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:

Aunt Ruth

Got a call today from Mary E. Geib to tell me that her Mom died this afternoon. It's only been a little while since Uncle Fritz died - Ruth didn't want to go on without him.

She died at the assisted living facility, Traverse Manor - Fritz died there too. Mary said the staff at Traverse Manor has been marvelous in every way.

Rick called also to let me know of Ruth's death, It feels like the end of an era. The only member of my Mother's immediate family who is still living is her sister Aunt Eleanor, who has lived in California for years and years.

The death notice lists her as Ruth Caroline Geib - her maiden name is Hintz. I think that's important, too.

Geib, Ruth Caroline

RUTH CAROLINE GEIB, 91, of Traverse City, died Thursday afternoon, Aug. 13, 2009, in Traverse City.

Cremation has taken place.

The family has entrusted the Oak Grove Funeral Home & Cremation Center with funeral arrangements.

They're Off

The return trip to Palm City was effectively launched around 10 a.m. The guinea pigs were cleaned out and loaded, Dylan had his book and his game thingy, and all was right with the world. We are left here Home Alone with bunches of memories. We'll most likely see them again at Christmas.

While she was here, Laurie cleaned out some of her boxes in the gray barn. She threw away a lot of "stuff", but she actually took her Dancerina doll home with her!

She found lots of ballet shoes, costumes and programs - all very nostalgic. I love this picture that she took before she packed everything away again:

Nostalgic Last Day of L, C & D

Most of their packing is done, and so the kids are almost ready to leave tomorrow morning. We all wanted to spend one last day in town together. Horizon Bookstore is a great base of operations. I grabbed an open table outside (not an easy task) and we were set for the next hour or so. The Gillespies went on one last tour of the downtown shops - the weather was perfect for ambling and people watching.




They have some weird animls here at the bookstore!


After spending the afternoon in the city, we headed out to Gallagher's Farm Market to get sweet corn for dinner. Laurie and Dylan enjoyed watching the chickens, sheep and goats.




They have some weird animals down on the farm!

GenFest 2009 Big Star Lake

A PICTURE IS WORTH 10,000 WORDS !!!!!