What a great week it’s been! We enjoyed a short work week and enjoyed spending time with family on a long holiday weekend. Matt was able to come home for Thanksgiving and even spent the night. He came with our first grand…puppy! He continued working at the school in Zionsville this week, coaching wrestling there and working at the restaurant in Carmel during his free time. Taylor wasn’t able to make it down this time. Abby came home early and spent the rest of the week with us, which was very cool. Gary had a lot of family stuff to deal with and did not make it down either. Luke had his final week of e-learning and did not participate in any sports as the health department put the kibosh on that until Monday. Ann spent time with friends and family this week. I was able to lose about 9 pounds during the first half of the week but only managed about 4½ miles of walking this week and did not play any frisbee golf. The weather got colder and colder each day but at least we didn’t see any snow! We had a great time as Rob & Sharon came to town to stay with us. Due to the ‘Rona, Ann was promoted to lead chef for the family turkey day. It was terrifying and exhilarating all the same time…but man, what a great weekend! Hello again and welcome back to the Scheu Family Blog.
It was another chilly start to the week, as we had to let Black Betty warm up a bit and defrost her windows. It was a froggy ride into work. Just when we thought they were done with construction on 450N this year, they have begun tearing it up again over the last couple weeks. They were working on it again that morning as I counted four freshly dug drainage lines across the road and they had it down to one lane again that morning, meaning they were likely working on #5. Ann & I both had very fast (typical) Mondays, as we got everything caught up from the weekend and started compressing everything down to just three days on this shortened, holiday week. I walked about two and a half miles after work on a cool afternoon. After I picked up Annie, we went to Best Buy and picked up the new network extender so Luke can play his PS4 in his room. When we got home, I worked on the vacuum. Luke had been charged with cleaning the family room. He did a decent job (for a seventeen-year old boy) but called earlier saying the vacuum was on fire! Come to find out, he had tried to clean a rug and got a string caught in the wheels. So even though it was dark, I set up a work bench on the back porch with the light on and the dogs and I took apart the sweeper, cleaned it all out and put it back together. When I came in, I began setting up the Wi-Fi extender. Thank God for the WPS (press the button on the router and then press the button on the extender and it does everything automatically). We received awesome news earlier in the day, when the superintendent announced that school and sports would open back up on Monday! Unfortunately, at this time, only parents can attend home games…but we’ll take what we can get at this point! Luke did his e-learning from home, cleaned the house a bit and then went over to Kam’s house where he said he had found the coolant leak in his car. I don’t think they did anything about it, but they were proud they found it. When Luke came back, he moved all his gaming stuff to his room and we didn’t see him again…I assume the extender worked?? LOL. Ann & I watched a couple DVR’d shows, found our own dinner and I fell asleep on the couch. I went on to bed to watch the 4th quarter of the MNF game, but I don’t think I lasted five minutes… Here are random pictures from our recent adventures.
Tuesday was an adventure (Ann likes me to be spontaneous, right?). We headed into work like normal but once we crossed over Hwy 9, it started making a weird noise. At first, we swore it was a mouse! Ann was ready to walk into work!! Then she noticed Black Betty’s temperature starting to rise. …And it didn’t stop until it peaked out and the light popped on. So, we pulled over at the old dump to get off the highway. When I opened the hood, steam was pouring out of the opening where I had neglected to put the radiator cap back on it when I checked fluids on Sunday. Apparently, I was more concerned about the cold and the rain than about re-securing the reservoir. I’m not sure how I didn’t lose the cap much less how in the world we made it to work, to Best Buy and then back home and almost back to work before losing all our coolant?! I called Victor and he was kind enough pickup some coolant for us and bring it out to us. What a lifesaver! He truly is a great guy. Once we added in the antifreeze, she was good as new! I dropped off Annie and finally headed into work. I continued with my monthly EOC rounds after spending most of yesterday on them and all of today, I was able to finish them all off. It was a busy day that went really fast. To thank Vic, I took him out to lunch. I was happy to see that he chose Arni’s so I could get me an Arni’s senior salad and their signature thin crust pizza! OMG – it was so good… I got out of work a little late as I was finishing everything up but still managed to exercise for about two and a half miles or so. We ran an errand in town and that’s when we got the text – Abby was home! ???? She wanted Fireworks popcorn and cheese for dinner – that’s our girl! Luke had another easy day of e-learning at the house but didn’t do much else as he neglected to workout and he didn’t clean the family room either. I don’t think he even cleaned his own room. He has a lot to do tomorrow… Abs only had one class that day and was able to get packed up and got home before sunset. Ann and I, on the other hand, saw the sun set before we got to town and by the time we got home, it was pitch black. The kids ran to the store to get some last-minute things and then the girls made dinner. Afterwards, Luke went out with Brayden while Abby went out with Grace while Ann & I got under the blankets, curled up with the dogs and watched a couple DVR’d shows on the big screen.
