Daddy Came

Dylan says:
Daddy came today. It was very exciting.

We planned to attack and tickle Uncle Tom. I had a Lincoln Log Challenge against Uncle Tom, and I won.
We made a farm. Uncle Tom made a frogleg factory. I don't know what the heck a frogleg factory is.

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Chip arrived at 1:15 p.m. We're all really glad to have him here. Tom went bike riding at the Vasa Trail. Tom and I went to town to pick up his suit at the cleaner's and to pick up his rental car for the weekend. He got a black Neon. He says it's OK.
Ted and Birdie Grignon stopped by with their friends Jerry and Joyce. They're all travelling in a big motor home. The ten of us went out to dinner at Hofbrau in Interlochen. It was really crowded and busy, but we had great service anyway!

Dylan Days 2 and 3

Dylan says:
Yesterday we went to the library and got a lot of books.

I got to eat chocolate at Great-Grandma's, and Mommy let me eat more than usual.

We found a baby alligator snapping turtle at the river. Uncle Tom is a scientist, and he thought it was just a regular snapping turtle.
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On Monday, Grandpa made M&M pancakes for Dylan, and they were yummy. They are Dylan's favorites. We played more computer games (are you surprised?).
In the afternoon, Dick put the mower deck on the big tractor, and mowed the entire lawn. While he was doing that,we went to visit Great Grandma, and she really enjoyed seeing Tom without his pony tail! And she kept Dylan well supplied with chocolate.
When we got home, Laurie and Dylan went exploring down by the pond. Back here at the riverside deck, they found a baby alligator snapping turtle - we were amazed - they're not supposed to live in our area.
Tom went biking at the Sand Lakes Quiet Area, and he liked those trails much better than the Vasa trails.
Laurie, Tom and I watched "Firetrap" starring Dean Cain. It was one of those gross out towering inferno type movies.
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Today, Tuesday July 6, Dick made breakfast again - scrambled eggs with sausage and bacon. Very yummy indeed. It was pouring down rain - very heavy at times - so we had to stay indoors and play on the computer and in the play room. In the afternoon, we went to the movies - Laurie, Dick and I went to see Fahrenheit 9/11, and Tom and Dylan saw Around the World in 80 Days. After the movies, Uncle Tom let Dylan get a temporary tattoo (!) and a ride on the Carousel.

Dylan is Here

Dylan says:
I played with Uncle Tom today. And played with Grandma and Grandpa.
P.S. The airplane ride was very boring.

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Dick and I spent most of the morning changing bed linens and moving Dick to my room.

Laurie and Dylan arrived at 3 p.m. Their flight was delayed because of the Blue Angels. But then the Air Show was cancelled anyway because of bad weather. After waiting such a long time, they were glad to get here, and we were very glad to see them.
Dylan wanted to play both Harry Potter and Everquest, so we've had a grand old time.

Tom is Here

Tom arrived this morning, all in one piece. We dropped his suit off at the dry cleaners so it will be ready for Peter's wedding next week. We took a swing through town and saw the crowds of people heading to the Bay for the Blue Angels Show.
We went home, Tom freshened up, and then put his bike together. He and Dick went over to the Vasa Trail - Tom went biking, and Dick re-checked one of his caches.

We had a great steak dinner,

watched a little TV,

and went to bed early.
Laurie and Dylan arrive tomorrow at 12:30.

Mr. Clean

Yesterday, Dick washed all of the windows, inside and out. And also the screens. I was still kind of in la-la land, and I wasn't much help.

Today I'm feeling much much better. Did some last minute chores around the house, then headed for town around 11:30. Took a package to UPS, mailed some bills, picked up some shirts, and met Dick at Mom's to pick up Dylan's "cozy little bed". Dick worked at the Visitor Center this morning, so we had 2 cars. Dick did Mom's recycling, and then I took her to the bank (it's Social Security check day).
Mom and I went for a little ride - it was fun to see the air show practicing for the official shows this weekend. People were massed on the edge of the bay just to watch the practice. All the tents are up and ready for Cherry Festival to begin tomorrow.

Mother said she wouldn't mind having a chocolate milk shake, so we drove out to Barden's. It's amazing how traffic has picked up in the last week or so.

Anyway, we had a nice ride and a good visit on a lovely, lovely day. This weather can stick around all summer, as far as I'm concerned.

