September

It is really good to have Aliene at home after she was up in OKC for three weeks helping her mother move. She is very glad to be home also!

We hardly had time to relax and then the Hurricane Katrina effects came. While we didn’t get even a small portion of the Hurricane by the time it hit Memphis it was a lot of wind and rain.

Memphis and the area got a lot of persons who evacuated from New Orleans. Even since I moved to Lakeland I have appreciated the expression “Southern Hospitality”. It really is true that Southern people (at least in this area) truly know how to treat a guest, and Memphis is showing it with the people left homeless by Katrina. Not to say anything bad about Oklahoma City residents, who will literally give you the shirt off their back (the Murrah explosion showed that).

Of course, whenever a tragedy like that happens, I think about what if it happens where I am City Manager at, at least on a smaller scale.

Colder weather is coming, or rather is here, and I dread the coming of winter. The only good thing is that I know Spring will follow.

August memories

We really enjoyed the reunion this year. We enjoyed it so much, Delta decided to leave our bags in Denver! We got to Memphis and waited and waited for our bags, but they weren’t on the flight, but were delivered uneventfully the next day.

One thing we did forget to do was ask to see Ken and Janet’s bicycles!

We have been really busy. We just signed our contract, loan agreement, etc. for our new house in Lakeland. The “sold” sign is up and they are getting ready to pour the foundation.

Aliene also sold her house in OKC, so she has been in OKC since August 11 to help her Mother move to an apartment. Her mother still drives and gets around well, but the apartment will be relieve the problems with house repairs etc.

I went to OKC to see Aliene (her house won't close until later this week, so I drove back by myself.) The drive from Memphis to Oklahoma City is interesting, even though I have driven it many times. It starts with the trees and rolling hills of Lakeland, then the Mississippi Bridge from Memphis into Arkansas, than the rice fields of eastern Arkansas (yes, rice in Arkansas), than the “mountains” of the Ozarks, and then I really notice the lack of trees and hills in Oklahoma. One thing I really notice is the sunsets/sunrises in Oklahoma!

On the way back from OKC, some classical music seemed appropriate as I drove through eastern Arkansas. It was almost like watching a movie, or perhaps living inside a movie if you can imagine that.

I enjoyed a vist with Angela and Kail/Katherine also, as well as all of the children and Aliene's mother at "my" birthday party!

Election year this year in Lakeland (September 15), which brings dread into the heart of any City Manager! Actually, it doesn’t look that bad. We will have two new Commissioners since the two Commissioners up for election are not running for office. However, the Mayor is unopposed for re-election, which is nice, and the three persons running for the two open Commission seats seem ok.

It was nice to see everyone in Boulder and we are looking forward to next year! If you get out this way, give us a call or E-mail.

"Dead Week" in Memphis

This is "Dead Week" in Memphis. (Officially known as "Elvis Week"!) The City has a lot of Elvis events and it is always an interesting week!

We have a lot of changes going on. Aliene is currently in Oklahoma City, helping her Mother move.

We just completed selecting all of the materials for our house, and hope we made the right decision!

School has started here. It is hard to believe it started so early!

Happy Birthday to me!

Happy Birthday to me! Today I "celebrate" another Birthday. I can remember when I was a child really thinking I would NEVER really be the age I am now!

Time goes so fast, the older I get the faster it goes!

It really has been busy since we got back from Vacation. Of course I had a backload of work at work, plus we have been busy with the house.

We selected our "colors" and "materials", which is always exciting as well as a little scary. What you are doing is so permanent! It is the last step before we actually "close" the loan. (It is a construction loan and will closed with a "permanent" loan when the house is completed. Don't ask me to explain it!)

Aliene got me seveal T-shirts for my birthday, and I also intend to get myself an Ipod for my birthday. I have been busy reading up on Ipods, how to use them etc. It will be interesting.

It is now raining outside. During past birthdays, especially when I was a child, I would have been very disappointed, since it was one of the few times I got to swim during the year! (At least, that is the way I remember it.)

