Friday August 29, 2014

Friday August 29, 2014 Finally I woke up at a decent hour, 0630. Today I selected the long ride around the neighborhood. This ride takes about 1h40’. The weather was threatening rain but it did hold off until I got home. Nancy was already home from MVP. A warning light on the Taurus said to change the oil. I took the car in and the Ford man said that we did not have enough miles for an oil change. He reset the warning light and said come back in 1,000 miles. Last night while Nancy was looking around Talbots I looked around Fitzgerald’s and saw a pair of blue cotton pants that I might want to add to my wardrobe. Today I was in a spending mood so I stopped and purchased a pair. Why are pants called a pair? Finally I stopped at Panera for coffee and the WSJ. Today I read the WSJ on my Kindle. I used a large font and had no trouble reading. Speaking of eyes and reading today I increased my dosage for the drooping eye. It seems to work. Kim came today to clean. The house is now clean and ready for tomorrow’s guests. I spent some time this afternoon calling some magazines to make sure they have the new address. On our move from Mackinaw I lost several item. I lost the charger for the Apple Air, my Apple mouse and the charger for my fitbit. This afternoon I went online and tried to order a new fitbit charger. The site rejected both my credit cards. Bummer! Nancy got a new ipad air for her birthday. Thanks Debbie. We took both her old and new ipads to the Apple store to transfer files. The store could not perform the transfer but I was told how to do it at home. We had dinner tonight at Olga’s in Woodland Mall. It is now 2044 and Nancy is watching CSI, Las Vegas. I will head upstairs as soon as I finish this blog. We will watch a Netflix show. Last night we watched “House of Cards” and “The Politician’s Husband”, the BBC’s version of “House of Cards” or vice versa. Anyway we don’t like the “Politician’s Husband”.

Thursday August 28, 2014

Thursday August 28, 2014 I will have to start going to bed earlier. Our free HBO will end next month so that should help. I got up at 0700 and after the at-home stuff I pedaled to Panera for coffee and the WSJ. I have been reading the WSJ on my mini. It is great because it is in color with photos. However, with my recent eye problem I have problems reading the mini with the bright lights at Panera. Also the font is too small. So today I ordered the WSJ on my Kindle. The type on the Kindle is easier to read in a bright area. Also I can really increase the font size. After Panera I pedaled to MVP for my 30’ swim. The pool was nearly empty. I really like the MVP pool. I have had no nose or ear problems that I had at the old MAC pool. I really like the cooler water. MVP has a thermal pool for the old folks. Nancy and I went to Costco this afternoon. Nancy had to buy some supplies for Saturday night. Gas at Costco was $3.30. Last week I broke a pair of glasses. I drove downtown and picked them up. Later, I got out the ladder and finished washing the outside windows. I finished the afternoon with a 30’ nap. Nancy and I had dinner at Great Lakes Shipping. After dinner Nancy stopped at Talbots. She bought several items. Today was another perfect day. Temps in the mid 70s with blue sky. Can you believe it high school football season starts tonight. I recently read that students must pay $295 for season tickets to the UM games. I think when I was in school you got in with your student ID. While in CA recently I bought a bottle of single malt scotch. The scotch is called Springbank and is brewed in my GGF’s home town of Campbeltown, Scotland. I will have a sample later.

Wednesday August 27, 2014

Wednesday August 27, 2104 Today is my easy Wednesday. I slept in until 0715. I loaded up the bike and headed to Bill’s for breakfast. After breakfast I stopped at Martha’s Vineyard, my favorite wine store, and bought a bottle of red and white wine. Saturday we are having five folks over for dinner so we needed some good wine. Next stop was Kent County CU to get some cash. Finally I drove to Riverside Park. I rode the White Pine Trail to Rockford a distance of 22 miles. It took 1hr58’. Perfect day for a bike ride, temps in the mid 70s and clear and sunny. After the ride I took a quick nap. In recent days we had 50% of our outside lights burn out. I drove to GR Lighting and found a replacement bulb. Actually the existing bulbs are no longer legal. However, the store bought several thousand bulbs before they were banned. I bought 10 bulbs. Today is Nancy’s birthday. As I wrote in yesterdays blog I have known Nancy for 18,240 days. I bought her a gift card for $182.40. It has been a great 18,240 days. Happy Birthday Nancy. We had a light dinner. I am now sitting outside on our upper deck writing this blog. It is a perfect evening. It looks like it will be a Netflix evening.

