Founded
December 17,1912 Ceased Publication
Thursday February 1, 1951
Book 1
Volume
14
This is a
previous issue re-worked with Nvu
Saturday,
February 21, 2004 7:15 AM 34 Deg at LVIA and 33.8 in the bus stop
It is a rainy,
cloudy, morning today.
Butternut has been out and I shall soon check for myself.
I checked my blood
glucose and this
reading couldn’t be correct at 107 after last night’s pig out. The
weight is 206. Golly but that was an excellent meal. I don’t know when
I ever had a better restaurant meal.
This morning we
went to Country Harvest
for a few items. Then we drove out to Sunoco in Aquashicola for gas and
then we headed home.
I
saw this on the Internet and it looked interesting.
"This picture of
the statue was made by
an Iraqi artist named Kalat, who for years was forced by Saddam Hussein
to make the many hundreds of bronze busts of Saddam that dotted
Baghdad. This artist was so grateful that the Americans liberated his
country, he melted 3 of the fallen Saddam heads and made a memorial
statue dedicated to the American soldiers and their fallen comrades.
Kalat worked on this night and day for several months. To the left of
the kneeling soldier is a small Iraqi girl giving the soldier comfort
as he mourns the loss of his comrade in arms. It is currently on
display outside the palace that is now home to the 4th Infantry
division. It will eventually be shipped and shown at the memorial
museum in Fort Hood, Texas.”
Tonight we had the
Elliston’s stop by
for dinner. Queen had chicken in the oven, rice-a-roni, a veggie
combination we got this morning along with her homemade applesauce, low
fat cottage cheese, a bowl of grape tomatoes, raw carrots. Queen made a
“Connie cake”, with a chocolate peanut butter icing for Andy’s 19th
birthday yesterday and our anniversary. It was an
excellent meal.
St
John’s Episcopal Church in the snow
Sunday,
February 22, 2004 7:30 AM 34 deg at LVIA and 30.6 in the bus stop
It is a beautiful
day this morning. At
7:36 I am in sunshine here at my computer workstation. It is cold and
windy, but beautiful.
The blood sugar was 138 and the
weight 206. I will be heading out as
soon as the coffee is ready.
The
view this morning
This morning about
10:45, I decided to
go for a walk. It was the usual, up to 1st Street across and down to
5th Street and back home. It was lonely walking all by myself. It was
too windy for Queen to go along.
I didn’t meet anyone while I was walking. I did see our neighbor, Mrs.
Laura Smith who is one of the nurses involved in that hospital drug
case, as she was getting into her car. I stopped to wish her well. She
thanked me and said it isn’t anywhere as near as bad as the things the
newspapers said of it. She seemed happy at my words. I am indeed glad
for her. We both think she is a good person.
It was too early for Pattie at church
and I saw no sign of life at the
Ashman house.
I
came upon these today
The
“New High School”
Somebody sent this
picture and I don’t
remember who it was. Apparently, it was built as the new High school,
later to become the Franklin Avenue elementary school. Now it has been
turned into apartments. It must be darn old.
The
old Palmerton Supply store and later to be the Printing Company
building, now Pencor
These pictures are from the
collection of the Palmerton Camera Club. I
photographed them with my digital camera, from a billboard of photos
the camera club exhibited at the festival some time ago.
The
little white church
They
all turned out far better than I expected.
Monday,
February 23, 2004 7:24 AM 28 deg at LVIA and 25 deg in the bus stop
Sheez, this
morning the weight was 204
and the blood sugar 139. I am happy to see the weight at least going
down. If it goes low enough, so will the blood sugar as well as other
potential problems.
I took my coffee,
tush cushion, and went
up to the upper park bench this morning. It is a beautiful day, today.
For the first time this year, I
heard a Cardinal singing in a
tree somewhere nearby. At 28 degrees, it is chilly but there is no
wind. Soon I shall be looking forward to the geese flying north for the
new coming spring solstice.
Today is the
“dreaded sheet day”, which
means it will be a big wash for Queen. While she is doing that, I plan
to go to the “Iron Works” for my Monday stint at the machinery.
It is nice to sit
here, with my feet up
and my cordless keyboard and mouse, and type this with the sun shining
here on the work area.
I have been down
and am now back. I had
a good shot at the equipment. My God but that treadmill is boring! They
have three television sets around the walls, but the one nearest the
treadmill that I was on had one of those insipid morning woman’s
programs on it. Sheez!!
