An Old-Fashioned Christmas Polka

Before Vince left on Monday, he and I took the dog on a 2.5 mile walk to the softball complex. I saw snowy egrets in the oaks, a first. Perhaps they are establishing a rookery there. That'd be unusual that close to traffic and people, but it would sure be nice. It would also be another reason the Senior Gleaners should not expand into the area. Later in the day, Rich and I saw four in one tree. (Egrets, that is, not Senior Gleaners!)

Rich was told by the doctor that he still has some thyroid, and to come back next month. If he gets any of the 4 C's, cold, constipation, cramps, or couch-potato, he is to go straight to the doctor. We said he had to go back right away for that last one.

Vince left again. Sigh. Then two hours after he left, the mail carrier came with a present and 2 cards for him, all from different girls. This could be awkward, as he went back to the girlfriend (hi, Niki!) in Seattle. He had more mail than we did, though I got a really nice surprise from Miriam!

The days of the week are the same as the year we were married, 1965, and we were going across country in our Volkswagen with all our worldly goods and our kitten Glitch and puppy Heinz. We'd started on the 27th after the movers left and stopped in, uh, Amarillo? (Oh, we were moving from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Rantoul, Illinois.) I used to know the stops by heart, but all I'm sure of now is that we took rte. 66. I remember that Canyon, Texas had a really neat museum. Then the 28th we got to Oklahoma City, I think, and the next day we went to the Cowboy Hall of Fame. There is a LOT of Kansas, and it was much prettier than I thought from The Wizard of Oz. I remember we stopped in Jefferson City (though looking at the map, maybe it was Springfield) and I tripped over a sprinkler head and scraped myself up badly. Then the 30th we were in or near St. Louis. We pulled into Rantoul (actually, Thomasboro) about 6 on New Year's Eve, and found the only thing open was a Burger Queen. We stayed in a really cheesy motel with a black and white TV which got only one channel, but it was Guy Lombardo, anyway, and saw in the New Year, the first of our marriage, there. No champagne, just water and chips. (Reminiscent of our fifth anniversary in Paris, with malted milk balls and water.) It took a couple of days to find a place to live in Rantoul (a motel-style apartment close to the tracks.)

In other news: I'm sad about the Burger King recall of their Pokemon toys. The things say they are not for children under three, and just because one parent tragically didn't pay attention to that, all the kids in the country are deprived.

I think John Rocker is a twit, but he should be allowed to be one. I'd take this more seriously if Ted Turner suffered any problems for HIS bigotry.

Californians recycle enough aluminum to build 4 747s every day. Good for us. They're adding water and juice bottles to the deposit program on the first. Yay. (Not that any of the stores have water. The Y2K worriers are out in force.)