NFTL RDate 76.23

I haven't revisited past posts in a long time with a "Notes from the Lab" offering. It's time I did so. Much has happened since my last such post on RDate 48.16, 48 months and 16 days into retirement. Let's take a look back on a few items now that I am 76 months and 23 days passed gainful employment.

Chores (7/29/12, Last Updated 7/24/16) - When I last moaned about my (not so) burdensome household duties, I went off a little on dusting and a lot on deck lights. I'm happy to report that I have made improvements on both fronts.

Regarding the dusting, I pretty much don't do it anymore. A little over a year ago we hired a service that has worked out fine. For a reasonable sum a couple of much younger and way less whiny (than I) professionals show up every other Wednesday and shine the place up just swell. I need to do more of this kind of thing.

The only down side is that the hired guns don't do the lab (known in most households as the basement). The reason is that there's just too much stuff down here to deal with. I'm guessing with the movies, music, books, games and collectibles on the shelves, there are two to three thousand items in the way. Besides, who wants strangers handling those rare treasures like my Creature from the Black Lagoon videos or my very first bag phone.

So I'm reduced to dragging out my trusty dusting materials every once in a while to keep the place serviceable. But in truth, I don't mind this tolerable vestige of my old ordeal. Tidying up my subterranean sanctum, and in the process reacquainting myself with so many old friends, is a comforting stroll down Memory Lane, the place I most like to be.

On the deck light front I've had a recent breakthrough. In one of my exploratory journeys into the Amazon cyber jungle, I discovered some sturdier, fairly inexpensive replacement bulbs that fit my old outdoor strings. So discreetly but steadily I am installing them in lieu of the flimsy creatures that have caused me so much consternation over the years. Ladders and a splash of liniment are still occasionally involved. But overall, I think I've turned the tide in the epic deck lights struggle.

A mid-note here. Right about the time I completed this section of the post a string of deck lights on our garage decided not to work. I think they hacked into my blog and saw what I was saying (if you recall from an earlier post, I'm fairly convinced the little buggers have wifi). The problem turned out to be a tiny fuse in the plug end of a light cord that JUST  HAPPENED to blow. Not my first fuse episode, however. So after some gnashing of teeth and a little tweezer work, we were back on line. But I'm getting the sense that the war may drag on a bit longer.  

Music Night (8/6/12, Last Updated 7/2/16) - This now 27 years old movable music party is still going strong. Our latest collection, #135, was created earlier this month at Jim and Mary Wyatt's. The topic was Laugh While You Can, selected by host, charter member and head of our digital mastering team Jim Wyatt.

For the last few years one of our Music Night activities has been converting to digital format the first 60 of our collections. These were originally recorded "live" on tape during the music parties, a tricky proposition if you've ever attempted it. As cassette players started disappearing from home and auto entertainment systems, we decided to preserve the fruits of our labors by transferring these earlier collections to CD.

By the end of this month we will have completed the project through our 40th collection. Our hope is to finish this race against time before CD players also fade away and everyone is just streaming their music. A futile effort, you might say, but that hasn't dampened our spirits. Your talking to a guy with three laser disks players, four VCRs, four cassette decks and a Walkman still in operation. What?

One of our recently remastered collections was #37 Children, originally created in 1997. In the packaging for this collection we took the opportunity to celebrate the children of Music Night members who have participated in Music Night themselves. Recognize any of these happy faces?

They are from left to right and top to bottom Christine Burk, Josh Bauer, Taryn (Dyle) Kim, Justin Reinhart, Josh and Sarah Rouan, Scott Dyle, Tommy Crandall Fair, Marie Wyatt, Kevin Bauer, Cathy (Burk) Kuhlman, Jimmy Wyatt and Miranda Reinhart.

For good measure, the packaging also featured the children of children who have participated in Music Night. At the time the collection was assembled there were three. From left to right below are Ian Kuhlman (son of Cathy and husband Matt), Evie Rouan (daughter of Josh and wife Katie), and Toby Kim (son of Taryn and husband Sam).

Adding to this impressive trio just this last week was Cathy and Matt's second bundle of joy, Lena Elizabeth, shown here at one day old with a very happy grandmother.

Suffice it to say that the future of Music Night is in good (albeit tiny) hands.

Labor Day Renewal (9/10/12, First Update) - In my original post on this subject, written shortly after my retirement, I talked about how more life-altering changes occur with Labor Day than actually happen on January 1st. At least in my life. This had to do with changing weather, the start of the new school year, and for many of us a new Federal fiscal year. And I wondered aloud how my foray into this fall renewal would go now that neither school activities nor employment were major forces in my life.

I'm happy to report in this my seventh Labor Day season since retirement that although my daily routine has eased considerably, my annual calendar still looks much the same, including September. I think this is because the world around us is still driven by school activities, seasonal weather adjustments and fixed government and business cycles. And Nancy and I are doing our best to fit in.

