SUPPOSED TO SNOW AGAIN

I overheard the library lady telling people that it's supposed to rain or snow over the weekend. Today is a reasonably nice day though my car windows were absolutely covered with ice when I first left. That always gets me quite crazy. Last night I went to 7:00 Mass at St. Anthony of Padua in Exeter. I made the mistake of walking on the grass for a few minutes. It was absolutely saturated from all the flooding. I found out recently that pretty soon there will be a job fair at the Wachovia Arena in Wilkes_Barre. I'll be there with my resumes. I've been to a few of those things so far. They're always really interesting & informative. They're most certainly much more interesting than trying to find openings at those companies through normal channels. They even like to give out a lot of souvenirs. I noticed today that it's Michelangelo's birthday. He was born in 1475. I'm quite good at collecting trivia like that. Mary Anne called yesterday. All has been going as well as usual over there in Long Beach. Nothing much distinctive seems to be happening lately over there.

WEATHER STILL VERY BAD

It rained miserably yesterday & this morning. My car, surprisingly, wasn't even the least bit flooded although there's been much flooding in the general area. I got a call yesterday from St. Joseph's. The secretary asked me to go over at noon today to pick up my Christian Prayer book. I accidentally left it in a pew yesterday. Fran called a little while ago. She most certainly isn't all that crazy about her broken gam. I told her about all the trouble I was forced to put up with because of my arm in the early nineties. I was much younger then than she is now. To this very day, I still have all sorts of weird aches & pains because of it. Last night, I finished watching "2001: A Space Odyssey". I was forced to stay up until pert near midnight, which I can't stand. I've never been a fan of staying up late, but to my chagrin that's how it turned out. Insomnia is only one of my myriad curses. The movie has all the psychedelic trappings in it that you could expect from a sixties milestone. I've been plowing quite well through that Jules Verne book too. Karen, according to Mary Ellen & Vinnie, has been doing reasonably well lately. She's still having a very hard time of things though. The cousins have been very active lately with all sorts of e mail messages. It's very nice that we can have such an interesting time keeping in touch.

ICY COLD BITTER RAIN

Yesterday was entirely too nice to last. The rain that started this morning is absolutely miserable. It's even ice cold too. Uncle Frankie came over for a while yesterday. Of course, he made sure he had chocolate candy with him. There must not be any big news about Fran because he didn't bother to say much about her. Last night, I read a lot more of that Jules Verne book. It goes pretty fast. I especially like the extra large print in this edition. Entirely too many books have such small letters. Russian books are notorious for that. Dickens books are pretty bad about it too. Oddly, the library most certainly doesn't seem to have any kind of a crowd today. Usually a lot of people show up, at least for a little while. I've been looking through some anti_liberal sites lately. Those left_wingers really bring out quite a whole lot of resentment in everybody who disagrees with them. I guess theirs is a point of view somebody either has to share or despise in quite a hard_core kind of way. There just doesn't seem to be any available middle ground. The stakes are entirely too high.

SPRINGY DAY

I wholeheartedly welcome the very first genuinely nice day of the month. Today's the first day I've felt comfortable going out without a jacket or coat on. Also good news is that Mary Ellen has sent us all an e mail telling us that Karen's condition has been steadily improving lately. Uncle Frankie came over for a while yesterday. Fran's doing fairly well so far too. She's been having lots of trouble with mobility. She drives a car with a standard transmission & it's no picnic. Yesterday I saw "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" starring Keira Knightley, Johnny Depp & Orlando Bloom. For the information of all you trivia buffs, I just noticed that this month is even Keira Knightley's birthday. I also watched over an hour of "2001:A Space Oddysey" with Keir Dullea. I don't get channel 72 anymore, so I have to rely on my own DVDs until further notice to be able to catch any interesting movies I may wish to see these days. Last night my parents & Uncle Frankie Spent a lot of time watching the Osmonds. It was a fiftieth anniversary special. I've always kind of liked them, ever since I was only a kid. A couple of nights ago, I woke up in the middle of the night with a headache, but when I took one of my very favorite headache pills it went away. It seems to be a weather_change kind of a thing with me.

WELCOME MARCH

Last night, unfortunately, there was a pretty heavy snowstorm. The good news, though, was that all it amounted to was major aggravation. The plows were out right away. There was no ice worth bothering to complain about. Things are just covered with a nice white coat of snow. Yesterday, because of its having been Friday, there was a meat_free menu. I made sure I pigged out on peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, cheese & crackers, pasta & things like that. It's really scary, or at the very least annoying, being constantly sliding around on ice since I found out that's how Fran broke one of her gams. Unfortunately, the latest news about Karen is that she's still very sick. Bridget most certainly seems to be doing quite well these days though. She called last night & was in quite an especially talkative mood. Jo Anne sent me an e mail reminding me that the Mets have been doing well lately. That's always really good news for us Queens kids. I've never liked sports but I have to root for my home team. According to the schedule on their website they most certainly have quite a busy month up ahead of them. That means there'll be traffic congestion by whichever stadiums they're playing in. I just noticed it's snowing again.

