Thursday in May

The point of my blog today is to write it in the style of ex-Senator Bob Graham's daily journals. (D-FL) This man writes down everything he does every day - in minute detail. He practically jots down "breathe in - breathe out". He makes note of what he's wearing, what newspaper he reads, what he has for breakfast, and on and on. I think it must be a variety of OCD.


1.Round's - we had an early breakfast at Round's because for my ultrasound I am to have nothing by mouth after 9 a.m. I had pancakes, Dick had scrambled eggs and sausage.

2. MCHC - off to the gym - it was a good day - talked to Carol, Alice, Kay and Noreen . Dick wore his "Bank of Dad" shirt. No gym on Monday because of the holiday.

3. Skegemog Gardens - found some excellent geraniums for Mom and Dad. It's nice when you can find exactly what you want. These geraniums are large, and loaded with bright red blooms. Happy Decoration Day.

4. Oakwood - Dick planted the geraniums in the two pots by Mom and Dad. It looks terrific in my humble opinion.

5. Back home - read the snail mail, read the email, watch TV, made some comments on Facebook, snooze

6. Back to MCHC - this time we go to the other entrance for my ultrasound. This is the nicest, most relaxing, most non-invasive medical test that here is. They do, however, exert the most pressure in the wrong places.

7. Back to Oakwood - Dick sprinkled ant killer around the headstone. We noticed earlier that the ants are everywhere there.

8. Burritt's - We picked up some scallops and trout for dinner in our ever expanding quest for a low-fat diet.

9. Mary's Kitchen Port - bought a grill pan for cooking the scallops and the trout. The previous grill pan had done its duty long enough.

10. Back home

That Was The Week That Was

A few days ago (May 11) my cousins Ken and Bev from Grand Rapids came to T.C. to visit Fritz and Ruth. Fritz has just recently entered hospice care. We met Ken and Bev at the Omelette Shoppe for breakfast and had a really nice visit for about an hour and a half. They're a very adventurous couple, and it's fun to hear about their adventures from the mountains to the shore and from Alaska to Utah. This summer it sounds like they're planning a midwestern odyssey in their motor home. We enjoyed it a lot and it was fun answering Ken's "This is your Life" questions!

Dick has worked all day on the back porch. He has powerwashed everything - ceiling, walls, and floor - cleaned up the grill and the picnic tables - so now two more tables are ready for me to paint. I'm always amazed at Dick's inner drive to get things done and I'm also constantly amazed at his stamina. He is impressive. He's just a brush cutting, tree felling, chainsawing, leaf blowing, powerwashing, deck painting, window washing kind of guy.

We have the snowblower back from the shop - there were many things wrong with it so it's a really good thing that we took it in. The tractor is now in the shop - while we were dropping it off Dick looked at another new tractor - this one had a front loader. Those things are so expensive! That's why we're hoping the old tractor will be able to last a few more years. As Dylan once said, "It's not like you can have whatever you want."

Two landscapers have come to look at our front porch planting project, and we have picked Traverse Outdoor to do the job. We'll give them a call tomorrow. We haven't heard anything from Brown Lumber since they came to look at our porch railing project. Why is it that some folks just don't get back to you?

The findagrave.com project has been fun and interesting to do. We took two days and took pictures of headstones to put on that website. We found lots of Van Pelts in the Clark (Springfield Twp.) Cemetery, and even more in Kingsley's Evergreen Cemetery.

We want to have our family out for pizza some day soon. We have some baby toys for Drew to look at - we won't be needing them anymore. Plus we have a small job for Adam and Chris to do for us. (Young bucks with young backs!) We haven't decided when to do that = have to find a time that's good for everybody! What we'd really like to do is have those guys out here more often - at least once a month - just for fun.

Doggone It

Been sick all weekend, night and day - it's the old gall bladder stuff again.

I'll go see Dr. B. next week and agree to the surgery.

He was right again.

(World's best Dr.)

Doggone it.

"Find a Grave"

Today I was inspired to fix up some entries on the Find a Grave website. I've already done Mom and Dad, so today I did the Memorial Gardens side of the family. If Find a Grave seems gruesome to you, it's really fun to work on, and it could be important someday to some future genealogist :)

I did info for Gen and Harold, Frank and Pearl, Lue and Rookie, and Donald. If you see anything that's wrong or doesn't belong there let me know and it can be changed easily.

Search Nancy Steiger's cemetery records at by entering a surname and clicking search: This contributor's recordsAll of Find A Grave (32.8 million names) Restrict search to Surname

Mother's Day 2009

The kids sent flowers - very thoughtful - and the flowers are lovely.

We had a reservation for brunch at Schelde's - and that was lovely too. Everything was great, except there was no chocolate anywhere to be seen! Nice Danish, but no chocolate - Poor Richard. Linda from Concord Place was there - it was interesting to hear her latest news of that.

Then we set out to do some geocaching. First on the agenda was placing a new cache that Dick made. We placed it in an interesting little cemetery in Milton Township. I think that it will be a popular hide - people will like it, I'm sure.

There were 5 caches on our to-do list, and we found them all, and then we found one that wasn't even on the list! The greatest hide was the little birdhouse - such fun - and it really keeps the cache container clean!

Here are Dick's logs from the two most memorable caches!

Found it 5/10/2009 You found For the Birds (Traditional Cache)
Happy Mothers Day!
The day started off overcast and chilly but an excellent brunch followed by some caching caused the temps to rise and the sun to come out. We chose this day to place a cache we had been planning at Milton Township Cemetery and to grab a few while in the vicinity.
This is a very well conceived cache! Kudos! When someone puts extra time and effort into the conception and construction of a cache such as was done in this instance, we are inspired to do likewise. We traded sigs and drove on. Thanks for your effort and the fun you provided us.

