Yep, it’s back…that damn COVID. I thought we were done with this stuff but it is back and creating havoc. In fact, I’m still in denial about some of it, to be honest. Matt had a full week of work and is continuing to get healthier each day. In fact, he’s going to the gym again. However, he is still having some nerve pain but the doctor thinks it will go away in time. Abby enjoyed her final week of summer vacation. She finished up working at WTRE but will continue to work in Greenwood through her boss’ maternity leave. We moved her back to campus this weekend, which is always hard. Luke had a full week of school and football practices. He had a football game but didn’t play three quarters of it. And now, they are closing his school and all sports for a couple weeks because of the Coronavirus. Ann had a good day at work, working on a special project that went really well. I had a fast, busy week at work where it continued to be challenging, to say the least. Despite some weird hours, I still managed to put in thirteen miles of exercise, falling short of my goal by a couple miles…but that didn’t count the 13K steps I got in while moving Abs into her dorm room! I did enjoy forty-five holes of frisbee golf – including a couple parting rounds with Ms. Abby. It was brutally hot and humid all week – the dog days of summer are truly upon us. Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the Scheu Family Blog.
We had a foggy commute into work on Monday morning. Luke returned to school and then went on to football practice. He went over to Oak’s grandma’s house afterward before coming home to eat. He went back out to work out to the YMCA with Brayden and then they cleaned out his car. Abby worked in Greenwood that morning then hung out with her friends all day, coming home later that evening. Ann and I had fast days at work. Justin & I went to Chicago’s for lunch. After work, I walked about three miles out in the heat. It was one of the hottest days of year. I probably should’ve walked in the mall and may have to do that this week since it is supposed to be near triple digits all week! When we got home, I dropped Annie off and headed to the park for a quick round of frisbee golf. There wasn’t much wind, so I had awesome tee shots but blew a couple of approach shots and wound up shooting a 26. When I got home, Ann had made chicken lazone with cauliflower rice and cheesy broccoli (very low carb!). This is one of our favorite meals and she did not disappoint that evening. We enjoyed a quiet meal then retreated to the living room where we assumed our positions – she in her recliner, reading her book and me on the couch with my laptop, working on this week’s blog pictures and videos. That night, Abs had Molie over to help clean her room while Ann and I watched a pretty good movie on Netflix called Abduction. Here are pictures from Luke’s football game vs. Shelbyville.
We had more patchy fog on Tuesday morning, but nothing like yesterday. It was another scorcher that started off warm and humid and shot all the way up into the mid-nineties. We had a fast morning at work then Vic & I went to Riviera Maya for lunch. We had to cut it short so that I could run Ann to the hospital for a drive through COVID test (that would thankfully come back negative later). After an equally fast afternoon, I walked about three miles out in the nasty weather. There was a decent breeze, but that didn’t stop my skin from glistening when I picked up Annie from work. When we got home, I dropped her off and went out frisbee golfing. I had a good game going, but the longer I played, the sweatier I got…and the harder it was to control my disc. Despite a good start, I gave it all back and wound up with a par. Abby worked at WTRE then went to Columbus with her friend Daisy to have dinner at Upland Brewery at the Pump House and didn’t get home until late. Luke had school and football practice out in the heat. He came home briefly then went out to lift with his buddies and also came home late then showered and went to bed. Ann took her bowel prep and spent much of the evening in the restroom. I edited pictures while binge-watching the last several episodes of Start Wars: The Bad Batch on Disney + then we flipped on Apple + and watched the first episode of Lisey’s Story by Steven King. It was a little slow…not sure if / when we will watch the rest of season one.
