The deafening sound of the cicadas and locusts set the background for what was another incredibly busy week for us here at the Scheu abode. Luke had a full week of football, including a pair of games. Abby had a full week of soccer, including two games as well. They both had special moments this week in their respective sports. Matt was back and forth to Indy a couple times as he enjoyed his only full week of summer break before fall classes start up next week as he worked full time at Aspen Place. Ann grinned and bared aches and pains that has become so much of her life these days. I walked 16 miles, surpassing my weekly goal of 15. We got to spend some quality time with our friends and family and enjoyed a break in the heat and humidity of summer this week. Hello again and welcome back to the Scheu Family Blog.
It was back to work and school on Monday, which was also Solar Eclipse Day. It was the first time in several years that a total solar eclipse was viewable in our area. It will be the last time until 2024, I believe, when it will come back around to our neck of the woods. Even though we were all in different areas during the event, we all got to view it…except Matt who slept through it! I got a few pictures of it…I thought it was pretty cool. Matt picked up Ann after work so they could go back-to-school shopping. Later, he went back up to U Indy for the annual Fantasy Football draft with his buddies and spent the night up at his apartment. Justin & I went out to eat at lunch and stuffed ourselves. I was so miserable that I walked a 5K after work just to feel normal again! Luke had football practice then went to the girls’ junior high volleyball game with his buddies to watch Ms. Jenna. Abby had soccer practice then went to dance at Dixon before going over to Trevin’s to do homework and fell asleep. Bryan had to cancel again so we postponed our coaches meeting that evening. That was fine by me, since I needed to mow…but then it rained all evening so I just chilled on the couch and worked on editing pix & vids while watching the new John Wick movie with Ann. Speaking of her, those knees of hers were up to their same old tricks. She finished up Matt’s financial aid stuff as we tried to stay cool on another hot, humid, 90-degree day. As promised, here are pictures of Abby’s first Pirateers performance of the year from last Friday night.
Abby left the house early for Student Council so Ann & I took Luke to school on Tuesday morning. Abs did not go to school; instead she went to a doctor appointment in Columbus and got some meds to help her deal with the breathing issues she had at her last two soccer games. She eventually made it in to school and then soccer practice afterward. Matt worked at Aspen then he & Bu travelled to Luke’s away football game together that night, which I thought was incredibly cool of them! I am so proud of the way those two have turned out… At work, we watched the funeral procession in the rain of a local fallen hero – 23-year-old Army Sgt. Jonathon Michael Hunter of Columbus, who was killed in Afghanistan – the victim of a suicide bomber. The procession came right by the facility. There were a few hundred people gathered just in our little area alone. I heard there were thousands who came out to pay their respects that day along the route. The rain cleared out and I walked 2.5 miles after work then Ann & I drove back to Aurora. This time it was to watch Luke and the 8th grade Pirates play the South Dearborn Squires in a football game. Bryan & I were in the crow’s nest to film & scout, up on top of the press box. It’s a great view. The Pirates looked pretty good, despite playing with some key players out right now. They took the lead early and never relinquished it, winning 40-26 – despite some questionable officiating. Luke remains one of the quad-captains on the team and played fullback, outside linebacker, kickoff return up-back and also ran down on the kickoff team. He cramped a couple times, so he’ll need to work on staying off the sodas! Luke’s stats on the night: 76 total yards with 8 total points scored. He had 5 rushes for 28 yards. He had 2 points on a PAT run and 6 points on a 48-yard fumble recovery with a “scoop & score??? touchdown! He had 8 tackles, including 1 tackle-for-loss and also added a sack and a forced fumble! What a great night! I dropped off Ann and got the video started uploading to Hudl for the kids and coaches to review tomorrow then went and picked up Luke & Drew when they got back to town.
