Bart the truck is on hospice care. I took the truck in to the shop last week to get the buzzing noise in one of the wheels looked at, and they showed me a few things. Rust has really taken off in the frame, to the point that they couldn't put it up on the life because it was making the frame cave in. Several areas on the frame have so much rust that you can poke your finger through, and even places where the body is welded on are rusting away. The mechanic who showed me all the rust damage didn't think it was safe to drive. He recommended I avoid potholes and rail crossings, and don't get hit. Plus there is a broken spring to boot and the entire strut on the front right side would need to be replaced, but they didn't think it was worth it. In the end no work was done and I guess I'm going to be looking at new vehicular options.

Wednesday I tried out a spin class at the YMCA. I haven't been on a bike in a while now and I thought it might be fun while I was off work when the classes are on. It was fun, I got a good workout and the class wasn't too crowded (maybe 5 altogether - maybe just because of break? or everyone's sick?) There's a limited number of classes being held until things start back up again in January, so I'll go to what I can while I can. 

I'm officially on Christmas vacation now, I was planning to be off the entire week but did keep having to come in to take care of this or that, or to run to Columbia City, but as of Tuesday afternoon I am on vacation. We have no big vacation plans, which is turning out to be just as well because Alex and Beth are both sick. Alex started feeling crummy in his head earlier this week, with a lot of snot and feeling super tired. Beth is about the same. They both actually went to Medstat together this week, looks like the flu.

So speaking of that, there was a Christmas eve service at the church, but Beth and Alex both didn't feel well enough to go. So, Missy and I went by ourselves, after which we had planned to go out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse with Mary Jane and Natalie. Beth's been super stressed about what to do about Natalie and Christmas this year, and in the end this seemed like the best thing, and then she wasn't well enough to go anyway. We got Nat a bunch of stocking stuffers and some gift cards at Starbucks and Ulta, and I made a shutterfly photo book of her senior portraits and a bunch of other photos of just her. She seemed to appreciate it and we had dinner with no drama. 

Christmas (today) is a much lower-key affair than usual, I think. Besides the fact that some of us are pretty sick, and having no travel plans, we drew down the amount we were spending on the whole thing by quite a bit this year. We got Missy a drawing tablet, a game controller, and some video games, and got Alex some video games and video game-related by-products. Beth got this year's Warsaw cut glass ornament, and I got a snow blower. Fortunately, I haven't had to use it.

The Beth’s-side family gathering for Christmas was this past weekend in Michigan. Although, it wasn’t exactly what I thought it was going to be. There was originally planned to be a gathering at Judy & Neill’s cottage for a big meal on Sunday afternoon, which Beth was helping with, so she booked us in a motel in Kalamazoo with a kitchen so she could have an oven to work with to make the food she was bringing. But then Judy called her and told her not to bring anything because she had it all taken care of and was already up to her eyeballs in food. So we had a motel with a kitchen for 2 days with no actual reason for it. But anyway...

Beth and Alex went on a road trip Thursday to Muncie to pick up Missy. She had her last final exam and got her writing assignment turned in Wednesday evening so she was ready to go. She barely had time to be home (she does miss her bed and the peace and quiet at home, I hear) before we all headed to Michigan on Friday as soon as I was done with work. We just had dinner and stayed in the motel room as we had no other plans or ideas for the evening and it was super cold. Saturday we had a long lunch with Ric & Nickie since we never get to hang out with just them. There is a really cool place in Kalamazoo called One Well that is a craft brew pub / arcade / gaming bar. We hung out and talked, the kids played games and got root beer floats. After they had to go, after we'd spent like 3 hours hanging out there, we did some shopping (because the motel has the thinnest blankets in the world, Missy was freezing the night before and needed a blanket) and then largely hung out at the motel again. Sunday we drove around Kalamazoo a bit so Beth and I could talk about what used to be where and how none of this was there back when blah blah blah....and headed to Judy's around 1:00. She had a heater on the patio and a crock pot full of wassail or something like it, but it was too cold and everyone pretty much stayed inside, which I think was a little disappointing for her. But everyone was there except Marve & Beth. Ric & fam, Steph & fam, Ted & Monica, Judy & Neill, me & fam. Judy had gotten a big charcuterie platter and had a bunch of snacks and things set out, so we all just grazed for the afternoon. I think Beth had been thinking there was going to be an actual meal, since she was planning on using the oven in the motel extensively. Oh well. 

I have been bounced once again from the "Fresh Outta Bed and Head to Head" tournament. My next contest was Tuesday, and only 3 questions into the best of 5, my phone dropped the call. Actually what I think may have happened was my face touching the screen made it drag down from the top and then touch airplane mode, so the call was cut off. I had a chance, too. Oh well, I'm ok with it. 

Wednesday was the Survivor season finale, so we got together with some friends (the McDonalds) for a watch party for the first time in a long time! 

Earlier in the week I had a water technician from Kinetico come by and check out the RO unit, because lately it has been taking forever to fill anything because it won't come in anything stronger than a tiny trickle. I'd looked into replacing the whole thing because it's some 20 years old, but in the end the repairman found the problem in the unit inlet and fixed it right away, and his tests showed it is still making good water. Now that it's making any water at all, that is. So the house call and the fix was uner $200 which was a fraction of the price of a new unit. Awesome news.

 Alex is home! Alex is home! We had quite the odyssey to pick him up, too. His flight was coming in to Chicago at midnight, so Beth and I took off after work and praise team rehearsal at church. We left in plenty of time, probably too much time, since we lose that hour going to Chicago and the traffic was as light as I have ever seen it. We  just sailed right on through the Skyway and Dan Ryan right on to O'Hare and got there in plenty of time for Alex's plane to be delayed by another half hour. He finally got in at around 12:30, so we got back home by around 3:00. Again on the way back home, lightest traffic I've ever seen so we made it from O'Hare to home in maybe 2 1/2 hours. I slept in a little bit on Friday morning but not that much. 

Beth has been working this week. She's filling in answering phones and making appointments for an office worker at her counseling center who is out taking care of her mother who is on hospice and very near the end. She's kind of enjoying having a job again, besides making soup I mean. It's ok on her knees and back and anxiety, at least once she figured out the phone system. $15 an hour, I think, not bad.

Saturday was our annual pilgrimage to Martin's Custom Butchering in Wakarusa for our load of meat. A smaller load this year to be sure, because empty nest. We only got a quarter cow this year.

Last Monday I got back in to the year-end "Fresh Outta Bed and Head to Head" tournament on Pulse FM! Someone had lousy cell coverage and they couldn't get connected with them, so I got a second chance! And I made the best of it, too. I won this time! So now I'm back in the mix and I get to play again next week.

The biggest event of the soup season was this weekend. The Wawasee PTO craft fair! Beth and I got everything all set up and ready on time, even though there was a desperate search for potato flakes and plastic spoons, which seem to be in short supply for some reason. But we got what we needed and were ready to go at 7:30, and we sold soup all day. Lots of it. At the end of the day we had sold 130 jars of soup, a new record, just 2 weeks after setting a previous record. That is $1560 worth of soup sales! So I guess Christmas is pretty much paid for. 

The Pulse FM 'Fresh Outta Bed and Head to Head' tournament of champions 2022 kicked off this week. I was matched up against some guy from Elkhart or Goshen or somewhere, and although I got the first question, I never kept up the momentum and a few questions I answered were blind guesses. So I wound up losing 3-1, an early tournament exit for me. Oh well.

Home from Thanksgiving. We (Beth, Missy, and I) went to Laura & Thomas's for TG this year; first time in several years that we've been there. Good time, too. Beth was going to go pick up Missy in Muncie Tuesday morning, but had an appointment, then the appointment was cancelled, so she and I went down there Tuesday afternoon when I was done with work. She had to be out of the dorm by 6, and they told the students to take as much stuff home with them as they could. So, I guess they are doing some sort of deep cleaning of the dorms, maybe fogging or something? Staying for the long weekend was not an option for her. Anyway, we got her and took her home, then got on the road by around noon Wednesday bound for Indiana, PA. Got there in the late evening after a rather uneventful drive. Thursday was parades, football, Azul, and turkey...I don't think we left the house all day. Friday we went out for lunch and a middle eastern place, then the girls went shopping while Thomas and I went to the axe throwing place. They weren't open until later, so we went geocaching all over town instead for a few hours, then did the axe throwing. Thomas is pretty good...he's in a league and does it regularly, it seems. Missy and I also threw and did pretty well for first timers. Good times. Leftovers for dinner. Saturday we left in the morning, headed to Eighty Four PA to visit the Caspers. Brian had just had a hip replacement days before the visit so we knew it wasn't going to be a long one. He was moving around but still in a lot of pain. He did get a Zimmer Biomet hip so that's good. Even got a Vivacit-E liner. We had some pizza and a good visit with them for a while before hitting the road again. We got back home around 10:30 in the evening.

The plan after getting home was to go to church in the morning and take Missy back to school in the afternoon. However, around 6 am or so I had to suddenly get up to barf my guts out a few times. So, for me the plan of the day was changed to drink water and eat crackers and sit and watch tv all day. Skipped out on church (including driving the van as I was supposed to do this week), and Beth took Missy back herself in the afternoon. 

Earlier in the week, I finally got Beth onto Mint Mobile! She has been the one with the best luck on Red Pocket but I'm moving us all out. Eventually. Our plan was about to renew so a day or so before I got her transferred. And I get a credit on my account for referring someone! Yay that.

The Yuletide Treasures craft show in Columbia City was this weekend, and wowee. The show started off with a rush and didn't really let up for a few hours. Before we knew it, we had sold out of potato and minestrone, and by afternoon we had sold out of the Christmas soala (all 3 dozen). By the end, we had sold a whopping 120 jars of soup, donated 2, and made $1440. Our biggest show ever, I think. Natalie even came by to help out around noon and stayed until the end. Beth wasn't sure how that happened, but she had needed a ride home from work the other day and kind of invited herself to come help. It went ok though, no big deal. So, only one more show to go for the season, and we are so short of jars now that we're really afraid we won't be able to get enough for Wawasee. We'll see, I guess.