Wednesday was a busy day at work for Ann & I and before we knew it, we were leaving work shortly after noon to head home for a long holiday weekend. It rained much of the day and by the time we came home through the park, we noticed heavy flooding at the golf course. It continued to rain on and off the rest of the day and we even had a severe thunderstorm warning later that night. We weren’t home long when Rob and Sharon got into town. We enjoyed catching up with them for a little while then Ann started prepping dinner with Chef Robert’ (pronounced Row-Bear, as Mom dubbed him years ago). Luke & Abby ran to Taco Bell for a late lunch. Poor Luke had to go back after they left out a bunch of burritos. Ann & Sharon did a bunch of prepping while Rob and I tried to stay outta the way. That night, we ordered Pizza King for an easy dinner. Much like lunch, when the food came, we were missing food – this time it was Ann’s sandwich. They were very cool about it and not only credited us the food back but then surprised us when they ended up bringing her the sandwich! We played euchre and enjoyed a few cocktails plus a round of Six-Foot Blonde Cinnamon Blondes. The Bryans whopped the Scheus in three straight games, causing Ann to call it a night. Abby went out with friends to Wings & Rings and hung out in the bar for a few hours. Luke picked her up later that night. Rob & I enjoyed a drink and a cigar late that night and then I watched while Rob prepped the turkeys at like 2 am. I wound up falling asleep at the kitchen table while Rob did his thing. It was funny; whenever Ann would call over to ask a question of Maryann, she would always answer the phone, “Hello…Butterball Hotline…??? ???? Here are pix of my recent additions to my Hot Wheels collection.
After being up late last night, we were up bright and early before the sunrise on Thursday morning. It was Thanksgiving Day and very busy around our humble abode. I called and talked to both Dad S and Barb as well as Dad B and Lynn. We turned on the Macy’s parade that just wasn’t the same with all the COVID changes…but at least they had something! Eventually everyone got up and pitched in wherever they could to help Ann prep for the day’s big meal. Matt announced last night that he and Taylor had adopted a new fur baby – a very young puppy named Dallas Jane. She is as mix of a Pomsky (half Pomeranian and half Husky) and Lab. We were all anxious to meet the newest addition to our family! We weren’t sure how Lola would react with her, so when Matt & Dallas got home, we kept Ms. Lola away from her. Delilah, on the other hand, was amazing with her. She was so gentle! Granted, being a puppy still herself, she got a little rambunctious a few times…but overall, they were fun to watch and entertained us for hours. Ann & Rob finished up preparing our spread and really came through in the clutch. Rob & I had a Bloody Mary with my new mix from my birthday. If this meal was any sign of things to come, we are in good hands for the future Thanksgivings! Dee, Jamie & Grace came over and once everything was complete the grandkids took lunch over to Mom & Sandy who were obviously not able to attend due to quarantining still. We were expecting Ms. Amy and her troupe to join us, but she never did. Once the kids got back, Jamie blesse the food and we dug in! If you didn’t know different, you would swear it was just like any other year. We had a full turkey and an additional turkey breast, a spiral ham, noodles, homemade tadies (thx for mashing Bu!), gravy, dressing, green bean casserole, corn casserole, seven-layer salad, sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts casserole, Jamie’s baked beans and for the topper, Jamie and Dee made this amazing pecan pie cobbler that was out of this world! We also had a couple bottles of wine that were really good as well. The football games weren’t very good as both the Lions and Cowboys lost. It did give us a chance to nap as well as watch the recorded Purdue basketball game from last night. This was their season opener and they got off on the right foot and are now undefeated! ???? Rob was pretty worn out from being up so late last night and then after only like two hours, was right back up to get the turkeys started at 5:30. Matt said he was in beast mode! So, he went down early. Ann turned in early to get a good nights’ sleep before she goes out with Amy on their annual shopping spree. So that left Sharon & I to take on