Ace Wisdom

The year 2010 began with Nana passing away.  Oh how she lived!  She taught an extended family how to love and care.

The year ends with temperatures this morning at 41 degrees.  I remember past New Year’s Eves where the temperature dipped to 20 degrees below 0.

I suffered through two dental root canals complete with new crowns.  My dentist eats well.

Your Mom and I redid our Will so it is up to date.

We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary with a testimony from our children at St. Anna.  Nana almost lived to see her favorite daughter and son-in-law married for 50 years.  To put some perspective on Nana’s longevity, she was 49 years old when your Mom and I got married (that is younger than Grasshopper No.1).  Our anniversary memories will be “golden”.

My brother Jack passed away.  It is not right that a younger brother die first.

We took several trips though Wausau on the Tundra on the way to visit Grasshopper No.5.  One trip went way beyond Minneapolis to Moorhead, Minnesota to visit Nana’s sister Lois.  For sure it was memorable for your Mom.  Cousins.  Nieces.  Nephews.  And More.

Grasshopper No.3 and I got to witness the Big 10 game of the year when the UW Badgers beat Ohio State in a night game in Madison.  It was big, big, big.  It was the prelude to a championship.  What?  Grasshopper No.4 missed the big event.

Grasshopper No.3 and I helped close down an investment club.  We took our gains (yes, there were some gains) and we bought a Big Mac at McDonalds.  Six years of astute investment decsions and we get a lousy hamburger at the greasy spoon.  Sounds like all my personal investment decisions.

Grandson Collin entered the Marines in April.  I think his next promotion is to General.

Grandson Grant entered Middleton High school in last fall.  He already has the school scoring record in basketball.

Grasshopper No.5 picks up a brand new black shiny SUV with four wheel drive today in a blizzard in Minneapolis on the last day of the year.  For No.5 it will be memorable.

Your Mom ends the year looking better than when the year began.  Wait, that means she is getting younger.  How come I keep getting older?

I will end the year by offering a free Epson Printer (one year old) including unopened cartridges of ink to any family member interested.  I got a new “photo capable” printer for Christmas.  The Epson works great.  Just call or e-mail.

As I close 2010 with my last blog of the year, my wish and prayer is that next year is better than ever.  May all your resolutions come true.  Have a Happy New Year.!

Love,

Dad

 

Christmas generates tremendous anxiety.  There is the emotional overload.  There is pressure.  There is depression.  There is exhaustion.  And then it is over!  A warm glow settles in over the experience and we look forward to doing it again next year.

Grasshopper No.5 has squeezed her “stuff” into the little “red bug” and is headed back to the Twin Cities.

The local mall has taken down the Santa Claus visitation booth.  No more kiddies.  No more pets to be photographed by Santa.

Some late Christmas cards are still trickling in.

Our garbage cans are over-flowing.

Your Mom has down loaded her first book on Kindle.  The first one was free.  Grasshopper No.5 helped set up the system.  The true test is going to be the down load of book No.2.

Slowly the Christmas gifts we received are being put in their proper places so that they blend with the rest of the house.

The refrigerator is beginning to look normal.  All the special dishes have either been eaten or given away.

Finally there is this a pile of sales receipts for all the gifts that were charged.  Lots and lots of little white slips.  Where is Santa when you need him?

It will be 362 days until the next Christmas.

Enjoy the New Years holiday.  There will be great sporting events on the “tube” including the Badgers in the Rose Bowl and the Packers entertaining the Chicago Bears for a playoff birth.

Love,

Dad

 

 

Merry Christmas to all!

It is hard to believe that is already Christmas Eve.  Santa has fed the reindeer and I assume they are in full flight by now.

I did walk the mall this morning (early) and by 8:00 AM it was bustling.  You can shop until 6:00 PM tonight. 

I found a penny while walking this morning.  That is a good sign.  It will be a lucky day.  The head of the penny was facing up so I know somebody was watching me.  I wonder who?

