Get your Motor Runnin’…Head out on the Driveway

Whew! Man; wasn’t this supposed to be a short work-week?? Geez; it felt like 6 days, not 4. After only catching bits and pieces of the Jerry Lewis Telethon, I see he came up about $5 million short of his goal. Still, $65-odd million is nothing to sneeze at. On Tuesday, we had a great practice with Abby’s team. We had a long scrimmage that again brought in several children from other teams (and ages), but fewer parents. The practice flew by us and before I knew it, we were 20 minutes over and the kids wanted to keep going. It is dedication like that which should yield us a couple more wins this year.
On Wednesday, we wrapped up preparation at work for the state to be in-house on Thursday. My department worked really hard all day, including myself putting in 11 hours, cleaning thoroughly throughout the facility and completing everything on our list. I hurried home to get Mom & Gigi’s house mowed before darkness set in. It was pretty dark by the time I finished; thankfully, their yard is well-lit. I have to say thanks to Jason (Brandy’s husband) for giving my leaf blower a tune-up. I had trouble starting the damn thing over the past couple months (and I might add that I’ve only had a few months!). On this night, it started on the 3rd pull! Thanks dude!! I’ve had terrible luck over the past decade or so; going through blowers at least every other season, as well as trimmers (Weed Eaters) about every three years. The next time I have to buy either one; I plan to buy a Husqvarna. I know they cost more, but I’m just tired of screwing with buying new equipment every few years or so… Matt went with his good friend Andrew to a church function that he really enjoyed.
On Thursday, I headed in to work a couple hours early as we had our first inspection by the state (CCI) under my watch. Although she didn’t look real hard; we managed a perfect score with no recommendations and no plan of corrections. It was a good inspection to ‘cut my teeth on.’ The inspector was so impressed with our overall facility; she combined what was scheduled as a two-day inspection down to a 6-hour whirlwind survey. I rushed home after the exit interview to catch a ride with Ann, who had the two little ones at soccer practice. We grabbed Luke, left Abby (who found a ride with a friend) and went out to Matt’s football game on the varsity field. The Pirates played a very large Indian Creek team that had our number most of the game. It was great to see Grandma and Gigi at the game for the first time this year. It was a defensive struggle that was close the entire game. Matt played well with no false starts and no fumbles during the center exchanges. He has become more aggressive with his blocking as he has leaned his position and is beginning to take his game to the next level. Matt again was unable to play on the defensive side of the ball, as his buddy Bryce (the backup center) is still out, recovering from a dislocated shoulder. However, he did get a small taste of it when our quarterback threw two interceptions and the Redskins returned them; Matt was in close pursuit both times, but wasn’t quite quick enough to get the tackle. Abby enjoyed hanging out with her good friend Emma Hellmich (who gave her a ride from soccer) and others. She joined us just as the 8th graders were taking the field (the 7th grade team won in overtime!). Luke had fun running around with both Luke Hellmich and his best friend Alex Dance (Christi’s son). We got home late and I ended up falling asleep on the couch…what a day…

Friday was equally long. I treated the boys in my department to Pizza Hut, in celebration of our successful survey. I had several things to catch up on that had been put off this week (for obvious reasons); I finally got out around 7 that night. Due to my jaw hurting, I wasn’t in the mood to go out for dinner, so the rest of the family went out to Pizza King for dinner. Matt attended the varsity game that night. When I got home, we took the girls for a walk, I ate cold pizza and we watched the Simpson’s movie for family night. Ann took the dogs to the vet before work and picked them up afterward. Molly was due for her puppy shots and Lola need groomed. We were disappointed that the groomer again cut her like a schnauzer and not like a Westie. Ann said she would try to find a better pet groomer in Columbus…

On Saturday morning, Abby and I headed over to Sunman for soccer, while Ann took Luke over to Washington Field for his soccer game, here in town. Abby played goalie for 2 quarters, giving up one goal that was a “gimme???…our defense accidentally kicked the ball back across the front instead of to the side or out of bounds – right to the Sunman team and in the goal. Other than that, she was flawless. She also played forward and had two shots on goal that sailed wide both times. Our best player no call/no showed on us, so we really missed him in the game. Our kids played hard again, giving it all they had. The increased scrimmages on the full-sized field at practice are starting to pay off; as they aren’t as exhausted as they were the first few games. Still, we were shut out again, losing 2-0.

