New Lighthouse Format

I'm sure you have noticed the new lighthouse template I'm using. Friends and family already know that we love lighthouses, judging by our mantel decorations! I'm so happy with this, and I hope you like it too. Click on the above title to see pictures of many of Michigan's 120 lighthouses, more than any other State.

Breakfast this morning with Whitard and family. We had a really nice visit - they are great people, and the children are well-behaved and delightful. Dick and Bill are really kindred spirits when it comes to geo-caching. They both love to put out puzzle caches which require the finder to solve impossible puzzles just to get the coordinates!

We had our first phone call from the skiiers in Breckenridge this evening. Dylan said he was standing by a restaurant buried in snow. It turns out that the restaurant was buried in snow, not Dylan! Today they went for a two hour hike and learned all about snow and avalanches. Then they all went tubing, which I guess is great fun. Laurie and Dylan decided to go have hot chocolate after tubing, while Chip and Tom went skiing. They are having such a good time. Dylan can't decide which is more fun - he's loving everything.

Soooooop

Mother and I are both a little perquackey this week - we're just a little pre-occupied with her moving to assisted living. She has lived in the same house and slept in the same bed since 1952 - that's 53 years! Her new room should be ready by the end of next week. I've notified Integrity and the Commission on Aging, and I have a call in to Shannon to make sure that everything gets cancelled as far as home services are concerned. Mother is mostly worried about her checking accounts and her mail, and making sure that everything gets taken care of. It will be a big big big change for her - but she's very brave, and she's really kind of looking forward to the move - I hope she's satisfied with the accommodations. I wish she could see it before she moves into it!

Odette has her surgery on Monday - she will be in the hospital for 3 days and then in a nursing home for a long period of recuperation and rehab. We wish her well - it doesn't sound the least bit pleasant.

Tomorrow we're meeting Whitard (Dr. Bill Muth) and his family for breakfast at the Omelette Shoppe. It will be fun to see the little girls.

Dick plowed out the whole neighborhood today - more snow predicted for Sunday. He also made his famous veggie soup today. Hooray. No bobcats today. Boo.

Jim and Emilie are leaving today for Florida. They'll be gone for two weeks. They're driving and making a couple of stops along the way.

This is a pair of bobcats we spotted by Dylan's playground on Wed., Feb. 16 at 10:30 a.m. We showed them live to Tom in California by way of the iSight camera on my laptop! 

Breckenridge

Laurie, Chip, and Dylan are headed for Colorado to go skiing. They're on an American 777, and Dylan said that it was very high tech - he has a TV by his seat. We had a teleconference with Tom on my new LAPTOP and while we were talking, we saw two bobcats outside the front window. They walked around the river side of the house, and over by Dylan's playground. Dick got a couple of good pictures from the computer room window.
Tom is heading for Colorado on Frontier Airlines to meet the Gillespies at Denver Stapleton Airport. They'll drive to Breckenridge together for a week of skiing. Sounds like a blast.
Dick is off to Petoskey to do some geocaching with Tim and Susie - it's a beautiful day for it.

Before the End of the Month

The Director of Concord Place says that Mother will have a room before the end of the month, perhaps sooner. Thirlby Clinic has faxed her medical records to the Director.

Happy Valentine's Day

I was taking it easy this morning - recuperating from the weekend. We were having an ice storm and schools were closed (Belleville would have had school today - they use salt on the roads). Dick decided to brave the ice and go in to work at the Agency.

I was just getting started on my "getting up" routine when I got a call from the Commission on Aging, asking me if I was the emergency contact for mother. It seems that the Commission cleaning lady was alarmed by Mother's condition and was worried about her. I rushed right in to check things out. Mother seemed about the same as she has been for the past couple of weeks. I think the cleaning lady hadn't seen Mother since her pneumonia and reaction to the anti-biotic.

I came prepared to call 911 and take her to the hospital, but what I did was prepare lunch and a cup of tea, and she seemed fine. We discussed assisted living again, and she wants to go there. She has no zest for living, no energy, and no desire to do anything. She does enjoy watching TV. We called Concord Place and the Director is going to call me tomorrow with an update concerning when a room will be available. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will be soon.

The ice storm has ended, we had some melting - the roads were fine. But now it has frozen again and it's snowing quite hard. Snow is predicted for every day this week.

On a lighter note, I loved this paragraph sent to Dick by Dick Dokas:

A Succinct Summary of the Election

The Democrats' mistake was in thinking that a disastrous war, national
bankruptcy, erosion of liberties, corporate takeover of government,
environmental destruction, squandering our economic and moral leadership in the world, and systematic Administration lying would be of concern to the electorate.

The Republicans correctly saw that the chief concern of the electorate was to keep gay couples from having an abortion.

Northern Michigan Geocachers Meet and Greet

Wow. Up at 6 a.m. To the lobby for the excellent continental breakfast. Out geocaching until 1 p.m. when the event began. We found 10 caches before noon. The event was well attended - I'd say close to 40 people were there. We thought we came from far away, but there were several from Ann Arbor, Ypsi, Westland, etc. Left Oscoda around 4 o'clock and we were home before 7 p.m. I'm boo-zausted.

Oscoda Get-Away

This has been such a fun day - I guess I should begin at the beginning. Cleaned house until a little after ten, then we packed up the car for our trip to Oscoda for the Northern Michigan Geocachers Cache Lovers February Meet and Greet.

First we went shopping for a baby gift for a surprise baby shower at the Meet and Greet. Then out to Big Boy for lunch, and to order two take-out meals for Mother - one for today and one for tomorrow. At Mom's we did all of the usual things - took out the trash, balanced the check book, and sat with her while she ate her seafood platter - and she ate the whole thing! Took her one of our small saucepans to replace the one she burned, and a cheat sheet with phone numbers of every one she could call if she needed anything while we're out of town.

Beautiful day for a drive - I missed part of it during my great nap! We did 4 caches in the afternoon as we neared Oscoda. We haven't ever spent much time on this side of the State, so there are lots of caches to discover.

Oscoda seems like a very lucky town - not only is it on the AuSable River, but it also sits right on the shore of Lake Huron. Totally beautiful. It's a really small town, though, and it doesn't have a nice downtown area such as T.C. has. The AmericInn is very nice, and it was fun because when we checked in there was a child's birthday party going on in the pool - sounded like a great time!

The desk clerk recommended Tait's Bill of Fare as a good place to go for dinner - and we loved it! They had a great menu, and although the restaurant was very busy on this Saturday night, we had our own little private three-sided room- no kidding - just like on the set of Hello Dolly.

The motel has high speed internet access, so I am writing this on my new LAPTOP in the motel room. We are so cool we can't stand ourselves!

Swiffer Plus

Things I love in the category of house cleaning supplies:

1. Roomba the robot vacuum

2. Anything Swiffer, especially the Swiffer duster

3. Windex wipes for mirrors and kitchen appliances as well as windows

4. Bounce, the world's best dryer sheet

5. Barkeeper's Friend, the world's best scouring powder - depps the stainless steel
sink shiny and beautiful

6. Cottenelle wipes for the original purpose but also great for wiping down the
Roomba when it's dusty from vacuuming, and for wiping the salty snow marks
from my winter boots

Where were these things back when I had a family of five, three kids, a dog, 2 cats and a full-time job?!?

Caching in CattleTrack 

Caching in CattleTrack

Two out of the three times we've had breakfast at Frosty Cup in Cadillac during the last 2 weeks, it's been with DinoDuo. We met them at 10 a.m. and after fortifying ourselves with the famous #5, we were once again off to do some serious caching. It was a gorgeous day - bright blue sky, tons of sun, beautiful fluffy snow on the evergreens - it couldn't have been nicer. We found 3 caches with the Duo - I sat out the longest hike, but the other two were Nan-accessible.

Click on the title to see the geocache page that goes with the picture. Scroll down to see the Basswood Bend entry.

After finding 3 caches, DinoDuo went cross-country skiing, and we went looking for more. We found one at the Caberfae Overlook, and a really interesting virtual cache over by Bear Lake. It was the childhood home of Harriet Quimby, the first woman in the U.S. to get a pilot's license. Never heard of her before, but it was an interesting story on a historical marker.

It was 5 o'clock and we were hungry, so on the way home we stopped at the Roadhouse Mexican Bar and Grill on top of the hill in Benzonia. It's a very nice place and the food was good - I would go there again. I have to say that they do overcharge for beverages. I paid $3.00 for two cups of tea. Most places give you a free refill. But I would still go back.

We got home around 6:30 - what a great day! Life is good.

Brunch with Billy

Bill and Jan spent the night last night, and we had a great time. After everybody was up, Dick made breakfast (Chef Ricardo) and we had more great story swapping this morning. They left around 12:30 - it had snowed about 3 inches during the morning and Jan had to drive because of Bill's knee surgery.

Talked to Laurie about a date for GenFest - yes I guess it's time to start thinking about it. It will be in July sometime after the Cherry Festival.

Dick plowed out the entire driveway and access road - the snow was light and fluffy, but he got his tractor stuck anyway. You can do it if you really try!

Dick proposes meeting DinoDuo for breakfast in the morning and doing some more new caches put out by Frank&Peggy. Sounds like a good idea to me!

Pleasant Surprise

This morning Dick announced in a very disappointed tone that we have absolutely nothing on our calendar this week!

I said that I thought going to the movies would be a fun idea - especially since it's cheap popcorn day. Dick does not like movies, and never voluntarily goes unless it's Michael Moore or anything with Dylan. He asked me if I would feel "homeless" if he didn't go with me. I said Yeah, but I would go anyway. He said I'll go with you. You sit in the woods while I'm geocaching, so I can go to the movies with you...it's called teamwork! What a sweet thing to say! So we planned to go to the movies at 1:30.

Soon after we got a call from Bill and Jan who wondered if we would be home this afternoon. Dick was saved from his horrible fate of movie attendance by Sniders! And he still gets credit for being willing, and for being so sweet. He really made out!

They arrived around 1:15, we sat around spitting and chewing...(old family joke from a John Denver song - Grandma's Feather Bed - "After supper we'd sit around the fire, the old folks would spit and chew." You really had to grow up in our family to get it !)

