MONDAY

. . . .The weather report promised several days with no precipitation but it was snowing here at 10:30. It did not look like it was going to amount to much so I drove into town for some practice bowling. I discovered they were full up until after 2PM so I turned around and drove back home. It was still snowing but I was convinced it could not last long. Of course I was wrong, it continued until after 4PM but I am happy to say that the total on the ground when I went to bed was only about an inch deep. http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52 http://cliffordaelford.blogspot.com/

SUNDAY

. . . . This turned out to be a lazy football day. I did talk myself into washing the car. I needed the exercise and the car was beginning to look rather old and worn out. It looked much nicer after the bath and now I have to find the nerve to do the same to the little doggy. He hates bathing and I have to use leather gloves to hold him in place while doing the nasty job. Perhaps tomorrow, or never. Today it was very cool but the sun did come out this afternoon and that made the car washing a bit more acceptable. That is the last time for this year and I would guess the last time until Spring. I am talking as much about washing the car as seeing the sunshine. http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52 http://cliffordaelford.blogspot.com/

SATURDAY

. . . . .I was pleased enough with today’s bowling results. The first three lines averaged out at 157. I didn’t do as well during the next seven but did end up with a 137.6 for the day. There were a few sprinkles during the day and the temperature was nothing to argue about so I found it sort of acceptable. I enjoyed watching the Syracuse football game today, a lot of snow and cold wind blowing. It sure is nice to be inside and warm while watching those folks suffering the cold. I have been told some people really like the winter weather. It is beyond me to understand such a strange idea. To each his own, I guess. http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52 http://cliffordaelford.blogspot.com/

FRIDAY

. . . . I was on the phone for about an hour this afternoon attempting to get my bedside heart monitor to operate properly. I think it is now OK. It sent a progress report to the Longview clinic and I will get a ‘results’ report on January 2nd. I almost had myself talked into washing the car today but that never happened, I took a nap instead. Tomorrow I plan on visiting the bowling alley for some more practice/exercise. http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52 http://cliffordaelford.blogspot.com/

THURSDAY

. . . . .My bowling went better than usual today. 133-149-146 which turned out to be a not bad [for me] 142 average. We have dropped to 7th place but I think we won today so perhaps we can hang on to that for another week. I have one more week of bowling before I leave for the winter. http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52 http://cliffordaelford.blogspot.com/

WEDNESDAY

. . . . . .ChiChi and I went on a forty minute walk before lunch today. We walked the country road down toward the river. Poor dog got all dirty from the belly hairs down so I am afraid it is about time for his winter bath. We were lucky not to get rained on but the wind was cool enough without it. It certainly was not a slow, leisurely stroll, we moved along at a good clip the whole time. I was pleased to note that I was doing well enough to not stop and catch my breath on the last grade coming back. That is rare for me. In warmer weather I am not so lucky. More sprinkles this afternoon, winter, it is arriving. http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52 http://cliffordaelford.blogspot.com/

MERRY CHRISTMAS

. . . . This was another one of those very lazy days! I accomplished nothing but it did not seem to bother me a lot. I think that is not a good sign. http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52 http://cliffordaelford.blogspot.com/

MONDAY

. . . . I happened to look out the bedroom window when I got out of bed this morning and spotted two deer about 25 feet away enjoying the tasty, wet grass mother nature has so amply supplied around the property. I decided to drive into Longview for another session at the bowling alley. That kind of exercise is more fun than 30 minutes on my stepper machine. I averaged 142 for ten lines, nothing spectacular but it beats my league average. I was home by I:30 and had a light lunch prior to making the short drive to Teigen’s house; I arrived there about 3PM. We had Pizza for dinner then following family tradition we opened Christmas gifts. Of course little Colt, age four plus, had a great time and once the gifts under the tree were all opened we heard a noise on the porch and jumped up to discover that Santa had arrived and left the front porch loaded with more gifts. Mostly for Colt of course. Ron missed the arrival of Santa because he happened to be in the bathroom at the time. Strangely the same thing had happened last year. ChiChi fell asleep next to me on the couch and was snoring loud enough for all to hear. I woke him up about 7PM and we made a rain free drive home. It was another good Christmas. Merry Christmas to all of you! http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52 http://cliffordaelford.blogspot.com/

SUNDAY

. . . .Today it was rainfall and football. There is a rhyme in there someplace. Perhaps I should take up poetry. http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52 http://cliffordaelford.blogspot.com/

SATURDAY

. . . . .I bowled ten lines today and averaged 142.3, out of the ten games I came up with a couple of good ones. I may get down there again on Monday. There is no doubt I need a lot more practice. After bowling I stopped by Safeway and stocked up on a few more essentials to last me until the plane leaves for warmer climes. I also bought a pizza at the bowling alley to add to the freezer, it will be gone long before I take off. http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52 http://cliffordaelford.blogspot.com/

