NFTL - RDate 139.1

It's been over a year of Memory Lane posts since I last stopped to reflect on the present, and recent changes in life at 651 Vernier. The biggest change of course is that we are now three. My mother Dolores has escaped from the hurricane belt and taken up residence in our cozy abode, just in time for winter. It all happened pretty quickly at the end of October. To summarize, there were three steps.

One, we rented the customary equipment.

Two, we had happy hour on the road. Somewhere in northern Georgia I believe.

And three, we had happy hour at 651 Vernier. Voila! It was done.

Well, that might be a little understated. Actually, there were a few more steps. But that story is best told up close and personal, with fluids. 

There have been other developments in the recent past, of course. So here are a few Notes from the Lab to catch up and get the blog year started. 

Chores (7/29/12, Last Update 5/13/20): In my last update on this subject I lamented the loss of our beloved house cleaners due to the COVID lockdown. I'm happy to report that the cleaners are back and have been for awhile. When they returned I was so relieved to be rid of my dusting ordeal that ever since I've been on the lookout for other ways to reduce my totally unimpressive chore load.

An opportunity arose a couple of months ago when our leaf cleanup team appeared (got rid of that chore three years ago). As the leaf team was wrapping up, I limped into my Bride's office grimacing sufficiently and complaining of sore joints. Poor baby. With a barely discernable whimper I suggested that it might be time to think about lawn mowing services. Being the thoughtful caregiver that she is, Nancy caught the boys before they were able to leave the yard. A deal was struck. They start in the spring.

Now if I can only find someone willing to stop over once a week and pick up the steady stream of twigs and small limbs that my aging maple trees regularly deposit in my backyard. Any takers? There could be a free mower in it for you.  

Up North (8/15/12, Last Update 9/29/21): Things have been hopping up at Wiser Times. Just a few months ago a number of old friends came north looking for a second life. Some were from Avon Rae cottage in Ontario, the former LeRoy family summer home. They were displaced when Avon Rae was prepared for sale, so Nancy and I made the trip to the old cottage to rescue who we could. In this next shot these homeless Canadians have just clamored aboard the last vessel departing for the new world. 

You can tell from the disarray that the trip was "festival seating". The kayaks bullied their way to the best spots. The gray wooden box in the foreground has achieved heirloom status in the family and had to be preserved. It was cobbled together by Nancy's father Rae years ago to serve as overflow storage for liquor. In a delightful windfall we found an unopened bottle of Wiser's still tucked away in the box. 

This next shot was taken as we approached the border, always exciting.

Several of the travelers were worried as they had no ID, but we sailed through without incident (the Wiser's was hiding in the bow of a kayak). 

Finally safe in America, the Canadians joined other refugees that had been displaced from their homes in Florida and GPW due to my mother's relocation. Already boarding temporarily in our garage, the Floridians and Michiganders welcomed the Canadians with open...arms? All were awaiting new assignments. It was sort of an Ellis Island moment.

A couple of weeks after this photo we rented a truck for the third time in little over a month, loaded everything up, and quietly journeyed up I-75, M-13 and US 23 to Wiser Times. Everyone cooperated. No trouble with the authorities.  

In addition to providing sanctuary for this trove of family treasures, Wiser Times added a couple of new amenities last year. In the spring, a basketball hoop. We'd been talking about this purchase ever since we put in the garage slab several years ago. The problem we wrestled with was whether to hang the hoop on the garage or get one on a pole. 

The garage option had the advantage of low maintenance. It would never have to be moved or stowed for winter. But it would have meant drilling holes in the garage siding, hoisting up and installing that puppy while on a ladder, and playing on a half-court longer than it was wide. If you know of my checkered past with power tools and ladders you no doubt can see the other problem with this option. So after much debate, safety overcame facility and we opted for this free-standing beauty. 

We like the features - adjustable height, pass trainer (the round target thing) and water-filled base. But our new super-toy will require annual installation and fall storage out of those fierce winter winds off the lake. Eh...you can't have everything.  

Assembly was a little tricky, but we managed with engineering and muscle help from son-in-law Matt. Here's a shot of a key moment - inserting the pole with the attached backboard and hoop into the support structure. 

Not unlike that moment in the Ten Commandments when Moses raises Sethi's big honkin' obelisk into place. But without the ropes and push-pull men.

It was all worth it. The hoop was a huge success over the summer becoming one of the most popular toys in a house filled with toys. Some action shots.

Lena loved practicing her dribbling. But at this stage hadn't quite figured out how to put the basket into her game. Ian on the other hand, no problem.

