Last Saturday in February

Last Saturday in February

Well, it is supposed to snow tonight. However, the forecast for next weekend is for temps in the mid sixties, Therefore I am not going to shovel any snow that has no intention of hanging around, So there.

We got the new recliner last Thursday.

I have already napped in it so it appears to be functional.

We went shopping for an end table so I can have something to put the remotes on. Naturally, we did not find anything. These projects take your mom several months to complete. I suggested using one of the old milk cans that have been stored in the garage for 19 years but she says no to that idea.

Your mom received a $25 gift certificate from the Lumiėre Place Casino . Playing with their money, she won $250.

I explored all corners of the facility. We had gone over there during the Mardi Gras festivities on the landing. All parking spaces, and I mean ALL were $20 each. That is the typical Missouri rip-off so we went back to Illinois to the Queen. Parking is free there so a lot of smart people were beating Missouri at their game by parking in Illinois and taking the metro across to the landing.

There is a Bank Of America ATM on the landing. I went to use it but it was locked out. A young guy at the Lumiėre told me they did that so people were forced to use the casino’s ATMs and pay a usage fee of $4 a transaction.

If Missouri can find a way to shaft a visitor, they will leap at the chance,

But, and I say this very reluctantly, the Lumiėre is a first class facility.

We enjoyed the company of the Jacksons and the Sorgeas last night. Unfortunately, I had been up since 5:00 AM and after eating pizza and a couple of drinks, I was so tired my head rolled a couple of times. I am working some long hours. Next time we have company, I am going to find a way to get a nap (in the new chair) before I try to be my usual charming self.

Just finished talking to Jason and Rebecca. We told Jason to pick a best time for us to come down. We can go down early on a Saturday, and return on Sunday night.

We will go up and see Dawn and Bill and kids next weekend. Hopefully by then, Dawnwill be up to having company. Bill starts a temporary assignment with a bank in Bloomington next Tuesday so he will be gone all week. Fortunately that is not a terribly long way from Auburn.

Savannahs Valentine card came back again. Nothing wrong with it but the USPS is not staffed with intuitive people. I placed the stamp over the previous postmark. I guess that confused them badly. I will place it in an envelope and hide it with other items. Maybe it can then sneak its way to Chandler. I hope.

Love to all from Home Alone,
Dad

Mardi Gras

Saturday morning is here, it is February, the worst month of the year, and the news from everywhere is not good.

Fortunately it is not a leap year so the month is not extended by one day.

It is Mardi Gras Night in Soulard. It is snowing as I type, the forecast is suitable for February, and the news is full of beads, warnings about indecent exposure, and drinking. Sounds like fun.

We went to Mardi Gras in Soulard several years ago. The Grand Marshall of the parade was Tiny Tim, a grotesque character from The Tonight Show fame.

The crowd pressed in so close to the parade entries (seeking beads) that it could barely move. We managed to escape at the end of the parade so did not observe a lot of the wackiness (or wickedness). Darn.

I have been busy at work. We are still way short of drivers, so I cannot take time off. Dawn has her surgery on Monday, and your mom will be going up to Springfield to give moral support to Bill and Dawn.. Jason and Rebecca will be returning from skiing the same day so I am hopeful that all goes well for all of us.

I have been up for two hours and the temp outside was 44 degrees when I got up. It is now 35 degrees. It got very windy for about five minutes and is now calm.

The new recliner should come in this week. I hope so. The old one went to Louisville so I have to watch TV setting Indian fashion on the floor.

I found out why Savannah did not get her Valentine; grandma did not put a stamp on the envelope. It has now been re-stamped and will leave the blue mailbox on Lebanon Ave. at about 1:25 PM today.

Well that is about it from Home Alone – love you all.

Dad

Friday the Thirteenth

Tim McNitt Called last night. he is leaving a couple of tickets to the boatshow at the dome box office. He will not be there when I can go so I don't know if I will go.