5/10/2009 You found Into The Woods (Traditional Cache)
Happy Mothers Day!
We have a long history with this rest area. 52 years ago this June we got this far outside TC on our honeymoon when the stress of the day got to the bride and we had to make an emergency stop to allow her to disgorge the reception lunch. With that accomplished, we got on with the trip through Ontario, got on with our lives and careers, and although there are still times when I make her sick, we manage a chuckle each time we drive past here.
The GPS reception seemed iffy back there, the Garmin was pointing to a spot about 45 feet further into the woods. Thanks to the hint, we signed the log and picked up the coin about 1:30. Thanks for the memories.

Now the ham is in the oven and we're feeling very mellow. The sun is shining and the sky is blue. A perfect Mother's Day: .

Rainy Saturday

This day began as a dark, rainy day with a penetrating chill. Dick started a nice fire in the fireplace which helped to warm things up and eliminate the humidity.

The thing that really turned the day around for us was a visit from Donna (cachetogo). Her husband Dick A. came to Traverse for a wood turning workshop, and she came to see us! It was a very pleasant visit - coffee, tea and conversation sitting by the comfy fire. Dick A. only has one round of chemo left and it sounds like he feels fine and is keeping busy. I guess he's well down the road to recovery! Hooray! Their daughter and grandson are living with them now, and it seems that everybody is getting along just fine. Dick's elderly parents live nearby, and Dick and Donna and their daughter are really looking out for them. Nice people!

The only other thing that we did after that was the grocery store and a great ride around town.

Cinema and Caterpillars

Tom and Mary are back home from Florida, and it didn't take Mary and I long to plan lunch and a movie !

We did lunch at the Olive Garden - love that soup and salad thing that they do. We went to see Ghosts of Girlfriends Past - it's possible that we're too old for that movie. It was basically about casual sex - very casual - I mean this guy didn't even need to find out anybody's name! So the beginning was a bit too much for us, but it did have a kind of a sweet ending - he ends up with his childhood sweetheart. But I'm thinking - why would she still want him after he's been through all that?

In the previews, "The Proposal" looks like a cute one - it comes out June 15th. "Angels and Demons" is coming out soon and I want to see that one, but I think I'll have to go by myself. I might go see "Up", too. so I can talk to Dylan about it :)

Dick and I had fun when I got home. Dick grabbed the blowtorch and I drove him around all the paths in the golf cart, and he zapped the tent caterpillar nests. Some of them were way out of reach, but he got many, many of them. It was very, very satisfying! We did start one fire but a couple shovelsful of dirt extinguished it.

Time Warp

EVENTS

1. April 26 was the date of the AuSauble Expo Geocaching event in Grayling. We got there early and had a chance to talk to lots of people - some more talkative than others! (inside joke) Tim and Susie, Jerry and Lydia were at our table and provided the really enjoyable conversations! Dennis and Josh were nice enough to demo the new Oregon Garmin for us. Everything these days looks like an iPhone to me. We met some new cachers from T.C . We never went to the Expo part. Somebody had collapsed over there and an ambulance was arriving so it seemed like a good time to leave.

2.On May 3rd I went to Melanie's baby shower. She looks wonderful - the baby is due in July. It was great fun to see everybody. I sat at the Hardy family table - Barb, Shelly, Evie, etc. - we missed Sharon and Melissa. The games were fun - baby gift bingo and scrapbook pages! The food was spectacular and the buffet table was very attractive. Melanie got stacks and piles of presents. Little Izzy will be the best dressed baby in town - at least for the first 6 months! I enjoyed the whole thing.

YARD WORK

Dick has power washed every wooden surface - it took about 3 days, and he's really feeling it in his hands and right shoulder. He's always eager to do it, and I think that he secretly likes having a project to do outdoors in this nice weather! Next he painted the decks all the way down to the river - that took another couple of days. The deck looks terrific.

He has also cut down trees and hauled load after load of brush down to the brush pile. The snowblower has been taken to the shop for repair, fine tuning, and summerizing. The leaves have all been blown out of the perennial garden and we're planning to use compost for mulch in there. It's fun to watch the perennials poke their heads up into the sunshine.

Yesterday, while I was prepping picnic tables for painting, he slipped into his waders, went into the river and started up the sprinkler system for the coming season.

PROJECTS

1. The tractor project - the tractor that Dick uses for general yard maintenence has bad hydraulics - he says the hydraulics are frozen and he can't raise or lower the hitch, among other things. We looked at a bunch of new tractors, but they cost more than we paid for our first house. Now we're looking at having it repaired and using it for another couple of years.

2. The recliner project - in 1991 we bought 2 swivel recliners for each other as a retirement present. Now we're ready to replace them with a newer model. Waiting for Riverside Resale to come out and look them over and hopefully take them and sell them for us. Actually, I'd be happy if they just carry them out and load them up!

3. The shed project - One thing leads to another. Now that I have a golf cart, I have to have a place to park it. We've found a shed that we really like, and Dick has staked out a spot for it by the turn-around. It has been ordered, but it hasn't been built - and we're waiting for the builder to come out and check the staked-out spot to see if he can place the shed there with his truck and trailer. If all goes well we should have a shed by the end of June.

4. The landscaping project - We've had a couple of landscapers come and look at the front of the house. Our bushes are all overgrown and need to be replaced. We've already seen a plan from one of the landscapers and it looks great. We're past the point of digging out the bushes, transplanting them and then planting the new stuff. Now we look at it as creating jobs! We're so patriotic!