I went shopping at Tom's to get ready for the 4th. I'm sure I'll need to make at least one more trip before the big day. I think we'll probably have the cookout on Monday, because Laurie and Dylan will be here.

Two Unusual Days

Yesterday I spent 4 hours hooked up to an IV receiving 2 units of packed red blood cells. I was at the Infusion Clinic at Munson Medical Center. I was the only one there getting a blood transfusion - the others were either getting Remicade or Chemo of various types. But I won the longevity award. I was there from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

The best thing about the morning was that while I was away, the Merry Maids came!
Today when I got up, I felt better - I walked for 12 minutes straight on the treadmill, instead of my usual 5 minutes and then rest, then another 5 minutes, etc. I was able to do a lot of things around the house without feeling sick. But I hit the stamina wall around 1:30 after shopping at Glen's. Tomorrow I'm expecting to last until maybe 4 p.m., and I expect to improve every day.
Dick spent the day pruning and cutting brush all around the property. He worked really hard all morning and up until around 3:30 p.m. He even fell off a ladder while cutting a large branch off of one of the larger trees. Luckily he didn't hurt himself.
Today we were expecting Jana's co-worker John and his family to canoe to our dock so we could drive them back to their car. They called while putting in, and said we should expect them around 4 p.m.

We waited and waited. Dick went upstream with the camera so we could send pictures to Jana. After a while I went inside to check the message machine and sure enough, they had called. The gist of the message was - We have had quite an adventure - we have lost our canoe. We're walking toward your place on River Road - we're not quite sure where your place is... I jumped in the car to go pick them up, and sure enough, here they came - John and James - walking toward me still wearing their fluorescent orange life preservers.

We drove back, and hailed Dick, who was quite surprised to see them - "How did they get past me???" James stayed on the dock to keep an eye on the river just in case their canoe should come floating past. Dick and John loaded one of our canoes to go down to the railroad bridge to go in search of the lost craft. It was right there, kind of leaning on the railroad bridge. So John drove Marco back here, and Dick paddled the formerly lost canoe back to our place. Quite an adventure indeed. We had made previous plans to go out to dinner tonight with Dennis Cervino, and Dennis came just as Dick got here with John's canoe. We all had a pleasant conversation on the deck. John and James left, and we went to Giovanni's for dinner, and back here for coffee and more conversation.

Doctor Day

This morning I had an appointment with the world's best Doctor, Brian Burke. We talked a lot and did some blood tests, and I'm scheduled for the infusion clinic tomorrow a.m. for 2 units of packed red blood cells. I'm sure I'll feel terrific afterwards.
Dick worked at the Agency in the morning, and this afternoon he went for his eye exam, so now HIS eyes are dilated!
Life is just a of .
In between Doctor appointments, I went to the library and got new books for Mother. She was eating lunch when I dropped them off, and seems to be in fine fettle.

888

Flower Bower

A litle disappointed today - Laurie still doesn't know when she can come to stay. We were hoping for next weekend for the Blue Angels and everything, but it looks like they'll miss that. Tom will definitely be here on Saturday, July 3rd.
We drove up to PlantMasters and bought flowers for the yard. They have a stunning variety of beautiful things. Today is another perfect day, weatherwise.

Shopping Bopping

Today I went to Traverse City's brand new Bed, Bath, and Beyond to get new linens for when the family visits in July. I used remarkable restraint in not buying the absolutely perfect $200 comforter (!) and managed to get all of my purchases for $150 - quite remarkable indeed, which is why I'm remarking on it.

While I was out having a great time spending money, Dick was at home weeding the flower beds along the driveway. He spent hours out there today, and it looks terrific.

This afternoon we put our furniture back in the living room, and now we're back to normal. Well, as normal as it gets.
We went for a lovely drive (it's another gorgeous day) over to the Interlochen area to do recycling.

The Carpets are Clean

This morning the Stanley Steemer carpet cleaners came and did their thing. We have all of the living room accessories in the guest room until noon tomorrow

Dick went geocaching in the Mesick area, and climbed some awesome hills. He also got lost in the woods, which makes me jealous that I wasn't with him.

We went shopping for a new tractor - looked at a Kubota (14,600) and a John Deere (12,700).
We keep remembering that in 1962 we bought a new house for 11,990. Cheesh.
A very nice Friday, sunny and temperate (70). I walked as far as the old volleyball court.

