A nice October Saturday in Greenville, SC…

October 15, 2012

Ellen/Reid: I was golfing yesterday with a friend who said this nice weather “is why we live down here,” and he was right.  It was just picture-perfect on Sunday, the golf notwithstanding.  When the skies are blue and the temperatures are mild, it really is a nice place to call home.

The weather was a little colder on Saturday morning when we set off on the Harley to ‘Fall for Greenville’, a street festival in Greenville, SC that the locals said would draw a few hundred thousand over three days.  I don’t care much for South Carolina’s politics, but Greenville and the terrain to get there sure is nice.

Felicia on the main drag in downtown Greenville, SC. during the ‘Fall for Greenville’ festival. South Carolina politics are a turn off for me, but Greenville is a good place to spend a nice Saturday in October. Great ride on S.C. Rte. 11 that skirts the mountains.

Our roundabout route on S.C. Rte. 11 was likely 150 miles to get there.  We rode through some cotton fields and peach orchards and got very close to the mountains, enough to see the leaves begin to turn.  It was chilly even in our leathers but when the sun broke through it was a joy to be on the bike.  The Heritage passed the 48,000 mile mark during the trip.  The festival itself is mostly a food-oriented event and we strolled up and down, mostly people watching, then hit a wine bar for a nice glass of cab and an appetizer.  Then it was on the road again for the 100 miles back to Charlotte.  We’ll return next year, if nothing more than to ride through the countryside.  Good thing we went when we did; the weather is rumbling and raining this morning.

Really starting to get jacked up about the trip to St. Paul for Thanksgiving, and for you, Reid, to get down here for what will be a long Christmas weekend.  I still haven’t planned out what and where we will go, but a good guess is we will probably head toward the ocean somewhere.  Oak Island is the likely landing spot.  There’s a seedy hotel right on the beach next to a fishing pier which will serve us just fine.  We ought to see what’s biting during that weekend, don’t you think?  I will make arrangements.  Who cares what we catch, as long as we catch something.  It would be great to bring home to CLT and Chicago a few filets of edible fish.

The cleaners are here this morning tending to the details I don’t tend to.  They do a nice job, a couple of Hispanic women who really work hard at it.  Betsy gave me their names.  Their monthly stop here is the best $100 I spend.  Not that I don’t keep up, but it’s nice to have their finishing touches, if you know what I mean.  Ellen, I still need to hear how the episode with your cleaners came out.  Bookkeeping is apparently not their thing.  Mine, either.

Watched the hairy video the guy free fall from 128,000 feet and break the sound barrier en route.  He must have noogies the size of basketballs.  That is one hell of a feat.  To get into a balloon let alone jump out of one at a height where you see the curvature of earth is absolutely amazing.  That wouldn’t be for me.

All the pork, sausage, steaks and other dietary stuff that should go off our diet was bagged up this past Sunday and toted over to Caldwell to go into the freezer for the Sunday breakfasts the church prepares for 50 or so homeless women who live in one of the church’s buildings.  It was a win-win for both sides.  It felt good to follow through on the threat to make a culinary change.

I find all the political news depressing.  Not much civility anymore in any of the races.  A woman at Caldwell, Jennifer Roberts, is running for Congress and I fear she’s going to get creamed.  She is a good person, honest and straightforward with the best interests of the people at heart.  The Observer endorsed her, but her opponent is kind of a Tea Party guy whose only mantra is business, anti-environment, etc.  I worry about guys like that who don’t care a hoot about the 47% or for the environment.  If we elect him, we will get what we deserve which won’t be much.

More post-100 lite housekeeping…

This time last year I was slaving away in the new bathroom (I posted the actual mushroom photo last spring). I'll total all the costs for Ellen and Reid soon. Pentagon cost overruns had nothing on this project.

On the coattails of Monday’s 100th post, today we peck away at a few housekeeping odds and ends:

1)  An actual text message exchange with Reid from a recent morning.  Hey, the kid knows how to make his dad’s day:

• 10:02 EST. Reid – “Just caught up on your letters from the past two weeks.  Sorry for the delay.”
• 10:03 EST. Dad – “No worries.  They should be read at your leisure.”
• 10:13 EST. Reid – “Cool.  As always I enjoy them.”