5. The plastic railing project - The railings on the upper deck and the front porch need to be freshened up. Rather than sanding and painting we're thinking of replacing them with the white plastic or vinyl stuff that looks so nice and is very low maintenance. Brown Lumber is coming out tomorrow to check it out.

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Sometimes we wonder how we ever managed to do all of these household maintenance projects when we had three kids, a dog, two cats, and two full time jobs. Right now we have just about as much as we would want to handle!

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Trivia - Jon and Kate plus 8 - does anybody else think that she treats him badly, badly, badly? She is not loving towards him even in front of the cameras. Poor guy has to take her bad mouth every day. She criticizes him, corrects him, makes fun of him repeatedly. What do you think?

Clean Up, Fix up, Paint up

This is the time of year that you look around your home and notice all of the things everywhere that are a little bit down at heel. We have a long, long list of things both inside and outside of the house that need some attention.

There's a wobbly ceiling fan, new mini-blinds to put up, a pot rack for the kitchen, a room that badly needs painting, not to mention landscaping - the bushes across the front of the house need to be dug out and replaced, plus we need a shed for the golf cart. Whew! We also are ready to replace my broken recliner, and one of Dick's tractors.

Well....after giving it some thought we realized that we really can't take the road trip to Shreveport that we've been planning. We can save some shekels by staying home and just taking care of our place.

We wanted to take the Shreveport trip to pick up caches in more states, but we can probably go next fall or next spring.

Barb Bonanza

What a bonanza! Barb came out Sunday to deliver our Thin Mints from Kalamazoo! It doesn't get much better than that. Plus - the cookies were a gift - yay! Thank you Melissa. Thanks also to Autumn and Brooke without whom Melissa wouldn't be in the Girl Scout cookie business!

We had a great time visiting with Barb - caught up on a lot of her growing family's doings. Of course we're not the least bit jealous that soon she will have four (4) grandchidren (Autumn, Brooke, Drew and Isabelle) of her own, plus Lydia and Madelyn. It was wonderful having Barb here looking so good and so healthy.

Dick has been working on the yard. So far he has done thatching, fertilizing, heavy chainsaw pruning, and hauling brush. The yard looks quite good for this early in the Spring. It's almost time to turn on the sprinklers.

I went for my annual eye exam this morning - everything is looking good. They put in the dilating drops so I'm trying to avoid bright sunlight. They used to hand out huge plastic sunglasses for eye protection, but I guess they're cutting back or something! I'm glad that the brightness on the computer monitor can be adjusted.

Saturday Caching

Tim and Susie wanted to do some T.C. caching. We met them at the Omelette Shoppe for the usual excellent breakfast, and then we were off to the races. After living here forever and taking pleasure drives all of the time, we still discovered a place we've never been to before. This view is from the subdivision above Copper Ridge - somebody put a cache there to bring people up there to enjoy the view. We'll definitely come back here in the summer for some scenic viewing!
We did a couple of urban caches, but that gets old really fast, so we headed west of town to the Lake Dubonnet area and tried some backwoods trails. Off to the two tracks, where it is still snowy here and there, and where the roads can still be a bit icy.
Three caches were found around Lake Dubonnet, and then cooler heads prevailed and we left the two track for roads that are not "seasonal".
Tim in the deep, dark woods.

It was fun driving around the back roads of Long Lake even though this is not the prettiest time of the year for scenery. The most fun of the day though came when we were back out on US 31 (superhighway!). There was a cache in a small roadside cemetery that blew us away. We had trouble figuring it out when we first stopped. But after carefully reading the description and the past logs, we were successful on the second try. This cache container is made to look like a tombstone, and it's a large tombstone size. It's nestled in the bushes, away from other grave sites, so it's entirely respectful of the surroundings. It's hard to describe adequately, so Dick took a couple of pictures of it. It took a remarkable amount of time and effort to place this cache!




Then, all of a sudden, inexplicably, the driver decided that we needed to make a stop at Moomer's! The back seat passengers allowed as how that was a good idea, so that's how we ended our 8 cache caching day adventure.

Thanks, Tim and Susie for a really enjoyable day!

Feeling Fortunate

This is a perfect day for feeling very, very fortunate. First of all, the temperature reached 60 degrees. the sun is shining brightly, the sky is bluer than blue, the birds are singing, crocuses and some daffodils are blooming, the bay is deep, deep blue, and people are walking around town in shorts.

We did some great errands today. Well, OK, going to the dump is not that great.

We were driving Marco, and it's been sitting all winter without going anywhere. We really only use it to haul the boat or when we have a scheduling conflict. Dick noticed that it was due to go to Jiffy Lube last June (2008)! So we took it to Jiffy Lube - once a year should do it! Actually, we're kind of thinking of selling the pontoon boat and then selling Marco and getting a smaller more gas efficient car for geocaching and pulling the utility trailer. Do you know anybody who needs a 1989 pontoon boat and trailer? Or a 2001 Ford Explorer with a great towing package?

Both the Area Agency on Aging and the Commission on Aging were stops for us. Dick is gathering information on Senior Independent Living for his friend Pat, who wants to move into Senior Living in Benzie County or this area.

We went to Penney's to order new mini-blinds for the bedroom and (how fortunate is this) it seems that Bali is now having a 70 percent off sale! So we ordered the blinds and got a terrific deal. It's nice for a change to have good timing.

The best errand of all (Ta Da!) was going to the bank. (Drumroll) We PAID OFF OUR MORTGAGE!!! Woo Woo !! I feel fantastic about that, in case you can't tell. With the economy the way it is, and things feeling a bit uncertain, it feels super to own the house outright.

So Whoop-de-doo, and just so you'll be aware...I'm feeling fortunate.

