Take two books and call me in the morning

Buenos tardes.

I have received 10 books so far for Christmas. Considering that I already have more than that in my vacation knapsack, this could get interesting.

First, Miriam Coffin or The Whaling - Fisherman: A Nantucket Novel by Joseph F. Hart

"But, as Nathaniel Philbrick explains in a new introduction, Miriam Coffin is not only a good read, it's also a treasure trove of important historical information." Based on the real life exploits of a notorious Tory whaling merchant Kezia Coffin (ycmtsu).

American Sniper by Navy Seal Chris Kyle. One shot, one kill. 150 confirmed.  "Jaw dropping " ... Chicago Sun Times

Fort Reno Or, Picturesque "Cheyenne and Arrapahoe Army life before the opening of Oklahoma." I knew this would turn you on.

The Men Who United The States: America's Explorers, Inventors, and Mavericks

Noel & Cole: Cole Porter and Noel Coward

Company of Heroes - Harry Carey Jr.'s stories of working for the John Ford/John Wayne movie company. Think: Monument Valley Stagecoach, The Searchers,  and She Wore A Yellow Ribbon.

Birds of Mexico and Central America. Costa Rica and Belize had hundreds. Isla Mujeres has pelicanos,  ravens who land on empty tables and eat the sugar packs and never the fake stuff. Frigates flocking. No parrots that Jimmy Buffet said he saw. Not a whole lot of birds, eight miles out in the blue water.

Cuba  - We were going from Isla Mujeres but had a change of heart. A $2,000 fine will change your mind, plus the thought of flying on a Cuban plane was scary. They  still have our 1950 cars, so what are their planes like?

The Company that They Kept  - Famous writers on unforgettable famous writer friendships.

The Queen Bee of Tuscany - Janet Ross facts. Born to an influential family in Victorian England among luminaries such as Dickens and Thackeray. Married at 18 and went to live in Egypt where for 6 years she wrote for the London Times, hobnobbed with builders of the Suez Canal, and humiliated pashas in horse races. In 1868 she moved to Florence where she spent the remaining 60 years of her life.  Sounds OK

And finally, maybe, Five People Who Died During Sex by Karl Shaw. I will keep you posted on this one and hope that you are not a chapter in it.

In other newzz .......

TODAY Sandy and I drove out to Saquish and the Gurnet by way of Duxbury Beach and bridge. We saw three SNOWY OWLS. Neither of us had ever seen even one before.

Barb and John Cerri saw this beauty up at Plum Island last week.

Thanks for listening,
Don Tocino                  

Oh !!   and I have three on my Kindle.          

mil de gracias  ( a thousand thanks )

A Sunday in December

Dear Carlos,

It is 60 degrees today -- December 22, 2013.  We have the windows and doors open to air the houses and garages out. It was ALSO a great time to clean out the wood stove.

I guess my timing on the Bob's World Christmas release was bad. I have only heard from you and from Carol my barber.  One "Four Star," one "Quit While You're Ahead." Flaco stopped by yesterday and he said he has been listening on his long commute to work. He always responds to everything, but at his pace. He did make a remark about enjoying Paulo Conte.

Flaco's daughter Emily and her husband Eric are up from South Carolina. Eric & Flaco came down the driveway yesterday afternoon. They had 3-year-old Alec and 6-year-old Neil with them. I told them I recognized their faces but had forgotten their names. So we played "Guess What My Name Is." I wasn't even close, so the boys helped me by telling me the first letter of their names. It was their idea. I looked at Neil and asked, "You are Nelson Mandela?" I never was good at games.

Sandy and the girls have started a new annual family tradition. It is called Pierogi Day, the Saturday before Christmas. It will honor Sandy's paternal Babci, Aniela Pater Zabek. Sunday will be called Clean Up After Pierogi Making Day.

I got Roger, the trapper, a book on snipers. It made the NYC best list. I ALSO got one for myself. I left his book in his refrigerator. There should be a D in the word refrigerator.

One of my goals this winter was to fill the photo albums. I was up to Abel's birthday (May 17). I have filled 6 albums this past week. This morning I will put in the photos from our South Massachusetts Coast wine trip which included New Bedford and all the whaling stuff.

This morning in the Boston Sunday Globe -- it is one of Boston's daily newspapers -- there is a blurb that starts out with "25." That's the number of hours it takes to read Melville's legendary novel MOBY DICK aloud, as a rotating roster of volunteers will demonstrate starting at noon on January 4 at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Lectures and chats with Melville scholars on Friday and Sunday bracket the read-a-thon. You should do a Christmas vacation in New England and then we can take this in next year.    (p.s. Charles is a little crazy for Moby Dick.)

