The cicadas are everywhere! There are dozens of holes around our trees (probably more you can’t see because of the grass) and the dogs enjoyed hanging out outside and trying to catch them as they emerged from underground. They are so loud! And the dogs loved playing with them – how gross… We can hear the discarded exoskeletons crunching under our feet as we walk though the backyard and see them stuck to the side of the trees. And I think Lola ate a whole one and then puked it up in the living room – yuck! Matt worked in Indy all week, driving up to the office for his new job. Abby worked in Greenwood and stayed in Franklin all week with Will. After starting off the week in pretty rough shape, they are both doing much better now. Luke continued doing odd jobs, working out at the Y and spending time with Samantha. Ann & I had busy weeks at work. I got back on the wagon with my diet and exercise this week, losing 8 pounds. Despite not mowing this week (Luke took care of that for me), I fell just short of my exercise goal with 14 miles of walking. I played three different course of disc golf again this week, enjoying 13 rounds of golf. I began carrying a full bag of discs this week and although I had varying success, I did begin to understand my discs better and was able to throw different discs in different situations instead of throwing just the same 4 or 5 all the time. That has allowed me to not torque my ankle so much with every throw and it actually feels a little better as I sit and write this at the end of the week. We had a full week, culminating with our second annual NFL Fantasy Football Draft for the Blue Suede Scheus league. I am the defending champion from last year but my team is nowhere near as strong as last year’s, so I doubt I’ll be repeating in 2022. Still, we had a great time hosting the family and a few friends for the live draft. We expanded to 14 players this year, which took a lot longer than we planned, but it was all good – making the best of it with good laughs, good music and plenty of spirits! Now I’m even more excited for the regular season to begin… Hello again and welcome to the latest edition of the Scheu Family Blog.
It was back to work for Ann & I on Monday morning. It was noticeably cooler and pretty foggy during our commute to Columbus. Abby got up to try and go to work, but she still felt like crud and decided to take the day off to rest. She picked up some medicine for Will, who was still running a fever, and headed back up to Franklin to spend the night with him at the Sig house. Luke spent the day rearranging his room and later got in a workout at the YMCA. Ann said she had a fast day work. I had a steady day myself, catching up on paperwork, filing and all the stuff that got pushed back last week. It was actually nice to have a day that wasn’t totally crazy and non-stop. I fasted all day but made sure to stop by Wendy’s for a diet cherry Dr. Pepper to get me through the day. It helped…a little. After work, I went next door to the frisbee golf course on the airport property. It was a pretty day with a gusty breeze. I did pretty good and really had the Valkyrie flying good with some of the longest drives I’ve ever thrown, birdying 7 and 8 on the first round. I threw a 24 on the first 9 and a 25 on the “back??? nine to end with a respectful 49 on my score sheet. I dropped Ann off and went out to the park to do some more golfing when we got back town. After l got off to a decent start, I really screwed the pooch on 5 again. Between that hole and the next, I think I’ve lost 5 or 6 discs…and that day I added another. I was just bragging to Justin how well I had gotten my Archangel disc broken in and then in a moment, it was gone. My hand was a little sweaty and there was a gusty wind, but I can’t make excuses…it was a terrible release and boy did it soar – right into the middle of the damn pond. It was so far out that by the time I got to the bank, I couldn’t even locate it – not that I would’ve been able to do anything without a boat of some sort. They don’t make a 100’ extending pole that you can just carry around in your bag. I was so mad that I didn’t even play 18. I finished my round on the front tees and just went home disgruntled. I didn’t even have the ability to drown my sorrows in a stiff drink or even a sandwich because of my stupid fasting diet. Instead, I got online and ordered a replacement disc and just stewed for a couple hours. I worked on procuring pictures and videos for this week’s blog. There were a lot more than I remembered – it was a good week! I also had time to work on uploading a new batch of music onto my phone from some backups I came across this weekend along with new additions to my music collection from the past week. Lola was acting weird that night and that had Delilah a little restless as well. The dogs were looking for the kids, who weren’t in the house. We know how they feel but need to get used to that feeling – it will only get worse as time progresses. We laughed and learned with John Oliver then eventually fell asleep catching up on Blood & Treasure Paramount + and went on to bed sometime around midnight, I think… Here are pictures of last weekend’s Jeep Ride with Bryan & Angie, out on the backroads of Decatur and surrounding counties.
