Mom once told me not to get too comfortable with my life because the minute you do, it will throw you a curveball. No matter what you call it, life can be a challenge at times. Life’s a bitch…God will never give you more than you can handle…an unexpected turn of events…is this our new reality? All these bigger life occurrences happening to not only us but our friends and family? There have been so many unexpected and unusual happenings this month that Ann and I have looked at each other a few times and asked what could possibly happen next? To say the month was overwhelming would be pretty damn accurate. Stuff at home, stuff at work, family stuff, friend stuff. I’m not sure I can do this whole middle-aged adult thing if it’s going to be like this, man…but I digress… The sound of cicadas during the day and the sights of lightning bugs at night have started to become more and more prevalent as summer kicked into high gear during July. The heat knocked us on behinds and kept us inside more often than we wanted to be…what the hell did we do before air conditioning?! Matt & Taylor have a lot going on in their lives right now, not the least of which is moving to a new apartment in Carmel. He said they’re doing it the way we moved the last time – a little every night until it is done. He still likes his new job and Taylor is doing very well at her job as well. I just wish he would contact us more than only when he has major announcements. Abby has been burning the candle at both ends…and is about to burn it at three ends! She works full time in Greenwood, drives up and back every day – in her new car!!, takes a nap and then goes to Seth’s house (who works 2nd shift). At the end of the month, she started coaching as well. But Luke is the busiest of all the kids. He’s been helping at WTRE. He has been helping his firefighter friend Chad to work on flip houses, he has been helping coach, he’s been helping at Bryan & Angie’s pavilion…and still trying to find time to spend with Samantha and see his buddies as well as keep up his lifting routine at the YMCA. Ann & I enjoyed spending some time with our friends, seeing her family from time to time and work, work, working. We managed to find a little time for ourselves and our hobbies – Ann scrapbooking and reading while I played disc golf about every day, or damn near it. Lola & Delilah both had good months, staying inside mostly – due to the weather. We did a couple minor home improvement projects here and there and focused on prepping for retirement. Overall, it was a long, tiring, challenging month that we’ll be glad to say goodbye to…let’s hope August has a little more peaceful future in store for us! Hello; and welcome to the latest edition of the Scheu Family Blog.
After the long month of June, we were ready for a break. We got that break thanks to the placement of the Independence Day holiday, smack-dab in the middle of the week. The 4th of July was extra special this year, thanks to some out-of-town visitors. Those two factors combined created a situation that saw a week-long celebration, here at the Scheu abode! We got started a week earlier when we went downtown to watch Bryan & Rob play on the square. Then, Keith & Rosie came home and we met up with them out at ElRep for a big dinner. It was a little weird because there were no kids with us! It has been nearly three decades since something like that occurred!! Megan didn’t make the trip. Matt & Luke were working. Grace was out of town and Abby watched the dogs for Gma & Gigi, so it was just the 8 adults. The following night, the Band of Merry Men finally got together for a night of poker, food, drinks and lots of laughs. After working from home on Friday, we met up again with the Owens family for pizza and some pitch-in sides. Afterward, we drove over to Columbus to watch fireworks. We had a chance to go to the VIP section with Ann’s employer (CRH) this year, but it didn’t work out and we wound up in my work’s front yard again. I didn’t work security this year and just let anyone come and go…which worked out fine. Luke & Sam came out with us and Luke & I enjoyed playing some frisbee out in the front yard until the fireworks started. Seth went with Abby to go car shopping the next day. She found something she liked and wound up working out a deal that allowed her to purchase a brand-new car! WOW!! She is now the proud owner of a 2023 Honda Civic that’s pretty sporty looking.
