Wednesday July 1, 2015

July 1 and today is my easy day. I slept in until after 0700. No calisthenics so I loaded the bike on the cobalt and headed out. First out was Panera and for breakfast I had their ham and egg sandwich. It was good. Read the WSJ and Greece still dominates. I did read that the USA is reopening their embassy in Cuba. I really approve this action. The President does some things right. I drove to Millennium Park for my bike ride. It was overcast and cool, low 50s. We have had quite a bit of rain lately and I was surprised at all the flooding along the Grand River. I rode 18 miles. After the ride I stopped at the Kent County Parks office to see if I could rent a canoe and if we can fish off the canoe on the Park's lakes. The answer was yes. I will take AJ canoeing and fishing when she comes in several weeks. The painters were still working when I got home. They said the painting would be done this afternoon. Next week they will seal our wood deck and paint the deck's wrought iron railing. This afternoon I did a load of laundry. I also started putting flower baskets and bird feeders back. I had to remove them for the painters. Nancy worked at the Gardens this afternoon. She said they were very busy. We had a light dinner and right now 1900 we are watching news on TV. On this date in 1962 I wrote Mother from Midway Island. I told her that I had been given additional duties in the public works department so I was very busy. My request for a week in Hawaii had been turned down. Next week we will get a new boss. The job usually goes to a Navy Commander. Midway Island is officially a Naval Air Station. The public works department's job is to maintain the base's facilities. A big part of my job is to maintain all the ground equipment used by the fly boys. Bad blood exists between our seabees and the fly boys. After a few drinks a fight usually breaks out. Of course the seabees are the good guys. We have 200 seabees in the public works department. I asked Mom if she and Dad were playing much golf. Also did Helen like summer school. She was taking classes at CMU. Midway Island has a nice lagoon with sand beaches. Every morning the base sends up a helicopter to check for sharks in the lagoon. If sharks are spotted the beaches are closed. Lately we have had a lot of shark sighting. They are coming into the lagoon to eat the young gooney birds. On this date in 1927 Grandmother Hughes was in London. In the morning she went shopping and in the afternoon visited National Galleries. In the evening she attended a play. On this date in 1938, Ossineke, MI GGF Sanborn spent the morning working in his garden. He drove GGM and friends to my Grand Parents farm at Hubbard Lake. GGF also had time to work in the post office in the afternoon and wash his Lincoln Zephyr. Busy day for an 83 yr old man.