To view the lyrics to Grandma's Feather Bed, use the link above. (Click on the title.)

Anyway, as it turned out, Jan and I went to the movies at 3:30. We saw "Wedding Date", which was a bit on the fluff side, but very enjoyable, cute, and funny. We really liked the 2 main characters - Debra Messing was really quite good, and Dermot Mulroney was dishy. It won't win any awards, but it was a fun afternoon. We met Bill and Dick at the Outback Steakhouse for dinner, and it was scrumptious. We watched Gilmore Girls and the Amazing Race before bedtime.

An unexpected, fun, pleasant day!

Today is Laurie's birthday - Happy Birthday Laurie!

Babies Galore!

Wow! We have 3 babies on the way - well not us exactly, but it's still exciting. Dan and Pam are expecting a son in May, they want to name him either Rylan or Luke. Eric and Tammy are expecting a son next month - could be named Ethan Eric. Reiko and Bob are expecting a baby in October, sex to be determined. She wants to name the baby Hunter, male or female.

Put in some time at the Library today - it was a pleasant day to be reading in our beautiful library. On Sunday afternoons, they have live piano music from the baby grand. It's most relaxing.

Visited Jim and Mother - all is well on that front today. I kind of feel like it's my day off!

Super Bowl is tonight - go Patriots! Go Tom!

Scott's Harbor Grill

We did some scouting around the city parks again to do some more figuring on Dick's new caches - these things don't just happen, you know...it takes a lot of planning, experimenting, figuring, and computer time. He's hoping to have it all finished by March 1. Or maybe even April 1...whichever. Along the way we had lunch at Scott's -they just happen to have the world's best grilled raspberry chicken and cashew salad. That's what I order every time. Dick had quesadilla, and that looked spectacular too.

At Mother's, we turned on the heat upstairs for Jim's visit, took out the trash, installed an armrest thingy on the john, watered the plants, did the dishes, and did various other small things for her in preparation for Jim's visit tomorrow. She is definitely accepting more help these days, which I interpret as that she's feeling more helpless herself.

Dylan's Activities

Dylan calls us every morning on his way to school, so we keep fairly current with what's up with him. Today we talked about his tennis lesson last night. He liked it, and he said it was fun. He has the same coach that he had last year, and that's a good thing. His weekly activities are: Monday, tae kwan do; Tuesday, Kids' Crew (church) and tennis; Friday, tae kwan do again. It's so much fun to talk with him - he is quite the story-teller - I have to keep telling him he's full of baloney. That's my job. When Laurie dropped him off, she said he was skipping into the school - he's a happy boy. Chip is away at training, so Laurie and Dylan are keeping busy.

Today was an ordinary day - laundry and Roomba. Dick was busy working on the new city park caches he's planning. He has a ton of coordinates to record and double check.

Outside, it was not ordinary. Our temperature got up to 50F! Most unusual for February. Dick and I went into town - went to the new Lowe's - I liked it much better than Home Depot. I thought that things were easier to find, well labeled and good signage throughout the store. I checked out their closet organizing section.

We cruised through town - the bay was beautiful - and had a nice ride. When we got home, Dick measured my closet so that when I go to Lowe's again, I'll know what size of closet organizer I need. Hooray!

Odette is scheduled for back surgery at Beaumont Hospital on Monday, Feb. 21. We're hoping that this surgery will make her feel like new again.

Concord Place (?)

Today I spent most of my time and energy with Mother issues. She has been getting weaker and more unstable daily. Shannon was with her in the morning, and fixed dinner in the crockpot and made her a sandwich for lunch. I got there right after Shannon left, and we sat and talked for a long time.

Mother's not feeling at all steady, and uses the walker everywhere in the house. She had eaten lunch in her chair, and asked me to take care of her dishes - this doesn't sound like much unless you know Mother. She doesn't want me to do anything for her ordinarily - so it's unusual that she asks a favor. We discussed that maybe soon she will no longer be able to stay in her own home - she may need assisted living. She mentioned Bortz - and I know they have an assisted living facility connected to their nursing home.

I was heading for the grocery store anyway, so she told me a few things she would like me to pick up for her. While I was out and about, I went over to Bortz, and asked for a tour of the assisted living section. I think it's really well-suited for Mother. The room is small, but furnished. It reminds me of a hotel room. It has a private bathroom, cable TV, phone, etc. I could picture Mother being comfortable there. It's called Concord Place. I put our names on the list so we will be notified when a vacancy occurs.

Off to the new Oleson's - for variety in shopping. Back to Mother's to deliver groceries and discuss Concord Place. It surprised me how receptive she was to the idea of moving there. I think that's an indicator of how lousy she feels. We talked about it for quite a while, and she got most of the facts straight - we discussed the price, and she actually said, "Well, that's not too bad." I was really stunned. It was SSA day, so I took her check to the bank and brought her back some cash - she is very frugal.

We decided to wait and see how she feels for the next week, now that she's off her anti-biotics and should be shaking the side-effects soon. (Dizziness) So right now I have to say that she is not doing well - she is becoming weaker and less mobile right before our eyes. It's really noticeable. I can't predict the future, but if she is this incapacitated permanently, I can't see leaving town, even though we have plans for 2 outings coming up this month - one for a weekend and one for an entire day. Sometimes it's hard to know what is the best thing to do. I get really conflicted. I think I'm secretly hoping that a vacancy will open up at Concord Place, and that she will be willing to move in. It would be a tremendous relief to us to have her in a place with 24 hour care. It's hard to admit that.

Jim called this evening and said he's coming up Sunday, staying Sunday night, and leaving on Monday. He'll do Mom's taxes. Hooray for Jim.

Sounds Good to Me

Well, wouldn't you just know it. We spent the day geocaching in Cadillac yesterday, and this morning we noticed there's a new cache right where we were yesterday! So, naturally, we had to go check it out, and we were the first finders! We ate breakfast at Frosty Cup again - 2 days in a row.

We used to like Frosty Cup better than anyplace, but the waitresses have changed, and the atmosphere has changed, and now we're thinking it's not really our favorite anymore. Stay tuned to find out the new favorite!

Back to T.C., we went to Sam's Club so Dick could stock up on olives. We also got water, and I got 2 new pillows and a paperback. We mailed Laurie's birthday card.

DinoDuo 

DinoDuo

We wanted to return the lost GPS to DinoDuo (Tim and Susie), so we arranged to meet them at our favorite breakfast spot, Frosty Cup in Cadillac. We had a long, leisurely breakfast. We have so much to talk about - geocaches we have found and experiences teaching - a never ending supply of great stories! As soon as someone tells a story it reminds someone else of another one. We could have sat there for a long time - well, OK, we did sit there for a long time!

After breakfast we all went out looking for the four new caches in the Cadillac area, all of them put out by Frank&Peggy. We found some new sig items, and got a good idea for how to store them (baseball card holders). It was a successful day - we found them all - 2 by Lake Mitchell, one by Lake Cadillac, and one by the cross country skiing paths. I got a great idea for a winter cache - a fake ice fishing shanty! Well, maybe not. We finished our mission around 2:30, and parted ways, with a promise to get together again in a couple of weeks.

Dick and I went into Traverse City to run a couple of errands. We went to the Camera Shop and Dick asked them what they do with the empty film containers after they develop film. It turns out that they save them for beggars like us! We know what we want them for, but we're not sure what other people want them for!

We wound up going out for an early dinner at La Senorita! Perfect end to a perfect day.

Basswood Bend 

China Cabinet

Dick worked at the Agency this morning and had 5 contacts. Then he went to various city parks and to Meijer, from which he brought home steaks for dinner!

So today I cleaned out and rearranged the china cabinet to accommodate the dishes I brought from Mother's. I put my four favorite plates up above, and the rest are stored below in the cabinet. I found some things that I had forgotten I had! There are some beautiful glass dessert plates with an etched butterfly in the center - I'm sure they came from Mother Gen. Some of the items previously stored in the cabinet have been demoted to the guest room closet. Now I'll probably forget those things too!

The lady from Integrity convinced me to let the 18 year old girl try being a caretaker for Mother. The lady seemed to think that Ashley is more than qualified to handle any situation, and that we will come to really rely on her. So we haven't cut the cord yet. I also arranged for Lisa Zimmerman from the COA to go to Mom's tomorrow to give her a haircut.

Sharon and John have a teen-ager living with them again, after 10 years alone. John's niece Joyce is being deployed to Iraq with her National Guard Unit from Grayling. Joyce has 2 daughters, one of whom is in college, and the other is a senior in high school and needs a place to stay. I really admire Sharon and John for taking her into their home, and I'm hoping that all goes smoothly for everyone. I'm thinking that Patty will need a lot of emotional support.

U of M Historic Dinner Plates

Today when we visited Mother, I took along the new dish protector set and my jug of Drano Gel. The kitchen sink on Union St. has always been annoyingly slow to drain, and I really wanted to try my new favorite clog treatment. I did, and it worked great. When I washed her dishes, I think the sink drained much faster.

For years and years Mother has been telling me that she wants me to have the U of M dishes, service for 12. So when we got there, Dick did the trash and loaded up the recycling, and then he got all of the blue dishes out of the china cabinet and we packed them up. The U of M plates are really quite interesting. They were made in 1928, and each plate has a picture of a different campus building. Some of the buildings are still there, and still look much the same. But some have been torn down and replaced. The buildings which still exist are the President's House, the Michigan League, the Union, Angell Hall, the Engineering Arch, Alumni Hall (which is now the Art Museum), U of M Hospital, and the old gates to Ferry Field. My grandmother Geib supplemented the plates with serving pieces and other place setting items of similar color but different pattern. It really makes quite a nice service. The only things missing are soup bowls.

We had just sat down to visit when Uncle Fritz and Aunt Ruth dropped in. It was good to see them. They are looking well. Uncle Fritz was full of stories as usual.

By the way, my grandmother, Mary Blanche Rice Geib, always went by the name Blanche, but she signed personal letters and notes with her initials, MBRG, which is why I use NJKS for the signature on the blog. Her intials rhymed better than mine though.

While I'm typing this, Dick is reading to me out of his book, Deadly Dance, by M.C. Beaton. It's an Agatha Raisin mystery. Try typing and listening to a story at the same time. It's a challenge. But it's a very funny book, despite the title.

