We started off this week in winter and finished it in summer! We enjoyed what I would call an Indian Summer (can you still call it that?) as temps went all the way from an overnight low bottoming out in the lower 20s to a high today (Sunday) in the 80s! The weather was perfect for disc golf this week…with the exception of the wind. I played as much as I could each day as I prep for my first two tourneys next weekend. We didn’t talk to Matt much this week and did not see him, unfortunately. He stayed busy up in Carmel, working from home and in the office in Indy while getting ready for wrestling to start next week, when he has his annual callout meeting in Zionsville. Abby worked in Greenwood all week, but we did enjoy spending time with her and Will this weekend when they came home when FC took their annual Fall Break. Luke continued the same formula he’s had all fall – work odd jobs, sell personal items for a profit, attend firefighter classes in Indy and spend time with Samantha. Ann & I had full work weeks and enjoyed spending time with our friends. I didn’t quite make it to 48 hours on my fast this week but got close enough to drop another three pounds. My exercise goal would’ve been met, if it weren’t for having to go into work on Saturday again. I had planned to spend the day playing a few different golf courses but instead ended with only 10 miles of walking this week. Due to the lack of rain (I’m not complaining – it was excellent conditions for disc golf), we had Red Flag warnings all week – essentially a burn ban due to the dry conditions and sustained winds. Honestly, we could probably use a little rain. Maybe we could get some during the overnight hours or at least only while I’m at work so that I can still get out this next week and stay in form ahead of my tourneys next weekend. Hello again and welcome to the latest installation of the Scheu Family Blog.
We had a cold start to the week with temps down in the 30s. It didn’t get very warm that day, only reaching into the lower 40s but with the nasty wind it still felt like it was below freezing. Ann & I had fast days at work as I began my weekly 48-hour fast. I did my normal routine of catching up paperwork, attending meetings and was able to get my Safety Committee report about halfway done. I bravely headed out to the AirPark course to play a round of disc golf on a very blustery afternoon. Although it felt like it could snow, at least the sun was out – which helped. I just had to focus on keeping my throwing hand warm, which was tricky. I wore my sweatshirt as way to begin practicing for the tourneys in a couple weeks. By choosing an early tee time, I know it will be cold when I’m out on the courses and so I figured if I played with a sweatshirt for the next couple weeks, I should be fairly prepared for it. I struggled in the wind and cold, to say the least – ending up three over par by the time I finished. I contemplated going a second round but was ready to go get warm in the van. Ann & I caught up on each other’s day on our commute home. I love hearing the stories from her day. I dropped her off and went out to the park to play 9 holes from the front tees at the park. I played very conservatively, so as to not lose any discs in the water that evening. Although my strategy worked (I came home with a full bag of discs), it cost me a few strokes as I ended with a 24. All in all, not too bad considering the conditions. I came home and found Ann had turned the heat on in the living room. I gave her a hard time but was secretly glad she did because I was so cold! We huddled under our blankets with the dogs and watched several DVR’d shows that night. She even closed the bedroom window – a sure sign that winter was nearing! Hell, I even turned on my bed warmer…and later had to turn it up to 8 just to get warm that night! Here are random pictures from our recent adventures.
