Man, it was hot & humid with a ton of rain – must be fair week! For whatever reason, we can’t seem to have a normal week when the fair comes to town – it always has to be wet and muddy at the fairgrounds when there are thousands of people out there. When it wasn’t raining, it was hot and extremely humid, making it difficult to spend much time outdoors. Still, we found time to enjoy a couple rounds of frisbee golf as well as some porch time. Matthew continued his training at Fairway Mortgage with Cathy. He is doing well with rehabbing after his knee surgery and is gearing up for his groin surgery next week. Abby worked at WTRE this week at both the station and at the booth at the fairgrounds. She had fun spending time with friends, family and Gary. Luke had another busy week of football practice, had a scrimmage game, worked at Hibbett’s, lift everyday at the YMCA and still found time to run around with his buddies. Ann and I had a full week of work, spending the first four days in Columbus and the last one in the ‘Burg. We enjoyed watching football with our parent friends. Despite the weather and all the traffic out at the fairgrounds, I still managed to play a couple rounds of frisbee golf, but not nearly as much as I would’ve liked. I did better with my diet and exercise – not great, but pretty good for me. My BG numbers were consistently in the 140s, which is a little better. I managed to lose about six pounds this week but I fell just short of my exercise goal, logging just over fourteen miles of walking. Overall, it was a really good week – and not just because it was Shark Week! The only bad part? The realization that summer is quickly slipping away. The cicadas have returned, which is a sure sign that summer is waning. Sure the days are still long, but the sun isn’t out quite as long as it was and it isn’t quite as bright when we wake up each morning. It won’t be long before Abby and Luke begin their respective senior years…ugh. We want to wish Ms. Phyllis good luck with her surgery and am glad that she’s finally back home after her brief stay in the hospital. I think it’s sweet that she and Dick are getting his & her surgeries – LOL. Hello again and welcome back to the Scheu Family Blog.
It was back to work for Ann & I on Monday morning. It was a dry ride over but we saw a couple showers throughout the day. Apparently, we got a ton of rain at home. The pond at the park was really high and the water was flowing like crazy at the bridge. There was some pretty bad flooding on the golf course and the area where they usually park cars, down by the softball fields. Ann had a long day at work whereas mine was one of the fastest of the season. I did some IT stuff when I got in then had a couple meetings that took up the bulk of my day. The worst part – most of it didn’t even apply to me or my role. Vic, the two Justins and I went to Snappy Tomato for lunch. Ann said Abby & Luke came over to Columbus but she didn’t have time to go out with them. I walked a 5K after work, out in the heat and humidity. And when we got back to town, I played a round of frisbee golf, throwing a par (27). When I got back home, Ann had Tinga chicken tacos ready for dinner. Luke had football practice that evening, which was moved indoors when a big storm blew through town. It was coming down in buckets there for a while. Luke came home to shower then went back out for the night with Brayden. After dinner, Abby played video games with Matt for hours that evening while Ann & I watched Shark Week on the Discovery channel until bedtime. As I drug my weary butt to bed, Luke came home with Oak and he spent the night. Here are pictures from Luke’s football scrimmage at Seymour.
It rained on and off all day on Tuesday…must be fair week! We got so much, in fact, they had to cancel all the grandstand events for that night again. That makes three times out of six so far. It was Gracie’s 21st birthday. Abs made plans for us to get together with her and Jamie this weekend and have a couple beers with her. Luke blew off Farren’s fair photoshoot, which is too bad because they turned out really good. By the looks of it, just he and Oakley were the only ones that didn’t make it. Instead, the boys slept in then “focused on getting better for football, Dad??? (his excuse for missing) went to the Y and lifted for a couple hours. Lanie met Luke out there for a brief workout then they went to lunch. Abby got up (late, I’m sure) and went to work at WTRE. I know she was still picking up prizes from various vendors to handout at the booth that night. Meanwhile, Ann and had a rainy commute to Columbus. She had to work up front, so her day went really fast. I finally got a chance to focus on my monthly reports and also got our plan of corrections submitted and accepted for our Health & Sanitation survey, which only had four things on it (only one is my responsibility). Justin and I were both snowed under and couldn’t get out for lunch, so Vic picked up drive through for a quick meal. I was able to walk about two and a half miles on a steamy afternoon. I would’ve had three miles, but it started to rain on me, so I turned back and headed to the car a little short. I was hoping to make it up with a round of frisbee golf with my little buddy, Abby (and some payback), but the rain was just too much. It poured the whole way home and was still coming down in buckets when we got home. It eventually cleared up, but it was too wet to do anything at that point. So, we sent Abs out to the fairgrounds to pickup dinner. They got pulled pork on fries from Fuzztops while I got my regular – a pork burger from the Smyrna church and a fish sandwich from the Lett’s volunteer fire dept. I was shocked at how expensive the food had gotten. I’m surprised that most people paid that much for fair food. I guess it is comfort food after all… We watched a couple more shows on Discovery for Shark Week and both fell asleep while Abs played online video games in her room with Matthew. Luke came home from football practice, showered, said three words, and left to go hang out with Brayden. He wound up coming home after we went to bed and fell asleep on the couch. He was still there when I got up the next morning… As promised, here is the outcome from Luke’s senior pictures photoshoot with Farren.
