Welcome to the hoops capital for men and women

The games will be played elsewhere. Houston on Saturday and Indianapolis on Sunday, to be precise. But make no mistake about it. The folks who call Syracuse, N.Y., and its surrounding miles home can undeniably make claim as the basketball capital of the entire world this weekend. The Syracuse men’s and women’s teams both won…

Hitting the dome walls makes us happy

KP, Tater and I got our golf season off to its traditional indoor start last week. Too chilly and wet for us to comfortably put in our first swings of 2016 on an outside course, we once again gathered inside the Golf Dome at Turning Stone Resort and Casino, some 25 southeast of Syracuse in…

A special meal coming for a Happy Easter

My dear wife Karen asked a couple of days ago what I’d like to have for dinner on Easter. A ham steak? My answer had that question mark on the end of it, but that’s the way we left it. Then in those nether moments before I drifted off to sleep that night, a better…

Climbing the store ladder, literally and figuratively

I’ve put two weeks in at the paint department. I’m learning a lot at the store. I have to be good at climbing the ladder. For stocking, they keep big things up high. Early on, my boss told me to deal with garbage cans. The store sells a good variety, from humongous to very large…

Too big for easy picking?

Usually when something of any value of all is put out to the road here in our Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood, it’s picked up by this urban hunter or that. We’ve had a king-size mattress disappear from in front of the Little Bitty, much to our joy. Yeah, it was a comfortable bed, but…

Away with the clutter, ahhhh

I knew my mess was spreading too far and wide in the Little Bitty I share with my dear wife Karen in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood. I saw it every moment I sat writing in my recliner/work chair. The wide ottoman that we’d bought because it serves as seating-in-the-pinch had become completely covered…

An unappealing task

There are some things in life you know are not in your wheelhouse. I can’t dive. At the end of the tip-toe down the ladder or along the sand/rocks, I’m not the best swimmer. I much prefer the long-necked lighter over matches to ignite a grill. Dear wife Karen, it’s time for the new car…

A new wild ride every month

In October 2010, my dear wife Karen and I took our dream vacation. To celebrate our anniversary, we hopped on a plane to her hometown of Los Angeles and stayed a night so we could poke around her old haunts some. The next morning went to the LA airport to meet Syracuse friends Julie and…

I’ll take these gas prices for now

The last time I pulled up to the gas pumps, I actually did a double-take. OK, I know the fact that I buy my gas at BJ’s Wholesale Club drops the price by a nickel a gallon or so compared to the other stations around the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood.…