Another fast week has already passed us by. The weather is typical for Indiana. Mom always said that if you don’t like it, just wait until tomorrow because it’s sure to change. We endured a full moon out at work, which really does have an effect on our psychiatric facility. It started off really cold then got a little warmer in the middle of the week before a front brought through a ton of precip and then the temps took another nosedive into the teens and twenties…brrr! But, true to form, I hear that it’s supposed to warm up again next week! Matt had a good week, working from home and finishing up the regular season of his wrestling season. He will now have a couple weeks to prep his boys for the season-ending conference tourney. He & Taylor enjoyed a weekend getaway to Palatine, IL. Abby had a busy week of classes in Franklin, as she continues to push herself hard to pass these tough classes that are needed for graduation here in a couple months. She continued to work part-time in Greenwood and we enjoyed seeing her & Will for lunch one day this week. Luke had school and track practice every day. He also worked out at the YMCA daily and enjoyed spending time with his buddies as they speed towards the end of their high school careers. Ann & I worked while fighting off some sort of illness. It is not Covid, as she took one of our new at-home tests that Papa Joe sent us. Ann didn’t get to see any of her friends this week but did spend time with her family and made time to volunteer her time for the After-Prom committee. I only managed to log eight and a half miles of exercise this week. That’s better than last week, but still well short of where I need to be. I was hoping to get together with friends for poker this week, but unfortunately that never came to fruition…maybe next week… Although it was the first week without football this year, we did have the return of NASCAR to help fill the void this week until the USFL starts in April. Hello again and welcome to the latest installment of the Scheu Family Blog.
It was back to work and school on Monday morning. My phone did something weird. I woke up about a half an hour late with my phone lit up but not making any noise. Come to find out, the alarm was going off but coming through my earpiece (like I was on a phone call). A quick restart seemed to fix it, but how weird is that? We somehow managed to make it on time to work that day. It was sure cold that morning with temps just barely in double digits – pretty typical for Valentine’s Day. It was another busy morning around the facility, catch up on everything from the last three days. The boys and I wound up going to Kroger for lunch. All I wanted was a Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper. But, as luck would have it, that one was empty. Typical… In the afternoon, I focused on staying in the office and doing several of my required regulatory items. I got out on time that afternoon and enjoyed walking three miles outside. Truth be told, I was pretty cold but settled in nicely by the end of the walk. Ann was not feeling well that day and actually ran a low-grade fever. She got into her chair that night and pretty much stayed there the entire time. She was thrilled to receive her box of Noyah lip balm (her favorite). We had leftovers for dinner while binge-watching the rest of the Ozark episodes that have been released. Apparently, they are releasing it as a split-season so this was the mid-season finale. Man, that is a messed-up show – we love it! We watched a couple DVR’d shows and then when Ann fell asleep and went on to bed, I watched the final episode of season one of The Book of Boba Fett. I enjoyed it and hope there will be a season two! Afterwards, I watched the abridged version of #3 Boilermakers basketball game from yesterday. Although I already knew the outcome (Mark told me last night at the Super Bowl party), it was still fun to watch. Maryland (2 games below .500) came ready to play and looked like they would knock off Purdue for much of the game. Danny Manning is coaching them now and they looked really sharp. The Boilers finally came to life in the 2nd half and came back from being down a dozen points and held on somehow to win by one. The ending gave me anxiety; they have to do something about that clock and its operator! Speaking of last night, we had a great time over at the Messer’s. They had about twenty friends over to watch the game, which was close all the way until the end. Really couldn’t ask for a better game as it went down to the last minute. The only disappointing thing was the officiating. It was awesome for the 59 minutes. But the last minute, they stated calling pass interference penalties that they hadn’t called all game. That was the difference in the ball game and I just think its wrong for any official to have an impact in the outcome of a game. I understand it something is egregious, but this was nothing too blatant. It was unfortunate that the Bengals came so close to winning their first title but ran out of downs on the ensuing drive and the Rams took a knee to win the final game of the NFL season. We’ll have to wait about a month before the USFL starts playing games. Luke had a good day at school then went to the first official track practice of the season. He came home to eat and change then went out to the Y to lift for a couple hours. I procured this week’s pictures and videos for this week’s blog entry and began editing down the 500 new pictures for this week… Here are pictures of Luke dancing with the Pirateers last weekend.