SADIE HAWKINS DAY

Today, being the last day of a leap year February, is Sadie Hawkins Day. There's bad news for my cousin Fran. While getting ready to go home from work a couple of nights ago, she broke one of her gams. Mary Anne got a similar break a few years ago. I broke my arm in the early nineties. She's now stranded way down there & can't possibly come over here for a while. At least it happened close to work. Cathleen in California is getting weather in the seventies. That's kind of frustrating for all us poor characters who are stuck over hear in the bitter cold. Today is the last Friday dance of February. We're not allowed to eat meat either. March beckons. I can't wait for the nice weather soon to come. It's especially nice now that the sun goes down a little while later each night. Unfortunately I just got bad news from Mary Ellen. Karen's been feeling awfully ill again. They really have to keep after her. Today I paid my KofC dues. So far, unfortunately, I haven't really bothered with this council anyway but at least now I can still count on qualifying as a legitimate member. It most certainly doesn't make any sense to break a sixteen year streak. I first joined my other council in May of 1992.

FEBRUARY DWINDLES DOWN

The end of the month is very close. Nothing much different has been happening lately. I'm still plowing my way through that book. Last night I watched "Jeopardy". I've always really liked that show. It has, like "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire", a wide variety of questions. I can't stand the kinds of game shows that concentrate too much on current pop culture & trendy things. Let's just hope that March will start bringing us some much nicer weather. I absolutely can't handle winter anymore. Tomorrow, because of the leap year, will be Sadie Hawkins Day. It's based on something that was invented by Al Capp a few decades ago in his "L'il Abner" cartoon. I used to like that cartoon when I was a kid. I've been noticing that I haven't gotten any headaches lately. That's always really good news. In my much younger days, I used to get them constantly from caffeine. They were very violent. Now they're not so bad & only happen occasionally. I have no idea why I get them though. The election, speaking of headaches, is sneaking up on us. I have no idea of whom I should vote for. They all have entirely too many strikes against them as far as I'm concerned. They're just isn't anybody I consider legitimately good enough.

SNOWED AGAIN LAST NIGHT

Happy birthday to my cousins Mark, on Feb. 23 & Gary today. There was lots of rain yesterday followed by a bit of snow last night. I hardly ever bother to waste any time on the likes of Oprah Winfrey but yesterday I just couldn't help it. Rick ("Jessie's Girl") Springfield, Henry "The Fonz" Winkler & William "Captain Kirk" Shatner were all on it. Hey I couldn't help getting that extra dose of retro. They were all reminiscing about their glory days. Unfortunately, I just found out that the prominent conservative commentator, host of TV's "Firing Line", author & founder of the "National Review" William F. Buckley has died at the age of eighty two. Yesterday, I got my much_anticipated copy of "Latin Mass" magazine. You never know when a thorough knowledge of the things they cover will come in quite handy. I always seem to have to deal with people who are quite knowledgeable about obscure things. Hey you can't possibly even begin to imagine how many times I've been hanging around at bowling alleys, Walmarts, etc., when somebody will start rambling on about Kant, Locke or the Golden Age of Catholicism in seventeenth century France. A guy has to make sure he's prepared for things like that.

MORE SNOW

It's snowing again. It started somewhere during the course of the time I was at St. Joseph's. Everybody says, though, that it should dwindle down to only rain after a while. Yesterday I noticed that the Citizen's Voice, believe it or not, is now only a quarter. It used to be a half dollar. I'm still reading that Jules Verne book. Having always known of it, it's kind of odd that until recently, I'd literally never bothered to read it. It's such a cliche by now & a landmark of the Western literary canon. Yesterday I ended up eating a couple of Burger King hamburgers & French fries. It's not that I don't like that kind of food. I just dread getting into the habit of messing with it. It's quite seriously enjoyable but it's very bad for the health & weight. Mary Ellen & I have been in touch lately on e mail. Karen, unfortunately, has been having a very hard time these days. I'm still watchin "I Love Lucy" pretty much ever day these days. Old pop culture has always been much more interesting than the current & recent tripe.

BEATLE GEORGE BIRTHDAY BOY

As February progresses slowly into March, we try quite hard to recuperate from our recent snowstorm. It's getting warmer but mornings are awfully icy. Today, if he could have lived, George Harrison would have been sixty five years old. Uncle Frankie & Fran came over on Saturday night for coffee & a pastry. After he & my parents went to Michelle's grandfather's wake, Uncle Frankie came back last night for coffee & Dunkin' Donuts. Fran went back to work early. I watched "The Diary of A Country Priest". It's a real classic. I've always liked old movies & this one's one of the really good ones. Unfortunately, it's entirely in French, & I don't speak French. I was really forced to give my undivided attention to all the subtitles. I finished "The Thanatos Syndrome" yesterday & have started Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". Yesterday there were all sorts of ambulance's, policemen & emergency vehicles at a house across the street. They were there for quite a while. One of the neighbors died. His obituary was in the paper this morning. For the information of all you liberal Democrats: Yesterday I watched something about a new book, just written, that shows the hidden history of the Democratic party. The author of the book makes the point that Woodrow Wilson & FDR were both quie friendly with the KKK.