I think another factor contributing to this "sameness" is that after 38 years of a fairly structured family calendar, we've not found a lot of reasons to change. We're still trying to have all the fun to which we have become accustomed. I'm talking about multiple trips to Florida each year, time at our cottage, visits to Chicago and Toronto to see family and friends, and periodic golf and music gatherings here in town and up north to keep up with our wide social circle. It takes a lot of planning to maintain that schedule, and that planning still seems to hit its peak after Labor Day, when the holiday and Florida seasons loom large on the horizon.

Of course, nothing lasts forever. And though our calendar hasn't slowed much, we are beginning to. We have no special immunity from the usual ailments and challenges that come with aging. So some things take a little longer than they used to (like waking up :-). We make a few more trips to the pharmacy (with longer lists). And we have made several new friends in the medical community (those "ologists" I so often mention). But our annual cycle including a little renewal this time of year, is still largely intact. So far so good.

Reading (10/2/12, Last Updated 3/25/15) - As I have noted in the past, as readers go I'm somewhat of a plodder. I read regularly but not particularly fast, nor am I prone to marathon sessions. I'm always impressed with the rate at which some of my closest friends digest reading material. You know the type. They're more than avid readers. They are reading superheroes, plowing through books in a single bound sitting faster than a speeding bullet Blue Ray. I'm more the Clark Kent type (maybe even Jimmy Olson).

I approach reading the same way I approach music and movies. Just as (or maybe a little more) apt to repeat an experience than to seek out a new one. New ones are fine, mind you. And an important part of growth. But I'm consistently fascinated by how much I get out of a second or even third viewing of a well-crafted movie, or repeat reading of a good book. That's sort of a new experience, too, right? Picking up things you missed the first time around, that alter your thinking about the story, or in the case of non-fiction the subject of the work?

Since my last update on reading three years ago, I've managed to get through an interesting mix of material. In one extended effort to rekindle my understanding of how certain epic stories were altered in their transition to the silver screen, I reread a number of classic works (classic IMHO). This binge included Lonesome Dove, the seven Harry Potter novels, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The War of the Worlds, Frankenstein and The Island of Dr. Moreau.

I enjoyed reacquainting myself with the original story lines in each of these works, and the details - sometimes significant - that didn't make it into the movies. (One note here - despite the classic status of the 1953 Gene Barry Version of War of the Worlds, the recent Spielberg/Cruise remake sticks much closer to the original Wells' novel, if you substitute New England for a not-so-jolly old England).

Staying a little longer in the world of fantasy, I completed a first read of the five Game of Thrones books and finally managed to wade through the now eight books in Stephen King's Dark Tower series (including Wind Through the Keyhole). It was all fun, and now I can carry on more intelligent conversations with my kids.

I also got around to my inventory of Stephen King works that had somehow escaped my attention. I can now proudly (or foolishly, depending on your point of view) claim to have read all of his fiction, including the Bachman books. This final push included the second and third books of the Mr. Mercedes trilogy, Finders Keepers and End of Watch. I recommend them both, which have less mystery than the first book in the series and a little more classic King eeriness. And extremely likable offbeat charters.

Another interesting King experiment I pulled off the shelf was Desperation and The Regulators. There is much discussed on the Internet about what King did with these two related novels, if you want the details. But in a nutshell he wrote these two stories using most of the same characters, but in two different settings and times, and with different good guys and bad guys. Or something like that. I'm pretty sure these two books will be queued up for a second reading to make sure I really understood what he was doing here.

I've had several other good reads this year, including a Kindle-binge into some older works. I'm a late comer to Kindle and have used it primarily as a travel aid during some unscheduled trips south. But I'll save that discussion for a subsequent post.

Let me close out this section with one more recommendation. I just completed a reread (first read like 50 years ago) of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. The edition I have includes Brave New World Revisited, a non-fiction analysis of his 1932 novel that Huxley wrote in 1958. The analysis has some pretty wild descriptions of what the future might hold if responsible leadership fails and/or education is ignored. Many of his predictions read like today's news headlines. If you're not familiar with this work, I recommend it. Especially Chapter IV "Propaganda in a Democratic Society", Chapter V "Propaganda in a Dictatorship", and Chapter VI "The Arts of Selling". Huxley had quite a crystal ball. And some of what he says is scarier than any Stephen King novel.

So in retrospect, I guess I'm not doing too bad for a plodder.

Baseball (10/12/12, Last Updated 3/25/15) - I hate to even go here. What a crummy season this was for our beloved Tigers all the way around. First of all, there was the team. Enough said. Except for noting the fist fight between the announcers, which got them both fired. Give me a break.

Then there was my lousy support. I went to one game. It was a night game last April. They lost. I froze my knickers off and even left early, which I hardly ever do.

And finally, there was a completely unacceptable disappearance of the lunch club/baseball outings. Pathetic. Total day planner failure. An embarrassing breakdown in my duties as a fan and lunch bard. Ah blem masef.

However, I promise to do better next season. Can't speak for the team, but they could hardly be worse. So you lunch clubbers, don't be discouraged. Be on the lookout for a return to fun next season. And to get the future off on the right foot, I offer this humble pledge:

Despite this horrible season,

For hope, there is a reason.

