Wildlife, Steiger Style

Lunch at Duffy's yay!

We trekked away to Busch's Wildlife Sanctuary on the Loxahatchee River. They specialize in rescuing injured wild animals and birds plus wildlife-type pets that people can no longer handle. Nancy, Dylan, Jana, Laurie

Touring the enclosures, we saw bald eagles, golden eagles, wood storks, bobcats, and panthers. They had the panthers in small enclosures because there are 2 new baby cougars in the large space, and they don't want to chance a disaster by putting the large and small cats together right away. We walked past a cypress swamp and had a good view of the cypress knees.

At 3 o'clock in the amphitheater there was a really good presentation of 5 different animals. We learned about the history of each animal, a little bit about typical characteristics of those animals, and we had a chance to touch or pet all of them except for the red-tailed hawk. The animals we saw today were the alligator, the rat snake, possum, skunk and hawk.
Here's Dylan with the ratsnake.

Florida bobcats are smaller and thinner than our River Road bobcats. The foxes, on the other hand, were fluffy with lush and shiny coats. Dylan's favorite animal is the albino raccoon which he calls Marshmallow. The raccoon is really a lot more beige than he is white - he looks like a toasted Marshmallow. Overall, I think we all liked the wildcats the best: cougars, panthers, and bobcats.

Meanwhile, back home in Summerfield, we found a different kind of wildlife right in our neighborhood!Summerfield Sandhill Cranes!

The Victors

Dick wanted to go to the Capital One Bowl in Orlando. My position was, what chance do we have playing against last year's National Champion and this year's Heisman trophy-winning running quarterback? So we didn't go. Well.....

WE WON !! The score was 41-35 - unbelievable! It was totally unexpected, and so, very, very enjoyable. The team was rested and healthy, and remarkably able to keep up with Florida. Yee-haw! And as Dick said, we didn't have the long drive home.

U-M Edges Florida in Bowl Game, Sends Carr Out a Winner
January 1, 2008 Site: Orlando, Fla. (Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium)
Event: Capital One Bowl
Score: Michigan 41, #9 Florida 35
Records: U-M (9-4), Florida (9-4)
Attendance: 69,748
Next U-M Event: Season completed
ORLANDO, Fla. -- The University of Michigan football team sent its seniors out and head coach Lloyd Carr into retirement with an emotional victory over ninth-ranked Florida in the 2008 Capital One Bowl, played New Year's Day at Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium. The Wolverines (9-4) concluded the game with 524 yards of total offense, including 373 through the air to seven different receivers. The game marked Carr's 162nd and final game as Michigan head coach. He finishes his 13-year head coaching career with a 122-40 overall record and six bowl victories (6-7).

A peaceful moment with Dylan during a most exciting day!

New Year's Eve

Kyle had spent the night with Dylan, so when we decided to go see "The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep" today. we invited Kyle to come with. (After all, they've been "best friends since kindergarten!")

The movie was most enjoyable - it had a bit of ET flavor, some WWII history, a dash of Scottish lifestyle and military lifestyle, and childhood fantasy. My favorite part was when Angus was riding on Crusoe's back in Loch Ness. The scary part is when the cannons are shooting at him - they must have thought he was a submarine. It was a really nice, family friendly movie - it may become a classic.

We met Chip and Dick at Carrabba's for New Year's Eve dinner - it was very mellow and satisfying. We did have to wait a while to be seated despite the call-ahead seating thing, but then again there were 7 of us and it was New Year's Eve, so it was totally understandable. I had a great time.

Jonathan Stick-in-the-mud

This was the big group geocaching day. The 10 caches that were found were all in Jonathan Dickinson State Park, which Laurie calls Jonathan Stick-in-the-mud just for fun. The Gillespies, the Hyatts, the Pratts and Dick all went out in a great group to walk the trails and also do a little bushwhacking. Dick reported that Dylan enjoyed playing with a stick - hitting trees and such- but the geocaching, not so much. The caching expedition lasted from about noon until about 4:30. It ended because the Steelers game was on and had to be watched. :)World's largest ammo can in the woods! This one was a kids' cache.

Jana and I stayed home and relaxed - reading, talking, watching TV and just chilling.

The Spree

Dick gave us a shopping spree for Christmas, and today was Spree Day. The Palm Beach Gardens Mall was our target.

We went to lunch at P.F. Chang's - it was quite busy, but we were seated right away. Our waitress was a little spacey, but she was fun and the food was delicious. Have you ever heard of a lettuce wrap?

Lane Bryant was next, and Jana and I had a ton of fun. They were having great sales. We especially liked the buy two, get two free sale :)

Over at the mall we had coffee at the food court and did some excellent people watching. We spent the rest of our time and money at Sephora, which explains why the 3 of us are glowing now more than usual !!

We went to the Cobb Theater at "Downtown" to see Sweeney Todd (rhymes with Oh My God!) I wanted to see it because it had a long run on Broadway, and it's famous, and it starred Johnny Depp. But gee whiz, it's really hard for me to classify it as entertainment. Jana could actually identify some parts that are considered humorous. Laurie and I just looked away from the multiple throat slashings. Jana pointed out that the slashings were theatrical and not realistic, but....holy cow!

Red Tide Beach Day

Dick and I went to Stuart Beach on Hutchinson Island with Laurie, Dylan and Jana. The weather was gorgeous, but there was something in the water called the Red Tide. It's a growth of algae that's a real irritant, both in the water and onshore. We all were coughing, eyes watering, and noses running. It's just an irritant to people, but it can be deadly to sea creatures. We heard that as many as 46 manatees may have died this week because of it.

