The world continues!

 Most of you who read this are involved in it, so there is not much need to talk about it.  Suffice it to say that Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year have gone with their usual festivities and goings and comings.  Of especial note is that the world did not end on December 21, and that we are stuck with continuing on with things.  But that is not really all that bad - or is it?

We do want to recognize the visit of Marilyn and Tyler over the New Year; they had been on Colorado for Christmas Day, and then came here.  We all had a grand time when they were here.  A couple of pictures from around then:

But other things were happening around then - maybe they should have happened in better weather, but it was not too bad out, and we did not freeze or starve.  On January 7 and 8 we got a new furnace and hot water heater.  We decided that the old stuff - about 60 years old - was too old, and splurged on new stuff.  They promise that we will use much less oil.  Anyway, here is the old stuff (taken the day they started):





















And here is the new stuff:

















One thing we noticed almost immediately is that the hot water can now be used in one place at the same time without freezing someone else. Kosco did the whole job of removal, disposal, installation, cleanup, etc.  Come to find out in talking to one of guys, that Kosco is owned by a Russian oil company!  Who knows!  (And does it really make any difference?)

Later that week we also got a new oven and microwave combination.  Had to shop a little for that because most of the stuff these days is 30 inches wide, and we only had space for 24 inches.  But at Lowe’s we did find a combination that would fit into the old space with just a little modification.  Reason for getting this is that the old one was 28 years of age, and the microwave was broken.  Ann (and I) were rather lost for a while, but we go used to using the toaster oven for heating things. But it is great to have a microwave again.  A pair of before and after pictures:



















Sorry about the strange spacing on the pictures; it looks good in the creating area, but not in the preview!


Well, that will have to do it for now.  Have a great 2013 - now that the world is continuing on.

Halloween, and more!

Because it is Halloween, I just had to post something.  So, here you are.

It has been a rather busy month.  Wedding anniversaries, birthdays; two of each. It has been fun celebrating them.  Not much in the way of pictures from them.  I will have some pictures later in this blog, though; just be patient!

First, some health matters. I have had another catscan to check up on the stent; Ann has a new bridge in her mouth, I have had a hand Xray fpr the arthritis; no results on any of these yet - a few more days.  But enough of this.

The most interesting new thing I did was go to (my first) Chamber of Commerce Mixer representing the Trolley Museum; we had about 4 people there, and made a name for ourselves.  Will have to go to some more. 

Then the RR club had an open house so I was there running the trolley. Had one decide to act up, so it is home here for repairs.  Will only take 15 minutes, but it is hard to just get upstairs to do it.

On our anniversary, Ann and I finally used a gift certificate that Ed and Kelly had given us to eat at the CIA.  Had a great time enjoying their delightful cuisine. And we have been to Ed and Kelly’s house a couple of times to celebrate things.  And Ed was up here to do a couple of things.

But of course, the biggest things were Sandy and Halloween.  Sandy was largely nothing up here - we were on the edge and had a fair amount of wind that brought down mostly small stuff but a few trees in the neighborhood.  About an inch of rain in very light manner.  A picture of a tree across the street:

We were without power from 2:!5 PM on Monday till 6:20 PM on Tuesday; most folks have had it much worse.  The basement got about 2 inches of water but it is gone now.

The Museum has an undetermined amount of damage; you can see what the storm surge did to it at tmny.org/sandy.

Then there was Halloween; we were prepared as usual, with candy and decorations including carved pumpkins.  But only two kids showed up; their costumes were great.  See a picture of them, and of our pumpkins.

And that is that, for now.

Busy September

Gee, has it been a whole month since the last entry in this blog?!  Hard to believe, but time does go by, and I can sometimes be real lazy and not get over to the computer to do some writing.  We left you with some pictures of Grand Rapids, so we will now take up another RR convention, this time in Syracuse for the NER (North Eastern Region).

