Sunday August 30, 2015

Sunday morning and we head to MVP for our Sunday swim. For the first time since we have been members Nancy and I were the only swimmers. No Meijer's today because we are having brunch at the Moleski's at 1030. Nancy is taking quiche. We load up the car and head out. The Namey's and Tim were also in attendance. In addition to the quiche we had sausage, oatmeal pancakes and fresh fruit. It was great. We left at 1330 and stopped at Meijer's to buy some supplies. As soon as we got home we loaded up Ms P and headed to Kim's. Kim is taking Ms P while we are on our safari. Kim and Ms P get along great. We had clam chowder and BLT's for dinner. Read the GRP and watched some netflix before turning in.

Saturday August 29,2015

It started raining early this morning the gentle rain put me back to sleep. I finally woke up at 0730. I don't ride my bike in the rain so I walked to Sundance for breakfast. Read the most of the WSJ and was ready to leave when I saw that it was pouring. Sat down and read the rest of the WSJ. I took a long walk home. Spent the rainy afternoon working in the condo. Yesterday I cleaned the dehumidifier and today I put it together and it worked. Every once in a while I get lucky. The rain stopped for a short time so I took Ms P on a 1.5 mile walk. For dinner tonight we drove Great Lakes Shipping for a prime rib sandwich. It was great. After we got home I took a short walk. We watched the new Netflix show Narcos. We will watch another episode before making an opinion.

Friday August 28, 2015

Friday and the weather folks are calling for a warm up. Actually a warm up means we return to normal August temps. After the at home stuff I pedaled to Panera. I read the WSJ but except for the stock market and China I don’t remember much. I usually skip all the articles on the Presidential race because it is too early. Today I rode 12.5 miles. A great day for a ride. As soon as I got home I took Ms P on her walk. Nancy pulled a surprise today, she told me she was going to take a nap. She never naps during the day. I had a quick lunch and then Ms P and I got in the Taurus and ran an errand. Stopped at Groskopf and bought another electrical converter for South Africa. Took the long way home. I had not seen the 48th St bridge over the Thornapple or the CSX bridge over 48th in several years. Both bridge appear to be doing ok. At home I cleaned the filter in our dehumidifier. Also took a short nap. At 1730 Nancy and I got in the Taurus and headed to Moleski’s. Tom got four tickets to tonights Whitecaps game. Nancy and I are going as their guests. The stadium was almost full. It was a great night for beer and baseball. This date in 1938: It was a cool and rainy in Ossineke, MI. It was Sunday and 12 folks attended services at the Ossineke Methodist Church. The Ossineke baseball team had to delay the start of their game until 1700. Great grandfather Sanborn was a great baseball fan.

Thursday August 27, 2015

Happy Birthday Nancy: Yes folks today is the birthday of my wife of 50 years. Happy Birthday Nancy! Despite the birthday Nancy still follows her normal schedule. She left home at 0700 for her swim at MVP. She swam a mile. I also followed my normal schedule of calisthenics and breakfast followed by a quick bike ride to Panera. Had my coffee and read the WSJ. After I got on the bike and took a 15 mile ride. It was in the high 50s when I pedaled to Panera but it was near 70 when I finished my ride. I took Ms P on a long walk. She is energized by the cooler weather. Had lunch and then finished reading the WSJ on the deck. I fell asleep reading so I decided to take a quick nap. After the nap I spent some time typing up our African schedule and emailing to the kids. At 1800 Nancy and I walked to Leo's a new restaurant near the condo. Leo's is a Detroit area restaurant noted for its Coney Islands. Nancy's friend Kathi joined us. We all gave Leo's a C. All the kids called Nancy today to wish Nancy a Happy Birthday.

