Growing up in Indiana, you’re taught the old adage that, “April showers bring May flowers.” But I have to tell you that all the trees, shrubs and flowers were all beginning to bloom early in April – and the allergies were off the charts…fun! April started off with temps up in the 70s and 80s – with record-setting highs and promoting all that flora growth. However, those temps didn’t last long. It quickly snapped back and the month was actually one of the coldest Aprils on record. We assume Matt & Taylor must’ve had a busy month. We didn’t see them, much less talk to them much this month so we really don’t know a whole lot. He continued working from home for One America as an underwriter and then drives to Zionsville for work at the middle school. We are looking forward to seeing them soon when we go up to Indy to have dinner with them. We hope they are able to come to Week 19 this year. Abby had a great month. She’s still working for Sly Fox in Greenwood, goes to see her friend (Bakr) in Bloomington, spends time with her friends in Franklin and hangs out at home with Ann & I. Luke was disappointed again with the CFD process but continues to be focused on making that his life’s goal. In the meantime, he continues to work odd jobs, trying to start up his own business. I suggested he call it Will & Mike (a nod towards the “weakside” and “middle” linebackers on a defense, which was where he played all during his career). 😊 He and Samantha spent most days together this month, working out at the YMCA and even attending her senior prom in Batesville. Ann and her office continue to flourish as they bust at the seams. She can’t wait to hire two more providers to help care for their growing patient base. She enjoyed spending time with her friends and family but continues to deal with the lingering effects of our last bout of that damn Covid virus. We’ve spent more and more time talking about retirement and have even begun talking with financial planners to map out a path for us. It is both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. With the warmer weather, I was able to get out and exercise more, playing 369 holes of disc golf during the month. I also enjoyed spending time with friends and family but can’t wait to see more of them down in Florida real soon!! It’s been a while since we last touched base, so let’s get to it. Hello again; and welcome back to the Scheu Family Blog.
Luke worked with Chad a lot in the early part of the month and he also began scoping work on our shed makeover project. After work one night, Abs & I called the IRS to verify her identity so she could get her tax return. We’ve never had that happen with any of our returns before in all the years that we’ve been doing our taxes. After a couple hours, we finally finished. Abby went out to the Y to work out, Luke went to the grocery store while Ann & I watched American Idol and then turned on the March Madness championship game to watch U-Conn beat the snot out of San Diego State. Although it isn’t much solace, Zach Edey continued to rake in the hardware, winning all the big awards – including AP National Player of the Year! We had some severe weather, including thunderstorms and even a tornado warning. Thankfully, we dodged any major damage this time, but there was nasty stuff all around us, including some damage at the Franklin College campus. The weather was crazy, going from freezing to the 80s and then back down to the freezing level before finally leveling off in the 60s and 70s. Luke got word that, unfortunately, he & Alex didn’t make the fire department this time around. However, they both said they will continue to go through the process at least one more time. I helped Luke create a quote/invoice template for his business. We need to find an original name and then we can figure out a logo and catch phrase for him! 😊 He finally got the mower and yard tools fired up and working the first week of April and mowed at Gma & Gigi’s house as well as our own. He also started working with Chad again and I think I even heard him talking with Coach Harris for some work as well. After doing a good job with the last painting job, Bryan gave him another project also, so things are starting to pick up for him. In fact, he’s even taking on his old buddy Alex as a part time helper. The two of them might even look at doing some coaching for wrestling this year. Ann turned them on to what I think is a great idea – trying to get on at CRH as EMTs. They will train them and pay them while they learn. That would look great on their resume for the next round of hirings.
