Smokin'

Dick smoked ribs today for about 5 hours - the ribs need tending every 45 minutes so we stuck around home. He was in "end of summer" mode, preparing to put away all of the summer deck furniture, umbrellas, picnic tables, etc. I guess it's that time of year again.
We watched the so-called debate with interest - John Kerry was the clear winner. W just keeps repeating himself - I guess he can't help it.

Cut and Curl

Today I took Mother to Sally Sue Kurtz Lagerman (age 72) at the Cut and Curl for a haircut and a perm. Sally's not a really fast worker - it took almost three hours. But Mother looked great at the end of it all.


I had fun too, running errands, Library, Post Office, walking around down town. Finished Hemlock Bay, by Catherine Coulter. That author really know how to write a gripping story, with great characters. Not overly realistic, but highly enjoyable.

Stormy Bay

After doing some more housework and "computerizing", we drove into town to do errands. We ran into Shannon at Sam's Club.

The most interesting and exciting thing was that there was another cruise ship in at the Maritime Academy. There was a fierce wind out of the north, and that always makes the bay full of white caps and high waves. The cruise ship was using two small shuttle boats to ferry passengers between the ship and the shore. The wind was so strong, and the waves were so high that these shuttle boats were really rocking and rolling around out there. It did not look like a pleasant ride at all! I felt sorry for the passengers. The cruise ship kept turning to try to shelter the small boats from the wind so they could load and unload safely. Dick took some pictures, and I was glued to the binoculars. It was quite exciting for our little town. The cruise ship was named Columbus, out of Nassau.


We ate lunch at the U and I - most enjoyable.

All is Well

Dick worked at the Agency this morning and didn't get home till almost 3 p.m. He had a very busy morning with phone calls plus a meeting with a client.

At home I vacuumed and dusted and cleaned up the kitchen - housework is easier at the moment.

Laurie called on her cell phone - it's back in service. The land-line is not working still. They came through the whole hurricane with flying colors. At midnight, during the eye of the hurricane, the neighbors were all out helping to keep the drains clear of debris so that the street wouldn't flood...and it didn't. Laurie and Dylan slept on the floor of the closet with the door closed to shut out the noise (from about 3 a.m. to 6:30 a.m.) The wind howls so loudly and it's so strong...she said the glass of the windows was bowing inward. The shutters protect from impact, but they're not air tight. Dylan said he was not scared. He thinks that a hurricane is probably not worse than one of our blizzards. Hmmm. I'm just thankful that they have power - millions of homes don't - they are really lucky.

Hurricane Jeanne

Dick left Belleville around 8:30 a.m. and got home at 6 p.m. He did quite a few geocaches on the way home! He says he did about 18 in all. He's a dedicated geo-cacher for sure.

Here at home, the Ponitac died in the driveway, so I couldn't go to the store and I couldn't go to town (obviously). I put whatever I could find here in the crock pot, because I wasn't sure what time Dick would get home. It turned out to be chicken stew, and it was good.

Laurie emailed that the hurricane blew over them all night and they lost power and phones - and their cell phones didn't work either. But by some miracle, their power came back on at 10 a.m. I'm so glad! They say that there are millions of homes with no power in Florida, so they are the most fortunate people in the State. Their paper says that there will be no school until further notice. Their phones are still not working.

Mother fell today and hit her forehead on the carpeting in the dining room. She says she's fine and has no bruises or anything. I called her throughout the day to keep checking on her. I couldn't get the car started to go see her. If I had thought it was serious I would have called a cab or Enterprise. Where there's a will, there's a way! But I think she's OK.

We Win, We Win

Michigan finally got its act together and beat Iowa 30-17. It's fun watching it on TiVo because you can watch other things for a few minutes, and then switch over to the game and only watch the plays - missing all the commercials, commentaries, and sideline stuff. Seems to make it go much faster.

This from Mgoblue.com:

The No. 18 Michigan football team won its Big Ten opener for the 23rd straight season as the Wolverines forced five Iowa turnovers and quickly turned four of them into touchdowns for a 30-17 victory Saturday, Sept. 25, at Michigan Stadium. Braylon Edwards (left) put Michigan ahead for good with a 58-yard TD catch from Chad Henne with 8:28 left in the first quarter following an Iowa fumble. U-M also had two two-play scoring drives after Hawkeye turnovers, and Grant Mason returned an interception 25 yards for a score.

