Violet's Birthday

It's hard to believe that Violet turned two years old today. She is such a little sweetie and seems so very advanced for her age. She's talking now in full sentences and has such a welcoming smile for everyone. She is so much fun to be around. All of the kids are but she is just at that wonderful age where everything is new and exciting for her.

She has a very winning personality and endears herself to everyone she meets. She even has smiles for strangers in stores but is also exhibiting her caution too. 

She is really learning how to deal with her brother and sister and it is fun to watch. She also has the beginnings of "the twos" and she knows how to express his anger and displeasure.

We had a little birthday party for her at our house. The party was originally planned to be at Dick and Iris's downtown apartment but we couldn't have it there because of Iris's positive Covid test. They briefly came by to drop off birthday gifts while we masked up but it was all very sad for the other grandparents not to be able to fully participate.

Quaker City Rock Festivals

The 1st Quaker City Rock Festival was my first rock concert at The Spectrum in Philadelphia which operated there from late 1967 until 2009 when it was demolished and replaced. This concert was in October 1968. Prior to that I had been to many shows at various other venues throughout the city but all of them much smaller. 

This concert was a good show with several great bands and was a lot of fun. Too bad the sound wasn't great and the revolving stage had problems. I liked the clubs much more than these large venues which were fine for hockey and basketball. All the bands in this lineup except Vanilla Fudge I had seen before or would see again in a small club and two of them who were the highlight of this show, Janis Joplin and Chambers Brothers, I had seen earlier in the year at the Electric Factory and I would see again at a big rock festival in August 1969 in Atlantic City.

A few months later in December 1968 I would attend the 2nd Quaker City Rock Festival. This would be the only time I saw Steppenwolf. The other bands I saw a few time from the late 60's to the early 70's. I didn't go to the Spectrum for concerts too many more times except for several shows in 74-75... well except for Flyers and Sixers games.

I would go to a couple of more concerts in 1969 at the Spectrum and then none during my four years in the Navy. I went to a bunch more in 1974 through 1976 and then I stopped going to any arena or stadium concerts. From 1977 on I only went to small venue show in clubs and theaters or some of the outdoor concerts in parks or city squares. Just no more big hockey arena shows.

1st Quaker City Rock Festival

• Vanilla Fudge
• Big Brother & The Holding Company (feat. Janis Joplin)
• The Chambers Brothers
• Moby Grape
• Buddy Guy Blues Band

2nd Quaker City Rock Festival

• Steppenwolf
• Creedence Clearwater Revival
• Grateful Dead
• Sly & The Family Stone
• Iron Butterfly

Moving In Slow Motion - Reflections FV

A mix in my Reflections series that took songs from several other older mixes and reconfigured them as part of my Final Version group of mixes. Most of these songs were from a group of Decade 6 Reflections mixes and now they are in similar but different settings.

I sat down one evening during the Christmas holidays when the kids were visiting and put this together while they were upstairs getting them ready for bed. It was a way for me to wind down after a busy day with the family. I put together several of these mixes over the past few days as a way of relaxing at the end of the day although a couple of them were made when the kids out of the house doing something with their parents and we had some free time. I think I was moving in slow motion then.

Moving In Slow Motion - Reflections FV

1. Moving In Slow Motion – The Sweet Remains, 2009
2. For Emma – Bon Iver, 2008
3. You’ve Got Me Where You Want – Chuck Prophet, 2004
4. Broken Bed – James McMurtry, 2007
5. You Don’t Love Me Yet – Winterpills, 2008
6. Blue – The Jayhawks, 2009
7. Drifted Apart – Tift Merritt, 2012
8. Baby If This Is Nowhere – Over The Rhine, 2013
9. Heart’s On Fire – Passenger, 2014
10. Dark Matter – The Ghost of a Sabre Tooth Tiger, 2010
11. Careless Reckless Love – Jay Farrar, Jim James, Anders Parker & Will Johnson, 2012
12. Say Goodbye – Beck, 2014
13. 3am Spiritual – Smith Westerns, 2013
14. Lover of Mine – Beach House, 2010
15. The Twilight Hour – Still Corners, 2011
16. When the Night Comes – Dan Auerbach, 2009
17. Later on That Night – The Bats, 2009
18. You Know I'm No Good – Amy Winehouse, 2006
19. You’re Staring At Me – Julee Cruise, 2002
20. If I Were Smart – Shelby Lynne, 2003
21. Nobody Girl – Ryan Adams, 2001
22. I Better Be Quiet Now – Elliott Smith, 2000

Killers of the Flower Moon - Book

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann, 2017.