Our other new purchase was a space-age plastic shed for storing our inventory of beach chairs and umbrellas. This item was also long overdue. For years I had experimented with various methods of securing our beach furniture over the winter. This included toting everything back to the garage (too much work), covering everything with an assortment of covers (they always blew off) and stacking things on the leeward side of the house (the snow and rain took their toll anyway). Fortunately, the lake intervened.

A few years ago a section of wooden dock washed up on the beach. It was about eight feet long and three feet wide, consisting of cross pieces mounted on three runners. It was waterlogged of course and very heavy. Somehow son-in-law Matt and I managed to drag it up on the beach and prop it up on timbers and concrete blocks (items that had washed up out of the lake in previous years). Eventually, the dock section dried out and became a little easier to move. For the last couple of years I used it for summer storage of our kayak fleet.

Then, one late afternoon last summer, while lazing in an Adirondack communing with Lake Huron, it struck me. That dock section was just about the right size to support a shed for my mistreated beach furniture. Before you could say chaise lounge the plan was hatched. From my Adirondack I Amazon-ed an appropriate shed and scheduled it for arrival at the cottage just before company was due to arrive. No flies on Chico.

The rest is an oft-replicated story. Tool-challenged host needs something repaired or installed. Host invites generous and caring guests who understand host's limitations. Guests arrive. Through casual conversation (happy hour?) guests learn of the host's dilemma and quickly surmise he's over his head. Guests pretty much take it from there. I've found this dynamic is equally effective at home and the cottage. Here are some pics from the shed caper, starring the crew chief Deandra and her underpaid technicians Jeff, Jim and Miranda.

Supervisory intervention?

Tab A into Slot B.

Are we done yet?

It's a shed!

Happy beach chairs.

Another productive day entertaining guests. I was wiped. 

The Purge (8/30/12, Last Update  5/15/14): Some of you may be wondering just how were we able to incorporate the new possessions described in the last section into our already pretty full households. The short answer is - with difficulty. While the bulk of items from Avon Rae were eventually delivered to Wiser Times, just about everything brought from Mom's home in Zephyrhills took up residence at 651 Vernier.

The cottage delivery was pretty easy. It was off season, so most everything was summarily dumped in the garage for later sorting and placement. The only exceptions were two easy chair upgrades, one from Florida and one from GPW. We made room for them in the house by donating the two chairs being replaced. But it will be a busy spring at Wiser Times.

The real story was 651 Vernier. It was major. More than a purge was necessary to create a proper environment for our new roommate and her stuff. No longer needed furniture, clothing, toys, stuffed animals, exercise equipment and old TVs were donated, relocated to the lake, or "walked the concrete mile" (see original Purge post). 

Other furniture was relocated within the house. And much of our closet storage was repurposed. But it all worked out. The portion of Mom's household that made the trip north is fully integrated into our home. Including the 65" TV tucked into one corner of her combination craft room/bedroom/hideaway. I think I'm done purging for awhile.

Vans (2/14/13, Last Updated 5/15/14): In my last update on Vans I courageously informed the world that life without a full-sized conversion van was going just swell. And that we had progressed even further into a one-car family. Since then I've mentioned a time or two that the one-car thing has continued to work, with only the most infrequent of minor inconveniences. 

This summer during an extended happy hour on our drink patio, we realized just how much responsibility our one-car protocol puts on, well, our one car. It must be ready at a moment's notice to power up for an emergency trip to Taco Bell, a thrift store or heaven forbid the liquor store. It must also be willing to transport all manner of provisions, equipment, critters and medical supplies back and forth to our northern retreat in Greenbush. All the while providing we the customers with the comfort and convenience we need and deserve as senior citizens.

And then there are those multi-week sojourns up and down the country when we virtually live on the road, toting a vast array of leisure garments, sporting equipment, board games and survival snack foods. Our baby has been from coast to coast and top to bottom of the good old USA. So, we felt it was time for a little recognition for our beloved Buick Enclave ST with the special Buick logo on the grill (that's even cooler than a compass in the stock).

The Buick already sports our family license plate of 25 years - TRPSRUS - interpreted as either "trips are us" or the "trip-a-saurus", depending on your age bracket. You would think that would be honor enough for any motor vehicle. 

But because of our car's faithful service, and the amenities we've added to make sure we have a good time while on the road - hot and cold snack bags, after-market CD player, Manhattan kit (trips over 300 miles), travel Farkel, we even carry a casserole dish - we have renamed the Buick the "Party Boat". Here's a pic taken right after the installation.