Wednesday August 26, 2015

Easy Wednesday so I sleep in until 0700. Nancy had her Healthy Lifestyle class at MVP so she was out of the condo before me. I bundled up because temps were in the low 50s and pedaled to the Omelette Shop. I had their oatmeal with egg. Read the WSJ and China still dominates. I took a long route home. Stopped at Meijer's and picked up a prescription and bought some supplies. The bike ride was 18 miles. Nancy worked at the Gardens this afternoon. I took out the trash and did a load of laundry before lunch. After lunch took a short nap. Today was another cloudy cool day with high temp of 63. The cooler weather seems to energize Ms P. We went on our standard walk with no problems. I down loaded a walking app to my iphone. The walking app is written by the same folks as my biking app. I took a 2.65 mile walk before dinner. We had a light dinner. It is now 1959 and Nancy is facetiming with Missy. Missy's condo was heavily damaged by water from the upstairs condo. She has contractors making repairs. AJ and Missy are living in a hotel. We will watch some TV and netflix before turning in. I got my 30 in today, did you? Fall is not far off because today I saw color on some trees.

Tuesday August 25, 2015

Up at 0645, I head downstairs and Nancy goes to the pool. Today is suppose to be cloudy all day with temps in the high 50s. I bundled up and headed out for my morning bike ride. It was raining. My iphone weather app said cloudy but no rain. It was wrong. I put on my raincoat and walked to Panera. Today's WSJ had many articles on the stock market. Surprised! After Panera I took the 2 mile route home. Tried to get the bike out but it started to rain. Put on raincoat and took a walking tour of the neighborhood. Stopped at Macatawa Bank and got money for our trip. Next stop was Chase bank. I told Chase that I was traveling next week. They sent an email saying they got me covered. Later I got an email allegedly sent from Chase. The folks at Chase said the email was a fraud. I continued my walk. Ate lunch and then spent some time messing around. At 1615 Nancy and headed to Meijer Gardens. We are working tonights concert. I was glad I bundled up. My job was taking tickets. The turnout for tonight's concert was great. I was on my feet from 1630 to 1930. Shift ended at 1930 and I bought a beer and ate the salad Nancy had prepared. It was great. The concert was all local talent. Nancy worked until almost 2000. She joined me but I was so cold that I headed to the car, turned the heat on and warmed up. We got home a little after 2000. Read the GRP and watched some TV before turning in.

Monday August 24, 2015

The day started normally. Up at 0645 Nancy heads to MVP and I do the at home stuff. The humidity in the lower level was very high this morning so I checked the dehumidifier and it was not working. This was my first surprise. After breakfast I went on a 12 mile bike ride. It was in the low 60s so I bundled up. Showered and found that the lower level toilet float had failed. Surprise number 2. Started dressing and Nancy called and asked what was the animal on our garage roof. We yelled at the critter and found out we had a raccoon. The raccoon appeared sick. I tried to scare the critter off the roof and thought I had accomplished this task. I walked to Panera and had my morning coffee. At 1145 I headed home. The raccoon was back on the roof. It really looked lethargic. At noon Nancy and I headed out to meet with Kidder Safari. Alverda Kidder provided us with our tickets and a packet of travel material. When we got home Nancy headed out to run errands. My first chore was to take Ms P out. The raccoon was off the roof. In our courtyard Ms P went on point like a bird dog. The raccoon was lying in the bushes. I think he had fallen from the roof. It appeared dead. I got a shovel to put it in a bag when it revived. I carried the coon to the front yard and let him go. It ambled off into the bushes. I don't know the sex of our mystery raccoon. The rest of the afternoon was spent running errands and fixing the toilet. My first errand was to the battery shop to get a battery for our remote. I thought I needed a special AA battery. The man at the shop said that a AA is a AA and that I probably had a bad replacement battery. Next I stopped at Gander Mountain and Dick's to see about buying a special tick repellant. Kidder Safari had recommended this brand. Neither store had the repellant. I spent an hour removing the toilet float. After dinner I will take the float to ACE. We had a light dinner and then watched the news. I took the toilet float to ACE and they had a replacement. Replaced the float and everything worked fine. Watched some netflix before turning in.