Babes in the Woods

Yesterday we had quite an adventure. Dick is such a good story teller, I'm glad to share his report - so here's what happened to us yesterday!

On our way home from our Amish excursion a couple of weeks ago; we drove through Lake City and then on to Manton along M42. This route took us past a cache we have placed called “The Armillary”. It's located along the side of the road at the site that once held the Sherman School. The school is long gone but the land is still in the hands of the Sherman family. In the ‘60’s, Vernon Sherman placed there a collection of “stuff”, all mounted on concrete platforms. Among other things, there is an old printing press, a rail-mounted reciprocal saw, an armillary, and a large (five foot tall) pink rock that he dubbed the Sherman Stone. He even went so far as to have two brass plaques made which contain his poem titled “The Sherman Stone”.
>

Let Sherman’s stone stand for a breed of men I knew of late.
For logs and land unsubsidized, for “ciphering” on a slate.
Their gold and silver passed at face, their politicians knew their place.
Their mail, “Big Brother” never dared to read, nor tapped their phone.
Until we break our “horse” of state, they’re better men I vow.
They taught their kids in one room school,
“Democracy means the people rule”.

We found the collection to be interesting and developed a puzzle cache that requires a close inspection of the various items to answer questions that would lead to the cache coordinates.

On our recent visit, we found that the area is not being cared for and that rust and overgrowth has rendered the finding of the clues to be more problematical than we wished. We decided to archive the cache and replace the old offset container with a magnetic container attached to a piece of the equipment. We thought to retrieve the old container but discovered that the road to it is a seasonal road and is not plowed.

Over the next weeks, we found a suitable container, attached magnets to it and painted it matte black. Equipped with a logbook and a couple of trinkets, we set it aside to be placed on our next visit.

Saturday morning we worked at a few domestic tasks, while one of us supervised the Roomba and did some housekeeping, the other one wielded the chainsaw clearing up some downed branches and trees that the winter storms had provided. The day was warming nicely and the sun was inviting and we discussed going for a ride when the phone rang. It was the world's greatest Grandson offering us an opportunity to join him and his mother and uncle on a quest in the online game World of Warcraft. These chances do not present themselves every day and so we spent an hour or so sitting side by side at the computers asking, “What should I be doing?” ‘I don’t know, I’m just following Dylan.” “Should I be the healer?” “I don’t know, ask Dylan”.

Our grandson has this problem with us. Is it logical that two schoolteachers could be less knowledgeable than a fifth grader? In his words, “That makes no commonsense whatsoever”. When we profess ignorance, he is sure that once again, someone is pulling his leg. When his grandfather indicates that he doesn’t get it, he gets this look of bemusement and says, “What do you mean, you don’t understand?” At times his response to his grandmother’s question has been, “Weren’t you paying attention Grandma?” We do the best we can but it is evident that at times, in some areas, we are not as knowledgeable as that fifth grader.

At any rate, the five of us helped him finish the first quest but without Jana we were not a strong enough group to kill the big boss and get him the other achievement he desired. Our gaming activity was complete before 2:30 and since the day was so nice we decided to go for a ride. What better goal than to redo the Armillary cache.

Thus the adventure began.

The drive south was uneventful. We considered a detour back to the Walton Junction cemetery to check our cache there but a quick look at the seasonal roads dissuaded us. (Foreshadowing!) We arrived at the Sherman School site and quickly placed the new container. Then it was a short side trip east on Walker Road to retrieve the old container.

The extension past Green Road was still covered with snow. Both the right and left hand sides of the road were clear but in many places there were trees growing right up to the edge of the road. There were tracks along the side where someone had driven out but it looked like they were winter treads, maybe a 4x4 pick up. It is only a short, less than a quarter mile walk, so we parked at the intersection. Then the old phrase “We get too soon old and too late smart” kicked in. What the heck, this thing (our RAV4) has 4x4. (Although we’ve never used it and we don’t have tires with an aggressive tread.) The book says just push this button. And so, like a couple of kids 55 years our junior; we pushed the button and headed down the snow covered road. (Actually, the driver pushed the button although the decision was a joint effort.)

All went well for the first couple of hundred yards. Although the snow was getting deeper, the vehicle and its four-wheel drive performed excellently. But then, all of a sudden, the right hand side of the car broke through the crust and we bogged down. Although forward progress was halted, we could back up. Could we back all the way out? That didn’t look like the best plan. Maybe, if we can go forward just another 50 – 60 feet or so to that clearing, we can turn around. We (OK, I) blasted forward for about 20 feet and bogged down again. Shifting into reverse we were able to back up about 2 inches, driving forward regained the same. Back two inches, forward two inches, Getting out and looking around revealed that all four wheels had broken through the crust and the snow was deeper than the ground clearance. We were totally bottomed out. We had zero traction. While considering the situation, a short walk retrieved the container we had come down here for so that goal was accomplished. A thorough analysis of our situation yielded only one solution.

Oh well, that’s why I have AAA towing. We just call the 800 number and they will send someone right out. Dialing their number on our cell phone revealed - - - NO SIGNAL! Try roaming, NO SIGNAL!!!

Well, one of us has to hike out to find a house where they have a phone they will let us use, and since only one of us is very mobile, and since chauvinism lives in children of the 50’s, off I went.

The first place, about a half-mile up the road past the intersection had a heavy duty gate chained shut and no signs of occupation. The next, a quarter mile further on had two dogs that obviously objected to my presence. The old poochy-coo talk and the hand held out palm down worked and the most curious/aggressive one gave me a thorough sniffing and allowed me to proceed. The other one, a tripod, (I learned he was shot the opening day of hunting season a couple of years ago.) continued his barking but did not come closer.