After seeing Matt for his birthday, we’ve missed him a couple times. The first was at Brayton’s wedding and then again at Easter. Unfortunately, I can remember going through the same thing at his age. We were so busy and tired all the time from working two jobs that we began missing stuff from time to time as well. So, I get it. He’s just trying to make his way in the world and figure it out. We just really miss seeing the kid… Abby continues to live her best life: she loves her job and the people she works with; she loves spending time with her friends and going out to clubs; she loves spending time with her new beau, spending a couple nights a week with him each week; and I love spending time with her, playing cards, working on our mixology and telling stories. We play games once or twice a week, making a night of it. We picked up a couple new games to try…well, new to us. We had a fire on Easter Eve, spending several hours out back on the patio – listening to music, enjoying a few cocktails (and a few stogies) and played Skip-Bo. It took us a couple hands, but we eventually got the hang of it. Abs has taken to attempting to be healthier in her eating choices and getting out to exercise. Now if she could just get that bedroom cleaned up… Annie is killing it at work. Her practice is bursting at the seems and she is involved in special projects. She enjoyed spending time with her scrapping buddies, her BFF Amy and seeing Mom & Sandy as much as we could. She is trying to do some exercising with Abby, but Abs bought a membership to the Y to go workout with Luke, so now she needs to find new inspiration… With the warmer weather and the time change, I’m starting to get out and golf more and more. The bad part is that my body isn’t always on-board with that decision. I have to take ibuprofen and put Icy Hot on my throwing shoulder several times through the week. I’ve also started wearing a 2nd ankle brace so now I have them on both ankles. And I may even start wearing a knee brace/sleeve. Damn, I’m old… As far as courses I’ve played this year, they include Greensburg, 2 Columbus (AirPark and Lincoln), Batesville, Rushville, North Vernon, Rushville and Shelbyville. I’d like to get over to Franklin again as well as Atterbury. I’ve heard that there’s a really cool one at the state park in Brown County that I want to go play. I’ve also heard there’s a new one in Knightstown and a few others in the area that I hope to get to this spring/summer. We had a good Easter weekend. Luke mowed then went to Samantha’s house for her family’s Easter dinner and wound up staying the night there. Abby went to Franklin on Friday to stay the night with Sarah and the girls then came home later on Saturday and took Delilah over to Gma & Gigi’s house for a playdate with Ollie. Jamie & Dee were there helping to cook most of the meal for Easter lunch. I went to Shelbyville to play 18 holes of disc golf at Sunset Park and met a couple guys on the course and we wound up playing together. I drove back and played another 18 here at the park in Greensburg before going home to nurse my aching ankles. That allowed Ann to get in a nice, long nap with the dogs. It was a gorgeous day. That evening, we had a fire and hung out on the porch until really late. We got up on Sunday and did our weekly household chores before heading over to Mom & Sandy’s house for Easter lunch. Ann made an asparagus dish, a brussels sprouts casserole, overnight salad, corn dip and dinner rolls. We also brought a few bottles of wine for the ladies and a bottle of American Honey for Jamie & I. 😊 Besides Ann & I, we took Abby & Luke but Matt didn’t make it down. Dee & Jamie and eventually Gracie were there; Jamie’s mom Cindy was there; as were Amy, “Grandpa” Joe and even Julie & Danny. My gawd, did we had the full spread again for lunch: ham, noodles, tadies, dressing/stuffing, homemade mac & cheese, baked beans, deviled eggs, cheesy potatoes plus all the stuff Ann made…and then there was all the cake (3 different), pies, cookies and other goodies – yum! The kids enjoyed an Easter egg hunt afterwards and then we said our goodbyes and came home. I finished up my weekly chores, watched some of the dirt track races from Bristol and then we watched the DVR’d Law & Order trilogy before calling it a weekend…
