75 And Still Counting

Well, I made it to the 3/4 century mark today and celebrated my birthday in an unusual fashion.  First of all, I really am not that much into celebrating my birthday, but this one was different.  As they say, if I knew I would live this long I would have taken better care of myself.

The day started off very early with Gerry and my getting up early and hitting the road for a 1 1/2 hour drive to my doctor appointment.  The doctor's office was moved from one building to another about a block away and the new Suite # was 250, while the old # was 230.  Yep, I pulled into the wrong parking garage and made the trip up to the old office and then had to drive down to the new building.  Luckily it wasn't for a "memory" doctor.

The office visit went well and we were out of there fairly quickly after filling out all the paperwork.  I hate to have to fill out the somewhat identical forms for every doctor, but help is on the way.  This doctor also is using computers to keep the data and only changes will be needed to be filled out in the future.  

We decided to go to Panera Bread for lunch but the line was out the door and there wasn't a free table in the place.  No problem, just walked across the street to the Chipotle Mexican Grill.  It also had people lined up to the door but it looked like the line was moving quickly.  We soon had our tacos and burrito and were seated by the window enjoying our meal.  We were both amazed at the traffic coming into the parking lot as it was never ending and very busy.

We stopped by a few banking places to take care of some business and then decided to stop by the Montgomery County Liquor store for some wine.  WOW!!  The wine prices were very high compared to everyplace else around the area and we were shocked.  I needed to use the men's room and asked the ladies at the checkout where it was.  The reply was: "go next door and use the men's room at the restaurant".   What?  I thought all places of business had to have bathroom facilities, but I guess if you are a government store that doesn't apply.  I did not care for their attitude and walked back to Gerry and said let's get out of here and take our business elsewhere.

Next stop was  Costco to buy Gerry a new computer (on my birthday) since her old one had given up the ghost.  Since she knew what computer she wanted, we made it a quick stop and go there.  We did fill up the car with gas at $3.12/gal.  Cheapest gas around Frederick, MD 

Hey dude, I got a Dell!

Then we drove to the Ott House for dinner with Cassie, Jack, Elizabeth and Sarahbelle as our final stop for the day.  As usual Gerry and I had a nice meal, some cold Yuengling drafts and nice company.  By the time we finished our meals we were running on empty and headed back to the cabin.

I decided to get a head start on transferring all of Gerry's data from her old computer to the new one and wound up staying up until midnight.  Finally I had to call it a day and hit the hay.


Thanks to all who called me and wished me a happy birthday and those that sent TXT msgs, birthday cards and emails.  It is nice to be remembered.  That was how I spent my 75th birthday and the first full day of autumn.  (Autumn began at 10:29pm on 9/22)  How was your day?

Happy Birthday Cassie & Roadtrip

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

CASSIE 

Friday we had a get together to help Cassie celebrate her birthday.   It was a day early, but Larry Jr, Jane and Grant were stopping over for the night and we had Cassie & family join us for dinner and then some s'mores.

Gerry prepared a huge batch of spaghetti, large enough to feed 20 people and we went through half of it.  I guess we will be having spaghetti on the menu for a couple days now.  It was delicious and we can't let it go to waste.

Green is Cassie's favorite color so we got her a birthday cake with green icing.  We all went outside to enjoy some s'mores and surprised Cassie with the cake. 

 Cassie, with her pumpkin coffee and waiting to cut the cake.

We didn't have enough candles to put on the cake and also there wasn't enough room for "ALL" those candles.  So we improvised and provided her with one candle to blow out.  Notice the "candle" on the right of the photo.

This is Larry Jr. lighting the "candle" for Cassie.  She managed to blow it out and now will have all her wishes come true.  

We all had a great time helping her celebrate her birthday and by the time the party broke up Grant, Sarahbelle & Elizabeth were worn out from making the s'mores and keeping the fire burning.  Jack had been up since 4:30am and he was snoozing on the lawn chair toward the end.  I would have been snoring by then, but he is a lot younger than I.

We sat outside around the campfire late and then all of a sudden a cold breeze came up and chilled us all.  It wasn't as cold as the previous week or so, but enough to drive us indoors before calling it a night.  

Have Log Splitter, Will Travel

We've had a number of trees cut down the past year or so and have save a lot of the wood, but haven't had time to split it.  Our neighbors, Diane & Ken have a log splitter and offered to split the wood for us a couple times.  We haven't found a time where it was convenient for both of us until today.  Diane called and asked if this was a good time to bring the splitter down and I was glad to see them here.

They use their log splitter a lot and have the procedure down pat.  He runs the splitter and she brings the wood to him and then stacks the split logs.  I jumped in and started helping them and Gerry came out and we had a chain gang going and it took us about 3 hours to split most of the wood.  The splitter ran out of gas, but by then all the good oak wood had been split and most of the hemlock.  I can do the rest of the wood by hand later this month.

We wound up with three stacks of firewood and an additional stack for the outside firepit.  It will come in handy this weekend and also for the Apple Festival weekend in October.  There will be a hot time in the old town the next couple weeks.

The third stack is larger than the one above and an additional stack about 5ft high is on the porch.  Hopefully it will get us through the cold nights coming up in October.

We wound up working harder and longer than we have in a long time and it felt good doing the manual labor.  Now we can relax for a month before we have to work like that again.

Thanks a million Diane and Ken.  It was being a good neighbor above and beyond the call of duty. 

That was our day, how was yours? 