Veggie Soup

One of the joys of winter is having Dick make veggie-beef soup. Wow, is it good. This is not your mother's veggie soup. We put in lots of good beef, carrots, onions, lima beans, cabbage, tomatoes, tomato soup, red wine, beef broth, tomato juice, chili powder, seasonings, celery, and garlic. Yum yum yum.

With a big pot of soup bubbling on the stove, he went cross country skiing combined with some geocaching research for future caches.

Things were very quiet here at home - I did laundry, ran the Roomba (I love that thing), stirred the soup, read my book (Memorial Hall by Jane Langton), and played pogo.com. Life is good.

I took some soup in for Mother - she loves our soup, or at least she tells us that she does!

Paging Dr. Auer

This morning Dick worked at the Visitor Center, and had a long conversation with Kathee. The two of them get along so well - it's great. She tells her kids about his geocaching experiences, and so now they want Dick to take them out geocaching sometime. That would be a lot of fun.

Mother paged Dr. Auer this morning - he asked her about humidity in the house, and mentioned that maybe she should spend a couple of days in the hospital. She definitely doesn't want to do that, but I pointed out to her that after all, he is the doctor.

Integrity sent a Feb. calendar indicating that Stacy will only be coming for one more week, and then another person will be coming. Mother asked Stacy about it and she said that the new girl is 18 years old! We agree that this is not good - Mother needs somebody who has housekeeping and cooking skills. If they can't give us someone with more experience, we'll change homecare companies.

Blue Skies

This morning the weather report cracked me up. It was 24 below in Gaylord, and they said that Traverse City had some cloud cover, and so we were "considerably warmer". Our temperature was 1. (!!!) We lost our cloud cover, because by the time we took Mother to the doctor, the skies were a beautiful blue, and cloudless. Or as Willie Nelson would say, "unclouded".

(If you want to hear Willie sing The Unclouded Day in person, go to the following link, and he's the background music. If you scroll down past the memorial, you get all of the lyrics. Willie sings the *whole* thing!)

http://www.minibite.com/serious/nicky.htm

This was the first time going to the Clinic that we used a wheelchair for Mother. She always says "I'm not that desparate." But this time I told her that the doctor said it had to be that way because he didn't want her to get dizzy and pass out. Using the wheelchair was so much easier than having her struggle along hanging on to my arm and going so-o-o-o slowly. We both enjoyed it. Dick was in charge of the chair, and I really appreciated it!

We had a good doctor visit. First came a chest x-ray, which revealed that Mom has a "touch" of pneumonia. The doctor prescribed a 7-day course of antibiotics. He said to apply ointment to her side to relieve the pain she has left over from the shingles. They did an O2 test, which turned out OK, and a blood test which we'll find out about later.

I feel much better about her condition than I did yesterday. I think that Shannon may be a bit of an alarmist.

Mother is supposed to call Dr. Auer at the hospital on Friday and Monday between 8-9 a.m. and have him paged. He wants to talk to her to see how she's doing, if she's eating properly, and to give her the test results.

Right now I'm watching the Michigan basketball team be slaughtered by MSU. It's quite painful. Right now it's 61 - 47. Is that enough of a drubbing? Yes it is. Oh well.

The Lost is Found!!!

Dick is now an official hero, especially to Tim and Susie. He couldn't stand not knowing what happened to that GPS, so this morning he rented a metal detector, and went back over to the Vasa Trail. He located the GPS right in the middle of the path (snow-covered) and fairly close to the parking lot. Dick spoke to Tim and Susie (they're in Jackson), and they were surprised and pleased. They had already purchased a new one, but they'll be very glad to have this one back, with five years' worth of data! Congratulations Dick!

Jet Katana

Bill and Jan got here around 10 a.m. We had a bit of brunch, and then we went to the airport to pick up Bob, Reiko, and Jet. He is such a sweet baby, you just wouldn't believe it. He's 11 months old, has 8 teeth, and weighs 14,000 pounds. Well, maybe not. But he's a big boy. They're off to Manistee to visit until Friday.

Mother is having a health crisis - she's still really sick with a bad cold, and Shannon is afraid that the cold will develop into pneumonia, or that it's a contagious virus of some kind. Shannon doesn't want to pass on any viral conditions to her other clients. Mother refuses to see a doctor.

I called Thirlby Clinic and talked to Dr. Auer's nurse, who said that she would set up a home visit tomorrow so a nurse will come and evaluate Mom's health, listen to her chest, etc. I really wish she would come here and stay with us until she feels better, but right now she won't hear of it. Shannon says that if Mother's not better by Thursday, she's not coming to the house.

Dr. Auer was nice enough to call Mom, but according to Mother, nothing came of the phone call. We'll wait and see what the visiting nurse says tomorrow. Right now I'm feeling that if Mom's not better by Thursday, she'll have to come out here whether she wants to or not. I'm certainly not going to spend days and nights at her house. Maybe if we made her come out here, it would give her incentive to get better so she could go back home! I have a problem though trying to figure out how to make her do anything that she doesn't want to do. I don't know the fireman's carry!

Meanwhile, Stacy from Integrity is scheduled to be at Mother's in the morning. I haven't heard from the visiting nurse yet.

I lost the desire to go to the movies. Maybe next week.

Dr. Auer called me and insisted that Mother come in for an appointment. I told him that she didn't want to, and he said that there comes a time when we don't give people choices. I mentioned that she has trouble getting around, and he said they have wheelchairs for that. I made an appointment for Thursday. I told mother, and she really didn't object that much, which surprised me. She said, "I guess I don't have any choice."

The doctor visit takes the place of the visiting nurse. Dr. Auer said that listening to the lungs is about 20% as effective as having an x-ray. He said that she really needs a health assessment at this point in case we want to have hospice care or special medications. He can determine how bad (or good) it is and what we need to do next.

Ho Hum

Somebody in England at the Royal College of General Practitioners has come forth with the statement that today, Monday January 24, is the worst day of the year. People are bored with winter, have given up on their New Year's resolutions, are in debt from Christmas, etc., etc., etc. You can read the whole article here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4187183.stm

This morning when I heard about this, I wasn't worried, because Jan was scheduled to come and visit, and that would brighten any day. But as it turned out, Reiko and Bob can't fly here today because of the storm-disrupted airline situation. So Jan isn't coming until tomorrow.

So while it actually wasn't the worst day I ever heard of, it was disappointing and lack-luster. I made bean soup. Whoop whoop.

Dick worked at the Agency, and went shopping at Meijer, so he had that sort of excitement. (?)

Since I didn't do anything interesting today, I am planning to go to the movies tomorrow. (Free popcorn day) I'm in the mood for something scary, so I'm thinking of seeing White Noise.

Jan is planning on coming early in the morning to pick up the California branch of their family at the airport. We'll have a chance to visit, and we're planning to go to the airport to see baby Jet. Yes, that's right, Jet. And then they will all go to Kim's house in Manistee.

By next November, Jan and Bill will have 5 grandchildren. Five! FIVE! How much fun would that be?!?

Br-r-r-r-r

This morning it was 9 degrees below zero! That's too cold for me!
I sat by the fire and folded clothes and ran the Roomba. (I love that thing.)
We went grocery shopping for play-off snacks and for lunch things in case Jan Snider comes tomorrow. (More later.)
Visiting Mother was a little discouraging because she is feeling so listless. She has no energy to do much of anything. I can sympathize with that feeling, but I'm sure that her lack of stamina far exceeds anything I experienced. Dick took out the trash and shoveled the walks and the driveway. Mom said she was hungry for a "hamburg" with a big slice of onion. So Dick went to J&S and got her a burger. She ate it right in her chair - she didn't feel like walking to the dining room. She still has a bad cold and the post-shingles type pain in her side.
We watched the Eagles win their play-off game, and now we're watching Tom Brady beat the Steelers. Sorry, Chip!
Depending on the weather, Reiko may be flying into T.C. tomorrow. If she does, Jan will drive over to pick her up, and will stop here to wait and to get directions to the new terminal. I hope everything works out - it would be fun. Unfortunately, the recent storms have disrupted the airline schedules, so we'll just have to wait until the morning to see if she can come.
Johnny Carson died today. He was always a big favorite of ours when we were young and able to stay up late! If he were on now, we would TiVo him! He was a very funny and popular man - "The King of Late Night".

The Search

We were back over at the Vasa Trail at 9:45 a.m. armed with broom rakes to search for Tim's GPS. Tim and Susie came around 10:30. We all raked the snow along the path, but we came up empty. We stopped looking at noon and came home to get warm and have some lunch. I still don't understand how a bright yellow object can totally disappear in the snow.

Michigan lost their basketball game today to Wisconsin. Next week we play Michigan State, and they will eat us alive. They are ranked in the top 20. Michigan is not ranked. I wonder how a coach prepares a team to go to East Lansing and take a beating. The Big Ten season is getting interesting. It's so enjoyable to watch basketball by a warm fire on a snowy January day.

Dick plowed out the whole road and driveway - it took a long time.

The Lost GPS

Today we took both cars into town - I visited Mother, Dick went to the dentist. We met Tim and Susie for lunch at the Green House Cafe, and had a great geo-lunch!

Then all four of us went to find a cache that we had been unable to locate before, and this time Dick found it! We were all very excited, because it was so cold outside, it was a relief to get back into the car! It had been 12 below zero F in the early morning, but by the time we were geo-caching, it had zoomed up to 10.

Then the 3 intrepid cachers (DinoDuo and Basswood Bend) went off into the woods for more geocaching.

I stayed in town to do all the mundane things - grocery shopping, library, post office, gas station. And I went back to Mother's to deliver this humungous muffin that I got at the Cafe. I think it's enough for a whole meal!

When Dick got home, he told me the bad news... while they were tromping around in the snow, somehow Tim dropped his GPS. They searched everywhere they could think of - pockets, snow drifts, etc., but they couldn't come up with it. After searching for more than an hour, they gave up. DinoDuo returned to the area and searched some more, but it's nowhere to be seen. We just can't imagine what happened to it - and it's bright yellow, so you would think that it would be easy to spot in the snow. It's a big loss for any geocacher, and I'm almost positive that we will go back over there tomorrow for another look.