Jana and Dylan enjoyed the water anyway!

Laurie and I stayed on the sand, and Dick was the official photographer with his new Nikon which we all love!
Around the corner and down the road is the Oceanographic Center with nice displays and a cute gift shop. There is a huge tank there filled with stingrays. At 3 p.m. there's a nature talk about stingrays, and an opportunity for anyone who wants to participate to feed fish to the stingrays! Laurie and Jana were the only two of us who tried it.
Just down the road from the Oceanographic Center is the House of Refuge at Gilbert's Bar. It's the only house of refuge still standing. These place were a lot like the life-saving stations along the Great Lakes. After storms, the keepers would search the nearby beaches for survivors of boat wrecks and provide them with refuge. It was an interesting place in a beautiful setting.
A professional photographer was on the beach while we were there trying to take pictures of a small group of people. They had to scrap the photo session - everybody was wheezing and coughing because of the Red Tide, and it was enough to ruin all of the shots!

Bye Bye Tom

Laurie drove Tom down to the airport in West Palm Beach for his flight to NYC. He's meeting Brandi there, and they have a lot of fun things planned. They have tickets to see Spamalot on Broadway, and for the Dresden Dolls on New Year's Eve. They also want to take in the Museum of Modern Art, and who knows what all. It should be a great time.

We babysat Dylan at our "villa" while Laurie was gone. Jana and Dylan tried out the hot tub, and it got good reviews.

We tried a bit of geocaching in the afternoon - tried to find "The Monster of the Deep", but we were skunked. It's a six stage multi-cache, and we're stymied on the third stage. Don't you hate that?
We consoled ourselves with ice cream at Kilwin's in Stuart. They have Mackinac Island Fudge and Traverse City Cherry flavors!

The Manatee Observation and Educational Center

Tom's last full day in Florida - he wanted to see some manatees. First we had lunch at the Tiki Bar and Restaurant. It was a very Florida place full of atmosphere and local color right on the ocean.

Then we were off to the Manatee Center in Ft. Pierce . We looked and looked, but no manatees. At 3 p.m. we went on the Indian River Lagoon Boat Tour on a very large pontoon boat. We saw dolphins jumping and that almost made up for not seeing manatees.
It was a great day - good weather, fun, educational, and everybody went.

MERRY FLORIDA CHRISTMAS

For the first time in 10 years our whole family was together for Christmas! Laurie and Chip's tree was big and beautiful, and loaded with presents. The house was decorated and very Christmasy. Surprisingly, everybody slept in until around 7:30 - I can remember our kids getting up at 5 a.m.

The best part was watching Dylan opening his things and playing with his RoboQuad. (He named it Roboquaddie.) Everybody enjoyed everything, and we only had 2 things that had to be sent back (bike shorts & telescope). Dick got a new point-and-shoot digital camera, and he'll turn into a professional photog in no time.

Chip cooked the turkey on the grill, and it turned out great! They don't do stuffing, so it only took about 4 hours. Laurie slaved away in the kitchen most of the day - Laurie and Chip did everything - they wouldn't even let me set the table! It felt strange (in a good way).
Dinner was delicious - especially that sweet potato casserole, right Dylan? We ate in the dining room and the new table and chairs are wonderful - spacious and comfortable. Laurie said at Thanksgiving that she felt like Grandma was sitting on her shoulder.

In Which We Arrive!

We have arrived in Palm City/Stuart! As a sign I once saw said, "Hep Hep Beret" !!

Our Florida place is in a development called Summerfield by the Champs Golf Course near US 1 and Cove Road. It's an older development - I can't tell how old, but in our "golf villa" things show signs of wear. We have three bedrooms and two baths, lots of space and lots of cloisets. It's well stocked and furnished. We really have everything we need. The one thing that's missing is an internet connection, which is very high on our priority list because we each brought a laptop, so the first thing we'll have to work on is getting the modem hooked up.

Debbie, the real estate lady, agreed to meet with us a couple of hours early because we got here sooner than we expected. She was glad because she had just found out that her office party was scheduled for the time of our original meeting! Wouldn't want to miss that! :) Laurie came with us to meet with Debbie at our house, and it got Laurie's official Okie Dokie. We got the keys, the garage door opener, and the gate code. I think that we'll be comfortable here.

Afterwards, Laurie went down to Ft. Lauderdale to pick Jana up at the airport while we were unpacking and getting acclimated. The plane was delayed for almost an hour, but other than that it was an uneventful flight and we were jumping with joy to see her - Tom arrived here on the 21st, so now we're all here.

Jana will stay with us, except for Christmas Eve when we're all sleeping at Laurie's to wait for Santa.

Findlay, Chattanooga, & Columbus (GA)

Our Christmas Odyssey -

First Day - Drove to Doug's to drop off Christmas presents - had a good cookie and a good cup of coffee, chatted a bit, and headed for Findlay. Had a free night at the Findlay Quality Inn.

Second Day - On to Chattanooga (is that the choo choo?) and the Comfort Inn.

Third Day - here we are in Columbus, Georgia - another free night - at the Comfort Inn.
Columbus is just across the Chattahoochee River from Phenix, Alabama - so we were able to find caches in two different States, and leave our coin in each State. Phenix has a beautiful riverwalk all decorated with Christmas lights.

I-75 Observances:

1. Trucking is the lifeblood of this country. There are so many trucks up and down I-75 that it boggles your mind. You actually get used to having them blow your doors off when they pass.