Tuesday was a lovely day. It started off in the low 60s and the humidity was lower than it has been in a long time, warming into the 80s – a typical late summer day in Indiana. Ann and I had good days at work. Ann’s was another busy one while mine was another steady one. I worked with Lenny to get new menus published for the facility so we could re-submit our nutrition application to the state. I still cannot understand how these same menus have been good for 8 years and the regs haven’t changed at all…and yet these new folks want us to change all this stuff. We made a little progress with the parking lot project and got the go-ahead to at least start the first part, which is the employee sidewalk out back. Our contractor will be there in the morning and should have it finished before the weekend. Hopefully, the whole project can be approved by Monday so we can continue moving forward. I continued fasting that day and completed the whole 48 hours this time. I played 18 holes of disc golf after work, shooting a pair of 25s to finish with a 50 on the day. I tried out a couple of my other discs that day since I was missing my Archangel. There was a tough, constant wind out of the north that made things pretty tricky on 4 and 5, which is why my scores weren’t that hot that day…plus I was tired, had a headache, was hungry…and a little whiny – LOL. ???? However, with the wind and with one of my faster discs in my bag (the Katana), I threw a disc on 9 that went over 300 feet! That is only the 2nd time that I’ve thrown one that far and I think this was probably the farthest of the two. It actually went past the hole by about 10’. I might have to try that one on some other holes to see if I can be consistent with it. Meanwhile, Abby returned to work after caring for Will overnight. His fever still hasn’t broken and is holding steady above 101. She said there was a little drama with her coming in, since she still had a cough – but she works alone up front so it shouldn’t have been that big of a deal. Thankfully, his antibiotic should be kicking in but Ann told him if it doesn’t go down soon, he should probably go see a doctor. We tried to call Matt again, but he was busy and missed him. We heard he had started working in the office this week, which should be a good change of pace for him. I know he said that eventually it would be a mix of office and remote. Luke worked on his room all day and then went to his Fire 1 class in Indy with Alex that night. When Ann & I got back to town, we went to Amoco to get gas and get our weekly cherry limeade slushies at the Sonic. We came home afterward and I was ready to eat; so in lieu of playing more golf at the park, I warmed up the gravy and used the rest of the loaf of bread from Wildflour Bakery and made a meal of it. Her gravy is so damn good. We watched (or at least tried) the next couple episodes of Blood & Treasure. When I woke up on the couch, I should’ve gone to bed. Instead, I stayed up and we watched the season 2 finale of Evil. It is so weird. I think I’m more confused now than I was before the episode started. You have to pay very close attention or you miss little clues. I will admit, though, that I’m looking forward to season 3 already. Afterward, it started streaming The Stand (Steven King miniseries). I edited pictures and videos all night and wound up forcing myself to go to bed sometime after 1 that morning… Here are random pictures from our recent adventures.