Tuesday August 26, 2014

Tuesday August 26, 2014 It was dark and gloomy when I got up at 0630 today. The weather app on the iphone said no rain but WoodTV said rain all morning. I decided that it would not rain on my parade. I got on the bike and headed to Panera to get my morning coffee and read the WSJ. At 0930 I got back on the bike and pedaled to MVP. Today I swam 600 meters in 30 minutes using the breaststroke. This is much slower that when I use the crawl. After the swim I pedaled home without getting caught in any rain. I had a quick lunch and then started washing some outside windows. As soon as I started we had a big thunder storm roll through. I did get the north side windows washed. It was so dark I thought I should take a nap. After the nap I emailed a spread sheet to WF. The stock market continues to baffle me. With all the problems in the world it still goes up. Go figure! I paid a lot of bills this afternoon. I grabbed Ms P and walked to the mail box. The mail box is exactly 0.5 miles from the condo. Nancy fixed a chicken breast and corn on the cob for dinner. It was tasty. It is now 1945 and I am sitting in my office writing this blog. We still have not had a 90 degree day this summer. Our DirectTV is about $30 cheaper than Comcast. However, when the thunderboomers rolled through this afternoon we lost TV for about 10 minutes. Tomorrow is Nancy’s birthday. Did you know that tomorrow I will have known Nancy for 18, 240 days. A little math problems for readers. I hope everyone is getting their 30 minutes outside everyday. This date in 1938, Ossineke, Mi. Today GGF noted that it was cool in the morning but started warming at noon. He let Lori B have 8 dozen corn cobs he had picked this morning. GGF worked in the PO in the afternoon. After dinner he drove with his grandson David Johnson to Poppinoills to look over some timber land.

Monday August 25, 2014

Monday August 25, 2014 I got up this morning at 0615. After a quick at-home routine I got on the bike and took a 90 minute ride. It was hot and humid. After my shower I got in the C2 and ran some errands. My first stop was Macatawa Bank. I have cannot open my accounts at Macatawa. The web site will not open. The folks at the bank gave me some ideas. After the bank I headed to Breton Village. Fitzgerald’s is having their after summer sale. I saw nothing that I liked. I stopped at Starbucks to get a coffee and read the WSJ. Ferguson,, MO is now old news but the Middle East still dominates. The folks in DC are talking about taking air strikes into Syria. If we strike ISIS in Syria we will be helping Assad the original Bad Guy. I think we should just hold up our hands and say we are outa here. That’s what I would do. After a quick lunch I downloaded some recent pictures from Nancy’s camera. It has been awhile since I did a financial report for Nancy and Bob. I spent some time assembling this data. We had a light dinner tonight. It is now 2022 and Nancy is getting all the photos I just downloaded arranged and modified. We have been running the AC all day. This is about the third time this summer we have had it on. The temperature is now 82 with a humidity of 84. That is very sticky. At 2100 we will watch another episode of Happy Valley on Netflix.

Sunday August 24, 2014

Sunday August 24, 2014 Up at 0700 and get ready for our Sunday swim. After the swim we did our shopping at Meijer’s. Gas was $3.45 per gallon. The Kraft Ave Meijer’s must be upscale because they do not have any National Enquirers on sale. Bummer, I alway like to read the headlines. Nancy fixed her world famous poached eggs for breakfast. I had my eggs on a waffle. I took my nap and then Ms P and I went on a mile walk. I spent the rest of the afternoon moving filing cabinets and getting my office just the way I want it. The news had a lot of coverage on the Napa, CA earthquake. I called Debbie to see if it impacted her house. Debbie spent the weekend in the LA area so she did not feel the quake. She talked with several friends and they said the impact in San Jose was very minor. Good News. Nancy fixed hot dogs and baked beans for dinner. I love both hot dogs and baked beans. After watching the news I headed downstairs and spent an hour rearranging my file system. It is perfect. It is now 2024 and I will take a short walk. Nancy and I like Unforgettable. It is on at 2100.

Saturday August 23, 2014

Saturday August 23, 2014 We had another hot humid day. Got up at 0700 and loaded the bike on the C2 and headed to Bill’s for breakfast. I had their super breakfast: eggs, potatoes, sausage and toast. It was great. After breakfast I headed to Riverside Park. Road construction this summer had made getting to the park very difficult. This was my first time on the White Pine Trail this year. I rode to Rockford a distance of 22 miles. It took two hours. The trail was very crowded this morning. The White Pine is one of the most scenic trail I have ridden. I took a quick shower and then a short nap. I was working in the storage room when I noticed water dripping from the main floor. After much prodding Nancy and I determined that the drip was from the refrigerator. The reefer is built into the wall so we could not pull it out. We did find the maintenance manual and determined that the ice maker was the problem. We turned the ice machine off and the dripping stopped. Next week I will have to call the service folks and see what can be done. We continue to move lamps around to get the ideal conditions. This afternoon I moved a lamp from the ground floor to the kitchen and a lamp in the master bedroom to the ground floor bedroom. It was a good move. Ms P is getting old. She does not like to climb stairs. I try everyday to take her on a walk of almost a mile. At her last checkup the Vet said her weight was ok but we must continue walking her. We took a walk this afternoon. Tonight Nancy and I are going to Panera for dinner. I have earned points so we both get a free bowl of soup. Tonight is a Netflix night. Last night we watched a new BBC show called Happy Valley. It is worth a second look. We still get the premier movie channels. Last night I watched parts of “The Heat”. I thought it was crude but funny. I also watched Wolverine and did not like it.