Weather came in last night and we had a pretty serious rain. It was heavy enough that my sump pump kicked on a few times for the first time in many months. The grass will shoot up for sure. I'll mow later today, and I'll need to do it again by Wednesday.
I identified another victim of the Wallet In The Microwave caper. A bit short on cash Friday night, I stopped at the Wells Fargo ATM, but quickly discovered that I had no debit card in my replacement wallet. So the official body-count from my folly has increased to at least 6, not counting the wallet itself. (VISA, SB's, Dunn's, AICPA, United Health, and WF debit.) Replacements for all have been ordered. Customer service rep's have all had their yucks.
The thought occurred to me the other day that Grandpa H made some significant life-style choices in the mid '70's in those years after my college graduation. He would have been 63 in the Spring of 1973. I would have been 24 and finishing up my second year at Dover AFB. That makes the age references between him and me then, and 4 and me now very close. So I've been trying to compare some of the things that he and Mother did back in that time-frame to the choices that I have been making in 4's post-graduation period.
The Wausau-manufactured house had to come about somewhere in the area of 1972-73. I remember him talking about building a new house on that spot when we would be standing at the entrance to the milking parlor(?) on the South side of the old barn. Those conversations would have been in the mid-60's when it was mostly he and myself running the farm. He never said so, but finally getting all of us kids through college was not only the achievement of a goal for our own educational purposes, but it also had to be a huge financial responsibility lifted once I was done.
This pic would have been taken right beside the old house and carries a May 1971 date. ND graduation was earlier that month. My recollection is that Mother may have snapped it the day that I took off to visit my last St. Mary's girlfriend. Anyway, the date and location tell me that the new house was still on the back-burner. But I would be pretty much gone for good within 60 days. Their three daughters and other son were already married. They had paid off the mortgage on the farm. Their future had to look considerably less-stressful.
Within the next few years, the new house was in place. The dairy herd was converted to beef cattle and the days of milking were nothing but memories. Significant domestic and International travel became annual events. Entertaining the grand kids probably was their most important planning consideration. They had the good fortune to have reasonably good health for most of the next 20 years. This latter point is the most important one. Enjoying one's later years is entirely dependent on staying away from the health care system.
So as I look at those major points for Grandpa H's life back then, I think that he made choices that many empty-nesters do. He simplified his work, keeping the farm life, but eliminating the shackles of daily milking. (I think Mother would have preferred no livestock, but that's another story!) He bought a decent tractor. (No more JD B's with the two-cycle putt-putt!) They travelled. They made plans for their grand children. He spent more time at the coffee shop.
I have no plans to start raising cattle on Maplecrest. But other parts of his non-retirement story look 4KDAYS worthy.
Now out for the day. Maybe a little more here during the women's games later today.
I told my pal Cal at coffee this mornig that one of the tout bets for the women's Final Four tonight should be the number of gratuitous crowd shots of Condolezza Rice during the Stanford game. I've only watched the game sporatically, but I've seen Condie twice. (I would have bet a dollar on an Over/Under of 3, taking the Over.)
Tough day for LtPC's speed merchants. The 24 (and the 48) dominated the NASCAR race today, and both got taken out on a re-start for a green-white-checkers finish. Some boys behind them with fresh tires got anxious and they didn't get outta Turn 1. And my fav Fabian Cancellara crashed in a big race this AM in Belgium...broken collar bone. Rule 1 of cycling, big time.
Hmmm. April Fools's Day and Palm Sunday. A unique double-up.
Good luck to the peanut gallery this week. Thanks for reading.
BCOT
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