Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Hello Out There !

Things have been very quiet out here on the river since we got back from our road trip.

Dick has been super busy winterizing everything - our bushes are covered, our wood is stacked, deer fences are up, leaves are blown and bagged, and our machinery has been attended to. It's been very nice of Mother Nature to hold off on the snowing and blowing this far into November, very nice indeed. Yes indeed. It's been cold and frosty, but that's all.

I've been very busy spending money - buying presents is so much fun! My Christmas shopping is done, and it's not even Thanksgiving. Must be a first! I have the time because I'm retired, and I've been inspired to get it done before we leave for Florida. That's me - inspired and retired. It's entirely possible that I have spent too much money, but on the other hand, I had so darn much fun doing it! We are leaving for Florida the day after Thanksgiving.

We've been going to the gym every Tuesday and Thursday, and going to the Omelette Shoppe afterward, which cancels out whatever we do at the gym! At least we're staying relatively flexible. Sort of. Relatively.

Some caching has been done. Since Dennis moved to Louisiana, Dick has been helping him out by disabling and collecting the rathergohiking caches. He's brought several of them home, and he'll mail the log books to Dennis.

On November 4, we had lunch with Tim and Susie - then they went searching. I didn't go because of gout. It's always something!!! They found seven, I think. Here is part of Dick's report:

Our Geo-Excursion day began by meeting up with the Dino Duo for lunch, laughter, relaxation and reminisces at the Olive Garden. Eventually, we sent the wounded one back to the mansion to prepare a sumptuous repast of gourmet meatloaf while the other three mounted up in the Dinomobile to pursue a set of caches along the Manistee. Due to spending an unexpected amount of time seeking a 1 1/2 route to the first cache on our list, (Should we have been surprised when it has the name "Can't get there"?) we had run out of daylight by the time we dismounted to seek this cache. It was very dark. The Dino Dude gave me a spare flashlight to use. In the dark it was difficult to see the switch. I asked him to show me how to turn it on and he laughed and said "It is on, it's just a little dim". It did provide enough illumination to show the face of the GPS. Less than a 600 foot bushwack. Luckily, the Dudette found what might have been a path and so I put the GPS away until we got closer. Shortly we came upon the trail and turned toward the cache which was found fairly quickly. We signed and traded and made a call to the Basswood base announcing that we were turning for home. She told us that dinner was ready, come and get it. A quick run north to dinner and chocolate cake for desert, more laughter and reminisces and our caching day was done.


He's so good at capturing the spirit of the occasion! Makes you feel just like you were there. Almost.

The weekend of Nov. 7, we went down to Sniders for the weekend to watch Michigan lose the Mich/Purdue game. We had a great time while we were with the Sniders! The game, not so much. This has been a heart-breaking season. We're not going to the Ohio State game - Justin has 2 of our tickets, and we gave the other 2 to Dan F. I hope the weather is good for them this weekend. That's really about the only thing we can hope for. The outcome is a given.


On November 12 we had a great day doing cache maintenance in Leelanau County. Lake Michigan was at its bluest, most beautiful best. Only two caches were found, but we had a great lunch at Art's - which by itself is a good reason to take a ride in Leelanau!

Tim and Susie are coming over today - Dick will be meeting them for lunch at Don's Drive-In and then more geocaching. I'm not going because I am prepping for "the procedure which shall not be named" tomorrow. I'm on a liquid diet and doing the prep. {It's always something!}