After I returned,
we went downtown. On
the way to the bank, we stopped at the Post Office to mail a
letter. There we met Dottie Shupp as she was leaving. She
told us exactly how many days before the Palmerton Memorial Park pool
opens. She counts down from the closing day forward. She like the
recipes that sometimes appears here. She said she is having
lunch today, with our old friend, Helen Wisocky. We sent our best.
Hey, here is a computer tip I saw
yesterday. If you have a wireless
optical mouse, as I do, use an all white background as a mouse pad. It
is supposed to make it more efficient and increase the life of the
mouse’s internal batteries. Now, I have a sheet of white bond paper
down as a mouse pad. We shall see.
In regard to your
monitor, if your
computer has XP on it try this. . It is a free program that
really made print appear very much clearer and more readable on my CRT
monitor. It is designed specifically for the flat screens of
laptops and thin LCD display monitors. It is basically for
XP. I heartily recommend it. I put it on Queen’s laptop and it did help
a lot. http://www.ioisland.com/cleartweak.
Tonight once
again, we dined in God’s
restaurant. Queen made Turketti. Spaghetti made with ground turkey,
instead of beef. It was excellent. I saved a part of my portion for a
lunch. Then we finished off the small slice of left over cherry pie she
made yesterday. It was an excellent meal. As long as I take
my new blood pressure medication with supper, I have no problem with
upset stomach as I did earlier.
Here are some more of the pictures I
took at the festival of the Camera
Club’s exhibit.
The
Horse Head Inn and its
demolition. The
demolition picture is my own.
I got this from my
brother in law,
Walter. I have seen it before but it does bear repeating.
One
day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class
was walking home from school.
His name was Kyle.
It looked like he was carrying
all of his books.
I thought to myself, "Why would
anyone bring home all his books on a
Friday?
He must really be a nerd."
I had quite a weekend planned
(parties and a football game with my
friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.
As I was walking, I saw a bunch
of kids running toward him.
They ran at him, knocking all
his books out of his arms and tripping
him so he landed in the dirt.
His glasses went flying, and I
saw them land in the grass about ten
feet from him.
He looked up and I saw this
terrible sadness in his eyes.
My heart went out to him.
So, I jogged over to him and as he
crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye.
As I handed him his glasses, I
said, "Those guys are jerks.
They really should get lives.
" He looked at me and said, "Hey
thanks!"
There was a big smile on his
face.
It was one of those smiles that
showed real gratitude.
I helped him pick up his books,
and asked him where he lived.
As it turned out, he lived near
me, so I asked him why I had never seen
him before.
He said he had gone to private
school before now.
I would have never hung out with
a private school kid before.
We talked all the way home, and
I carried some of his books.
He turned out to be a pretty
cool kid.
I asked him if he wanted to play
a little football with my friends.
He said yes.
We hung out all weekend and the
more I got to know Kyle, the more I
liked him, and my friends thought the same of him.
Monday morning came, and there
was Kyle with the huge stack of books
again.
I stopped him and said, "Boy,
you are gonna really build some serious
muscles with this pile of books everyday!
" He just laughed and handed me
half the books.
Over the next four years, Kyle
and I became best friends.
When we were seniors, we began
to think about college.
Kyle decided on Georgetown, and
I was going to Duke.
I knew that we would always be
friends, that the miles would never be a
problem.
He was going to be a doctor, and
I was going for business on a football
scholarship.
Kyle was valedictorian of our
class.
I teased him all the time about
being a nerd.
He had to prepare a speech for
graduation.
I was so glad it wasn't me
having to get up there and speak.
Graduation day, I saw Kyle.
He looked great.
He was one of those guys that
really found himself during high school.
He filled out and actually
looked good in glasses.
He had more dates than I had and
all the girls loved him.
Boy, sometimes I was jealous.
Today was one of those days.
I could see that he was nervous
about his speech.
So, I smacked him on the back
and said, "Hey, big guy, you'll be great!"
He looked at me with one of
those looks (the really grateful one) and
smiled.
"Thanks," he said.
As he started his speech, he
cleared his throat, and began.
"Graduation is a time to thank
those who helped you make it through
those tough years.
Your parents, your teachers,
your siblings, maybe a coach...but mostly
your friends...
I am here to tell all of you
that being a friend to someone is the best
gift you can give them.
I am going to tell you a story."
I just looked at my friend with
disbelief as he told the story of the
first day we met.
He had planned to kill himself
over the weekend.
He talked of how he had cleaned
out his locker so his Mom wouldn't have
to do it later and was carrying his stuff home.