The cardiologists office called today. I knew I had a stress test due sometime, and it is tommorrow. Wish me luck.

Your mom got her stiches out today . All is ok so far.

I have a badly draining sinus situation. It happens.

All is swell yjay will end well. Talk to you in the evening tommorrow, Friday the Thirteenth

The dad

Savannahs Blog

I just finished reading Savannah's blog. Printed it out for her grandma to read and enjoy.

Very nice and newsy !!

Papa

Writers Block

Home Alone

It is Sunday night, your mom is on the phone with Sally (I guess they forgot to say something over the past two days in Peoria and here I am, trying to be a literary giant, but failing miserably due to writers block (which afflicts even the most verbose writers from time to time), a condition which (hopefully) will be short-lived if transient, which it commonly is unless there are interruptions due to outside events or, more commonly, an incidence of attention span disorder (ADD), which has been known to crop up at the most inopportune times, especially when I am talking to someone and something else distracts me or attracts my attention, then I have to consider this outside event, failing, then, to pay close attention to whatever it was I was doing or whatever the other person was attempting to accomplish by having intercourse with me ( not sexual but communication) and therein often needing to repeat what they said, sometimes with exasperation, especially if it was your mother, then I reel off a list of things she said, often doing it in reverse order and that, of course, makes her mad, so she stalks off and I get to figure out dinner all by myself which is OK since then I can make salmon patties and asparagus from the can plus some white onion and maybe, if I am really ticked off, some corn bread so I can have cornbread and milk later with some more white onion all of which causes me to lose sleep because of esophageal reflux, brought on in part because my ingrate son-in-law no longer provides me with drugs.

New pictures on Facebook ;check it out.

Love you all,
Dad

OOPS

The previous post had one small, insignificant error. SORRY!

Super Bowl Sunday

Sunday Morning - Super Bowl XXIVCMCXXI.
And all quiet on the Eastern Front

Your mom and I got married on Super Bowl Sunday I. What were we thinking?

Super Bowl I Jan. 15, 1967Memorial ColiseumLos Angeles, California
MVP: Bart Starr, QB, Green Bay
Kansas City Chiefs 10 Green Bay Packers 35

Everybody watches for the commercials. I like to see who they pick to butcher the National Anthem

Very quiet yesterday, punctuated by a trip to Targets and Walgreen’s to get a brace for your Mom’s hand,

Your mom wants a printer to make photos of her choice. The printer I have now continues to streak photos. I have been all over the documentation that came with it and followed all instructions on HP’s website but to no avail. It dawned on me yesterday that I had used a re-filled cartridge at Walgreen’s and the problems may have started back the, I know I discarded the cartridges after having poor results and frequent errors, but it looks like whatever happened became permanent. I have installed new cartridges several times (those things are as expensive as non-generic drugs) but streaking continues.

Black and white is ok, so I will keep this printer on the main computer for general use.

I made a trip to Circuit City to see what kinds of deals I could pick up off their bones. It was a madhouse over there and, even though they had a lot of going out of business sales on printers, the display items had screws in various doors on the printers, so I could not examine them. So I went to Best Buy and bought new HP printer.

I put that one on the old Compaq computer and your mom was quite happy with the results. The first picture printed was an old one of Savannah as a five year old.
Made me sad to think of her growing up so fast.

We will be going over to Rick’s visitation on Monday, staying overnight for the funeral on Tuesday. Your Aunt Kathy and Uncle hank are making the trip also.

That ice storm (you should be seeing lot about that on the news) in Southern IL, MO, Ark, and worst of all, KY, continues to be exceedingly deadly. As far as I know, Jason and Rebecca still have power, although people all around them have lost power. Fortunately, some melting is now occurring. Ice loaded trees and limbs are extremely heavy, and increase the risks to utility workers.

Jason has a large limb suspend overhead in his back yard and lying across utility wires. If those wires go down, I expect he will lose power.

That’s about it from Home Alone.
Love to all,
Dad