2. The Nissan Murano is a very nice looking car. Dick questions whether it can pull the boat.

3. The Ford Escape is the car I want next - wider wheel base than the Explorer, and more fuel efficient. Dick questions whether it can pull the boat.

4. Michigan bathrooms are generally cleaner than the bathrooms available to travellers south of Ohio.

5. Ohio is too flat.

6. When Dick is wearing his Michigan regalia, people talk to you about it. They either used to live in Michigan, have a relative who's a big fan and has season tickets, or hate Michigan with a passion. One man jokingly told Dick that there was a dirty spot on his jacket (pointing to the M). Today in Georgia a man said, "Watch that Gators game!" Yoicks.

7. On Interstate Highways, signs for tunnels are red. We don't have red Interstate signs where I come from!

8. Ohio is too gray and foggy.

9. Tennessee fans are stuck with a really ugly shade of orange for their athletic teams. Denver fans used to be called the Orange Crush and their shade of orange was Halloweeny. Tennessee orange looks like peach yogurt.

10. Georgia State Troopers have police cars that flash and blink in horizontal blue strips - all the time....at every opportunity - they love their blue flashers!

11. The gas and lodging signs along the interstate are a big help to the traveller.

12. Dick still likes to blink his lights at trucks who are signalling lane changes, and once today one of them even blinked back to say thanks. It reminds me of when the kids used to pump their arms at truckers to get them to blow their horns!

13. Tennessee has a long stretch of an area prone to fog. They have every electronic device known to modern man set up to warn motorists of foggy conditions. It wasn't foggy when we passed by.

14. Ohio is not scenic. Cinncinnati is a mess to drive through.

15. Kentucky and Tennessee are very scenic - beautiful stretches of highway.

16. Nine hours is too long for us to drive in one day. Seven hours is more doable. We once drove from Belleville to the Florida State line in 22 hours straight.

17. Try to avoid Atlanta.

18. Can't avoid Ohio. Dick says that Ohio is like Kansas - you have to drive through it to get somewhere else.

12 Days of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Here's an old Christmas standby that you won't want to miss. It's 3 and a half minutes long, but you have to watch the whole thing! My cousin Ken sent me this bit of Christmas cheer!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Warmth

It was a gray, damp and drizzly day - not exactly freezing rain, but very close. Later, thankfully, it turned to snow.

When we arrived at Tim and Susie's for lunch, it was a relief to walk into their riverside home. It was warm, there was beautiful Christmas music, a nice hot wood stove, and Christmasy folk art from floor to ceiling. It was just like Dorothy opening the door and seeing things in color! We all made a yummy type of egg roll - we rolled them up and Susie fried them in the FryBaby. We had a delicious lunch, some good local champagne, toured the new addition, exchanged gifts and gossip, and the whole visit had a real Christmas feeling.

Thanks, Tim and Susie. Happy Holidays and safe travels.

The Goose is Getting Fat

Christmas is coming,
The geese are getting fat,
Please put a penny
In the old man's hat.
If you haven't got a penny,
A ha'penny will do,
If you haven't got a ha'penny,
Then God bless you.

Christmas is coming,
lights are on the tree,
Hang up your stocking for Santa Claus to see.
If you you haven't got a stocking,
a little sock will do;
If you haven't got a little sock,
God bless you!

Christmas is coming,
the season of good cheer,
Let's all sing a carol for the brand-new year!
If you haven't got a carol,
a jolly song will do;
If you haven't got a jolly song,
God... bless... you...!

We'll be spending Christmas and January in Florida this year! We've rented a house in Stuart, which is 10 minutes from Laurie. We're leaving here on Dec. 19th (after a dental appointment) and driving down. We have the house from Dec. 23 to Jan. 31. We're having our mail forwarded to Laurie's address.

Tom will arrive on Dec. 21st, and Jana on the 23rd. Jana will be staying with us, and Tom will be at Laurie's. Jana's staying until after New Year's Day, but Tom is going to spend New Year's Eve in NYC.

Dick kind of wanted to go Michigan's Bowl Game (Capital One Bowl, Orlando) but we talked him out of it. What chance do we have against last year's National Champions? Plus, those North Florida Bowl games just don't have the hoopla, fun, and excitement of the Rose Bowl, for instance. We've gone down there a couple of times, and it was disappointing.

We can be reached by cell - 231-392-1773 or through Laurie 772-463-0288. We don't have the phone number for our house yet.

It should be an awesome Christmas. We haven't had Christmas together since 1997, the year that Dylan was born.

Turkey Preparation

My annual physical was at 8:30 this morning and it took an hour and a half! Dr. Burke is nothing if not thorough! He pronounced me healthy as a horse. Evidently my mobility problems are mostly caused by persistent nerve damage which is healing at its own slow pace. We had breakfast at the Green House Cafe, and then came home to meet Tim and Susie! We had a good visit, with ice cream and cookies to boot - kind of a nice combination!

The plumber showed up to try to fix the faucet in Dick's tub, which hasn't been working properly. We found out that the broken part isn't made any longer, and a hole will probably have to be cut in the wall to get access for replacing the old faucet.

Then it was time to cook the giblets, chop the onions, make the jello salad, and bake the pie. It's just going to be the two of us this year, but we're doing the whole bit - the turkey is just smaller, that's all. The table looks nice, and at Tom's they were selling beautiful roses for $7/dozen - who could resist that?

Tomorrow I want us to just enjoy the parades, the football, and the dinner.

