Thanksgiving 3-D

As I had hoped, we stopped by to see Brady...and his family...late this afternoon.  Now Brady is 5 and a half years old, but he can still nap like a demon!  I envy him greatly in that regard.  When Brady plays, he plays hard, and when he sleeps, he sleeps hard.  The evidence is in the hair.  Brady wakes up from his afternoon naps with some of the finest cases of "bedhead" that I have ever seen.

Our day began WAY earlier than it should have.  No, we did not get involved in any of the Black Friday foolishness, rather we both agreed to play tennis this morning.  Not a good idea!  It was probably for the best that we got a little exercise, but at least in my case dragging 15 pounds of poultry (tucked within my gizzard) around with me on a tennis court for an hour and a half didn't make for a great deal of success.  On the way home from the tennis club we stopped at the grocery to procure what was needed to get started on the Christmas baking.  What we accomplished this afternoon was enough to make a 5th grade boy laugh uncontrollably for a week...peppernuts and a whole bunch of fudge...if you've ever been around a 5th grade boy you will certainly understand.

By late afternoon we had finished what we could of the Christmas food production for the day so it was time to head out for a little Black Friday fun.  We went to Costco.  I managed to purchase a foot-long polish sausage (which looked and tasted like a hot dog) and a 20 ounce refillable pop for a buck and a half.  What a savvy shopper I am!  After wolfing down the wienie we picked up a couple of items and joined the parade of 60 inch flat screen TV's out the door.  Kay and I were conspicuous in the fact that we were the only ones walking out without one.  It was at this point that we stopped in to visit Brady, his dad, mom, sister, grandpa, grandma, aunt, uncle, 3 cousins and 2 dogs.  If you look closely it appears that I have a bit of "bedhead" too.

The day is ending quietly, and in at least one respect similar to how it began.  I got my butt kicked this morning on a tennis court and I got my butt kicked this evening playing canasta with my bride.  Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

Three Killed in Neighborhood Thanksgiving Mishaps

Note:  This submission has been prompted by the multitude of readers of this blog who are clamoring for more information...mostly about my buddy Brady.  Unfortunately I haven't seen the little guy since Halloween, but I hope to tomorrow.

Also...this update is being offered posthumously...refer to the title above.

Here it is, Thanksgiving Day, a day to rest and eat...right?  Well, not so much around our cul-de-sac, today has been a day of hard labor, at least for the guys.  It seems that 3 of us have been involved in potentially deadly activities.  About 10 this morning I ventured out with my step and extension ladders to clean all of the pine needles and other assorted gunk out of the gutters.  I would have gotten out of this if not for that fact that all of the snow and ice that was on the ground, rooftops and in gutters last weekend melted off this week.  The endeavor had me a good 20 feet or so in the air...compliments of the ladder...leaning and reaching for all of that cold, wet and soupy stuff.  I also had to climb on the roof a couple of times in order to accomplish my mission.  I could have been killed!  Ya think my wife cared?  Doesn't seem like it...she's still in her pajamas (note the time is 3:09pm).  At the same time that I was going up and down the ladder and bounding from rooftop to rooftop I spied my neighbor using similar implements to install his Christmas lights.  At one point he was perched on his roof, a good 25 to 30 feet above ground, defying death in order to add color and light to his holiday experience.  He may well have met his end...I haven't paid much attention for a couple of hours.  If that's not enough, out in the driveway of the next house over I see another neighbor setting up to deep fry their turkey.  I recall from our days living in the southeast...much warmer days...that people liked to cook their birds in this manner, and invariably a half dozen or so houses were burned to the ground each year in the process.  At this point I haven't noticed any conflagrations, but the day ain't over yet.

I mentioned above that I DID see Brady back on Halloween.

Cowboy Brady made out like a bandit as he bushwacked the old neighborhood, plundering the locals for food.

That's all for now...the firetrucks just showed up across the street.