Monday, December 12, 2011
Santa Claus is coming to Town...
12/12/2011
Can it possibly be that time of year already? Where did the year go? I seem to have missed a couple of months.
Other than spring, this has to be my most favorite time of the year. I love everything about Christmas. I love the pomp and circumstance, the seasonal potpourri, the decorations, the music, the traditions, the cookies and cakes and I especially love the looks on the faces of children. Christmas is all about children, and as we all know Christmas is the result of a child’s birth, and there ain’t no getting around it, this is a children’s holiday exactly as it should be.
It bugs the crap out of me there are those among us who would have Christmas removed from the calendar. Don’t take me the wrong way, as Christians go I am probably in the very lowest ranks. I do not attend a church regularly which means very close to not at all. I think this year I may have gone twice, but only truly remember onr time clearly. However, church does not a Christian make, I think we all know that, as well, but I do live by Christian ethics. Having said this, my church attendance doesn’t mean I cannot love the Season. This one carries a message every human on this planet should hear and practice – Peace on earth, good will toward men.
“Glory to God, and on earth peace, toward men of good will” (Luke 2:14) is actually how it goes, but I kind of like the way we have always heard it.
This year as I brought out the faux Christmas tree (I would love a real tree but totally impractical for our circumstances) I got the brilliant idea, even though we live a half mile off the hard surfaced road, to put candles in some of the fifty-one windows we have in our habitual abode, just to dress the joint up some. The Nancy and I are the only ones who will ever see the lights in the windows, but what the hell, it’s Christmas, right? Deck the halls and all that stuff!
Since we are now captivated by the Season, yesterday in preparation for the big day we did a little shopping shortly after having had some lunch and a couple of beers. We spent a shitload of money partly because we had some lunch and a couple of beers, but were more than thrilled with what we think we purchased. Once done, we hurried home had a little something to eat and a couple of more beers, watched a little football, bought the Green Bay Packers and joined the elite ranks of NFL owners. What? I am not sure what I was thinking when I heard we could own a piece of the Packers, but, what the hell, it’s Christmas. So here we are, owners of a professional football team. Who would have thought it? I now know why we are advised not to make purchase decisions with a buzz.
Merry Christmas to us and Go Packers!!!
And that is all I have to say about that…
Sunday, November 27, 2011
W.I.N...
11/27/2011
What is next? This is the question of the day. This past week has been extremely an busy time for me. Thanksgiving preparations took up most of the week, so I am really thinking of tomorrow as the birth of my retirement. I am thinking I should to make a list of all the little projects and stuff I want to get done around my house, perhaps call it a “Honey Do” or maybe a “Me Do” list.
There are some home projects I have in my mind; of course, some of them have been lost in vastness of my innermost thoughts for nearly six years with absolutely no action taken. If there is one skill I have honed over the years, it is the ability to procrastinate, and I will probably draw on it to put off making up the list for a while longer. It might be the smart thing to do given the level of my inate mechanical ability. I have told a lot of people the first days of my retirement would be spent sitting in my favorite chair doing nothing at all. Thus far I have not done it. Even now I am sitting in the lobby of the Hampton Inn in Bridgeport, WV with this contraption sitting on my lap (no wonder it is called a “laptop”) longing to be home doing absolutely nothing at all. Nothing at all! What a nice thought.
The Nancy and I enjoy asking young people “What is your dream?” We want them to give it some thought because we find the vast number of our teenagers and young adults have not really thought about a dream job or dream career, much less how they intend to spend the rest of their lives. We both know we sure did not and were never asked, and I spent the first 39 years of my life not giving it any thought at all.
We once asked one of our favorite bartenders about her dream, and totally loved her answer. Once asked, it didn’t take her long to respond. She simply said “Not to have to do anything.” At first we were taken aback by her answer, thought it unsatisfactory, almost flippant, but the more we reflected over it and talked about it, the more it made sense, perfect sense.
Just to think one might never “have to do anything” is a beautiful thought. We believe what she was really saying was she wanted to do it all, to do everything but in her time, her way. Hell, she could be Frank Sinatra.
So the question is “What is Next?” Where do I go from here; what is my plan; what do I have to do? And the answer is, I don’t have to do anything. I do not have to plan a thing. I don’t even have to think about it all. It will happen, for the universe is unfolding exactly as it should. I simply need to enjoy what is next.
And that is all I have to say about that…
Friday, November 25, 2011
Thanksgiving 2011...
11/25/2011
I should not have done it. I should have learned the futility of it years ago. I should have known there just isn’t anything to gain in the attempt, but then I have always been a little slow.