I walked up to the back porch and saw a sign that proclaimed NO SMOKING. I rang the doorbell and soon a young woman, mid 20’s to mid 30’s, smoking a cigarette, answered it. I told her my tale of woe and asked if I could use the phone, she flung the door open and led me into the kitchen and the telephone. (Folks are friendlier here, and of course Nancy points out that I was wearing my jacket that says Grandpa on it..)

In the course of the next 15 minutes or so, she; called her brother who lives just down the road and has a tractor to see if he would pull me out, (He declined due to liability issues.) offered me a Coke or something, revealed that her name is Tanya, that she was home alone, that the house belongs to her parents, that the kids were at her niece’s coloring eggs and that she would call John's, the towing place for me and tell them where I was because she used to work there. My call to AAA went well and after what seemed to be a rather lengthy hold, the nice lady said the tow driver knew the area and if I would wait at the intersection, (Tanya said it is called “Dead Man’s Curve.) he would be there by 6:05. However, the lady continued, they did not do snow removal and sometimes they will refuse to enter unplowed roads. Furthermore, my policy only covered normal towing and if more than one wrecker is needed or if additional equipment is required, I would be liable for additional charges. It was then about 5:15. Tanya insisted on giving me a ride back to the intersection. As we got in the car, a large, heavyset dog tried to get in with us. Tanya told me that she didn’t recognize it and did not know to whom it belonged. For whatever reason, it adopted us, followed Tonya’s car and stayed with us the rest of the time we were there.

I walked down the snowy road to report the situation to Nancy and then, accompanied by my new best friend, went back to the intersection and waited. And waited, and waited. Many thoughts went through my head, like if they won’t come down to pull us out, do we leave the car there ‘till the snow melts? Would National deliver a car out here?

Fatigue was setting in I had been walking/standing for nearly two hours, I walked back to consult and look at the car again. I noticed that the wheels seemed to be more firmly on the ground but were cocked to the left, I got in and started it up and had Nancy guide me from outside the car until the wheels were straight. I then tried to back up. It went back a foot. I put it in drive and crept forward maybe 2 feet. Back about 4, forward about 5. Then, after backing as far as I could, I gunned it and aimed for the shoulder. The car broke out of the snow pack and onto the edge of the woods. What appears to have happened was that during the two-hour wait, the heat and weight of the vehicle caused the snow to compact giving the tires more traction.

With the co-pilot guiding front and rear, we got turned around and then with everyone back on board, drove victoriously back out to terra firma. We were back on a road but still without a signal.

With a whoop and a holler and triple high fives, accompanied down the road by our new mascot, we drove back to Tonya’s and asked her to call John's Towing and tell him he wasn’t needed. Smiles of relief and joy filled the RAV all the way home. Chalk up another successful adventure for Basswood Bend! I only wish that Tom had been there to see that it is not just his car we take chances with.

I am reminded that when we bought a Jeep back in the 60’s, I wanted to have a winch mounted on the front. Nancy refused, because, “If you have it, you’ll want to use it.” I know that the wise adult action is to always shy away from deep snow or sand as we cruise our northern Michigan two tracks but I don’t think we can. From now on I think I’ll make sure to carry the satchel I have that is packed with the trenching tool, tow straps and come-along just in case.

State Wins!

MSU will be playing in the National Championship game next Monday! UConn played hard, but State really dominated the rebounds, the points from the bench, and the physicality. They did themselves proud.

The thing that I like the best is that it's such a terrific morale booster for the entire state of Michigan. They'll play for the championship in Detroit on a floor made from western upper peninsula wood. It kind of feels like a weekend in honor of the whole state. Couldn't come at a better time. Thanks MSU.

Shuttin' Down Detroit video

My friend Peggy found this video of the John Rich song - average melody but dramatic lyrics and pictures!

http://www.johnrich.com/index.php?page=videos


Dick and I are looking forward to a Spartan victory this evening!

Tremendous Trifle

It all began when I was a stay at home Mom in the sixties. I got hooked on "Guiding Light". I rocked all of my babies while watching it. Naptimes were planned to set me free to watch it. In the beginning, the story was dominated by Bert and Bill Bauer and their sons, Mike and Ed. The grand old man of the story was Papa Bauer, Bill's father. Now, Mike's son Rick is really the only Bauer left, but they have still been doing the annual Bauer Barbecue on the 4th of July.

When you're hooked on a soap you watch through births, deaths, weddings, affairs, divorces, returns from the dead, cloning, medical miracles, addictions, corporate greed, trials that send people to prison - whatever life has to offer can turn up in a soap.

When I went back to work in the 70s, Dick got home before I did, and he would tape Guiding Light for me faithfully every day. My kids would watch sometimes, but they were mostly disgusted with it. They claimed they could miss three months of the story and still be up to date!

Many folks are way too sophisticated and intellectual to watch a soap opera. But I've always found the continuity of Guiding Light to be interesting, comforting, familiar and fun. I was a constant viewer for 5 decades, and I will really miss it!

April 2, 2009
CBS Turns Out ‘Guiding Light’
By BILL CARTER

CBS announced Wednesday the cancellation of the longest-running scripted program in broadcasting history, the soap opera “Guiding Light.”

The show has been on radio and television for 72 years, beginning on NBC radio in 1937 and moving to CBS television in 1952.

The show’s run will end with an episode Sept. 18.

The move came after many years of steeply declining ratings for the hourlong soap, which is owned by Procter & Gamble and thus was a link to the earliest days of daytime serial dramas on radio. The shows were eventually called soap operas because soap companies sponsored them.

