We’re undecided. The weather here is grand but next week in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan it probably won’t break 60 (which is a tad cool).

Tomorrow here, he’s supposed to be over 90!!

Our plans were to leave for the U.P. immediately after the north-bound Memorial Day traffic had died down (which would be Sunday or Monday), but looking ahead, we see the weather in the U.P. isn’t going to be warm or sunny early next week. (Temperatures from Monday on range from a high of 65 to a low of 61. (Little temperature variance but all below average.) So we’re waiting to decide when to head north. There’s no rush. I would be happy to just stay home, but I know that we need to look in on our property (which was supposed to be a long-term investment in our future but we haven’t visited since 2008.

It now looks like Thursday the 3rd would work out ok and we’ll stay up north five days to a week. It won’t be hot, but acceptable. We don’t really need to be home until June 18th when we hold a Sub-Strings practice. We’re very flexible.

We’re

I’m trying to become a Florida resident. We figure at least one of us should be able to vote in the Sunshine state. I want to be prepared with all the paper work completed before we head to Florida in September.

I have been reading up on residency requirements. I will need to file a “Declaration of Domicile.” One would think that means I will declare that we have a home and we/I live there a majority of the time. But here’s what I ran into. Talk about gibberish this is it!! (and if you don’t believe I quoted it exactly, you can check here and scoll to item 4 which is what is quoted below: http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=Ch0222/SEC17.HTM&Title=-%3E2000-%3ECh0222-%3ESection%2017

Section 222.17 Manifesting and evidencing domicile in Florida.-

(4) Any person who shall have been or who shall be domiciled in a state other than the State of Florida, and who has or who may have a place of abode within the State of Florida, or who has or may do or perform other acts within the State of Florida, which independently of the actual intention of such person respecting his or her domicile might be taken to indicate that such person is or may intend to be or become domiciled in the State of Florida, and if such person desires to maintain or continue his or her domicile in such state other than the State of Florida, the person may manifest and evidence his or her permanent domicile and intention to permanently maintain and continue his or her domicile in such state other than the State of Florida, by filing in the office of the clerk of the circuit court in any county in the State of Florida in which the person may have a place of abode or in which the person may have done or performed such acts which independently may indicate that he or she is or may intend to be or become domiciled in the State of Florida, a sworn statement that the person’s domicile is in such state other than the State of Florida, as the case may be, naming such state where he or she is domiciled and stating that he or she intends to permanently continue and maintain his or her domicile in such other state so named in said sworn statement. Such sworn statement shall also contain a declaration that the person making the same is at the time of the making of such statement a bona fide resident of such state other than the State of Florida, and shall set forth therein his or her place of abode within the State of Florida, if any. Such sworn statement may contain such other and further facts with reference to any acts done or performed by such person which such person desires or intends not to be construed as evidencing any intention to establish his or her domicile within the State of Florida.

What does that say????? I can’t believe the double-talk! Maybe our attorney can figure it out tomorrow.

John had a CT scan and went to his pulmonologist Monday. She ran a breathing test which showed he’s improved considerably. The other great thing, the breathing test showed that a portion of his lung damage is still “reversible.”

He had a couple of new meds including a Symbicort inhaler and allergy meds added to what he was taking.

But we are wondering, how much of John’s improvement is a result of the medicines he’s been on and how much is because he’s learned to use his diaphragm to help him breath. His friend, George, was a music teacher, and he gave John a saxaphone and some basic instructions which included implementation of his diaphragm. When John used those techniques Monday, his scores soared.

He’s breathing better, but it may be because of the “sax cure.” When he mentioned that to the doctor’s assistant, she misheard and thought he’d said “sex.”

That might also work, but for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a saxaphone appears to help.

As you who follow this blog know, I include a lot about our trips to Florida, our trips to the U.P. and everything else we do.

I’ve been warned that I may be putting our residence(s) at risk by saying when we’re going to be gone. I guess that’s true, but I’d hate to think that I have to be secretive about what we’re doing. Heck, folks have always known the events we attend. We’re pretty visible. When we go to the dulcimer festival, yup, our house is empty.

What folks don’t know is that our neighbors are very conscious of our comings and goings. We have neighbors both in Florida and Michigan. They watch our places for us. And I think I’m going to look into a security company. it might be worth it for peace of mind.

I’d hate to have to avoid references to our locations. I love writing about geckos in Florida, and sitting by our lake in Michigan. I love to chronicle our trips up and down I-75. Yes, that tells readers where we are, but I don’t want to stop.

I think I’ll go call a security company. Sad, isn’t it?

It’s 73 degrees and breezy right now (10:00 a.m.). Predictions are for the high 80’s which is a tad hot for May in Michigan, but I’m NOT going to complain.

Yesterday John and I bought over-sized gravity lounge chairs to put on our deck so we can stretch out. I had purchased some huge plush beach towels which I have use to throw over the chairs so they are extra comfy.

I love the outdoors in Florida, especially under an umbrella seated near the pool. Why not here near our lake? I need to give it a chance. Of course there is a big difference. In Florida we go to the pool and enjoy the interaction with other folks. Here we’re isolated, but with a book and the wonderful weather, it should be lovely.

It has warmed up here in Michigan and I’ve been dressing for the warmer weather with shorts and yesterday a swim suit.

Yesterday I noticed I’ve lost my butt. My weight hasn’t gone down, but I’m flat on the backside.

It’s no mystery. I found out where it’s gone. It’s pushed from back to front. I now have a belly in place of the butt.

Is this what happens to all 68 year old ladies? I could buy a pair of those “padded” panties but in a bathing suit the butt pads might absorb more water and having a butt one time and not another might not give the right impression … Naw!!!

Oh, well, as long as I suck it in (the belly) and stand facing folks, maybe no one will notice.

And my arms… they’re changing too. It’s like the skin is getting looser.

Old age definitely has some disadvantages but I am actually happier at 68 than I was 30 years ago. Guess I have to take the good with the bad.

Yesterday I tried to access my website, dulcimers.com, but I couldn’t. A call to Bluehost, my hosting company, confirmed that their server was having problems. When it didn’t come back up, I was informed that everything had been deleted from all of my sites. Bluehost worked to get everything running from back-ups and soon I saw that it was restored, but on further examination, I found everything was out-of-date by about a week.

I try to update my websites frequently. Any work I’d done over the past week or so had reverted to the older version. Thankfully I always try to save copies on my computer (and do back-ups of those files). It took a couple of hours, to update the affected sites: dulcimers.com, originaldulcimerplayersclub.org, sharons-blog, flintbanjo.com, and dulcimers.biz. I had to resort to restores from my trash can in a couple of instances but it appears everything is now working.

I did lose my email. Only mail since December, 2010, was included in the restored data. I generally save incoming mail on my computer, but sent mail is more difficult because of problems with the provider of my internet services.

Friday Update:
I discovered that the back-up which Bluehost loaded was older than I’d thought. Some parts of my website were restored to the middle of March!!! I have been working to get everything current. I hope anyone who discovers missing photos or out-of-date information, will let me know. It’s been a nightmare!

Earlier this week I wrote about my purchases on eBay. I gave lots of shopping hints. After I wrote that post, I started thinking about the great stuff that’s available on eBay and yesterday I went shopping.

I don’t do it often, but I’ve really let my eBay “addiction” take over. I took advantage of some fantastic deals and I’m sure I’ll be really happy with them.

The first purchase yesterday was a top with crochet accents (on the left). It was described as “CHICO’S green print w/ crocheted trim TOP.” Chico’s are pricy high-end items ranging in price from $70-$100. I spent $9.99 plus shipping. $4.08 in shipping. This is the one item I probably wouldn’t bid on, if I had it to do again. It is cute, but I could do without it.

The second item was a tank top with a built in bra. (I haven’t included a photo because it’s pretty bland.) I’d been looking for an item like this for quite a while. I actually bid on this one early in the day and went with a bid that I hoped would win. The auction wasn’t up until evening. I had forgotten that I’d bid, and when I won it, I was pleasantly surprised. I got it for the minimum bid. This “tank top” or “cami” is a Carol Wior. I am sure I’ll love it and I got it for a bargain price of $9.99 with shipping of $5.00. I love camis with built in bras, that this one looks like it’ll be great. I have generally paid about $30 for one with a true bra built in (but not of this quality). Many times they are listed for more than $50.

The next item a little skimpy crocheted top (shown above at the right). It’s unique and all open work with the exception of the bra area, where it’s lined. Really a cute vintage item. I was looking at various items, and stumbled across this one. I got it for $4.25 but paid $5.95 for shipping. It was a bargain. Hope it fits. Sometimes these vintage items are hard to gauge and until I see it, I won’t know what will work “under it.”

The next item (shown on the left) was my big splurge but I’m sure it’s the one I’ll be happiest with long-term. It’s new but vintage (meaning it was stored away by a store or manufacturer for years.) It’s by a top crochet designer, “Lim.” Those items are always unique and high quality. The top’s design is called “Carnation” and it’s obvious why. There are lovely dimensional carnations. It’s truly a work of art. I did go over-board and spent $42.99 and the shipping was $4.95. The top is one of those that, had I lost out, always been remorseful. I’m glad I got it. This is a wonderful addition to my wardrobe.

The last item was one I bought late last night. It’s a bathing suit by Carol Wior and it’s cute cute cute, and “new with tags.” I started bidding when it was going for something like $14. I wanted it so I’d have another swim suit here in Michigan. I ended up paying $26.55 plus $3.48 shipping. Carol Wior makes the highest quality swimwear I’ve found. These suits sell on QVC for as much as $115 plus shipping, so I shopped wisely.

My items came to a total of $93.77 plus $23.46 in shipping. Did I get bargains? Yes!! Could I have spent that much just on one of the items? Yes!!

But now I’m having “buyers remorse.” I don’t usually go that over-board. My excuse, I wasn’t feeling well so I spent my time looking. I stumbled across those items and the rest is history. Actually I computed a rough total for what I’d have spent if I’d purchased these items the conventional way and I estimate at least $400 value. John doesn’t know I’ve purchased all these items. I’ll gradually let him know. He would never complain, and he feels I’m a great shopper.

I do have one pending auction. I bid on two pair of new-in-the-box SAS sandals with about 2″ heels. One pair is white, the other wine. My top bid is $15.99 (shipping will be $8). The two pair of sandals had a “Buy it Now” price of $60. The bidding stands at $10.01. The auction is up at 11:00 tonight. Since I bought so many items yesterday, I really would just as soon lose this one, but it is a great bargain. I will not raise my bid, no matter what happens.

The shoes I mentioned in my post earlier this week arrived today. They will be perfect, once I break them in. Glad I bought them because the ones they are replacing are shot, but I hope John isn’t keeping score.

Will I go on a shopping spree again soon? No, it’ll be months before I’ll feel I can even venture into eBay. I went over-board yesterday!

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Notes:

May 19, 2010

I fessed up to John. He knows what I spent. His attitude: “Hope you will enjoy everything.” He’s pleased.

Thank goodness for a great guy!

—

May 16, 2010

Everything except the swim suit has arrived. I love every item. There isn’t anything I wish I hadn’t bid on. Every purchase was better than I had imagined. The little crocheted top I refer to as “skimpy” was extra cute. The “carnation” top fabulous. The Chico’s top nice. The cami with built in bra is what I’d been looking for at three times the price I paid.

Love eBay!!

—-

May 29, 2010

Got the bathing suit. It is WOW!! It’s the best I have. Carol Wior swim suits are better constructed than any others I’ve seen. They’re all fully lined, with extra layers in all the right places. They feel more secure and better built. They squish you in where you want to be squished and let you blossom where it’s nice to look more expansive.

So glad I bought it. For $26.55 plus $3.48 shipping, it’s a wonderful buy. If I went to a store, there’s no way I’d expect being able to buy suit like this for under $30! (Actually I wouldn’t expect a suit like this in a store for under $100 (probably more.) It’s better than I’ve ever witnessed anywhere else.

I am so pleased with my recent eBay purchases. I may have spent close to $100, but I would defy anyone to go to stores and buy items like that for less than three times what I spent… probably more, if they could be found. It’s great fun to know you are wearing true bargains.

Friends can’t believe that I buy most of my clothes on eBay. The trick is to buy “new” and stick with brands you have purchased before so you know how they fit.

I’m comfortable buying most anything on eBay. For instance I buy all my swim suits on eBay but usually I buy only the brand names I know because suits within a brand usually fit the same way. I love the Carol Wior swimsuits. They are fully lined and keep their elasticity after lots of time in the pool. I know what style suits me best, so buying a swim suit on line is definitely possible. Gottex styles also appeal to me, but they aren’t fully lined and sometimes they run smaller. I have several Miraclesuits, but find they eventually lose elasticity.

Things to watch for when shopping on eBay

I would recommend that before you bid on shorts or slacks, you do your homework. I suggest you spend some time shopping in stores and write down how different brands fit you. Shop for those same brands and styles on eBay. Restrict yourself to only those you’ve tried on. You will probably be able to get them for less than half price (sometimes as little is $.99) so it’s worth a little extra effort. (Create “searches” so you are notified when someone lists your favorites in your size.)

But the other method of finding a good fit for shorts or slacks is to measure a pair which you currently own to know exactly what size fits you best. Then request the exact measurements of the item for sale. Often the eBay listing won’t include this information, but ask the seller to lay the item flat and measure hip, waist, and the rise. (Rise is especially important and often forgotten.) Take into consideration the fabric. If the slacks you measure have stretch and you love them, don’t think a similarly measured pair with no stretch will work.

Do not shop by size unless you know how the brand fits you and even then, ask for measurements. I have made the mistake twice of going with a name brand in “my size” but not checking the measurements. In these two cases I was disappointed, the brand was one I had purchased but it was mis-marked. I should have asked measurements and I would have realized they weren’t true to size. Note: Often the seller has been able to buy the item cheaply because the size is wrong. Using measurements, you will find that the measurements will vary as much as three sizes.

And don’t be turned off because you need a larger size. I’m looking at a cute top on eBay which is a “large.” I usually wear medium, but this one says, “It is a size Large which fits a 36″ bust size. Fabric is stretchy, so it can easily fit a size up or down.” I would bet I’d need a “large.” Measurements are the key.

I said, “buy new,” but there are exceptions. I have purchased lots of crocheted tops that were pre-owned. If the item is clean and in good condition, it is often a good way to go. I wouldn’t recommend buying used knitted items but crocheted items of rayon or cotton seem to look like new longer. Many of the items which are listed as crocheted are actually knitted or even worse, they are created of fabric to look like crocheting. (Crocheting is an art form using a hook and yarn or thread. It can not be done by machine while knitting can be machine made.)

EBay is especially good for matching items that you love in your wardrobe. Example: I had purchased some capris on sale at Kohl’s which I loved. Unfortunately the next season that style was replaced by other styles I didn’t like as well. So I went on eBay and shopped by brand. It was easy to spot the style which I liked. I was able to buy them in several different colors. I knew how they’d fit. Right now I’m hoping to find some Koret capris which I already have but I’d like to duplicate in other colors.

Shoes are often great buys on eBay. Buy new. Shoes are pretty standardized in size. Generally a size 7N is a 7N. I have just purchased pair of shoes to replace some which I’ve worn out. They have served me well. I spotted some very similar (same brand) on eBay so I bought them. They haven’t arrived yet but I’m sure I’ll be happy.

With sandals, I have shopped by brand and style. Since I have very narrow feet, I usually try to buy only those with heel straps.

What wouldn’t I buy on eBay? I wouldn’t recommend flash drives from Hong Kong or any other foreign country. If you find a 128 GB flash drive at an unbelievable price, resist the urge to order it. It’ll come packaged to look like it’s a name-brand, but it probably won’t work.

Recently I bought some nice sized fresh-water pearl earrings for $.99 from China. I figured I wouldn’t be out much if they weren’t nice, but they are very attractive! Just make sure you buy from a seller with decent feedback. There is one pearl seller with nearly 5,000 sales in 12 months and only ONE dissatisfied customer. A string of freshwater pearls for under $10 is a bargain.

Be sure you watch shipping costs. If you get a great price, but pay high shipping, it’s no bargain.

Electronics can also be found at remarkable prices, but before you buy on eBay, google that same product and see how much it will cost and make sure it’s just what you want. Once you know what you want, often you’ll find an online price that is lower than on eBay. (I just found a battery for my new video camera at an unbelievable price. They were also available on eBay, but more expensive.)

I suggest that you create saved searches on eBay and check them every day. Don’t expect to find the perfect item immediately.

eBay is extremely safe. (I got a full refund for the flash drive which I bought from Hong Kong.) Always use Paypal. It’ll make refunds much easier.

I have also looked at items on http://www.shopgoodwill.com/default.asp. (Haven’t purchased from them but especially used musical instruments appear to be good deals. Again, check shipping costs – they seem high on this site.

I have purchased many items which have been great deals on eBay. I purchased a service for 12 lovely Pfaltzcraft stainless 18/8 for about $50. Hand made Christmas placemats and table runner for about $15. I’ve purchased lovely handmade afghans, cellphones, cellphone batteries, my favorite perfume, bras. musical instruments, instrument tuners, glassware. I’m always looking for a bargain.

Have I been burned by a bad seller or a bum deal? Once I bought an HP printer which ended up not being what was described. I got my money back. Same is true of a cellphone which was advertised as new but had been set up with someone else’s passwords. EBay has gotten better about refunds. A month or two ago, I bought a flash drive which didn’t work and had my money back the same day I complained.

I have actually thought about running “classes” in Florida for folks who want to understand how to shop successfully on eBay. Might be a good idea, but then I’d be competing with these folks for the “hot items.”

Why why why do I continue to embarrass myself when dealing with the most legendary dulcimer player ever, Paul Van Arsdale?

In 2008, I got a call from a sweet older gentleman who said he was interested in attending our Evart Funfest. He didn’t identify himself and of course I had no idea who I was speaking with. We talked at length and I gave him the whole sales pitch about how he should attend and how there’d be lots of workshops that he could take. He could take a dobro or even a harmonica class.

“I already play the dulcimer,” he said softly. “I’m Paul Van Arsdale.”

I was speechless. I stumbled and stammered. I said, I’d do anything I could to help with his visit. Eventually, with the help of Bill Robinson, his good friend, we got his trip all straightened out and everything went smoothly. He loved his visit, and we adored him!!

Now, here it is 2010. Back about January, Bill Robinson contacted me and said that Paul wanted to return to our event. I assured Bill that I’d get Paul a room, and plans proceeded.

This a.m. I received a message that read:

“hi sharon, the days are quickly passing by to the evart festival. If you
have a confirmation number for the room for paul & myself if possible i
would like to have it. Just a reminder we will be arriving on wednesday
but we are departing saturday morning. thank you, bill….”

Because all of my dealings have been with Bill Robinson, I assumed the “Bill” who’d written the message was Bill Robinson. It wasn’t. It was Bill Van Arsdale. (I didn’t notice his email address which was wvanarsdale@… )

I replied back. I knew the motel was holding two separate rooms so I suggested that he (meaning Bill Robinson) should contact the motel and get things straightened out.

After I’d sent the message it hit me!

Paul Van Arsdale’s son is also Bill. He’d accompanied Paul in 2008. The message I’d replied to had gone to Bill Van Arsdale NOT Bill Robinson as I’d thought.

Dah!

I immediately wrote a second message to Bill Van Arsdale and said, “Disregard the earlier message. I thought I was writing to Bill Robinson.”

I feel so dumb!!

I hadn’t noticed the email address. I had just assumed the message was from Bill Robinson. (Why didn’t he refer to Paul as “Dad” or sign his message Bill Van Arsdale?) I should have known because Bill Robinson never does email.

I’m feeling so incredibly stupid!!

The second message explained that the room is all set and gave the details, but that first message will totally confuse Bill Van Arsdale. (I’ll call him tonight.)

Just too many Bills.

==================

Bill Robinson called me today and I told him what I’d done yesterday (above). He’s still laughing.

I’m an ancient “gamer.” I love word games and some number games. I was a Sudoku player before it became fashionable. I used to subscribe to word puzzle magazines and there were always one or two of those Sudoku-like games, but they had an extra challenge. As with Sudoku, you had to arrange 1-9 to fit in the nine horizontal rows, nine vertical columns, the nine small squares, but with those magazine puzzles, you also had to fit in two 1-9 diagonals.

In the 1980’s I had a little battery operated hand-held game which I played non-stop but I don’t know where it is. I’m not even sure how it worked, but I remember you had to guess the order of the numbers. As you guessed, your guesses added up. The object was to figure out the number, in the fewest possible guesses. When I had my brain tumor removed, that was the first thing I tried. It was my way of proving to myself that I was still as “sharp” as prior to the surgery.

I went through a period of time when I did “logic” puzzles. They really require concentration, and no-interruptions. I find them more frustrating that comforting.

I’ve never liked the word seek puzzles. They are just a matter of locating words that are “hidden” among other letters. They don’t hold my attention.

I find myself drawn to Bookworm (on Yahoo games), and games that came with my computer: Hearts, Solitaire, Freecell and Minesweeper. I’ve improved at Minesweeper but I’m only an average player with the other games. Freecell continues to challenge me.

I suppose, like reading, game playing can be considered a tremendous waste of time, but I’ve heard that stimulation of this type keeps away alzheimers.

Now I’m wondering where my little hand-held game is. Last time I saw it, it was in storage area, but I should pull it out and see if it still mesmerizes me.

I talk about the weather a lot but it seems to control my life. I want to get outside and take in some fresh air but it’s been a really cold spring.

My favorite pass time is to take a book and read it outside. In Florida that means sitting under an umbrella near the pool, where we can see friends, and get in and out of the water to control our body temp. This spring in Michigan, the weather hasn’t been cooperating. Today it’s raining and in the mid 40’s. (We might get two inches of precipitation.)

So what can I do inside that will give me a feeling of accomplishment?

How about my promise to clean a room a day? Well…. I’m bad, really bad. I need to get disciplined. I should start with the guest area. It’s a mess. (We stored lots of stuff there when our new floors were being installed.)

But will I do it? It’s not fun. I am not really interested. Somehow housecleaning “accomplishments” don’t do it for me.

Maid. I need a maid! I need a housecleaning service.

I admire folks who have shiny houses and I’ve seen folks who love to clean, but that’s not me. And it doesn’t rub off on me. I want to be better, but I’m too old to re-train.

I’ll try.

Shoeless

Today is Mother’s Day and John is going to take me out for dinner. It’s about 50 degrees. I’ll just wear a pair of slacks and a cute top. On my feet I’ll have sandals. Yup, despite the temperature I wear sandals.

Most of the time I’m barefoot when I’m in the house. It’s always been that way (winter or summer). Now that we’re in Florida during the winter months, I am barefoot even more. And when I wear shoes, they are almost always sandals. In fact, I can probably count on my fingers the number of times I wear regular shoes in a year. (Of course, at fancy dress-up ball or when we perform dressed-up I’ll reluctantly wear shoes.)

I have a good excuse. Our doctor friend, Dr. Doug, recommended a couple years ago that I wear sandals whenever possible to help my broken toe heal. The toe is now fine, but sandals have become my primary foot attire.

So today I’ll wear cute sandals. Glad it’s not snowing.

===========

Shiny floors

I love our Brazilian cherry floors. We have noticed that they show the dust more than carpeting did. Especially with a white haired dog, it’s tough to keep the floors dust/hair free. We bought a little rechargeable carpet sweeper. No suction, just brushes that pick it up. It’s a handy little gaget.

For keeping it shiny, I use a damp terry cloth towel and buff it when I see a spot.

And speaking of shiny floors, I love my Swiffer Wetjet for the vinyl floors in the kitchen and bathrooms both here and in Florida. I wouldn’t use the Wetjet on wood (unless maybe with the new woodcare liquid jet fluid), but a Wetjet is sure is better than an old mop (and it smells nicer).

=========

I have been putting off the start of the “scheduling of the workshops” for our big fesitval. I’m just not in the “concentrate hard” mood. I am kind of in a funky don’t-care wanna-be-lazy mood.

=========

Cleaning Out

I’ve decided to get rid of my old computer which is in the “computer room.” I haven’t turned it on for about a year so it’s time to re-gain the space. I need to purge everything that’s on it. I sure don’t want to leave anything on it that could be recovered by someone else. Once it’s been reformatted, I’ll put up a “free for pick-up” Craigs List ad. I’ll even give it away with a print stand (which could be used as a small computer desk.)

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Trillium Time

When I think of our place in the Upper Peninsula, I think in terms of what flowers are blooming. Right now the trilliums would be in bloom and the tiny dwarf lake iris. They’re beautiful, but it would also be black fly and wood-tick season.

We’ll wait about three weeks to go up. We’ll probably still hit the bugs, but they shouldn’t be as bad as right now.

In late summer (July-August), we enjoy wild raspberries and beautiful showy lady’s slippers. These are protected, delicate, rare, wild orchids.

Come to think of it, it would be wiser to wait until July. But since we didn’t make it up there in 2009, we are anxious to get up there and see if the place in intact.

Today in Michigan is “one of those days.” It’s too cold to dream of spending time outdoors and there’s a chill that seems to seep in. I’d like to build a big fire in the fireplace and feel cozy, but it’s really too windy and damp to build a fire. (The draft in the fireplace wouldn’t work well.) And since it’s rained for a couple days, the wood, which is outside, would be wet.

It’s “one of those days” which I dread when we leave Florida. I know there’ll be a few like this and they stick in your memory. It’s predicted that there’ll be a few snowflakes over the weekend.

We are both bored. We’ve talked about going “out to dinner” tonight, but John mentioned a big pot of chili and that sounds better than bundling up and going out.

I wish we had stayed in Florida an extra month. It’s 90+ in Sun City Center. That’s not “too hot” because we’d be at the pool.

I have work I could be doing.

I should get busy scheduling the workshops for the big festival in July. (Here’s the list of classes I’ll be arranging over 3 days – 8 hours a day with 9 areas simultaneously.) The past few days I’ve been getting everything ready to begin the process, but it only works if I can “shut out” all the distractions and I know that’s not today.

I sure don’t want to do house cleaning.

It’s just a lazy day.

I mentioned in my last post how it was “springtime in Michigan” but obviously the date on the calendar doesn’t necessarily mean it’s spring. This weekend in Michigan it’s supposed to be winter again. The U.P. will have major snowfall. We had thought about going to our place in the U.P. but it looks like this was a good weekend to stay home.

Tomorrow we perform for a Mothers’ Day party at “the Pines,” a senior citizen complex. It should be a fun time for our dulcimer club. Our friends, the Conklins, will be attending and we’ll have a “good group.”

I hope John enjoys tomorrow. He’s gone through a few days of depression because of his health.

I admire his strength of spirit, but sometimes it’s hard to keep it up. Yesterday the FDA rejected approval of the first drug to treat Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis patients. It’s a disappointment.

Today I worked cleaning the kitchen. Is it spotless? No, but it’s better. I deep cleaned the major appliances (dishwasher, range, microwave, refrigerator). Stainless appliances are lots harder to keep looking flawlessly clean than I ever imagined — much, much, much harder than the old stuff we had before. I’m sure it’ll take another day or two before I feel that room is really up to snuff because there’s more that needs to be done, but I’ve got a good start.

I have explained that I hate housekeeping/cleaning but if I take small steps, I’ll get it done.

The leaves are popping out, tulips are in bloom, redbud is actually past it’s prime, the geese with their two fluffy babies are strutting across our yard and John can hardly keep up with the growth of grass. It’s springtime in Michigan.

Unfortunately it’s been really windy so it’s hard to enjoy the great outdoors. Yesterday it got into the mid-70’s but the wind was terrific. Maybe this afternoon it’ll be nicer.

But in Michigan, weather is always changeable. It’s supposed to get down to 32 degrees Sunday morning!

I’ve been trying to master my new JVC HD video camera. It’s taken me a couple of days, but I think I understand it a bit better. Even though I was flustered, I like that sort of thing.

