We have survived another exhausting week, here at the Scheu abode…but we wouldn’t have it any other way. It started off nice and cool outdoors but ended hot & humid again. We made it through some severe weather relatively unscathed. Matt got settled in at U Indy. Abby impossibly split her time between practices for three sports, two soccer games, school activities, work, and her social life. Luke focused his time on football, playing a pair of games and sustaining his first injury. Ann had a long week at work again. I had a short week at work and got out walking whenever I could find time. Hello again and welcome to the latest installment of the Scheu Family Blog.
Monday was a gorgeous day that topped out in the 70’s with low humidity. I would take days like that, year-round. Luke had football practice after school. Abby had soccer practice then Pirateers practice. She was pretty upset by what transpired at practice. Matt continued un-packing and getting to know his new roommate, who has been in the States for all of four days. Ann had a good day with her knees feeling better. After work, I walked over 3 ½ miles in an hour and felt great. I hate that Bu & I will miss the big 5K this weekend. Here are pictures of Luke & Drew from last Sunday’s tryouts for the Titans team.
Abby had student council before school on Tuesday then soccer practice afterwards. She is really starting to get back in to it…we hope that she gets more varsity playing time soon. I walked 2 ½ miles after work. Ann went to see Dr Guse again, getting a shot in her knee. It is the first of three that will, hopefully, finally bring her the relief she’s been searching for… Luke had his third football game of the year and his first home game that night vs. South Dearborn. He again represented the team as a tri-captain before the game and won the coin toss, electing to defer to the 2nd half. Ann & I sat in our old seats where we always sat during Matt’s tenure at Shriver Field. We were thrilled to be joined by Mom, Sandy & Dee that night, in support of the 7th grade Pirates. The boys looked great on defense, earning their second shutout of the year. The offense finally came around, scoring a TD in each half. Drew caught a pass in the endzone for his first TD of the year! Even special teams scored a touchdown as the Pirates won 20-0 to raise their record to 2-1 on the year. Luke’s stats: He had only 1 rush for 1 yard and he fumbled after a poor handoff exchange. He also had 1 catch on a screen play for -5 yards, breaking the first tackle but not the second. He did have really nice blocking out of the backfield as the fullback, opening holes for his teammates – including a sweet pancake! Defensively, he had 6 ½ tackles and a batted ball during a blitz from his outside linebacker position. On special teams, he had four kickoffs. The first was an onside good for 22 yards. He also had 3 kicks down to the 25 each time with nets of 20, 20 & 25 yards, respectfully. We had Pizza Hut for dinner to celebrate the Pirate’s big win.
Ann was up early and out the door on Wednesday for a meeting in Seymour. It was noticeably warmer as a big front moved through the area and brought with it a nasty thunderstorm. I was able to walk 3 miles after work. Luke had football practice after school and Bu had soccer practice, a quick dinner date with her new beau and then she & Ann went on to Dixon for jazz class. We had to close up the house that night due to the heat and humidity – even Abby was hot…and she’s always cold! She had a nasty headache that night…something that would plague her the rest of the week – in fact, I don’t think that headache ever went away this week… Here are some various pictures from this week.
We had severe weather in the area on Thursday. Five tornadoes hit Kokomo really hard but thankfully Aunt Sharon, Nathan, Steph and the kids were all safe. It was another very hot/humid day. We saw a little rain but not too much. Luke went to football then came home with Gma. He apparently hurt his thumb during school and had to take it easy at practice. Meanwhile Ann & I left work early to travel down SR46 to watch Abby & her Lady Pirates face an amazingly-good Batesville squad in soccer. First up was the JV game and Bu played the entire game at midfielder. She only came out about 5 minutes during that contest. She had no shots on goal but hustled after the ball and battled pretty hard in a 0-3 loss. Next up was the varsity contest. It was more of the same – these girls are very well coached with excellent spacing, striking and passing – they were fun to watch even though they spanked us, 0-11. Bu played about 15 minutes during garbage time at the end, but at least she got in. It was so hot and humid. They stopped the game several times to allow drink breaks. We went to Steak & Shake afterward for dinner but Abby became ill after eating and got worse during the ride home. I ended up driving her car home from school as Ann took her home and put her to bed.