It was much cooler on Wednesday. Luke had football practice after school while Abby had soccer practice then went with Ann to DDS for her two competition-dance classes. Matt worked as a cook at AP that day. Our coaches meeting at the Sunken Boat Bar got cancelled yet again. I walked another two and a half miles after work on a long day. That evening, Matt took Luke out for a twilight run (Luke rode his bike) around town, getting back when it was pitch black, as it is noticeably getting dark earlier and earlier… Here are pictures from last weekend’s soccer game at Union County.
It was a slow start to Thursday morning as we were all late getting up and going. Luke had football practice after school then went home with Gma, as he does every night after practice. Don’t know what we’d do without her! I walked about 2 ½ miles after work before having to cut it short due to Abby’s soccer game having an early start and Ann volunteering in the concession stand. The Lady Pirates hosted the #4 Batesville Bulldogs on the Pirate Pitch. Before the game, Abby was selected as this week’s senior player to honor a teacher that has been her biggest mentor in her high school career. She chose Mr. Holland and the announcer read a pre-written speech about Mr. Holland by Abby, which was really sweet. That night, Abby got her first start of her high school career. She played midfield against a very well-coached team. They got down 0-3 in the first 5 minutes and were down 0-8 at the half. They put in the JV after then went up by 10 and ended up beating us by 12 as we were shutout again. Ann & I took Bu & Trevin to ElRep for dinner and brought the boys home dinner. Matt worked till late then spent the night on the phone with Ms. Jessie.
Abby had no early class on Friday due to it being a college course and the school isn’t in session on Fridays! I took Luke to school then he went to football practice after school before going home with Oakley and spending the night out at his house. Matt worked then went up to Indy to see Ms. Jessie. Ann had a long day of work but the 1st stage of her computer conversion was successful, so that was a huge load off her mind. That evening, she went out with the girls to scrapbook in Burney till late. Abby had soccer practice then went out to dinner with me. I had a fast day at work then walked nearly 5 miles on a gorgeous evening to end my week at 16 miles! We ate at the new Asian-cuisine restaurant uptown, called Tarouya. We both enjoyed our meals and will return again. We came home to watch a couple movies on the big screen before she went out to see Trevin until late.
We were up early on Saturday morning for what would be a very long day. Matt was first out of the house as he had the early shift at the old folks’ home. We then went to Shriver Field to watch Luke and the Pirates face a very tough Greendale MS from Lawrenceburg. They have an amazing QB and a great receiver as well. Their line is very good at holding to boot. We again had issues with the officials. Good help is so hard to find these days. They tore us up and had us down early. We never had an answer but we did score once. Luke had a pretty good game but we lost another couple key starters during the game and the attrition rate is starting to take its toll on the team. Hopefully everyone will heal quickly. The Pirates had a challenging week as they had a short turnaround from Tuesday’s game. They didn’t go full pads on Wednesday or Friday; meaning they only had one meaningful practice and it showed as they lost 6-32 to pull them down to a .500 record again at 2-2 on the season. The bad part is that they will have to do it again. They will not go full pads on Monday and will not have any meaningful practices before their next game on Tuesday. It’s truly been a tough schedule this year with us having to take Thursday and Saturday games. Luke continued to be a quad-captain and represented the team before the game for the coin toss. He played fullback, halfback, outside linebacker, middle linebacker, kickoff return up-back and kicker. Luke’s stats: he had 9 rushes for 35 yards with 9 tackles on the day. He also had a pair of kickoffs that went 30 and 25 yards. Gma & Gigi and Phyllis & Dick all made it to the game to support Lukey. Thanks to Gigi for taking pictures! While I stayed to tape the football game and later upload the video to Hudl for the players and coaches, Ann (who was a little late to the game because they started early) left at about halftime and went next door to watch Abby play in her 2nd start of the year at the Pirate Pitch. The Lady Pirates soccer team faced the nearby Oldenburg squad, who always has a good team but who do not always play clean. The girls hung with them but are short several of their starters who are out with concussions. The girls went down by a pair of goals early and by the time I got to the