Today was a wedding between two kids we saw grow up, sort of. Mayson McCoy and Annie Forks got married at the sporting clays place out near Bourbon. Reception at the same place. It was a very nice wedding, but we didn't stay because we had "friendsgiving" with our small group at the Burgess'. A carry-in of sorts, but Heidi made pretty much an entire Thanksgiving dinner including some really good smoked ham. No Bible study this time, just visiting. Fun time.

Last Wednesday I got to play teacher for a bit. One of the directors at work is an adjunct professor at Grace College, and he teaches a course in manufacturing techniques. He asked a while back if I could show his students all about injection and compression molding, and I agreed. Unfortunately the injection molding machine was down as of the day before, so I couldn't run it for them, but I did talk at great length about polymers, UHMWPE in particular, crosslinking, vitamin E, compression molding, injection molding, and all other sorts of poly guy stuff. I wondered if I could fill in all the time allotted but turns out I can talk for a long time about poly.

 As it does every single year, an enormous biomass of leaves has fallen in our backyard. There was a big wind storm last week which finally blew them all down (oak leaves hang on for way too long), and I was saying to Beth that I'm not sure how I'm going to get the leaves raked and hauled away with my bad shoulder (the adhesive capsulitis is still raging...and not getting any better). But she brought it up at our small group last week that we needed some help, and it just so happened that there are a bunch of kids in and friends with our group who needed a service project. So Kelsey set something up with her kids and some of her friends and their kids, and on Monday morning a whole bunch of ladies and their kids showed up with rakes and cleared the backyard in a couple hours. I'll admit I was afraid that the small (elementary school aged) kids we had would just play around and not get much done, but they all worked hard. There was some jumping in the giant leaf piles, though. But Beth and I were amazed that it got done so fast and so well. 

While the leaves were being raked, I felt bad that I was just working from home that day and not helping, but as it turned out I was getting sick again. Just half a week removed from feeling awful, I'd been feeling better for a few days and then went back to worse. I left work a couple times because I was so dog tired during the day. Huge volumes of snot. Coughing. Achey. Tired most of all.

Thursday the van went into the shop. The rear brakes have been screeching for a couple days, and with us going to PA for Thanksgiving, I thought we better get it in. However Ab & Tom's was booked solid for about a month, so I called Boggs and they could get it in the next day. I'd rather go to Ab & Tom's but like the truck last summer, we had to get it serviced before they could schedule it in. Anyway, we have all new pads and rotors on the rear wheels, and it sounds much better. $545.57 worth better, ouch.

This wasn't the greatest week ever, but it could have been worse. The sickness that started last weekend continued for most of the week for me. I was basically off work for a few days, never even went in to campus until Thursday. I basically just called in for meetings and went back to bed when they were over. It wasn't the most productive of weeks. However, I did go out to get a covid test on Wednesday, which was negative, so it was just a garden variety flu it seems. Beth wasn't feeling great either, but she pushed through and was well enough to make soups for her first show.

My group at work got together at Raj's house Friday afternoon. He and his wife made an Indian meal for us, which was delicious, and then we played Kan Jam (a frisbee & target game) for a while afterwards.

That first soup show of the season was Saturday, at the First Brethren Church in town. Beth wasn't sure how the show would go since this was the first one back from the pandemic. They haven't had this show since 2019. It seemed like the traffic was pretty light and there seemed to be fewer vendors than before, but we still did pretty well overall. We sold 59 jars, donated 1, and made $708. We also have a credit card reader now so we can take charges, and that paid off since several people just defaulted to that and didn't have any other options to pay. About a third of our sales were via credit cards this time.

 Trunk or Treat at the church was this past Monday. Beth and I were sort of a late addition to the party, deciding only a few days ago that we would do it. Beth has been very sore and very anxious lately, so she didn't really want to do it but decided she would when I decided I would. I put together a fishing pond, using a blue shower curtain with some plastic sheeting fish taped onto it, and a wooden frame holding it up. Kids used a dowel with a clothespin on a string as a fishing pole and swung the "hook" over the curtain into the "pond" where Beth would clip a "fish" onto it, then they would "reel it in." Beth was unseen so no costume; I wore an FCC t-shirt and a hat that could be for fishing. The kids loved it, it was a big hit. And Beth had a lot of fun too and was glad we went.

Beth and I brought Missy home for the weekend again. It hasn't worked out quite the way it should, though. We drove down to Muncie and got her on Friday evening, stopping for dinner on the way home (Missy picked Cracker Barrel for dinner, at the exit up the road a bit from Muncie). We also stopped at the Coliseum on the way home to pick up some tickets for the Komets teddy bear toss game on Saturday. On Saturday, we went into FW to do some shopping at the mall and get dinner, while Beth was feeling more and more sick and Missy was feeling more and more worn out. When we were done at dinner Missy just about pleaded to just go home. Beth was feeling awful too so we didn't go to the hockey game that we'd just bought tickets for the day before. Oh well, the Komets lost in overtime. I had bought a bag of stuffed animals at Goodwill on Thursday, we'll just have to keep them for next year. 
Sunday, Beth went to church since she was singing, but Missy and I both stayed home. Me because I was also now sick and feeling awful, Missy because she was worn out. I stayed in bed most all day, or sitting on the couch watching football. The girls went to the church for the farewell party for the Welches, as today was Jeremy's last day, and headed back to Muncie afterwards.

Otherwise, it is full on soup season. Beth is making soup in every spare moment, and I am still working on the downstairs remodel-lite. That is going to be a job that gets done in little bites, though. I'm only buying supplies as the money comes available, so I get 1 or 2 sheets of drywall at a time. And finish the mudding before moving on to the next few panels. I've got the ceiling in the stairwell pretty much set (it's taken longer than it should so I can get it done the way I like it rather than leave little flaws that only I will know are there) and the north wall covered, just have to finish it.

 I'm on Mint Mobile now! I've been so sick and tired of Red Pocket not being able to get my voice mail working that I bought a new phone and ported my number to Mint. Same plan, same price, and now everything works. I'm planning to get everyone off RP and onto Mint as soon as I can coordinate it, because Alex and Missy don't have working VM either, and no matter how many times I talk to them and they say it's fixed, it is not fixed. Well, too bad for them. I'm done.

Missy was home last weekend for fall break, so I took her back to Muncie on Tuesday night. Beth stayed home because she had Bible study, but none of the other ladies showed up. So she could have gone with us. We just got dinner in town and hastily dropped her off, since we got yelled at by a campus cop to move the vehicle. We parted in such a hurry we forgot to go to Dunkin like we had planned. Oh well, next time. 

This week has also been a little bit about Natalie management again. I've known that her prescriptions are running out soon and have texted her a few times without getting much of a response lately, but she finally seemed to realize what running out meant and asked for some help with it. Too late to avoid a disruption but at least now things are underway. I was able to bring her in to Bowen center to get an appointment made, and get her to it on Tuesday. She finally got her meds going again by midweek, but not all of them because the doctor (or whatever) she saw doesn't like to prescribe the kind of meds she's on. So she's going to see someone else in a month. But, at least she should have the meds she needs to function. On a similar note, she wound up in the ER this week as well on Friday, Beth got a call from her work that her heart was racing and wouldn't slow down. Beth called me and I took her to the emergency room, where she remained for a few hours until it passed. She got an IV and everything. The POTS again, it seems. Another thing we hope will calm down when she's got all her meds again.

My group at work volunteered for a Feed My Starving Children mobile pack event at the Warsaw high school this week. We've done that once before and had a great time. In the afternoon people from all over town got together at the school and packed meals like crazy. There was a sort of corporate challenge going on and ZB had a lot of people there as did DePuy, but my group especially was a machine and really cranked them out. I was putting the plastic bags at the bottom of the funnel and loading them up, then passing them to QC. In the hour or so we worked, we packed something like 26 cartons of meals, and ZB beat DePuy handily, 

Missy's here! This weekend is her fall break, so Beth drove down to Muncie to pick her up Friday afternoon. She's got Monday and Tuesday off, so I'll be taking her back Tuesday evening while Beth is at Bible study. Missy says she is looking forward to having some quiet time in her bedroom without anyone blasting music or making a ruckus down the hall.

Road trip right away for Missy as well. The annual Wiessner family chili cook-off was this Saturday in Kalamazoo. Beth decided not to make any chili this time, though. Too much bother to transport it. We headed up there in time to arrive around dinner time, then visited with the whole family (and a lot of their friends, too) while we ate and judged chili. The winner had 3 different kinds of meat in it...I think vension, ground beef, and bacon. How could it not? Everyone was pretty happy to see Missy, and she joked that she should have a card with the 3 answer to the standard questions on it. Yes, I'm enjoying college, yes, I get along with my roommate, and my favorite class is art history. We spent the evening and got back home around midnight. 

Last Thursday I decided to try out the clip-in pedals that Trey and every other cycler I've been riding with says I need to wear. You'll love it, they said. You'll add 2 mph to your speed right away, they said. You use more muscles to pedal this way, they said. Well, the clips were in pretty tight. I even knew how they work and the trap that's laid for newbies wearing them. So Trey loaned mt a set of pedals and a pair of shoes, I installed the pedals into the bike, practiced a bit, and tried to do a little ride. I got to the first stop sign on the road, couldn't get my shoes out of the pedals, and fell right over on my bad shoulder and gave myself a big bang on the shin. The shoulder hurt the most. Like, a lot. But the shin is going to have a huge bruise. Holy crap, did I hurt myself there. No bueno on the clips.

Alex is still dealing with his car battery. Scott came over the other day to help, but they weren't able to get the cable re-attached either. He came over again today and did get it to O'Reilly's but still not able to get it fixed. They have a part and are going to try seeing if there is a YouTube video they can watch. 

 The Fort 4 Fitness was this weekend! I decided to run it since it looked like the weather would be good (and it was). I also decided we should stay in a hotel overnight in Fort Wayne so I didn't have to get up super early to register and get ready. Beth and I went Friday night and got a room at the Hilton Gardens by Lutheran Hospital, which was nice enough but nothing very special. But they have a hot tub. And there is an Asian restaurant called Naked Tchopstix that we had never been to before, so we went there. It was all right but actually not as good as the sushi place in Warsaw. 