On Saturday night, we went out to the Lowe’s house for a big pitch-in dinner. Brothers McGee played out there until the fireworks started. It was probably the best display we saw this year. Check that; it WAS the best display we saw this year! It worked out perfectly as a huge storm rolled in just as the fireworks were ending. As it started sprinkling, we quickly said our goodbyes and high-tailed it home. We had just reached the front porch and were unlocking the door when the skies let loose and we got hammered! On Monday night, we went over to Christy & Jimmy’s house for cocktails and to catch up with a few friends. We weren’t able to stay long before we came back home to watch the Greensburg fireworks in the backyard and have friends and family over. Unfortunately, no family came over but we had lots of friends. We wound up playing cornhole and staying up way too late. Meanwhile, Abby picked up her friends Ina and Markus from Norway. They flew into Cincinnati to begin a month-long trek around the States. They stayed with us for a week that blurred past us in a snap of the fingers. Bryan & Angie came over in their Honda UTV. Bryan & I went for a ride around the neighborhood and through the park. I was surprised to see how many people were out enjoying the beautiful (but hot) weather and eagerly awaiting the city’s fireworks display. We were up way too early on Tuesday morning, which was the 4th of July. We headed downtown to watch the annual 4th of July parade. All the kids eventually joined us (except Matt & Taylor) and then we went to Mom & Sandy’s house for a big lunch…but not before the kids walked up to get the annual picture with Gigi, who was doing her live broadcast from further up the parade route. That afternoon, Luke, Sam & I wound up going to the fireworks store and found a huge cake we couldn’t resist. I tried to get it for a lot less but wound up only getting him to come down $25. I’m not very good at negotiating… It was a really cool firework called Land of Dreams with over 125 shots. It was really intense…but for only a short time. It just went way too fast but man was it cool!!
But it was back to work on Wednesday. Thankfully, we only worked for two days and on both days, I was able to play golf at the Airpark. Thursday night, I went to band practice with Bryan & Rob. I was the last arrival, after Shawn (management) & Konk (roadie). Konk brought some amazing ribs with him that we made short work of. I stayed too late (as always) before making my way home. Those two workdays were crazy busy but on Friday we worked from home. Later that afternoon we met with Angie about retirement stuff then went to the post office to get our passports. Abby and her friends had a fun week, going to Indy, Greenwood, Franklin – taking them to eat at places like Shallo’s and sites like an Indianapolis Indians game one night. We had one last hurrah on Friday night. Ann & I took all the kids out to eat some of the best fried chicken in the state at Wagoner’s in Oldenburg, just a few miles outside of Batesville. It has gotten so famous for its pan-fried chicken that it is currently the only thing on the menu. We got 3 ½ chickens along with bottomless mashed potatoes, green beans and coleslaw. It was amazing – easily some of the best I’ve ever had. It honestly reminded me of the chicken Grandmaw Brown used to make in her black skillet on top of her stove. We came back and played cards outdoors, staying up till 3 or 4 am. We said our goodbyes on Saturday morning. Abby & Seth drove Markus & Ina down to Music City (Nashville, TN), where Markus’ sister was joining them for the next leg of their trek. I was hoping to go golf on Saturday, even contemplating going out of town…but instead it rained and so we just napped on and off all day. We enjoyed sleeping in until mid-morning on Sunday and then did a few household chores and took it easy most of the early part of the day. I eventually got outside and went golfing, opting to just stay in town and play down the road at the park. Abby & Seth stayed the night in Nashville, hitting a few bars then headed home the next morning. They stopped at a mall in Louisville to hit a Lego store on their way back up. 😊
It was back to work for everyone the following week. I won’t lie, I could get used to 2- and 3-day work weeks! It got hotter and hotter as the fair came to town. It just wouldn’t be the same if it wasn’t blazing hot with thunderstorms…and this year was no different. Luke was on moratorium week from football, so he was able to focus more on working at WTRE, mowing yards and especially with Chad – doing lots of stuff to a flip house. Abby interviewed for the Pirateers assistant coach and got the job! Now we officially have three coaches for children! I worked at both buildings for much of the week, as we creep ever closer to opening our new IOP building. Despite the hot temps, I still got out and played golf about every day. I’ve enjoyed playing at the newly upgraded AirPark, across the street from work. My favorite round of the week was playing early on Sunday morning, just down the street at the park. It was so peaceful… With each progressive round this week, I’ve gotten more and more sweaty as the temps really spiked. I made it to band practice two weeks in a row, spending time with my friends. On one of those nights, we went out to see our friend Mark for a couple hours beforehand. He is recovering from a really serious surgery, but he honestly looked great! The Canadian smoke made a return that week and our air quality again suffered because of it. Annie finally went out with her friends for a while, eating dinner at Carriage on the Square – yum. The best part? She brought home some of their homemade ice cream to share with me! 😊 What a great wife, right?! Abby began spending more time with Seth, who’s been great with her. She enjoyed spending time with her friends as well, including a fun night in Indy with bride-to-be, Daisey, at her bachelorette party, up at the 8-Second Saloon. The older I’ve become, the more I hate fair week because there are so many people on that side of town that it interferes with the disc golf course. I purposely avoided that area for a few days due to it. Hell, we even drove through town to get home due to all the traffic down Park Rd. that week. We didn’t make it out to the fair at all again this year. I think that’s three years in a row. Because old Betty White is currently not running, we decided to break tradition this year and not attend the Fair Parade. I can’t remember the last time we didn’t sit on the back of that thing, under the pop-up gazebo in the WTRE side yard and catch candy. Besides, it was especially hot & humid that day, so that made the decision a lot easier. God bless the guy that invented air conditioning! We finished up a couple series but also started a couple new ones – Based on a True Story (which we quickly finished – it was great!), Poker Face, and The Old Man. I watched a few Reds games here and there as well. They’ve been on a tear lately – the team is so fun to watch!