Lloyd Carr

Lloyd Carr retired as Michigan head football coach this morning. He's been at the Univ. for 27 years, 13 as Head Coach. We're sorry to see him go but happy in the realization that he has many years ahead of him to enjoy living! Dick knew Lloyd when he taught and coached at Belleville many moons ago. Lloyd used to come to the annual End of the World party at Glen's sometimes. That was always memorable and fun. My best memory of Lloyd was years ago on I-75 we were heading north, and he passed us waving frantically to get our attention. He's a nice person. He helped us get our 4 seats together in the stadium - we used to have 2 and 2 separated by quite a few rows. We know that there are good things ahead for him.

It Could Have Been Better

The only thing worse than losing to Ohio State in Columbus is losing to Ohio State at home in Michigan Stadium.

The only thing worse than losing to Ohio State at home is losing to Ohio State at home in the rain.

The only thing worse than losing to Ohio State at home in the rain is losing to Ohio State at home in the rain when the temperature is 38 degrees F.

The only thing worse than losing to Ohio State at home in the cold, cold rain is losing to Ohio State at home in the cold, cold rain and dropping your mittens into a puddle.

The only thing worse than losing to Ohio State at home in the cold, cold rain with wet, wet mittens is losing to Ohio State at home in the cold, cold rain with wet, wet mittens and having your team play so poorly.

We were cold, we were wet, we were so disappointed - it was dismal.
Here's an excerpt from a Maryland Elementary School Talent Show:
I'll bet our team could have beaten their team!

U-M Falls to Ohio State in Big Ten Championship Game
On a cold, wet afternoon at Michigan Stadium, the No. 23 Michigan football team dropped a 14-3 decision to No. 7 Ohio State on Saturday, Nov. 17, in a contest that decided the Big Ten's outright champion of 2007. The Wolverines took an early 3-0 lead on K.C. Lopata's 33-yard field goal toward the end of the first quarter, but Ohio State, behind Chris Well's 222 yards rushing, scored touchdowns in the second and third quarters and held the Wolverines to 91 net yards. Tim Jamison had three tackles for loss to pace the U-M defense.

Luckily, Resourceful Richard had packed hand warmers, ponchos and a blanket so that we were not totally drenched, we were merely soggy and dripping. When I put my head down, water from my poncho hood ran down onto my knees. Did I mention that it was cold? I was wearing four layers on top and two layers on my legs, and double socks. At 12:25 to go in the 4th quarter I was chilled through and it was only the shame of it all that prevented my leaving early.

Once it was over and we were back in the car, we luxuriated in dry layers of clothing, heated seats, and the blessed heater. Thank you, Subaru.

When we went back after the tickets on Friday morning we should have stayed home. Oh, but then we wouldn't have seen Reiko and her boys, so forget it.

Geodetic Benchmarks

The day began with a checkup for Dick at Dr. Recchia's office - an echo-cardiogram. After he passed his test, we went out to breakfast at the Omelette Shoppe - my favorite.

Then the fun began - we did Rathergohiking's 9-stage multi-cache (Geodetic Benchmarks) which involves driving around Traverse City! What could be better! It was a very enjoyable adventure on a beautiful, though very windy, day.

Afterwards, we went shopping at Toys R Us for a baby shower for a very special baby! How much fun is that? We haven't been anywhere near a Toys R Us for about 2 years - so we got some surprises for Ethan and Jet, too.

At home, we began winterizing the Golf Car (Minnehaha) by putting stabil in the gas tank and driving it around. Our neighbor even had the nerve to turn down a ride!

Our TiVo is still on the fritz - we've ordered an adapter which will use our Airport instead of our phone line. Let's hope that's the solution.

We've Found a Cache in All of Michigan !

Dick figured out how to log the 83 Counties of Michigan cache - evidently you get credit for three - the Upper, the Lower, and the whole State. Here's Dick's log:

11/12/2007 You found Linda's Cache all of Michigan
We won't repeat the stories we related in our other posts. We began Geocaching in June of '03 with no goals in mind other than to explore the various facets of the game. Our first find was a micro. On our second outing we discovered a virtual as well as the true ammo can in the woods. We placed our first cache, a multi involving Round Barns in October. When he logged it, ABX Guy informed us about Reverse Caches. In January of 2004 we attended the "Convergence", our first event cache.
Our first Geocaching "goal" was to average one find a day for the first year. In order to do that we farmed the reverse cache pages and logged a few from home or after a short drive. They kept us on the lookout for unusual features. Of course we kept after the local caches as well. We learned to love the challenge of Whitard's Al Quacka and puzzle caches. While pursuing an Al Quacka cache that spring, we met the Dino Duo and formed a friendship that has expanded beyond caching.
In July of '05, we met Dar and Linda of Photo Bug 2. He told us of a cache where you got credit if you found caches in each of Michigan's 83 counties. We saw it as an interesting concept but could not comprehend how one would tabulate finds on a county by county basis.
I guess we just stumbled onto our next goal which was to reach 1000. We were at 998 and decided to do two events in one day, on June 6 2006, just days before our 3rd caching anniversary, we attended "Go Get Outdoors" at Interlochen State Park followed by "Something Twisted This Way Comes" which was put on by Sandrich.
This past spring, we stumbled upon the website "It's not about the numbers" and figured out how to load our finds. The result was a map that showed what we had to do. Our next goal was clear, color our map a solid blue. In the fall, when we saw that the Wolverines had 6 home games in the first 7 weeks, we decided to rent an apartment in Ann Arbor and save the 500 mile round trips. Living down there gave us the time to finish off our Lower Peninsula counties. One final northern run in October and we were finished. The only challenge left was to provide our information to Linda. With some help and coaching we got that job done but I'd rather hike a couple of miles to find a cache.
We have thoroughly enjoyed our first four years of this activity. We have met some great people and enjoyed their stories. We are constantly being impressed at the time and creative effort that some folks put into their cache containers and placements. We have been taken down some exciting roads, some we probably should not have attempted but what the heck. We have accumulated some scratches and dents, even put a few on the cachemobile, but nothing serious. Best of all, we've had fun! Lots of stories, lots of laughs. Our thanks go out to all those who've placed tupperware out there for us to find and to those we've met and shared good times with along the way.
What's next? Well there are 50 states and the District of Columbia. We've got 16 down, only 35 to go.