The only good news to come out of that expedition was that they did actually find the cache!

Inauguration Day

I really enjoyed watching the pomp and circumstance of the whole Inauguration proceeding. Dick refused to look at any of it - he busied himself outside bringing wood to the house and moving snow. Or else he sat in a different room reading a book. I'm just hooked on seeing all of the bigwigs and seeing how the women are dressed.

It was fun to see the first families and ex-Presidents and first ladies entering the podium for the oath of office. It's unusual to see a gathering of so many people and recognize all of the faces. The people accompanying and escorting the bigwigs were interesting too. For instance, the announcer actually said, "Ladies and gentlemen, accompanying Mrs. Lynn Cheney are Mrs. Tom DeLay and Mr. Paul Pelosi." Now there's an odd couple!

It was heroic of Chief Justice Rehnquist to make it to the podium for the swearing in. He's so ill - I know it was a real struggle for him to do that. And he was escorted out immediately after "So help me God." He must have had a strong desire to be there.

During the speech, I just listened on the computer while I cleaned out our files in the computer room. I tossed out a bunch of old financial statements and filed away all of the new stuff. Made a new folder for our Subaru and just generally organized papers all afternoon. Finally have all of the year-end tax documents in one place - so that's a good job done.

Made some chili for supper, and it smells so good it's making me hungry! The coverage of the Inaugural Balls begins at 8 p.m. I would really like to watch some of it - it's fun to see how the other half lives. Dick will not be at all interested.

We do have this problem of such an extravagant Inaugural celebration at a time of such widespread human suffering in Iraq and also in South East Asia. It would have been such an excellent plan to tone things down a bit, and send some of that money to the other side of the world. But it didn't happen that way - it's the biggest, splashiest celebration ever. I had the thought when I saw all the flags around the Capitol building that those flags should have been at half mast in honor of dead soldiers. We have felt ever since George was sort of elected the first time that the country has been totally out of our hands. The feeling continues.

Roomba

Dick bought me a Roomba yesterday, and I mentioned it in my journal. Well, my friend Mitch in England didn't understand what it is, so she posted a comment. I think it's possible that other people may not know what it is either, because we are so cutting edge (!). And also some people may not read the comments, so this is what I posted for Mitch:

A Roomba is (what else) a robot vacuum cleaner! It does your floors whether carpet or wood or linoleum. I used it this morning for the first time, and it was great! I followed it all around the house just giggling. It's round and red and flat, and when it bumps into things, it very wisely turns itself around and goes in a different direction. It runs for 2 hours on one charge, and then it needs to be plugged in again. I'm telling you what - it's the most fun you can have cleaning house!! I am a happy camper!

We gave Jana a Roomba for Christmas, because it's supposed to be very good at picking up cat hair. I waited for a report from her before I asked for one. She really liked it and recommended it - so hooray! Her cats didn't mind it either. Dick thought that maybe the cats would take turns riding it like a skateboard.

Today was very snowy and blowy - more than 30 school districts cancelled school today. I haven't left the fireside all day. I'm reading the latest Kinsey Milhone, R is for Ricochet. McLenithan came along with his snow blower, and Dick shoveled off the porch, but I was a couch potato.

I watched quite a bit of Condoleezza's confirmation hearing. I love Senator Barbara Boxer. Dr. Rice is a piece of work.

Chianti's and BoTangles

Originally, we were going to meet DinoDuo for lunch, and Dick was going geocaching with them afterwards, while I went to get a perm and a haircut. The weather changed our plans. We all decided that it wouldn't be a good day for them to drive over from Kalkaska, so they didn't come. Dick and I went to Chianti's anyway, since their buffet special was 2/$10. Nobody told us about the $2 for parking, however.

So I went to BoTangles, and Dick ran some errands. It was fun talking to Colleen - her life is better than my soap opera! Dick bought me a Roomba! I can hardly wait to try it. It has to charge up overnight and so we'll see how it works tomorrow.

NMG January Meet and Greet

This morning the intrepid geo-cachers met for breakfast at Mabel's. What a good time!

People came from all over. We saw, met, and talked to all sorts of cachers: The Light People from Farmington Hills, CoyChev from Reed City, Team Sandrich from Onekama, Smokey Bear from Manistee, Trashcan and Cachehound from T.C., Jethro and Peaches from Alpena, eb_ii from Gaylord, ABX Guy and Wife from T.C., Clay People from Suttons Bay, Victory Mike from Ann Arbor, 5vons from Oscoda, dajayhawk from Saginaw, M'Lynn from T.C., and Craig333 from Sault Ste. Marie among others.

After breakfast we drove around to various city parks and Dick scouted out good places to hide caches. It was 11 degrees F, snowy and blowy. Occasionally the sun would peek through the clouds and the lighting was really eerie - a mist of snow, a sunlit stone wall, a menacing black cloud, and a patch of blue sky.

We went to visit Mother - took out the trash, balanced the checkbook, removed the last vestiges of Christmas greenery, and had a nice visit. She's much more like herself - her cold is better and she's not as achy. It was a very positive visit. It's amazing how much my mood improves when I'm not worried about her.

Now we're watching the Patriots play the Colts. We just naturally have to cheer for Tom Brady, but it's a little harder today because Josh Williams and Cato June play for the Colts. I love Cato June especially. But I'm cheering for Tom anyway.

Winter Convergence

Believe it or not, with temps in single digits, the Northern Michigan Geocachers had a picnic today at Muncie Lakes.

Last year, Laurie and Dylan were here and we all went to the picnic. This year, I stayed home by the fire and Dick went to the picnic and crystallized his toenails. Actually, in spite of the cold weather, there were 79 people who attended. As I said, believe it or not! There was chili, hot dogs, french fries, and cake to eat - I guess it was hard to keep the hot food hot! Afterwards, Tim and Susie (DinoDuo) came over for hot chocolate, and we talked geocaching for an hour and a half.

It was Mancino's pizza for dinner. You just have to love Mancino's!

Laurie and Chip were having a Steelers party with some new friends who are also from Pittsburgh. The Steelers had a hard time winning, but the Jets' kicker gave them the game wrapped up in gold ribbon. Steelers won in overtime.

At the time of the failed field goal, we were on iSight with Tom. Very much fun. We're so high tech we can't stand ourselves!

Who Belongs in the Hospital??

Today was the momentous day when Dick replaced the faucet in the kitchen sink. It wasn't easy, and Dick isn't a plumber, but he did it and it works great! There was one little glitch - the water filter wouldn't fit on the new faucet. More later.
Hooray for Dick!

After the faucet was installed we went big grocery shopping at Glen's and bought tons and tons of healthy food. Honest.

Mother called with some news - she was quite amused by this.... Integrity called and said that Stacy wouldn't be coming today because she's in the hospital with a kidney infection. Last week it was Shannon who was in the hospital. Mother gets a kick out of having both of these young whipper-snappers hospitalized while she goes blithely on through life in relatively good health. Shannon is in her forties, and Stacy is 23. Mom is 96. Who do you think probably really belongs in the hospital??

After Guiding Light we went for a ride to the hardware store to get an adapter so Dick could attach the water filter to the new faucet. We drove through town and looked at the gray, grim bay. It's a very cold day - temps in single digits - totally overcast, snowy and blowy.

Phantom of the Opera

Mother still seems fine - Shannon was there this morning. All is well.

The weather was lousy this morning, so it seemed to me like a good day to go to the movies. I picked Phantom because I do love musicals! It was beautiful and exciting and most of the music was spectacular.

Dick took me and picked me up, and despite a bit of a screw up on the timing, it was a great afternoon.

Things Seem Better

Today Mother seems fine. She still has a bad cold, and she's a little sore, but she seems in good spirits. Stacy was there this morning, and that gives me a lot of peace of mind. Mother still doesn't want to see a doctor.
Today we did our errands left over from yesterday - Apple store (we bought a mouse for my new LAPTOP), shirts, visitor Center, Record Eagle, and Gill-Roys to pick up the new faucet we ordered.
We came home to pot roast in the crockpot. I think that the new crockpot has a tendency to overcook things. It has a keep warm feature, but it seems to be too warm or something.

It's Not Funny

Spoke to Shannon this morning, and she reported that there was water on the floor in Mom's basement, and that the washer wasn't working properly. She also reported that Mom seemed to have a bad cold with lots of congestion, and Shannon was worried about pneumonia setting in if we didn't do anything. Mother said "I'm not making any appointment with any doctor." She thinks it will go away soon. I called Max's and they said that a service man would call soon to come and examine the washer.

Dick and I had our day so organized, you would have been proud. We had a list of things to accomplish in town before our 4 p.m. meeting with M'Lynn at Cuppa Joe at the old State Hospital. We had everything all set to go, and then the phone rang.

Remember the commercial - "I've fallen and I can't get up!" ? Everybody made jokes about it - Leno and Letterman did it in their monologues. Even school children imitated the old lady and laughed. It's not funny. I got that phone call today around 1:30 p.m. Mother had fallen under the dining room table and couldn't get up.
We rushed in as we were - Dick had to hop off his tractor to join me. When we got there, it was a really pitiful sight. Mom was on the floor - the phone was still off the hook - she had knocked over the lamp and the radio, and her pill bottles had spilled. She had multiple bruises on her face - but nothing was broken. She's sore on the left side, and her neck hurts on the right side. We don't know what happened, and neither does she. Dick and I think that she probably passed out or blacked out or whatever you want to call it. We lifted her up and she walked leaning on Dick very gingerly back to her chair in the living room. We made sure that she had water to drink - and I made her a cup of tea to have with her donut hole left over from lunch. We sat with her for quite a while. The man from Max's called and came right over - so it was a good coincidence that we were there. There's no way that Mother should be attempting the basement stairs. She seemed shaken, which is certainly understandable. She also seemed weak and feeble, but still very mentally sharp. After the repairman left we sat with her for a while longer. I tried to talk her into coming home with us, but she wasn't having any. She's fiercely independent still, and insists on staying in her home no matter what.