Tuesday was even colder. There was snow in the area, but we didn’t ever see any nor was there any evidence of it when we left for work. Even though the temps were lower, it felt a little warmer just because the wind had died down a little. I could’ve sworn it was a full moon that day because the kids were off the chain that day, getting into fights, destroying property, having screaming fits and just generally being disruptive to the process. We have a handful of kids right now that think this is a jail or something and are vying to be the top dog. This is a treatment center, so I’m not sure what they’re trying to prove. As thin on staff as we are, the folks are beginning to wear down from all the chaos. It reminds me of what it was like when I worked the units. The difference is that the staff aren’t used to these types of behaviors. I finished up my Safety Committee report in between helping on the floor. Justin wound up coming in and he, Brent & I went out to lunch at Snappy Tomato, breaking my fast a few hours early. I think I did a 42-hour one instead of 48 this week. I played a round of disc golf out in the cold and wind again. Man, shooting with a sweatshirt is definitely a challenge for me. I bogied a couple holes but nailed a couple long birdie putts to end even at par. Ann & I found gas on sale at Sunoco, who had gas for $3.69. That’s why we’re driving old Barnard Q Rustbucket – so we can use the least expensive type of gas (unlike Black Betty). We stopped at Sonic for our weekly slush and my Frito burrito. I dropped off Ann at Amy’s house. Ames was getting rid of her scrapbooking stuff, so Ann was given first pick. I went on to the park for another round of disc golf on the front tees. I actually did pretty well, despite it getting dark and cold / windy. I considered playing a 2nd round but it started raining so I called it a night and went on home after shooting another 24. I edited pictures and videos that night and when Annie came home, we watched several of our favorite shows on the DVR, which is really full all of a sudden. It was just a month ago that we had it cleaned-off with no shows (the first in a while) but now it’s like 70% full with dozens and dozens of different shows to watch… It was another cold night that dipped below freezing so we covered our outdoor flowers and used our bed warmer again on 8! ????
We let the van warm up for a while on Wednesday morning, as temps were still in the upper 20s as we commuted back over to Columbus. It was a long day for Annie, as her day seemed to drag on and on. We had another busy day – not as bad as yesterday, but a day that needed a lot of work by picking up all the pieces and doing all the paperwork from yesterday. Vic & I went to Ye Olde Fish House for a quick lunch and enjoyed a plate of fish with two sides of fish and fish! My Gawd, is their fish good… it ranks right up there with Dad’s catfish from the Parkside Deli and Uncle Kenny & Uncle Timmy’s fish fries at the Brown family reunions…mmm… That afternoon, I joined a meeting with Jim, regarding his new out-patient building he wants to open at the end of the year. He kept hitting roadblocks over the past five months but today’s meeting seemed to help him make progress. I had enough time to go up to the penthouse and change before we had State Representative Greg Pence (former VP Mike’s brother) in for a meet & greet. It was just him and his assistant, along with a lobbyist from UHS and our management team. We met in the front conference room for about 30 minutes, introducing ourselves talking about some hot topics. We presented him an award and then did a quick tour before snapping a few photos and saying goodbye. All told, he was there for less than an hour, but it seemed even shorter. I’m not sure what I was expecting, being that he is a politician, but he wasn’t what I thought he would be. He was actually really nice and down-to-Earth. Afterwards, I changed clothes and went across the street to play a round of disc golf on another cool and extremely windy day. I continued to struggle with the wind and the sweatshirt, but I think I’m getting better…though my score didn’t show it. I left the course with a 29 (2 over par). After driving home and dropping Ann off at home, I assumed my parking spot at the park and played another round of golf. I stuck with the front tees so as to lessen my chances of losing a disc. I tried to just that on hole #2 with my putter. I thought I had it lined up for a long putt, but a gust of wind caught it and threw it deep in the bushes and nearly into the pond. That’s my good Warden disc that I rely on for about 70% of all my throws. I’d be screwed if I lost that disc! I had planned to play 18 holes, but the wind was too tricky and I decided not to push my luck. I stopped after 9 and a score of 25, just 2 under…but with a full bag – so I was happy. I made a sandwich at home and renamed all the new pictures for this week. Even though I started out with over 400, I wound up with only about 175 pictures for this week’s blog entry. I’ve really started thinking about how to wrap up the blog series. Now that the kids aren’t running as ragged, the stories are getting more and more generic and repetitive…and just not that compelling. The pictures are all about the same anymore and there’s really nothing that interesting going on in our lives any longer. Right now, I think I’ll probably aim for the end of the year…well actually just past it – January 5th of 2023. I know that it sounds like a random date. If that was the last entry, it would be 15 years to the date that I started doing this for the grandparents to keep up with everything since there was no way they could possibly attend and keep up with it all. Hell, we barely did… After that, I would probably do random entries like at birthdays or if something of any significance occurs. Or maybe step it back with just a monthly recap. I don’t what it will look like at this point, but I know the time to change it up is nearing… We have lots of social media pictures to share this week.
