Fondest/Funniest Christmas Memory

[varmintblaster]

Originally Posted by coalboy

He will be staying at my place when I go to PR...He's praying for a big snow so he can break out my old Tobbogan

Coalman- have a good trip to PR and enjoy the sunshine and warmth. You should have went this week - next week we are supposed to get a warming trens and actually see the sun for a couple of days !!.

I should have stayed in upstate NY. I drove down I81 from above Syracuse this morning, as soon as I got near Whitney Point above Binghampton I did not dare take my hands off the steering wheel - the wind gusts were trying to toss me into the shoulder. Dang it's cold here is Pa!!

Do you fish when you are in PR?

I'll be heading to Costa Rica at end of Feb. I have an old friend that acted as my mentor when I lived in Albq,NM. He made millions in real estate back in the 70's, early 80's and bagged his law practice for the most part. Now he lives 8 months of the year in Costa Rica and does a little work - trying to get ex-patriots square with the IRS so they can return to the States. He turned me on to some very good investments. Wish I had met him a few years earlier - I'd be a fulltime fisherman/hunter/beachbum.

He's got a sweet setup in CR - a house on the 14th fairway of the Cariari Country Club on the outskirts of San Jose, and a beach house on the Pacific Coast area of Puntarenas.

I've got a sweet deal because the welcome mat is always extended for me to visit. Great offshore sailfish & marlin fishing as well as inshore fishing down that way. Just walking the priistine beaches is reward enough for most folks.

Enjoy your vacation and dont let your blood thin too much - you gotta come back to NEPA!!

[coalboy]

Originally Posted by varmintblaster

Coalman- have a good trip to PR and enjoy the sunshine and warmth. You should have went this week - next week we are supposed to get a warming trens and actually see the sun for a couple of days !!.

I should have stayed in upstate NY. I drove down I81 from above Syracuse this morning, as soon as I got near Whitney Point above Binghampton I did not dare take my hands off the steering wheel - the wind gusts were trying to toss me into the shoulder. Dang it's cold here is Pa!!

Do you fish when you are in PR?

I'll be heading to Costa Rica at end of Feb. I have an old friend that acted as my mentor when I lived in Albq,NM. He made millions in real estate back in the 70's, early 80's and bagged his law practice for the most part. Now he lives 8 months of the year in Costa Rica and does a little work - trying to get ex-patriots square with the IRS so they can return to the States. He turned me on to some very good investments. Wish I had met him a few years earlier - I'd be a fulltime fisherman/hunter/beachbum.

He's got a sweet setup in CR - a house on the 14th fairway of the Cariari Country Club on the outskirts of San Jose, and a beach house on the Pacific Coast area of Puntarenas.

I've got a sweet deal because the welcome mat is always extended for me to visit. Great offshore sailfish & marlin fishing as well as inshore fishing down that way. Just walking the priistine beaches is reward enough for most folks.

Enjoy your vacation and dont let your blood thin too much - you gotta come back to NEPA!!

hey thanks podnah, Costa Rica is one beautiful place a good friend from the job retired there in 2005,

Our place in Puerto Rico is in Rincon...it is the best surfing area on PR,
Rincon means 'left corner' in Spanish and that's exactly where it is located...
I do a lot of surfing and boogie boarding,,,lots of surfers from California went there for tournaments in the late sixties and never went back to Cal....
I keep some of my older surf rods there and do some early morning and after sunset surf fishing from the beach.

There is an Island about two miles off the coast that I kayak out to...they call iit the Puerto Rican Galapagos, it has a desert, rain forest Mt's and beautiful beaches.etc.

I also scuba dive and snorkel but my right ear has been giving me grief from the pressure of lower depths...it's a 'pizzer' getting old but I'm happy to be alive and healthy!

Good to hear from you, always a pleasure to chat with an interesting guy like you,

peace Coalboy

[bloominscranton]

Thank you all so much for sharing! I too teared up reading some of these, I found a hand embroidered Christmas card my Mom made us in 1997...I love and miss her and my Dad every day! When you are blessed with wonderful parents, the loss of them is never too far from your mind!!! God Bless everyone and safe travels to those heading to warm climates! Any room in your carry on for me?