We left around 3:30, promising to bring back dinner for her so she wouldn't have to do any kitchen preparation. We met M'Lynn at Cuppa Joe and it was a very interesting introduction to a very unique individual. She knows everyone, and has been everywhere and done everything. Totally amazing. The time went fast, and at 5:30 we went to South City Limits to pick up Mom's supper. She was thrilled with it (whitefish and mashed potatoes, salad and rolls). I tried to assure myself that she really would be all right at home by herself after this bad experience, but I'm still very nervous about leaving her there alone.

On the way home we picked up Chinese take-away at Ming's. After dinner I called Jim to give him the update, so he's aware of what's been going on. I asked him if he could do me a favor and come to Mom's the weekend of Feb. 26 so we could go to a geocaching event in Alma for a couple of nights. Ordinarily, we would just go and call Mother every day. But after this fall, I'm leery of being out of touch for that long. But he and Emilie will be in Florida that weekend, and the reservations have been made for a year. He feels badly that he can't help us out, but I told him not to give it a second thought. I take the responsibility for Mom because I just happen to be here. If he were here, he would do the same. You play the cards you're dealt.

Now I'm typing this all up as a kind of therapy. It's making me feel better. It's "Blog as Stress-Reducer".

It's been an eventful day, and we're both a little uptight, and I'm very sure that Mother will be sore in the morning. Stacy is scheduled to be at Mom's at 10 a.m. and I'm planning to call and talk to her to explain what happened and what to do if it happens again. And on the bright side, we have our errands that we had planned to do today all organized and listed and set out for tomorrow.

Coffee Klatch

Dick worked at the Agency this morning and then had a meeting scheduled for 2 p.m., so he wasn't coming home for lunch. Perfect time for coffee with the neighbors. Shirley McLenithan came over at about 10:30 and we had coffee and banana nut bread and talked for about an hour and a half. It was very enjoyable, and we are getting to know each other a little bit better. She lived in Ann Arbor for many years, so we have quite a bit in common besides living on River Road.
After she left I went grocery shopping - and that was about as exciting as the day got.
I love my new laptop.

Football Playoffs

Don't you find that you root for the strangest teams when the playoffs start? We admittedly root for the team that has the most ex-Michigan players on it. Today we were rooting for Cato June and Steve Hutchison. (doesn't even matter what team they're on!)
We went to town to find 2 new caches put out by M'lynn. We hit .500 for the day. The one we found was down by the Senior Center. The one we did not find was in the choo choo train behind Oryana. Several people have logged that they could not find that one. We'll give it another try later.
We stopped by the U&I on the off chance that the Greek Pirate travel bug was left there inadvertantly, and it was! We recovered the travel bug! Even more exciting than that is that one of the waitresses is going to Greece in 2 weeks and wants to take it there for us! So Dick will try to find a cacher in Greece who can pick it up from her and take it to the cache on top of the mountain where it's supposed to go. What are the odds that someone in TC would be going to Greece, and that the travel bug would find her??
We went to see Mother to do the trash and recycling. We took her some delicious pea soup. We didn't have a lot of news to share - but at least we touched base. She's trying hard to understand the iSight gizmo and being able to see Tom live on our computer - but for Mother it just doesn't compute. I can undertand that, because I'm boggled by it myself!

The Lost Greek Pirate

We made pea soup with ham in our new crock pot. Cross your fingers.
We searched and searched, but we couldn't find the travel bug that wants to go to Greece. Dick was sure he had it after we left the U&I yesterday, but it wasn't in any pockets, in the car, or anywhere in the house. I guess in the total scheme of things, this is not a tragedy of any importance, but it's a little embarrassing to lose someone else's travel bug. (blush)
We did find two new caches - one at Clinch Park and one along the river behind the Post Office.
We came home to pea soup, which turned out to be the best pea soup we ever made. Hooray! The new crock pot is really nice.

Shopping Spree

We had quite a long list of things that need to be replaced, so we set out for Meijer - thinking that we could do one-stop shopping. I knew what kind of a crock pot I wanted, so we went there first - and they didn't have it. They had lots of crock pots, but not that particular one (5 qt. Rival Smart Pot). They didn't have the electric can opener we wanted either. We did get a steam iron and a clock radio and some groceries, and then we headed for the Post Office to mail bills.

Dick had picked up a Greek Pirate travel bug Tuesday in Gaylord at the Rainbow Trophy store. He wanted to take a picture of the travel bug with something Greek - so we went to the U&I for lunch, and Dick ordered a gyro. He propped the travel bug up next to the gyro and took its picture (geocachers are a little screwy).

After lunch we went to the Kitchen Collection at the Horizon Outlet Mall and were able to get the right crockpot and the right can opener. So now we are fully outfitted. Well...except for the new phone we want...but I think we're going to order that on the internet.

Mother seems comfortable with her new caretaker. She says Stacy is a good shopper, and that's very important to Mom.

iSight

For Christmas, Tom gave us an iSight camera so we can communicate on the computer free. This is an amazing gizmo - I plugged it into the NEW LAPTOP and pushed a couple of keys, and there was Tom, sitting in his home in San Diego! It's like watching him on TV - you can see him clearly, hear him perfectly, and he can see and hear us. I don't know how often we will have a "tele-conference" like this, but the technology is great, and it was very exciting.

Integrity Individual Care

It turns out that Mother's new caregiver is only 23 years old, and yesterday was her first day on the job. I have mixed feelings about that...in a way I wish she were more experienced, but then she's young and flexible and not set in her ways, so Mom should be able to get her to do almost anything around the house. She made a couple of minor mistakes today (leaving lights on in the basement) but nothing that isn't correctable. She says she doesn't know how to do Mother's hair in rollers - so maybe we can keep Shannon on just to do the hair once a week!

After going to Mother's, I went shopping, put beef and carrot stew in the crock pot, and noticed that the lid was broken. So now I need a new crock pot. And a new iron. I see more shopping in my future.

Dick took down the outside lights except for the multi-colored ones on the tree we can see from the living room. Because they're too pretty to put away right now.

We've both logged a lot of computer time today - me at pogo.com, and Dick at geocaching.com. It's a good life.

Return of the GeoCaching King (RBS)

First of all, today we decided to update Mother's home care so that she would have reliable coverage. The way it is now, if the caregiver can't come, nobody comes and Mother is left alone and abandoned. (That may be a tad dramatic.) So tomorrow, we're going to try a new caregiver from a new company (Integrity Individual Care) and see how Mom likes it. Cross your fingers. This organization employs 22 caregivers, so that if one caregiver can't come, another will substitute. That would give us all a lot more peace of mind.

With that all arranged, we decided to go to Gaylord to find the caches that we had to forego when we were there on Dec. 2 because of the big storm. We hadn't been geocaching since our Florida weekend. We ate a late lunch (1:30) at the Sugar Bowl in downtown Gaylord, and then proceeded to find 5 caches right in Gaylord.

It was a memorable caching day because we were equipped with our new Basswood Bend pins for trading that Dick got for Christmas, our new Basswood Bend pencils, and our new Basswood Bend signature cards that Tom whipped up for us and put on a CD so we can have a never-ending supply.

The parking lot by the football field was a skating rink, but the main roads were clear and dry. My favorite find was at the Call of the Wild. What a clever cache! We almost gave up before finding it.

At Rainbow Trophy, Dick arranged for eb_ii to make us some metal signature items. He'll bring them to the Winter Convergence. Their parking lot was a sheet of ice, and Dick took a tumble. He only had a couple of minor abrasions on his hands, but I think he'll be feeling the after effects tomorrow!

Came home and made chili to eat while watching the National Championship Game between USC (ugh) and Oklahoma (ugher). While making the chili, I realized that it had been a long day, starting with a stressful morning making arrangements for Mother, some physical activity during the geo-caching, and a lot of hours logged in the car - but I didn't feel sick and I didn't feel tired. I'll tell you a secret. It really feels good to feel good. Hooray!

Oopsie

Dick worked at the Agency this morning, and before he left he asked me to fill out the forms for the $100 rebate for the Epson. In doing so, I discovered that we needed to include the proof of purchase from the boxes of both the Epson and the iBook - which we recycled yesterday. I spoke to Dick, and he stopped at the recycling center to check for the boxes, but the receptacle had been emptied. (Heavy sigh) We were just too darned efficient this time. The Computer Haus said they would try to help us get the rebate anyway - another item on our to-do list.

Sad news from Margo Reynolds Janke that Sherm passed away on December 22. ALS is such a horrible affliction - at the end he just couldn't breathe. We had such a great visit overnight visit from him when he was taking his "last road trip" about 18 months ago. He was a real kindred spirit regarding politics, education, the environment, and life in general. Sherm was the 3rd SLG husband to pass away - Mary's first husband Digger and Sandy N's husband Gene were the other two.

Today I packed up Christmas - ornaments (in the new ornament holder) and wrappings - and Dick took down the new faux tree. So everything is put away for next year. The outside lights are still glowing - I like them - they really brighten up our dark nights.

Bye Bye Jana

Off to the airport (and the beautiful new terminal) at 6:45 a.m. We had an overnight ice storm, but it wasn't that bad - the roads were just a little crusty, not glazed.
We had a quiet and restful day (I napped for an hour and a half in the recliner while the Lions were losing).
We visited recycling with all of the cardboard from Christmas shipping and gift-giving.
Then we visited Mother to do the trash. She's fine.

New Year's Day

I wanted to have a New Year's buffet instead of a dinner. So this morning I made meatballs, zucchini strips, and roasted carrots to have with ham. And I could also work on the laundry at long last because our dryer is now fixed! After our buffet, Jana and I went in to visit Mother; we took her some fabulous New Year's buffet leftovers. She is at the top of her form today. We had a really nice visit.

Tom called us from the Rose Bowl! He's there with Todd and Steve. He said that about 60% of the stadium is filled with Michigan fans. The game is ready to start now - Michigan vs. Texas. More later.

Well it was a spectacular football game - very exciting - lots of beautiful plays. We lost by one point on a field goal by Texas with 2 seconds on the clock. This from mgoblue.com:

Dusty Mangum's 37-yard field goal as time expired was the difference as No. 6 Texas edged the No. 13 Michigan football team 38-37 in the Rose Bowl on Saturday, Jan. 1, in Pasadena, Calif. Several Wolverines had huge individual performances, as Chad Henne set a Rose Bowl record with four touchdown passes, including three to Braylon Edwards, who became the Big Ten's career leader in TD receptions. Steve Breaston added a 50-yard scoring grab among his 315 all-purpose yards for Michigan, which finishes with a 9-3 record.