FRIDAY

. . . . I was outside long enough to get the mail out of the mailbox, distance about eight feet. Spent the day reading and relaxing and being careful about my calorie intake. I was bad, never did get on the stepper. http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52 http://cliffordaelford.blogspot.com/

THURSDAY

. . . .Bowling was really pretty bad today, I averaged 135 and that is one pin below my league average. We are still tied for third place though. It is strange that a team that performs as poorly as we do is that high in the ratings two weeks into the second half of the season. I am glad I will not be here when the ship hits the sand and we start our fall to the lower spot that we truly deserve. However, my replacement in January just might fire the team up enough to improve our present position. Lets hope so! http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52 http://cliffordaelford.blogspot.com/

WEDNESDAY

. . . . . .This was a windy, stormy day, I stayed inside and did nothing worth mentioning. Tomorrow I will go bowling and get some exercise. http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52 http://cliffordaelford.blogspot.com/

TUESDAY

. . . . .We had some snow showers today but none of it stuck. They were very large snowflakes and hit with an almost audible ‘plop’. The temperatures were not low enough to keep them happy. I was inside all day, napping, reading and even getting in another 2,000 steps on my little stepper machine. It was a lazy day and I think the same thing is in store for tomorrow. http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52 http://cliffordaelford.blogspot.com/

MONDAY

. . . .This turned out to be a pretty good day. At the bowling alley I experimented the first five lines and averaged a 124. Then when I settled down and used what I think I have learned my average for the second set of five came to 149.6. I will discover Thursday if any of this will still work for me under the pressure of league play. I left the bowling alley at about 2:30 and arrived at Safeway ten minutes later. The clouds were dark and scary looking but I made it inside without getting wet. Twenty minutes later as I left the store I was surprised to see dark blue sky and a quarter inch of snow on everything in sight! Such a surprise. There was no sign of the stuff by the time I got home. http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52 http://cliffordaelford.blogspot.com/

SUNDAY

. . . . I watched the Seattle game today. Lots of fun but again very one sided. We had plenty of rain and I stayed home all day trying not to overeat. I did put another two thousand steps on my stepper. As near as I can figure that amounts to about one mile on a slight upgrade. Nothing spectacular but it sure beats no exercise at all and that is what I would be doing without the stepper. I will try the bowling alley again tomorrow, I am supposed to meet Rick there at noon. http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52 http://cliffordaelford.blogspot.com/

SATURDAY

. . . . .More rain again, I got to the bowling alley for ten lines and averaged 137. The first line was my best at 188 and the last line was my next best at 166. The others were all over the place. I think I am learning the game but it is not a quick process, not for me at least! http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52 http://cliffordaelford.blogspot.com/

FRIDAY

. . . . .ChiChi and I visited with the Teigen’s for a while this afternoon, he is getting more acquainted with them with each visit. There was a huge patch of clear sky today and the sun beamed down spectacularly for a while. It was nice to make the short drive without needing wiper blades on the windshield. http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52 http://cliffordaelford.blogspot.com/

THURSDAY

. . . .Thursday was another bad day at the bowling alley. My score sucked canal water and we last again. We were fourth going into today’s game and I am afraid we will be further down than that next week. Such is life in the rainy Northwest! http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52 http://cliffordaelford.blogspot.com/

WEDNESDAY

. . . . . . Not a whole lot going on today, I did go by the Post Office and since I was so close I stopped by City Hall to say hello to the ladies and wish them a merry Christmas. ChiChi and I drove by the Teigen’s but no one was home. It was only 11:30 by the time we got back to the house and after lunch I did some reading and fell asleep until 3:30. No need to mention that all of this was done with light rain falling. I was able to spot a patch of blue sky at one time this afternoon, that is always nice to see. Rare, but still nice. http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52 http://cliffordaelford.blogspot.com/

TUESDAY

. . . . This turned out to be a good day, if it did rain. I had lunch with the ‘52’ gang. There were 12 of us there today, not a bad crowd since so many go to warmer climes this time of year. After lunch I found myself in the bowling alley again. My first five gave me an average of 148 and the second set only delivered a 134. The average for the day was 143.5 and that is getting closer to the 150.0 that I want as a permanent average. On the way home I stopped by the Pharmacy for more meds to take with me in January. The time is fleeting by! I find that to be a pleasant thought. The rains are helping maintain a temperature that is almost bearable during the day. http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52

