Founded
December 17,1912 Ceased Publication
Thursday February 1, 1951
Book 1 Volume 4
This
is a previous issue that has been re-worked with Nvu.
Saturday, December
13, 2003, 7:27 AM 25 Deg at LVIA, 24.7 in the bus stop
It looks like a beautiful day this
morning. As I sat at the Park bench, one would never suspect that we
already have winter storm watches up all along the east coast.
<Grr>
As I was heading
for the bench I was
greeted by Nan Campton and her dog in the alley behind us.
This morning my
blood glucose was 127
and my weight 206. Last evening I made beef stew with dumplings. It is
a favorite of mine. Queen isn’t wild about the dumpling, but she went
along with it. She was tired yesterday from the cookie factory, as well
as having a late afternoon appointment with the hairdresser. She got
her hair cut and trimmed. She really looks nice.
Last evening after
dark, as I was
putting the car away, I drove by a few homes and shot some pictures.
Those shots are hard to take in ambient light without a tripod. I took
most of them from inside the car holding the camera firmly with the
car’s window opening as a solid base. Some are better than others.
Below are some photos of
homes
in the area
A certain reader of these epistles
will recognize this place.
These
are miniature photos of Joe Lendvay’s decorated tree as seen above.
This morning we decided to walk
downtown. I had to mail some letters
and then stopped in at Shea’s and on the way back to the car I saw
Pattie while she was shopping. She found the way to open these web
pages. She thought they were good. That makes the old man
happy. Both she and Sharon like them as well as the whole
concept. As professionals, I really value their opinions. The
concept is good, but my execution is another matter. This is only my
fourth attempt plus the fact that I never did this before
in my life.
Some of what I see when I open
my web page appalls me. To all
who read this so far they are still available on line.
This afternoon I
attempted to repair
some of gross errors in last weeks letter and opened a completely new
assortment of problems. Sheez. In attempting to make repairs, I screwed
it up so badly that I had to re-do the entire thing. As I looked at it
after reinstalling it, I think I used the unproof read and corrected
copy. Sorry about that. This is one of the advantages of not being a
perfectionist. <Grin>
At this time in my
“career,” I seemed to
be unable to save it as the original heading so I re-sent it with a
slightly different URL. Hence the [a] suffix! Sheez!!!
The cookie factory
has been going full
steam ahead. I attempt to stay out of the kitchen and have only had
samples as she offered them to me. She is trying to help me. The
problem is that my halo is strangling me. Being good is not nearly as
much fun. Oh, I cannot complain, we eat damn well here.
Tonight for supper
we had leftovers. We
had leftover stroganoff, cooked carrots, tomato, cottage cheese salad,
and an ice cream bar for dessert. It was good and it was plenty.
Sunday,
December 14, 2003 7:24 AM 25 Deg at LVIA and 24.8 in the bus stop
Hey, wonderful
news this morning,
MOMENTOUS news, Sadam Hussein has been captured. All of the rest of
this stuff is very unimportant. That is very good news. Golly, I wonder
how Osama bin Laden will be sleeping tonight. The noose is getting
tighter and tighter.
Oh, by the way, it
is snowing like Hell
this morning. So, what else is new? Well for one thing, my blood sugar
was 127 and my weight 206.
Butternut has been
out and he is waiting
on the landing for Queen. I plan to take a cup of coffee and go sit on
the park bench while I can still find it in snow.
I went there with
my coffee, cushion,
and camera. As I sat there I could hear a whooshing
sound , much like escaping of steam, gas, and hot air,
perhaps from Vermont. <Chuckle!! Chuckle!!>
However, it really was a jetliner off to the northeast high
above all this stuff.
After a few pictures and a few sips
of coffee, I decided that this
really was nuts, so I came in. Here are a few of the scenes that I took
out in the snow it was fun though.
Queen is working
on the Christmas cards
before supper while I am reheating the stew and dumplings from the
other night. Earlier, Queen was busy mixing up cookie dough and is
tired, so supper will be quick and easy tonight. Hey, it was good.
Monday,
December 15, 2003 7:32 AM 27 Deg at LVIA and 24.7 in the bus stop
This morning my
blood glucose was 123
and my weight was 206. It looks like a mess out there this morning. I
have not ventured forth as yet. A bit later, I will get out the snow
blower and try to clean off some of this stuff. It looks like a snow,
sleet, and ice mixture. <Sigh>
<Later>
Golly but that was
a chore. I used the snow blower to clear the walks from the garage down
to the house. There was snow on the bottom but a layer of sleet and ice
on top. I had to push the thing hard, but it did it. However, when I
got down to the sidewalk, it was a different story. Yesterday’s good
neighbors clearing of the walks removed the lower layer of
snow, but what was there was only the sleet, and ice and it
would not budge. So I applied some melt stuff.