My saga with the “used” Lexus has ended.  The dashboard light that warned of low tire pressure has finally gone out.  I had filled the four tires with air but the light stayed on.  I went back to the filling station a second time to top the pressure out at 40 psi so there would be no mistake that the tires had enough air.  The light stayed on.  I called the local car dealer and asked if maybe I had a faulty dash light.  He said in 5 years he had only replaced two faulty units.  I arranged to drive out to the dealer this morning so he could check it.  In my talking to the service manager, he asked if I had checked the spare tire pressure.  Why would I do that.  He said if pressure in the “spare” drops below 30 psi, that will trigger my dash light.  You have got to be kidding me.  So I went back to the filling station for the third time.  The pressure in the spare was 26 psi.  I pumped it up.  My light went out.  The mystery has been solved.  Merry Christmas to me.

Enjoy the loved ones around you.  As we celebrate the birth of the Christ Child, the true meaning of Christmas should shine through.

Stay safe.

Love,

Dad

 

Grandson Dominic broke his leg at Vollrath Bowl in Sheboygan.  I don’t remember the hills being that dangerous, but what do I know.  One thing is sure – Dominic will remember this Christmas.

Today is a lot of things.  We do not reach Winter until 5:38 PM this evening.  There was a lunar eclipse last night, but you couldn’t see it because of clouds and snow.  Best of all, this is the shortest day of the year.  From now on days get longer.

I watched Brett Favre start the game last night in Minneapolis against the Bears.  Most announcers were raving about Brett’s determination and fight.  I, personally, thought Favre’s playing with all his injuries was stupid.  One announcer, Mike Ditka (maybe one of the toughest son-of-a-b—— ever), commented that he hoped Favre would be smart and not jeopardize his health for the rest of his life.  Ditka has it right.  Favre got thrown to the frozen turf in the second quarter and apparently incurred a concussion.  It was sad as he wobbled off the field.  Go home Brett Favre.  Smell the roses.  You did good!

My Japanese “used” Lexus has a light on the dash that alerts me when tire pressure is low.  This is the second time in a month the warning light has come on.  The first time the light came on was with regular tires, the second time with snow tires.  I have measured the air pressure and all tires seem okay.  My analysis is that during winter when it gets cold, air pressure in all tires drops.  My tires seem to drop enough pressure to trigger the dash light.  I could take the car to the garage and have them tell me the warning light is too sensitive.  I could put more air in the tires.  Better yet, I could put a piece of duct tape over the warning light so I don’t see it.  Maybe I’ll just ignore it.  Isn’t modern technology great?

Santa is gassing up the sled.

Love,

Dad

 

 

The Holidays are approaching.  I can tell.  The traffic at the local Fox River Mall is horrendous.  There are other clues.  We have candle lights in our windows, the house is flooded with poinsettia red flowers and there is a big white angel standing on an upstairs ledge.  The tray of walnuts is waiting to be cracked.  Nana would always crack nuts.

I have contacted a case of “C3 disease”.  I have named it after Grasshopper No.3 because he has experienced leg cramps everytime he walks with me at the Mall (C is the first letter of his first name and the No.3 because he is third in the chain of Grasshoppers).  I, too, have been getting leg cramps.  I receive a never ending series of self healing suggestions.  I’m not getting enough calcium.  I don’t drink enough water.  I need orthodic support in my shoes.  So far, nothing helps.  Maybe I’m just experiencing some symptoms of aging.  If anyone can solve my C3 disease, let me know.  I think C3 disease is contagious and I caught it from Grasshopper No.3.

Grasshopper No.2 always refers to things that are obvious as “dah”.  Brett Favre has finally had his consecutive string of regular season football starts end at 297.  He has a shoulder that hurts.  His hand is blue without feeling.  The Vikings cannot mathematically make the playoffs anymore.  This weekend the Vikings are playing the Bears in Minneapolis at the new University of Minnesota outdoor football stadium.  The ground in frozen without any way to really soften it up.  Temperatures are supposed to be 15 degrees.  Brett has said he probably can not play this weekend.  Why would he?  Dah!

Our government officials in Washington passed a bill this date that will extend the Bush Tax Cuts of 2001.  That may not seem like big deal, but at least for the next 2 years you can hang on to the same amount of earned dollars as in the past.  There was something included about extension of unemployment benefits.  So, for those trying to find a job, rejoice.  The calvary is coming.