Back to the albums. Brant Lake alone took two and a half albums. Sandy took some really awesome photos at the lake this summer. Especially of the skies. Rainbows and double rainbows, rain and early morning fog. Loons. Lots of loons. Two more albums and I will be forced to stop for now. That should bring me up to Thanksgiving. I have, so far, 129 photo albums that the kids will certainly throw out a month after we are gone. Once again the boat house at Brant Lake New York is booked solid for 2014.

- Don Tocino,  . . . keeper of the family photos, activity and former party planner, can collector -- over 22,000 this year alone, squirrel control expert (I bought my first controller when I was 13), street litter expert, and very personal news sender to the lonely. I ALSO am a pretty good two stepper. Although vacation planning is my specialty. 82 days planned away for 2014. Four states, four countries so far . . . Thank you Pfizer stocks. Like Frank Sinatra sang, "It was a VERY good year."

Roger Says . . .

fisher cat

 Roger is my friend who traps.

Roger says he doubts whether the buck deer kill in North Marshfield was a cat. Meaning cougar or bobcat. Although the woman whose yard it happened in swears she heard purring at the end of the ruckus. A fisher cat screams like a cat or young child and doesn't purr.

He says the male fisher cat is larger than the female at 20 pounds. They jump up and catch the deer under the neck and then just hang on. He saved one in a trap for me once because I had never seen one. They have wicked long sharp teeth and are fast on their feet which are as big as a bears. The deer tries to throw the cat off its neck further injuring itself. Roger has seen the bloody scene twice in the snow so it does happen.

But in our neighborhood it was a band of coyote that got that deer on the bog a day or two ago.

band of coyotes

coyote on the run

He also says that it is OK to let your dog roam free and that the fishers won't bother them. Tying a pork chop around the dog's neck will ALSO discourage an attack.

Christmas Blog 2013

December 10th  2013

It is freezing cold outside, and the yelping coyotes out on the cranberry bog just woke me up, so I thought I would get out of bed and write something. Something warm.

Upon arrival to Playa Norte (North Beach) -- think white sand, eighty degrees in Febrero, palm trees and Windex-color water -- and after the Welcome Back To The Island hugs, we asked Davido, our beach chair rental amigo, how was his familia. He replied that his wife Minerva was very ill, and that the tests alone cost 1500 pesos. His English is not so good. Our Spanish is worse, but somehow we communicate. At the end of that winter vacation, Tom & Eileen &Sandy and I decided, as a propina, to pay for Minerva's medical tests. It only cost us $75 per couple to solve his grande financial problem. One that would have taken him 25 days or 300 hours to pay back.

Minerva recovered, and we never did figure out what she recovered from. The following year Sandy got sick on Isla Mujeres. Really sick. It was the first time in 46 years of traveling to Mexico that she took ill. Our amiga at the Hotel Cabanas, Clara, was alarmed at seeing Sandy finally seated outside on the piazza, especially with intravenous attached to her arm. She sat down next to her and told her every thing would be OK. And it was. Enrique from the restaurant at Zazil-Ha made her his special chicken soup. Mexican people there are so sweet.

Yesterday we received the  health insurance reimbursement check from Blue Cross. It took nearly a year, with special help from Clara, but we got it. In the explanation of reimbursement it mentioned that our nurse, Eric, who came to our hotel room 16 times in three days, was paid the equivalent of $7.40 per visit. Doesn't sound like much, does it? On Isla it is muy bien. The average Mexican for 12 hours of work makes $6.00 per day. That is not a misprint. $6.00 per day, and that has not changed in the 26 years that we have been vacationing on the island of women.

So I guess we should all count our blessings, shouldn't we?

Feliz Navidad.

I am glad to be your friend,
Roberto Francisco Tocino

I Should Have Said . . .

 Sir , Yes  Sir.

50 years ago I boarded the train in my Navy Blues, just after the President was shot, from Pittsfield Massachusetts, headed to the Great Lakes Naval Training Center outside of Chicago. It is in Illinois, and I think it is close to Alaska.

It was an interesting 80 days.

At the end of my walk the other chilly day, I smelled food wafting by me. Memories flooded back. At Great Lakes we would line up outside the chow halls in rank, and in the cold and snow, by company. We were Company 540. (P.S. I didn't have to look to come up with that. My combo lock, which I still own, was 24-28-32. Yes it still works.) Our Company Commander was Boatswains Mate First Class  M. K. Metzker. It was freezing cold in rank, so we left no room between us for any warmth we could get.

50 years ago and that pleasant food smell brought me right back.

Everyone my age who served feels that every young man or woman should experience Boot Camp.

I had a lot to learn.  
Thanks, Uncle Sam!

November 2013