Later, I went down town in the car to
the Post Office and bank. Before
I went, I was able to clear off our garage area and most of Mike’s
garage area with the blower.
After I got back,
it looked as though it
might be melting, so I got the blower out again and after quite a bit
of a struggle it did come off. Thank God!
On the way, home I
stopped in at the TN
office for a short visit. Pattie said she wanted to do a column on
other folk’s pleasant memories of the Christmas seasons, but she had
difficulties finding anybody with any early pleasant memories. She
already had some of my thoughts.
Queen also has her
fond memories. She
and her sister Grace, knew very well that their Father would not permit
them to have a bicycle due to danger problems, as he perceived two
little girls operating a bike in the City of Huntington, WV.
So they got their heads
together and thought a scooter would
be just the thing. She told Mom and Dad that they wanted scooter more
than anything else, even if they didn’t get another thing for
Christmas.
The way he talked, it looked remote for the same reason as the
bike.
Low and behold on Christmas day there was their red scooter under the
tree. There were two happy girls that morning! Little did he realize
that when they were given roller skates previously, those two girls
were all over the city in a way he had no idea was happening. Of
course, they didn’t do anything to inform him of their travels.
<Grin> We all have those wonderful memories, if we look
for them.
Sheez that is no problem for me. I
told Pattie that the park bench is a
wonderful place to reminisce. Sometimes I even write them down. Maybe I
just have too much time on my hands.
Golly, if I had
carefully planed my
retirement, I could not have done anything I enjoy more. It sure wasn’t
planned this way, but it certainly worked out that
way
My life all changed when I got
my first computer. I was ready
to take it back to Radio Shack. I was thoroughly disgusted
and discouraged. At that time Queen was in the hospital with pneumonia
and daughter, Mary, and Jim were up to visit her and they persuaded
me to stick with it and give it a chance. Hey, I am not
ungrateful. Mary has offered a lot of good advice. She has used them at
work for years. I am utterly amazed to watch her fingers fly over the
keys and not have to look at the keyboard. I am much too lazy to learn
touch-typing. After a fashion, hunt and peck gets the job done, abeit
with lots of typos. Geez, now it seems that the day isn’t long enough.
At Queen’s
instigation, I took a hot
shower after my stint on the blower before my nap. Golly, I sure needed
that.
Tonight the cook
is out in the kitchen
preparing spaghetti. We will be dining in God’s restaurant. It doesn’t
get any better than that. Hey, who ever coined the phrase “comfort
food” hit this one right on the nose.
Tuesday,
December 16, 2003 7:57 AM 25 Deg at LVIA and 24.8 in the bus stop
I am posting a bit
later this morning.
Butternut was out while I prepared coffee and took my readings. This
morning my blood glucose was136 and weight 206.
I took my coffee,
tush cushion, broom,
and my camera up to the park bench this morning. It is a beautiful day.
I took a few pictures posted here below. Nothing spectacular, but
nonetheless it is a lovely day on hand.
These are pictures from the steam
from our neighbor Jean’s dryer to the
sky and moon.
After I
returned decided to
cook up the ham bone and smoked ham butt I had out in the bus
stop, and begin the ham and bean soup process. Once it is
cooled the longer it sets the better, it gets as all the flavors blend.
Now the cooked ham is cooling and I shall have to process it
About 10:15, I decided to go for a
short walk. I got down as far as 269
Columbia and saw that the sidewalks from there down were all snow
covered. So, I crossed over and walked up to the end of the block at
1st Street, across and down to 2nd, up to the alley and went down and
got
the car out. Queen wanted to go to Wal-Mart this morning. Among the
stuff purchased was a big jar of V8 vegetable juice for the
ham and bean soup. The trip went well and we were back about 12:45 PM.
I got this from Bob Green. I am glad
he lets me plagiarize his stuff
A Nun asked her class to write
notes to God. Here are some
they handed in:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God: I didn't think orange
went with purple until I saw the sunset
You made on Tuesday. That was cool.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God: Instead of letting
people die and having to make new ones,
why don't You keep the ones You already have?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God: Maybe Cain and Abel
would not have killed each other if they
had their own rooms. That's what my Mom did for me and my brother.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God: If You watch me in
church on Sunday, I'll show You my new
shoes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God: I bet it is very hard
to love everyone in the whole world.
There are only 4 people in our family and I'm having a hard time loving
all of them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God: In school they told us
what You do. Who does it when You are
on vacation?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God: Are You really
invisible or is it just a trick?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God: Is it true my father
won't get into heaven if he uses his
bowling words in the house?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God: Did You mean for the
giraffe to look like that or was it an
accident?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God: Who draws the lines
around the countries?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God: I went to this wedding
and they kissed right in the church.
Is that OK?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God: Did You really mean
"do unto others as they do unto you"?