The race itself was good but frustrating. Not sure why, but I felt like I was doing great for a while but then ran out of steam. At mile 6 the Strava app told me my time and I thought it was great...and I might even PR this half. And then I hit the wall. By mile 10 I was exhausted. I wasn't even sure I was going to be able to finish. The last 3 miles were all run, walk, run, walk, run, walk, and running less and less in between bouts of walking. The official clock said 2:16:20 when I finished, which wasn't terrible, but a time I was pretty disappointed with. Strava said the mile markers were spaced too far, or at least the first one was. The app told me miles had passed a few minutes before I passed the marker, at least. The app also said my 13.1 mile time was 2:11:20, which again is not horrible but I wish I could have finished it all running. I might have indeed PR'd if I didn't wear out. 

On the way back from FW Beth and I went out in search of Amish groceries and antique stores again. Didn't find anything good, but we were too tired (me especially) to hunt too much before heading home. 

Alex is having his first real car trouble. The battery is not holding a charge (I think he's run the AC with the engine off too long) so he's been trying to jump it. But he misunderstood some instructions so he took the cable off the battery terminal before trying to jump it, and now he can't get it to stay back on. He was texting with me asking how to do this and that, I really wished I could go help him out. We're going to see if our friend Scott can come help.

 This was not a very eventful week. I went biking with the B group again on Wednesday evening, and we were out until it started getting really dark (which is getting earlier). Friday Beth and I decided to go out to a new restaurant we'd never been to before so we tried the Oasis up in Goshen, which was really good but expensive. We'd tried to go there once before with all the kids, good thing it was so crowded we didn;t wait. Saturday I went for a run (I'm still thinking about the Fort 4 Fitness half marathon) in the morning, and Beth and I worked in the yard most of the rest of the morning and into the afternoon. Beth was weeding the front garden, and I was working on installing concrete blocks all around the back of the shed to keep the ground hog out...permanently. It should be good to go there now, there's a full row of concrete blocks set in concrete along the front and back where he had done his digging before. Hopefully he won;t try to break in again. Or connect to his tunnels under there from a remote location. Anyway, we worked until we were done and then went to the RV store in Columbia City to check out what they had in the way of class C campers. Just for fun, not seriously looking. Way out of our price range, and most seemed...impractical...for us. But some were really nice and we thought we could see ourselves with one someday. Not soon. We spent the entire afternoon walking through those and all the other campers they had for sale, but nothing tickled our fancy enough that we had to have it. Today we were going to finish up the yard work (I have one more block to set) but it got cold and rainy overnight so we did not. Instead we went to see a movie, "See How They Run," based around Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap" which has never been made into a movie, clever. We liked it, but it's not going to win any awards or make a ton of money. Chinese for dinner.

 We had Missy home for the weekend! This was parents' weekend so Beth and I were going to go down there for the scheduled activites, but none of us were very interested in them, so we had Missy come here instead. Beth went and got her Friday night, and she said the traffic around Muncie was crazy. We stayed in Friday night, and on Saturday we all went to Black Pine Animal Sanctuary. What we didn't know was that they now do only group tours, not just general admission. Not sure why, maybe staffing or something. But fortunately there was a large group of Girl Scouts just arriving for a tour when we got there, so they let us sneak in and hitch a ride as it were. Missy had to work on a map of some sort for a class project, and she wanted to do the map of the sanctuary. The map needs to incorporate sights and sounds, and feelings and smells and such, as you're walking around, so she brought a sketch pad and drew stuff as we went. I'm not sure there has ever been so many animals sleeping or otherwise unavailable while we were there, but some of the highlights (tigers and other big cats, couple bears) were out and about. We spent a couple hours there before heading back home. We told her she could choose anywhere for dinner and she picked Oak & Alley. Sunday we all went to church, then she got together with a friend for a little while in the afternoon until it was time to head back to Muncie. We got dinner there, did a little more shopping for some supplies she needed, and dropped her off (with her clean laundry). We finally got to meet Kaylee her roommate, with whom she seems to get along really well. 

My group at work had a volunteer day with Habitat for Humanity Tuesday this week. There is a house that is nearly done and we went over to paint. Habitat provided all the paint and painting supplies, and we provided the labor. They said they thought a single coat was fine but I would have said not. Anyway, we painted the great room, the laundry room, two bedrooms, a bathroom, and some closets completely in just about 3 hours. I was basically just painting the edges of the walls and ceilings for someone else to come paint the rest of the wall behind me, which worked out really well. We got everything done even faster that the Habitat team leader thought we would. 

Work on the downstairs continues, but it's going to be a slow pace. I got a piece of drywall this week to replace the nasty old plywood temporary fix that was put up probably 30 years ago at least, but it wasn't easy to find it. Well, at Menard's anyway. They had none. NONE. Except for a stack of damaged drywall sheets, which I picked one of. The damaged sheets were going for $9, which is more than a new and good one should be. Those are about $21 each if they had any, They have some at Lowe's but I think I'll just keep the work space small and work through the basement one piece at a time.

After this past week it seems that Beth and I are still kind of trying to figure out what to do with ourselves. After the long weekend last weekend, the rest of the week was uneventful. Part of that is because Beth is battling vertigo again, though. So, she's not going out as much (skipped book club, praise team rehearsal, and church this week) and I've been helping where I can. Like last Tuesday, she was going to book club so I was going to go watch the church softball game (I'm not playing coed because of my shoulder) but she was too dizzy to go so I stayed home and made dinner. That's been a lot of the past week.

It was a quiet weekend (mostly) too. Saturday I went on a 30-mile bike ride with the 2nd Mile group, and the rest of the morning/afternoon Beth and I drove out as far as Rochester looking for new Amish grocery stores. Well, new to us. We visited 3, found some good stuff and good deals, but only the one in Mentone will likely ever see us again. There was one in Rochester that advertised itself as a "deli" so we were going to go there for lunch. But when we got there we saw no deli. We found an actual restaurant elsewhere.

I started today on a new house project. I am pulling down all the 60s-era wood paneling downstairs and will replace it all with drywall and paint it. And I'll replace the receptacles down there while I'm at it, though they may all have to be GFI types because they may not be grounded. Few of the receptacles downstairs have the third plug hole for grounding. The ones that do...probably shouldn't. 

Posting on Monday because of the long weekend for Labor Day. Yep, it is weird around here with everyone gone. Largely Beth and I are trying to figure out what to do all the time.

My work group had another team-building even on Friday, 

We spent a good chuck of Saturday helping Mary Jane get her apartment unpacked, which it still isn't from moving a few weeks ago. We sorted a lot of stuff into donate, trash, and keep piles and then moved the piles appropriately. We got a lot of work done, and I got some more curtains and tie backs up on her walls. 

Today, we went to visit Missy. 

The Nest is Empty

Updating the blog a day late because of all the travel. Beth and I returned very very late, or I should say early this morning, from dropping off Alex at school in the land of far far away. Last Sunday the 21st, Beth, Alex, and I all headed west right after church. The good news is that directions for how to get to Seattle are easy (Get on I-90 west. And then what? Then nothing, just get on I-90 west and go to Seattle!) the bad news is from here it takes 4 days to get there. We left Warsaw right after church, drove through somewhere for lunch and went separately as far as O'Hare, where we left the van and continued west in the Honda we got for Alex a couple months ago. We got dinner somewhere in Wisconsin and made a reservation for down the road a ways, driving basically until it got dark and then another hour or two. So after the first day we made it as far as Albert Lea, Minnesota (~520 miles). Repeat the second day and get as far as Sheridan, Wyoming (~750 miles). Repeat the third day and get as far as Spokane, Washington (~670 miles). Repeat the fourth day and get to Redmond, WA (~280 miles). So a light day of driving on day 4, at least. Along the way on day 2 we stopped at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD, and Wall Drugs in Wall, SD. The Corn Palace, we should have skipped. It was nice to stop driving for a while and see something but it was kind of lame and not what anyone expected. It's a basketball stadium decorated with corn, and who cares. Lame, waste of time. Wall Drug was about like I remembered it from when I was maybe 6 years old...still have the signs up for 500 miles in both directions, still have lots of jackalopes, still have creepy animatronic singing cowboys. So two stops in about 3 hours. Otherwise, we went right on through except to eat and get gas :) We did learn on the first day to fill up whenever you can when out on the plains, because the next gas may be many miles away. We never let it get too low after making it to an open gas station with maybe 10 miles left in the tank. But overall, the drive was easier than I thought it would be. Having 3 people sharing driving certainly helped. 

So we got there, overnighted at a motel in Kirkland (Beth forgot her phone at the hotel in Spokane, so we had to have it overnighted to us at the hotel) and got Alex moved in on Thursday. He's in overflow housing since we signed him up a bit late in the game, but it's not so bad because he's being put up in the Redmond Hilton. He can't have any open heating elements so no electric skillet or toaster, but he does have a rice cooker and a fridge and microwave, so hopefully he'll eat all right until he gets into a more permanent apartment. He has a very nice setup there in the meantime, and he said he wouldn't mind if he has to stay there all semester. I bet. He still has some things in the storage unit for now at least, since there's no room for his dresser or night stand and such, so we'll hang on to that for now too. We visited Target and Safeway a few times each and got him everything we could think of that he needs. The shuttle will still come to the hotel he's at so he can still ride that instead of driving back and forth to campus.

Later on Thursday we went to see the Space Needle. It's expensive so we thought we'd take Alex because he probably won't be going himself. Parking wasn't horrible once we found the area and we got right on up. It was hazy enough that Mt. Rainier wasn't visible from to top but the views of the city were really cool as was the entire thing.

