Hello on Labor Day

Dear Friends,

A Happy Labor Day goes out especially to the American workers past and present who built this great country. A special "Thanks" goes to my Union brothers and sisters who are often blamed for the companies who decided cheap labor was the best way to increase profits. Even moving the manufacturing down South to non unionized shops couldn't keep the companies from making their product outside of the United States. These same companies love it when they can manufacture products in countries which have no regulations as to pollution, as to the treatment of workers, etc. These companies have destroyed rain forests in some of countries, and have left toxic dumps everywhere. Soon the people in these countries will realize that these companies don't always "Bring Good things to Life". They will revolt like we did in the 1900's.

On a happier note, our "Chill Day" turned into a fun evening from about 5 PM until 9 PM. We attended a birthday party for a 68 year old Marine Corps vet.
The party took place at "Lach's Lounge." This is a bar which has been around for seemingly ages. It is owned and managed by an African American. The customers are a good mix of all ethnic groups. There was an abundance of covered dishes that would keep any man or woman happy. The organizer of the party soon realized that this was the first time that Linda was ever in this bar even though she has been a resident of Pittsfield since the 1970's. This fact required that our group of Irish Sister City friends had to have a "shot" of something. The bartender "Woody", who recognized Linda from her teaching days at Pittsfield High School, said that he could make us a "Baby Guinness". I had no clue what a "Baby Guinness" was. Woody, who never had Linda as his teacher, and who spent most of his time walking the halls of Pittsfield High, was a pleasant and attentive bartender. Well, a Baby Guinness is dark Patron Tequila with a layer of Bailey's Irish cream. It is supposed to look like a pint of Guinness with a head on it, but in a shot glass. Woody didn't have the patience to drizzle the Bailey's into the shot glass on the back of a spoon to create the visual effect. With a one, two, and three, the five of us downed the shots!
The guest of honor opened a bag of gag gifts which the organizer purchased at Spencer Gifts in the mall. The organizer was laughing so hard when she was purchasing the sex related gifts that a store clerk came over to her and asked if she need help. You had to be there to appreciate what the gifts were.
You might ask what we would have been doing at this party for 4 hours.
Besides the consumption of food and beverages, there was an electric bowling game. A bunch of us had no clue how to play the game, but the friendly group of players showed us newbie's how the game is played. By about 9 PM, we decided to say our "Good Byes", and Linda drove us home. The party was still going on when we departed.

We are going to have another chill day. The weather isn't supposed to be that great. We normally get invited to a Labor Day party at a friend's home, but these friend's have some water issues. Their well water got tainted with the abundance of rain from Hurricane Irene. They had the yellowish water tested, and it had a lot of bad stuff in it including e-coli. Instead of inviting us for a cookout, yesterday our friend was using a backhoe to get at the cover of the well water. They were told to pour bleach into the well.
They hopefully will be back to normal soon. Insurance does not cover the Hurricane related event unless you have flood insurance which most of our friends do not have. Oh Darn!

Well, I am feeling a little foggy today. My first cup of coffee, hasn't worked any magic for me yet. Good thing that we left at 9 PM because I would bet some of our friends who stayed later are fighting more than a foggy head this morning.

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