Matt & Abby. And boy did we get on a roll! We were undefeated, winning five straight games before we finally called it a night when we saw 3 am again. We enjoyed several different cocktails as well as raiding the fridge during our euchre marathon. We had a lot of fun, laughing and telling stories. It reminded me of nights when I would be in my room but could hear Mom & Dad carrying on until late with Grandmaw & Grandpaw Brown. When Ann was going to bed, we realized we had not taken a family Thanksgiving picture, so we woke up Robby (who was a good sport), threw on our masks and took a bunch of pictures. I thought the masks were a funny addition for 2020. Afterall, it was truly a quarantine Thanksgiving! We played euchre and drank different cocktails while Sharon & I dominated card play. Before we knew it, we had stayed up to 3 am again and decided to call it quits for the night…
We were up early on Black Friday. Amy came by to pick up Ann and I got up to snap off a few pix of the gals in their getups this year – including matching shirts and hideous headgear. I stayed up and did a load of dishes then Rob & I worked on his music collection on his phone. We worked on that for a couple hours, enjoying a Bloody Mary for a hair of the dog drink. Matt & Dallas had to head back up so he could go to work. We were worried about little Dali’s cough. I think Rob or Ann called it a kennel cough. Matt will need to keep an eye on it. That night, when Matt got home, he had a mess to clean-up as his little puppy had shit in the cage it was everywhere! Welcome home!! ???? That afternoon, we got all our Christmas stuff dug out of the garage. I only had two goals for the day – get the Christmas stuff out and stay in my jammies all day. I am happy to say that I achieved both my goals that day! So, I will apologize now for my outfit, if there are any pictures of me that night. ???? We played several games of euchre that evening and enjoyed many different cocktails. Abby did a wonderful job of bartending for us, keeping everyone happy. Later that evening, Ann came home from her shopping spree with Amy. She said everything was open and most folks were courteous to each other. She said mask wearing was the norm but of course you always have rebels… Luke and Rob made a fire out back and so we moved outdoors for a couple sippers and cigars. At some point, Megan came over and wound up spending the night with Abby. The weather had changed since last night. It was downright cold – even with the fire (and Robby had a rager going!). We didn’t last too long outside and eventually came back inside and played several more games of euchre, seeing 3 am for the 3rd straight night before calling it an evening. We have lots of social media pictures to share this week.
We slept in a little on Saturday morning. Rob & I finished up his phone’s music library and got him all taken care of. Unfortunately, our time with Rob & Sharon came to an end and we had to say goodbye. We were sad that we weren’t in Lawrenceburg that morning. Luke was supposed to have his first wrestling tourney that day. With COVID, it shut that down as well as school. Hopefully, he is able to attend his next competition…but I’m sure we’ll hear about that on Monday when he returns to practice after school… I did a few things around the house then turned my attention to making room for the tree. Rob & Sharon put the first couple ornaments on the tree before they left and that afternoon, Luke & Abs helped us put up the tree for the season. Abby, in particular, was a huge help this year. After we finished up and put away all the totes, I met Bryan & Rick at Shawn’s house. His divorce was finalized and the girls moved out. We wanted to show our support, so we surprised him. We had a couple drinks and talked for a while. I was actually nodding off a little so I wound up calling it an early night. Rick said Ms. Lynn was still testing positive but he was cleared. Bryan said he and Ang weren’t feeling well but had not gotten tested yet. I came home and wrote bills (what a fun thing to do on a Saturday night!). I tried to watch a couple shows with Ann, but we both fell asleep, worn-out from all the tree-trimming! Abs fell asleep while I was gone and slept right on through till morning…. I was pleased not to be awake at 3 am for the first time in 96 hours – LOL! Luke came home from working at Hibbett’s that night, got cleaned up and went over to stay the night at Kam’s house.