It's also nice that Michigan State beat Indiana 30-20. This is one weekend when everyone did well.

Talked to Laurie and Dylan. They are expecting Hurricane Jeanne sometime before midnight tonight. They have done everything possible to prepare. I think that Dylan believes that everyone lives like that - storm after storm. Laurie is expecting to be without power for an extended period this time - the repairs done after Hurricane Frances were temporary. Now all the repair crews are over on the Gulf trying to clean up after Hurricane Ivan. Florida is obviously not ready for this kind of an assault by Mother Nature. Chip's trip was cancelled, so at least they are all together.

Dick called from Belleville. Belleville beat Fordson last night 14-7. They are having a great season so far. He doesn't think they are that good, they're just lucky.

Sprinklers

Dick left for Belleville quite early because he planned to stop in Mt. Pleasant for some geo-caching along the way. Tomorrow Michigan plays Iowa at 3:30.



Today our sprinklers were winterized, which is really silly because the weather feels more like July than September.
I went to Brown Lumber and made the deposit on our exterior job (re-insulation and porch roof). The man said they would probably begin next week mid-week.

I ran some errands and watched my soap. Then I took pizza and Greek salad in to Mother's and we had a nice Friday night pizza dinner together. She's in fine fettle. (what is a fettle, anyway...)

In Florida, Laurie and Chip are hunkering down getting ready for hurricane Jeanne. Dylan had no school today. They are expecting the hurricane sometime on Sunday. Will this never end? Laurie is somehow keeping her sense of humor - this is the email she sent today:

The shutters are back up. ( See previous message about Frances) We have food and water. Our batteries supply is good. Dylan wants to sleep in his fortress. (See previous message about Frances.) The only difference is this time I have a new cell phone battery! I don't think the St Lucie schools will ever open.
Love Laurie

I have decided to be an ostrich this weekend and not watch the news. It is so depressing to hear about what goes on in Iraq day after day after month. The situation is worsening so that it's beginning to appear hopeless, and our efforts over there seem futile. Not to mention that we shouldn't have gone in there in the first place.


I cannot imagine what it must feel like to be the mother of a soldier stationed in Iraq. (shudder)

So this is my weekend to be an ostrich, and maybe I'll solve all the problems of the world next week.

A Hooray Day

Today I was feeling much, much better - tackled all the laundry and made quite a dent in it.
Dick mowed the entire yard, including the paths - it took him about 2 1/2 hours.
We used one of our visitor center coupons and had lunch at La Senorita .
Talked to Dylan this morning - he said he had a headache. I think that's unusual - I remember lots of little kids had tummy aches when it was time for school - but not headaches. Laurie is not worried. Palm City has no school again Friday - they call off school 48 hours before a hurricane is expected so that people will have time to decide what they're going to do. Evidently Hurricane Jean is expected on Sunday. It must be nerve-wracking to feel like a sitting duck in the path of hurricane after hurricane. Laurie and Chip are doing fine.
We are going to have the driveway side of our house re-sided and re-insulated and a new porch roof put on over my bedroom window and the guest room door. Not sure when the work will start.

Dick's Birthday

I was in the infusion clinic from 8:30-2:00 p.m. getting 2 units of prc (packed red cells).
Dick met Tim and Susie (Dinoduo) for lunch at La Cuisine Amical, and they had a great time talking geo-caching. I don't think he told them that it was his birthday.
I picked up some whitefish and scallops and Boston cream pie on the way home, and we had a great Birthday dinner.

Jana's Birthday

Called Dr. Burke - numbers from last blood test were not that good - another blood transfusion is scheduled for tomorrow (Wed.)
We spent the day at the computer. Dick was writing up and encoding a new cache that we placed yesterday. I was editing the reunion pictures and emailing everyone to see who wants pictures. I sent out about 5 sets of pictures to various relatives.
Took a break around 3:00 to go see Mother and show her all of the reunion memorabilia. She seems fine.
Today is Jana's Birthday. Happy Birthday, sweetie. We talked to her this evening and she's happy and peppy.

