Hogmanay

Give Me A Second

For those who are thinking that 2016 can't end fast enough, you'll just have to wait - the world's timekeepers are adding an extra second to the official clock.  

It happens every once in a while, and I've even written about it before HERE.

This time, they are literally waiting until the last minute to do their tweaking.  The Naval Observatory will add a second to their Atomic Clock(s) at 23:59:59 UTC - that's Coordinated Universal Time, or what used to be called Greenwich Mean Time, or what the military called Zulu.  Here in Southeast Texas, that translates to one second before 6:00 p.m.

Coushatta

They say the secret to a successful trip to the casino is to first decide how much money you can afford to lose, then never bet more than that.  If you do lose it all, write it off as entertainment expense, and if you bring even some of it home, consider the trip a success.

Yesterday, Honey and I went to Coushatta Casino to celebrate our 52nd anniversary. She started off winning, but every machine I touched just sucked cash.  They no longer have the bank of Hot Shot machines where I won the last time we were there, and I couldn't seem to find a slot where I could even lose slowly over an extended period of time.

Finally, we took a break and enjoyed a nice supper - "comped" by the casino.  After that, Honey won on a dollar machine just outside the restaurant, and I went from consistently losing to just treading water.

We were literally on our way out, working our way toward the exit, when I sat down at a big, gaudy, penny machine called Hot Pink Sevens.  Over the next half hour or so I won back everything I had lost and then some.

You'd have to say this was a very successful trip.  We played for about ten hours, ate a good meal and returned home with about $200 more that we left here with.

We're a little tired today - didn't get home until 12:05 this morning, but we had a GREAT time, and a GREAT anniversary.

Fifty-Two

Down Day

Today is sort of an in-between day.  
After the hectic Christmas schedule and before the activities of the rest of this week - Wednesday is our 52nd Anniversary, we have dinner with friends scheduled for Thursday, and this weekend is New Year's - so today I'm planning to do as little as possible.

I Can Dream

I have had premonitions several times in my life that proved to be true, but I don't remember having any prophetic dreams.  I had one last night that I'd love to see come true.

We were on the road, somewhere out of state, and had stopped for fuel.  Honey was watching the pump while I went inside the store.  I returned to find her staring at the pump.  It was no longer dispensing diesel, but the dollar amount was still spinning.

When it finally came to a halt, the pump had somehow transformed into a slot machine and she had won $132,000!  

The attendant came out with an armload of paperwork we had to fill out, and somewhere in the middle of doing that, I woke up.

Home

Back home after our usual whirlwind Christmas trip to Central Texas.  

Missed one usual stop because everyone at the Robinson house was sick - but added a stop once we got back home.  Honey's sister was hosting Christmas at her house today for the first time in years, so we went by there for a couple hours.  

I had already changed into house shoes and sweat pants when Ernest Graff yelled across the back yards and invited us over.  Didn't stay long, but that visit put the icing on a very nice Christmas cake.