tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56722432012-02-16T19:28:48.876-05:00The adventures of Howard as a retiree.howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.comBlogger8001100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-2216027801747602162012-02-09T11:26:00.001-05:002012-02-09T11:26:55.896-05:00

On the health front,  I am feeling better days and I am pretty much back to normal.  Phyllis is doing some better, but still has a ways to go.  She is able to get out and do a few things, but she tires very easily. I’ve been doing a lot of mall walking lately.  It gets me some exercise and helps burn off some energy.  I prefer it to going to the health center.  Seems like I’m going more days

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-18945294427359473072012-02-01T17:50:00.001-05:002012-02-01T17:50:08.764-05:00

Phyllis and I have been pretty sick for the last week or so.  We both have some kind of reparatory bug that has been hanging on for a while.  We both saw our doctors.  I started feeling noticeably better yesterday, though I am not really well yet.  Phyllis is still ailing. So needless to say other that that, there isn’t a whole lot to report. We did decide to get out of the house today.  We

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-34967955323649170432012-01-18T23:55:00.001-05:002012-01-18T23:55:52.081-05:00

The main news around here is that Phyllis developed a nasty case of bronchitis.  She has been ill for about a week.  Nasty cough, fever, and just feeling bad all over.  She saw a doctor, and has been on medication.  She showed a little sign of improvement today.  She wanted to go out to eat for the first time since she got ill. Phyllis’s eye symptoms seem to improving a little.  This is good

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-78438419850674155212012-01-08T11:29:00.002-05:002012-01-08T12:10:56.594-05:00

New Years Eve day Morris and Rychee were back in town. As our gift they took Phyllis, Shannon, and I to see Wicked at the Opera House in Detroit. Everyone enjoyed the play. Afterwards we went to Morris’s house for a fish taco dinner that just couldn’t be beat. It was nice having the whole family together. Shannon went back to Brooklyn on New Years Day. We enjoyed having her in town for the

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-35519258236066424282011-12-31T08:59:00.001-05:002011-12-31T08:59:39.717-05:00

I’d like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy New Year, and a joyous whatever other holidays you may celebrate this time of year. We made it through Christmas okay.  Shannon came to town, and spent a couple of days with us.  Christmas Eve we ate middle eastern food.  Christmas morning we exchanged presents.  Everyone had something different for breakfast.  In the afternoon we

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-21758074928729776272011-12-22T09:04:00.001-05:002011-12-22T09:04:45.029-05:00

We are typically don’t do a lot of social things.  However, tis the season to be jolly, and we’ve done more of that sort of thing than usual. Saturday we were invited to a benefit for Grace Centers of Hope.  Grace Centers of Hope is an organization for the homeless.  The main entertainer was Alexander Zonjic, a jazz flutist who we’ve seen and enjoyed many times.  Members of the Grace Centers of

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-77593261579951096512011-12-14T21:48:00.001-05:002011-12-14T21:48:58.916-05:00

I’m feeling better these days.  My cold is gone and my asthma is clearing up. I’m still kind of jumpy from the medication they have me on, but I only have a couple more days of that. I’m not sleeping well though.  Hopefully things will return to normal after I’m done with my medication.   Some nights up to 4am or 6am before I fall asleep. Since retiring,  watching the Regis and Kelly show was

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-69164432017586841662011-12-09T14:38:00.001-05:002011-12-09T14:38:09.297-05:00

It hasn’t been an easy week. Last Wednesday I went to the retirees lunch, the health center, and the computer club.  All was well at the retirees lunch.  A lady at the health center complained about having a terrible cold. Thursday morning I woke up with a sore throat.  Seems like the rest of the day was kind of normal.  We went to the guitar club and the coffee house at the beanery afterwards.

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-18457552048778181332011-11-25T10:08:00.001-05:002011-11-25T10:08:24.469-05:00

I hope all my readers had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. Last Saturday Phyllis and I went to the Thanksgiving parade downtown Royal Oak.  The weather wasn’t particularly good, but we dressed for it.  I had never been to this parade before.  I was expecting the typical small town parade with a lot of politicians, scout groups, and a couple of bands. This parade was a major cut above that.  They had

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-19637840457462418612011-11-18T20:57:00.002-05:002011-11-18T21:04:45.625-05:00

Seems like we’ve done a lot of music stuff lately. Friday night we went to see the Reverend Robert Jones at the Living Room in Pontiac. He is a lowland blues singer who has been around this area for a long time. However, we haven’t seen him in many years. When he came on, you got the sense you were listening to the real thing. He put on a great show, and we really enjoyed him. Another one

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-31145950925784402011-11-08T12:29:00.001-05:002011-11-08T12:29:52.358-05:00

The weather around here has been better than average for November, but not nice enough that I want to spend much time of doors. We went to the see the movie Moneyball.  It was okay, but nowhere as good as the reviews indicated.  I found it disappointing. I’ve been going to the rehab clinic to get exercise.  I don’t enjoy it, but then I’m not getting any other exercise.  I wish I liked it better

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-11791163797336774332011-10-28T07:56:00.001-04:002011-10-28T07:56:29.270-04:00

The weather here has been pretty seasonal.  It’s been too cold to want to spend much time outdoors.  There’s been very little sunshine, and we’ve had occasional rain. We’ve had a lot of music related activities. Saturday we went to Mama’s Coffee House where we saw Lou and Peter Barryman perform.  I had never seen or heard of them before.  They were an older couple who did mostly humorous

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-27661441828569631852011-10-19T20:35:00.001-04:002011-10-19T20:35:43.901-04:00

