This week saw the unofficial end of summer with a long Labor Day weekend. It was another good week with some unique stuff occurring. It has definitely been busy since we last touched base. Mom O got good news about her skin anomalies with the spots turning out to be benign tumors, caused from the sun. The rocket that Keith worked on, called the Artemis 1, had its launch scrubbed a couple times this week, but are hopeful that it will be a go for next week. Ann enjoyed a short work week and headed south with her staff for some changes in latitudes. It was time for their annual retreat to the beach for some changes in attitudes. Matt, Abby and Luke had their typical work weeks at their employers and spent their downtime with their significant others. Luke continued to attend his schooling up in Indy and really got a kick out of seeing a few old teammates during their first visit back to Shriver Field since graduating. I had a fast week at work and enjoyed playing as much disc golf as I could fit into my schedule. I played a few courses around the area for the first time, which was really cool. I did well with my diet plan, completing another 48-hour fast. Exercise-wise, I played five different courses this week and totaled a little over 15 miles of exercise, playing 13 rounds of disc golf (117 holes). The cool thing is that, unlike in previous years, I’ve been able to play this much without any stiffness/soreness in my shoulder, elbow or wrist. I credit that to a couple things: (1) using golf discs instead of my 200g Heavyweight (Ultimate style) disc and (2) spending all of March playing only from the front tees to allow my body to get used to the repetitive motion without throwing at full throttle. Dad & Lynn went on a cruise up the northern seaboard to celebrate Ms. Lynn’s birthday. They went all the way up past Maine, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick – all the way up to Newfoundland! Rob & Sharon are back up in the area. We just missed them this time but hope to spend time with them real soon. As the title implies, we passed an important milestone this week. It’s hard to believe that Mom’s been gone for a decade already. One fact that blew my mind is Luke’s experience with her…because from his perspective, she’s now been dead longer to him than alive. We miss ya, Momma… Hello again and welcome back to the Scheu Family Blog.
It was back to work for Ann & I, early on Monday morning. It was gross outside – extremely humid and a little bit smelly…sort of like a giant armpit. My brother Rob and his wife Sharon are on the move again. After being with the new great grandchild for a few months in TN, they’re headed north. Robby texted me and said they were coming through Greensburg that afternoon and wondered if we’d be in town. Unfortunately, we had to work in Columbus, so we missed them this time. They were headed to South Bend that morning, and then up into Michigan. Sharon sent me a picture of their lunch destination – Redamak’s! Ann & I were so jealous…they have THE best burgers – ever. Rob is signing electrician union books in Michigan and Illinois, which means we should be able to a lot more of them in the near future! Ann and I both had typically fast-paced Mondays at work. I was able to wrap up a bunch of little things that were still out there hanging from the month and then began my monthly EOC rounds. I hadn’t gotten far when a fight broke out in school and I wound up spending about a half hour with the techs, helping to de-escalate. Because of getting behind, I was a little late getting out of work and only had time for one round of disc golf. I was a little rusty…and the gusty winds out of the south didn’t help things. This was especially true on my approaches. Just when I thought I might hit a long putt, a gust of wind would catch it and throw it 10 yards away. That pushed my score up to a 25. The only reason I even salvaged that was because of a 300’ throw from the tee with my Katana on 3, where I was able to pull out a birdie. I had an equally long throw on 7 but I blew that putt. Ann and I caught up on each other’s days as we drove home. Luke had Samantha over for a few hours that evening. Jimmy was just pulling away, having dropped off another load of CBC logo shirts for me to take in tomorrow. I went out to the park and played more disc golf. It looked like rain the entire time and when I got onto the island, the wind really picked-up and harassed me the rest of the round, ending with a 24 on the front tees. As I made the turn on 9 and headed to 10 to begin the 2nd round, I stopped in my tracks by the new sign. With the wind blowing hard enough to make even my short hair fly around, I got a bad feeling. After the lackluster round I just threw, I just knew I would wind up throwing a disc in the pond. Plus, I was a little tired and very hungry, being 24 hours into my 48-hour fast. So, instead of taking the chance, I turned around and called it a night – opting to play it safe instead of pushing my luck. I took it easy that evening, culling pictures and videos for this week’s blog entry. As Ann read, I started to edit pictures afterward while we watched a couple shows but I kept falling asleep. It rained really hard that night – complete with a great light and sound show. The dogs weren’t even phased by all of it…even when a couple big ones really shook the house! After waking up for the third time, I finally got up and just went to bed. I’m not even sure what time it was, but it was fairly early. At least it was dark outside, LOL. Here are random pictures from our recent adventures.
