Look what 20 years has done!!!!

As I sit here writing tonight it is 20 years to the minute that Aaron's SPA soccer team took to the field at the dome and came away with the state championship in boys soccer.  As we left the dome that night snow was falling and by morning we had something like 20+ inches.  We had more the next day or so and it never left until spring.  I know that many if not most of us remember the Halloween storm of 91.  I know that winter of 91/92 was the most difficult and longest of our 28 winters of paper route.  Wow how time flies and my or my how seasons are different.  I guess the terrible snow storm in the east is not the first this early in the year.
One interesting example of capitalism.  We licensed our car in FL so we do not need a plate in front.  There was a bracket there so I took it off and now there are 2 small holes in the bumper.  I thought I should go to Honda and get black plugs for the holes with the hope that they have ones to match the paint.  I found out that Honda does not make them for the 2012 or the 2011 but they had ones for the 2010 and they should be the same I was told.  However they would be a dull black and would not match the paint.  Well black is black I thought so may as well get them.  Now keep in mind that these plugs are plastic and smaller than a thumb tack.  I was told that he would reduce the cost so 2 of them would only be $9!!!!!!!!!   I thought for about a nanosecond and said I think I can go to a hardware store and get something for about 25 cents each.
Terry and I got on our bikes for a short 7 1/2 mile ride today.  Terry's neck just does not do well on bike rides so have done very very little of that and to prove it all both of us has to do is step on a scale.  We biked to the grocery store to get a couple of items.  We wanted to go on a ride Sunday but I needed to pump the tires and I forgot to bring a pump along.  We have a tiny one we can carry on rides but I could not figure out how to work it.  Terry suggest I go on line and see if there was something and sure enough it shows that the 2 inside parts need to be one direction for one type of valve and turned around for the smaller one.  I turned it around and there she blows, air into the tires.  I could kick myself for not putting a pump in.  We have 2 very nice ones in St Paul and I refuse to buy one here.  We will have to bring one back on the plane after Christmas.
We went to the library this afternoon and checked out 2 books that we will be going to lectures on later so now it is book reading time.  It will be fun.
Enough, congratulations Aaron on winning the state championship 20 years ago and I remember you played such an important part in the entire soccer season--way to go.  I should not sign off without saying that John and Travis also were on championship teams and I still tell people that the region BB championship game that Cynthia played in for Trinity was maybe the most exciting HS game of any kind I watched.  Cynthia made 2 critical baskets down the stretch and Trinity won by 2.  THE GOOD OLD DAYS!

oranges and tomatoes

The tomatoes are from our garden in St. Paul.  Before we left Terry picked a lot of green ones and presto they are red and delicious now.   The oranges are not yet ripe but the tree is right out our door and we will have home grown oranges soon.  I think it will be oranges for breakfast and BLT for lunch or dinner.  Sounds good to me.
We do not have a rain gauge but it rained a lot last night.  A guess would be well over an inch.  Today was mostly dry but from time to time a sprinkle or so and the humidy was high. 
Today was kind of a slow work day.  Some things were gotten done in and outside. 
Enough

Not yet

Here is a gulf coast sunset that I have found so peaceful and beautiful.  A small glitch yesterday makes it more difficult or should I say costly to see one at this time.  Explain--If you are a resident of Collier County you get a free park sticker for your car.  If not you pay $8 to park ( all day or 10 min it is the same).  We went to the license place yesterday and then we would go to the county to get our free sticker for the new car.  Well the paper work, which should have been here, is still in Bemidji!!  I know that in the long scheme of life it is not important but in the short view it was and is frustrating. 
We then went to Comcast to get boxes for the TV's.  I dropped Terry off so she could get a number and when I came into the office they were serving #34 and she had #55 in hand.  An hour later we left.
For people who are interested in weather the temp at 8:00 this morning is 75 and yesterday it reached 85 by mid afternoon. 
Our orange tree is full of oranges that are still green.  The lemon and lime trees need to be trimmed but they have some fruit on them. 
I think today will still be full of getting some details taken care of and getting settled into being in Naples.  As we insured the car here yesterday I was reminded that FL insurance is a lot more than MN!! 
No the coffee cup is near empty so will sign off and refuel for a second time.

Not Naples

No it is not our Naples home--of course it is the farm house I grew up in.  Don't really know why I posted it tonight as I am about 2000+ miles away from it but maybe just because it is so so so different from my life today as well as the lives of Joan, Dave and Helen.  Just one more physical piece of evidence that life changes greatly with time.
Terry and I arrived in Naples about 2:30 this afternoon. After 2 nights in Comfort Inns, a night in a Holiday Inn express, 2 nights in Hampton Inns, a night with sister Helen and a night with friends Shirley and Jerry and 2500+ miles of driving.  We made several stops today and have several things to get done tomorrow.  We found the house just as we left it so that was good. 
I think it is going to be early to bed tonight and try to get a early fresh start on life again tomorrow.  We are so thankful for a safe trip and look forward to the weeks ahead.