Remember in my last post how I liked the unseasonably good weather.  We are now having seasonably crappy weather.  It is cold and rainy, and the rain is supposed to continue for about three days.  The cold is supposed to continue for six months. Still, there are stories to tell. Thursday we went to see the play “Wit” at the local community theater.  We had free tickets.  From the title one

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-61552281541128453032011-10-13T08:31:00.001-04:002011-10-13T08:31:24.804-04:00

The past week or so, until yesterday, the weather here has been gorgeous.  In my mind, it has been the best weather of the year with plenty of sunshine, temperatures in the 70’s, and the fall colors starting to come in.  I’ve been trying to take advantage of it, getting out some every day. I went to a senior fair last week.  It was the type of thing where they had a lot of health care and

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-84827428274205001252011-10-02T07:51:00.001-04:002011-10-02T07:56:34.171-04:00

It’s been a fairly eventful week or so. We had some nice enough weather since my last post.  I rode my bike to the zoo and walked around.  The animals were not very active.  There was a baby chimp there that was very cute.  I felt particularly strong on my bike, probably because I put air in the tires. Phyllis and I went to Cranbrook on a gray day, but the place was still beautiful.  Phyllis

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-13049371984832231662011-09-20T11:04:00.001-04:002011-09-20T11:04:20.247-04:00

I’ve been a little under the weather lately, so we haven’t been doing a whole lot.  My asthma was acting up, which was a bit limiting.  I saw my doctor who put me on a course of steroids. The steroids clear up the asthma, as they usually do.  They have an unfortunate side effect of making me edgy.  One night I didn’t get to sleep at all.  I’ve been a touch short tempered.  I took my last dose

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-28996065704631670122011-09-07T12:50:00.001-04:002011-09-07T13:11:19.315-04:00

On Labor Day Weekend, there is a lot to do in this area.  Starting next weekend, pickings will be much slimmer. Friday was just to hot to do much.  Phyllis and I walked through a couple of music stores.  I saw a 12 string guitar I liked at a good price, but I thought, “What would I do with another guitar?”.  I let it go by. Saturday we went to the Thumbfest in Lexington, which is about 80 miles

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-24161250288723219642011-08-29T13:34:00.001-04:002011-08-29T13:34:24.337-04:00

Thursday we went to what is likely our last Concert in the park for the summer.  It was a country and western band that was performing.  The concert was at a county park, and was not well publicized. There were only about a dozen people watching it.  They had a large inflatable slide there that the kids seemed to like a lot.  It was getting a lot more attention than the concert.  We stayed close

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-89251134902186264392011-08-23T12:05:00.001-04:002011-08-23T12:05:33.107-04:00

This post has mostly bad news in it. Rychee’s grandmother Rose Hanes passed away Sunday.  She’d fallen and broke her leg last week.  They performed surgery, and she never really recovered from that.  I had only met her a few times, and did not know her well.  Still, my heart goes out to her family.  Rose was 89 years old. Saturday was the Woodward Dream Cruise.  I did not go this year.  Around

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-54408917475911176842011-08-12T12:05:00.001-04:002011-08-12T12:05:06.573-04:00

There hasn’t been a lot going on around here lately, but there is still stuff to report. I am still going to cardiac rehab three times a week.  I have two weeks to go. I’ve been to a couple of doctors appointments.  It appears that things are doing well enough. We went to the guitar club last week.  I brought my new ukulele and showed off some stuff on it.  I also brought the guitar. Last

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-1130292772009868402011-08-03T18:31:00.001-04:002011-08-03T18:31:26.929-04:00

All is basically well. We have not caught a concert in the park for a while.  However, we did go to see a concert at the Ferndale library.  It featured a flutist from the Detroit Symphony and a classical guitar player.  They played of course played classical music, and I really enjoyed it. I went to the retirees lunch last week.  It was nice enough.  The good news was that there wasn’t any bad

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-12833387515716492662011-07-23T15:32:00.002-04:002011-07-23T15:41:18.711-04:00

We’ve had a lot of hot weather lately. It has been over a ninety for the last week or so. This has limited a lot of our normal summer activity, such as bike rides, Cranbrook, the Zoo, and concerts in the park. But we’ve been busy enough anyway. The big news this week is that our daughter Shannon is in town. She’s been staying with us instead of Morris this time, largely I think because we

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-47635907391463863612011-07-07T11:36:00.001-04:002011-07-07T11:36:38.920-04:00

  We went up to Cranbrook last week.  It was our first trip there since before my surgery.  It is a somewhat magical place for us.  We just walk around the grounds and take pictures, but I always get into the serene rhythm of the place. We ran into an old coworker of mine, Ed Price.  Ed was there as part of an event he was attending.  Even though he lives in the area, he had never been to

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-40511239069392101812011-07-01T10:21:00.001-04:002011-07-01T10:21:54.720-04:00

I’m feeling some better these days.  I still sleep a lot, but otherwise I’m doing okay. Last weekend we were looking for something to do.  We went to the art fair in Lathrup Village.  As art fairs go, it was sub par.  They also had some entertainment there.  It was nothing special, but as outing go it was all right. We went to the farmers market in Birmingham.  I am not a fan of farmer’s market

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-70018911756656172012011-06-20T10:48:00.001-04:002011-06-20T10:48:21.214-04:00

Yesterday was Father’s Day, so I hope all the Dads out there had a nice enough day.  I know I did. In the morning Phyllis and I went on a brief bike ride.  The weather was nice all day.  In the afternoon we went to Morris’s for a Father’s Day barbeque.  Rychee’s parents were there as well.  Morris really outdid himself.  Every thing we had was just excellent. Yesterday was also Shannon’s

