Happy New Year!

Sandy and I are at a friends house, celebrating the end of this sucky year. Here's hoping 2009 is a great one for everyone!

Don

Merry Christmas

Ten of us celebrated Christmas Eve here in Scotia with a Swedish smorgasbord, plenty of good cheer, and for a change, sunny and calm weather! We sincerely hope there's a promising year ahead for all the Buonos!
Harry

Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone is enjoying the day with family and friends.

Cheers,

Don

Family Pics

Hey Don,

Are we ever going to get the family photo links back? I never got a chance to save the pics of Great-Grama and Great-Grampa that were there. Or can you send me a copy of the disc you sent Mom? Or I guess I can get a copy of all of them from Mom when I'm there......

3 more days to go until we leave!!

Cheri

You're welcome!

Glad to help, Lorraine. Your mom called us last night to wish us a Merry Christmas. That was very sweet of her. I know she will be thrilled with her gift, as she will be having her family close during the holidays. Speaking of photos from the web site, this is one of my favorites:

It is of my aunts Lola and Marion, and my grandmother in the foreground. If you get the chance Lorraine, ask your mom if she knows the story behind this photo. We're off to dinner and some live music later tonight, doing our bit to keep the economy running. Everyone have a warm and cozy winter night!

Don

Thank You

Thank you so much for sending those pictures Don. I didn't realize there were that many. There are alot there that Mom doesn't have. When she sees them on her new digital frame she's gonna flip.

We had a bit of an ice storm here today. But just on trees and shrubs. Pretty much missed us. I know NY was suppose to get hammered. But haven't heard any reports or talked with anyone at home.

I'm glad you made it through pretty much unscathed Harry. It could have been alot worse. I remember some of those ice storms we had on Long Island. Those were nasty!!! Glad to hear the kids made it through the storm too.

Everyone pitched in and sent Cheri and Aaron money to come home for the holidays. They're going to be here about a week. They haven't been home in a long time. I can't wait to see John. Well, Cheri and Aaron too.

All's well here.

Thanks again Don.

Love,
Lorraine

Snow in Vegas

I guess, for a day or so, what happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas.

Sign of the Apocalypse

Snow closes Las Vegas Airport
http://lasvegassun.com

It's coming this way!

Don

A Winter Weekend II

Pete & Beth also lost power--and heat--for a longer time. They finally got it back Monday afternoon. Meanwhile they stayed with Beth's folks, who are also nearby and who never lost power. Though much of Massachusetts was affected, Boston escaped trouble, so Mark & Steve never had a problem. It was interesting, walking around our neighborhood and seeing all the snapped power poles and tree limbs leaning on power lines (and in some cases having fallen onto houses). It was a major inconvenience but, happily, with only a few exceptions, very little loss of life or injury. And some of the sights of ice coating every branch and twig were breathtakingly beautiful.
HW

A Winter Weekend

Hello All,

We lost power, phone & cable at 5 AM Friday and got it back at 11 AM Sunday. Our furnace's thermostat is powered by a self-contained millivolt system that works off the pilot light, and we have steam heat, so no need for power to circulate or deliver the heat. Bottom line...we had heat all through. Sandy & I cooked on the gas grill, put food outside to keep it cold, and played Scrabble by candlelight. We went to a movie theater that had power, and when a power surge temporarily shut the projector down we got a bunch of free movie passes! (We saw "Australia". The scenery is fabulous--the story is OK, if you like C.B. DeMille-style sagas.) Yesterday I got my chain saw out & cut the large tree limb that fell onto our street, into firewood.

All in an upstate winter weekend, I guess. Tomorrow, we put the tree up and trim it, so a measure of normalcy is returning.

Happy Holidays, everyone!!
Harry

Massive Storm Grips Northeast

How are the snow Buonos doing? Hope all is well. Here's a photo of a recent sunrise. Sun comes up tomorrow!

- Don

Pics and stuff

I have a boatload of pix on my MySpace page if anyone wants to see them. It's www.myspace.com/scud1974

Good news & Bad....

