45th Kanitz Reunion

The 45th Kanitz Reunion was held once again in the Tri-County Sportsmen's League in Saline. This year's attendance was 111. Jim, Dick and I were the representatives of our branch of the family.
Here I am giving my brother an earful.


Who's in charge next year?? OMG!!


Well I guess we got over it - we'll be in charge next year. Holy Moly!


Crowd shot



The groaning board - the food was as abundant as ever.


Dick at the dessert table in the yellow shirt. He had his choice of everything chocolate.


Jim went back for seconds - photographic evidence!


My first cousin Ron - the highlight of the business meeting. He is 85 years old - so hard to believe!


My first cousin Loyola and her husband Duane. There were 6 first cousins there altogether - Ron, Wayne, Loyola, Rex, Jim and I. Originally, there were 27 of us.


The younger set - it looks as though the Kanitz name will live on for a while yet!


Factoid: Jack's son Jeremy (1st cousin once removed) got back from Iraq 4 months ago. He said it wasn't that bad if you like adrenalin at night.

Quote: Linda (1st cousin once removed) said, "I've never seen a Kanitz that wasn't good looking!"

Joke: Cousin Ron recited an inspirational poem. He said it was by Helen Hunt. He said,"If you want a copy you can go to Helen Hunt for it." He broke the place up!

Relief: We had several offers of assistance to help with setting up next year's reunion. It's hard for Jim and me since we live far away and don't have much family nearby to pitch in. Plus the 3 of us are all in our 70s and not as spry as we once were!

M vs. EMU

Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Michigan Stadium)
Score: #25 Michigan 45, Eastern Michigan 17
Records: U-M (3-0), Eastern Michigan (0-3)
Attendance: 107,903
Next U-M Game: Saturday, Sept. 26 -- vs. Indiana (Michigan Stadium), Noon

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- After a closely-contested first half, the No. 25-ranked University of Michigan football team posted a 21-0 second-half scoring advantage to defeat Eastern Michigan, 45-17, on Saturday (Sept. 19) at Michigan Stadium. Michigan's strong running game paved the way in the victory, U-M's 875th all-time, with a total of 380 yards on the ground.

Dick said we couldn't lose either way because we each have degrees from both schools (BA from Uof M, MA+ from EMU), but you know he didn't really mean it!

We came, we saw, we enjoyed.

Justin and Emily came and used our two extra tickets.


Justin bought this cap for his baby Braylon, who is now 5 weeks old.








Just an ordinary Saturday:

The number of people who were arrested on charges of being a minor in possession of alcohol or who needed medical assistance during Saturday's University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University football game was on par with other games, despite the cross-county rivalry, University of Michigan police said.

The announced attendance at Michigan Stadium was 107,903.

According to Diane Brown, public information officer for University of Michigan police:
# Seven people were arrested on charges of being a minor in possession of alcohol.

# Ten people received citations, nine for alcohol in the stadium and one for illegal sales of tickets.

# Twenty-three people were ejected from the game, 20 for violating stadium rules and three for disorderly conduct.

# Emergency medical treatment was required for 61 people, 13 of whom were transported to the hospital.

For some reaon we were exhausted afterwards - more so than the last 2 games. Maybe sitting in the noonday sun takes more out of you than sitting in the 3:30 sun.

We collapsed at home and watched the fantastic State game, which was fantastic right up until the final score - a good game with an unfortunate outcome.

We had pizza, did some laundry, got 5 achievements on WoW and went to bed - yawn!

Our Week That Was

Dick went to visit with Dick D. at his home. They had lunch with homemade bread and lots of conversation. Jan and I met at Showcase Cinema and saw All About Steve with Sandra Bullock. Don't bother! It had its cute moments, and was mildly entertaining, but generally, it was just Bullock being way too goofy. We went out to lunch at Red Robin - good food and lots of fun talking.

The bad experience of the week was being backed into in the Meijer parking lot. Meemic was very understanding and we'll have the poor Rav repaired when we get back to T.C.