We finally dried out on Humpday. We were a little concerned when Black Betty was smoking while warming up that morning, but it quickly went away and we think it was likely just moisture from all the rain burning off the hot parts of the engine. She ran like normal, still having an issue with her fuel injector. Ann & I had fast days at work. Justin & Amanda treated Vic & I to lunch at China Buff that afternoon. Later, Justin & I helped our coworker Jana move her stuff out of a storage shed and into her new home. Dad B would’ve sure been proud of the way I was able to get all that furniture to fit in her car, Justin’s truck, and his trailer in just one load. We may have looked like the Clampetts, but we didn’t break or lose anything and we got it all done in time for me to get Annie picked up from work and dropped off at St. Mary’s, where she met up with her girlfriends to go to Millhousen for a Ladies Night at Stones for some of their amazing fried chicken. Luke slept in that day, lifted at the YMCA that afternoon and then worked at Hibbett’s that night. Abs worked at WTRE that morning then worked their booth at the final night of the county fair. Because of moving Jana, I didn’t get any walking in after work. I was hoping to at least play a couple rounds of frisbee golf that evening to make up for it, but the traffic was stupid on Park Rd – from both ways – that I just kept my distance and decided I’d make it up tomorrow night. Instead, I came on home and hung out with the dogs, watching a few DVR’d shows and editing pictures and videos for this week’s blog entry. Bu came home and retreated to her room to play video games with her big brother from her room. Ann got home and enjoyed her “terrible??? peanut butter pie that was so awful that she finished it in record time. She read until she fell asleep in her chair. Luke came home just long enough to get a drink, say ten words then went out to spend the night at Oakley’s house. I nodded off a couple times until I finally gave it up and went on to bed myself. Here are pictures from last weekend’s Fair Parade.
It was another dry commute to work on Thursday morning. On our way out of town, we passed the fairgrounds and found all the midway attractions (rides, booths and food vendors) packed up and lining Park Road, ready to move on to the next town. Ann & I both had fast days at work. The boys and I went out for lunch that afternoon, which made things go even faster for us. We were supposed to go eat Mexican, but somehow Justin’s truck automatically drove us to Chicago’s Pizza – LOL. ???? Before I knew it, my day was over and it was time to walk outside in the heat and humidity. It was in the mid-nineties with the heat index up in the triple digits. I got in about two and a half miles before we left town early and headed home to change. We relaxed for a couple minutes then headed over to the high school early to get a good seat in the shade at the practice field where Luke and the Pirates had a football scrimmage with Brown County. Meanwhile, Luke enjoyed sleeping in then worked for Coach Harris by mowing the yard of his rental property. He called me that afternoon and said that his air suspension went out earlier that day. I told him to start saving his money now and give Jerry a call to see how much the repair will be… Abby got up and went to work at WTRE. She also called me, saying her car was making a clicking noise. I told her to park Tonya until we could take a closer look at her. That evening, Luke played middle linebacker on defense and running back on offense. He had several good plays and many good hits. He did cough up the ball a couple times, turning it over once…and earning a good ass-chewing from Coach. The Eagles had a few players go down, including a scary incident on the goal line when Luke & Oakley led Sam through the two-hole for a TD, mowing everything down in their way – including a player that stayed down, complained of neck pain and had to be taken away by an ambulance. We sure hope he’s ok. We felt bad for the boy but even worse for the parents – what a helpless feeling. The kid was crying; it was heartbreaking. We sat with our parent friends, which felt good to see those folks again. It was pleasant out there. We went early enough to get a good seat in the shade with a strong breeze. As a storm began to roll in, the temp dropped and it felt amazing out there. I spoke to Luke & Brayden after the game. They went out for dinner while I dropped Annie off and picked up Abby to go play a quick round of frisbee golf. I got revenge on her, beating her by one stroke, 27-28. When we got home, Ann had cheesy Fireworks popcorn (we just received a fresh barrel of it!) ready for us. She cooked ours with the spicy oil again, which was so good! About that time, the storm reached us and it poured for about fifteen minutes then quieted back down. We began binge-watching a new show on Peacock called Dr. Death. Ann had another migraine headache that evening and wound up going on to bed after taking a Maxalt, which knocked her out. I watched a couple more episodes of the Star Wars: The Bad Batch before calling it a night. Here are pictures of the latest additions to my Hot Wheels collection.
