A "Plan" and a Parade of Homes

Max's called.  The serviceman apparently has a "plan" for our Hotpoint dryer made by GE (don't buy one).  Who knows what that could be.  They will call us next Tuesday.  Nothing happens quickly with them.  Have you noticed?

This morning Dick worked at the Visitor Center.   They dealt with over 50 visitors and eight phone calls in three hours.

From 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. we manned the table at one of the homes in the Parade of Homes.  We were representing the MEA retired teachers group.  That's one way that they earn money to give as scholarships.

Our house was big and beautiful - 4700 square feet - 6 bedrooms and 4.5 baths located in Incochee Farms.  It was very cold and rainy today.  We were set up in the garage, and it was very cold and damp.  We don't seem to have suffered any ill effects from sitting out there for 4 hours, so it's all good.  We really enjoyed the people who came to view the house - it was enjoyable talking to everyone.  By a lucky coincidence, the home builder is Brian Mohr of Calybr Homes.  He's the one who will supposedly be building our condo in Lone Tree.  I hope that seeing us reminded him that he has another job waiting.  He does beautiful work - everyone commented on how nice it was.

We had a late dinner at Harrington's.  It took me a while to warm up.  Hot tea is great - it warms the inside, and also warms the hands if you hug the cup!  It was a lovely dinner.  The restaurant was crowded and loud...and warm.  And, I might add, a bit over priced!

No Go

Our Hotpoint dryer is officially dead.  Don't buy one.  Max's serviceman came back this morning, worked on it for about an hour, and then signed the death certificate (well not really).  He says he will contact the GE tech department to discuss this dryer.  He thinks it might need a new motor.  Heavy sigh.  Max's will call soon to tell us the outcome.  In case you didn't already know, living without a dryer is a pain in the tush.

No Big Deal? Really?

Before 12:30 in the afternoon we went to the Tire Factory, East field Laundromat, had coffee and tea outside at the Green House on Front Street, and went to the doctor.  Whew

We must have damaged a tire yesterday on our excursion.  The Rav developed a slow leak in a tire, and it was completely flat this morning.  Luckily we have an air compressor so Dick could inflate the tire enough to make it to the Tire Factory.  They patched it up and rotated the tires for  $16!  What a deal.

We left two baskets of laundry at Eastfield, plus sheets.  You see, another switch had to be ordered.  It came in on Saturday, but the serviceman won't be here until Thursday.  Heavy sigh.

We had time to kill before we had to be at Skyview Oncology, so we watched the world go by out in front of the Green House for half an hour.  Great people watching!

Once again, at the doctor's office, I got the feeling that my case is just not very interesting to them.  I'm just an ordinary patient, nothing special.  Besides, I "look so good" and I "don't look sick"! I usually just say Thank You!  But the next time someone tells me that I don't look sick, I'll say "Well, then, maybe I have the wrong diagnosis."  It is so obvious that although this is a Very Big Deal for us, it's not important to anybody else.

After giving it some thought, I think that it really isn't such a big deal.  It just is what it is.

Meanwhile, back in the real world:

"There's a real foodie renaissance going on in U.S. cities," says Livability.com  Editor Matt Carmichael. "You're seeing that coast to coast, but these cities really stand out as great places to live and eat."

Editors describe Traverse City as a food fairytale, with dozens of great restaurants and opportunities to find fresh, wholesome ingredients for home-cooked meals.

Top 10 Foodie Cities, 2014

1. New Haven, CT
2. Scottsdale, AZ
3. Boston, MA
4. Asheville, NC
5. Traverse City, MI
6. Berkeley, CA
7. Boulder, CO
8. Burlington, VT
9. Omaha, NE
10. Washington, D.C.

We really do need to get out more!

Happy Father's Day!