Because if You did, then I'm going to get my brother good.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God: Thank You for the baby
brother, but I think you got confused
because what I prayed for was a puppy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God: Please send me a pony.
I never asked for anything before. You
can look it up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God: I want to be just like
my Daddy when I get big, but not with
so much hair all over.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God: You don't have to
worry about me; I always look both ways.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God: I think about You
sometimes, even when I'm not praying.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God: Of all the people who
worked for You, I like Noah and David
the best.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God: My brother told me
about being born but it doesn't sound
right. They're just kidding, aren't they?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God: I would like to live
900 years just like the guy in the
Bible.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God: We read Thomas Edison
made light. But in Sunday school they
said You did it. So, I bet he stole Your idea.
Tonight for supper
Queen had pork,
sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes. It was good. Then we had a pair of
raisin cookies each and a cup of coffee for dessert.
Wednesday,
December 17, 2003 7:32 AM 36 Deg at LVIA and 33.8 in the bus stop
It is raining hard this morning.
Today my blood glucose was 133 and my
weight 207. So far, I have had my “halo” firmly in place. Queen has all
of her freshly baked cookies on the dining room table and every time I
walk past I can distinctly hear the raisin cookies calling softly
Bobby, Bobby, here we are! Gee, whiz!!!
This morning it was too wet to sit
out on the park bench so Butternut
had to wing it in the rain by himself.
About 10:30, it stopped raining so I
decided I had better go for a
walk. It was good walking even if the weather looked crummy. It was up
to 1st Street across and down
to 5th and then home. Along the way I took a bunch of pictures.
The
hitching post and
former Blount house on Columbia
I think that
the cookie factory is
finally finishing up. She was at it for some time. She discovered that
it was much easier placing parchment paper on the cookie sheets. The no
clean up feature is a lot of help. Below is a
picture that I got from Bob Green along with his description.
“Delaware
Avenue in Palmerton (looking northwest - Palm Theater marquee visible
on the left edge of the picture), 1943.
Although the year 2003 is going down as
our wettest in history in this area of Pennsylvania, here's a picture
just found in an old dusty trunk showing what rains, 60 years ago,
did. I understand this was not an infrequent occurrence back
then.
With flood control measures in place,
now there is seldom more than a trickle going through Park Creek, as
those of you who have been back in town know.
Any
locals remember floods like this in town?”
Thanks,
Bob
Here
is an excellent way to keep informed on important events,
http://www.newsemergency.com/
Thursday,
December 18, 2003 7:30Am 34 Deg at LVIA and 30.8 in the bus stop
It is a nice day
this morning. I sat up
on the park bench in comfort this morning. My weight was 208 and the
blood glucose was 132 after the salmon meal last night.
We will be doing
our shopping this
morning. <Later> It really wasn’t crowded at all. This
week we decided to cut back on our buying. Queen says, the camel can
live off the hump for a while. We only went to Aldi and Wal-Mart this
morning.
I saw in last
night's Times News that
Betty George died. She was married to Charlie George who also was a
letter carrier for the USPS for years. She was 78 years old, and I
recall her being in High School a grade or two ahead of me. Speaking of
the postal service, Pattie had a great story about one of our favorites
over there who has since retired, Paulette Hopkins. Here is Pattie’s
story:
“LIFESTYLES
Kresgeville woman never bored,
never boring
By PATTIE MIHALIK
pmihalik[at]tnonline.com
The Honda that's been officially
named "Paulette's Beautiful Baby" no
longer can be seen each day in the Palmerton Post Office parking lot.
Behind the post office counter,
the blue-eyed blonde with the big smile
is gone, too.
After 20 years of service,
Paulette Hopkins officially retired from the
U.S. Postal Service.
She filled her last day of work
with the zeal and enthusiasm she put
into every day on the job. But this time she added a creative twist.
The Kresgeville woman came to work dressed as Zorro, her long time hero.
She is so enamored of Guy
Williams, the actor who first made Zorro
famous, that she has spent plenty of her own time and money trying to
give the actor the recognition she believes he deserves.
Area residents can recall the
incredible success that Hopkins has had
in that endeavor.
When she discovered the Bronx had
a Walk of Fame, she wrote to
officials there asking if they knew Guy Williams was from the Bronx.
They didn't. Because of her continued efforts, the Bronx Walk of Fame
committee named Williams as the first posthumously recipient of that
honor.
"It was a glorious time that I
will never forget," she says. "Guy's son
came dressed as Zorro and was really happy to have his father included
in the Bronx Walk of Fame."
But she didn't stop there.
She wanted to do something to
persuade the Hollywood Walk of Fame to do
the same thing. The committee that names those to be included on that
legendary sidewalk are reluctant to honor anyone posthumously because
there are so living stars deserving of the honor.
How can a Palmerton postal clerk
persuade Hollywood to do anything?
Paulette didn't know but she
wanted to try.