On one of our geocaching expeditions, Dick inadvertently left his roll of stickers in a cache. He logged what he had done, and the cache owner went out and retrieved the stickers and left them for us in an easily accessible place. We had fun going back to look for the stickers, and Dick left him one of our coins as a thank you. One of the joys of geocaching is that 95% of cachers are friendly, helpful, and thoughtful.

One of the joys of Ann Arbor is having lunch at Zingerman's Roadhouse. I loved the salad and the side of mac and cheese - the best thing I've ever tasted! Well, maybe.



Friday, Tim and Susie were in Ann Arbor. We went to meet up with them to say hi. Here they are with Tim's Dad, squinting into the late summer sun.

Szechuan!

We did the workout in the morning and then went (can you guess?) geocaching!

This time we visited Plymouth, Northville, South Lyon and environs. My impression is that these southern Michigan "outlands" are more affluent and well-maintained than we see in northern Michigan. You do see the occasional property that's a real disaster, but they are few and far between. You just don't see the level of poverty around these parts that you see on the back roads up north. The farms on the gravel roads are picture perfect - all of the outbuildings are freshly painted and the grounds are gorgeous. It really makes for enjoyable exploring. The parks that we were in are beautiful, too.

Of course, we think that T.C. is the most beautiful place we could possibly be, but away from the waterfront and the mansions, on the back roads things sometimes look a little desperate up there.

In the evening we went over to Sniders and we all had a fantastic dinner at the Szechuan Chinese Restaurant on Ford Road.

Sunday Dinner

We met Sharon and John at The Brighton House for a leisurely Sunday dinner. It was so nice to have time to just sit back and converse. The fish and chips were delicious, too! We discussed everything from Maya to healthcare reform with just a sprinkling of football thrown in there, as you might imagine! Let's just say that two of us were happier than the other two, but we were all happy for Shelly.

We Win, We Win

The stadium was hot and crowded, but it was worth it - such noise and excitement the stadium hasn't seen for over a year! Our freshman quarterback made a couple of rookie mistakes, but by and large he kept his cool and was very effective. It was immensely enjoyable to watch the team take the lead and hold on to it for the first 3 1/2 quarters.

We were so disappointed with about 3 minutes left in the game. Notre Dame caught up with us and then took the lead. It looked like we were toast! With just 11 seconds to go, Matthews caught a pass in the left corner of the far end zone and so we win!

It was very exciting and we all high-fived for about 2 minutes! The student section hung around long enough to sing The Victors one last time.

Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Michigan Stadium)
Score: Michigan 38, #18 Notre Dame 34
Records: U-M (2-0), Notre Dame (1-1)
Attendance: 110,278
Next U-M Game: Saturday, Sept. 19 -- vs. Eastern Michigan (Michigan Stadium), Noon

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- With just 11 seconds left on the clock, freshman quarterback Tate Forcier (San Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch) found senior wide receiver Greg Mathews (Orlando, Fla./Edgewater) along the goal line for a game-winning, five-yard touchdown, sealing a 38-34 victory for the University of Michigan football team over Notre Dame (No. 18 AP/No. 20 USA Today) on Saturday (Sept. 12) at Michigan Stadium. The Wolverines amassed a total of 430 yards, including 190 on the ground and 240 in the air.

Senior running back Brandon Minor (Richmond, Va./Varina) showed up big in his season debut, rushing for 106 yards on 16 carries, including the game's first touchdown. Forcier went 23-of-33 for 240 yards and scored three touchdowns -- two passing and one rushing.

Hooray for our side! Happy fans after the game - here's young George:


Tony and Sharron:


George and Alice:










Meanwhile in East Lansing, Central beat State in kind of a flukey ending. We'll have some sad family members, and some happy ones (Shelly!). We really couldn't lose this game - we would be happy no matter who won it. Go Chips!

