Pat�s Delight

It was a pretty crappy week all around… On Monday, it was about the weather. It was just cold, wet and miserable. We (Ann, that is) ended up finally turning on the heat in the house. I was really hoping to hold out until after Halloween if at all possible�but she couldn�t wait any longer� Ann had Bunco with her girlfriends that night, so I picked up Abby from dance practice. I finished reloading my laptop, as it caught a virus late last week and took a dump on me. I had to format the drive and start from scratch with it, as it wouldn�t even start. In addition, I was up late working on my safety report, and didn�t get to bed until after 1:30. Man, I�ve really got to start getting that monster done at work!!

On Tuesday, it was about home. As I said, I stayed up late the night before and when I set the alarm, I set it for 5:30 (a few minutes later than normal). I was up again at about 3, letting the dogs out. The next thing I know, I hear Ann saying, �Sh*t!??? When I opened my eyes and saw that it was light in our room, I knew something was wrong. As it turns out, I set the alarm for 5:30 alright�at night!! We got up about 5 minutes before we would normally leave. So, I got the kids up, cleaned up real quick and grabbed breakfast on the go. For a moment, it looked like we might actually be on time, as the kids were all dropped off before school started and I had gotten over half way to work when Ann called. She said Lola ran out when she was trying to leave for work and couldn�t find her. I doubled back and met her in the subdivision about 15 minutes later. Ann had her in someone�s backyard and as I pulled over and got out, they both came barreling towards me. Lola got around me, but with my cat-like quickness, I was able to dive � full layout � and snag her as she began screaming like I was cutting her ear off!! She had a crazed look in her face. Ann was flushed and pissed. I decided I should hang on to the dog and take her home myself. Ann said she had been all around the subdivision � in and out of yards, the cornfield and back and forth across streets. I think she had half the neighborhood looking for this elusive canine. She is very fast and quick on her feet when chasing something. Now, Lola has lost her house privileges. Whenever we leave the house now, she is locked up in the kitchen. 🙁
OK, so now we set off for work together in her Pacifica. We get on the road for about 10 minutes. I decided to pass a semi. As I get about halfway around it, the motor lets loose with a God-awful noise I�ve never heard before in my life. So, we turned around and headed back to Greensburg one more time. Acra�s said it was something to do with the exhaust system, but was a strange hose and plug that had been blown out when I hit the passing gear. Ann says I�m grounded from her car; I say the damn thing hates me. Acra�s loves it� Oh, and it rained all day.
That night, it was a little warmer. We travelled to Shelbyville for Matt�s final 8th grade football game of his life. The boys looked pretty good. They executed much better. Football is a very easy game. It�s all about blocking and tackling. That night, the Pirates did a much better job than the Bears on both sides of the ball. Matt played several positions. I was glad to see the coach try and work him in a little more, although I still thought he should�ve played a hell of a lot more than what he did. As it was, he played both defense (tackle) and offense (guard, tackle and tight end). He had several nice blocks but no tackles. Greensburg won the game 24-18. After the game, the boys doused both the head and assistant coach with the water jugs and enjoyed one last fun bus ride home�until a few of them got a little out of hand and all of them had to run sprints out on the darkened practice field when the bus finally got back to the school. I didn�t get home with Matt that night until well after 10.

On Wednesday, it was about work. Our corporate office mandated FTE cuts across the board � the entire corporation. As a management team, we had to coordinate cut backs and layoffs throughout the facility. No department was immune. Working in healthcare, I thought we were pretty safe, but our little insulated world was given a wakeup call. I am thankful to have a job in this market. I had to make cuts in my department that directly affected the lives of three people. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do and I felt like an ass while I was doing it. Obviously, it wasn’t my choice, but it was my responsibility to carry out the directives. That night, I cut the lawn at Mom & Gigi�s house for what may prove to be the final time of the season. I set the insurance to be suspended on the truck again � as we do every year at this time. I get to drive it through Halloween and it gets parked for the winter after that date. We came home and watched our good friend Allen on The Biggest Loser (DVR’ed from the night before). He looked good again, but he needs more face time! 😛 Sandy gave me a copy of the interview she did with me a couple weeks back, regarding the auto accident rescue. I noticed that my cuts and scrapes that I sustained from that day’s events had finally healed up. Have any of your farts noticed that scabs last longer than when we were younger…and do I really sound like that??