Finally I was successful posting a tune from the Original Dulcimer Players Club meeting: “Soldiers Joy” as played at May 1st ODPC meeting. I also moved all of the videos I’ve taken since March when I got the camera to my computer.

For some folks Spring cleaning is part of this season. My house could definitely benefit from a Spring shakedown, but I hate housework. Wish I had a maid. Some folks get great pleasure from a shiny house and I do too, but NOT if I have to do the cleaning. Since no one else is going to do it, I guess I should get busy. I am going to turn a new leaf. I vow to at least give one or two rooms per day a good cleaning.

Who am I kidding?? I’ve made a vow, but if it works like my promise to lose weight, I won’t be successful. It does look good when I put it down in writing, but I am not very good at sticking to my plans. Nevertheless I’ll try….Tomorrow.

John’s Saginaw pulmonologist (Dr. Indira) is a really good doctor. She says that, because John came in when his disease was just starting, she can hopefully keep him going for a dozen years or more. At 72, that’s great news for John.

(Note: She keeps telling us about the one patient she has who is still doing well after 10 years, but that’s probably (undoubtedly) not what happens in most cases.)

Today, after going to his doctor, we went to the bank and dozens of stores. We were exhausted by the time we got home. (Why is it that going in and out of stores is the most tiring of all the kinds of shopping trips?) We didn’t get many items: some plants for our garden, a couple of small flashlights, a rug for our guest bathroom (to replace the one I took for the guest bath in Florida), two large heavy beach towels, a prescription, and a few grocery items. We must have stopped at a dozen places where we didn’t get anything.

Tomorrow it’s supposed to be grand weather with temps near 80 degrees.

We’ve been looking for a gravity lounge chair. I hope we can find one, In Florida, my favorite pass time is being beside the pool in a comfy lounge chair reading.

Why do I need to be in Florida? I can do that here beside “Lake Cecil” (the tiny lake where we live). With a lounge chair and a good book, I’ll love this summer as much as if I was in Florida.

I’ve been working on the workshops for the ODPC Funfest, the huge dulcimer festival which will be held in July. The scheduling of the classes always takes me dozens upon dozens of hours. I hope I can have the scheduled grids completed within the next month. It’s such a monumental task that even the preparation takes weeks.

John has an appointment tomorrow with Dr. Indira, his Saginaw pulmonologist.

Some of his problems have returned since we got back from Florida. He coughs more and I can tell he has some additional problems. But he pushes himself harder so he accomplishes more. I wonder if it’s the pushing that causes the cough.

But he’s still much better than a year ago. His color is good, his energy is up.

Tomorrow we want to approach Dr. Indira with the idea his Florida doctor had, to get him on the lung transplant list. I’m all for it. I know that’s a cure. He isn’t at a point where he could except a lung (or two), but who knows what six months could bring and at that point he’d have a lessened chance to get on “the list.”

We’ll meet with Dr. Indira and see how she feels about such a proposal. His Florida doctor was very careful not to undermine any of Dr. Indira’s treatment plan. He said he’d be silly to since her plan seemed to be working. But I wonder if we’d come to him first if John would be better off, or if he’d have been written off.

We’ll see how she feels. It might be tough to balance the personalities of two different physicians.

Headline: “Historic Fordney now rubble”

Friday, June 28, 1991, The Saginaw News

The photo (above) shows the rear view of the fire which destroyed a major part of the historic district of Saginaw. We owned the part that is shown fully involved in flames. The one-story white building behind the main structure was also ours.

We’d purchased the building shortly after John retired in 1988. The building contained eight apartments on the second floor and two long-term businesses on the first floor. The third and fourth floors were occupied by a vacant ballroom with a balcony.

We had obtained a historic grant and had spent approximately $45,000 to renovate the builidng. John had done most of the work himself. It was up to current code and the old place had a “new lease on life.” He had put the final coat of paint on the doors of one of the shops the previous weekend. Everything was new: furnaces, plumbing, kitchens, bathrooms. We looked forward to steady long-term income.

We’d feared the proximity to the Fordney Hotel (which was located next door). John had witnessed derelicts entering the Forney which had been condemned for about two years. The authorities had been notified over and over. Everyone ignored John’s concerns. The fire was almost pre-destined. We knew that the homeless folks who lived in the condemned building were “cooking” and smoking. It was a problem waiting to errupt.

When the fire broke out, John’s first concern was getting all of the residents out. There was no time for “packing”; the fire moved fast. The fire department fought to save nearby businesses, but ours was written off as a total loss. The walls of our building collapsed about five hours into the blaze. It was hard to stand by and watch dreams go up in smoke.

Within a few days The Saginaw News reported that the City of Saginaw had contracted for clean-up. We had been negotiating for clean-up on our own. We had a contractor lined up who agreed to haul away the debris for $5,000. Instead the contract the City negotiated was for the demolition of a four-story building. (Our building was just rubble. There was no demolition necessary.) The clean-up contract reported that we’d owe $150,000, then it was lowered to $57,000. In any case, we didn’t have that kind of money to pay off the clean up company.

And the City gave all salvage rights to the clean-up company. One of our tenants had been allowed to store his motorcycle in the white building behind the main building. The fire didn’t touch it, but the clean-up company got the motorcycle. We had items stored in that building. We crept on to the property and took our broom, our shovel and a couple of souvenir bricks. But the rest was hauled away. (We’d have loved bricks to build a path at our home.)

Eventually insurance paid off the bank but we lost all our equity and had nothing to show for the three years’ of work John had invested.

We looked into the possibility of re-building on the site. With the help of a local congressman, we felt we could probably get a grant to re-build since low cost housing in that area was desperately needed. We sketched out plans and proposals.

But the City continued to fight us. It was a nightmare. We found an attorney who said he’d take our case against the City for a 1/3 contingency fee, but as is widely reported, “You can’t fight city hall.”

It was one headache after another. The City hired a fleet of attorneys.

After several weeks of struggling, John’s temper was near breaking point.

I suggested we “get out of town” for a day. We went to a hammered dulcimer festival in Evart, MI. We’d never been there, but we had enjoyed the sound of hammered dulcimers.

That day at the festival changed our lives. We listened to lovely music and knew we wanted to be part of that community. Within a couple of months, we’d purchased a dulcimer and John had built one.

The battle with the City of Saginaw continued for a couple of years. They decided to “go after us” for the grant money because (as they said), it wasn’t being used for the intended purpose. (It had been paid out for materials and contractors. All money had been controlled by the granting agency. It was all spent on the building.)

As the time added up, our attorney decided that it wasn’t worth it to his firm to continue to represent us. He sent us a bill for $25,000 and withdrew as our counsel. We met with him and couldn’t believe his position. We knew we’d agreed to pay him only if we won the case but his comment was “You have a place in the Upper Peninsula. I don’t have a place in the U.P. Don’t you feel guilty? Sign on the dotted line and agree to pay what you owe.” Basically he wanted us to agree to give up our place or pay the $25,000. We refused .

We filed a complaint with the State Bar. Our attorney was reprimanded.

But in the end, we represented ourselves in court. We lost our property to the City in exchange for the clean-up bill and the grant money.

The property is now a parking lot. Our dreams were snuffed out by the City of Saginaw.

The bitterness John felt was slow to dissipate. But the hammered dulcimer world became a big part of our lives.

On September, 1981, I was hired by St. Mary’s Medical Center in Saginaw, Michigan, to work in Administration as a secretary.

Three months later, I met John Skaryd at a meeting for single parents.

From our first introduction, I was smitten. At the end of the evening, he walked me to the car and kissed me gently on the cheek. We made plans to go to dinner later in the week. That date was followed by many more.

In January, 1982, only a month after we’d met, I found out I had a brain tumor. Talk about bad timing! A new job, a new guy, and a life-threatening brain tumor!

I had gone to a specialist when I felt something with my hearing wasn’t “quite right.” From the audiologist, I was sent to one of best neurosurgeons in the world. He diagnosed my condition as an acoustic neuroma, a non-malignant tumor on my brain stem. It took about a month of tests and a hospital stay to confirm and map the tumor. Without the surgery, I would die, with it I had a 50/50 chance of facial paralysis with many side effects. My doctor explained that he hadn’t been successful removing these tumors and felt I should go to the center where they’d had the best outcomes and were making the greatest advances: St. Vincent’s Medical Center, in Los Angeles, California.

I was frightened. I’d never been across the country. I couldn’t lean on my parents because Mom was incapable of becoming “involved.” (I now believe her inability to deal with difficult situations may have been part of the very early stages of Alzheimer’s.) Dad was dealing with a major heart problem and couldn’t handle anything further. My teenage daughter had her own life.

So I confided in John, my very new gentleman friend. I shared my innermost thoughts with him. I cried. I felt vulnerable.

A surgery in California presented logistic problems. I had to stay for three weeks following the operation. Since my finances and paid sick-time were extremely limited, there was no way I could cover the costs for my daughter to accompany me.

I prepared to go across the country alone. Although John wasn’t able to get much time off work, he said he would be there for the surgery.

I arrived on the weekend so that I could have lab tests and work-ups. John came in on Wednesday just before I checked into the hospital. The surgery was scheduled for Thursday.

The night before my operation, I received a call from Sister Mary, Administrator of St. Mary’s Medical Center in Saginaw. At that time, I’d only worked for St. Mary’s about six months but we’d become friends. She was at a retreat and had requested a special mass for me. She also arranged for my care after the surgery.

I am not Catholic, but I was glad that I had her and her strong beliefs behind me.

The next day, everything went fine. John was with me in intensive care. He called my parents to fill them in, and then left to go back to work in Michigan.

Eight similar surgeries were done the week I had mine. I was one of only two patients who had a successful outcome. (Sister Mary’s prayers had helped.)

The next three weeks, I had to stay in California. My recovery progressed smoothly under the care of the Daughters’ of Charity, the nuns of Sister Mary’s “order.” Her pull had really helped with my accommodations. After I was discharged from the hospital, I was invited to stay in a vacant nursing school. It was empty except for me. She’d even arranged to have my meals delivered.

Six weeks after my surgery, I was back at work.

I’d met John in 1981. On September 10, 1985, we were married.

That’s the brief story of our romance… Or maybe you could say it’s the story of my brain tumor. I know my health crisis drew us closer. He was there for me.

This past September, we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary.

Because of the surgery in 1982, I’m totally deaf in my right ear and my balance is lousy. I have found that the loss of my inner ear produces dizziness which isn’t always easy to deal with. Sometimes I am disoriented, especially after dark, but I am fortunate to have come through it as I did. I’ve had a grand life.

When Sister Mary died in 2003, I asked to speak at her memorial service. All of the others who took the podium were high-level community leaders and political figures. They talked about how Sister Mary had made the hospital financially viable and credited her with the introduction of high tech services that made St. Mary’s the second most intensive care facility in the state of Michigan. Because of her leadership, Saginaw now has a reputation as a hub for excellence in medical services.

The room was filled and noisy when I started my story. As I told of my experience, the room quieted. My account explained how Sister Mary had made sure I had the best possible treatment in California. She may have been an icon of business success, but it was clear that Sister Mary was more importantly a warm, caring friend, who lived her beliefs.

There was total silence … then applause when I finished.

In 2004, I retired from St. Mary’s. Over the years I had advanced from secretary to an administrative position in charge of hospital planning and the authority on certificates of need for most of hospitals in central Michigan.

In those 23 years, I’d only missed one additional day because of illness.

Boy, that Sister Mary had some powerful prayers!

Willow’s sleeping and we’re taking a breather.

She’s kept us up most of the past three or four nights. When she gets started, she hacks continuously — often for more than an hour (unrelenting) . But right now, she’s quiet. I hope it lasts.

We have increased her meds to the max. We’ve prayed and hoped. She is better right now. Let’s hope it continues. We both know that if the coughing continues, we have to make a decision because, if something like that doesn’t cease, it isn’t fair to her. If it goes on incessantly, we can’t let her suffer.

Tonight it’s looking up. She’s breathing easily and she’s comfortable. Hope it continues.

I scanned a photo of me taken in 1960. Quite a difference fifty years makes!!)

I look at that wide-eyed innocent young lady and think, “Girl, you’re going to have a great life. Not what you would plan for, and you’ll find some of it difficult, but all in all, pretty darned good!”

We will probably have to take Willow in to the vet’s today. She keeps coughing. It’s like she has something in her throat; like she’s trying to hack up a fur ball. John says it seems more like hiccups… a spasm.

John can calm her by holding her. She doesn’t want me near her.

I have a fear that it’s something to do with her heart condition.

We were up much of the night with her.

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We took her to the vet. It’s her trachea that’s being crowded by fluid build-up in her chest cavity because of her heart problem. It’s all one condition. Her meds have been increased. Hopefully it’ll help. The vet indicated we will probably lose her in less than 6 months.

On the way home from the vet’s she wet me completely (slacks, jacket, and top). Only a mother understands that being drenched with pee goes with being a “mom.” I didn’t complain. I felt badly because I should have realized she needed to be “walked” before we headed for home. I thought her discomfort was because of her trachea. I didn’t know it was because she had a full bladder.

John may be the one she loves most, but I do what’s necessary because she’s my baby too. (Note: According to him: she’s never “wet” him. She must either hold it or he doesn’t take her when she’s in crisis. I have been wet twice this weekend… and countless times before) She may prefer him, but I pay my dues.)

She’s been a good dog but it’s hard to deal with these times when you know she’s suffering.

I sorta “promised” that my next couple of post would cover a couple important events in our lives: my brain tumor and our fire; but those will be in depth narratives so I’ve put them off because they’ll take serious effort and I have to be in the right mood. So let me say, they’ll come, but I don’t feel prepared to do them now. Instead let me add a fluffy piece about Michigan where it’s lovely and we have a grand view out the window to our tiny lake.

The robins have been collecting nest building materials and the geese have been making pests of themselves while the red buds are coming into bloom and the grapes, apple, pear and peach trees are flowering.

It’s not all that warm (60-65) but I can tolerate this temperature. I just want sunshine and clear skies. That we have!

Our yard is surrounded by maple trees and blue spruce. The spruce never loose their green needles, but the maple are just leafing out. It’s amazing that there are so many varieties of maple: red maple and several green-leafed varieties. Right now we can see the small leaves forming and opening up. Some are fairly large (4-5″ plus) but others are tiny buds barely showing themselves. The color difference is huge: bright kelly green, dark muted green, and red/burgundy.

Ahh…. maple trees. My daughter, Kelly, took one back to California and tried to grow it but it didn’t survive. As John has pointed out, maples need the cold hibernation season and then the “rebirth.” Florida wouldn’t provide that climate so I need to accept that, but I’d love to see the multi pointed leaves in Florida. Ahhh well…. it’s not to be.

In the past, John and I have gone through two major situations that I’ve never shared with my blog, but I probably should: (1) I had a brain tumor which totally impacted my life in 1981 and (2) we experienced a fire which was a life-changing experience in 1991. These life-landmarks make us who we are so I will delve into them soon.

I did tell the true story of finding the brother I never knew I had and that’s already shown under “Family Matters.” (Shown to the right under the “Menu” heading.)

I need to also report these other two events that changed us deeply. The fire got us into playing hammered dulcimers and changed the focus of our lives. The tumor brought John and me together closer than we may have been otherwise. When I add these “Life Changing” true stories, they will also go into the area of the blog on the right so, in addition to being a post, you’ll see these “life altering events” under the “Menu” items.

There are 22 videos of the Kings Point Lip Sync Show. It’s easiest to see them here, but they are actually on “You Tube.” I consistently used the tags: Kings Point, Lip Sync, Sun City Center, March 24. If you go to You Tube, you should find them by entering those words as a search but remembering “sharons-blog.com” might be easier.

Spread the word.

(And I’m sorry that it took so long. It took a lot of time to do them. Each one had to be converted, edited, titled, uploaded and embedded. It took more than 15 hours of work to get them ready for you.)

A tribute to Michael Jackson:

Bill and Donna always do fun stuff.

This is the much talked about “puppet duet.” What fun! (Wish I had been able to get better audio.)

Our own Marilyn (aka Rachael) did this version of “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.”

Honey and Rachael:

The participants in this video deserve extra credit. The sound track on Sue’s sound track did not come through so she was handed a mic. This was supposed to be lip sync, but she ended up speaking and singing the lyrics. Her partner never missed a beat. Both deserve recognition for the excellent job they did in a difficult situation.

Another of Linda’s many looks:

Cute! This one was another crowd favorite.

Don’t forget you can make the image full-screen by clicking on the icon in the lower right corner (above the “U” in “You”).

I guess this one was called “Drippin’ and Droppin’.”

This one started with a skit:

Sue did a cute version of “She’s Got You.” Notice the photo of Tiger Woods who is the object of her affection.

Linda’s “PMS Blues” had a small technical glitch, but she handled it well.

Don’t forget you can click the little icon in the lower right corner of the screen over the “U” in “You” to enlarge the screen.

Sue did “New York, New York.” A great job!!

Don’t forget you can enlarge the image to the size of your screen by clicking on the icon which is just above the “U” in You in the lower right corner.

Look for the “naked man” during the intro to this one.

If you click the little icon in the lower right corner below the “U” in You, it will enlarge to fill your screen.

I’ll be posting the lip sync acts which were performed March 24, 2010, in Kings Point, Sun City Center, FL. This was a fund raiser to benefit the Sun City Center Emergency Medical Services.

The first act was “The Blues Brothers.”

If you click the little icon in the lower right corner below the “U” in You, it will enlarge to fill your screen.

I’m not really happy with my lip sync show videos. The sound isn’t very good, and the images should be sharper.

Here’s my excuse: I bought a new video camera just prior to the lip sync show. It came just before the show so I only had time to try it out once. I could see there would be problems. The battery wouldn’t last long enough for the show and I wasn’t impressed with the quality. I didn’t have a choice but to use it for the show and then sent it back for a refund. I’ve since purchased a much better camera, a JVC HD – high def with an 80 gig hard drive. I’ve also purchased THREE BATTERIES so I can do up to eight to ten hours without needing to stop. It has a super zoom and Dolby sound so I’m sure it’ll be much better.

In order to conserve the battery, I did the March 24th, 2010, show in snippets. As it was, the battery ran out about half way through and I recharged it for about a half hour during intermission to get a little more time. And while it was charging, I switched to my “other” camera which doesn’t have the ability to zoom so it’s hard to use for that kind of show (but I think it actually had higher def images.)

I’m now in the process of editing what I was able to video. It’ll probably take me a few days. I may not have captured all of the acts because there were times when my battery was too low. I believe I videoed 22 which I’ll make available asap. They are not necessarily in the order they were presented.

Enjoy. (And next year I’ll be better prepared.)

We’re home.

The house smells musty and it’s more than a little dusty. It’s a little chilly here compared to Florida, but the weather forecast is for 80 tomorrow so we can’t complain! This afternoon we were able to open the door for a while before it cooled down. It’s good to be home.

Actually it was an “easy trip” compared to many we’ve made. Traffic wasn’t too heavy and the truck purred. But our dog, Willow, was restless and difficult all thirteen hundred miles and that was exhausting. (She’s gotten crabby in her old age.) She was shedding so we were constantly breathing her fine hairs.

I always seem to have problems getting our wireless internet to work after we’ve had it shut down and today was no different. Took two calls but it’s working now except for my out-going emails which I must transmit from by domain host. It’s a pain!!

The house seems to have made it through the winter without many problems. We did have a leak in the drain from the master shower, but since we shut off all water, it didn’t hurt anything.

In December, we stored our houseplants in the hot tub, which we filled just enough to provide a constant “drink” while were away. (Now it’ll be drained and wiped down). My white orchid succumbed and a mother’s tongue bit the dust, but the other plants look fine. Our grass is a little sparse (needs re-seeding), the geese are hanging around on our beach, and the apple trees have started to bud out (which disappoints John because he hoped to be home in time to spray with dormant insecticide.)

As we came down I-75 we saw lots of redbud trees in bloom from Georgia to Kentucky and green everywhere, but it’ll be a few weeks before this area of Michigan is leafed out. Our redbud doesn’t even have a haze of red yet. I do see a couple of white flowering trees in full bloom across the lake and the maples have tiny green leaves. It looks like spring.

Nice to be home but we’re pooped.

* “Michigan, My Michigan” is the tune most residents think is the state song.

Still lots to do, but we’ll be ready to pull out at about 8:30 tomorrow a.m.

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Later:

Last night I won a one cent reservation at the Red Roof Inn in Kennesaw, GA, for tomorrow (Monday) night and today (about noon) I won a similar one-cent booking at the Red Roof Inn in Miamisburg, OH for Tuesday. That means we’ll only have to spend TWO CENTS for our over night stays. Looks like gas will be expensive, so it’s good we’re getting a break somewhere.

We spent a couple hours at the pool today for final good-byes. Everything’s ready to go. There are a few chores that have to wait until morning, but for the most part, we’re ready to go.

I promised that this year, at the end of the season, I’d leave everything here in Florida. I said that all clothes would stay. If I felt I was missing anything, I’d buy it in Michigan. In fact someone said to me, “You shouldn’t take your clothes back and forth because you’re used to two distinct seasons and, if you haul your Florida clothes back, you’ll wear them 12 continuous months. It’s better to have your ‘Florida identity’ and your ‘Michigan look’.”

But it isn’t working quite as I figured. I am taking one big zipper bag of clothing back with me (some of my favorite items) and a plastic bin for techie stuff. John will put his summer clothes in a large plastic bin, and John always brings back a good suit (just in case). Between us, we bring back quite a few pairs of shoes. We must pack music books and I always like to bring back a few paperbacks (because I buy them five for $1 down here).

Although I tried to talk him out of it, John is hauling back his bike (which also has a motor). He also needs his oxygen generator (in case his condition worsens). Those are bulky items.

So we’ll have a full truckload again.

In the truck cab, there needs to be a place for Charlie, our cockatiel, and our music instruments (dulcimers, autoharp, banjo, and sax). We’ll both have our travel items (tooth brushes, changes of clothing, etc.) We’ll bring snacks and stuff for lunches.

After we have everything packed, I want to go through and polish up the condo and make it perfect so when we get back here in September, it’ll look grand. The screened lanai will be empty (because we’ve moved everything into the garage. (When we got down here in December, the lanai furniture was filthy.)

I’m sure we could be ready to leave tomorrow (Sunday), but we’ll take our time and be ready to pull out before 8:30 a.m. Monday.

I’d love to just go back without going through all this hassle. I thought this year would be simplier but it’s still a major chore.

This afternoon (5:30) we have tickets to a poolside barbeque. There’ll be live music, lots to eat, and many of our friends. It should be a fun way to wrap up our season. We will try to get to the pool tomorrow too.

During the 1,300 mile trip back, I have lots to do on my computer. I hope to organize the workshops for the July Evart festival, and also I hope to edit the videos from the lip sync contest which was held a couple of weeks ago. With 20 hours of travel time, I hope to accomplish a lot.

Tonight was the last “Rockin’ Rendezvous” of our spring 2010 Florida season. We sat with a fun bunch: Brenda and John, Nick and Pauline, Bobbi and Jerry, Bill and Char, Joann and Merle and others. We hated to leave. There were hugs and fond expressions.

The people we know here in Kings Point are the nicest folks we’ve ever met. They come from all walks of life and every stratum. They’re non-judgmental and caring. They’re expressive and relaxed. I can’t imagine how I would ever have met so many folks from other parts of the country and other walks of life without the common link: Kings Point. We’ve met lots of policemen (even chiefs), accountants, beauty queens, realtors, doctors, dentists, and educators to name a few.

We’re all fortunate to have grown up in the 1950’s and 1960’s when life was easier. Times were better. Folks as they reached maturity were more successful with more opportunities.

We all worry about our children and our own health. We are concerned about politics and world situations. But most of all we are care about each other.

I find myself worrying about our Kings Point acquaintances. Within this community, there are lots of caring folks who look out for each other. No one is really alone. We respond to our neighbors and friends.

So here we are ready to go back to Michigan Monday. In Michigan, we have a lovely home and friends (especially our music friends), but somehow the closeness we encounter down here will be missing. I will find myself counting down the months, and then the days, until we can return. Someday I hope I don’t have to leave Florida at all. To me “Going Home” no longer means “heading north.” Now we’re “leaving home” when we head to Michigan. Florida has become my residence.. this is where I want to be.

The condo is getting back in shape. The crown molding and the soft brown walls really make the place feel more welcoming.

When we first moved in, this is how it looked:

Now here’s the same room:

I’ll take some more from other angles, but right now we’ve started packing. The “staging area” is the dining room. That means I can’t take a photo of that room until the stuff we’re taking back with us is in the vehicle.

We’re going to Bill and Donna’s Elvis party today. It should be fun!!

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It was fun! We totally enjoyed Bill and Donna’s potluck and party. It was well-attended and the weather was grand. Elvis planted a kiss on my cheek as well as most of the ladies’. He’s a talented performer so the show was excellent. And the food was much better than previous years. Folks out-did themselves. Bill and Donna are a real social asset to Kings Point. Nice folks and very generous in every way. Glad we know them.

When we’re here in Sun City Center, we attend the Methodist Church. We don’t make it every week, but we’re beginning to feel it’s “our church.” The 9:30 service included a lovely choir, a hallelujah choir, an orchestra, a three piece group (drums bass and piano), and handbells. All were excellent. We’ve met the music director several times and he’s really a unique asset. It was a lovely Easter service.

The crown molding contractor is nearly finished. He’ll stop by just to finish up one seam tomorrow. Now that he’s wrapping things up, it’s time to get the place back in order. We’ve lived for ten days with the living room furniture pushed into the center of the room. And the dust!! You could trip over it.

When we weren’t cleaning today, we spent our time poolside. Surprisingly it wasn’t as crowded as it had been yesterday and Friday.

The clean-up from the construction and painting is a big job. The ceilings in all the condos here have what is called “popcorn finish.” In order to install the molding, the “popcorn” had to be scraped off. It came off as light, white beads and a chalky dust. Add to that, the dust from sanding the joints, and it made a mess! All the furniture was white with a thick layer.

A strange way to spend Easter, but getting this place back in order was a priority.

With only a week left down here, we want enjoy the pool and we have a bunch of fun stuff planned:

Tomorrow our Michigan friends, the Conklins, are coming over and we’ll enjoy lunch at the clubhouse. Tuesday, there’s a street party on Inverness Greens Drive (Bill and Donna are the host and hostess), Wednesday John is going fishing with six guys out on Tampa Bay. Wednesday night we are planning to go for spaghetti at the Elks in Ruskin. Thursday is our last Rockin’ Rendezvous. Saturday we have tickets for a pool bar-be-que and party.

Sometime we have to find time to pack for our trip back to Michigan.

The weather is flawless. Life doesn’t get better than this.

The contractor (his name is also John) is doing a really good job on the crown molding but it’s taken him several days longer than he thought. I believe he started Monday and here it is Saturday and he still has another day’s work. He’s fussy so it takes longer, but the job is very time consuming. Now if we could replace the great room picture window with one that allowed a better view and if we could upgrade our kitchen counter and cabinets, we’d have a really classy place.

Tomorrow is Easter. The contractor John is going to come over after church and finish up. The dining room is all that’s left.

Tonight we enjoyed one of the nicest evenings that I’ve experienced during our time in Kings Point. We went to a house party within our association — nearby neighbors on the court next to ours. It was a lovely time!

They provided us with wine galore, and lots of tasty treats.

The best part was getting to know our neighbors better. The host was Rog Benning with the help of his lady, Norma Lindfors. They had selected about a dozen very compatible friends. It was a fun evening.

Norma is a person I want to know better. She’s totally charming. I felt an immediate bond. I also completely enjoyed, and was fascinated by, the outgoing personality of Terre Cochran, the wife of our association president, Norm. She is cute and fun. Others were also compatible. It was tough because I wanted to get to know them all better. What an interesting bunch! The evening was too brief, and the opportunities for deeper friendships too short!!

Our plans had been to stay at the party from 5:00-6:30 and then meet-up with our Rockin Rendezvous friends but we scrapped the idea of leaving and stayed ’til the end. We didn’t get home until nearly 8:30. It was too enjoyable to leave.