Dick just told me that we have an ice storm predicted for tonight. Oh dear - Jana is supposed to fly home in the morning. Those forecasters are always wrong - I'm not really worried - yet.

Anyway, HAPPY 2005 !

New Year's Eve

Dick went in to the Visitor Center so that Kathee wouldn't have to be there alone this morning. He wore a lot of his new Christmas things and he looked very sharp. He always looks so good!

Hooray for the Sears repairman! He came in a timely fashion and fixed our dryer - it had a broken ignition thingy. It feels good to be back in the laundry business. Sort of.

Jana and I went shopping around 4:30p.m. First stop was Bass shoes in the Horizon Outlet Mall. When we entered the store, they said "we're closing in 15 minutes". But that was enough time for Jana to buy a pair of shoes and 14,000 socks! Thern we went to Best Buy and she got DVDs and a couple of games.

Our New Year's celebration was at 9 p.m. Appetizers and champagne - and then Dick went to bed. Jana and I watched the extended disk of The Lord of the Rings until about 11:45, and then we switched to live TV to watch the ball drop.

Happy New Year!

Bye Bye Boxes

Dick and I went recycling today. We had so many boxes that even flattened, they took up the whole back of the Explorer. We had other recycling also, so off we went, even though there was an unseasonal downpour going on. After dumping all of that, we went to Staples to get an ink thingy for our printer. Then we were off to Glen's to shop for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day (go blue). It was a totally miserable day, weatherwise.

Dick had scraped the snow off the asphalt apron to our access road, so we didn't have to deal with slush, etc.

After putting away the groceries, and trying to put the ink thingy in the printer, we discovered that we bought the wrong kind. So it was back out in the rain and back to Staples to get the right thing. Sometimes life is very complex.

Jana has renewed her interest in Everquest and she has played quite a bit today - she's so glad to have the vacation time.

Tom, Todd, and Steve are going to the Rose Bowl game together again this year. It will be the same as last year, only without Jana and Tim.

Off To Houghton Lake

Since we weren't able to see Sniders on Sunday, Dick, Jana and I decided this would be a good day to go visit. First we went and had brunch at Rico's since we had to go to Chum's Corners anyway. It was a good day for a drive - the roads were fine. We were only there for about an hour and a half - long enough to exchange presents and learn all the new gossi... um news from Belleville. We had a really good time - got home around 6:30.

Tsunami

We watched in horror the reports of the earthquake/tsunami which occurred Sunday in Asia - Sri Lanka, Sumatra and other parts of Indonesia, and India. Now they are saying that the death toll is 72,000 and may reach 100,000. It is unfathomable. We've seen videos taken by tourists from high rise hotels which show people just being swept away like leaves in the river.

Jana got an email from her friend Chris Stowers (Chris the Brit) in New Delhi on Sunday, before it all happened. These stricken areas are his old stomping grounds. She emailed him about it but hasn't heard back yet. She also called Americorps and made a contribution for relief. We saw appeals from Oxfam and Save the Children - we'll decide in a bit which to donate to - I'm sure the need will be long lasting.

Jana and I went to see Oceans 12 this afternoon - it was only OK. As Dylan would say, it should be rated C for Complicated. The Julia Roberts/Bruce Willis thing was entertaining, but I can't say it's going to be one of my faves overall. Most of the time I couldn't tell who was doing what to whom.

Our dryer is definitely broken, and the repairman is supposed to come Friday. I hope he doesn't decide to celebrate New Year's Eve early and call off his visit. After watching tsunami reports, I'm not going to whine about one broken appliance.

Return of the King & National Treasure

This morning Jana and I watched disk 2 of Return of the King. We made Dick watch 3 scenes: Eowyn's "I am no man"; Legolas defeating the Oliphant; and Aragorn's motivational speech to his troops - "This is not that day."

This afternoon we went to see National Treasure at the Horizon Cinema. I really enjoyed it - it was fun, action-packed, intellectual, and funny all at the same time. Jana liked Riley the wise-cracking sidekick the best. Nicolas Cage did a great job I thought.

The cable company called and said the internet connection was fixed and voila, it really was. So now we're back in business...as far as the computer goes - now I think the dryer is broken. It's always something.

Laurie called to find out how to put coordinates in her GPSr because she forgot how. Luckily Dick got home from the Agency while we were still on the phone, because he's the GPS expert. We found out later that the Sharkie Crew found 2 geocaches in Port St. Lucie with the help of Uncle Tom. Dylan took a pop gun that shoots ping pong balls from the first one and a dollar bill from the other one.

We all went out to dinner at the Mongolian Barbecue - it was super-great as always!

We all worked on getting our new Epson printer hooked up and installed on my NEW LAPTOP. This printer can print letter size pages and also 4x6 pictures. Should be a great addition to our high tech arsenal (hehehe).

Day After Christmas

The Day After
We hade planned to go to Manistee this morning to see Kim, Mike, Adam, Jacob, Eric, Tammy, Bill and Jan. But when Jana got up she had a headache and wasn’t feeling at all well. So we called and cancelled, and Jana went back to bed. Dick and I were kind of at loose ends, but we managed to had a very relaxing morning reading our new books and I enjoyed also playing with MY NEW LAPTOP. We still have no internet connection, but I had fun looking at all of the features, including the World Book.
In the afternoon Jana and I watched Disc 1 of Return of the King - what a marvelous production. After that, Dick and I went to see Mother. We took her some good turkey leftovers. Dick did a little shoveling, and changed the furnace filter. I set up the new jar opener, and it looks nice on the counter top. I really think that after Mother has a chance to get used to it she’ll find it’s very helpful.
We drove around town a bit - it’s a pretty day - sunnier than yesterday.
We all watched a littlle football - Brian Griese was not doing that well.
Jana was still feeling ill. We all went to bed early.
I’m reading Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz. It’s a really fascinating book. I’m enjoying it immensely. It’s the kind of book that you don’t want to finish.

Christmas Day

Christmas Day 2004

Santa came! Santa came! AND HE BROUGHT ME A LAPTOP! Oh yes, and he brought Dick a reciprocating saw, but he brought me a LAPTOP!

The most ironic thing is that last Wednesday, our cable modem went out, and although Charter has tried a couple of things to get it up and going again, nothing has worked. And so here I am with a new LAPTOP and no internet connection. The strongest definition of irony available...

So I’m getting acquainted with other features of my LAPTOP including World Book and Apple works. When I came into the living room, the laptop was sitting on the table, and Beaches was playing on the screen. Yes, oh yes, my new laptop has a DVD player too.

I had planned to have the turkey in the oven by 8 a.m., and I had to tear myself away from my NEW LAPTOP to go make the dressing and stuff the bird. The turkey went into the oven at 8:01.

Jim called around 9:30, and they were all finished with Christmas. I spoke with Austen, and she was totally thrilled with her new American Girl doll Nelly, and all of the accoutrements. She was on cloud 9.

Jana got up around 10 a.m., and Dick went to get Mother around 11.

We had a lot of fun opening presents as usual. Mother got “too much” as usual. I was especially happy with my new wallet and the high tech pedometer! But we all got many wonderful things - lots of great DVD sets and CDs. (Which I can play on my new laptop.)

Dick got a great CQ pullover windbreaker that is fantastic looking on him. He got quite a lot of clothes, included a Hammock Creek sweatshirt which he put right on. Everything seems to fit him just right.

Mother got books, and fruit, and powder and pens, and a Great Grandma sweatshirt. Jana gave her an electric jar opener, and I think it’s going to be a good thing for Mother to have.

Jana got lots of DVDs and CDs and books, and a swimsuit, and a bag, and CDs, and a picture to hang - but she seemed to like her Roomba the best!

I had planned for the dinner to be ready at 2 p.m., but the turkey bird was not quite done, so we stuck it back in the oven and had dinner around 2:45.

Laurie, Jana and I all got Nomination bracelets - we had so much fun with those. Mine has NJKS and hearts, and yellow roses, a cup of coffee, a snowman, and a stegosaurus (Steigersaurus). Jana’s has JLS@CQ, hearts, and kitties. Laurie’s has LJSG, a little boy, an airplane, hearts, and double hearts. They are so much fun to put together, and pretty to wear.

Everybody in the family got U of M Rose Bowl 2005 T-shirts. Dylan’s says Water Boy, Hydration Coordinator. Fun.
After dinner we talked to Florida - everybody there was having a great time- Dylan got 3 great new playstation games, and the RoboSapiens, and many board games. He was a happy boy. Tom was busy being a good Uncle, and Laurie and Chip seemed very mellow. I was a little disappointed because I guess the interactive globe thing was not an immediate success, but I’m sure its day will come.

Took Mom home around 3:45, and got her all settled in. Dick and I took a drive around town - 2 lady walkers were out and about, and that was about it.

The rest of the day passed in kind of a blur - we all went to bed early.

I HAVE A LAPTOP!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Jana Comes Today - Christmas Eve Day

Jana Comes Today-Christmas Eve Day

We still have no internet connection. We really rely on it to have a normal day now. It feels weird not to be able to log on.

Time to start Christmas dinner prep - cooked the giblets and made salad this morning. Dick chopped onions and giblets for the stuffing. He also had a lot of snow-blowing to do. Thank goodness that Tom McLenithan is here with his big tractor blower to clear out our access road. Clearing our driveway is a big enough job! McLenithan will be here all winter this year, with the exception of 2 weeks in February. Last year, Dick had to do everything all by himself.

Charter Communication called and said that other people on River Road had no internet etiher, and that they would send a man out and call us back in a couple of hours to see if we had a connection. They never called back, and we don’t have a connection.

We couldn’t track Jana’s flight, so we went to the airport not quite knowing what to expect. There had been weather delays all over the country. We got to the new terminal around 7:30. Her flight had originally been scheduled to arrive at around 7:45 p.m., and she finally arrived at around 9.

And then it was oyster stew time. Oyster stew is our traditional Christmas Eve supper. It’s the only time all year that Dick has a prayer of getting oysters for supper.