Well, the judge finally made a decision in my comp case. The good news is that he's ordered the authorization of my elbow surgery and he's also ordered AIG to start paying me my comp bennies again. The bad news is that AIG is claiming a HUGE credit, based on a prior award to the tune of about $34k. What this means is that they can choose not to pay me at all until they recoup the entire credit, or they can take a portion of my weekly benefit check until it's gone. The problem being is that according to the paperwork I have, they shouldn't have a credit at all, and good luck getting my attorneys to explain to me how and why they have a credit. It's kind of like pulling teeth to get them to answer anything. Or to get them to answer emails, come to think of it.....So, now we're waiting to see if they're going to appeal, since the judge threw out their entire medical position stating that I shouldn't have had anything covered under comp since '97, including all my surgeries since then and all of my other medical treatment. This should be fun to wait on, since living on one paycheck is not cutting things around here, and the comp board didn't bother to send a copy of the decision to AIG's attorneys, which is a hoot, but might hold things up even more.

As soon as I have definite word on what's going on, I'll let y'all know!

Love and miss ya all!
Cheri

Hi, just a quick request. I need updated mailing addresses for Lorraine, Jenny & Jon and Cheri & Aaron. Can I get some help? Thanks.
Harry

The Great White Hunter

I couldn't figure out how to post pics, so I had to post again after I smartened up. Aaron got a huge (for GA) 7-point buck a few weekends ago. It's the first deer he's shot in almost 15 years! Gave us 150 pounds of venison, which we are all grateful for and excited about, since we all love it, including John. He's going back out this weekend if the weather holds, but now he says he wants to try for feral pig, of which there is a surplus all over the country. I told him good luck with that and that he was taking THAT one for processing, since it took us an entire weekend to butcher the deer. Not only that, it's one of the few decent pictures of Aaron that I have, dead deer not withstanding, so those of you peering at our family photos can actually see what he looks like.

To respond to a few....

Hey Buonos!!

Yes, it's me, I'm finally here! Sorry it took me so long, haven't had reliable internet service for awhile.

Harry, if you ever get around to making copies of that tape, I would love one! I barely remember Great-Grandma and would love to see her in some new shots. Also, it's always good to be able to laugh at your second cousins as they get older when you can actually say you've seen them in diapers!

Don, I got to spend Thanksgiving with the ex-wife, her husband and kids and Aaron and John of course. Talk about crowded! 4 adults, 2 teenagers, a pre-teen and 2 adolescents all in one very small house.....but, I didn't have to cook anything this year (we usually do holidays at our place, even though there's fewer of us, we always have a bigger house, go figure), and John did a very selfless act I was totally proud of! He just had his 9th birthday, and had some of his b-day money left, and he insisted on buying dessert for all of us!

I'm still not working and I'm still waiting for NYS Worker's Compensation to decide my case. Been in and out of a long arm cast for the past 6 months or so, waiting on my elbow surgery authorization and my pay. Hopefully, I'll hear something in the next week or so, the judge is supposed to be making a decision now that all the legal arguments are in.

We moved farther north in Georgia to a town called Calhoun, we're alot closer to Aaron's work here, and he's able to carpool to the plant everyday. John's loving his new school and he's actually pulling an A- average here! He's got great teachers that care about him and his special problems and everone's working together, unlike his last school. I sit around bored out of my mind, reading alot of books and playing on the puter and trying to get the housework done.

Other than all that, not much new from here. I'll keep you all updated on the decision, and now that I have access to this place, will keep in better touch.

Love to all!
Cheri

A bunch of things

Don,

Cheri asked that I contact you to let you know she still isn't able to compose on the blog site. I know you'll take care of it.

Glad to hear the fires missed you guys again. I always think about you and Sandy and the "boys" and Aunt Lola and Uncle Chuck and the "girls" when I hear those reports.

Not much is new here. Job is going very well. Got back from San Francisco about a month ago. Had a great time, albiet a wet one. Just finished composing our website. Didn't design it. Not that handy.

Well, gotta go. Will come back soon and write some more.

Love to all!!!

Lorraine