Abs stayed at Sarah’s on Monday after work to attend a college function for her senior sisters. I started a 48 hour fast that day (well, technically the night before). Luke did a couple of odd jobs and worked out at the Y with Samantha. I played 18 holes at Donner Park in Columbus then another 18 holes when we got back to town, out at the park. I was sore and tired that evening and enjoyed napping while watching our TV shows. I may have to start limiting the number of holes I play, just because my body can’t keep up. The next day was another fast day for Ann & I. My boss’ boss visited the facility and toured the new building. We met with him for a few hours then I did some IT stuff and started in on my monthly and quarterly reports. After playing 18 holes at the AirPark that afternoon, we stopped at Amoco / Sonic for our weekly fill-up and slushes. When we got home, Abby was already there – having left early because she was feeling ill. Also at the house was Luke, Samantha…and Bryan – parked in our front yard in his Honda side-by-side. Having left a few large divots in our front yard, I was anxious to make sure he stayed calm in that hot rod of his!! He came in and enjoyed some patio time with Ann & I. We broke out two new bottles of Heaven’s Door, both their rye and the bourbon. They were both really good! Once Bryan left, I quickly broke my fast on all those delicious leftovers from Easter! 😊 Bu was still sick on Wednesday and missed work that day. She slept all day and by the end of the day, she was doing much better. The guys and I went out for lunch at a newly-opened diner called Rhodes that is in the old strip club, over on the east side of town. It was decorated very simply but that didn’t take away from the food. I got the Cuban sandwich was good but nowhere near the best one I’ve had. I look forward to having said sandwich when we visit Treasure Island next month. Still, everyone had the same positive experience and agreed we’d have to come back in the near future. After playing a good 9 holes at the Airpark, I had a good mail call with a new disc, a new disc retriever and proper fenders for my golf cart. Although I had a decent game out at the park, I did lose a brand new disc. On my very first throw of a new disc (not the one I JUST got that night, but one I got just a couple days earlier), it hit off a tree when it was coming back from over the pond on 15 and came down in a part of the water that is nearly impossible to reach. I looked for about 5 minutes, but it was already in the bottom of the pond. Thankfully it was a Factory Second (an error disc that didn’t pass QC), so it only cost like $5. The pond struck again; stealing from me disc #13. ☹ Ann made a wonderful pasta dinner with Cheddar Bay biscuits that really hit the spot that night. It was really hot in the house that evening as temps reached up near 80 degrees! We refused to turn the air on, so we opened up the house for a couple days at night and closed back up during the day. It was bearable with a fan. The following day was just a repeat of the day before with temps near 80, going out to eat with the boys, playing 18 holes of golf at Donner and another 18 at the park. I was really tired and hot by the time I got home. I’ve enjoyed watching Metallica on Jimmy Kimmel every night that week, leading up to the release of their new album (72 Seasons) on Friday morning! I listened to the whole thing 8 times that day as I worked from home and was able to start and complete my monthly Safety Committee report. Ann had a doctor’s appointment and picked up a new set of glasses. I ran a few errands while she did her thing. Luke joined us for a late lunch at El Reparo. That evening, Abby came home from work and Bakr’s house. I took the day off from golf to let my aching shoulder and ankles rest. I did get in a few new discs that evening. I got great deals on them as well, as all of them were Factory Second discs. I also got my old fenders off and my new ones partially installed. Luke finished the job for me later that evening (thanks, Lukey!!). I think I may have had a weird spell with my blood pressure for a few minutes and felt a little wonky. Looking back, I think it must’ve been nerves as we met with Angie & Spencer to plan our retirement shortly afterward! I can’t believe that we are only about a decade away now from retirement – damn, we’re old. I felt much better after we left their office, so hopefully that’s all it was… When Abs returned from the gym, we had Jamie & Grace over for the night. Ann scrapbooked and drove herself out to Burney! She called shortly after she left and I was sure that the car had failed in some way and she was stuck in a ditch, but she was just calling to say she had made it and to ask for help in figuring out why the van was dinging. But it was all good and when she came home later that night, the party was in full swing. We ordered Pizza King pizzas for dinner and played Skip-Bo, Phase 10 and Crazy 8s. We enjoyed a few “Flashlights” which are my favorite cocktails right now. It consists of copious amounts of orange bitters, a splash of sweet vermouth, a long pour of a good rye whiskey and then topped off with a couple of Luxardo cherries – yum! We played outdoors for a while but came in fairly early because it was too darn hot! When we retreated to the kitchen, it was the perfect setting to play cards, drink and laugh well into the night. Seth joined us and later Ann, Luke & Sam also played some cards with us.
