Happy New Year!

By The Time You Read This Most Likely It Will Be 2010. I Wish All My Readers A Wonderful Year To Come. I Hope The New Year Brings You Happiness And Joy.
I Want To Put All My Friends And Family To A Challenge For The Coming Year.
I Am Asking That Each Of You Perform 12 Acts Of Kindness. That Equals Out To Just Once A Month. You Can Mow Somebody's Yard, Shovel Their Snow, Or Just Give Them A Ride To Wherever They Need To Go. Hand a Five Dollar Bill To Someone Who Looks Like They Will Put It To Good Use. You Don't Have To Know This Person. Pay For The Car Behind You In A Drive up Fast Food. There Are A Number Of Things You Can Do To Brighten Up Somebody's Day. If At All Possible Do It Anonymously. Challenge 5 Of Your Friends To Do The Same Thing This Coming New Year! You Would Be Surprised At How Contagious This Can Get.
With So Much Hatred In The World, All I Ask Is To Spread A Little Love To Another Human Being.
Sit Down And Hand Write A Letter To A Former Teacher, Pastor Or Neighbor That Has Made A Difference In Your Life. Don't Sign It Because The One Who Receives It Will Be Overwhelmed With Joy That They Made A Difference In Some body's Life.
I Never Make Predictions And I'm Not About To Start Now. I Am Thankful For My Friends And Family. I Am Fortunate To Have Them. I Have Seen How You Can Never Treat A Day As Any Other. Life Can Change With A Blink Of The Eye.
My New Years Resolution Is To Blog More This New Coming Year.