Stay warm and watch the Packers get slaughtered at New England Sunday night in a snowstorm.

Love,

Dad

Every now and then, the weather gods stir up life threatening conditions.  I watched TV as Grasshopper No.5 in Minneapolis got blasted with “umpteen” inches of snow.  It seems that Minneapolis gets the brunt of most storms.  Why do people want to live there?  The roof on the Metrodome collapsed from the weight of ice and snow.  The other thing that collapsed in Minnesota over the weekend was Brett Favre.  He may have played his last football game.

My Angel of Mercy (Grasshopper No.3) plowed out my driveway Monday morning.  Ten minutes after he left, the City plows came through with the finishing touches to the street and blocked my driveway all over again.

Your Mom and I had tickets for Xavier High School’s production of Christmas Stars.  Purchasing tickets was a bizarre experience followed by traveling through a blizzard to see the show.  We did go.  There we were, your Mom and I, bouncing down life’s path all by ourselves surrounded by lots and lots of empty seats. Actually, the brunt of the storm did not hit until 3-4 hours after the performance, so everything worked out.

I never rode “shotgun” with Grasshopper No.3 when he plows during a storm.  A big retail outlet, that contracts with No.3 for a season of snow removal, expects that snow will be removed on a timely basis.  When it snows for 36 hours, when do you plow?  Add in blizzard conditions and you have the ingredients for a long, long, long, long weekend.  I guess the consolation is that the “big pay” must soothe away some of the pain.

Sunday morning was one of the few days of the year that I didn’t get “in” my daily exercise routine.  I got my exercise by snow blowing several times.

The Packers (baring a miracle) are not going to be in the NFL playoffs.  They play in New England next Sunday night against the best team in football.  Add in another loss.  They may be mathematically eliminated at that point; then they play the New York Giants at Lambeau.  The Giants are tough in December.  Add another loss.  The lack of a running game doomed their season.  As Grasshopper No.4 would say, “there is always next year”!  Ah yes, the losers lament.

Stay warm.

Love,

Dad 

As you know, there were four children in my family.  Three boys and one girl.  Brother Jack passed away this year and sister Addie succumbed to breast cancer several years ago.  So brother Jerry and I are the last “siblings standing”.

I met Jerry for lunch earlier this week.  There are certain traits that thread through each family.  In talking to Jerry, I was reminded of similarities.  My dad was really good with numbers and math.  All the boys in my family could calculate Ted Williams batting average to the 5th decimal point in our heads.  For some reason, remembering numbers was always easy.  Ted Williams batted .386 in 1958, the year my dad died.  Who cares?  It doesn’t matter.  We remember numbers.  It’s easy.

Jerry is more anal retentive than I am.  He knows baseball, football and basketball statistics really well.

For years I have insisted on getting end aisle seats at sporting events, the PAC and the Fireside.  I don’t like being sandwiched between 20-30 people on each side.  It goes back to being slightly claustrophobic.  I won’t ride an elevator up three floors in a hotel.  I will take the stairs.  Guess what?  Jerry and Jane always order “end” seats for any performance they go to.  I don’t know if it is claustrophobia or just wanting more control of getting in and out of the aisles.  It is freaky, but we practice the same thing.

I have been trying to get your Mom to upgrade our TV downstairs to a flat screen HDTV.  She insists the big screen Sony that we bought in 1994 is just fine.  With the improved quality of signals, I have to admit the picture is pretty good (remember I grew up with 3 channels available and they all were slight fuzzy).  So we live with 16 year old technology.  Guess what (again)?  Jerry has a 42 inch HDTV that he watches and Jane watchs an old Curtiss-Mathis TV that is mounted in a wooded cabinet.  The Curtiss-Mathis is 26 years old.  Jerry and Jane watch rented DVD’s on the old TV set.  Isn’t that creepy.

The lesson Grasshopppers is that you all possess common family traits and probably do more things in a similar way than you know.  You can’t deny it.  You are more alike than you think (or want to admit).  My brother Jerry reminded me of that. 

White stuff yesterday.  White stuff tomorrow.  White stuff until spring.  Here we go!

Love,

Dad