Kly,

Keep looking up. I will keep you and your family in my thoughts. Positive energies sent to you.

Always here for you Kly. I know from my worries with my own mother how tough it can be!!

Wow, thanks, everybody. Everything is manageable, and I am happy to say that the good outweighs the bad overall. Alzheimers is all-too prevalent on my dad's side of the family. His mom had it for 12 years before she died at 93; two of his sisters presently suffer from it in more advanced stages than he has; and an older brother and sister died at advanced ages while saddled with dementia. I tease my wife that she's in for a lot of fun with me in about 25-30 years.

I think the best way to approach the condition is with love, patience and humor.

On the bright side my oldest son scored a nice internship in the business office of the Pittsburgh Penguins affiliate. He's a college junior, and plans to go for his MBA.

Young people have the world by the tail, but it's hard to realize that when they're 20.

I see that guy Castro in Cleveland hanged himself in his jail cell. Wonder how that happened. Like Vito feard Michael might do the same thing?

My youngest boy Matty is 7 and just started year 3 at primary school. He has left the key stage 1 yard and gone to the key stage 2 yard, where he is basically in with the bigger kids until year 6 and off to high school he will go.

Anyways, his first day back and his new teacher brings him out with a huge bump on his head. Playing footy(soccer) with the big lads he went for a header, collided with a year 6 brute and fell onto the concrete yard head first. The teacher fussed about a bit and then home we went.

"You have got to be careful son" I says.

"I know Dad" he says " but I still scored with the header you know, and I could have played on. I wasn't crying. My new teacher is a bit soft I reckon"

Blood and thunder is what I raised my kids on. Tough as old boots the boys are, must get it from their mother

GOTTA love him (and all of Yogi's kids).

Thanks SC. I love em all obviously, possibly a little bit more now they are back at school

Cute story Yogi!! Kids are so resilient aren't they? You seem to have such a nice family.


I have only one grandson and am already concerned about broken bones, etc. Unlike the girls, he's more a roughneck AND into every sport it seems.


TIS

Yogi, give the lad a popsicle! Good for him.

My daughter, the youngest, turns 16 next month. Yesterday my wife and I bought her a white Jeep Liberty, which was waiting in the driveway when she got home from school. In PA you can't get your permit until your birthday, so she has to look at it for 6 weeks before she can drive it.

How nice of you and how exciting for her Kly. I can imagine the torture for her looking but not driving. Bet she goes and sits in it for a long time.

When my oldest daughter got her first car she went with her dad. Her dad warned to let him do the bargaining and he may get her somewhat of a deal. Well, she test drove a new Toyota Paseo. The salesperson was in the backseat (don't know if they still go with you when you test drive.) Anyway they barely hit the road and my daughter loudly & excitedly shouts, "I LOVE THIS CAR"; "DAD I JUST HAVE TO HAVE THIS CAR! I JUST LOVE IT!" So much for trying to talk the salesman down.
We still tease her about that. Btw, she DID get the car.


TIS

Great story, TIS. I can imagine her dad's face when she burst with excitement. When buying cars, I always tell the salesman that I just started looking. When I took easch of my kids to look at cars, I always warned them about not acting too excited.

We did get a very good price on this car, and I credit my wife for finding it online in Reading. The salesman reduced the price to what we wanted too. He even paid for an inspection and oil change.

Over the past ten years when I've test driven cars, the salespeople don't generally ride along.

We did the same for my daughter, Klyd. We told her that we were giving her my older daughter's car when she got her permit because my older daughter was getting a new car. Then, we told her that we had to trade it in to get my older daughter her new one. Little did she know that we actually got two new Sentras and hid hers around the corner.

At her party, just before the cake, my husband slipped out and parked it in the driveway with a giant bow and balloons tied to it. After she blew out her candles, we gave her a box from a local jeweler to open and the keys were inside. She just kept saying, NO, YOU DIDN'T, and then when she pressed the button on the fob, the car beeped and the lights blinked and she and all her friends yelled! It was a wonderful surprise.

Congratulations to your daughter. I'm sure she's thrilled, although I bet this is somewhat bittersweet for you and your wife - baby's growing up!

Dreaming of a white Christmas?

(CNN) -- The words "welcome to Leith" are etched on two wooden boards, nailed to a pair of poles stuck in the grassy North Dakota prairie. With wildflowers immediately to the front, a dirt road yards away and a few stray buildings and trees in the distance, the sign seems appropriately simple for the tiny town.
Yet in the last few weeks, Leith has become anything but simple.
Paul Craig Cobb wants to transform the town 70 miles southwest of Bismarck into a community that mirrors his white supremacist views. He did so quietly at first, asking residents whether their land was for sale. But recent reports from The New York Times and the Southern Poverty Law Center exposed his mission and turned it into a national story.

In an interview with The New York Times, Cobb said he hoped his plans in Leith would "excite" white people and "give them confidence because we're being deracinated in our own country."
"We've been very, very tolerant about these major sociological changes," he said, according to the paper.
Stuck in the middle is Leith's lone black resident, Bobby Harper. He's known Leith as a nice, peaceful place where "everybody got along, we basically could leave our doors unlocked, and there was no fear that nobody wanting to harm us."

Nice touch Klyd. She will be out gazing at it every day for the next 6 weeks!!

I had a surprise birthday party for my wife Saturday evening, and with help from my daughter and a friend we actually pulled it off. My oldest came in from college as a surprise, and that made her day. He was able to fill his car with all kinds of food to take back with him to college the next day.

How nice of you Kly. Especially if she was really surprised. It's not easy to hide a surprise party from the person you live with. Happy Birthday to Mrs. Kly!!!!




TIS

By having the party out of the house, we had an easier time pulling off the surprise. She had a good time and while she's not one who lives a lot of attention, she didn't give me a hard time by digging up and displaying photos from when she was a baby to the present day.

Her actual birthday is tomorrow. My daughter and I will take her to one of her favorite restaurants.

Lovely gesture, Klyd. All women really want is for our men to make an effort, no matter how big or small (well, at least this woman does).

Well, perhaps your parenthetical statement explains it then because I've consistently made the smallest efforts over the years, but still gets looks and words of derision from my wife.

I don't know why but suddenly I have a craving for a Hot Fudge Sundae with lots of hot fudge and whipped cream, nuts and cherry on top. Mmmmmm





TIS

that sounds amazing. im gonna have to go get one now lol.

Funny you should say that. Dairy Queen is running a special, buy one blizzard, get one for 99 cents, and I just asked my husband to go with me. However, he's far too wrapped up in the US Open Men's Final.

Maybe it's an end of summer type craving. LOL

Never did get one. Maybe tomorrow.



TIS

I did buy some Talenti Gelato at the supermarket and believe there's a chocolate chocolate chip lurking in the freezer. That may have to do. I also went a little nuts at a Haagen Dazs sale.

Lovely touch Klyd. you are a true romantic sir!!

I would also love to pull something like that off for my wife's birthday...if I could only remember what date it is.....i'm sure it changes from year to year

My wife's BD is also today. Gave her a present this AM and will probably go out to dinner tonight, although, she just got a new stove, refrigerator, dishwasher and microwave last week (All Stainless steel as all wives are craving now a days) plus a new car 2 weeks ago. No we didn't win the lottery- just old age craziness I guess.

Today is Friday, the 13th. I'm going to be driving to Pittsburgh in a few minutes. As I looked from an office window a while ago, I saw a big black cat resting on the hood of my car. All I need is a broken mirror and to walk under a ladder.

Where in Pgh. will you be going?