So Long, 2021

Yes.... So long, 2021!  As in 1) good bye, and 2) commentary on how slowly you creeped by.

I went up to visit Mom earlier this afternoon. When I left, I told her I would see her next year. She is aware that "next year" means tomorrow. 

The rest of today will be taken up with watching college football and deciding if I want to make some goals for 2022. The "deciding" part may take a while, so I may just wing it.

Lew is going to make cheese nachos later, which I am looking forward to. Yummy!

Below is a photo of the jigsaw puzzle I completed last night. I still have 10 jigsaw puzzles in the pipeline, so I'll be starting another one soon.

So long, 2021!

"Purrfect Harmony"  (puzzle by Vermont Christmas Company)

Dad 600: Literary History!

(Dad writes his weekly post today. He has been very conscientious in writing as scheduled... much more than I have been! Enjoy his post! ~ Tracy)

 

Derf Here! Another fine winter day in the Northeast. Temperature is mid 30s and snow is slowly melting. It is creeping up onto January 2022. Then only two months left until March. Please, Winter – go away! Quickly!

 

Well, today is a historic day in my vast literary career. I have been informed by my literary boss that this is my 600th blog post. I guess I got started around 12 years ago. I don't quite remember how this started, but I surely have had bad posts as well as possibly a few worth reading. Hope to have a few more left.

 

I am now preparing to go to the nursing home to see Lou for the remainder of the afternoon. Must fill the birdfeeders outside her window prior to my visiting her inside, so I must leave a little early to allow Tracy to get home at the normal time. Lou and I will spend a few hours talking and putting together puzzles.

 

Then my evenings at home are spent using the television. If one of Zachariah's basketball games is streamed, we (Lew, Tracy, and I) watch that. Very enjoyable. Think he has a tournament now. Good luck, Zach!

 

Tune in next week for number 601!

 

Until next time!

 

Toodle Pip!

 

Derf!

Four Days

As I think about the past four days (Christmas through today), some of the things that come to mind are....

• The fabulous time spent with family on Christmas Day.
• The fantastic food that was eaten.... a feeding frenzy!
• Football, football, and more football.
• Fun times playing games and doing puzzles with Mom.
• Thankfulness to God, our faithful Father, who forgives us and fills us with hope.... Hey, unto us a child is born!

So very blessed.  😊

Merry Christmas!

I am posting this on Christmas Eve since tomorrow we will be quite busy celebrating with family. It's already Christmas Day in some parts of the world, so "Merry Christmas!" is okay to say now anyway.  😊

HEY!  Unto us a child is born!  💗

Dad 599: Ice and Rain

(What lovely weather we are having. Dad writes today! ~ Tracy)

 

Derf Here! We are having an ice/rain storm today. Lew even missed his regular Wednesday morning breakfast out because of the icy conditions. He decided not to go since he didn't want to fall and slide down the driveway! The roads during this rain seem pretty dry because of traffic, but sidewalks and driveways are exceptionally dangerous to traverse. Many businesses and schools are closed.

 

Not sure if we will make it up to see Lou today. Lew is going to try to beat the terrain. We'll know in a few minutes. He did make it up the icy driveway with no problems.

 

{Interlude}

 

We (Tracy and I) indeed will be going up to visit Lou today. Lew has been appointed the driver of the day. He will take Tracy up and then bring me up in an hour and bring Tracy home. Then he will pick me up around 5:00 to 5:30 today to get back home. Hope all works out.

 

{Interlude}

Lew is back from bringing Tracy to see Lou. I will be next.

Talk to you next week... not just about weather!

Until next time!

Toodle Pip!

Derf!

NFL Fo(u)r Days

It's the time of year for NFL football on Saturday. The Patriots played on Saturday and they stunk.

Then more NFL games on Sunday per the usual.

Then Monday night football.

Now Tuesday night football....? I guess we have COVID to thank for that. Hopefully the rest of the season will be played as scheduled.

COVID, COVID, go away.

Come again never!

Two Christmas Pageants

My niece Kelsey directed the children's Christmas pageant/program at her church this year. Her son, Bode, played a donkey. He was cute and squirmy! The program was last Sunday.  Mom and I watched the video of it online that afternoon, and we thought we had identified Bode... but we were wrong. So we watched it again today, eyes glued on the correct donkey this time! Great job, Kelsey! Great job, Bode!

I decided to read "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" to Mom. The book is by Barbara Robinson. We finished reading it yesterday, so today we watched the 1983 made-for-TV special. (I found it on YouTube. It's less than 50 minutes long.) Mom and I enjoyed both the book and the TV special.  If you have a chance to read/watch it, then I encourage you to do so.  Experiencing the Christmas story through the eyes of the Herdman family is a delight.  "Hey! Unto you a child is born!"

Our first heavy snowfall of the year is happening right now.  ❄❅❆

Dad 598: Pah'k the Cah'...

(... in the garage. Enjoy Dad's post! ~ Tracy)

 

Derf Here! Another sunny, cool day here in the Northeast. Must admit that the temperature is above freezing today. The last few days had been below freezing temperatures. Maybe a snowstorm tonight. However, there is not supposed to be anything but rain along the southern coast. Slightly inland and the rest of the state will get snow. I'll finally put my car in the garage tonight. It is a shorter walk from the house to the car in the driveway than it is to go to the garage. More steps must be taken!

 

I just wrote a lot about our leaders. Didn't like the writing, so I crossed it out. Must do a better job. So this is it for the day. Tune in next week. I'll try to do a better job of showing how our great country is in serious trouble. Down with the leaders!

 

Until next time!