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by varmintblaster

Coalman-

That's the boy, I'm the man. <sorry couldn't resist>


------------------

My Uncle is a avid collector of mining artifacts, for the smaller things his collection displayed in his basement could easily outdo many you might see in museums around here. My extended family is pretty close and we frequently have some pretty big gatherings through the year, for a while Christmas late afternoon and into the evening was always spent at his house. There might be 30 people there. For this event we each had a name of person we picked the previous year for whom we had to get a gift, I guess a lot of people do this.

I had his name the one year so the obvious answer was to get him coal. Not just a few nuggets, but a 450Lb. chunk roughly the size of the base of recliner that took me and my two brothers considerable effort to get into the truck. He was quite happy with it and stuck it in the corner of the basement.

Later in the evening a bunch of us men are sitting in the basement enjoying some beer and admiring the piece of coal. The door opens and my 4 year old niece starts walking down the steps, she gets about half way down and stops dead in her tracks when she spots the big piece of coal. Her eyes get as big as saucers and she turns to us and says in complete seriousness "Wow! Who got that? They must have been really, really Bad!"

This is probably one of those situations where you had to be there but even today people crack up when the story comes up. The look on her face and the seriousnees of the way she said it was probably one of the funniest things I ever saw.

[coalboy]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

That's the boy, I'm the man. <sorry couldn't resist>


------------------

My Uncle is a avid collector of mining artifacts, for the smaller things his collection displayed in his basement could easily outdo many you might see in museums around here. My extended family is pretty close and we frequently have some pretty big gatherings through the year, for a while Christmas late afternoon and into the evening was always spent at his house. There might be 30 people there. For this event we each had a name of person we picked the previous year for whom we had to get a gift, I guess a lot of people do this.

I had his name the one year so the obvious answer was to get him coal. Not just a few nuggets, but a 450Lb. chunk roughly the size of the base of recliner that took me and my two brothers considerable effort to get into the truck. He was quite happy with it and stuck it in the corner of the basement.

Later in the evening a bunch of us men are sitting in the basement enjoying some beer and admiring the piece of coal. The door opens and my 4 year old niece starts walking down the steps, she gets about half way down and stops dead in her tracks when she spots the big piece of coal. Her eyes get as big as saucers and she turns to us and says in complete seriousness "Wow! Who got that? They must have been really, really Bad!"

This is probably one of those situations where you had to be there but even today people crack up when the story comes up. The look on her face and the seriousnees of the way she said it was probably one of the funniest things I ever saw.

thats right! after that hilarious story I have to agree with you...
You are 'The Man'!.... I'm just da boy standin' next to DE Man

[Summering]

I love the stories.......We still have time for more........Its not even Christmas Eve as yet...
and so........

[varmintblaster]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

That's the boy, I'm the man. <sorry couldn't resist>

YOWZA

Sorry about that.

I was wondering if it was a "pigment of my diluted imagination" that I was seeing "boy -vs- man" after Coal.

My short term memory is back now:

Coalman = the NEPA Coal Cracker (Heyna or No?).

Coalboy = the NJ Ship Captain that has a bit of PETA runnin through his veins.

I wont get you two confused again....

[coalboy]

Originally Posted by varmintblaster

YOWZA

Sorry about that.

I was wondering if it was a "pigment of my diluted imagination" that I was seeing "boy -vs- man" after Coal.

My short term memory is back now:

Coalman = the NEPA Coal Cracker (Heyna or No?).

Coalboy = the NJ Ship Captain that has a bit of PETA runnin through his veins.

I wont get you two confused again....

NJ Jersey Ship Captain? you are confused again...I think you are thinking of Weluvpa.
Let's to a test of your mental facilities;

How many fingers am I holding up?

No, the answer is NOT 'Wednesday'.....

[varmintblaster]

must be the 5 fingers ( at least) of homemade Italian wine I am consuming each day throughout the Holiday Season.. Ho Ho Hiccup !!


2nd try - retired cop.

[coalboy]

You are getting closer...I was a County Investigator... Cops wear funny hats and carry Batons...I wore Linen Armani suits and T-shirts (ala Miami Vice) in the warm months and Doc Martins, leather Jacket and t- shirts in the winter months.
I was quite the Dandy...