Updates

Woohoo! Rockets! They won their regional championship Saturday night! Sectionals are next. I believe they play Wednesday night.

Dad is doing much better.  He needs a few days at a rehab facility to regain some strength and then he will be home.

I start a part-time job next week!  More on that in a future post.

Hospital Visit

Two nights ago (Thursday) Dad went to the hospital and was eventually diagnosed with pneumonia. As soon as he is ready to take antibiotics in pill form (as opposed to IV), he will be allowed to come home. The P.A. I spoke with last night said maybe he can leave Monday at the earliest.

In usual Dad form, he is more concerned about Mom than himself!  True love! 💕  I've been paying my normal visits to her. She misses Dad but is happy he is being well taken care of.

Lew and I will watch the Rockets play tonight for the Regional championship. Dad is sad to miss watching the game with us, but when I talked with him earlier today he finished our call with, "Go Rockets!"

Yes!  Best wishes to the Rockets tonight!

None to Go!

I finished up Matt and Emily's tax returns today. E-filed and already accepted by both Federal and State authorities.

Thus ends another season of tax preparation. Woohoo!

🤓

Dad 660: Winter Basketball

(Dad writes today! ~ Tracy)

Derf Here! Nice day here in the Northeast. Waiting for an ice storm tonight that has already caused the postponement of tomorrow's Maine high school basketball tournament games.

We were waiting to watch a basketball game tonight from Illinois, but that has been postponed until tomorrow. It's due to the same storm that is supposed to hit us later. A bummer after going most of the winter without much winter weather!

Hope that Zach's game will go tomorrow. We'll be watching. GO ROCKETS!

I'm lazy so that it all for today.

Until next time!

Toodle Pip!

Derf!

Boys Night Out... Plus One

Tonight I went out to dinner with five men!

Dad, Lew, Glen, Josh, Zack, and I had a lovely meal in the new dining room at Pat's Pizza.

We had to wait a little longer than usual to receive our food — the restaurant was busy! — but we had fun chatting and laughing as we waited.

I am so glad that I got to be part of a Boys Night Out!

Song Cue

I am trying to come up with an interesting blog post, but for some reason this is what is going through my head:

"I'm Henry the VIII, I am...."  — and the rest of the lyrics to this silly, yet endearing, song. (My favorite line: "Second verse, same as the first!")

At least I am not thinking of, "This is the song that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friend...." 

But now I am.

Rats!

😏

Dad 659: LET'S GO, ROCKETS!

(Dad writes today! And it is my pleasure to find the game stream! ~ Tracy)

 

Derf Here! Another fairly nice day in the Northeast. Temps around 40° without a strong sun. Hard to believe we are now in the last half of February. We'll see March soon. This is the tamest February I can remember. Please go by quickly.

 

With the technology available now, we have been able to watch Coach Zach's basketball games from Illinois once again. I believe we have watched all of his games this year. Tonight will be his team's last game of the regular season. We'll be watching. The regional playoffs start Saturday. And we'll be watching. Go Rockets!

 

Must now get ready for my daily visit to Lou at the nursing home. Then home to watch the game. Looking forward to game time. Tracy is our engineer for figuring out how and where to watch the games. I know I could never figure out the channel selection. It would never happen without her. Thanks, Tracy!

 

Until next time!

 

Toodle Pip!

 

Derf!

Super Duper Stupor

Lew and I watched the Super Bowl on Sunday. That shouldn't come as a surprise since most of the country was watching. It was a good game! Happy that Kansas City won. But, yes, I have my own thoughts about the holding call at the end of the game. I will use only one word to summarize the basis of my thoughts: Consistency.

It usually takes me a few days to recover from Super Bowl Sunday. And why is that? I always eat too much! (That's the "Stupor" part of this post's title.) This year was no different. Lew made cheese nachos and we had cream horns for dessert. I over-indulged on both. But everything was DELICIOUS.

Happy Valentine's Day!

One to Go!

I finished our taxes yesterday. E-filed and accepted by the tax authorities, so hooray! Now waiting for our refunds.

Also waiting for Matt and Emily to give me their information. They are pulling it together, and then I will be able to prepare my final tax return for the season. I can hardly wait!

