Bowling for Turkeys

Crazy night last night – but that fact that I got to visit a little bit of history (one of the last of the church bowling alleys) made it worth the while.

Tuesday is Turkey Day at Thomson-West; the day that all employees and retirees receive a free frozen turkey. Turkey number 14 for me - - the “gravy handcuffs” – rather than the golden-handcuffs – I’ll never leave. Anyway, the free turkey is my contribution to the family Thanksgiving celebration, so I have to figure a way to get it out to my brother’s house in Lake Elmo. That’s not hard in itself, but we had a few other items on the agenda last evening.

M was at opera choir (6:00 – 8:00), the Dude and Mom were going to see the Lion King at the Orpheum, and I had to be at St. Frances Bowling Center in St. Paul at 6:30 to cut a check to the bowling alley operators.

St. Francis Bowling Center of St. Francis-St. James United School in St. Paul's West Seventh Street neighborhood belongs to an elite club. St. Francis has six lanes and may be one of the last two church bowling centers left in the Twin Cities.

Pack 150 was having a big bowling event at St. Frances. Even though the Dude was not in attendance, I felt that as Pack Treasurer I had to be on hand to pay for the lanes and shoes, etc. I could have let one of the parents pick up the tab and reimburse them later, but I hate doing that too often, and the parents don’t like it either and it usually falls on one family (our Pack Leader) to foot the bill.

Anyway – I had to get to St. Frances, and then zip over to Lake Elmo, then home again by 8:00, all during the tail-end of rush-hour.

Made the trip with 10 minutes to spare (bowling joke there), and I now know that I saw a little bit of church/bowling history as well.