Thursday Stuff

Today Dick gave another presentation about the new Medicare Discount Cards. This time he spoke at the Elmwood Township Senior Lunch Meeting. He definitely didn't go there for the food.

Mother and I went to Dr. Whiting's office for some dental work for her. She said she wasn't feeling very sharp today. It was a short appointment, thank goodness. When she got back to her house, there was a letter for her from Austen at camp - very cute.

After leaving Mother, I went grocery shopping at the new Oleson's for a change. It's nice to have some variety sometimes.

After supper, we got the living room ready for Stanley Steemer. Their carpet cleaners are coming tomorrow.
888

Training Day

Eating our anniversary dinner at Windows was a unique experience. I highly recommend it to anyone who feels like dressing up, and who has a fat wallet.
No sooner had we been seated, when my cousin Rick Block came over, and pointed out where he and Mary and Uncle Fritz and Aunt Ruth were sitting! It seems it was Fritz and Ruth's 64th anniversary! I had no idea we shared our anniversary date. What a coincidence!
Windows is a starched white tablecloth kind of a place. The servers were all in starched white pleated tux shirts and black pants. They were all very attentive. I had veal picatta, and Dick had Surf and Turf, followed by chocolate Jack Daniels ice cream and raspberry torte. We were seated there for 2 hours, but it seemed much shorter. Unbelievably nice - we loved it.

Today we were seated for 5 hours in the conference room of the Area Agency on Aging for Medicare/Medicaid training. I think it was a pay back for last night. We really paid our dues today! What did we learn that was new? We learned that people can steal your identity from the boxes of checks that you order through the mail; that you should not give out your social security number to people who initiate the contact; that Sladek's got the lunch order wrong; and that an assertive attitude can often get you what you want for your client when dealing with the FIA or a hospital.

Tonight we are having pancakes and bacon for supper to make up for all the rich food last night.
888

47th Anniversary

To celebrate our anniversary, Dick mowed the whole property including the paths, and I cleaned out my bedroom. It took us an equal amount of time, believe it or not. The transmission on the tractor broke down right when he was almost finished. So now we're back to the manual mower.

We loaded the tractor up on the trailer and hauled it off to the John Deere man. Now it's almost time to get ready for our big night out.

Happy Monday

Dick worked at the Agency, and I had my yearly eye exam. We had a lunch date, and went to Scott's Harbor Grill. The dilation of my pupils actually didn't wear off until almost 5 o'clock. I couldn't believe it. I was expecting just a couple of hours.

At Glen's (formerly Prevo's) Market, there was a two for one sale on Johnsonville brats!
So our freezer is full of brats for Genfest, and we are very proud of ourselves!

Tomorrow is our 47th wedding anniversary. Last summer my high school girlfriends gave us a gift certificate to Windows as a thank you for hosting the SLG picnic. It expires on July 1, so this is definitely the time to use it. So tomorrow night, Windows, here we come.
I was thinking maybe in 3 years when we have our 50th anniversary, we should combine Genfest and the anniversary party. 1. All our kids would be here, and 2. it would guarantee that nobody would think that hiring a hall and having a special party would be a good idea. I think we would both just rather have a picnic. When Dutch and Marian celebrated their fiftieth, my Dad gave all of his descendants $50 each. Don't hold your breath ;)

Father's Day

What a great day! In honor of Father's Day, we wanted to go out to brunch. Traverse City has numerous very nice brunch providers who advertise heavily and require reservations. On Mother's Day, for instance, we had a wonderful brunch on Old Mission Peninsula at the Bowery. But this time, we wanted to spend the day geo-caching in the Arcadia/Bear Lake area, so we headed for one of our favorite restaurants, The Dinghy, in Frankfort. On the way, we stopped off at a small cemetery where we had previously failed to find a cache. This time we were successful! We got to Dinghy's at 9:30 a.m. and discovered that they didn't open til 10. But luckily, there's a nice park across the street which had a cache in it. (Dick had loaded all of the area caches into his Palm and his GPS in preparation for our adventure.) So we found our second cache before breakfast. Brunch at Dinghy's is some kind of wonderful experience! Everything you could possibly think of for breakfast is provided, and just when you think your plate is loaded, and you have everything you want, a lady comes around with a tray and says, "Would you like a hot apple fritter?" Well, heck yes! At this point, that sounds like health food!
What followed was a day of geo-caching - we found a total of 7, and only got lost twice. Even with maps and a GPS, it is possible to get lost in a maze of two-tracks. The day was perfect - 70 degrees, blue sky and sunshine, and we were doing our favorite thing - getting lost in the woods.
Around 4:30 we headed for Mother's house, stopping at Moomer's first so we could take Mom a milkshake. We had a lovely visit with Mother, who seems to think that she's beginning to look old. We brought her some lollies to have on hand when Dylan visits in a couple of weeks, and some microwave dinners to try.
Back at home, Dick logged all of our finds (not an easy task) and we re-lived our adventures. Happy Father's Day indeed.

