Day One-hundred-and-seventy-two: Losing in two states

I was so industrious this morning that my packing was done in plenty of time to lose in cribbage, setback, and pool before I had to get on the road.

Then it was a long drive in the rain. Finally we arrived and went right back out to shop for groceries to use for dinner. My brother in law greeted us on our first arrival and my nieces greeted us on our return from shopping. While my brother in law was out at his football coaches banquet, we prepared and ate some food.

Then after my sister came home from her job, we ate the food we had prepared.

I drank a lot of water so will need to make sure I packed my pajamas in my backpack and know the path to the bathroom.

After dinner we played four games of euchre, men against the women. We went easy on them allowing them to win all four. My brother in law dealt my mother two loaners. Even though my sister was the beneficiary of the scoring that resulted, she accused him of brown nosing.

The games are incidental to the jokes and laughter. Even being the butt of the joke is a good place to be with family. I did notice a "billiard parlor" down the road. I'm going to have to practice so I can surprise my father. (Writing this here will certainly blow the surprise. He is probably my most regular reader.) Oh well, the surprise will then be not following through and having him practice unnecessarily. My Life after Layoff is full of surprises, mostly for me.

Day One-hundred-and-sixty-five: Laughter!

Today I got a tour of the Glenville State College library where my oldest sister, still younger than me, is the director and tour guide.

Afterwards we bought some beer for company coming Saturday and some PowerBall tickets, also for the Saturday drawing.

My father and I played some more pool. I was still the loser overall but did win two by sinking the eight ball at the right time and into the pocket I called. My father quit playing for the day after my second "win" so I do not know whether or not I could have caught up.

I laughed all evening. First my oldest sister came in and we played Mystery Partner Euchre. I made the crib, the left over cards from the deal, my partner a couple of times. My father also "stole" a loaner I had dealt myself by ordering up the bower that I would have definitely picked up and making me his partner. The two points we received for me taking all the tricks put both of us out. It was the only time I won and it was a half win.

Then we watched a marathon of "The Daily Show" and the "Colbert Report." My sister comes over every once and a while and watched these shows that my parents record on their DVR. I had seen many of them but laughed at the repeats even more. Laughter is truly contagious almost at any time and I need laughter in my Life after Layoff. The ones I had seen, I had seen alone.