Dear Old Dad

In 2014, here is what some Dads (like Dick) want to do on Father's Day :)

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06/15/2014	You found Summer Fun		Visit Log
This cache has the perfect name. Maybe technically it's not summer yet but today was a very summery afternoon. We were out on an excursion to once more enjoy the drive down M22 and spend this Father's Day starting our twelfth year of geocaching. I made this much more of an adventure than it needed to be by parking at the beginning of the trail on 4th Street. After going up the trail along the pretty little creek, I got to within 95 feet of the cache but it was straight up the hill. I went back to the cachemobile and drove back to Prospect as the better half had told me to do in the first place. From there we made the find, signed the log, and replaced as found. This one earns a favorite from us because, of the ten we found today, this was the only one we would call "A Real Cache". Thanks for placing it.  06/15/2014 You found The Rock Shelf   Visit Log What better way to spend Father's Day than go caching. We found our first cache on Father's Day 2003. We wanted to come down 22 to Manistee today. This town has a lot of memories for us, from high school sports in the 50's, to visiting friends who were Doctors here in the 80's and 90's. We pulled over to take a phone call from our son in San Diego and noticed this cache on our Nuvi. The cache was found but the process was a serious challenge to my agility level. Signed the log and replaced just in time to avoid some muggles on the path, a young fellow, his dad and grandpa. Thanks for adding to our fun today.
06/15/2014	You found Dixie's Cache		Visit Log
Another fantastic Father's Day. This is my 53rd one where I was the daddy. Time sure flies when you're having fun. A card I received this morning says, "Ever notice , the older we get, the more we're like Computers? We start out with lots of memory and drive, then we eventually become outdated, crash at odd moments, acquire errors in our systems, and have to have our parts replaced." We pulled up to this one and, as I was fiddling with the iPad, the wise one, still sitting in the car, said "There it is. No, over there" She signed the log and I put it back. Thanks for your effort in placing and maintaining these caches Red Hat Grandma, I hope you realise how much fun you have added to our afternoon today.
06/15/2014	You found Park Play Time		Visit Log
This stop just added to our fun on today's caching excursion down 22. This marks the beginning of our 12th year with this activity. Thanks for showing this cute little park to us.
06/15/2014	You found Trekking to the TT Ate - Baldy Trailhead		Visit Log
After a great lunch of smoked ribs and quesadilla at Dinghy's in Frankfort, we spent the afternoon cruising M 22 and seeking a few caches along the route. This marks the start of our twelfth year with this addiction. We pulled in and I began my search. I was called back by the micro maven and she pointed out to me what I was missing. She signed the log, I put it back. Thanks for the fun.
06/15/2014	You couldn't find Trekking to the TT Ate - Used to be a Lookout		Visit Log
Darn! Our second DNF on our excursion today.We did find an upholstered living room chair at GZ. With all the other DNF's and logs indicating damage and dampness, the owner might want to check this one out.
06/15/2014	You found CAP-CAP INVASION -- CREEPY		Visit Log
We were out on a caching expedition today to celebrate the start our 12th year of chasing down Tupperware and ammo cans. We pulled in and discovered that the muggles, mosquitoes, as well as spiders are all out in force on this Father's Day. We waited out the muggles, swatted and sprayed the mosquitoes, and carefully moved the spiders out of our way. Signed the log and put everything back as it had been when we found it. Thanks for adding to our fun on this beautiful northern Michigan June afternoon.
06/15/2014	You found Judy's Cache		Visit Log
The ribs were great and Frankfort is a neat little town to visit. After checking out the lake and the stores, we continued on down M 22 toward Manistee and this fellow popped up on our Nuvi. We made the find and signed the log. Then we put it back as found. We didn't explore the area because that wasn't on our todo list for this Father's Day. Thanks for the caches we found today RHG.
06/15/2014	You found Frankfort Needs Another Cache!		Visit Log
After receiving a hand held Magellan GPS for Christmas in 2002, we read an article about something called Geocaching and on Father's Day, June 15, 2003 we gave it a try. We were hooked. There is no better way to celebrate the day than to have smoked ribs at Dinghy's, drive M22, and snag a few caches. Thanks for placing this one RedHat, it wasn't the last of yours that we found today.
06/15/2014	You couldn't find May the 4th Be With You!		Visit Log
We found our first cache on Father's Day, June 15th 2003. That means that we are starting out 12th year. We did not want to start the day with a DNF but we did. Even the micro maven was blanked by this one

Mall Walking and Rav Riding on Flag Day

We had a nice walk around the mall.  Stopped at Target and got a card for Adam R. and some new shorts and pants for Dick.  Didn't feel like having lunch at the Food Court, so we decided to take a ride around Long Lake and have lunch at home.  It's a beautiful day for a ride.

After lunch we drove out to the Feiger quilt barn on the peninsula because a cacher had logged that there was no log book in the cache!  Both bays were spectacularly beautiful today,  Have to say that for a change, East Bay had more dramatic shades of blue than West Bay.  However, West Bay won in the dramatic sailboats category.  Driving along Peninsula Drive we could see 14 or 15 sailboats with multi-colored sails making quite an impressive display - a real treat for our eyes!

A Loaded GPS

Dick spent most of this day trying to load local caches onto the Nuvi.  It was a very hard job, with many fail attempts.   Even though it is Friday the 13th, he was undaunted and finally achieved success!  A pox on Friday the 13th.

We did take time out for a mall walk and lunch at the Food Court.  I'm a little tired of China Wok, so I got a bagel and cream cheese at Cool Beans.  Yum - honey cinnamon cream cheese :)

Here is Dick's report:
                      *****************************************************
Sunday is June 15th.   It is also Fathers Day.

 In 2002, Jana gave me a Magellan GPS for Christmas to use on our pontoon boat. The following spring there was an article in the Traverse City Record Eagle about Geocaching. It sounded like a fun way to use your GPS on dry land. We did research and decided to give it a shot. On Fathers Day in 2003, which is also June 15th, we searched for and found our first geocache. It was a film can placed by ABX Guy on the shore of Keystone Pond on the Boardman River. We were hooked! Looking for caches has taken us to every County in Michigan and every State in the country.

We found that we could load the locations of caches into our GPS units in the car. It is fun to see them pop up near our route as you drive along. Unfortunately, the more complex the new GPS, the more complicated it is to load them. After a bit of a struggle in January, I was able to load a bunch into our Nuvi while we were enjoying our first Snow Bird winter. Once they were in there, I couldn't get them out. It's frustrating to be back in God’s Country with a load of caches that are over 1200 miles away.

For this Father’s Day, I wanted to drive over to Frankfort to get smoked ribs at Dinghy’s. They are one of the few places who actually smoke meat in the area. After lunch, I wanted to drive south along Lake Michigan down M22 and look at the scenery as well as pick up some caches. To do this, I wanted to load some near-the-road caches into the Nuvi. I started on Tuesday the 10th working on our little Windows tablet. After a couple of hours without success, I decided to hold back until I had a chance to talk to Jay Finch at our meet and greet on Wednesday. He and Mary have racked up more than 2100 finds. I knew he loads caches into the same model Nuvi we use so I asked him for help. They are leaving in the morning for an event downstate and I didn't bring my 'puter so there wasn't much he could do. He did give me a tip about downloading a group of caches which came in handy on Thursday.

On Thursday, I put in at least 4 hours trying different ways to load caches from Groundspeak to GSAK to the Nuvi without success. All I accomplished was to once again prove to myself that, when it comes to computers, the technology has left me in the dust. Friday was another day. After about 4 more hours, I discovered that I could erase the Florida caches but every attempt to load the local ones in Michigan just loaded the Florida ones back in. Nancy attempted to bail me out, she took the little laptop and tried everything she knew to solve the problem but had no more success than I had. We learned that we have become much more adept at using our Apples than Windows.

I finally decided that the thing to do was to delete all Garmin files and start all over. I spent at least another 3 hours deleting and renaming. Finally I moved an empty folder from the desktop to the Garmin "D" file. Apparently the Nuvi talks to "D" not "C". After loading our local caches from GSAK to the "D" file, I used the POI Loader to move the Garmin GPX file to the Nuvi and waited one more time as the loading progressed. When it finished, I unplugged the Nuvi, turned it back on and - - TA DA!! there they were!

Today when we went for a ride they showed up on the screen as ammo can cache symbols. We are two happy campers. Tomorrow is Father's Day and we will go for a ride and start our twelfth year of Geocaching.

Max Returns. ReMax?

Max's Service came out again with a new part for our lemony dryer.  He couldn't fix it.  He's going to order another part.  He will be back Next Week!  So far, in one month, this dryer has dried 4 loads of laundry.  Eastfield Laundromat, we'll be back.

Never buy a Hotpoint dryer at Home Depot.  Really.

June Meet and Greet @ B.C. Pizza

basswoodbend Premium Member 3896  Attended 06/11/2014 We came, we saw, we enjoyed! We had a great time chatting with all the folks who came. This was definitely one of the best TC M&G's yet! Thanks Fins for bringing the gang together.

I'm at the end of the table in the checkered shirt, talking to Lydia.

Thanks, Barkers!

Dick  calls Max's about the dryer.   They will send a man out next Friday to fix it.  Do you know what next Friday is?  Friday the 13th.  Good luck to us.  At least we don't have to wait an entire week this time.

The laundry is already sorted in separate baskets in preparation for washing, so we just load the baskets in the car and head for the good old, reliable dependable Eastfield Laundromat.  I love those people!

Beccy has been after us to take a look at a condo in the Black Bear development.  We met her at noon to take a look.  It's a beautiful condo in a great location, and it has almost everything we want.  There were just a couple of things that we didn't like - most of it was splendid.  However, we have our hearts set on the Lone Tree condo yet to be built.  Thanks, Beccy, but no thanks.

We met Tom and Mary at Apache for dinner - what a great way to put a positive spin on this day!  We had such a good time, and it always feels like we see each other all the time, no matter how much time has passed!  Thanks Barkers for saving our day :)

Murphy's Law

The  phrase "Murphy's Law" (anything that can go wrong will go wrong)  may soon be changed to Steiger's Law.

We have waited a week for a new part to arrive for our new dryer.  The service man from Max's came out this morning with the replacement switch for this new Hotpoint dryer, made by GE  (don't buy one).  When he was finished, he waved goodbye and said "You're good to go".  One would think that the problem had been solved, n'est-ce pas?  Well think again.

The problem reared its ugly head again during the first load.  That's right, the first load.  it stopped early, there had been no heat, and it refused to restart.  So now I had a dryer full of wet clothes, and a washer full of more wet clothes.  By then it was too late to call Max's, so we'll deal with it tomorrow. It's our new hobby.

Flash Mob + Dave + Will = Perfect Day

It's World Wide Flash Mob Day, so we had to have a T.C. flash mob.  It's exciting to have 50 people show up for an event.  It turned out to be a glorious day for it.  Blue skies, calm winds. bright sunshine, Temp around 75 - it just couldn't have been better.  I think I got about 25 hugs!  It was so great to see so many old friends at this event, plus approx. a dozen Canadian cachers who were here to get the caches on Power Island.  The two "fooners" on either side of the picture are crazy Canadians!  We had such a good time.

 Clinch Park was bursting with people.  The new splash pad is immensely popular with families.  They set up shop on the perimeter of the pad with blankets and towels and all kinds of paraphernalia.  The beach was jammed with people too.  Only two or three went in the water though -  the water is still very cold.

We got home just in time for a visit from Dave.  He came over from Lake Otsego with boxes of things from Doug's basement.  There are diaries, photo albums, loose pictures and memorabilia from Mother Gen.  There is also a box with all of Doug's research on family genealogy.  Thanks a lot....I'm not sure what we'll do with all of these things.  We had a super visit with Dave - it's nice to have a one on one instead of just a hug at GenFest.

After Dave left, Will and one of his boys stopped in to talk about the Nano in the Woods cache - that's the one across the river and up a big hill.  It's very difficult to access, but they wanted to give it a try.  And they found it!  But it wasn't easy :)  I think that Chris has been the only one to find it up until now.

This has been a most memorable day.  Hooray!

Numero Seis

Paracentesis Time.  Yahoo.  It's all about going from feeling like crap to feeling normal in 45 minutes.  I don't like the procedure, but I certainly do like the outcome.

 There's always a different radiology doctor. This time it was ultrasound tech Candy and Dr. Kennell, at Munson.  Thank you ever so muchly.

  As the title points out, this was number 6 - three in Florida, three at Munson.  My preference is hard to pick.  Munson is much faster, Florida is much more pain free.  Both doctors' offices are great at scheduling on demand.

Hydroseed

This morning,  first a  load of gravel was spread out in the access road where the equipment had gouged it out a little bit.  It was a terrific finishing touch to this job.

The drain field is in, the heavy equipment has gone home, and they left the yard looking much better than I had imagined.  They were skilled, talented workers at this job .  They did it quickly and expertly.  We are very satisfied. 

Next came the hydroseeding crew.  They dampened the soil, and then hosed in with the hydroseed, and voila!  We don't have to worry about seeding or sodding.  We can just watch the grass grow :)
We did not expect that to be done, and we are pleasantly surprised.  We now have supreme peace of mind regarding this whole project.

Surreal

  We've had heavy equipment in the front yard yesterday and today replacing our drain field.

 And our brand new dryer broke down already after less than a month.  The service man came today, has to order a part - he may be back Friday or Monday!!  So no laundry going on around here.  Back to the Eastfield Laundromat.  Thank goodness for them.

 Also, we closed on our house yesterday, so now we're officially living in somebody else's house.  Weird.

Closing

Our billionaire buyer was not at the closing.  There were 5 of us - Beccy, the buyer's real estate agent, Terry the Title guy, and the two of us.  It was a very friendly procedure - almost jovial.  We are now able to stay in our home by the good graces of our buyer.

Belanger's came today to begin the work on our new drain field.  They have to remove several trees, get rid of roots, and dig out a replacement location.  I'm so glad they have begun!

My Lovely Therapeutic Regimen

For those who are asking what's going on!

"A peripheral or secondary effect, especially an undesirable secondary effect of a drug or therapeutic regimen."

Of the most common side effects of Nexavar, I have nine (so far).  Some side effects develop weeks into the therapy.

intestinal problems
bleeding gums
internal bleeding
facial erythema
cramping
tender, itchy scalp
fatigue
"chemo voice"
chills

Of these, fatigue, the facial rash, the cramping, the hoarse voice and the tender scalp are the most bothersome to me.

There are also several much more severe side effects which are less common.  Fortunately, I have none of those (so far).

Happy Birthday Bro

Happy Birthday Jim

Dick paints deck

Sign addendum - Beccy's not there - one addendum is bogus

Oryana - too expensive

Oleson's - west - love it

Sam's Club - cheapest gas - still outrageous

Peter calls

Silver Lake

We walked the Silver Lake Recreational Trail today.  It's a really nice trail, well used by walkers, joggers and bikers.  Nice, woodsy, and serene.  

http://natureiscalling.org/parkland/silver-lake-recreation-area/

Memorial Day 2014

Monday is washday, sometimes even if it's a holiday.  Just to make the holiday even more memorable, our brand new dryer stopped working on the second load.  This dryer is not even one month old.  It's under warranty, so we'll have to call GE.  But not on a holiday...

The Good Day

Lots of campers this Memorial Day weekend!

What a beautiful day!  moderate temps, and bright blue sky!  We went driving to do some cache maintenance - first at Lake Dubonnet, and then at the Garey Lake multi-cache,  Everything is now updated and good to go.

Driving around afterwards, we checked out a unique boat launch at Brooks Lake, and then saw more boat launches along our route.  Sounds like a series to me :)

Can't remember the name of the road, but we found this wooded valley just full of blooming trillium -  they were so spectacular and so abundant - it was an awesome display.

Dick asked me if I wanted to drive to Glen Arbor, but I opted for Moomer's - I mean, really!

Touring Traverse City, it was fun to see all the people who are enjoying themselves downtown today.  We're not the only ones who love T.C.  The splash pad was up and running, and the little ones were having a blast.  The streets were full of people, and many were carrying shopping bags - a good sign!

The trees lining the streets are in full bloom, and on a sunny, fantastic day like this, it is such a gorgeous sight to behold.

Feeling good today!  It's a real treat!  Slept well last night, and my facial erythema is still red, but less hot and itchy.  Hallelujah!  It's a good day.