In typical fashion, I slept through the night like a baby as it rained and stormed. I woke up early on Tuesday – well on-time actually, LOL – and was able to catch up on a couple things while Ann got ready that morning. It wasn’t quite as hot and humid that morning but it sure was dark and overcast. Maybe this will be the snap that takes us out of summer and into fall. With Labor Day being this weekend, it is the unofficial end of summer. I remember that was always the last weekend for the city pool, growing up, and we would always close our pool here at home on this weekend when the kids were little. It was day two for my EOC rounds and my 48-hour fast. As much as it sucks while I’m going through it, I have do admit I feel great afterwards. My scale and glucometer would agree with that sentiment. I had already reached my daily step goal before I even finished work that day. I completed all the outside, gym, and front areas so now I only have the units left to do. I had just enough time to do 3rd shift video surveillance rounds for the last two weeks and headed out to go golfing. There was a brutally, constant wind out of the west that really gave me fits on 2 & 8 as well as 4 & 5. Luckily, I birdied 1 & 6 because I bogied 4 & 5 to end with a 27 on the first 9. The wind moved and died down a little to where it was just gusting out of the southwest. I did much better the second time around with birdies on 10, 12 (thanks to 250’ tee shot and a lucky 50’ putt!), 15, and then had my 2nd 300’ tee shot on 18. This time it was within 6 feet of the pin and I birdied it as well, ending with a 23 and tying my PB! I not only threw the Katana 300’ on 18 but earlier on 7 as well. Of course, I also had 4 or 5 awful throws with it on other holes as well. With that wind out there, I was happy to end with a 50 on the day. I was really hungry when we got back to town that night. We ran out to Amoco to get gas and was not happy to see it had shot back up to $4 a gallon. I had heard there was an issue in the northern part of the state due to a fire at a refinery…and that it would likely impact gas prices…I just didn’t realize it would be so soon. We went through the Sonic drive thru while we were there and got our slushes and my Frito burrito. Sandy and Olive came over and met us at the house, just as we pulled in. The dogs ran and played out back and Ann joined Gigi out back for a while. Meanwhile, Luke had an easy day, sleeping in and then working out at the Y for a couple hours. That night, he and Alex drove up to New Pal for their Fire 1 class that night. He has thankfully agreed to take Ann into work at 2 in the morning. Ann spent the evening packing, of course. I texted Abby and told her the big news – the new season of Rick & Morty starts this Sunday night!! ???? I heated up my leftover fish and chips from Jordan’s in the air fryer for dinner and watched some Big Foot shows on the Travel Channel until we got bored…about midway through the second one…and then we watched the last three episodes of this past year’s Simpsons episodes. I had been keeping them to watch with Abby when she came home to live…but I guess that boat has sailed…
I don’t think Ann came to bed at all overnight. Luke got up and took Ann to work at about 2 am that morning and returned safely at like 3 in the morning. He slept in then ran to Columbus for workout powder. Later, he saw Sam for a couple hours then worked out at the Y that night. He has been making burgers for the last three nights in a row. I think it’s great that he’s learned how to cook for himself. Now if he could just learn how to wash his own dishes! I got up to see Ann off then went back to bed. When I headed into work, I nearly had to run the defrost as the temps were all the way down into the 50s – which was great! It was a little foggy, but that burned off quickly and was gone by the time I pulled into the parking lot. That old parking lot only has a few more days left, as I finished up the last couple tasks to actually complete the final steps to getting the upgrade approved. I was out on the golf course that night when the final approval went through! I made it into work early that morning to meet with Vic & Brent to discuss ways to mitigate risks of children eloping over the playground fence. After running a new hire orientation class for a new nurse (who seems really great), I resumed my monthly EOC rounds. Vic & I took a quick lunch to El Nopal then I finished going through the units, did all my paperwork and called it a day. I did run into Linda & Larry Elkins that afternoon. They look great – how is that I’m still aging but Linda still looks the same as she did when I first met her?? Her and Kathy Murphy are ageless, I swear to God… Linda, it was great to see you; I just wish I’d snapped off a selfie with us together for old-time’s sake… Afterward, I enjoyed another gorgeous