A highlight of this trip for me was a trip to a steel mill where we saw steel scrap being melted down in an electric furnace and then poured into bars about 20 feet long and 6 inches square.  They then reheat them and draw them down to rebars about 60 feet long.  For intellectual property reasons we were not allowed to take pictures in the mill itself, but were able to out in the yard where they were shipping the stuff by railroad and truck.  They said they use as much electricity as the city of Auburn, where the mill is located.

A second highlight was a visit to a home layout of O scale trains and trolleys.  Very nicely done.  Got talking to the people, and they asked if we knew train  people in Syracuse. Said no, which was true, but that I knew people who lived there that I had met originally in Philadelphia in the early 50's.  Mentioned the name, and these people knew them and see them frequently.  Small world!

Then, last week we had a visit from Marilyn and Tyler.  It was shorter than planned because of airline problems, but it was still great.  We all met at Ed and Kelly’s and had a great time eating cheese and crackers and grilled ribs.  And Ed tried out several whiskeys on me - trying to get me loaded?  Don’t think so, it was just a taste of several things.  He is getting to be a whiskey common sewer (?) as well as a beer one.

Now for a little philosophy about politics.  On the tax cliff of tax cuts.  I suspect that both parties want the cuts to expire because they all (both parties) know the additional income is desperately needed.  So no extension will happen and they will each blame the other for it.

On the political ads.  We hang up immediately if we get a political phone call; we also throw out immediately political mail.  We change the channel or turn down the sound on TV ads.  We know that most of it is phony and hype.  The debate starts in an few minutes, and I haven’t decided whether I will turn on the TV or not.  I think I would rather continue working on this.  What they say has no relationship to what will really happen in the next several years.

They can take or give credit or blame, but the reality is that changes in policies at the federal level usually have no visible result for 3 to 4 years.  So this dragging on of the recession is really the result of things that Bush and Obama did 4 years ago.

On jobs: yes manufacturing jobs went overseas starting back in the 50s, actually.  Remember Japanese cameras in the 50s, TV also.  But what will you do as a consumer or store buyer when you can get manufactured  products from Asia for a certain cost, while the similar thing made in America costs 50 to 100% more.  A closer to home example: apples from China cost less than apples from the Hudson Valley.  We all voted the jobs overseas by buying on price.  My new slogan: BUY AMERICAN (if you can find it).

Well enough ranting and raving.   See you all sometime, maybe sooner or later.  This month we have two weddings and two birthday anniversaries to celebrate.

So; it has been a pretty active month, this month of August.  But maybe not a lot of pictures to show.  In the last writing, we had just come home from Grand Rapids.  Maybe I will put a couple more pictures from that:

 The following Saturday we went to the last show at the playhouse for the summer.  It was a production of ‘Chicago’, and they did a very good job of it.  Obviously, no pictures from that!  But we sure enjoyed the show.

The following Saturday we attended the annual Volunteer Day at which the town honors the people who volunteer their time in town activities.  Ann is eligible because of her work on the WEC; my volunteer work is mostly down in Kingston, so I am not eligible, but I go and keep her company.  We talked to a number of people, were recognized by others and others we recognized.  Listened to the music which was very good - and very loud.  At the end of the day there were fireworks; we watched them from the top of the hill on our street.  Took Daisy with us and she took it in stride - she does not really like loud noises, but being real near us, she tolerated it pretty well.  Again, no pictures although years ago I tried taking pictures of the fireworks and they came out ok.  Will have to remember next year.

The next weekend was the busiest.  On Saturday (the 25th) we went to Tarrytown to attend Ann’s xx (not talking about how many) high school reunion.  About 50 alumni and spouses there.  Ann saw and talked to many of them; I talked to a few but mostly listened to her and her buddies.  But the company and the food were good.  I will put only one picture from this - I think none of you will know them, so... 

 About three people came from California, and about 16 alumni still had Ossining addresses.  We stayed over down there, and on Sunday morning there was another gab fest.

After we got home on Sunday, I grabbed some train stuff and went down to a friend’s house who was having a 5th annual open house featuring his O scale train layout. Quite a good turn out including a lot of the host’s neighbors.  A lot of trains were run for several hours.  Including mine.  But I did not think to take my camera, so again no pictures of this!