The following week was equally busy for Ann & I. Although it was a little crazy at work, I still managed to get onto a disc golf course each day to balance out my life. It was extremely hot that week, so I was a sweaty mess by the time I finished. I played the AirPark, Donner, Greensburg and even made a trip over to Camp Atterbury to play Coyote Trace. Ann spent some time with Amy, travelling to Madison and the surrounding areas one day. Annie accompanied me to my cardiologist appointment to touch base with the doc that did my last procedure. We are going to move forward with another surgery in the near future to cure my current heart issue. He hopes to get me in within the next couple weeks, so we’ll see how that plays out… We spoke with Matt and had the most in-depth conversation with him that we’ve had in a very long time. He had a lot to say and it was great to talk with him for a while. We were hoping to meet up with he & Taylor that week for lunch, but it just never panned out. Abby & Seth spent a lot of time together this week but she also made time to see her friend Megan one evening and her buddy Sarah another night. We had a good card night one evening as well, that was a nice way to take my mind off all the things going on in our life right now. Luke split his time between working, lifting, seeing Sam and hanging with his buddies – living his best life! On Dad & Lynn’s recommendation, we started a new show called Hijack with Idris Elba as well as a Kiefer Southerland show called Rabbit Hole. It’s been a running joke that he calls each Thursday evening for IT customer service – LOL! We did a little home repair after we had an error signal on our dryer. We pulled it out, took off the hose and vacuumed out all the built-up lint. What a mess! We wrapped up the week spending time with Gma & Gigi for Sandy’s 66th birthday. Happy bday, Gigi!
During the final week it somehow got even hotter with temps reaching the mid-nineties and the humidity was just gross. Add in smore more Canadian wildfire smoke and it was rough going outdoors. Still, I played even more golf than normal. After a handful of hectic days to start the week, I finally had a good day on Thursday. Work was much more relaxed. We got to see my buddy Justin, who is having some serious health issues and is going to be off work for a while to get everything straightened out. He does so much around our facility; we are gonna miss him dearly and hope he gets things turned around for himself and his young family. We went out for lunch at Chicago’s for some bottomless pizza and salad bar. Our other friend Justin and his son joined us. He has been at the corporate level now for one year. It’s hard to believe it has only been a year…it feels more like five! Ann’s friend Shawna picked her up and they went out for dinner. That allowed me an open night. I took full advantage of that time by playing the AirPark then driving across town to play Donner. I met a guy on the course and we played a few holes together, which was really cool. I then drove back home and played at the city park. It was so hot out there. By the time I was playing the last 3 or 4 holes, my game was really sucking. I was hot & sweaty, tired & hungry – and I had to pee – LOL – bad combo. Abby & I had card night that evening. Thankfully, I didn’t lose any discs. After working from home on another nasty day on Friday, I decided to just stay out of the heat. Seth came over that evening and Samantha Joined Abs & I for game night. It was Abby’s night as she killed us in Phase 10 as well as video games. We put her Switch up on the big screen and played bowling and golf. It reminded me of the Family Nights we used to have when the kids were little. Abby & Seth went to the BMV and then up to Indy for dinner and a movie. They saw Oppenheimer and said it was good…just REALLY long. Ann went to scrapbooking for the 2nd day in a row at the Burney church to work on a couple of layouts and hang out with her buddies. Meanwhile, Luke & Sammy joined me for a road trip over to Franklin to play the Blue Heron course. It started off a little cooler that morning but by the time we hit the course, it was really hot again. There was a strong breeze that afternoon as well. I never did find my mojo. My very first throw landed in the high weeks. I looked for about 5 or 10 minutes but had to call Sam over (who was fishing with Luke