The plate actually says "Chuck and Nancy's Party Boat". Eat your heart out, Elon.

Home Ownership (9/27/19, First Update Since the three post series): In the interest of full disclosure, there was another reason we were able to accommodate my mother's world into ours so easily. We have spent the last 18 months or so updating the infrastructure of our home. Majorly.

In my earlier posts on home ownership I focused on the if not constant at least semi-regular need to fix things. Things that break or wear out with use. Things that fall victim to that greatest of homeowner nemeses - water. Most of the stories I've told in the past had to do with our cottage. New deck, new windows, new siding, new roof. Some reconstruction of flooring and interior walls. You know. Same ole, same ole.

But all the while we were restoring our little piece of paradise up north, we were ignoring some long overdue upkeep at home in GPW. So in early 2022 we decided to face the music. And as these things go one thing led to another. We started with windows. Most of our windows were from the original construction of the house in 1952. The "newer" windows were installed in 1969 when the family room addition was built. All were pretty tired and had to be replaced.

We then moved to the heating and cooling systems. With new windows it made good sense to replace our 70 year old 55% efficient gas furnace (main part of the house) and our 70% efficient hot water heat system (the 1969 addition). And while we were at it, why not toss out the hot water heater and go tankless for all our hot water needs? So we did. I had never seen a "tankless-combo" before. It looks like either an op art sculpture or the control room of Captain Nemo's Nautilus. Take a look.

The furnace replacements resulted in about 240 additional cubic feet available for storage in our basement. That gave us the wiggle room to work with when the Mom thing happened. 

You would think all this hullabaloo would be enough to make us feel safe and secure from the ravages of harsh weather and the inconvenience of potential system failures. But no. There was one more thing we felt we needed. So we added one of these to the pile.

Our belief now is that our power will never go out again. And we made sure that there's still room on the patio for our picnic canopy. 

I See You in the ICU (4/14/21), First Update): I never thought I'd write an update to this post. It tells the story of a hard bump on the head I received from a fall off a two-step ladder. I was cleared of any serious injury but not until after a wild ride in an ambulance, several hours in the ER and a night in the ICU. But, it turns out I do have an update.

Last July 4th weekend Nancy and I were enjoying a visit with all the kids at Wiser Times. Nancy thought she'd crawl into our hammock for a little rest. As she laid back into this recently refurbed family favorite, we heard a crack. Followed immediately by a loud "bonk". The crack was the 4x4 hammock post snapping off at ground level. The bonk was the falling post whacking my beloved squarely in the forehead. Hard. Nancy and the post went down in a heap.

After a few seconds, we realized what had happened and began to process the situation. Nancy was stunned but conscious. She was also bleeding. A lot. It was she who actually took charge, shaking us out of our fog. We applied a compress to her head which greatly reduced the bleeding. And after a couple of minutes of trying to figure out how to get her to the car, it became obvious that an ambulance was needed.

While we waited for the ambulance, I stood by the road on the phone with the 911 dispatcher. She kept assuring me the EMTs would be there any second. It took about 20 minutes from call to arrival. The other family members stayed with the victim who remained conscious and calm throughout the whole episode.

Suffice it to say that the ambulance arrived, the volunteer crew (including a township employee at home just down the road) proficiently eased Nancy onto a gurney, up our driveway and into the ambulance. They sped off to the hospital in Tawas 25 miles away (no siren much to Nancy's disappointment; she wanted the full treatment). I put on some street pants and followed the ambulance in my car.

By the time I got through the administrative barriers at the hospital and back to Nancy, she had been triaged, X-rayed and was about to be stitched up. The gash in her forehead was deep, but it was a clean split rather than a tear. The stitching went smoothly. After some after-care instructions and a little more administration, she was released. We returned to the cottage to update the family and make the patient as comfortable as possible. 

Since the "incident" a number of things have happened. Nancy's wound has healed nicely, fading to a faint line of character, if noticed at all. She has balance issues every once in a while due to some inner ear crystals that were rearranged during the blow. But she says they're fading with the passage of time and the benefit of periodic head-turning exercises. She has no problems with her vision or hearing or physical activity.

The broken hammock post hasn't fared as well. The part that I could get my hands on met a fiery death. The part still in the ground will face a similar fate once I can induce a couple of my "generous and caring" friends to help me dig it out. There's also been a rule change at the lake about wooden hammock posts. Taboo. I now have a nice steel pole hammock frame in a box in the cottage garage. The frame involves no posts in the ground and can be relocated around the yard easily. I'm just waiting for a warm spring day (and guests) to assemble it. 

