Good-by '22 and Hello '23!

   Goodby 2022, and welcome 2023!

2022 in many ways, was worse than the covid years, yikes!

And in other ways was much better, but overall it's still a year to remember as thank goodness I made it through that mess. 

  2022 started off badly with getting a nasty case of the covid-blues New Year's Eve 2021; that bout of illness lasted till almost the first of February.

Hmm, thinking about it, guess it was another covid year.

Then I got whammied again with round two of being sick from the tail-end of July till the start of September.

  The annual Winter Cookout/Freeze Fest commenced once again. Every year I think its the last, but it proceeded. Though instead of being held on the last Saturday in February, a change was made, and it was held on the first Saturday in March, and it was a warm one, the warmest WC on record. 

  Work, work, work, and more work. Work was steady throughout the year and, at times, was beyond hectic. Food was always on the table, bills paid, and I was blessed.

 Even more hectic and insanely bizarre was the revolving door of whacked out - crazed - mentally unstable - drug induced (I guess?) - psychotic behavior of the people (can I call them people?)  I tried to employ. If I was the only one who was on a search for employees, I would hide my head in shame, but you gotta take what's out there, and these people were OUT THERE!

 A whole book could be written on the great employment debacle of '22.

Five marched in, and five either stormed out screaming or went missing like I sent them on a mission to the Bermuda Triangle. If you are one of these when you land back to earth or gather your brain, please return my work shirts. 

 Since we are on the topic of the mentally unstable and backstabbing deviants, a tenant walked out, that's another insanely funny story, and someone I've known since school paid by check for work I did in her house only to stop payment on that check. Hey, if this is a sort of play-by-play of my year, I gotta include these things.

 I politic'd a little. Blystone for governor fell flat, but my early pick of Vance for Senate was correct. So it was a 50/50 year.

  Sport-wise, my prediction was correct, cutting Mayfield was bad, and the Browns would be even badder. Yes, I know I just wrote a word that doesn't exist, but the Browns are also a nonexistent team. 

 Travel was little to no traveling, just some day trips and Sunday drives.

 The highlights were meeting three interesting gentlemen. Don, owner of Market Square in Kinsman, Ohio, Robert "Quiet Wolf" Thompson of the Lenape Nation at a Powwow, and Bill, a 98-year-old WWII veteran.

 So how did '22 wrap up?.... with a death threat followed by a crash bang boom accident. In other words, it ended in a typical Carey fashion, unpredictable, and now what!

This is an older photo but the expression says it all....

So 2023 now what! What ya have in store for me? 

Lastly, in conclusion I like to thank the new friends and acquaintances I met in '22 and a heartfelt thank you to those who stuck by me, you are never overlooked. 

Carey On....

5 am Snow report for December 23, 2022

Well my slumber head friends yours truly was out n about and watched the transition of Mother Nature.

Quiet 42 and light rain when I started the night at work but now the streets look like a Zamboni was laying and smoothing the frozen H20 with heavy dose of gusts that make you want to grab hold of the first frozen thing that's anchored.

Snow business is in full affect with Frosty clapping his hands in glee that everything's white instead of green.

The blinding white ride on the freeway to home-base in my lil' Korean roller skate slid along at a constant 40 with sway to the left and sway to the right that would make any square dance caller upset that he wasn't there to call the moves.

Some sped at 55 while others used their blinking red and hugged the slow shoulder not wanting to become an immobilized snow mound.

If you venture out carry a large St. Bernard with you or at least enough extra clothes and some 151 to warm you in case you trapeze off the road while waiting for a hooker to come get you out.

And that's the 5 am report

Carey On...

What another Carey day. What's a Carey day?

 What another Carey day. What's a Carey day?

A day that never goes as planned gets beyond frustrating and then turns out OK.

Yesterday was that type of day.

While visiting Niles, Ohio, a month or so ago,  the ladies from the Niles historical society said I needed to return on December 10th. It was their Christmas celebration, historical houses would be open, festivities, etc...

So I planned on going Saturday at the last minute, still with enough time to make the events. But unfortunately, one friend ran late, then he had to pick up a few people, which made things unravel quickly.

We arrived in Niles late; all the houses and museums were closed, but worse than that, we found out from a local that the Christmas event was held on December 2nd. 

So now what? Well, you make the best of it. We drove around Niles and Warren. We found some interesting places with almost all closed, but we made notes of things to see for our next visit. 

We found a butcher that was still open, Badurik's Butcher Block. I purchased smoked black pepper bacon, Cajun kielbasa, hot-dried Italian sausage, and beef sticks. And the owner, Steve, in return, bought my book "Travel Life & Carey On...".

I Hope Steve enjoyed the book as much as I enjoyed his food.

OK, now things were turning around - we got bacon!

This is a break in the story

My Sunday breakfast 

Now back to the story

Next, we stopped at the McKinley Memorial, walked the grounds, snapped some photos, and took off to find supper.

  

Steve recommended Vernons but instead chose Stone Yard Grill and Tavern. We ordered the ribeye, but I am still unsure what we ate. It was so beyond tender that I think they served us the prime rib by mistake. Whatever it was, it was incredibly delicious.

After that, we drove in large circles looking for a coffee shop, diner, or truck stop for coffee and dessert. Not even a Denny's. At one time, Denny's were all over the place, and no one ever really planned on going to Denny's you just ended up there but not today.

No coffee to be found but we did drive by the Packard museum, that had lights on with a parking lot filled with cars.

We ventured in, walked around a bit, and probably could have stayed longer if I didn't ask someone what was going on. Unfortunately, it was a private event, so we were told we had to leave.

So that was my Saturday, December 10th; how was yours?

OH lets not forgot Sunday's supper, thanks Steve Badurik, my Sunday meals would not have been this tasty.

Carey On...