Celtics ☘️ Sentinel

 Still can not fully comprehend being 80 years old and 32 years-retired from law enforcement. If the following sounds harsh - it was meant to be. I am the love survivor of a family of five - with none of my dad, mom, sister and brother having lived past 64 . My best high school friend died at 62 . My college roommate died a few years ago , and my best adult friend put a.38 special slug through his brain four years ago, leaving behind several million dollars for his "kids" that didn't deserve it. Carson Thomas Lane watching his great grandfather on TV My former boss also took his own life by hanging himself, leaving behind a thriving business that his children had no interest in acquiring. Also, the only business partner I ever had ended his life with an intentional overdose of drugs. Neither ever saw retirement, contented or otherwise. As I write this, the sun is shining into the oceanfront condo where we spend our winters - temperature is in the 60's - I have al...

  It is the morning of December 4, 2023 in The Great North Woods of New Hampshire – it is snowing hard – there is a foot-and-a-half of white stuff on the ground – and the power just went out. Time to get to work. The Jotul   wood stove in the basement had already been spewing heat before the power outage. The heat comes up the stairs to the first and second floors, but that won’t be enough. Out comes the small, portable propane heater that runs off one-pound bottles of gas. It is light – easy to use – and warms the kitchen perfectly. No word from Eversource as to when power will return, so the outdoor wood pile beckons. But first comes some shoveling of the front stairs, the snow-bound car, the bulkhead and a partial (more on the in a minute) path to the woodpile. At close-to-eighty years old and six weeks after major surgery, this isn’t easy. Thus a “partial” path to the cut-and-split wood has to suffice. Than it was wading through hip-deep snow and returning to the b...