I think it is Jan 30th which is today. Happy Birthday!!!

Yes, yes! Happy Birthday Ole Joyful! Today!
Kathy G in MI

So let us know which day your birthday is - the 30th or the 31st.
ivamae

Hope you had a wonderful and joyous :-) Birthday! Did you blow out all 29 candles?

Thank you, thank you, all, for your good wishes. I appredicate your interest and kindness.

The big day was on Sunday.

Daughter invited me to a Chinese restaurant - when we arrived, it was closed. So we went to another.

It was more than the 29th - even somewhat above the 39 that was so attractive to Jack Benny for so long.

I enjoyed being 75 for 366 days - but no longer.

Very thankful that I don't think that I've taken a pill in 30 years, at least.

Doc told me the other day that I seem to be in fine fettle.

Had the root of a tooth removed the other day and it's settled down so that the chompers work O.K. again.

Bad news today - car exhaust was leaking, so had that fixed, but even then it failed emission test (badly), so need to diagnose it - and get such work done as needs doing in order to get my licence renewed.

The old van is over 20 years old, so is exempt - or I'd probably be walking for a few days. Actually, I can get a 10 day extension for $15. ...

... which I may need to do, as part of birthday celebration is that daughter has invited me to some secretive occasion in Toronto next Thursday - which may necessitate me driving.

I suspect that it's a play or some kind of show. Time will tell.

I'm at son's for supper now (earky Mon. evening) - it's to be roast beef, which smells good already.

I'm to move to Uncle's farm house, as the new owner of the farm isn't going to use it, and guess that he likes my looks. Much cheaper rent.

About same size house, but current basement is more useable than the old farmhouse basement, but think that I'll be able to store some stuff in a shed, and use workbench, including vise, etc. No monthly surcharge to park van, either.

After early next month, though - I'll have to pay for the dog and cat feed.

Last night I visited a neighbour who has done quite a lot for Stuart (and his wife prior to her death three years ago). Their grand-daugter gave me a muffin with a candle on it. I tried to blow it out by sucking in air - but it didn't work.

They came over to get some crystal - the lady, being somewhat inebriated, managed to drive their fairly new pickup truck into the ditch instead of the lane. A neighbour who was passing pulled them out. Husband was going to drive home - but family and I prevailed upon him to let me drive them home.

We managed to get back to his yard without further incident (and his bro-in law drove me home).

Next task - winnow my stuff so that I can shoehorn it into Uncle's house.

Thanks again for your good wishes - and felicitations to you all for the week ahead.

(incrementally more) ole joyful

Son was in on the birthday celebration last night, as well, but neither were breathing a word about what the celebration was to be.

We left early so that he could visit a store near Toronto to upgrade electronics for a drum set that he bought recently.

They're all out. None available in Canada - maybe some from their sister company in U.S. Son sort of made the air blue for a while. Didn't have any trouble breathing it, though.

Devious kids - went from daughter's apt. on subway to downtown Toronto, then through underground passages leading to a concert hall, one of buildings related to city gov't., etc. Then a walk across the street into back door of a (recently built) building labelled "CBC" Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, our national public broadcaster, listening to which I'm somewhat addicted.

Went around their atrium, through some more passages, etc. to their one of their major studios - a rather small one, named for a fine, if rather eccentric pianist, Glenn Gould, who was a famous interpreter of Bach.

Then I saw a program in someone's hand, "Stuart Maclean" - a guy who tells interesting and quirky stories weekly.

It was a money-raiser for a group called "Street Haven" which provides a safe place, counselling, help, etc. for homeless women, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary - founder still alive, but not there last night.

He has several books of his stories, one of which son gave me for Christmas. Many are about a family, the father who runs a small bookstore with records (remember them?) whose slogan is, "We may not be big - but we're small".

Both Dad and the dog, Arthur, were feeling a bit peaked, so the vet gave them some meds and prescribed some for the dog.

Dad felt that he needed some perk-me-up-ers, too, so brought home a number of bottles.

Somehow the bottles got mixed up - and Dad stated feeling "frisky", etc.

I've managed to pick up a cold in the past few days, so hope that I didn't pass it on to son or daughter.

Got home about 2 a.m., so slept in this morning. Former owner of the farm's relatives came to pick up dining room suite as I was getting up, so helped them get it loaded.

One of the nice things about being retired - one can get up whenever one feels like it.

The car just got taken back to the garage to get the final work done to get it to pass emission test. It has close to 200,000 miles on the odometer.

Have a great weekend, all.

joyful guy