A spokeswoman for P.&G., Jeannie Tharrington, said the company would seek to place “Guiding Light” elsewhere. “We’re looking at all our options,” she said. “This show started as a 15-minute radio show, and then it was a half-hour television show, so it has adapted over the years.”

Ms. Tharrington said P.&G. would look to any possible outlet to continue the series. A canceled NBC soap, “Passions,” moved for a time to the satellite service DirecTV, but it failed there and is now gone.

None of the producers or stars of “Guiding Light” would grant an interview Wednesday about the decision. “The news is too fresh,” Ms. Tharrington said.

In an official statement, Ellen Wheeler, the executive producer, said, “It will be difficult for all of us at the show to say goodbye.”

The CBS president, Nancy Tellem, said, “It was not an easy decision to make, but we talked it over with our partners at Procter & Gamble, and we agreed it was time.” Ms. Tellem said she had not heard that P.&G. was looking to place the show elsewhere but said that CBS would wish the company well in that effort.

The biggest star in the show’s current cast is Kim Zimmer, a four-time Emmy winner for best actress in a daytime serial. Another star, Justin Deas, has won six Emmys for his acting. The show also provided breakthroughs for many well-known actors, including Kevin Bacon, James Earl Jones, Calista Flockhart, Allison Janney and Cicely Tyson. “Guiding Light” claims the distinction of being the first network soap to introduce regular African-American characters, in 1966.

CBS and the producers of “Guiding Light” — which is shot on the East Coast, in the CBS Broadcast Center in Manhattan and on location in Peapack, N.J. — had taken several steps in recent years to keep the series alive, especially in switching the production to a digital format.

That move, last year, included the introduction of hand-held digital cameras and permanent, four-wall sets as opposed to the traditional, constantly reconstructed three-wall sets built by soaps to accommodate bulky pedestal cameras. Rather than expensive lighting and sound equipment, the show also began using hand-held lights and microphones.

The changes resulted in a look vastly different from the traditional soap, with more camera movement, more muted lighting and much more use of outside locations. The moves saved considerable money, according to CBS executives.

But not enough to save the series. This year the audience for “Guiding Light” had declined to an average of just 2.1 million viewers an episode. Its pattern over recent years had been steadily downward. Last year it averaged about 2.4 million viewers an episode. Five years ago the average was about 3 million viewers.

“Guiding Light” also had the smallest audience of any of the remaining network daytime soaps and a smaller audience than many of the game and talk shows that also fill network daytime hours. The most-watched soap, “The Young and the Restless” on CBS, is averaging about 5.26 million viewers an episode. The network’s game show “The Price Is Right” has an average of about 4.95 million viewers. ABC’s talk show “The View” averages about 4.25 million viewers.

ABC’s top soap, “General Hospital,” averages about 2.97 million viewers, and NBC’s only soap, “Days of Our Lives,” has about 2.76 million, though those shows have much younger audiences, making them more desirable to many advertisers.

Ms. Tellem said that the hour devoted to “Guiding Light” — its scheduling has varied in different cities from 10 a.m. in New York to as late a 3 p.m. in some cities — will be retained by CBS. The network is likely to fill it with another game show or talk show, she said.

When “Guiding Light” ends, another CBS soap, “As the World Turns” — also shot in New York — will become the longest-running daytime serial drama. It started in 1956.

Too Much Sadness Plus the Promise of Spring

A lot of sadness has entered our world lately. Things seem to be happening in bunches.

The first thing was the death of the teenage daughter of one of Laurie's friends in Palm City. She was 18 years old, and an apparent suicide.

Then Belleville colleagues - Tommy M. lost his mother first, and then this week his brother died. Dan F.'s brother Mark died Monday of a sudden heart attack. Jim F.'s grandson, 12 year old Matt, died last Sunday in a motocross accident.

In Traverse City, Dick's cousin Chester died last week after a lengthy illness.

There are hundreds of deaths every day across the country, but this seems unusual to me.

Two of the deaths were expected, but the rest were a total shock - most especially the two children.

On the Springy side, the Bay is blue again today for the first time since I can't remember when. Dick figures that southerly winds have blown the ice out past the island. The shore is still chock-a-block with ice chunks along the breakwater, but the water just has a few small ice floes floating around.

Today is a beautiful day with blue skies and strong sunshine - the temperature has rocketed all the way up to 46! We saw a man at the library wearing shorts and sandals!
Crocuses are blooming around town. Spring will soon be a happening thing.

Best news - Sharon says she and John have tickets for the Final Four at Ford Field this weekend! How excellent is that?

Ford Field Final Four

The Spartans certainly taught Louisville a thing or two about tournament basketball!

I expected State to win, but I thought it would be a really really close game. It is so excellent that the Final Four is at Ford Field in Detroit, with a team from Michigan in the mix. I'm thinking that there will be a great home floor advantage! What a terrific boost in morale for the whole state!

It would be so great if some of our family's staunch Spartan supporters could get tickets!

How much Snow?

On our deck benches it looks like at least 5 new inches of snow and it's still coming down. It's funny - the benches have been bare three different times since we got home from San Diego - now they're buried again! Isn't it ironic that this is the week of Spring Break? If this storm had waited a couple of days, it would have been a great April Fool's joke.

HOWEVER.....I'd much rather be here than out in Fargo where the Red River is flooding up to their elbows, and the temperature is zero! How horrible would that be??

Last summer we drove through Fargo on I-94. The Red River is the State line between Minn. and N.D., so to enter Fargo you go over a bridge. We didn't spend much time there, but I remember thinking it was a very clean town, and much larger than I expected. It's a college town - it has North Dakota State and also a lutheran college.
Those folks are fighting to save their homes and trying to stay warm at the same time. Makes our 5 inches look like a cake walk.