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-90770428165122501292011-06-06T16:19:00.001-04:002011-06-06T16:19:05.543-04:00

Early last week we got together with my cousins, Jeff, Ilene and Marvin, at Mongolian Barbeque for what I hope is my last birthday celebration for this year.  Jeff and I both get birthday coupons in the email for a free lunch or dinner at Mongolian Barbeque.  For the last three years we have gone there to use our coupons, so it has become a bit of a tradition.  We had ourselves an authentic

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-29091523117491720002011-05-31T12:53:00.001-04:002011-05-31T12:53:38.738-04:00

This post is about birthday celebrations.  I am really pleased that there is no medical news to report. Thursday, the day after I got out of the hospital, we went to the Coffee Beanery in Berkley for open mike night.  Our friend Evie was celebrating her birthday there.  It felt really good to see old friends there, hear some music, and have a piece of birthday cake. Saturday Morris asked us

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-25175168031344398942011-05-26T17:15:00.001-04:002011-05-26T17:15:57.956-04:00

My recent stay at Beaumont Hospital ended yesterday at 11:30am.  I went to the hospital for a post surgery checkup last Friday, where they decided I needed a minor procedure done to remove fluid from my lungs. Because I am on blood thinners, this becomes more complex.  It takes around 3 days for the blood thinners to get out of the system. Twenty minutes to perform the procedure, and another

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-34931576454306400942011-05-21T15:22:00.001-04:002011-05-21T15:22:48.738-04:00

I got home Tuesday.  While I basically felt pretty poorly, I managed to function some. Shannon came from New York on Tuesday to visit her poor old father.  I’ve enjoyed spending time with her. Friday I had an appointment with my surgeon at Beaumont Hospital.  We talked about my various ailments, including some shortness of breath.  They sent me for an x-ray.  They got the results back in a few

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-59166627688931583922011-05-18T14:18:00.001-04:002011-05-18T14:18:48.189-04:00

I’m back from my triple bypass adventure at Beaumont Hospital.  It feels good to be out of the hospital, but that doesn’t mean I feel good. I am still a bit sore.  Walking is difficult due to the graft they took out of my leg.  I have very little energy.  At least I am able to get some rest at home, which is something that was very hard to do at the hospital. My surgery was a week ago Monday. 

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-56975240636506445352011-05-07T16:44:00.001-04:002011-05-07T16:44:08.655-04:00

First of all, I would like to wish a happy Mother’s day to the Moms who may be reading this. This rest of this post is about my health, a subject I do not like talking about. Before the big wedding, I had a day when I was having some chest pain.  We went into Beaumont Hospital, where they kept me for a couple of nights.  I turned out that I did not have a heart attack, but they scheduled me for

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-52879504967309112772011-05-02T14:01:00.001-04:002011-05-02T14:01:37.288-04:00

The big wedding is over, and our out of town visitors have returned home.  Morris and Rychee were away on their honeymoon in Belize. The weather has been crumby, with a lot of rain, gray skies, and generally cool temperatures.  So we haven’t done a whole lot. We went mall walking one day.  It was okay. Saturday was a bit nicer, so we went to Cranbrook.  Cranbrook is one of our favorite outings

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-23325908975182121072011-04-26T11:25:00.001-04:002011-04-26T11:25:01.125-04:00

The big news around here is that Morris is now married to Rychee. The big wedding was on Saturday.  It took place at the polar bear exhibit at the Detroit Zoo in Royal Oak.  It was a nice wedding.  Shannon and Rychee’s twin brother Justin both read poems.  A friend of Morris’s performed the ceremony. After the ceremony the keepers at the zoo fed the polar bears, and one jumped into the water

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-52854091051714527222011-04-20T08:28:00.001-04:002011-04-20T08:28:23.178-04:00

With the upcoming nuptials of my son Morris, it came time to dust off my old 19 year old suit and take it to the cleaners.  When Phyllis went to pick it up, not only was it not clean, but there were a couple of holes in the lapel that weren’t there before. Phyllis is doing battle with the cleaners, but I needed something to wear to the wedding. I don’t have a lot of need for a suit these days,

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-22937947536234381942011-04-13T06:35:00.001-04:002011-04-13T06:35:30.903-04:00

Weather has been pretty typical for this time of year, cold and rainy, except for Sunday.  Sunday was sunny and it got up to 80. There is an old joke:  What do you do in the spring in Michigan?  The answer is if it comes on a Sunday you go on a picnic.  I decided to ride my bike to the zoo. I drug my recumbent bike out of the basement.  It seemed to be fine.  Even the tires were fully inflated.

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-60244713972321435612011-04-06T11:16:00.001-04:002011-04-06T11:16:48.273-04:00

We’ve been doing a lot of music related things lately. Wednesday I went to the monthly retiree’s lunch at the Beefcarver.  It was good going there and seeing the folks.  I’ve never been a fan of the Beefcarver, but I go to see the people.  It seemed like a lot people there have had serious physical problems.  It was my first time there since returning from Florida, and I was sorry to hear  of

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-80079457425273051022011-03-28T09:47:00.001-04:002011-03-28T09:47:58.669-04:00

Our big activity  for the weekend was the Vegfest in Novi.  This is event is a celebration of all things Vegetarian.  We typically miss because we are still in Florida. It took place at the Suburban Collection Showplace, which is about 20 miles from us out in Novi.  Saturday we headed over there.  When we got there the place was packed, but there was no Vegfest to be found.  What was going on

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-20837329054358212002011-03-26T16:53:00.001-04:002011-03-26T16:53:05.171-04:00