We had only been in bed for a couple hours when Lola was up to her old tricks. Even though she had gone out at midnight, there she was scratching at our bedroom door at 2 am. I got up and put her on her blanket and put the gate up (something I forgot to do when I came to bed half-asleep earlier. That didn’t last long. She knocked the gate over and began barking at 3 am. That’s when Ann – despite not feeling well – got up and slept with her in the living room. And that’s where she slept all night and most of the day…when she wasn’t binge-watching Chicago Fire. She was still not feeling well this morning, so she stayed home sick to rest up. I went on in to work and had another long, busy day. Justin & I had an orientation class and began the first day of our mock Joint Commission survey. I did the weekly video surveillance rounds and got on the Joint Commission site to look at our SOC & BBI, which is an annual requirement. I grabbed a late takeout lunch from Arni’s while I completed a proactive risk assessment and later, I scheduled my Regional Facility guy from corporate to do a site visit in April, ahead of our Joint Commission survey that will likely happen sometime between October and February. I got out a little late that afternoon and only managed to log two and a half miles of exercise – but at least it was outdoors again. It was MUCH warmer that yesterday and I had no trouble keeping warm – despite the strong breeze. I was hoping to play a little frisbee golf that night but it was only in the mid-forties and when that cold wind, I didn’t even want to deal with it. So, I went on home, got on my comfy clothes and Ann & I caught up on each other’s days. Meanwhile, Luke had a fast day at school then went to track practice that afternoon. When I got home, he was heading out to the YMCA to do his daily workout for a couple hours. We still have a little icy snow in piles and in spots of the yard that stay mostly shaded. Other than that, it’s pretty much dry everywhere right now. We are almost to the point where we don’t need headlights during our daily commutes to work. I still flip them on for the drive in, but I really don’t need them to see – more of a safety thing. And on the evening ride home, I don’t use them at all. So, it won’t be long before Spring will be here and we will “spring ahead??? for the warm months to come. That night, despite not feeling well (and having sore muscles to boot), Ann made fish tacos for dinner – yum!! Afterward, we watched the final episode of The Girl Before on HBO Max. Matt texted us that night to let us know that his Z-West wrestling team had won yet again! This time it was total domination over Belzer, winning easily – 99 to 18 – to improve to 15-1 on the season…WOW!! ???? I fell asleep before 9 but decided to grab a snack and stay awake by checking in my newest Hot Wheels from this past weekend’s hunting trip. Next, it was Ann’s turn to sleep, so I turned on a couple DVR’d shows and then watched the Olympics until I started nodding off again and finally gave it up and went on to bed.
It was even warmer on Wednesday. With the rising temps and melting snow, it means that the backyard is soupy again. Lola is doing well to avoid it most times, but I think Delilah enjoys getting muddy because she comes in with it caked into her paws. My yard looks like a cow pasture right now – a dead cow pasture that is… Despite still not feeling 100%, Ann toughed it out and went into work with me that morning. It was another busy day, working on annual requirements, working with two vendors in-house as well as sitting in on three sessions with one of our corporate guys, going through a JCAHO-prep for the facility. We are expecting TJC to visit us either this fall or next winter. Although we work hard to be in continuous compliance and pride ourselves on being ready for an inspection at any time, it is always good to have a different set of eyes to look over your stuff just the same. It was much warmer that day but there was a stiff breeze. I walked two and a half miles before calling it a night. I was hoping to get in a round of frisbee golf that night, but it was too breezy and despite the daylight lasting longer, it was overcast and darker than it had been earlier in the week. Besides, we went to CVS to see Grace while we picked up prescriptions (and check out the liquor aisle!). Luke was home when we got there. He said he had a good day at school and then went to track practice. He talked with us for a while and then went to the Y to workout. Ann was still not feeling well that evening but started some new meds to hopefully start to get her back to normal. I had leftover fish tacos, where were just as good as last night. We watched a couple shows and I went down early. In fact, I was asleep in bed before Luke even got home from the YMCA that evening. Delilah came to bed with me and slept with me for a while… Here are some random pictures from our recent adventures.