Jana spent the rest of the evening opening the boxes she had shipped and wrapping the contents for Christmas morning.

Santa Claus comes tonight.
Happy Christmas Eve.

We Have Bags!

Dick suggested going to the airtport first thing this morning to see if we could get our bags. The American desk was vacant, and other employees said that the American folks were all out working on the departure of a flight and would be right back. We sat and sat and sat and saw nobody. The first employee who walked past didn't know anything about baggage. But the second was a man who actually seemed to have an idea about how to help us. He didn't have the right key or something, so he had to go get a United person to come and open the door for him. And our bags were in there! Whoopee!

We celebrated by going out to breakfast at Sue's J&S, and then we went home and did laundry.

Pixie Dust

After consulting with our private travel agent Laurie in Florida, we determined that we would most likely not get on any Eagle flight to Traverse City today. The morning flight was oversold by one, and the evening flight was full.

Our fallback position is always to go in and out of Grand Rapids if all else fails. In fact at the beginning of the trip, Dick thought we should just drive down to GR and fly out of there in the first place. He called Budget Rent-a-Car from the Hotel and arranged for a car one-way from GR to TC.

Anyway, there were 2 early morning flights to Grand Rapids - we thought we would try for the 9 a.m. flight because the theory was that by then the roads would be better driving home. Totally by chance, when we arrived at O'Hare this morning, we checked the departure monitor, and noticed that the early flight to GR had been delayed and was going to leave in about a half hour. The gate was just around the corner from the monitor, so we said what the heck, we might as well go check it out - if we can get on it it'll be gravy. We went up to the desk at gate H3A and the agent gave us boarding passes! Boarding passes! As Tom once said, getting a boarding pass is Nirvana for stand-by passengers. We can count on one hand the number of times that has happened to us. After a slight gate change to H2, we were actually on our way to Grand Rapids and out of O'Hare. No offense, Illinois.

I called Laurie to tell her that we got boarding passes, and she said, "Oh thank God you did that!" Evidently she had been checking the loads on the 2 flights to GR and on the nine o'clock one that we had planned to take, there were 10 open seats, and a family of 6 who were D1 non-rev passengers had just checked in. So that would have been at least 6 people ahead of us, and who knows how many more. So we really got on the right flight. It's because we're such Savvy Travelers, you know (snort). Laurie has always said that we have pixie dust. We've always said that she is the Voice of Doom.

The drive home was pleasant and quick. The roads were just wet, and traffic was light. We were in TC before 2 p.m. We stopped by the airport to return the rental car and to see about our luggage. The American desk was closed and there was nobody around to ask about our suitcases. So we picked up our mail, and headed home.

We went back up to the airport in the late afternoon, thinking that someone would be at the desk because flights were expected - but our timing must have been off because again there was nobody there. So we thought if we just wasted an hour or so we would try it again. We drove around town looking at Christmas lights, went out to dinner at La Senorita, and then figured it was time for the desk to be open. Back to the airport, but no luck. So we went to Walgreen's, and diddled around for a while longer and went back to the airport. Bottom line is that our bags are still at the airport, and there's no one there to get them for us. We'll do it tomorrow.

It's nice to be home - and now it's all downhill to Christmas. Jana will be here Christmas Eve.

First Class

This is the day that Dylan and I finished the gingerbread house - and what a spectacular gingerbread house it is, too! Dylan especially liked adding the gumdrops, skittles, and sprinkles - and he did a great job. He's going to save it til Wednesday, so Chip and Tom can see it - and then they can eat it up.
We left the house around 10:30, and headed to see Santa at the Palm Beach Gardens Mall. The Santa set-up there was absolutely gorgeous - very festive and decorative. They even had a couple of snow machines to blow "snow" over the shoppers. It was some kind of small bits of foam which melted on contact. Dylan's picture with Santa turned out really well, and he had quite a chat with Santa, but he wouldn't tell us what they talked about.
Then on to West Palm Beach to the airport to catch the flight home. Security isn't as bad as it's been made out to be - we just walked right through every time. You do have to remove your shoes and jackets, but that's certainly no big deal.
We waited for them to call our names after everyone had boarded, and when they did, we got boarding passes for first class! Sometimes I really love stand-by. The flight attendant's name was Katashina and she was from Poland. She was very difficult to understand, but friendly and attentive. A couple with a seventeen month old baby daughter sat across the aisle - she gave her parents a tough time the whole way. They never got a chance to relax. But they did drink a lot of wine! Katashina kept refilling those glasses.
The plan was to land at O'Hare, and get on the American Eagle flight to Traverse City. But it seems that due to windy and cold conditions, the flight was weight restricted. They blocked off 10 seats so they could add more fuel. Sometimes I really hate stand-by. Fortunately, I have a husband who plans ahead, and we had a reservation at the Ramada Plaza Hotel at O'Hare in case we couldn't make it home today.
I was boo-zausted when we got to the Hotel, and once we got to the room I really didn't want to go back out again for dinner. So we called room service and stayed put. The Ramada Plaza has been "completely renovated" and it's very attractive and spacious. The furnishings are all new - it was a nice place to be stranded.

Big Slice vs. Mancino's

Laurie picked up some kind of a bug and was quite ill overnight Friday night.
Everybody else is fine. Dick and I slept well, and Dylan is still 7 this morning! I helped him do another homework page - I think he has 2 more to do before Monday.
When Laurie perked up a little, we went geo-caching while Chip stayed home to watch the Steelers.
Driving to the cache site we were looking for storm damage - and you can see some if you look really hard. Trees have been blown over, and there are piles of branches around. but it's not overwhelmingly noticeable. We could also see roof damage. Most of the house have the red tile roofs, and it's easy to see where tiles are missing, or where tiles have been replaced. Some of the big box stores still have parts of their signs missing. You can see storm evidence if you know where to look.
Dick and Dylan found 2 caches, one by Abacoa. We got home in time to watch the Steelers win, and to order pizza from Big Slice Pizza. It was a taste test between Big Slice and Mancino's. It was really good pizza, but both Dick and I like the Mancino's crust better.
We spent a very quiet rest-of-of-the-day - everybody took a nap except Dylan and Chip.
We watched Dylan play his new Sly Cooper game on PlayStation2.

Happy Birthday Dylan

Chip was originally scheduled to get home from work this morning, but he had an equipment delay in Dallas so he got home a little later than we planned.
Dylan was allowed to stay home from school and play with Grandma and Grandpa which was great.
Dylan and Grandma did some homework, and played a PlayStation game. Dylan and Grandpa played catch in the backyard, and then went tromping around in the Preserve searching for who knows what.
Laurie, on the other hand, went in to school to help Mrs. Pittman with the holiday centers from 11:30 to 1:30. When she got home, we went over to the Treasure Coast Mall to see "Lemony Snickett, a Series of Unfortunate Events". It was a very enjoyable movie, and the theater wasn't very crowded. All in all it was a very nice experience.
After the movie we went to Duffy's, where Chip met us for dinner. I had a great Asian Chicken salad with sesame dressing. Yum.
Back at home we opened birthday presents and had cake and ice cream. What a nice birthday for Dylan Patrick Gillespie, age 7.

Fly Away to Palm City

The first sign of a good travel day was that while we couldn't sit together on American Eagle, at least we each sat on the side with one seat, so we didn't have to sit with anyone. When the Eagle landed at O'Hare, we only had 45 minutes to make it to the next flight to Palm Beach. The second sign of a good travel day was that we made it with time to spare, which is no small feat! I had been worried about walking through the airport, but I needn't have worried. I think I stopped for 2 short rests in all. The best thing of all was that we sat in row 31, three seats in a row, and no one came to sit in the other seat, so we had the whole row to ourselves.
We got to Laurie's house around 2 p.m. and Laurie went to pick up Dylan. We were his big birthday surprise! And he was really surprised to see us. He had a golf lesson at 3:30, so we all went over to the Hammock Creek Golf Club and watched him swing at the ball for an hour. At the end of the lesson, they had a little contest, and Dylan won $3.00!
We went out to dinner at Flannigan's. Good burger - very friendly service - Laurie ran into Dana, who remembered us from the flight down here last spring. Dana was our flight attendant. It was fun talking to her and her daughter, Morgan. Dylan and I worked on his homework - it was work left over from staying home sick earlier in the week.
Driving back home at night was so beautiful! The Hammock Creek neighborhood is very highly decorated for Christmas! I don't think I've ever seen so many beautiful houses so nicely decorated
December 16th was my Dad's birthday, and tomorrow is Dylan's birthday. I remember before he was born, Laurie said that if he was born on Dad's birthday, she would name him Dylan Thurman Gillespie in honor of Tharel Thurman Kanitz. I think Dylan lucked out!

Tying up Loose Ends

Today we finalized getting ready to go to Florida. You know, stopping the mail, stopping the newspaper, etc.
We mailed our financial changes to Vanguard after stopping at the bank for signature confirmation.
We got books for Mother, and picked up some stamps for her. She seems in good spirits. Jim and Emilie are on call in Saginaw in case anything should happen.
Packing and unpacking are always the worst parts of a trip. Today was packing. I have lists of my lists.
Yesterday we bought all the items for our Christmas dinner so we don't have to rush around when we get back from Florida.

Jim's Visit

We went in to see Jim around 3 p.m. He brought lots of goodies from Saginaw for Mother, and two beautiful packages for us. We had a nice time visiting and hearing all the latest news from the Kanitz side of the family. He did lots of things for Mother - cleaned out the coffee pot, cleaned the top of the refrigerator, etc. etc. It's always great to have Jim stay at Mom's for a while!

NMG Christmas Bash

The Northern Michigan Geocaching Christmas Bash was today in Gaylord at B.C.'s Pizza. There were around 30 people there in spite of horrible traveling conditions. On the way over on M-72, Dick and I actually turned around at one point and headed back home. But the sky cleared a little, and the snow lightened, and so we turned around again and headed for Gaylord.

On the big hill just west of Kalkaska there was a terrible accident. We saw two vehicles which had been heavily damaged, more vehicles off on the side of the road, people running around the damaged cars. There was one police car there when we went past. As we went on toward Kalkaska, we saw 3 more police cars, 2 ambulances, and 2 fire department trucks heading for the accident. It was a little unnerving, but Dick remained unswerving. (Pun intended.)