Here are our Stats from the website "It's Not About The Numbers":
Stats for basswoodbend
Total: 1539 finds on 1537 unique caches (List Multiple Finds)

Total days since first find: 1614 - Overall find Rate: 0.95/day, 6.68/week

Total days with a find: 431 (Every 3.7 days or 26.7% of your total days) - Average finds per caching day: 3.57

Best day: 4/08/06 - 26 finds

Most consecutive days with a find: 10 from 3/03/07 to 3/12/07

Longest caching drought: 44 days from 6/18/07 to 7/31/07

Average total cache difficulty: 1.61 - Average total terrain rating: 1.52

Average physical cache difficulty: 1.68 - Average physical terrain rating: 1.58 (Traditional, Multi, Unknown, Project APE, Letterbox)

Approximate cache-to-cache distance: 41205.91 miles (66314.48 kilometres) (Excludes locationless and known traveling caches)

Active Caches: 1028 of the caches you've found are still active (66.9%)

Average log size: 76.2 words - Biggest log: 511 words - Shortest log: 0 word - Number of one-word logs: 1

More stats:

Milestone Cache Date Found Days Since Previous Milestone
1 Lone Pine Micro (Log) 6/15/03
100 The Queen City (Log) 11/03/03 141
200 Old Historic Log Cabins (Log) 1/25/04 83
300 Clio Veteran's Memorial Park (Log) 5/06/04 101
400 Micro Adventure (Log) 8/17/04 103
500 Old Friends (Log) 1/09/05 145
600 Boughey (Log) 5/07/05 117
700 Nate & Kaye's Cache (Log) 8/23/05 108
800 Life's a beach in Lake City (Log) 12/03/05 102
900 Toll Gate (Log) 4/08/06 125
1000 Something Twisted This Way Comes... (Log) 6/10/06 63
1100 MLT -- Hatton (Log) 10/08/06 120
1200 The House That Barney Built (Log) 3/06/07 149
1300 Hanging around Hayes Twp Park (Log) 6/10/07 95
1400 Podunk Michigan (Log) 9/18/07 100
1500 Stockade (1815-1817) (Log) 10/10/07 22
Based on your overall rate of 0.95 finds per day, you'll find number 1600 around 1/17/08 and the big 2000 around 3/13/09. However, over the past few months, your find rate has actually been 2.23 finds per day. Based on that, you'll find number 1600 around 12/11/07 and your 2000th around 6/07/08.

Happy Veterans Day

Maize and Blue Face-full

A football game was played Saturday afternoon over in Madison. Two well-known Big Ten teams played. A lot of people probably really enjoyed that game. I won't mention any names (roger). The Michigan team really got a spanking of the worst kind. They took it on the chin. They didn't need to send out for apples, because the Badgers handed them their lunch. It was dismal, if you're Faithful. It was the kind of game that you knew intuitively that you were going to lose, but then again, hope springs eternal. Oh well.

Michigan Handed First Conference Defeat at Wisconsin
MADISON, Wis. -- The No. 13-ranked University of Michigan football team was unable to remain unbeaten in Big Ten play, suffering a 37-21 loss at Wisconsin Saturday (Nov. 10) before 82,352 fans at Camp Randall Stadium. The Wolverines (8-3, 6-1 Big Ten) played without the services of senior tailback Mike Hart (Syracuse, N.Y./Onondaga Central HS), and senior quarterback Chad Henne (Wyomissing, Pa./Wilson HS) left after the first two offensive possessions.

Junior wide receiver Mario Manningham (Warren, Ohio/Warren G. Harding HS) led the offense with his NCAA-leading sixth consecutive 100-yard receiving game, catching three passes for 113 yards and two touchdowns. He has scored receiving touchdowns in six straight games, and his 97-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter is the longest offensive play in school history.

Freshman quarterback Ryan Mallett (Texarkana, Ark./Texarkana [Texas] HS) completed 11-of-36 passes for 245 yards and matched his career high with three passing touchdowns. Senior wide receiver Adrian Arrington (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Washington HS) caught a team-best seven passes for 101 yards and one touchdown.

Junior nose tackle Terrance Taylor (Muskegon, Mich./Muskegon HS) led the defense with a career-high nine tackles. Senior safety Jamar Adams (Charlotte, N.C./Butler HS) also chipped in nine stops in the game.

It fell to Michigan State to uphold the honor of the State of Michigan by whaling on Purdue in a most determined fashion. Way to Go Green.

After the Big Game, which left us Black and Blue, Gary and Donna (CoyChev) and Shawn and Meesa (Koda) came over for ice cream and cookies. It was a good idea to get our minds off football !! We discussed caching, caches, placing caches, finding caches, cache history, personal history, job-seeking, recipes, geocaching politics (now there's a hot topic), elderly mothers, cool parents, geocoins, path tags and I don't know what all. It was a good way to end the day.