Geocache Your Way Home

Driving from Belleville to Traverse City we found 5 caches. I found one! Yippee! It was a lovely day, and we had a really good time. It took us all day to get home.
Message on answer machine from Dr. Burke. I'll call him tomorrow.

Kanitz Family Reunion

We got to the Tri-County Sportsmens' League around 10 a.m. The hall was in great shape -all clean and shiny . The tables were all set up. We set the chairs on the floor, unloaded the car, stashed the ice cream in the freezer and waited for Jim and Emilie to arrive with the table covers. When the covers were on, we decorated all of the tables. The theme was red, white and blue.

We all made coffee, punch, and iced tea - Dan and Kris arrived. The guests began arriving at around 12:30. It was great to see the first cousins doing so well. Out of 27 first cousins, 14 are

living, and 6 attended. Jim handled the microphone and Emilie gave the invocation. I took minutes, and Dick counted the money. We had attendance of 124, and the collection was $340.

Kris and Dan were a very big help. We also got help arranging the hot dishes and salads from Wanda, Dawn, and Marilyn, among others. Enjoyed talking to Ron, Loyola, and Myrtle was there in a wheelchair, looking very elegant. It was a very pleasant event.
Before we left, we had to put the hall back in the condition in which we found it. Dick did most of the table and chair arranging, packing up, and loading the car. Everybody really was great help in the kitchen - Emilie washed up the utensils we used.
We left around 4:30.
And I was very glad when it was over.
Back in Belleville, we took Sniders and Tammy and Eric out to dinner at Applebee's. Tammy is expecting in Feb. and it's very much fun to hear all of their plans. We all went back to Snider's for dessert - cake and ice cream from the reunion.
Watched Working Girl and went to bed.

Game Day

Arrived in the parking lot at Pioneer early and did a Mac Land tail gate. It costs $25 now for a car to park at Pioneer. Across the street at Ann Arbor Golf and Outing, it costs $40. I don't know how much it costs at the University Golf Course. We asked the ticket seller how much it was for RVs - $75 for the day and $125 for overnight.
After I walked around the parking lot for a while, I realized that there was no way I could make it to the stadium. So I didn't go to the game. (Foreshadowing - I was wondering about the results of the blood test on Thursday). I stayed by the car - and it was great. I had a lawn chair, a radio, lots of water, and it was a gorgeous day.
Michigan beat SanDiego State 24-21 (by the skin of their teeth). But at least it was a victory.
From mgoblue.com:

After trailing 21-17 at halftime, the No. 17-ranked Michigan football team shut out San Diego State in the second half and hung on for a 24-21 victory Saturday, Sept. 18, at Michigan Stadium. Braylon Edwards (left) scored the go-ahead touchdown on a seven-yard pass from Chad Henne to cap U-M's 79-yard scoring drive at the start of the second half. Edwards, who started the scoring with a 54-yard TD grab on the Wolverines' first play, finished with eight catches for 130 yards, while Michael Hart rushed 25 times for 121 yards.

At Sniders we watched State lose to Notre Dame.

Off to Belleville

Any trip to Belleville begins with breakfast at the Frosty Cup in Cadillac. Then we began a circuitous route downstate, so that Dick could do some geo-caching. There was a cache in the Reed City cemetery, but we struck out - Dick thinks it's no longer there.
In a very nice park in Morley, we had better luck. But then at a Rest Area farther south, we struck out again. But I did have time to sit at a picnic table and do my nails.
We ate lunch at Portland, and arrived at Snider's around 4:30. Dick went to the Belleville football game. Belleville won 9-6 over Y N . (get it?) Bill stayed home because of his hurt back.

Errands

This was one of those errand days. We're getting ready to leave for Belleville tomorrow, so today we tied up some loose ends. Thirlby Clinic - blood test - then Dick took me out to lunch at Ciao Bella, an upscale ristorante Italiano on Front St. It was delightful, and the food was great. We ate out for lunch three days in a row this week - and Ciao Bella was the fanciest.

Visited Mother, balanced her checkbook, made her promise to call Shannon over the weekend if she needs anything, and gave her a hug good-bye.

Dry cleaners, Library, Gordon's, and then home. I called the Belleville Meijer to order ham and cake for the reunion on Sunday. Started packing.