When next w'hear "play ball"

Together we all

Should gather, for times a-pleasin'!

Enough catching up for now. 

Till my next post.

Grosse Pointe Charles 

Coast to Coast

A few weeks ago while I was making my most recent 18-hour plus return drive home from Florida, it occurred to me that some might think my behavior odd. Why would anyone choose to torture him or herself by spending so many solo hours in a row battling the risks and challenges of a modern freeway? Especially a person with a predilection for leisure (read lazy) and considerable control over his time (read emphatically retired).

In my mind the answer is simple and obvious. Solo marathon drives are fun. Or at least they can be if you do it right. But I realize that this opinion may not be widely held. In my IRS Quality Officer days, I often used a technique called "force field analysis" to think through and understand an issue. Let's see if I can use this tool to bring you around to my way of thinking.

The process starts by defining a desired state. Then you identify forces supporting the desired state and those opposing it. Finally you look for ways to strengthen supporting forces and overcome opposing forces, increasing the likelihood of achieving your desired state.

Okay. If you are still reading this post, thanks. I know analysis can hurt and is often just not that interesting. This episode won't be much different. So I'm not offended if you've already returned to surfing Facebook or playing Candy Crush or have re-immersed yourself in an advanced color Sudoku puzzle. I understand completely. But for the hopelessly curious, I'll continue.

First, let's define our desired state. For this exercise I've chosen "Driving alone on a limited access expressway for 18 hours in a row is fun". The wording here is important. Note that I'm making no attempt to make a case for extended driving where crazies can come at you from any direction or a situation in which you have to manage personality quirks other than your own. I'm talkin' flying solo with minimal external hazards. Think Jimmy Stewart as Charles Lindbergh in The Spirit of St. Louis, but with less water.

To further clarify, I'm talking about driving from the lower red circle in the map shot below, up the pink path all the way to the upper red circle.

While for the most part staring out the window at this.

Now that we have defined our desired state, let's identify some supporting forces. As I have spent much time exploring this issue (mostly behind the wheel at warp speed), I could generate a long list. But to not press your patience (I know, too late), I will limit the number of forces to four:

S-1. You get to spend a long time in a sitting position.

S-2. You can listen to the music, radio talk show or audio book of your choice for hours at a time. 

S-3. You can avoid the cost and discomfort of a night in a budget hotel.

S-4. You can avoid the hassle of airports (like erroneously self-tagging your luggage to Greenland, or tap-dancing with TSA over the unusual personal items in your carry-on bag, or squeezing your svelte self into a modern-day aircraft microseat, for starters).

Okay, these supporting forces may be a little lame. Except for the last one. But before we get into it, lets identify an equal number of opposing forces:

O-1. A long ride can be boring.

O-2. A long ride can be tiring.

O-3. A long ride takes a long time, burning up hours you could spend on more fruitful tasks. 

O-4. Your vehicle seat might not be that comfortable, leading to back pain, leg cramps, even phlebitis (yikes).

Yeah, these might be a little lame, too. But what can I say. These are the weighty issues that drive my retirement existence. So let's press on.

Part one of the next step is to examine and try to enhance the supporting forces. Easy-peasy.

S-1. You get to spend a long time in a sitting position. What's to enhance? Sitting's where it's at. You are much safer than in other positions. No stumbling over abandoned dog bones or stubbing toes on concealed sofa legs. No sudden lightheadedness from reaching down to clean up dog droppings during those "healthy" fresh air walks. And very little chance of the muscle strain so common to household activities like unloading the dishwasher or pushing a vacuum cleaner around. As Ross Perot would say, "case closed."

S-2. You can listen to the music, radio talk show or audio book of your choice for hours at a time. Also, very hard to make better. In previous times, this took a little planning. Browsing one's music library, selecting and packing favorite CDs. Maybe a trip to the library to check out an audio book on some exciting topic (like the history of the Fertile Crescent). Carefully placing these materials in your vehicle within arms reach for easy grabbing and loading while in flight. For example, here's a shot of my magic box for the current trip.

You'll note that I have two audio books - one fiction, one non-fiction (to accommodate varying levels of attention), a few CDs from my oft-mentioned Music Night group (for when attention totally dissolves and you slip into that unconscious "what state am I in" zone), my camera (just in case I see something new), and a bag of snack bars (to avoid unnecessary stops in the mountains - think Deliverance).

But I do admit there is less need to plan these days. Now you just slap your smart phone (which contains all of this material and streaming connectivity to boot) into its cradle mount and fire up the Bluetooth link. Here's a shot of my modest concession to travel electronics (from bottom to top my iPod, smart phone, blue-tooth driven dash display and hard wire to the out-of-frame GPS). What? I do keep my eyes on the road. Mostly.

You'll also note in this shot the obligatory bottomless cup of coffee backed up by a heavily-caffeinated soft drink. Those go without saying.