Then there was yesterday - Sep 2.  Because my birthday is Aug 26, and Ann’s is Sep 11 (yea!), we tend to have only one combined celebration for them.  This year is was hosted by our lovely daughter in law and our son at their (still) new house.  A good time was had by all; some pictures are included.  They put on a real feast with everything from dips to cup cakes.

So, this will have to do for now.  Stay well and happy, and we will try to do more on facebook, and here than in the past.

Summer Activities

Hello again; it has been quite a while since I last visited with you.  One reason is that most of life has been quite routine and therefore boring to both you and me.  But I guess enough has happened to write a little about it.

First a little about the health situation:  nothing really major has happened to either of us.  I had another little fall that broke a rib, but that is now well.  Also, at the recommendation of the dentist I had a tooth pulled and a new bridge put in.  This was because of the stent put in last year; teeth and the blood system have a connection.  The new bridge feels good; a trip to the recommending dentist is scheduled for next week.

For various reasons, both weather and personal, it has been a difficult time keeping the lawn and gardens looking nice.  Some of the walks we have been able to keep free of weeds, but at least one part of one walk still has to have its first weeding.  It looks terrible, and is now very hard to get the weeds out - they have such large roots.  The weather, with its early heat had caused things to really grow.  But one walk has had a real job done on it, with the addition of new white stones.  Here is a picture of it:

On the other side of things, Ann has been growing small tomatoes, and is using the barbecue pit in an ingenious way:


One of the good things about Woodstock is the resurrection of the Woodstock Playhouse and the presentation there of summer stock plays.  We have been to two so far this summer and are planning on one more tomorrow.  Sorry, but no pictures of the play or playhouse.

The last thing to talk about today is our trip to Grand Rapids, Michigan (GR) to attend the annual convention of model railroaders (NMRA).  We drove Ann’s car and took two days in each direction - total mileage was 1600 miles.  We went out 28, then 30, then 17/86, 90, 23, and 96.  We stopped overnight in Erie both ways. In GR, it was a very nice hotel, with very good service and facilities.  We were both rather active all week.  One interesting trip we both took was about the history of the furniture industry in GR.  Here is a picture of Ann in the Steelcase factory which we toured:

I had a nice ride on a 7-1/2 in gauge railroad which covered 120 acres.  The ride without repeating any track took 45 minutes.  A view:

This operation was amazing!  Also saw several interesting layouts but will refrain from showing any of them; also attended a large number of clinics.  Put some items into the silent auction and came away with about $46; not much, but ok.

Well, lets call it quits for now.  Have a good summer and write into your blog when you can - we are all interested in what you have to say.

Fun in Woodstock - in the Winter

Well, it is about time I updated this blog - don’t you think?  So here goes.

Not too much new or exciting.  It is the routine things that happen that get one to put off doing this.  But here we go.

Look at Kelly’s blog and you will find out that they have been very active in fixing up their new house.  Well, we just could not help but try to compete a very little bit.  Last November we contracted with Pella for new windows that were delivered in early January just after my last blog update.  They look nice but almost exactly like the old ones.  Which we are happy about, because we were not tired of the old look.  But the new ones have made a difference.  There is no more cold downdraft coming off of the windows; there are no more little cracks in individual panes resulting from too much heat when I was removing old paint to put on new paint; the old broken and difficult to use storm windows are gone.

We did a total of 16 windows: the four basement windows got Pella’s bottom line of vinyl windows, the two in the kitchen got their top line of wood ones, and the rest of the main floor (10) got the intermediate line.  So now we have rotate-in windows to make cleaning easier, no more banged up fingers opening storm windows, etc.

After that the rest of January and February were rather quiet.  We did get together with Ed and Kelly a couple of times and saw their progress.  We delighted in the lack of snow and ice.  But wonder how the gardens are going to do this year with the unusual weather this winter.

