Goodbye HNT

My first HNT post was on August 10, 2005. It was a very tame picture of my legs in socks.

Socks probably has been the most often used theme. One week I added a second pair of socks on my girl friend Lori's legs.

Another week I had another guest with a side by side comparison.

One week I even showed off my old army socks.

Five years later I showed off my then 46 year old army socks army socks, but I changed it up and wore sneakers too.

Another week I decided to post my first of many more risqué HNT pictures. It was a picture of me drunk mooning my sister in law. Why? I don't know, I was drunk.

I'd finally come out of my HNT shell!

Over the six plus years of posting HNT posts, I've posted any number of risqué HNT pictures. Quite a few of them were of the lovely ladies that allowed me to share some pictures of them when they were skinny dipping in my pool. The most memorable was the one I had in 2008 when Os made the trip for the party. There were so many pictures I had to add another pool party HNT the following week.


My blog and HNT have helped make my many new real life friends over the years. I've met about 50 blogger friends all over the country. I've traveled to New York City, Detroit, Michigan, Las Vegas, Nevada, San Diego, California and Dallas, Texas. Hopefully the end of HNT isn't the end of making even more bloggers friends.

The end of HNT is a sad day, but like all good things, they come to an end. It's been a great ride Os. Thanks for starting and hosting HNT and more importantly, thanks for your friendship. Remember, you have an open invitation for more pool parties, so when you find yourself in the New York City area, stop by and say hi! That goes for all the rest of you too. Stop by and say hello.

HAPPY GOODBYE HNT!

PS

Lori has a last HNT too. http://rhymeandretro.blogspot.com/

Christmas Tree HNT

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM LORI & TONY


HAPPY HALF NEKKID THURSDAY

Thankful HNT

How was your Thanksgiving? Mine was great. I had Lori, her mom and her kids with me and my son Brian and his girl friend Amy were there too. It was nice spending time with Brian, because I don't see him very much since he moved out.

Happy HNT!

Veterans Day HNT

I was drafted into the United States Army on May 6, 1968 and sent to Vietnam in October. I survived, but barely. Read my story here.

HALLOWEEN HNT

What are you dressing up as this year?

HAPPY HALLOWEEN HNT!

HAPPY ENDING HNT

About a month ago I had a basal cell carcinoma removed from my upper chest. The incision got infected, but in the end, all's well that ends well.

HAPPY HNT

The day I met my baby HNT

March of 2006 I met the second love of my life and our relationship is still going strong. Here's the first post I made about my baby Lori. Love you babe, more than Fridays.

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I'm dating someone new now, her name is Lori.



I started dating Lori a few weeks ago and thought it was time I introduce her to you, my closest friends. It’s a long story about how we met, so let me see if I can figure out a way to make a long story short and I’ll get back to you. In the mean time, I wanted you to meet her.

Oktoberfest HNT

Tuesday Lori and I celebrated Oktoberfest with some friends at an beer tasting dinner. We were served four courses with a different German beer with each course. Our glasses were never empty and everything was delicious.

We each were given marbled rye bread and baked pretzels with horseradish-ale mustard














FIRST COURSE
Braised cabbage, ham hocks, bratwurst, apples, potatoes

Beer - Weihenstephaner Original











SECOND COURSE
Sauerkraut-tomato soup, beer braised duck leg on custini

Beer - Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier












THIRD COURSE
Grilled marinated lamb shak, apple-mint relish, potato dumpling, red cabbage

Beer - Weihenstephaner Hefewissbier Dunkel











FOURTH COURSE
German cheesecake, cherry liqueur sauce

Beer - Weihenstephaner Vitus

I dressed up and wore my best "Os" shirt.

HAPPY OKTOBERFEST HNT

Rerun HNT due to the lack of anything else, my first HNT

I wanted to start off with something a little less risque so as not to excite y'all too much.


You too can participate in Half-Nekkid Thursday here.

Want to see a real hippie HNT?

Yes, this is me. This photo was taken in 1974 in the living room of my house in Lake Ronkonkoma, New York.

I had great hair then, didn't I? I always got my hair cut by men until one day around this time, a woman cut my hair. She ranted and raved over my hair and couldn't seem to stop touching it. I loved the touching and compliments, who wouldn't? That made me feel attractive for the first time in my life. From then on, I always had women cut my hair unless there was no choice. The chicks just seemed to dig it.

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Happy Half-Nekkid Thursday Y'all.

Ewwww HNT

Last week I showed you a picture of the bandage covering the incision where the doctor removed the skin cancer. Click on the picture to see the stitches. If you're really brave, then click on 'VIEW FULL SIZE' and you'll get a very cool close up look.