We are now back home in Royal Oak. We left Florida on Sunday, and make it home Wednesday morning.  It used to take us two days, but Phyllis developed a back problem that is aggravated by spending too much time in the car. On the whole the trip was long, and on the whole uneventful.  The one interesting story had to do with a visit to a quilt shop in Dry Ridge, Kentucky. Phyllis wanted to stop

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-71089673434653491442011-03-16T11:20:00.001-04:002011-03-16T11:20:03.955-04:00

We will be heading back to Michigan in a week or so.  We are starting to get things ready for the long trip back. We’ve been busy enough. I went to the track on Saturday.  It was the Tampa Bay Derby day, which is one of the races that lead to the Kentucky Derby.  They always give away a gift on derby day.  This year it was one of those reflectors you put inside your windshield on a hot day to

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-66681451441949359902011-03-07T07:45:00.001-05:002011-03-07T07:45:47.169-05:00

One thing I neglected to mention in my last post was that we went on a nature cruise.  This was a boat that left from the sponge docks in Tarpon Springs.  It was narrated by a young woman who told us about all the stuff we saw.  The weather was very nice.  We saw a lot of dolphins and stopped at small island to collect shells.  I’m not into collecting shells, but I went with the flow.  It was a

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-38032669811162364512011-03-02T09:52:00.001-05:002011-03-02T09:52:45.672-05:00

The weather continues to be beautiful here.  In addition to the usual stuff, bike rides on the Pinellas Trail, walks to the Gulf of Mexico, and Tai Chi, we’ve had some outings of note. Friday we went to the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa.  Actually, I went to the zoo.  There was a big quilt show going on across from he zoo, and I dropped Phyllis off at a big quilt show across the street from the zoo

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-27220426418075010132011-02-23T09:25:00.002-05:002011-02-23T09:31:10.723-05:00

The weather around here has been about perfect lately. The sun has been shining, the temperatures in the mid 70’s, and the winds have been light. We’ve been busy. We made our first trip to the beach at Honeymoon Island last week. This was the first day where the weather was nice enough to go to the beach. It is a beautiful place in a rustic sort of way. We mostly just walked along the beach

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-32135369214997141722011-02-15T15:27:00.001-05:002011-02-15T15:27:03.959-05:00

Happy belated Valentines Day to all.  I will cover our Valentines Day celebration later. We are pretty weather driven around here.  Last Friday Phyllis had a quilting event and needed the car.  The weather was cool and wet.  There is a museum around the corner and across the street from us called the National Armed Services & Law Enforcement Memorial Museum, or NASLEMM for short.  I’ve known

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-53874178327075330702011-02-08T12:53:00.001-05:002011-02-08T12:53:06.644-05:00

All in all, it hasn’t been much of week here, but I’m going to talk about it anyway. I made another trip to Tampa Bay Downs.  Once again I did not cash a ticket, but that didn’t stop me from having a pretty good time.  A lot of my horses came close, so there was some excitement.  I don’t bet enough to really care whether I win or lose.  It was the last really beautiful day we had, and it worked

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-60704592375501403902011-02-05T22:36:00.002-05:002011-02-07T11:31:28.839-05:00

We got the sad news this morning that our friend John Herzhaft, who preferred to be called No Sweat, passed away this morning. He was 89 years old, and would have been 90 next month. John was an amateur musician, and he loved to play his blues harmonica for anyone who would listen. When his health allowed, he would play in public several times a week. He really did play the harmonica very

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-31100670785392025972011-01-31T11:30:00.001-05:002011-01-31T11:30:21.484-05:00

The weather has been good lately, and we’ve done some snappy stuff. I went to the track on Wednesday.  There is a quilt shop near there.  I drop Phyllis off, and then go play the ponies.  I pick her up afterwards.  Once again, I did not cash a ticket.  I might be developing bad racing karma. Friday I went on my first average length bike ride since I’ve been down here.  I went up to Pop Stansell

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-44572241802987156102011-01-22T13:14:00.001-05:002011-01-22T13:14:30.959-05:00

Thursday was Phyllis’s all important 64th birthday.  We decided to celebrate by going to Winter Park for a day or so.  Winter Park is a suburb just north of Orlando, and had art galleries that Phyllis wanted to see. We actually had beautiful weather on the day of the trip.  It was sunny, and was the warmest day we’ve had thus far. Winter Park is an upscale kind of town.  The main street, Park

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-76266183627093750682011-01-17T12:34:00.001-05:002011-01-17T12:34:05.765-05:00

We’ve been doing mostly local stuff the last few days. Friday night we went to an event at a local art gallery.  I’ve been to this thing before.  The art is nice, but for me the real attraction is the free food and wine.  The food is basically appetizer type fare.  There are about a dozen artists who have studios at this place.  Some of the stuff is pretty good.  I got a small plate of food and

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-17627401599787874872011-01-12T15:24:00.001-05:002011-01-12T15:24:31.147-05:00

  Wonderland For her birthday, which is next week, Phyllis wanted to see the musical Wonderland, which is playing in Tampa.  I went to the ticket site, and found that Sundays performance was virtually sold out.  Phyllis urged me to look further, and we found two single seats a row apart.  We took them. The play is a musical version of Alice in Wonderland.  It is a big expensive Broadway

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-9574906207316190592011-01-06T08:50:00.001-05:002011-01-06T08:50:23.002-05:00

The weather has been pretty nice since my last post.  We have been riding our bikes, and getting more exercise. The city opened a new park since the New Year.  It’s main feature is a long pier that goes out into the gulf.  It is a pretty setting, and we have been their several times since it opened. We decided we were going to live a healthier lifestyle after the New Year.  So far we are