 

Toodle Pip!

 

Derf!

Music with Mom

Mom and I went to a music event at the Center today during my visit. The gal that performed played the guitar, sang, and even whistled! She was able to whistle in the "normal" fashion, but she also whistled in a way that sounded like a trumpet. A very impressive musician!

Except for the first number, all of the songs were Christmas songs. Mom and I sang along when we knew the words. When each song ended, Mom and I combined to make one clapping entity; she took her only hand (the right one) and clapped it against one of my hands.

It was a lovely afternoon of music.

🎄🎸🎄

A Puzzling Suggestion

I ordered seven puzzles for Mom from the Cobble Hill Puzzle Company.  All seven are cardboard "tray puzzles" which are really great for Mom.

Cobble Hill's tray puzzles are very clever. The puzzle picture is printed in black & white on the tray itself, so the puzzle pieces can be matched up to the picture. These puzzles have 35 pieces — usually too many pieces for Mom. But because of the picture, Mom is able to handle these puzzles. She really enjoys doing them.

I learned of Cobble Hill when I got one of their tray puzzles for free through my town's "Buy Nothing" Facebook group. Mom always picks this puzzle first when I give her a choice of what to do. As Dad mentioned a few days ago, we need some new puzzles for Mom... so I went to Cobble Hill's website and submitted my order. (I had actually done this before Dad mentioned it!)

The puzzles arrived and they are wonderful. So as not to overwhelm Mom with too many new ones at once, I brought her the first new puzzle today. After I reminded her of how the puzzle worked ("match the puzzle piece to the picture underneath"), I pretty much left her to do it on her own. I helped out a couple times, but she did a great job overall. I'm looking forward to bringing the next new puzzle to her in a couple days.

I am thankful to have learned about the Cobble Hill Puzzle Company. They do have other kinds of jigsaw puzzles — not just tray — so I encourage you to check them out if you enjoy puzzling!

🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩🧩

9:02

On Friday (two days ago) our mail was delivered at 9:02.

You may be thinking, "Wow! That's great! So early!"

Ummm... that's 9:02 P.M.

We were slightly annoyed.

But then we woke up to the news of the tornados in the Midwest. Total devastation. So many lives lost.

The time of our mail delivery? Not really a big deal. Not at all.

Praying for America.  

🙏

Dad 597: Snow Travel Plan

(Santa already knows what Mom needs for Christmas. Enjoy Dad's post! ~ Tracy)

 

Derf Here! A few snow flurries and a temperature in the mid 20s. A picture of what is coming weatherwise. Another winter! What a thought!

 

I'm sitting here getting ready to spend the rest of the afternoon with Mary Lou. Today Lew drove Tracy up for her visit with Mary Lou. Soon he will take me up and bring Tracy home. Then I believe Tracy will come pick me up later in the day. Hopefully this travel pattern will not be necessary many times this year. Don't snow too much!

 

Lou (Mary Lou) and I take a walk around the Center most days. She is in her chair and we go throughout the building. I've called her Lou for 60+ years and from this point on I'll call her Lou.

 

After our walks we do several puzzles. I'm looking forward to Christmas. Perhaps Lou will receive more puzzles to work on, since she has pretty much figured out the current ones. Must challenge her with new ones.

 

Must stop writing now and get ready for my visit.

 

Until next time!

 

Toodle Pip!

 

Derf!

"Team BOY!" Celebration

I went to a baby shower this afternoon.  My friend Brittany is having a baby boy in February, so it was fun to celebrate with her today.

We did play some games.  One was to guess how big around her belly currently is.  (Answer: 44 inches!)  We did a "fill in the blank" nursery rhyme page, which we all took turns singing the answers to.

Another puzzle sheet had us try to identify what the Emojis indicated (all were clues for pregnancy/birth/baby related terms).  It was a hard task, especially for those of us with poor eyesight.  I had to take my glasses off and squint up close to see what some of the Emojis were.  Still, it was fun!  I end this blog post with a few for you to figure out:

👶🚿

🌄🚽

👶👶👶

🚗🏥

Answers are below.

Try not to peek!

Don't keep reading if you don't want to know yet.

Do you give up?

Okay, read the following if you must... and if you can read the extra fine print!  😁

baby shower; morning sickness; triplets; driving to the hospital

A Cool Date

You may have seen that today's date of 12/02/2021 is both a palindrome and an ambigram.

Ignoring the slashes, 12022021 reads the same from both the left and the right.  That's the palindrome part.

The ambigram part makes the most sense when seeing the numbers like they are displayed on an adding machine.  If you look at the numbers upside-down, it reads the same.  Try it!

I love stuff like this. Geeky!  😁

Dad 596: Our Nation

(Dad writes today. The national news is hard to watch lately. ~ Tracy)

 

Derf Here! At last we are in the final month of 2021. Not in the greatest shape unless one listens to our leader. I have just seen our leader speak for a few minutes about how great everything is going for our country. If we could only get rid of all non-Democrats and leave all to them (the Dems) then we would be living the best ever in the USA.

 

Tom Cotton's rebuttal to Biden's speech on TV was well-received by me.

 

Sadly in the news yesterday was another shooting in a Michigan high school. Four killed (ages 17, 17, 16, and 14) and eight wounded. The football captain was killed as he attempted to remove the weapon from the sophomore shooter.

 

I'm getting ready to go up to see Mary Lou and replace Tracy as visitor. We get Mary Lou out for an inside wheelchair ride around the facility. And we do many puzzles during our visit. Some of them challenge us, but we get them done. I'm also done....

 

Until next time!

 

Toodle Pip!

 

Derf!