Happy HNT

September 11, 2001

That day started like most days did for me at the time. I woke quietly at 7:00 a.m. trying not to wake up Barbara. I had to be to work by 8:00 a.m., but she got to sleep a little later. She didn't have to be at school until just before 9:00 a.m. I left the house by 7:30 a.m. and went to the 7-11 to get my coffee and a newspaper. I arrived at work just before 8:00 a.m. like usual.

8:45 a.m. (all times are EDT): A hijacked passenger jet, American Airlines Flight 11 out of Boston, Massachusetts, crashes into the north tower of the World Trade Center, tearing a gaping hole in the building and setting it afire.
Time line: http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/11/chronology.attack/

I walked onto the production floor a few minutes later. One of the assemblers told me that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center, but that no one knew anything else. She turned up her radio, as did others that had them and we all listened intently. I listened for a few moments and then was called away for something.

9:03 a.m.: A second hijacked airliner, United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston, crashes into the south tower of the World Trade Center and explodes. Both buildings are burning.

By now, everyone knew what had happened and stopped working to listen to the radios.

A short time later our president and part owner of the company came on the PA to announce what most already knew. He placed the microphone by the radio so everyone could hear what was happening. He also said that everyone should go back to work, but to listen as they worked. That was a lot easier said than done.

9:17 a.m.: The Federal Aviation Administration shuts down all New York City area airports.

9:21 a.m.: The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey orders all bridges and tunnels in the New York area closed.

9:30 a.m.: President Bush, speaking in Sarasota, Florida, says the country has suffered an "apparent terrorist attack."

9:40 a.m.: The FAA halts all flight operations at U.S. airports, the first time in U.S. history that air traffic nationwide has been halted.

9:43 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon, sending up a huge plume of smoke. Evacuation begins immediately.

9:45 a.m.: The White House evacuates.

9:57 a.m.: Bush departs from Florida.

10:05 a.m.: The south tower of the World Trade Center collapses, plummeting into the streets below. A massive cloud of dust and debris forms and slowly drifts away from the building.

10:08 a.m.: Secret Service agents armed with automatic rifles are deployed into Lafayette Park across from the White House.

10:10 a.m.: A portion of the Pentagon collapses.

10:10 a.m.: United Airlines Flight 93, also hijacked, crashes in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh.

10:13 a.m.: The United Nations building evacuates, including 4,700 people from the headquarters building and 7,000 total from UNICEF and U.N. development programs.

10:22 a.m.: In Washington, the State and Justice departments are evacuated, along with the World Bank.

10:24 a.m.: The FAA reports that all inbound transatlantic aircraft flying into the United States are being diverted to Canada.

10:28 a.m.: The World Trade Center's north tower collapses from the top down as if it were being peeled apart, releasing a tremendous cloud of debris and smoke.

10:45 a.m.: All federal office buildings in Washington are evacuated.

10.46 a.m.: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell cuts short his trip to Latin America to return to the United States.

10.48 a.m.: Police confirm the plane crash in Pennsylvania.

10:53 a.m.: New York's primary elections, scheduled for Tuesday, are postponed.

10:54 a.m.: Israel evacuates all diplomatic missions.

10:57 a.m.: New York Gov. George Pataki says all state government offices are closed.

11:02 a.m.: New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani urges New Yorkers to stay at home and orders an evacuation of the area south of Canal Street.

11:16 a.m.: CNN reports that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is preparing emergency-response teams in a precautionary move.

11:18 a.m.: American Airlines reports it has lost two aircraft. American Flight 11, a Boeing 767 flying from Boston to Los Angeles, had 81 passengers and 11 crew aboard. Flight 77, a Boeing 757 en route from Washington's Dulles International Airport to Los Angeles, had 58 passengers and six crew members aboard. Flight 11 slammed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. Flight 77 hit the Pentagon.

11:26 a.m.: United Airlines reports that United Flight 93, en route from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco, California, has crashed in Pennsylvania. The airline also says that it is "deeply concerned" about United Flight 175.

11:59 a.m.: United Airlines confirms that Flight 175, from Boston to Los Angeles, has crashed with 56 passengers and nine crew members aboard. It hit the World Trade Center's south tower.

I went to the cafeteria for lunch a little after noon. Everyone was talking about the hijackings and what happened as a result. That's about all anyone talked about.

4:10 p.m.: Building 7 of the World Trade Center complex is reported on fire.

I arrived home from work just before 5:00 p.m. and immediately turned on the television. All I knew was what I'd heard on the radio, but seeing the actual devastation was a shock. I couldn't believe my eyes. I truly was in shock.