Wednesday was another gorgeous day, starting in the upper 50s and warming into the 80s again. Ann & I both had a busy Humpday. The bad thing was that I thought it was Thursday all day! That morning we had our employee entrance sidewalk torn out. It had really deteriorated the last couple years and after two people tripped and fell on it this summer, we made the decision to replace it all. Next, I had a new hire orientation class that morning before going out to lunch with Vic at Marco’s pizza. When we returned, I met with my folks in the dietary, housekeeping and maintenance departments to coordinate the setup of the AT Room for a two-day conference that got sprung onto Jim just before I went to lunch. Afterward, I worked on re-submitting our Health & Nutrition programs to the state. Once I finished with that, I typed up a few emails to move projects along then setup the AT Room with the IT infrastructure needed for tomorrow morning. Once I finished, it was time to head out to go golfing. I didn’t have enough time to play 18 holes, so I stopped at 9. That wind was again nasty, but I had some fun experimenting with a faster disc – the Katana. It’s a distance driver that’s much faster than anything I’ve previously thrown – a speed 13 disc. I bogeyed on 4 and 5, throwing into the teeth of the wind. I wound up with a 27 but really started to get the hang of the Katana disc. I went out to the park when we got back to the ‘Burg and played 18 holes of disc golf. Despite having some great throws, I also had some really bad ones, nearly losing four discs in the brush around the pond. Still, I managed a 23 on the front tees and a 21 on the back 9, ending with a 44. Matt was on the phone when I got home. I can’t believe we actually got to talk to our long, lost son that evening! ???? LOL! Abby worked and then stayed with Will again. He was finally starting to feel a little better that afternoon. They wanted us to allow them to take Delilah up to school for a party on Saturday night. We said no; but offered them Lola. They declined. Poor Lola… Ann made tuna salad for dinner that night, which was perfect for a hot evening. We watched a couple shows before Ann fell asleep. I went through my discs and cataloged them, putting the info into database and uploaded it to our website for easy access when I’m out on the courses shooting. It will allow me to know what I have in certain situations. Luke had Sam over for a few hours after school that afternoon then he ran a long CAT-5 cable back to his room to speed-up his ability to download new versions of games on his PS5. He wants to run it through our crawl space but has to clean up all the fallen insulation on the ground first. It is a job I proposed to him at the start of the summer when Danny was under there, fixing that plumbing leak. It was everything we could do to keep from tripping over the darned thing but he got it picked up before he went to bed. But he was all excited to have such a fast internet connection to his device and now has a renewed sense of urgency to get the clean-up completed. We also talked to him about doing some detailing on our cars as a way for him to make a little extra mullah. After publishing a new version of the website that night, I watched several episodes of South Park until I fell asleep on the couch and got to bed after 1 am again… Here are more random pictures from our recent adventures.
After being up too late again for the 4th or 5th day in a row, I had some trouble getting up on time on Thursday morning. It was another lovely start to our morning commute with temps again right around 60. I can’t wait until that is our high for the day! The day started off with a bang as we had a parking lot full of activity. In the back, we had trucks and guys working on putting in our new sidewalk out back. It took them several hours but by the time I left, it looked great. Then, I the front, we hosted a conference in the AT room. I helped the presenter get his laptop hooked up and working with our projector and then called JCI to get our fire panel serviced as it was malfunctioning. It wasn’t 20 minutes later and I was getting texts and phone calls. Seems our projector failed after only a couple minutes into the presentation. So, I had Justin grab the backup from my office to get them going down there. Problem is – the backup wouldn’t even turn on! What are the odds? So, I got my company card for he and Jim and they went off to go buy a new one for us. They had to go to 5 stores before they found one that both open at 830 am and actually had one in stock! Thankfully, they go that figured out and I was able to get service on our panel. So, I went to the kitchen to talk to Lenny and grab some breakfast. I had just sat down in the office to start my day when I got a call from the operator, stating the gals from the State Health Dept were here to do our annual Health & Sanitation inspection. So, I got them settled in a conference room and started pulling together