A Pennsylavania Blizzard

Yesterday we went through an absolute nightmare trying to get my car out of the pile of snow it was stuck in. The local roads & bridges around here are all in very bad shape. KrissyKrissyKrissy just got home & said they're nowhere near as good as they're supposed to be. I'm not looking forward to driving to Wilkes_Barre tomorrow. Fortunately, spring is only a little over a month away but it can't possibly come soon enough for me. I can't go to the library & my e_mail accounts are overflowing. I've been reading that Dickens book like the Dickens. I suppose I should get a haircut but I'm in no big hurry.

All White Now

As far as the eye can see, there's snow & ice. Everything's closed down. Even by Pa. standards, it's really bad out. Kingston's library's roof caved in. The lunatic next door was out with a shovel all night. I wonder what will happen with the Carmelite meeting on Saturday. KrissyKrissyKrissy is stranded, last I heard anyway, over in N.Y. where it's all ice. It's safe around here but all very seriously annoying. The great St. Valentine's Day blizzard will go down in history as a real winner. I most certainly don't even kind of envy anybody who lives in a really mountainous region.

Happy Snowy Icy Valentine's Day

The calendar says it's the Feast of St. Cyril & Methodius. The weatherman says it's a day for rain, ice sleet & hail. If somebody doesn't have to go someplace, he shouldn't. I feel sorry for anyone who's unavoidably forced to travel in this weather. So far, I reckon we must have at least around 8" of snow & ice. Hang around, read, work around the house. Lindenhurst's KofC bingo people, who play each Wednesday, must be having quite a veritable cow right about now. Maybe they'll at least get a break in time for tomorrow night.

Let It Snow Let It Snow Let It Snow

I haven't seen a for really and for truly blizzard over here since I first officially got here but alas, today's supposed to be my big moment of truth. I keep hearing that we're in for a bit of a doozy. In the famous Citizen's Voice, they even said that at least one KofC(Wilkes_Barre) council has officially cancelled tonight's meeting. I'm most certainly not looking forward to Saturday's Carmelite meeting in this weather because that roly poly South Street must be quite a doozy in very bad weather. I see they're coming out with a new $1 coin on Thursday. I've never been able to understand why people have always complained about the Susan B. Anthony & famous Indian Woman coin. I've always really liked them. They've never been the least bit popular though, unfortunately.

Party & meeting

As I said last night, yesterday's birthday party & last night's Holy Name Society were both quite groovy. Most of the kinfolk made the party & only Fr. Walsh & a few other regulars were absent from the meeting. I can't handle all that eating though. There was no hooch I knew of at the party but at the meeting there was the inevitable beer, wine & whisky. The meeting was, as usual, fairly short so I got home in time to go to bed at a civil hour. Howard wanted to know why my parents insisted on joining St. Joseph's & there was the inevitable whining about ushers. We're planning a nice party for St. Patrick's Day too. I don't suppose their parades over here can possibly compete with Manhattan's but it should be quite a very nice time. I hope by then the weather will at least be a smidge nicer.

Benjamin's Birthday Party

Today we spent most of the day at Benjamin's birthday party. His third birthday's really on Valentine's Day. He's Aunt Lauren's grandson & Michelle's son. Noreen & all the gang were there, including many friends & kinfolk of theirs whom I hadn't ever even met before. They live in a really nice mountainous neighborhood in Dallas. The food was groovy. A splendid time was had by all. In a little while I shall be going to the Holy Name Society meeting at O.L.Sorrows. There will be even more food to pig out on. I found out today at Mass that the Society of St. Pius X has organized a Million Rosaries Crusade as a spiritual bouquet for Pope Benedict XVI. I shall have more to say about this later. The weather is still cold but at least it's nowhere near as ugly as upstate New York.

Quiet Day At The Library

Today's an unusually quiet day at the library. Lately, we usually have all sorts of characters coming in to grab the computers. I like it much better this way. Noise & crowds have always gotten me stark raging nuts. Copiague was an insane asylum compared to this. I've yet to get around to going terribly far past my usual stomping grounds around here so far, but it seems to be a pretty easy place for anybody to be able to maneuver his way around. Cathleen from California & most of my usual other E connections have been curiously inconspicuous these days. It's a bit of a lull but they'll be back sooner or later. My computer is extremely slow_dial_up, but it has access to things I can't possibly get on the library computers. Their standards over here are awfully weird in these kinds of places. I've been blocked out a few times because the Friday dance has been known to include cartoon belly dancers. I've been trying to pick up as much traffic as possible for my blogs. It's quite surprising how much potential these things have. Being a cyber junkie as I always have been, I can often get overly enthused and have even gotten weird pains in my hands that most probably come from too much time at the keyboard.

Schedule Change

KrissyKrissyKrissy's schedule has changed. She now goes in at 10 p.m. instead of who_in_the_hell_even_knows_when during the day. I figured out the hard way, while employed in that world, what's meant by going postal. Now it's her turn. It's still bitter cold with no snow worth mentioning. Today's Friday so please remember to do the Friday dance to the tune of "Twist & Shout" from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" in honor of the Beatles' big anniversary. David Copperfield has been progressing quite well. It's social commentary combined with a novel. I try to read a book a week. I see Anna Nicole Smith died. It made all the papers.

Still Very Cold Out

Lately the weather is just plain too cold. It's a very nice February so far, but I still can't wait for spring to have sprung. Yesterday I got my newsletter from St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School in West Islip, N.Y. It's nice to be able to keep track of all my old friends, teachers, etc. I see Wally Lace, my twelfth grade sociology teacher is still principal. There's still no sign, just yet, of a reunion though. A few classmates & I have been awaiting some kind of notice about whatever's supposed to happen, but so far we have no idea. I was always one of the really interesting (ahem)kids in the class. It's kind of weird because out here I have absolutely no connection whatsoever to my past, although my parents are both from here. In New York, I could always count on running into somebody from my past, or at least the parents of past cronies. Here I'm just the lone confused wolf.

She Loves You Yeah Yeah Yeah...

....was one of the songs they unleashed on us. It was 43 years ago today. John, Paul, George & Ringo first came here to visit us for about six years. They've yet to be topped at the Toppermost of the Poppermost. Also on this day in 1812, as I just found out when I started re_reading David Copperfield, Charles Dickens was born. Today is also Pebbles' & BammBamm's fourteenth wedding anniversary. It's a smidge warmer today at a whopping nine degrees. Once again, I'm just plain happy not to have a substantial amount of snow. Fran snuck up from behind me here at the library yesterday. I have no idea why but yesterday there was such a crowd here I got kicked out very early.