Breakfast in the 'Ville

After the geezer workout, we decided to have breakfast out. Wound up at Denny's in Belleville and then toured Belleville and New Boston.

Main Street in Belleville is torn up all the way from Five Points to the bridge - they're putting in a new water main. Doane's Park looks so nice compared to what used to be there. Our Haggerty house is cute and well maintained. Belleville and New Boston both look pretty much the same, but Ypsilanti is going downhill fast - it's just pathetic!

We came home and rested - tough workout this morning!

Delhi, Dexter, Chelsea

Lovely day for a drive - just perfect. We found 9 caches in 2 towns, 2 cemeteries, and some parks.

9/10/2009 You found MGA9-Delhi Bonificación (Traditional Cache)
We are staying in Ann Arbor for what has become our annual football month. As in previous years, 4 straight home games is just too much "down and back". For today's Geo-Adventure, we chose to take Huron River Drive to Dexter and then on to Chelsea. As we drove along, when Nuvi told us there was a cache nearby we allowed ourselves to be sidetracked and hunted for it. The first "Ding" was here. We went to school and after graduation, lived and taught in the area for a total of nearly 40 years. The Huron Clinton Park system was a treasure for us. Although this is not actually a park and grab, it was the most straightforward find of the day. No muggles to deal with, just the rental crew delivering a huge grill for a party this evening. Thanks for the fun and the memories.



9/10/2009 You found Welcome to Chelsea (Traditional Cache)
We pulled into town for lunch and afterwards we decided to come over here to attempt to clear a DNF we picked up on this one last fall. Subconsciously, this was probably our destination the entire time. We were on a roll today and everything seemed easy for us. How we missed this one on our first pass is inconceivable. High fives and smiles as we drove away. Thanks for the challenge.

9/10/2009 You found Quiet Clatter (Traditional Cache)
We knew where it was as soon as we drove up. Unfortunately, it took us a little more time to spot the anomaly. Clever hide. Thanks for the hunt.

9/10/2009 You found Near Monachus (Traditional Cache)
Some days you bite the bear and some days the bear bites you. This is one day that we were on a roll. Been chompin' on Ursus all afternoon. We thought that this was going to be a frownie but one last try gave us the prize. Thanks for another challenge.

9/10/2009 You found SQ - Forest Lawn (Traditional Cache) [visit log]
I don't know what's up with us, Cemetery caches, and muggles, but we can't avoid them. Just as we were beginning to retrieve the cache and a gal came wandering up walking her dog. At least there is a nice place to watch the view until the coast is clear. Took the TB and left a flag pin. TFTC.

9/10/2009 You found Michigan Craft Brewing: Jack O'Lantern (Traditional Cache)
We were in Milan yesterday and found one of the series there but were totally unprepared for this cache. How very neat. Signed the log and left a pathtag from an event we attended in Florida last winter. Thanks for the fun

9/10/2009 You found Scio Village (Traditional Cache)
Continuing on our drive from A2 to Chelsea, Nuvi "Dinged" again. This was a case where once again, we knew exactly where to look, no need for the GPS. Will we ever learn? After consulting the Garmin, we made a quick grab. TFTC

9/10/2009 You found Loch Al"pine" (Traditional Cache)
We have driven past this location many times over the years but never drove in before. When we pulled up, there was a muggle on her cell in the paved area so we held back. Made it to ground zero by a circular route and began our search. Quickly spotted an anomaly in the branches, how clever, it looks just like a bird nest. A closer inspection revealed that --- it IS a bird nest! After an extended search revealed nothing, we decided to check the Nuvi one last time for the description and spotted the new coords. DUH!! Back at the proper spruce, we quickly found the cache. It needs some TLC. The log is wet and the tube has begun to disintegrate from the recent downpours. Thanks for the fun, we enjoyed our tour of the neighborhood.