nearby). She found it instantly, a sure sign my eyesight is starting to fail me as I have zero depth perception right now. The 2nd hole saw the same thing happen. Again, I looked for 10-15 minutes and had to call Luke over. He instantly found it as he was walking up. It was nowhere near where I thought it had landed – probably 40/50 feet away (WTH?). You can probably guess what happened at the 3rd hole…but this time I was able to easily find it and made par. It was on only the 4th hole that I finally decided I’d had enough. My tee shot landed in the high weeds again. These were by far the biggest I’d come across yet as they were as tall as I am. I looked for about 20 minutes before giving up. I called Luke and told him I was headed to the car. After nearly losing 4 discs, I called it day after losing my favorite driver disc. We drove to Columbus to hit the gun store as well as go to the mall to look for a new driver at the sporting goods store. I was impressed to see they actually had about 100/150 discs – loose so you could feel how the plastic felt in your hands. We stopped for a quick snack at Wendy’s and then ran into Hillbilly corner for some ice cream before coming home. When Abby & Seth got back home, we played the Game of Life. We were surprised to find the box filled with pieces from several games – Monopoly, Uno, marbles, dominos, Mouse Trap, and several others. So, it took us some time to sort everything out but Ann joined us and we had a good time. After 3 straight game nights, my stock of ingredients for my go-to drink (dubbed the Flashlight) were running a little lower than normal. Oops…guess we’ll have to make a run over to Batesville next week! 😊 We enjoyed sleeping in on Sunday then did our weekly household chores. Gigi came over and brought a repaired jumbo Lambchop as well as Olive to come play with DJ. I watched a couple races on the DVR while everyone else sat on the back porch and visited with Sandy and delighted in the dogs playing out back. That afternoon, Bu, Seth & I went over to play Liberty Park. I was pleased to find that although still warm, the mugginess had begun to subside so you could actually breathe outside. Everyone played pretty well and I only won by 3 and 4 strokes. Abby took 2nd place and bragging rights between those two. Later, they went to lunch and then cleaned up their cars – including Tonya and put a For Sale sign in it. Right now, we’ve got it at the station but we’re considering putting it in front of Mom & Sandy’s house. It worked for Matt’s Bebe a couple years ago, so hopefully it will help find someone who’s in the market for a reliable but well-used car.
Next up is our Waybac section. After finishing up the last of the digital pictures from Dee, I was forced to look for a new library of old pictures we hadn’t yet shared on the blog. I enjoyed looking through batch after batch of those old pix and feel like I found a really fun group of memories to share on here from 2001 to 2004. Most are from our first digital camera but there’s also early cell phone pix as well as other various ones as well. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find something as fast as I did, so for this entry I have a bunch of miscellaneous pictures to share this week. But as a sneak peak, I did grab a few to preview what is to come. We start off in Y2K with Matt’s t-ball pictures from when I coached him at the Y as well as a great family picture from our Main St. home; in 2001, we have Matt’s soccer and then t-ball pictures of when I coached him at the Y; 2002 has Matt driving the Lamborghini Hot Wheel in the 4th of July parade and Abby & Grace – I think maybe in LaPorte at Megan’s baptism (?); 2003 has Matt & Abby playing on their old computer in the Family room in Ryle as well as Bu playing in the living room at that same new home; and then 2004 we have Luke in the Play Room as well as a picture of us at the Field House for the Barnum & Bailey circus in Indy – both around Bu’s bday in September. This is gonna be fun to explore these years…
Next up is our video segment which includes one new home movie this month as well as several from around the internet.
And that does it for this month’s entry of the Scheu Family Blog. Thanks for keeping up with us this time out and we’ll catch up with you next time. Until then, have a good one and stay safe out there. We miss ya, Mom.
Later, Scheu