Friday June 22, 2012

It is starting to cool off. I slept in until 0700 this morning. In keeping with my summer schedule I loaded up the bike and headed to Millennium Park. It was a great morning for a ride. I was barreling through a sharp curve when I encountered a deer. I had to brake to avoid hitting the deer. I pedaled 18.5 miles in 1h30'. On my way home I stopped at the Kava House to read the papers. This afternoon I had to pack for my drive to CA tomorrow. I also ran several banking errands. Tonight Nancy grilled chicken for AJ and Missy and several hamburgers for me. We also had new potatoes and corn on the cob. It was great. Missy sold some more medallions today. She also had to buy new tires for her car. I am all packed and ready to go. Missy is flying to CA on the 27th and Nancy and AJ are flying on the 2nd of July. It should be an interesting time.

Thursday June 21, 2012

Today is the first full day of summer. We had some showers roll through this morning. In fact the high temperatures will recede today. Temperatures will remain in the low 80s. Nancy has a Doctor's appointment this morning. She will take AJ with her. Missy is going back to the Heritage Camp to sell some more bracelets. I have a GRBA meeting at 1200. I drove the C2 to the MAC. I did the tri today. My time in the 1,000 yard swim is stuck at 30'. The GRBA meeting started at 1200 and was done by 1230. On my way home I stopped at the Kava House and read the WSJ. With the cooler temperatures Nancy has turned the AC off. The foot Doctor told her this morning that she did not need an operation. This morning Nancy purchased airline tickets to CA for Missy on the 27th and for Nancy and AJ on July 2nd. I will leave on Saturday for CA. I am driving Missy's car. The moving van will arrive in CA on the 30th. Nancy and I are flying home on July 6. This evening we are eating dinner at Panera Bread. I will watch a "Person of Interest" this evening before heading to bed.

Wednesday June 20, 2012

Summer starts about 1900 today. I am always sad when we reach the summer solstice because that means the days are getting shorter and winter can't be far off. Anyway it is Wednesday my easy day. I rode my bike to Bill's for pancake and eggs. It is going to be another hot day. As soon as I get home I get out the lawnmower and cut the grass. I was done cutting, trimming and edging by 1200. This morning Missy went to a Heritage Camp in GR. This camp is for children who are foreign birth adoptees. Missy makes a necklace with a picture of the child's home country or city. She displayed her wares and made several sales. After cutting the grass I drove Nancy to Meijer's Garden where she is working this afternoon. She is still on pain killers so they recommend she not drive. I then came home and picked up AJ. We went to the movies. We saw Madagascar III. I liked it better than AJ did. We had ice cream after the movie. We picked up Nancy after the show. We all spent a quiet evening at home.

Tuesday June 19, 2012

We started the AC yesterday. It was almost 75 when I took Ms P out at 0600. Today is an active day for me. I do the tri today. The pool was not very busy this morning. I would think the MAC would be offering swimming classes for school kids. However, I like an empty pool. I swam my 1,000 yards in 30 minutes. When I left the MAC at 1130 the temperature was in the 90s. The main part of the Kava House is air conditioned but they have a room with the windows open. I sat in the open room. I do not like AC. I read my WSJ and DFP. I got home about 1330. I had a quick lunch. I was going to cut the grass but it was too hot. I watched Ms P while Nancy took a nap. I also ended up taking a nap. All the medicine Nancy is taking makes her very tired. Missy called this afternoon and said that she would not be leaving Lakewood until later and she and AJ would eat on the road. For dinner tonight I will pedal over to the Subway and get a sub. Missy and AJ arrived at 2030. It must have been an emotional day for Missy. She left her house in Lakewood and is now starting a new stage of her and AJ's life in CA. New starts are always exciting.

Monday June 18, 2012

Monday morning and the first Monday of my new summer schedule. The weather folks say that the heavy rain will be north of us. I won't know what to do until Nancy calls Dr Kutsche and makes an appointment. I do my exercises and when I came up at 0800 Nancy tells me that her appointment is at 1120. I decide to stay near home so I get on my bike and plan on riding around Reeds Lake until 1030. I was starting on my 2nd trip around the Lake when it started to rain. Boy did it rain. It rained so hard that I had trouble seeing the road. In places on the roads the water was 4" deep. I headed home and was thoroughly soaked when I arrived. I went downstairs and threw all my clothes in the wash. It took me an hour to bike 11.7 miles. This was a good time for pedaling in EGR. At 1100 Ms P and I took Nancy to see Dr. Kutsche. I stayed in the car and read the WSJ on the Kindle. When Nancy came out she said that she needed to get a blood test done. The Lab was nearby. After the Lab we came home. I had a quick lunch and then headed to Meijer's to get Nancy's prescriptions filled. Nancy still cannot eat solid food so I got her a large bottle of diet Sprite. The doctor said she needed to drink a lot of liquids. Later in the afternoon I took a two mile walk. I had cereal for dinner. Nancy headed to bed at 2000. I followed at 2100. June 1960: I just found a card I sent my mother on my trip from Ann Arbor to my job in Vermont. I had a ride to Vermont but the guy backed out. I was going to hitchhike but the day before I was to leave two fraternity brothers talked me into going to the horse track with them. On the seventh race we each bet $2 on a horse named "Will of Allah". The horse was a 20-1 shot and my cut was $42.60. That night we had dinner at Weber's and beer at the Pretzel Bell. The next day I could afford to take the train to Albany, NY and a bus to Montpelier. I reported to work on Monday as scheduled.