He looked hard at me and gave me
a little smile.
"Thankfully, I was saved.
My friend saved me from doing
the unspeakable."
I heard the gasp go through the
crowd as this handsome, popular boy
told us all about his weakest moment.
I saw his Mom and dad looking at
me and smiling that same grateful
smile.
Not until that moment did I
realize it's depth.
Never underestimate the power of
your actions.
With one small gesture you can
change a person's life.
For better or for worse.
God puts us all in each other's
lives to impact one another in some way.
Look for God in others.
Tuesday,
February 24, 2004 7:20 AM 34 deg at LVIA and 31.1 deg in the bus stop
Golly but that
scale must be broken.
This morning it said 203, and the blood sugar is 132, So far so
good. I have to laugh, whenever they are visiting us, son in
law Jim Hill always weighs himself. When the readings are high, he
laments that our scale is broken. When he happens to get a favorable
reading he tells as that he sees that we got the scale fixed. It is a
doctor type balanced bean scale so it should be accurate.
It is snowing lightly this morning. I doubt if I will see or hear any
geese this morning but Butternut Fred, our stalwart beagle, and I shall
check it out as soon as the Starbucks is ready. <Later> I
just came in from my trip to the park bench. You know I grouse and moan
about the damn winter, but it is lovely sitting up there in the very
light snow. Yes, I know I am nuts. Oh, the quantity is supposed to be
small but a little does go a long way in the beauty department.
So far we don’t
have anything important
on the fire planed for this morning. I presume we will have to pick up
a pair of prescriptions sometime today.
I have been
having problems with a
magazine subscription. They want all the information from the label
With all the danger of screwing up typing a letter or number I got out
the digital camera set in macro mode and took a picture of the label,
reduced its size and with my IncrediMail inserted it in the body of the
letter as a forward of their question. This, is a whole lot easier and
more accurate, at least I hope so.
After lunch at
Queen’s suggestion, [Ha!]
I went out and cleared the snow from the sidewalk. There wasn’t more
than an inch and none at all in some spots, but what was there was damn
heavy. I used Queen’s new yellow QVC shovel. I took it off Mike’s as
well as Bernice Kleintop’s, walks. On Saturday and Sunday, they want
temperatures in the 50s.
Tonight for supper
we had a boneless
salmon steak each, lefover rice, broccoli for her and Brussels sprouts
for me. As Tommy calls them, “little balls of s**t” Ha!! We had coffee
for dessert and Queen gave me an end piece of her ice cream bar. This
being a good kid stinks!!! Tomorrow, I expect a higher blood sugar
level. It always is with salmon.
I came across these old pictures in
my files.
These two pictures were taken at about the same spot. The one on the
left is a very old print of the chain bridge. The one on the right,
Queen and I took several years ago, when we walked the Walnutport
canal. The new bridge can be seen in the distance.
The
Chain bridge
I remember the
chain bridge. Mom used to
drive the big Packard over it to go to Allentown. Any kind of an automobile trip
was a real adventure.
Admittedly, I was pretty young in those days. I also remember the coal
dredges on the Lehigh River, as well as the mules and the canal boats.
Now, that is ancient!
Wednesday,
February 25, 2004 7:13 AM 21 deg at LVIA and 17.8 in the bus stop
Golly, the weight
was 204 but the blood
glucose is 155 today. Salmon always raises it. Sigh!!! It looks like a
nice day today is at hand. It is cold now,
but it is to warm up as the week progresses. Golly, as I write this
sunshine is now shining on the underlined word, sunshine, here on my
computer monitor at 7:27 AM. As I said,
it only happens here twice a year, Better days are coming!!!
I took these pictures this morning with some of yesterday’s snow
glistening on the trees in the early morning sunshine.
This
is indeed a lovely sight.
Butternut and I
were out there long
enough for me to consume a cup of Starbucks coffee. It is windy and
quite brisk this morning. I took the camera along just on the remote
chance of seeing geese this morning, since we are right over their
flyway north. I doubt it because of the strong northwest winds. Tommy
says they like a tail wind. That means as the wind shifts to
the southwest, I will probably see and hear them later this week.
I plan to go to “Iron Works” this
morning. I will have to ask Queen
what her plans will be today. Ah, she plans to go with me. That is good!
We both went to the “Works” this morning. Queen used the seated stepper
for quite awhile, the treadmill, and stationary bike. At the same time,
I was on the treadmill for my usual walk. Then I went on to the upper
body machines. Geez, this year the swimming should go better than ever.