Closer

Here is Wallace, our dog, shortly after his last hair cut.  I should have taken that goofy scarf off of him but did not.
We spent Sunday with Terry's son, Brian and his daughter Stephanie.  Some of the afternoon was in the hotel room with Brian working on our computer.  It is much better now.  He can talk in terms that leave me dizzy after about 5 minutes. We did drive around Houston a bit and I agree with Brian 100%, Houston is not a place you go to enjoy a vacation.
We were on the road out of Houston at 5:40 this morning and even at that early hour the traffic was kind of crazy.  Eleven hours later and 625 miles later we checked into a Comfort Inn in DeFuniak Springs FL.    After check in we found a Wal Mart and ate "in" tonight.  Tomorrow it will be 325 miles to "The Villages" in central FL to stay with friends and then Wednesday we should arrive home in Naples maybe early to mid afternoon.  Tomorrow and Wednesday will be kind of short days compared to today and that will be good.  This will be the last night in a hotel and that is really GOOD.
Not much else to report.  The car is doing very well and it certainly is a joy to drive.  Much room, OK mileage and the two things I have come to really like is the navigation and the blind spot lights.  A person can always get along with what one has but those two things are so so nice. 
It will be fun to spend the night with Jerry and Shirley tomorrow and even more fun to motor to 732 Wiggins Bay Dr Wednesday.
If there happens to be anyone reading this who has been chilly the temp here today was 75 and sunny!!

Left behind

Here is a picture of what we have left behind for the time.  This picture was taken looking over the Mississippi near home in St.Paul.  As I write we are in Houston where the car showed us the temp was 90 this afternoon.  We arrived at son Brian's home about 1:30.  We had lunch at a Mexican place and then checked in at the Hampton Inn.  After a couple of hours with Terry's son Brian and granddaughter Stephanie we brought them back home and are now in for the night.  Tomorrow it will be maybe some sight seeing and then good-bye for a while.  Monday AM we plan to be on the road by 5:30 AM and arrive some place 600+ miles later.  That will be our longest day of driving but we want to arrive in central FL by mid afternoon of Tuesday where we will visit friends there.  THEN it is home to Naples on Wednesday. 
Enought for tonight.  We have eaten too much today but I may just HAVE to finish Helen's potato salad that she sent with us.  There is ALWAYS room for that.

On the road

We got off about 10:00 AM Wednesday.  With bikes on the back of the new Odyssey we rolled onto I35 and headed south.  About 5:30 we parked at a Comfort Inn south of Kansas City knowing that the next day would only be 200 miles or less into Holiday Island AR where sister Helen and Mike call home.  True to our expectations on Thursday we arrived about 1:00.  The last 40 miles of that trip is the most up and down and around road one could ever travel.  We had a great time with Helen/Mike.  The visit/conversation even topped Helen's dinner of potato salad, ham and beans with pineapple pie for dessert.  Like I would say, "living the dream".   We hit the road again this morning about 10:00 and are now at a Holiday Inn Express in Marshall TX.  It looks like a 200+ trip into Houston tomorrow to visit Terry's son Brian.  We will spend Saturday evening and all day Sunday with Brian and then head out on I10 east towards FL.  There will be one more night with friends in central FL before Naples. 
At this point we know of  a couple of things we forgot but we can live without them. 
We got kind of rattled today as we came across an accident that must have happened within minutes of our arrival.  There was a woman still in her car covered with blood--not a pretty sight.
We are enjoying the Odyssey.  Among the "nice" things are a cool box under the dash which blows air from the AC into it to keep things cool.  Another thing I have already gotten in the habit of using a lot is blind side lights on each side of the car.  When a car is in your blind spot the light comes on, very very nice.
We traveled about 125 miles today on a two lane highway.  I had forgotten how to drive when cars back up and of course the mode is hurry and pass when you can so that you can follow behind the next car!!!  Finally it turned into a four lane and things were better. 
I am not sure how well we will do in the next few days as those meals Helen served us were the best.  How can one be happy eating in a restaurant after that kind of treatment. 
It is time to put the feet up, turn the TV on and relax after such a HARD day--and if you believe that I have some ............................ for your to buy.
On to Houston Saturday.