We visited with Scott Mason a few times while we were out there. He's managing a recreation establishment...not sure what else to call it....the kind of place where you can golf by hitting a ball into a sheet and a digital vision system determines how good a shot it was and where it goes. And then play hockey, carnival games, soccer, and such the same way. We had dinner and he took us there on Thursday (his night off) and comped us a couple hours playing, which would probably have been a couple hundred bucks. We went to visit him at his apartment Friday so we could do laundry...all that laundry from the road...and hang out until he had to go to work. Saturday we got a car wash (for free! since it was free car wash day at the place, which was a nice curprise) and oil change in the car, then Alex had a game club meeting he wanted to go to (plus IHOP afterwards) so we dropped him off, then Beth and I went to check out Pike Place Market, which was a mistake on a Saturday. The GPS took us to the main entrance, which was swamped with people and not a place I wanted to be driving. Literally enormous crowds, everywhere. The sign at the original Starbuck's said a 2.5 hour wait for service. I couldn't find an actual place to park nearby, so it would have been a very steep walk down to the market that Beth may have had a hard time with. So we punted. By the time we saw what the place was like, neither of us wanted to be there any more. And we just turned around (as soon as we figured out where) and went back to the hotel. Sunday we got Alex in the morning and checked out some more of the town of Redmond, finding a cool open air shopping center with a cool game store that Alex liked a lot. Late afternoon we headed for the airport, Alex driving us in extremely heavy interstate traffic and dropping us off. He did great. And he got back to the hotel before we were even through security. The flight back to Chicago was uneventful, but to save money get got a late one. It was 11:00 local time when we landed, and about 3:00 Warsaw time when we got back home. I actually got up to put the trash and recycling out and try to go to work but ended up sleeping another couple hours before actually starting work. From home, thankfully.

So there we have it...nest, emptied.

The empty nest we've heard about is starting to get real. Last Thursday was Missy's move-in day at Ball State. We all went down to Muncie Wednesday evening and stayed ovenight in a motel, then started to move-in process. Missy had a particular time span she was supposed to be there to move in, and we got her there and got all her stuff moved up without any issues. She is on the 6th floor of her dorm, and has a roommate that she has been talking to online and seems to get along well with but has not actually met. Her roommate wasn't around when we were moving her in, but she had moved in a few days ago I think. Her stuff was all moved in already, anyway. We made a few more final passes through town to see what there is to see and do in Muncie, ran to Wal-Mart and Target and several other places to find things that we found she needed (a power strip, snacks, something to stand on so she can get into her bed...) and had lunch, but by about 2:30 she walked into the dorm by herself and we had to leave. Next milestone, check....Missy is starting college. Ready or not. Beth cried on the way home. We missed a turn on the way back so we drove I-69 all the way up to FW instead of using state roads through Marian and Wabash, and I think that was actually faster and easier. 

Speaking of empty nests, I'm posting today instead of the usual Sunday because we are heading on an epic road trip Sunday afternoon. Alex needs to go back to school too, and since we got him the car a couple months ago, we are going to drive it out there. Beth is going to go with us instead of staying home alone for a week just after Missy left, which we thought was a smarter thing to do. We've been finishing up everything we can think of that we need to get done before leaving (haircuts, filling prescriptions, etc) and I think we are ready. I've been both looking forward to and dreading the trip. Google maps says it is 33 hours to drive to Redmond and I fell like this is going to be the longest and most boring ride ever. Well, at least we're crossing mountains so maybe there will be something to look at. And with 3 of us to share driving, maybe it won't be so bad. 

The FCC softball team are the champions! As unlikely as that seems, it's true. Well, it's true that the tournament was divided into 3 sections divided by record, and with a record of 5-7 on the season we were the top seed in our bracket, so to speak. There were 4 teams in the tournament, the bottom 4 in the division. Not necessarily the most sporty way to do the tournament but I think it was a lot of fun! We didn't have to play only teams that would blow us out in the tournament and we were guaranteed to play at least 3 games. Anyway the second game of the tournament was the triple play game, which put us into the championship game vs. (as it turned out) the same team we triple played. They beat us 12-10 in the first game because we just kept letting them stay just ahead of us. Then was the second game for all the marbles, and we beat them 14-10! We had a huge lead going into the last inning and they scored several runs, so I wondered if we were going to pull off an FCC classic and blow it by giving up a big inning late, but we held them off and won it! Not as amazing as when we won the overall tournament a few years ago, but a lot of fun nevertheless. It was a fun season.

We're busily getting everything ready for college to start back up again. We have plane tickets for Beth and me to fly back home, motel reservations for Redmond (we'll find hotels on the road as we go), and tuitions and room/board are all paid for. I cashed in the 529s, used some of Grandma's money, and we got a very generous gift from Aunt Judy, so everything is paid for until next semester and still nobody has any student loans. Awesome for the kids! 

There is a ground hog under the shed in the backyard. I do not want him there. There's been one there before, but I blocked him out, and now new holes are dug. Including under some of the cement blocks I put alongside the shed this spring. I submitted a City of Warsaw request for animal control but I don't know when/if such requests are actually handled. So, I think I'm going to do some concrete work when I put those blocks back in place, and also block the front which is where he dug in from this time. Basically, he went around the blocks on the side by digging in from the front corner. Unacceptable. 

We spent most of the weekend (and a lot of the week) helping Mary Jane move into her new apartment. She had several people cancel on her so we asked our small group and a few of them came to help Saturday morning. She also had a box truck, which we all loaded up, plus our van, plus our truck, plus the Presslers' truck, plus her car, plus another truck from her friend, and we got everything moved in one take. Except for a few things (sofa, chair, junk) that went into the dumpster and some other things (freezer, china cabinet, etc) that I hauled to Our Father's House. It took longer to get the stuff moved back in because her new place is on the 2nd floor and just halfway in between the elevator and stairs so it was a long carry either way. But we got everything unloaded and hauled up, and a lot of it put away (or at least put somewhere until she can figure out where she wants to put it. Between the all day move on Saturday and the other one-off loads we hauled over on several days during the week, we got her all moved.

Softball played a wild one last Tuesday. The first several innings was kind of a clown show on our part. Nothing was going right in the field, to the point that I remarked to a guy on their team as he came in to second due to another error "this is not our day." We couldn't do anything right, except for the fact that we did score a few runs along the way. Then things pretty much changed abruptly for the last few innings, culminating with us scoring several runs in the top of the 7th to take a lead of 14-13. In the bottom of the 7th, their first two batters got hits so they had runners on 1st and 2nd base with no outs. Then the next batter hit a sinking fly towards center and both runners took off immediately. Mike W caught the ball sliding after a hard run, then fired to me at 2nd base. I stepped on the bag, lead runner out, then tagged the other runner who was standing on 2nd by this time, trailing runner out. Triple play. Ballgame. In all my years playing softball, I have never seen that happen before! Incredible!

 This past week has been a typical boring week right after vacation. Not much went on, but we did at one point this weekend go to FW for something to do. We hit B&N and Red Robin, and the kids shopped at the mall, but that's about it. 

I've set up the camper in the driveway so it can dry out (especially the awning) a bit after our trip to Petoskey. It was still a little wet when we packed it all up. I also found a product that is supposed to take mildew stains out of RVs like a miracle. They call it "Miracle Mist," but it is basically bleach with some surfactants and detergents added. It does indeed make mildew stains vanish like magic. You're supposed to spray it on, wait a minute, then rinse with light water, but I'm still a little concerned about whether the bleach is going to damage the canvas. I rinsed as well as I could, and it did clean the canvas right up. I did all the flaps in the front bed of the camper, will get the rest when I have a better feeling about the stuff. It discolored the foam mattress that was on the bed so I cleaned that up and aired it out as best I could. Hopefully the bleach won't give Beth hives in the future.

The softball tournament started this week. We were playing a team that we destroyed a few weeks ago, and somehow in the interim they got good. At least as good as us, really...we'd score a few, they'd score a few. Last time we played they couldn't make a play, now they made them all flawlessly. Anyway, we finally won 14-11, so we continue in the winners' bracket. The tournament this year is a little different; they broke it down into divisions of divisions, so our tournament is with 4 teams total, the bottom 4 of the bottom half, as it were. But we'll take it. It's more fun to have a chance to win, after all...

 We've returned from a weeklong camping trip to Petoskey! This was the trip that I had such a hard time getting a reservation for (see 1/23/2022). We all really enjoyed Petoskey State Park. What a beautiful park. Nice facilities, mere steps to the beach from every loop, a great beach, good rock hunting, close to anything you need. We got there last Sunday around dinnertime and got everything all set up. Neill and Judy were just down the loop a short walk from us, so we spent a lot of time with them. We hit the shopping district Monday, including finding a place for some pretty good calzones (that's our thing), went on a trip to Pond Hill Farm (we saw it on the way back from Legs Inn last year and though hey, we should check that out sometime) which we thought was very overrated and not something we would want to spend a lot of time at, went to Legs Inn through the Tunnel of Trees northbound this time, hit the Indian crafts store and the fudge shops, and spent a lot of time on the beach looking for Petoskey stones (we found a ton of them, but didn't get any polished this time), Checked out a festival in Charlevoix where there was a big band playing one evening, went to Young State Park (down the road a bit where the Pinksters were staying because they couldn't get a spot at Petoskey) and visited with John and Steph for a day. I made a Dutch oven cheesy potato dish that was a big hit, but of course when the recipe starts with 'melt a pound of butter...' it's going to be a hit. I also did a lot of bike riding with Neill, down several bike trails and rail trails 3 different times for 12-15 miles (he was pretty proud of himself for keeping up, but he has an e-bike...though he did really well for an 81 year old). Went to see the sunset a bunch. I even ran into someone I know from work, which was unexpected. We packed up and hit the road by around lunch time today, and took around 6 hours to get home. We love Petoskey!

 A couple weeks ago I noticed that the truck’s brakes have been acting funny. When I stop at a traffic light for example, the brake pedal tends to keep sinking as I sit there, and if I’m not paying enough attention the truck may start to roll forward even if my foot stays on the brake. Ab & Tom’s was not able to get the truck in for a few weeks, so I took it to Boggs Automotive instead. I figured we’re towing the camper a few hundred miles (next week!) so I better get the brakes taken care of now. Anyway they said that the front calipers were seized and the rear rotors and pads all needed to be replaced. So I had them do all that….and when I picked it up at the end of the day it appeared to me that nothing had really changed after $1300+ worth of work. So I took it in the next day and asked them to check out what I was telling them it was doing. The manager agreed to have the lead mechanic test drive it, so I took it in at the end of the day and he did so. His test drive lasted less than a minute and he was back, saying as he came back in the door something like “it never should have left here in that condition.” OK, so bring it in tomorrow morning! They had it again the next day and replaced the master cylinder which appeared to be shot. Another $343.17 there. But at the end the truck has all new brakes for the trip up north tomorrow, and we should even be able to stop when we need to. 