staff to get the resources that inspectors required for the day. Problem is, we had no HR personnel in at that time and our regulatory compliance officer (Tena) was out on a transport at Ann’s office. We did the best we could and somehow figured it all out. I did my weekly rounds while they were going through charts and wound up picking up rooms with Justin, Steph & Brent. We were all pretty sweaty by the time we finished. I was about halfway through my lunch of leftover pizza when the operator called and said they were ready to go on a tour. I scarfed down the rest of my pizza, threw away the remaining cheese sticks and headed back down. We toured for about two hours as they went through everything very closely. They, of course, found a few things; but it wasn’t bad at all. I think we had 5 EOC items on the POC, which we should be able to knock out quickly. I was able to do a little scanning and began working on POs when the call came that it was time to do the exit interview. The management team joined me up front and were pleasantly surprised to hear the nice things they had to say about our program. Not only did we pass the inspection but Stacey’s health program and Lenny & I’s nutrition program were also approved! Now we just have the plan of correction to complete and we’ll be done for another year. I called Ann and asked if I could have some extra time to blow off steam with a round of disc golf. She obliged me and I went out and did pretty well. That Katana really flies! Despite the strong, sustained wind I was able to birdie 3, 6. & 9 to end with 24. Ann & I came back to town, catching up with each other’s days. She had a busy day as well – heck, her whole week flew by due to all the activity. She placed an order with Walmart, which we were able to do that contactless pickup thing, which is pretty cool. I brought home some landscaping stones that we were throwing away at work to put out back. We’re not sure what to do with them yet, but I carried them around to the back. Afterward, Delilah helped me water the shrubs along the back. Man 5 out of the 7 are turning brown. ? Two of them are completely gone. Two are not looking good and one just has one brown branch, so not sure what to think… Luke detailed the minivan that day for us. Thankfully, he gave us the friends & family discount! LOL. Later, he lifted at the Y then went to Fire 1 class up north with Alex that night. Abby tried all day to convince us why she should be allowed to take Delilah to the fraternity house in Franklin this weekend. We just don’t think it is a good idea but Abs disagrees and can’t understand why we’re being such boomers. I told her that if she wants to spend time with D-Bug, she needs to bring her alumni butt home and leave those college boys alone! Matt continued working at his office in Indy that day and sounds like he is actually enjoying the folks he’s working with, so we’re happy for him. We had a find your own night for dinner. I fell asleep three times on the couch, trying to watch a couple shows until I finally gave it up and went to bed before Luke even got home that night. We have lots of social media pictures to share this week.
I pushed snooze several times on Friday morning before finally getting up and showering. I began working from home while Ann got ready. After we did our regular Friday routine (Dunkin, downtown office, Walmart, CVS), I returned to work for several hours that day. I got all the stuff I brought home to do and then called it an early day. Luke helped Chad, doing lawn work with him. Luke again manned the trimmer and blower while Chad mowed. He also got to mow for a little while as well. In fact, they are already talking about Luke possibly taking over his lawns next year, if things go as planned. When he got home, he was black with dirt and grass. He ate a quick lunch and cooled down before heading back outside. He mowed our lawn then loaded up Betty White and went off to mow at his old teacher’s house as well as at Gma & Gigi’s house. After work, Ann read then took a good nap in her chair. I finished working and did some stuff on my laptop before going out to the park to play some disc golf and get a little exercise. After yesterday’s struggles with throwing, I was a little cautious on the course that day. I got my new Archangel in the mail and was anxious to give it a try. It definitely fills a hole in my golf bag. That evening, I used several different discs and continued to identify areas where I can try new angles with different discs. I’m not carrying a bag with the majority of my discs in it and in fact have actually outgrown my bag already. I’ve been looking at a new bag that holds 30 discs. I’m also looking at a pull-behind cart so I don’t have to carry the bag but instead could just pull it – sort of like pulling you regular golf bag instead of carrying it on your shoulder. I took my time and enjoyed the quiet relaxation. Unlike the last time I was on the course, I had the place to myself – save