Molly Ivins - You Go, Girl

Look at who's on the payroll
By Molly Ivins

Creators SyndicateTommy Corcoran -- Tommy the Cork, so dubbed by FDR -- was a Washington wise man. His various biographers called him the ultimate insider, the super lawyer and the master fixer. He came to Washington in 1926 to clerk for Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes and became a fixture, an almost institutional source of wisdom about American politics, before his death in 1981.The Cork had a theory about how to choose a president. He always said it didn't matter who was running, that it was unnecessary to pay any attention to them.What matters, he said, is the approximately 1,500 people the president brings to Washington with him, his appointments to the positions where people actually run things. The question to consider is which 1,500 people we get.So here are a few suggestions:

• At the EPA, you do not want people who think it's a good idea to allow more arsenic in the water. When someone, anyone, proposes allowing more arsenic in the water, what you want is people at the EPA who promptly say: "No. Not a good idea."

• There are some lawyers, and then there are other lawyers. You do not want lawyers at the Justice Department (or the White House or the Defense Department) who, when asked to prepare a legal brief defending torture, do so.You want lawyers at Justice (and the White House and the Defense Department) who say: "No. Torture is not a good idea. Trying to wiggle out from under our laws, international treaties and civilized norms is not a good idea."You especially don't want lawyers who defend torture promoted to the federal bench. It is not a good idea to have the CIA using the same "interrogation technique" so favored by the Gestapo.This is counterproductive as well as wrong.

• You don't want folks in charge of the IRS who think it is more important to audit poor people than rich people. That is dumb.

• You do not want people in charge of foreign policy who are fools enough to believe in Ahmad Chalabi, a convicted con man and, it turns out, probably a spy for Iran. Those people should be fired. Especially when some of them are now also being investigated for giving classified information to Israel.

• Having your Department of Homeland Security turn out to be a public disgrace indicates that you have either not put the right people in charge or they are not getting enough support.

• When "Hurricane Hits Florida Yet Again" becomes a standing headline right up there with "Canadian Trade Talks Continue," you may want to put people in charge of policy who recognize that global warming not only exists but threatens us all.

• If the people a president puts in charge of foreign policy are all from the same small circle of rigid ideologues, what happens is that they end up listening only to themselves, and that way lies disaster.

• When the people who are running the Food and Drug Administration do so to benefit the big processors and the big drug companies, people get hurt, and some of them die.

• When the people in charge of prosecuting terrorists in this country screw up case after case, those people should be replaced.

• When the country endures a hideous terrorist attack, is it actually useful for the White House to oppose the commission assigned to find out how it happened?To first deny it adequate funding, then refuse to provide it with critical documents, then oppose an extension of its deadline, then refuse to allow the commission access to prisoners who played key roles in the attack, then try to stop Condoleezza Rice from testifying, then refuse to have the president testify under oath?

• When the people in charge make a decision to start an unprovoked war because of nonexistent weapons of mass destruction and nonexistent ties to the terrorists who have attacked us, you may conclude that these people are lying, or dumb, or just not helpful.

• When a new administration comes into office with a huge budget surplus and then blows it all on tax cuts that benefit the very rich, should it be retained? If an economic team leads the country to a record $422 billion deficit this year and $2.3 trillion in the next decade, do you really want a team in charge that announces it wants more tax cuts that will double the total deficit to $4.6 trillion by the end of the decade? Do these people have a sense of responsibility? If the economic team produces a net loss of 1.1 million jobs after four years, should its contract be renewed?

Forget Bush -- the people around him are a complete disaster.
John Kerry will basically re-hire the Clinton team and presumably remain faithful to his wife.
Of course, Clinton didn't get Osama bin Laden, either. But his people worked harder at it.

Maori Walking Stick

When Jana went to New Zealand, she brought back a beautifully intricately carved Maori walking stick for Dick. He loves to use it for geo-caching - it's good for poking into obscure holes and hiding places.
This morning, we were planning to go to Frankfort to re-try one of the caches along the beach, when he realized that he did not have his walking stick, and that he had left it at the Burned Cabin cache yesterday.
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=96782875-10a7-411b-90fc-e6f80c40cc5a
So we set off in the other direction from Frankfort to retrieve the stick. It was right there where he had left it less than 24 hours before. While we were over there, we went out to lunch again at Coyle's in Houghton Lake. They have a mean buffet!