Ann & I were up way too early on Wednesday morning, as she had a big presentation for work. Her and her team’s hard work paid off as they got the grant! Congrats, honey! ???? I did some computer stuff for a couple hours at work then picked her up and went over to the hospital for her colonoscopy and endoscopy procedures. She did really well and early indications are that she won’t have to repeat it for another decade! Yay!! When she was out and ready to go, we stopped by my work and picked up 3 laptops to work on from home and headed back to the house before it started raining. There was another heat advisory for that afternoon but after the rain, it never did get that hot, thankfully. Meanwhile, Abs got up and went to work in Greenwood. It was her first day without her boss, who left for maternity leave. Her internship is to fill in for her over the next couple months. She did great, which we knew that she would. When she got home that afternoon, she took a nap with the dogs for a couple hours. Luke had school and football practice, like normal. What wasn’t normal was that the school announced that afternoon that they were closing the doors and going virtual. It will go into effect on Monday and last for two weeks. Thankfully, we received a second communication that said it would not impact football…yet… So, for now at least, we are on for this week in Shelby County. When I finished working, Abs and I went on a road trip to Batesville to play a round of frisbee golf. We hadn’t been there in a couple months, so it was nice to play a different course. It was funny, we threw the same scores we did the last time – Bu had a 1-over and I had a 2-under. We stopped by the Batesville liquor store to pickup some new spirits and cigars. We stopped at Jordan’s, a new restaurant in town, and picked up some take-out for Ms. Ann and the rest of the family. Ann & Luke had the Philly steak sandwiches, Abby had the chicken strips while I had the whiting fish and hush puppies. Everyone enjoyed their meal. It was a little expensive, but we got monster portions and everyone (well, except Luke!) had enough leftovers for another meal tomorrow. Bu and I went to the park for a round of twilight frisbee golf. Unlike the Batesville course where we were tied going into the 8th hole, the score was never really close, right out of the gate. Abby’s arm, I think, got worn out as we progressed and she ended with a 5-over, 32 while I shot a 1-under, 26. That evening, Luke went to the Y to work out while Annie took a nap and Abs & I opened a bottle of Simmons wine. We finished the rhubarb bottle. It wasn’t as good as the Mallow Run rhubarb. Nor is it as good as the Simmons black cherry bottle we had last time. We put on the final two episodes of American Horror Stories on Hulu +. Here are random pictures from our recent adventures.
Thursday was another scorcher in the 90s. It was hot the moment we opened the front door to commute back to Columbus for another long day of work. My day actually went really fast – and good. After a quick morning of catching up paperwork, I helped Justin facilitate an incentive party for the 100 unit with Papa John pizzas and 10 gallons of ice cream and lots of toppings! I ate stuff I never eat…and it was really good! We had our marathon meetings in the afternoon then had a retirement party for Freda, whose last day is tomorrow. She is moving to FLA…we wish her many happy years in the next phase of her life. I go out a little late from work and only managed about two and a half miles of walking around the airport property during another heat advisory. I really should’ve gone to the mall; it was entirely too hot that day. I forced myself to walk easier and not over-due it. When we got home, I dropped off Annie and headed to the park for a quick, sweaty round of frisbee golf. I had some great shots but also some lousy ones and wound up with an even 27. Abs wrapped up working at WTRE as she moves into school in just two days. Ann decided not to cook, so we had leftovers from last night. Luke had football practice after school. As it turned out, it will be his final practice for two weeks – as they not only closed the school and went virtual…but today we learned that have now also closed extracurricular activities as well. That means football will be shut down for two weeks. The boys will miss the annual Connersville and Lawrenceburg games. They will face South Dearborn when they return to school in a couple weeks…unbelievable bull crap… I feel bad for the boys that worked so hard – like Luke, who has worked his tail off for a decade for this one year…especially all the work he has put in this past year alone. They said they would try to make up as many games as possible…but I doubt that includes football. ? That night we watched the newest Rick & Morty episode (finally) and then the new Fantasy Island while enjoying a couple Harvey Wallbangers that Abs mixed up for us. That second one put me right to sleep and I conked out early on the couch and wound up going to bed while Bu tried to play online games with her big bubby… Here are pictures of recent additions to my Hot Wheels collection.
