You got Me Runnin’ just like I Never did Before

Although I love three day weekends…I hate four day work weeks because everyday feels like a Monday! After having a nice break with Rob & Sharon this past weekend and a quiet Labor Day holiday, it was back to work and school on Tuesday. The kids and the parents all struggled with getting up and getting ready, let me tell ya… After work, Ann and I went to Matt’s football game vs. Franklin. Maryann took Abby to soccer practice and brought Luke to the game with her. Gigi also met us there as well. It was a great game that again went right to the last minute before being determined. The Pirates got on the board first by scoring a long touchdown (yes, following Matt’s block!) during the first quarter. They should’ve scored again at the end of the first half but ended up fumbling the ball on the 1 yard line. They scored a second touchdown before giving up one to the Grizzly Cubs to bring the score to 12-6. The defense played very well the entire game, as did special teams. Matt started at defensive tackle on defense, started at tight end on offense as well as all special teams. He was pulled out for a handful of plays in order to run a different formation. Matt made several good blocks and was in on several gang tackles. He did not have any solo tackles that I saw and although he denies it, he did recover a fumble. He was hurt in the 2nd half, down on the goal line. He rolled his ankle pretty bad and although he toughed it out until they scored a couple plays later, he did have to sit out during the kick off and the first few defensive plays of the successive drive. You could tell it was driving him nuts on the sidelines by only watching and before long he was back on the field for the rest of the game. There was no further scoring and the game ended 12-6, raising their record to 3-0 for the year! Abby went to soccer practice that evening and Ann had to leave and go pick her up when she was done. Ann also picked up Abby’s good friend and teammate Emma Hellmich and brought them both to the game. Unfortunately, Ann got back too late and missed the exciting end of the game…

Wednesday brought about cooler temps as we started off the day in the mid-fifties. I’m kind of wishing we’d closed the pool last weekend now, because there is no way we’re getting back in it this year now… We had the night off, which was really nice. Luke & I went for a bike ride for about an hour. Bu joined us for a little while but petered out quick. Grandma brought Matt home from practice and he was wiped out. The kids all wanted popcorn for dinner, which Ann obliged and we kicked back the rest of the evening and got caught up on our DVR’ed programs. Luke & Abby finished their homework in order to go out and play with friends. Luke was thrilled to be able to go out and finally play with friends after being grounded all last weekend for having his card flipped 3 times at school (it is like receiving warnings for repeated behaviors). Abby didn’t get to join him because of her negative attitude. Thankfully it was a little better by the time she hit the pillow… On Thursday, Matt went to football practice, Bu went to dance practice and Luke’s soccer practice got cancelled. So Luke and I went on another long bike ride, but not before going to pick up Matt. That night, we picked up our Greensburg Pirates football sign that is now proudly displayed in our front yard! Luke & I rode through the neighborhood and saw all his friends and visited three neighborhoods through off-road means. Luke is getting much better at riding through the woods as his legs are getting stronger. He can now stay with me on our longer rides and often times wants to lead the way. We finally got home just in time for dinner, showers and bedtime. Luke & Abby and really even Matt have been playing a lot more outside and out around the neighborhood with the other kids out here lately. Luke, especially, has really been enjoying playing outside with the neighborhood kids. He’ll routinely get out his bike, Green Machine, Matt’s skateboard, the scooter and his 4-wheeler – all at the same time! We’ll have kids everywhere outside… We also spoke to Rob & Sharon. We were relieved when we heard that although Sharon had been involved in a really bad car accident and was taken to the hospital; that her injuries were not life-threatening and she was treated and released after six hours. We wish her a speedy recovery and hope that she gets to feeling better soon… That night, we watched the NFL season kickoff game. Man, Brett Favre looked old…oh wait, he’s my age!

On Friday, I stayed home late in the morning to allow time for the refrigerator repair man to finally get his butt in here. We had tried the previous 2 weeks to get him in here but only heard excuses. This time, he finally showed but it meant me going in to work nearly 3 hours late. We finally have water and ice again. It was apparently a known issue and the repairman gave me a hard sell about an extended warranty program that Ann & I will have to discuss… Needless to say, I ended up staying late that evening but Luke & I were back out again riding our bikes within a minute of walking in the door. The city finally got the first layer of asphalt on the road out on the back road in our edition so Luke & I had to ride over it and it was wild because it was still hot and you could feel the heat coming up from the road. Matt dressed for the varsity game that evening. The kids travelled all the way to the Ohio River to play Lawrenceburg where they won 20-7 and evened their record at 2-2. Matt again saw no action in the game but was happy to dress and have a front row view of the game. Abby spent the night at Grandma & Gigi’s house with Gracie. On Saturday, Luke & I were up early to get haircuts. We got all the way over to Columbus before Ann called and said that Jamie, our hair person, had to cancel due to her son being taken to the hospital. So we drove back and got home just as Ann was taking Matt to his football practice. He was just finishing up as we were taking Luke to his soccer game. Ann picked him up and took him home. Matt showered and rode his bike over to catch the end of his game. Luke’s team looked sluggish in their first game of the year that didn’t start at 9 am. Luke looked good again but the team looked like it hadn’t practiced all week. Luke had 5 shots on goal but none went in. He again dominated the field of play, hustling back and forth on the field to make plays at both ends. He played forward in the 1st and 3rd quarters and goalie in the 2nd and 4th quarters. He had several saves and ended up giving up one fluke goal as his own teammate ran in to him and knocked him to the field, allowing a ball to slowly roll over the goal line. Luke was pissed. They ended up losing 0-2 as they gave up an earlier fluke goal where the goalie kicked it and it rolled backwards and barley over the line. This was the first loss of the season for Luke and his Blazers as they fell to the Rockets, 4-1.