Thursday morning brought us the coldest weather of the season with temps all the way down in the lower 20s. To be honest, as I uncovered the flowers in the front that morning, I actually felt OK. I think I’m already starting to acclimate to the colder weather – probably aided by me playing golf outside this week, I assume… Work was better as well. The kids and staff were all calmer, which in turn helped the management team to breath for the first time this week as well. We have plans in place that will hopefully have a positive outcome at the facility and, I think, I may have been nervous about Congressman Pence’s visit. That sounds silly, doesn’t it? I definitely felt better about walking into work for the first time that week for whatever reason. As we walked out to get into the car for our morning trek through the Decatur and Bartholomew County countryside, I wondered…for a moment…why we had so few leaves in our front yard – that is, until I looked across the street and saw all of them in Mr. Green’s front lawn! Oops! We told Luke that the right thing to do would be to go rake those up for him, since he’s in his 80s. Now whether or not he does it is a story for another time… We had a fast morning, out at the facility as I did some IT work and then met with the management team before heading out for an early lunch at the new Mexican restaurant, just down the street from Ann’s office. Justin, Vic & Brent joined me to celebrate Justin’s birthday…but he wound up buy lunch for us. That’s just not right! We tried to explain that it was us that were supposed to buy his lunch on his special day. He wouldn’t hear of it, so we finally gave up. This is in the old Indiana Smokehouse building. We tried to get there three separatee times but they were always closed. The new place (known now as Tacos Don Jose) was delicious. We have some really good Mexican places near us – both at work and at home. Their street tacos were really good. I got the one with the mixed, grilled meats (called Campechano) and then you go up and get your own hot sauce. They had like 5 different ones. You know that I had to get a big helping of their spiciest. It was good and definitely hot. It made me sweat, so that’s a good indicator that I really liked it! That afternoon, we had our marathon meeting day with PI, Pt. Safety Council and my EOC Safety Committee meetings. When it ended, I had time to finish up the POs for this week, do my weekly rounds and then it was time to head out to go exercise. I got in 18 holes out on the AirPark property. The flag/pin for hole #1 came out last week. I tried pounding it back in but the ground is so hard around here that it wouldn’t budge. Couple that with all the wind this past week, and it kept falling over. Finally, the ground crew grabbed it and put it away. So, that afternoon I grabbed a scrap piece of metal pole and a sledgehammer out of the work garage and pounded in a new goal for that hole. ???? It was still very challenging between the wind and throwing in a sweatshirt…but I like playing under varying conditions to see how it affects things since I’m still at the front end of this huge learning curve of the sport. This week marked the six-month mark for me being all-in with the golf discs only. And it showed with my scores that afternoon, LOL. I really struggled but had a great time doing it. I decided to try for a few distance records over on 7, 8 & 9. My shoulder was a little sore after I finished that afternoon but I did manage to tally three more 300+ -foot throws before I finished that day. All told, I ended with a one-over-par of 55 after hitting my only birdie on the 18th hole. I picked up Annie and we came home on a gorgeous afternoon in the 50s with a ton of sun. We went to Needlers to get Poker Night goodies. On top of the standard bag of Grippo’s, the container of candy corn & peanuts, and mixers; we also picked up supplies for us (I use that term very loosely!) to make sausage balls that night! Ann & I made quite the mess with that stuff, giving me a whole new appreciation for Gigi when she makes hers. As we were finishing up and popping our goodies into the oven, Abby & Will came home. It was the start of Fall Break at FC, so the kids came home for a couple days and Will really wanted to go to Poker Night with me. But first, started the balls in the oven and then we all waked to the next street over (Ryle Center), where they had the street blocked off for a gathering of the area. It was a friendly competition between the police and fire departments for a chili cookoff. Both chilis were really good. Neither was spicy. The GPD had a straight burger & bean recipe which may have been my favorite…but the GFD had a chili mac made almost like stew with chunks of beef that was so good that the meat alone got my vote. The kids went with the cops but my vote went with the firefighters. We spoke to representatives of both forces as well as our neighbors. It was actually pretty nice despite it being a little chilly. WTRE had a booth set up on someone’s lawn, as did a local bank (I think?). They had some