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HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM JOYCE, JOHN & TUCKY!
December 1 - john and joyce went with their friends, Gene and Toni, to Las Vegas on November 20 - 23. Although they didn't do much gambling (john has had too many courses in Statistics for that), they did take in several shows. They saw Cirque Du Soleil's "O" at the Bellagio and The Blue Man Group (www.blueman.com) at the Venetian. Here are some of the photos of their trip arranged by hotel:
December 8 - Overland Park had 12 inches of very light snow today. The temperature was between -6 degrees and +20 degrees. The birds are very cold.
December 19 - Yesterday, Overland Park had an overnight dusting of snow. Again it is very cold. The chill index is around -2 degrees. john felt sorry for several cats that are outside in this weather so he bought a large catch and release trap. About 30 minutes ago, john caught a large brown and black short haired kitty. It looked too well fed, so john released it immediately. It is now calming down up the deck before going home.
john has all the waterfalls running this winter. They are simply beautiful as they freeze over. Here are some photos of them:
December 20 - Here is a new email from Basso, Benin West Africa:
"Good Morning John, Joyce and Tucky,
How are you doing by this time? Everything is going all right over here
as I dont deal with politicians. They always fighting about next year
presidential elections and many people are following them as if they all
will be elected Republic President. It is now the end of the present President's
second mandate, and he has normally to go off. He said he will recpect
the constitution, but some ministers of his government want him to modify
the constitution to stay one mandate more. That is not the will of the
populations.
This message is mainly for Season's Greetings : Merry Chrismas and Happy
new Year. May God grant all your wishes : Health, happiness, longevity
and other good things for human of good will. Same greetings to people
alon g with you.
Bye Bye,
Basso"
It is still quite cold out this morning. Another cat strolled through zenpond this morning. It was a well-fed black and white short hair and it stopped to look in a tucky for awhile. Tucky is doing much better when a kitty comes by now. Before he would practically fly through the plate-glass window while growling at the other kitty. If john or joyce got too close, tucky would try to attack them too as he was so upset. Now tucky just watches the other kitty until either john or joyce enters the room. tucky then feels obligated to growl weakly at the kitty until they leave the room. Maybe john and joyce won't have to call in a "Cat Whisperer" after all.
December 20 (4:30 PM) - Wow! The holiday season is great! An old friend of john's just called him out-of-the-blue to see how john and joyce are doing. Ken and john used to "do" Tech Conferences together in Aneheim and Boston a number of years ago. Ken and john remembered some great stories they shared together. Ken pulled a REALLY classic joke on john at one conference, which would have made a great Candid Camera episode (too long a story to share here). Thousands of people at that conference were in on the joke, but not john. At the end of the conference, when john went to the far back corner of the conference to UPS the proceedings of the conference home, even the UPS person laughed upon hearing john's name.
john also met Don at a hardware store today. Don worked with john at his very first job in the R & D department of a large industrial company. What a small world! john has had a fun day today!
December 21 - john and joyce took their car to have an oil change and john met another friend, Jim, and his wife at the auto repair company. Jim is always fun to see since he has such a cheerful personality. Jim mentioned that it was last year at Christmas time that they met at Wal-Mart. john said he would plan to meet Jim next year at Christmas time again. They just won't know where until it happens!
December 22 - john and joyce received a fine emil from some very good friends in Denmark this morning. Here is just the very end:
We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New
Year. Please remember, - you are always welcome to visit us in Denmark.
Lots of love
Lili and Bjarne + Sif (Dog)
December 24 - john and joyce saw a pure-white squirrel at the other end of their block yesterday morning. They see one about every three years in the same location.
john, joyce and tucky wish Happy Holidays to all!
December 30 - The champagne is chill'n and the raclette cheese ( http://www2.gol.com/users/wsfwine/raclette.html ) is ready for melting! john and joyce bought French Raclette from Whole Foods this year. They always serve it with new potatoes, gerkin pickles, baby onions, and white wine (plenty of). They will have their best friends (jerry and gail) over for the countdown (at least in N.Y.).
Just one day to go until 2006!