Then in March we took up our daughter’s invitation to visit her and Tyler in St. Thomas; we went down on March 5 and came back March 12.  We had a great time.  Went over to St. Johns for a day and a night and met a very interesting couple .  Visited a different beach in the afternoon every day but two; two on St. Johns and two on St. Thomas.  Enjoyed them all and got a good sun tan. We went to several restaurants including one we went to last years ( Marilyn’s favorite - Betsy’s) and several new (to Ann and me) ones.  Good food, good times.

Now we are back and catching up.  Making appointments for everything from the dentist to the car dealership for a recall (minor), including a catscan and ultrasound to check up on my stent.  On the health front there is noting new except that Marilyn stubbed a toe on a rock on the beach and broke her left middle toe.  Four weeks with it taped to the next one.  Good grief - and she probably wont appreciate that I even mentioned it.  And one of these days I will have to do two things: learn how to put pictures in this blog, and how to use Facebook.  As one of the authors in a magazine says: if the mood strikes, write. 

Bye now.

Differences

‘What a difference a day makes....’.  Well, lets talk about the differences a year makes. (I know that the most recent blog was not a full year ago, but..)   We will use year ending dates for this.  But not in any particular order.

*Most important - Will was with us at the beginning of last year, but is not, now. 

*A new car for me.

*A stent in my chest.

*Into a new house for Ed and Kelly.

*Many renovations to Ed and Kelly’s house, which they did mostly themselves.

*A banged up thumb for Marilyn.

*Job progresses, small but worthwhile, for Ed, Kelly, Marilyn, Tyler.

*A college degree for Kelly.

*A year without train shows except for the club open house.

*A new freezer with new contents (due to Irene and Lee).

*A new toilet (seems to be cutting the water bill almost in half) and a new bed.

*Thanksgiving without Will and Mandy.

*Christmas Day with Marilyn and Tyler (they will alternate between here and Colorado for that day).

*Christmas festivities at Ed and Kelly’s new house instead of Woodstock.

For some things there was no difference:

*Ann’s environmental activities.

*Bill’s activities with museum, alumni club and model railroad club.

*General health of all involved (except Will, of course) but including Daisy (for whom I will have to put up a picture soon,

What differences will 2012 bring - wait and see.

about time to do an update!

I am finally in the mood to do some writing.  I know it has been a long time since the last update - sorry.  But I just wrote a letter to the editor about the uptown Kingston goat situation and it got me into the mood to do some writing. 

So, lets see what has happened in the last two months.  First, we have all been recovering psychologically from the death of Will in late July.  That takes a while.  We all still miss him and family activities are not the same without him.  But we go on.

Maybe I mentioned it earlier (I don’t remember and wont look it up) but one good byproduct of the broken ribs was that they found that I have an aneurysm on my abdominal aorta.  So September was spent going to various doctors about it.  Apparently it was growing fast enough that action needed to be taken soon.  So visits to the vascular doctor and the heart doctor were made.  So was another cat scan.  (No, I do not glow yet from all the X-rays).  So, after all this the surgery to put a stent in my chest by means of an endoscopy was done on October 6.  I was in the hospital only two days, but the incisions made it necessary to take it easy in terms of lifting things.  Walking was encouraged.  There have been followup visits and there will be another catscan next Tuesday.  I have become a bit of a nuisance in the family after all the and Will about the need for looking for these aneurysms.  Apparently my paternal line has a history of broken blood vessels.  My father’s father died on a canoe outing from a heart attack - or was it - medicine in the 1910's was not into autopsies and things so we dont know.  My father was found dead on the floor of a shower - so we don’t know if it was heart, stroke or what. So, I am encouraging everyone to think about having the ultrasound test for aneurysms. Enough.

The rib situation is that that is all over - I am fine.  But the auto accident is not all over. The two insurance companies agreed that it was the other guys fault and his insurance company payed back mine everything including my deductible.  Now he has gone to some lawyers and I am being sued for pain and suffering.  The insurance company is handling it and it will go on for some time.  They are just firing memos back and forth at this point.

But the best news at this point is that as I write is that our basement is getting cleaned from the flooding that accompanied Irene.  Unfortunately, because it was flooding, the insurance company is not paying for it.  There are three guys down there sweeping, washing and so forth. It will be great to get this over with, and then we can put things that have been stored in the Big Room back down where they belong.  But there are still things that have to be thrown out that will be up to us.