Shuttin' Down Detroit

Jana heard about this song on the Today Show this morning. It's by a group called Big & Rich.

Shuttin' Detroit Down

My daddy taught me in this country everyone’s the same.
You work hard for your dollar and you never pass the blame,
When it don’t go your way.
Now I see all these big shots whining on my evening news,
About how they're losing billions and it’s up to me and you
To come running to the rescue.

Well pardon me if I don’t shed a tear.
They're selling make believe and we don’t buy that here.

Because in the real world they're shuttin’ Detroit down,
While the boss man takes his bonus paid jets on out of town.
DC’s bailing out them bankers as the farmers auction ground.
Yeah while they're living up on Wall Street in that New York City town,
Here in the real world their shuttin’ Detroit down.
Here in the real world their shuttin’ Detroit down.

Well that old man’s been working in that plant most all his life,
Now his pension plan’s been cut in half and he can’t afford to die
And it’s a crying shame, cus he ain’t the one to Blame.
When I looked down to see his calloused hands,
Well let me tell you friend it gets me fightin’ mad.

Cause in the real world they're shuttin’ Detroit down,
While the boss man takes his bonus paid jets on out of town.
DC’s bailing out them bankers as the farmers auction ground.
Yeah while they're living up on Wall Street in that New York City town,
Here in the real world they're shuttin’ Detroit down.

Yeah while they're living up on Wall Street in that New York City town,
Here in the real world they're shuttin’ Detroit down.
Here in the real world they're shuttin’ Detroit down,
In the real world they're shuttin’ Detroit down.
They're shuttin’ Detroit down.

It's a very touching song for those of us who love Michigan, and who lived in Wayne County for 30 years.

Unemployment in our State has now reached 12%. Some huge percentage of jobs in Michigan are related to the auto industry.

Dad read somewhere that the main roads in Michigan are the worst in the country. Front Street has another vacant store front every week. I overheard a waitress saying, "My husband got laid off, so I'm looking for a second job." We've heard others say that they're working a second job.

I've moved past being ashamed of Bush - I'm not even railing against that stupid war anymore. Worrying about Michigan and the auto industry is much more relevant in our neck of the woods. It's still humbling to be driving around Michigan in a Toyota instead of a Michigan-made UAW built Ford.

I love the lyrics and would like to hear the song.

Amish Geo-Birthday

We spent last weekend in Clare - it was my birthday request. I wanted to tour the Amish settlements and maybe find an Amish bakery! Geocaching was part of our adventure, too. Dick logged in some simple ones that didn't involve a lot of hiking so we could both enjoy everything.

It was a very successful weekend. The only downside was that it was very nippy and windy, so it wasn't exactly sweatshirt weather. We found all of the Amish things that we were looking for except for a bakery (darn), and we found 15 geocaches over the weekend. It was a very pleasant birthday!

On the country roads around Clare it's fairly easy to tell which farms are Amish.


This woman had gone into town to shop at the big grocery store. Her husband was waiting in the buggy, and he let her load the groceries.


We were lucky enough to be at the Yoder Amish Auction on Saturday when it was open. There were buggies parked everywhere on the auction grounds.


The men are checking out the horses, while the woman were grilling hamburgers.



All weekend we were sharing the road with buggies. It's fun on the dirt roads because they leave better tracks and you can tell where they came from and where they're going. You can see the clippety clop tracks in the dirt.



I was especially interested in the Amish school houses - you can tell from the pictures that they don't waste a lot of money on the buildings or the plumbing. The schools were listed as having 17 students in grades K-8, which is as high as they go. Evidently you don't need a lot of book learning to run an Amish farm.



We saw several signs like this one.


At the Colonville store you are waited on by Amish ladies. You can buy kerosene lanterns and lamp chimneys of all sorts - a whole aisle of them. They have an entire wall displaying black stockings - even black stockings for infants in pink packaging. There were many, many books - mostly religious, but not all. Many were Amish romance novels, which all seemed to have a moral at the end. There were piles and piles of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House on the Prairie books. Dick was fascinated with the tools, hardware, and the huge cauldrons. There's an entire aisle of straw hats for men and boys. It was a step back into the 1800s.

Arthur, Illinois

Historic photo!

This picture was taken at the homestead of my great-grandfather and great-grandmother William and Caroline Kanitz in Arthur, Illinois. Allegedly, all of their descendants at the time are shown - children, spouses, grandchildren, etc.

My grandfather and grandmother, Charles and Sarah Kanitz are the first couple standing on the left.

Hooray

Yay hooray! The city is getting cleaned up for Spring! Yes, Virginia, there will be a Spring - no kidding.

At the marina today we saw a front loader and a dump truck moving huge piles of snow left over from plowing the parking lot all winter. Near the Harbor Master's, there was a pile that resembled the Rock of Gibraltar, and today it is totally gone. Yaay hooray!

I asked Dick what are the chances of having no more storms and heavy snows this season. He said the chances were slim and none and slim just left town. He likes to say that, and he says it a lot, so I'm not discouraged that much, only a little bit.

The other day we drove up M-22 to see how far north the Bay was frozen, and it was frozen all the way out to the island. That is the official requirement for saying that the Bay is frozen. Dick said you would think that they would put something in the newspaper about that. The next day, on the front page, there was a story about the frozen bay. It's the first time since 2003 that the Bay was officially frozen.

Railroad Cars

Ron, our therapy tech at the gym, filled us in this morning on why the silver, double-decker passenger cars are parked out by Cherry Growers! He said that they were moved out there sometime last fall, and that there was an article in the Record Eagle about it.