🤓

Dad 658: Banana, Sunrise, Chair

(Dad writes today! ~ Tracy)

 

Derf Here! A sunny day in the 40s. A nice day for February 8th. Three weeks left in February. We are on the last few weeks of winter. Please speed it up.

 

Well, I had a six-month doctor's appointment yesterday. I have a few things to work on. Must get my blood sugar down. Must lose about 10 pounds.

 

Ashley gave me three words to remember. She said "banana, sunrise, chair." Later in the visit she asked for the three words I said "banana, chair," but could not remember "sunrise." Later she told me the word was sunrise. I am angry I couldn't remember sunrise. My comment was that Biden should take a test for this problem!

 

Then I heard his State of the Union address. A lot of our current problems not mentioned. Just what I suspected.

 

Great response from Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Waiting for Biden's last two years as president to be over. That's it!!

 

Until next time!

 

Toodle Pip!

 

Derf!

Tax Time!

This afternoon I thought, "Gee, I should do my parents' tax return right now."  So I did.

I always start by putting the information into an Excel spreadsheet (which I carry over from year to year) and calculating what I think the taxes will be.

Then I input the data into TurboTax.  If it comes out the same as my spreadsheet, then I'm happy! If not, then I figure out why it's different. Any difference is usually due to a change in the tax law, so this forces me to at least try to understand it.

I am pleased to report that I was right on the money regarding my parents' taxes. Done and e-filed!

Two more returns to do (ours; Matt/Emily's) then I can close up shop for yet another tax season. I always look forward to closing up shop. 😊

Fun With Flags

The title of this post is the name of an internet show that Sheldon and Amy host on The Big Bang Theory. I am not referring to that, ha ha!

Instead I am talking about an annual TV event that Lew and I usually don't watch, but we did yesterday: the NFL Pro Bowl Games.

This year it was a "reimagined" event made up of several small competitions (examples: longest golf drive, dodge ball, obstacle course) and three flag football games. The NFC ended up beating the AFC when all was said and done.

The players that participated in the Pro Bowl Games looked like they were having fun together, which in turn made it fun to watch. It was nice to see their faces and get a better sense of their personalities. And having the Manning brothers as opposing coaches was entertaining, too.

We'll see if the new format catches on!

Balloon Drop

One of the big news story this week has been the Chinese Spy Balloon. It's been traveling across the United States for a few days. Quite the scenic tour!

Today the Chinese Spy Balloon was finally popped by our military. The balloon didn't make it this far north; if it had it would have deflated due to the record cold temperatures we've been experiencing. It has been bitter cold.

There have been lots of jokes about the balloon.  My favorite was a photo of it I saw on Twitter last night with the following poem:

Goodnight, Table.

Goodnight, Moon.

Goodnight, Chinese Spy Balloon.

I'm still laughing!

Think Warm Thoughts

Yesterday's big news was Tom Brady.

Today's big news is the 48 hours of cold weather we have ahead of us.

Apparently it's going to be the coldest EVER in our area... the coldest since they started keeping records anyway.

I do not think I am going to like it!

🥶

Dad 657: Best Wishes toTB12

(Dad writes today. Happy February! ~ Tracy)

 

Derf Here! Another sunny, cold (current temp 15°) morning. Temps should get up to low 20s this afternoon.

 

The big news for today: Tom Brady has retired at age 45. He said this retirement would last. (Only time will tell.) He led the league this year in completions. He seemed a little emotional in his statement today, which is understandable since he played football for well over half his life. He leaves the game holding about all of the football quarterback records. A job well done. He is a specimen. He will be missed. (But we will get to see how he does in a broadcasting career, since he has a contract with FOX.)

 

Comparisons are now being made between Tom Brady's GOAT career and that of Michael Jordan. Being an older citizen, I say the top GOAT in sports has to be Bill Russell with the Boston Celtics. He played, I believe, for 13 years and won 11 titles. (I think my numbers are correct.) He never was the great scorer like Wilt Chamberlain, but he certainly had Wilt's number. I remember seeing the two play against one another. I also liked Cousy, Sharman, Tom Heinsohn, and the rest of the Celtics.

 

Enough for today!

 

Until next time!

 

Toodle Pip!

 

Derf!