We slept in late on Saturday morning – except Ms. Ann, who returned to Burney on her own in the Barneymobile. I got up and cleaned up the house (Abs & Seth had actually done a great job of clearing the bulk of the kitchen up last night). Abby drove Luke & Sammi to Columbus and Edinburg to do some shopping. I travelled to Batesville to play 18 holes of disc golf. It starts with 9 in Liberty Park and then continues across the street at The Plex for another 9 in the woods. I stopped by my favorite liquor store for some goodies. I picked up 4 bottles of London Dry gin, a couple bottles of Knob Creek rye (one is a barrel proof bottle that should be really good!) and a newly released bottle of Wild Turkey Honey with jalapeno called American Honey Sting. I can’t wait to try that out! I also picked up a few cigars and enjoyed a couple of them that evening. We built a fire and enjoyed some porch time, playing cards outside for many hours. Abs & I played outside from sundown until about 3 in the morning, enjoying several gin & tonics from the different brands. I think we both liked the new one, called Highclere Castle, best. It was really good…but to be fair by the time we used that one, we were on #4, so we may have been a little skewed… 😊 I got up early and did our weekly household chores the next day, paid bills and put away everything from last night. By the time I settled down, I was tired and napped while watching racing and football on the big screen. Luke ran to the store and Ann made a big lunch of cheeseburgers and tater tots. I was going to grill out back, but it was too windy and raining. That front brought in some cold weather and temporarily said goodbye to the warm temps… I had to let the car warm up before we left for work on the ensuing Monday morning. It was rainy, windy and cold all day. We left work a little early the following Monday, as Ann had a late meeting in the old Arvin’s building – which is just a few blocks from the Airpark golf course, where I can be found most evenings after work. I got out late that day and had only managed to play 3 holes when I had to quit to go pickup Ann. On hole #3, I hit a great drive with a very strong breeze at my back and nailed a long birdie. I had previously struggled on the first two due to the cold, nasty wind. I had to suspend my game and go pick up Annie before leaving town. That evening, we swung by home to pick up the van and take it into the shop for Jerry (J&A) to fix the rest of the suspension issues. We’re going to try and milk a few more years out of these vehicles before we upgrade to a new vehicle – if we can… When we returned to Greensburg, we went over to Mom & Sandy’s house for an impromptu birthday party for Jamie. We had a bucket of KFC and a couple cakes. I remember getting a bucket of chicken over at Gmaw & Gpaw Brown’s house when I was a kid on Sundays. KFC was just across the street in Jefferson Square, so it was really fast and easy. I remember it was always such a treat… We had another odd version of the Birthday Song. We all sang different songs. I sang Stairway to Heaven this time – LOL! We came home and watched the 2nd half of American Idol (after watching the 1st half last night). We voted for our favorite contestants, found leftovers and enjoyed another big mail call – this time it was the release of the new Metallica album called, “72 Seasons.” I opted for the vinyl release. Mine is a Fifth Member exclusive color. We also received a replacement bottle of Luxardo cherries- something we were very low on. I tried to p/u a jar of them at the Batesville liquor store over the weekend, but they were sold out. ☹ That night, we all bundled up under blankets and snuggled up with the dogs. With the heat off, the house closed back up and our heated mattress pads going, we tried to stay warm as temps dipped down into the 30s and we had a frost warning! I enjoyed playing golf each night but lost one of my favorites that can’t be replaced – my Flying Squirrel from the Haunting the Chains tourney. ☹ I called Jonathon but he said they were out of those specific discs. He did surprise me one day at Donner Park, pulling up on hole 17 and talking for a bit before giving me a Flying Squirrel. It wasn’t quite the same, being lighter and made of a different plastic. It was so nice of him, though; that’s what I love about the people that I interact with out on the courses – the vast majority of those folks are really good people. During the week, I played 63 holes after work – getting in 7 miles and even walked a bonus mile with Ann & Delilah one evening.
Later in the month, Abs stayed with Bakr for a couple evenings during the week then came home for Card Night on a Wet Wednesday. We played cards, enjoyed cocktails and eventually moved the card game onto the back porch so I could enjoy a cigar. I even got in an episode of Rick & Morty afterwards! She had Molie over the next evening while she prepped for her big weekend. Although we didn’t drink, we did play some cards for a few hours in between doing her chores. She wound up forgetting some stuff when she left for work on Friday. So, after we worked from home in the morning, Luke drove Ann & I up to Sly Fox to deliver her stuff and then grabbed a quick lunch at the Ale Emporium. She went to Franklin that evening to be Sarah’s “date” at the Pi Phi formal. The next morning, she went to Record Store Day in Franklin with Carly before she drove to Bloomington to spend the day and night with Bakr at the Little 500 at IU. I remember going there a couple of times with Paul. It was by far the biggest party I’ve ever been to – it was non-stop, literally everywhere you went. We just meandered from party to party for a day or two! But the big news of that week was that Abs has her plane ticket and will ride on the same plane as we do when we head down to Week 19! Luke enjoyed the warm weather that week by mowing for four days in a row, along with picking up other odd jobs where he could find them. He spent each day with