S-3. You can avoid the cost and discomfort of a night in a budget hotel. You could also accomplish this by flying, but then you would run smack dab into the next supporting force.

S-4. You can avoid the hassle of airports. As you may have gleaned from my parenthetical above, I strongly dislike flying and will go to great lengths to avoid it. So this is a powerful supporting force for me. I didn't always feel this way. I traveled by air tons in my work life and enjoyed it very much. But with the airline industry's shift away from customer comfort (just how little leg room can we get away with), the burdens of heightened security (take it off, buddy), and what I feel has been a decline in traveler prowess (carry-ons the size of a Mini Cooper), who needs it.  

Whew. After writing all this down, I'm getting the feeling these supporting forces aren't so lame after all. But let's finish the exercise. What about those troublesome opposing forces?

O-1. A long ride can be boring. Sounds like a personal problem. Especially for extraverts (in Jungian parlance). They prefer company. For introverts like myself, being alone is a gift. An opportunity to explore one's inner world and commune with favorite music, memories, authors and (dare I say it) political extremists. 

Yes, if truth be told, I'm actually an introvert. For you Myers-Briggs enthusiasts, my MBTI type is INTJ. That means that while I do place a high value on spending time with people, my brain is hard-wired to recharge in private - likely why I enjoy writing this blog so much. But back to our problem people, the extraverts. 

My suggestion for the extraverts is to practice "aloneness". This could be long walks by yourself in deserted places (daytime of course), playing golf onesomes, sitting on an abandoned beach staring at the horizon for as long as possible (my personal favorite), or extended smart phone sessions listening to favorite music but not swiping past your home screen. No Facebooking, texting, tweeting or messaging of any kind. Just earphones and icons. 

Of course there are other ways to practice being alone. The main thing is to spend a little time getting used to the absence of others before you attempt a marathon drive. Otherwise you're going to drive the fast food servers and gas station convenience store clerks nuts, trying to get a human contact fix.

O-2. A long ride can be tiring. This is especially true if you are a nervous, aggressive or just plain reluctant driver. In other words, for you to have a fighting chance of enjoying an extended drive you have to have a relaxed driving style (you become one with the road) and not have the road rage gene (you're good at sharing).

But the most important thing is that you actually like being behind the wheel. You believe that every ride is an opportunity for new and exhilarating experiences. Even old, familiar routes offer opportunities to see what's changed or maybe what you missed the last time. You think of the drive like you were whooshed into a video game (a la Tron) where the steering wheel is your joystick and the programmers have buried fascinating Easter eggs where only advanced players can find them. In other words for you, sitting back in your virtual flying machine and pushing the thrusters to full impulse is a rush. Okay. Back to Earth.

Here's the deal. If you don't think you have these prerequisites, cut yourself some slack and get an airline miles card. If you think you do, I have a couple of suggestions for addressing the fatigue issue. One, don't drive through the night. The magic length of 18 hours is key, and not just because it's the minimum amount of time to get from Tampa to Detroit. It's also the longest amount of same-day time you can generate by leaving at a time not too crazy to get up - 5:00 am - and arriving before circadian influences overpower you into sleep - 12:00 midnight (yes, that's really 19 hours; I need the extra hour in the morning to dress, eat and sufficiently suppress those same circadian forces that prefer that I sleep in until 9:00 am. It's a personal problem).

Tip two is to get a good night's sleep before the 5:00 am get up. This may seem obvious, but going to bed at 9:00 or 10:00 pm the night before - to get at least seven or eight hours of sleep - can be tricky. If you're typically an early crasher, no problem. This is probably your normal bed time. But if you're a night owl, you need a plan. My best suggestion is to get into bed with a TV (or tablet capable of streaming) and tune in to the On Demand option of one of the oldie stations, like MeTV. A few minutes into a rerun of Matlock or Diagnosis Murder and you'll be out like a light. Or if you're a reader, crack any volume of Churchill's six part history of World War II. Go directly to the appendices (Churchill's personal memos and other papers). Your brain will shut down in the first paragraph.

O-3. A long ride can take a long time, burning up hours you could spend on more fruitful tasks. This one's easy. Well easy for me. As a rule, I avoid fruitful tasks. So a long solo drive keeps me out of range of any that might try to sneak up on me. At least until I get home.

For you reliable pillar-of-the-community types, think of it this way. Everybody needs downtime. You may be more useful and productive after an extended and definitely non-productive drive during which your poor, overtaxed sense of responsibility has a chance to recharge. Also, your constituency may appreciate you more having experienced a little deprivation. If you think I'm just blowing smoke here, you have my respect. And my sympathies. You've got it bad.

O-4. Your vehicle seat might not be that comfortable, leading to back pain, leg cramps, even phlebitis. To last 18 hours in the same seat is a challenge no matter where it is. Fortunately, auto (and in my case truck) seats are somewhat adjustable. So the first thing to try is fiddling with the seat positions - seat up/down and/or forward/backward, backrest up/down, and for slightly upscale vehicles the lumbar adjustment. If you're still concerned about in-flight comfort, I suggest adding a few urgent care centers or truck stop/massage parlors along your route as GPS via points.