Friday was another hot/humid day. Although we were under warnings, all the t-storms stayed north. I took the day off due to low census, allowing my boys to have my hours. Ann had a rough day at work. Luke had football practice where they did their annual fund raiser. He went over to Tyler’s to play basketball for a little while. Abby & the Pirateers performed twice at the varsity football home opener vs. Jennings County where our boys won in a 41-6 romp! Ryan Martin was the special captain for the game. He played with Matt and is now at Hanover and was a finalist this year for the Cliff Harris award for top defensive player from a D-III school. Luke helped on the sidelines with some of his teammates as ball boys. The girls looked great on their opening night routines, despite more girl-drama. Mom & Sandy joined us to watch Bu. Sandy got some great photos for us this week – thanks Gigi!! We again sat in our usual seats and it was good to see everyone in the stands – it was a very full crowd! Because it was a blowout, we left at halftime and ate dinner at ElRep with Luke while Bu stayed at the game to hang with friends and then went out with Kirk until late.
We were up early again on Saturday morning, headed to Lawrenceburg to play Greendale in a 7th grade football matchup. The Pirates were missing key members of their team and it showed from the opening play. The Pirates were never in the game on a dreadfully hot and humid day. It was just miserable out there and they played on artificial turf that was even hotter. It looks amazing though. It was the first time we’d been there in a few years – likely since Matt played here last. Although Luke & the tri-captain again won the coin toss, the boys looked slow and lifeless, losing badly 0-38. Their record now stands at 2-2 on the year. Bryan & I know firsthand how hard it is to manage a team missing boys – we had to do it for years. When you have to move people around in to positions they’re not used to, mistakes will be made and it certainly happened to the boys that morning. Luke moved to center to replace Alex, who was missing due to his sister’s wedding (which we missed, unfortunately). Eventually he moved to fullback, wide receiver and even halfback. Luke’s abbreviated stats: when he wasn’t blocking, he ran the ball 3 times for 13 yards and a fumble. He was also 0-1 on catching passes – though the ball was uncatchable. In a weird twist of fate, as he gave up on the pass play, his defender kept going and ended up rolling up on his ankle. Luke was down for about 5 minutes on the turf and had to come out of the game with assistance. The Lawrenceburg trainer worked on his ankle for about 10 minutes. She was very nice and did not feel anything was torn. After taping him up real good, she released him to re-enter the ball game when he felt ready. He spent a few minutes on the sideline, getting the ankle loose and breaking-in the tape. He eventually got back in the game, but missed considerable time obviously – which didn’t help our team. Bryan always told the boys not to stop or it would hurt…today, Luke learned a valuable lesson that he won’t soon forget. On defense, Luke had a pair of tackles and gave chase fairly well on the bum ankle. On special teams, he had one on-side kick that went 22 yards, left-footed. He also had his first punt of his career and boy was it a boomer – 55 yards…with his bad ankle. Perhaps all that tape helped?? Either way, the punt netted the team 30 yards and the coaching staff may have found a new weapon for their arsenal. Bryan joined me on top of the press box to tape for the 7th graders. We had a great view of things and may have done a little too much “encouraging??? from up there. Bryan took Ann and signed out the boys and headed home as I again stayed to tape the 8th graders. It was so stinking hot up there in that full sun. I hope we never again have to play on a Saturday. I MUCH prefer the evening games. It was really hard to see what I was taping due to the intense sunlight and glare. They stopped at Skyline for lunch and went home to get cleaned up. I grabbed KFC and drove home through a nasty thunderstorm that slowed me down, especially all the high water on the road from the deluge. During the drive, I also spoke to Lynn who said she took Dad to the hospital early this morning for intense neck pain (which can be a symptom of heart attack). While he was in the hospital, he had an episode that mimicked a heart attack. However they now think it was a medicine-induced issue. He will stay in the hospital through the weekend and visit the cath lab on Monday, when we hope to know