5:20 p.m.: The 47-story Building 7 of the World Trade Center complex collapses. The evacuated building is damaged when the twin towers across the street collapse earlier in the day. Other nearby buildings in the area remains ablaze.

Until I went to bed that night, I spend every possible moment watching television, flicking from channel to channel to see if anyone had anything new to report.
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Fatalities
http://en.wikipedia.org

There were 2,974 fatalities, not including the 19 hijackers:

• 246 on the four planes (no one on board any of the hijacked aircraft survived)
• 2,603 in New York City in the towers and on the ground
• 125 at the Pentagon

Among the fatalities were:

• 343 New York City Fire Department firefighters
• 23 New York City Police Department officers
• 37 Port Authority Police Department officers
• 24 people remain listed as missing
  

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Little did I know how much this one day would change everything. The world will never be the same.

Pool Party HNT

We had another pool and hot tub party last Saturday. This one was a birthday party.

There was plenty of good food and drinks.

Then we went swimming.

Then it was off to the hot tub.

Sorry, but there aren't any pictures from the hot tub, because...

What happens in the hot tub, stays in the hot tub.

Scars HNT

As many of you know, I have about 40-45 scars with 35 of them coming from being wounded in Vietnam. Next Friday I'm going to add a new one to that vast collection when the hot Asian woman doctor cuts out a basal cell carcinoma that's on my chest.


The little hole is where she took the biopsy and all of those red marks are from the band aids I've had to wear since last week.

BIG BASS HNT

This is BTExpress as a young child at the ripe old age of 5 1/2 somewhere in the Tampa/St Petersburg, Florida area. That's my Polish grandfather in the background. We were out on one of our usual Sunday drives to who knows where. My dad always carried fishing tackle in the car and whenever he saw fishing spot where he thought he could catch something, he'd pull the car over to the side of the road and fish. He always caught something, but today was especially an good day, as you can see in the picture.

I really do remember this day because it was a day he made me lift this very heavy large mouth bass. He caught the thing, but insisted that I hold the fish and the rod so he could take my picture. I remember telling him it was too heavy, and arguing with him, but he insisted. I struggled, as you can tell by the way I was listing in the shot, but hold it I did.

Isn't it strange the things you remember?

Well, anyway, have a Happy Half-Nekkid Thursday everyone.

Want to have some fun? Click on this chicks boobs and learn all about Half-Nekkid Thursday.

Even though I know about HNT, sometimes I click on her boobs just for fun. Hee, hee..........

FLASH BACK POOL PARTY HNT

Last August Os made a trip to the east coast for my pool party. The turn out was small, the food was good and so was the company. Here are some pictures of what y'all missed.

HAPPY POOL PARTY HNT

I Made a Spaghetti Pie

Sunday I made spaghetti with brie, fresh basil and tomatoes and, trust me, it was good. Like usual, I made too much and had to figure out what to do with the left overs. Then it hit me, spaghetti pie! I'd heard of it, but have never made one, so now was my chance.

It's very easy. Preheat the oven to 350F. Beat two eggs in a bowl then dump in the left over spaghetti. Then mix. The easiest way is to just use your hands. It's messy, but works better than fighting with it. Press mixture into a greased baking dish/pan and sprinkle with parmigiana cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Let rest for a little while and enjoy.

Work is Hard HNT

Lori's brother and his family came down for a visit last week.
While they were here, Bill helped me clean the gutters.

Okay, he cleaned the gutter, but I did empty the bucket.

Buried Treasure HNT

In 1981 I was on vacation in Bermuda with my wife. One day I was snorkeling in the waters next to Fort St. Catherine in Bermuda and I spotted a small piece of ceramic sticking out of the sand.



Just imagine you were the ceramic piece. That is you saw when I found you. lol

I dove down, dug the sand away and discovered this bottle. I had no idea how old it was or what it had contained, but the thrill of finding "buried treasure" made my vacation.

Thirty years of searching off and on for some information on my find and I stumbled upon the "Old Bermuda Bottles" website. I contacted the owner of the blog, Steven R. McPhee, and finally, after all those years, I finally have the information about my "buried treasure".

In his words, "That's a really nice bottle and must have been very exciting to find. It is from around the 1870s and was used mainly for beer or ginger beer, it is stoneware which would help keep the contents cooler a lot longer than glass bottles. When describing it, it would be termed an English stoneware beer (or ginger beer) bottle. These were very popular during the Victorian Era. There was a strong British military presence in Bermuda during the 1800s so it is very likely that is was tossed from the Fort."