It's A Girl

We welcomed a new addition to the family and it's a girl.  Yes, Sarahbelle  Alexus McClure arrived this morning at the Circuit Court in Hagerstown, MD.  Well, technically she was officially adopted by Cassie & Jack and we went to the court proceedings.  It was a surprisingly simple ceremony.  Once  the judge was seated it only took 5-10 minutes at the most.  Cassie, Jack, Sarahbelle and their lawyer sat where the prosecution lawyer would be sitting and Cassie & Jack answered a few questions and that was it.  Short & sweet. 

It was a "get us to court on time" type of day.  We left early enough but  then got stuck behind a school bus, along with about 20 other cars, on a 2 lane road.  Once we passed up that impasse, we got stuck behind a "Sunday driver" on Tuesday who was driving 35mph in a 50mph zone.  No way to pass with curves and hills along with 2 cars ahead of us.  Finally, we got around him and scooted along until we were stopped by a very slow moving train.  I dropped Gerry off at the courthouse and then had to find a parking spot. 

Once I got to the courthouse getting through security was a mess.  Had to take off my belt, wallet, keys, etc and be "wanded" down.  I guess I looked suspicious or something.  I hurried up to the third floor and was looking for courtroom 4 and saw a man waving and yelling at me.  "Grandpa, come down here and hurry."  Huh!  Well he was the bailiff and they held up the proceeding waiting for me.  Wow, I held up a Judge and wasn't held in contempt.  As soon as I entered the courtroom the baliff left and ushered in the judge.  

We took a lot of pictures in the courtroom after the ceremony and wished the judge happy 59th birthday.  It was a special day for him, also.

Cassie, Sarahbelle, Jack

Elizabeth, Cassie, Sarahbelle, Jack

The Jury

Gerry, Me, Cassie, Jack, Sarahbelle, John,Vicky & Eliabeth

 Jack's father, John, and his wife Vicky attended the ceremony and are in the picture above.  Darlene was too late to see the ceremony, but arrived just afterward and was able to be in the pictures.

We all hung around the courtroom for a while and then drove to Williamsport, MD for a party afterwards to celebrate the event.  Cassie had arranged to rent an ice cream shop that didn't open until later in the day and had bagels, blueberry muffins, fresh fruit, coffee and other goodies on a table.  We could also order off a breakfast menu and they brought it over from their cafe across the street.  Everything tasted great and we even had ice cream after the party.  Super idea on Cassie's part.

Desert Rose Cafe, Williamsport, MD

The Sweet Shoppe

 If you are in the Williamsport area I highly recommend the Cafe and Sweet Shoppe.  The young woman who owns the two establishments has decorated the Sweet Shoppe in the 1950s style and it looks great.

There were numerous photos taken at the ice cream store and I've included a few below.

Sarahbelle with camera gift

The old folks corner

When Sarahbelle opened her camera the first photo she took with it was a selfie.  I haven't seen it, but I convinced her to take a selfie with each of us sitting around the table.  In the case of the one with Sarahbelle and me, it was like "The Beauty and The Beast".  She will probably erase that one.  LOL

The party broke up a little after noon and we all went our separate ways.  Gerry and I came back to the cabin and tried to stay awake.  To make the day complete, we had to wait once again for a tree trimming company that had the road near the cabin blocked.  I stopped and tried to convince them to cut the Forest Road tree branches, but they said it wasn't their responsibility.  I did try.

Later in the day Gerry and I split some firewood with an awl and sledge hammer.  We wanted to stock up on firewood and clean up an area where the logs were stored.  At the rate we worked today it will take us until we leave to finish the job.  It was nice doing some manual labor once again.  Tiring, but nice.

That was our day, how was yours?    

BBQ Marshmallows and a Fire

Cassie, Jack and the girls came up to the cabin on Sunday afternoon to visit with Erin.  2 guys and 6 dolls and the chatter was nonstop.  Cassie and Erin hadn't seen each other for a couple years and were catching up on what had been going on in their lives.  

Jack and I went out onto the porch and had an adult beverage to get away from all the chattering.  The quiet out there was wonderful.  

Gerry had prepared some country ribs in a crockpot and then we applied BBQ sauce and finished them up on the grill.  That was my contribution and through pure luck they turned out great.  The meat was tender and melted in your mouth.  In addition Gerry had prepared a hot apple/squash casserole and that really hit the spot also.  Sliced tomatoes and homemade french fries were added to the meal and everyone wound up eating too much.  Cassie & Jack brought some dessert for later in the night.

Gerry, Erin and I had collected some dry wood for a campfire and we fired it up early.  It was a cold afternoon and evening, so the fire felt good on these old bones.  What is a campfire without marshmallows so out they came.  Of course they were over a year old and a "little" hard but we convinced the girls they would heat up fine.  Surprisingly they did and the marshmallows disappeared very quickly.  

I had gone out and put my game camera in a tree near the campfire and didn't tell anyone.  I wanted to get some candid photos and wound up with over 350 photos and had to delete a number of them for various reasons but still have way too many to save.  Here are a few of the photos taken just before sundown.

We had to bid a fond farewell to the fire.  Finally everyone had their fill of marshmallows and some dessert and decided the warm cabin was more inviting.  We all piled into the cabin and continued on with the conversations.  Gerry prepared her special hot spiced apple cider and I had two coffee cups full and could have drank more.  I do love the stuff.  

We enjoyed the visit with the family and had a great time.  That was our day, how was yours?