On the way home, on M-42, we found a most unique place - at the site of the former Sherman one-room school. It's hard to describe it, but we poked around there for an hour. There were new things to discover at every turn. We think it will be an excellent place for us to put a cache.

Tom Barker came over with the check for the sealing of our common driveway. Shortly thereafter, we had a brown-out and Dick threw the main switch on the circuit breaker thingy to protect our motors. Barker said it was a local thing, not a system thing, and a crew came out and fixed it.

Tomorrow I go in for another blood test. My mammogram was normal.
Talked to Belleville - Bill has thrown out his back and is not very comfortable. We'll see him on Friday.

Heavenly Days

What a glorious day to be out in the woods finding beautiful small lakes, and enjoying the sunshine and breezes. We went geo-caching northeast of Kalkaska and we found everything we were looking for. There are lakes in that area that we had never heard of - small little gems that even had cottages and docks on them.


I was especially happy because I found two of the caches myself - one under a rock, and one stuck to a tree! It was the perfect day.

We started out at around 10:30 a.m. and drove to Kalkaska. We ate lunch at Whitetail's, which is a really nice, newish, American-style restaurant. Then we were off to the woods and our adventure began. There are several two-tracks and gravel roads and phantom trails that we discovered. It was our favorite type of terrain. Gotta love the North Woods. We had excellent luck.

Driving past one small lake, I saw a sign on a fence in front of a small, slightly ramshackle house. The sign said Oleo Acres - The Cheaper Spread.

Driving down Swamp Road (yes, that's right) Dick noticed a small turtle scurrying (yes, that's right) across the trail. He took a couple of pictures of it to prove that we had seen some wildlife.
The last cache was alongside the Manistee River. I was impressed with how much State land there is along that river, and with how well it's managed. Our little Boardman River can't compare, although we do have 3 DNR sites in our area. But our little river is narrower and swifter, and more fun to canoe. Wide, slow rivers are not nearly as exciting.
It was a memorable day.

Put Ice in That Tea!

Wow - we really had summer today - it was 92 down by the bay. June, July, and August the temps were mainly in the 60s, but now summer is beginning just as it's about to end. We also had a beautiful blue sky, and a smooth bay - lots of boats were out and about. We saw a cruise ship on West Bay yesterday, and today there was another one. They ferry the passengers over to the Maritime Academy so they can walk around downtown.
Dick worked at the Agency this morning - didn't get home til almost 1:30 - still trying to wade through those Medicare bills for his client.
Talked to Jim about the Kanitz Reunion - I added a few things to my checklist - I hope we're not forgetting anything.

Had a conversation with a cashier at Glen's about the development across from them. It will be Menard's along with a whole plaza of other things - a restaurant, etc. Then she said that there will be an Olive Garden on US 31 near Williams Bros.
In the Record-Eagle today there's an article about a new, bigger, better Great Wolf Lodge type of resort which will be in Elmwood Twp. off M-72. Progress - it just keeps happening around here. Soon we'll have to move back downstate to get away from the crowds!

Today Jana located her car by checking the impound list online. It had been towed 2 days after it was reported stolen - but evidently they don't notify you that they've found your car. Tomorrow she plans to check it out and evaluate the situation. She'll either get money from the insurance or donate the car to charity.

Article by Eric Alterman

This article answers the question - Why do so many Americans feel that they were misinformed about the war in Iraq:

The third anniversary of September 11 inspires many conflicting emotions from sadness at the loss, gratitude for the sacrifices of those who selflessly threw themselves into the rescue operations and subsequent physical, cultural and emotional reconstruction efforts and fury at its murderous perpetrators. But if we are honest we cannot overlook the morally degenerate reaction of our own political leadership. I was among those who, briefly, allowed hope to triumph over experience. I praised President Bush’s initial address to the nation and ignored his childish “good vs. evil” and “for us or against us" posturing. I did not make a big deal over his obvious panic on the day the attack took place. I supported the war in Afghanistan even though I would have preferred a police and intelligence action. (And for this I was called a traitor, literally, Little Roy.) Even so vociferous a critic of the unelected Bush, Cheney, the Neocons, and the religious right as myself could not bring himself to imagine in that horrific week with the smell of the smoking ruins literally polluting the sky above my house, that America’s president, its vice-president and their advisers would be capable of the following:·