But now we can start looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas and make some plans.  Ann has been looking at catalogs for quite a while. She gets up to 10 of them a day. And she has earned a free turkey from Shoprite.  I have still to get into the mood for all of this.  And I have to get into the mood to write a Christmas letter.  But I will.

So that about covers things around here.  Sorry that I cannot write as humourously as Kelly does - see her blog on ‘ Red House Nine’.  But I do what I can!  Till later.

More of the days for the dog.

Well, it has been too long since I last related the things that make fun in Woodstock possible. Have you ever noticed that the things that get noticed are usually not that much fun?

First, to rib you all a little: my ribs are about back to normal. Just a little twinge now and then and a little tightness.  I am ready to forget about the situation but I cant quite.  Now the bills for doctors and the hospital have been coming in and need to be paid.  Did three bills today for the hospital out in Sacramento, and the addresses for payment were in Boston, Cincinnati, and Pasadena. Go figure.

We are enjoying the new bed.  It is higher and smoother and very comfortable. We should have done this a while back.  But it is great, if not fun, to have a comfortable bed to sleep in.  And Daisy loves it.

But we need to talk about Irene.  She was the exact opposite of fun. The power went out on Sunday morning about 7:30 AM, and did not return until Saturday afternoon about 2:25 PM.  We had lots of fun cooking on the grill for every meal.  But that worked and was the least of the problems.  A flooded basement was about 2 feet in water and the machines were upset.  Ed borrowed a 1200 watt generator and we used it to run the sump pump to try to lower the water level.  We succeeded a fair amount and then about Wednesday afternoon the fire department showed up to pump more out.  Down to about four inches, Then our pump took over and it is now down to about ½ inch of dirty yellow water.  But trials of the refrigerator, hot water heater, furnace, dryer, and washing machine all showed that they were willing to provide more fun - they all worked.  The freezer is still on its side so we cannot tell about it.

Outside was a little different: tree branches and trees down.  We had a service in to do the clean up.  We lost a complete pussy willow tree and a lot of parts of a sassafras tree - I always thought it was an elm - now I know. But the fun remains about cutting the grass - it is now five weeks grown.  It was all bad enough, but we had fun compared to a lot of folks around who lost whole houses.  What do you think about folks whose furniture is piled up on the lawn waiting to be taken to the dump?  Or trees by the ton on the side of the road.  We had fun in comparison.

Enough for now.  Until next time - go out and have some fun in honor of all those who are not.





                                       

Doings on the dog days of summer

Well, August is turning into an interesting month.  Of course there is the necessary follow up on the rib situation.  It seems almost well, just another week or two of minor discomfort.

Back on the car accident situation.  Received a check the other day from the insurance company with the deductible of $500.  Seems as if they recovered all of it from the other insurance company and passed that on to me.  Of course there is still the implications for car insurance when renewal time comes.  So I got a total of about 2800 for the old car, but the new one cost about 10 times that.

A week ago Thursday Ann and I went and did something we have talked about since last year.  We went to Lowe’s and bought a new toilet for the downstairs bathroom.  The new one is white (old one blue green); higher by about 3 or 4 inches; 1.6 gallon flush (instead of about 2 - 3 gallons); and a mechanism that does not leak.  So far, it has been great.

And then today we went out and did something else we have talked about for quite a while.  We bought a new box spring, mattress, and frame for our bedroom.  It comes tomorrow.  The old one is about 40 yeas old and has been showing its age: a spring pushing thru, grooves, low spots, etc.  We are both looking forward to trying it out tomorrow night.

Next Ann wants to look at changing the color of the counter top in the bathroom from its current blue to white.  More on this project when it occurs.  There is a light fixture that needs looking at.  The gardens need weeding.  Oh well, it never ends.  But do you ever really want everything to be all right and nothing to think about?

The July from Heck

Time to let you followers of “Fun in Woodstock” know what is going on.  My energy level tonight is low so this may be shorter than it should be.  It will also be in chronological order rather than importance.