Friday’s alarm came way too early – heck, I thought it was a joke or a dream. Imagine how disappointed I was when I figured out it was real. I got up and got my computer going at about 6 that morning. It had obviously been a while since I used VPN on that machine as it took about ten minutes to download and install updates and get me all logged in. While it did its thing, I hopped in the shower and got ready for the day. I ran Ann into work, after going through the Dunkin drive through, of course. After dropping her off at the downtown office, I came back home and worked from the family room, at my desk. I got two out of four reports done and a third one about halfway through, so I felt really good about my day. Luke got up and went to his annual sports physical. His BP was a little high, but otherwise he is fit as a fiddle. He was supposed to go to work with Coach Harris, but because we got so much rain again last night, it was just too muddy and flooded out there to safely take down trees. Instead, he napped then went to work out at the Y before going to Columbus for lunch with his buddies. Abby got up and went to Gma’s house for a while then went out with Molie and she came back to the house Abs to do some clothes shopping at the Shoppe de-la Abigail. Luke went to work out with his buddies again at the YMCA that evening while Bu & I joined Jamie & Grace for dinner and drinks at the St. Paul Tavern. It was weird on our way out to St. Paul, as we saw 50 – 60 cars coming in the opposite direction. We normally see 5 – 6. We figured either there was a flooded road or a wreck somewhere nearby (46?). It was packed when we walked in that evening. We were told it would be at least a half hour to get a table in the bar but lucked into one after about 20 minutes when Colton Black’s (Matt’s teammate / roommate at U Indy) dad recognized me and told me we could have his table. As it turned out, we ended up sitting next to a group of Matt’s buddies (Kelso & Green). It was all you can eat chicken dinner night, which Jamie and I took FULL advantage of but the girls opted out for something different. Luke wound up coming out to join us a little later and had the chicken as well. It was also karaoke night. Jamie was braver than me and got up on the stage twice to entertain the crowd and did pretty well! We were there to celebrate Grace’s 21st birthday. She & Abs had a few Angry Orchards while Jamie and I had a few buckets of Coors Light. After the girls got a shot of Fireball in their bellies, they had the courage to get up on that stage and sing a Miranda Lambert song, which was more of a scream at times than singing – but the crowd loved them and they had a great time! We left shortly afterward. It was still raining and had been raining pretty hard the whole time we were in there. As we came home, it was dark, rainy and the road was flooded in several areas – which was impossible to see out in the boondocks in those conditions. So, all we could do was slow down and take out time. Luke followed us back to town. Jamie when a different route than us. Grace came home with Abs and I in Tonya. We stopped at the Party Shoppe on the way home to get a bottle of tequila and triple sec to make margaritas that night. We were going to get a bottle of Patron but wound up getting a bottle of the George Clooney brand called Casamigos. When we got home, the girls and I decided we wanted to enjoy some porch time in the rain. The girls made us a series of cocktails, including Abby’s choice: margaritas, mine: Scheu Specials and Grace’s: Old Fashioned. Grace eventually won a marathon-length game of Sorry. Delilah was so funny. She was in and out of the rain, of course. But later in the evening (morning?), she climbed up on one of the rocking chairs, sat on her butt and laid back in the chair…looking like a little human- LOL. She enjoys hanging with us during our late-night sessions. We came inside and watched a couple episodes of Rick & Morty before calling it a night. Here are random pictures from our recent adventures.