• Bush and company specifically ignored multiple warnings of just such an attack.·
• Bush and company lied to the heroes of 9/11 about the health and safety implications of breathing the air down at Ground Zero—my own family included.·
• Bush and company immediately sought to manipulate the grief and anger of the attacks to launch an unnecessary and counterproductive war against Iraq which has resulted in over a thousand needless American military deaths and U.S. soldiers turning into occupiers and in some case torturers.·
• Bush and company lied to the nation about the responsibility for the attack, trying to pin it on Saddam Hussein who had nothing whatsoever to do with it.·
• Bush and company allowed its friends in the Saudi royal family to hide its relationship to the killers. ·
• Bush and company made only a lackluster effort to capture the killers, allowing many to escape at Tora Bora and pulling agents and resources out of Afghanistan to feed its obsession with Iraq.·
• Bush and company did everything they could to prevent and later, undermine an investigation of why 9/11 was allowed to happen.·
• Bush and company continue to ignore their responsibility to protect the nation from another attack, failing to protect its ports, nuclear and chemical plants, and its most vulnerable urban targets and instead, have actually gone out of their way to inspire more such attacks, despite intelligence warnings on this very topic.·
• Bush and company have destroyed the sympathy our nation enjoyed (and deserved) in the immediate aftermath of the attack and have instead turned that sympathy into global hatred and disgust, further endangering our citizens.·
• Bush and company have repeatedly manipulated the powerful imagery of the attacks for their own partisan political purposes.·
• Bush and company have repeatedly cowed the media into ignoring, and when that’s impossible, apologizing for, much of the above.

For all of the above, the men and women who people this administration deserved not merely to be repudiated politically but held accountable both morally and legally. Instead it is they who attack and impugn patriots like lifetime public servants Richard Clarke and Anthony Zinni, whose only crimes were to call them honestly to account for their catastrophic dishonesty, incompetence, and ideological fanaticism. Since September 11, President Bush and company have accomplished what the terrorists could not; they have divided us against ourselves. That so much of the mainstream media have proven ineffective-or worse—cooperative with their deceptive efforts give one cause for an even deeper pessimism. One’s only solace, I suppose, is that we have, as a nation, been through worse—though never, it must be added, under quite such feckless leadership.

Wok the Heck

Dick worked on a client's medicare bills - stacks and stacks of them. Not a whole lot of fun. But he thinks he may be able to save the client $1000, so it's really worth it.


I made a checklist for the Kanitz reunion next week and packed a couple of boxes. To be honest, we really don't look forward to this event. (heavy sigh) But like the song says, you can have a good time if you've a mind to.

We visited Mother, and all is well on that front.

Tonight Dick is doing stir fry - how lucky can I get?

Anniversary of 9/11/2001

This is the 3rd anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center - I watched some of the memorial and a couple of new programs put together with private individuals' videos and pictures. It was an unimaginable event, and those who were there and who lived through that must have horrible nightmares. The inhumanity perpetrated by the terrorists was absolutely unthinkable, showing a total disregard for innocent human life. On the other hand there were many instances of man's humanity demonstrated by those on the ground.
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/

This morning Marco the Explorer got 4 new brakes, and all new fluids. He feels like a new Ford.

We went for a ride through town, and then home to watch the football game. The outcome of the game did nothing to improve my mood of the day. Michigan played poorly, couldn't score a touchdown until the very end, and lost 28-20.
http://msn.foxsports.com/story/3002384

TGIF

Well let's see...in Florida Laurie reports that the stores don't have anything, especially not milk or other perishables, nobody has gas, nothing is open, nobody's going to work, and you can't go anywhere. Other than that, she's doing fine, and anxiously watching the weather channel try to figure out what Hurricane Ivan is going to do.

Dick worked at the Visitor Center this morning, and he had 50 visitors from 9-12. A lot of them were here to bring their kids to Interlochen for the school year.

Dr. Burke called and said that my numbers were stable, and we will do another blood test next Thursday.

We finalized the Goldbug cache - it was fun to be out in the woods again. We had a great ride on what turned out to be a cloudless summer day.