9/10/2009 You found Freedom Cache (Traditional Cache)
When we were ready to turn for home, we wanted to cruise the back roads. We asked Nuvi what she thought and she recommended we try this one. The Garmin wanted us to dig up the middle of the cross roads but we knew better. A quick check of all four corners provided the prize. A fun ride to end today's Geo-Adventure. Thanks for giving us the excuse.

Geezer Workout/Meet and Eat

First of all, Happy Birthday to Autumn! What luck to have a birthday on 9/9/09!

Also, congratulations to Blendi and his bride who chose today as their wedding day. We hope it brings them luck. Jana was a witness, and reports that the dinner was very nice.

When we stay in Ann Arbor, we go on Mon., Wed., and Fri. to the M-Fit workout for Seniors at the Briarwood Mall from 9 to 10 a.m. We've named it the Geezer Workout because - well - it's self-explanatory! It's a fairly strenuous workout from our perspective - much more aerobic than our Vital Step gym in T.C. They go full bore for an hour, so there's really no way to work up to it gradually - I just have to do what I can, and sit out the polka! Dick does much better, but it's hard for him, too. We get better as the month goes by, and by the time we're getting good at it, the month is over.

Anyway, we worked out this morning, and then found 8 more caches. We love going for a ride, so Dick would pick a cache that was maybe 10 miles away, set Nuvi to go there, and off we went - sometimes finding others on the way to the destination. Today we drove around Saline and Milan mostly. We went into the Marble Park Cemetery in Milan to see if we could find any Kanitzes. We only found one - my Uncle Elby - but I know there are several more relatives there. That just wasn't our main mission for the day.

In the evening we attended the SE Michigan MiGO Monthly Meet and Eat over in Southfield. They have it at Panera Bread, which is quite small. It's always quite crowded and noisy! We enjoyed meeting some new people as always. Some logs from the event:

September 9 by LiteOnCache (203 found)
What a super fun event! I'm so glad I drove 2 &1/2 hrs round trip to spend an hour with all you folks! It was SO worth it! This was my very first event. I wish I could have stayed longer to chat into the night and meet more of you. I'm especially glad to have had the pleasure to meet BasswoodBend in person!

September 9 by Team TopKat (6791 found)
After a summer of lighter turnouts it was great to see the turnout tonite. Lots of new faces to go along with the usuals. Cool coin, thanks for getting that arranged. Good job by the event hosts. Special greeting to Basswoodbend for making their annual appearance tonite. It was nice to talk to them after having just finished their fantastic cache series this past weekend.

September 9 by basswoodbend (2298 found)
It's always fun to sit and yammer with other nuts who cheerfully and excitedly chase after Tupperware wrapped in duct tape, or search for microscopic coils of paper concealed within minuscule containers which are sequestered beneath obscure metallic objects. Since the majority of the population is convinced that we are the epitome of weird when we attempt to describe how we spend our free time, it's great to socialize with colleagues. Thanks for hosting the event. The cake was a winner. Looking at the 2010 schedule, we'll probably see you in October next year.

And because today is 09/09/09, there was a clever intro on the web page:

This month the meet and eat happens to fall on 09-09-09!!
You don’t need to dress to the nines or be on cloud 9
but do come and go the whole 9 yards
while talking about geocaching, cache hides, puzzles and the great stories of the trail.
Bring your Bugs, Coins and Sig items for trade or exchange.
Stop by for a visit or hang out for 99 minutes but for sure at least 9 minutes!

Caching Around Ann Arbor

Gee it's fun to drive around Ann Arbor. You never know what you might see!

Every year something else is torn up and closed off! This town will never be totally finished. But I mean it - I really do love driving around - it's such a great place with some wonderful neighborhoods!

We found 8 caches today in the city. My favorite one was Sangha Hall. It is a very informal Buddhist temple. The cache description begins: "Penetrate the Dharma Gate. Look to the jade Buddha for guidance. He will tell you what is right if you look left." Who could resist?

September 8 by basswoodbend (2298 found)
Sangha Hall
We are staying in Ann Arbor at Oak Valley Ranch for what has become our annual football month. In addition to visiting old friends and haunts, (and haunted friends) we try to get out for a day or two (or three or four) of caching each week. Today the rain quit about noon so off we went. This one looked interesting and we loaded it and went to seek. Found it about 1:00 and enjoyed our snoop around. It was time for lunch and so we decided on Chinese. Nuvi told us the nearest was Chia Shiang just down Packard. It's authentic, we were the only people in there besides the waitress who spoke English. The food was good. Thanks for the cache and the inspiration.

Today would have been Mother's 101st birthday.

Obama in the Classroom

Dick and I have spent a combined total of 57 years in the classroom. We understand students and sometimes we can even figure out what makes some of them tick. We're very much aware of the huge drop-out rate which has developed in the past couple of decades, and it's quite alarming.

We have always felt that our country needs to put a higher value on education. Parents should let their children know that their school work is important and that Mom and Dad value their efforts. Many parents encourage their kids every day, and take a real interest in their studies and activities.

However, sometimes over the years we got the feeling that the teachers cared more about the kids' learning than some of the parents did. There were parents who never came to school for conferences, or never communicated with the teacher in any way. Some parents didn't care if their kids got poor grades or didn't hand in assignments. It's no wonder that their students did not place any value on learning.

Some of the kids did not want to put forth any effort at all. A cliche among teachers was that it would be great if we could open the tops of their heads and just pour in the information! We used to spend our weekends trying to think up or research motivational lessons to capture their interest and attention - sometimes every weekend!

The President's speech to schoolchildren, which will be delivered tomorrow, addresses this common concern:

"But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive
parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you
fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those
teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it
takes to succeed.
And that’s what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your
education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself."

Those are fine remarks. The problem is that the kids who really need to listen attentively and to take on some responsibility for their own learning are the kids who won't be listening. They'll be snoozing, texting their friends, or sighing in boredom - unfortunately, that seems to be the attitude of many kids.

My own personal philosophy of education begins with the belief that students need a safe environment in which to learn....safe physically, emotionally, intellectually, and free from ridicule or discrimination of any kind.

I think this next quote tells us something about Obama's philosophy:

"That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education –
and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as
doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a
book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in
your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or
bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all
kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn."

As a strong supporter of the public schools, I thank President Obama for caring about schools, education, and especially for caring about students, and for letting them know that they are respected and valued.

Home Away From Home

Apartment # 104

Nice Game

Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Michigan Stadium)
Score: Michigan 31, Western Michigan 7
Records: U-M (1-0), Western Michigan (0-1)
Attendance: 109,019
Next U-M Game: Saturday, Sept. 12 -- vs. Notre Dame (Michigan Stadium), 3:30 p.m.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan football team beat Western Michigan, 31-7, to open its 2009 season on Saturday (Sept. 5) at Michigan Stadium. The Wolverines closed out the first half with a 31-0 lead, dominating play with a 289-79 yard differential on offense. True freshman quarterback Tate Forcier (San Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch HS) took the majority of the snaps in the game, going 13-for-20 in his collegiate debut and connecting with junior/sophomore wide receiver Junior Hemingway (Conway, S.C./Conway HS) for two of his three touchdown passes.

We won.

Didn't really know what to expect after all of the hype this week. It turned out to be most enjoyable.

The weather was nice - a little on the hot side sitting in the sun, but it was 80 and not 90 like last year.

It was great seeing Tony and Sharron, Noah, Kim and Holden. Holden will be in sixth grade (middle school) next week. He went to football camp this summer and wants to be a wide receiver. He says that he is quite fast. He's a very quiet, polite boy.

I have to apologize to Bill Shaffer who said yesterday at lunch that The New Coach is a good coach and would do well. I launched into my New Coach litany - the one about how I think he's a gypsy coach who jumps from school to school chasing the dollars, and that he has no loyalty. But Mich did win today, and so Bill was right...this time. The Coach has a lot, a lot, a lot to accomplish before I'm his fan. I think that you can love your team and still not even remotely like the Coach. Sadly, he reminds me of Nick Saban, whom we have never forgiven for what he did to Michigan State.