On Thursday, we were in meetings for all but about 15 minutes. It was nuts! We worked in the backyard that night, as it warmed up a little. All my labs came back normal, so it was a clean sweep for my check-up this time! Matt decided not to go out for basketball this year. He didn’t say why, only that he didn’t go to try-outs. He said he was goign to tryout for wrestling next week. I hope he is satisfied with his decision…and made it for the right reasons. On Friday, it rained again. We had more layoffs and cutbacks at work. This job is really crappy sometimes. I received my H1N1 shot. Ann had received it earlier in the week as well. I�m still waiting on my regular flu shot to come in at work. That night, Matt went to the sectional varsity game. They lost to Shelbyville by only a few points. I heard that Columbus East beat Columbus North (2nd time this year). My co-worker�s son (Damon Megerle) plays tailback for East and is being recruited by a few schools in the area, including IU! Ann went to the bar with her coworkers after work. I had similar plans to go with a couple folks from my work, but ended up working fairly late. Once we all go home, we had a quiet night and got to bed early. It was nice�
On Saturday, the boys all headed over to Columbus for haircuts. That afternoon, we went over to our friend Pat�s house for his annual fall kegger party. Ann & I went to school with Pat. Ann ended up being his roommate after school, which is where I met her � since my other friend, Paul, and I were visiting Pat�s house frequently after graduation. We all lived there in Franklin. In fact, as I write this – it is nearly 17 years to the day that Ann & I met at Pat�s house. It was great to see Pat and our other close friends, Jino & Tina. Two of our other close friends couldn�t make it. Paul & Dayla were planning to come but Paul�s father is very sick and in the hospital. Kevin & Lavonne were also planning to attend, but Lavonne had surgery that made that impossible. Hopefully, we�ll see them all soon. The kids had a blast riding 4-wheelers, playing ball with the other kids and going on the hayride. Pat made pulled pork that was delicious. Tina and Ann helped him in the kitchen. Matt & I played horseshoes for the first time in a long time. In fact, it was Matt�s first game ever! We played against Jino and another friend of ours, Wes. We were getting smoked early on, but came back to win 21-20. Matt was so excited. But it was the 4-wheelers that really got the kids going. Even Abby got to drive (although Matt or I had to ride with her). There was only one casualty that evening. Matt and Luke took a turn a little too fast and flipped the 4-wheeler over and landed under it. Matt got a little banged up, but was no worse for the wear. Lukey is made of rubber, so he was fine. It slowed them down for a little while, but they were right back on it about a half hour later. 🙂 It got a little chilly at night, but Pat was prepared and had a nice bonfire going to keep us all warm. All in all, it was a lot of fun. He had a pretty large turnout of about 50 or 60 people. We headed home when the kids started getting grumpy. They slept the entire ride home�and were so muddy they all had to strip and throw their clothes in the washing machine right when we walked in the door!!

On Sunday, we decided to rake the leaves in the front. The kids had been bugging all week to make a big pile to jump in. So they ended up playing in those on and off the whole day. Once it got dark, we bagged them all up and made it look nice out front. It was a great day outside for it, so we got out and enjoyed the sunshine. We had to drain the pool cover again, put in a new piece of insulation foam on one of the crawl space windows where the puppy had chewed up earlier in the week and put away the hoses and finalized the winter preps for the house. We enjoyed running in and out, catching parts of the Colts’ victory, Jeff Gordon finishing 4th in Martinsville and turned off the embarrassing Bunglin’ Bears game. We watched the Yankees win their 40th pennant as I was harrassed via text by my friend Patty who recently moved back to New York. However, that night, we got the news that our good friend Paul�s father had passed away. Ann & I are going to get over to visitation and maybe the funeral next week to support Paul. It just topped off a week that was � unfortunately � more crappy than happy for us…

OK; let�s put that week to bed and turn the clock back for our Waybac feature.
First up, is one for Aunt Sharon. I would put this in late 1980 or early �81. It features a 4-year-old Nathan and 1-year-old Katie. I think I remember this carpet being in their Kokomo home.

Here is a picture that has several issues. To begin with, the transfer isn�t the greatest (some lines, too dark, etc). Secondly, I have on those huge-ass glasses that look awful and third, Rob is grabbing himself (sorry buddy!) and finally, take a look at the upholstery on that chair! 🙂 Just kidding, Mom! Other than that, it is a classic from Christmas in what I think is 1983 in our living room on Kenwood.

Here is Rob in the fall of �84, dressed as a soldier in our kitchen in LP for some reason (Halloween perhaps??).

Next up is a picture of how I always picture both my Grandpaw and Uncle Timmie. This was taken at Aunt Marilou�s retirement party (I think) – in their pole barn in Rossville. I would estimate it to be about 1987-ish.

Here is another Christmas pic of Rob with Dad B in our living room on Kenwood in 1989.

Here is Rob in a GQ moment in about �95, at a friend�s house in Rossville.

Next up are cool pictures from September 1996. The first is a lovely photo of Rob & George in The Other Woman on Pine Lake in LP, the first day of the month. The second is Matthew, exactly 1 week later in our apartment in Columbus.

These last two are from the next year. The first is of Matt & I at his 1st birthday party, in the living room of our Columbus townhouse on 3.22.97. The second is a nice picture of the four of us in our prime years at Rob�s high school graduation in Three Springs, Alabama on 12.18.97. Not much gray in that picture!!

OK, that wraps it up for this edition of the Scheu Family Chronicle. Thanks as always for keeping up with us and we�ll see ya next week. Until then, have a good one.
Later, Scheu