It's been a while ...

... since I posted. Where have I been and what have I been doing, anyway? Well, I've been here. Doing a lot of sleeping, some bridge-playing online, but no posting.

Why not? Well, I really can't answer that with any great amount of accuracy. Every time I get in here, I go to BridgeBase (after first checking my e-mails) and then that kind of shoots my day - or interrupts it a whole bunch, let's say.


Sometimes I'll lay in bed thinking of something I could say that you might be interested in, but then usually I'll turn over, go back to sleep and it's mostly gone later. Kind of like the other day, when I was thinking about Kris Kristofferson, only this one I remember.

Why Kris Kristofferson? Well, I happened to catch a VERY mediocre movie recently that he starred in (playing one of the bad guys) ... Jan-Michael Vincent played his brother (one of the good guys). A most unlikely brother combination, wouldn't you say? I only watched it to the end because I wanted to see Kris "get his" and wasn't disappointed.

During the movie I found myself comparing their heights. Why that? Well, I had a chance meeting with Mr. Kristofferson in Nashville many years ago. I was there in my capacity as Marketing Manager for Kirby Building Systems, and was strolling the hotel during a few free minutes. There was a fountain in the main lobby and there he was, sitting beside it, all by his lonesome.

I thought, "Neat!" Went over, all smiles, and was all set to shake his hand when he rose and I realized that he was shorter than I. !?! The next words out of my mouth were, "My goodness, you're short!" Wouldn't you just know it? Out they popped before I had any idea they were going to be said aloud.

Well, he didn't take very kindly to that remark, said something rude and we went our separate ways. Rrvit!

So, anyway, I was kind of interested in seeing how Jan-Michael's height compared. He is perhaps an inch or two taller than Kris - this just in case you were the least bit curious, making him about my height. Another piece of useless trivia for you.

And then, of course, I got to thinking about Alan Ladd ... ... I'd always heard that he had to stand on a box to be tall enough for kissing closeups with his female co-stars. I guess I have kind of a "thing" about always wondering now how tall the person really is, what the newscaster is wearing underneath the table (or out of camera range), stuff like that. I'm a little weird that way.


Speaking of movies, I'm to be treated later this afternoon to the 1968 film version of "Heidi" ... ... this is the one starring Michael Redgrave as the grandfather, Maximilian Schell as the injured girl's father, Jean Simmons as the governess and Walter Slezak as Father Richter. Wonderful, wonderful!

Have a few outside errands to do and it's going on 2pm now. I'll have to leave the house shortly so I don't miss a single moment. It's coming on at 4pm. (This movie is showing on one of the local religious channels. No commercials.) I need to make a couple/three different stops ... the main one at Randall's. Have to pick up a bunch more of "Harvest Peach" - the Yoplait yogurt flavor that I've recently become addicted to, a couple of their absolutely delicious "melt in your mouth" blueberry muffins that I positively cannot eat in one sitting but they keep beautifully, perhaps another Xword magazine, some chicken tenders ... that's about it for Randall's, and then it's on to Luby's to get some of their wonderful spinach salad to go. I might even make another stop for another salad to go. We'll see how my time goes.

I haven't been outside much. It's been cold (for us) most of the month. In fact, all of my very large tropical plants that have been outside ever since I've lived here are now deader than the proverbial doornail. I'll have to hire someone to clean out the back yard come warmer weather. I don't have the strength for it anymore.


Talking about back yards, I have always been of the opinion that one does not go into another's back yard without being invited. Now, when my neighbor trespassed into my back yard last month to alert me that both our garages had been broken into, that was understandable. I didn't like it much, but I understood it.

More recently, I was even less pleased when a member of our homeowner's association left a notice at my back door. Then, a couple of days later, same person (I'm assuming) kept pounding on my back door to see if I had received it and to try and get me to sign some sort of petition he was circulating.

To say that I am ticked would be putting it mildly. I shared all of this with my family when I was out in Katy recently. They didn't like it, either. Not sure what we're going to do about it at this point. Relations between the homeowner's association and myself have been, shall we say, somewhat strained for years and these latest incidents have not helped matters.

Don't be too surprised if I leave this area sometime later this year. Never thought I'd say that. I've lived in this house since the late 70's, and thought I'd be here the rest of my life, but .. .. things change, circumstances change. I think I might be ready to go.


Beth's latest - newly-revised - scheduled return to Houston is Monday. We're both hopeful that she can finally leave the Arctic Circle and get back to where she can go outside without having to first spend several minutes bundling up. I'll be picking her up at IAH just before 1pm. Don't know if she'll be too tired to stop in Kemah 'on the way' back to her home or not. I'm positive she'll be hungry, but tired will be another matter.

Speaking of Kemah, there was a fire at one of the restaurants over there yesterday. Not the one we usually go to, thank goodness. (Not that a fire anywhere is a good thing. I'm just glad it wasn't at 'our' restaurant.)


Have to go, folks. Hope all of you are well, safe and warm. Can't say when I'll be posting again, but - hopefully - the interim will be of shorter duration. Noticed earlier that I have lost a subscriber. Oh, well. Not surprising, eh what?