COUNT DOWN IS THREE

Good Morning Guys and Dolls:

Well 3 more days till Christmas, this year has really flown by and when you start getting older it seems to fly by faster. I hope all your preparations are falling in place and soon you will be able to sit down and enjoy the holidays as they are meant to be.

When we say the holiday season we have Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve, New Years Day and all the days in between. Most people have a special favorite, mine is Christmas Eve. I’ve enjoyed Christmas Eve ever since I was a kid. Was it the anticipation of Santa’s arrival or looking forward to my Grandmother’s Christmas Eve Polish meal? When our boys were little it was the joy of seeing the excitement in their eyes and with my grandchildren the fun of telling them about Santa’s arrival or watching Roe wrap their gifts. Most of all when all the festivities of evening are done, it’s the peace of the last few hours I enjoy, reflecting on what I have to be grateful for and some times how bad I feel for things I may have done or said to the ones I love. What ever day is your favorite enjoy it and be grateful that you have the ones you love to share it with.

Have a nice day Speakies whatever you are doing, working, shopping or going crazy. Talk to you later.

4 DAYS TO CHRISTMAS

Good Afternoon Speakies:

Just stopping by to say hello and wishing you all a nice evening. My northern Speakies will be having a White Christmas for sure this year. I hope you guys did not work to hard digging out. I miss the good variety of food from up north but not that white stuff and cold weather. It will be highs in the 70’s here on Christmas Day with a chance of rain.

There are some interesting observances today, so when you get home and pour a glass of your favorite holiday cheer and you can celebrate the following:

Humbug Day – Always one of my favorites.
Winter Solstice – It officially started around 12:45 p.m. today.
Flashlight Day – Everybody grab your flashlight tonight and run around outside.
World Peace Day – Borrowed that one from Miss Congeniality.
And finally “Don’t Be a Scrooge Day”.

Going to run Guys and Dolls, Drive Home Safely and Enjoy the Evening and remember it's only 4 DAYS TO CHRISTMAS.

CHRISTMAS WEEK IS HERE

Good Morning Guys and Dolls:

Well it is Christmas Week and let us make it a happy week filled with love and joy. I know people have family disputes, medical issues, job and financial security worries and the list could go on and on. Let’s just try to reflect on the meaning of Christmas as it is, a season of Love and Good Tidings to all. Just try to remember the Christmas’ of our childhood and bring that feeling back to share with all.

Well I hope you all had a great weekend and finished all that Christmas stuff. Now is the time not to stress but to relax, kick back with a cocktail and get ready for all that cheer and food. I was checking my calendars and wondered about famous people born on Christmas Day, so I made a list. You could even consider this a grey matter lesson in case your kids ask you “Do you know anyone famous born on Christmas Day?” Well here we go:

Clara Harlowe Barton – Nurse founder of the American Red Cross.
Conrad Hilton – That hotel guy.
Robert L. Ripley – Ripley’s Believe It or Not.
Humphrey Bogart – Actor, “Here’s Looking at You Kid.”
Cab Calloway – Band Leader
O’Kelly Isley – One of the Isley Brothers, “Twist and Shout.”
Jimmy Buffett – Get that guy a cheeseburger.
Sissy Spacek – The original Carrie.

There we go just to name some people. I have one more thing to say, if you are going out to last minute shop just don’t be like the guy below.

BUY THAT MAN A BEER

Hi Speakies:

Only in Florida can you get a news story like this one. This breaking news comes to you from Clermont, Florida. During a routine lawnmower traffic stop, a Clermont police officer discovered the driver was tipsy (Did not know of such as thing). The driver had a hard time getting off the mower and when asked if he was OK, he mentioned he had been drinking. Of course Mr. Lawnmower Man failed the sobriety test and was carted off to jail. Here is the kicker, he told police he was only feeling a little buzzed. He only drank 2 pitchers of beer. Give that man a few of those pink hard boiled eggs in a jar and a brew on me.

Well Speakies, that may be it for today. Like I said before have a great weekend and be Happy and Careful.

WEEKEND WISHES GUYS AND DOLLS

Good Morning Guys and Dolls:

A Happy Friday to you all. 7 days till Christmas and it’s the last shopping weekend before Christmas need I say more. This weekend we also celebrate the following holidays:

Bake Cookies Day – I miss my Mother’s Polish Lekvar and Nut cookies.
Flake Appreciation Day – Is it the Dandruff Kind or the Crazy People Kind.
Wear a Plunger On Your Head Day – I’ll see if I can find someone wearing one and make it a Kodak moment.
Oatmeal Muffin Day – Sneaking in one of those health nut holidays that regulate your system.

If you are fooling around this weekend with your home computer, NORAD has a site you can check out for the little ones, it’s a Santa Tracker. Pretty neat little idea and the kids may get excited following Santa on Christmas Eve. JoeyZ says check it out.

The weather in sunny Florida will be turning colder with rain over the weekend. On Sunday highs will only be in the 60’s and lows in some northern portions in the 30’s. So if you are coming to visit, bring a jacket or sweater with you.

Latest Tiger Woods news from Florida, the wife is planning a divorce, gee that’s real news. Poor Tiger he is going to be taken to the cleaners.