I have my Bride's permission to share the following images regarding her ordeal. First the scene of the crime, taken by the volunteer Oscoda CSI unit. 

Here we have the patient resting comfortably in her ER bed waiting to have her wound stitched up. Not the happiest of moments, but she hung in like the trooper she is. And the doctor did a beautiful job,

As proof here's a shot from later in the year of Nancy frolicking with her grandchildren. Head as good as new. Although it looks like Ian is beginning an adventure of his own.

On this note, I'll close. To my readers, thanks for checking in. I feel all caught up now and ready to return to Memory Lane. See you in 1986.

--Grosse Pointe Charles

Memory Lane - From Mary Edna to Merry Christmas (August to December 1985)

In my last post I reported that Cathy spent much of her first month in the family learning how to vacation. If you've followed this blog for any length of time, you know how important those lessons would be to her coming childhood. But it was soon time to move on as a major event in our extended family was about to take place. The celebration of Mary Edna McKellar's 100th birthday in London, Ontario. Mary Edna, better known as Nana, was Nancy's maternal grandmother.

Though at that time I had only been in the LeRoy-McKellar family for a little over five years, my mind was already repleat with Nana stories. Stories I had heard from Nancy and her cousins, like the all-day outdoor church gatherings Nana favored, the loving but sometimes mercurial relationships she had with her sons-in-law Rae and Ken, and the summer retreats she treated Nancy and her cousins Lynne and Ann to at a posh resort in Southhampton. 

Then there were the stories I experienced personally. Like Nana just after meeting me announcing that she would be referring to me as Charles because "Chuck" sounded like a piece of meat. Or the time she shushed me roundly for asking how she felt about becoming a centenarian (in retrospect a shushing that was well deserved). 

There are many more stories as you may imagine, and some no doubt will appear later in this blog. But this story is about her grand day. Here are some pics. First the birthday girl in her party dress, prim and proper as always.

In this next pic a gentleman from the Bank of Montreal is paying his respects. 

The gentleman was there to recognize and honor Nana's status as both the oldest pensioner of the bank and the person who had drawn a pension from the bank for the longest time - 55 years. Nancy's grandfather John Alexander McKellar (known as J.A. in the family) passed away suddenly in 1930, when Nana was 45. She inherited his pension rights.

An interesting sidenote to the day was learning that the gentleman from the bank was currently living in the house Nana had lived in during the late '40s and early '50s. The discovery came as the two were discussing Nana's days in London.

One subject that came up during their exchange was an indelible black stain on one of the house's hardwood floors. The man from the bank was curious as to its origin. Nana was unabashed as she related the story of Nancy's brother David at age three tampering with a bottle of India ink and in the process spilling some on the floor. Efforts to remove the stain proved futile. So the stain, and now the secret of its origin, were passed on to the new owners.

As you may expect multiple generations were there to join in the festivities. Foremost were Nana's daughters, Evelyn and Marge (Nancy's mother) seen here enjoying the formal part of the program. Evelyn is reading from the many cards and letters Nana received congratulating her on her 100th birthday and wishing her well, one of which was from Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. 

In this shot with Marge you can see that despite her usually reserved disposition, Nana still enjoyed a good laugh.

Accompanying the daughters were their spouses, Evelyn's husband Ken on the left below and Nancy's father Rae.  

These two stout-hearted souls were well-regarded for their deft management of the tricky responsibilities of sons-in-law. In this department, I have a certain amount of experience. And from my observations over the years, I would say that occasionally Mary Edna was a challenge. But with charm and grace, and a measure of discretion, Ken and Rae always came through those "crises of the moment" with flying colors. I learned a lot about being an "out-law" (not in the blood line) from watching these two masters.

The next generation was also well-represented at this momentous event. Here we have my bride Nancy shown with Evelyn's daughter Lynne and Lynne's daughter Heather. 

Evelyn's other daughter Ann.

And Nancy's brother David with his bride Barbara and younger son Matthew.

Taking in this megadose of family were several members of the fourth generation. All well-behaved, as I remember. To be expected, of course, of a family with such dignified roots. Here are great granddaughters Christine and Heather in their party finery.

 And my son Ted offering his respects.

In this classic shot we have the oldest and youngest members of the family sharing a moment, 100 years apart on their individual life timelines.

Of course there was a lot of hobnobbing between and amongst generations, and generous amounts of food and drink as evinced by this casual shot of the dinner.