Sunday August 23, 2015

Sunday so it must be swim day. Up at 0645 to get ready for our trip to MVP. The sun was out and it was very pleasant. The pool was not crowded today. I swam 30 minutes and Nancy did a mile. Gas today at Meijer's was $2.94. I guess the high price is because of the shutdown of a refinery that services MI. Today's purchases were primarily fresh fruits and vegetables. Nancy fixed her world famous poached eggs today. I had mine on a waffle. We finished breakfast about 1100 and the weather folks are predicting rain for around 1300. I tried to take Ms P on a walk before the rain but she refused so I took a quick 2 mile walk. I got home just in time. It rained hard most of the afternoon. I took my mandatory Sunday nap. After the nap I ran some errands. Bought bird feed and drain cleaner at ACE Hardware, stopped at Meijer's and got some lotion, shaving cream and a tooth brush for our trip. Next stop was the battery store where I purchased batteries for my HP calculator. Finally I stopped at MC and Gazelle looking for walking shoes. No luck. Missy face timed us this afternoon. She and AJ are staying in a hotel while the water damage to her condo is being repaired. The lady in the condo upstairs left water running and it seeped down into Missy's condo. Glad she has insurance. Yesterday I gave Debbie a quick call to see how her trip to Australia and Japan went. She had been home just a short time when I called. She said the trip went fine. The rain has stopped so I fired up the grill. Nancy is grilling brats and corn on the cob. Tonight we will finish reading the GRP and watch some TV before turning in.

Saturday August 22, 2015

Up at 0700 and it looks like another nice summer day. I loaded my bike on the Cobalt's rack and drove to Panera for an oatmeal breakfast. After breakfast I drove to Millennium Park for my Saturday ride. The parking lot was nearly full. The bike trails around the Park are really getting popular. Today I biked 18 miles in 90 minutes. At home I tried to take Ms P on a walk but she balked so I took a 45 minute walk. I had lunch and spent some time working on my bike and bike rack. The Safari folks called today and said they had a large packet of material for our upcoming trip to S. Africa. We are going to meet with them Monday. Nancy did the laundry today and I finished the afternoon messing in my office. At 1730 we headed to Houlihan's for dinner. We met the Namey's. The food was good tonight. After dinner we drove to the Namey's for dessert and conversation. A most pleasant evening.

Friday August 22, 2015

Up at 0630, Nancy heads to MVP and I do the calisthenics and wait for the plumber. The plumber arrives at 0815 and gets right to work. It took him about 30 minutes to clear the line. We can now do some laundry. Kim comes to clean at 0900 and I get on my bike and pedal to Panera. WSJ and other financial gurus think China is in more trouble than reported. China is blamed for the recent stock market problems. Who knows? After Panera I went on a 12 mile bike ride. This morning the temps were in the 50s so I bundled up. It had warmed up enough before the taking off so I got rid of the sweat shirt. Beautiful day for a ride. I bought a kid's bike at Play It Again Sport for AJ during her recent visit. I took the bike back to PIAS. They bought the bike at a reduced price. It was a bargain. Next stop was Gazelle Sports to look for walking shoes. No luck. No luck at Gander Mountain either. Kim was still working when I got home so I took Ms P on a short walk. After lunch Nancy and I drove to V and A shoes. Nancy bought a nice pair of open toed walking shoes. I did not find anything. Finished the afternoon with a short nap. Nancy grill chicken breasts for dinner. Also had a sweet potato and corn on the cob. After dinner I took a short walk. We watched several netflix shows this evening.

Thursday August 20, 2015

Swim day for Nancy but I slept in until 0700. Did the calisthenics, had breakfast, put on the bike riding clothes and walked out into a rain shower. Bummer! Changed clothes and drove to Panera. After Panera drove to Woodland Mall to look for walking shoes. Tried on four pairs at Track and Trails. No luck. Got home in time to change clothes and get ready for our meeting with financial advisor at Wells Fargo. We met for almost 90 minutes. Bottom line we are not yet broke. As soon as we got home I had lunch and then took a 60 minute walk. Called plumber and he is coming tomorrow morning to clean line. We had a light dinner and after the news we watched Midsomer Murder on netflix. It is now 2158 and I am watching the Lions preseason game. It seems early for football but high schools started practice last week. We had intermittent rain all day. The temperature never reached 70. Warm up starts tomorrow.

