Category Archives: Family & Friends

I notice I was MIA long enough for the snow to melt and the crocuses to bloom here in the garden!  The only political thing I did during the past two months was fill in my absentee primary ballot and listen to hubby gripe about local scandals. It was restful, but I missed all y’all!

Sooo … I didn’t get dead.  Close, but then prayers turned it all around.  I mean that too.  It was quite dramatic.  But, having spent a month flat on my back,  eating little and barfing much, I am counting my progress now in baby steps.  The walker got returned and I’m almost ambulating without leaning a lot on the furniture and walls.

I’m still eating mostly baby food, but haven’t puked in over a week so yay!  I tried on a dress today that used to be too tight.  It’s hanging on me.  I wouldn’t recommend this as a weight loss method, but I’ll take my blessings where I can.  My upper arms and thighs look like week-old balloons … hoping coconut oil massages will encourage my skin to tighten up cuz ew.

I guess that’s it for today. I’d love to get all profound and do a real blog, but I find my energy is waning already so I’ll walk-lean my way back to my couch and my poodles.  TTFN.

That title was stupid. Sorry.

When my granddad retired, he set about the task of being a total pain in granny’s rear. He was doing pretty well until he got on her last nerve. She had a routine of chores she did every day. What was always fascinating was that she had two televisions, the console in the living room and a little portable on the kitchen counter. She kept up with three different soap operas, “her stories,” as she called them, and she had this amazing talent of being able to tell what was going on with every plot at any given time. 3 stories, 2 TVs.

To save his marriage (and extensive medical bills) grandpa took a part-time job at an Irish bar called O’Keefe’s Tavern. St. Patrick’s Day was a complete blowout. Free corned beef and green beer. The ceilings in this old building were about 14-15 feet high. There was a raggedy, moth-eaten, smelly old moosehead hanging near the top. He said amid the melee, the hubbub and the chaos some nitwit managed to get that stupid moosehead off the wall and get out the back door with it. Bottom line is nobody was ever hurt and the police were never called. Just a bunch of happy drunken Irishmen.

How things have changed.

Just in Time for St. Patrick’s Day, New York City Softens Regulations on Public Drinking and Urination

According to a new joint initiative between the New York Police Department and the Manhattan district attorney’s office, “quality of life violations” such as public urination and public consumption of alcohol will not serve as grounds for criminal charges. Instead, these offenses will be dealt with exclusively through the issuing of summonses. The plan, announced March 1, went into effect March 7, just 10 days before the notoriously rowdy holiday

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/03/16/just-in-time-for-st-patricks-day-new-york-city-softens-regulations-on-public-drinking-and-urination/

MAYOR COMMIEPINKOFAG HAD APPROVED BOOTHS ON THE SIDEWALK WHERE TENSE MALES CAN ENGAGE IN SELF ABUSE TO EASE THE TENSION. DECORUM WOULD NOT ALLOW ME TO POST IT.

New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade Welcomes Irish LGBT Community: ‘Goodness Has Overcome the Prejudice,’ Says Marcher

LGBT Irish groups had lobbied for years to be included in New York’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade – but boycotts and protests never led to change.

Advocates sued in the 1990s, but judges ruled that parade organizers had the right to decide who could march in the event, reports TIME.

“But today, goodness has overcome the prejudice,” Fay says. “Exclusion of LGBT Irish for over 20 years was a shadow over the parade. Now that cloud is gone and we are all shining inside.”

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20994338,00.html

If you’ve ever heard of Dr. Demento, you’re really old. If you’ve ever actually LISTENED to him, shame on you.
Yesterday was a really good day. We had pizza with my daughter, R.J., and Big Sis. I showed them pictures of grandpa with his long hair, sideburns and 70’s porno mustache. Big Sis thought it was a scream. R.J. remarked he was ready to go fishing again. Subtlety is not one of his strong suits. Just thought I’d post some weird video before I take my morning sabbatical.

MY PARTING SONG OF WOE

There was no post yesterday because an exorcism was taking place at the bunkhouse. As I slept peacefully Tuesday night the hideous ogre that is Windows 10 installed itself on my Univac. When I declined the user agreement it reinstalled my original platform but left illegitimate offspring behind. It kept sending messages that I needed to finish upgrading. Fortunately there is a slayer of Windows 10 lurking on Craigslist. When I called, he came right over and spent almost 9 hours backing up my photo files on a zip drive, burning them on a CD (something I’d never done), completely removed everything on the hard drive and reinstalled a new version of 7 with updates already installed. He put a lot of good stuff on it for me and even downloaded the drivers so the printer/scanner/copier works now. He did it all for an extremely fair price (cheap) and wrote a 30-day warranty on everything.

The family breakfast was at Denny’s today and one of my cousins brought some old photos of the family, including some of Granny’s relations, some of my late brother Russell who accidentally hanged himself at 7 years old, and a couple of my half-sister, who my mother had and gave up for adoption while I was very young. My aunt arranged for me to meet her a couple times. Martha was the image of our mom. Now that my scanner works, I can upload them to my computer so I can keep these memories at hand. She also had the doll my mom played with when she was a girl. The head is bisque, the dress is yellowed with age, and one of the cloth arms is almost detached. DW is sewing the arm back on then she’s going in our china cabinet with our other mementoes. This means nothing to anybody else, but you are my small circle of friends and I wanted to share it with you.

Tomorrow I’ll be back to political nonsense and such, but I’m too much at peace to get started right now.

Praise be to Almighty God for giving our beloved Chrissy the strength to recover from her afflictions. She is an important part of our tiny family here. When one hurts, we all hurt.

My precious Aunt Evelyn, Uncle Roger’s wife, officially retired Monday at the age of 82. She joined us for breakfast this morning, along with their youngest daughter Mary, who I haven’t seen for almost 40 years. Our little breakfast club is growing as more of the family gets reacquainted with each other. One of the constants of life is that there is nothing so important as family. When you’ve lived a full life, hopefully achieved most of what you wanted to and look back,  hopefully you are content that you have done your best. We spent so many decades working and raising our families that life seemed to have passed us by. The importance of being together takes on added importance as the sands of time start to run out. It is an incredible joy just being together as a family like we did when Granny would summon everyone for Sunday dinner. Having people who love you is what’s really important.

AND BEANS,SWEET CORN,MELONS,ETC.