After Christmas 2009

This Christmas was very different, wonderful, and beautiful. It was three days of parties, people, and of course gifts. The most important part was the people that came from all over.
The first party was at my son's home where I live now. Of his six children, five were able to come. The first to come was Emma coming from a college in Wisconsin. Then came Ann from Mexico where she will be a senior in Medical school. Later came Nora who is in college in Chicago who will be graduating in June in Theatrics and Speech with honors. Next came Mark all the way from Alaska where he is a High School teacher. Eventually Paul and his family joined us, however they live about ten miles from us. Now this is Christmas Eve, and we all had a wonderful dinner. Then we gathered around the tree and opened presents.
The next day after Mass, we went to my daughter-in-law's family where a large party was planned. There were about twenty adults and six children were gathered, having drinks, and loads of presents around the tree. Now dinner was served, and again a wonderful meal was to be had. After dinner the presents were distributed by name in an orderly fashion with the youngest first. After the presents were all opened, pies with whipped cream were served. All the food was absolutely delicious.
On Saturday, the day after Christmas, the third party was scheduled in the afternoon in the hotel lobby where my son, Jack, was staying. It was more of a buffet style with some food brought in, and it was all very good.
We were a little delayed because there was a snow storm outside which gave us 10 inches of snow to drive in. Now this was a Broz party with about 30 people there, including children, but I finally noticed this party to be different. These are all my progeny. Not only am I the oldest one here, but I am the last one of my generation with the Broz name. There are four generations here with my great grandchildren actually running around. Some of these great-grands I am meeting for the first time. I felt honored that I am able to see my third generation milling around, and there is another due to arrive about Feb. 22nd.
Over all, some came a long way to be here with relatives including me. I know that my wife, Dorothy, who is in Heaven, was with me, and enjoying this new generation as much as I was. In my own mind, I felt that I was the star of our group. I thank our Heavenly Father for my wonderful family, and my good health to be here to witness all of this. What a great gift!
I hope all of you had a beautiful Christmas full of love and happiness, and look forward to a New Year full of God's blessings.

Christmas Story Addition

In my previous Blog, I mentioned about the hectic Christmas Eves we had getting everything ready from scratch, to a completely decorated Christmas tree with all presents wrapped in special paper underneath it.
At this time I was a member of our local Kiwanis Club, and I had a very good friend there named, Frank. When I described the routine we did on Christmas Eve, he said, "I'll come over and help." I answered that it would be great, because I could use all the help I could get. Now Frank was the chief engineer in charge of a division of a very large electronics company. (Nowadays, this company is a global electronics giant.) He said that he would be very happy to do it. Many of the larger toys come in boxes with "some assembly required". He was a great friend and a ton of help, and he was able to come each Christmas Eve for about 5 years until we moved. His engineering skills often were put to the test and ultimately were indispensable!
Ordinarily we would try to get for the kids, the things that they asked Santa for. There was a strong belief in Santa for the smaller children. I also told the older children not to spoil it for the little ones. Now one year my oldest son asked for a gun. I was shocked, and I was not ready for that. I told Dorothy that I didn't want to do that. I told her that when I was young, I never had a two wheel bicycle, and I really wanted one. So perhaps we could surprise him, and we could get a bike for him.
Well Christmas Eve comes, and I am real proud that there is a bright, shinning two wheeler standing by the tree, On Christmas morning all the little ones came down the stairs yelling, " Santa was here, Santa was here." Each one looking for their name on the gift boxes. I turned to my oldest and proudly said, "Look what you got, a two wheel bike." He turned toward me with a sad look on his face said," But I asked for a gun."
He accepted the bike and learned to ride it, as well. However I had a learning experience, that I used the following year. Yes, I got him a BB gun which he really enjoyed. But not only that, he developed a fascination for guns. Later when we were vacationing at the dude ranch, he was able to use the shooting range, and he found a new love. Now he wanted a .22 rifle. There were no problems with the previous gun, so he received one for his birthday. Then much later, I bought myself a BB gun. Chipmunks, fear me!

Christmas in the Early Years

After our marriage, there was several years before we could have a Christmas together and with our children. First I was in the Army, then we were moving. Finally with children, then Christmas had a whole new meaning, and was a lot more fun. Dorothy wanted to have the big surprise on Christmas day. On Christmas eve was when Santa would bring in a beautifully lite tree and all the presents. After the children were all in bed, we started doing everything. All the presents that were hidden had to be wrapped, the tree brought in and decorated with lights, and ornaments, and assemble some of the larger toys.

As our family grew, the job got harder to accomplish, the presents were more numerous, and the assembly work took longer and longer. Eventually, we barely made it to bed, and at most had 2 hours sleep before the kids woke us up!