Cousin Jenny's

We met Tim and Susie (DinoDuo) at Cousin Jenny's for lunch. It's a fun place - especially when the lunch crowd clears out! The pasties there are much better than what you get in the UP - the yooper pasties tend to be a little bit dry. These were really good, and they serve lots of gravy on the side, which I appreciated. Dick and I decided that the Cornish pasties that we got in Cornwall were even better, though! We gave Tim and Susie the 3,000th Find coin that Dick ordered and had engraved. It turned out really well, and I think they liked it.

The 3 of them went geocaching after lunch, but I came home and played on the computer! Everybody needs a hobby :)

The State Game

Another momentous Michigan=Michigan State football game is now history. It was a hard-fought nail-biter of a game. State led for a long time, but Michigan somehow pulled a victory out of the hat. Wow - it was exciting! This from mgoblue:

Henne's Four TD Passes Power Football Past Spartans
In the 100th meeting between Michigan and Michigan State on the gridiron, U-M quarterback Chad Henne threw four touchdown passes, including the game-winner to Mario Manningham with 2:28 left in the contest, to lead the 15th-ranked Wolverines to a 28-24 victory Saturday, Nov. 3, in East Lansing, Mich. Michigan trailed 24-14 with less than seven minutes to play, but Henne engineered scoring drives of 79 and 65 yards for the comeback win. Jamar Adams and Obi Ezeh paced the defense with 14 and 13 tackles, respectively

Both Henne and Hart played with injuries. I remember the day when college kids sat out the games when they were injured. Now it seems that they just get taped up or something and play anyway. Michael sat out for most of the second half. I think Chad sat out for one or two plays. I certainly hope that neither of them is permanently damaged in any way. Sure, it's great to win the football game, but it shouldn't be necessary for these young men to sacrifice their well-being for a victory.

The Week That Was

Watching the Minnesota game was just about as much fun you can have when you're chilly and a little bit wet! The team played very well in the last 3 quarters after getting off to a rocky start.

Big days from Brandon Minor and Mario Manningham helped the No. 19 Michigan football team overcome an early deficit to retain the Little Brown Jug with a 34-10 win over Minnesota on Saturday, Oct. 27, in Michigan Stadium. Minor rushed for a career-high 157 yards and one touchdown, while Manningham went over 100 yards receiving for the fourth game in a row, catching five balls for 162 yards and a TD. Carlos Brown added 132 yards and two TDs on the ground, and Ryan Mallett threw for a career-best 233 yards.

The headline for this article on mgoblue was Minor, Manningham Manuever Michigan Past Minnesota - I'm thinking that they really scratched their heads trying to come up with another word that started with M! Justin and Heather were there, and they're going to use our Ohio State tickets too. They're great seatmates.

We had a great weekend staying with Sniders - it's always fun hearing about their kids and grandkids, not to mention planning our cruise to Scandinavia in May!

Dick has been busy in the yard, getting it ready for winter....blowing and mowing, fertilizing, putting covers on the outdoor furniture, winterizing the tractors and stuff, and trying to get the pontoon boat repaired and winterized.

I'm cleaning out my room one drawer at a time - sending stuff to Goodwill, ordering Christmas gifts and new shoes, having back spasms and spending a whole day in bed on muscle relaxers, and trying out new recipes. One recipe was a disaster, one was quite good, and one was for pea soup with barley and ham. (It would have been better with kielbasa.)

Tom survived the fires in San Diego - just one of his colleagues lost his home, and Cymer wasn't damaged - so things could have been much worse. I think the fires are all contained by now.

Tomorrow's game with Mich. State is at 3:30 p.m. I think it could go either way depending on who is hurt, suspended, or benched. You never can tell. Go Blue.

Does This Work?

I just downloaded Windows Live Writer, and the site says that I can post to my blog from here.  This is my experimental post!

Ouch

They are talking about letting people back into RB today. I may actually have to go to work tomorrow.


On a more serious note, one of my colleagues in the chamber group lost his house.

RB is Tom's area of San Diego - Rancho Bernardo. The chamber group is not stringed instruments, as you might think. (wink) Chambers are part of the process of making lasers for Cymer.

The Witch of San Diego

We're naturally concerned about Tom's safety. On the google earth maps, his house looks to be surrounded by fire. He is respectful of the danger, but he says he's outside of the evac area (for now) and doesn't expect fire in his neighborhood. We're all being watchful and his sisters are helping to keep him entertained! I told him to be sure to pack a picture of his mother.

The reference to the ice cream truck is because the police come around with megaphones when you have to evacuate, and it reminds everybody of when the ice cream truck used to come on our street in the subdivision.

Well it looks like the ice cream truck came to Tom's house. We were debating which car Tom chose to save.... The name of Tom's fire is the Witch Fire.

Let us know where you are. By the way the Mexican border is closed so don't go south ;)

Thinking of you and all your personal belongings
Laurie
A map of the fire area Tom's house is between Poway and I-15.

He said the car had already been packed, I couldn't bear to ask 'which car.' Probly Raven tho, because he said he really just took some clothes and documents. He said he would probly head to Val's. (Jana)

I spoke with Tom just now and he hasn't evacuated yet. He is on the edge of the zone. I woke him up. I hope he can go back to sleep!!! Sorry Tom (Laurie)

I think if I were Tom, I'd just, you know ... ditch. How did he *know* he was on the edge of the zone? He was *sleeping*! (Jana)

Good morning everyone!


I have some clothes and documents packed in Raven. The bike rack is on and my mountain bike is on the back.