afternoon in the low 80s with low humidity. I played a quick round of disc golf on the Columbus Airpark grounds. I had another pretty good round, birdying 1, 6 and for the first time – 7…where I threw that Katana 300’ again and then actually hit the short putt. I finished with a 25 and considered playing a 2nd round. Instead, I headed to Batesville and played the 9-hole Liberty Park course. I did pretty well, throwing a 22. A few weeks back, I met a guy out on the Greensburg course who turned me on to disc golf app called U-Golf. It’s pretty cool as it includes a searchable database to look for other courses in any area. You can keep score on the app and see layouts, pictures, ratings and tips from other users. I found a 2nd course – right next to the original. It’s called Liberty Woods. It is much shorter, but it winds through a small, wooded area, which makes it really tricky. I was not very good, but thankfully the course was so small that it didn’t matter. Now that I know the layout a little better, I hope I can play it again soon! The only difference is that I probably would go back to the car and drive rather than walking there and back. Granted, it was only about a five-minute walk, but after playing 27 holes that night, it seemed like a three-mile walk back to the car. I finished with a pair of 22s on both courses then made my way back home. I wound up stopping at the liquor store but came out empty-handed. I grabbed a burger and a large, cherry, diet, Dr. Pepper at BK before hitting the road back to the ‘Burg. I fed the dogs a couple cans of dog food because I forgot to get a new bag of kibble. They were happy campers and couldn’t wait to both jump on the couch and hang out with me. We watched a couple DVR’d shows while I finished editing pictures and began editing a short video for this week. I watched an old movie that night – a John Candy / Dan Aykroyd comedy classic. Ann said that she worried about the weather last night, as her app showed that it was supposed to rain the whole time there were down there. Luckily, it was sunny and 80 when they got there, so at least they enjoyed their first day… We have lots of social media pictures to share this week.
Thursday was another cool start with temps only in the 50s. It was another busy day at work as the parking lot project was actually approved! After nearly a decade of trying to get it done, we finally crossed the finish line. We are set up now to begin the project on Tuesday morning, after doing a little planning with the contractor. I wrote out all the work orders from my EOC rounds this week and did inventory of our nursing supplies so I can order when I work from home tomorrow. Vic, Brent and Justin went to lunch at Culvers. After work, I tried to go play 9 holes at the airport, but I had to rush back to work when my body was done with the Culvers lunch! I opted to skip the Columbus course and headed down to another new course I found on that U-disc app in North Vernon. It is a lovely park that is just off the highway, but you’d never know it because it’s nestled in some rolling hills. I’ve never played a course with a hole that was over 500’! I did good on it from the front and back tees, getting a 3 (par) both times. It was one of the only times I even used my Katana disc. Despite not knowing the course, I was able to throw a 21 from the front tees and a 28 on the longest course (the back tees) I’ve ever played on to finish with a 49. I wasn’t necessarily happy with my throws. Everything seemed to be short. I’m not sure if that was because I was afraid of losing another disc, but I’ve noticed that trend with my game all week. I stopped at Walmart before I left town to pick up dog food and a few other supplies before heading home. Like yesterday, I got home at dusk, which is now about 8 – more than an hour earlier that just a month ago. The dogs were sure happy to see me. The poor things were couped up for nearly the entire day. Luke said they were only out for about an hour or so today. I made sure they were outside for a couple hours that evening – even if it was dark. Meanwhile, Ann had another lovely day of cocktails by the pool on a warm, sunny day. Abby worked in Greenwood at Sly Fox. Matt worked at the Indy office that day. Luke worked with Chad, doing lawn work all day. That evening, he and Alex went up to New Palestine for their Fire 1 class. When he got back home, he joined me on the couch to watch the Boilers’ opening night game vs. Penn St. Purdue looked like they were going to pull off the victory but ran out of steam down the stretch and after some questionable play calling, poor clock management and inconsistent officiating, the lead went back and forth 7 times before finally losing by 4 points. I watched a couple Rick & Morty episodes and did some work on the blog before heading on to bed after midnight for the second night in a row.
