Home for Christmas

Monday, December 15, Beverly, MA - Home for Christmas!

Our youngest has returned home for the Christmas Holiday from California, and we are all so very excited about that. We didn't think he would be able to be home this year, but, as luck would have it, he is here. Not only is he here, he is also working for his oldest brother at Enzymatics, doing a few marketing projects. We are hoping that things go so well that he will be retained as their (Enzymatics) west coast sales rep.

The weather here in New England has been quite nasty of late. For those who are unaware, there was a major ice storm last week, which left hundreds of thousands of New Englanders without power, and, therefore, without heat! Fortunately, those of us who live on the coast were not affected. Our weather consisted mainly of rain with moderate temperatures. By the time the mercury fell to bone-chilling cold, we were dry, so, no ice! The best news came today, with temperatures nearing 60 degrees in most areas. This will prove to be a boon to those who lost their heat and electricity.

In other news, I received the following pictures from cousin Lol, which she received from her daughter, Sandy, in California. Seems they went on a fishing trip this past weekend on the Sacramento River and Sandy had quite a "catch".

Imagine cleaning and fileting that "puppy"! Nice job, Sandy! Must have been quite a battle landing that beauty. You'll have to promise that, if we come back out to California in the not-to-distant future, you'll take us on a fishing trip. We LOVE fresh salmon!

Things are progressing rapidly for Chris and Jen. They put in an offer on the Ipswich house last week, and had the home inspection last Saturday afternoon, which went very well. We are in the process of getting our house "ready for market", which we will do right after the first of the year. We are rearranging rooms and furniture to make it show better. We spent most of yesterday packing and moving Aaron's toys into the basement. Jen had to make space in the basement in order to move the toys down. Today, we moved the couch and chairs into the living room. Tomorrow, we will move the table back into the dining room, along with a few other pieces.

That's all I have for today. It's been a succession of "slow news days" since my last post, but I will try to do more over the next couple of weeks, before we head south once again.

Sunday, December 7 (Pearl Harbor Day!) - The Squirrel!


This morning, while I was out giving driving lessons, Jen noticed this squirrel atop the bulkhead roof, gnawing away on a pumpkin. As you can see, it was snowing out today. Well, at least it is December, and not November. We can handle a little snow in December. I just hope that the snow isn't too deep by the time we are ready to head back to Florida after Christmas.

As I mentioned, I was out doing driving instruction in the snow. Actually, it worked out very well, as the roads were not very snow-covered (the Main roads, anyway). I had the chance to teach the students I had today how to drive in snowy conditions. We did hit a couple of slippery side roads, which worked in their favor. They got to experience what it feels like when the wheels start to spin on slippery surfaces, and how to control the vehicle when that happens.

Yesterday afternoon, late, K and I went to the Wilkins' house for their annual "Trim-a-Tree" party, which was very nice. We got to see some old friends and make some new ones, and share some great food and libations! There were lots of hors d'ouvres already out when we arrived, so naturally we dug right in! Unfortunately, I was not aware that they were also going to be serving a regular "dinner" at about 7PM. We had planned to leave the party before then, since it was a long drive home, and it was dark out. As we were preparing to leave, "AJ" mentioned that dinner was coming out of the oven, and we couldn't leave just then. However, since I had already filled up on the hors d'ouvres, thinking that was the only food we would get, I had absolutely no more room for food! So, we left as planned, at about 6:45PM.

Back to the squirrel! This poor guy must have been starving, since he did quite a number on the pumpkin we left out on the bulkhead roof. Apparently, once he had made a couple of holes in the rind, he climbed right into the pumpkin and began to extract the seeds to bring back to his nest. It was funny to watch, so I heard, because, as he would be digging for the seeds, you could see him tossing out stuf he didn't want. There are pieces of pumpkin all over the top of the bulkhead roof. Be sure to check the web album for the rest of the pictures of this little guy foraging.

Here's the link to today's web album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/Squirrel?authkey=G8KIGCPEEPI#

Decorating the Tree

Thursday, December 4 - The Tree!

I don't know about anyone else, but we picked up our tree last weekend (Saturday afternoon), and brought it home. It stood out on the front porch until Wednesday night, when we brought it into the house and set it into its stand. Prior to bringing the tree in, we had to soak it in the "special solution", which is supposed to keep the tree fresh through the holidays.

What? You never heard of the "special solution"? Well, I'll pass it on to you here, and you will, hopefully, have a tree which will maintain its needles and color past Christmas. Here it is:

In a container large enough to be able to set the tree into, mix the following ingredients:

1/2 cup chlorine bleach
1/2 tsp. "20 Mule Team" borax
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup woolite

To this mixture, pour in 1 gallon WARM water, then 1 16-oz. bottle of clear Karo Syrup. Cut about 1/2 inch from the bottom of the tree, and place the trunk into the solution and let stand outside for 12 to 24 hours, no more, no less.

It is important that you make a FRESH cut off the trunk before placing the tree into the solution so that it will be able to "suck up" this mixture. If you have the trunk cut at the place where you purchase the tree, the sap may solidify at the bottom before you can get it into the solution, then the tree will not be able to take any of the mixture in.

When you are ready to remove the tree from the mixture, rinse off the trunk, or place it into some clear water and swirl it around to rinse it before you put it into your stand.