Was that a big job? It sure was, but it was worth it! The big surprise with eyes and mouths wide open, screeching, "Santa Claus was here."

The Last of Animal Stories

At one point we had a parakeet, and Dorothy said that it will learn to speak. We tried saying a phrase repeatedly like," Pretty bird," over and over again. No luck. It must have been a stupid bird.
Then we brought home, a baby alligator about 6 inches long in a plastic basin. Our children tried feeding it raw ground beef, but it didn't eat it. Then maybe a dead fly. It didn't like that either. I don't think that it ate any thing we gave it. Oh by the way, Dorothy named it Oscar. It didn't live very long. However after it died, one of my boys operated on it to get some alligator skin.
Then,of course, every home with children had to have an aquarium with tropical fish. We got about a 10 gallon tank with all the trimmings including an air pump. I believe that my son, Roger, was the main care taker, and then later Rick took over. Now the usual tropical fish like guppies, sword fish, angel fish, and other exotic names. They were doing a good job, because the fish were thriving, and the aquarium looked nice.
We had this aquarium in our rec room which was the lowest level of our home. Because we were on a hill, this room had patio doors leading to our back yard at ground level. Also in this room was a full size pool table. Well young teen-agers playing pool can get to be a little rough. Yes, a pool ball went into the side of the aquarium and broke it. Can you imagine the mess? Earlier I mention the patio doors leading outside, well I am sure the water had a way out. By the time Dorothy and I returned home, everything was cleaned up.
Another time we had two chameleons, and their names were Cham and Leon. Normally they are unable to drink water, but they get their water through their skin. Again Roger worked out a system to get water to them. He took copper wire which has insulation on it. He then pulled the wire out, leaving the insulation as a hollow tube. Now he worked out siphon system to allow water to drip slowly. Then the chameleons could keep their skin moist.

Another Fishing Story

Again we are in Florida and another charter fishing boat trip off the coast at West Palm Beach. This time we are at our condo in Fort Lauderdale with my youngest son, Jack, and we were invited by his friend, Alex, to come up to West Palm Beach.West Palm Beach is just a short drive North from us. He said he would arrange a fishing trip with a friend of his. So the three of us, my wife Dorothy, Jack who is on his college break, and I drove up and met them. Dorothy stayed on shore with Alex's wife, but the three of us got on board this private fishing boat with a skipper and his mate.
It was a beautiful sunny day with a slight chop, that means small waves, and we went out a short distance for about 10 or 15 minutes. We could still see the shore line and the swimmers on the beach. The boat slowed down, and the skipper began to put out the fishing lines. It wasn't too long before we caught a fish. To my surprise, it was a barracuda with a mouth full of teeth, very vicious looking.
We stayed in the same area, and we each one of us caught fish, but they were all the same kind, barracuda. In my limited knowledge of fish, I was certainly impressed that these are man-eating fish. I looked around, and, sure enough there was the shore with the swimmers... hmmm
A few minutes later, Jack was pulling in a fish, and while reeling it in, he announced that he had lost it. The skipper said to bring his line in anyway. In comes only 1/2 of a fish, the front half still hooked onto the line, and now dripping blood all over the boat. Evidently another barracuda sensed this one struggling and bit the tail end clean off the fish for its lunch.
Shortly after that we returned to our harbor with our catch of the day. Like the other fishing trip before, I asked the skipper to have one of the fishes mounted. When it arrived at our home, we hung it in our rec room where our pool table was. Now the barracuda, with its mouth wide open was the parking place for the 8-ball. I would like to explain that the teeth of the barracuda do not only have a sharp point on top, but the sides of each tooth are sharp as a razor.

Exotic Fishing

After discussing our life with dogs, let me switch to fishing. We bought a condominium years ago while I had my Medical practice in Franklin Park. Having a condo in Fort Lauderdale, FL we made a lot of winter trips for R&R. These were short periods, like five or six days, and our friends knew about them. Once a very good priest friend of ours was down there at the same time. Now Father Bill stopped by the condo,and asked if he and I could go deep sea fishing. He said that he had never had been fishing before, so this would be an adventure. The charter fishing boats work this way. The charter captains take you out for a few hours on a larger boat that holds about 6 or 7 fishermen, and they furnish everything. All the tackle, all the bait, all the set-ups and everything are supplied. So all you have to do is hold the fishing pole that is given to you. The town just North of Fort Lauderdale had a harbor where these charter boats would sail out from. The next morning, Father Bill and I were on boat fishing way offshore, in the Atlantic Ocean. There were a few fishes being caught, but Father did not catch any. Later on the skipper said it was time to return to the harbor, so the skipper turned the boat around and started back. In just a few minutes, Father Bill's pole bent way down, and he started reeling a BIG fish. It jumped out of the water, did the "tail walk" and the skipper announced that it was a sail fish.The skipper then had to turn the boat back out to sea in order to play this BIG fish.

