Wednesday, December 18, 2019

One week from today is Christmas Day!!!

Wow, the weather turned a bit today.  As I played tennis at 9:00 today it was 69 and that is the high for the day.  I turned the pool heater off until Friday.  NO complaints, just a bit of adjustment as Naples is usually warmer.

We continue to see 2019 slip away so we had better be ready for 2020.  For some reason 2020 looks like it is so so much more advanced than 2019.  I may be telling my age but it does seem just a short time ago that many many of us were concerned that going from 1999 to 2000 would raise a host of problems with many things--it never came to pass.  BUT here we are twenty years later, perhaps some gray and thinning hair, maybe (just maybe) a few extra pounds around the middle and yes, "for sure" a few more aches and pains.  BUT hopefully more happy memories and more friends and family to share life with.  See, all is not lost!

I drove to the post office this morning which opens at 8:00.  I walked in at 8:03 and stepped right up to the counter.  As I left a few minutes later there were 5 people in line.  You have heard the saying, "The early bird gets the worm" well it played out today!

I played a bit of tennis strategy today.  There is one guy who tends to schedule me in weekly and the play is way below what I would like.  So last Monday I beat him to the punch and was up early to schedule matches with guys I can play with on a level playing field.  Well I was short a player today as someone had a Dr. appt so I asked this guy to play.  Three of us playing at least a 3.0 level and I asked him to fill in.  I was hoping he could see the writing on the wall and I think it was there.  I would say, he and I played as partners, he made 80+% of our errors.  Maybe he got the message.  MAYBE!!!

Terry and I have a 1:00 appt and then Terry needs to take care of a stop so we should be out and about for a couple of hours at least.

I only have one more Christmas present to get.  We currently have only Travis left to get for.  I actually was able to get a small present for Terry a few days ago.  I mean, at the age of 72 what does one NEED.  But a small token of my love for her will be fine.  I could write a LONG blog of Christmas in the past of presents and not so much in the line of presents.  Maybe an idea for sometime towards the end of the week!

Enough for today.  The FP was the Kona kind and GREAT!  WAIT

Friday, December 20, 1975
I left my classroom of 9 fifth graders and headed home from the School for the Deaf about 4:30.  I knew the boys, ages 6, 4 and 2 would be waiting at the door for Daddy.  I had not spent enough time with them as school had been busy busy and I had also been spending time making Christmas presents for the boys.  I had decided to make tool boxes for them and it had taken me longer than I had thought.  Nothing fancy, just a 3/4 pine box with a handle and a lock.  EVERY little boy and girl need a box with a lock, right?  I had my evening planned out.  I would get home, spend some time with the boys and help get them to bed.  Then I would drive back to the school where I had a key to the wood shop.  I had planed down all the pieces of wood to 3/4 on Thursday and I had the pieces ready to glue together.  If I could help get the boys down in a decent time I could get back to school and put the tool boxes together by 11:00 or so. Darn, those busy and active boys thought they were not tired.  About bed time they decided that it was a good idea to slide down the steps from their bedroom to the living room.  The steps were carpeted and it was a good slide.  As usual I did not have the heart to come down strong and say, "enough is enough"!  So after many laughs and several trips down the stairs they finally settled down and were in bed by 8:30---late!  Off to school I hurried at 8:45 with the idea that I could now get the tool boxes glued up by midnight.  In those days midnight was not a bad hour--today a different story!  I unlocked the front door to the industrial building and then the wood shop.  As I approached my pieces of wood my jaw dropped, almost to the floor.  All 6 pieces of 3/4 pine that were to be the ends of the toolboxes were cupped as if you could use them for a cereal bowl!  There was no way I could use those pieces of wood now.  It took me a bit to recalculate my schedule for the completion of the tool boxes.  After about 15 minutes I determined that I now needed to recut new boards and go forward in a speedy manner as Christmas Eve was not far off.  In another episode I will finish my story!

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