The important thing is to at all times keep at least one hand free to search your snack bag for emergency foodstuffs and/or to adjust your array of electronic devices to just the right stimulus. Nothing numbs your awareness of physical discomfort like a two-pound bag of Chex Mix or singing along at the top of your lungs to a 20-song Petula Clark set. I also recommend traveling in cruise control so you can shift your leg and arm positions frequently without erratic vehicle movement (except for those rare occurrences when you need to search the vehicle floor for a water bottle cap or half-eaten snack bar that has tumbled out of your grasp at 75 miles per hour; I hate when that happens).

*******

Okay. This was my best shot at recruiting you into my little piece of road-trip paradise. If you're buying any of this, I hope you have opportunities to field test my advice in the near future. If you're not, uh....read it again. Maybe after a couple of cocktails. It might make more sense.

Also, in the interest of full (or at least near-full) disclosure, I feel compelled to share a couple more factors that have influenced my views on extended solo driving. The first is that, due to my sister's illness, I have had the use of an extra vehicle the last few years (the oft-mentioned trusty, tried and true Toyota Tacoma). This has enabled me to drive at my own schedule and pace and avoid dreaded commercial transportation (airlines, taxis, rental cars) when required to travel on short notice.

The second factor is that due to home-front commitments my bride has not been able to join me on many of my short-notice, semi-urgent trips to Florida. This means that I was often faced with driving home on my own. And wanting to get back home - my favorite place to be - I was well-motivated to keep on truckin' (sorry) until I got there.

And finally, I can't close without coming clean that the only drive I enjoy more than an extended solo stint is one with my bride at my side. Aside from her pleasant company, Nancy likes to drive and is often behind the wheel more than half of the time on our planned road trips. That allows me to stare out the window and lose myself in the passing countryside even more, and play with my electronic toys without those aforementioned erratic swerves across the median while groping for the next disk of an audio book.

So there it is. I'm outed. Fact is, my solo extended drives have usually occurred because there was no one around to go with me. But I still say those drives can be a ball if you do it right.

Epilogue

I started this post a few weeks ago, after I had completed what I thought might be my last marathon solo drive from my mother's home in Florida to Vernier East (the nickname we gave our Grosse Pointe digs years ago when Nancy's dad lived at Vernier West - a condo down the street). But before I could break away from my summer laze on the shores of Lake Huron and finish the story, I found myself again programming the GPS for Zephyrhills. Mom was facing a new health challenge and needed some help. So ten days ago I speed-packed my essential gear, saddled my trusty Tacoma, and hit the trail.

Given my relatively late departure that day (noonish), I didn't try to make the trip in one session, or coast to coast as it's known in our family. Rather, about midnight I stopped for a few hours of poor sleep (strange bed, hard mattress, weird carpet) in a Hampton just north of Atlanta. A 7:00 am departure the next morning put me at Mom's by mid-afternoon. I found her a little better than expected and very happy to have company. After a few days of TLC, a new drug or two, and a trip to an eye specialist, Mom is now on the mend. So I'm aiming the white Toyota north tomorrow.

It will not be a coast to coast trip, as it looks like my departure window will open up mid-afternoon after a late morning commitment, and I am too anxious to return home to wait another 15 hours to leave. But it will still be 18-19 hours on the road within about a 26 hour period.

And as we will be back to a one car family in October, it looks like my solo marathon drive career will actually be over as I pull into the driveway early Tuesday evening (with one car, Nancy and I both go or I fly). So I'm looking at this drive as sort of my farewell tour. The end of an era. Here's a final shot of me and my own personal "Hidalgo" (that famous long-distance champion horse from the movies).

I may have a tee shirt made.

Grosse Pointe Charles

2017 Part 8 - December

When I left off in this saga, it was the end of November. The family was grazing on turkey leftovers, and we had just completed buttoning up the cottage for the winter months. It was time to return home for the holiday season.

December

The first order of business was to decorate our home. I used to dread this annual ritual as we had all of our decorations neatly and compactly stashed in an attic storage space only accessible through a smallish door in our upstairs hallway. Smallish, as in about three feet high and three feet wide. Except for the squareness of this knotty pine knee knocker, it looks a lot like a secret hollow at Bag End (for you hobbit admirers) where Bilbo could hide a keg or two of longbottom leaf. 

But alas, I'm no halfling. So in order to retrieve our Christmas treasures (my part in the decoration ordeal) I had to crawl in on my hands and (aging) knees and pull the various boxes and plastic bags in which the ornaments, beads, temperamental mini-lights, garlands, yard art and our artificial trees are stored. It took several trips into the breach to complete the job, each entry requiring me to go in a little further and drag out an item slightly heavier than the last. It was brutal.