I’m going to be so sorry to head home. I can’t imagine a nicer bunch of individuals and to think we’re lucky enough to live near them all.

During our conversations this evening I came to the realization that there are lots of “experiences” I haven’t shared with this blog. I’ve never talked about my brain tumor, nor the fire in our building and how it prompted our music life. I have shared the true tale of how I found my brother, Jim, but there are several other experiences that have shaped us. Many of these experiences are more dramatic than what one normally expects from life. I realize I need to document them and make sure they are posted here. They are the things that shape a person and much more interesting than talking about geckos and Rockin’ Rendezvous evenings. So stay tuned… I’ll do some true tale telling as soon as possible. (And I also need to work with the videos from the Lip Sync show.) Too much to do, too little time.

I lost the remote to my new HD video camera. It’s not something I think I’ll use much, but I tried it out today and then it promptly lost it. I’ve searched the entire condo. Traced and re-traced my actions. It’s no where to be found. How can it be lost?

I’m not the only one. Last year, after we’d moved into our new condo, we got ready to go out for the evening. John was ready first. He picked up his keys which included the condo, mailbox, golf cart and car keys and went out to the lanai to wait for me to finish getting ready.

I was soon ready and we prepared to leave but John was no longer holding his keys. They also weren’t on the lanai and we have never located them.

Finding something that’s lost becomes my obsession. I can’t think of anything else. I go back over all my earlier actions, but in this case, it hasn’t done any good.

It’s now getting darker so I’ll wait until morning and start over. One way or the other, I’ll find the !!#@!*^ remote!! (In clearer terms that’s a blankety blank blank blank remote.)

=====================

I found the remote!!

It had slipped down deep inside the loveseat against the wood frame. It was between the T-shaped cushion and the front of the arm. Because it was flush with the wood, reaching down inside the couch, the remote felt like it was part of the frame. This remote is only about 1.5″ x 3″ and only about 1/2″ thick so it was easy to conceal. That was the first place I had looked, but I couldn’t see it.

This supports my theory that lost items are usually where you originally thought they’d be. I don’t know how many times I’ve looked for something and then expanded my search only to find it in the first location. That’s what happened this time.

At least it’s no longer missing. It drove me crazy.

Tonight I videoed all the acts at the Kings Point, Sun City Center, Lip Sync fund raiser. It’ll take me quite a few days to edit what I recorded. Each act can take me an hour or two to edit appropriately and “pool time” is much more important now since we are “short timers.” (We’ll be leaving for home in a little over two weeks.) In fact, I might wait until my three-day trip back to Michigan to do the editing because I can do all the videos over those three days while traveling the 1,300 miles. Please understand and be patient. The videos are really good (I’ve checked) so it’s worth checking back. The latest date could be April 18th. That’s only if we have no gloomy days and I’m at the pool enjoying Florida sunshine every day.

In the mean while, you might want to check out the 2009 lip sync show:
2009 Kings Point Act 1
2009 Kings Point Act 2
2009 Kings Point Act 3
2009 Kings Point Act 4
2009 Kings Point Act 5
2009 Kings Point Act 6
2009 Kings Point Act 7
2009 Kings Point Act 8
2009 Kings Point Act 9

Keep checking back. I will try to get the videos from tonight up on You Tube. You’ll be able to find them on http://youtube.com by using “Kings Point” and “2010 Lip Sync” as the search. I’ll also have them posted here to my blog. It might be easier to find them here.

I graduated from Midland High School in 1960. Our class will hold its 50th class reunion this September.

I have created a website for the class of 1960 reunion.

In an attempt to get in the mood, I have spent some time on-line to check out statistics such as the 1959 and 1960 Michigan Class A Football Champions. I had always been under the impression MHS won the State Championship the year I graduated 1959-1960, but discovered we were only the Arrowhead Conference Champions in 1960 and NOT State Champs:

We were the State Championship in 1957-58, which was when I was in 10th grade.

I started doing more web searches and located this site which includes lots of old photos of tourist attractions from that era: 1950’s and 1960’s tourist destinations. I was reminded that the drive-in movie was called the “Sunset Drive-In” that there were two theaters in town: the Frolic (downtown) and the Midland Theater (on the circle). The Frolic Sweet Shop was next to the theater, and there was a very small hamburg restaurant in the same block as Girnell Brothers Music Store. The restaurant sold yummy crumbled hamburg on a bun. But can anyone recall my favorite drive-in restaurant. It might have been “the Pixie.” That somehow sounds familiar. It was located about where the Boulevard Lounge is now (on the Circle Boulevard). Dog and Suds, on the north side of “the Circle” was big back in 1959-1960, but I’m looking for the name of that drive-in located on the Circle Boulevard until about 1960. Can you remember? The cars would cruise the drive-inns. Those businesses started to fail when McDonald’s opened on Saginaw Road near Haley Street and charged only about 12 cents (or maybe it was 14 cents) for a burger and about a dime for fries.

The story of “the Music Box” is interesting, but unless you were part of that era and attended, it’s impossible to describe. Here’s the history I found: the Music Box at Prudenville, Michigan:

While working on the website for the class, I discovered that a high school boyfriend, Mike Cauchy, had passed away in 2007. (And here I though he was still broken-hearted and missing me.) We’d lost touch with each other about 35 years ago. Since then, I’ve met my wonderful husband, John, and have absolutely no regrets, but I was still sad to hear about Mike, who at one time was the love of my young life.

This whole reminisce experience has me playing music from the 1950’s and 1960’s. I found that the 1960’s tunes that were listed came late in the decade so they weren’t tunes I’d associate with my teen years. Those from fifties, especially 1959, were the ones that really brought back memories. Music by: Ricky Nelson, Elvis, Bill Haley, the Big Bopper. I loved Shirley and Lee. Buddy Holly’s stuff were among my favorites.

I remember buying my last 78 RPM record (“Heartbreak Hotel,” by Elvis). I remember ordering my first 45 RPM of “LaBamba”. Favorites: “Come Softly to Me” and “Slow Walk”.

I was so into music. I think it was in my junior high school (7th-9th grade) that I used to bring in my small 45 RPM player and blast out the latest tunes over the cafeteria PA system during the lunch hour.

Here were some of my 1950’s favorites:
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (The Platters)
My Happiness (Connie Francis)
Stagger Lee (Lloyd Price)
Donna (Ritchie Valens)
Venus (Frankie Avalon)
Charlie Brown (The Coasters)
Come Softly to Me (The Fleetwoods)
The Happy Organ (Dave “Baby” Cortez)
Dream Lover (Bobby Darin)
Personality (Lloyd Price)
A Big Hunk Of Love (Elvis Presley)
There Goes My Baby (The Drifters)
Sleep Walk (Santo and Johnny)
(‘Til) I Kissed You (Everly Brothers)
Mack the Knife (Bobby Darin)
Put Your Head on My Shoulder (Paul Anka)
Cathy’s Clown (The Everly Brothers)
Teen Angel (Mark Dinning)

About 1958 I had a best friend, coincidentally named John but not my husband. Before I could drive to “The Box,” John would take me. He was a sweet guy. We lost touch with each other, but he contacted me a couple years ago. It’s nice to know that he’s also happily married and enjoying his life.

He named his daughter Sharon. Isn’t that sweet?!

On the 12th of April (four weeks from today), we’ll be heading home. I sure hope that we’ll have grand weather between now and then.

We did get to the pool this past weekend a couple times. I was careful not to over-do it, but I do have a little suntan. Hopefully within the next four weeks, it’ll deepen. Today’s not very warm (67 high), and for the next three days that’s about all we can expect, but this weekend it’ll be beautiful.

My friend, Sharon Hall, just sent this to me and I had to share it.

This is interesting! And to paraphrase W.C. Fields, 
I don’t drink water, because fish poop in it.. 
 
 
To my friends who enjoy a glass of wine… and those who don’t. 
 
As Ben Franklin said: 
In wine there is wisdom, 
in beer there is freedom, 
in water there is bacteria. 
 
In a number of carefully controlled trials, scientists have demonstrated that if we drink 1 liter 
 of water each day, at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than 1 kilo of 
 Escherichia coli, (E. coli) – bacteria   found in feces. In other words, we are consuming 
 1 kilo of poop.. 
 
However, we do NOT run that risk when drinking wine & beer 
(or tequila, rum, whiskey or other liquor) because alcohol has to go through a purification 
 process of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting. 
          
Remember: 
Water = Poop, 
  Wine  = Health. 
 
Therefore, it’s better to drink wine and talk stupid, than to drink water and be full of shit!. 
 
There is no need to thank me for this valuable information: 
I’m doing it as a public service! 
  

It’s tough to stay up on technology.

I’ve given up trying to stay up with cellphones. I don’t have an I-Phone, and my old flip phone still has an antenna.

My computer runs Vista and not the newer “Windows 7.”

My Pansonic Lumix DMC-FZ-18 digital camera is pretty darn good, but probably there’s a better one now. I use a great Edriol R-09 digital recorder but it’s a couple years old.

I just brought a digital/video editing program which is version 2 and found out the more current version is version 4.

I have Skype installed, but admittedly I’ve never used it.

I run Office 2007 but here it is 2010.

Is it possible to stay “up-to-date”?

Today I bought a reasonably priced JVC camcorder. I could have spent twice as much and probably I’d have been happier, but sometimes a person must compromise and settle for less than the latest and greatest because of finances (and common sense).

On March 24th there’s a lip sync show here at Kings Point (Sun City Center). Some of the participants have asked me to video them again so I can post them to youtube.com. I posted the videos of the acts in January 2009 here: 2009 Lip Sync videos. The camera I’ve been using didn’t let me zoom while videoing so hopefully my new one will allow me do a good job for them.

It’s tough to be a geek, but I love trying to keep my reputation.

I’m 68 years old. I guess I need to accept the fact that I’m over-the-hill when it comes to being a techie-geek, but for my age, I feel I do pretty darn good!!

Before I came down to Florida I promised myself that, once I got down here, I’d walk a lot and tone-up. I’d even like to lose about 10-15 pounds, but I don’t want to be as drastic about my weight-loss as in 2002. I lost 20 pounds and looked older and wrinklier. But getting in shape was my plan for this trip.

Now I’m here and it hasn’t happened. I’m afraid to get on the scales, but I’ll bet I’ve gained because we’ve been eating too good. It’s been cold so “comfort food” has been our mainstay. When it’s hot, we do salads and lite meals.

It’s all the fault of the weather. If I’d been able to “get out” I’d have kept my promise to myself. Every day that it’s been warm, I’ve walked to the pool (sometimes multiple times), but there haven’t been enough of those wonderful days.

I haven’t walked every day, but I will, if “Mother Nature” will cooperate.

So I can blame my lack of resolve on the weather.

Temperatures in the mid-to-high 70’s. Blue skies. Moderate breezes.

We’ve waited so long for a day like today.

I walked over to the South Club pool at 10:45 a.m. and selected a couple of lounge chairs. John arrived before noon.

At about 12:30 (leaving behind our towels to hold our seats) we both took off for the North Clubhouse where they had fired up the grill for burgers. I was back at the pool by about 1:45, John came back shortly after that.

The water was warm and the sunshine welcome. The pool was packed and we saw lots of friends.

Tomorrow it may cloud up and rain. But the temperatures are going to stay in the 70’s until March 22nd and then it’ll move into the 80’s!! I can take it.

Here’s the video of Rose Wark’s gathering Sunday, March 7th, 2010, at White’s RV Park, Zephyrhills, FL.

It was a big group with lots of Michigan friends. We were there and enjoyed the day!!

It was only about 70 degrees when we headed to the pool today. Our favorite chairs on the shady side were a little too cool so we moved into the sun, but that was too hot and we feared sunburn even with sun screen. We were back and forth, covering up when in the shade and when in the sun to avoid a burn. It was almost laughable.

Tomorrow it should be about the same, but Wednesday-Friday it’ll probably be about five degrees warmer. Then next week from the 14th to the 18th, it’ll be a little cooler before it warms up maybe in the high 70’s or 80’s.

For tomorrow, we plan to hit the Kings Point Spring Festival in the morning. We’ll be at the pool by early afternoon. At 5:00 tomorrow night, we will enjoy a Karaoke Tuesday. It’ll be a full fun day.

Count every “F” in the following text:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE
SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTI
FIC STUDY COMBINED WITH
THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS…

How many are there? Don’t cheat. Count before you read on.

Did you count?

Ok, here’s the answer:
Most folks will say three. But there are SIX! (Your brain overlooks the “f” in the word “of” and there are three ofs in the sentence.)

Yesterday (Thursday) was my birthday. I’m now officially 68. I don’t feel it and I’m always a little surprised that, when I say I’m that old, no one argues with me any more.

Last night we went to Rockin Rendezvous. It was fun and we stayed longer than usual.

Today we got up and headed to Busch Gardens to enjoy the Osmond Brothers’ show. They were great. One of the best performances we’ve seen. They are really talented and their show was fun. We sat in the midst of the Brothers’ Fan Club. I didn’t realize how fan club members stay in touch. They were a “family” of folks who follow the performances from city to city. They babbled excitedly about up-coming shows in Las Vegas and Branson.

It was fun.

Tomorrow I need to polish up the place so it’ll be ready for company Sunday. Our friends, the Conklins, will be stopping over and Gwyn Besner will stay with us from Sunday until early Tuesday.

We had over-night guests Wayne and Linda Conklin. They arrived Saturday and stayed over until Sunday afternoon. We played a little music, ate a lot of food and yacked.

Sunday we took them to meet, Dale and Trudy Province, who were our neighbors when we lived on Fallow Court, and Trudy is also a real estate agent.

Wayne and Linda have a place in Sarasota but they are interested in re-locating here. I don’t know how it’ll work out, but I felt it was best to have them meet Trudy so she can deal with them directly.

After the four of us returned from our visit (Sunday afternoon) with Dale and Trudy, we had another super meal and then Wayne and Linda left.

Monday was John’s birthday. We enjoyed a pleasant morning then went to lunch. After lunch, we shopped a bit and headed to Apollo Beach to see the manatees. There were a lot of them. It was a warm balmy day but those big water creatures were still hunkered down around the power plant waters to stay warm so I’m sure Tampa Bay is cold.

We stopped at a few bargain type stores and got home about dark. Neither of us wanted dinner. John said it had been a good day. I hope it was for him.

I got him a silk washable sport shirt with a subtle palm pattern and he enjoyed sweets galore when we were at lunch.

John finished the installation of the over-the-oven fan/microwave this morning.

The decorator came about noon and we reviewed a lot of ideas we’re bouncing around. She brought along a contractor. They came up with some great ideas. Depending on cost, I think we’ll probably go with the renovation of the master bath. After that is complete, we may consider a kitchen renovation and/or she’d love to paint our place a lovely color like a pretty sandalwood. (All the walls are currently an eggshell color.) If we did that, we’d also add crown molding. She said she can make this place a high-end show-place. I’d like to see us get started. It would disrupt things for a couple of weeks; probably the last week of March and the first week of April.

Yesterday we found a deal on an over-the-range microwave and fan. Our old fan hood was super ugly. About six to eight inches deep, an almond colored hood with a bare bulb exposed and didn’t do anything but make a horrid noise. The kitchen is what you see immediately when you come in our condo. It glared and said, “Old, tacky, and as bad as a fan can be.”

Of course the installation didn’t go as planned, and John’s still working on it.

By late afternoon yesterday, I knew he’d spent as much energy as he could. He was winded and feeling exhausted. So I made him quit and we went to Rockin’ Rendezvous, our regular weekly gathering at the clubhouse. It was a typical Thursday night. Lots of fun, lots of friends.

Today he’s back trying to finish the installation of the microwave.

With the weather being really cold, it’s good to have an in-the-house project. And since our friends, the Conklins, are coming over tomorrow and Sunday, we have lots to do to get ready – the microwave had to get in so the kitchen would be presentable.

Tomorrow a.m. I’ll be hustling. I keep all of my clothes in the guest room. That means I need to move enough of my stuff to the master bedrooms so I can get by for the two days they’re here. And since John does his music practicing in the guest room, all the instruments need to be moved out. We’ll probably put them in the living room area where we’ll play music with the Conklins.

This afternoon at 4:00 residents who want to take advantage of the Annual Kings Point Garage Sale which is held in the main clubhouse will be lined up. Last year we purchased a scrawny artificial plant (which needs to be replace with something nicer), and a few other decorative items. Previous years, we’ve purchased wine glasses, our dinnerware, pictures, frames, waffle iron, some extra sheets and towels, throw pillows, and lots of other little things at bargain prices. We’ll be there today see if we can uncover some treasures which will enhance our place.

=======

We didn’t buy anything major at the KP Garage Sale today. We were fortunate to find a few cheap items: six paperback novels ($2), a colorful cloth tote bag ($1), a food chopper ($.25), a food grater ($1), a new cotton zipper-front summer weight robe ($2), a bright fuschia basket style handbag ($1) and a padded bike seat cushion ($2).

John successfully installed the microwave although the electric outlet box for it will be put in when John can buy one and until then, we’re using a heavy-duty extension cord, but only when we use the unit, so most of the time it doesn’t show.

We’re amazed how the addition of this one appliance has made the kitchen look renovated. The old hood was so bad that, when you walked in the room, it shouted “Replaced Me.” The new one matches the black, smooth-top range and black oven front. It’s current styling makes the whole kitchen look more “today.” It was a small purchase, but it did wonders.

We will be having a decorator come Monday and advise us on the master bathroom and some of our other potential renovations.

We headed to Busch Gardens this morning and arrived before it was open (at 10 am). It was pleasantly warm (about 70) and sunny when we left home.

We enjoyed Chubby Checker’s show but it wasn’t as entertaining as John Davidson’s had been last week. He barely said anything. One tune after another, but no “getting to know him.”

We feel the chatter is a huge part of seeing these “older” performers. They need to get the audience to accept them as friends. In the case of Chubby, he sang well, and did a pretty good twist, but it was like he was there to perform and not to get to know us, or let us know him. It didn’t work for us.

After the show we went on a “ride” called Rhino Rally. We rode in a jeep-styled truck through animal areas. We even went through streams and ended up being swept down a “river”. It was fun.

On our way back, we stopped and listened to the a lecture on the care and feeding of alligators by one of the animal experts. As the talk was ending the rain started. We took the tram to our car (even though we were parked as close as guests are allowed) because it was really coming down.

By the time we got back to Kings Point it was pouring. The temperature had also dropped a good 10-15 degrees.

We had only a couple hours before we had to be ready to go to the Michigan Club potluck dinner. It was a nice event.

A crammed day, but we loved it.

I’m the life of the party…… even if it lasts until 8 p.m.
I’m very good at opening childproof caps… with a hammer.
I’m usually interested in going home before I get to where I am going.
I’m awake many hours before my body allows me to get up.
I’m smiling all the time because I can’t hear a thing you’re saying.
I’m very good at telling stories; over and over and over and over…
I’m aware that other people’s grandchildren are not nearly as cute as mine.
I’m so cared for — long term care, eye care, private care, dental care.

I’m not really grouchy,
I just don’t like traffic, waiting, crowds, lawyers, loud music, unruly kids, Jenny Craig and Toyota commercials, barking dogs, politicians and a few other things I can’t seem to remember right now.

I’m sure everything I can’t find is in a safe secure place, somewhere.
I’m wrinkled, saggy, lumpy, and that’s just my left leg.
I’m having trouble remembering simple words like…….
I’m beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.
I’m sure they are making adults much younger these days, and when did they let kids become policemen?
I’m wondering, if you’re only as old as you feel, how could I be alive at 150?
And, how can my kids be older than I feel sometimes?

I’m a walking storeroom of facts….. I’ve just lost the key to the storeroom door.

Yes, I’m a SENIOR CITIZEN and I think I am having the time of my life!

Today and yesterday I spent the afternoon at the pool. (But I watched to make sure I didn’t get too much sun.) Tomorrow, maybe there’ll be some mid-day time when it’ll be comfortable, but by evening and for the foreseeable future it’ll plummet into the mid-low 50’s.

This week promises to be crowded with activities so we have lots to do.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is the every-other-week karaoke which is always fun, Wednesday is a Michigan Club gathering and potluck (for which we bought tickets — they’re buying the meat), Thursday we have our 9:00 a.m. Nantucket V Condo Association breakfast at Bob Evans and then Rockin’ Rendezvous at 4:00.  And Friday is the Annual Kings Point Garage Sale starting at 4:00 in the main club house.  It is open to the public on Saturday.   We want to be there in line Friday because there are bargains galore to be had. 

But either Wednesday or Friday we also plan to see Chubby Checker’s show at Busch Gardens. Looks like we’ll aim for the show which is presented at11:00 Wednesday so we can be ready for the bargains on Friday.  (But that means tomorrow we’ll need to prepare a dish to pass for Wednesday night.)

We may have house guests this weekend. Our Michigan friends, Wayne and Linda Conklin, may spend the weekend with us.  But also we’re anticipating Gwyn Besner, who is a fun Traverse City music friend. I think she’ll come Monday and Tuesday, but we’re not certain.

When we look ahead into March, this cold spell appears to be stuck with us.

But today there was a sign that nature will bring us back to what is normal. A tiny gecko scurried ahead of me as I walked down the sidewalk. That’s the first one I’ve seen since our first cold spell in early January. I love those little critters and I’ve missed their presence. Hopefully they won’t be frozen out again this season.

The temperatures might nudge up to 70 today. Tomorrow it’ll maybe even move a degree or two higher. Sorta windy, but at least a little warmer than it has been.

I plan to slip into a swim suit about noon and go find a warm, sunny spot at the pool where I can read a book and feel like we’re in Florida. Sadly March doesn’t look much better than it has been, even 15 days out it’ll only be in the 60’s for day-time highs.

Our friends the Conklins would like to come over for a day or two, probably next Saturday and Sunday (the 27th and 28th). Gwyn Besner said she’ll stop by in about Monday and Tuesday (?) the 1st and 2nd of March. John’s sister, Suzie, may come for a week in late March.

Next week we have a calendar full of opportunities for fun: Tuesday karaoke, Wednesday a Michigan Club potluck, Thursday breakfast with our neighbors and Rockin Rendezvous in the evening, Friday we will go to Busch Gardens to see Chubby Checker.

Even if the weather doesn’t provide Florida warmth for us, the number of activities we have scheduled will keep us busy enough so we’ll be on the move and that’ll generate “heat.”

========

It actually got quite nice (mid 70’s). We spent more than four hours at the pool. Ahhhhh! Sunshine!

Today we’ll enjoy a lunch at the Moose Lodge on Anna Maria Island with four other Michigan couples.

We had planned to get together with our good friends, Wayne and Linda Conklin, and today was selected with plans to meet at the Moose on the Island. Then we heard that the Bakers (Cindy and Mike) are renting a place on Anna Maria, so they were invited to join us. Coincidentally Peg and Bruce Earl are staying with Bruce’s cousin (the Howards) in Sun City Center (about three miles from us). They arrived yesterday and will be staying a week. So the Earls and the Howards, were included.

John’s the only “Moose member” so we’ll arrive early and sign everyone in.

The Lodge is right the Gulf but if it’s in the sun, it might even be warm enough to eat outside. (It’s only going to be 67 but with a feels like temperature of 70.)

In Michigan, we see these folks mainly at dulcimer festivals, but it’ll be fun to get together 1,300 miles from home.

===

The beach was lovely, but the Moose Lodge wasn’t grand. It was a very simple, rather crowded structure with a small parking lot. Nevertheless we had a nice afternoon and the food was good.

The other night, a comedian speaking to a Kings Point audience, referred to 9:30 as Sun City Center’s midnight. He was correct. Activities for this senior only community start early and end early. By 10:00 p.m. the streets are empty.

Tonight we’re going to Rockin’ Rendezvous. It starts at 4:00, but you better be there by 3:45 or you probably won’t get a seat. Before 7:00, it’ll be over. We’ll be safely home before that.

Even our big dances generally start at 7:00 and end at 9:00, although occasionally 9:30.

Dinners start at 5:00 or 5:30.

The golf cart gate into the community is locked at sundown for good reason because Florida law doesn’t allow you to drive a golf cart on city streets after dark, so anyone with a golf cart should get inside our gated community which is exempt from those laws and where driving after dark with headlights is allowed.

So our schedule is very different when we’re here in Florida. We go out early. We get home early.

When it’s nice out, I love getting up early and going to the pool in the morning. Hasn’t been nice enough to do that since we’ve been down here this time.

In our community here we’re like the chickens.

Today we went to Busch Gardens to take in the performance of John Davidson.

John Davidson was a TV personality you may remember from the John Davidson Show in 1976 and specials of the show after that, Hollywood Squares in 1986-1989, the $100,000 Pyramid TV show in 1991, and lots of other TV appearances.

We didn’t know what to expect. John can sing, but it felt like they over-amplified him today, nevertheless we loved his performance!

He was funny, personable, and a true entertainer.

We were in the third row from the floor which put us right at stage level and arm’s length from him. We felt like he played to “us”. It was great!

He really was sharp and on his game. He kibitzed with audience members, wooed the ladies, sang with the guys, and left the audience wanting more. What a showman!

It was great fun!

We left John Davidson’s 11:00 show and were inspired to renew our Busch Membership for two additional years. We can attend as often as we want. We generally go at least a half dozen times a year. It’s a bargain with an annual membership.

About 1:00 we had a good lunch at the Desert Grill. We stayed for the 2:30 show of “Let’s Dance” featuring Burn the Floor.

Dancers from around the world presented contemporary ballroom dance with the Foxtrot, Tango, Jive, Swing, Mambo and more. It was an excellent fast-paced dance show. The costumes were fantastic. It’s hard to imagine how they keep up that level of excitement with multiple shows a day.

Next week we’ll be back at Busch Gardens because Chubby Checker will take the stage there and the following week it’ll be the Osmond Brothers. As long as it’s not pool weather, it’s good to have this to look forward to.

Thank heavens it’s only about 25 miles from our condo.

It was rather cool today. We made the mistake of taking the aerial tram and about froze. It took the rest of the afternoon to warm up. At one point we stopped in the rest room and found that they had heaters going. It felt really good. It was hard to leave.

I always love the foliage at Busch Gardens – it’s a large point of our enjoyment. Sadly there was a lot of frost damage to the flowers and plantings and a lot of the flower beds were covered to protect from the past several nights’ frost. Hopefully they’ll have recovered before we go back to Michigan in April.

We met some folks who sat in front of us in the John Davidson show. Nice people from Canada. John Davidson sang one amorous song to her (close-up) and it was really fun. She was a super good sport.

Tonight John and I will go to the Kings Point Ballroom Dance Club Annual Dinner Dance.

It’s a formal affair. The ladies will wear ball gowns, many of the guys will wear tuxes or white dinner jackets. We’ll be under-dressed. John will wear a black suit. I’ll wear an ankle length black dress with flowing sleeves embellished with a few sequins. But it’s certainly not a ball gown.

By next year, we’ll be better prepared. I’m going to shop for a lovely dress and find a tux for John (getting him to wear it may be a little harder). But tonight we’ll be appropriate enough so we won’t “stand out.”

I probably should have made an appointment to have my hair creatively styled, but I’m most comfortable with my one style so that’s what folks will see.

This afternoon I’ll take the appropriate amount of time getting ready. I’ll do my hair carefully and try to make sure my make-up is it’s best.

Furs are also very appropriate here for this type of affair and since it will be cool tonight, I will wear mine. It was my mother’s but it an attractive mink jacket/cape and it’ll be warm.

==============

We’re home. It wasn’t that fancy. John’s suit matched a most of the men’s attire (a few tuxes and dinner jackets were seen but certainly not a majority) and my black dress with flowing 3/4 sleeves, a few sequins, and a draped neck was perfect. I couldn’t have picked a dress which would have been better. Yes, some were glitzier. Some even wore strapless evening wear, but my longer than ankle length black dress was dressier than most and fit right in. I shouldn’t have been worried.

