Dateline 8 July

My neice has a pair of daughters and they were asking about me today and want to know when I am coming to visit next.

I just saw them a couple of weeks ago at my nephew's wedding where they were the flower girls. They were my dance partners at the reception as it is the duty of old men to dance with seven and eight year old flower girls at weddings.

Even though they are seven and eight I could see the two of them taking careful mental notes because I knew that both of them are already planning their own weddings. It is in the female DNA unless something comes along and pushes it out of kilter somewhere along the line.

I know of an older woman that was raised by her father that seems a little different but maybe she planned her wedding as a small kid. Then again, maybe not.

So anyway, I think that in a couple of months I'll go pay them a visit as I'll get to meet my sis again and pick up a brand new used TV set from my nephew that just got a brand new new TV set. I think my old one is well over 20 years old by now. It may even be over 25 years old for that matter. I suppose his throwaway is only a couple of years old.

I'm actually grateful for those two little girls bailing me out at the wedding as I do not really enjoy dancing because I am not very graceful anymore. I simply danced with the flower girls a couple of times and got people off of my back.

The maid of honor had told me at the rehearsal dinner that she wanted to get me out on the dance floor. I told he there wasn't a whole lot of chance for that as I had too much steel holding my battered body together and the doctor told me I was restricted to dancing with girls under the age of 12.

I knew a Ginger Rogers when I saw one and I know that I am no Red Adair. In addition to being a lousy dancer I can't put out an oil well fire, either.

So having the two of them to get people off my case was a pretty good deal.

After the next tour or two I am going to go up and pay them a little visit with a twist. I generally overnight at my nephew's but this time I think I'll sack out at my niece's as the two girls would get a boot out of that.

It might even be good for me as I tend to imbibe at my nephew's as I can sleep in there. I won't be able to imbibe at my niece's though, as the girls will be getting me up early.

There is nothing worse than having two little kids that want to play with you before you have had a chance to pop the nasty blisters on your brain.

The only thing that I don't like about going there is the long drive either up there or going home. It's over 10 hours one way and is not only somewhat expensive but it's boring as hell. Last time I drove it I went straight through, dropping my other niece off along the way. I gassed up there and didn't stop until I had to gas up again about 7 or 8 hours later.

When I have a long haul like that I just bring along something to eat and when I stop for gas I make sure it's at something like a WaWa or a Sheetz so I can refuel both the pickup and my belly. I also make it a point to go very easy on the liquids to cut down on the number of emergency pit stops. I will confess that I have traveled with a couple of quart plastic milk jugs, though.

I guess I get this from my father who used to get into a car and not stop driving until we got where we were going. As a small child I remember going from our home south of Boston all the way to my uncle's in Michigan and if I recall we didn't overnight. Mom slept in the front seat and spelled dad for a couple of hours.

I think I got the ability to sleep from him, too as I can generally sleep anywhere if I want to.

Still, I don't like long drives very much.

To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html