Michigan plays Notre Dame in South Bend tomorrow. Go Blue.

Spoke to Tom - he's fine. He has a Porsche event tomorrow - he loves those things. He's going to tape the game.

Red Car

Jana finally decided to buy the red car from Car Max. She really wanted a car from Preston, but the sleazy guy there sent her a spurious email and it turned out he didn't have that car at all but wanted to sell her a 2005.
Dick went out to hide the 4 stages of his multi-cache, and discovered that some of his coordinates were off. He came home tired and discouraged.
I went in for my annual physical and mammogram, and I came home tired and in a funk. So we made quite a pair!
We got a chance to talk to Dylan, and he was really hyper perquackey today. Or maybe it was just because we were tired.

Mother's 96th Birthday

Happy Birthday Mother!

We didn't really do much today. I'm not feeling very perky lately. I mostly just watched TV and read, and packed up table service to go to Mother's later.
Dick is busy formulating his new cache. It's called Goldbug , and it's based on a story by Edgar Allan Poe. I'm thinking that this cache is so complex that no one will ever find it!

We packed up "high tea" and presents and went to visit the birthday girl around 4:30. She loved her gifts - especially the watch and the scrapbook and the knee highs.

Then we had shrimp cocktail, banana bread, toast, wine, and chocolate cake.

Tom sent flowers, and Jana sent large print books from Amazon.com. I think Laurie was pre-occupied with Hurricane Frances aftermath. There will be no school in Palm City until Sept. 13th.
The mailman brought 6 or 7 birthday cards, mostly from people at church. Mother was very happy. She doesn't look a day older!

She called later in the evening to say that her neighbor across the street had come over with treats (cinnamon bread and apple pie) and they had a good visit. She had a very nice birthday.

Dude, Where's My Car?

Yesterday when we visited Mother she told us that the front porch door wasn't closing properly. Dick checked it out and he thinks the wind took it and blew it too far open. The automatic closer thingy was ripped off. Today before he went to the dentist, Dick took in the proper tools and fixed it so now it closes properly. Whew!

We go to Traverse Dental Associates, and our two favorite dentists are Dr. Pat Kelly and Dr. Kevin Kelly. Dick's dentist is Dr. Pat, and mine is the other one. Today Dick went in for repair of a cracked filling so his mouth was numb for most of the day.

But being an intrepid geo-cacher, he did go out exploring in the woods, numb mouth and all.

I went shopping for some last minute gifts for Mom's birthday tomorrow. And then I wrapped the gifts.
No news from Florida today.
Meanwhile, in Washington DC Jana's car was stolen right from in back of her house. It was a red Ford Escort nicknamed Francie. Unfortunately, her driver's license was in the car, and an extra set of keys to the house was in the glove box.

Blendi (who is now married to Veronica but still a Friendi) came and took her to the DMV, changed the locks on the house, and took her to go rent a car. It has to feel like a total invasion of your space to have that happen. We had a car broken into once, but never stolen. Laurie has had a car stolen, and she says that Jana should hope that they don't find it. Getting the car back to running condition was a major hassle because the car had been stripped and mutilated.

Labor Day

Dick mowed the whole yard except for the paths.
I fooled around on the computer making a print-out scrapbook for Mother's 96th birthday on the 8th.

We drove into town and went shopping at Walmart. Dick likes to get coffee there. I also bought a bunch of things for Mom's birthday. Then we did our cruise of downtown, and off to Mother's to do the trash. We had a good visit. Brought her up to date on the hurricane in Palm City.

In Florida, their phone was out most of the day, but by 3:30 they had power back, and also the telephone. So we were able to talk to them, and they're doing quite well. They went to Publix, but all that was for sale were items that had been left on the shelves before the storm. Nothing perishable. So they bought pop, cookies, pretzels, and all that kind of stuff. They drove past Palm City Elementary and it looked like there wasn't a whole lot of damage - some flashing had been blown off, but nothing structural.
The portables were still there, but Laurie is afraid that they might leak. Dylan remembered that there was a leak in the library before the storm. Hope they fixed that. Laurie said that she was not sending Dylan to school tomorrow in any case. She doesn't think the kitchen/food situation would be straightened out by tomorrow. Such a sensible Mom!