<Ha!> Hey, at 77, I am no kid anymore. We both enjoyed it
and I am sure it is helping both of us.
From there, we went to the
Times News office for a short
visit and on to IGA and County Harvest for a few items. We met George
Ashman as he was arriving at IGA.
I have been communicating via e-mail
with my old favorite classical
Radio station KDFC in San Francisco, CA. They stopped streaming back
when all this royalty foolishness started a couple of years ago. I
always liked their format as well as they’re on air personalities. I
have kept in touch with them to find out if they were going to restart
at any time. Up to now, it has been fruitless. Now, I find that they
are going to resume shortly. Their sister station WGMS, in Washington
DC, is streaming audio which I also enjoy, but somehow they stuck as a
favorite.
Unlike WQXR, which is owned and operated by the New York Times, KDFC as
WGMS are both owned by Bonneville International, which is in turn owned
by the Mormon Church. Their whole air of their programming reflects the
church’s higher standards. Both are sources of hearing the
Mormon Tabernacle choir, which I do enjoy very much. I have absolutely
no love for the NY Times!!!! KDFC + can be found here at http://kdfc.com/
I heartily recommend them.
Tonight for
supper, Queen had
sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, and pork. It was delicious. The pork was
very tender from the pressure cooker and that silver floss bagged
sauerkraut when washed, is damn good! The mashed potatoes done by me
were good also. We even had a few of them left.
Thursday,
February 26, 2004 7:22 AM 27 deg at LVIA and 18.7 in the bus stop
Today the blood
glucose was 135 and the
weight 205. It looks like a wonderful day this morning. I am going out
with my coffee now.
I sat out on the
lower park bench with
my coffee and the dog. No geese yet, but dummy got really snookered. As
I sat there, I saw a wire coming up to the neighbor’s house across the
street with an owl sitting on it. I quickly ran to get the camera and
took this picture.
Then I moved up in the yard for a different angle shot, and lo and
behold, the owl turned out to be a chimney! Bear in mind, this was shot
at 3X magnification. Geez!! Well, I didn’t have my glasses on so!!!!!
However,
it is a beautiful day.
Friday,
February 27, 2004 8:23 AM 27 deg at LVIA and 25.2 in the bus stop
I am off to a late
start this morning. I
had to go to the hospital for some tests and blood work, Dr
Nicholson is checking me out a bit further basically at Queen’s
instigation. Apparently my business with the “ indigestion “ last week
caused her to insist that we get an appointment with him for a further
look see. So yesterday, we both met with him for a further examination.
I realize that at 77, I too am getting older and must keep health
issues in mind, not only hers but mine as well. As we age together, I
want to be here for her as we’ll as me. I had lost four pounds since my
last visit two weeks ago.
My Dad had a history of diabetes as well as heart problems. Therefore,
he instituted some tests. This morning I had a blood test and an EKG.
We will all know more later. This morning my weight was 205 and the
blood glucose was 132, so far so good.
For the first time
this year, I opened
up the glider at the upper end of the property and had my coffee there.
It is a great beginning for the new season now with the temperatures on
the rise.
This
from last year, Better days are coming!! Ah
This morning we
plan to do our food
shopping. <2:02 PM> We have been down and back. We got a
lot done and had a smooth trip all the way. It was Aldi, Wal-Mart,
Giant, Super-Fresh, and finally Rite Aid to get the prescriptions. We
got a big pail of Purina 1 dog food at Wal-Mart for a damn good
price. I got a CD ROM 1 million recipe cookbook for Queen that I
installed on her computer. It looks interesting.
I have been
enjoying my newly returned
classical radio station, KDFC in San Francisco, CA. I have added it to
my list of music sources. I switch back and forth between my available
locations for classical music, WQXR, WGMS, and XM satellite radio.
I notice they are
having the same
problem those most streaming radio stations that have returned to the
Internet. They must not broadcast all the commercials over the Internet
that they do on the air. That means the stuff they use to fill in is
endlessly repeated until the music returns. It is annoying but I can
live with it. WQXR fills in with a few tracks of other classical music
that may be abruptly ended to return to the regular
programming. I am sure they will learn how to
handle it.
Since the computer is on all
day and I admittedly do spend a
lot of to me at it, I find it “good for the soul” well anyway my soul.
Well, it is time to close this for
the week.
Please love one another,
Mom and Bob,{Queen and Bobby}
Everything is funny," said Will
Rogers, "as long as it is happening to
someone
else