The fur was a nice touch. About one out of four of the ladies wore furs and John mentioned mine was definitely the prettiest one we saw.

It was a nice evening.

If you’ve followed this blog, you know I love to write.

I always had the idea that someday I’d write a novel. I even did an outline – or two. It never happened.

I have several “chapters” ready, but I haven’t finished my story. In the case of that tale (which I never named), I don’t know how it ends. It flows easily to a certain point but then I get stuck (writers’ block?)

But this blog is easy. It flows along and gives me a chance to just “talk” about topics that pass through my mind.

I’ve talked about love-bugs, geckos, Florida weather, the different attitude down here in FL, caring for my mother through Alzheimers, Busch Gardens, hula hoop contests, my ancestors, what it’s like to have a husband who has been diagnosed with (what is considered to be a terminal) illness, changes to our house, fun with our friends.

If you’ve followed this blog from the beginning, you were with us when we drove out west pulling our 5th wheel in 2006. We took six weeks and it was the beginning of “sharons-blog.com.” You can still read those postings under the heading “2006-04 and 05 – West Coast-Trip” which is to the right under the heading “Categories.” The blog idea had worked well while we traveled. After we got home, I stopped blogging for a month or so until folks complained so loudly that I started up again. I didn’t know what to write about so I just put down my thoughts, whatever they were.

I’ve often wondered what things interest you, my audience.

Do you like personal stuff? Do you feel that I get too involved with my life down here in Florida? Do you want to hear about music stuff or thoughts of the past? I wonder which of my posts was the most popular?

This blog: Sharons-blog.com, gets over a quarter million hits a year!!!!!

I’d love to hear from you and there is a “comments link” to the right under the “menu” heading, where you can post what you’d like to tell me. You don’t need to sign your comments (although you can if you wish). It takes a couple clicks to get you into the comments area, but that’s only so that internet spam robots can’t leave porn links as they do whenever you allow freely open posting with merely one click.

The sunshine state is still pretty “brown.” The frosts in January killed a lot of the grass. Some has started to green-up, but other areas are definitely dead. The lawns remind me of late August in Michigan after a hot summer if a lawn hasn’t been watered. Our bushes and other vegetation haven’t recovered. The dry sticks stick up from the hybiscus and the bougainvillea. They haven’t started to leaf-out yet but we hope they’ll come back. Half of my poinsettia has died.

And apparently there are a lot of dead fish in the ponds. The buzzards are plentiful as they “clean” them up.

We don’t see any geckos. There are few bugs. They all croaked when the temperatures were below freezing.

Michigan has a lot heartier insects, shrubs, flowers and grass.

I’ve already written about my great grandmother. Her story is entitled, “Grandma”. She’s my life inspiration.

But I guess it’s time for the tale of Grandpa Brophey, her husband.

He wasn’t inspirational, but definitely interesting. My great grandfather was Patrick Robert Brophey. Pat Brophey was as Irish as the name sounds. He was a heavy drinking rascal, an alcoholic. Drinking messed up his life, but his stories still need to be passed on.

I remember the tale of how he’d had the first car in Midland County. Our family album has a picture of that vehicle.

I never knew if I should believe the claims of having the “first” motor car, but John and I have a good friend, Jerry McCullen, a 92-year-old member of our music club. I happened to mention that my grandfather claimed to have the first car in Midland County. Jerry asked if my grandfather was Patrick Brophey. He said his mother always told him about Pat Brophey coming to Coleman, MI, and taking all the ladies for a ride in the first car in the county. She was impressed.

I thought the car was DeSoto. (I could be wrong about the make because DeSotos weren’t distributed until about 1929 and I thought the car was purchased and Grandpa drove it into town about 1923.)

But the legend that he had the first car has been confirmed. Jerry McCullen’s memory has proven that it was true.

Another story was told by several relatives. It seems when my grandfather was young and successful, before alcohol had taken over, he was recognized in the community of Midland (MI) as a prosperous business man. One day he was approached by the town eccentric. The fellow wanted to know if Grandpa would like to go into business with him for $1,000 for a 50/50 ownership of a company he envisioned. My grandfather said no. The fellow countered with another offer, “$500, Mr. Brophey and we’ll be 50/50 partners.” My grandfather still declined and said, “No, Mr. Dow, I’m not interested.”

The eccentric fellow, Mr. Herbert Dow, went on to build the Dow Chemical Company – without my grandfather’s financial help.

Darn!!!

The other stories Grandpa told were of the “old country.” He told of Irish “wakes” which were traditional when someone died. Those occasions became heavy drinking times where the deceased was often taken from the coffin and propped up at the table to be “part of the party.”

Yes, my Grandpa Brophey was an alcoholic who was responsible for lots of unpleasant family situations. He was the opposite of Grandma who was a saint. But at one point Grandpa had earned respect as a Midland, MI, businessman and he was loved by Grandma, even if she didn’t approve of his drinking. When I asked her once why she didn’t “leave him” she just replied, “He’s my husband.”

When they talk about SNOW falling in Florida, you know the weather is strange. But we’re not alone. Our central Michigan area usually only has a few inches of the white stuff but they’ve had to dig out from 12 inches a couple of times so far this season and more is coming.

The average high temperature in Sun City Center for this time of the year is about 72 degrees. We have only seen 70 degree weather three or four times since we got down here in December!! Looking ahead, the next 10 days will continue to be in the 50’s and 60’s.

It isn’t fair. John’s health has been so bad but now he’s feeling pretty good but we don’t know for how long. He deserves sunny skies and warmth. We need to be able to get outside and enjoy our time down here in Florida.

Right now it’s raining hard and it’s only about 50. This is definitely not what they mean when they say the “sunshine state.”

My nearly 48-year-old daughter, Kelly, is currently facing a rough spell. I know she’ll cope and bounce back, but her life is currently filled with challenges. Kelly lives in California, in the Monterey area (a town called Seaside). She left Michigan about 25 years ago. We’re in Florida and Michigan. She’s across the country.

About four or five months ago Dave, her husband was “laid off.” He’s a highly skilled construction foreman and has never had a problem getting a job but it was a scare to have him “out of work.” Actually it didn’t last long. The Monterey aquarium heard he was available and hired him to work independently for them. (The construction company he worked for had some jobs at the aquarium so they were already familiar with Dave’s skills and work-ethic.) It’s a temporary job, but he’s hoping that the economy will turn around and he’ll continue to be employed.

A week or two ago Kelly was notified that her long-time at the YMCA would end as a result of total reorganization. She’s been working there for over a dozen years and has been responsible for several sites and school-age programs. She has about a month of employment left.

As if that’s not tough enough, she’s been quite ill for a couple of weeks with a bronchitis. Her cough hasn’t gone but she’s feeling somewhat better.

In an attempt to be helpful, we volunteered to get her a laptop computer. She hasn’t had one for some time and has just used her work computer for all work of that nature.

I found a HP laptop which looked perfect and bought it on line from Office Depot, but I didn’t realize that it didn’t have a DVD or CD drive. So I dealt with the local store and got an external one for her.

But now she needs to get Microsoft Office installed. There’s a 60-day trial on line, but it requires the use of high speed internet which she doesn’t have.

She was ready to get hooked up to AT&T high speed, but it required the purchase of about $100 worth of equipment. Costs just seemed to add up and she needs to watch her expenses.

I have the ability to set up a computer but Kelly’s not a techie. Her son (my grandson) Jeremy has inherited my love of computers. He’ll be home on leave for the next three days before he “ships out” with the Marines to Japan. Kelly is hoping he can make sure everything is purring on her computer while he’s home.

I’m anxious for her to get hooked up because then we’ll be able to use Snype (which is a free video phone system).

Today she’s going through the interview process for a different job and she’s concerned about that. I want to support her in every way. It’s tough try to fix things when I’m so far away.

We enjoy our condo but we’re realizing that there are some changes we’d like to make.

I think it would be lots easier to make these changes than to move again. But maybe it’s not cost-effective to upgrade our place. We know we need to weigh the pros and cons.

We need to decide if this is our “permanent” Florida home, or do we want to buy something else. If we spend money on our current condo, it’s doubtful that we’ll ever get any financial return on our expenditure. Improvements should be an investment in our own enjoyment. All the condos which are styled the same are worth about the same when it comes time to sell. If a unit has extensive renovation, it’ll still sell for the same price as the unit where nothing has been done. Maybe improvements would give us a slight sales advantage over other similar units if we ever want to sell, but it’s not wise to do it with the thought that we’d “make money” if we sell the condo. It doesn’t work that way down here.

Maybe we should look for a different unit and sell this one without spending more on it. But this unit has several pros that make it more desirable to us: (1) the view is fantastic and we haven’t seen many better; (2) any unit would have some shortcomings we may end up with a new “needed improvements” list; (3) this unit is very conveniently located; (4) our current unit has a very large, open living area which is unrivaled; (5) it’s unlikely that we could sell this condo now without taking a hit price-wise; (6) there is nothing available that we really like better; (7) our lot gives us not just a “view” but also space around our condo – others almost bump into each other; (8) we would hate going through another move and it does cost to move.

If we decide to stay put, what we put into the unit should have nothing to do with what we could get out of it. We would be doing it for us, not for a monetary pay-back.

“Florida is a state of mind,” was the heading of an article in the Tampa Bay Tribune today by writer Steve Otto. The story complained about California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s comment that “Florida is for old people.” Mr. Otto wrote to debunk the myth that only old folks inhabit Florida by pointing out that it’s a big draw for families and has many wonderful features.

He is right, but I do see Florida as a place where a lot of the people are older. My view is skewed. I am in a 55+ community, yet I agree with him completely, “Florida IS a state of mind.”

It’s a “feel-good” place. It’s a place where citizens are quick to make lasting friendships. It’s a place where folks from all U.S. regions blend into a wonderful cohesive community.

Sun City Center, our community, is a place where folks sing out to “Sweet Caroline” and do the arm gestures to “Y-M-C-A” at our weekly Rockin Rendezvous gathering without feeling self-conscious. It’s a place where 90 year olds get out and shake their booty with abandon. It’s a place where we all show up on a hot day at the pool in bathing suits despite our body type. It’s a place where this Friday I witnessed lots of “old folks” on stage dancing “show-girl style” in “the Follies” and we paid $12 each to witness their performances which we felt was a bargain price!

Florida is a place where those who are advanced in age feel years younger than “up north.”

I feel the years fall away when I’m here. Florida is definitely a state of mind.

This is the third year John and I have attended “the Follies,” a stage production featuring local talent from the Sun City Center, FL, area.

The show was filled with excellent vocalists, and lots of dancers (tap, clogging, and show dancing). Since this is a “senior citizen” community, most of the performers are well over 55. In fact, I’m guessing that many of those in the chorus lines are in their 80’s.

We were impressed with their energy. And, some of those ladies had dern good looking legs. You can see what I mean in the photo.

The funds raised from ticket sales to these shows provide college scholarships for kids studying “the arts.”

Many of the vocalists have had professional training in their “earlier” life. Surprising, none have that “old” quality to their voices. They are all vibrant and enjoyable.

The chorus lines wouldn’t compete with Las Vegas showgirls, but they can still move beautifully and their legs are still impressive.

They did a great job!

I realize that down here in Florida, we’re always anticipating a good time and fun with friends. We are “anticipation” junkies.

We always have stuff on the horizon. It’s never more than a day or two from an event we’re anticipating.

True, the weather has been cold and lousy, but we always know that, in a few days, we’ll do something noteworthy.

Tomorrow we have a condo owners center-of-the-court meeting. Thursday we have Rockin Rendezvous and Friday the Follies. Sunday we’re invited to a Super Bowl party at Brenda’s and John’s. Monday we have a Pelican Players election and meeting.

Next week some of our northern friends are coming down and will arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday and leave Thursday.

I wish we lived at this tempo year round. But I know that, if we were here in June, July and August, we’d complain that “everyone’s up North.”

So we’ll do it the way we’ve been doing it – about six months in Michigan and six months here. We divide it up fairly equally. Starting with the winter months we stay four months here in FL. We arrive in mid-December just before Christmas. and stay until mid-April, then five summer months in MI (mid-April until mid-September), two fall months in FL (mid-September until mid-November), one fall-winter month in MI (mid-November until mid-December.) That’s our year = 12 months.

Life is never dull. We love the excitement of up-coming events on our calendar. Life’s great!

We went out to dinner Friday night with KP friends (Mel and Jean). They had us over for a glass of wine before we headed to the restaurant and we got to see their lovely condo. They’ve made some changes to theirs that gave us some ideas.

We’ve kind of decided that, rather than making changes to ours, we’ll more than likely sell this place and buy something larger with all the bells and whistles. We’d like a larger master bathroom, enclosed lanai, more storage, and newer appliances.

Our condo is very nice, but we know, if we ever sell our Saginaw place, we’ll definitely want one that is bigger down here. We would probably have a tough time selling ours now without taking a beating so now is not the time. But when things start moving, we’ll start looking. We’ll try to stay on top of the economy and keep our eyes open.

Saturday (yesterday) we were busy all day. Got up fairly early and headed out. Stopped at Bealls for a little shopping and then drove on to Temple Terrace to the Big Top Flea Market. I got a lovely orchid. We headed back to Brandon to pick up a prescription at Costco. At noon, we stopped at Goodson’s Farms for a wonderful strawberry shortcake.

Last night we went to the Michigan Club Dinner Dance. It was a fun evening. We sat at a couple with three other couples. The decorations were really out-standing, the food good. It was a nice evening.

Today is a lazy day. Too cool for the pool, nothing needs to be done. I’ve been updating websites, and doing laundry. Wish it would warm up for an extended period. We get two or three days of warm weather, and then it cools down into the 60’s for a few days. Seems it’s been a consistent pattern that will continue for the next few weeks. Bummers.

Today should be about 70-72 which puts it at pool temperature, since the sun should be out all day.

I’m having my hair cut this a.m. Tonight is the weekly Rockin Rendevous gathering at the clubhouse. All in all it should be a fun day.

Good day to work in the yard. We clipped off some of the frost-damaged plants but then tonight the newspaper and a tv program said Florida home-owners should wait until mid-February to do any trimming. We’re waiting to tackle our bougainvillea plants. They were so lovely but now they’re dead looking. I’m sure they’ll recover. We want to “trim them back” too but we’ll wait to see how they do.

Because I’ve had the http://dulcimers.com website for many years, I’ve become a spokesperson for the ODPC Evart Funfest. I’ve been fortunate to be able to introduce lots of folks to our great event(s). I try to make sure they feel welcome, and always recommend that they “look me up” when they get to the festival. One question generally comes up when I’m dealing with these folks I have yet to meet. They’ll say, “How will I know you when I see you?”

My response has been: “I’ll be the small lady with the dark hair wearing a big hat and a long skirt.” That look has been my trademark. I was easy to spot.

But over the years I’ve tired of long skirts. I now wear capris or shorts a good share of the summer. My hair isn’t as dark and I’m certainly not as small.

But my hats, although I no longer take a gazillion to the festival, are still part of my “look.”

Here in Florida, I wear big hats at the pool. I don’t wear them other times, but at the pool they serve to keep the sun off my face.

Today I went to a dermatologist (at the insistence of a friend who said that “as much time as you spend at the pool, you should be checked for sun damage.” ) The doctor said I’ve been doing something right.

I have always thought I had kind of ugly skin but this doctor praised it. (And wow Dr. Patrick is cute. Way too young, but very good looking!)

I told him that I wear big hats and make-up with a spf 20, and we are careful not to get burned. He said I should continue doing whatever I’ve been doing. My big hats paid off.

I rewarded myself with two new ones.

We also brought home five new large plants from Home Depot to help make the backside of our condo look better. When we have them planted, I’ll post a before and after photo comparison here. I’m sure you’ll agree that the plants, the new light fixture, and the replaced back door make the golf course side of our condo look unbelievably better. (It was the pits when we bought it!)

I should mention that yesterday we had a couple and a single friend mention to us that they’d like to visit us in February and March. Having a condo in a lovely Florida community with an empty guest room is a good formula for popularity. Hope they like it as much as we do.

This week has been glorious.

We’ve had the kind of January weather that only Florida can brag about: Sunshine, moderate temperatures, but some heavy rain and moderate humidity.

Today promises to be 78 with lots of sunshine. We had considered going to Busch Gardens but decided to wait until Wednesday when it’ll be sunny but cool (60’s). Today will be a pool day.

We went to a nice Tuesday evening Kings Point Dance Club dance and sat with three other couples. It was a very pleasant evening.

Wednesday John had a re-do of his six-minute walking test but this time took into consideration his poor finger circulation when putting the oximeter on his finger. The best flow seemed to be his pinky and he aced the test, actually doing better at the end of six minutes than at the beginning.

Thursday evening at Rockin Rendezvous, we enjoyed the company of Brenda and John and Brenda’s adorable 82 year old mother as well as several other friends. It was a fun evening. Too loud, but really a good time.

Friday we had a condo association meeting in the morning.

We’ve been at the pool most afternoons for the last half of the week. The weather keeps getting nicer. Today and tomorrow should top it off perfectly. We may have cooler weather early next week before it goes back into the 70’s. Admittedly I haven’t been going in the water, but instead enjoying the sunshine. Today I hope to be floating around the pool on my “noodle.” Life doesn’t get much better than that!

I wanted to mention the frost damage which is obvious around our part of Florida.

The grass is totally brown, many shrubs have been damaged and look dead. There are no flowers. Hibiscus and bouganvilla were especially hard hit. My poinsetta is half dead. But sadder, there are no geckos. (Those are the little lizards properly called brown anoles.) Usually they scurry ahead of us as we walk down the sidewalks, but they are missing. I know they’ll come back, but I miss their presence.

We haven’t had any love-bugs. Either the frost or the season, but I’m sure they’ll return too. Even the ants were killed off.

After working on the Original Dulcimer Players Club invitation to workshop leaders letter (I’m the workshop leader chairman), we got on our golf cart and headed into Sun City Center about 10:45 this morning….”the Sale” was on. We didn’t buy any real bargains, but it’s always fun looking. We had our lunch at Mickey-D’s, did some grocery shopping, and headed home. By about 1:30 we were at the pool. It was sunny, mid 70’s and glorious. We saw friends who we’d missed since April, and we relaxed. (We read and then nearly fell asleep which isn’t something I usually do during the day.)

Oh, I nearly forgot to mention last night’s Kings Point Dance Club dance at the main clubhouse. It was a very nice evening. We danced to good music. It was fun. John, who has limited breathing abilities, did a great job. We weren’t “up to speed” because dancing takes conditioning, but we did ok.

Our table of four couples will continue to be seated together. They’re a good, compatible bunch. Hope we get to know them better. Next month is the KPDC “formal” dinner dance. Men are encouraged to wear white dinner jackets or tuxes and ladies formal dresses. Unless we go shopping, I don’t have a formal dress nor does John have a dinner jacket/tux, but we’ll make do. I’ll wear a black ankle length dress with a lightly sequined elegant top. John has a new black suit. We won’t be as high end as some, but I’m sure we’ll be acceptable.

I finally put the finishing touches on http://dulcimers.com. Everything is working. I love the teal color scheme, (but I can switch to 23 different colors.)

This morning John and I went to “the sale” (the “Nearly New” fund raiser that is open Wednesday and Saturday mornings.) No big purchases. John got a quality duffle bag, I found a black two-piece cardigan/shell set. I also bought five more soft-cover books ($1 for five). On our way home, we stopped at Taco Bell and were back at the condo by 12:30. We had planned to go to the pool, but it looked like it was going to rain, so we watched a movie instead. After the movie, it still hadn’t rained so I walked to the pool. It was empty. I read my book and relaxed. Back home by 4:00. Football playoffs will occupy John today and tomorrow.

So nothing exciting happened. Barely enough to waste the key strokes describing. If things don’t get more exciting, I’ll have to start making up reports.

But just getting outside, even in the golf cart, is refreshing. Monday it’ll only be 65, but most of the next 15 days will be high 60’s to high 70’s. I can take it.

Next on the agenda: Get some plants for the back-side of the condo. Trim away the frost damage. Find the right furniture for the end of the living room.

I love it here!

Today was sunny and lovely.

I helped Diane, my artist friend, start her website. I felt a little overwhelmed because she’s sharp as they come and I usually work by “trial and error.” But our two-hour session flew by. She left with lots of instructions. I am sure, with patience, she’ll be successful.

After Diane left, we headed to the pool and soaked up some sunshine. Had a lengthy conversation with Dotty, a recent widow. I’d like to get to know her better. It was in the low 70’s but by 4:00 it had cooled down, so we went back home. But even a couple of hours in the sun will help us break out of our “cabin fever” mode. Tomorrow it should be about 77 but then rain later in the day.

John has a noon-time appointment tomorrow with his pulmonologist’s physician assistant. I really think the sunshine would help him more than the P.A. but he’ll meet with her and I’ll be there to make sure he digests her instructions.

Sadly my daughter, Kelly, today let me know she’s being “laid off” from her managerial job at the YMCA in the Monterey Peninsula, CA. She’s been there for 15 years, but the whole place is being reorganized (to save money). She’s such a great young woman. I’m sure she, and her husband, Dave, will find a way, but in this economy, being out of work is tough.

By the way, last night’s Rockin’ Rendezvous was a ball. We sat with some of our favorite friends including Brenda & John, Pauline & Nick. Marlene & Jim and Ellie & Joe. What a fun bunch. An evening like that makes us 10 years younger.

We’re still going by car, not golf cart. Even though it had warmed up some, today was a tad too cool to go in an “open air vehicle.”

We went to “the sale” this a.m. Didn’t buy anything except five novels for $1. John did better. He got a brand new jacket for $4 and a few other items. It was nice to be back in the swing. We hit Publix and a few other stores but we were home before noon. Nothing great. Nothing exciting.

This evening, we’d planned to go to Ruskin. We were supposed to pick up a prescription from our vet and then go to the Elks Club for spahetti dinner but somehow it got messed up so when we called the vet we found the script wouldn’t be ready to pick up. We therefore cancelled our spahetti dinner plans and just stayed home. Our dinner was better here anyway (John is a wonderful cook) so I’m not complaining. We’ll get Willow’s prescription tomorrow. But it won’t be spaghettii!

I spent a good share of the day cleaning. Even in “sunny Florida” our condo requires some “up-keep.” I hate cleaning. I’d love a full-time house-keeper, but for now, the job falls to me and today I took time and did a good job on 1/2 of the condo. Tomorrow I’ll finish it.

Tomorrow night Rockin’ Rendezvous. Love Thursdays!

Lazy day. Got up with frost so heavy it looked like snow. Temps in the 20’s. We watched a couple of TV movies while I worked on my computer, straightening out a couple of glitches and setting a couple of pages up on my site.

Tonight at 5:00 a karaoke evening started at the South Club. It was fun. We had Philly cheese steak sandwiches and enjoyed a fun time listening to talented folks.

We were home before 7:00. Nice night.

The folks at Kings Point are so nice. As an example, tonight there were vocalists who were totally “off-key” but they were warmly appreciated. Folks just aren’t critical.

I had a Michigan friend mention that she’d love coming to visit us but she felt she was too out of shape to go to the pool. Heck, at our pool no one notices a paunch. No one cares about a couple dozen pounds over-weight…. or 50 or 100. She’s in the wrong mind-set if she thinks anyone cares. In fact it almost seems too prideful to think anyone would care.

I love the attitude down here because everyone is appreciated for the person they are. It is evident that folks aren’t hung up on size, shape or the ability to hit a key when singing karaoke.

This afternoon we went to the Pelican Players’ potluck. It was good to get out of the house and, although the entertainment had mixed reviews, it was a nice event.

I’d worked on my website revisions all afternoon and additionally I’m trying to get prepared to help an artist friend (Diane Simon) create a distinctive, high-end website. So I was busy all day. John was bored.

It’s only been a high into the 40’s for the past few days but it should warm up by the weekend. Can’t wait.

We have several commitments this week. Tomorrow it’s a karaoke evening at the club house and then on Wednesday we have “the twice as nice sale” (which has been cancelled several times because of rainy and cold weather). Thursday we have a Rockin Rendezvous. Friday, I’ll meet with Diane to help her with her website. All it all it should be a busy and fun week.

The dance today went on without us. Football won out. John wanted to watch the playoff games so we stayed in. Somehow venturing out when it’s 30-40 in Florida isn’t very inviting. Tonight… cold again. But the forecast out about a week shows much anticipated improved temperatures.

Besides working on my computer most of my time, we also went to John’s new pulmonary specialist (Dr. Graves) Tuesday. He was better than we could have hoped for. We were really impressed with him.  (I wish we could take him back to Michigan with us.)

He actually talked about John’s disease (which is something his Michigan doctor never does).  Dr. Graves said that Prednisone shouldn’t be helping John as much as it is so he wonders if the diagnosis is accurate.  He is having John’s biopsy sent to the Mayo Clinic and he’ll review the blood tests which have been done. 

We were feeling great after hs first comments but then he had John do a 6-minute walk test and John’s oxygen levels fell into the 70’s.

The doctor then ordered an oxygen generator for John at night. That really crushed John’s optimism.  All of the sudden, he felt things are really getting worse.

Because of my computer problems, I haven’t have as much time to keep up this blog.

We did have a good time Thursday night at our weekly Rockin Rendezvous at the clubhouse. All of our Florida friends were back and it was a fun time. We saw Susie S., Richard, Bill and Donna, Brenda and John, Pauline and Nick, Evelyn and Joe, and it was fun to feel that everyone was “back.”

Friday morning we tried a Yoga class which was a tad too advanced for us.

Next week we have a potluck Monday, a Club house karaoke event on Tuesday, Thursday we’ll have another Rockin Rendezvous, and Friday we’ll return to yoga.

Tomorrow we may go to a dance class.

I hope the activity next week will elevate John’s mood. With the cold weather curtailing the outside stuff we look forward to, he has cabin fever. He doesn’t mind Michigan but he is bored by Florida when the weather is lousy.

Tuesday I was able to get my Vista/Vaio system on my computer totally restored, but that only means my computer had gone back to original factory settings with no programs installed at all.

It’s taken me four additional days to get all additional programs I use re-installed. That’s what took the time. I’m now for all purposes 100% up.

I carry a box of DVDs/CDs and paperwork for reinstalling programs, but some programs (like MailWasher, Pegasus, Arles Website program, and others) require that I get a new registration key and start with a fresh download.

Every download takes time. I keep accurate records of purchase dates, and the email address used when I bought the original copy.

I wish I could pass on all I’ve learned from this computer crash, but it’s tough to pass on all I now know.

My fresh promises. I will keep current back-ups of all “files”. For CDs/DVD programs, I’ll keep matching registration keys. I’ll make sure I also keep a copy of my “desktop.” (It’s hard to remember all the programs you run.) I’ll make sure I create frequent “restore points.” I’ll make any back up disks recommended by my computer manufacture.

I have my “favorites” on Internet Explorer but not on Google Chrome.

I realize there’s one program I haven’t heard from (my registry program) but I’m happy and if nothing else is available, I’m content.

It still isn’t working. I’ve tried everything.

I got a price of $80-$120 from a repair person to work with the hard drive and restore the data to DVD back-ups but then I’d have to re-install all the programs and add the data from the back-ups. I figured I can do that myself.

So I got busy and downloaded all the stuff I was missing from December 8th which was the last time I did a back-up. (I found the way to get into the hard-drive and copy it to DVDs and CDs.)

I backed it all up and now I’m re-formatting.

John watched with me as it flashed through the screens. I’d hold my breath to see if it would work. (Sometimes it did and sometimes I had to start over.) When it worked, we’d both let out a celebratory yell. He got an idea of what a rush it is when things work correctly.

Even though this whole process has used up a lot of time, I will probably end up with a computer that is works more smoothly.

Now I have current (as of yesterday a.m.) back-ups of everything that was on my computer including my desktop which includes all the programs I use so I’ll know what needs to go back on the hard drive). It’ll take major time, but it won’t take long to get the basic stuff up.

I’ve also restored most everything to John’s computer (my old one), so I can use it until things are working correctly.

