Mom's car

can now be parked in the garage.

After some reflection 1

Last week we lost a dear friend.

Julius was my mother's second husband (they married shortly after my dad died when James was three months old). But more than that, and more important than that, Julius was James' and Brenda's grandpa, Grandpa Popp.

After some reflection 2

Last week we lost a dear friend.

Vern helped us open our eyes, our ears, and our minds.

• The Fisher and Masonic Temple, Meadowbrook and Purple Rose, Bonstelle and Hillberry, and community theatres.
• World-renowned DSO, street musicians, and Michelle singing the National Anthem.
• Coach Insignia, Agave, and Joey's Meatcutter restaurants.
• History and reminiscences of Detroit, and future renovations.
• Clam chowder, chocolate mousse, and popcorn.
• Eastern market, Greenfield Village, and CityFest.
• Callahan Hall, the O'rena, and Matthai gym.
• Ford Field, Comerica Park, and Tiger Stadium.
• COTS, Humane Society, and panhandlers.
• Bamboo, hostas, and tomatoes.

So many fun memories.

Daylilies

are in their peak blooming period. And Kathy has hers healthy and showy.

Some daylilies from Marietta can be seen in the back near the top of the gully. Some from Brian can be seen along the sides of the gully that has been cleaned of weeds, planted, and mulched. and another on the right on the top tier.

Especially beautiful is the spider type near the center at about 4 o'clock. On this tier beside the garage are Marietta's.

The two tiers continue their curve behind the garage where Patti's daylilies bloom on the ground level and Amy's on the first level. (The cream can covers the well head and came from Ed.)

Fabulous colors, shapes, and sizes.

Here are some individuals that I like best.

Kids

We attended two events recently that, unknown to us at the time, were designed with kids in mind.

On Tuesday we entered the Fisher Theatre to see High School Musical and were greeted with pre-teen to early-teen kids and their parents filling the lobbies. Disney first made the movie and then the television series of the same name and it attracted a large following but I had no idea the following would be so young. The production was excellent. The story is about a jock and a geek (I do not particularly like this word and seldom use it since it has negative connotation associated with it, but it will have to do in this case) falling in love and eventually gain the support of their "groups" so they can participate in the high school musical and become romantically closer. (Some aspects of West Side Story--love story, Jets and Sharks--but without violence.) Many high school stereotypes--coach, drama teacher, jocks, drama queen, and intellectuals or geeks. Good story and good message to to kids about fitting into different groups, having different interests, and being tolerant of differences. And these kids in the audience seemed to get it as evidenced by their enthusiastic applause and cheers. I was impressed with how well the kids behaved--shows good parental guidance.

Last night we went to the Palace to see the Detroit Shock play Phoenix Mercury. We had vouchers for free tickets that we got at Detroit CityFest on Friday, and decided to upgrade at the box office to get seats closer to the court. As we walked in the main entrance a sign welcomed one and all to Kids Day! The kids were enthusiastic (read loud), especially during the timeout giveaways as they tried for free pizza and shirts. The Shock won handily after a slow first half, helped by scoring a league record 40 points in the third period. Fun time!

(I have had looping in my brain a fun song about kids from Bye, Bye Birdie that seems timeless.)

I hardly recognize the place

With painting all done, we installed the pegboard and assembled the workbench and three rolling cabinets for the workshop.

Then three tall cabinets in the garage area finished the Gladiator work. Now to organize and fill up the those storage pieces!!!

Getting closer.

A trip to the lake

The last five days at Emerald Lake were terrific. Working, fishing, shopping, visiting, and relaxing. Great weather.


On the way up Thursday we stopped at Birch Run and bought a few things we needed, but we could not find the right size sandals for Kathy. We had late lunch at Bennigan's in Midland and more shopping. Trip took longer than usual with all the stops.


Worked on old lawn tractor for part of Friday. On last trip we noticed an intermittent starting problem and it was getting more frequent. We thought it was pto switch so we stopped on our way up at John Deere dealer north of Almont and bought one . Put in the new one but it would not start; put old one back in and still would not start. Put in new one again thinking perhaps I messed up connections, but still no good. Must be something more complicated than swapping out switches.

Should we take the 20-year-old tractor to a dealer and get it fixed? It will still be old and perhaps just as unreliable. We decided we don't want to spent the first day of each visit to the lake working on tractor. Let's just go to Big Rapids to a JD dealer and get a new one. Found one we liked, made a deal, they took old tractor as trade-in along with snow thrower, set delivery for Saturday--all is right with the world.


Dinner after JD purchase at Ruby Tuesday, then on to Menard's and Lowe's (interestingly they sit adjacent to each other and across the road from adjacent Meijer and Walmart stores). Found collapsible saw horses, pegboard hooks, and storage shelf unit for Romeo, and potential paint color for EL.


Saturday morning Kathy went to town to get her hair done by Ellen. A call from JD dealer moved up delivery to mid-morning. We hoped the old tractor would start (it did for Kathy last night after I put the old pto switch back in). Driver missed the driveway on his first pass but then found it coming back south--I heard his truck and trailer rattle up the drive. He offloaded the new one, started the old one and loaded it along with the snow thrower onto the trailer. We then chatted a bit -- an essential part of small town commerce.

When Kathy got home with a fantastic do she told me the Expedition was misfiring. Lee had just walked over with Carlee and Addison so he and I took a look and decided it would be ok to drive it back to Romeo with the misfire, but should not otherwise be driven unless an emergency.

Later Saturday Lee and I went fishing. Carlee began with us but soon wanted to go up to the house and play. Carrie and Addison were there with Kathy. Not many fish caught--couple big enough for Lee to take home later that night. One that I caught seemed to be smaller than the bait I was using.

Sunday we worked on property. Kathy used new lawn tractor and cut grass. Trimmed near road and also got rid of some old dead fallen trees. Later we cleared the area going down to the lake.

Left early Monday morning to be sure we had time in case something happened to Expedition besides the miss. It ran rough but at higher rpms it ran smoother than at lower rpms and up grades. We would not have liked to have driven the same distance home in hills or mountains.

Found out Tuesday the miss was caused by a bad coil and also that the muffler was leaking.

An interesting and eventful trip!!!