Tuesday, June 15

Today I had a chance to talk to Dylan. He liked his tennis lessons so much that Laurie took him to sign up for more lessons next week. For Dylan's age group they use a smaller court, a lower net, and a larger, softer ball. One of the best things about tennis lessons is that when you're finished, Daddy takes you for a treat.
He wants Grandpa to build a bridge across the river so that the path can be extended. We discussed about 14 reasons why we can't do that.
Laurie has laryngitis, and it doesn't sound good.
This morning I cleaned up the computer room and finished the GenFest invitations. Dick has been outside all morning locating 20 places around the property to hide the geocaches for GenFest. He's copying down the coordinates, etc. so the competition will be good to go when the time comes.
This afternoon we mailed the invitations, and went caching. We found the Al Quacka Aviation Administration cache, near the Vasa Trail. This one required superior math skills, so we had Tom figure it out!
Then we found the Yuba Creek Natural Area in Acme Township. There's a cache there too, but we're saving it for later. We drove through Traverse City, enjoyed the blue bay, and stopped at the $ store to buy some goodies for the caches at GenFest.
A gorgeous day - low 70s and lots of sunshine.

What's happening at the river

June 14, 2004

Dick and I are already thinking about how much fun it will be to have Laurie, Chip and Dylan here for the month of July.
The GenFest will be on July 17th, and we're sort of pre-planning for that already too.
When Dylan gets here, he and I will work together to tell what we do every day - hopefully with pictures!
This morning Dick is working at the Agency and I'm going to sweep off the porch.
Today is Flag Day.
This afternoon I did some scrapbooking, Dick mowed the grass, and now he is geocaching in Honor and Inland Township.

Round Robin 2004

Dear friends,
It’s a gorgeous day on Memorial Day weekend – sunny, breezy, and mild. We’ve had a tough winter, and a cool and rainy spring, so it seemed like heaven to be able to get outside and plant some perennials this morning.
It was so nice to sit back and read all of the letters, and look at the pictures. The pictures are really fun, aren’t they? Especially all of those wonderful grandchildren!
It’s a sure sign of our advancing age when we’re all having such health problems. I remember how at the 45th reunion in 1998 we were all giggling because our conversation was about blood pressure medication, among other medical stuff. Dick nicknamed us the Giggling Grannies. But now it seems the problems are getting more serious, and nobody’s giggling. You are all in my thoughts and of course, I’m hoping for the best for all of us
We’ve had another quiet year, staying in town to be near Mother. She is doing well, and still living in her own home. She now has home help 2 days a week, and is quite satisfied with it.
We really enjoyed our get-together last summer, and look forward to 2008, assuming that the world will survive until 2008. Since our reunion, Laurie and Chip have moved to a new home in Palm City, Florida, and Dylan has now completed Kindergarten. They are all coming here for the month of July this summer.
Our new hobby is geocaching, and it’s taking up quite a bit of our time. It’s great because it gets you out of the house, and into the woods, and exploring places you would otherwise never see. www.geocaching.com will give you an overview if you’re interested. All you need is a GPS (global positioning system) and a computer. You enter coordinates into your GPS, and then go out in the world and try to find the exact spot where something is hidden. There are caches hidden all over the US and in 200 foreign countries, so that wherever you travel, you can pursue this hobby. We’ve been at it for a year now and have found 330 caches. You may think that this sounds silly, but you can’t beat it as a hobby for retired folks who like to get out and about.
We are still working with the Medicare-Medicaid Assistance Program. Trying to understand the new Medicare Act and the whole Discount Drug Card situation is driving us crazy, but we’re getting training to try to understand it better. Dick is making presentations at senior citizen groups and trying to answer questions. The whole thing is quite confusing and ineffective, if you ask us.
Our travel is limited because of Mother, but we did get to Florida in March to see Laurie and Chip’s new house. Our Florida kids are still flying with American Airlines. Tom is in San Diego, senior scientist at Cymer Corp, and becoming an intrepid mountain biker. Jana is in Washington, DC at Congressional Quarterly, where she is Director of Product Development. She is also on the board of the Washington Imrov Theater. Grandson Dylan is into soccer, PlayStation, Harry Potter, biking, scootering, geocaching, and T-ball. Next week he starts tennis lessons. He asked his Mommy “What are you going to sign me up for next?” She said, “Well, I was thinking about golf…” He just rolls his eyes.
Have a great year, and stay healthy!