if there is a blockage of some sort which is contributing to his issues. Thankfully he is resting comfortably and is trying to be good for the nurses (ya right!). Lynn snuck Charlie in to see him and got some cute pictures we’ll share next week. Luke fell asleep in his bed while icing his ankle. By the time I got home, I only had enough time to clean up and get ready to leave again. We left Luke sleeping and Ann and I went back to Batesville that afternoon for more soccer. This time, Abby and the Pirates took on Oldenburg. This was another good team with a very, very good player – for whom we had no answer. It was never close on a miserably hot and humid late afternoon and the Lady Pirates were again out-classed, 0-9. There was no JV game but Abby played about 20 minutes with the varsity unit without a shot on goal from the midfielder position. Again, she hustled and battled hard. We hope it is what the coach is looking for in order for her to earn more playing time with the first-team squad. Ann & I came home afterwards while Bu stayed behind to come home with the team. Ann & Luke helped me to remove the giant limb that was in our backyard. During the big t-storm earlier that day, lightning hit our tulip tree in the backyard and split off a very large branch. This is the 3rd time it has been struck by lightning. We had to cut it the rest of the way out of the tree, chop it up and haul it to the street. While we were working, Bu came home with a teammate (Kirk’s little sister) and they went out for dinner with Ann while I mowed the lawn (I was already hot and nasty, so why not keep going!?). I was so tired and completely saturated my clothing…it looked like I had jumped in a pool, fully clothed. After I got cleaned up again, Luke & I ran to Walmart to get another ankle brace (he already wears one on his other foot) and a compression wrap. We stopped by Subway for dinner then got gas in Abby’s car and cleaned out all the trash in it (you’re welcome, Bu!). The girls went out with their girlfriends for the night, Luke iced his ankle and Ann & I fell asleep in the living room in the A/C. With all that happened today, we completely forgot about the annual St Mary’s festival where Bryan & his band were playing under the beer garden tent. But what I was most bummed about was missing the after-party at the Sunken Boat Bar until the wee hours of the morning… We have the videos from today’s games below but the pictures will have to wait until next week due to me running out of time. In the meantime, here are some new social media pictures from this week.
We enjoyed sleeping in on Sunday morning. In fact, I think Abby beat Ann & I up this morning for the first time ever! She spent the entire day at work, enjoying a double shift at Buffalo Wings & Rings and trying to get hours when she can. We got started on our inside weekly household chores about mid-morning. Later, Luke trimmed the yard for me while I checked all the fluids in the vehicles. It didn’t take long to sweat through that outfit on yet another unbearably hot day. It allowed him to get that ankle loose and get it moving a little – but not too much. He iced it all day and kept the compression sleeve on it. We did not allow him to attend basketball practice that evening at the junior high, despite his objections. We just didn’t see any reason to even push the issue and just leave well-enough alone, so we shut him down. Ann went out shopping with Amy in the afternoon, stopping to see Abby for lunch. I enjoyed watching UFC, NASCAR and NFL on TV, taking it easy and enjoying the break in the action for a little while…but mostly being thankful for the man who invented the air conditioner…
Next up is our Waybac section which features the final batch of pictures culled from Mom & Dee’s moves this past spring. Starting next week, we will begin featuring our next batch of photo albums from our young family. Leading off this time is a school picture of Keith in the mid-seventies in Greensburg; next we fast-forward all the way to the early nineties for some Christmas pictures of Dee & Chad in Westport; then a few from WTRE, circa 1993; then our young family in simpler times – three was the magic number and then Matt at the G’burg Historical Society tree in ’98. That is followed by a plethora of Memaw & Gigi grandkid photos from 2000 to 2004 and then Dee & Gracie, circa ’05 at WDW in Orlando.
And we end with our video section which includes a record 10 new home movies (wow!) this week as well as a few 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 time. Until then, have a good one. We miss ya, Mom.
Later, Scheu