Wednesday August 19, 2015

Breakfast Club Wednesday and I left home at 0630 and for the first time since April I drove with lights on. Fall is coming, bummer. GR is having a Classic Car Cruise this weekend and todays speaker owns an antique car repair shop. He spoke on the Cruise. Good talk. After BC I drove the Kent County CU to make a deposit. I was an hour early so I drove to the Rivertown Mall in Grandville to check out Eddie Bauer. The Mall was also closed. Next stop was Cabella's. Cabella's was open. I want a pair of walking shoes for the African trip. No luck. Finally I stopped at Panera and had coffee and read the WSJ. I needed to get my 30 in so I took a bike ride. Rode about 60 minutes. Nancy worked at the Gardens this afternoon. I took a short nap and then paid some bills. This evening Nancy and I are going to the Whitecaps ball game. LSE/Scott Civil are having a company picnic. We left home at 1700. The Whitecaps do a good job of providing food for company picnics. We had burgers and brats. LSE is having a good year. They have a bright young staff. The company is having a baby boom as evidenced by all the infants. It was a great evening for a ball game. It was a great summer day.

Tuesday August 18, 2015

Back to normal Tuesday. Nancy is up at 0630 and gets ready for her Tuesday swim. I am also back to normal. I did the calisthenics at 100%. The weather folks said it will rain so I got on the bike right after breakfast and went on a ride. I did not get rained on but as soon as I got home it started. Perfect timing. Drove the Cobalt to Panera. I forgot to download the WSJ at home so I tried using Panera's wi-fi. No luck the WSJ would not download. I left Panera and drove to Starbucks. Starbucks wifi downloaded the paper in a flash. Donald Trumps ideas on immigration are stupid. I am also not a fan Gov Walker. Ohio Gov Kasich is my choice. Ex Senator Webb of VA is my choice for a Democrat. I like the idea of travel to Cuba. Nancy and I have put a trip to Cuba on our bucket list. After Starbucks I head to Groskoph to see about some travel items we might need for Africa. I found an electric converter that only works in S. Africa. I bought it. Next stop was Bill and Paul's. I am looking for a good pair of walking shoes. They had several I liked but I will not buy until I check out Cabella's tomorrow after Breakfast Club. Nancy and Mary Namey drove to Grand Haven today to have lunch with a fellow teacher, Bonnie Cowles. Nancy said they had a great lunch. Today I have my standard lunch, yogurt, cheese, apple and hard boiled egg. I started to take Ms P on a walk when it started to rain. I had to change clothes when I got home. My doctor recommended that I get a Med-Alert bracelet for our Africa trip. I checked on-line and found that Walmart makes these bracelets. I drove to Walmart and they said they no longer make the bracelets. They recommended I go on-line. I finished this afternoon with a 2.5 mile walk. It was so humid that I had to shower when I got home. It is now 2055 and I am sitting on the deck writing this blog. Not much on TV so it will be an early night. Have to get up early for BC.