games set up for the kids and dozen or so tables for sitting and eating. I just stood and enjoyed a couple bowls of the concoctions before we headed back to the house. Will & I packed up our wares and headed out to the Sunken Boat Bar for a night of revelry with my guys. We had a good turnout that evening. Joining Bryan, Will & I was Rick, Shawn, Alan, Mark and Scott. Pat was on the beach in SC and Bob had some family stuff going on. Still, it was great – great food, great football game, great cards and of course ample amounts of spirits from the Sunken Boat Bar! I actually did really well and could’ve brought home $20 (pretty good for only a few hours of dime poker), if it weren’t for me not paying attention to the card game instead of the football game. But it was all good and we made it home safely, which is always a good thing. Well, Will mostly made it home…he was missing a few things – mostly the contents of his belly. He wasn’t feeling particularly well that night. We laughed that we should raise money among the players from that evening to get him a tattoo that said something along the line of, “I survived Poker Night at the Sunken Boat Bar.??? ???? ???? ???? Ha Ha! The girls enjoyed a quite night in but I had to take a picture of the kitchen which had empty bottles of booze and a sink full of dishes and caption it, “You can always tell when Abby’s home!??? LOL! Luke apparently came home fairly early from Fire 1 class in Indy with Alex. He grabbed a few things and headed out to the Bests to continue housesitting for them and staying with Owen. I thought it apt that Abby should take care of Will that night since he had to do the same at Homecoming just a couple weekends ago…LMAO!
I had a little trouble getting up on Friday morning, pushing the snooze button several times. I eventually got up and got cleaned up. I had to wake Abby as well. She said she was up pretty late with Mr. Will overnight and was dragging butt like I was that morning. I got everything set up in the family room to start working from home that day. But first, I took Ann to work via the Dunkin drive-through. After dropping her off at the downtown office, I ran a couple errands, including stopping to see Mom O to remove an injured bird from her backyard and enjoyed catching up with her. I then returned to the house to start working after putting away the groceries Annie had me pickup for dinner that night. I worked all day at my desk and got caught up on several things that had fallen between the cracks for a few weeks. Luke & Sam came home for a while and he believes he may have his car sold. He set up a meeting with a lady later that day. They went out to the Bests for a few hours before returning that evening. Abby drove up to Greenwood and worked all day. Sandy & Ollie came over to hang out in the backyard with Ann & Delilah. I called it a day and got the blog caught up with watching a couple DVR’d shows. It was gorgeous outside with temps in the lower 70s that afternoon and I was ready to get out in it and play a couple rounds of disc golf. I waited for Luke’s potential buyer to come over and test drive the Hot Rod Lincoln. They wound up not even test driving it. When they saw it, started it and inspected the engine, they jumped on it. I think Luke was just wanting to get rid of it so he could pay for his truck repair next week because he let it go for half of what he was originally asking. If he could’ve held on to it for a few more weeks or even a couple months and allowed folks two get their tax checks in Feb/Mar, he could’ve gotten more. He celebrated by taking Samantha out for dinner. They were going to eat in Columbus but wound up back in Greenwood and ate at the Cheesecake Factory again, followed by a trip to Crumbl for artisan cookies. When Abby got home, the kids and I went out to play a quick round of disc golf at the park. We had great weather in the lower 70s and the wind finally died down a little. Abby threw a 31, Will a 29 and I had a 24. By the time we got home, Ann had dinner ready and was putting it on the table. She made her amazing chicken corn chowder – yum! I think I had three bowls. ???? Afterward, we moved out to the backyard for a little porch time on a perfect night for a fire. We loaded up the Solo Stove despite there being a Red Flag warning. We had a couple gin & tonics, using the two new Def Leppard gins. One is a London Dry and the other is a Premium Distilled. I think I liked the LD better, but it was hard to discern because we changed brands of tonic as well. We really like that Fever Tree. We moved back inside after I finished my cigar and cleaned up the kitchen and played some euchre. Abby made us a nice sipper of the Salted Carmel Crown Royal. Ann & I crunched the kids in the first two games – beating them 10-2 in the 2nd game. We had another sipper – this time, I broke out the Adictivo tequila, which was a perfect night cap. The kids made a good run in the 3rd game, taking us to 9-9 and Abby won the final deal to finish off the night. Here are pictures of recent additions to my Hot Wheels collection.