Morning came way too early for me on Saturday. Ann & I were up early to drive back to St. Paul – but this time, we went on the other side of the tracks – literally and metaphorically – as we visited Lori and her husband at Wild Flour bakery to pick up a big bag of heaven. The drive was much easier that morning as most of the water had receded off the road. It was still high and really moving in the creeks, which had become river rapids. We stopped at Mom & Sandy’s house on our way back into town to see them and deliver some baked happiness. We came home a little while later and had a late breakfast before I got motivated to get off the couch and get to working outdoors. It was cooler but still really muggy which made me sweat profusely. I loaded up Betty White and headed back over to Gma & Gigi’s house. They were just leaving to go shopping at the outlet mall in Taylorsville. It was the first time I had mowed over there in a couple weeks and the first time I’d trimmed in about a month. It was the worst that lawn has looked since they moved in there a few years back. After I finished, I needed a little break from humidity. So, I called Abs to see if she wanted to go junking. She was just leaving to take Grace home, so they pulled back in and I picked them up in the truck. After dropping off Gracie, we went downtown to hit the junk stores. I found some great deals on couple dozen Hot Wheels and Abs found a different version of Sorry. I think we may have spent like $5 total. When we finished, I came back and began working on our yard as Abby packed a bag and headed up to New Castle to see Gary and stay the night with his family. Meanwhile, Luke worked out at the Y with his buddies that afternoon before going to work at Hibbett’s that night. He wound up staying the night with Brayden that evening. I finished up the yard and then knocked out a few other things like cleaning out the gutters in the back, fixing Ann’s commode and checked fluids in the vehicles. So, it was just Ann and I that evening with the dogs. We threw a couple pork loins on the grill and enjoyed a little porch time. She also made some roasted smashed potatoes and encrusted green beans in the oven that were really good. That pork loin though; mmm – man was it good! We did the dishes and decided to go get some ice cream, so we hopped in Betty White and went to DQ to get a couple of Blizzards. We sat down to binge-watch the next few episodes of Dr. Death. It didn’t work out that way though…as I fell asleep during the first episode we watched. I slept through the next two before Annie got me up and sent me to bed, tired of hearing me snore on the couch. We have lots of social media pictures to share this week.
Lola had me up early, barking in Abby’s empty room. It felt like it was too early…I mean, eleven hours of sleep is never enough apparently! I put the dogs out and when they came back in, Lola wouldn’t shut her yap. So, I picked her up to go put her back outside and she started screaming and tried to bite me. So, not only did she go out but she stayed outside for the rest of the morning. She bit Ann last night after she got stepped on. You’d think she would learn to not be behind people, but she isn’t very smart. Luke came back from Brayden’s that morning. He ate Ann’s delicious biscuits and gravy, grabbed a shower and then went back into work at Hibbett’s for most of the day. I put on the NASCAR Xfinity race at New Hampshire and worked on the blog all day, including writing out all the html code for the nearly 400 pictures in this week’s entry. As Ann napped, I got caught up on the shows I slept through last night and then I napped as well. When we woke up, I finished the laundry and dishes and we binge-watched the rest of the Dr. Death series. Ann made Fireworks popcorn and cheese for dinner. While she read, I watched the cup race, which had a rain delay and was shortened due to getting too dark. Abby stopped by DQ on her way home from Gary’s house and we celebrated National Ice Cream month with Blizzards. Meanwhile, Luke got off work, came home and napped for a couple hours then went to the Y to lift with his buddies. We watched a couple episodes of the Simpsons that we had saved on the DVR that night. Abs retreated to her room afterward and played online video games with Matthew. Luke grabbed a late meal and then went back to his room as well. Ann and I watched the premier of season 2 of Serengeti on Discovery. It was a relaxing way to wind down the weekend and put a cap on yet another fast week.
Next up is our Waybac section which continues to feature photos from Deanna’s digital camera from 2005. We lead off in March: Easter Day and then Matt’s birthday; May: Minnie & Charlie; June: Luke’s birthday; July: Dee’s new house, a night at the fair, the 4th of July activities, Grace’s birthday & Sandy’s birthday; and December: Christmas Eve.
And finally, we wrap up this week’s entry with our video segment. This week it features two new home movies 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