Friday was the 10th anniversary of Mom’s death. I can’t believe it’s been a decade since I last talked with her. Obviously, I thought of her many times throughout the day. I got up and ran to the store then grabbed breakfast for Luke & I before coming back and working from home. I still find it amazing how much I can accomplish when I don’t have all the extra distractions at the facility. I was able to get all of my monthly purchasing completed, along with all the other routine stuff like emails, time & attendance as well as following up on all our different projects happening right now. There’s a lot of moving pieces to say the least. Luke got up and eventually went outside to mow & trim here, Mom & Sandy’s and Mr. DeVolld’s lawn. Afterward, he went to Columbus for lunch and protein powder. After working until almost 5, I went out to the park and played 18 holes at my home course. It was a good round and I found a renewed respect for the challenges that course presents. I have to say, though, I really liked that course in North Vernon and hope to go back next weekend. When I got back, I got cleaned-up and Luke & I headed out to Shriver Field. It was weird waiting in line and paying at the gate. That’s the first time we’ve done that in 12 years. Luke said it was really strange, sitting up in the stands and not being out on the field and playing ball. I was envious of him. I still have never made it back to LaPorte to watch a game since I was on the field when we lost that Sectional game to Valpo all those years ago. We sat with the Wests and saw several other parent friends. Luke’s buddies all came over to sit with us and then in the 2nd quarter, they all went down and stood on the sidelines to support the players and coaches. I could tell it was killing him to watch and not compete. The game was really close. There were several questionable referee calls, bad clock management (by our own timekeeper), and some bad defense. The game went back and forth and with 45 seconds left, Connersville scored and then hit a two-point conversion to tie us and send it into OT. We couldn’t stop them in the overtime and we couldn’t score, so the Pirates wound up losing a tough one, 42-35. We came home afterward, where Samantha met up with Luke. They were going to go out for a late dinner, but they wound up falling asleep and didn’t wake up until after 1 am. Meanwhile, I poured myself a few glasses of Yukon Fire and Diet Dr. Peppers, grabbed a couple cigars, my speaker and headed out to enjoy some porch time, listening to my favorite Rush album, 2112. The neighbors were out back, around a fire. Those lucky dogs got to listen to it as well, LOL. Afterward, I put on Physical Graffiti by Led Zeppelin so I could hear Ten Years Gone and have a drink in Mom’s memory. It was pretty heavy for a moment there… The cicadas are still so loud out back and are everywhere. The dogs are still enthralled with them and love being out back, by the three. They eventually settled down and came and laid with me for a long while. When I finally came back in, Sam was just leaving and Luke made a run to the boarder to get us a 4th meal. We destroyed those tacos quickly while watching a few episodes of Rick & Morty before finally calling it a night. Here are pictures of recent additions to my Hot Wheels collection.
I’ll tell ya…although I miss Ann, I have to say that I LOVE sleeping in the middle of our bed. Granted, maybe it was the whiskey but I slept like a baby overnight. ???? Despite the thunder and lightning that Luke said kept him awake, I slept right on through until almost 10 am on Saturday morning. I can’t remember the last time I slept in that late. I did finally succumb to the house-shaking storm and got up. Luke and I had plans to go play golf in Shelbyville and grab some lunch over there. Instead, it poured like it was the end of the world. It rained for at least six or seven hours straight. We lost power three times as the thunder and lightning shook the house to its core. We kept holding out hope that it would move out and clear-up for us, but the longer the day wore on, the more it just kept raining. So, I binge-watched the first three episodes of the new Walking Dead spin-off called Tales of the Walking Dead. A couple flood advisories were issued that afternoon and Luke left to go workout at the YMCA. I edited pictures and videos, got everything renamed and uploaded and eventually wrote-out this week’s html code. That afternoon, I watched the first two episodes of The Rings of Power, the new spinoff of The Lord of the Rings, on Prime Video. Abs went to Indy with her oldest friends, Megan and Brittany and many others to celebrate Megan with her bachelorette party. As it continued raining into the evening, I put on the Xfinity race and took a nap. I like to call it NAPcar – LOL. By the time Luke picked up Sam and brought her to our house, it finally stopped raining. It must’ve rained for a solid 12 hours today. Luke ordered us Pizza King for dinner and the kids picked it up to save time. We watched the new Elvis movie on HBO Max. Once the kids fell asleep, I stopped it and watched the latest USWST game vs. Nigeria, which they easily won, 4-0. They are now won 70 straight home games! I checked in a few new Hot Wheels during the game before calling it a night and heading on to bed.