The cars had been parked down in the Bay City/Midland area just being stored. They became a target for vandalism - people broke into some of the cars, and spray painted graffiti on some of them. The graffiti is still there - it's really noticeable. The company decided that there would be less of a vandalism problem up here, and so they were moved to the Grawn area.

Cabin Fever Cure

A little bit of cabin fever set in on River Road today so Dick invited me out to lunch. We took along some recycling and some things to mail because almost every trip around here involves some errands!

Driving through the blowing snowfall, we planned to eat in Grandma's Kitchen at Interlochen corners. Gee, I said, I think I heard that it has changed hands. In actuality, it was closed up tight - dark and empty - a definite change.

Next to ex-Grandma's Kitchen is Ric's Food Center - and guess what...across the street is an almost complete, huge new almost finished Tom's Food Market...looks like trouble for Ric's! It's really a lovely store - it carries everything you could possibly want, but it may not be able to compete with Tom's.

Across the highway is Clancy's Kitchen, which seems to be taking up the slack from the closing of Grandma's. Clancy's is relatively new - it features plain American style food which is home made and tastes home made! They seem to have a sweet potato fixation - it may be a tad overdone - sweet potato fries, pie, pancakes, egg rolls, and on and on. We had a great dinner and really enjoyed it, although it wasn't so much fun watching the cars outside dealing with the blowing snow!

After eating we bravely headed out into the storm to go to the Interlochen recycling center. Guess what - it's gone - there's nothing there. Things are really changing over there in Interlochen.

The Interlochen Post Office let us down because they don't have a drive up mail drop. On this blizzardy day it required walking up to the front door of the PO to deposit the letters....well actually Dick was the one who walked up to the mailbox, but still...

We spent a couple of months in warmer climes this winter, and I think we really missed something exciting. On the way to Interlochen, just past Cherry Growers, there are approximately 20-25 railway passenger cars parked on the tracks alongside the highway. The tracks by our house provide the only access to TC and Cherry Growers, and so we missed seeing all of those cars go past! We see a train around once a week when the weather is good. Those trains usually have an engine and a couple of cars - but certainly not 20. We have no idea why those cars are in that particular spot.

H a p p y P r e s i d e n t' s D a y ? ? ? ? ? ?

Good intentions - the car all packed up with trash for the dump, grocery list in hand, check ready to go to the bank, going to the Sprint store to replace lost cell phone - and we were off to run errands. Two out of four is not that bad....

The East Bay Compactor Station is closed because of Pres. Day. The whole back end of the car is loaded with trash - we haven't been to the dump for ages because of traveling since Sept. Looks like we won't go for a couple of more days yet.

Driving through town we turned in at the drive-through bank to deposit the check, and there was no line...it was closed because of ...(see above).

The grocery store was open, and we put our groceries in right next to the trash bags...

The Sprint store was open and it was the bright spot of our errand afternoon. Tina was very helpful, and we now have a replacement phone with the same cell number.

Today on Facebook Adam posted that he and Melanie will be having a baby girl! The pictures were labeled "Isabelle Jean" - what a nice name. Congratulations to the Hardy family :)

Something's Fishy

La Jolla is home to the famous Scripps Institute of Oceanography and the Birch Aquarium. We enjoyed another glorious San Diego treat today, and spent the afternoon at the aquarium. The pictures speak for themselves. I'm beginning to think that Dick is a natural photographer!

The Big Tank


Historic tuna fishermen - three rods for one tuna


A school of sardines in perpetual motion!


The fountain in front of the aquarium


After the aquarium we drove along the seashore and stopped at a sea lion beach to see what we could see. We saw three sea lions in the water, but none on the beach. It was wonderfull just to be able to see the sea!



So far this year, we have been from the Atlantic to the Pacific - from sea to shining sea :)

Super Zoo Day

Not being particularly interested in the Super Bowl this year, we took off for the San Diego Zoo instead. Of course we expected Chip's Steelers to dominate, and they almost did. At least they won the game. We got home in time to see the end of the 4th quarter, and the fabulous catch in the end zone. Go Steelers.

Believe it or not, many people were able to get along without watching the Super Bowl today - I know this because many of them were at the Zoo, too. Tom's friend Brandy and her brother Hunter came with us. It was another perfect San Diego day, and we had a great time. Afterward they asked me what was my favorite part, and I could narrow it down to five things - but I decided that the overall favorite thing was the giraffe exhibit.

A view of the Zoo from the Skyfari ride:


Dick's favorite was the gorilla exhibit - he especially got a kick out of this young gorilla checking the the Big Boss to see if he was doing his gorilla thing correctly.


Big Boss Gorilla


Me with Tom, Brandy and Hunter


Dick got this great picture of the endangered rhino.

Baby Maya

We were invited to Amy's Mom's house for dinner, and the Washington family came down from L.A, bringing (of course) the baby!

We started the day in an excellent way - Tom took us to have dim sum for breakfast - another first for us. It's a little like Chinese tapas, or small plates - kind of individual dumplings and wontons filled with all good things - shrimp, pork, chicken, beef and you name it. It's a very enjoyable way to go out for breakfast!


Being in Joyce's home is another unique experience - she's such a good hostess, and her home is so inviting - you feel like one of the family. Well, actually we are family in a shirt-tail kind of a way - great-aunt and uncle of her son-in-law - is that close enough? The baby is adorable, and very entertaining - we all got a chance to hold her and cootchy-coo at her a little bit - she's a happy baby! The food was magnificent - a real feast - we had nine people at the table, and enough food for nineteen...plus two desserts!

The Washington Family:


Talking to Sharon on the phone while holding her grandchild - is that really fair?


Me with Amy's dad, Richard, the grill chef for the day.


Tom and Babycakes


Grandma Joyce and Maya Grace