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-1387379958720440942010-12-31T07:26:00.003-05:002010-12-31T07:47:43.306-05:00

2010 started out a bit rocky, but all in all, wasn’t such a bad year for us.In January, both of the brothers in law had heart bypass surgery. My sister’s husband Fred had his first. Phyllis’s brother George had his a few weeks later. Both have basically recovered, but still have a ways to go.As is our norm we spent our winter in Florida. There were two main issues this year. First, Phyllis

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-60837068167216989362010-12-27T10:12:00.001-05:002010-12-27T10:12:29.387-05:00

We thought doing Christmas in Florida might be different than doing it in Michigan.  We were right.  Because we don’t listen to much media, we were spared a lot of the Christmas programs, advertising, and the like.  There are a lot fewer decorations down here that there are up north.  This all worked for me. Our son Morris arrived Wednesday with his future bride Rychee.  We picked up Shannon at

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-82494984165281581332010-12-20T07:53:00.001-05:002010-12-20T07:53:30.389-05:00

The nature of winter in Florida is that we are pretty weather driven.  When the weather is bad there isn’t much to do.  The weather has been pretty hit or miss, and lately it has been mostly on the miss side. But the previous weekend things were pretty nice.  We went to Heritage Village on a nice day.  Heritage Village is like a small Greenfield Village.  It has a dozen or so old homes from the

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-62791822452096692362010-12-14T08:40:00.001-05:002010-12-14T08:40:08.141-05:00

Our landlady had cable and internet service installed yesterday.  The cable is nice because we have no TV without it.  So far we’ve used it to watch the news. The internet is a bigger deal.  I’ve been going to the library and trying to find hotspots until now.  I didn’t even have dialup access from the place we are staying.  Now that I have it, there are a myriad of questions that get answered

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-37747493526180668912010-12-12T08:40:00.001-05:002010-12-12T08:40:56.838-05:00

We arrived at the place we are staying in Dunedin around 12:30 pm.  The key was not under the mat as we were told, but the door was unlocked.  A lot has changed since we were here last April.  Most noticeably, a lot of the clutter that was here is gone.  This was the home of the landlady’s mother, and all of her stuff is gone now. Other things we noticed is that there is no phone, no cable, no

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-50824977883379561012010-12-11T06:00:00.001-05:002010-12-11T06:00:07.991-05:00

We finally made it into Florida yesterday after three days on the road.  The trip has been uneventful, but fairly difficult. We got off to a fairly late start on Wednesday, and only made it as far as Dry Ridge Kentucky, a little more than 300 miles from home.  It gets dark early this time of year, and I don’t like driving at night. Thursday, Phyllis and both had minor physical problems, and

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-42864633830107751732010-12-07T22:10:00.001-05:002010-12-07T22:10:56.219-05:00

Tomorrow morning we will be starting our long drive down to Florida.  The weather here has turned to winter.  It is unpleasantly cold, and they are predicting the snows should be here in a few days.  I am looking forward to getting out of town, and heading to where the sun is shining. We’ve spent a lot of time getting ready for trip.  Hopefully we will remember what we forgot before we hit the

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-34980676788700075122010-12-03T22:06:00.001-05:002010-12-03T22:06:43.241-05:00

The period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is typically my least favorite time of year.  The days are shorter, activities shut down, and the media gets singularly focused on shopping.  I’ve begun limiting my contact with the media, particularly television.  I like Christmas day okay, I just hate the five weeks leading up to it.  To me, December 26th is the real holiday, because the shopping

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-63674795318189558622010-11-24T16:23:00.001-05:002010-11-24T16:23:12.886-05:00

I went to the retirees lunch today.  When I got home, I got an email that my old friend Eric Brum had died. I worked with Eric many years back in my working days.  He was a good natured guy who know all the news around the shop, and shared it with everyone.  I last saw him at 4th of July parade in Oak Park.  He seemed fine. I was able to make it to the funeral.  Eric was only around 50, and

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-35907938085456540822010-11-16T11:27:00.001-05:002010-11-16T11:27:19.266-05:00

We’ve had our share of big news around here, all from Morris. At the top of the list, Morris announced his engagement to Rychee.  We heard the big news on Saturday.  They are planning an April wedding.  We are very happy to hear this news, and wish them all the happiness in the world. Also, Morris started a new job last week, with one of the big three auto makers.  This a lot of change in the

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-53621947938346458202010-11-12T10:48:00.001-05:002010-11-12T10:48:07.215-05:00

About a week ago, we had a blah weather day.  We went to the mall.  They had a new store there dedicated to Detroit stuff.  They had items for sports teams, Motown memorabilia, Faygo soda, Vernors, Sanders, etc.  They had an aisle of large old pictures of Detroit.  I found the place interesting enough.  It was worth going to once.  We didn’t buy anything. Saturday night  we went to the meeting

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-60942745415493765972010-11-03T10:48:00.001-04:002010-11-03T10:48:20.189-04:00

I spent a good part of the Friday watching the Michigan State vs. Iowa game.  Michigan State was off to a great start this year, winning their first eight games.  This was there best start since I went there in 1966.  They lost badly in what should have been a close game.  Oh well. We went to a folk music concert Friday.  There was one fairly close to home, but Phyllis wanted to go to one in

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-10419078541193810742010-10-26T13:10:00.001-04:002010-10-26T13:10:02.481-04:00