I took a load of scrap metal to Lewis Salvage on Monday, mostly things that Beth has been bugging me to get rid of. An old patio chair that the webbing has ripped, an old table that was by the front door, my old bike that the shifter’s been broken for a year and I’ve taken parts off of, and some miscellaneous scrap from the garage. That all got me $3.68! I bought a drink and had some change left over.

Tuesday the softball game was cancelled, rather postponed, because the opposing team had too many players out due to the fair to field a team. The league manager tried to get another team on short notice but couldn’t, so she’s scheduled a doubleheader next week. When I’m out on vacation, dang it.

Another medical milestone for my journey to being old: my first cortisone shot. I finally went to see my family doctor last week hoping for a referral to an orthopedist about my shoulder. It’s been sore for about 6 months now, and chiropractic isn’t really helping. Dr. Dick said he thought it was “adhesive capsulitis” or frozen shoulder, and sent me over to Ortho Northeast. The same doctor that sees Beth about her knee and back saw me, took some x-rays, and told me he didn’t see anything on them so apparently Dr. Dick was right. He gave me a cortisone shot, which may help like flipping a switch, or not, and gave me some exercises to do. Apparently the shot and the exercises and icing should cure it but it may take some time. Well, it’s already been months. I need to get a resistance band.

The “new” Honda went into the shop at Boggs Automotive on Friday to take care of a few things before the big trip out west. Most notably, the oil drain plug that got stripped at Jiffy Lube about a week ago. They fixed that for free, and I had them check the belts and hoses while it was there and fix the alignment. They recommended replacing the serpentine belt so I had them do that. Hopefully it’ll be all set to take to Washington next month. 

The whole family went out to see the new “Thor: Love & Thunder” movie this weekend. Overall I liked it, but it wasn’t my favorite of all the MCU movies. I’d give it a 7/10. It was definitely the silliest of all the Marvel movies. And the whole bit at the beginning with the Guardians of the Galxy seemed…awkward. The last half hour was pretty awesome though.

 We never learn, it seems, so for July 4 weekend we tried to go to the beach at Warren Dunes. We set out on Sunday after church with all the beach fixins loaded into the van (and the GPS sent us all over the place on the way there…all through the sticks) and when we got to the entrance to the park, we found that the rangers had closed the entrance (because all the lots were full) and were turning people away. There was a line coming from the other direction (trying to turn right into the park) going for a long long way. We luckily could see what was going on so we didn’t stay, and headed for South Haven instead. When we got there, we found the beach as packed as we have ever seen it, including on a July 4^th, and we were unable to find a parking space anywhere around north beach. We finally found a place to park at south beach, far away enough that I had to drop the fam off at the beach and go park and hike back. Man the beach was packed. Seems that there was an art fair going on in South Haven that day, and there was a fireworks show in the evening, so nobody was leaving the beach in the late afternoon. We just stayed there, went swimming, sat under the canopy, and such until around 5 and then took off for home again. A much faster trip home than the outbound trip.

 The fireworks show in town was Saturday the 2^nd. We took the kids to the fairgrounds like usual and found a good place to park and watch, but this year it really seemed to be a lesser show than previous years. It just seemed shorter and less impressive.

 The “new” Honda has already had a misadventure. On Friday I took it in to Jiffy Lube to get the oil changed, and they told me that the drain plug was either cross-threaded or overtorqued when it was changed the last time, and the threads stripped when they took it out and it would not go back in. They installed a “pan saver” as a temporary fix but told me that I should take it back to where the oil was changed last and have them fix it since it was their fault. I wasn’t optimistic when I went back to Boggs to tell them. They sent me to their main shop, where they made an appointment for me to bring it back in next week. We’ll see what they say, I guess.

 Softball had a big win on Tuesday, we played the last-place team in the league and beat them down 17-4, but it wasn’t as close as the score would indicate. They were kind of like Charlie Brown’s team, or maybe they were having an off night, or maybe some of their good players weren’t there. But they weren’t doing much of anything right. Or maybe we’re getting better, but I kind of doubt it.

 Missy has returned from Europe! She came back Tuesday evening, the bus pulled in to the high school around 11:30 pm. She was very jet lagged, and very tired, and happy to be home even though she had a fantastic time! As when Alex went, it was unusually hot there the whole time, and they were always on the move, but she did and saw so many things and had such an amazing adventure. She took about a million pictures, too.

 This was a great week for seeing stuff. On Wednesday Beth and I went to see the new “Top Gun: Maverick” movie while Alex was at work, and we both really liked it. It was better than the first one, for sure. Although I thought it was maybe just a bit predictable….but anyway.

Thursday Beth and I took Alex up to see a South Bend Cubs ballgame. That was the game that I won tickets for on Pulse FM last week. I only won two tickets, so I called the ticket office and asked if I could trade in the tickets for 3 other tickets that were together, and they let me in the end and said the tickets would be at the will call window. They didn’t even charge me for the 3rd ticket, which surprised me. But I’ll take it! Next time we’ll have to figure out a better parking situation because the roads at the stadium were really swamped and not moving, so we finally found a parallel parking spot about a block or two away. We thought it was odd that traffic was so bad for a minor league game during the week that was only half full, if that, but maybe we just didn’t find the right place to go. As for the stadium, it is really nice, and the seats we had were really good except for the sun. They were along the 1st base line so we were looking towards the sun for more than half the game. Made it hard to see fly balls too. It was much better after the sun finally went below the level of the stadium. Next time we’ll get seats along the 3rd base line if we go in the evening. The game itself was pretty good as well. Peoria went out in front early, the middle of the game was slow, but SB tied it up with a late rally, nearly won it in the bottom of the 9th but the runner was called out at home, so it went to extra innings. In the bottom of the 10th we got to see a 3-run walk-off homer to win it! 

Saturday was the event we’ve been waiting for 2 years to go to. Billy Joel at Notre Dame Stadium! Originally the concert was to be in June of 2020 but was postponed until 2021 due to Covid and then later postponed until 2022 due to Covid still hanging around. We’ve had these tickets for 2 years and finally got to use them! What an incredible concert! This was the first time either of us had been to the stadium for anything and we found the traffic to be crazy…we got into a long line of traffic that moved only differentially for a long time, and around an hour before the show was to start we decided we weren’t going to make it in time like this so we tapped out of the line and found parking at an office building across the street. For $50. But worth it because we made it in time! Pretty sure we wouldn’t have if we’d stayed in the line we were in. Then an incredible show! He did most all of the hits we wanted to hear, plus a few more, and 5 encores! And us singing and dancing along with almost all of them. What a huge crowd, too. There was a family of 4 in front of us, with two 20-something kids (I think) who were singing along with all of the songs just like their parents. And some 40,000 or however many people all singing along to “Piano Man.” And he nailed the high notes on “An Innocent Man.” And he started “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” just as the sun was setting but forgot the words in the chorus. And started the concert with the Notre Dame fight song on the piano blended into the overture to “My Life.” Oh my what an incredible show it was! Loved it.

Decent showing from the softball team on Tuesday; we played an A-division team so I thought we would get steamrolled but we held our own. Even though I couldn’t hit that day, we did turn a neat 6-4-3 double play at one point (I was the 4) and only lost by a couple of runs. We also saw one of the other team get ejected (rare in church league) for mouthing off about calls to the umpire. Wouldn’t stop after hearing “are you done?” from the ump once, so he got tossed. I guess winning in church league softball is pretty important to him.

Beth and I went to Nappanee on Friday to spend the $200 gift card for Kountry Cabinets that I won also from Pulse FM last week. Turns out, it wasn’t a $200 gift card, it was two $100 gift cards, and since they say ‘one per customer’ on them I couldn’t use them both at the same time for the same purchase. Yep. No matter how I argued. We didn’t find a whole lot there that we were very interested in anyway; there’s expensive furniture we can’t afford, and home furnishings we’re not interested in. In the end all we could find was a set of wind chimes for just over $100, but since they wouldn’t let us use both gift cards I had to pay the amount over $100. Sheesh.

Friday Natalie also found out somehow that we have cancelled the graduation party we’d been planning for her in Michigan at Judy’s cottage. She was pretty angry about that, it seemed when she showed up at the house Friday evening to collect some more of her stuff. I’m not sure what she expected though. She doesn’t really like any of the family and we certainly weren’t going to transport her friends there. So yeah, cancelled. 

I went on another 30-mile bike ride with 2nd Mile Adventures on Saturday. We looped towards the southwest and back up through Pierceton. Nice ride. I wonder if I’ll wind up a biker instead of a runner. 

 Missy has departed, at long last, for her Adriatic Odyssey! Wednesday morning the tour group left at about 8:30am, rolling out from the high school to O’Hare. It seems they arrived in plenty of time because they didn’t take off until about 4:45 Warsaw time. But they were doing currency exchange and all that, and checking in a big group, and keeping a bunch of kids together…so I’m sure “plenty of time” is a good idea for them. Anyway, finally! After 2 years of delays due to covid, Missy gets to go! She’s so excited. We’ve chatted a bit on WhatsApp so we know what they’ve been seeing so far. By now they’ve been in Italy for a few days and seen Rome (Colosseum, catcombs, marble stuff), the Vatican, Florence, Ovieto…and they even had a birthday celebration for Missy and 2 other girls having birthdays during the trip. The teacher leading the group has been texting photos…incredible. Such an amazing adventure.

We FINALLY have the van back! After over a week in the shop. And about $1700 worth of repairs to the suspension, steering rack, and brakes, plus an oil change. But it drives a lot better now…as it should. It has just been a good thing that we had the Honda this past week.

