Saturday October 31, 2015

Halloween Day and today is also the end of DST. It was dark when I left at 0800. Tomorrow we will have sunrise at 0716 instead of 0816. I walked a mile before landing at Panera for oatmeal. It was such a dark, gloomy day that I dilly dallied eating and reading. When I left it was starting to sprinkle so I cut short my long route home. Nancy had a package she wanted mailed and I volunteered. I put on my rain suit put the package in my backpack and walked to Meijer’s. Nancy got a thorn in her thumb while working outside that had festered. This morning she went to an Urgent Care facility near the condo. They gave her a prescription. At Meijer’s I mailed the package, picked up the prescription, bought some epson salt and a cleaner for my partial. It was raining hard when I left but because of the rain suit I took the long route home. When I don’t ride the bike or swim I try to walk 5 miles. I just made it. This afternoon both Nancy and I spent time in our office cleaning our desks. Nancy also did the laundry. I also watched the finals of the World Cup of Rugby between New Zealand and Australia. It was fun to watch. The players are huge and they play the whole game, no commercials. I wonder do Pro Rugby players have the brain injuries that our football players do. About 1600 I took a nap. It is now 1800. We are having soup and ham sandwiches for dinner. Tonight I will watch some of the UM football game and a netflix show. Halloween night and last year at the condo no one showed up. When we were on Mackinaw at least 100 trick or treaters would show up. I remember in 1973 our first year at Mackinaw I took the girls out. It was a warm beautiful night. The streets were jammed with kids. I remember telling Nancy who stayed home with Steve what a great neighborhood we moved into. She agreed. We stayed 41 years.

Friday October 30, 2015

The rain stopped last night so I can ride my bike today. I did the at home stuff. During my workout I watched Morning Joe. They seemed fixed on the state of Jeb Bush. Does anyone really care about an election a year away. I sure don’t. I left for Panera about 0815 and it was still dark. It is 0.3 miles to Panera from the condo. In January Panera will move west to a new location on 28th St. The new Panera will be about 0.7 miles from home. My morning routine in 2016 will be different. I will be using a new coffee shop and health club, YMCA. I really was not in a WSJ reading mood this morning. The news around the world is depressing. I also have been drinking too much coffee and my stomach is rebelling. I took my long bike route today but only backwards. I stopped at Meijer’s and bought a Mega Million lottery ticket, $1. I buy one ticket for each drawing. Today I bought a multiple draw ticket. I will not have to buy another ticket for another 14 weeks. No wind today and the temps were in the mid 40s. Kim came to clean today. The house looks great. Nancy and I ran some errands. We stopped at the Teacher’s CU so Nancy could make a deposit. Our next stop was Trader Joe’s. The place was jammed. We purchased some frozen meals and loaded up on two buck Chuck. I had a quick lunch and then took Ms P on her daily walk. Spent some time cleaning up my desk and then took a short nap. Actually I sat in bed and watched Sons of Anarchy on netflix. For dinner Nancy and I headed to Vitale’s in Ada for pizza. Great pizza. It is now 2028 and we are watching Legends on netflix. This and that: Gas was $2.26 today. Six days ago, Oct 24, in 1929 the USA had the great Stock Market Crash. It was the start of the great depression. As a youth I heard stories on the impact the depression had on my family. Both my grandparents were heavily involved in the stock market. They lost a lot but still had a positive attitude. My Dad a graduate engineer ended up operating a dragline in a gravel pit. My Uncle Jim, Dad’s younger brother, also a graduate engineer had trouble getting work. It was not until President Roosevelt started the WPA that Dad and Uncle Jim had jobs. The WPA needed engineers. My Uncle always said he and my Dad were the only people in Alpena County that wore a tie to work.

Thursday October 29, 2015

We had heavy winds and rain last night. It was raining this morning so I took the Cobalt to Panera. Today is a swim day so I drove to MVP and hoped the pool would not be too cold. The pool was cold. After my swim I stopped by the membership office and told MVP to take me off their membership list. They did, however, I am still a member until 01 Dec. I joined the YMCA yesterday. Instead of going home I stopped at Woodland Mall. I bought a coffee at Starbucks and finished reading the WSJ. I am looking for a pair of lined jeans but American Eagle did not have any. They did have a lot of jeans with rips for sale. Why buy new jeans with rips? I was still cold when I got home so I had a quick lunch and then turned on the electric blanket. I took a nap and it took 45 minutes to warm up. Nancy bought some jewelry in South Africa. She paid the value added tax and was entitled to a refund. She got it today in the form of a MasterCard. I walked over to Macatawa Bank and used the ATM machine to get the money. Nancy is attending a volunteer’s dinner tonight at Meijer’s Garden. I walked over to Panera and had a bowl of black bean soup and tuna sandwich. It is now 1930 and I will fire up the netflix on my iPad and watch a cowboy show.