2) A look at the numbers:

• I’ve stuck to the Mon.-Wed.-Fri. routine.  Bad for you, good for me.  Am pondering whether to scale back to Tues.-Fri.  Thoughts?
• Average word count of each posting (less the word count of the letters themselves): 244 words.  True to my word, I try to keep things short and sweet…and a quick scan.
• I’ll gravitate to posts geared toward the whys and wherefores of the kid’s college years as we get into the school year.  In that vein, it’s okay if you refer this blog to parents of the college-bound.   Other empty nesters or wanna-be letter writers are welcome, too.
• Daily visitors average a few dozen.  I’m fine with that.
• Estimated average time to create each blog posting: 10 minutes, tops.  Like writing a letter, this is a cakewalk.

3) As with my letters, I keep a running list of blog topics.  With apologies to Jack Keroauc, I tape the 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheets together in one continuous page.  Single lined pages stuck together so far: 5.  You won’t be rid of me anytime soon.

4) Actual wording on my cheat sheet (i.e. sticky note adhered to my laptop exterior) for the September 6 letter to Ellen and Reid:

• “Bubba stalks us”
• “Tomatoes coming around”
• “Job search update”
• “Reid’s new digs”
• “Idaho”
• “Daily walks therapeutic”

You’ll have to see next week which topics made the cut.

————————

Here is last week’s letter to Ellen and Reid.  Given recent news from last week, it’s already out of date.

August 30, 2010

Ellen/Reid: Ellen, that photo you sent of the three of you at Cass Lake looked almost staged with the rainbow(s) in the background.  You guys looked like you were having a lot of fun, although even without Henry in the shot it was great.  Hard to think that I haven’t been up to the Pagoda in what, almost seven years?  Time flies.  I took the liberty of posting it on the blog.

Things continue to move ahead tepidly here.  Made a presentation this morning to ___________ Realty here in Charlotte.  My pitch was to provide real estate content of a different sort than they use now.  Like lots of real estate companies, they focus on listing and sale data, and my theory was that consumers need much more information than that.  It was a pretty good session, although there was some reluctance but not much.  But on the whole it went fine.  Now I’ve got a proposal to put together.  All is idle on the bank front.  DOA for the most part. My last official day at my desk is September 30.

Had a pretty good weekend.  Took the bike for a long spin to Greenville, SC.  About 240 miles round trip.  The highlight for us was a stop at a little diner called Mike’s BBQ located in a strip mall close to the Harley dealership.  The owner, Mike, was one of the most conversational restaurant owners I’ve come across.  His BBQ sandwich was pretty good although if you don’t need to eat pork rinds, which is essentially deep fried pork skin, don’t.  It takes some getting used to.  Come to think of it, some leftover rinds are still in the bike’s saddlebags so I’d better get them out of there in a hurry.  Reid, the Harley is running fine.  Had to install a new battery caused the old one plum petered out.  Nothing is cheap for a Harley: $124 for a new battery.

Made three cheese (cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan) mac & cheese Friday night and it came out pretty good.  The key is to bake it and broil the parmesan on top once the whole shebang is done cooking.  It’s a tasty meal.  Then on Saturday night Felicia and I made what’s called Low Country Boil which essentially is potatoes, onions, frozen corn on the cob, shrimp and sausage in a big vat that boils for about 20 minutes.  You use a spice called Old Bay plus red pepper flakes and that really livens things up.  However, I livened it up way too much by mis-reading (okay, not reading) the directions which showed 2-3 TSP of red pepper flakes, not the 2-3 heaping TBLS of red pepper flakes that I used.  It was almost incendiary in its heat output.  Instantly I knew something was wrong when my lips started burning.  Even beer didn’t put out the flames.  But I’d make it again in a heartbeat if you guys came down here although this time I’d know better to throttle back the heat index.

The news on grandma has a silver lining.  She is off her medications, and they are starting from scratch.  It caused her to kind of get out of control, and your uncle had her committed to a psych ward in Hastings which is about 30 miles south of Grand Island.  She sounded cognizant yesterday and she knows they are about to re-work the drugs she takes.  I hope that it calms her down.  She was in and out of so many places that people just lost track of what she was taking and why.  Not sure when I’ll get to see her.

Looks like my community college class might peter out, too.  Only two students registered.  On the flip side, I will teach a three part writing class through Caldwell, and my pastor wants to expand the attendance to other churches in the area, too.  My guess is I’ll get 5-7 people to attend.  Not a lot but that’s okay.  Well, back to the real world.  Keep your phones on this weekend.