To finish the car saga, we ended up buying a 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan in deep blue.  We all seem to like it and it rides well.  No picture  - I am without a camera at the present time.

July 3 Ann and I left Daisy with Will while we took a plane to Sacramento, CA to participate in an NMRA National Convention.  We were enjoying it but on Wednesday the 6th I tripped and fell.  Ended up with six broken ribs and stayed in a hospital in Sacramento for 7 days.  My sister lives about 80 miles away so she took us in for two nights and then put us on a plane to home.  Things are much better now but the ribs still need some healing.

But the most important thing was still to happen.  On the 21st we got an early call that our oldest son, Will, had been taken to the hospital in Albany.  He died there on the 22nd from an aneurysm that broke in his head.  He had no chance of recovery.  Ed and Kelly, Marilyn and Tyler, and Mandy and Diana joined us in the vigil and the other activities.  It was a powerful sad time for everyone.  He was buried on Tuesday. The turnout for him from the community was fantastic.  I never realized what a large and positive impact he had on so many people.  For more on this, please see Kelly’s blog from August 2.

We are recovering from all this but it will take time.  And that is all the energy I have for this evening.  May you all have better days than we did in this July from Heck.

Bill

Another Car Blog!

Time for the last of the blogging about car accidents and cars in general.

The next day after the last blog, Ann and I went to a Chevy dealer near here to look at minivans, and found that what they had was mostly Town and Countries. And one Uplander which was the Chevy mini.  Nothing new either.  I was really not about T&Cs; did not want the extra features and extra complexity.  (I have been annoyed about the power sliding door on the Venture - it mostly did not work, and would not operate manually.  Also the power locks broke and would not unlock from the door switches.  Give me the simpler manual thing!)  We did not even take one out for a drive.  So that was strike two.

Other things to do so did not get out looking until the following Tuesday.  After a routine physical ( I am going to live) and giving blood for testing, I stopped at the Ford (Fix Or Repair Daily) dealer near here.  Frustration!  Ford made its last minivan in 2007 - the Windstar.  He had no new or old Windstars.  Strike three.  But this is not baseball, and you get as many strikes as you need.

So, Ann and I went back to Saugerties to look and new and old Grand Caravans.  We saw nice used ones in red and white.  And a nice new blue one.  I ended up springing for the new blue one after a lot of soul searching.  It is about one model up from the bottom.  No power doors. No power seats.  Or real fancy radio and electronics.  Power locks and windows (hmmm...ugh?).  Standard ‘Stow and Go’ seats which fold down into the floor (no need to cart them out of the car).  It looks like all of the train stuff will fit into it ok.

So the next day we picked it up and drove it home. It still has less than 100 miles on it and I am still getting used to it.  Then we drove the rental car down to the rental place and turned it in.  All that is left are some minor things like the additional insurance premium, getting the permanent registration and updating a few places that want to know about the details of the  car.

Now what am I going to have to blog about?  You will just have to wait and see.  Until then, have a good summer!

Car Update

Just thought I would give you an update on the car situation.  That is about all that is new around here, and even that is sort of slow moving.

In any case the car was declared totaled.  Fortunately I had never dropped collision insurance so was able to put into a claim that resulted in the totaling.  We got a check yesterday for the value of the car - a little over $2000 after the deductible.  The car was taken away by the car parts people last Friday evening.  It was a little emotional seeing it go after 10 year and 90k miles.  I am now driving a rental that is partly covered by insurance.

Today Ann and I started the process of getting a replacement.  My hopes were for a 2 - 3 year old minivan for around 15K.  So we went to a Dodge and Chrysler dealership near here and looked.  But it looks like it is going to be more than the 15K.  Apparently minivans are popular  (although I don’t think I see that many on the road - but anyway).  The salesman showed us a number of used minivans and crossovers, and then showed us in more detail a brand new 2011 Grand Caravan.  He SAID that it would be about the same amount as some of the used ones.  Things to think about.   Tomorrow I want to go to a local Chevy dealer and look at their minivans.