This sort of activity does stretch your mind. And I understand, it helps to keep you younger and more alert.

My Sony Vaio has purred along for a little over a year. In fact the service plan I had with the purchase ended the 26th of December.

This morning I worked a bit on line and updated the ODPC site and did a few other things before I decided to check and see if I was up-to-date on my Windows Vista updates. (I have it set for automatic up-dates but sometimes, for some reason, the up-date doesn’t install correctly.) There was a suggested up-date for Windows Internet Explorer and also a Windows Vista up-date. After the download and install, as normally happens, the computer asked re-start to finish the install.

It wouldn’t re-start. That was about 10:30. It still hasn’t started.

I have a call into a local computer service to see if they can offer a suggestion.

Unfortunately, because I’d been busy, I hadn’t bothered to do a back-up.

It looks like the only thing I’ll really lose are my holiday photos, and this month of up-dates to my calendar.

I know I should have backed up my computer. I just grew complacent because everything was working so well. Dern!!!

Today was the last day for the Busch Gardens Holiday Ice Show and last weekend for the rest of their holiday presentations. We’d wanted to go on the 23rd, but Willow wasn’t well enough to leave for the day. She’s much better now, so we decided to go. I’m so glad we did. The shows were exceptional.

We planned out our day: lunch at the Dessert Grill while enjoying their holiday variety show, then at 2:15 we’d go to the ice show. On our way home we’d get John’s electric bike which had been “on order.”

The day started out comfortable at about 65-67. I had on a light sweater, but was actually a little too warm. John wore a long sleeved shirt over a tee shirt, but he shed the long sleeved shirt for most of the morning. But while we were going to “the Grill” it started raining and really came down. (Luckily we had umbrellas.) By the time we’d left the variety show, the temperatures had dropped 10+ degrees. It stopped raining before we went to the ice show, but it got even cooler.

John had his long sleeved shirt back on, but he could have used the heavier jacket he’d left in the car. I had added light a jacket but was still chilly. We left about 3:00, cold and damp.

We got John’s bike and did some other shopping. We were home before dark.

I’m really glad we went to the shows. Both were first class. The costuming was excellent and the talent exceptional

We always sit near the front. (We were in the center of the fourth row for the ice show and at the first table for the variety show.) During the variety show, an attractive Marilyn Monroe-style vocalist stopped at our table and sang to John. She ran her fingers through John’s hair and really messed it up. He loved it! Pays to get there early and get good seats.

John and I spent the day at the pool with friends. It was a fun place to be and the temperatures, although they fluctuated, ended up in the mid-70’s, lots of sunshine, and very comfortable. I walked both to and from the pool. (Good exercise.)

We came back about 4:30 and by 6:00, after a light dinner, we headed to the South Club for a New Year’s Eve celebration. None of our close friends were present so we didn’t stay long. A couple hours of drinking, dancing and “celebrating” and we were ready to head home.

We’re here now. It’s 9:00 and we’re watching TV. The door is open and a nice breeze is coming in from outside. It’s about 65 out there.

Can’t think of a better way to end 2009.

Last night with the heat on and the setting at about 62, the heat came on several times. John moved the thermostat setting up a few degrees when he got up. I think it was probably set at about 70. Today, it warmed up outside, but with everything closed, I was oblivious. Finally, early in the afternoon, I opened the doors and realized it was warm enough to go to the pool so the heat was shut off. Most of the afternoon, I left the door open, and soon it was 76 in the condo, so I turned the A/C on.

At this time the heat temp is back on but it’s only set to 61. It’s still 74 in here so nothing is running. But I’d love a system like our car which just automatically switches and keeps you at a temperature without having to decide if it’ll require heat or A/C to achieve that temp.

Over night tonight the low is heading into the mid-50’s. (No heat nor air required overnight.) Tomorrow it should be warm (mid to high 70’s), so I want to go to the pool (A/C? Maybe?), but by evening it’ll be chilly. (Maybe it won’t require heat because it’ll only be about 61 for a low.)

New Year’s Day it’ll only be a high of 64 but a low of 41. The heat will definitely be back on by the 1st, and I can guess that it won’t be off until at least after the 8th of January. We need a programmable thermostat. Low of about 60-63 over night. High of about 70 when on heat, and about 76 for an A/C setting.

Last night we had a good time at the South Club while folks karaoke’d. We would never take the mic ourselves, but it’s fun watching others and sometimes the whole place “got into it.” Tunes like “Sweet Caroline” and “16 Tons” had everyone singing.

Today, I hope we can put up the second fan. (We took a break yesterday.) John didn’t sound as if he was interested when I suggested the fan installation, but hopefully he’ll change his mind.

It’s actually quite nice out. Maybe we should pretend it’s warm enough and go to the pool.

Tomorrow (New Year’s Eve) we’ll go back to the South Club to bring in the New Year. If we get tired before midnight, we won’t have anything invested. It’s just a Rockin’ Rendezvous evening. They should have the grill going so we can eat there, have a drink or two, and dance a little. If nothing is happening, we can go home.

Then on Friday (January 1st), we’ll go to Busch Gardens. It’s the last day for their ice show and Christmas shows so we want to be sure to go to it.

We were going to go before Christmas but Willow was so ill that we were afraid to leave her. She’s now much better and we feel we can go for the day.

John installed one of our two new ceiling fans today. The other one will be installed tomorrow.

The ceiling fans, which were in place were perfectly adequate, but they were like the thousands of other fans the construction company installed when they built these condos. The light fixtures in the dining rooms, the fans, and several other items are “standard.” You go into any of the condos in Kings Point, and you’ll see the same ceiling fans and light fixtures.

Last spring we replaced our dining room fixture with a stained glass, bowl shaped one, and a matching foyer light.

The plain white five-bladed fans will continue to be just fine in our two bedrooms but our living room deserved something nicer. If you look at the photo, you’ll see the old one in the foreground is plain white. The one from the ceiling near the “tree” is the new pretty palm leaves.

We have sort of a tropical theme in our living room. It’s comfortable and pretty, but we do need to do something about those worn and uncomfortable recliners. They must GO!

Before we left Michigan, we thought we’d go to a New Year’s Eve party put on by the Oldies But Goodies club at the Sun City Center main community building. When we got here, we found it was a sell-out.

Since it appeared the party wasn’t possible, we made tentative plans to go to the South Club just a block or so from us. There won’t be a formal “party” but hopefully some folks we know will attend. They’ll have music and munchies.

Last night we got a call from a lady who had extra tickets for the Oldies But Goodies party. But we decided to pass on that opportunity. We have already adjusted our thinking. Going to a big party and sitting at a table with folks we don’t know doesn’t sound all that desirable. The $70 would have included “heavy hors d’oeuvres” but it was byob. $70 plus a new dress sounded like it was a budget stretcher.

But a bigger consideration is that John has good days and some days when he doesn’t feel up to par. Expensive party tickets would make John feel as if he was “required” to hang in there. Maybe that won’t be the best thing for him. We probably won’t dance as much as we used to and that means being at a compatible table is even more important.

The informal South Club gathering will be just fine, or maybe we’ll just stay home, or maybe we’ll get together with friends like last year. We’re flexible.

We also have two other big parties to go to during January and February and several dances. For those events, we will be at tables with friends. That will fill our “quota” of fancy “dress-up” opportunities.

So New Year’s Eve we’ll just go over to the South Club and come home when we feel like it. We won’t have the lovely hors d’oeuvres which would have been included in the $70 tickets but I don’t need the calories.

With John’s illness, I’m learning to make adjustments and be flexible. No sense it stressing him.

Tuesday, the 22nd, Willow nearly died, but she’s her old self now. She’s hungry and playful. Talk about a turn-around. And to think we nearly put her to sleep (at the vet’s suggestion). She’s sure doing well.

I love working with web site design. My website at http://dulcimers.com has been totally revised. Actually it’s not 100% finished, but the main part is up. I will have to blend some of the sub-site pages, but there’s no rush. I’m pleased with it.

We just finished a lovely dinner: ham, sweet potatoes, scalloped potatoes, fresh baked bread, green beans, ambrosia salad (with tangerines, pineapple, bananas, coconut and mini marshmallows in sour cream), several relishes and hot apple pie. It was all very good. After we ate, we went for a golf cart ride through all the golf courses since all of the paths are open to everyone on Christmas Day. (The rest of the time you must be a member of a golf club to use the paths.)

Last night, Christmas Eve, we went to a party at Dale and Trudy’s condo. They’re the ones who used to let me know that Mom needed me when she first started displaying symptoms. They lived one condo over from Mom’s. We were their neighbors until we had to move from Mom’s condo. Trudy, who is a realtor, helped us find the condo we bought.

Today we shopped for our Christmas dinner. We were supposed to have spent the day enjoying Busch Garden’s wonderful Christmas ice show, but we were too concerned about Willow to leave her for the day. So we stayed home. Willow slept all day today but was much improved from yesterday’s major trauma. This evening she walked a few feet then went back to her bed.

We planned our holiday dinner: a ham, sweet potatoes, scalloped potatoes, fresh baked bread, ambrosia salad, relishes, green beans, apple pie.

Hopefully tomorrow we can go to the pool. It was just a tiny too cool today (70 or so). Tomorrow it’s supposed to be close to 80.

Willow, our tiny dog, wasn’t doing well this morning. She’s been up and down over the past few weeks. Yesterday she looked really good but not today. Because, when we called the vet, she was in critical condition, our veterinarian took her in as an “emergency.” He’s really good with her but there’s little that can be done. She was put on oxygen and nitro. We waited to see how she was this afternoon. By late afternoon, she was doing better. We were able to bring her home.

The time will come when we’ll have to make “the hard decision” but it looks like she’s made it past this crisis. The vet warned us to be prepared because her heart is shot. Willow is now sleeping peacefully. She’s on meds galore. Her heart is crowding her lungs, but she’s comfortable and no longer in distress. We’d have given our permission to end her life if it was hopeless, but she proved she’s a fighter and deserves to keep on going.

Since our arrival, we have been on the go constantly:
Thursday – Rockin’ Rondezvous at the South Club House.
Friday – a Marcille Wallis and friends concert at the United Methodist Church.
Saturday – a funeral, funeral luncheon, and evening neighborhood party.
Sunday – a dance club dance.

Now we will have two days of leisure.  This afternoon or tomorrow we’ll probably go get our H1N1 vaccinations.

Wednesday we’re going to Busch Gardens for their Christmas ice show,

It’s really cool today (high of about 62 and lows in the 40’s over night).  But by Wednesday it’s supposed to be 75.  Thursday (Christmas Eve) scattered showers are predicted.  I think we’ll just laze around today. No need to do anything. John’s tired. (He did fine at our first dance last night.)

Christmas Eve Day it’ll be about 76 and we have an invitation to a house party at Dale and Trudy’s that evening.

Christmas Day it’s supposed to be in the mid-70’s but possibly thunderstorms.  Then it’ll chilly down again for a few days.  I hope we can go to the pool.  (That’s the tradition we started last year.)

We haven’t decided what we’ll have for our Christmas dinner: ham, turkey, roast beef???

Looks like it’s heading to a cool Christmas. I so wanted to be in the pool on Christmas day and maybe we will but it’ll be cooler than last year!

Last night we attended a concert held here in Sun City Center (FL) at the Methodist Church. It was Christmas with the Celts featuring Marcille Wallis and her group of four wonderful musicians and two exceptional Celtic dancers.

Matt Miller, who accompanied her one year when she came to the Funfest, has really matured into a great fiddler. She had an excellent guitarist, Michael DeLalla; a talented whistle/mandolin/vocalist; and Robin Hendrickson on bagpipes. The whole group was super! Each musician was outstanding. What a treat!

The act opened with the musicians and dancers coming down the center isle lead by the bagpiper. It was dramatic and stirring.

The Irish/Scottish dancers added a great touch. Their energy was contagious.

One of Marcille’s first pieces was a solo with guitar back-up of “Oh, Holy Night” which was awesome. She is really a very appealing showman who captured the audience. Her playing was excellent and those in the group really provided wonderful foundation for her dulcimer as well as individual solo numbers which featured their unique talents.

She told the audience about the Evart Funfest and what it’s like to go to sleep at 2:00 a.m. to the sound of hammered dulcimers and wake up at 6:00 a.m. to the sound of dulcimers (maybe even the same players).

She and her group visited the same church in February and we were fortunate to attend then too. We liked them last time but this time show was even better!

This a.m. we will attend the funeral of Joan Thate. Bob Thate is our association vice president and all round nice guy and helpful neighbor. Joan has been ill for some time and in a nursing home. It’s a sad time for Bob. We didn’t know Joan very well, but she seemed like a lovely lady.

This evening we’ll traverse three condos south from us to a neighborhood holiday party.

We found a 7 1/2 foot artificial tree today for merely $25. It’s lovely with 1,450 tips and 800 lights. The couple selling it no longer spend their Christmases here so they decided to sell it. It’s really nice.

I’m a person who vowed never to have an artificial tree, but my allergies have gotten so bad and, with John’s lung condition, a real tree (complete with molds and fungi) would not be wise.

I need to get some silver, white or gold balls to make the tree look “complete” but it’s ok for now.

It took a couple hours to “assemble” the tree but it was worth it. It’s lovely!

Over the years I have made crocheted Victorian ornaments (lacy with pearls). They are the only ornaments I had to use, although I plan to get more plain silver, gold, or white balls to glorify the tree.

We went to Rockin’ Rondezvous tonight but felt a little isolated. Most of the folks we usually sit with are with families over the holidays. We did see some old friends and made plans to sit with Linda and Bob Sunday at the “Academy” dance.

We were home by 6:00. I haven’t been feeling up to par and I’m exhausted. (I’ve had a intestinal bug since about Tuesday.) A quiet evening should help restore my energy.

Tomorrow night we want to go to a Marcile Wallis concert at the Methodist Church. Saturday a funeral during the day and a party at night. Sunday the Academy dance. Sad for our friend/neighbor/vice president of our association who lost his wife Tuesday. But the concert and the dance sound like fun.

John tried dancing tonight for the first time since he’s developed his lung problem. He did fine. We didn’t do anything too strenuous but we got out there and shook our booty a little.

When we arrived yesterday and opened the door from our living room toward the golf course, here’s what we saw. We’d planted a small flowerless poinsettia last year. It had been a luncheon centerpiece and door prize in about a 4″ pot. This year it’s magnificant. What a lovely Christmas-y greeting.

Today we’ll unpack and clean. I have a beauty salon appointment at 10:00. John will go with me and shop for groceries.

But we have a slight problem: Last night our next door Saginaw neighbor, Connie, called us.

We’d purchased a device called a “Honeywell Winter Watcher” which allowed us to plug in a light which would be visible in case our house temperature fell below 45 degrees. Connie had agreed to monitor the light. (She can see the window where we placed the lamp from her kitchen window.)

Last night she got home and the light was on. It was only 17 degrees outside when she called us. She doesn’t have access to the house but she wanted to advise us that the “warning light” was on.

Last week we had the furnace serviced so we”re fairly certain it’s just a problem with the way it was set. Maybe John didn’t leave enough of a range between the furnace setting and the setting on the “Watcher.” But we won’t know until John’s friend, George, can go into our house and check to make sure everything is working. We may have to have the thermostat replaced. Whatever it takes, hopefully George can handle it for us. We’re a little far to have a problem like this develop. It obviously bothered John all night. He slept very little.

Today is Thursday. I didn’t feel well Tuesday and Wednesday with a major digestive problem. It wore me out, so I was exhausted and slept like a rock.

So hopefully there’s no problem at home. As soon as John can reach George and have him check things out, he’ll feel better.

==

Friday George was able to go into our Saginaw house and check out the warning signal. But everything was fine. The device was just set too close to the thermostat setting. Moving the dial on the light to a lower setting turned it off. Now we can be fairly certain that the light won’t come on unless the lower temperature is reached.

We arrived at our condo about 12:30. Temperatures were in the 80’s. Before we went inside, we were welcomed by a couple neighbors and more stopped by shortly.

The afternoon was spent “settling in.” Next year it’ll be easier if I stick to my vow to leave everything here and just travel (not move) back and forth. No more bins of clothes. No more suitcases which require a man and a boy to move. I want to travel light.

But this time, we came with a full truckload and I spent much of the day unloading and unpacking. There’s still more to be done.

I also took time to “decorate for the season.” There’s a lovely Christmas centerpiece on our coffee table, a small Christmas tree on the table by the window. I put a wreath on the door, Christmas placemats on the dining room table and lights in the window. My mom’s small ceramic tree is on the lanai, greeting visitors. There are liberal candles around the condo. It looks nice.

The condo was in good shape except for the split leaf philodendron which we always battle or it over-grows the walk-way to the front door, and a dead hybiscus behind the condo toward the golf course. The front door and lawn furniture on the lanai were covered with black mold. I scrubbed it off the door, but it will take even more elbow grease. We’ll finish cleaning, dusting and vacuuming the place tomorrow. Right now it looks great and we feel “at home.”

It’ll be cooler in a few days… much cooler, but looking ahead it looks like, in about a week, it will return to the weather which greeted us today.

Already our calendar is filling up. We have plans every night starting tomorrow night through Christmas Eve except for Monday and Tuesday. I don’t know what we’ll do after that, but we sure have a full calendar for the next week.

It’s now 7:30 p.m. We are settled in to our motel in Valdosta, GA. We made it by 4:30. The room is nice. We ate a light dinner, and now we’re relaxing.

This afternoon there were some light showers (more like mist) in the Atlanta area. Temperature got up to 72. It had quit raining by the time we got to Valdosta.

Unfortunately Sun City Center’s forecast doesn’t look all that great for next week. It’s in the 80’s today, but by next week there’ll be a few days in the low 60’s. (Then it turns around and heads back into the mid-70’s.)

I tried one of my techie tricks tonight from our motel. I brought along my “Magic Jack” device and a phone. Using the high-speed wi-fi which is available here in our room with the Magic Jack, I can make unlimited phone calls at no charge. (Magic Jack is an “internet” phone.) The audio quality was very good. I could switch our home phone forwarding to the Magic Jack and we would be able to seamlessly receive our calls, but since we’ll be at our destination tomorrow, and the calls are going to our cell, I didn’t bother.

We’ll be on the road by 8:00 tomorrow morning and should pull in to our condo about 12:30.

We’re enjoying another day of clear roads (knock on wood), with fairly mild temperatures (54 at 9:10).

Last night’s Red Roof in London, KY, is the nicest one we’ve stayed at. (We like Red Roof’s because they’re the only chain that doesn’t object to Willow nor charge any extra for her.) This morning the free breakfast consisted of waffles, toast, cereals, bagels, hot grits, juice and coffee.

Tonight we have two reservations so we can be flexible and either stay in Macon or Valdosta, GA. We’ll decide as we get further south, but since we got an early start this a.m., chances are we’ll drive on to Valdosta. (We’d probably arrive about 3:00 in Macon, and that’s too early to call it a day.) By choosing the more southerly stop, we can make it to Florida tomorrow and have lunch at the condo rather than another lunch stop on the road.

We’re enjoying another day of clear roads (knock on wood), with fairly mild temperatures (54 at 9:10).

Last night’s Red Roof in London, KY, is the nicest one we’ve stayed at. (We’re locked into Red Roof’s because they’re the only chain that doesn’t object to Willow nor charge any extra for her.) This morning for breakfast they served waffles, toast, cereals, bagels, hot grits, juice and coffee.

Tonight we have two reservations so we can be flexible and either stay in Macon or Valdosta, GA. We’ll decide as we get further south, but since we got an early start this a.m., chances are we’ll drive on to Valdosta. (We’d probably arrive about 3:00 in Macon, and that’s too early to call it a day.) By choosing the more southerly stop, we can make it to Florida tomorrow and have lunch at the condo rather than another lunch stop on the road.

I always think of our trips south as “adventures.” It’s fun to pack up the dog, the bird, and 3/4’s of our possessions and hop in our comfortable GMC truck with Florida as a destination. I love the time shared in close confines with my sweet husband. We rarely turn on the radio or music, although sometimes, when John gets sleepy or feels he needs a diversion, I’ll “crank it up.” Mainly, we talk and share observations. It’s a very pleasant time.

Of course, I’m not doing the driving so I can feel relaxed. John probably feels differently. Buy I try to help using my GPS by providing directions. It’s not like back-seat driving. I will point out that we’ll be approaching our exit in 12 miles (or whatever is accurate). I’ll tell him which lane we’ll need to be in and which direction we’ll be heading after we exit. It makes the trip easier on him. We’re a team. I rarely read because reading puts me in another world and John would prefer that I stay “with him.” I sometimes work on the computer. This time I hope to spend the time revising http://dulcimers.com.

And I’m always trying to get my email. It’s a challenge and it’s getting harder and harder to find the connections which used to be common-place. John’s computer running Windows XP still has the ability (but mine runs on Vista so it won’t work). The system uses a cable connection with our cellphone to make totally free digital connections using the “Quick to Net” system (free internet). It’s grand when it works, but fewer and fewer areas have connections to Quick to Net which was an early system we were fortunate to get with an old “pay as you go” cellphone and we now have grandfathered-in-status. We hang on to that cellphone because we know it is rare to get anything for free, especially a free digital connection to the internet. Of course it’s snail slow, but sometimes I can connect and if I’m patient enough, I can use my site-based text email system to pull in my messages. I wouldn’t try websites, because graphic images would slow the download beyond what I am patient enough to wait for. When I receive an email it’s a major accomplishment. I keep a listing of the mile markers where it works as we go south on I-75. Every trip I lose a few areas, but it’s still fun to try. Eventually I’ll give up and get an I-phone or other state-of-the-art phone with 3G or 4G mobile broadband.

Our plan is to depart at 8:00 a.m.. We should pull into London, KY, about 5:00 p.m. after 498 miles of driving. Day two will be slightly shorter, if we stay in Macon, GA (we actually have two different choices that evening about 2 hours apart). The third day (Wednesday) we’ll arrive at our destination at about 3:00 in the afternoon. We’ll take about an hour to “unload” and hopefully be able to go to the pool.

Thursday evening we’ll enjoy re-establishing connections with our friends at Rockin’ Rondezvous.

Can’t wait.

I just added a new feature to my dulcimer sales site: http://dulcimers.biz, it’s a live “chat area” so I can answer the questions folks have.

But if you want to say “Hi” (provided I’m on line) I’d love to have you try it out. Just go to the link above and click on the Chat feature.

Of course it only works when I’m on line, and we will be gone this evening (Saturday) and Sunday during the day, then we head South. So if you don’t reach me, don’t be surprised. But it’ll be nice when folks have a question and I am available.

John had a major problem with a carboy of wine. I won’t go into it, but we lost five gallons of premium stock we were planning to take with us.

Also we looked hard for, but can’t find an “over-night” sized gym bag which we both lost track of several years ago. (It was a gift so we know we had it, but where it is, is the big question.) John would like to use it during our trip South. It is burgundy nylon and much too nice to have tossed out. Since our house isn’t that big, it has to be here somewhere, but we can’t find it. So today was frustrating.

John got up early (before 8:00) and headed out to have an “after fasting” blood test for his Pulmonologist. He then stopped to have the truck tires rotated. He also got a prescription for Willow, and picked up so last minute groceries.

I was busy changing doctor appointments, making lists, packing, and making sure everything is ready. I think we’re in good shape.

I just hope the rest of the packing process goes more smoothly than today. I hope maybe tomorrow or Sunday we can stop at a Walmart or Meijers and buy John another gym bag for his clothes while traveling. Someday we’ll find the burgundy bag which we both know is “here” but missing.

At least the weather isn’t going to be teasing us with wonderful “pool conditions” so instead of sunning ourselves, we can go get our mail, our Christmas tree, and re-stock our refrigerator before we feel the urge to hit the pool.

We will arrive on Wednesday, so the Thursday night (the 17th) “Rockin’ Rondezvous will be a “must-attend.” That’s the time when we all assemble in the South Clubhouse for some “adult beverages” and munchies. We enjoy the dancing and the friendships which are plentiful.

On Friday the 18th a friend of ours (Marcille Wallis) will be presenting a concert at the Methodist Church. I really want to be there.

Sunday, the 20th, we’ve been invited to a dance and holiday party. The 24th, Christmas Eve, we have a house party my mom’s old neighborhood. They’re super folks.

Then comes Christmas.

One problem: We don’t have plans for New Year’s Eve. But maybe we can have a party at our place.

Before we decide, I need to do some holiday decorating It’s hard to think of a holiday party without the decor. Once I get my Christmas Tree up and make the place look festival I’ll feel like entertaining. We’ll arrive on Wednesday and I’d love to buy and have a Christmas tree up by Friday or Saturday plus wall-to-wall holiday decorations.

I keep going to Walmart’s website: http://walmart.com, to see if they have decent artificial pre-lit trees but it’s hard to tell what’s still available in the stores. That’ll be one of the first places we head when we get to Sun City Center. (We have only two choices: Walmart or Home Depot.) I know I want a tree with lots of branches, about 7 feet tall, with about 1200 clear lights. Probably what I’ll find will be 4.5 ft. tall with 150 lights and lots of bare spots.

Then maybe we’ll extend some invitations for New Year’s Eve.

Before then we have to get down there.

I’m busy getting stuff ready for our departure Monday. Since Saturday and Sunday we have extra commitments, I really need to do everything possible today and tomorrow. (Stuff like food can be packed last minute, but anything I can do now will help avoid the last minute rush.)

Yesterday John went to his pulmonologist and his urologist. Today he’s at the dentist. Both of his doctors yesterday had good news. He did better on his breathing test and everything was fine with his urologist. So he’s been given the go ahead to leave town. Tomorrow he has one more blood test and then the truck gets a check-up, tires rotated, and new wiper blades.

It’s really windy today so the waves are fairly high on little Lake Cecil in front of our house. At least it’s “open water.” I don’t like the stillness of ice. Even with the sun out, the snow is blowing hard horizontally but there’s little on the ground and what’s coming down is going to end up in the next county.

We don’t have any plans for New Year’s Eve. I’ve been trying to get tickets for a party in Sun City Center, FL, but I should have purchased them weeks ago. I doubt that they’re available now. It’s not bad planning, I just didn’t want to jinx John by purchasing non-refundable tickets before he was “cleared to go.”

Yup, I’d describe myself as an “old” techie geek.

When left Saginaw Valley State University in late 1981, we had only one computer on the campus and I got to use it once. But it wasn’t long after I started working at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Saginaw, that they got me my first computer to use.

Early computers had no hard drive, the OS (operating system) was usually booted from one floppy disk, which was then removed and replaced by another one containing the application. Some machines using two disk drives (or one dual drive) allowed the user to leave the OS disk in place and simply change the application disks as needed, or to copy data from one floppy to another. That’s the kind of computers we had to begin with. When our 30 megabyte hard drive was installed, the technician told us we’d “never fill it up.”

By the mid 1980’s I got my first “home” computer. It had a 30 megabyte hard drive, a 5 inch “floppy drive” and an “amber” monitor. It ran IBM’s Dos 1.1. I was “state of the art.”

Following that first off-brand computer, I found a used IBM, then a Dell, then I had one built for me, then an HP laptop, followed by a Sony Vaio and now another Sony Vaio. Each one was faster with a bigger hard drive. The same was true of my “work computers.” Because I was responsible for more and more data, my computer was always the best that was available, and I tried to stay abreast at home too.

I ran only two main programs: Lotus 1-2-3 (versions 1.0-3.0) started me out. I also learned Symphony which was by Lotus but it had database features built in. For word processing, we started with a free program until we up-graded to Word Perfect which was wonderful. With Lotus 1-2-3 and Word Perfect I was able to do most everything necessary but often slowly and with greater difficulty. Nevertheless, it was my area of expertise and I learned to “write programs” although I had no computer background. I used the “macro” feature of Symphony to write the first scheduling program for our hospital. I was able to “think through” to create solutions for which I received some notoriety (two awards through the Lotus magazine for winning national competitions solving computer “problems” with macros.