Over the past few months I've read several books on American history written by Native-American scholars that included Ned Blackhawk's The Rediscovery of America and Pekka Hamalainen's Indigenous Continent. I've also read other books that reveal the history of America from a different perspective rather than the way we were taught in school during the 50's and 60's. There were many incidents in American history that were ignored or covered up by White America. This book is another one of them.

I was really shocked reading this book even though having read those previous books I was not prepared for the utter depravity of what was done to the Osage Indians in Oklahoma. The ongoing murders were horrific and the way those people were treated was despicable. This is also American history.

This series of murders were all tied to oil on Osage land and the mineral rights owned by the tribe. The oil resources were discovered after the land was sold to the Osage. Then the local white businessmen started killing people to get access to that oil.

I'm looking forward to seeing the movie made from this book.

The book also went into some detail concerning the early years of J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI. I have read a couple of books over the years on the FBI and it's abuse and have also read a biography of Hoover which was very nasty. He didn't look very good in this book either.

That "rot in hell" Christmas Message

It seems that nothing bad about trump can be said that hasn't been said before but again he only gets worse. His pathetic Christmas message to America is a case in point and illustrates why anyone who continues to support him are morally repugnant ignorant jerks and of course that could probably be said about most trumpers over the past several years. So here it is...

"MAY THEY ROT IN HELL"

What a sick fuck. He has also declared war on Blue America. 

Dinner @ Kostas

Tonight we had a wonderful family dinner at Kostas Greek restaurant which of course is one of Katie and Todd's favorite places to eat when they are in town and has been for many years. We got there somewhat early at about 5:15 pm and it wasn't busy yet but being the day after Christmas we knew it would fill up soon. We were lucky to get one of those large rounded corner booths where we could all sit comfortably at the table along with a high chair for Violet although she really wanted to stand next to the table from the seats.

The service was great as usual and because we were there before the crowd we got a food very quickly. I had my usual chicken souvlaki salad and Becky had her usual spanakopita. We had a side of Greek potatoes. Todd had a souvlaki dinner and Katie had that chicken souvlaki salad too. The kids had pancakes and they behaved very well throughout the meal. 

We were lucky to get there early because the place did fill up very quickly while we were having our dinner and the kitchen was very busy. When we were finished it took a little while longer to get our check because the staff was so busy.

We went in separate cars because of my recently dislocated shoulder. I didn't want to squeeze into their car as we usually do when we go somewhere together . I also didn't wear my arm sling for the dinner. Earlier in the day I went to the doctor's office to have my arm looked at but that's another story.

X-rays, Doctor & Rehab

Almost the first thing I did this morning was contact my doctor about my dislocated shoulder. I went on the patient portal and wrote up a message to his office describing what had happened to my shoulder when I fell while walking down the street. 

I wrote "Yesterday afternoon I tripped over a grandkid and fell while on a walk. I dislocated my shoulder. Wife and I got in the car to go to the ER when the shoulder slipped back into place. Didn't go. Wearing a sling now and taking acetaminophen. Better but not good. Should I come in for evaluation? X-ray? Probably PT at some point to get range of motion back."

While I was doing that Becky went over to Walgreens and got me a sling to wear for my shoulder.

About an hour later I got a call from the office of a referred orthopedic doctor's office, Dr. Daye, and they made an appointment to see me within the hour at their office in Williamsville and also arranged for me to get a X-ray of my shoulder. Becky drove me out there and we arrived around 10:30 am. The place was not very busy and they got me in for the scan right away. That only took a few minutes and then I waited a short time while the scans were reviewed by the doctor. Everything apparently looked fine and I met with the PA who explained the scan results and did an examination of the shoulder which included testing my range of movements and strength. She said I did very well. It would take a couple of weeks for the pain to resolve itself because of the injury but there was no serious or permanent damage. They were surprised that my dislocated shoulder popped itself back into place on it's own or with that very small effort of me trying to get a seatbelt in place. She also said I had good muscle and bone strength which helped keep the injury minor.