The only story on the local news today is that we are going to be hit by a bad storm.  It is still dry here, but there are tornado warnings in the region.  I will try to be brave. Last week was another big week for folk music.  Tuesday I went to No Sweat’s place to play guitar.  Thursday was guitar club at Gilda’s.  Thursday night we went to the coffee house at the Beanery.  I borrowed a guitar

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-41298181982739543672010-10-19T20:41:00.001-04:002010-10-19T20:41:37.580-04:00

I’ve been unhappy with my old DSL provider, Cavalier, for some time.  We got a bundle from WOW, and they installed everything yesterday.  We now have cable, phone, and internet through them.  I am happiest with the internet service.  It is about ten times faster than what we had before, and it is no longer a challenge to watch video’s.  The other stuff is nice enough. We went to Ann Arbor on

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-48493524692739065212010-10-12T11:07:00.001-04:002010-10-12T11:07:05.111-04:00

We’ve been doing a lot folk music type activities lately.  It should be noted that I am okay with folk music, but it is not my favorite genre of music. Last Tuesday we went to the coffee house at Gilda’s.  I accompanied No Sweat on the guitar for one of his numbers.  I didn’t know the song, so I just faked my way through it.  I didn’t do it very well, but that’s the way it goes. Thursday was

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-85975286195641517872010-10-03T12:14:00.001-04:002010-10-03T12:14:46.703-04:00

All is well here. It is now October, and the weather has turned cooler.  The furnace is now on, but it is not as warm it the house as I would like it to be.  Phyllis likes it cooler. I am still taking my harmonica and photography classes, and I am enjoying both of them.  Both classes are small, with four students each.  The harmonica class consists of retired guys, and is geared for people who

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-29953456542289408732010-09-22T22:53:00.001-04:002010-09-22T22:53:36.328-04:00

The garage door guy came Friday morning.  My vision of what was going to happen was that he would show up, tighten up and realign things, and the garage door would work just fine.  He shows up and explains to us that they don’t make the kind of door we have anymore, and it is almost impossible to get parts for it.  I begin to worry.  Then he proceeds to tighten and realign things, and now the

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-73326676487954063342010-09-16T13:05:00.001-04:002010-09-16T13:05:17.071-04:00

I know that we’ve got another week to go before it is officially fall, but the weather has changed.  It is noticeably cooler, and my days of wearing t-shirts and shorts are over for this year.  We have had some beautiful days though. We were supposed to meet up with Phyllis’ old roommate Scottie again last weekend.  The plan was to meet at a jazz festival in Brighton.  We got a call on the way

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-31289681637405569062010-09-07T12:45:00.001-04:002010-09-07T12:45:44.921-04:00

Last Tuesday we went to the last evening concert in the park for this year.  It was in Southfield, and a big band was playing there.  You could tell the musicians weren’t up to the caliber of the guys we heard the week before, but they had a good vocalist, and it was a good enough show. Thursday we went to guitar club.  We have been trying to contact our friend No Sweat for a few days.  He

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-71497883385429553432010-08-30T08:35:00.001-04:002010-08-30T08:35:59.163-04:00

It is hard to believe that it is the end of August already.  It seems like summers keep getting shorter. Tuesday afternoon I went to No Sweat’s place where we played music and had a nice enough time. Tuesday Phyllis and I went to the concert in the park in Southfield.  The group playing was Phil Oglivie’s Rhythm Kings.  This was a 10 piece band that played music largely from the Prohibition era

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-28343391817065262462010-08-22T22:07:00.001-04:002010-08-22T22:07:49.548-04:00

It seems like I’ve been busy enough doing little things.  I went over to No Sweat’s house on Tuesday.  We basically played guitars and told stories. When we went to Stratford I left my cell phone in our room.  We called the proprietor who found the phone and shipped it back to us.  I hasn’t arrived yet.  I’ve been living without my cell phone for over a week now.  It hasn’t been much of a

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-84567240799102865322010-08-17T11:14:00.001-04:002010-08-17T11:14:02.301-04:00

Last Wednesday we went up to Stratford Ontario for a couple of nights with my cousins Marvin and Ilene. It’s about a three hour drive up to Stratford.  One thing you notice on the ride there is that you are going through farm country, and there are no tourist amenities.  There are virtually no gas stations, restaurants, rest stops, fast food places, etc.  It is hard to even find a Tim Horton’s,

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-26220892815167607482010-08-09T13:51:00.001-04:002010-08-09T13:51:39.013-04:00

I believe I left off after our day trip to Philadelphia last Sunday. Monday we went into Manhattan.  Catching the subway made for an interesting story.  We get down the stairs at the subway station, and Shannon points to the F train and says that’s our train.  I hop on board.  Phyllis is still on the stairs.  The subway train door closes with me on the inside, and Phyllis and Shannon are on the

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-88867183001583940692010-08-02T09:10:00.002-04:002010-08-02T10:29:07.604-04:00

We've been in New York, staying with Shannon, since Thursday. As is typical for these trips, there is no shortage of stories.Our flight in on Thursday was a couple of hours late due to a maintenance situation, but otherwise uneventful. On the way to Shannon's, there was a traffic backup and the cab driver wasn't interested in waiting for it to clear up. Neither were we. We paid the guy, got

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-28709592234136032852010-07-28T16:06:00.001-04:002010-07-28T16:06:13.482-04:00

The last week has been busy enough. We did a couple of concerts in the park, both of which were pretty good.  On Tuesday we saw Paisley Fogg in Lathrup Village.  They basically did rock and roll from the 60’s, but they did it very well.  Their girl singer could really belt out the old Janis Joplin and Grace Slick songs. Wednesday we saw the Royal Garden Trio in Southfield.  They played a gypsy