We enjoyed sleeping in on Sunday morning. It was bright and sunny and temps warmed all the way into the mid-seventies. I finished up editing pictures and videos and got it all uploaded. I also finished writing out all the html code while catching up on watching the NASCAR races from last weekend. I put the new license plate on Tonya and checked all the fluids. I also did fluids in Barney and then winterized the a/c units. It was not at all how in envisioned my Saturday. I had big plans for the day, which included playing 36 holes of disc golf and driving to Rushville and Batesville. However, work called and were again desperate to fill a hole on the second shift. So, I instead showered, said goodbye to Abby & Will and headed back to Columbus. The kids went over to see Gma & Gigi and helped them to decorate the Christmas tree before heading back to campus to prep for a big birthday party for a buddy that night. Ann went out with Amy that night to see the new movie with George Clooney & Julia Roberts called Ticket to Paradise. Meanwhile, I went in to work for the second straight Saturday night. I again worked with Peggy, who’s also from Greensburg. She is awesome with the 300 kids and we again had smooth night with very little drama. I was pretty tired when I drove home that night. I thought about going on to bed but I was hungry so I made a peanut butter & cheese on rye bread sandwich while watching the cup race from last week. I didn’t even make it through stage one when I woke up on the couch and decided to head on to bed.
We enjoyed sleeping in again on Sunday morning. Like yesterday, I woke up around 6 am (stupide mental alarm) but was able to roll over and fall back to sleep a few times. It was another lovely, sunny morning with temps in the low 60s. I worked on the blog a little while finishing up the NASCAR race from Vegas last week. I loved the action with Bubba Wallace. I am one of the fans that thinks that NASCAR has gotten to vanilla and had lost sight of its gritty, southern roots…the way the racing was when I first became interested in the series, back in the late 80s / early 90s. I heard they suspended him for one race, which I am disappointed with but understand it in this day and age of political correctness and corporate sponsors. ? When Annie got up, I did my weekly household chores and made myself a big breakfast. We put on Fantasy Football Now and set our lineups. Why I even bother any longer, I’m not sure. I haven’t won since the first week and I’m playing Abby who was undefeated until last week when Matt beat her by less than one point. We turned on RedZone and watched the Cowboys win but the Colts lose. I held a slim lead over Abs going into the late games, but she still had her studs left to play, so I wasn’t giving that score much credence. I wrote out this week’s blog and then added a bunch of new albums to the music collection on my phone. We turned off football that night and watched some of our favorite DVR shows, including Big Sky, Blue Bloods and SWAT among others. Meanwhile, Samantha, who had spent the night, got up and went to softball practice. When she returned, the kids went out to eat. Luke got his haircut and worked out at the Y that afternoon. He came out to the living room late and watched the end of the football game until I fell asleep on the couch. I woke up in time to watch the final drive of the night on SNF. It was a great way to wind down the weekend and a relaxing way to put the kibosh on another long week.
Up next, we have our Waybac segment, which continues to include pictures from Dee’s digital camera, circa 2007. We lead off this week this week in Dec 2006 with a great pic of the gals and their dogs in the Main St house. Next, we move on to 2007 pix: Mar – Matt’s band performance, playing drums to Copperhead Road in the GCHS auditorium & Sandy’s mayoral campaign; Apr – Matt & I in a luxury suite at the Red’s game in Cincy; May – Memorial Day weekend and the Gigster Group during the primaries; Jun – summer vacation fun at the house; Jul – Eiteljorg Museum, 4th of July weekend festivities, Grace’s birthday & Gigi’s bday; Oct – Grace & Dee on Fall Break & the Van Halen concert in Indy; Nov – Mom O’s birthday; and Dec – the big, annual Christmas Eve party @ Gma & Gigi’s house on Main St.
Next up is our video segment which features one new family home movie this week as well as several videos from around the internet.
And that does it for this week’s edition of the Scheu Family Blog. Thanks for keeping up with us this time out and we’ll catch up with you again next week. Until then, have a good one and stay safe out there. We miss ya, Mom.
Later, Scheu