She recommended physical therapy to get my range of motion back and suggested Buffalo Rehab. They recently opened an office on the corner of Hertel and Parkside and I said that would work for me. They wrote me up a referral and gave it to me when we left the office. Everything happened very quickly and the whole process of getting the scan and seeing the doctor only took about an hour and a half. Traffic was very light too. 

Shortly after we got home I got a call from Buffalo Rehab and I made an appointment to start physical therapy after an evaluation next week. A little while after that I got a follow up call from Dr. Charles' office and they were very surprised that I had already had my x-ray scan and had seen the referred doctor's team along with getting an appointment for physical therapy. Katie and Todd were very impressed with the efficiency of my medical care. This had all happened on the day after Christmas. 

A Gag Gift Box

I had never seen something like this before and it was actually very funny. Todd got it for Katie and this empty box contained one of her gifts but the initial reaction was hilarious and the look on her face was priceless. I'm sure they saved that box and it will turn up again sometime.

Dislocated Shoulder

It was a beautiful sunny day for Christmas and we decided to go out for a walk around the neighborhood and over to the park. Katie stayed home while Violet napped and the rest of us, me and Becky, Todd, Henry and Clara went for the walk.

Unfortunately while heading back to the house and just around the corner I stumbled over Clara who was darting around near my legs and I fell. It felt like slow motion as I went down and I was trying to avoid landing on Clara. She fell too but I went down hard on my left shoulder and left knee. I dislocated my shoulder and scrapped up my knee. I knew I was in trouble right away as my shoulder felt all out of joint. It looked weird too and was very painful.

We got back to the house and I took off my shirt to examine the shoulder. It was obviously dislocated. Becky decided to take me over to the emergency room at the nearby Sisters Hospital. It was Christmas Day in the afternoon so wherever we went would probably be an ordeal. We went out to the car and as I was getting my seatbelt on I felt my shoulder pop back into place. It immediately felt better although still painful. At that point we decided to go back into the house and see how things went with my shoulder. It was definitely better but also painfully damaged. Becky got an old pillowcase and fashioned a sling for me which helped.

I was really not feeling very well with both the hip problems and now the shoulder pain. We decided to take things a day at a time and see how my shoulder healed. We were also talking about going to my doctor very soon and I would contact the office the following day.

Christmas Eve 2023

We had dinner for Christmas Eve and fortunately we had good weather and everyone could make it except for Iris who has a bad cold. Dick came by himself. Dave and Donna came but Mary also had a bad cold and stayed home. Val an Bobby came too. Of course Katie and Todd and the three kids were here. So we had a good crowd and had to bring down the card table for the extra dinner places although we didn't need as many as expected.

Becky made her usual braciole dinner which was wonderful as always. Plenty of cookies. Donna brought some over too along with her very tasty shrimp appetizer. 

We had a nice time hanging out with the kids following dinner. Much different than last year when we had that Christmas Eve snowstorm. 

Bingham's Pie

Over the years going back and forth between Buffalo and Philadelphia stopping in Lenox, PA for a meal at Bingham's Restaurant was a special treat. We did it several times back when our kids were young. Sometimes we would stop there on the way back to Buffalo for a late breakfast of wonderful pancakes. Other times we would go there for a late lunch and then buy a pie to take down to Betsy's house.

Becky and I stopped there a few times on our own over the years. Then Katie and Todd stopped there once in a while too but later when they had their dog they were no longer able to spend time in restaurants while making that trip. That is until Stella passed away in recent months. 

On their trip this Friday to Buffalo from Philly for Christmas this year they stopped at Bingham's for lunch. The kids wanted pancakes but unfortunately they stopped making them at 11:30 am. They arrived at the restaurant at noon. They did have a nice lunch there and then bought some pastries to bring back with them to our house. Since I had a birthday recently they got a chocolate peanut butter pie which we had for Christmas Eve dinner dessert. They also brought back a nice very large homemade cinnamon raison bread that was delicious. The loaf of bread and the pie lasted a few days.

Glass of Beer - Little Wolf Pale Ale

Little Wolf Pale Ale from Zero Gravity Brewing. Another one of my favorite pale ales coming out of Vermont. A wonderful refreshing taste and very nice sipping brew.

Time Has Come Today - Covers FV

Another covers mix and a of fun putting this together. I'd used some of these songs in previous cover mixes over the years but this one is now part of my Final Version series of cover mixes.