Well Speakies enjoy Friday and the weekend, but be careful out there. I may be back later or I may not be back later. See Ya.

ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES

Hello Speakies:

Read a funny news story this morning out of the great State of Utah. Seems a Costco store in Utah took tomatoes off the shelves during a book signing visit by Sarah (Hockey Mom) Palin. As you may recall Palin was pelted by a fruit during a stop at the Mall of America. One customer complained about the store having no tomatoes and was advised by the manager that the tomatoes will be returned to their place on the shelves after Hockey Mom left.

Dear store manager, your customers could have chosen eggs, some nice grapes, ripe kiwi and even strawberries to pelt the great Hockey Mom if they wanted to. You made the poor tomatoes suffer and maybe some little kid asking his Mom, " Why is there no tomato on my grilled cheese sandwich Mommy?"

JoeyZ speaks.

8 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS

Good Morning Guys and Dolls:

8 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS AND COUNTING. These days are passing quickly and the more people I talk to have not finished their shopping, baking, decorations etc. To me the time is just flying by and I wish the days would slow down a bit for everyone so we could relax a bit, but I’m not the Time Man and have no control.

Yesterday was Stupid Toy Day but I would like every one of my readers to let me know what toys you asked Santa for when you were little. Let me know if you received them also. Now being an only child I usually received what I asked for but in moderation and personally I did not ask for a lot of toys. Roe and I tried to do the same for our sons and I hope they do the same for their children. OK here are some of the toys, games etc. I asked Santa for:

Erector Set – Bingo got that one and it kept me busy for hours.

Air Rifle – This one made a real loud sound, but no BB’s; never shot my eye out.

Machine Gun on Tri-Pod Stand – This one shot plastic bullets as far from the living room into the kitchen, my sons played with it when they were little.

Fort Apache Set – Had fun with that for a long time. Came with soldiers, Indians, horses and you name it.

Toy Trumpet – Blew that baby early Christmas morning and woke my parents up, Dad was a little pissed.

Electric Football Game - This one had a motor, and you had to line up the players and one player had a little foam football and when he was hit that was the end of the play. Pretty neat game in its day but to set up the players was a pain.

One thing I’ll always remember was the train, my uncle’s 1939 American Flyer, tracks were on a plywood sheet my Dad made, the town was inside the tracks and JoeyZ was the Engineer. OK Guys and Dolls your turn so I’ll be waiting. If you can read you can comment so get to it.

MY KIND OF NEWS STORY

Hello Speakies:

My kind of news story out of Fort Pierce, Florida. We could call this one "Retirement Time for Bonzo's." Ten chimpanzees were rescued from a laboratory in New Mexico and are on their way to Florida to enjoy retirement. They will arrive today at the Save the Chimps Facility, which is equipped with platforms, swings and rope bridges. Most of the chimps were involved in biomedical research and truly deserve retirement in the Sunshine State. I suggest we take up donations for gold watches and bananas. Enjoy Florida Bonzo's.

STUPID TOY DAY

Good Morning Speakies:

A Happy Hump Day to you all. Checking over my calendars I see today we celebrate the following observances:

Stupid Toy Day – That’s an idea let’s name some of our favorite stupid toys. I’ll start that one later today or tomorrow and maybe even old favorite toys we wanted at Christmas time.
National Chocolate Covered Anything Day – Let your imagination run wild on this one. Have some fun later.
Barney and Barbie Backlash Day – Got me there.
Boston Tea Party Day – One colonist heard saying, “Not the Lipton.”

Yesterday I was reading a blog by Tom Glover from Hamilton Township, NJ. His site is on my main page. Tom is a great writer for the local paper and a historian for the Hamilton Township, New Jersey Library. His posts are very interesting and if you are from that area or not please check his site out. Going back in history the way Tom presents it is great.

He had a post regarding New Year’s Eve 1936. It was a large advertisement from several bars, clubs and restaurants in Trenton, NJ featuring their New Year’s Eve menus. I was amazed at the prices of the dinners. With the Depression I still imagine that was a price to pay for the meals listed. I saw Chicken and Spaghetti dinners with all the fixings for 25 cents. We will never see those prices again. There was also an ad for the original Red Ryder BB Gun, really neat it looked just like the picture in the movie “A Christmas Story.” Well have a great day and I’ll be back with those stupid toys and also our favorite toys that we asked Santa for.

YOGINA GOES TO THAT HIBERNATION IN THE SKY

Speakies:

Here is a follow-up to my post last Friday concerning Yogina (I originally called her Yogi, but she is a Momma) the Black Bear who took a swipe at a local Florida resident when he opened his door. Wildlife officers captured and killed Yogina over the weekend. Some of the local folk are blaming the man for the bear's death, saying he set out food in his backyard. Factions here are at war, death threats are being made at the man who was swatted and now leaving 2 cubs as orphans. He in turn is outraged at the threats and the way he is being portrayed as the "Evil One." I smell bear war a brewin.

Here was the perfect solution, wildlife officers should have sedated Yogina, captured her cubs and relocated them to Ocala National Forest to enjoy their days. My suggestion quit building on every inch of land, we do not need more shopping centers, strip malls, condos and homes. Let nature breathe.

JoeyZ speaks.