So about moving into a smaller space after you’ve lived a long time in a house full of kids and pets. It’s an adjustment. I don’t care what anybody says. Take the case of Al and Joanne in their new apartment. His train set, which once had its own place in the basement of the house, is now stuffed into the laundry room. I remember when I was a kid my dad had a big Lionel train set. We had a basement and the basement had a ping pong table which no one ever used after the first couple months. So, down came the net and up went the Lionel Train set. The coolest thing I remember is it came with a rocket launcher and an exploding box car. Was Lionel training us to become terrorists? I don’t know but it was pretty damn cool. Here’s how it worked: You set the train in motion around the track. You had a separate hand-held rocket launcher which fired the rocket in an arc. You had to time it exactly so the rocket would land on the exploding box car and if you were lucky (maybe one out of every 10 tries) you hit the box car and it would “explode into about 4 pieces. Trust me, the only thing cooler was my Rock ‘em Sock ‘em robot game. When you connect with the other robot’s jaw, “Boingggggg” the head would pop off the shoulders on a spring as you “knocked his block off.” Damn, we had a lot of violent games back then. But back to Al.

His once scenic train set now has to lie under a clothesline of wet laundry. And hey, he’s lucky. A couple weeks ago, I took a wet rug and hung it over the railing of our deck. Wouldn’t you know it but some snoopy neighbor took a picture of it and sent it to the management company and I got a snooty letter asking me to please refrain from ever hanging anything over the balcony again. Apparently, it was an eyesore. I thought it was a nice rug, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And there you have it. Apartment living makes life easier. Until it doesn’t.

Okay then. By the time this is published I’ll have been halfway around the world and back, and hopefully will have many funny experiences to share with John and ultimately you all. Thanks for following us and thank you to those of you who have bought the book and written such glowing reviews. We truly appreciate it. See you in November,

Andy and John