Ann took Matt to his friend Joel’s house to spend the night and picked up Abby and brought her home from Mom’s house. Joel just happens to live in Ann’s old childhood house which is 2 doors down from where Maryann and Sandy currently live. After a quick bite to eat, we headed over to Sunman for Abby’s soccer game (her last away game of the year, thankfully). Abby’s team also came out flat with no sense of urgency. They have some outstanding individual players on her team, but have difficulty playing like a team. They took on a Sunman team (Seig & Associates) that they should’ve beaten. Abby took 2 shots on goal but neither went in. There were only about4 or 5 shots on goal that I can even remember. The game was mostly played on the defensive side of the field for Greensburg. Even Abby was apathetic the first half, looking tired and walking frequently. I don’t know what the coach said at halftime, but it worked as they shut them out in the 2nd half and actually ran a couple plays and looked like a soccer team…at times. Still, it was better than their 1st half. With the poor showing, the Greensburg Thunder team is officially having a bad season, as they open up the year 0-5 with this 1-0 loss. Abby had some spectacular plays, as did a few of the girls, but they were unable to put them together and score. Still; the girls looked like they had fun out there and were in good spirits after game, so I guess that’s all that really matters in the end anyhow, right?

We finally got some rain today as well which is the first time in a couple months. That was great news, as our grass, trees, plants and flowers are all dead or really dry. Since the grass is obviously not growing, there was no need to mow at our house or over at Mom & Sandy’s house. So, I had the afternoon / evening off and used that time to scan in hundreds of the new pictures. Wow; there are some really good ones out of this box. I can’t wait to share them with you over the next year! Poor Ann had trouble sleeping last night and totally made up for it with a very long nap of about four hours. The kids and I picked up Subway with a great deal via the baseball fund raiser peelers. We came home and the kids played outside until it was dark as Ann and I watched a couple of 9/11 specials and then the NASCAR race. I would be remiss if I didn’t say that the scenes from that day still make me very sad (both Ann and I had tears in our eyes as we watched the graphic scenes) and remorsefully fills me with a sense of hatred for the people who perpetrated these horrific acts and those that still support their ideals. We will never forget. On Sunday, we slept in and were pretty lazy all day, completing only the basic house chores. Abby had a cute tea party today that I have pictures of, but I’ll share those next week; very cute. The two little kids spent a lot of the day in their rooms because of attitudes displayed amongst each other and towards Mom & Dad. ??? Let’s hope our interventions make a difference this coming week because I’m over it. We watched the first official weekend of NFL games. I must say the defense is way ahead of the offenses this year. The Colts will have to make a lot of adjustments as they were embarrassed today. The Bears should’ve lost; that was a bad call in the endzone on the Lions…that was a touchdown. I also noticed that there were an awful lot of weird calls. It looked like they were trying to take the contact out of this contact sport. I was ready to put skirts on the players…very questionable calls by the referees today. Of course the game of the week for me was the Sunday night game, as the Cowboys played the rival Redskins. I had been looking forward to this game for several weeks…and boy was I disappointed. The Cowboys also have a lot of work to do if they are going to win the Super Bowl this year. God I hate the damn Redskins. I’m sorry, but you can’t make that kind of call at the end of a game that determines the outcome of the game. Granted, it was probably the right call, but c’mon man; you gotta let ‘em play on the last play of the game…especially when it has a direct impact on the outcome of the game. That was B.S. I’m going to bed…

Here are three new videos from this week’s games:

And here are a bunch of new Zep-related videos from around the ‘net:

OK; let’s flip to our Waybac feature and turn the clock back for a little while. Leading off, we have a couple slides from Grandpa Owens. One is in some kind of pipe store and the other is of him with another man (his brother or father perhaps?) out in front of their house on Anderson St., according to Annie; both of which are from around the mid-fifties I believe. Perhaps Maryann can help to clarify…

Next up we have a picture of me in Grandmaw & Grandpaw Brown’s kitchen on my stool on October 26 of 1972; Grandpaw at the 40 & 8 on December 16 of 1972; Grandmaw & Grandpaw’s Christmas tree in ’72; another one of me in their kitchen on Elmwood St. in ’72, this time with my Matchbox City(!); Schnapp’s & I again in that kitchen with my Hot Wheels in August ’75; a couple crops of Ann & Dee on a swing set in about the summer of ’76 (Ann wasn’t sure where she was or who the others were…perhaps Maryann or Deanna have more info???) and finally one of Mom in our Shortridge St. house living room on Christmas of ’77.

Finally, we have Dee in about ’91, looking lovely; three of Matthew on May 7, 1999 down in Walt Disney World in Orlando. This was our Breakfast with Pooh morning at the Wilderness Lodge. Mom & Dad B joined us that morning, I believe. Wrapping up this entry is Bu in about 2001 (I’ll have to look it up in our photo album library to verify that date at some point…). It seems she always fell outside and messed up her pretty face right before we were going to take pictures of her for a couple years in a row!

Well that wraps up another episode of the Scheu Family Blog. Thanks for keeping up with us this week and we’ll catch you up next time. Until then, have a good one.
Later, Scheu