Just how do today’s speeds and sizes of hard drives compare?

Here’s a chart:
The nearest binary number to 1,000 is 2^10 or 1,024; thus 1,024 bytes was named a Kilobyte. So, although a metric “kilo” equals 1,000 (e.g. one kilogram = 1,000 grams), a binary “Kilo” equals 1,024 (e.g. one Kilobyte = 1,024 bytes).

bit = 1 bit
byte = 8 bits
Kilobyte = 1024 bytes
Megabyte = 1024 kilobytes
Gigabyte = 1024 megabytes
Terabyte = 1024 gigabytes
Petabyte = 1,048,576 gigabytes Kbr>
Exabyte = 1,073,741,824 gigabytes
Zettabyte = 1,099,511,627,776 gigabytes

I remember what an up-grade it was when we got our first HD 3 1/2 inch diskettes which held 2MB!

If you look at the comparative chart above, you can do the math and figure that the first computers were incredibly limited in their capacity.

I now have a thumb drive that holds 4 gigabyte. If I figured correctly that’s more than 136 times more than my 30 MB computer and my thumb drive doesn’t weigh an ounce.)

I remember the historic days when Dos came in 1.0 and 1.1 versions, when Excel and Word hadn’t been invented, when “Windows” didn’t exist, and we’d go on a break while our computer ran computations because they were so slow.

I’m an old “techie geek.” and proud of it!

John and I are fortunate. We have three residences and a farm (which we rent out). Our residences are: our Saginaw home on lovely Lake Cecil in Thomas Township; our condo in sunny central Florida in Sun City Center (Kings Point gated community); and a very old trailer with about 185 feet of frontage on Lake Michigan in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

It wasn’t really our choice to become “property poor” but the economy has locked us into holding on to our “investments” well past the time we’d like to divest ourselves of our rental unit (the farm) and our U.P. property. We’d prefer to only own our home in Saginaw and our Florida condo, and when the real estate values turn around, that’s our aim. We were just unfortunate enough to think that real estate was a good investment.

But for now, our the three residences have something in common: lovely water views.

Residence #1 (above) – our Lake Cecil, Thomas Township, Michigan home view

Residence #2 (above) – view of ponds from our Florida living room

Residence #3 – view from our old trailer – (above) – looking east as the sun rises over Lake Michigan.

The water view is lovely at all three locations, but a month from now in Michigan the water will have frozen over. There is quite a contrast between the moving, reflective surface of blue water with the stark whiteness of ice (covered by snow). When it freezes over, things become totally still. During Spring, Summer and Fall, the landscape constantly moves and changes. The trees cast shadows, there are reflections, fish jump, geese fly in and out. It’s an ever-changing view. Ice makes it still and unmoving.

Recently we’ve noticed a critter swimming in the lake in front of our Lake Cecil home. He seems to have taken up permanent residency. I snapped this picture of him. We called him “Nessy, our Lake Cecil Lockness Monster.”

We don’t know what he is. He’s not a beaver (tail’s wrong), not a muskrat (wrong size and not the right tail), maybe he’s an otter, or possibly a mink…?? He seems to live in the lake. (He has only been seen in the water.)

I wonder what will happen to our “monster” when the lake freezes over. Personally I don’t like “hard water.” Much more interesting when it’s flowing freely like it is now.

John and I presented a “lunch and learn” at the historical museum yesterday. I discussed the history of dulcimers especially as the history pertains to Michigan. Today Sub-Strings played for Catholic Federal Credit Union at the Double Tree Hotel in Bay City. We had a group of 25 musicians playing for about 300 diners. We had arrived early and everyone helped us set up the stage (which is no easy task when there are six big hammered dulcimers and lots of musicians with chairs and music stands). Our members enjoyed a lovely lunch in our own dining room prior to our performance.

Tomorrow John and I will play for the Symphony Orchestra’s Christmas House Walk in one of the lovely homes which with be open for touring. We’ll be there from 12:30-2:30. We’ve done this for many years. It’s generally an easy performance.

Next week we have a few commitments – most are non-music playing: John goes to his pulmonologist on Wednesday, his dentist on Thursday and on Saturday we have his family’s Christmas dinner. Our club will play music for Wescourt Senior Residence Sunday, the 13th. Since we leave Monday, December 14th, for Florida, most of next week we’ll be tying up loose ends and packing.

Today’s performance was fun. We played well and some of our audience even gave us a standing ovation. Comments were very favorable!

We have such nice people in our club. It’s like being with your favorite relatives. They are loving and kind. Can’t think of any place I’d have rather been.

Most of today I’ve been trying to upgrade my dulcimers.com website.

I purchased a template in hopes that I can be prepared to help my friend Diane come up with a classy site for her art work. It’s not “hard” but very time consuming, especially when I’m working with an “already developed” site and I’m trying to use the info which has already been written.

I have to edit photos and figure our java scripts, which are pretty new to me.

It’s going smoothly but there’s lots more to do.

You can check it out at http://dulcimers.com/newdesign/new/

One of the neat things is that there are 23 choices of colors schemes. By inserting the color I want in one file and up-loading it, I can switch the whole scheme. I’m trying to get the menu updated. It is fairly complex so it’ll take a while, and I’m in no hurry.

I worked too long and too intently today. I’m brain-dead right now!

Two weeks from Monday we’ll be taking off for Florida.

I’m famous for my lists and this is when my obsession really makes things easier. I have a list of “stuff to do” so that everything works. Without lists I’d be lost. Things like remembering to forward our mail, turn off our newspaper and our Wall Street Journal delivery, insure our Florida car, switch our phone service to Florida, re-set the house thermostat (and change the battery in it so the furnace will work while we’re gone). My list keeps growing. I also prioritize the items so I know when I must do stuff. Some of it is critical, and other things just make life easier.

My packing list is being perfected too.

I just crossed off “bring a live Christmas tree”. I had thought we would take a Michigan tree to Florida and put it up as soon as we got down there. Now, thinking about it, I’m realizing that neither John nor I should be around live trees. I have severe allergies to spruce trees and with John’s IPF he doesn’t need the exposure to molds and allergens. So I’ll see if it’s possible to buy an artificial tree and decorations when we get down there. A week before Christmas, prices should be low, if I can still find what I want.

Sun City Center is NOT a shoppiing mecca. We have a Walmart Super Store, two dollar stores and Beall’s (where they have great clothes), but that’s about it. There’s shopping just south of us in Ellenton (where there’s an outlet mall), and north of us there’s Brandon with a huge mall, but the traffic there is horrid year-round so I can’t imagine what it would be like a week before Christmas. Guess we’ll take our chances.

Later:

I found a lovely artificial Christmas Tree today and would have bought it, but it was a Goodwill and there was another lady who wanted it badly. I saw it first, and it was mine, but in the spirit of the season, I let the other shopper buy it. Sometimes I wish I could be pushier because now I wish I’d bought it! It was 7 1/2 feet tall, spruce with some artificial snow on the branches. The box was marked $200. It was like new. The price was $45. I won’t find another deal like that.

Willow hasn’t been well for several weeks. We’re concerned that we might lose her.

Today, although we’re in Saginaw, we called our Florida vet because he was the last to see Willow. Her symptoms didn’t sound good. He suggested that we take to to her Saginaw vet. We got an appointment and took her in to see her doctor.

I should mention that we have two really caring veterinarians for Willow: Dr. Waldy in Ruskin, Florida, and Dr. Hegenauer in Saginaw. Both go the extra mile to care for our beloved 14-year old small chihuahua.

Willow’s no longer really lovable. She’s always been feisty but now she’s not even “friendly” with John or me. She’s old, her left eye is blind, and she has a severe heart condition and she appears to be rather arthritic.

We continue to give her the best care possible. She’s been a good dog and just because she’s old and her “end” is approaching, doesn’t mean that she doesn’t deserve the best we can provide for her. John and I have talked about her condition, and we agree that when she gets to the point where we can’t keep her comfortable, or she has a condition which makes her life unbearable, we’ll do the humane thing. But that time isn’t now.

We took her in to the vet because for about three or four days she hasn’t eaten at all. When we got to the veterinarian’s office, she was weighed. In January she had weighed 5.3 pounds. She’s now 4.2 pounds. She’s lost over ONE POUND…. 25% of her weight!

She isn’t running a temperature, but there are indications that she has a bladder infection so she’s on antibiotics. We are giving her dietary supplements.

But a very distressing thing happened as we were going into the vet’s office. A shabby guy with a large, obviously injured dog, asked me to move aside so he could get past me. The dog had a large wound on his side.

The man was really distraught. He said, “A neighbor stabbed him in my yard, right in front of me.”

We overheard the man explain that he had no money. It was obvious from the way he was dressed and his demeanor that he was really poor. This was a man who had nothing. I wanted to do something, but what can you do when you don’t really know the story? Do you stick your neck into a situation which might be violent?

Instead I asked our vet, as he was working on Willow, if the dog who had been stabbed was being cared for and he said, “Yes, we couldn’t send a dog away in that condition.” What a relief. I would have offered to pay for the dog’s care had it been necessary, but I guess, not knowing the parties involved, we had to stay out of it. When we left, the dog was in surgery.

I commend Cole Veterinary Clinic, on Schust Road in Saginaw, for their compassionate care.

I wish I’d felt free to step up and volunteer to help with expenses. He obviously wasn’t the kind of person we’d normally approach. It was his attitude and his demeanor that said “stay away.” It was a situation where we couldn’t get involved because he looked really threatening and who knows what the whole story was, but it sure wasn’t the fault of the innocent dog and it haunts me. Should I have asked if he needed help?

I’m still shaken.

For years I’ve had a mental list of all kinds of projects which I planned to work on “someday.” I love hand arts: crocheting, knitting, tatting. Many of my “mental list projects” involve these time-consuming skills.

Back in the 1970’s and early 1980’s, I purchased most of the crochet cotton stock from a Frankenmuth store when they closed. I also purchased the stock from Jacobson’s when they eliminated their crochet department. My horde was growing and so was my list of future projects. I had in mind bedspreads, clothing, doilies, and more and more projects.

Sometimes I’d get in a sewing mood, and buy up material for suits, and dresses. My list of projects grew.

In the early 1990’s I purchased a knitting machine and with it materials for knitted projects.

My list of proposed projects always justified the purchases of more materials because I’d need that stuff when I got around to working on them.

Back about ten years ago, I discovered eBay. Folks would sell their hordes of crochet materials and I’d buy them up .. always cheaply .. always in volume.

I have at least three plastic bins (the big ones) filled with balls of crochet/tatting cotton. I have hundreds of balls .. yards and yards .. all sizes (thicknesses) of crocheted cotton. I have cones of yarn .. yards of fabric .. shuttles, hooks, needles, books, patterns, more books, more patterns… Well, you get the idea.

I’m now 67 years old. If I got busy and worked night and day on all the projects I’ve dreamed of, I could never put dent in my list of projects. I couldn’t even scratch the surface.

I probably should start selling my horde. It no longer brings me comfort. In fact it’s become an unfinished blight. I no longer think of the mental list as “do-able.” Maybe it’s time to purge.

I’ll have to put that on my list of proposed “projects.”

John and I just returned from a wonderful day with our Saginaw Subterranean Strings Hammered Dulcimer Club. We had the “annual dinner” today.  Approximately 35-40 folks enjoyed a huge dinner.  The club bought chicken from a catering service (Kern’s).  John and I brought mashed potatoes and gravy.  We organized the day.  We had the members bring a dish to pass.  Linda Conklin brought a huge pan of her wonderful dressing.  We had everything you could wish for.

We ate from 12:00-1:00 then played wonderful music from 1:00-4:00.  Although we hold our event in Frankenmuth (which is Michigan’s largest tourist attraction) we didn’t expect much of a crowd but we had a nice sized audience all afternoon.  We have a box near the door where people make “contributions” to the historical society which owns the building.  We probably didn’t collect any fortune, but it was satisflying and our folks had a great time. 

We played a lot of holiday music to get us ready for the Christmas season.  I invited Diane Rostollan to sing “Oh, Holy Night.”  It was so incredible that some in the audience were in tears.   She also did some selections from a new CD she just finished.  She sang a hymn from the CD “Come Thou Font.”  It was really lovely.

We always end up with “Amazing Grace.”  We do it several times through.  We start out with a solo whistle (George), then we all played it, next we let Diane sing it through, then we had the audience join in, and we ended up with a solo whistle.  The whole thing was grand.  What a wonderful day.

Our club members were so supportive. They all pitched in. They are like family and we really appreciated their involvement and support.

Life is too short. We need to cherish each day like today that is filled with really nice friends who are like family.

Margaret Loper, John and I resigned this week from the Midland Dulcimer Festival management team.  (John and Margaret aren’t well enough to continue, and I couldn’t do anything helpful without involving John and creating stress for him that he doesn’t need.)

The Folk Music Society of Midland board is meeting on December 9th to decide if the festival will continue and who will be the chairman and do the workshops. 

Finding somone who will organize the workshops won’t be easy, and no one wants to “be in charge.”  Personally we feel that the festival would be better ending than disappointing attendees but that will be determined at the December meeting which we don’t plan to attend. It’s in their court.

I’ve promised some of my Florida friends that I’ll help them create a website when I finally get down there.

One lady, Diane, a super artist, is especially interested because she needs a gallery type site to display her work. She also wants to do one for the “art league.” I’ve located a template website which has several possible formats. I’m really impressed with the quality of their offerings. I’m thinking about upgrading http://dulcimers.com using this template:

The butterflies will be replaced with photos of our festivals.

If I work with the site prior to helping Diane, I’ll be in a much better position to assist her. It’s not cheap to by the template, but I figure it’s a business expense, and learning to use the “Allwebcodesign” templates should give me a lot of tools to use with my site. I can include a gallery, frequently asked questions area, and even a paypal shopping cart for http://dulcimers.biz. It comes with 23 different color possibilities. I’m seriously considering it. I love the challenge of learning a new program/technique.

I’m still limping around. Still haven’t tried wearing shoes (figure another few days without them will make it easier). If you wonder what I’m talking about, read the earlier posting.

We have a performance and Frankenmuth Dinner performance on November 21st. On the 30th we’ll practice. The rest of the month is fairly quiet. In December, we have a huge performance in Bay City on the 2nd with our club, and on the 3rd for just the two of us. Then we go until December 13th when we have our last performance before we head south.

So the number of plays isn’t huge, but we need to practice and get ready for them.

So I’m hoping that within the next few days I’ll be able to go out wearing shoes. Right now, it’s hard to contemplate.

I lost John’s medical records this week.

Our house was a disaster during the time when everything was moved out from our great room, dining room, and master bedroom so the flooring could be installed. I remembered relocating John’s important medical records from the dining room table where they’d been for several weeks. I wanted to be sure they wouldn’t get lost. I planned to put them in the portable file case which we drag back and forth to Florida. But when everything was back in place, I went to look for them in the case, they weren’t there.

It took me more than a day to locate the records and the DVDs of his CT scans, etc. When I found them it was one of those “Of course” moments. It all came back to me crystal clear. I remembered I couldn’t reach our portable file case. Everything had been stowed in the hot tub room and it was really really cramped and crowded. I remember standing at the door of the hot tub room and realizing I couldn’t reach the file case so I slipped them in my laptop’s computer case. As soon as I saw the case, I remembered that they were safe.

It’s awful when you get old and forgetful.

Toe Trouble – OUCH!

When it comes to Toe Trouble, I’ve had more than my share. If you’ve followed this blog you know I have frequent “Sore Toe Problems” (as indicated in this 2007 blog posting).. Today I was changing the bedding and I tangled my foot in the blankets which had been pushed to the floor at the end of the bed. When I caught my right foot in the blankets, my poor toe caught the hard corner of an oak chest of drawers. I doubt that it’s broken, but it’s sure bruised, swollen, and sore.

Add that to my bad back, which I’ve been suffering from for a couple of weeks, and I’m pretty miserable.

I know I should have done a pedicure before posting a photo of my toes. I will haul out the polish before I go to Florida because I know when wearing sandals they’ll show, but here, in Michigan, legs, underarms and toes are all ignored by us old married folks when it gets cold and those areas are hidden.

Our Michigan home looks grand and we have very little to do until the 21st of November when we put on the Subterranean Strings annual dinner at Fischer Hall in Frankenmuth.

We found out today that McBrite Manor, where we have played with Subterranean Strings for more than a dozen years for their Christmas Open House, will not be hosting a December event due to the flu risk. With John’s health problem, I’m just as glad.

We are gradually backing away from our music “commitments.” It’s not easy to say “No, we can’t do it,” but with John’s illness, he really can’t continue at the tempo he’s maintained for so many years. It’s just not possible. I’m sure there will be some people who won’t understand and will feel we’re abandoning the music community, but I’m watching him try to stretch his breathing resources. He just can’t continue to push himself.

I just marred our new hardwood floor! It’s not ever 48 hours old and I did it!

I extended the foot of the recliner where I was sitting and the recliner mechanism squeezed down on the power box thingie of my computer forcing it into the floor. A deep dent resulted. It’s lucky that I didn’t leave two because there was a transformer box from the phone also under the recliner but it was smaller. At least it’s hidden under the edge and will never show but I feel awful! The installers told us that the advantage of wood is that you can always take out a board and replace it. If this was out in the open, I’d definitely be calling them to do it. It’s that bad.

But in the overall scheme of things, this is not a crisis. Bad health creates a crisis. This is just a pimple.

John’s dream was always to have hardwood in our great room. We selected an “exotic wood,” Brazilian Cherry. The boards are 3/4″ thick and tongue and grooved. The installers were fussy which shows. (If you look carefully out the right photo, you can see the little lake we live on.)

I still have a lot of stuff to put away. The carpeting from the living room was installed in our bedroom. It is lovely there, but in order carpet the walk-in closet, we had to take all of our clothes out. I’ll be busy today sorting through everything. Only the stuff I am certain I will actually wear again will be put back in the closet. The rest will go to charity. I figure there’s no way I’ll ever live long enough to be able to wear all the clothes I’ve squirrelled away, even if I change my outfit several times a day. And let’s face it, I will probably never again be a size 4 or 6. I’m getting rid of about 1/3 of the stuff.

The rug in the “after” photo (above) is just a temporary solution until we can find the right area rug. I want a light colored one that’s about 8 x 5 1/2 which will provide a nice accent. Eventually I want to go with a different color scheme, so I want something neutral.

I’m watching the Today Show and they’re featuring fashions for this winter. Everything is in dark rich colors and knee high boots are a big “must have” fashion item.

I have a pair of those boots which are perfect. I can be “right in style.”

But in December, we’re heading to Florida. In Florida, the only people who wear dark colors are northerners. They “stand out” like a sore thumb.

Florida folks wear resort wear year-round. Capris and bermudas are always popular. Pastels and white are appropriate even the middle of their “winter.” I’ve never seen anyone wear boots but sandals are big year-round.

At least that’s how it’s been the past few years. But maybe this year it’ll be different. Should I drag along my black high leather boots?

I always think of that locale as more “style conscious” than here in Michigan. But admittedly in Florida they have their own look. It’s not 5th Avenue, it’s “Florida style.”

Our flooring project is looking good but it’s still not completed. The flooring contractor started Thursday and worked long days Thursday and Friday but today was shorter. They’ll be back Monday and Tuesday.

The stairs area has had the final touches but only about 3/4’s of the great room is done so there’s some along the east and the west walls yet to be completed. Plus, once the furniture for GR room is moved from the dining room, they’ll need to start doing the dining area. (And the baseboards will need to be reinstalled too.) It’s much slower than I’d envisioned but they’re doing a beautiful job. The wood is lovely.

With NO FURNITURE in the great room, we’re still stuck in the balcony room for the next few days, but it’s comfortable and we really don’t have any complaints.

We didn’t give out Halloween candy tonight. Normally we’d have close to 200 doorbell-ringers yelling “Trick or Treat” but we didn’t know when the flooring guys would stop working plus we figured that with the H1N1 virus so prevalent, we really didn’t need them coming to our door. It’s always an exhausting couple of hours since I run to the door every few minutes. With us using the living area upstairs, it would have been even more tiring to run to the door.

John’s doing much better. Monday we go back to Dr. Indira, his pulmonologist.

This morning at 7:30 our contractor arrived to start on our flooring project Brazillian Cherry hardwood will be installed in our Great Room, Dining Room, foyer, and stairway, plus the carpet in our bedroom will be replaced.

He brought a crew of three and they worked all day.

We’re truly impressed by their courtesy and consideration. Example: He asked, and we said he could park his work trailer loaded with our hardwood in our driveway over-night. He was so grateful. He said we were being “so accommodating.” (?? – heck he’s working for us – why wouldn’t we be?) He also thanked us for “putting up with them” today. In case he hasn’t noticed, we’ll get a big bill when the project is complete and we’ll pay it. We’re not putting up with them. We’re sure we’ll be pleased.

It was noisy, dusty, and incredibly loud. I had no idea the noise of a planer taking down the high spots on the sub-floor would be so loud. I finally used an “ear plug” because I couldn’t tolerate the noise. It was overwhelming. And it didn’t help that the crew played loud rock radio all day. But it’s silent now! Yea.

Today Willow and I “moved” upstairs to the balcony room since the workers are occupying the first floor. It’s comfortable up there. There’s a comfy couch with two recliners, a full bathroom, a flat screen tv, a view of the area where they are working, phone and hi-speed internet. We could sleep in the guest room tonight (up here), but I think our bedroom is in good shape (downstairs) and we’ll head down when it’s time to turn in (early) because they’re coming back at 7:30 tomorrow.

They worked today (Thursday). They’ll be back tomorrow. And they plan to be here all-day Saturday. If there’s still more to be done, it’ll be finished up Monday.

Can’t wait to see the results. (You’ll be able to see the before and after pictures here.)

Note: Why now? Because we’re trying to live life to the fullest. The hardwood floor is something John has always wanted and with his frightening diagnosis we realize that it doesn’t pay to postpone plans. Life is too short. If it’s something he’s dreamed of and it’s possible for us to do, then we should do it now so we can both enjoy it.

The other day, as I frequently do, I mentioned Grandma Brophey to John. He said I should write down my thoughts about her. She was the most influential person in my life. Someday no one will remember she even existed. She was special and deserves to have her story told.

Grandma Brophey was 77 years old when she died in 1963. Her full name was Clara Ann Chamberlain Brophey. Those 77 years represented a life that was remarkable.

The Chamberlains were one of the “founding” Midland families. As first settlers in the area, Grandma’s grandfather had preached to the Indians.

She married Patrick Robert Brophey, about 1906. Grandpa had been married previously and had a daughter, Elizabeth. Elizabeth (aka Betty) was my father’s mother. That meant Grandma Brophey was my father’s step-grandmother. (Once, when I questioned her about not being related, she said she may not be related “by blood” but she was “by heart” which was much better.)

When my father was three, he came to live with his Grandma and Grandpa Brophey. She couldn’t have children, so they raised my father as their son. At that time, they were well-to-do with a successful business and investments. They owned the biggest share of a city block in downtown Midland plus a couple of houses.

But the stock market crash of 1929 changed their status. Their problems were magnified because Grandpa Brophey was an alcoholic and a gambler. By the time I was born in 1942, they had lost their businesses and houses – most everything.

Grandma supported the family by doing sewing alterations. She would sew late into the night for the wealthy ladies in town. Once they’d been her peers (financially) but they’d lost all that. Nevertheless she had pride and was definitely “a quality lady” who earned the respect of all.

Everyone who knew her called her “Grandma.” She was the kind of caring person who listened to a child, and spoke words of wisdom worth the attention of the most mature.

She took in unwed mothers and let them stay with her at a time when they were shunned. Grandma was a babysitter for the first black couple who moved into Midland (an unpopular role in a town that was 99.999% white). She was very involved with the Presbyterian Church, making their choir robes, teaching Sunday school, and sending “birthday cards” to every youngster in the congregation. She started a re-sale shop at a senior citizen residence facility (the Kings’ Daughters). It’s still on-going.

In the 1950’s she was “adopted” by a Chinese couple so their children would have a grandmother in their new country. (I learned that I had to “share” her during the holidays so she could spend some time with those children too.)

Until I was a teenager, she made all of my clothes (and as a child, I had a complete wardrobe for my dolls long before a Barbie wardrobe was a requirement for a young girl). I was the best dressed youngster you can imagine. As an example, I remember a soft blue wool suit, lovely cape to match, and a navy tam to complete the outfit. (There are several pictures of me when I was about four wearing suits which I recall were all lined.) I remember being asked to “turn around” and display my ensemble by Mrs. Dow (of Dow Chemical Company).

Even with her limited finances, Grandma provided food and necessities for those with less. She was the best example of charity and giving.

I don’t know how she did it financially, but she’d take me to Detroit once a year and we’d stay in the Tuller Hotel on Grand Circus Park so I could see and experience the “big city.” That was always the highlight of my year. She’d bake lovely big sweet rolls (with fresh orange zest) which she’d pass out to the house-cleaning people at the hotel in lieu of a tip. I remember struggling to carry the suitcase from the “bus station” to the Tuller. It probably wasn’t far, but it sure seemed like we walked forever and paying for a taxi was out of the question. While in Detroit, we’d go to Bob-Lo Island and visit the Vernors plant. I got to explore Hudson’s glorious shopping mecca, and we’d dine at the Bonjo Grill.

One Mother’s Day she was named “Mother of the Year” by the Midland Daily News. Yet this was a woman, who’d never given birth.

She was a caring, loving tiny lady; a beautiful white-haired fashion plate, who knew style and was ahead of her time.

She loved me more than anyone in my life and was always there for me to praise when I deserved it, or to show disapproval when I let her down. I remember when I was two or three and I’d spit toward another child. She gave me a minor swat at my rear end. I was shocked. Grandma had never raised a hand to discipline me! I was more surprised than hurt. We both cried.

She tried to teach me to tat, to crochet, to sew and I learned all of those crafts because of her instructions. Any good qualities I possess were probably because of her example.

The summer of 1956, she found a lump in her breast and had a very invasive mastectomy (back then, chemotherapy wasn’t known). In late 1961, she had a heart attack and the cancer returned in 1962.

She passed away in 1963.

I still miss her and I still need her approval.

Today will be a day of football for John.

I have a lot I need to do. The flooring installer and his crew should be coming early next week to lay the new flooring. I need to find places for all the stuff that “sits out” so the guys can move the furniture.

I hate gray weather. I really don’t handle dreary days very well.

Our yard is knee deep in leaves. The trees were really pretty a week ago, but the rain and wind are stripping them of all the foliage. It’s wet so the clean up will have to wait until they dry out. John has a riding lawn mower which allows him to bag the leaves without a lot of heavy work. He’s anxious to get started, but today will be an inside day.

Last night we missed the Picks and Sticks concert in Midland. Maybe we overly cautious but the H1N1 flu virus has hit the Midland area hard and it didn’t seem worth the risk to John’s health. He hasn’t been able to get the shot for H1N1 yet. (We have both had the seasonal flu shot.) With our luck someone with the bug would have sat close to us and John’s pulmonologist said that you really aren’t safe up to 50 feet from someone who has it.

On December 14, at 2:13, we hope to be heading into Kentucky (give or take a minute or two and with the hope that the weather cooperates).

I’ve been having fun working with a new (2010) version of Streets and Trips, my GPS program. I have the detailed route planned for our southbound trip to Florida in December. Of course something could change our plans and I try always to stay flexible, but that’s our intention at this point.

I know it’s my quirk. I love “planning” things out precisely. You can see my Michigan to Florida three-day route here:

I don’t just do trip plans. I also do packing lists, to-do-before-we-leave lists, want-to-do-when-we-get-there lists, need-to-remember, etc. etc. Ok, so I’m a little quirky but I worked for 23 years as a hospital planner, and I guess somewhere along the way I caught the “planning bug.”

But we have way too much clutter. We’re NOT “organized.” Maybe my lists keep things arranged in my mind.

Who knows??

When I thought we’d be heading to Florida in September, I had my bags packed.