Smaller in my rear view mirror…

Today's job to-do list. It has already grown exponentially longer.

The world has begun to slowly rotate again and the seas have calmed since last week’s window-rattling news.

The kids have stepped up to check in on their old man; how are you holding up?, what leads do you have?, what are the job prospects locally?  As was mentioned a few posts ago, it’s important to me that they be good people.  They seem to have paid attention.

Today’s letter to Ellen and Reid won’t be posted until next Monday as per the tradition of this blog.  The nuts and bolts of what they will read is that it’s all about taking one step at a time and that regardless of what the near or medium range or long term future may hold, this is not the end of our world although it might seem like it.  It is a matter of perspective.  There is always someone worse off than you are.  What they won’t read is a senseless blame game; it’s a little bit me, a little bit others, a little bit economic.  The goal is to look forward, not obsess on what already looks smaller in my rear view mirror.

Already, well-meaning friends have rushed forward with names and suggestions and leads.  My inkling is the job hunt process is front loaded in just such a way.  As I told my two, if nothing pans out soon, if no company hands me the keys to a new cubicle, then the burden shifts to my shoulders in that you can’t go to the well too often to ask people for more help and yet more help.

But the big picture I must paint for them is that, like other tough times, this will fade away too.  I believe that to be true.

———————-

My circle of recipients continues to grow wider.  Here’s what was mailed to one of my oldest and dearest friends Pete, who, when the hours got progressively dark earlier this month, really came to the fore for no reason.  He and I go way back, but his kindness closed that gap of years.

July 7, 2010

Pete: I got up early on Sunday with the intention of heading up to Tryon for a surprise visit but then it dawned on me that I knew neither the name of the camp nor its location.  Even my last go-round of there had me ill equipped to re-find it.  There weren’t enough bread crumbs on the road to navigate the way.  You guys were probably better off without a Harley with loud pipes to max-out the tranquility of a summer camp.  That’s not what the parents pay for.

Hey, I did want to thank you for everything you’ve done over the past few weeks.  You really went above and beyond, especially when you picked me up knowing full well that you’d get little or no sleep before herding your cats toward the airport the next morning.  The lift was very much appreciated.  It was great to have you at the visitation and the service.  That in and of itself was also above and beyond.

Things went pretty peacefully for dad.  No discernable pain or discomfort.  The Hospice folks had a good handle on that although it’s not a job for the timid or faint-hearted.  We got into a couple of stories from the Hospice nurses, and man, they really get put through the mill.  Dad was on minimal drugs until the very end when the time came for him to ultimately relax and let go.  Even though dad appeared asleep for hours and hours, I guess patients can hear and are aware throughout the entire ordeal.  I think it’s interesting that they (the nurses) actually encourage the family to talk to – and encourage – patients that’s its fine for them to move on.   The thinking is that some folks need to be told that it’s okay to see what is on the other side.  We talked to him until the very end.  Some of us talked more than others.

I don’t think we have anywhere near the same travails that you and Nancy had in terms of ‘stuff.’  Most of it has already been cherry picked but what they did hoard was paper.  Stacks and stacks of it; records of bills paid, photos and documents, family histories.  Incredible to sort through all of it.  But he did a pretty good job of cataloging things but there was a just a hell of a lot of it.  Why we needed property tax records from 1963 through 1999 is beyond me, but it is what it is.  He saved no trees but then that was before people went green.

Do keep me up to speed on your biking travels when you come down toward Greenville.  This is pretty much a biker haven down here although you’d have a hard time finding me on two wheels without a motor.  To be blunt about it, the drivers down here don’t have a lot of tolerance for cyclists.  There are ‘Share the Road’ signs plastered along the roads and streets but I guarantee folks pay them no mind.  The locals sure as hell don’t practice sharing in any way, shape or form.  That’s especially true when you’re out in the boonies.  Yet I’ve thought about getting a bike for leisurely rides around on the green belts and such.  You won’t find me tooling around most of the local roadways.  Bikers are always getting crunched.

Thanks again, Pete, for stepping up.  I’ve done a particularly lousy job of staying in touch over the years, and literally have no – zero – relationships with any of our fraternity bros.  That’s bothered me, so I appreciate that you’ve rekindled things.  Hey, if you and your bride ever need a non-camp base closer to the more civilized parts of North and South Carolina, you know who to call.