Saturday, July 25, 2009

The Suprise Party

It was another beautiful cool morning here in Tuscaloosa. At 6:00 a.m. my Google home page had the temperature pegged at 66°. This was the same temperature as my home town of Lockport, NY!!! Daggy and Stumpy are enjoying blissful sleep under the ceiling fan as I finish up this entry. They were in distress from the damn fleas. I hate putting chemicals on them, but sometimes you have to bite the bullet. Applications of Advantage pretty much cleared up the flea problem. Those cats are at peace now….

The pressure is off!!! Friday night we had a surprise birthday party for one of our coaches, Alison: Her better half is our other coach, Jason. They are such a great couple together. While working Friday afternoon on the oar project with them, I was SO afraid of giving away the secret. Normally we get together for a row on Friday evening. People were bowing out like crazy with excuses of “pulled muscles”, bad backs, or being out of town. I don’t have that luxury of faking an injury since I had been working all morning at the oars, and returned in the afternoon. Besides, Alison knows I’ll go on the water under any conditions. I show up for every row; even when my boat is not scheduled to go out. I’m usually able to fill in for a no-show. It helps in that I’ve worked so I can row on either port or starboard side of the sweep. We tried to get enough together to take out a four, but were one person short. Jason’s eyes were twinkling as I left them at the boat house saying, “I’ll see you-all Sunday afternoon!”

Jason and Alison and our freshly painted and decorated oars

I hate shopping for presents. Instead I like to give people something they will enjoy and use. Alison loves hearing the stories of my Brick Collectors meetings. I have a pile of bricks…. Voila! The perfect present! I sorted through my bricks and found a good clean Graves street paver made in Birmingham, Alabama. This came from the hoard I purchased from the guys in Jacksonville, Florida. It originally saw use in the “Dixie Highway”.

Years ago my nephews and niece would have joint birthday parties (they were all born in June). It was so evident what a waste of time and money it was to hunt down that perfect card as the kids would rip through them intent on only finding cash or a check. Cheapskate Uncle Jamie discovered the perfect solution. I would take my old Christmas cards and rewrite the verse inside changing it to a birthday rhyme, complete with x’ed out words. Talk about making a hit! Those kids loved it: my birthday cards grew to be legend something they looked forward to actually read!!!

Cleaning the basement I found a gold plastic angel and a roll of Christmas paper that survived the “garage sale” purge. Alison’s brick got wrapped in festive Christmas holiday paper complete with a golden angel!!!

Alison had absolutely NO idea what was up. The look on her face entering the living room into a shower of confetti was wonderful! She was totally surprised. Now Jason can relax. He was under so much pressure. The stories of how the deception was carried out were traded among the main conspirators throughout the night.

Everybody brought food, what a spread and what a great group of people. We all had such a good time.

Alison and her presents:

Kim was the mastermind putting this party all together at her house.

Good times, food and friends all in one place. Life does not get much better….

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About Me

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Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States
Retired auto worker who can now spend too much time restoring his 1922 Bungalow Home. I'm involved in a number of varied activities from collecting bricks to rowing with a masters rowing group. This blog is to share different aspects of my life on my Facebook page. I've kept an on-line journal for eight years.