Oh happy day

I forgot to celebrate Bobby Bonilla Day 

    I might have spelled his name wrong.  Oops.

    Bobby Bonilla was a baseball star who renegotiated a huge contract with the Mets back in the 1990s.  Well, it was almost a $6 million contract, but that was huge then.  The Mets renegotiated  a longer payout instead of paying the money to him.  So,  he agreed to take a yearly paycheck of albout $1.2 million starting in 2010 or so..  There is interest figured in, so the check is closer to $1.9 million.

    Every year on July 1 in baseball land it becomes Bobby Bonilla Day.  Bonilla is now 58 and will continue receiving the money uintil 2035.

    Not a bad deal!

    Tomorrow I will replant my beans and cucumbers for the third, and final, time.  I just don't get what happened this year.  It's frustrating that I have gotten so little from my garden.  Last year we had enough green beans, Italian beans, peas, carrots and peppers to provide us with vegetables through the winter.  We actually still have some beans left, but not many.

    This year......pffft!  I have one cucumberr shoot, and two bean plants.  So tomorrow I will replant the beans.  Dang frustrating.

    I sent a birthday card to a lady celebrating her 90th next week.  But, she probably won't get it.  

    You know my tendency to reverse numbers.....well, I wrote the address on a piece of paper and forgot the paper  at home.  I bought a card, went to the post office and wrote down the address as I remembered it because if I didn't mail it today, it would not get here on time.

    I may have had the street wrong, and I know the number is wrong.....so I  bet that card comes back to me instead of to the person it should go to.

    I should have driven to her house and dropped it in her mailbox....would have violated federal law, but would have been a sure fire delivery.

    Oh well....just another day in my life.

Peace and Love

I hate shopping

 Today was grocery day

    I try to buy locally as much as possible, but big grocery stores have so much more from which to choose.

    So I went to a big store today and spent a bit over $200.  I was shocked.

    I noticed some things that were strange.  Kraft Mac and Cheese was .99  each  or 4 for $4.  Tea was discounted with a coupon, but there were no coupons.  1 item was 3.29 or 2 for $5.  I got 2, whether I wanted 2 or not.

    I always laugh when prices are 79 or 89 cents.  Why not just round it to the nearest 10 and make it easier for people to mentally compute prices.  I know, there is a psychological element to making it end in a 9, somehow it seems cheaper.

    I usually get very tired toward the end and wish I could lie down in the frozen food case and cool off.  But I discovered that is frowned upon.

    This store is allowing reusable bags again, which is great.  Next time I go I will bring mine because I hate all hose bags.  

    The hardest part is putting all the stuff away.  I must have had 15 bags to carry in, then put away.  I was fatigued, to say the least.

    Driving up to Rockford, I had to pull over and get out of the car.  My left leg cramped up.  I got on 39 at 72, after the work zone, and pulled over on the entrance ramp. Stretching it really helps.  The same thing happened on the way home, and I had to pull over on 64 by 251.  

    I am going to a chiropractor to see if he can give me some relief from my hip pain, and he said the leg cramping is a  result of my hips being out of alingment. When he does a treatment it feels fine for a while, but eventually I am back in pain.

    Here's hoping he is right when he said it would be a couple of weeks, then I would be better.  

    Oh my gosh, this was a pretty run of the mill post.  Hope you stayed awake!

Peace and Love

day....boy hood story II.....480

 Yesterday's stroll down memory lane got me thinking

    My brother Dennis might have been described as a heller.  He wasn't bad, but sometimes found himself on the wrong side of right.

    He eventually straightened out, mostly.  He died in the mid 90s when he was just over 50.  Heart attack.  It was a shock.

    But like I said, he was a bit of a heller.

    I don't remember why, but one night he took me with him.  He and a guy named Rebel were going out, and I joined them, along with two other teens.  I bet I was 12....certainly not much older.

    Rebel was a street racer.  He would drag race for money and he was looking for a race.  We drove around for a while but did not find any challengers.

    At some point Rebel had to go to the bathroom.  So he pulled his souped up white Ford into an alley, go out, took a leak, and got back in the car.

    We began the drive down the alley and suddenly police cars blocked the exit!  Two squads rolled  down the alley behind us.  Police were all over the place, shining spot lights on us.

    The told Rebel to exit the car and patted him down, along with my brother, but not the guys in the back seat.  At least I don't remember them getting a pat down.

    He had to open the trunk, and everyone except me was made to get out of the car.

    All the while the police gave no explanation.  After going over the car and checking the trunk, they asked Rebel why he had stopped in the alley.  Rebel said, "The kid in the back seat had to pee."

    Police shined their light on me and said, "Is that right, kid?"  

    Nodding my head like a crazed chicken, I said yes, I could not hold it any longer.

    The police kind of looked disgusted and told them all to get back into the car.

    Somebody asked why the big deal.....turns out the building we parked behind had been burglarized several times and police were running a stake out, until we ruined it.

    I remember Rebel saying, "We were only looking for a place for the kid to pee."

    One officer said, "You come around here again and you are going to find yourself in the shit house."

    Of course, then I really had to go!

    That was the only time I went with the big boys.  I don't know if I wasn't invited, or wasn't interested in going.

    Memories.....sometimes they pop up at the craziest times.

Peace and Love

day.....boyhood story.....479

 I just thought of something that happened 55 years ago

    My memory may be a little hazy, but this is how I think everything happened.

    We were all hormone affected teen age boys.  Riding around in a car one night, looking for girls, we saw three rather attractive though slutty looking girls in a laundromat.

    So, we pulled the car into the alley and three of us got out to chat up the chicks.

    They seemed friendly.  We talked, we laughed, and then it went downhill.

    I beliieve it was Marc.  Maybe not, but I am going to say it was him.