Happily, one of my first retirement tasks a few years ago was to reorganize storage areas throughout the house in an effort to make life a little easier and, yes, to fit in even more stuff (see earlier post entitled The Purge). An early victory in this endeavor was repurposing one of the two closets in the main floor bedroom to house the Christmas decorations. Unexpectedly, this left the attic space available for what seems to be a growing inventory of grandbaby equipment and supplies (but of course no problem crawling in for those items; not if grandpa likes living here :-)

So fulfilling my primary function in the Christmas decorating festival is much easier now, as these items are all stored within a few feet of and on the same floor as where they do their business. Most of the decorating handiwork is performed by my bride, who has certain preferences on how things should look and where they should be displayed. Upon occasion, our daughter Christine likes to return to the nest and hang a personalized ornament or two. Here are a few shots of our cozy abode all dressed up for the merriment. 

First our new tree, pre-lit (another concession to retirement), pre-frosted, and full of a couple of generations of memorable ornaments. This year this beauty was located in our family room. 

The location of our tree has at times been a subject of controversy, some favoring this location with others favoring a more traditional placement in the living room picture window. The issue was finally resolved this year by placing a second smaller tree (also pre-lit) on the tea wagon in the living room under our picture window. Let peace and harmony reign.

Of course there were the usual fireplace adornments.

And some new outdoor trimmings, some of which required a septuagenarian with a fear of heights (and a checkered safety record) to hang off a step ladder to deploy. Fortunately, the operation was completed without incident. 

Here is a shot of this cheery display in full nocturnal glory.

The decorating done, Nancy and I had another opportunity to sit grandson Ian. This time in his own digs in Beverly Hills. Here's a shot of Nancy helping Ian learn the complicated mechanics of walking and operating a non-motorized vehicle. This was fascinating for me to watch as when I was Ian's age plastic hadn't been invented (although the wheel had).

Not to be outdone, I got in a little tutoring myself. Here I am sharing a few safety tips with Ian on how not to fall out of a comfy sofa. You know, things like make sure the coaster for your drink is within arm's length and pretend not to hear someone calling you from another room. Rising to one's feet quickly can be a hazard (at least that's what it said on my last Medicare pre-physical questionnaire). 

December continued to unfold with season-appropriate activities. Nancy finished an elaborate hand-stitched advent calendar that had been in progress for quite some time. It was awarded a prime spot for this and future holiday seasons on the living room wall next to the silver cabinets. Each of the dates is actually a pouch in which a little sewn Christmas icon is placed as the days pass.

Here is a shot of the little pieces that fit into the pouches.

The weather grew less enjoyable as this pic shows. Just enough snow to make it slippery to cross the deck. Our neon and potted palm trees looking abandoned and forlorn, as is our deck table with its winter shroud.

But then things perked up as it was time for our Music Night group Christmas party. This is always a festive occasion as it includes a fine menu of holiday cuisine as well as the usual musical offerings. The topic for the evening was "Fools", a lighthearted but somewhat risky topic for this politically and age diverse crowd. It was our 131st collection and it turned out great. Here is a shot of the cover of the resulting dual CD collection.

And for the curious, here are the songs that made the collection. These are images from the detail material provided with each collection. The initials in parentheses indicate the track selector.

Ah, life is good. Good music, good food and great friends, once again. Here are shots of a few of the merry makers. As you can see, the official color for the evening was red. First up our host for the evening Pat Rouan, in a private moment of reflection (he thought) wondering how this happened to him again.

Here Laura Forest, Nancy and Jim Wyatt (our master CD creator) are commenting on what a swell song selection I have just made.

In this shot Deandra Reinhart is providing my daughter Christine (data entry specialist for the Music Night database) with the necessary information about her next selection. The database drives a number of reports that support the elaborate Music Night technical operation.

Here hostess Linda Mathews is gently explaining to my daughter Cathy and Robyn Mullinger that they are sort of, well, out of uniform. It being the holidays, no fines were levied.

 

In this shot I am demonstrating for Jim and Joe Villeneuve the proper technique for plopping ice into a Manhattan glass to get just the right clinkling sound. Takes years of practice. They were appreciative.

Of course, I can't forget Quinton Anderson, official event photographer and leader of our CD packaging team. Here he is hard at it. Not sure what I'm looking at in the background. Maybe I was hearing hooves on the roof.

Another family tradition for the last several years has been attending the Christmas concert of the Grosse Pointe Community Chorus, of which daughter Christine is a member.  This year the concert was again held at the First English Lutheran Church just down the street from our house. Christine is the one in black.

A tradition to which Ian was introduced this year is shown below - the pre-Christmas chat with Santa. Ian's Grandma Kit arranged the visit at the Laurel Park Mall. To quote Richard Blaine as he walked off the tarmac at the end of the movie Casablanca, "This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

At last the big day was nigh. With the family now having three households within just a few miles, we spread our celebration across a couple of venues. Christmas Eve unfolded at Christine's condo. I dressed for the occasion in my Mickey Santa sweatshirt and my new Tigers Christmas hat. Judging from my expression, the holiday libations were well underway.

Cathy, Matt and Ian were there. Here Ian is in his new Christmas outfit enjoying a bedtime story with mom and dad (at Ian's age and growth rate, new outfits are a regular thing).  Hostess Christine, still very much young at heart, seems very engrossed in the story as well.