I was bummed on Friday morning, just thinking about it being the last football game for three weeks. I feel bad for the players and coaches – but especially for the seniors who have worked so hard for this opportunity. ? I bought tickets online that morning and worked out our plans for us to road trip up to Fairland that evening. Abs was first out the door, commuting up to Greenwood for her internship. Ann & I went through Dunkin then I dropped her off at the downtown office and went into work in Columbus in Barney. Vic re-charged my A/C again and put a new terminal on my battery I did my first day of EOC rounds then went to lunch with the guys at Culvers for some fish and root beer. I knocked off around 1 and came home. I had visions of me playing some frisbee golf, but it was just too hot outside. Luke slept in as Fridays are always late days for the kids this year then went into school for the final time for a couple weeks before e-learning starts on Monday. He did very well with it previously, so we anticipate he will again this time as well. I cleaned out the van and removed the seats when I got home, in preparation for tomorrow’s big move. Luke came home briefly after school. He said about ten words and already had his game face on…so we didn’t push it. After work, Abby went to Columbus for a back-to-school haircut with Jami. Once she got home, she started packing her stuff for school while Ann got cleaned up and I took a nap. That evening, we went to Mom & Sandy’s house to swap cars and take the Ford up to the Pirate’s final football game for a couple weeks. It was hot and sunny all day with a forecast of more of the same for the game. Yet, somehow, it began pouring on us while driving up. We wound up stopping at a Pilot truck stop (complete with a lot lizard sighting!) and bought their last two umbrellas. When we got seated and were chatting with the Wests and Bests, a front blew through and it looked bad for a while there…but it blew over and turned out to be a beautiful night for a football game. We nearly beat these guys last year, so there was some hope that we would have a good game that evening. Luke was again a quad-captain and they won the toss, so they kicked-off to start the game. Triton Central came out on fire while our defense was pretty flat. They marched right down the field and scored on us. Once we got the ball, the boys also went right down the field but came up just a few yards short and turned the ball over on downs inside the 10. Still, we showed we could play with them. On the ensuing drive by Tigers, the defense was doing a decent job but on a third-down play, Luke got blocked and taken to the ground. When he tried to get up, the boy pushed him back down, which pissed Luke off and when he got up the second time, he slapped the kid in the helmet…right in front of the referee. Of course, he threw a flag – which he should’ve. However, rather than pulling Luke aside and telling him that if he did that again he would be ejected…he just threw him right out of the game! At first, I was so mad at Luke for letting his teammates and coaches down…and most of all himself…but then the more I watched the video and the more time went on, I grew more disappointed in the officials than with the player. Last I knew, this was still high school football – an environment where we are supposed to teach all the aspects of football. I, in no way, condone slapping / punching someone during a game; however, that being said – no one was hurt (the kids had a helmet on and was clapping seconds afterward) – except maybe Luke’s own hand. As I write this, I still can’t believe they ejected him from the game. I’ve seen a WHOLE lot worse that didn’t result in an ejection. In fact, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen players ejected from games in all the time I’ve been associated with high school football. The more I talk about it, the madder I get; so, I digress… Once Luke (who was an integral part of both the defensive and offensive game plans) was removed from the equation, it completely took the wind out the team’s sails. There were many questionable calls and non-calls throughout the game and we quickly went down by 35. With that, the mercy rule of a running clock was instituted. With that clock running, the second half was over in no time. The Pirates wound up losing 7-35. I spoke with the coaches and they said that Luke would likely be required to serve an additional penalty of being held-out during the first half of the Pirate’s next game. We waited around to talk to him after the game. He was understandably dejected and still in disbelief – as we all were. I loved the aggressiveness he showed in the game. He was running around, wild, all over the field. I was really looking forward to him having a big game before our forced two-week layoff. To say the least, this was about as anti-climatic as it could’ve been…I guess it could’ve been worse – he could’ve gotten hurt like his brother. At least we didn’t have to go through that drama again… We came home and Ann made us a midnight meal of chicken enchiladas as we watched the Colts final pre-season game. Well, to be honest, we didn’t even make it to halftime. Luke came home and was pretty quiet. He ate and went on to his room for the night… We have lots of social media pictures to share this week.