As always with such gatherings, group photos were in the plan. Here are a couple. The first is of the fourth generation.

In the back row from left to right are my son Ted holding Cathy, and Dave and Barb's sons Matt and Brian. In the foreground are Christine, Heather and Heather's little brother Andrew. You will continue to see these cherubic faces in future posts as I make my way through our pictures from the '80s and '90s. Because of the family's long-standing ties to Ipperwash Beach, these international second cousins shared numerous childhood experiences.

And here is a shot of the full entourage. This rare assemblage is captioned below. 

Here goes. From left to right-ish - Ann, Ted, Evelyn, Christine (next to Ted), Ken, Matt and Heather (in front), Barb, Brian, David, Tom (back row), Nana, Lynne holding Andrew (next to Nana), yours truly (behind Lynne), Rae, Marge, and Nancy holding Cathy (in front).

 

In this last shot from the day, taken as we were preparing to leave, I can just hear the five-week old Cathy thinking, "What was that all about ? Who are all those people?" 

Curiousity would eventually reveal itself as one of her defining characteristics.

Spent from the buildup to Nana's big day and the actual event, the Burk-LeRoy members of the family returned to Ipperwash for a few more days before the end of summer and the beginning of the fall routine. The kids returned to the beach.

Except the littlest one. She continued to work the puzzle of her surroundings from her usual perch. You can sorta tell she's beginning to work a few things out.

The "boys" worked in a final sail.

And the girls took their final quiet moments at the water's edge.

Having dotted all the "i"s and crossed all the "t"s of another Ipperwash summer, Nancy and I packed up our big blue Oldsmobile and headed back home to Dearborn.

As we settled into our fall routine of early rising, shuttling kids to and from child care, long hours at work and preparing the house and yard for winter, our poor little camera spent most of its time in its case. We did dust it off on the usual occasions to document family events. Here are a few pics.

Halloween really couldn't pass without a shot of the kid's costumes. Here's Christine in her new pumpkin outfit. From the expression on her face, it looks like she's thinking "Really?" 

We spared no expense (literally no expense) to dress Cathy up as a baby in a car seat. Despite our efforts, she was totally bored. More like, zonked out. As a result she wasn't much help passing out candy to trick-or-treaters.

         

In November we spent a relaxing weekend with my parents Wendell and Dolores in Linwood. We found them in good spirits and looking forward to spending time with their grandchildren. 

The puppy on my Dad's arm was named BB (short for Black Beauty). At least I think it was BB. They had two little black dogs around that time. This could be Sammy.

The kids were happy to see their grandparents and to play with those special toys my parents kept for them.  

One of those old toys was this castle set that served for 20-plus years of visits.

Back home for Thanksgiving we celebrated in the usual way. Gluttony, capped off with even more gluttony later that evening. Here's a shot of the star of the show, in the midst of that dreaded ritual known as carving. Noteworthy that this is the first turkey Cathy ever met. 

And a picture of Cathy after the gluttony, reacting pretty much as the rest of us usually did. Too much treptophan can be a wonderful thing. 

Rounding out the year and this post was Christmas, with the usual and always uplifting activities. Like Christine's first Christmas morning with a baby sister, and Cathy's first Christmas morning - period. Some pretty wide eyes there.

Christine was thrilled with a fancy new party dress, bespeaking her refined ancestry (remember Nana?).

Cathy was again just trying to figure it all out. Hoping she wouldn't fall out of her chair.

Later in the day, we headed over to Dave and Barb's home in Ann Arbor for our traditional family gathering. Here's a shot of the McKellar girls in their finery.

And a shot after cocktails and dinner, of happy people piling on the sofa with Grandpa LeRoy. It was a fun ending to a fine day. And our last photo of 1985.

Except for these two rare pics I stumbled onto some time later. While we were celebrating in Michigan that year, my parents had journeyed to Florida to spend the holidays with my grandmother Katy in Tampa. In the '80s and 90's before my parents relocated to Florida, they would visit my grandmother several times a year to check up on her and enjoy the warm weather. 

Part of that holiday visit in '85 apparently included a New Year's Eve party. These pics appear to be in my grandmother's home. This first one is of my parents, Wendell and Dolores.

This second pick is of my mother and grandmother toasting in the new year. At 81, my grandmother was a happy, hardy and generous soul. She continued to celebrate New Year's Eves for another 18 years. 

That about does it for 1985. When next I return to Memory Lane, we'll see what 1986 had in store for the Burk family. Until then.

Grosse Pointe Charles