Valley Ranch, Here We Come

Once again, the Univ. of Mich. has scheduled four home games for September - one every Saturday. So we're going to move to Valley Ranch again for the month of September.

For contact purposes, our address will be:

1455 Oak Valley Drive #104
Ann Arbor
MI 48108

734-747-6140 - unit
231-392-1773 - cell

A Good Day For a Duck Event

Weather-wise, it was a good day for ducks. It was foggy, boggy, misty, moist, dark, dreary and cold with an occasional downpour. For me, it was a no-brainer to just stay home and forget about the geocaching event. So off we went anyway, at 8 a.m., and headed for the geocaching poker run. Stopped in at Tim and Susie's to see all of the great things that they have accomplished at their cabin on the Manistee.

From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. we were finding cards on two-tracks way back in the woods. The trails were either really, really sandy or really, really muddy, or had multiple deep potholes filled with water and more water coming down. We were lucky in that most of the times that we got out of the car to go searching, it was merely misting. Tim and Susie know their way around the Grayling area because of snowmobiling and biking there all of the time, so it was good that we were searching together. More than once, I was jealous of their jeep.

Around 3 o'clock we were finished, so we went back to the cabin to dry off and warm up and rehash our adventures.

Then it was time to go to the Duckers' for meet and greet, dinner, raffle, and poker hand reveal. (We had a pair of jacks.) Rain, rain and then some more rain - and then it got chilly too - it was close to 50 when we left for home.

We had very much fun with the DinoDuo and we came home tired and happy.

Project Complete

One of the important projects we planned for this summer is installing a roof over the North door of the gray barn and replacing the railings on a couple of porches with composite plastic railings. We hired Curtis from Suttons Bay to do the work - as it turned out, we also hired his dog Lucy! Anyway, after several delays and waiting for parts, the job is finished! We are very happy with the results!

My favorite new look is the railing on the upper deck - it is such a big improvement!



The front porch railing is also a definite improvement, and best of all, none of these railings will ever need painting!


This new roof over the barn door will save Dick a lot of hassle in the Spring thaw when the snow comes sliding off the barn roof! In the past he has had to wrestle with four foot deep piles of snow and ice in front of that door.


Yaaay!

Hummer Summer

Dick put out three hummingbird feeders this summer, and they have been very popular. One day I saw five hummingbirds vying for position at the feeders. They are very interesting to watch, and they have inspired research on their habits, size, and migration.



It seems that in addition to the sugar water at the feeders, they live on tiny insects that they find on blossoms - that's where they get their protein.



From Michigan, they fly to the Belize/Honduras area in the Fall - it's hard to believe that these tiny birds can get that far away. In fact, the majority of the newly hatched ones don't make it - only about 25% of them arrive at their destination. The older birds have better luck.



Dick learned that if there's a wind of 25 mph, they can't make any headway! Their life expectancy is only 3 to 5 years.

Bambi and Faline

Beautiful day for some caching in Benzie County. The main attraction was the Frankfort 33rd annual Art Fair. When we got to Frankfort it was swarming with crowds of people and cars. It looked as though every available parking spot in town had been taken! It seems in addition to the Art Fair there was also an antique car show, and something else (which I don't remember) going on.

We were almost afraid to try Dinghy's for lunch, expecting it to be super crowded - but our timing was perfect and it didn't get crowded until we were almost finished.

The Art Fair was fun - it occupied the entire city park - lots of interesting booths. I actually bought a couple of prints for my bedroom.

The caching was successful as well. Nine caches were found today - one of them gave us this terrific view of a young buck and doe on a hillside. They watched us for a long time - it's always so satisfying to get a good picture like this.



Whenever you go caching, be sure to take along an intrepid cacher: