Hello on Saturday

Dear Friends,

Another day in Curleyworld went well except for one change.

My physical therapy session went as planned.

I had fun with the Pittsfield High School retiree ladies at Misty Moonlight Diner for their once a month breakfast. Linda said I talked too much and dominated a lot of the conversation as well as flailing my arms while talking. The women want me to come to every one of the breakfast gatherings, but Linda has her reservations about that.

I did take an afternoon nap in anticipation of Game Night at the Polish Falcon Hall located on the North side of Pittsfield. Linda and I were sitting at the bar at the Shamrock when my cell phone started vibrating. A friend, who is also an officer of the Club, called to say that there was no electricity at the Polish Falcon Nest / Club as well as the surrounding area. The estimated time for electricity to be restored was not until midnight. Game Night Cancelled! Oh Darn!

We stopped to get some boxes of Duraflame logs at a grocery store on the way home which happened to have them on sale. Linda likes to have a gentle fire while watching her reruns in the Family Room. I went into my Man Cave and started another book on the IPad. I had the Celtic game on, but turned the volume down to the low position. The Celtics have now won four games in a row! Whoopee do!

Besides feeding the birds, a visit with dad and afternoon nap for me, we won't have to leave the house together until 4:45 PM. We are going to the Rotary Auction at the Crowne Plaza in Pittsfield with our West Stockbridge friends. The preview of the silent auction and regular auction items begins at 5 PM. The early Curley's will be their before our friends arrive so will save some seats in a prime location. There are usually some appetizers and some desserts to keep us bidders fueled for the long night. Sometimes the auction items are in the Curley price range, and sometimes only the heavy hitters can bid on the items. It is a fun evening even if we don't bid on anything. A lot of socialization takes place because of all the people who Linda and I know as well as our friends. If some day I chose to run for political office, I would need the help from some these acquaintances.

Most of our Rotarian friends are diehard Republicans. When I walk in the place, it is like I have a target on my back that says that I am one of the few "Liberal Weenies" in the place. I know right now that I am going to see one friend who is a baby boomer like me, and I am going to ask him what he thinks about the Republicans candidates who are engaged in those Primary debates. That one question will make his blood pressure rise so fast as I walk away and get some appetizers. I like the hit and run approach to certain conversations.

Politics -- Newt and Mitt are still trying to win the hearts, minds and the votes of Floridians. I look at this like an old fashion duel where the combatants shoot each other, and they both die!

Observation -- While at the breakfast with the ladies, we were discussing politics at one point. One of the ladies suggested that the military should do good works instead of killing people in war like settings. She wanted us to get out of war torn regions, and do what needs to be done in our own country. She suggested that we should send the military in to deal with all those illegal immigrants coming into through the country as they sneak across the American borders. She wanted the military to fight the drug lords. She wanted the military to help repairing our infrastructure throughout the United States. I told her that our military was not created to do these tasks. I told her that there were two many bad guys and bad countries out there that the military has to worry about 24/7. I ended the conversation saying that she lived in a fantasy world. Many of my readers think that I live in a fantasy world because of my Liberal ideas.

The one nice thing about all these ladies is that they are Liberal Democratic voters. When you are with a whole bunch of former school department employees, it is like talking to the converted.

Speaking of the converted, I wish that Oral Roberts was still alive. A grandson of his has announced that he is gay. I wonder what Oral would have done to help his grandson go from being gay to being straight. I don't think that a lot of praying or reading the Bible would have helped at all. Do you think that if his grandson chose to get married to another man that Grandpa would have performed the wedding ceremony? After a while, all the "Holier than thou" people run into issues that they can't seem to resolve. I hope the "Live and Let live" policy, which I try to go by, is in the words of the Bible some where.

Weather -- Our weird weather continues with no major snow storms in the forecast. We did get rain in Pittsfield yesterday. While at the Shamrock last evening, a former colleague had a beverage with us. He lives in one of the hill towns in the Berkshires. He said that his roads and trees in his town were covered with ice. When he came home from a night of revelry on Thursday, he parked his truck at the bottom of his icy driveway. He pretty much crawled up his driveway to get to his house. These hill towns have a little more elevation than Pittsfield. If we get 8 inches of snow in Pittsfield, he might get double the amount in his town.


Speaking of weird weather, we have been getting reports that the snow birds from the Berkshires aren't getting the warmest of weather in certain parts of the south. This is another reason that Linda and I are not quite ready to spend the winters in places like Florida yet. We went to the Orlando area with another couple a few years ago, and we had to use our winter coats, hats, and gloves for a couple of days. We should have stayed right here in the Berkshires if we needed to wear winter clothing.


The wind is howling out right now. I hope that my Patriot Flag doesn't get ripped from the holder or snapped off. I have had the flag up since the first Playoff Game. I am hoping that the Patriots are successful in the Super Bowl so that I can keep it up all winter long.

I am really going to try and be quiet this morning so that Linda can sleep as long as she wants today. Yesterday morning, the telephone rang at 7:30 AM. Linda was propelled out of bed. It was one of her breakfast ladies who hoped that breakfast would be cancelled because of a little morning ice. I told her not to be a wimp, and that I was going to breakfast, and I expected to see her at the Breakfast. She did attend the breakfast!

I just skimmed the local newspaper. The same not so nice things are happening on the local level as well as throughout the nation. Illegal Drugs seem to be a part of many assaults and arrests and sometimes deaths. When we had our last Neighborhood Watch meeting, a Sheriff from the Berkshire County House of Corrections attended our meeting. He said that a majority of inmates at the Jail are there because of drug related arrests.

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