Reflection Of 2009

I Guess The Best Way To Describe The Year 2009 Is To Refer To It As The Good, Bad And The Ugly. Let It Be Known I Hate Winter!
I Really Don't Like To Mention January, February Or March Because If I Had My Way Those Three Months Of My Life Is Almost Non Existent. It's Not That Nothing Good, Bad Or Ugly Ever Happened, It's Just A Horrible Time Of My Life Because Of Winter In The Midwest During Those Months. I Call Those Months My Hibernation. In My Opinion Life Begins On April 1st Of Every Year.
Ok, Let's See....January. We Can't Forget The 3rd Because If It Weren't For That Date You Would Not Be Reading This. My Father's Birthday Is On The 3rd. My Sisters Birthday Is On The 7th. To Maintain My Sanity I Bowl On Thursday's With The Old Folks.
Was There Even A February? Oh Yes Ofcourse There Was. Who Can Forget Groundhog Day? Unless That Little Critter Had Good News To Report I Would As Soon See His Butt End Up As Road Kill! (Just Kidding P.E.T.A)
Ok, How About March, My Last Month Of Hibernation? Ofcourse For My Family It Was A Tragic One At That. In That Month My Mother Lost Two Of Her Brothers, Rick And Then Danny, Just 2 Days Apart. Let's Just Forget About The Rest Of That Month.
April 1st, My First Official Start Of The New Season. This Has Always Been When I Get Things Going For The Charitable Organization I Am Involved With. As A Matter Of Fact It Was The Birth Of The Robin Hood Foundation Of Danville. The Organization I Had Been Involved With For So Many Years No Longer Wanted To Distribute Left-Over Rummage. Since I Had Been Doing This For 22 Years I Could Not Turn My Back On These Wonderful People Who Lived In Poverty. I Became Certified Over The Winter Months With The State Of Illinois Which Resulted In My Becoming Director Of This Fine Organization.
April Brought With It Another Tragic Death And This Time It Was My Grandmother. She Passed Away On April 9th. She Was 94.
My Bowling Team Lost A Cherished Man In Ralph(Magoo)Howard. He Was Such A Fun Person To Know. I Will Miss Him.
April With The New Flowers Coming From The Ground Also Brings Mushrooms. It Has Always Been A Tradition With My Son We Go Into The Woods For What I Always Refer To As White Man Soul Food.
Danville Has Had A Very Nice Summertime With The Exception Of A Few Very Hot And Humid Days, Which Is Always Expected In The Midwest.
My Sister In law Lost Her Father And My Parents Lost A Dear Friend In George Popadines.
At Summer's End Final Preparations Were Being Made For The Return Of My Brother Tuck. He Had Been Living In San Diego For 25 Years. Upon His Retirement He Was Returning To His Roots And Bringing His Wife Who Knew No Other Weather Than That Of Southern California. Boy Is She Ever In For A Surprise! Ofcourse I Won't Forget My Introduction To Barnee, Tuck And Evelyn's Boston Terrier. He's Such A Good And Loyal Dog And It Was My Pleasure In Meeting Him.
Tuck's First Week Back In Danville Brought Me The Luck I Had Been Searching For. My First 600 Series In Bowling! Bowling Is My Passion And I Enjoy Competing In The Sport.
We Had A Few Health Scares With My Dad. He Had An Infection In His Colon And A Couple Heart Procedures. All In All It Appears He Is Mending Well And Back On The Road To Recovery.
My Friend Chris And I Venture To Westville Each And Every Sunday For Our Euchre Lessons. We Have Been Doing This For More Than 5 Years Now. It's Something We Enjoy Doing Plus It Allows Me To Spend Quality Time With My Folks. We Were Able To Re-Claim Our Crown Back After Losing It. We Always Keep Track Of Our Wins And Losses And Each Year It Is Never A Run Away, This Year Especially. Last Sunday Going Into Play Chris And I Were Only One Game Ahead Of Them. The End Result Was Chris And I Won Overall By Three Games. We Will Gladly Wear Our Euchre Crown Because We Know We Earned It. Our Opponents Have Been Playing Together For More Than 57 Years! One Thing Is For Sure. If We Won, We Earned It.
A Couple Weeks Ago We Received News That Brenda Had Another Stroke. It Was Touch And Go For Her In The Beginning But For The Ones Who Know Her Best Are Aware She Is A Fighter. This Stroke Left Her Paralyzed On The Left Side. She Is Slowly Getting Her Strength Back And Will be Released From The Hospital On New Years Day. Praise God For That!
It's Great To Have My Brother Tuck Back In Danville. It's Good To See My Father Back On The Road Of Recovery. It Appears He May Be Able To Bowl Again. His Doctor Told Him To Quit. Because Of The Success Of These Procedures He May Be Able To Rejoin The League Once Again!
I Received A Phone Call Asking For Assistance On A Bed. A Lady Had No Heat In Her Trailer And Church Members Needed To Move Her Out. Circumstances Prevent Her From Taking Things With Her. I Was To Make The Donation This Afternoon But Had To Cancel Because My Battery Is Dead. I Don't Have The Funds To Replace The Battery At The Moment So I Assured Them The Bed Is Not Going Anywhere. They Need To Find Someone With A Truck To Pick It Up.
My Trailer Was Borrowed By The Pastor's Grand Daughter's New Home In Georgia. I Told Them To Take Their Time Because I Won't Need It Until After The First Of April.
My Truck Needs About $500.00 Worth Of Work Before I Can Start My Season In The New Year.
Oh, That Brings Me To Inquiring Your Opinions In How You Will Pronounce The New Year. Since The Beginning Of This New Century We Began Calling It Two Thousand, Two Thousand One, Two Thousand Two, Etc. I Think It's The Media That Is Preparing Us To Refer To The Future Years Ahead By Calling it 2010, 2011, 2012, Etc. I didn't Realize This Until Recently. I Had All Intentions Of Calling This New Year Two Thousand Ten. Then I Thought Of Those Who Lived In The Early Years Of The 1900's. They Probably Also Referred Their Year Nineteen Hundred One, Nineteen Hundred Two, Etc. At Some Point In Time They Too Began Calling Years 1910, 1911, 1912, Etc.
Yes I Know, A Bunch Of Useless Information. I Was Just Curious As To Your Own Pronunciation Of The Coming New Year. At Some Point We Must Change Our Ways Or Everybody In The World Will Know You Are An Old Fuddy Duddy That Refuses To Change With Time.
So All In All I Would Have To Say I Will Be Happy To See 2009 Leave. To Me It Will Be Just Another Year Of Reflection With A Whole Lot Of Sickness, Sadness And Deaths.
My Hopes For The New Year Will Be To See Happiness To Those Who Need And Deserve It.
Stay Tuned For My Last Blog For This Old Year. In It You Will Read What My Wishes Are For This New Coming Year.
In Closing I Say Farewell To 2009 And Hello To 2010 Or Two Thousand And Ten. However You Say It!