Monday August 17, 2015

Tuesday August 4, 2015: travel day for AJ, Nancy and Bob. Up at 0630, put bags outside, and then walked to Panera for a quick cup of coffee. Taxi arrived early at 0930. Checked in and waited for our flight to Chicago. Flight arrived on time. Hour wait in Chicago before boarding flight to LA. Flight went off without a hitch. AJ is great to travel with. At LA picked up rental and drove to Missy's condo. AJ glad to be home and get reunited with cats. We had a light dinner. I did call my friend Tom Collins who lives in San Clemente. Tom was a close friend growing up in Alpena. He was not home so I left a voice message. Happy Birthday Tommy! Wednesday August 5: Missy still in Utah at conference. I had coffee at the Coffee Bean a short walk from the condo. AJ wants to take it easy. We did get a chance to get her out of house because Nancy promised to buy her an Anna doll. Of course you all know Anna is from Frozen. Nancy bought the doll at a Target near UCLA. We also walked to a Trader Joe's nearby to get some two buck chuck. In the afternoon we got in the rental and headed to Carson to look for a motel. We booked a week at an Extended Stay Motel. For dinner we walked to CA Pizza Kitchen. Thursday August 6: First thing I again walked to Coffee Bean for oatmeal, coffee and a chance to read WSJ. On way home bought Nancy a decaf. AJ wanted to just watch TV but we wanted her outside. Finally we drove to a nearby Park. AJ met a friend and we spent 90 minutes in park. Missy got home about 1600. At 1700 Bob and Nancy headed out to Carson. We stopped at a Panera for dinner. Friday August 7: The motel's breakfast is a joke. Walked over to a Starbuck and got a banana and coffee. Read the WSJ. Nancy wanted to visit a Talbot's in Manhattan Beach. We drove to the mall. Nancy headed out shopping and I walked around the Mall and people watched, bought nothing. We parked the car in downtown LB and walked around. We are looking for an apartment to rent this Jan/Feb. No luck. Had a Costco hot dog for lunch. On our way back to Motel we stopped a Walmart and bought some snacks. I took a short walk. Tonight we are meeting Stephen and family for dinner at EJ Malone's in the Bixby Knoll area of LB. We head out at 1730, We lucked out and found a parking place in front of the restaurant. Steve and family were already there. It was great seeing Veronica, Alessandra, Lucas and Steve. Bixby is the neighborhood where the restaurant is located and it was hopping on this Friday night. After a great dinner we walked up and down Atlantic Ave. The area was jammed. A great evening. It is now 2142 and I am sitting in the motel drinking $2 Chuck and writing this blog. Today an old employee Erick called me and said that he had recently seen a swing bridge designed by my Dad's firm. It was located in Alanson, Mi. It was great talking to Eric and see that he is doing so well. Saturday August 8: Today is my sister Helen's birthday. Happy Birthday, Helen! Today our Grandson Lucas has two soccer games in Westminster. The first game was at 1015 so we had time to have breakfast at Denny's. We got to Westminster High School to see the kick off or whatever you call the start of a soccer game. I don't understand the game but I did know that Lucas was #14 and played defense. The game ended in a 0/0 tie. The next game started at 1530 so Nancy, Alessandra, Veronica and I headed to the Cosa Mesa Mall. The girls went shopping and I walked around. The mall was really upscale. We had lunch in the mall. The second game did not go as well as the first but everyone made a great effort. Nancy and I had dinner at the Olive Garden. Sunday August 9: Lucas has an 1115 soccer game. We drove down to Westminster in time for the game. After the game we all had lunch at Lucilles. After lunch Nancy and I took a drive down the PCH to Irvine. We drove around Irvine before heading back to the motel. We stopped at Panera for dinner. We watched Ray Donovan. Nancy hated it and I thought it was pretty good. Monday August 10: For the past two days the mornings have been overcast and the sun does not break out until about noon. This morning I walked over to Starbucks for coffee and to read the WSJ. Before leaving I bought Nancy a decaf. Today we are meeting Missy and AJ at California Yacht at noon. Missy has been a member for several months. They have a great pool that AJ can use. Missy takes her computer and does her work. On our way we stopped at a Mall in Torrance. The Mall was in tough shape. We took the PCH to Marina Del Rey where the Yacht Club is located. It took about an hour. When we got to the CYC Missy was waiting to let us in. AJ spends all her time in the pool. Nancy enjoyed the pool. Missy and I had lunch at the snack bar. After lunch I took a two hour walk around the marina. It was very pleasant. We all had dinner at Jerry's Deli. I had a beer and corned beef sandwich. It is now 2132 and we are watching a show on TNT and drinking wine. Tuesday August 11: Today is Bob and Nancy's day: I have been getting up at 0600 and today was no exception. I walk next door to Starbucks for coffee and a chance to read the WSJ. The Chinese devaluate their currency and everyone goes ballistic. I read the articles on the impact of this devaluation but have not put it as one of the things I really worry about. I bring Nancy a decaf from Starbucks. About 1000 we get in the rental and head to Port Hueneme/Oxnard. Port Hueneme is the home of the Navy's Pacific Seabees. In the fall of 1961 newly commissioned Ensign Scott attended a two monty Civil Engineering Corps Officers school at Port Hueneme. I liked the area. I told Nancy that we might want to rent a place in this area for next January and February. Rents might be cheaper than the LA area but still less than 60 miles from the grandkids. The drive north was very stressful. Stop and go traffic all the