Actually I hadn’t really unpacked after I returned home June 13th (after my solo trip south). Since then, I had left a majority of my Florida clothing in the suitcase.

I’ve already duplicated most of the non-clothes items so there are doubles of many items in Florida as well as Michigan (printer, phone system, jewelry cleaner, hair drier, etc.), but my favorite clothing items have been dragged back and forth repeatedly.

In September, when we had to postpone/cancel the September-November trip to Florida because of John’s illness, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, I started looking at things very differently. I realize how fragile life is and how you need to protect your health assets. You also need to be prepared for whatever comes along.

I want to preserve my husband’s energy. I would definitely like to see us start “flying” rather than driving that long trip. Of course we can’t do that as long as we have our little dog, but sadly we know she isn’t well and probably won’t be with us much longer. Flying would be a lot easier on John and that should be our primary consideration. I don’t drive the truck at all (it scares me and I’d be a nervous wreck in the traffic), so all of the driving is on him while I navigate. It’s nearly 1,300 miles but at least we do it at a leisure pace over three days. There have been times when airline tickets were actually cheaper than driving and staying in motels but that shouldn’t be the deciding factor.

We have a car down there, so we’d just have to have a shuttle or friend take us to and from the airport.

Since I’m now thinking along those lines, I am revising what I’ll be taking to Florida in December and definitely what I’ll be bringing back with me when we return in April. I’m going to try hard to divide my clothes and leave things in one location or the other. I’m starting by leaving my Michigan clothes for next spring and summer. I dress differently in Florida anyway, lots more capris and dressy casual attire. A lot of “party-type dresses.”

When we bought our Florida condo last October, I told John the condo was like an “insurance policy.” Since I’m younger than John and women generally outlive their spouses, I said, “If I am ever alone, I would want to live in Florida.” I would have a hard time handling the chores around our Saginaw home but the condo would be easy for me. Our condo community, Kings Point, even has shuttle service and bus trips for residents who no longer want to drive. The neighborhood is friendly, a perfect place for an individual or an older but limited couple.

Our friends, Jim and Sissy, just sold their up-north house and are now full-timing in Florida. Part of the reason is because Jim has Parkinsons and they feel it will be easier on him to only have one place to worry about.

I doubt that John will be ready to give up our Michigan home anytime soon, but maybe someday, since his disease is “progressive,” he’ll realize that our home is too much work and he needs to conserve as much of his energy as possible so he can stay as well and enjoy life without the responsibilities of a big house. That may be a long way off, but then again it may not. No one can tell how long the medication he’s on will keep the fibrosis (scarring of his lungs) at bay. He’s doing so good now, that I can be hopeful that it’ll never be an issue, but I still want to be prepared. It’ll be easier to start by setting us up to be able to go back and forth without bringing every piece of clothing I own.

So I’m going through the stuff I had planned to bring back to Florida and I want to get used to “traveling light.” What I take down there won’t be coming back with me. (Or at least most of the stuff.) If I find I don’t have something I need and it’s in the other location, I’ll replace it.

With this mind-set, I will be doing a lot of things differently. My husband’s comfort and health is my primary concern. He is definitely able to drive it now, but who knows how he’ll be next year. We may end up with six months here and six months in Florida: April-September in Michigan and October-March in Florida. Whatever is best for John.

I just ordered this dress to wear to the Kings Point Dance Club annual dinner dance we’ll be attending in February. It is perfect (or I hope so). Now I need to get the body toned up to show it off.

I also recently purchased a pretty jade two piece crocheted dress for a special evening, the Michigan Club Dinner Dance. It was held at the end of January last year and was a lovely event. The dinner was spectacular and I’ve never seen decorations that were any more beautiful. (They had rented live potted palm trees decorated with small white lights which completely surrounded the huge ballroom.)

I really miss the social life in Kings Point, where we have our condo. Hopefully we’ll make it back for a house party Christmas Eve and a New Year’s Eve party. (We have a couple to choose from.)

In January, we already have several events on our calendar including a dance and a dinner dance.

February should be fun too. Hopefully Brenda and John will have their fun Super Bowl party again. February 16th is the dinner dance where I’ll plan to wear my new dress.

Most of the events are casual, with the exception of New Year’s Eve, some of the dances. Sometimes it’s fun to get dressed up and feel like the evening is special. Several times a month we attend some kind of a potluck or get together and every Thursday there’s the fun Rockin Rendezvous at the South Club House.

John will look special too. He bought a new suit in April (which he hasn’t worn yet). Hopefully it’ll still fit. He’s lost a lot of weight because of his health problem. He may have lost it, but I’ve found it!

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NOTE: One week later (Friday, October 23rd) the dress arrived. I was horribly disappointed. The “gems” on the front were gaudy and ugly. When I put it on, it was huge!! I had ordered medium. I am about a size 8 and the measurements definitely said I should wear a medium. John and I could have fit in the dress together. The underarm gapped out a good six inches. It was 8″-10″ too long, but that would have been easy to fix. It’ll be going back. And no, I won’t be reordering it in a small because I doubt that even a small would be flattering.

John had his one month follow up from his biopsy today. Everything looks good. Dr. Maresca said that his lungs sound much better and he can see the difference in the way John breaths when he walks. It’s the Predisone. Dr. Maresca also has a health problem and said he was on Prednisone for a lengthy time. He said, although there is no conclusive proof, when he was on Prednisone, he read up on ways to avoid the side-effects and found there was a recommendation for additional vitamin A. (Which we bought on the way home.)

I’m hopeful and so is John. And it’s hope and optimism that are critical for staying ahead of the disease.

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Yesterday one of Mom’s sisters, my Aunt Betty Jean died of emphysema. We went to the funeral home. Aunt Betty was a heavy smoker. She continued to smoke, even after the emphysema was so bad that she was on oxygen 24/7. We were looking at a bulletin board of photos of Aunt Betty Jean’s life. One of the pictures showed her, with my Aunt Ruth, and Aunt Ruth’s husband. The three of them have died. All three had emphysema. All three were smoking in that photo. Sad.

And John’s problem isn’t emphysema, but it’s a lung problem. He didn’t smoke. It seems so unfair!!

The flooring was ordered yesterday. The installer should be able to start the job before the first of next month. Can’t Wait.

Today the second “wood floor guy” came to give us a bid on the installation of hardwood flooring in our great room and dining room. It’s a good-sized area (782 square feet!) The flooring we’ve picked out is lovely (solid 3/4″ Brazillian cherry). It’s a decent sized so both companies have drooled as we told them what we want.

I think we’ll go with the local installer. The other company we called was the floor-covering giant Empire. I’d rather go with a small local business and besides they’re charging less.

I can only imagine what it’ll look like with that lovely flooring, two new small white accent chairs, new white area rug, several white throw pillows and a new black and white wall-hanging with a splash of red. We’ll keep our charcoal leather loveseat and couch and maybe add some red accents. It’ll all be grand and totally fashionable. I hope we can get started tomorrow!!

There was ice in the bird bath when we got up this morning. The leaves are starting to change to vivid reds but they are still firmly clinging to the trees.

A year ago, we were moving into our “new” Florida condo. It was an exciting time filled with the promise of a wonderful future in Sun City Center. I’m still very glad we bought the place. The two of us haven’t been able to go back since last April, but we’re hoping to be back down there before Christmas.

I went through my posts to this blog last night. When I was looking over what I wrote last year, I found a post which talks about how COLD it was in Florida at the end of October 2008. This year the temperatures down there are HOT. It appears that by the end of next week, it’ll cool from the mid 90’s (where it is now) to the 80’s but that’s certainly different than the 60 degree high we had on October 28th a year ago.

I realize that when we arrive in mid-December, two months from now, we may be faced with chilly temps. After we arrive it may get even cooler since January is the coldest month of the year down there with occasional frosts. I’m just hoping all the warm days aren’t used up before we head south.

I love this!

Man Song Lyrics

John even laughed and agreed. (John’s a gem!)

Today we shopped for hardwood flooring for the great room, foyer, and dining room and I think we have picked out what we want. It’s a pretty very hard hardwood called Brazillian Cherry. A lovely warm color.

We’re ready to do it, but we are waiting for the installer to tell us when he can start. We’ll have the carpet ripped up and put it in our bedrom. We’ll also (probably) put wood on the stairs to the upstairs since they are visible from the living room.

The next project will be the kitchen granite counter top and then new flooring in the kitchen, 1/2 bath, and utility room. We aren’t sure what we want to do with those floors. I’m leaning toward ceramic. John would like wood at least in the kitchen.

The great room project is enough for now. One project at a time.

We would like to get it done so we can enjoy it some before we head to Florida in December.

I don’t understand why people enjoy this site. I know some folks read it regularly while others stop by only occasionally (or when they wonder what we’ve been doing).

Last night I went to the statistics area of my domain. I use a recording system called Webalizer and it computes how many “hits” the site has had. It tabulates them monthly.

I have several sites listed below in no particular order:
http://dulcimers.com my biggest and most popular website.
http://dulcimers.biz my sales website.
http://flintbanjoclub.com for the large, popular Flint-based, four-string banjo club.
http://sub-strings.com our Saginaw hammered dulcimer club.
http://folkmusicsociety.org the Folk Music Society of Midland’s website.
http://deedeetibbits.com site for the popular, talented Dee Dee Tibbits.
http://sonasmusic.com site for one of my favorite performing music groups.
http://finniganmusic.com a duo of Celtic musicians.
http://midlanddulcimerfestival.com for the festival offered by the FMSM.
http://originaldulcimerplayersclub.org the club that sponsors the ODPC Funfest.
https://sharons-blog.com this website.

This collection of websites I design and host, keeps me busy.

Last night, when I reviewed the statistics, I was surprised at what I found. Obviously the biggest, most popular site is http://dulcimers.com. It gets nearly 2.5 million hits a year. There’s a wide gap between it and the other sites on the list. The number two site in popularity is a virtual “tie” between my sales site http://dulcimers.biz. and THIS SITE, https://sharons-blog.com. Both the sales site and this blog have over 205,000 hits annually. The fact that this site is so popular shocked me.

Why would anyone read this blog? Our lives are dull. I have a tendency to ramble. Sometimes it reads like a diary as a way of recording what we’re doing. Other times, it’s a wish list. Sometimes it’s just narrative of something that intrigues me.

On a personal level, I’ve told the story of how I found my brother (which you can find on the side bar under the heading “family matters.” ) It’s been a travel site when we went out West in 2006. Recently I’ve been following the drama of John’s health crisis.

This site is much too self-involved and there are those who probably see it as an ego trip, but in fact, for most of my life I’ve kept a “journal.” This blog has taken the place of a private journal. It helps keep family and friends up-to-date with what we’re doing, and it lets me record our life so I can go back and review occasionally. Like you, I enjoy re-reading the stuff we’ve done and how I felt about it at the time.

Today I spoke with the Florida Pulmonary Specialist’s office (we haven’t met him, but he was suggested by my Florida internal medicine doctor) and explained how we are hesitating to come to Florida because we want John to have the advantage of Dr. Indira’s treatment plan before we leave for the south.

After talking to that office and thinking about it, I realize that we may be giving John a unique opportunity.

Here in Saginaw it would be an affront to visit another Pulmonary Specialist to get a second opinion, but since we’ll be in Florida, we’ll have the advantage of a second physician reviewing everything without it being a “challenge” to the first physician. So everything Dr. Indira in Saginaw is doing will be reviewed by Dr. Graves in Sun City Center. He’ll confirm the treatment plan or suggest a revision. Therefore we’ll have two doctors working on John’s problem instead of only one.

The doctor in Sun City Center is used to working with a “northern” doctors. He’ll be accustomed to blending his treatment with that of another doctor. But we’ll also have the advantage of having a second doctor review everything so we can be sure John is getting the best treatment for his condition.

John agrees that it sounds like an excellent plan. So hopefully we can leave on December 14th. If Dr. Indira feels she needs another week or two, we can revise our schedule, but we figure that if she knows when we are leaving, she’ll make it work.

I’m feeling much more optimistic.

John went to his pulmonary specialist today. She reviewed John’s condition and although she sure didn’t make promises, she said all the right things to keep his spirits up. She told of having a partient with John’s same diagnosis who is still living and WORKING as a teacher. He was diagnosed about seven years ago. Obviously John was glad to hear what she said. She also said he is responding well with Prednisone. His lungs are sounding better.

I am optimistic. His doctor (Dr. Indira) is cautiously hoping to wean John off Prednisone, but it’ll depend on how he does. John has a slight inflamation at the site of his surgical procedure. She wants to wait two more weeks before cutting back on the Prednisone and starting him on Imuron. She wouldn’t start him on the other medication until the inflammation is gone because she didn’t want to take a chance that he’d develop an infection if she moved him to the other medication. And if she just cut back the Prednisone, he’d lose what he seems to have gained. So he will stay on this medical schedule for two more weeks and then we’ll see.

I had my list of “questions” for her. She could tell I’ve been doing my homework, and I think she appreciated my efforts on John’s behalf.

We do need to be sure that we have a doctor lined up in Florida. She said she couldn’t see any reason why he won’t be ready to head to Florida in December, but we may need to hold off so the medication schedule can be adjusted. We will do whatever needs to happen for John. That’s the primary focus.

I have always claimed that the rainy fall days in Michigan are my least favorite time of year in our beautiful state. I hate the pervasive chill and the dreary skys. It can also be that way in the Spring, but it seems that Fall is always more rainy and in the Spring know that nice weather will soon be coming. In Fall, the weather that’s coming will be even colder.

Today was that kind of too cool, dark day.

I know my moods are weather dependent. Give me a lovely sunny day, and I’ll feel up-beat. If there’s gloom in my world with skys that are dark, that’s what you get from me.

I guess that’s why I so love Florida. January and February are generally cool, but by cool I mean 70’s. March-June it’s becoming very warm with temps 80-90. July and August it’s dern hot: 90+ degrees. September you’re back into the 80-90’s and by December it’s cooled down to the low 80’s or 70’s. But through it all, there never seems to be a really gloomy period. Yes, we’ve had to endure a week or two of rainy cool temperatures, but I can take that. In fact, it’s been rare when we haven’t been able to go to the pool and soak up some rays any time of the year.

How can I combat the problem? Pray for an early winter. Surprisingly when winter truly hits with white snow which sparkles, I generally cheer up. But when it’s like this, I have a rough time.

So today I looked forward and did what I could to plan for the future. I’ve been going through my packing list, and making sure I know just what I need to do before we take off in December for Florida. Of course, with John’s health so shakey, it’s possible that we’ll have to postpone or even cancel our trip. If we find that we just can’t go to our condo this year, I’ll make the best of it. I’m actually very “flexible” and I’ll take it all in stride.

But I hope we know by mid-late November for sure that we are going (or not). That way I can organize my Christmas plans. At this point, I think we’ll be in Florida for nine days before Christmas Day. It would be fun to plan a holiday party about the 23rd. We’d need to decorate for the season. Figure out some good food, and have a bottle or two of wine.

I left most of my favorite holiday decorations in Florida last year.

Actually I’d love to take a small “real” tree with us from Michigan down there, but I’m realizing that with my allergies it’s probably not wise. (My eyes burn horribly when I’m in the same room with a real tree.) I wouldn’t mind buying a quality artificial tree to have in the corner of our condo living room. I don’t know how John would feel about that, but one-way or the other, I want us to enjoy a Christmas tree this year.

Here are the average numbers for Florida’s temps:
Month; high; low; precipitation; record high; record low
Jan 72°F 49°F 2.79 in. 86°F (1990) 18°F (1981)
Feb 74°F 50°F 3.13 in. 90°F (1961) 24°F (1996)
Mar 77°F 54°F 3.02 in. 92°F (1961) 29°F (1996)
Apr 81°F 59°F 2.05 in. 95°F (1968) 36°F (1987)
May 86°F 64°F 2.98 in. 98°F (1962) 41°F (1999)
Jun 89°F 70°F 7.09 in. 101°F (1985) 51°F (1984)
Jul 90°F 72°F 7.57 in. 99°F (1968) 62°F (1978)
Aug 90°F 72°F 8.67 in. 101°F (1998) 64°F (1984)
Sep 89°F 72°F 7.45 in. 99°F (1998) 57°F (1991)
Oct 85°F 65°F 2.78 in. 97°F (1959) 43°F (1964)
Nov 79°F 58°F 2.31 in. 92°F (1959) 25°F (1970)
Dec 74°F 52°F 2.25 in. 89°F (1961) 20°F (1962)
Sun City Center, FL Weather Facts:
The average warmest month is July.
The highest recorded temperature was 101°F in 1998.
On average, the coolest month is January.
The lowest recorded temperature was 18°F in 1981.
The maximum average precipitation occurs in August.

I did the Sub-Strings newsletter and website today. That’s our music club. I also accomplished several other time-consuming chores. John was gone.

I had some bills to pay, some items to prioritize. It all takes time.

Within the past couple of days, I’ve spoken with some of our close friends in Florida to let them know our return has been delayed.

There’s always stuff that needs to be done. I’m still behind.

I enjoy website creation, but it sure is time-consuming.

Today we were busy but nothing outstanding was accomplished.

John had to re-do his welding on the pipes for the master shower.

I tried to get our Christmas tunes ready for our dulcimer club’s October 16th practice. In the spring, when we came home from Florida, I intentionally left our Christmas tune book and all my autoharp chord cards down there because I figured that’s where we’d need them. So today John borrowed a copy of the tune book we play from, and I started re-creating what I’d left at the condo. It took the afternoon, but that’s cheaper than a trip to Florida.

John went to Home Depot and did a little shopping. When he got home he was exhausted.

He tires so easily. I am so worried about him!

My sexy husband, John, played today with George’s pick-up bank at a St. Charles, MI, community event. John was on banjo and he was reallllllllly good. He kept his beat and played the correct melody so when everyone else got lost, he was their beacon.

But that’s not why I adore him. He’s a genuinely nice guy. He is in a weakened state, so he let me “carry” much of the sound equipment but he was reluctant. I insisted, and we got him all packed up.

They started playing at noon. I showed up about 1:30 and he glowed when I walked in (that’s why I love him). He winked at me. He let me know he was glad I came, and he made me proud.

What more could an old lady like me ask for?

I’m 67. I’m no babe. I’m waaaaay over the hill, but he makes me feel that I’m a sexy, young hot lady. I sure love that guy!

Our master bath shower has been dripping for some time. It’s really become annoying because there’s no way to stop the drip and it’s close to our bedroom. When the house was quiet, the loud drip – drip – drip was enough to drive you crazy. (The only way not to hear it was to close the door, but when the bathroom door was closed it was hard to see your way to the bathroom without turning on a light.) John determined that the shower needed a new washer or something like that in the “handle” part of the shower, but we also wanted a new shower head (one of those disk types). We bought the shower head a couple of days ago in preparation. (The literature with the shower head said it would be a 15 minute job.)

So this morning, armed with determination and the new shower head, John started what we both felt would be a tiny job: the washer first and then the shower head install.

Unfortunately over the 24 years since it was installed, the handle action had frozed up and there was no way to replace the washer. In the process of cranking on it, a pipe broke, making it necessary to replace the whole handle assembly.

And since the shower didn’t have a shut-off of its own, all the water in the house was shut off for the duration of the project.

A hole had to be cut through the wall of the front hall closet (which shares a wall with the shower) so we could work on the problem.

John drove to Home Depot and got the parts he needed.

He had to weld the parts with a welding torch. The fire alarm kept going off because the torch would put out sooty smoke. It was therefore a very loud, dirty job. The oily soot got all over everything. (I’ll be cleaning it up for a long while.)

But we were making head-way when the acetalene ran out. The only supplier was about 15 miles away (30 round-trip). John had already over-done it, so I insisted on going after the stuff and he stayed home to rest.

When I got back, he looked a little better and we completed the job. It took from about 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.

Never say something is a “tiny” project.

John’s diagnoisis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (usual interstitial pneumonitis) doesn’t have a lot of treatment options, but Dr. Indira, John’s pulmonary specialist, has him on a steriod (Prednisone). Apparently it has lots of side effects that mess up ones digestive system, so he’s taking a second pill to combat that effect.

Dr. Indira sounds optimistic that she can stop the deterioration of his lungs for a while. If she can halt the problem at this stage, he said he can live with the lung volume he has left. We’re hoping that such a remission would be long-lasting but you just don’t know.

He’ll return to her office in two weeks to see if there’s any improvement.

She also uses a second medication. She’ll wean him off Prednisone and onto the other med at the end of the two weeks. I guess the Prednisone is more powerful, but once the lungs become stabilized, she’ll switch him over to the other to avoid the side-effects of Prednisone.

I’ve joined a couple email lists that are support of people with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (usual interstitial pneumonitis) or their caregivers.

It sounds like we have a real fight against this disease on our hands.

John doesn’t want to talk about the possibile outcomes because he’s very hopeful that he can lead a long, productive life. I think that attitude is the only one which will help him at this point. We will NOT discuss it at this point, and there’ll be no hint that the prognosis is not good.

So if you know John, and if you have read scary stuff on line which would indicate otherwise, please DO NOT share it with him. Please be optimistic and realize that’s what will help him the most. If you wish to understand more, there is an article which describes his form of I.P.F. fairly concisely. http://netwellness.org.

I can’t believe that as many people die each year of pulmonary fibrosis as die from breast disease but no one knows about it.

I was so anxious to get back to Florida, but my whole attitude has changed. (Isn’t it funny how your priorities change when faced with a crisis.)

We have put our Florida plans on the back-burner. At this time, we are thinking that we’ll head down there sometime between December 14th and the 19th. I’d like to have time to decorate and make our condo feel Christmas-y. I’d hope we can make it for Dale and Trudy’s Christmas Eve party and I’d like to be sure to buy New Years Eve tickets.

But if those plans fall through, we’ll adjust. At this point, none of that feels important.

I’m sure we both suffer from seasonal affective disorder (S.A.D.) when we winter in Michigan, but we will make any situation work!

He was released this afternoon. He looks great!

After talking with the physician assistant, John is feeling very optimistic. His diagnosis is Pulmonary Fibrosis, but she told him it’s a chronic condition he can live with. It’ll require some changes in how he does things, but he’s upbeat because of things she said.

And I’m feeling much more hopeful. I had read numerous reports on line (including some by the Univ. of Mi.) that scared me to death. But the PA said that he has a good chance of responding to treatment (not being cured, but slowing the progression of the disease.) I believe believe that. It sure doesn’t do any good to think the worst. I want him around for a long while.

We have a friend, Nan Boody, who has survived over-whelming odds with Type 1 diabetes. She’s in her 70’s and is still healthy and well.

John figures he can learn to “live with” pulmonary fibrosis, and I believe that if anyone can, he can.

John told the P.A. about his father who was still going strong at 91. She said, “You’ll beat him.” I believe it too. No matter what obsticles are in John’s way, he will make it. I’ve never met anyone who could make me believe in anyone like I believe in John. We just all have to pray for him and he’ll do the rest! I figure we’re good together for at least 30 more years! (John’s 71.)

John’s return home has been postponed until tomorrow (Monday). He’s been in the hospital for a full week. He was disappointed by some of the care and the room was tiny tiny especially since two patients occupied it. The fellow in the next bed’s wife was there all day each day so there were three of them in the room most of the time. (Of course I was there a lot too, but only stayed a couple hours at a time.) Finally about 5:00 his roommate was discharged. He thought he’d have the room to himself but they moved someone else in this evening.

He finally got his diagnosis which we don’t totally understand so we’re waiting to have it interpreted by a physician.

I miss him! Tomorrow morning he’s hoping to leave. He is anxious to see the doctors. I’ll see if I can get him in tomorrow.

Tomorrow John is scheduled to have the tube removed which is in his lung. If it goes well, he was told he can probably “get outta there.”

He’s ready. But today he enjoyed lots of football games since the hospital has full cable access. Had he been home, he would have missed the Michigan game because it was only on cable and we only have through the air reception.

I have been having good luck finding sports games on line, but it’s definitely NOT guaranteed.

I kidded him that I was sure he’d want to stay through the football season, so he wouldn’t miss any games. See, there are perks to being in the hospital.

Here it is Friday, five days since John had his procedure, and he’s still in the hospital. His lung hasn’t healed sufficiently and is still “leaking air.” A LPN took time to show us the indicator on “the pump” which shows if there’s still a “leak.” We could clearly see the bubbles that indicate that air is escaping. At least now John won’t get his hopes up because he can see for himself that it’s still “bubbling.”

I visited him for awhile this afternoon. After I left, Dr. Genco, his surgeon, stopped in and said that except for the leak, he looks fine. He said he can’t explain why the surgical site on the lung closes up faster on some folks than on other. He shut off the “suction” on the pump which has been pulling fluid from his lung. It’ll continue to collect the fluid, but it’s just being gravity fed into the discharge container. Dr. Genco seemed to think the “pull” could be delaying the healing process.

John wasn’t as up-beat as yesterday. He is ansy and uncomfortable. He just wants to go home and feel better. I know he has to be as frightened as I am of the possible diagnosis.

==========================

On a more light-hearted topic:
Last night, I spoke on the phone with two of our Florida neighbors (Linda and Geri), very nice ladies.

Geri mentioned that another nearby neighbor, had a pipe burst in their condo while they were “up north.” There was a lot of damage since no one had checked the condo for some time so the problem went unnoticed. She volunteered to look in on our place today. I called her this evening and everything is just fine. It’s reassuring.

Johnn will probably come home tomorrow. (He is optimist that he will.) He needs an x-ray tomorrow to confirm that his lung isn’t “leaking” and they’ll discharge him.

He was talking about heading to Florida on schedule – leaving next Saturday. I am befuddled. It’ll depend on what the doctor says, but he really sounds like he’d like to take off tomorrow. He seems to think he’ll get the go-ahead.

I’m not pessimistic, but I don’t want to plan on anything until the doctor gives him an all-clear. Waiting until December would be easier on both of us. There’s no reason to rush and risk his health. Going to Florida now seems totally unimportant. There’s only one concern, getting him the best care possible.

But his optimism is wonderful. He sounds so up-beat. I’m sure we won’t make any firm decision until after he gets input from his physicians, but I do love his attitude! Everything has been so hard on him lately but he’s bouncing back. I sure have one heck of a great guy! (Either that, or the meds they had given him put him in a really happy state.)

Without John here, I’m feeling overwhelmed by the stuff that is required to keep up the house. John usually does more than his share of the work around here. I’m guilty of letting him.

John’s complains about the time I spend “on line” and he’s correct that I spend hours every day on my computer but a lot of that time is taking care of my web-based business and maintaining the household accounts. Those jobs can’t be ignored and he appreciates that they are done flawlessly.

Because of the economy, my dulcimers.biz business has been slow this year. For some reason, this week it’s changed. I’ve had more inquiries for sales in the past week than I’ve had since the holiday season. Folks seem to be “buying” again, or at least thinking about it. Yeah! But responding to those inquiries takes time.

I’m finding it challenging to get all the stuff done that needs to be done and run back and forth to the hospital.

Sharing the chores sure makes life easier.

I don’t know how much of his old routine he’ll be able to assume when he gets back home. I have a feeling that life is changing for both of us.

I’m certain that John and I should and will wait to go to Florida until December. We had originally planned to leave on September 12th, but when we realized that wasn’t possible because of John’s surgery the 14th, we decided, as long as we could leave by October 1st, it would still work. The trip would merely be delayed a couple of weeks.

Now I can see that there’s no way that John will be ready by October 1. In fact, he may not even be able to drive for SIX WEEKS!

It really don’t feel it’s an option. I wouldn’t want to do anything else. John’s my only priority. He’s what’s important.

I had justified wanting to go by convincing myself that he’d do better in the sun down there; he would relax and heal. Here he over-does it every day. He works too hard. I can’t slow him down. But maybe, when he gets out of the hospital, he will be forced to move at a slower pace.

I have been making lists of things I need to do to put our trip on hold until December. At this point, it looks like we could leave for Florida on December 14th.