for a couple fishermen. As for the game itself, I started off a little rough, missing some easy putts. I eventually got in the groove and scored a 21 on the front 9 and a 23 on the back 9 to end with a 44 for the evening. When Luke got back that night, he was hot, dirty, sweaty, stinky and sore. I can relate because that’s how I feel when I get done mowing lawns! LOL! ???? After he showered, he was hungry and ready to go get us dinner. Instead of going to El Rep, as we thought we might, he instead ran through the Burger King drive thru (and Wendy’s for Ann) to get us food. Ann & I watched a movie on the big screen called Man on Fire – an older Denzel Washington movie – that was pretty good. Afterward, we watched some Ancient Aliens and went on to bed. Meanwhile, Luke had his girlfriend Samantha over for a few hours, after she got done at the Batesville football game. I’m not sure how they did, but she did mention that they got turf in the off-season. They traveled to Milan that evening, who also got turf this last year. So that explains why Greensburg wasn’t able to do it over the summer. Officially, they said they weren’t sure they could have it all done in time before the season started and now we know it’s because the surrounding cities had the same plan. Greensburg is now slated to get turf next summer. The Pirates travelled to Greenfield that evening for the first time since adding them to the schedule in lieu of East Central. It didn’t make much of a difference as they were defeated by 6 touchdowns and were shutout, 41-0. I’m sure it was because we weren’t there to support them, so I’ll try to make sure I attend next week’s game when Ann is down south with the girls…
We enjoyed sleeping in on Saturday morning. I slept in until almost 9 that morning and was awakened to the sound of loud cicadas. I never noticed them that early in the day before, but I’m sure their lifespans are quickly winding down. I finally figured out what made Lola sick a few days ago. I’m pretty sure she’s not eating toads – but rather cicadas. When I was outside, watering the other day, I noticed some weird holes in the ground around the trees. I also noticed a cat hanging out around the trees as well. I finally put two and two together and figured out the holes are the cicadas coming up and I think the animals are eating them. I know the dogs have been fascinated with the tree and area around the gate/fence – a place they don’t normally hang out. At first, I thought they were after the cat that’s hanging around (and that may be true as well), but I also think they’re fascinated by the bugs emerging from the ground. Ann wound up sleeping in until after 10. I worked on renaming pictures and then uploaded the pix and vids for this week’s blog entry while watching the Daytona Xfinity race and expanding my music collection. That afternoon, I started laundry and then took Luke to Batesville. We stopped at our favorite liquor store when we got over there and I went in and bought that anejo tequila that we liked so much last weekend – the 1800 Cristalino. I can’t wait to turn my friends and family on to it! I also picked up a couple cigars as well to add to the collection, in hopes we can get some porch time sometime soon… I gave Luke some coaching tips and he actually listened to the old man…a little too good. I played around a little too much, trying out some different discs on different holes. He started really hitting some shots and by the time we finished the first round, he was only down one. It didn’t take long before we were tied and he may have actually taken the lead at one time. As it ended up, I barely edged him by one point – 47-48. We stopped at Burger King before we left town for a quick lunch. When we got home, I did a couple loads of laundry and then Ann & I headed over to Julie & Danny’s house for a cookout for all of Julie’s clients. We sat out back and enjoyed a cookout and a couple beers. Mom & Sandy were there with Pixie. Their backyard was pretty cool and we both loved her “she shed??? that Danny built himself. Afterward, we ran to the store to get a few last-minute supplies for tomorrow’s draft party. We are again hosting the Scheu Friends & Family Fantast Football draft. I think everyone except Rob & Sharon are going to be able to attend. Luke & Sam drove up to Greenwood to get dessert at the Cheesecake Factory that evening. We talked about going out to the annual St. Mary’s festival to watch Bryan play in Brothers McGee and Nothin’ Fancy and enjoyed a few beverages at the Beer Garden. Instead, we came home to prep and pre-cook tomorrow’s breakfast. While Ann slaved away in the kitchen, I wrote out this week’s html code for nearly 400 pictures in this blog entry. We watched the final Colts preseason game and then tried to watch the nighttime cup race at Daytona, but it was rained out. Instead, we just put on the weekly SVU marathon on Ion until we fell asleep. Here are photos of recent additions to my Hot Wheels collection.