game (just before the half), they were down 0-4. Abby was nearly tossed from the game after a girl got physical with her and ripped her shoe in half. Abby took exception to it as they bumped and fought for position but when she became overly physical with her, Abs didn’t back down and stopped playing and postured-up on her and bumped her right back – that’s my girl! ???? I was thrilled to see some energy injected into a program that has recently seemed to be on life-support. The girls are always down and frequently get bullied on the field. When she stood up for herself and her team, the parents loved it! Several of them came up to Ann & I after the game and were excited to see some spunk out of the team. I think the coaches were happy to see a little fight in the girls as well. It had an obvious impact on the team as they played inspired the rest of the game but still came up short again, 0-7. Their record stands at 0-6 on the year. We will have pictures and video from both of these games next week. I simply ran out of time to get all of it done. As it was, I sifted through over 1000 pictures this week to narrow it down to just 420. We also have several family movies below. Luke & Drew walked to the soccer game from the junior high after riding the bus back to school and turning in their equipment. After soccer, I took the boys out to get a quick bite to eat at Wendy’s. We dropped off Drew then Luke & I came home to mow and trim the yard. Luke went out to the movie theater that afternoon with Ms. Jenna on a double date with his buddy Conner. Later, Ann & I went out to the annual St Mary’s ‘On Eagle’s Wings’ 5K festival (we missed the race this morning, due to football) to see Bryan & Rob play with Nuthin’ Fancy (a local country band). The band sounded really good. We saw lots of folks we knew and enjoyed the grill and beer garden. After the show, we headed over to the Sunken Boat Bar to watch the Mayweather / McGregor fight with about 100 others (it was packed). Ann & I sat outside with Bryan & Angie around the fire until late – enjoying beverages, singing songs and Bryan & I even enjoyed a stogie for the first time in a long time. Abby worked at Wings & Rings after her soccer game then went out with Trevin until late. Matt went up to Indy to watch the fight with his buddies and spent the night up there.
We enjoyed sleeping in late on Sunday morning. Matt worked the early shift at AP. Abby had to get up and go into work at BWR as well. We slowly got up and did our weekly household chores. Matt came back to shower then went out shopping with Ann before we sent him back to school. His senior year classes start tomorrow morning. Abby & I went shopping for new soccer cleats then she and Luke went out to break them in at the soccer practice field. The kids came home and Ann cooked BBQ chicken on the grill with smashed potatoes and corn on the cob – yum! We watched football and racing all day and stayed in the air conditioning to stay cool as temps started to heat up again. It should be cooler next week, but that hurricane down in TX (Aunt Sue is safe, thankfully) should keep things wet as well. Little Lola was sore and shaking that night – not sure what she’s done to herself now. We gave her an aspirin to calm her pain and she laid on the couch with me for several hours…poor thing. Between her limping and Molly digging at her ear again, I don’t know which one is more pitiful. I saw where American Horror Story season 7 will be about a cult and have included some of the season sneak-peeks below in our video section…it looks really creepy!! Ann & I watched a movie and Abby ran out to see Trevin as we wound down another busy week and prepared to do it all again next week.
Next up is our Waybac section which features a few golden oldies as well as several from our next round of photo albums from the early 2000’s at our Ryle home. We lead off with Mom O’s report card from 1944; then we have the Owens kids, circa 1980; I think the next picture is Matt at 6 months, which would put it in September 1996; then we head up to LaPorte for a day on Pine Lake with Mom & Dad B on Aquaholic in August 2001; then we have a picnic at the Greensburg city park in August 2001; Dee’s birthday party at the Ryle house in December 2001; Matt’s birthday party at Parkside Lanes in March 2002; Abby & I at the Sand Pebble in May 2002; 4th of July parade in downtown Greensburg in July 2002; Matt catching during a baseball game in May 2002; and Matt & Abby riding around the Ryle neighborhood in August 2002.
We end with our video section which includes nine new home movies this week and a few from around the internet.
And that puts the kibosh on another episode from the Scheu Family Blog. Thanks as always for keeping up with us this week and we’ll catch up with you again next time. Until then, have a good one. We miss ya Mom.
Later, Scheu