For Christmas morning, the family headed over to Cathy and Matt's. Here is a pic of the exciting calm before the storm.

The usual festival ensued of family members hurriedly opening gifts and emptying stockings while exclaiming surprise and appreciation amidst a growing sea of cardboard, snipped plastic and crinkled wrapping paper. It was grand. The highlight of course was watching Ian trying to figure out just what was going on but realizing very clearly that it was fun. Here he is with his new towing sled. His expression seems to say, "I'm pretty sure this is mine and it's cool, but what the heck is it?" I have that feeling all the time, usually in a thrift store.

The pace of the morning eventually slowed down (mainly after Ian had opened all of his gifts). Of course Ian picked up right away that he could continue the merriment of ripping wrapping paper off boxes (which seemed to be the most fun for him) by "assisting" others. Here he is giving dad Matt a hand with a few items.

Later in the day, the Ann Arbor LeRoys made it over to join in the fun and have Christmas dinner.  From left to right around the table we have Nancy, Nancy's brother David, his bride Barbara, our daughter Christine, yours truly, host Matt, cousin Brian, Ian, hostess Cathy and cousin Matt. Dinner was grand, as was the company.

After dinner, we lounged in the semi-organized rubble of gifts, wrapping materials, Ian toys and people. We caught up on the goings on of the various factions of the family, and enjoyed an early nightcap or two. These holiday gatherings of the family have been going on for decades in much the same fashion. But, like with most families I would assume, they never get old. It's always fun, a bit enlightening and very satisfying to be in touch and up to date with those with whom you share so much history.

As is our way, the day after Christmas Nancy and I loaded up the car and headed to Florida to visit my mother and take a little R&R. We closed out 2017, a year of mixed emotions and significant family events, with a quiet New Years Eve in Zephyrhills and a few toasts to a hopefully bright 2018.
________________________________________

This ends my review of our family's adventures in 2017. A little behind the desired schedule but much better than my review of 2016, which I didn't finish until last December. So now on to new blog topics and perhaps some visits to the families deep past in upcoming posts. I'm finally getting around to scanning our over 8000 slides, some of which date back to the 40s. Should be fun.

2017 Part 7 - November

This is the seventh post in my pictorial review of 2017 family activities. As I compose it I'm back in Florida busy making memories for my 2018 review. But first things first. 

November

After the busy and somewhat emotional months of September and October, Nancy and I settled in for more typical family life. There were some standard parenting activities, like sitting the grandson while his parents went off to a college football game (not sure where, but there was mention of a "big house"). We were assisted by Flat Stanley, a fellow you met in my previous post.

There was also chaperoning the family puppy by the fire, shown here in her "what, me worry" position.

Between fireplace sessions, we saw a lot of this. I call this her "woe is me" pose. You'd think she was a short-haired pooch from the tropics, trying to thaw out, rather than the hardy Buckeye forest creature she claims to be.

There were Dad home improvement chores at Christine's new condo. Like installing drapes.

And sorting out living room storage and decoration.

Finally, there were some long distance grandparenting tasks. This is where the whole Flat Stanley thing came to a head. In addition to hosting Stanley and taking him around the neighborhood and to high-brow social events, we had to write up a brief narrative of his adventures for Austin grandson Cyrus to present to his class. Always on the lookout for our next "grandparents of the year" award, Nancy took to her word processor. Here is our final product, submitted for review by a classroom of seven year olds. I hope we got an A.

Capping this fortnight of harrowing parenting and grandparenting duties was a classic 70th birthday dinner of pizza and salad, celebrated at Cathy and Matt's. This was an homage to our family habit of ordering pizza and salad for dinner just about every Friday night during the heyday of our "everybody's-working-or-in-school-and-dad's-wearing-a-tie-everyday" period (the late 80s and early 90s). Both the dinner and the memories were delicious.

Toward the end of the month, we starting prepping for winter. We don't have to do much at home these days. Rake the leaves to the curb where they magically disappear a couple of times a week (thanks to the city's mobile leaf vacuum) and store a couple of pieces of yard furniture in the garage/shed. We also convert our deck table to this sort of alien encounter thing. It took years of experimentation to arrive at an effective method of protecting our summer comfort spot from the rigors of winter, without having to lug it across the deck and drive into the garage. I just hope we don't come down for coffee some morning and catch it - running lights a-blinking - lifting off E.T. style. So far, so good.

Preparing the cottage for winter is another matter. But before we go there, I'd like to report on yet another brief episode with our close friends, Detroit Edison. You member this from May, right?

And this from August?

Those pics are from the nasty gas line explosion in front of our house and the eventual final cleanup activity. Well, just before Thanksgiving look who was back in front of our house.

This time it was less dramatic, but even more interesting. While minding our own business, relaxing after chores one day, the power went out. There was no storm, but it was a little windy. After a brief examination of the power pole in our backyard, we located this.

