they thought we were getting as of last evening's news. Linda and I would rather have snow. The snow on the ground right now is plowable.
I just went outside to get the local newspaper, and it is a winter wonderland. The snow is heavy and it is sticking to all the trees. It is beautiful outside right now.

We have one set friends coming back from a week in Costa Rica today.

Another set of friends is supposed to be driving this weekend to do one of those food tasting events for prospective brides. Their daughter is getting married in 2012. I hope that the weather doesn't interrupt their plans.

I see where the Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly have voted to strip the Unions of their bargaining rights.
This is a bad sign for all unions across the nation. I compare it to what we are seeing in the Middle East. One nation begins a revolt, and other nations follow suit.

I was also thinking about the four people on the yacht who were killed by Somali pirates. Why would you be in Somali Pirate waters trying to pass out bibles? It is like swimming in shark infested waters after you have cut yourself.

Sports - The Celtics made some trade moves before the deadline. Can you imagine being on a team which is heading to the playoffs, and then the next minute you get traded? Sports is definitely a business. Job security is always tentative.
Tiger Woods continues to struggle to regain his top ranking in the world.

I see where Hugh Hefner and his wife to be have set a summer time wedding date. I still can't believe that that an 84 year old guy is going to marry a 24 year old woman. I am trying to figure out what they have in common. I would think that Hugh would need to take a jar of Viagra per day to keep up with a 24 year old woman. Maybe they just hold hands.

Food Tip -- The crock pot pot beef roast was wonderful for supper last evening. Crock pot food can be kind of boring unless you add the proper spices and flavors which Linda is good at. Our Aero Garden herbs come in very handy when cooking any kinds of foods.
While reading my Cook's Magazine, I found an interesting article about slow cooking. They did an experiment using two six pound rib roasts. They cooked one at 250 degrees, and the other at 450 degrees until the internal temperatures reached 125 degrees which is medium rare. The slow cooked roast lost 9 % of it's weight. The roast cooked at the high temperature lost almost 25 % of it weight. What this means is " proteins shrink less and express less moisture and fat when cooked at moderate temperatures than at high heat." This means that what you are cooking slowly has more flavor. This is exactly why we are going to keep using our crock pot.

Well, I have to go back to care giving, and set up things for Linda for when I need to leave the house. The pain pill kicked in because Linda is fast asleep.

Have a great weekend!
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad