Has it really been a month since Mom’s death? Man, I swear if seems like just last week. It’s surreal…and as long as I keep my mind on the present and don’t talk to Dad or Rob, I’m fine. Obviously that is unrealistic, but it is still very hard to think about Mom for long without drifting in to the past as her memories come rushing forward and then I find myself becoming weepy. So, I find myself practicing the art of avoidance and pushing forward. Speaking of the present, the air is crisp; the leaves are changing and beginning to fill the roads and lawns. The junior high has finished its fall sports schedules; both the pee wee and varsity football teams have played their final home games of the regular season. As Ann & I commuted back and forth to work through the Bartholomew & Decatur county countryside this week, the views really caught our eyes with all the brilliant hues in the foliage as the farmers have begun harvesting their fields (or plowing them under in many cases due to the prolonged drought again this past summer) and clogging the roads with their enormous equipment. Miguel Cabrera won the triple crown of MLB for the first time in 45 years! He led the AL in homers (44), batting average (.330) & RBIs (139) – an incredible feat…and yet somehow, he may not even win the MVP award as his Detroit Tigers blew a lead and missed the playoffs. The Reds looked great in post-season play this week. …It’s definitely fall. We may need to get the damned heat turned on
Welcome back to another edition of the Scheu Family Blog. We had a cold start to the week…brrr…what happened to autumn? It was suddenly winter. It rained all day on Monday and didn’t let up until Tuesday morning. Luke wore jeans to school for the first time this week, so we knew it was getting colder. I had on shorts and a sweatshirt, which was fine at work but we froze at football practice that night. In fact, Brian called practice early when we looked around and noticed that most of the boys (we only had about 14 show up) were shivering and crying. Abby had volleyball practice and then Ann took her to the varsity volleyball game. After the JV game was finished, the school recognized the efforts of the 7th graders as they called out the names of each player. They had an outstanding regular season this year. Ann chuckled when Bu was announced as “Abby Shuerman.??? LOL Get used to it, Bu! Matt had football practice as well and was all excited from driving the Crossfire back and forth to school that day (and all week). He also took Luke to school for us each day, much to Luke’s thrill! I must admit it was odd driving down Main St and knowing that the car in front of me was my oldest driving my youngest to school. Damn; I’m old… Good thing my wife is so young… I called Comcast that day after being on the phone with them three times yesterday when out of nowhere our cable and then our internet just simply died. We had a service call set up for Tuesday, but when I got home I found that it worked again. Turns out, we had some old Insight package and for whatever reason, we needed to be transferred to a new Comcast package. Thankfully it costs the same but the internet is faster and we get more channels. Shame they didn’t just upgrade us automatically months ago, huh? Anyhow, although we missed the football game last night along with The Simpsons & Family Guy season premieres (I was pretty steamed about missing the 24th season premier of my beloved Simpsons…), I was happy to have it up in time for the Dallas / Chicago match up on Monday Night Football. Turns out, I would have preferred to have no cable – the Bears killed the Cowboys, who are now 2-2 on the year.
As Matt and Luke drove to school again in the Crossfire, I took Bu early to school for Student Council. She had another long day as she then stayed late afterwards for volleyball. Matt & Luke both had football again that evening. Ann & I met at the elementary school for a parents meeting. We were happy to have our favorite meal – popcorn – for dinner. Lukey brought home a preying mantis and after a shower & homework, he did research on the internet to learn what to feed it and to find out more about it. Ann and the other volleyball moms created some gift bags and locker decorations for the girls this week to put in/on their lockers. Luke gave us a couple drawings that evening. He needs more to do!
Wednesday was a pretty quiet night for once. Bu & Matt had after-school practices. Ann made us a nice dinner before taking Abby out to dance class.
Ann received preliminary grades on the kids on Thursday and it looks like they all stepped up their game this 9 weeks. Abby has straight A’s again (way to go, Bu!); Matt has all A’s & B’s and Luke had straight B’s! Nice job, kids. Your Mom & I are very proud of you. Matt is getting spoiled, driving this little black sport car. Bu had volleyball after school and then dance after dinner. Matt was at football and then attended their weekly team dinner. Luke & I had football practice until dark and stayed late kicking field goals until we couldn’t physically tell if the ball was going through the uprights because it was too dark! It was so much warmer today – what a crazy time of the year it is. We had a couple nights this week around 30 degrees (with frost warnings) but then it also got up near 80 today…we’ll all be sick next week!
Friday was the last day of the first nine weeks this fall already…and the start of the new 2 week Fall Break… Are you kidding me? We need a 2 week break already?? Really?? Abby had her final volleyball practice of the year and was in the newspaper that evening for her last game which was last week. Matt and his #13-ranked (3A) Pirates’ held their final home game of the regular season vs. #5 (4A) East Central. It was Senior Night, of course. It was a nice day until about 3 pm when it became windy & overcast which made the temps drop quickly…and then the rain started. It rained and it rained and didn’t let up all day/night. The crowd was sparse and the conditions were miserable. We felt so bad for the parents / kids because it was nasty out there and there was hardly anyone there…and the colder it got through the game, the fewer people that were staying in attendance. The Pirate defense did a great job for most of the night, giving up only two big plays (long runs off their left side) – but otherwise had numerous big stops throughout the whole game. Coach leaned on the defense all night. That was because our offense was totally dominated by East Central and also gave up a safety. The Trojans had great field position the entire game and Matt only played a handful of plays. We think it might be related to pissing off his lineman coach during the week. The head coach asked why Matt wasn’t in there more often and he told him because he was told to stay on the sidelines until a coach specifically sent him on to the field. The head coach apologized and said he would talk with his assistant to figure out what the hell is going on. The boys were so cold – hell we all were. I would say there were maybe 20 or 30 parents that stayed to watch the whole game, if that. Most bailed before or during halftime as the Trojans controlled the game from the very start when we fumbled the opening kickoff. Luke & Bu came with us to the game but didn’t last much longer than the first quarter when Gma came and took them on home for us. Ann & I were cold and wet, but I was so proud of Ann. She really toughed it out and didn’t complain or ask to leave the game once. Matt did not make any tackles in his limited action at defensive tackle. East Central jumped out to a quick lead of 6-0, but then was held in check by our defense. However, our offense could never get the ball across the 50 and the Trojans fought us on our side of the field all night. The offense gave up a safety to make it 8-0. Our defense gave up a long play in the 3rd quarter that resulted in a TD and they ran it in for a two-point conversion to stretch the lead to 16-0. Our defense did not allow another score, including a very exciting goal line stand. It didn’t help things when our starting QB was knocked out of the game during our first offensive play of the game. We were soaked and shivering as we made our way to the car. We grabbed Little Caesar’s on our way home before finally defrosting ourselves, under the blankets on the couch. The Pirates enter their final regular season game with North Decatur ranked 16th and a 6-2 record. We will travel to Brown County for our first sectional game the following week.
It finally stopped raining when Matt headed in to football practice before joining us at Abby’s final volleyball games of the season in the Greensburg 4-way Tourney at the junior high school. It was a much nicer day, topping out in the 50s with lots of sun. The 7th graders were up first when they faced Greenfield Community which the girls easily disposed of, 25-0 & 25-5! Abby’s friend Bailey scored 24 straight serves in the first set and 32 straight overall in that game! Abby did not play at all in the 1st set, but played the final quarter of the 2ndgame, earning a point in the process. The boys took a long lunch break at home. Ann stayed behind and captured Abby doing the introductions of the 8th graders! Unfortunately, they lost in their opening game, which ended the season for them. Meanwhile, we came back for the championship round where we faced a very good Shelbyville that nipped us early in the year for one of our two losses. Abby was a team caption for this year’s final game. As we did in the first contest, we built up a lead in the 1st match only to blow the lead and ended up losing. The Pirates dominated the Bears in the 2nd game, winning it easily. Abby played in the 2nd match and again scored a point and played well. That brought up a 3rd and decisive match just as we did in the first meeting. But this time the girls were ready for the challenge and won a closely challenged game! In fact, all three matches were all really close with several really long, exciting volleys back and forth! The girls (and crowd) were so excited! We got some pix of the girls with their new trophy and mingled with the other parents. We came home long enough for the girls to change and then headed back out. Up first, we allowed Bu to celebrate the big tourney win and an outstanding year with a 15-2 record with a treat for dinner out. For whatever reason, she wanted McDonald’s…who was I to argue? So we grabbed drive through and hit I-74 to surprise the kids with a special treat over in Cincy. They were excited to find our journey ended in the parking lot of the closest Graeter’s Ice Cream and hour away! This was a little different shop than the ones we’ve been at before and unfortunately, the server said that all their ice cream had a chance of being cross-contaminated with peanuts which of course, upset Lukey. He refused to take the risk and decided to opt out of the ice cream – settling for candy. He was teary and we all felt awful for him. This was supposed to be a treat for the kids doing so well on their report cards. However, we did promise to get him something from Dairy Point after his game tomorrow. The rest of us got ice cream cones and a dozen buckeyes. Ann & I got their amazing pretzel cones (in fact, they sold us a dozen cones to bring home for later!). It was yummy and well worth the long jaunt over there. When we got home, the boys drove out to JT’s house where we picked up the truck where he had been working on it for us. Matt drove it home and then took the Crossfire back to the station for Gigi. It was hard for him to give it up. He went to go put gas in it first but was gone for a long time. Finally he called the house from the gas station. He had forgotten his wallet and his phone. He had to borrow a phone to call us to come pay for his gas! LOL That was truly a rookie move!! Ha! We came home and watched the Reds win their first playoff game in 17 years! Well, I watched most of it but fell asleep and watched the highlights on Sports Center the next morning. :0) The Reds lead SF 1-0 in the Divisional Series, thanks to homers by Brandon Phillips and my favorite player, Jay Bruce! We watched the DVR’ed game of Purdue vs. Michigan from earlier today. Although they had their chances, they were clearly outmatched as the Boilers when down big to the Wolverines in their Big Ten opener at Ross Aide Stadium.
We slept in on a cold morning before getting up for Luke’s final pee wee football game of the year at the North Decatur Chargers again. Luke decided to wear a “nut cup??? for the game today. :0) It is so funny to hear him say (cutely and nonchalantly) “nut cup??? all run altogether. For whatever reason, their varsity field was too wet for the games to be played on, so we went over to their practice field. It was cold and windy, which made our faces and fingers ache. Thankfully it wasn’t raining! The Pirates gave up an early TD to the Chargers but then held them the rest of the 1st half. Unfortunately, we couldn’t score either and at the half we were down 6-0. In the 3rd quarter and the first part of the 4th quarter, we could not move the ball offensively and relied on our defense to get the ball back…which they did for the most part. Luke had a few tackles and did pretty well with his blocking too. A couple times, though, we gave up either a long run or pass and dug a big hole, 20-0. However, we never gave up and scored two late TDs in the 4th quarter to bring it to 20-14 (Luke hit on 1 of his 2 PAT attempts). Luke tried to pooch an on-side kick, but got too far under it and it and popped it too far – about 20 yards instead of 10 – and we couldn’t get there quick enough and they jumped on it, effectively ending the game. They ran the time out and we had lost yet another one. So we have a week off now and then head in to the end-of-the-year tournament with a 4-3 record. Afterwards, I took the kids to Dairy Point for ice cream (it was really just for Luke but you know how that goes…) and came home where Ann made potato soup and Panini’s on a crisp autumn day. We watched the DVR’ed Colts game and were excited to see them come from behind for a big win with their rookie QB, Andrew Luck. They were spirited-on by their sick coach, who is receiving treatment for newly diagnosed leukemia. The Cowboys had a bye week (thank goodness, that way they couldn’t possibly lose!) while Payton and the Broncos got trounced by the Patriots. Purdue alum, Drew Brees, and his Saints won on Sunday Night Football (their first win of the season) and Drew broke a record held by Johnny Unitas for 50 years by completing a TD pass in 48 straight games. I still need to watch the taped NASCAR race from Talladega tomorrow night! I love this time of year – there was so much on TV! The Simpsons featured their annual Tree House of Horror episode later that evening and we completed our weekly chores around the house in between napping under the warm Eagle and Cowboy blankets that we fought over. I spoke with Phyllis & Dick’s son, Trevor, regarding Luke. He would like Lukey to join his travelling basketball team this winter. If we agree, he will play a pair of games each Sunday. …I’m not real hot on the idea of continuing to be gone on Sundays, but he really wants to play, so we’ll see… And to put a cap on a great weekend, the Reds won game 2 at San Francisco, 8-0 to take a two game lead back to Cincy on Tuesday to try and close out the series.
Next up, we have our video section – including three new ones of the family this week along with several from around the internet.
Next up is our Shit Luke Says segment. This week we have two entries. The first came on Monday night at football practice when he was shivering with a tear in his eye he whimpered, “Daddy, my fingers are scalding cold!??? :0) And then on Saturday morning as we pulled in to the junior high school, there in town to watch Abby (dropped off earlier) at her volleyball tourney, Luke asks, “Are we picking up Abby???? We said, well we’re gonna watch her play first, of course and he says, “Well, I mean is she riding the bus home????
Next up is our Waybac section. We continue with the Gil Hutton Collection of Scheu family photos. We are about halfway through that huge box of pix & negatives. First up we have Aunt Judy at her senior prom in the ‘60s; Aunt Sue and Uncle Hank at the wedding in April of 1961; Aunt Judy in ’63 with a color promo pic as well as ’64 with a young Cathy. Also included in this batch are another with Cathy in ’64; a couple of David in June of ’65 and a few of Cathy and one of David in September of ’65.
Our final batch has a few more of David & Cathy in November of ’66; John & June’s wedding in December of ’68; Cathy & David in October of ’70; and a couple more of Steven in November of ’78.
At that closes another chapter in the Scheu Family Blog. As always, thank for keeping up with us this time out and we’ll catch up with ya next time. Until then, have a good one. We miss ya Mom…
Later, Scheu
What a wonderful blog! Tom, We have been wondering why your Dad hasn’t let us know about the memorial for you Mom down here. You guys are still in my prayers. I miss talking to your Mom!
Love Jacky
Hi Jack,
Ya; I was surprised to hear from Rob that he and Dad haven’t held that yet. However, they are waiting for some of Mom’s friends (“snowbirds”) get back down there for the winter, so I’m sure it won’t be long now. Thank you for the kind words; we dearly miss her too…she was truly an original – a one-of-a-kind. 🙂
– Take care, Tom