It is 6:116 A.M. and the Sun is not up yet. The sky has lightened but the Sun has not yet appeared. It is a sure sign that Winter, glorious Winter, is on the way. I have always preferred the Winter to the Summer. The Summer is just there. You don't notice it, it is just there. Its one saving grace is the garden but I don't think that compensates for the days when your underwear tries to meld with your skin. If the air conditioner stops working, then you notice the Summer, big time.
You cannot ignore the Winter. When your nose starts to tingle and the snow under your feet starts to squeak, you better pay attention! Dealing with Winter is simple. Put on more wool. If the heat goes off, another sweater, long johns, and wool socks, will take you outside and more blankets on the bed combined with a nightcap, either wool or bourbon, combine to make for a pleasant sleep. It is the season of stews and roasts and cookies and cocoa and coffee on the porch where the crisp dry air makes you realize that you are alive. No insects, no knocks on the door asking you if you are interested in salvation. I think that I have found salvation and it comes with an extra I, so it must be directed at the individual.
I was wandering the Internet and I discovered a place on the West Coast, Uli's Sausage. Just looking at their catalogue brings Salivation! It has been some time since I went to Carl's Sausage Kitchen on route one in Saugus and I have no way of getting to DePasquale's in Newton. DePasquale's makes only Italian Sausage but they have been making it in a little storefront in Nonantum for over a hundred years and the carry the full line of Pastene products. That means real percatelli and bucatini and the giant cans of plum tomatoes. It is not like being in the Colonial Market on Atwells Avenue but it is a close second. I don't know how many kinds of sausage Carl makes but there must be close to fifty hanging from the ceiling. Oh the days of bratwurst and knackwurst. There is none of either to be had here. There was a decent knackwurst, Old Neighborhood, but I must have been the only one purchasing it and the local store no longer carries it. I remember when my Father would sit us down to Nepco knackwurst and Franco American macaroni and cheese. Nepco knackwurst, as big around as a half dollar with the juice oozing out when you cut it. How the world has changed. No more Nepco knackwurst, no more Franco American macaroni and cheese, no more Kasanov's Bulkies, no more Welch's Caramallow bars, no more Lowenbrau from Munich, no more Double Diamond, and when is the last time that you saw a half dollar?
The government says they are going to have a problem with Social Security. The money is going to run out because the Baby Boomers are going to live too long. The solution is free sausage for everyone over fifty. There is no need for a solution however, as Apophis is going to wipe the slate clean in 2012, just as the Mayans have been predicting for thousands of years. NASA says that Apophis will pass within a few million miles of Earth and NASA has plans for a mission, directed by noted expert Dr. Murphy, to nudge it into a different path. With no O rings and no heat tiles, what could possibly go wrong? Move over dinosaurs, here we come!