Lola was up in the middle of the night, along with Roomba…not sure why that occurred, but it made for a challenging night of sleep. Ann’s new meds had her up and down all night. She volunteered to go sleep with Lola in the living room and allow me to go back to sleep…which I did. In fact, I slept so well that I must’ve turned off my alarm because the next thing I know – Ann is waking me up and asking if I was planning to go to work that day! I quickly got cleaned-up and got out of the way for Ann to do her thing. Somehow, we managed to get to work only a couple minutes late. It was already raining that morning and it continued to rain all day…bringing with it flood warnings all over the area. I think we received nearly two inches of precipitation. It was another busy morning for Ann & I. Annie, in particular, had a crazy morning. Not only did she have full house of staff (all her providers – you should’ve seen how full her parking lot was!) but also had EMS there when a guy who was just watching his partner get her blood drawn passed out and dropped like a log on the tile – ouch! We made plans the night before for her to bring some stuff for Abby to come pickup. So, Justin & I picked up Annie and met Abs & Will out at Ruby Tuesdays for lunch while the kids were in town. We love their salad bar! I went with the blackened tilapia that was excellent. We said out good-byes afterwards and Justin & I rushed back to work to attend our monthly marathon meetings that afternoon. During my Safety Committee meeting, I presented a ton of annual stuff to be approved by the committee. It is by far our longest meeting of the year. This year was no different as I got out so late that I didn’t even have a chance to walk that afternoon. It was obviously still raining on our way home that night. Even though we got home at the same time we do every night, it was so dark. It actually stopped precipitating briefly but then started back up with sleet and then snow – a wintery mix – yay! Delilah – AKA the canine bottle rocket (you should hear her whine when she sees a bunny or one of her many dog friends – there are 7 other neighbor dogs out back!) has been a muddy mess the last couple days. Of course, that means that the inside of the house is dirty as hell right now. Luke worked out at school twice that day…once for Advanced PE with Coach Jackson in the morning and then once with the track team that afternoon. He was at home for a little bit that evening when we got home then went out to lift for a third time that night at the Y. He went to Chili’s that night for dinner with his buddies. Thankfully, he made it home safely before all that flooding started to freeze that night as the temps dropped all the way down to the low 20s overnight… We turned on the DVR that night and while Ann read, I watched the haggard looking #5 Boilers outlast the Wildcats of Northwestern to take the lead in the Big Ten all by themselves! Afterward, I watched the Twin 125s kicked off Speed Week in Daytona. NASCAR’s back, baby! ???? We have lots of social media pictures to share this week…
Friday morning was frigid. All that rain that caused the flooding around the area froze overnight. I had originally locked the van doors when we got home last night but eventually went back out and unlocked it because I knew everything would re-freeze. We received a light dusting of snow when I got up to start my day…and as I was brushing my teeth, I received a telephone call. It was Sandy and she was obviously in distress and upset. She was over at the station, trying to get inside. She had been there for quite a while and was just as frozen as the lock. She called to see if I had any ideas of what she could do. I got dressed, grabbed my bottle of lock de-icer and ran outside. The van was obviously an ice cube, so I quickly scraped a small hole in the frost that was on the windshield and drove across the street. It took a minute, but it eventually did the trick! I came home and by then it was too late to shave or shower, so I just finished getting ready and got out of Ann’s way. We went through Dunkin drive thru before I dropped her off at her downtown office. I ran a couple errands then returned the house to work from home that day. I worked a full day and didn’t get done until after five. I went ahead and paid the bills while I was already settled into my workspace out in the family room. And after nearly 12 hours at the desk, I finally finished up and moved to the couch sometime after 6. Ann called in a dinner order to Koch’s, which had recently reopened after moving into the Corner Store, just down the road from us. I drove down to pick it up and they were swamped. The sign said that they should’ve been getting ready to close, but by the looks of the people’s faces in there, they were hungry and been waiting for a while. …And there was no one smiling – not customers and certainly not the frazzled staff working that night. I waited about 10 minutes before and older lady asked if I placed an order. When I finally got the food, it was wrong. To top it off, they over-charged me. I thought about questioning it but I was over it by that time – as was the lady trying hard to understand how to run the cash register / computer. I just paid it and considered it a generous tip. It is such a shame that they ruined a good thing. They had such a good thing going… I honestly don’t know if I’ll go back. We watched a couple movies that night. Meanwhile, Luke worked out three times that day – including a late night one at the Y with a couple buddies that he brought by that evening, after they all had dinner at Pizzalicious in Westport.
I was up early with Lola on Saturday morning, but at least she waited to start barking until the sun came up that day. It was another cold day that never got out of the twenties – just like yesterday. Luke got up and went with his friend Ethan and his dad to a junk yard in Kentucky to go hunting for car parts. He came back with a handful of different parts for the Hot Rod Lincoln. Meanwhile, Ann & I went to St. Paul to visit Lori and get a fresh batch of her goodies from Wild Flour Bakery. We stopped by Mom & Sandy’s afterwards to drop off their treats and visited with them for about and hour. Their little doodle pup is as cute as a teddy bear. We came back and Ann took a nap while I did Matt’s taxes. That afternoon, I watched the NASCAR truck race and the latest Ancient Aliens and tried to take a nap. But Ann needed me to run her out to the high school where she was helping facilitate a fund raiser for After-Prom. It was a big day at the school with them having alumni come back for the day. They had alumni games and even alumni Pirateers and cheerleaders were at the game that night. Luke went out to the game that night but I picked up Annie and we came home to eat the pulled pork dinner she was helping serve and we watched a couple more movies, including the Night House (horrible ending) and Immortals (the new Marvel movie). Luke came home after the game for a little while. He talked with Ann & I for a while then went out to Oakley’s house to spend the night. Here are pictures of recent additions to my Hot Wheels collection.