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-34534425672022239682010-07-20T11:15:00.001-04:002010-07-20T11:15:13.467-04:00

We went out for dinner Thursday at a restaurant in Berkley.  It started to rain, and after a while the lights began to go off, and come back on.  I walked to the front door and looked out.  It was raining as hard as I’ve ever seen it, the winds were blowing very hard.  Then the place went dark, except for the emergency lights.  We finished our dinner, and paid cash for the meal because the power

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-88351559881467906432010-07-12T11:46:00.001-04:002010-07-12T11:46:13.045-04:00

Shannon flew back to New York this morning.  She has been here for the last week, and we had several adventures with her. Monday morning, July 5, was the day a couple of local communities around here celebrated Independence Day.   First was the Clawson parade.  They had the usual collection of politicians, bands, floats, veterans groups, etc.  It was a good enough parade. From there I rode my

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-84461166886109687962010-07-04T17:29:00.001-04:002010-07-04T17:29:48.013-04:00

Last Saturday Phyllis and I went to the free concert by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at Metro Beach.  It was a gorgeous evening, and we had a good time. Last Tuesday Gilda’s had a Woodstock potluck event.  I’ve been to these potlucks before, and it just isn’t my cup of tea.  Anyway, Phyllis wanted us to dress for the event.  I wore my ‘quest into the unknown’ t-shirt that my brother gave me

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-38212985031508645062010-06-22T13:30:00.001-04:002010-06-22T13:30:05.477-04:00

Thursday was a busy day.  Thursday afternoon I rode my bike to the Eat to the Beat concert in Southfield.  When I went to the garage to get my bike, my recumbent had another flat tire.  I decided to take my road bike to the concert. My road bike has undergone a few changes in the last year.  I had upright handlebars put on it in December.  I replaced the old racing style saddle on it May with

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-9485778918314186912010-06-14T13:08:00.001-04:002010-06-14T13:08:05.898-04:00

About this time of year St. Dunstan’s Theater Guild puts on a spring musical in the outdoor Greek theater at Cranbrook.  Some of these are excellent, and others, are not.  This year the play was Annie, and we went to see it on Thursday. This was a virtual opening night because the first two performances were rained out.  The little girl who played Annie was very good.  She had a lot of spunk,

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-5516503910288949522010-06-09T11:52:00.001-04:002010-06-09T11:52:54.619-04:00

Saturday Morris got back from his big fishing trip in the wilds of Canada.  We went to visit him and Rychee on Sunday.  He caught a lot fish, saw a moose, and had a good time.  He won the contest for who caught the biggest pike. We went to the Gilda’s coffee house last Tuesday, and had a good enough time. I rode my bike to the zoo Monday.  Things were pretty uneventful there until I was about

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-67275939641047760312010-06-01T11:08:00.001-04:002010-06-01T11:08:17.289-04:00

Sunday a friend of mine from the guitar club came over.  He needed a bicycle to put on a trainer.  We gave him Phyllis’s old Puch, which hasn’t been ridden for about 25 years.  I put air in the tires, and the thing seemed to work well enough.  John was happy with the bike. The weather around here has been very summery lately, with sunny skies and temperatures in the 80’s.  This is my kind of

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-63493120075851918452010-05-22T16:22:00.002-04:002010-05-22T16:26:23.242-04:00

Early this afternoon, someone hacked my Yahoo mail account, and sent emails to everyone in my contact list. The email contains a link to a place that sells pharmaceuticals.I apologize for any problems this may cause. It wasn't my doing.

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-39812517493287282362010-05-18T11:48:00.001-04:002010-05-18T11:48:37.905-04:00

Friday there was a memorial service put on by Wayne State University for people who donated their remains to the medical school.  My father in law, who died a couple of years ago donated his body to the school.  His ashes, and my mother in law’s, were buried at this ceremony. Shannon came into town for this event.  The ceremony was nice enough.  The event was well attended.  The choir, a group

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-45556460812784730182010-05-12T04:02:00.001-04:002010-05-12T04:02:49.334-04:00

Mother’s Day went about as well as could be hoped for. I ordered Phyllis a basic mountain dulcimer online.  We took dulcimer lessons in Florida this winter, and she seemed to get into it.  She seemed to be very happy with the dulcimer, and started playing it right away. Morris invited us all out for brunch, as well as Rychee and her parents.  That also seemed to go very well. Phyllis walked

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-73983576488936802982010-05-08T11:58:00.002-04:002010-05-08T13:03:17.286-04:00

First of all, tomorrow is Mother’s Day. I would like to wish all the mother’s out there a happy Mother’s Day. I know we have a gala day planned for tomorrow. I will report on it on my next post. I neglected to mention in my last post that I went to the retiree’s lunch. I enjoyed getting together with my former coworkers. They had a better than average turnout, and a good time was had by all

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-70041777736726214572010-05-02T17:09:00.001-04:002010-05-02T17:09:18.611-04:00

The weather since we’ve been back, hasn’t been all that bad.  We’ve had a few storms of note, but otherwise it has been nice enough to go outside and do stuff. Friday, though was an 80 degree day.  I rode my bike to the Detroit Zoo.   I had worked a little on my recumbent bike the day before, and it worked just fine, even though the brakes could use a little adjusting.  It is the time of year

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-60703943686857993552010-04-27T12:49:00.002-04:002010-04-27T12:53:12.655-04:00

We pulled into Royal Oak around 5:40pm on Sunday. It was a tiring trip for us. We left Dunedin, Fl around 10:30am on Friday. This was the best day of traveling for us, as the weather was good, and there were no road problems to speak of. We made if as far as Byron, Ga, which is near Macon. There were heavy storms forecast for Saturday, which unfortunately proved to be accurate. The heavy

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-85687257969542041272010-04-21T11:47:00.001-04:002010-04-21T11:47:22.439-04:00

Things are winding down here in Florida.  We plan on starting the long drive home on Friday. I made a trip to Tampa Bay Downs on Friday.  I cashed a couple of tickets, but ended up losing money.  On one race I bet $6, and ending up collecting $6.80.  I’m not going to get rich that way.  Still, it was a nice day, the crowds were small, and the place seemed kind of mellow.  I enjoyed the day.