Finally, 30 years later, a mystery has been solved. Thanks Steve, you have no idea how much this means to me.

BEFORE AND AFTER HNT

My pool before.

My pool after.

What a difference a couple of years makes.

Military Award HNT

Among my other awards for serving and being wounded in Vietnam, I recently found out that I was also awarded the "Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm Unit Citation".

The Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation with Palm was issued to every Allied nation which provided military support to Vietnam between 1 March 1961 and the fall of Saigon in April 1975. The unit decoration thus became the most commonly awarded Vietnamese decoration to foreigners, second only to the Vietnam Campaign Medal.



I've also received "Cold War Recognition Certificate" for serving during the Vietnam War. This is a copy of someone elses, but I do have mine.

The Cold War Recognition Certificate is a recognition certificate awarded by the Secretary of Defense to all U.S. Armed Forces personnel and qualified federal government civilian personnel who faithfully and honorably served the United States anytime during the Cold War era, which is defined as September 2, 1945 to December 26, 1991.[1] Congress established the Cold War certificate in Section 1084 of the fiscal 1998 National Defense Authorization Act.

If you know anyone that qualifies for these awards, please let them know. I can assure you, like me, they will appreciate being recognized for their service.

'Keith Nintzel Memorial 5K Walk/Run' HNT

We walked in the "Keith Nintzel Memorial 5K" on our neighborhood streets last Saturday and beat our time of last weeks walk by two minutes, 1 hr 1 min 13 seconds.

We finished pretty far back, but at least we weren't last. We beat these two women. One may or may not have a colostomy, but it still counts.

The original paperwork said the runners ran 5K, but the walkers only half that, so we decided we'd walk the mile up to the start of the race. Then after the race, we'd stop for breakfast and then walk back home. So, in reality, we'd walk about 3 1/2 miles total. The paperwork was wrong and the walkers had to walk the 5K too.

On our way home after breakfast, we ran into 3 women that asked if we'd been in the race. We told the we had, then explained how far we'd have to walk if we walked home. Two of them even offered us a ride home, but we decided to stick it out.

Hmmmm, I wonder of they were just being nice, or had ulterior motives? ;-)

When we got home, I check a website to see how far we'd actually walked; a total of 5.37 miles. No wonder our feet hurt like hell.

So in two weeks, we went from couch potatoes to walking 20 minute miles and walking over 5 miles in one day. Who'd a thunk it?

Here's a video of the start of the race. Skip ahead to the 2:15 mark and see if you can pick us out.

ATTENTION LADIES!

I checked and it's legal for a woman to be topless in my back yard, in and around the pool or the hut tub.

The state law also allows it anywhere local laws don't limit it.

The town doesn't have any ordinances against it on private property. It's only regulated on town property. For example, they limit it to certain topless beaches.

The woman cop I talked to said you'd never get arrested as long as you weren't being lewd. She wouldn't want her neighbors to see her naked, but as long as my yard is fenced and the women that are topless don't care, it's fine. Just be tasteful. She also said that the neighbors don't have to look if they don't want to see it. LOL

I have no objection either, so if any ladies want come over and hang out, it all good.

Our 1st 5K Walk

Lori and I decided it was time to get off our asses and loose some weight, so we took up walking. Saturday Lori and I were privileged to be able to join almost 2,000 other runners and walkers in the 'Long Island MacArthur Airport Run For Veterans 5K'. This was held on the property and runway of the airport.

Here I am waiting with the rest of the walkers for the start.








Soldiers lined the route every 50 or so yards cheering us on and probably making sure we didn't veer off the course to places we weren't allowed to go.






About 1 mile into the walk was the first water station. If you look close you'll see the distant walkers and runners out on the runway. They weren't even close to the 1/2 way mark.

Look off to the left and you'll notice that there weren't any jets at the terminals. I asked one of the security personnel along the route why. He said that they closed the airport to commercial traffic for this event. Now that is showing support for our vets.

Here's a short video of Lori and I on the runway.



Walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk,.

Keep it up!


There it is, the end is in sight!










They announced the name of each finisher as they crossed the finish line. Lori's name was easy, but I doubts if they would get mine right or even close. Damned if they didn't get it correct!



It's official, my finishing time for the 5K was 1:03:12.0 and I finished 1,643nd, but I wasn't last, so I'm pleased. Lori finished 1 second faster than me, but only because she held back so we would finish together. If she'd have walked at her own pace, she'd have kicked my ass by a mile.

Way to go baby! I'm proud of you! Thanks for getting me off my ass and walking.

SEE Y'ALL ALL NEXT YEAR!