I enjoyed sleeping in on Sunday morning. I even laid in bed a little longer and took my time getting up – enjoying the fact that I had that big ol’ bed all to myself one last morning. ???? I slowly got up and got cleaned-up. I still wanted to play the Shelbyville course, even though there was a threat of rain all day. I saw a two-hour window so I went for it and made the trek over to Shelby County. It was fairly cool, mostly because it was overcast, but the park was very nice – filled with old-growth trees that were a couple hundred feet tall. The course was well manicured and fairly well laid out. I only had to walk around like a lost puppy a couple times. Now that I’ve played it once, I really want to go play it again. It was still pretty wet from all the rain yesterday, so I was glad I brought a change of shoes and socks for afterward. I though hole 4 was pretty cool, as it went into the wooded area and had a goal on the side of the river. It was pretty tough, but I didn’t lose any discs that day! On the front 9 I actually finished one-under par. But the back 9 whipped my butt as I finished with a 33, which is 5 over-par. For the course, par is 56 and I shot a 60. I didn’t think that was too bad for my first time on the course. It wasn’t as nice as North Vernon but a little nicer than Batesville. Now I want to play Franklin and Nineveh some time this month. Abs said she’d join me on the Franklin course so I’ll have to see what she’s doing next Saturday… Speaking of Abs, she enjoyed Megan’s bachelorette party last night, but it wasn’t without a little drama. But I think that’s par for the course when you have a bachelor / bachelorette party, right? In the end, everyone was safe and no one got hurt…and the wedding is still on – so it’s all good! LOL. I was hoping she would be down that evening to spend the night, but she already had plans, unfortunately. We talked to Matt, who was having trouble with the TV we bought him last year for his 25th birthday. I called Best Buy to see what our options were. For whatever reason, we didn’t buy the Geek Squad coverage and the manufacturer’s warranty expired a couple months ago (of course it did!). So, he’s going to call Samsung to see if they can troubleshoot with him. As Ann said, that’s pretty disappointing that it broke down after just a year… Luke was going to go with me that day, but he had a birthday party – one for a five-year-old…the little sister of one of his buddies (Ethan). There was a bunch of his buddies that were supposed to come down and attend it, so he wanted to see all of them (which I totally understood). Afterward, he went to Batesville to pickup Sam and then they went out to eat dinner. After I finished at Sunset Park, I grabbed a quick snack at Wendy’s then made my way to Taylorsville to do some Hot Wheels hunting at the Exit 76 Mall for an hour or so. Meanwhile, Ann and the girls got up and made their way to the Destin airport. She got quite the pat down from the lady working the TSA line when she felt a little higher than was comfortable. I made the short drive down to Columbus and met Ann and the girls at their work. We were hungry and decided to stop at Wings & Rings when we got back to town that evening. We enjoyed catching up with each other, but obviously her stories were much more interesting than mine. The dogs were sure happy to see Ms. Ann that evening and wouldn’t leave her alone for the first half hour or so. That night, Ann relaxed and read on her Kindle in her chair. She hadn’t used it in forever but wanted it so she could read while poolside. There’s no glare, like on her phone. Plus, it’s bigger and easier for her to read. While she read, Delilah & I watched the Southern 500 (Darlington), which is the first race of the post-season for the cup boys. Well, DJ slept next to me, much like she did every night since Ann was gone. It turned out to be a perfect day, staying in the upper 70s. Granted the humidity was a little high, but it never did rain. Ann fell asleep early in her chair, which was a surprise to no one. The kids came back from dinner at Red Lobster and watched a movie in Luke’s room. I finished up the blog and watched Richard Petty’s team win the race that night. It was the first time the #43 car has won the Southern 500 since The King did it himself, exactly 55 years to the day. It was a relaxing way to wind down a fast week. We’re happy we get an extra day off tomorrow, but this was a great way to bring another fun week to an end…
Next up is our Waybac segment which continues to feature pictures from Deanna’s digital camera from 2007 plus a dash of late 2006 ones added in as well. We lead off this week in Dec 2006 for more pictures of the girls and their dogs on Main St. Next, we move on to 2007: Sandy running for mayor in Mar; sitting in the luxury box at the Reds game in Apr; Memorial Day weekend and midterm elections for Gigster Group in May; Luke’s birthday in Jun; 4th of July, Grace’s birthday & Sandy’s birthday all in Jul; Van Halen concert in Oct; Maryann’s birthday in Nov; and Christmas Eve at Gma & Gigi’s house on Main St. in Dec.
Next up is our video segment which includes one small home movie this week as well as several from around the internet.
Well, that puts the kibosh on this week’s edition 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 sure miss ya, Momma. #missyamomma
Later, Scheu