December 18, 2009 - Part II

Home from shopping! Amazing! We finished the shopping for one granddaughter, and did some for the other two. As for the grandson, it's difficult to decide what to get a young man - 2.5 years old - that already has about every toy there is for boys. Maybe we'll buy him his own baseball team...

We are going to the bookstore later today so will check out books for him and some for one other granddaughter. Then, once they clear the parking lots, hopefully by Monday, we'll try to finish up before Christmas. Not buying much this year on request of the parents, which is fine with me. The less, the better! Bah Humbug! Off with ye, ye little wallet drainers! (Joking... I think...).

It is getting darker here which means the cloud cover is thickening up, which means the snow will begin any minute. Can't wait! NOT!

I am on a diet. Why? I'm a tad bit overweight, and I'm hoping that by losing 20 pounds I will be able to lower my blood pressure enough to stop taking the BP medicine. The less I fork out to pharmaceutical companies the better I like it. If I can stop taking the meds, I'll be med free! Plus, I have pants upstairs, hardly ever worn, that I will be able to start wearing once again. If I succeed, I will have more energy, and thus be able to do more for less.

Had dinner with some friends last night. They are headed to Italy. He, on the second of January to take a month long Italian immersion class to learn to speak the language better, his wife to follow in mid-February. He already speaks 6 different languages. Last year he went to Russia for a month long class on Russian. This was all paid for by the company he retired from because they "redeployed" him at the same time as he was going to retire. Part of the redeployment package was a nice sum for learning a new skill. He likes to travel, and so opted to go to two different countries and learn their languages.

He is originally from the Czech Republic, having escaped there back in 1962 at the age of 22. He lived for 25 years in Switzerland before coming to the states with his American wife, and settling in Richmond.

He went back to Europe a few years ago and visited a friend of his in Berlin. I asked him if he went into what used to be East Germany while there. His reply was that not only did he go, but he found the hotel he had stayed at in the early 60s while looking for a way to escape.

When he finally did, he left his family, everything he ever knew, behind. He did not return to Czech until long after the wall was torn down as he was afraid that if they found out who he was he would be arrested for deserting the army back then.

So, readers, whoever you be, be thankful for what we have, and be vigilant. So many men and women have given, and are giving, their lives so we might still be free. Don't make their lives a wasted contribution, here or abroad.

December 18, 2009 - Shopping Day!

Well, the snow, so they say, is on it's way here, due to arrive this afternoon, and stay through sometime Sunday. All told, we are supposed to receive around a foot, but we'll see. They keep raising the possible total for here. They started at 3"-7", then went to 9"-12", and the latest is 8"-13". I think the total will depend on where the storm goes. They are predicting up to 16" just a tad west of where we live, so if the storm wobbles a bit, we could end up with more. We'll see.

To prepare, I will dust off the snow shovel, park our vehicles in the driveway to keep them from being plowed under, and hope the snow is light an fluffy so I can shovel it. At my age it is not wise for one to shovel snow, so I will just attempt to push it out of the way without lifting it.

Since we have not done any Christmas shopping as yet, we will be leaving shortly in order to hopefully remedy much of that before the snow arrives. We have plenty of supplies, so we should be fine food wise, by will stop by Costco and pick up more apples. We believe as the saying goes, an apple a day makes one healthy, wealthy, and tired of chewing, or something like that. But, they have managed to help us be healthy for some time, and we hope the record continues for another 20 - 30 years, even if that is a lot of chewing.

At one time I used to really get excited about snow. At the beginning of fall this year I was getting excited about the possibility of some snow this year. However, the more I thought about it, the less excited I was, remembering all the shoveling, the dirt on the vehicles, the brown snow as it melted... so much for being excited. Oh, well...

Well, tis getting to be time I woke the wife and she made ready to go. I will report on our success later, once we are stuck in the house for a few hours.