Well, I thought I was going to be able to share a little good news with you this week. You see, I believed my hearing greatly improved one magical night. Unfortunately, a visit to my good friend, Dr. Joe at the Hearing and Speech Services here in Morgan Hill, told me it was just circumstances. You see, Lady M had eleven of her friends over recently to play Bunco and, although I was sequestered in an upstairs bedroom, the noise level was close to the 135db pitch of a jet engine at 100 feet. I was certain that my hearing had returned to normal – no group of lovely ladies could possibly have that much fun and express their enjoyment that loudly.
So, Dr. Joe gave me the sorry truth when he recommended that, the next time the ladies were playing, I go to a movie, preferably in San Jose, or even Palo Alto. So much for getting rid of my hearing appliances.
While they were playing Bunco – if you don’t know about Bunco, it is a fun dice game played mostly by women refreshed by a plentiful supply of the juice of the grape – I spent the evening watching a San Jose Sharks game. Now I wonder, “What has happened to our wonderful Sharks?” In one game, they scored in the first 9 seconds. The next game took them a full 59 seconds to go up 1 – 0. I’m not crazy about the trend. What do you think?
Something has been bothering me: exactly when is “yet?” I hear it mostly from our friendly news readers when they say things like, “the strike is not over as of yet.” I understand not over today, tonight or even as of 10 o’clock. But “not over as of yet?” When the heck is yet? Couldn’t they just say “not over?” I get that.
As long as I am on the subject of fractured phrases, let me ask you this: What does 10 times smaller mean? I hear news readers use that phrase frequently and I have no idea exactly what it means. You know, something like “The Model X iPad will be 10 times smaller than the Model W.” I just wish someone would explain to me exactly what that means. I think it probably means “one-tenth the size.” But why can’t they just say that?
I really do need to find more things to occupy my mind.
Unlike Lady M, I never have been a big joiner. She loves to join with her friends for tennis, in community affairs, participating in charity fund raising, and so on. I, on the other hand, limit myself to a couple of activities on which I can concentrate – and that’s not always easy these days.
Most recently, I joined a great Morgan Hill group, the Valle Del Sur Region of the Antique Automobile Club of America. Believe me this is one fun-loving group. They organize the car rally at our Fourth of July parade, attend antique car shows, organize outings for members, have holiday parties, they are a truly lively group. When gathered, laughter is near continuous. It is obvious, everyone in the club has a really good time at their meetings and get togethers. The club meets on the second Monday of each month at the Morgan Hill House on Monterey Road. And they accept almost anyone – they even accepted my application – whether you own an antique car or not. If interested, email me and I will tell you whom to contact. Or just show up at a meeting. You will be welcomed.
I like to think that the holiday season begins with Halloween. Most folks think of Thanksgiving is it’s start, but I think summer fun ends with Labor Day and the winter fun season begins with Halloween.
Morgan Hill is so smart to cordon off downtown, so the children can go trick or treating in their wonderful costumes without fear. The only bad thing is that I miss having ghosts and goblins ring our doorbell and threaten us with their trick-or-treat dares. In fact, in the seven-plus years Lady M and I have lived in Morgan Hill, not one child has appeared on our doorstep hoping for some candy. Bothersome when a good NFL game is underway, but I miss it – particularly the left-over Snickers bars.
So, happy Halloween. Happy autumn. And happy holiday season.
Henry “Hank” Miller is a retired rocket scientist, he has an interest in classic automobiles, good conversation, martinis and community affairs.