All this week Beth and I have been helping out at our church’s VBS. We were guides for a small group of 2nd graders; we gathered them together at the beginning for the opening and worship song/dance, then led them to the game and craft stations, with a snack and small group time in the middle where we had another activity. Really good time! We had as many as 5 and as few as 2 kids in our group during the week but we always had a fun time and we had good kids. Everything went really well and the kids seemed to really have a good time. I think this was our first VBS after 2 years off due to covid, or at least with an in-person VBS instead of virtual. Which I’m not sure how that went, but anyway. Fun times!

Softball was called off this week due to the heat! It was so hot and so humid this week that we had heat advisory warnings, and the league decided to postpone the games until July (when it could be even hotter, but anyway). I didn’t mind, since I was helping at VBS and unlikely that I would have been able to make it to the game on time anyway, so it’s all good. 

I have entered the Fresh Outta Bed and Head to Head Hall of Fame...again. I had quite a haul this week: initially on Tuesday I won 2 tickets to Indiana Beach, then an inflatable bowling set, a fridge magnet, and 2 tickets to a South Bend Cubs game. Plus, I was entered into a drawing for a $200 gift card at Country Cabinets & Home Furnishings in Nappanee, which I also won. So now I'm a 2-time member of the hall of fame and get to play again in the year-end tournament!

Today was the Father’s Day celebration at church! Saturday I went in to help get everything set up (tent for the petting zoo, tables & chairs, etc) and back again Sunday morning early to finish the setup (bounce houses, table services, canopies, etc). There was an outdoor service at 10 followed by lunch (grilled burgers and hot dogs, plus everything that normally goes with that). Then the inflatable obstacle course and bounce house, petting zoo, face painting, bingo, and general fun! Then I stayed after to get everything packed up and put away. Good time. And it wasn’t too hot.

No sign of Natalie this weekend. 

This was a week that was crammed full of stuff. Some good, some not so good. On Monday, I took the van in to Ab & Tom’s again, because it’s been driving so rough lately. Last time they saw it they told me that the ball joints were going, and they must have gone by now. I brought a bike with me when I dropped it off, then used it to ride to work, and later on to lunch. Then I had something happen that had never happened to me before: I got a flat tire. There was a little piece of sharp metal in one of the bike tires so I had to walk it home from Subway at lunch. That may have been a sign of things to come. As I write this, they’ve had the van for a week and it is still not done. The ball joints and tie rods needed to be replaced, and also the steering rack (which was under warranty). They were so shorthanded that it’s taken all this time to get that done, and they haven’t even done anything with the brakes, which have been pulsing a lot lately. So maybe it’ll be done on Monday, maybe not.

Missy had to pick me up from work on Monday so we could get to the final pre-departure meeting for her trip to Europe! All about the last minute things we need to do or make sure we have done or things to buy before departure day. Missy is getting so excited about it. And nervous. But I know she is going to have a great time. 

In the meantime it has been a good thing we have the Honda. Beth went up to Michigan with Missy on Tuesday to visit with her Aunt Halo and Judy and Ted, so she was gone all day. Alex and Natalie worked most all day. Softball had a doubleheader in the evening at 6 and 8: we won the game at 6, 10-9, and lost the nightcap, 10-5. 

Wednesday, Natalie was out all day and when she came back in the evening she had a dog with her. It was her boyfriend’s dog, but she insisted it was hers too, and she was keeping it here. I told her no, that it had to go back to his house and it could not stay here. To which she got very huffy but allowed she would see what she could do. I let it go there and went to bed. Beth, Missy and I went to Ball State on Thursday for an orientation for Missy. She got all registered, we had another tour and met some of the faculty and staff. Missy also met several of her soon to be classmates. We were done with it by late afternoon and headed home, and the dog was still there. Alex told us she had just left it at home while she went to work. So a big fight ensued where we told her that the dog could not stay at the house and it had to go back to her boyfriend’s. A lot of yelling and cursing happened, and her response to me telling her that the dog couldn’t stay here was “tough $#!+.” In the end I went to his house myself and told him that she couldn’t keep the dog at my house. He apologized and said he would come get it later. Instead a little later another friend of hers came by with her boyfriend, and Natalie grabbed a few things, the dog, all of her meds, and left. But before driving off she dumped a bottle of weed killer all over Beth’s flowers. We did not see or hear from her again until Saturday afternoon when she came by with the same other two friends and got most of her clothes and a few other things. We assume she is living with those friends but don’t really know. All we know for sure is that she does not live here any longer. She said she’d be back next weekend for the rest of her things. I hope she’s ok. 

Missy is a high school graduate! It still blows my mind a bit that our kids got old enough to graduate from high school. Sigh...time passes. I can remember when it blew my mind that we had kids at all. Anyway, the practice the day before went off without a hitch except it being super hot. Judy and Neill came for the graduation and the graduation party, which was nice. The actual ceremony was Friday, and we had about the same seats as we did last year for Alex's graduation. Unfortunately we were just a bit behind Missy so I couldn't get many good shots of her face during the graduation. But anyway it was nice, the weather was as good as it gets for something like that, clear & sunny & not too hot, and not too many super long speeches. She found a few of her friends after the graduation was over but I think she mostly wanted to get out of there. We went out for ice cream afterwards. 

The party was Saturday. Again we had Jack's big 10' x 20' tent and a bunch of tables and chairs borrowed from church, and this time we had Chicago dogs. Missy chose Chicago dogs and fruit for the refreshments to go with the cupcakes and the Ball State decorated small cake. So I grilled and Beth chopped the condiments (or found them - specifically sport peppers which we found to be hard to find). We had a really good turnout and Missy got a good haul of presents. Then she took off to hit all of her friends' graduation parties that were on the same day :)

Speaking of Missy we also got her a new mattress this week. We've been intending to do that for some time because her old one (that she's slept on since she moved out of the toddler bed) is pretty worn out. We found a good one at Mattress Firm where Beth and I got ours. 

Softball turned in a rare feat this week: we got shut out. 14-0. We absolutely could not get anything going, and got mercied after the fourth inning. Third and a half actually, they didn't bat in their fourth inning. We only went through our batting lineup one time. And nothing went right in the field either, while they made no mistakes. They were just a lot better than us.

 We have a new car! New to us anyway. A guy I know at work was thinking about selling one right around the time Beth and I were thinking about buying one for Alex to take back to college in the fall. So when he finally decided to sell it he let me know. It's a 2012 Honda Accord LX with about 137000 miles on it. I had it checked out at Ab & Tom's and they said it was in good shape, so we decided to go for it. The asking price was $6000 which seemed like a pretty good deal. And it gets ~30 miles per gallon highway so it'd be a lot cheaper than driving the van or truck.

Natalie had her first bump in the road with her job. She was in the CNA class for a week before she didn't score high enough on a quiz (90 is passing for those) and had what was probably a POTS episode. She texted Beth and me from work that she wasn't felling good and needed to come home. So anyway that means that she's disenrolled from the CNA program until the next class starts since she missed too much time, and will have to start over. Not sure exactly when. But in the meantime she can continue to work there as a patient care assistant, basically helping with laundry and cleaning and such. We're still hoping this works itself into a good job.

Thursday we got our new A/C installed! We've been running fans a lot, and thankfully it hasn't been as hot lately as it was when it first died. This one ought to last us until we sell the house, I would think. 

Softball had a pretty decent game this week, although we lost a close one, 8-6. They had a lot more good hitters than we did so the fact that we kept it that close was pretty good for us.

 So this week was kind of dominated by Natalie's family drama. Since she found out about what happened, she has said she wants to go to Florida to get some closure. There were allegations about what some of her other family members said and did about her medical decisions, and in the end, even though I did not understand why she wanted to go or what she thought she would get out of it, we found out her grandparents were driving down there and taking one of her brothers with them. Basically there was no getting around it at that point, and we agreed to send her. Her grandparents agreed to put her up in their motel, and to take her with them when they drove back. So we got Nat a ticket from Indy to Orlando, drove her to the airport, and sent her away. Not knowing how she was going to do on the flight and the trip as a whole by herself. Well, she got there all right, and she visited her mom in the hospital before all the machines were turned off, as she wanted, though she told her grandparents that the only reason she came was so she could tell her mom how much she hates her. Anyway, it only took a little more than a day for things to blow up between her and her grandparents, to the point where they felt they couldn't have her and her brother with them any more. We got a call from her that she needed to come home now. My first reaction was to say absolutely not, but her grandparents needed her gone so we got her another ticket to Indy on Wednesday evening, drove down again, and picked her and her brother up. At least we didn't have to buy his ticket. We drove him home and then got home sometime around 2 am. Her grandparents want to have a memorial service for her in Warsaw, I hope they don't try to involve Natalie.

Alex and Natalie both have jobs lined up! Alex finally heard from Menard's that they were going to "go in a different direction" whatever that means, so he applied at Kroger and got an interview right away. He interviewed last Tuesday and got hired on the spot, will start very soon. He'll be fulfilling click-list orders most of the time. Natalie will be doing a CNA certification course at Mason's and starts next week. It'll take just a few weeks to get certified and then she'll just have to work there for 9 months to pay it back. She's starting that next week.

Softball continues! We got smoked this week though. We lost 21-9, mercied again. I also gave myself a little bit of a raspberry on my hip and elbow sliding into third. I had singled, and the next batter singled, and I gambled that the outfielder wouldn't be able to make the throw to beat me if I went for the extra base. Well, it was closer than I had hoped but I got in safe with the slide. I had figured that down 21-2 at the time I might as well go for it.

The Fat & Skinny Tire festival was this weekend, so no big bike ride with 2nd Mile Adventures this weekend, but I did go on the community ride from the Trailhouse Bike Shop to downtown Warsaw. I was a bit late so I joined the ride in progress just onto Center St. We got stopped by a train the the Center Street crossing, so that was fun. The ride ended downtown where there was a BMX stunt show, so all the riders (and there were probably hundreds of riders) all hung out to see the show before heading off. Anyway, since I wasn't on a long bike ride this weekend, I ran on Saturday morning. Only 2.7 miles, because the dark clouds I thought would just blow over turned out to be full, and they broke open when I was about 1.5 miles into the run. First time that has happened to me, actually. I tried to shelter under a tree for a little bit but it didn't look like it was going to let up anytime soon (it didn't) and in the end I was already so soaked I thought I might as well run home. So a short run this week.

The open house season has kicked off! Abby O had hers today at the fireman's house (or whatever they call it) down by Pike Lake. Nice time. Graduation is creeping ever closer.....

Missy had an art exhibition at the high school on Thursday! The AP art department was showing off their work and the public was invited to the show. Missy's chosen medium was digital graphics. She has been working on a sort of storyline about dragons for a while now and had a big display of 15 prints telling the story. And she was awarded a pretty big haul! Two pieces were selected as honorable mentions, one first place overall in the medium, and second place overall in the senior showcase! She is so proud of it and we are so proud of her. How awesome! She was worried that the judges wouldn't see her work as "real" art, I think, and that she would have no recognition for all her work. But yes! What a great talent. We're not sure where it came from. Probably my dad...

Some bad news this week. We have had a spell of unseasonably hot weather for a few days, so Beth turned on the A/C and it did not work. Well, something did, but it wasn't blowing and cold air out the ducts. I knew the blowers worked because they were fine when we were running the furnace, and something was working because there was ice on the unit outside and condensation on the coils inside. Turns out, the refrigerant is almost gone so it's not circulating well, and it's the old, bad kind of refrigerant so re-charing it would be prohibitively expensive, if they could get that refrigerant which they can't. So like $3-4000 to recharge at best if they could get it. Which means we may as well get a new A/C instead. In the meantime, I bought a bunch of fans for the sweltering upstairs, and Collier's sent a manager over on Friday to sell us a new A/C unit. I'm going to have to take out a loan....

Beth finally made it back to the dentist on Tuesday. The filling she got last week really did not agree with her and she has been in a lot of pain ever since she got it. The dentist tried smoothing it out at first but that didn't really help, so she had to go back in an have it removed and re-done. One that was done, she started feeling better immediately. It must have been cracked.

Tuesday was FCC softball's first doubleheader to make up the rainout! We played at 6 and 8. We were all over the other team in the first game, like 21-9, but lost a close back-and-forth game in the nightcap, 13-11. Again, we had a lot of extra players. Everyone plays, though.

Friday my work group had a team-building exercise of sorts. The boss made some arrangements for all of us to go on a boating excursion on Lake Tippecanoe. It was a gorgeous day for it! James rented a pontoon for the afternoon from Patona Bay near Leesburg and 6 or 7 of us had a cookout for lunch in the park, then headed out on a lake tour. The lake is still too cold to swim but everyone was perfectly happy to take the afternoon off and float for a while. Good time.

I went on a group bike ride with 2nd Mile Adventures this Saturday. They do group rides every Saturday when the weather is good, I think, and Trey has been trying to get me riding for couple years. I think the time may come when I taper off running and switch to biking. Maybe. I was worried I wouldn't be able to keep up with the group but I went with the slow group so I did just fine, and we went around 28 miles which is the farthest I've ridden in years, maybe since 1994 when Ric and Jim and I did the Kal-Haven Trail. The faster group went fast enough that I'm sure I would have been left in the dust, though. But it was a really nice morning and a fun ride with about 6 people.

Saturday was Warsaw's prom night! Missy didn't have a date but she made arrangements to go out with a bunch of friends. I think it's inexplicable that she has never been asked on a date but I don't think she minds, she is headed for bigger things than Warsaw. Anyway, the prom was a more normal one this year than last year's covid prom, so she had a much better time. She had more friends to hang out with this time as well. And she was absolutely stunning in the dress she and Beth found for her. 

Nat had something of a shocker this week. He birth mom was hit by a car in Florida, is in a coma with massive injuries, and is basically brain dead. She got a call from Logan asking to meet him at a park yesterrday and he gave her the news, which gave her a huge panic attack and made her pass out which scared the crap out of Logan. She wants to go down there, why I'm not really sure but I guess it's for some sort of closure and to make sure that it's true. I'm not sure how or when she's going, but I guess we're sending her. She's also saying that she and her siblings have to make the decision about taking her off life support. Which I guess is true, they're the closest family. She is only saying that she wants go to Florida to tell her mom how much she hates her before she dies. I don't really want to send her, but I guess we probably will. I just don't think anything good can come of it.

 In 1997, Sting played the Virginia Beach Amphitheater, and we couldn't afford to go. 25 years later, never mind the expense! Beth and I went to see Sting in concert last night! Remember back in January when we were looking for shows to go to because the one at Clyde Theater was a bust? Well, one of the shows we found was Sting on tour. Neither one of us was aware he was touring but Beth said hey, look for Sting when we were browsing for shows. And we found it! And also, he was playing large venues like Chicago and Philadelphia....and Grand Rapids!? So that's the one we went to see. We left the kids to fend for themselves and hit the road Saturday afternoon. The venue itself, Van Andel Arena, is a minor league hockey stadium similar to the Coliseum in FW but with much narrower seats and crammed rows. Very uncomfortable. But, the seats were really good (upper deck) and we had a good sight line, and the concert was awesome! He played sort of a greatest hits set with a mini-concert of new material in the middle, and some older songs re-made as reggae. Late in the show when he did The Police's "So Lonely" with an interlude of Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry" in the middle and then went straight into "Desert Rose" it brought the house down. Great show! His son was the opening act, he was also very good. And a dead ringer for his dad. It was somewhere around 2:30 or so when we got home. We saw Sting!!!

Another rainout this week for FCC softball. Another makeup soon, hopefully.

 Beth and I went to see a play all by ourselves yesterday! The South Bend Civic Theater was doing "Noises Off" for the past couple weeks, and wrapping up this weekend. We saw that they were doing that last January when we were looking for shows to see after not being able to stay for the Billy Joel / Elton John tribute (see 01/23/2022) and I've been looking forward to it ever since. I saw that play in Terre Haute in 1987 or 1988 when I was in college, laughed myself silly, and was so excited to bring Beth to see it. I was so impressed with SBCT! It is a really small venue (maybe 300 seats?) but a very nice one, looks like it was fairly recently completely renovated from whatever it used to be, and the company was very good! Beth adn I had a great time and will certainly be back. 

Natalie and Alex both have leads on jobs! Natalie asked at Mason's about CNA training, which they will do for free if she agrees to work there for at least 9 months (or else pay back $1200). She's having a TB test Monday and if it's negative she will start training right away, working 6 to 2 each weekday (not sure weekends) doing all sorts of OJT and such. I sure hope this works out for her. Alex submitted an application to Menard's since they pay better than Wal-Mart and he could wear shorts at work. They called him back already and will contact him to do an interview. 

Last Thursday was the annual Heartline Gathering of Hope banquet. Beth and I were invited, not exactly sure how, unless it was just the Rogers' invitation. Several families from church were there. It is a big fundraiser for Heartline, and we pledged $25 per month for the next year. It was a really nice presentation and a good dinner for a good cause. 

Tuesday was finally the return of FCC softball! As always I was worried about not having enough players show up but it looks like we will have the opposite problem again. Lots of extra players. I always make sure that everyone plays, but at least one guy isn't playing this year because we have too many. And I got a couple of requests to joint the team even this week. We have almost enough for two teams, but not quite. Anyway, we got thrashed. Mercied in the first game. They had a lot of hitters on their team. We jumped out to an early lead but quickly fell behind and lost 17-5.

Alex is home! I went out there to help get him packed up and bring him back this week. In finding flights and lodging and such, I found that the cheapest flights west all leave from O'Hare and the earlier the cheaper, so it turned out that getting a ParkSleepFly deal at one of the airport hotels allowed me to be at the airport earlier (without having to get up super early and fight Chicago traffic) and take an earlier flight, which meant it was cheaper to do that than to take an even 90-minute later flight and leave the car in extended parking. So I stayed overnight in Chicago Wednesday night, took an early flight, got to Seattle late morning, and found that Alex was still asleep when I got there. So I did some shopping and came back to take him out for lunch. We got laundry going and started getting him packed up. I found and rented a storage unit while he was doing some stuff with friends, and then we got his big things (bike, dresser) stowed that afternoon. He kept laundry going in the evening so we were ready to get him packed, and the next day we hit a laundromat for his bedding and towels and such. Everything was either packed or stored by late afternoon, and his apartment was as cleaned as it was likely to get, so we took off and stayed overnight at a hotel near the SeaTac airport so we could easily return the car and get an early flight home. We made it back to Chicago with no issues.

I had been trying to get us home in time to go see the "Star Wars vs. Star Trek" Symphony of the Lakes performance at OCC Saturday, since we got the tickets for that long before we knew when Alex was coming home. I had no idea at the time it would be so early. I wasn't sure we would make it, but our luggage was practically the first 3 bags onto the carousel, and there was almost no outbound traffic from O'Hare so we whizzed through Chicago and home. We made it in plenty of time for the concert, which took Beth by surprise. All 5 of us went. Then Natalie had a panic attack and had an incredible episode just before it started. And she blamed Beth and me for it. and is still mad at us. Turns out OCC is too close to a trailer park where things happened years ago...whatever. So I had to take her home and missed almost the entire first act waiting to see if she was going to be all right at home. But I came back for the second half, and caught some really good music. Star Wars wins in music even though I kinda prefer the Star Trek universe. 

Missy had a mandatory trip meeting at school Tuesday. Looks like 2 years later she is finally going to get to go on the Adriatic Odyssey trip! They were going over all the things she needs to do and to have for the trip, and especially all the covid rules. When she has to take tests and all that. She's really looking forward to it! And she'll depart on her birthday. 

This past Tuesday was supposed to be the return of FCC softball, but we were rained out. There is new management of the league this year, and already she's been much more communicative than in the past. We've been assured that we will make it up, probably as a doubleheader sometime soon. 