The Gift Of Love And Pride

One Day Last April My Father Stopped By To Give Me Grandma's Clothes. She Just Recently Passed Away And He Had To Get Her Things From The Nursing Home In Which She Lived. After We Put Them In My Garage And He Left I Had My Moment To Reflect On Grandma And What She Meant To Me.
I Have Always Referred To These Type Of Clothes As Boo Hoo Clothes. In The Charity I Am Involved With I Get Alot Of Clothes Donated To Low Income Families Throughout The Warmer Months. It's Always Difficult When I Get A Call From A Widow Wanting Me To Pick Up Her Husbands Clothes. Every time I do This There Are Always Tears. That's Why I Call Them Boo Hoo Clothes. It's Really Touching To Be Honest About It.
The Idea Struck Me That I Had A Friend Who Made Quilts. I Asked Her If She Could Make A Quilt From Grandma's Clothes. When She Confirmed It I Told Her I Wanted It To Be Completed By Christmas. In My Opinion The Most Perfect Christmas Gift For My Mother.
My Father Was Raised In Poverty. He Didn't Get Alot Of The Things Boys His Age Got Because They Just Couldn't Afford It. His Father Was A Country Preacher.
He Had Always Stayed True To His School Spirit And Pride. I Can Remember Him Going To His Old High School To Root On His Team To Win. Every Few Years The Covington High School Class Of 1950 Would Get Together As A Class Reunion To Fondly Remember The Good Ol Days Of Yesteryear.
This New Coming Year That Class Will Celebrate Their 60th Year Since They Graduated.
One Day I Was Surfing The Internet And I Ran Across High School Rings. This Man Can Create A High School Ring In What Ever School Colors You Requested. Covington High's Color Were Black And Gold.
Even Though I Had Trouble With Our Postal Service It Had Arrived The Saturday Before Christmas.
I Can Never Remember Ever Being This Excited About Giving This Years Gifts To My Parents. It May Have Been Because I Strayed Away From The Traditional Gift Certificates And Gave From My Heart Instead. I Didn't Let Cost Be A Factor In This Years Gifts Because I Was Willing To Pay Whatever I Had To For These Two Special Gifts. This New Year He Can Proudly Wear His Ring With His High School Pride. As For My Mother, She Can Fondly Remember Grandma As She Has Her Lap Quilt Draped Across Her Legs. Just The Thought Makes Me Smile And Gives Me Peace.
I Wish All My Readers A Very Merry Christmas. Let You Have Peace And Love Through Your Holiday Season. Always Remember, Jesus Is The Reason For The Season.

The Rest Of The Story

As Stated In The Proceeding Post I Would Give Up My Seat As Anchor Of My Bowling Team If My Brother Tuck Bowled A Higher Series Than I Did Yesterday.
Let The Truth Be Known That Tuck Indeed Bowled A Higher Series Than What I did. I'm Glad That He Did Because It Was Most Likely If He Hadn't We Would Have Lost. The Team We Bowled Against Ended Up Tying Overall. Results Could Have Been Much Worse Had Tuck Not Bowl So Well.
I Looked At Him And Told Him He Could Have My Spot As Anchor. He Told Me No, That Position Goes To The Bowler With The Highest Average. Yes I admit I Have Been In A Funk Here The Past Couple Of Weeks. I Think It Happens To The Best Of Us.
I Think That Was A Very Gracious Thing For Tuck To Do.
Our Team Is Still Tied For Second Place. Next Week Is A Different Week And The Results May Be Alot Different. I Have Been Playing With A New Ball. It's Just A Matter Of Time Before I Get Use To It. Once I Do, Watch Out!

Bowling For Anchor

I Bowl A Couple Days A Week. I Have An Average On One League Of 175 While The Other League Is 155. The League That I Hold 175 Average Is The League That I Am President Of. I Feel Relaxed And Very Comfortable. The Other League With The Lower Average Is Around A Bunch Of Loud Music, Beer Drinking, Rowdy Bunch Of Guys. I Think What My Problem Is Because I Don't Feel Comfortable. I Feel Stressed Which I Believe Is Effecting My Bowling.
My Brother Tuck Mentioned To Me I Should Have Him Anchor The Team. For Those Who Don't Know What A Bowler Anchor Is My Best Description Is The Last Bowler In The Line Up. It's A Very Important Position Because Sometimes The Game Comes Down To The Last Bowler.
My Brother Tuck Recently Moved Back To Danville After Living In California The Past 25 Years. He Began Bowling On My Team Just A Few Weeks Ago.
Tuck Has A Lower Average Than What I Do But Is Working On Raising It Once He Get's Acquainted With The Lane Surface We Have Here In Danville.
He Made A Comment To Me Tonight On The Phone That I Should Let Him Anchor Since He Has Been Bowling Better Than Me The Past Few Weeks. Well, For The Record He Has Bowled One Week Better Than I Have Which By The Way Was Just Last Week.
I Got To Thinking About What He Said. If He Wants My Bowling Position Then Make Him Earn It. I Told Him Who Ever Bowls The Higher Series Tomorrow(Thursday) Can Be In The Anchor Position From Now On. Either Put Up Or Shut Up!
I Will Let You Know In My Next Blog Who Will Anchor The Rest Of The Season.