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-85180459777672149772010-04-14T20:57:00.001-04:002010-04-14T20:57:08.757-04:00

Morris arrived from Michigan on Sunday.  He arrived within a minute or two of his projected arrival time.  Our activity for the afternoon was going on a bike ride.  It was a good day for a bike ride; nice and warm without too much wind.  We rode up to Pop Stanzle Park, about a ten mile round trip. On the way back we stopped at the Jollimon’s Grill.  We listened to some music and rehydrated. 

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-84091886181235587632010-04-09T14:35:00.001-04:002010-04-09T14:35:03.243-04:00

Sunday we went to a folk concert in St. Petersburg.  This was a free event located near the water in the downtown area.  I was leery about going to this thing.  The first group sounded like me playing the guitar in the living room, which trust me is not good.  They were followed by a guy named Grant Peeples.  The guy had a lot of attitude, and I found him to be very entertaining.  I was glad we

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-89600415422362831942010-04-03T22:51:00.001-04:002010-04-03T22:51:55.289-04:00

When I last wrote, my brother in law George was in the hospital.  The good news is that he was feeling much better the next day thanks to the medical attention he got, and was released. George decided he might be better off back in Las Vegas where he could see his regular doctors.  I booked a flight for him to go home on Friday. Thursday we all went to see the Yankees play the Blue Jays.  This

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-84163477230015167792010-03-30T09:08:00.001-04:002010-03-30T09:08:00.212-04:00

Monday, as planned, I walked over to the ballpark to watch the Tigers play the Blue Jays in a spring training game.  The Tigers won 8-2 in a fairly entertaining game.  I was seated next to an old guy from Grand Rapids, and we swapped baseball stories.  I had a pretty good time. We picked up my brother in law George at the airport on Wednesday.  His plane was on time, and apparently his flight

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-54324316327206841242010-03-22T09:23:00.002-04:002010-03-22T09:27:28.616-04:00

Thursday we went to Lakeland to meet our old friends the Salazars. Lakeland was picked because it is about half way between us and Orlando where the Salazars live. We enjoyed getting together and seeing them again.We had a nice day here on Saturday. Phyllis went to some kind big quilting thing. I did the Pinellas Trail.This was my longest bike ride of the year. There were several adventures

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-51563426745642392952010-03-16T13:47:00.001-04:002010-03-16T13:47:28.718-04:00

We’ve had a bit of a warm up with ample sunshine, so we’ve been doing a bit more. Saturday we went to the beach at Honeymoon Island.  We’ve been down here around seven weeks, and this was our first trip to the beach.  It was still a bit chilly.  Phyllis and I wore long sleeves and jeans, but there were plenty of folks in swim suits.  Some even ventured into the water.  There were a few folks

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-59648415868143169622010-03-12T22:26:00.001-05:002010-03-12T22:26:25.164-05:00

Wednesday it was a dark and stormy night here in Dunedin.  We are driving home from dinner, and when we were about a quarter mile from home, we see a bright flash of light to the north that lit up the whole sky.  A second later, all of the lights around us went out. We got home to a totally dark street.  We got in the house, and to my amazement Phyllis knew exactly where there was a flashlight,

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-68758846208456346442010-03-09T13:04:00.001-05:002010-03-09T13:04:46.449-05:00

Phyllis and I came into Detroit for the weekend to attend a surprise 40th birthday party for Morris.  He was totally surprised, but it was hard to tell how he was taking it.  It turned out he was okay.  It was nice seeing him and Shannon, who was also in town for the big event. The party was on Saturday.  We met with Shannon for lunch on Sunday, and then drove her to airport.  We met with Morris

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-73999898892405325222010-03-03T13:59:00.001-05:002010-03-03T13:59:49.875-05:00

The lousy weather continues down here. Today is the opening day of spring training here in Dunedin.  The Blue Jays are playing the Tigers.  The stadium is a block from here, and I planned on going.  But it is 53 degrees and the wind is blowing 30 miles per hour.  I will catch another game. There was a concert in the park at noon.  We knew the performer and went to see her.  Phyllis suggested

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-38131610975644070772010-02-22T11:40:00.001-05:002010-02-22T11:40:12.853-05:00

Golly we’ve been busy. Thursday was Shannon’s last real day in town.  We took her and her friend to a nice Cuban restaurant in Clearwater for lunch.  Then we went to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.  This is a fairly small aquarium at Clearwater Beach.  Their focus is education and saving injured marine animals.  The star of the place was a dolphin they rescued that lost its tail fin.  They

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5672243.post-9776102395099488812010-02-17T19:24:00.003-05:002010-02-17T19:31:35.462-05:00

There is a lot to write about this time.Last Friday was supposed to be the annual Mardi Paws event. This is a dog parade and contest with a Mardi Gras theme. We got there only to find out it was cancelled due to the weather. Our plan B was to go to an art gallery opening. Strangely, this worked for me. This was a new place near us that was having an opening. There were studios for around a dozen

howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15917560268769867023noreply@blogger.com0