We enjoyed sleeping in on a cold Sunday morning. It was still in the 30s when Abby & I went to Walmart for our weekly supplies. We ran a couple other errands for Abby then came home and put everything away. I checked fluids in the vehicles and put a new headlight in Tonya for Bu. We did our weekly household chores as I got in a few loads of laundry and a couple loads of dishes before settling in to watch some football. Ann and Bu took long naps. After the Colts got blown out and the afternoon games were a drag, we decided to turn off football and watch some of our DVR’d shows from the last few days like FBI, SWAT, Big Sky and Oak Island. Luke got in another full shift at Hibbett’s. It was the first full shifts he’s had in a month. He said they were a little busier but nothing like in years’ past when they would do thousands of dollars of busines. He said they may have done a couple hundred that night. When he got home, the kids ordered ElRep for dinner and then went and picked it up for us. It was nice to sit down at the kitchen table for an easy meal. We took it easy that night, watching the TV and keeping warm on the couches with the dogs. We flipped back to watch the Bears game, but like the Cowboys and Colts, they too were getting blown out. I turned on the Purdue game I taped yesterday but fell asleep at halftime as I was writing out today’s blog entry. They looked great in the first half and through the 3rd quarter. The game was completely changed when the defensive captain (Derick Barnes) was ejected for targeting. Rutgers pulled ahead on the very next play and the team was just never the same without him. …And the shitty part is that he’ll have to sit for the first half of next week’s game. I hate this rule because the referees can determine the outcome of a game instead of letting the players determine it. The loss lands the Boilers with their third straight loss and are now 2-3. They are good enough to be 5-0… It was a relaxing way to wind down the long weekend and rest up before we gear back up for a busy week, starting tomorrow.
Next up is our Waybac section which continues to include pictures from Dee’s camera in 2004. In addition, we have our first batch of pix from a stash that Maryann gave us from her childhood. We lead off with the latter: From 1938 – Charles standing at the end of the new bridge at Butler, KY, a young boy known only as Marvin, then Ruth & Malinda in Dry Ridge, KY and an unknown / unlabeled picture; 1975 – a cool postcard from Aunt Lindy that reads, “Ed & Cecille, Red & I were at this huge – building. We went inside on Sept 3, 1975.??? The card also read, “John F Kennedy Space Center NASA Apollo Saturn V, 500 F facility vehicle enroute from NASA’s vehicle assembly building to launch complex 39 A,??? 1978 – Uncle Red & Aunt Lindy’s: Blizzard of ’78 in January, in front of New Point School in May and then a few pix outside their home; 1982 – Ann “mad at Uncle John for taking (my) picture!??? ???? Next we move on to Dee pix in 2004: Apr – Easter Day; June – Luke’s birthday; July – Fourth of July sites, Fair Parade fun, Grace’s birthday, Indy Blues Fest, and Sandy’s birthday; Aug – The Campsendelles; Sept – Abby’s birthday; Oct – Halloween; Nov – Maryann’s birthday, Thanksgiving Day; Dec – Christmas Eve and the Christmas Parade.
Next up is our video section, which features one new home movie this week as well as several from around the internet.
And that does it for this week’s episode 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 and stay safe out there. We miss ya, Mom.
Later, Scheu