    We had passed through the doorway where the girls were standing.  

    Marc said, "So....do you girls have boyfriends or do you live off yourselves?"

    To this day, I do not know what he meant.  Did he think they were lesbians, which back in the mid 60s would have been rare.  Or did he mean they had to spend their own money on movies, food, flowers, etc.

    Whatever he meant, one girl did not take it well.

    She reached into her purse or pocket, I don't remember, and pulled out the biggest knife I had ever seen!

    "Do you want to repeat that?" she snarled, waving it inches from our bellies.

    Upon seeing the knife, we slowly edged our way back through the door,  apologizing profusely before walking very quickly to the waiting car.

    From then on, we avoided girls in laundromats.

Peace and Love

day.....YIKES!!!!......478

 I had a terrible fright tonight, and it hurt

    Background.  I have a pain in my left butt cheek. It runs down my left leg to my knee.  I have had the pain for about 10 days, but in actuality it has been much longer.

    I never thought about it before.  Slight pain in my hip.  Leg cramp while driving.  When I was walking Corki on day she made a quick move in front of me and I had to sidestep to avoid stepping on her, and it hurt.

    When doing my exercises for my surgery, I always heard a "pop" noise when lifting my left leg.

    But 10 days ago, moving Jackie from her chair to the wheelchair, I tiwsted and the pain was tremendous.  

    So today I went to a chiropractor. (Not sure I spelled that correctly.)

    He said my hips have rotated slightly, causing my body to be out of alignment.  A few treatments should restore the balance.

    I did notice I felt better...the pain was not as bad as before.

    We had an Exit 99 meeting tonight and it was great to sit with TC, Beth, and Carrie and laugh like we used to 16 months ago.  We are planning our lineup for the July 23 show at Kennay's Distillery.  Tickets will go on sale through the VCCT website because this is a benefit for VCCT.

    After everyone left, I took out the garbage. I am getting there.  Don't worry.

    I like to step outside and listen to the night.  Sometimes I turn off the lights and stand in the driveway in the dark.

    Tonight I turned off the inside lights, stepped outside, stepped back inside and something huge landed on my head!  

    I swatted at it, knocking off my glasses and one hearing aid.  I also twisted my body, sending an excruciating pain through my buttocks and down my leg.  

    I picked up my glasses and hearing aid and discovered both were out.  Luckily, I found the second one in a watering can.  Thank heavens it was empty.

    I also found a little green tree frog!  It was on the floor by my glasses and when I went to pick it up it hopped onto the closed garage door and began climbing up!

    I surmise that the frog was hanging out unde the outdoor light, and when I stepped back it leaped onto my head.  I thougtht it was a bat or a huge wolf spider and panicked.

    I opened the overhead door and it fell off, then proceded to hop out of the garage and back to the driveway.

    In summation:  A small  frog caused me to smack myself in the head, knock out both hearing aids, cause pain in my butt and leg before scampering off to catch more bugs.

    Now I am sitting on an ice pack, hoping it helps.

    Watch out for those frogs.

Peace and Love

day......huh?....477

 I need to wear my hearing aids more

    I admit, I have gotten lazy about wearing them.  Usually that isn't a problem.

    Last night Jackie was watching tv and asked me for a "piece of cheese, like last night."

    So I cut her a piece of cheese.  I gave it to her and she looked at it and said, "What's this?"  I said it is the cheese you asked for.

    She said, "I asked for tea like you got me last night."

    Tonight she said, during the Cubs game, "The announcers said the Cubs have a bad defense in the outfield."

    I said I was surprsed they would say that, that the defense wasn't terrible.  She looked at me and said, "They said the sun made it hard to play defense in the outfield."

    In my defense, I mowed and trimmed today and can't wear my hearing aids because it would blast the hell out of what's left of my brain.

    I put my windmill out.  I anchored it best I could, hope it stays.  I may have miscalculated ..... some of the plants are taller than the windmill.  And my rock from last year is virtually invisible, as is the log I salvaged from a tornado downed tree.

    While my nativegarden thrives, my veggies continue to look awful.

    I know there is a time for every season, and I guess mine is not now.

    Stay healthy.  Stay safe.

Peace and Love

day......rain? no rain?....476

 Today was supposed to be a rain all day event

    All day.  Forecast was 60, 70 percent, heavy rain at times.  We were supposed to expect 3 inches.

    Pshaw!  It stopped sprinkling about 11.  It was cloudy and overcast until about 4, then the sun came out.  We ended up getting a little over half an inch of rain.

    Weather forecasting has to be the best job in the world.  So many times they get it wrong!  Major snowstorm....dusting.  Heavy rainfall....drizzle.   Yet we always check the forecast, heaven knows why.

    I went to the farmers market at 10:15 for a couple of briskit sandwiches for supper.  He sold out just as I got there, but he did have two set aside for me.  He said he cut back on what he prepared because of the forecast and here he was, 10:30 and out of his most popular sandwich.

    But the market was going full steam.  It was great to see all the people and vendors there.  I did not have time to browse, because I had an 11 o'clock zoom meeting.  It was an all volunteer meeting....or a zoo zoom, as I called it.

    BIL Bob and wife Anita called and we had a nice talk about the Cubs, and all sorts of other stuff.

    Afterwards I went out on to the porch to take a nap....but in the two hours I was out there, I never fell asleep.  Dog in.  Dog out. Neighbor mowing. Emily dropping off strawberries and a cherry pie.  Bathroom run.  Drink run.  Bathroom run.  

    My leg hurts a little more today but tomorrow I intend to mow.....I have to, with the rain and heat grass is starting to grow again.

    Now if the Cubs could only get some timely hitting....I could go to bed a happier person.

    Stay safe.

Peace and Love