Saturday February 12, 2011

Once again Ms P and I got up at 0415. We had about 3" of fresh snow over night. While Ms P was doing her bidness I shoveled a portion of the drive. We went back to bed. The alarm went off at 0630. Nancy has an early class at the MAC. I finished shoveling and then walked to Marie Catrib's for breakfast. I arrived at 0810 and the place opens at 0800. There was not a seat available. I walked over to the Cheri Inn and had a bowl of oatmeal, scrambled eggs and toast. The oatmeal was subpar.

When I got home I checked my email and then walked Ms P around the block. The C2 has not been driven on the freeway in about a month so I decided to take a drive. The sun was out and the temperatures were above 32. My first stop was Rylee's to see if they had some chemical that would dissolve the glue holding the baseboard to the wall in the master bathroom. The helpful employee told me that the only way to remove the baseboard is to use a pry bar. He showed me what I needed. I already had the recommended pry bar so I thanked him and left. I then drove to Holland to visit one of my favorite stores, The Outpost. I saw a pair of rugged looking khaki's so I tried them on. They looked terrible. I will stick with LL Bean or Eddie Bauer. I did enjoy the ride. I stopped at a quickie car wash on my way home.

Nancy wanted to visit VerHage flooring on Wealthy so she could pick out some floor material for the master bathroom. We loaded up the Taurus and the 3 of us headed first to the library so Nancy could pick up several books and then we headed to VerHage. We found a parking spot and walked to the store only to find it closed. For dinner tonight we were debating: should we get a Costco chicken or go to Forest Hills Inn. Forest Hills won. I finished my outside activities by taking a 45 minute walk around the neighborhood.

Ms P and I are in my office typing this blog. It is now 1630 and Nancy is taking a nap and I am holding Ms P captive in the office.

Fifty years ago this month I was a freshly graduated engineer working at my first job. I was living on East Grand Blvd in Detroit. I paid $45 a month for a furnished studio type apartment. The apartment had a living room, a small kitchen and bathroom. It was really only 2 rooms. I had a sofa bed and when I wanted to sleep I pulled out the bed. I plugged in my electric blanket and jumped in bed. I only used the electric blanket. What 22 year old needs sheets? I warmed up a lot of TV dinners.

I did not own a car so I walked to work a distance of 3.17 miles. I tell people now that I walked on Jefferson Ave from Belle Isle to downtown and they say I would never do it today because it is a combat zone. I never had any problems.

My job was very boring but I liked making money. I really liked the fact that I had no home work. Some days I would walk out of the office and go to a movie. This was a big treat.

My biggest worry was the draft. I was in contact with the Alpena Draft Board and was told that I had until July to decide how I would fulfill my military obligation. I will explain how I solved my problem in a future blog. Stay tuned.

Last night Nancy said why don't we try Pietro's Back Door instead of Forest Hills. It sounded good to me so we headed to Pietro's and found out the Back Door was closed. The main Pietro's had a 2 hour wait. We ended up with all the other old folks who couldn't get an invitation to a party at Forest Hills. We had their steak/shrimp special. It was good. Later we watched a little TV and at 2145 we headed to bed.