The houses that are at risk are those that border wild brush areas. Once houses start burning the fire usually doesn't spread very far into a development. I am surrounded by houses and irrigated landscaping on all sides for a good distance. At this point the fire would approach from the north and my house has a bare construction site with stone laid on it just to the north. The probability of my house burning is small.


At this point they are being very cautious and are evacuating neighborhoods well in advance of any serious threat. Rest assured that if an evacuation order comes I will leave without hesitation.

On a further note, Tuesday is garbage day and the garbage truck just came by to pick up the garbage, i.e. business as usual. (Tom)

See, I knew he wouldn't leave without the bike!!!! (Laurie)

How bout Cymer? Is Cymer burned up? Huh?

Which clothes did you pack?

What about your comics?

What about pictures? Don't you think you should take that 22nd Street Beat clip about me off the refrigerator?

How bout the bunnies? Have you seen herds of bounding wild-eyed bunnies? In my book, that's when you get the heck outta Dodge. (Jana)


On Oct 23, 2007, at 7:49 AM, Jana Steiger wrote:


How bout Cymer? Is Cymer burned up? Huh?

I don't think so but I don't really know. It'd be interesting, though. If it did burn there would be global implications for the semi-conductor industry.

Which clothes did you pack?

My "Life is crap" tee shirt and my Michigan boxer shorts.


What about your comics?

No, but I sorted them in the order that I want them to burn.


What about pictures? Don't you think you should take that 22nd Street Beat clip about me off the refrigerator?

Well sure, that.

How bout the bunnies? Have you seen herds of bounding wild-eyed bunnies? In my book, that's when you get the heck outta Dodge.

The coyotes tend to keep the bunny population in check. (Tom)

Pride

PALM CITY ELEMENTARY

Congratulations Leigh Anne Pike, Teacher of the Year!

NO SCHOOL FRIDAY, Oct. 26. Teacher Work Day

Congratulations, TLC's: Cody Andrews, Dillon Hansen, Lola Nicotra, Hannah Lewis, Justin Belisle, Maggie McSoley, Jacqueline Rouse, Jordan Feldman, Spencer MacLeod, Alexis McCallister, Billy Buntin, Zander Bush, Evan O'Brien,Eric Guidoboni, Saja Hussein, Chris Menninger, Ryan McCauley, Nicholas Shirkey, Sydney Coble, Kamron Kuschel, Tanner Roe, Emma Turner, Cameron Carrero, Megan Ream, Whitney Hanner, Kieran Anderson, Kayla Kuschel, Eric Ohrn, Leah Nicotra, Katie Fenick, Michael Hunter, Elizabeth Brooks, Marrissa Jadotte, Dylan Gillespie, Alex Kamentz, Abby Wendisch, Matthew Haggerty, Lorin Taylor, Joshaua Cooler, Connor Morris, Breanna Copus, Tyler Burnam,Bliss Rose.

Sunday in a Bottle

We have found a cache in every one of Michigan's 83 Counties! Went back to the UP last weekend to finish the last 2 counties (Gogebic and Marquette), and also to pick up Wisconsin.

The trip up was miserable - the weather was awful - cold, rainy and windy. It did seem to stop for us whenever we got out of the car, so at least we didn't get soaked. Stayed the first night in Iron River. We had planned to stay Saturday night in Marquette, but we didn't have a reservation. As it turns out, Marquette was filled to capacity Saturday night. Northern Michigan was playing Michigan Tech in the Superior Dome, NMU was playing Univ. of Mich. in hockey, and it was Parent's Weekend. So we went on to Munising and spent the night there. We ate pizza and watched Michigan beat Illinois :)

Michigan Grabs Key Road Win With Comeback at Illinois
Wide receiver Adrian Arrington scored one touchdown and threw for another to lead the No. 24 Michigan football team to a 27-17 victory over Illinois on Saturday, Oct. 20, in Champaign, Ill. Arrington scored on a diving 14-yard grab of a Chad Henne pass to put U-M up 17-14 going to halftime, and in the fourth quarter, after Sean Griffin's recovery of a muffed punt deep in Illini territory, Arrington hit Mario Manningham for an 11-yard TD pass that broke a 17-17 tie. Filling in for Mike Hart, Carlos Brown ran for a career-high 113 yards.

My impressions of the UP:
1. We heard on the radio that there are 14,000 bears in the UP. (shudder)
2. The fall colors this weekend were all yellow. Every forest was yellow everywhere.
3. Yoopers are very friendly - especially servers at restaurants.
4. Iron River has a great restaurant - Main Street Cafe. They have pies of all sorts.
5. Marquette was very crowded. Tommy's Restaurant was nice.
6. We found a cache at the oldest house in Marquette - 1813.
7. Dick thought that Marquette's sandstone buildings were pretty. I thought they were dark, heavy, and sinister.
8. Marquette has a great waterfront area with nice beaches except we were wondering who would swim in Lake Superior? Temp. is around 40 F. in the summertime.
9. In Marquette we met QuirkToo - he used to be a prof. at NMU. He's from Belleville - I taught with his Mom and Dad at Edgemont.
10. It seems like we drove around and around and around in Marquette - we did many caches there, including one that was a tour of the town.
11. We loved the Marquette Library. Actually it's the Peter White Library. Nice.
12. Lots of lakes in the UP have 3 letter names - we saw Ice Lake, Imp Lake, Bat Lake, Owl Lake and the Cut River among many, many others.
13. A woman who lives in Paradise found an agate on the shores of Lake Superior while we were there which measures 7"x4" and is worth about $2,000.
14. In the Mackinac Grille in St. Ignace the servers were wearing Tee shirts saying St. Ignace is a little drinking town with a fishing problem.
15. Sunday was a gorgeous day for driving home. The radio played If I Could Put Time in a Bottle - we would have put Sunday in a bottle !

