It's Not That Easy Being Green

Party Animals at the NMG M&G for March 

Over the Rainbow

We had a super fun day. First, a phone call from Dylan telling us all about the Renaissance Festival he went to with Kyle, Lainie, and their families. He was most excited about his new "legendary sword". He was very impressed with the sword shopkeeper.

Then we were off to Grayling for the Over the Rainbow Northern Michigan Geocachers Meet and Greet at the Grayling Holiday Inn. On the way over, near Kalkaska, we saw a big fluffy healthy looking coyote run across the highway. We've seen scruffy coyotes before, but this one was buff!

Before the party, we found 3 easy caches in the Grayling area - it's always a good way to get to know an area better.

The Meet and Greet was fun as always - even better because this time there was a fantastic Sunday Brunch available - we were really impressed with the selection and variety. We sat at a table with Tim and Susie, Dick and Donna - and had a great time. Good company. Dick won the prize for best male "wearing o' the green", and I won a great looking game for Dylan in the raffle. It was our lucky day! (Even though we're not even close to being Irish!)

Afterwards, we went to Tim and Susie's cabin on the Manistee River, and had very enjoyable time with tea and conversation. It was such a pleasant way to end the afternoon, and the cabin is so welcoming.

On the way home we stopped in Kalkaska (noted for its cuisine) for a bite to eat, and got home around 7:30. We were feeling very mellow - it was a great day.

Green House

Today we very happily met M'Lynn at the Green House Cafe for lunch. Our ex-mayor Margaret was seated at the next table. She looks amazing - she's lost weight, and she had on a pink hat, long pink gloves, and pink boots. Quite an ensemble! We had a fun lunch - Margaret came over to our table because M'Lynn knows everybody. We made plans to work up some practice geo-caches for the folks at the Senior Center to do later in the Spring.

After lunch we went to visit Mom, balance the bank statement, write some checks, and visit. She finally has had her floor vacuumed. She seems fine.

Dump

Hey! It snowed this morning. For a change. It was quite a heavy snow, and Dick plowed out the entire south side of Grand Traverse County.
After it stopped, we went to the dump. Excuse me - we went to the East Bay Township Transfer Station.
On to Mother's house to change the furnace filter and pick up a couple of things.
Dropped in on Mother to deliver some items.
On to Sam's Club - always an adventure in good eating. As we were leaving, they were giving away free food - your choice of a roasted chicken or barbecued ribs. We took home some ribs. They're not nearly as good as Dick's ribs.
Dick made chili for supper.
It looks like the high point of the day was going to the dump.

Hitch

Today the weather was actually pretty decent, though cold. We do have another storm coming, but not until tonight. It's supposed to be lake effect snow.

This morning I went to Mother's house and picked up some blouses for her because Spring will eventually get here! Went to visit her and picked up her check to take to the bank, and paid some of her bills. We had a good visit.

Met neighbor Mary at Applebee's for lunch - very much fun - I haven't seen her since December. We went to see Will Smith in Hitch, and it was a really cute movie. It's one of those great two-star chick flicks that I like so much. Funny, clever, amusing, silly, relaxing, enjoyable - it was all those good things. I imagine that the film critics hate it.

I'm really proud of myself today because I figured out how to put my picture on my blogspot profile info. I already knew how to put pictures on the blog, but up until now, not in my profile. Dick told me what to do, and voila! It actually worked. Not a very big achievement in the scheme of things, but I'm proud anyway. OK so it's not the best picture of me, and I'll probably replace it with a better one sometime...but the point is, I figured out how to do it! Yaaay!

Snooooooooooooooow

I had a great agenda for today - lots of errands and tasks at Mother's house, and with Mother, and at the store, and shopping for cards and ribbons. But then Dick called from the Agency and said don't go because the roads had turned to ice and it was snowing and blowing. Phooey and double phooey. It put me into a blue funk of the most unusual kind for me. I was ready to walk out the door when he called. I was most seriously disappointed.

Tomorrow I have a date with my neighbor Mary to go to the movies. I hope the snow lets up by then.

Mother has finally received some forwarded mail (namely her Social Security check) so at least we know the system is working.

M'Lynn called with some very exciting ideas for caches in the city. She doesn't know how to think small. We're meeting her for lunch on Thursday.

Say No to Snow.

Lovely Drive

We took a great drive today - up to Elk Rapids and back. We ducked in to lots of side roads to see the houses by the water. It was really fun. We got some new ideas for caches in the Elk Rapids area, also. We found the Elk Rapids Public Schools - hadn't known where those were before. Looks like they have great facilities. It was a 2 iced teas and 2 large decafs drive.

This morning I did some proof reading for Dick, but he has done such a great job that there wasn't much for me to do.

Beef stew for supper. I tried the delayed time feature on the stove for the first time - worked like a champ.

Sunshine

Lovely day today. Temp is 40F, sky is blue, life is good.

Went grocery shopping in the morning - corned beef and cabbage in the slow cooker now.

I've been paying my bills online - it goes very fast once you've typed in all the info. I've only done 10 so far, but I'm already sold on it. Tom and Jana both recommended doing it.

We visited Mother this afternoon - she's really fine. She is being so well taken care of! She does have some complaints about the food, but that is totally normal. We brought her some library books and some pictures of the big Colorado ski trip.

Ethan Eric

Ethan Eric Snider was born at 12:05 p.m. Friday, March 4. He weighed 8lbs 2oz., and he is 21 inches long. Eric has been putting in long hours at the hospital. Tammy is doing well - her Mom and Dad are with her for a week, and then Jan and Bill will take over (the pros). So now Jan and Bill have four grandsons!

Went to the dentist this noon for prophylaxis (I love that word!) I missed my regular appointment last Tuesday because of the storm - so I had a different hygienist. I have to go back in April to have a minor chip repaired. It's always something.

Gas was $2.16 in town, but I got filled up for $2.03 on S. Airport Rd. I felt so proud of myself. They say that the price will be going up $.25 a gallon next week. Eek! They also say another storm system is coming next week. Double eek.

Welcome baby Ethan!

Greetings from the Frozen North

Yesterday I had an early appointment with the world's best doctor, and I got a really good report. I had every blood test known to modern man, and they all came out the best ever. So I'm feeling happy and peppy - now all I have to do is more diet and exercise. That's the story of my life. I'm certainly glad not to be sick.
Dick and I went to the Omelette Shoppe afterwards - it was lovely. We checked Mom's house for mail, and turned off the water heater. Dick came home and made soup, and then plowed us out. Again.

Today I spent most of my time running errands, paying bills, sending out change-of-address notices for Mother, shopping at Target and Thompson's, visiting with Mother and tying up loose ends. If you have any loose ends that need tying, I'm your girl.

We actually have loads of sunshine - it's beautiful! Two kayaks just went by on the river. I guess the foot of snow on the ground won't affect their trip until they try to get out! It's warmer today - it has zoomed all the way up to 25F. Not really my idea of kayaking weather.

Dick has been working for hours on his new series of caches in TC city parks. It's not easy, and he's really putting a lot of effort into it. It should all be ready soon. I keep teasing him that no one will ever be able to find any of these - I think they're quite hard!

I had a phone call this evening from Pauline Brigham Lather. It turns out that her mother-in-law is also at Concord Place. She saw Mom's name in the Concord Place newsletter and assumed it must be my Mom. It's quite interesting to me since Betty Pratt VanRiper's Mom lived here too before she passed away. I guess that Pauline, Betty and I are in the right age group for this sort of thing. We were all in the class of '53 at TCHS.

Here's a problem for you from Dylan's first grade homework: What shape has four straight lines and three vertices. Go ahead. Figure it out.

Need a hint?

It's not a geometric shape - it's a letter. Go for it. Welcome to First Grade.

Here's the snow on the railing of the upper deck, and a picture of our very cold river. 

Think It'll Snow?

We had snow on top of snow and then we had snow. Today the schools were closed, and I cancelled my dental appointment until Friday. The neighbor got out his big snow blower and cleared out the access road. We did run a couple of errands, but mostly we just stayed home. We have a foot of snow on the ground at the moment.

Back to Normal

Did some errands in town - checked Mom's house, went grocery shopping, visited Mom. She seems content. Laurie sent her flowers, her neighbor came to visit - things are good.
Dick worked at the Agency and plowed out the whole driveway. We're under a winter storm warning - could see quite a bit of snow. Our neighbors are all home from their vacations, just in time for the biggest snow of the winter! Quite a switch from Florida to this.

MiGO Winter Social 2005

We just got home from the winter event in Alma. I'm practically almost totally wiped out...it was a long weekend.

The main event on Saturday was lots of fun - I've never done a poker run before, and it was really enjoyable. We didn't come close to winning but we had a good time. We met some new people - renewed friendships with others, and one new person - Steve - really freaked us out because of his resemblance to Tom. We were both doing double takes all day long. He looks like Tom, he moves like Tom, he dresses like Tom, he has mannerisms like Tom - it was very distracting. He sat next to me during dinner, and I found out that at least he's not a physicist! He manages an engineering firm and owns real estate.

Silent auctions are always fun - I tried, but bailed out on a couple of items. Everybody else liked the same items that I liked, so the bids went up fast.

We had a total of 8 finds for the weekend, and 3 dnfs (Did Not Find). For me the best part of the weekend was the Main Event minus the members meeting (I wasn't in the mood for a meeting). Another best part was the weather - it was really cold (10F), but the sky was a brilliant blue and there was lots of sunshine and not a cloud in sight...so beautiful. The worst part was that the Comfort Inn did not have cable internet access, and the AOL that we signed up for kept freezing up.

Talked to Mother just now. She had a very nice day - Fritz and Ruth came to visit, Jim called from Florida, and Mr. Petertyl from across the hall (age 101) came in to talk about the history of Milliken's. She sounded very pleased and she had a good night last night. We are shouting hallelujah!

Mother is Moved

We did it! Mother is quite tired out from the whole move, but she seems completely content with her accommodations. She loves her new chair, she thinks the people are all wonderful, and we are so relieved that she approves. I can't tell you how pleased I am at her reaction to the whole thing. She is being so brave and cooperative - and we are so lucky!
We're using Sharon's gift certificates to go out to dinner tonight - our own special treat! Thank you Sharon.

Sparkling Snow

At 6 a.m., we turned on the outside lights and looked out the window at the snow. It was sparkling like diamonds among the animal tracks. Bambis, Bunnies, and Bobcats, oh my.

Pre-GenFest 2005

Jana has come up with an absolutely spectacular idea for GenFest. We're going to have the Basswood Bend Film Festival, complete with popcorn machine and Oscars. Teams and topics will be chosen, video cameras will be used, and then we'll all get together to watch each others' creations! I'm getting excited, but since GenFest isn't until July 16th, I suppose it's too early to send out the invitations! Thanks Jana - it's a great idea. What would the genres be? Mystery, romance, adventure, superhero, comedy, cartoon, horror, suspense, what else?

Tomorrow is the big day for moving Mother. We have lists of our lists. We're going to make the big move in the afternoon. Shannon was a big help this morning - she helped mother pack her suitcase and personal items, made a list of things to do tomorrow, and offered her husband's help if Dick needs it for carrying the TV. Thanks, Shannon. Mother is remaining very stalwart. She needs lots of reassurance and repetition of what will happen, but she's brave and not causing any problems. I'm proud of her.

I, on the other hand, am a nervous wreck. Well, not really. But sort of.

Odette came through her surgery just fine. Roger was able to be with Doug during the procedure, which was great for both of them. Odie is on the morphine pump thingy and is trying very hard to follow all the directions. We're looking forward to another report soon.

Laurie, Chip and Dylan are stranded in the Denver airport. They are numbers 33, 34, and 35 on the standby list - not good at all. It's a combination of the All-Star game and Presidents Day weekend - things are really backed up in Denver. Tom flew home yesterday, plus he was ticketed - he has given up on standby. Chip had a hotel room reserved for tonight just in case - I can't wait to hear what happened.

George's Best Friend 

Moving Day = Wednesday

Mother can move into Concord Place on Wednesday. I'm so relieved, because Dick and I want to go away this weekend for two nights, and Mother will be all established in her new digs before we leave. Sometimes things do work out!

I spent the day with Mom going over all of her financial papers and accounts, and getting a grip on her net worth. She is sitting pretty and will be able to afford Concord Place for the next 14,000 years. Well, maybe not.

I called and cancelled the phone (SBC & AT&T), cancelled the cable TV, and had the address changed on the newspaper delivery. I called Integrity and told them we would no longer need home care.

Tomorrow Shannon will be there in the morning to help Mom get her things ready to pack - do the laundry, get down the suitcase, etc., etc. I will go in the afternoon to see what else needs to be done.

I went to the PO to get change of address forms, totally forgetting that it is President's Day. Happy President's Day!!

I went to Golden Fowler and bought Mom a new recliner/rocker for her new room. Whew. I've crossed quite a few things off my lists, but I'm sitting here thinking of new lists already.

Dick plowed out the entire driveway - no small feat - and he got a flat tire on his tractor, so he spent his afternoon getting the tire fixed. It's always something.

I can't imagine how Mother must feel with this big move almost upon her. I know I'm feeling quite adrenalized and edgy. I need to just chill.

This is the day of Odette's surgery. Our thoughts are with her.