A lot of great songs and interesting cover versions. Some 60's feel and then some other stuff.

Time Has Come Today - Covers FV

1. Time Has Come Today – The Ramones (The Chambers Brothers)
2. Friday On My Mind – David Bowie (The Easybeats)
3. 96 Tears – The Stranglers (? & The Mysterians)
4. Shotgun – Vanilla Fudge (Jr Walker & The Allstars)
5. The Slider – The Smithereens (T. Rex)
6. I Got A Line On You – The Hollywood Vampires (Spirit)
7. Gimme Shelter – Grand Funk Railroad (The Rolling Stones)
8. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction – Devo (The Rolling Stones)
9. Light My Fire – UB40 (The Doors)
10. Can’t Get Used To Loving You – The English Beat (Andy Williams)
11. After The Gold Rush – The Time and Space Machine (Neil Young)
12. Victoria – Cracker (The Kinks)
13. To Love Somebody – Janis Joplin (Bee Gees)
14. All Along The Watchtower – The Jimi Hendrix Experience (Bob Dylan)
15. Love The One You’re With – The Isley Brothers (Stephen Stills)
16. Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours – Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings
17. What’s Going On – Etta James (Marvin Gaye)
18. Train In Vain – Annie Lennox (The Clash)
19. She’s Not There – L’Avventura (The Zombies)
20. Kim The Waitress – Material Issue (The Green Pajamas)
21. American Woman – Lenny Kravitz (The Guess Who)
22. Hello I Love – The Cure (The Doors)
23. I Wanna Destroy You – Crocodiles (The Soft Boys)
24. Where Is My Mind? – Nada Surf (Pixies)

Celebration IPA 2023

Every year I enjoy the new release of Sierra Nevada's annual holiday brew Celebration Fresh Hop IPA. This is my first taste this year and tonight I'm celebrating the anniversary of getting out of the Navy 50 years ago today. 

This beer taste great as always and I'm looking forward to having a few more over the next week or so. I'll have to go out and find it on tap somewhere too.

Last Time - 50 Years Ago Today

50 years ago today was the last time I wore this uniform. I was released from active duty on December 21, 1973 having completed my four year enlistment although I did have two more years in the Naval Reserve but was inactive that entire time. It was nice to have a Christmas at home too.

50 years ago today was also the last time I woke up in my bottom rack of a triple bunk, ate chow on the mess deck, used the ship's head, heard reveille and taps, saluted the flag on the quarterdeck, wore skivvies, said aye-aye sir, grabbed some geedunk, put stuff in a ditty bag, drank from the scuttlebutt, and packed my sea bag. Well, I did continue to wear bellbottoms and my peacoat. 

This was also the last time I saw most of my friends and shipmates. People who I shared some very unique experiences with at sea and around the world. 

Three of my four years in the Navy were spent living on board warships. Both the USS Portland LSD-37 and the USS Plymouth Rock LSD-29 were amphibious assault ships based out of the Navy's Amphibious Base at Little Creek, VA with a mission to land Navy and Marine Corps special forces on a beach by boat. I got to know a few of those guys too who also lived on our ship for months at a time. 

Most of my time at sea was spent as part of the Caribbean Ready Group with a couple of long Mediterranean Sea cruises in the mix that were long extended training exercises for our embarked troops and interactions with our naval allies in the region. I worked in the engine room as a machinist mate.

It's hard to believe that all that happened over 50 years ago now. It was an incredible experience but I was glad to get out, go home and get on with my life. I bought a house in my old Germantown neighborhood of Philly from my great aunt's estate and enrolled in Temple University in their Communications and Film Studies program. College didn't cost me anything with the GI Bill and a state program for veterans. I also had great part time and summer government jobs for veterans that I could walk to from my house.

Then I met Becky a couple of years later. 

Blake or The Huts of America - Book

Blake or The Huts of America: A Tale of the Mississippi Valley, the Southern United States and Cuba by Martin R. Delany, 1859-62

I had some mixed feelings reading this book and at one point I had to set it down for a couple of weeks but at the same time it was a very fascinating reading experience. This novel was written in segments over a period of many years and the first part was originally published in a magazine in 1859 and the second section was published in 1861-62. It was first published as a book in 1970.

This book is like an alternative history, a different universe where there were slave revolts in America and Cuba. I did find the southern dialect of the time of the author sometimes difficult to read. There were many interesting sections where the main character, Blake, travels through the south interviewing potential insurrection leaders among the slaves of various plantations and promotes slave rebellions. The story focuses on the social and political issues of the 1850's institution of slavery in America.

The novel was virtually ignored for about 80 years after it's initial serial publication in a weekly Anglo-African journal. The novel was published in book form until 1970 after the Civil Rights, Black Power, and Pan-African Movements generated scholarly interest in Delany's work. 

The author Martin Robinson Delany (1812-1885) was an African-American abolitionist, journalist, physician, soldier, writer and proponent of black nationalism. Delany was born in Charles Town, Virginia and raised and in Chambersburg and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It would be interesting to read a biography of this historical figure.

Another Nice Christmas Tree

We got another nice Christmas tree this year from the same place we've been using the past few years. This time we got one a little smaller than usual and we are very happy with it. 

We also went out to get this tree much later than usual. We had been visiting with Sean and Ashley and meeting our new granddaughter Autumn over the weekend of December 15-17 and drove back home that Sunday morning. A couple of days later we went out to buy our Christmas tree.

There were not a lot of trees left but we were able to get a nice one and at a good price too.

Zero Gravity Mix Pack

Becky came home from grocery shopping the other day with a nice twelve pack of mixed beers from Zero Gravity Brewing of Burlington Vermont. The selection included Green State Pilsner, Cone Head IPA, Little Wolf Pale Ale and Madonna Double IPA. 

Zero Gravity Brewery has been one of my favorite brewers over the past few years. I first had the Green State at 100 Acres in 2018 and then at Cafe 59 in 2019. I've had the Cone Head IPA a couple of times a few years ago at the Long View Lodge. Recently I had a Madonna at the Long View Lodge and a Little Wolf at Mr. Goodbar.

Zero Gravity also makes some very nice NA beers under their Rescue Club logo. I especially have liked their NA IPA. 

Driving To and From

After much deliberation and discussion we scheduled our trip to Sean and Ashely's house to meet baby Autumn. We had been planning this trip for several weeks and kept changing the schedule because of weather conditions. It was a quick trip and we left on Friday morning, drove for four hours and got to Sean's in the early afternoon. We stayed all day Saturday and then left early Sunday morning to stay ahead of a rain storm that would be coming into the area in the afternoon.

We left a little after 8 am and heading out to the thruway. It's always a little tricky getting into the lanes at that time of the day with traffic but it wasn't too bad. Then it was a straight line from Buffalo to Albany. The weather was good for driving. No rain but cloudy. We ate some lunch that Becky packed at a thruway stop. I took the picture here of a truck hauling another truck which another truck on it's bed. I thought Andrew might like this truck picture and he did.

We got up early Sunday morning with plans to get on the road by 8:30 am. Unfortunately Andrew had a bad sleeping night and woke up several times with bad dreams. He had finally gotten back to sleep shortly before we got up and so we didn't get to say goodbye to him or Ashley. Only Sean got up and came down to see us off. We had said goodbye and goodnight to Andrew when we went to bed the night before. 

So by 8:30 we were on the road as planned. If it was a different season and the weather wasn't a factor we certainly would have stayed a few more hours for breakfast but there were storms coming. The drive in the morning was sunny. Actually it was almost too sunny as the sun was rising in the sky it was flashing brightly among the trees which was very distracting while driving. I wasn't wearing sunglasses because of my cataract related vision problems. It was a little weird but it didn't last long. Soon we were heading west and the day was getting cloudy.

The rain storm was coming and slowly catching up with us as it headed west too. Fortunately it was Sunday and there was not a lot of traffic on the road and because of the time of year there wasn't very much road construction or delays. Just a couple of small projects. As we approached the Buffalo area it started raining. Then it started raining hard. We considered getting off the thruway a stop early and taking the streets into town but stayed on the highway because of the lighter Sunday traffic. So we got home in the rain and it actually stopped a little when we got into our driveway and I was able to unload the car without getting wet.

Overall we had a brief but very nice trip and certainly enjoyed our family time with Sean, Ashley, Andrew and Autumn. 

Dinners with Sean and Ashley

We had a wonderful visit with Sean and Ashley and our two grandchildren. They are all so special. It was a short visit because it was so close to the holidays and we had two evenings together with them. On Friday night Sean made us a delicious lasagna dinner with a  very nice caesar salad. We had some nice montipulciano red wine.

Then on Saturday evening Ashley made us a fantastic chicken pot pie from scratch. We were treated like royalty. Then on Sunday morning we were on the road again.

A Short Weekend With Andrew

We only had two days to visit with our grandson Andrew because of the timing with the holiday and the weather. We were there to meet our new grandchild Autumn and to spend some time with Andrew. I wrote about our meeting Autumn here. During our short weekend visit we did have a wonderful time with Andrew. It's amazing how quickly he is growing up and talking now. He is such a fun little boy.

It was also so much fun watching him play with his toys and how he showed us everything. He loves to eat and he enjoys his meals and wants us to be there with him. He seemed so very happy to have a little sister and really wanted us to love her as much as he does. He was very excited about Christmas and wanted to show us the Christmas tree and the pile of presents. We had brought some gifts for the baby and Andrew loved opening them for his sister.

We had a great time visiting and were sorry we could not stay longer. If the weather forecast had been better and the holidays not looming we certainly would have stayed another day or so but we had to get on the road early Sunday morning to avoid the coming bad weather on the road. Andrew had a rough night and didn't sleep well so come the morning he wasn't able to come down and say goodbye to us. Fortunately we had said goodnight and goodbye the night before although we had hoped to see him again in the morning. Sean came down to see us off.

Me and Autumn Have A Visitor

While we were visiting Sean and Ashley to meet our newborn granddaughter Autumn we had an unexpected visitor. At least it was for me and Becky. It turns our my niece and her husband were traveling across New York State and made plans to stop by Sean and Ashely's house for a quick visit. They didn't know that we were going to be there too but when Ashely told them she decided to surprise us. It was a surprise.

So we were hanging out with Andrew and Autumn on Friday a few hours after we arrived when suddenly Ashley tells us there are some visitors here to see the baby. Then in walked our niece Lizzie followed by her husband Lewie. I was totally shocked with surprise. I was expecting someone from her workplace or a neighbor to come in and certainly not Lizzie. Lots of hugs and then she got to hold the baby. It was funny to hear her say she wanted one of these and couldn't wait to be finished with her PA program in Providence.

It turns out they were traveling from Providence, Rhode Island to Cleveland to visit with Lewie's family before heading to Philadelphia for Christmas. So they stayed at the house for about an hour before heading back on the road. They still had about another seven hours on the road yet and expected to reach Lewie's mother's house around 11 pm. It was a good thing the weather was not rainy or snowy. The good weather was part of the reason we picked that day to travel from Buffalo to the Albany area.

So it was great seeing Lizzie and I really surprised the rest of the family too when I sent them this picture. 

Meeting Autumn Catherine Emery

Becky and I had been trying for a week or so to get over to Sean and Ashley's house to meet our new granddaughter Autumn. The weather had not been cooperating and after a couple of spoiled plans we finally were able to drive across the state and spend some time with Autumn and Andrew. She was now three weeks old.

I earlier wrote about our tough decision and touch decision pt. 2 concerning this trip. Well, it was certainly worth it.

We had a wonderful time meeting Autumn. She is such a beautiful little girl and so alert. Very cuddly too. We loved every moment with her. 

Rememberings - Sinead O'Connor RIP - Book

Rememberings by Sinead O'Connor, 2021

Reading this memoir didn't occur to me or maybe I should say I didn't know about this book until her recent death this past summer at the age of 56. It took awhile for the libraries to get more copies of her book because of the demand following her untimely death. I put it on hold in my account and it took about three months to get an e-book copy. I read this fascinating book over a three week period. 

When I first started reading this book I struggled with it because of a combination of her writing style an the content of her story. I had know she had problems but I really knew nothing about the struggles of her abused childhood and family situation. It wasn't until much later in the book when she discussed her music career and politics that I read at my usual pace. The book was a rollercoaster ride. Overall I really enjoyed reading this although as I said it was a struggle at times. I especially liked her descriptions of her controversies and in particular her tearing up the picture of the pope on a Saturday Night Live. Much of her life was a protest of one thing or another and she has outraged millions of people but she always stood by her actions. Throughout the book she is extraordinarily candid about herself and her life.

I really do enjoy listening to her music and I have collected a lot of her music over the years.

Sinead O'Connor albums in my collection:

• The Lion and The Cobra, 1987
• I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, 1990
• Am I Not Your Girl, 1992
• Universal Mother, 1994
• Faith and Courage, 2000
• Sean-Nos Nua, 2002
• She Who Dwells..., 2003
• Throw Down Your Arms, 2005
• Theology, 2007
• I'm Not Bossy, I'm The Boss, 2014

Tree Removal Pt. 2

About mid morning the tree removal guys showed up again next door and fired up their equipment which had been sitting in the backyard since Tuesday afternoon.  They went right back to work. This time they began to take down several large sections of the main trunk and stacked the logs beside the house.

It was fascinating watching them work on removing this main pieces of trunk which were the money making logs that the Amish were paying for. These final pieces of wood were why they were here doing this job and they had to carefully handle these logs. 

At one point the main trunk was all that was left and while the crane machine held the trunk one of the guys sawed through the tree at the stump level. Then the crane lifted the trunk away and put it on the ground. Eventually they got the main trunk and several smaller ones on to the trailer which was then pulled out of the backyard by a truck. I took some pictures from our living room window. It was quite the process.

Then they cleaned up the area very well and checked with me to inspect our house and to make sure there was no damage anywhere. They were very good taking care of everything. I commented to them about their professionalism and courtesy. They did a great job.

Spine Doctor Visit

Yesterday I had an appointment with UB Neurology spine center. I got this meeting with a PA from the office about a month after I had my CT scan of my spine. I've had so many scans recently that it's been hard to keep track. I had a brain scan to check to make sure my vision problems were indeed a cataract and not being caused by the aneurysm behind my eye. That was verified.  

Here are the results of my spine scan... done on 11/16/23

"Imaging Center: Great Lakes Medical Imaging Exam: CT LUMBAR SPINE W/O CONTRAST Accession #: 2185368^RADIOLOGY INDICATION: Low back pain. Technique: Axial contiguous images lumbar spine, sagittal and coronal reconstruction. COMPARISON: X-rays 7/18/2023. Results: Slightly findings include colonic diverticulosis, ectasia infrarenal abdominal aorta, partially imaged. Degenerative change SI joints. Vertebral body heights are well preserved. Moderately severe multilevel disc space narrowing, multilevel retrolisthesis, generalized posterior facet arthrosis, multilevel reactive endplate change. Segmental analysis is as follows: L1/2 through L5/S1: Retrolisthesis, disc bulging, disc osteophyte complex, posterior facet arthrosis. At L1/2, mild bilateral foraminal stenosis At L2/3, mild bilateral foraminal stenosis At L3/4, moderate bilateral foraminal stenosis, straightening thecal sac At L4/5, mild flattening thecal sac, bilateral lateral recess stenosis, moderately severe bilateral foraminal stenosis At L5/S1, mild central canal, moderately severe bilateral foraminal stenosis. . IMPRESSION: CT LUMBAR SPINE 1. Moderate lumbar spondylosis, multilevel disc bulging/disc osteophyte complex, multilevel retrolisthesis, generalized posterior facet arthrosis 2. At L4/5, L5/S1, mild central canal stenosis 3. Multilevel foraminal stenosis described at individual levels in segmental analysis 4. Ancillary findings include colonic diverticulosis, borderline aneurysmal dilatation abdominal aorta with extension into common iliac arteries. Recommend imaging options for follow-up either abdominal ultrasound or CT angiography of the abdomen and pelvis CT preferable.. "

The PA discussed my bulging disc problem and the associated nerve pain.  They also wanted to follow up on possible abdominal aneurysms because of my family history. They recommended following up with more physical therapy for my hip and spine pain. 

Gutters Cleaned & Tree Removal Break

Our gutters were previously scheduled to be cleaned the week of December 11th depending on weather. We have always scheduled them around that time because by then the trees would have dropped their leaves and nuts including the catalpa tree next door which drops it's leaves very late. This year I had let them know that a tree service would also possibly be working on a large tree overhanging our house around the same time.

Things actually worked out great this time. The tree service guys came on Tuesday the 12th and took down the bulk of the tree including the branches overhanging our house. By the end of the day the only thing left was the trunk which they would not get back to until Thursday.

The gutter folks came on Wednesday. They got our gutters done in a little over an hour and especially worked hard clearing out the area where the tree removal people had been working. They told me later that our gutters were exceptionally full this year. They were excited about the equipment that was left in the driveway and backyard next to our house.

We were happy that the gutters were cleaned right after the tree service folks took down the tree except for the trunk.

We are heading out of town on Friday so we were grateful that the gutters were cleaned before we left. 

Standing My Ground - Harry Dunn - Book

Standing My Ground: A Police Officer's Fight for Accountability and Good Trouble After January 6th by Harry Dunn, 2023

I read this book very recently over the course of a week in December. It was an amazing deeply personal memoir of a Capitol Police on duty on January 6th 2020 that provides a definitive first hand account of the trump led maga insurrection against democracy in America. The fact that Harry Dunn was a black officer protecting the capitol building also graphically illustrated the racists violence perpetrated on police officers of color during the rioting of the maga trumpers in our nation's capitol. So much for conservative's blue lives matter mantra. Just more of their bullshit. 

The author is clearly a hero and has shown tremendous courage to speak up and tell the truth about the terrible people who violated our democracy in the name of a sore loser despite threats to him and his family by the racists magats. It is also very exciting that Dunn has decided to run for congress. 

Dinner @ Webster's Bistro

We had dinner tonight with Dave and Donna at Webster's Bistro in North Tonawanda. Dave picked us up a little after 5 pm for reservations at 5:45. It was a good half hour drive from our house to the restaurant. Dave wanted to go there because there was a special Tuesday night deal. 

We had been talking about going out to dinner together over the past several weeks and finally made it happen. It was their idea to go to Webster's. We had not been there before. Actually the only time we would go to dinner in  North Tonawanda would be if we were up there already doing something like visiting the canal or waterfront for the afternoon. We would never consider going that far just for a meal when there are so many good nearby restaurants.

The special was a Two For Tuesday that consisted of two select dinners for $50. There was a choice of three dinners, a couple of salads and one dessert for all. I had a beef and vegetable shepherd's pie which was quite good. Dave, Donna and Becky all had a chicken breast dinner with a white sauce. We all had a caesars salad and that dessert which was a beignats with chocolate sauce.

The restaurant was packed for an early Tuesday evening and was full of seniors there for a bargain. The bar and restaurant was very nice and I would like to go there again some time and try some things from their regular menu although it was somewhat more expensive than our usual casual dinner fare. Dave and I were drinking red wine and Becky and Donna had white wine.

The restaurant was located downtown on Webster Street right off of Main Street and down the street from the Riviera Theater. It is also near some other good restaurants like Remington Tavern, Prescott's Provisions, Dockside Grill and Frankie Primos. But those are places to go in the summer when visiting the area waterfronts. 

Tree Removal Pt. 1

Our next door neighbor Pat told us a few months ago that she sold her black walnut tree in her driveway to some Amish woodworkers. They arranged with a tree removal service to take down the tree sometime in the late fall. Well, that time is today.

This particular tree is one of the largest black walnut trees in the neighborhood and has the advantage of being in an accessible location via the driveway. The tree company can get in there with equipment which is not always the case in our neighborhood. We have six black walnut trees in our yard but they are inaccessible from the street and would cost a fortune to take down.

This tree has been a problem for both Pat and us. For Pat the roots have torn up her driveway which she has had repaired many times. For us the tree overhangs our house and drops walnuts on our roof. The tree removal company wanted to wait until the nuts had dropped and the leaves had fallen. Today is a beautiful sunny December day.

Lots of prep in the morning starting around 8 am. First cut was 8:40. The chipper was horribly loud and the vibrations shook our house. The guys from Great Lakes Tree Service were very professional and considerate throughout the day. They had plenty of equipment including a large tall crane like machine that could grab and hold a tree while cutting off branches. It was amazing to watch from our windows.

The original plan was to remove the entire tree in one day. They were also taking down another black walnut tree a couple of blocks away that was going to the same Amish woodworkers. The tree removal people were going back and forth between the two. When the trees were down they would load both of the trunks on to their truck for the Amish.

It turns out they had a problem with the other property and ended up not being able to finish both projects the same day.  They ended the work on our tree in the early afternoon, left the equipment and took away the two truckloads of chips and branches. They left several large logs in the backyard along with the main trunk of the tree. The foreman told me that they would be back to finish the project on Thursday and everything would sit there on Wednesday.