Samantha, who is winding down her senior year. Although he did some stuff with Oakley one day that week, I’m sure they’ll be hanging out a lot more here in a couple weeks when their 3rd partner in crime (Brayden) returns from his freshman year at IU. He went to Cincy (and Jungle Jim’s) with Sam and her family over the weekend – something Ann & I had to really fight the urge to do…but we know we can’t go there without spending a thousand bucks… Luke & Sam now have their plane tickets as well, but they’re on a different schedule than we are this year, due to her graduation. Matt continued keeping his nose to the grindstone, working from home – doing his underwriting stuff as well as driving to Zionsville to work at the middle school as their event planner, helping to run the baseball games. We were hoping that Matt & Taylor would come down at some point, but they’ve been so busy and tired. We get it; we remember those days all too well – just staring out and working all the time. He did say they were going to try and get down to see us before vacation. I don’t think he’s got his tickets yet, but he said they were planning to come down – at least for a few days. We made plans to go see them instead, after Ann’s upcoming doctor appointment, up in Indy next month. Besides spending time with her scrapbooking friends, Ann also spent time with Amy this month. One day while she was out with Amy, I worked around the house, getting the house ready for Spring, cleaning up the shed, and getting the truck up and running. While charging the truck’s battery, I did our weekly run to Walmart for food & supplies. I was hoping it would warm up enough to go play a couple rounds of golf – either out of town or at least at the park…especially since my replacement Flying Squirrel came in the mail that afternoon. Once the battery was charged, old Betty White fired up on the first try for her 30th year! I needed to go air up a tire, which had gone soft over the winter, but found that Luke had taken his keys with him to Cincy for some reason and was parked right on the bumper of the old Silverado. Instead, I looked to go golfing…but by that time, the sun was behind the clouds, the sustained wind was cold and it was in the 40s – not good golf weather. Next, I thought about going out back and having a fire – but of course it was too windy and cold to do that as well. ☹ Instead, I put everything away and came inside to have a drink, dinner and begin watching season 3 of The Mandalorian on Disney+. Ann & Amy came in – it’s never a good sign when Amy has to help carry in all of Ann’s new treasures! 😊 It was a cold night with temps dropping down to the 30s for a frost warning freeze watch through Sunday and into Monday morning. So, Ann & I bundled up with blankets and dogs and got caught up on our DVR’d shows that night. The last week of April was the biggest for the family. Abby had an up and down week. At work, she received a bonus, a raise and a corner office with a window! She worked out at the Y often but injured her knee. She also continued to battle sporadic headaches (migraines) and belly issues. After spending the weekend at IU, she did not return to see Bakr the rest of the month. Instead, she hung out with Ann & I and we enjoyed a few fires. One night, after Bu went to bed, Seth & I sat out around the fire with Luke and talked until late. That last week of the month was a very cold one, with near-record lows for the state. We also had a bunch of rain. I had already opened up the crawl space, so the house was colder than the outside weather causing us to actually turn the heat back on a little in the living room, just to take the chill out of the air. In fact, we didn’t’ see the sun for four straight days as April wrapped up. Luke took Samantha to her senior prom in Batesville. On the day of the big event, he got all dressed up and we had Gma & Gigi over to see him before he went out to do pictures. We met up with the cute couple out in the absolute boondocks. I thought Chad & Deanna lived in the boonies, but this place was way out there. It was her grandparents house…and it was a lovely setting. They have a lake and all the trees and flowers were in bloom. It made a fabulous backdrop for pictures that evening. With all the rain before and after, it was amazing that we had that little bubble of perfect, sunny weather. The kids looked great and we got lots of pictures. To be honest, it was like a bonus high school event. We thought we were done with all the stuff like this, so it was kind of nice, to be honest… Later, we met up with the Drakes at the Batesville high school auditorium to watch the kids do their big “walk-in” to prom. It was different but still kind of nice…especially since it was so cold and windy by that time. It was only fitting that it would start raining as we left the event and it would continue raining for the next three days. The weather continued to be cold through the weekend and the month ended with temperatures in the 40s and about twenty degrees below normal – so much for global warning, eh?
Next up we have our Waybac segment, which continues to feature family pix from Deanna’s camera in 2008. Leading off, we have pictures of Abby & Grace at the Indy Children’s Museum as well as aerial pictures from Chad’s visit to NYC – both in January; in March we see pictures of Texas Stadium; next, we fast-forward to July for a another big batch of 4th of July pix as well as Gracie’s birthday; in August, the girls enjoyed a trip to Kings Island; September has a couple of pix from Abby’s birthday; and then December has some great pictures of Christmas Eve at Mom & Sandy’s house on Main St.
Next up is our video segment which features one new home movie this month as well as several from around the internet.
And that does it for the April edition of the Scheu Family Blog. Thanks for keeping up with us this time out and we’ll catch up again with you next time. Until then, have a good one and stay safe out there. We miss you, Mom.
Later, Scheu