OK! So we brought the tree into the house on Wednesday evening and set it into its stand. We let it stand for 24 hours before beginning to decorate it. This allows the branches to "spread". This year, we had the special pleasure of watching Aaron while all this was going on. This is the first year he has expressed any interest in helping to decorate the tree (according to his mom). The look of sheer anticipation on his face since the tree went up, waiting to start decorating it, was priceless! His biggest thrill was to be the first one to put an ornament on the tree.

By Thursday afternoon, his anticipation was growing and he was hardly able to contain himself waiting for Thursday evening, when we would begin decorating. However, as soon as "mimi" got home from her luncheon date, Aaron prevailed upon her, and so the decorating began early. I went into the basement to retrieve the lights and ornaments, then Mimi, mom (Jen) and I began to string the lights around the tree as Aaron watched. We used the tiny, clear lights on the tree. After the lights were strung and checked, Aaron was ready to place the first ornament on the tree, which was a "Teddy Bear" ornament, I believe. From there, with mimi and mom helping, the rest of the ornaments were hung in no time. When all the decorating was finished, Aaron sat on the floor, in front of the tree, staring at it in wonder (see the web album, last photo).

Here's the link to the web album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/ChristmasPrep?authkey=IZW7GYXv5BE#

Random Thoughts

Tuesday, December 2.

I was just thinking that, come March, the last member of the "Roy Gang" will turn 65! Yikes!!! It's true! Uncle Rich will hit the "golden" milestone on March 6th. As Harry Caray would say, "Holy Cow!".

In other earth-shattering news, Uncle Don turns the "golden" number this Friday, December 5th. We are all joining in his celebration(?) with a "congratulatory dinner" this Friday evening at Turner's Seafood Grill and Market (Don's favorite seafood place - at least, according to Toni!). And speaking of Toni, we just found out today that she is now a member of the "retired" club, having been notified late yesterday that her job of 17 years has been eliminated. In celebration, she is cooking a sumptuous meal of fried eggplant for Don tonight. Welcome to the "club", Toni!

Friday evening should be a "hoot", since we have all (almost) recently returned from a trip of some kind, and should have plenty of notes to compare. Add to that the fact that we have not all seen each other since last summer, there will be plenty of catching-up to do. I hope we have time for dinner! I can't wait for Friday!

I mentioned "the Roy Gang" above for good reason. When you think about what I am about to share with you, you will be amazed, awe-struck, bedazzled, or something like that (take your pick). The original "Roy Gang", who are all grandparents now, have grandsons who are all within about 1 month of each other in age, all having been born in 2003. My grandson, Aaron, was born at the end of September; Don's grandson, Ryan, was born mid-October; and Rich's grandson, Luis, was born in early November. (Are you awe-struck?) What you may not realize is that they were born in the same, EXACT order as their grandfathers!!! (Are you dumb-founded yet?). Told ya!!

I think that is truly amazing, that they were born in the exact order as their grandfathers, don't you? That is why I mentioned it today.

Stay tuned for further ramblings as I get the urge!

Retirement

Monday, December 1 - our first full day of actual retirement, hence the title!

I know, I know, we've been retired since last July 1st. However, there has always been something pressing to do every day until we departed on our trip cross-country. During the trip, we always felt as if we were on vacation, and that it would end soon enough, as vacations always do. After returning to Beverly for the holidays, we never really got into "retirement mode", because there were menus to prepare, food to buy and prepare, et cetera and so forth, ad nauseum! Once the Thanksgiving day feast was over, then we had to think about putting up some Christmas decorations around the house, inside and out.

So, all of that is finally behind us, and this morning we awoke to our first real Monday as a "retired" couple. What to do? Actually, we spent the morning puttering around the house; K was busy with laundry, while I worked on determining why the tub was draining so slowly, and why the fan in the bathroom was so noisy. Both problems were resolved by noon, so now we had to figure out what to do with the remainder of the day until dinner time. Can you guess what we did?

Correctomundo, senor! We went SHOPPING!!! Since K hasn't spent very much time behind the wheel of the new vehicle, she decided that she would drive us to Portsmouth, NH for a bit of Christmas shopping! Loverly! I brought along the Sunday Globe crossword puzzle to keep me busy during the 40 minutes, or so, that it took to get up there. Have you ever spent much time (any time?) sitting in the passenger seat while someone else drives? Try it! I have spent lots of time in the passenger seat as a Driving School Instructor, so I'm used to it. However, there are lots of people out there who NEVER sit in the passenger seat. I'm thinking, now, about husbands who, for some inexplicable reason, always grab the keys when going out with the wife. They never even entertain thoughts of letting HER drive! In fact, I'm betting that if a husband ever lets his wife drive, he is either too tired, or too drunk, to drive. Either way, odds are that he doesn't get the true feel of sitting in the passenger seat, since he is probably passed out during the trip.

Anyway, the reason I mention this, at all, is because you get a very different perspective sitting in the passenger seat than you get in the driver's seat. For some reason, the vehicle always seems to be going much faster than it actually is. Perhaps this is why passengers in vehicles seem to criticize the driver's abilities, I don't know.

Jeez! I just went back and read what I have written and it appears that I'm rambling! I guess that's what full-blown retirement does to a person. Too much time on our hands. I've got to get a hobby, but blogging isn't it!

Tune in again for another exciting episode of "Retirement and Its Effects on the Human Condition" (I just made that up - that's exciting, isn't it?)!