So after about 15 minutes, Father got the fish alongside the boat. Now the skipper said that this fish has to be released or it had to be mounted. I was busy telling Father Bill to say he would have it mounted. He asked, "what would he do with it if it was mounted", he was a priest, afterall, and a trophy sailfish might not go over real well back at the rectory. I felt like I was the devil, tempting the priest keep the trophy. I told him that I could put it on a wall back in my office, and I would pay the expense. This was a large fish, over 7 feet long with a large dorsal fin about 2 feet high. We were able to have a picture taken of us and all the fish caught that day including the sail fish, when we got back to the harbor.

When the mounted fish arrived about a month later, we were really excited! The crate was really large because the mounting board had to be larger than the fish. Fortunately, I had a large wall in the reception area that was the perfect size to display the fish. It looked so impressive! We had the picture taken at the harbor hanging right below the fish. Father Bill was so proud of his first time fishing success that he would bring many people to see it.

Many people came through my offices and could view this mounting. One day the temptation was too great. I got to the office and noticed that father's fish was stolen by some pranksters. I found out about ten years later, what really had happened.

It was a regular day at the office, and I recieved a letter with the return address of a seminary. In the letter was the following story. The writer introduced himself, and said that he was a seminary student, and he had to tell me something. He began confessing that he had stolen the fish years earlier and he had used it to play a trick on someone he knew, that had owned a pool. He stole the fish and threw it into the pool! Imagine waking up to a 7 foot long sailfish in your swimming pool! I laughed out loud and continued reading. He mentioned that he needed to confess his transgressions, as part of his advancement in the seminary. I never answered his letter.

Another fish story next. Stay tuned.

Animals Continued with Dogs

Brozville in Minocqua, Wisconsin, was originally a three season arrangement,and we had to close all the buildings and drain all the water pipes each fall. Then in the spring in late May, we would open everything and hope no water pipes were broken. Then, when summer vacation started, Dorothy and the children with San dog would move from Hillside, to stay there for the summer. San dog enjoyed the area, and she loved drinking the lake water right from the lake.
Later when I retired,and San dog getting older, I noticed a tumor in her abdomen. She was not eating her food, but she was drinking a lot of lake water. At this time our finances were very strained, and our dog seriously ill, going to the Vet was not financially possible. Dorothy told me that her father would put their sick dog to sleep by using the exhaust from the car. She said that he would put a tarp over the tail pipe of the car and the dog, and then he would start the car. So I thought I could that so I got it all set up. Then I started the car and covered San dog with the tarp. I held her there until there was no more movement. Then I started to cry. All the while I was digging her grave, my face was wet with running tears. I told myself that I would not ever want to do that again, and did not want any more dogs.
Not so. A few years later my daughter and her family were visiting when our church was having a chicken cook out, and we were one of the last ones to leave. Somehow a small dog evidently smelling the food got into the basement hall where they were serving the meals and he followed us out. We were thinking that he would head for his home where he belonged, but to our surprise, instead he jumped into our van through the open back door. Trying to get him out, he jumped into the middle seat. The children pleaded not to chase him out, because the other animals would eat him up seeing that we are living in the woods with black bears. So reluctantly I kept him in the car hoping that someone would claim him in a day or two. No one showed up. so we had another dog. This was a male miniature apricot poodle, a rather expensive breed. I named him Jacque Pierre, because one of the girl's name was Jackie.
My experience with poodles was that they like to run away,and that is how I got this one.So whenever we went out, I would put on a leash on Jacque, because by nature,poodles are hunting dogs.After several months of walking him on a leash so that he he would know where he lived. So one day we are out for a walk I let him off the leash. He ran up the hill, I called his name, and he stopped, looked over his shoulder, and then continued running up the hill. I was still outside when I heard the yelping of a dog. I could recognize his voice, and sure enough, he came running back down the road with a clump of fur,1 inch in diameter, missing from his rib cage. I believe that some raccoon got a mouth full of Jacque's fur, pulled right out without tearing the skin.
As years go on,dogs age quicker then men, 7 for 1 year for man, he was showing signs of old age. He developed cataracts in both eyes, and he was losing his hearing. It was time to put him down. Dorothy said she would take him to the Vet. while we were all crying at home. She was the brave one. No more dogs.