way. We walked the beach at Port Hueneme and drove around the area. Downtown Oxnard had a nice small town feel. However the drive back to LA was worse than the drive up. The bad drive has convinced us that we must eliminate Pt Hueneme. We cleaned up at the motel and then headed out for dinner. We planned to eat at an Applebee's near the motel. I got Applebee's confused with Chili's. So we decided to turn back. I made a wrong turn and we ended up at the rail yard that supports the Ports of LA and LB. Miles and miles of RR container cars were parked on the tracks. We ended up in LB and had dinner at a breakfast place in the Bixby Knoll area of LB. We had a great dinner. Got home about 2100 and went to bed. Wednesday August 12: Today we are meeting AJ and Missy at the CA Yacht Club about 1300. I do the Starbuck routine until 0930. We went shopping to fill our diminished larder. We got to the CYC at 1300. Nancy went swimming and I took a walk. I walked to Venice Beach. It was a great day for a walk, sunny and warm. When I got to the beach I walked along the edge of the surf and the bike path. I walked the boardwalk at Venice Beach. If you like to see a real eclectic mix of folks Venice Beach is the place. I walked about 2.5 hours or six miles. We had an early dinner at the CYC. I had a hamburg and it was good. We got back to the motel about 1930. It is now 2128 and I am drinking wine and writing this blog. The TV is off, Nancy is reading and I will soon join her. I have a good book downloaded on the minipad. Thursday August 13, 2015: Today we are spending time with Alessandra and Lucas. We got up at 0600 and headed to Polly's for breakfast. Steve dropped the kids off and then headed off to work. We all ate a big breakfast. After breakfast we headed to a kids play park in Torrance. It was called Mulligan's Fun Center. The place opened at 1000 and we were the first folks through the door. The first thing Lucas did was head for the Go-Karts. He was the only driver so he got to drive the kart for several sessions. Alessandra was too short for the karts but she could drive the bumper cars. She also got to ride for several sessions. Our next game was miniature golf. All four of us played and Nancy was the winner. Lucas spent some time in the batting cage. Both kids played several sessions of Lazer tag. They also returned to the Go-Karts and Bumper cars. It was very hot so they played some arcade games in an air conditioned room. The Grandkids liked Mulligans but Nancy and I gave only a C. We left at 1330 and headed to the Lakewood Mall. We had lunch at the Red Robin. After lunch we spent some time in a book store before heading to Lucas's soccer practice. The practice started at 1700. At 1730 Veronica picked up Alessandra and took her to a soccer team pizza party. Lucas's practice ended at 1830 and we drove him to Alessandra's party. The two kids keep Steve and Veronica hopping. Steve is now the LB Parks and Recreation Department main man. It is budget season so he has had evening meetings for the past two weeks. The LB Parks and Recreation Dept has a $55,000,000 annual budget and 800 employees. A really big job. Way to go Steve! Friday August 14, 2015: Travel day for Bob and Nancy, we spent the morning packing and getting squared away. At 1100 we head to LAX to return our rental and check in. The return and check in went without a hitch. The flight to Denver was on time but we were late getting into Denver. I was worried we might miss the flight . I had packed my pills in the checked suitcase. I really don't know what would happen if I missed a pill. Any way United held the plane for us. We arrived in GR a little over midnight and grabbed a taxi home. Saturday August 15, 2015: Today is a dedicated easy day. We slept in and I walked to Panera for oatmeal and Nancy stayed home and did the laundry. As would happen we had a minor drain backup. Called the plumber but he did not call back. Petunia returned home about 1700 and at 1800 we drove to Jack Lensink's home on College for his 75th birthday party. It was an enjoyable affair and Jack looked good. Sunday August 16, 2015: We are starting to return to normal. Went swimming at MVP and then shopped at Meijer's. Gas today was $2.94. We loaded up on fresh fruits. Nancy's friend called about 1200 and invited us over for a swim and dinner. Since the temp was 90 with high humidity we said ok. Took and short nap and then at 1530 we drove the Kathi's. Both Nancy and I went swimming. Kathi fixed chicken breasts and corn on the cob. Nancy brought a great potato dish and a neighbor brought a great Michigan wine. We had a very pleasant afternoon. We got home about 2030. Since we left GR on August 4 we have had great weather, blue skies and warm temps with no rain. Our kids and grandkids are doing fine. Debbie is on a trip to Australia and Japan for Apple. Missy explained all her businesses to us and she is doing well. Steve has his new job as Parks Director in LB. Monday August 17, 2015: Yesterday Kathi told us about a property dispute she is having with her neighbor. She needed a survey and I gave her several names. This morning I called three surveyors and finally got hold of my old friend Chuck Fricke. Chuck is still working and agreed to do Kathi's survey tomorrow. We turned the AC on last night and it did not work. This morning I called Bel Aire and they are coming out this PM to fix the AC. I took a short bike ride and then showered and walked to Panera. Nancy headed out early to MVP for her class. About 1300 I drove to Costco for some supplies. Bought wine, cheese, dried plums and paper towels. Also bought a fall sweater. Bel Aire arrived about 1430 and found out we needed a $109 part. The AC is now working. Today Nancy and I are paying our Fed and Township taxes. It is now 1539 and I am sitting at the kitchen finishing this blog. I got my 30 in today, did you?