I was up a little earlier than I planned on Sunday morning. I cleaned up a little and did a load of dishes before Annie got up and began cooking for a houseful. It was Draft Day and that means football is just around the corner! Ann made three dozen biscuits, a full pot of sausage gravy, two quiches, a delicious homemade coffeecake and a huge bowl of fruit salad and then Jamie & Dee brought a big pan of taters. Justin, Amanda & Brent brought three 2-packs of OJ and we picked up three bottles of champagne and eventually broke into the liquor cabinet for a 4th bottle for a few rounds of mimosas. We eventually broke out one of the bottles of that new 1800 tequila for some sippers and as well as a reposado and grenadine to mix with the rest of the OJ for some tequila sunrises. The live draft took the 14 of us about four hours to complete. In the end, Justin ended up with what ESPN says was the best of the draft, followed by Jamie, Abby and then me in 4th place – so we’ll see. I have a big test in the first week (next week!) when I face Matt in week 1. Sandy was the first one over that morning, bringing Olive over to play in the backyard with DJ. They ran and ran until they got tuckered out. Normally, we would’ve joined Gigi for some porch time, but Ann was busy cooking so the girls came inside and hung out in the kitchen for a while. Sandy took breakfast back for Mom O. Jamie & Dee brought their goodies over and Luke helped Jamie get everything set up for the draft. Matt came down from Carmel without Taylor. Abby & Will came over from Franklin. Justin, Amanda & Brent rode their motorcycles over from Columbus. And Grace & Josh came over as well. Only Rob & Sharon were missing from the draft lineup, so we did an auto draft for Robbo. As it turned out, we had to do auto-draft for Justin and crew as well since they had to get back a little sooner than we were able to finish. We had so much fun, laughing and hanging out with each other. Ann & I really enjoy getting together with family and friends. We listened to music and enjoyed a case of beer. There were a few leftovers but we ate pretty much everything. After the Barnett’s left, Will & I played Abby & Matt in a few games of euchre. Ann joined us in the kitchen. Will & I wound up winning 2-1 with me going out in dramatic style – a laydown loner! ???? Will & I did a few Coca-Bombs and then ordered dinner from Jordan’s via Door Dash. Luke had Sam over and they wound up falling asleep, so they missed out on dinner. When they woke up, Ann ordered them Papa John’s pizza. When Sammi went home, Luke went to the Y to workout. Matt went back up to his apartment before food arrived and after dinner, Abs and Will took a nap. I found the Daytona cup race on Peacock Premium (since my recording didn’t work again) and took a nap. After the three-hour rain delay, there was an exciting finish to set the field for the playoffs. Ann & I tried to wake the kids up for an hour or so after they were hoping to leave that night, but I eventually had to get out my old football coach’s whistle to get their butts up and out of the bed. They moved her TV into his room, so I guess she’s planning to spend more time down there than at home for a while… After we said goodbye to the kids and Luke had returned, showered and gone on to bed, Ann & I watched a couple shows while the dogs slept – worn out from their long day. I straightened up the house and worked on the blog, watching the latest episode of Surface and a few episodes of SVU on USA. Once Annie went on to bed that night, I finished up the blog and watched the new episode of the Game of Thrones spinoff – House of the Dragon. It was a relaxing way to wind down the weekend and a great way to put a cap on another fast week, here at the Scheu abode.
Next up is our Waybac section, which continues to include pictures from Dee’s digital camera from the end of 2006 through 2007. We lead off in Dec 2006 with more pictures of Mom & Sandy’s dogs on Main St. Next, we move on to 2007: Mar – Matt’s drum performance at GCHS for “A Night to Remember??? and Sandy’s mayoral run; Apr – Easter Egg hunt at Church on Easter Sunday; May – Memorial Day weekend; Jun – Luke’s birthday; July – Decatur Co fair, Eiteljorg Museum, 4th of July, and Grace’s birthday; Aug – Grace with Gigi; Oct – Van Halen concert; Nov – Thanksgiving Day; and Dec – Christmas Eve at Mom & Sandy’s house.
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 this week’s entry into 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