MONDAY

. . . . .I left the house at 8:30 to keep my cardiologist appointment at 9AM. She said that according to my records for the past three years my heart has shown no change in its performance. It was functioning at 35-40 percent then and is still doing the same today. I still have two leaking valves and that will not improve but with luck it won’t get a lot worse for a few more years. I have been complaining for months about a bloating condition and she checked me for fluid retention and feels that is not a problem. She scheduled an echo-gram of my abdomen for 2:00 and asked me to return then. I had that taken care of after I went bowling for three hours but the results will not be known until after the person who knows about such things reads the results. The bowling results were not too bad, I experimented for the first 5 lines and got a 120 average. I then applied what I thought I had learned from the experimenting and made a 148 average for the next 5 lines. Since I still had time before returning to the doctors office I bowled two more lines and got a 188 and a 140. My total average for the day was 140 but I feel I am on the right track. I must talk myself into throwing a slower ball with more accuracy, putting muscle into the ball throws off my ability to hit my spot on the floor. The more times I hit that spot the more times the ball goes where I intend it to go. Tomorrow I will meet the gang of ‘52’ for lunch and then return to the bowling alley just to see if I am really just kidding myself. In any event I got a lot of good exercise, that is worth a lot to me! http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52

SUNDAY

. . . . . Dallas pulled off a great win from behind today, the Bengal’s helped a lot with too many mistakes but that is football. I had phoned the bowling alley earlier to ask about open lanes today and was told again that they would not be available until after 3:30. I spent the day watching football until half time of the Seattle game then I decided they would not need my help in the second half so I drove to the bowling alley. I experimented with a new delivery but it did not show a lot of improvement. My first five games gave me an average of 126 and the second five showed a 132. The average for the day was 121. Not so hot, I must say. I have a Cardiologist appointment in the morning so I may stop by the bowling alley again. Such a glutton for punishment! http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52

SATURDAY

. . . . .I phoned the bowling alley around noon to ask about the availability of practice lanes today and they said it would be after 3:30. By the time 3:30 rolled around I was too laid back to bother. Perhaps tomorrow. I did get in 2,000 steps on the stepper machine though, I feel good about having done at least that little bit of exercise. http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52

FRIDAY

. . . .This was another lazy day, I considered going to the bowling alley to experiment with a new delivery but changed my mind when I notice the rain. Maybe I’ll feel better about it tomorrow. http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52

THURSDAY

. . . I am sorry I even attempted to bowl today. My scores were 95-116-123. Yikes! I was glad to crawl out of the building and sneak away. I will show up again next week and pretend nothing happened. At least I got the exercise, such as it was. Our team was in second place before the day started, I have no idea where we stand now. This is our fourth loss so far. http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52

WEDNESDAY

. . . . ChiChi and I walked to the river today, the first time since last April when his leg started giving him so much trouble. We had a nice, cool day for a short hike and he seemed to have no trouble with the leg. I think we were gone less than an hour. We did not stay at the river too long because there is not a lot of beauty down there this time of year with the high, dirty water and no leaves on the trees. While walking back to the house I was able to climb the last steep grade with less trouble than I remember having before, that is a good thing. I did not have to stop and catch my breath half way up. http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52

TUESDAY

. . . . .I had my soup in the pot and cooking by 11AM. It turned out to be pretty good, I have to admit that salt would be a really tasty addition but I refrained. I bet I will get a dozen meals out of the amount I made…… More rain off and on again today but that can be expected….. Got a note from Natalia a few minutes ago, it seems the bowling alley in Mazatlan has gone out of business so that solves my packing problem. No bowling ball this year. And no practice, darn it. However, that will not stop me from sitting on the beach with a good book and with my feet in the ocean. http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52

MONDAY

. . . . I bowled ten lines today and only averaged 137.2. One of these days I will bowl a score I will like advertising, this was not that day. I stopped by Safeway on the way home and stocked up on some soup ingredients. Tomorrow I will create a pot of that for the fun of it. This is slowly becoming soup weather, so I might as well bow to the powers that be and join in. http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52

SUNDAY

. . . . .This was a great day to stay inside and watch Seattle Football. That was really a great game and then a bit later Pittsburgh came through with another come from behind win. I also was able to talk myself into spending thirty minutes on the stepper so it turned out to be a good day for me. I hope all of you are doing as well! http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52

SATURDAY

. . . . .The barometer has climbed a notch since yesterday evening and the weather cleared enough for me to work up the energy to drive myself and the doggy over to the Teigen’s for a short visit. Ron felt the need for a short walk; his cows have found a shortcut into the neighbors front yard so we walked down the road looking for the problem. It appears a small tree has fallen over the fence so they have no problem getting out. Cows do that every chance they get. He said he will get at it one day before the snow flies and repair it. ChiChi and I were home by 1PM and I turned on the TV to find an interesting football game. Nebraska came on at 5PM but at half time it looks like it is all over for them. I may watch a bit more of the mess before going to bed to catch up on my reading. http://celford52.wordpress.com/ http://www.youtube.com/celford52