She placed an ad in Variety and
The Hollywood reporter making note of
the Bronx Walk of Fame.
"I can't say that was the cause of
what happened, but right after those
ads appeared a representative for the Hollywood Walk of Fame contacted
Guy's son. In August of 2001, Guy's star was placed in the sidewalk
down from the Roosevelt Hotel," she says.
When the star was unveiled on the
famous walk, Hopkins was there with
Guy's son and other members of the fan club.
Why did a small town postal clerk
get the idea and the clout to help
all that happen?
"I just happen to admire Guy
Williams for the type life he led. Yes, I
always like the Zorro character but I liked the niceness of the guy
behind the mask even more," she says.
Her explanation for why she was
able to persuade officials to honor Guy
Williams years after his death: "Anything can happen if you try hard
enough."
Anything can happen when you're
around Paulette Hopkins, too. Inside a
quiet demeanor lies an adventurous heart and a lively spirit drawn to
many interests.
But most people don't know much
about Paulette because she is always
more interested in hearing about others than she is in telling her own
tales. What made her a favorite with hundreds of Palmerton post office
patrons is her friendliness and her sincere interests in others.
If someone needed help in any
area, Paulette would often be the one to
help or to tell them where to go for that help. "I guess I'm just good
at connecting people," she says, "because I meet so many interesting
folks and what they tell me stays in my mind."
She says she is grateful for "all
the wonderful people" she was able to
meet while working in the post office. "It is their kindness that I
will always carry with me."
Unlike Zorro, Paulette doesn't
intend to ride off in the sunset. She
plans to use her early retirement to expand her interests and her
horizons. "I'm always interested in doing new things and learning new
things," she says.
A practitioner of Reiki, a healing
art that channels energy to help
people heal, Paulette says she intends to spend more time helping
others through Reiki.
This month she witnessed how Reiki
also helps horses. After going to a
training program to learn how to handle horses, she and a group of
Reiki practitioners spent a day working with the animals.
"If a horse had a particular
problem, the owner didn't tell us. But it
was amazing how we could zero in on the problem just by working with
the horse," she says. For instance, she tells the story of one Reiki
master who kept feeling around one horse's heart, saying she felt there
was a problem there. "Finally she said to the owner, 'This horse has a
broken heart.' The owner got tears in her eyes and told us the stable
mate of the horse had just died."
To hone her Reiki skills, Hopkins
says she plans to take some classes
centered on the powers of the mind, a subject that fascinates her. She
is also interested in exploring psychic powers and spiritualism. In
July, she plans to take a cruise to Alaska with a metaphysical group
that will include sessions on all areas of spiritualism
as well as the usual cruise
offerings.
With her adventuresome spirit and
her willingness to try new things,
Paulette often finds fun in a wide variety of activities. When a friend
asks her to try participating in a drum circle, Paulette had never
heard of that activity. But after her first night, she was hooked.
"You never know if you're going to
like something until you try it,"
she says. "I just like to get out there and meet people and try new
activities."
Maybe that's why the Jonas woman
is never bored and never boring.”
We had lunch and I put the car
away. It is rest time for the
old geezer
<Later>I
followed the
advice of the man from Prolog in determining the size of my disk space
with them. This from Prolog, “Your disk space is actually broken down
for each account. If you want to know how much your web page is taking
up, I use a very simple trick. I put all of the files I use on my web
page in one folder on my computer. Then "right-click" on the
folder and select "properties." Actually, it was very easy. I
opened the Prolog web information displayed on my computer’s “my
network” and copied all the files shown there into a new file that I
labeled web space and put it on my desktop. Now all I need do is put my
cursor on the icon and look at properties, there it all is. Of course,
any time I add something or remove it, I will have to update the file,
but hey, that is easy. It is slick. Right now, I am at 3.33 MB.
My god but
I am getting old. These are our great grand daughters Kayla,
above is in 6th grade
Maria in 7th grade is shown below
Friday,
December 19, 2003 7:24 AM 28 Deg at LVIA and 27.3 in the bus stop
This morning my blood glucose was 134
and my weight 208. We are getting
close to the shortest day of the year, so there is no sun here yet. I
will be heading out for my usual, trip to our park bench.
<Later> It is no wonder I cannot see any sun, it is quite
overcast and with a stray snowflake. It was good sitting up there. I
saw Lee Bollinger on his morning walk.
This morning I go to Dr. Nicholson’s
office for my regular tire kick and
oil check [weigh me and take my blood pressure]
Judy asked me to
put these pictures in
to prove that they actually do work. Well they sure do
This is the former Danenberg residence on Columbia.
Bill Danneberg,Sr
was a good friend to the Elliston family when we really needed it. It
is appreciated.
It is about time to end this weeks
letter. May God bless you all and a
very Merry Christmas to everyone.
Please Love one
another, Mom and
Bob [Queen and Bobby]