His Saginaw doctor needs time to set up a treatment plan. I can see that pushing us to leave is absurd. In fact, if we’re not ready in December, we’ll adjust to that too.

Yesterday John had his lung biopsy. I just spoke with him on the phone and although it hurts like !@#* when he coughs (which they’re asking him to do), he said he’s doing ok. He’s had his breakfast and was pleased that he was able to get his must-have banana. (He feels he con’t survive without a daily banana.)

Willow, our tiny old dog, is miserable without him. I was able to get her to take her heart medicine, but she’s not eating her main meal. She’s John’s shadow and his absence is really bothering her.

She usually wakes John up, and this morning she stood by the side of the bed barking, even after I was up, (She’s too small to see into the bed and I think she figures he’s hiding there.)

But Willow’s not the only one missing John. He does so much around here. I need to increase my share of the load. Of course his condition now will require that I do more.

Driving home last night seemed strange. It’s been years since I’ve done any night-time driving.

But we’ll get by until he is released from the hospital, and then I’ll baby him and feel fortunate that I share my life with him!

Spent most of the day today answering emails, revising my http://dulcimers.biz, “sales” website and trying to figure out why John’s computer wouldn’t connect to the internet. (I was successful fixing things.) I also changed our motel reservations to the weekend of September 26-28. It all took more time than I had imagined, but nothing of substance was accomplished.

Yesterday was more of the same. Lots of sales inquiries to answer and other non-productive time-consuming chores.

I did sell a hammered dulcimer to one of my customers because of the stuff I wrote yesterday and today.

I’m hoping we can leave for Florida two weeks from yesterday. If we can’t, I will try not to be disappointed. That will give us seven weeks before we head back home for Christmas performance preparation.

Monday John is scheduled again (for the third or fourth time). If he’s cancelled this time, our plan is to go to the Emergency Room and get action. We won’t leave the hospital until he has the procedure.

But at least he’s scheduled. It’s only taken two weeks of being “on-call”.

I spent the afternoon dealing with the accountant who is doing the final IRS report for my mother (who died last year). I also had to submit a couple of reports to the ODPC. It was one of those work-on-the-computer days.

Tomorrow is the huge garage sale held in our sub-division at about 1/2 of the homes. We’ve participated in the past, but it takes time and energy which we don’t have. This year it will intrude on us, since we have no vested interest and there’ll be thousands of folks invading our space. But we realize it’s fun for other neighbors.

My dear husband, John, is so discouraged.

It wasn’t easy convincing him that he had to go with the doctor’s suggestion and have this lung biopsy. Now he’s been stalled TWO WEEKS. Each day he gets more discouraged and flustered. It seems to him that everyone else is more important. No one returns calls, he waits hours for some word. They set him up with promises of “tomorrow” and then it falls through. Last Tuesday he was supposed to have had the procedure. Then it was Tuesday of this week, then Thursday, then Friday, and now.. who knows?

He’s lost another five pounds.

I spoke with the surgeon’s scheduler this morning. (She isn’t the one to blame.) I told her we were supposed to have left for Florida today. And now we’re on hold with our plans and we don’t know what’s happening. She said she’ll try to get John on the schedule, but we doubt that it’ll happen. Maybe next week, she said. Maybe? This is absurd.

So I called the surgeon’s nurse. I spoke with her at length about my concerns and fears. I explained that we are willing to pick up John’s CTs, test results, and blood work, and head to Florida or somewhere… Mayo, Johns Hopkins, etc.

The results have been the same… even to get his tests, we need to wait until Monday.

Today’s our 24th anniversary.

Although we had hoped John would have had his procedure by now and he’d be in the hospital, he’s still home. (Maybe tomorrow? Maybe Monday? Who knows?) We’ll probably go out for a nice dinner.

We will probably go to Heatherfield’s at Bay Valley. I’m all for a filet mignon (probably petite) with a nice salad.

Hopefully we’ll hear from the doctor today we we’ll know what’s happening with John’s procedure. Yesterday the word was that it’ll be either tomorrow or Monday. Hopefully it’s tomorrow. We’ve been stalled for nearly two weeks of re-scheduled dates. That’s inexcuseable!

Open heart surgeries trumped John’s lung biopsy, so he didn’t have his procedure done today as we’d hoped. We were called last night and warned that the doctor was over-booked. They had us wait at home and at noon decided to cancel it for today. The doctor was tied up with emergency open heart operations. Tomorrow it probably won’t happen (he needs to fast for 12 hours) and he hasn’t been scheduled yet, but hopefully Thursday or Friday we’ll get back on the surgical schedule.

He played the “We’re-waiting-to-leave-for-Florida” card today and that seemed to get folks moving. At least they’re saying they’ll really try to get him in this week. (Of course that’s what they said about having it done before Labor Day which didn’t happen.)

Today I discovered that we’ll lose a free night at our favorite Red Roof, if we don’t use our free coupon before November 13yh. So that’s a little extra incentive to go down there.

And tonight John admitted that if he was in Florida, he’d probably feel lots better. He’d be living the “good life” and relaxing more.

So we hope he’ll have the procedure by Friday. We’d definitely like to get outta here by the end of September. If he goes in this week, he’ll be out about Monday. That would give him almost three weeks to finish up here, and hopefully get on a treatment plan with his pulmonary specialist.

But nothings in stone. We might have to wait until December.

We just received an invitation to go over to our friend George’s house this afternoon for a cook-out.

Eating together seems to be all that our social life consists of in Michigan.

By contrast, in Florida, we go to dances, house parties and socialize at the Club House, walk the beach and go places (like Busch Gardens) I do miss Florida!

When John gets out of the hospital with the results from his biopsy, we’ll make the decision about when we’ll head South. Right now weather here is so perfect, that there’s not much incentive. I predict when the temps drop 50 degrees, the lure of Florida will be much greater!

We have options. If we can get away by the end of the month, I’m all for heading to Florida. That would give us six weeks before we have to drive back to be with our club for their holiday performances. But if we are still here into October, we might as well stay in Michigan until our last holiday gig which will be mid-December.

We haven’t been in Michigan during the fall since 2004. We have obligations here that we can fulfill (the ODPC board meeting and our music club practices, lawn clean-up, and working on the house) but the stuff we do in Florida is tons more fun.

John’s daughter, Audra, came over this afternoon with her “significant other” Dave. He’s quiet but seems like a very nice guy. I can see why they’re a couple.

We talked and talked. Early evening John fired up the grill for burgers, corn on the cob, lots of chips of various types, fresh tomatoes, and homemade apple pie. Everything was great.

I know John was pleased to have such a nice visit. Hope she comes more often. She’s lovely.

We finally got word that John will be admitted Tuesday, September 8th. (That’s the day after Labor Day.) He’ll have to check in at about 9:00 for a 12:45 surgery.

He couldn’t get into St. Mary’s (where I’d have had pull) but instead he’ll be at Covenant Medical. They’re a good facility but we’d have preferred going to St. Mary’s.

Last Wednesday John went to the surgeon who evaluated all the tests that have been run since May when he realized he had a health problem. His two CTs and blood work were taken into consideration as well as his computer lung function tests. It was definitely decided that John needs a lung biopsy.

We suggested that it be anytime after Tuesday of this week. With John’s commitment to the festival from Thursday through Sunday and a day to rest up, we felt that would be best.

We expected to hear from the doctor’s scheduler Monday. It’s now Wednesday and we have yet to find out when it will happen.

I’ve called them three times – the last time was this morning. Most of the time I only got voice mail, but this time I guess I showed that our patience is wearing thin. The office person did call back and said she hoped to get back to me this afternoon with a date. She said the surgeon who will be doing the procedure has been out of town. She still hoped that it would be before Labor Day.

But now another day as passed. It’s nearly 6:00 p.m. so we won’t hear until tomorrow at the earliest. That means it’ll be Friday before he can go into the hospital. After the procedure, he’ll be staying four days.

I’m worried. I’ve been reading the statistics. If it proves to be pulmonary fibrosis, that’s a life-threatening disease. I am so scared!!

We also have a scheduling problem. A couple months ago, we promised to do a luncheon performance at the Castle Museum Tuesday (the 8th) at noon – the day after Labor Day.

It’ll be an easy play. I’ll do most of the talking – describing the history of hammered dulcimers. But John is necessary. He does the playing. If we don’t hear by tomorrow, I’ll call and cancel out. I have warned the lady who invited us that we may have back out. We’ve never missed a performance before. At least this one is only for a handful of folks (probably under a dozen), but we still feel badly. There’s still a faint chance because maybe, with the holiday, he won’t be scheduled until mid week.

So we’re waiting…. and waiting….

Wouldn’t you know it. This week is going to be lovely!!

I’m glad, but it sure would have been nice if we’d had more pleasant weather for our Midland Dulcimer Festival. It was really cold and very wet!

I can’t say that it affected the spirit of the musicians. They seemed willing to play regardless. There was no shortage of wonderful music flowing in our bedroom window after we’d turned in. But I did notice that folks went inside earlier. I know the nights I tried to stay out, my feet were cold, and others said that their fingers froze.

We turned in earlier most nights than usual because of John’s health problem. It didn’t seem sensible to push our weary bodies to the wee hours. We were tired at 11:00 so we went inside. Everyone knows that the Skaryds welcome folks who continue playing all night. When we go inside, it doesn’t signal the wrap up of music. We love it and complain only when it ends too soon. The latest night was Friday when the tunes continued until about 2:00. It wakes us up when there’s silence. We grumbled because it didn’t go on longer.

But back to the weather. This this week it will be perfect (mid to high 70’s). We were a week early!

Of course this weekend is Labor Day, so many folks will enjoy their last summer fling.

We’re waiting to hear when John will be going to St. Mary’s of Saginaw for his lung biopsy. We were fairly sure it would be tomorrow, but we haven’t heard anything. The surgeon’s office is supposed to call us today. I have a hunch they’ll stall until after Labor Day.

John’s grapes haven’t ripened yet anyway. Maybe in the extra week they’ll be ready for picking.

We had originally planned to head to Florida on September 12th, but now we’re aiming for the 19th. Even that date is definitely flexible.

Both of us have long-awaited physician appointments scheduled for Tuesday, September 22nd in Florida (which we requested last April). We’d like to make it by then, but we may have to change those dates. We will defiinitely be flexible. with our departure. John’s health is paramont.

Last night there was music ’til the wee hours in the canopy outside our trailer.

John had enclosed our canopy on three sides with tarps so it was as warm in that enclosure as you could hope for while allowing listeners to enjoy. We were actually pretty cozy.

A good size jammin’ group gathered fairly early. They made high-spirited, lively music. There were maybe ten hammered dulcimers, a half dozen back up. They played until about midnight. Early in their jam, it was fun to watch the layers of clothing shed as folks warmed up up-beat music tempo.

For about a 15 minutes, the area was empty and then Picks and Sticks moved in. They played great music. In fact, I enjoyed it so much, I found myself listening and not wanting to go to sleep.

For the earlier part of the evening, we had a break in the rain, but it started up again sometime while the music was being played.

Today there’s a 40% chance of rain. The high today will 66.

It really doesn’t make much sense. They say 40% chance of rain, but it’s raining now. (To me that means there’s a 100% chance.)

Today the festival schedule shows workshops starting at 9:00 a.m. At 2:00 the afternoon stage show will begin and it’ll end about 5:00. We will have a dinner break from 5:00-6:15. From 6:15-6:35 Jolly Hammers (the host dulcimer club) will take the stage. Announcements will be made from 6:35-6:45. The evening show will begin at 6:45. The show should be over by about 10:00. Looks like a great line up.

While the shows are going on in the Gerstacker Building, there’ll be lots of jamming in the campground.

Hopefully everyone stays dry and warm. I’m going to wear multiple layers topped off with a warm sweater and jacket. Glamour is out the window.

I emcee the 6:45-10:00 stage show, so I suppose I should think about washing my hair this afternoon, but I am sure think the audience will accept me as I am… dirty hair and all.

Right now the Midland Dulcimer Festival goers have been dodging raindrops. It’s rained for the past couple of hours but it seems to be clearning up. Despite the lousy weather, we have a wonderful crowd and in fact we’re running out of admission ribbons.

Folks are smiling and seem to be having a great time.

We’d all prefer sunny skies and balmy temps, but we’re making the best of the lousy weather.

All the days have run together and are a blur. I guess today is Thursday. That means that tonight we’ll have a huge potluck and the festival will officially begin.

Last night we had our Haithco Concert/Jam and it was a ball! I don’t know why some nights are more fun, even with the same people. Last night was spontaneous and giggly.

Tonight we will jam, I’m sure. A bunch of good players are here and even if it’s cool, I predict great sounds from the canopy in front of our trailer.

John and I are in Saginaw for the afternoon, having left the management of the Midland Dulcimer Festival in Margaret’s capable hands and with the able assistance of the Conklins and others.

John has a couple of doctor appointments, and I’m trying to clear out my email by using some hot-spots.

Tonight at 7:00 Sub-Strings and friends will gather at Haithco Park for the third in our series of summer concerts. It’s always fun. If you need a map to the Haithco Park, or to the rain location (which is at Wescourt), you can find it at http://sub-strings.com/wescourthaithco.pdf.

Hope we have a huge crowd.

We temporarily “live” at the Midland Fairgrounds. At least this week.

We’re presenting the Midland Dulcimer Festival Thursday-Sunday and arrived today to get stuff organized. It’s a huge undertaking.

The festival is always fun but exhausting. We will see good friends and play lots of great music.

I probably won’t be sending many messages from the fairgrounds. And my plan to have a VoIP phone won’t work, since the wifi access isn’t working.

But I figured I’d take advantage of a decent connection right now and post.

Willow was born in 1996 June. We’ve had her since 1997. She’s been a good dog. She’s a long-coat chihuahua of astrocratic breeding. Cute as a button but never loveable to anyone but the two of us (and sometimes not even me).

But now she’s getting old. She’s still cute but blind in one eye and has a major heart condition. Nevertheless, she has a comfortable life and seems to enjoy her existence. But tonight, when she was getting her bath so she’d be ready for the Midland Dulcimer Festival, she fussed at John when he tried to blow her dry. Previously being blown dry was something that Willow loved. She would complain when the warm air was shut off, but tonight she fussed and complained because John was blowing it at her.

I guess we have to admit our sweet dog is a cranky old lady. She never liked anyone, but now she bitches at us at any excuse.

We realize she’s not any spring chicken. She is slow to move around and she complains often when she needs to move. We want her to be comfortable and we think we’ve accommplished that, but I’m worried about her. She’s not as good as she was about using her paper (she’s always been extremely well trained but occasionally now the paper in the Utility Room is just too far away for her so she misses it.) She is bitchy. She limps around and sometimes can’t even get up.

Yup, she’s just about like her owner.

Tomorrow we’ll finish filling up our trailer. I’ll run the vacuum and make up the bed with fresh bedding, the refrigerator will be packed, I’ll go through our “must pack list” and Monday a.m. we’ll take off for the Fairgrounds where the Midland Dulcimer Festival will be held.

John’s having another breathing test at his pulmonary specialist’s office in Saginaw Monday at 12:45 p.m. so after we arrive at the Midland Fairgrounds about 9:30 a.m. and drop off the trailer, we’ll quickly drive back to the Saginaw doctor. We’ll also use the opportunity to pick up the copy machine. We should be back to the Midland Fairgrounds by about 4:00 p.m..

I look forward to Monday (late afternoon), Tuesday and early Wednesday to “settle in.” I plan to get everything in place so we’re ready for the onslaught of activity from Thursday through Saturday.

I know the Midland Festival is extremely exhausting and this year John can’t tolerate a lot, so I’m planning to protect him.

Next week, at the Midland Dulcimer Festival, we should be able to receive our phone calls using the same phone number we use at home, and we’ll have unlimited phone service. It may sound like I’m just talking about “forwarding to a cellphone,” which is nothing unique, but I’m talkig about having our wired “land line phones” working within our trailer. At least that’s my plan.

If I have access to high speed internet through Boingo, it should work. Boingo’s website shows they provide high speed wireless which is compatible with VOIP. That’s what we’ll need from the Midland Fairgrounds. (Boingo is a $9.95 monthly service that is available most everywhere.)

John and I use a fairly complex but very cheap phone set-up for our landline(s). By cheap, I mean under $24 for two phone lines with unlimited service.

Our cellphone service is an old $15 a month pay-as-you-go plan which only gives us about an hour a month. Last year, although I tried to watch our phoning, I spent considerably more than the $15 on cellphone calls during the festival, and this year we’ll be there for two additional days.

Our main house phone line is through Vonage with the number 989-781-0849. Vonage uses a device (a small box) which plugs into most high speed internet modems and then a “cord” phone is plugged into that device. Using Vonage gives us our 989-781-0849 number which rings either in Michigan or Florida, depending on where we have the Vonage box plugged in.

But we also have a second phone number. It’s a Hillsborough County, Florida area code (813-398-4135). Anyone living in Hillsborough County can call us as a local call at no charge. We purchased that number and the service to support it for $99 for five years, but now it’s even less. The service is called MagicJack (http://magicjack.com). MagicJack subscribers can pick out a phone number using the area code where you want the phone to originate. We use it as a second line.

We forward the MagicJack to the Vonage, or the Vonage to the MagicJack. Whichever the situation requires.

Most of the time we have MagicJack set so that our Florida phone line (813) “forwards” to our Michigan home phone system (989). Those calling us on either line, see 989-781-0849 on the caller I.D. Calling either of our phone numbers (989 or 813) is just a “local” call for people in either area.

I’m hoping to use the MagicJack while at the Midland Fairgrounds using Boingo as the high-speed service. Our home phone number can be set to forward to MagicJack. The caller I.D. will show the 813 number.

If it works, we’ll have regular phone service (in fact two phone lines) at the fairgrounds – A price tag of less than $24 monthly for both.

How cool is that?!!

Stop by and see how it works.

Next week we’re moving to the Midland Fairgrounds. We’ll live in our fifth wheel from Monday until Sunday. John’s a co-chairman of this event. I’ll play hostess, manage the copy machine and act as Saturday night’s stage show emcee. We’ll both be exhausted when it’s over.

Generally we draw a nice crowd. Let’s hope the economy doesn’t impact attendance.

Margaret Loper, the other co-chairman, organizes the workshops and, like John, works hard keeping everything flowing. It’s a great event!
The evening jams are always lots of fun. The photo (above) shows a 2008 jam outside our trailer.

I wish we had John’s diagnosis. He always over-does it at this event. It would be so much better if we had some answers.

John went to a pulmonary specialist today (Dr. Indira). She ran tests on him for more than an hour. It’s obvious that his lungs aren’t working correctly. A CT scan had been done in May but apparently at that time they were looking for a blood clot and there was none, but they didn’t tell him that the scan results showed severe damage. His new pulmonary doctor, Dr. Indira, has ordered another more detailed scan tomorrow as well as additional blood work.

He has scar tissue and calcium deposits in his lungs. He has very limited lung capacity. He showed a score of “1” but Dr. Indira said that score has to be wrong because he wouldn’t be walking around if he really has such limited lung capacity.

There are several things that could be causing these problems. She (the doctor) mentioned asbestosis or a fungal infection, but there are other reasons for these kinds of problems that cause the lungs to cease functioning. She may do a biopsy to determine what is causing the problems. Apparently folks can function fairly well with lung capacity that’s below normal (normal should be about 75.) But when it gets down below 50 the problems become apparent. When it drops below 50 they really feel it. That could have been what happened to make him feel it “came on all of the sudden.”

At least his doctor is taking his condition very seriously. John and I knew it was serious without her confirmation, but now someone else is concerned.

There are two things which have been “ruled out”: heart problems and cancer. Cancer was my fear but she is fairly certain it’s something else. She said that the sooner she can find the cause and start the treatment the better John’s chance of gaining back some of his lung capacity (which her tests showed is extremely extremely limited).

The news wasn’t good, but I was so afraid that it would be even worse, that I’m feeling great relief. The doctor is taking a very pro-active approach. I am certain she’ll get the answers which will help improve his health.

Today our car thermometer read 99 degrees when we left John’s family reunion. There’d been no A.C. in the hall and with about 75 folks and lots of hot food, we sweltered. Thank heavens we had more than a half-dozen large floor fans which kept the air circulating.

John and his siblings organized everything. We’d been assigned the responsibility for the cold beverages (in addition to our potluck dishes). We brought lemonade, iced tea (made from real steeped teabags), and lots of 2 liter bottles of carbonated soft drinks. We returned home with more than half of what we’d taken but it was a nice dinner. I’m still so full I don’t think I ever want to eat again!

We got home late afternoon, watched Tiger Woods lose the PGA tournament, and relaxed. It’s hard to think about doing anything outside when it’s so hot. John mentioned that since we live on a lake we should take a “swim” but Lake Cecil (where we llive) is a better lake for paddling around in a boat. Swimming isn’t all that great with a clay bottom and a drop off. Instead we enjoyed the cool interior and relaxed.

Tomorrow John goes to the pulmonary specialist. I hope he gets some answers. I’m praying for a diagnosis that can be cured so he’ll soon be his old self. His symptoms: feeling lousy, no stamina, extreme shortness of breath, weight loss and taking a deep breath results in a cough. Heart problems have been ruled out. He’s had a CT scan of his lungs. He’s been treated for asthma but there was no change. Sure hope prayer helps.

A week from tomorrow we leave for the Midland Dulcimer Festival. Four weeks from tomorrow, we should arrive at our place in Florida.

Four weeks from tomorrow we are scheduled to leave for Florida. Of course it all depends on John’s health. He goes to the pulmonary specialist Monday and hopefully we’ll know more.

There are home improvement projects which definitely won’t be completed, but they’ll wait.

The biggest pending job is re-siding our house with vinyl. We had just nicely gotten started when we realized we had some of the wrong materials. We’ve had to wait two weeks for our order for the missing stuff to be shipped. We’d like to complete the side we have been working on, but the rest can wait. Since we picked siding that matches exactly the old vertical stuff that is on the house, when we stop, it’ll look complete. In fact, we’ve been asked if we are using the cedar shake wall as an accent. Eventually we’ll do the whole house, but it would have worked to just do the one wall.

If John’s health isn’t up to such a huge project, we’ll hire someone to complete it. It kinda feels like we’ve bitten off more than we can chew. He’s determined, but I’m not much help and doing it alone will be more than he can handle. As he has pointed out, it doesn’t matter when we finish the job, but eventually it will look grand.

Today some of the back-ordered materials arrived, but by the time we picked up the order and returned home, the temperature was in the mid-80’s and since we’d be working on the west side of the house, we knew it would be too hot. We’ll try tomorrow a.m.

Since 1994, John and I have organized the popular Snowfest Concerts. This event has been held in Frankenmuth, MI, at Fischer Hall the same weekend as the National Ice and Snow Sculpting competitionss which bring massive crowds to that tourist community. The concerts have benefited the Frankenmuth Historical Museum.

We’ve presented this event 15 of the past 16 years! It’s been an incredible run. We have attracted standing room only crowds every year. It’s been lively fun, and the music has been phenomenal! The format has always included large “jams” and fabulous showcase acts (professionals who donate their time).

In 2010, the Snowfest weekend will be January 30 and 31. Although we have loved playing host, it’s time for someone else to take the reins. It’s been harder and harder to ask our dulcimer club (Subterranean Strings) to provide the necessary support. It’s been exhausting for everyone.

The concerts have a really wonderful reputation. It took all of our energy plus the whole club to do it the way it was formatted. And over the past few years, our club membership has been made up of about 50% “snowbirds” who also head to Florida. Therefore, it’s been harder to pull together the necessary manpower from the club’s membership. Last year, we cut it from a two-day event to only one SEVEN-hour event. But our folks aren’t getting any younger and SEVEN hours is just too much to ask of them or us.

We realized John and I could no longer do it. But we wanted to be sure that the wonderful acoustic music, which has been the signature of the Snowfest Concerts, continued.

We have found the perfect replacement event for that Saturday, January 30th. Dee Dee Tibbits is going to organize an event which will fill Fischer Hall with wonderful music. It will be totally different than the event which we presented over the past 16 years.

The museum management is supportive of whatever format this event follows. It’ll be up to Dee Dee to decide just what will be offered. Knowing her wonderful talent, it will be grand. She plays dulcimer, whistle, harp, hurdy gurdy, and many other instruments. Her group, Sonas, which is a polished Celtic trio will help her with the day.

So mark your calendars for a wonderful music event in lovely Fischer Hall, Frankenmuth, MI. The 2010 Snowfest Concert on Saturday, January 30th, is going to be awesome!

This summer has been the coldest on record but today it’s extremely humid and over 90 degrees.

Some nearby areas reported as much as 6″ of rain yesterday. It doesn’t look like we got that much here in Saginaw, but Gladwin, where we were camping, probably got 3″ and it was a muddy mess!

This weekend’s event was Gladwin’s Carriage Days. Our club played for three days and stayed at the fairgrounds in the camping area. This morning we entertained a historic encampment. At noon we were the guests of a local assisted living residence facility where we enjoyed lunch, and then played for them. We were back at the Gladwin fairgrounds by about 2:00. We packed up and headed home. We’re both tired. It’s not easy on us “old folks” to break down a campsite and stow the stuff away when it’s that HOT.

We left Charlie (our cockatiel) home alone. He was safe and well fed, but when we walked in the door, he was really glad to see us! He’s been chattering non-stop. (His vocabulary is limited, but he does a great “Hi, Charlie!” and “What’s happening?”) We don’t normally leave him home alone, but since it was just an extended weekend, we thought it would be easier on him. He sure missed us.

This upcoming week will be spend here at home. We don’t perform and don’t have any commitments. We’d like to work on our siding project, provided our materials come in. I have an appointment to get my hair cut Thursday. Other than that, nothing is demanding our attention. Next Sunday is John’s family reunion.

Five weeks from today we should be half-way to Florida. I say that optimistically because it all depends on John’s health. He has an appointment a week from tomorrow and hopefully he’ll get some answers.

This weekend, Saginaw Subterranean Strings has been playing at the Gladwin Fairgrounds for Gladwin Carriage Days. We had a good performance yesterday afternoon, and we’ve enjoyed our time with the folks who are members of the club. Our members are here in about 10 camping units. A few have driven in for the day, so we had a good sized group.

Unfortunately today it’s raining hard. We had planned to fix a waffle breakfast for the crowd, but the rain has caused us to postpone our plans.

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Later:

I lost my connection so I couldn’t finish my “report.” We did have the breakfast about 10:00. We fed 18-20 folks. It rained the whole time, but it’s now nearly 11:30. At 2:30 we play in the dining room.

This weekend has been a fun get-together of friends. It’s still raining, but we’ll make the most of it.

I’m a caring wife. I love my husband and want him to be well. He isn’t up to par now and that’s bothering me.

Like a mother bear protecting her cub, I went to bat for John the other day. When the doctor he had been referred to was going to stall him for two months before seeing him, I got on the phone and found an excellent doctor who would take him on the 17th. It helps that I worked in the healthcare environment for over 23 years! But even waiting two weeks is too long!

I watch him trying to keep up with day to day chores. It’s a struggle for him to “keep going.” That’s not my husband’s style. He needs to find out what’s wrong.

I am upset with the local doctors. He’s had several appointments with the doctor who has been directing his care. It’s not his primary care physician but that doctor has been treating John’s skin condition for a couple years and is an internist. Since John had been to see that doctor every few weeks, he explained his problems to that physician. Correctly he was sent for a lung CT scan and then other tests. But no one seems to really care. Where’s Dr. House when you need him?

During an on-stage performance at the Evart dulcimer festival, a performer mentioned that he had observed that Michigan has very short summers — ONE day. (That week it was only comfortable on Wednesday or maybe it was Thursday, and after that we froze.)

He’s close to being accurate about this whole summer. It’s been unseasonably cool. Temperatures have rarely gotten even into the mid 70’s, and the 60’s are a lot more common.

This morning it’s rainy and in the mid-60’s. We understand it might get to 80 over the next few days.

We have a camping weekend with our club starting Thursday, so hopefully it’ll warm up and dry out before then.