The Nancy and I arrived at her parents’ home about 11:30 yesterday morning. Her mom and dad were there as was her brother Chuck and his wife Michelle. The feast preparation was well underway and very much under control with none of the usual panic that ensues on the typical Thanksgiving Day. Our portion of the meal was pretty much complete, needing only to be reheated. All was well.
Chuck was playing bartender making Bloody Marys for anyone wishing one. I am not a BM kind of a guy; something about red-colored drinks is totally unappealing to me. Instead I headed for the back porch and the well-stocked cooler I brought long for the ride. As I extracted one of the twelve Sierra Nevada Celebration Ales I brought for the weekend I knew I was about to do it again, my stupidity gene was now in control.
The Nancy’s brother has an insatiable beer appetite. I have no idea where he puts it, but I knew when he finished his Bloody Mary and visited the cooler to get me another Celebration, the cruise to Buzzville was ready to leave port. Chuck returned with three beers, one for me, two for him. He opened one and downed it as he opened one for me – it is his modus operandi. The game was afoot.
The big meal was served about 1:30. So for an hour or so my body was able to process alcohol with the assistance of mashed potatoes and dressing and lots of other goodies (mostly of the dessert category), but then came an aperitif in a liquid form – more beer, one for me, two for him. This scenario repeated itself numerous times throughout the afternoon, through a couple of football games and well into the evening. About the time I began to giggle I volunteered The Nancy as the designated driver, a duty which she rigorously accepted without hesitation. Thankfully and finally on this Thanksgiving evening the beer supply was exhausted as were those who consumed it. I was (my opinion and not that of those around me) “nearly” wasted but fully in control of my senses, even though I was having some difficulty formulating complete sentences and some words containing more than three syllables. It was time to go.
For some inexplicable reason as I write this little piece this morning, there seems to be some gaps in the time line yesterday. I do remember getting into the car, with The Nancy fully in command of the driving duties, and then suddenly it was 5:14am. Tempus fugit!
All and all, it was a stupendous Thanksgiving spent with people I love. If some of it is lost within my medulla oblongata, it’s okay. One day all will be remembered…and perhaps if I am truly fortunate it will not.
And that is all I have to say about that…
Monday, November 21, 2011
And Now It Is Done...
11/21/2011
This is the first Monday of my retirement, and as corny as it may sound, it is the first day of the rest of my life. I was conflicted for many months about retiring, but as the final day moved closer I embraced the idea. This past Friday was my official last day as a working stiff. I am a man of leisure now.
The first item on the “Bucket List” I made, which thus far has but one bucket, is to get a photograph of the sunrise on the first morning of my retirement. Done!
Now knowing the vast majority of you have not been to The Farm, you may not visualize the topography of it. Our property is in somewhat of a valley between two West Virginia mountains, the Sleepy Creek and the Cacapon – and slopes downward east to west. Got it!
Friday morning I was up early (I am always up early), and one of the first things I wanted to do was to see the exact time the sun arose over the eastern horizon, after all it takes a bit longer for it to breach the summit of a mountain than it does the flatlands. I checked the internet and found 7:13 as the local time for the sunrise, then watched very closely from my front porch to see when it would rise above the Sleepy Creek. I first saw it through the trees about 7:25. My next thought was brilliant: on Saturday my plan would be to leave the house about 7am and drive up to higher ground to a spot where I could get a clear shot of the fireball as it moved above the horizon, figuring it would do it about 7:20.
I positioned myself at a point with an elevation about 200 feet higher than that at our house and at least a mile closer to the mountain. Coffee cup in hand, I sat in my car contemplating retirement as daylight moved over the mountain and with soothing New Age music surrounding my ears. Eagerly, I awaited the arrival of Sol. It was just 7am. This was going to be too cool! However, it soon became quite evident I am a dumbass and my geometry teacher, David Elenbogen, was right-on when he gave me a “D” for his class. I was now closer to the mountain and had reduced the distance from the mountain to my location thereby greatly increasing the angle between my location and the point where the sun would become visible. This fact finally hit me at 7:30 as the eastern horizon grew brighter and brighter but the sun was not yet visible. Slowly, as the minutes crept by one-by-one, the eastern sky began to blaze and Her Majesty made her regal entrance. The time, 7:38.
If you have ever witnessed the sun rising, then you know you can literally see it move, though it ain’t in a hurry. As it broke the plane I began snapping photos; I must have taken a dozen or more. It was awesome, and solidified the moment – I am retired.
This being my first Monday as a retired American and an official senior citizen living on a fixed income, I have decided to sit here in my favorite chair and think about a second item I can add to my Bucket List. This will not be easy, but then I have all day to do it.
And that is all I have to say about that…