Monday August 3, 2015

We all slept in, again. No MVP for Nancy and I did the calisthenics at 50%. Quick breakfast and then walked to Panera. Major news about the EPA new rules regarding fossil fuels. I don't think it took anyone by surprise. I think Climate Change is for real. Science is about analyzing existing data and making sensible conclusions. The climate change data is pretty convincing. Of course as new data becomes available previous conclusions must be modified. I am glad I sold my Peabody Coal stock several years ago. Syria, the Kurds, Turkey, ISIS and all the actors in the Middle East seem to be fighting one another. Who is right? As I have said many times we should just get out! After Panera I got on my bike and headed to Macatawa Bank. I put some check books and other important records in our lock box. Finished with an eight mile ride. After lunch we headed to Sears so Nancy could return a swim suit. We then headed to Meijer Gardens. It was such a nice day. Spent several hours looking around. We had a light dinner and then watched some TV. Called the taxi to pick us up at 0945.

Sunday August 2, 2015

We all slept in today. We are in our wind down mode. We head to CA on Tuesday. First thing I took a short 50' bike ride. It was hot and humid. AJ has her last bike ride lesson today. We walked over to a vacant office parking lot and spent about 30' practicing. Nancy fixed her world famous scrambled eggs for breakfast. After breakfast I took the Taurus to Meijer's for gas. Also stopped at Starbucks for my morning coffee. The weather forecast is constantly changing. We do not know what to do this afternoon. Finally Nancy gets a call from her friend Kathi saying she wants Nancy and AJ to come over for a swim. AJ said a swim would be great. I stayed home, talked to Missy on facetime and then spent some time packing. Packing is a challenge for us old guys. Need my pills and all the electronic chargers. I checked my credit card account and paid my bill. Nancy and AJ got home at 1700. Fired up the grill and we had grilled brats, hot dogs and vegetables for dinner. We watched 60' and read the GRP this evening. Finished the evening watching netflx. The temperature reached 90 today. The weather station has thunder storm warning up for our area. It is now 2208 and thunder storms have rolled through. The temp has dropped from 90 to 64. Nancy and AJ are in bed and I am watching Ninja Warrior. I like the show. The rain has stopped and it looks like the week will be sunny and warm.

Saturday August 1, 2015

Slept in until 0730 this morning. Nobody wanted to go out to breakfast so I walked to Panera and had an oatmeal breakfast. After breakfast I took the long walk home. AJ was finishing breakfast so I talked her into another bike riding lesson. We spent 30 minutes practicing. Every day in every way she is getting better and better. Today was another sunny warm summer's day. We have had a great run of nice weather. Late morning: I ran some errands: stopped at D&W to mail package of birthday gifts to my sister and brother-in-law. August is birthday month. Next stop is ACE Hardware: bought bird seed and a chipmunk trap. Bought gas at Meijer's, $2.59 per gallon. At MC Sporting Goods bought a swim suit and finally at Russo's bought a waiter's wine bottle opener. I bent a shepard's crook and attached it to the deck rail so the hook is suspended over the rail. I attached our bird feeder to the hook. I will oil the crook so squirrels cannot reach the feeder. After lunch I strapped on my GPS and took a walk. I walked 3.75 miles in 1h10'. Showered and then had a beer sitting on the deck and reading on the kindle. Life is good. Feel asleep and my phone woke me up. It was Missy facetiming AJ. For dinner we ate at IHOP. I had a short stack with eggs. Nancy had eggs and toast and AJ had chocolate chip pancakes. We all watched TV to finish the evening.