The Bash was really a good time. It was fun to talk to other geo-cachers, and to meet old friends and lots of new ones. The pizza was great, and there was a nice salad bar. Everyone got gifts, exchanged signature items, took pictures, bought raffle tickets, and we all got souvenir mugs etched with the date of the party and the geo-caching logo. It reminded me of the type of favor you might get at a fraternity party.

The ride home was uneventful, though treacherous at times. We passed through rain, snow, sleet, freezing rain and I don't know what all. It took us about an hour and a half to get home, so the roads were better - because this morning it took us 2 and a half hours to get to Gaylord, counting turn around time.

Jim has arrived safely at Mother's from Saginaw, and we'll see him tomorrow.

This is Dick's version of our day:

We enjoyed much of the day, all except the driving. The National Weather Service in Grayling broadcast a Winter Storm Warning for the northwest lower peninsula ending with the following statement, "A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS." We waited until 10 AM to leave the house figuring that that would give the plows and traffic a chance to clear the roads. It took us an hour to travel 25 miles. We were in the blizzard that I said would foil our trip. When we saw that we were last in a line of 15 cars slipping and sliding along at 20 MPH we decided the GeoGods did not want us to attend event caches. We missed the last one because to damage to our cache mobile. Deciding we didn't want to mess up our new Forester, we turned back. As we headed for home with our tails between our legs, in less than 5 miles, the snow turned to rain and the roads were just wet and slushy and a plow was heading east. We discussed the situation and Geocaching won out over good sense. Turning around once more we pushed on past wrecks, 4 police cars, 2 ambulances, a rescue vehicle and a fire truck. It took us just under 3 hours to get to Gaylord and we both agree it was worth it. The food was good, the presents are neat and the mugs are fabulous. The companionship was the best of all. It was fun meeting folks from across the state and we are looking forward to seeing them and more at the Convergence in January. The drive home was a piece of cake. We saw nothing unusual. Of course one of us (the driver) had their eyes squeezed shut and the other was focused on the center of the lane we were in. Since the road was a two track in each direction, it was just like driving through the woods at 55. Once home, Nancy pried my hands from the wheel, led me into the house, put a drink in my hand and pointed me toward the computer. Thanks eb-ii and all the rest for a great day.

Outside Lights

Dick put up the outside lights today - it looks really nice. Christmas is such a pretty time of the year. The day was dark and gloomy but the lights make a big difference.

I made bean soup, sorted out pills, and put together the new ornament keeper.

We went to visit Mother - balanced the checkbook and answered some questions she had about Social Security, etc. She seems worried about everything when really it's hard for me to see what she has to worry about. But I tried to validate her feelings, and I think she felt better when we left. Jim is coming tomorrow to stay for a couple of days - his Christmas visit is always enjoyable.

Came home to nice, hot bean soup with lots of ham.

Up Goes the Tree

This morning we set up our first ever faux tree (pre-lighted). It went up fairly easily, it looks fine, and I'm sure it will be less of a mess than a real tree.

Then we went to Meijer to get ornament hooks, shelving, a can of soup, and a couple of other things. We ended up spending a pocketful of cash for all kinds of items, including three absolutely precious toys for Toys for Tots. I also found a great plastic box for storing ornaments. It was really a fun expedition.

Back home to decorate the tree. It took about 2 hours in all to get it just right. I also sorted out a lot of old, old things and threw them out. The boxes that some of those things were packed in were 30 years old. The tree looks good.

Shipping to Florida

Dick worked at the Agency this morning. Nothing too spectacular happened.

At home it was time to finish wrapping gifts for Florida, and time to begin writing Christmas cards.
I only got up to "K" in the Christmas cards.

I did get all of the Florida things finished, and when Dick got home he taped the boxes and we got them ready to mail. We also had to turn in some loan papers at Wares Brothers for the new car. So Dick loaded in all of the boxes, and off we went to town. Turning in the papers was easy. Standing in line at the Post Office was not quite so easy, but even though the line was very long, it did seem to move quickly, and everyone was in good spirits. We got everything shipped off to Florida, and I bought Christmas stamps, and now I feel like everything is downhill from here on until Christmas.

I think we'll work on putting up our new fake Christmas tree next weekend. I'm looking forward to it. It's all pre-lighted and everything. Another first.

We are planning a trip to Florida weekend after next - just a short visit - Thursday to Sunday maybe. Jana will be coming home Christmas Eve and staying until New Year's. I'm looking forward to a very mellow holiday.

I'm starting week 7 of my exercise program, and although it's moving along very slowly, I am making progress. Not great progress - just Nancy-type progress. Thank you Eric.

Here's Sharon!

As soon as I was up and dressed, I went to Glen's and did grocery shopping for the next few days. Dick was outside stacking firewood. When I got home, I put everything away and began preparing veggies for beef stew in the crockpot. I was almost finished when Dick came in the back door and said Look who I found!

And it was Sharon! We were really excited to see her. This was their annual cookie baking weekend - Barb, Sharon, Melissa and Shelly all got together and baked all day Saturday. Sharon said her car was loaded with cookies! We had about a 3 hour visit, and it was great to catch up on all the news from Lansing. I'm so glad she stopped in.

We went in to return the rental car and to have a visit with Mother and take out her trash. Mother seems very well, and very alert these days. We had a good visit. She's reading a good book and likes to talk about it. I think she's amazing.

Cookies!

Every Christmas the Trinity Lutheran Church has this terrific cookie sale. Usually we hit all of the cookies sales in town and really stock up for the holidays. But this year we're trying to cut back on the calories a little bit, so we only went to the Trinity sale, and only bought cookies for Mother. Well...Dick did pick out some yummies, and I got a sample of cookies baked with Splenda, but basically we went to get cookies for Mother. It was a dreary, dismal, rainy, cold day outside, but inside it was very bright and festive and full of beautiful cookies.

We delivered the cookies to Mother, and I think she was really thrilled to get them. I said now you will have something to offer visitors - and Mother said she would probably eat them all herself!

We went Christmas shopping in downtown TC - it was a little rainy and windy, but we had really good luck. We went to the Cherry Stop, a couple of T shirt stores, DeYoung's and Horizon Books. Traverse City really has a nice downtown these days. I haven't shopped at the mall yet this year - I've really done most of my shopping on the internet.

We have a new car

In the morning Dick worked at the Visitor Center - there were less than a dozen visitors! But luckily he took along a good book, and he also helped Kathee put up her winter display.

I was at home wrapping presents and anxiously waiting for Dick to get home so we could go pick up our new car!

The Credit Union cooperated fully, as usual. They have changed their name from Wayne Out County Teachers Credit Union to Michigan Education Credit Union. So it's not WOCTCU anymore - it's MECU. I'd say that's an improvement. We picked up the 2002 Subaru at Wares Brothers, and our salesman Jeff put on the plates from Dad's car and sent us on our way. Actually, Dick took the Subaru home, and I went to do some errands.

Thirlby Clinic has finally received some flu vaccine, and Dr. Burke had me on his magic list, so I went right over to the clinic and got my flu shot. Dick can't get one there because he is not a patient of the clinic. We'll have to keep checking with the Health Department. Dr. Burke will be spending Christmas in New York with his parents. He and his family are driving to Detroit and then flying to New York. That sounds like quite a production. He's really looking forward to it.

The next business was to take Mother's SS check to the bank. She seems fine.

Mary Barker called and wanted to go out to lunch, but there was really too much other stuff going on. The Barkers are leaving for the winter next week. Not sure yet what McLenithans are doing this year.

Holiday Party

Hooray Hooray! It's the Visitor Center Christmas Party for Volunteers Day! We always look forward to this splendid holiday event. It was at Reflections at the Waterfront, with a spectacular view of East Bay. The food was excellent as always - all kinds of hors d'oeuvres , live entertainment, great ambience, and good company. I mostly enjoyed the meatballs and the veggies - Dick mostly enjoyed the shrimp. We sat with Chuck and Carol - always good conversation there - I enjoyed everything very much. Dick got a chance to speak to the Deans, and we all got a hug from Kathee.

Sue Subaru

This has been an eventful day. We attended the scholarship luncheon at NMC's new Maritime Academy. It was fine - the food was only OK, but the dessert was great!

Then Dick did a little Christmas shopping and I wasn't allowed to go with him. He dropped me off at Horizon, and I had tea and read the paper.

Then we went to Wares Brothers and test drove a silver Subaru Forester, and we really loved it.
Tomorrow we're contacting the WOCTCU to work out the details, and we can pick it up sometime this week. It will replace Dad's Pontiac. It has a moon roof, a 6 disc CD player, heated seats, 4 doors, compass, thermometer, etc. It will be our #1 car, reserving Marco for pulling the boat and trailers. The Subaru should get much better gas mileage - it's only a 4 cylinder engine. So we have to give it a name...maybe Sue....maybe Scout (get it? Hiyo Silver! Get'em up Scout!)

Then we went Christmas shopping, and drove home in our trusty rental car.

Enterprise

Today we took poor sick Marco to The Collision Center on S. Airport Road. The nice man looked it over, the papers were faxed from the insurance company, and the verdict is that it will take 2 weeks. He noticed some damage that we hadn't noticed, and also that the car seemed out of alignment. There was some wheel damage that could have deflated the driver's side front tire. We were lucky to have made it home Friday. We drove over 50 miles with it like that.

We continued on the airport (the new terminal is spectacular) to rent a car. So now we have this little 4 door Dodge Neon, in a graphite color. It's fine. It rides well, it has good pick-up, but it has no bells and whistles. Not even power windows or door locks. The gear shifter is on the floor, so we keep washing the windshield with what should be the gear shifter.

Insurance does not cover the rental car, but we only have a $250 deductible for the body work, so that's not so bad.

I did the library thing for Mother, so she has a new stack of books to read. One of them is a memoir by Barbara Bush about the years following the White House years. I think Mother will really enjoy it. She said the spaghetti dinner from Meijer wasn't that good. We keep trying!
Her neighbor Donna across 10th street is getting a new roof.

Dick worked at the Agency this morning. The main thing was trying to get an Emergency Epic Application for this very needy couple in Lake City. The discouraging thing is that they're younger than we are!