Sunday June 17, 2012

0330 Sunday morning, Nancy said that the terrible pain in her abdomen had not decreased. We got in the car and headed to Emergency at Blodgett. They took Nancy right in and started running tests. Within 30 minutes they had determined that Nancy's pancreas was inflamed. They hooked her up to an IV and were going to take a Cat Scan. They Cat Scan confirmed that she had an inflamed pancreas but the good news was that the gall bladder was ok. At 0800 I bailed out and came home to call Linda Moleski to tell her that the Father's Day Brunch was cancelled. Linda was going to notify the other guests. Nancy was discharged about 0900. Nancy headed straight to bed and I took the 2 prescriptions to be filled at Meijer's. When I got home I also headed to bed. We relaxed until 1630. Nancy had scheduled us to work at the Steve Miller concert at the Gardens. I tried to talk her out of it but was unsuccessful. We reported for duty at 1700. We were assigned the duty of taking tickets. We were really busy because the concert was sold out. We were finished working about 1900. Nancy was really exhausted. When we got home she headed to bed and immediately fell asleep. I watched some TV and was in bed by 2100. On this date 50 years ago, Sunday June 17, 1962, I wrote my mother a letter from Midway Island. We get our fresh water on Midway by catching rain water. When rain hits the hard surfaces of the runway and taxiway it is channeled to a storage facility. It does not rain much between March and October so at times fresh water has to be rationed. That means salt water showers and brushing your teeth with brackish water, yuck. Ice cubes are made with brackish water. At the Officer's Club they had a drink called a B&B. Bourbon and Brackish. The problem was that to avoid the bad taste the B&B was finished too fast. A B&B hangover resulted. In 1962 to solve our problem the Navy seeded the clouds over the Island and we were able to collect 2 million gallons. Next Friday I was heading to Hawaii for a week's vacation. I would be staying at an Army base called Fort DeRussy. It is located on Waikiki Beach. I also told Mom about Kure Island. Kure is located about 50 miles west of Midway. It is much smaller than Midway. It is a Lorain Station. A lorain station sends out signals to all the ships at sea. If you can receive the signal from three stations you can located your position. The US Coast Guard mans the station. I was told there was one tree on the island. They did have a nice beach but it was loaded with bad tempered seals. Every Sunday a plane left Midway for Kure. The plane took supplies and a chaplain. Duty on Kure was much worse than Midway. About the same time in June, 1960 I wrote my Mother from Vermont. I had a summer job working for the Vermont Highway Department. I made $15.95 per day and because I was on a traveling survey party I was paid $8 per day living expenses. In 1960 $15.95 per day was great pay. The party chief was a retired Army Colonel. The two other members of the party were Civil Engineering students at the University of Vermont. I told Mom for the next two week I could be reached at Leon's Knotty Pine Motel in Bennington, VT. I really liked Vermont it is a beautiful state.

Saturday June 16, 2012

I had to get Ms P up at 0400. My clock seems to be off lately. Nancy finally woke me up at 0700. I had breakfast at "Bill's". When I got home I put on my bike riding pants and headed out. Today I am going to try a new route. I started west on Hall Street, crossed US131 and turned left on Godfrey. I stayed on Godfrey to Chestnut and followed Chestnut until I got to the new bike trail on the old AARR. This is a new trail that uses existing RR bridges over Market Ave and the Grand River. It connects to the trail through the old Butterworth Dump that connects to Kent Trails. I followed Kent Trail west and south to the trail that runs along the new M6 highway. I followed this trail east until after some detours I ended up at the intersection of M6 and Kalamazoo Ave. I followed Kalamazoo Ave home. I traveled 32 miles and it took me 3 hours. After my shower Nancy and I headed to the Art fair being held in Gas Light Village. This is an annual affair and it seems that it is held on a very hot humid day. We walked around the fair but did not make a purchase. I did take a short nap this afternoon. About 1700 we were ready to go out when a thunder storm came crashing through town. Ms P went bonkers. Nancy has been feeling poorly today and she really did not want to go out or leave Ms P. I got in the C2 and drove to the Subway on Lake Drive and bought a 12" turkey breast. I got wet from the heavy rain but it did not last long. After eating my sub and watching the news I took Ms P for a walk around the block. It is now 2020 and Nancy just went to bed. I will watch some TV before retiring. No MAC tomorrow because we are having a Father's Day Brunch. Speaking of Father's Day, Debbie called me today to wish me a Happy Father's Day. Debbie was driving to the SF Airport. She is on her way to China.