Wednesday October 28, 2015

Breakfast Club Wednesday and I am up with the 0545 alarm. It rained all night and was still raining when I left. Despite the health warnings bacon was served this morning and the members ate it with relish. BC has the best bacon, nice and crisp. The speaker today was the new President of Kendall School of Design. I don’t think she connected with members. After BC I headed straight home. Ms P does not go outside when it rains. Just light sprinkles when I got home so she did her bidness. I drove to Woodland Mall and walked several miles. I had coffee at Starbucks and had time to read the WSJ. Last week I was thinking of upgrading either my iPad or laptop. However, since we got the new router all my Apple machines work just fine. I did stop at the Apple store to ask how to remove the spotlight from my iPhone display. The nice young lady showed me. I like the Apple store because they are properly staffed. No waiting around. It was still sprinkling when I got home. I put on a rain suit and headed out for a 3 mile walk. (had to get my 30 in) It rained hard all during my walk. Nancy is working at the Gardens this afternoon. I had a quick lunch and then took a short nap. Nancy got home early today because the Gardens was not busy because of the rain. I checked outside about 1700 and it was not raining. Ms P and I took our daily walk. Ms P needs her 30 too. We had a light dinner tonight. Watched the news and we might watch some of the GOP debate tonight. Lately I have been surprised at the number of grammar and spelling errors I make in writing this blog. I sometimes write, road when I mean rode, here when I mean hear and write when I mean right. I try to proof read before posting but a lot slips through. Like most engineers I am sensitive about my grammar, or lack of. Be Kind!

Tuesday October 27, 2015

Tuesday as you all know is swim day for Bob and Nancy. Nancy leaves before 0700. I do the at home stuff. Lately I have been turning on the ground floor electric space heater. It takes the chill off the office. I either watch CNBC or MSNBC while doing the calisthenics. Most of the time I watch CNBC. After breakfast I biked to Panera. It is almost a year until the 2016 elections and I am already tired of all the talk. I think Donald Trump is a loud mouth bully but I do agree on his take on Russia in Syria. He says let Russia fight the war. We have wasted trillions of dollars in the Middle East with nothing but bad results. At 0935 I pack up and bike to MVP for my swim. Today I swam 20 laps. The pool was nice and warm for a change. Nancy told me that yesterday her friend went swimming and said the pool was super cold. I think this morning’s warm temp was because of all the complaints yesterday. At home I took Ms P on our nature walk. After lunch I got in the Cobalt and headed to the SE YMCA. I joined the Y because on December 7 a new Y will replace the one I just joined. The new Y will be state of the art with two pools. They will also have a 5 lap to the mile running track which would be perfect for me. The new Y is 1.5 miles from the condo vs 3.5 for MVP, a nice walk. After the Y I stopped at our travel agency to see how they are doing getting our flights to CA for Christmas. We are first flying to San Jose and then flying home from LA. We should hear in a couple of days. Nancy is fixing ham for dinner tonight. I know ham is a processed food but we will still continue to eat it. We will watch the news, read the GRP and watch NCIS before turning in. Yesterday I said that Gymnastics was the only sport girls could compete in at AHS. Nancy said that at her HS in Terre Haute the only sport was synchronized swimming. Nancy was the star swimmer. I sometimes forget how handy Siri is on my iPhone. I asked her how to spell synchronize.

Monday October 26, 2015

The sun did not come up until 0810 this morning. After breakfast I called my Dentist to see if he could look at a tooth I thought was chipped. Much to my surprise he could see me at noon. I quickly changed my routine. It was 36 degrees when I left on my bike ride. Despite the cold today was a beautiful day for a ride. The sun was bright and the colors were at their peak. I rode 14 miles and during the ride the temp increased to near 50. Showered and headed to the dentist. I made a quick stop at Panera for a coffee. The Dentist gave me some bad news. My problem tooth must come out. The tooth is next to my partial so unless I get a new partial I will have a big gap. I will have the tooth removed on a Monday and on Tuesday the Dentist will start making the new partial. For several days I will be toothless Bob. I didn’t have the guts to ask what it will cost. As soon as I got home we got in the Taurus and headed to Costco. Nancy needed to check on a prescription and pick up some photos. The photos were of our African trip. They were great. We also bought peanut butter, grapes and I bought two 32 degree long sleeve tees. The tees are great for cold days. Had a quick lunch and then Ms P and I went on our nature walk. I spent some time in the office reading the WSJ. One article dealt with the impact Apple and other tech companies are having on SF Bay real estate. The cost of a home in SF is astronomical. Last weekend elections were held in Portugal, Poland and the voters threw the party in power out. The winners are not big EU fans. Is the EU on shaky grounds? Voters in Europe are like those in the USA. They are fed up with the establishment. We had a light dinner and watched Big Bang. We are now watching Glades on netflix.

Sunday October 25, 2015

Sunday is swim day at the Scott household. MVP opens at 0800 and we were the first ones thru the door. I thought I was fast getting ready but I got the last lane. Swam my usual 30 minutes. My mind wanders when I am swimming. Today I was thinking about how male center my high school was. For example, Boys got two excused days for bird hunting and three days for deer hunting. Girls were not allowed hunting days. However, Boys and Girls both got five days for potato picking. The only fall sport was football. The only sport girls were allowed to participate in was gymnastics. AHS had great gymnastics teams and won the state in 1956. Most high schools in MI did not have gymnastic teams. Gas is back up to $2.38. Costco had gas at $2.06 earlier this week. Nancy fixed her world famous poached eggs for breakfast. I had mine on a waffle and Nancy had hers on a English muffin. I took my Sunday nap and then took the Taurus to the car wash. Ms P and I took our walk and then I took a solo 2.5 mile walk. Nancy is fixing Trader Joe’s Tamales for dinner. We are also having black beans. The tamales and beans were great. It is now 1846 and Nancy and I are in the downstairs office. Nancy is face timing with Debbie. Debbie is helping Nancy move her African photos to albums. I am writing this blog.