No picture just a few words

Terry and I arrived in Harrisonville MO about 5:30 PM.  We now have 187 miles to Helens and potato salad tomorrow noon.  It was an uneventful trip but fun in the new car.  Terry was very tired as she woke up with a headache so she rested in the second seat for some time and then learned how to put a DVD in the TV so she watched an entire movie as we drove.  She finished in time to help direct us around Kansas City and then we practiced talking into the navigation system to find a hotel.  Fun? perhaps but we have a LONG way to go if we are to make that system worth the many $$ it cost!!!
We did get on the road by 10:24 this morning which was very good.  Not sure what all we forgot but two things I know for sure, sunglasses and a bike pump.  Can live without the glasses but no pump--not good.
No, enough as we are settled into a Comfort Inn for the night and are looking forward to those hot waffles and sausage/biscuits in the morning!  Not sure if they serve those delicious eggs made from dry chickens but will find out in about 11 hours or so.  Well not sure a person should make light of a free breakfast or should I say a breakfast that is included in the price of the room.

On the road

As I got out of bed and looked at the temp (39) I thought this may be a good picture to look at today.  It was our camp site in Washburn WI near Bayfield around the Apostle Islands.  The day was warm and sunny.  The camp site was grassy and large and it certainly was camping at its best. 
Today is a different scene.  Cloudy, 39 and there certainly is a chill in the air.  Suitcases and boxes are piled by the door waiting to be loaded into the van and then it is hit the road--I35 much of the way.  Now the good side is I have been promised potato salad by sister Helen in Holiday Island AR and Terry and I might be able to get up early enough tomorrow so that we can enjoy it for lunch.  Our goal is Kansas city area by dark which will mean that we would have only 200 miles or so to Helen on Thursday.  We found out last night that Terry's son, Brian, will not be able to fly up for his grandmother's funeral so we will spend the weekend with him in Houston.  
I THINK we are ready.  The mail no longer comes, the paper is stopped as of today, the garbage is empty with a clean bag in the container, we have someone to shovel the snow when it comes and we have enough space for things as we came home with a new vehicle Monday.  It is a Honda Odyssey but I am not sure it will get us to FL.  I am afraid it may just be an expensive toy and really does not go any place.  The sales man said with the navigation system you can use 100+ voice commands!  How cool is that and for information out there I never use the word "cool".  We are bring our lunch but if we do get hungry we just talk into this mic and say where we want to eat and the screen comes up with the nearest place with that name.  I love maps but this may trump the many maps in the car.  Now if one of us gets tired of riding shot gun we can just get into the back seat and put a dvd in.  I wondered why they did not allow the movie to come up on the navigation screen and then it dawned on me that it may not be too safe to drive and watch a movie but then would it be worse than driving and texting?  Well I do not do that either I guess.  In fact I do not have texting on my phone so if someone sends me one I get charged!
Anyway it is about time to close the computer, get some pants on and hustle things out to the car.  We will be staying in hotels some of the time so will get the computer out and blog along the way.  I do have one regret about this going to warm places.  No Stormy Kromer hat and no Mukluks as I decided it may look a bit nerdy if I wore either of them playing tennis.
One last thing.  I sent packages Tuesday to Glorine, John M, Joan and Dave.  I am excited for them to get them as the very special item should warm their hearts and bring memories of the past.  They may even get so emotional a tear could dribble down their cheek and onto the table.  Well I may be a bit over the edge but I do hope when they get them they are put to good use.  :) :)  I had so much fun preparing them for an early Christmas gift for each sibling.  I already received my first Christmas gift, a CD of Dave playing his horn and it is great.

10,9,8,------

The count down to leaving.
The title has nothing to do with the picture!  The picture is of the lake shore on Lake Tewaukon which is a half mile from where I grew up.  Terry and I visited it last May as we made our trip up to SD, ND to Fargo for my aunt's funeral, to the Binde Farm, to Grandma Saunders and home again.  Perhaps Lake Tewaukon had as much to to with my growing up as any non-person thing.  It was there that I would bike up to take a bath after being in the field all day, it was there that brother Ronald would put in his boat and we would water ski (I should say brother in law John also did that), it was there that I learned to swim on my own, it was there that I would trek up to the high lake shore-make a little corral with tiny rocks and then throw the red and white bobber out to watch the perch pull it down.  When that happened I would reel them in and gently place them in my "live well" of tiny rocks.  Before I would go home I would open the gate by taking a rock away and watch them swim away.  I would then gather my pole and worms, jump on my bike and ride the half mile home without touching the handle bars and as I leaned towards the house and coasted up to the front door I would usually think how life might be if I lived in town or some other place.  I don't remember thinking I was deprived or anything but yet I know the solitude was not always appreciated. To me the lake was a source of life, a source of independence, a source of fun, a source of adventure and much more.  Today it looks lonely like it is wanting someone to come be on its shores again.  Most of the lake now is a refuge for wildlife and I am not sure how much "people activity" happens.  I could also share much about the water adventures but will not today.  I would say that the navy blue swim suit with the white strip around the legs--well I thought I looked pretty good in it!!!:)(:   We will not go into the adolescence of the whole time.
I have come to a stop on the window work.  These last few days have been a time in my life where I have felt worn down, kind of empty and without detail it has given me the desire to be lost for a while.  Terry and I plan to head south mid week and that will be good.  I am not ready from the point of preparing the house but my emotional state is so so ready.  Warmer weather, distance from Niles ave and a time away from projects looks to inviting right now.  Well the project thing will continue to some point as I have a couple of things I want to make in FL but they are not urgent, they are not fixing but rather more building and it should be fun.
Terry and I have spent some time in the last couple of days trying to decide what or how we should do things in terms of "we" now.  What I am used to or what she is used to needs in some way to meld into what "we" are used to and that discussion will continue for some time I am sure.  It is fun at times, exciting at times and sometimes it is kind of scary but of course it is all in the course of life which has a way of moving-changing and not stopping for anything or anyone.
I am going to try to get a little bit more done on the windows today and then wrap up that work for this fall.  I would say that I will leave with the work on the interior of the 14 windows half done.  Is that OK, well it has to be but it leaves me with a sense of failure to some degree.
Our weather has changed a bit and we are now in reality, temps in the mid 50's which is probably normal for the last half of October.  The last many days has been so nice this cooler weather seems a bit cruel but of course it is MN and that is what we live for, right?
Enough