Explorer of the Seas - Day 7 - At Sea

All seven of us met for breakfast at the Windjammer Cafe. Then Dick and I packed up even though we don't have to until tonight - because I don't want to worry about it all day!

Then we went to the Solarium on Deck 11 and parked out by the pool for the day. Maria-Ximena hung out with us too.
Dick picked the perfect arrangement - we had three chaises, and a table with chairs - very comfortable. I highly recommend pina coladas in the Solarium!

Dick, Chip and Tom had an exclusive private tour of the ship's Bridge.


We also played some shuffleboard with Dylan - well, Tom and Dick played and I watched and was the official photographer!


Dylan also had a private ice skating lesson in Studio B.


This was a day for taking group pictures. Maria-Ximena was great about helping take the pictures.
We took green T shirt pictures, whit T shirt pictures, pictures with the Explorer of the Seas sign, and for a grand finale, had professional pictures taken, which we can pick up tomorrow. We don't want to forget anything about this whole experience!


**********************HAPPY 50th ANNIVERSARY TO US !!***************************

Round Robin 2003

May 25, 2003
NJKS

Dear Everybody,
It was a real treat to get the Robin earlier than usual! Always before, it has arrived in August when we are deluged with company, and there’s just no time. Hooray for the SLGs!
We are still enjoying U of M football every fall. Last season it just so happened that Jana’s birthday and Tom’s birthday were both on Gameday Saturdays, and they were each able to come to Ann Arbor to celebrate and enjoy a football weekend.
Dick and I were named Michigan Medicaid Specialists of the year at the 2002 Medicare Medicaid Assistance Program State Convention in Battle Creek. We spend a lot of time helping elderly citizens try to manage payment of their medical expenses.
I was feeling ill a lot of the time, especially over the holidays, but it’s all straightened out now. I had some internal bleeding, and had to be hospitalized and given a couple of blood transfusions. Now I’m feeling back to normal, and singing the praises of my Doctor, who actually listened to what I was telling him. This does not always happen, as I’m sure you all know.
Dick is still volunteering at the T C Visitor Center, and the volunteers (and spouses) get to go on all sorts of outings in order to become familiar with what’s available in the area. This winter the volunteer group went on a sleigh ride, complete with campfire and hot chocolate; we had lunch, a presentation, and free money at the Leelanau Sands Casino; the group toured the new Great Wolf Lodge on US 31 South among other local activities. It’s interesting to see what there is to do during a long, cold winter.
We’re still staying close to home to be near Mother. Dick got a really good workout running his snow blower this winter. Both of our close neighbors here were down in Florida, so Dick kept everybody blown out, and kept all of the furnaces running. J As long as we were here anyway, we took care of the TC image – the Bay froze over for the first time in years, and we had piles of snow, and some 20 below temps. Did you know that Lake Michigan actually freezes along the shore line if it gets cold enough? At Empire Beach, the ice was piled high. Now that spring is here, we’re also making sure that the cherry trees are blooming, and the Bay is bright blue.
Traverse didn’t have the bad weather reported by Sandy and Nola. We did have several snow days and the like, but no real storm damage.
Laurie and Chip are still flying with American, so let’s all pray that it stays solvent! They are in the process of buying a new home in Palm City about 45 minutes north of Delray Beach. That will give them a commute of one hour and 45 minutes….oh well – they say they won’t mind. Dylan is still the most delightful child in the universe.
Tom is living in San Diego as a senior scientist with Cymer Corp.
Jana is Director of Product Development with Congressional Quarterly in D.C. She just got back from a month’s vacation in New Zealand! It was the trip of a lifetime – she really had a chance to learn her way around and explore. I can’t wait to hear more about it. Did you know that in New Zealand if you order a burger, it comes with beets on it?
We are really looking forward to the Fiftieth Reunion Get-together. Everybody please bring more pictures!