 Easter was a mixed bag for us this year. The services were great, and we had a nice meal at home with May Jane visiting for the evening, and Beth, Missy and I went to Good Friday services as well including the Journey to the Cross exhibit which was super. The Easter service itself was great but afterwards Natalie (yes, she went with us) got upset and offended at something someone said and had a meltdown. Yelling at them and storming off, and throwing a fit in the car on the way home. Then stomping down to her room and we barely saw her the rest of the day. So Beth's favorite holiday was spoiled by the crushing anxiety that  resulted. Not sure what she was so bothered by, if the story we heard was correct than it was basically nothing. Well anyway, I'm starting to feel like we have to figure out what happens now that she's done with high school. That's turning into an elephant in the room.

Spring break has wrapped up. It was certainly different this year, since Alex is away and he had his spring break a few weeks ago, and Natalie is already done with high school. We're trying to save some money so the vacation was smaller, but we did get away to Chicago for a couple days and did a couple favorites. I took Wednesday and Thursday off work, and Wednesday we all went to the Schaumburg IKEA for a couple hours (as usual, we bought a bunch of stuff but kept it under $80) and then to Medieval Times in the evening. Not sure how many times that is for us all together, maybe 4 or 5? Anyway, we were cheering for the blue knight this time, but with the program they're running (same one we saw last time we were there) by the end of the show it definitely seemed like he was actually the bad guy. Something about being upset that the queen couldn't understand that they should fight to the death. Or something like that. Anyway we stayed in a motel overnight and in the morning headed into the city and spent most of the day at the Field Museum. Sue has been moved since we were there last, and she has a much bigger exhibit. She's the centerpiece of a whole big dinosaur wing that you walk through before you can see her. And, some of the bones have been repositioned, and some added, because of current research into the t-rex physiology. She looked chunkier than before because more ribs have been added. So, we did the Field Museum until everyone was done (Missy probably looked at every single animal in that big diorama display wing, and there are a lot), and headed home. 

The girls both have prom dresses! Beth took them each out this week to go dress shopping in Fort Wayne and they both found dresses that look gorgeous on them. Since Natalie's school doesn't have a prom she is looking into options, and she'd like to do a family party of sorts in Michigan. Anyway, she didn't find anything at the usual prom dress stores so they went to a bridal shop and found one there. Plus matching purse and shoes. Missy found a dress at Macy's. She's planning to go to the Warsaw prom, probably with some friends again this year.

I actually picked the winner in the NCAA tournament this year! Way to go Kansas. Correctly picking 2 of the Final Four is usually a big achievement for me.

The Fight Club mid-chapter meeting was Friday/Saturday. Not sure still why it needs to be at midnight, unless it's just because it takes away excuses for why you can't go. I carpooled up with 4 other guys. It was well-attended, maybe not as much as previous times I've been there (3rd time for me now), but I considered bailing myself because of the weather. It had been rainy for a few days, and projected to be rainy for a couple more. But they predicted a stop in the rain for several hours overnight Friday/Saturday and they were right, the rain held off. Which was good, because rain would have made things not good. The fellowship/cookout started around 11:00 as people arrived and went until around 12:30 when the worship service started, then the message, testimonies, and then...group activities. Again this time, the group activities were chaotic and not well organized. First was putting a wall made of pallets and boards back upright from where it had blown over a couple weeks ago, which was about 15 minutes for around a quarter of the guys there. Then we found out the assignment was building a prayer hut out of logs we were going to cut down in the woods. Not a big deal, but assembling the hut (stacking logs into a square with a peaked roof and screwing them together) was a job for maybe 8 men at most. So our squad, once we found out the what & where, cut down one tree and carried the log to the build site, then we waited for two hours without anything to do while the hut was assembled. We weren't out of there until around 3:45 am. By which time my attitude was not very worshipful. It would have made much more sense for the squads to all cut a few logs and then stack them up at the site for a crew to come back and assemble the next day or next weekend or something; that could have been accomplished in no time and you wouldn't have had some 300 men standing around waiting for the end. But, at least it didn't rain. So: the fellowship was great, the worship service was great, the message was great, and the group activities were terrible.

One of the Fight Club assignments this week was to bring a treat and a smiley balloon to a local business you've adopted to pray for. I adopted Canal Street Market and The Olive Branch, so I wondered what treat I should bring to a foodie place. In the end I made chocolate chip banana bread and brought some by both places. They seemed to love it! And they appreciate the prayers.

The youth group's Mall Derby was Saturday. Missy went with them, and her team answered the most questions...but the activity itself was cut a bit short by some middle school boys getting into trouble with mall security. No big deal, I'm sure that's not the first time it's happened....

Tournament time again! Here's my annual "way off" Final Four prediction: Champion Kansas, Duke, Tennessee, Kentucky. MSU wins one game and exits, unfortunately.

 Alex has gone back to college, spring break is over. I hope it was a relaxing week for him, or at least one where he could get ready for the rest of the term. He was able to get together with friends a couple times, and while he was home we got him appointments with his doctor and she upped his meds a little bit, which he said seemed to be helping already by the time he went back. He's been feeling kind of depressed, but thinks it may be due in large part to the isolation of being stuck in the apartment all the time. He also had his birthday party while he was home, same as usual where he has several friends come over to play video games all night and sleep over, while the girls bug out and stay overnight in a motel with a pool, and I get the pizza and mostly stay out of the way. I went to bed around midnight, and I hear they were pretty much up until about 3. Not as many guys over this time, understandably, but he still seemed to have a good time. For dinner Saturday he wanted to go to Flat Top Grill in FW, which is kind of his go-to. We went to church today but only stayed through the first service so we could hit the road to O'Hare. We got there in plenty of time, since we can't go through security with him there was no point in waiting there. He got off fine, and we did have Scott pick him up this time to spare him the $50 Uber ride to the apartment.

Alex is home! He is on spring break, which seems early to me. But anyway we got him tickets to fly home a while back and went to Chicago yesterday to pick him up. Everything seems to be going pretty well for him there, and he’s been told that after spring break they will be going back to in-person classes! Awesome, much better than last time being told that maybe they would be online only for the rest of the year. Anyway, he had a $50 Uber ride to Sea-Tac because Scott couldn’t deliver him this time, and he got in to O’Hare at around 3:00 Chicago time, but it was a little while before we got him because the airline information said he was coming to the wrong concourse so we were waiting in the wrong spot. But we finally got him and headed home, stopping at another Schoop’s in Valpo on the way, which wasn’t as good as the one in Portage. He’s pretty jet-lagged (barely could stay awake for church today), but he’s home!

Missy also has college stuff going on. Last Wednesday there was a day off from school for her, since the lower grades were doing testing, and the seniors were not. She wanted to go to Muncie and check out the town more so than the school, to see what was there, look for shopping and grocery stores and such. So I took a day off and she and Beth and I headed down there. We arrived around lunchtime and found a restaurant (IHOP), then did a whole bunch of driving around the town and walked all throughout the Muncie Mall. The mall looks like it has been in serious decline for a long time now, I think 3 of the 4 anchor stores are vacant and the 4th is a discount overstock junk store thrown together. Maybe a third of the stores are open. So not much going on there, but there was plenty of shopping elsewhere, pretty much everything she will need. Plus she’ll be living in a dorm so she won’t need to shop all that much anyway. Not a bad place to go to college, it seems to me, although definitely not as vibrant as Redmond, WA. Missy’s getting excited about going, I think the trip made her feel better about moving there. 

There was a Fight Club assignment to deep clean/detail Beth's van this week. I got into it with a vacuum and dusting cloth and wet cloths and windex like the van hasn't been cleaned since we got it. It looks pretty sharp now. I should do the truck too...

Beth and I went to see one of the dumbest movies ever this weekend, “Moonfall.” It obviously is fairly late in the theatrical run of that movie, since we were actually the only two people in the theater seeing it. But holy cow was it ever stupid. We just kind of laughed and shook our heads at it a few times. It was kind of a bust overall for date night, because we went to the fish restaurant in Syracuse before the movie and what we got was seriously overcooked. Dry, chewy fried fish. And the scallops we had for an appetizer were all breading and no flavor underneath. Well, it was nice to have a date night anyway.

Saturday morning was the Fight Club breakfast meet & greet. We have a mega-squad this time around, like 40 guys from Warsaw that are doing it so we are broken into 3 sub-squads. It’s a basketball theme this time so we’re named after NCAA tournament regulars, my squad is Marquette, the sub-squad is Blue. There’s also Gold and White. We all got together at American Table for breakfast, I met a few new guys. Seems we have a good squad, it’ll be great to get it going again!

Saturday we all headed out to Bremen/Nappanee/Goshen to go to the Amish grocery store and Coppes Commons. We found that the Amish grocery is no more, which is probably why we had such a hard time finding it this time. All the signs had been taken down. We wandered around the back roads for a bit all around where we were sure it had been, but it’s permanently closed. So we hit Rentown and then Coppes Commons in Goshen, where we found that Rocket Science ice cream is also closed. Although that appears to be temporary for remodeling and expansion.

The van finally got back in to the shop this week to get the heat fixed. It’s been a cold few weeks since it was in last, but they have been so swamped that it took this long to get it squeezed in once they got the parts. So now the heat works again, and the display doesn’t reset to everything turned off every time you shut off the engine. $660 for that little fix, and of course there are some other things that should be fixed soon, most notably the ball joints are worn. Which I’m sure they are, because I can hear the front end bumping around again.

This week, once again, I was driven to the doctor by the down there, and found out what I pretty much already knew, my prostate is inflamed again. It's been a few weeks since I thought I should go, but delayed because I knew what would be coming. And it was, and arduous prostate exam, punctuated with the 'does this hurt? And this?' which it did. A lot. Anyway, another round of antibiotics. I wonder though what the root cause is, if it's the prostate stone I heard about a few years back or what. The pain has been mild, I guess, but never completely went away after the last time. Ah well.

Saturday Beth and I also found what will soon be her sewing/quilting table! I'm trying to push her to get back into it, so we took her sewing machine into Lowery's to get it cleaned and tuned up, and picked it up Saturday, then headed out of town a bit to a place where someone was selling a used dining room table without the chairs. For $40 we picked it up and brought it home. It's big, solid, in good condition, looks great; I think it is going to be perfect for quilting.