That is a picture of the transformer on our pole. Note the funny blue thing? Turns out that is part of one of those metallic party balloons. The ones full of helium that often end up escaping and floating to parts unknown. It was another part of that balloon that had niftily wedged itself between two exposed terminals on the transformer and shorted out the line to our house. Who'd a thunk?

So, another one of our buddies from DTE had to do this.

To their credit, the power company responded promptly (I think we're on their watch list) and restored power within a couple of hours of being called. Here is a shot of what was left of the troublesome part of the balloon.

So for your next party balloon event, I recommend the old rubber blow up kind.

Our Thanksgiving this year was a tidy threesome as the Kuhlmans were celebrating with the other branch of the family. So we adjusted. Here is our mini-turkey (easy on the carver).

Our mini but elegant table setting.

And the distinguished attendees.

This approach was also easy on the cleanup crew, of which I am a key player. So it all worked out, complete with our annual viewing of the parades and a screening of Miracle on 34th Street.

With the holiday in the rear view mirror, it was time to return to the cottage phase of winter prep which is somewhat more onerous as there is no curbside pickup of leaves. Actually, come to think about it, there's no curb. Hmmm.

In the past, I had been fairly successful in easing the pain of leaf work at Wiser Times by redefining it as a party activity and inviting friends to participate. You may remember an earlier post Leaf Burning in which I described this clever scenario. But last year, cosmic forces finally put me in my place.

Global warming has been creeping up on Wiser Times over the last few years. One effect has been that the leaves from my stand of ornery oaks have been falling later and later. By Veterans Day weekend last November - our customary leaf burning time - only about a quarter of the potential workload had cooperated. So reluctantly, we cancelled the party. Bummer.

Even by Thanksgiving there was still a healthy percentage of those stubborn little critters clinging desperately to their hosts. But we were running out of time and decent weather for outdoor chores at the lake. So on Black Friday we headed north, zigzagging our way around shopping malls beset by hordes of frenzied shoppers, to do battle with nature.

Assisted by daughter Christine, Nancy and I started with the traditional raking and burning of those leaves that had succumbed to the finally chilly weather. Here's a shot of me policing the arboreal funeral pyre.

And one of Christine rounding up another batch of victims.

Here are a few more pics of the problem. Those little devils were hiding out everywhere.

The battle raged on for hours. Though we were outnumbered, we were committed.

Eventually we prevailed, though we knew it was only the first half. In the spring we'll have to deal with those stinkers that watched this engagement from a death grip high above the fray.

Once the leaves were dealt with, there remained only the ceremonial buttoning up of the cottage grounds. As the house is year-round with heavy insulation and two furnaces, there is little to do inside. But there are a few precautions we take outside, to protect against the snow and wind of the winter months.

First we breakdown the deck furniture, stacking the tables, bench and a couple of Adirondacks at one end.

And stacking and covering the chairs, side tables and glider at the other end. Yes, the glider cover assembly does look like a distant cousin of the deck table winter configuration back at home.

Next the gazebo is relieved of furniture, all of which is lugged up to the loft over the garage (another good reason to make this a "party" weekend).

The front yard picnic table is moved from its slab to a convenient, upright resting position on the cozy north side of the cottage.

The beach toys and floaties are packed away in their respective boxes, and the firepit and beach chairs are snuggled under their canvas covers.

And finally the fleet is tucked into place in a sandy niche on the south side of the beach and cabled to the ever reliable slingshot tree.

There are also a few odds and ends, like the wind spinner, the deck umbrella, the Tigers flag and a few outdoor power strips that are gently uninstalled and carefully stored in designated spots in the garage. All in all, the entire winterizing process is about a two-hour project. Quite reasonable I would say, given the roughly 1200 to 1300 hours we spend at Wiser Times each summer.

Once done, I always enjoy taking a last stroll around the grounds to survey our little piece of paradise and make sure everything necessary has been tended to.

I start at the stepping stone path running between the back of the house and the garage. Note the wind spinner in its winter spot.

I then move down the north side of the house past the resting picnic table where, when needed for overflow guests, the big blue tent is pitched.

Then around the north corner of the deck.

 To the front yard.

Past the empty gazebo and bedded-down beach equipment.

To the start of the beach.

Then down to the beach, for a look south.

Down along the water's edge, with a look back up to the north.

Then up the south side of the beach back to the yard with a final look at the deck and cottage front.

A brief pause at the south end of the deck for a final view of the lake.

Then along the narrow path on the south side of the house to the back yard and garage.

Note that our yellow Wiser Times sign has been moved from its summer position on the mailbox post.

To its winter position at the southwest corner of the house.

The placement of our sign (a retirement present from my kids) at this location - safe from terrorizing snow plows - signifies the end of the Wiser Times winter prep. The last act in another great season for our family and friends on our favorite Great Lake. Can't wait for the next one.

With the work done and the final inspection complete, Nancy, Christine and I packed up and headed back home for the holidays. And that's where we'll pick things up in my next and final 2017 review post.

Grosse Pointe Charles