I didn’t sleep for crap overnight and by the time the sun was coming up, I decided to stop fighting it and just got up. I’d had a chest cold earlier in the week, but starting on Friday night, it began moving up into my head – culminating in being completely stuffed-up last night. When I got up, I was surprised to see Ann was in her chair already. I could’ve sworn I left her in the bed when I got up! Damn that Nyquil! She had gotten up at 4 am with Lola apparently. So, I sent her back to bed and got on with my day. I did some weekly household chores like taking out the trash & recycles, doing the dishes and eventually doing the laundry. Ann was excited to have hired a housekeeper this week. Her cousin is going to start coming over once a week to dust, sweep and vacuum for us. I watched the NASCAR Xfinity race and then the women’s US soccer game. The team is a lot different than last year’s team. Most of the veteran players are off doing other things right now, allowing for a bunch of new – and much younger – players to join the team. I recognized a handful of players, but mostly it was new faces. I napped on and off the entire game. Later that afternoon, I watched the Daytona 500 while Ann napped. Luke came home from Oak’s house for a little bit then went to the YMCA to lift for a couple hours. When he got back, he worked on his car, out in the driveway. Meanwhile, I spent the day being lazy – napping, watching TV and working on the blog. While Luke was working on his car, I went out and checked fluids in the Barneymobile. I’m glad I did, too, because it was like four quarts low on motor oil. We just got an oil change in it, so that is a little concerning. I know we pushed it pretty hard when we took it up to Mooresville and Carmel last week, so I’ll have to keep a close eye on it this week. ? Ann made cheesy popcorn for dinner that night as we watched Austin Cendric (I really like him) win the Daytona 500. Afterward we turned on the Purdue game. The #5 Boilers hosted Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights hit a half-court shot at the buzzer to win earlier this season, so PU had payback on their minds and although it was close a couple times, the Boilermakers won easily and looked pretty darn good doing it too. They still have somethings to clean-up before the tourneys start. Luke & Brayden hung out with us for a while and watched the end of the game before heading out the Drew’s house to work on Luke’s car in Bryan’s garage. That night, I watched the return of The Walking Dead. This will be the final season, which is a bummer. But while it’s here, I’m sure gonna enjoy the ride… It was a relaxing way to wind down a good weekend and great way to wrap up another week before we get up and start it all again tomorrow morning…
Next up is our Waybac segment which continues to feature the batch of pix from Aunt Sue. Some of these dates are approximate… We lead off in what I would estimate the mid-1920s with a pic of what I assume is Granny Scheu has a young girl, followed by a couple crops of what I again assume is her about the same time but this time with her mom and grandma (maybe?). Next, we have a few pictures of Granny with Aunt Sue in approx. 1942 & 1943. In ’45, we see Uncle Chuck from August 1945 that reads, “Can’t see much but it’s so cute!??? Next, we have a couple puzzlers – one of the kids swimming with Aunt Mary in late 40s and then Grandma in the early 50s at some cabin (Lake Michigan?). Then we have a good one at the Highland house in June of 1957 with Sally, Tom, John and George the cat. Next, we see a picture from about 1960 with who I think is Chuck & Mary; then Billy with Grandma & Grandpa Scheu on his Christening Day (they were his Godparents) on September 16, 1962, and then a couple months later I think we have Mary and Billy in November ’62. Next is Billy’s school picture from about September 1968; Grandpa Scheu tending bar with Santa, circa 1968; a couple pictures of the Fankhauser kids in April 1969 and yours truly in late ’69 as well. Next, we have three shots of Jackie in her room in about 1974; Zac at Sally’s house for Thanksgiving in Nov. 1994; Granny napping at the condo on Siesta Key (how apt!), FL in Feb. 1995 and a few good pictures from Ann & I’s wedding in Sept. 1995.
Next up is our video segment, which includes one new home movie this week as well as several from around the internet.
And that does it for yet another episode of the Scheu Family Blog. As always, 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