Our Valley Ranch Apartment

Our Ann Arbor home away from home from Labor Day until Oct. 15 - 1455 Oak Valley Drive, Apt. 103
Good Times!

Class of 1957

Fifty years ago I graduated from the Univ. of Mich. with a Bachelor's Degree in Education (BA Ed). Today is Homecoming Day, and my class was honored at the Alumni Assn. Homecoming Tailgate Brunch. I had a really good time - the food wasn't good, but the entertainment was fabulous, and there were great freebies.
Here's Dick's report of our day:

We are winding up our A2 excursion. We have had a blast! Saturday's game was icing on the cake. It was homecoming and Nancy's 50th reunion tailgate. The festivities were in the Track & Field building which is just in the outfield of the Baseball stadium. I got permission to drive in and drop her off and then I took the car back to our parking spot and walked back down to the brunch.
The food was pathetic but the event was fun. Branstatter spoke as did Pres. Mary Sue Coleman. The Alumni Pep band played and both the men's and women's glee clubs sang. There was a lot of the old time M music that today's kids don't know. On the day we must have sung "I wanta go back to Michigan" and "The Yellow and the Blue" a half dozen times each. The scary thing was when Ron Kramer spoke. He was in Nancy's class and my fraternity. I remember him as being a big guy but he looks average now. He walks with a cane and has become an old man. What happened!





After the program, there was a shuttle available back to the stadium. We were told that it was going to gate 9 which is by our seats. Wrong! It dropped us at Crisler Arena. I had left stuff in the car so Nancy was on her own and I walked around the outside to the car and then back to the seats. All the walking would have been no problem except, somehow in the morning I slipped on something in the bathroom and broke a toe. It didn't bother me until after the shuttle ride, then it started to burn. Still, I was able to ignore it and enjoy the game until the 4th quarter when one of the early leavers stepped on it. It started to throb and Nancy gave me some Tylenol. When we got home I was afraid to look at it. The thing is a nice fluorescent purple. We iced it and Nancy gave me some pain stuff that has some sleepy dust in it.
The bottom line is that the three or four caches that I had planned on doing today didn't get done. We stayed home and packed up our stuff and loafed. About 2 we went out to lunch at Joe's Crab Shack. Lobster Bisque and Crab Cakes. It was great! Once again, thank you Tim and Susie!!

The weather was perfect for football. We were a little worried about playing Purdue, but as it turned out, Michigan dominated the whole game. Justin (Wolverine Warrior) bought our two spare tickets and came with his daughter Emily. It was a perfect game for her to see - she loved all of the Homecoming activities. I gave her some beads and a pull-out Go Blue sign - she was tickled. She got to see every variety of the wave that there is- forward, backward, fast, slow, superfast, and double. I'm so glad that she had a good experience. The only downside was that Michael sprained his ankle and didn't play in the second half.
It was a splendid day all around.

Super Mario Stars as Football Rolls Past Boilermakers
Mario Manningham caught two first-half touchdown passes -- on 24- and 21-yard strikes from Chad Henne -- en route to a career day, and the Wolverine defense crashed Purdue's wide-open passing attack Saturday, Oct. 13, as the U-M football team defeated the Boilermakers, 48-21, in Michigan Stadium. Mike Hart had a terrific first half, running for 102 yards to help Michigan gain a 24-point halftime advantage. The U-M defense -- led by Terrance Taylor's two TFL's -- protected the lead with a vigorous second half.

Three-O-Caching

For three days in a row, we traveled to a different area each day for sightseeing and geocaching.

On Wednesday, we went to Grosse Ile - it was a most interesting day. Dick has picked out a bunch of virtuals because they are easy enough even for me! He's very considerate that way. We did about a dozen virtuals in that area - all interesting, and some were fascinating. For instance, did you know that there was slavery in Michigan? On Grosse Ile there was a plaque describing how a woman who was born a slave became free in 1815, and willed part of her estate to establish an Episcopal chapel. Her name was Lisette Denison, and she was quite an influential woman for her day.

Thursday we went to the South Lyon area. We were impressed with the cache containers and the cache placements around South Lyon. It was fun, exciting, and gave us a couple of really good ideas! It was fun to see the beautiful homes in new subdivisions on the outskirts of town. The downtown was decorated with stuffed scarecrows in trick or treat costumes which had been created by various local businesses and put up on the lamp posts. The stuffed scarecrows were adorable and really well done - it made for a really attractive display. I was impressed.

Friday we stayed around Ann Arbor and had a great time exploring old haunts, and finding our way around the one way streets, the construction, and the congestion. Dick was really on a roll - he found everything right away. He has developed very good caching instincts.

Kingdom - Don't Go

Are you a movie goer? You can skip Kingdom, with Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner. If you enjoy this type of movie you might as well find your local recruiter, suit up, train, and go to Baghdad - this movie is just like being there...very bloody, very violent, true to life, and depressing. Jan, Diann and I went today and I have to point at Diann - she selected the movie! It was horrible.

The rest of the day was great! Jan and I went back to the condo where Dick and Bill were waiting. Tammy came over with the kids (Ethan and baby Emily) and Eric came after work. Jan ordered Chinese take-away and we had a great time with the kids. Eric and Tammy will be moving to Wisconsin in a few weeks, so we treasure the time we can spend with them.