Look a busy!!!

I post this peaceful sunset picture because it is such a contrast from this week.  Well in one way it is the same because the fall weather here has been so so so perfect.  Sunny, mid to upper 70's and not too windy and this is the first full week of October.  The picture is a contrast from the activity this week.  Terry has spent much time sorting and filing papers while I work on the interior of the new windows.  There are 14 windows and of course that means 28 sashes.  For each window there are 4 things that I need to do: repair and chalk, prime and paint twice.  For each sash there are 4 things to do: take off excess glue and tape, prime and paint twice.  If my math is correct that means about 168 different stages to go through.  I am finished with day 2 and 46 have been finished.  I am not sure that means DONE by Saturday night but will give it a try.  I think they will look very nice when they are finished and I know the exterior looks nice now so when all is finished it should be a happy day. 
So this week is look a busy and enjoy the wonderful October weather.

Ready Set Go

The window--the inside painting starts today.  The outside is clad so no paint there.
Jude is using his arms and great feet work to practice his soccer skills and Faustina is ready for that great under push which is the best.
It was a busy weekend and good weekend.

• God is very busy brushing and stroking new, beautiful and bright colors on the trees in a new way each day.  It is a blessing and a delight to drive around to view his handy work.
• Terry and I visited a "showcase remodeled home" twice.  A young couple bought their grandparents 1940s rambler and had the entire house redone.  It turned out wonderful, in fact so nice we visited it on Saturday and again on Sunday.
• We had Carol/Ed and Susan/Jerry over for dinner.  Terry fixed this fantastic Greek dinner which was a BIG hit.  The evening was fun and like I always say the food was delicious but the company was even better.
• We gave thanks for the produce in our garden.  Terry spent time picking things and then on Friday we sat down to garden beans, garden cucumbers, garden tomatoes, garden swiss chard and then complimented it with venison from Mark Saunders.  Terry does not like deer meat but she really liked this and could hardly believe it. 
• Travis came over on Friday and that is always fun.
• Terry's poison ivy is now under control which is good.  I have a touch of it but can easily live with it and it soon will be gone.
• Yesterday was kind of filled with church and community meeting.  Jim R led the music and I always enjoy that.  There are others who do a great job I know but it is always special when Jim leads.  We prayed for Diane O who has been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.  My heart melts for those who are dealing with cancer.  Lord please heal her.
• Terry and I now have less then three weeks before we head to Houston and then Naples.  With that in mind we are trying to not buy food but eat what we have, I have started a list of little things to do and really some of them are kind of big.  I have never gotten the house ready to winter by itself so this is new.  I talked to Travis about snow removal but really has he lives a ways away it will be better if I hire someone to shovel.  Who??  I am not sure but need to take care of that.
• I did a first I think.  When we went to my cousin's funeral I picked up memorial cards for my siblings.  What is a first is I wrote a short letter and actually mailed them the next day.  I hope Joan, Dave and Helen are in good health as when they get it the surprise will be GREAT.  I really didn't know if they would like the card but for me to get some communication done so quickly is unheard of.  I say that not to brag but to admit how pathetic I can be at times. 
• The weather forecast for the week is glorious.  In the paper this morning I read sunny, mid 70s and work all week.  Well of course I did a double take and when I read it again the word "work" did not appear but too late--it was etched in my mind.

I am now on my last cup of french press coffee so that means time to hid the ground running.