As for Luke’s team, Ann said Luke’s team continues to look like a bunch of kindergarteners – running all over the field…and Luke was the fastest on the field. He fought hard and was proud of his one shot on goal that sailed wide right of the goal – it was the first thing he had to tell me, as he came running out of the house to meet me at the van! 🙂 Ann went back to the soccer fields to volunteer in the concession stand for a few hours.

While she was gone; Matt, Abby & I decided to do our annual washing of the truck. We decided to go ahead and wash the van as well, since it was a beautiful day. Matt continued with his driver’s ed. with me, as he got to pull the van and then the truck out of the front yard, in to the street and up the driveway. He thought he was pretty cool and he had the biggest shit-eating smile the entire time. 😛 The kids did a great job on the vehicles. Luke woke up when we were cleaning up and was upset that he didn’t get to help… Saturday night, Matt & I watched the NASCAR race at Atlanta. We were thrilled to root against Kyle Busch! I was invited to attend a party with a bunch of my old fraternity brothers. Although I didn’t attend, I did get a great picture of a bunch of buddies I hadn’t seen in 20 years!!

Sunday brought us a chance to sleep in, do our weekly chores, clean up around the house and watch some football. I watched the replay of the Boiler/Oregon football game. It was a helluva game; but the Purdue dropped a tough one they should’ve won. The Cowboys looked good, even though they blacked out the damn game here. We did get to watch the Colts…who tried to lose again to the Jaguars… Ann and Abby pulled up their spring flowers out front and replaced them with fall flowers (mums). Matt went back to the 1st Christian Church with his buddy Andrew for a couple hours today to play kickball, football and eat ice cream. Later, I played basketball with the kids over at the neighbor’s basketball court for close to an hour. Luke & I finally won in 10 overtimes over Matt & Bu! I had spoken with my friend Allen on Friday about having the fire department over to our facility for a familiarity tour with me as the new Safety Officer. He invited us to come watch him perform at Scottish Fest over in Columbus. He plays drums in a drums & pipes band. We didn’t make it over, but he also invited us to come next Tuesday night to a premier party in downtown Columbus. They are going to broadcast his debut on the Biggest Loser program (set your DVRs this Tuesday night on NBC!) on a movie screen. Again, we won’t be able to make it (Matt has a football game that night); but it was cool of him to think of us. I can’t wait to see him on TV… I just went out to the website above and Allen has his bio and at least one video posted! I’ll have to go check it out in more detail when I get done posting this tonight! Well, that was our week. I have a few more Waybac pictures to share. However, this is the last of my stash. I’ll have to make time this week to go through a couple of the old albums that Mom gave me…

First up, we have an old picture of Grandpa Scheu and Aunt Mary at their house on Highland in the summer of ’67. Could this be Grandpaw Bryan’s infamous ’63 Pontiac GTO with the drop top and 3-speed that would get rubber in each gear; that I have heard so much about through the years??? I need to hear the one story again – about the two of them taking this car to the Indy 500 one year…that is a classic story…

Next, we have my cousins Billy & Jackie, also at the Highland house – this time at Christmas 1968.

Here is a picture for Mom: Grandmaw & Grandpaw Brown in their immaculate front lawn at their home on Elmwood Dr in August of 1981.

We fast forward one year to the summer of ’82, in LaPorte, IN. This is me and my Allis-Chalmers teammates during a baseball game. Also pictured is what would become my future first car…our 1964 Ford Galaxie 500. 🙂

This is my last picture to feature one of Ann’s best friends, Natalie. This was from their trip to Florida during Spring Break of 1990. Love ya, Nat!!

Here is a picture from my college graduation ceremony. We had to move it inside due to it raining. This was in June of 1991. Despite the threat of not allowing us to graduate, I wore shorts anyhow (they still let me graduate!). 😛

Wrapping up this edition, we have yet another picture from our trip to Florida, where Ann & I stayed with Mom, Dad & Rob at our condo in Treasure Island in May of 1994.

That’ll do it for this week’s entry. As always, thanks for keeping up with our family and we’ll catch ya next time…until then, have a good one. Later, Scheu