We had a nice call this evening with Marilyn and learned how her thumb is coming along.  Sounded as good as expected to us.  She is getting things done, and is back to work.  But read her blog about it when she gets around to talking about it.  She says learning to use a mouse left-handed has slowed her down.  She has promised to send us some pictures of the thumb sometime.  Looking forward to it.

Take care; one of these days I will learn how to put pictures in here!

It is Sunday -time to write

Time to add something to this blog, just to keep in practice.

Not much new about the car.  It will go to scrap, just when and how is not clear; probably let the insurance company have it and take what they have offered for it.  Talked with Will about it today for a while; he says let them have it; take the plates off it and put them on a new car; what ever that turns out to be.  I have been looking at edmonds.com per Ed’s suggestion as to what is available and where.  It is an interesting site, and says that my car should be worth about 2176;  which there is really no way of getting from anybody except maybe letting the insurance company scrap it.  My current inclination is to get a two or three year old minivan of some sort for probably around 15K.       

I have the house to myself for today and tomorrow.  Ann has gone to a meeting up in Albany.  She left about 11:30 this morning with papers etc.  She should be back about 6PM tomorrow with (its planned) a bucket of KFC for dinner.  In the meantime Daisy is going nuts looking and waiting for her.   Whenever Ann is out you can find Daisy upstairs on the bed looking out the window for her car.  Up to me to let her in and out, feed her, etc.  No problem, really.

Marilyn is up and about with her thumb.  Apparently she is not as terribly handicapped as I thought she might be for the next day after the operation she put up a big addition to her blog.  But is doesn’t say a thing yet about the thumb - just the trip to Florida a while back.

That is about it; I did not go down to the museum today so have no idea how things went for the weekend.  It was going to be busy down there with some special events going on including the Half Moon being docked and available for tours.

Day 2

Trying to add a little more today - still in experimental mode.  Did not like the profile, so wrote a different one.

Last blog talked about car troubles.  Well, the next day we got the news that our daughter Marilyn tripped and fell and did a real bash up job on a thumb with a SCUBA tank.  Today she is have surgery by an orthopod in St Thomas on the finger.  Yipes!  What a thing to have happen!   She will be out of action for a while.  We hope to get regular updates on this.

The car: it went to the car repair shop yesterday afternoon, and the news is not good.  He did not even get all the parts into the computer when it told him he was reaching a limit.  So it looks like it will go to the scrap yard, and we will be in the market for a new car.  Yuck!  But it is 12 years old and has 125,000 miles on it.

A start

Well, this is my first attempt at blogging.  Hope it is of interest to all of you.  Looking at my kids blogs, I think it is good way to talk about things that have been happening.

A good place to start with things happening to us is the automobile accident that I got into last Thursday (May 26).  First of all, I did not get injured, but the other guy did.  One guy in each car; no passengers.  I had stopped at a stop sign; the other guy did not have one.  I went across and he came up from the right and hit my car on the right rear.  Took off my rear bumper.  He then went on across the street and hit a telephone pole and bounced back about ten feet. It was rather clear that his car would be totaled; I went to the body shop today, and it looks like by car will be totaled out also, even though I can still drive it. (My car is a 1999 Chevy Venture - a minivan.)  No tickets were issued to either of us.  I did not get much accomplished the rest of that day, even though I did my usual stint of cooking dinner - it was Thursday after all.

Down at the trolley museum, we have had a very active start of the season.  We did Mother’s Day even though the regular season starts on Memorial Day weekend.
Then on May 20, we had 55 volunteers from IBM show up to perform various projects around the place.  This is a part of the company’s celebration of its 100 years as IBM.  We got an awful lot of clean up done, some painting, and the laying down of a lot of sod for a picnic area.  Fantastic.  Then the whole week of May 23 - 27 we had a  couple of school charters each day.  And then of course there was Memorial Day weekend itself.  Plain to see that we are off to a roaring start.  And we have a new administrator for this year who seem friendly and energetic.  More on all this as time goes by.

Well, maybe this is enough to get started with.  Stay tuned.