I had an alarm set for Saturday morning, but Delilah had me up before the sunrise. I got Abby up so we could get an early start to the day. We ran the Ford back to Gigi, talked with the gals for a bit then stopped by the station so she could get paycheck. When we got back home, we swapped cars again and went downtown to get a few things out of storage to take with us. We came back home and I began loading the rest of Abby’s stuff – including the big recliner. Abs always challenges me to do more each year. This year may have been one of my best pack jobs – I think Dad would’ve been proud of the organization! We got Barney all loaded up and had some stuff in Tonya as well and headed back to Franklin. With 44 being closed, we had to find an alternative route to the college. I actually like the route Abby took and think I’ll probably use it myself during this school year. It was another scorcher that day – high heat in the 90s with humidity that made all the fat, hairy guys cry. Bu is in the new dorms again this year, but thankfully is on the first floor. That made all the difference that day! I was able to move everything in by myself with my handy-dandy 2-wheel dolly. It took a while, but we finally got her room layout configured in a way she can live with for the year. Once everything was in, the cars moved and the furniture configured, it was up to Ann & Abs to put everything away. I took advantage of the down time to take a nap. Once they finished, we loaded up the empty bins and suitcases in Barney and went out to lunch. Abs chose the Blue Cactus where we had a couple margaritas and some tacos. I had the mezcal-rita but my favorite was the jalapeno-cilantro marg…yum! It paired nicely with my fish tacos. We all left stuffed to the gills and decided to go to Walmart to not only shop for Ab’s back-to-school stuff but also to walk off some of that food! When we got back to FC, we helped our number one daughter put her things away then said our teary goodbye and headed back home. We really need to get that A/C fixed because it was a warm ride back to Greensburg. I got everything put away, got the van back together and did a few things around the house before getting a shower and finally sitting down. We watched the weekly SVU marathon for a few hours while she read and napped. I worked on the blog as well as did some video work as well. Meanwhile, Luke enjoyed sleeping in that morning then worked all afternoon and evening at Hibbett’s. He said he ran around with Brayden that evening. We watched some game film and talked more about last night as well as football in general. He is still pretty down about the whole season. I mean, he is basically going to miss about half the season when it’s all said and done. He missed 3 ½ quarters of the TC game, they’ll miss the next two games due to COVID and then he’ll miss ½ of the SD game. How devastating is that man? Damn…
Lola was up a couple times overnight, barking that she was missing Abby already. Ann got up with her first and tried putting her in Bu’s bed. That worked for a while then I put her outside before the sunrise and went back to bed. After that, we enjoyed sleeping in on a lovely Sunday morning. Once we got up, we slowly got around to doing our weekly household chores. We took it easy that day, both sore and achy from yesterday’s flurry of activity. Ann seems to be doing OK but I know it’s hard on her whenever Abs is at the house for an extended period of time and then goes back to school. I know how she feels; I miss her too. ? I watched the NASCAR races that morning and then watched some preseason football games. Annie made chicken empanadas for lunch that were really good. We took naps that afternoon while she read and I wrote out this week’s html code, uploaded the pictures and videos and finished this week’s entry. We watched a movie called Stillwater with Matt Damon. It was just OK…and really long. Afterwards, Luke came home from working out at the YMCA and running to the store for us. As I wrapped up the blog that evening, I wound down the night by watching the Talking Dead and Walking Dead. It was the perfect way to wrap up the evening and put the kibosh on another fast week.
Next up is our Waybac segment, which continues to feature pictures from Deanna’s digital camera, back in 2005. We actually lead off this week in December of 2004 where we see Gigi & Grace on Dee’s birthday; then in March, we see Grace with her grandpa Buchannan at the movies; in April we see Mom & Sandy at dinner; May has Abby at the Dixon Dance Revue; in June we have Luke’s birthday party and Mom going barefoot in Gigi’s convertible; July has Luke in the Hot Wheels Lambo and fireworks as well as the 4th of July parade, Grace’s birthday party as well as a great picture from Gigi’s birthday; November has the Owens Thanxmas gathering; and in December we see the Owens Christmas Eve get-together and Christmas Day lunch with Mom and Sandy.
We wrap up this week’s entry with our video segment. This week, we features two new home movies as well as several from around the internet.
Well, 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