Reality!

Started back to work today after a great vacation! It is really nice when you enjoy visiting with your relatives!

One slight problem-Delta lost our checked luggage, but it did arrive today, so not problem. We're just glad it happened here and not when we were in Colorado! Other than that, we had a great vacation and really enjoyed visiting Colorado Springs, Boulder and all of the visiting.

As usual after a vacation, work was non-stop today, but the vacation was well worth it.

I noted that the high temperature-nation wide-was 108 degrees in Hays, Kansas so I believe Jerry and Margaret were not kidding when they said it was hot!

I guess the old saying, it's good to go but it's good to get back was right! I went to a "neighborhood night out" gathering tonight. It is always fun, but I always get asked a couple of questions I don't know!

Looking forward to next year's Courter Reunion in Topeka, Kansas. In a weak moment, Aliene and I volunteered to be the "hosts" for the Reunion next year, so you'll be hearing from us!

Courter Reunion

The Courter Reunion has been a great time.

We started by flying to Denver and then going to Colorado Springs to visit Aliene's brother. It was the first time we had seen their new house. We drove into the mountains Wednesay, and then Thursday we went to the Air Force Academy and then to the Royal Gorge.

I had never been to the Royal Gorge before so it was interesting. It is really a wonder how they built the bridge back in 1929!

Friday we drove up to Boulder, Colorado for the Courter Reunion, where we did a lot of visiting (and eating) and really enjoyed ourselves.

Late Sunday afternoon, Aliene and I and Eleanor and Kim drove out on Canyon Road and ended up about at least a 9,000 foot elevation! We came back down and stopped at Nederland, Colorado which is a very interesting mountain city! We enjoyed our visit there.

Boulder is a fascinating city. The bike paths are wonderful (especially for a biker and walker!) and the city and residents obviously work at protecting the environment.

House

We put "earnest money" on a new house, although we're still working out all the final details about upgrades etc. "Upgrades" are to houses as "options" are to cars. You can add what seem are small, but nice, items and before you know it the price has increased substantially!

The apartments are actually ok. We hear some noise, but nothing really distracting. We do really miss our garage!

A friend came down last weekend and we went on a "lunch" Mississippi River cruise. It is a lot of fun and we never get tired of going on it when people visit! We actually go down to Tunica Mississippi and go on the "Tunica Queen" rather than the "Memphis Queen" (from Memphis obviously) since we like the "Tunica Queen" better.

Hot weather has hit here, after a week or so of rainy weather. I really enjoy the hot weather, and especially enjoy biking in the hot weather.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at the Reunion!

Blueberries

One of the advantages of Summer is that blueberries are plentiful and relatively inexpensive. I love blueberries on my morning oatmeal and really miss it when blueberries get too expensive to use on a regular basis.

I always start to feel slightly deprived when blueberries become so expensive that I can't justify buying them even for my morning oatmeal! It is a great way to start the day! (I like peanut butter for breakfast even better, but I finally had to reserve that for just special occasions when I realized that peanut butter doesn't do a lot to help me lose/maintain my weight, even with exercise.)

Summer is my favorite season anyway, and blueberries are a nice addition to a great season! Actually, I like Spring and Fall also, but I always can't wait for Winter to be over. When Fall comes, I know Winter isn't far behind and when Spring comes, there is still the reminders of Winter. That is one of the many things I like about this area. The climate changes, but not that much! I always know during Winter that Spring is not far behind!I always look forward to June 21 (start of Summer and the longest day of the year) and hate to see the days grow shorter because I know Winter is coming!

It surprised me when I first moved to Lakeland to discover that it gets dark almost an hour earlier than in Oklahoma City. Of course, it gets light an hour earlier, and since I am an early riser, that is fine! (This discussion on blueberries is not to be confused with the Blackberry, which is a wonderful E-mail device. I'm sure it does a lot more, but I probably will never figure it all out. The Blackberry is even more addictive than blueberries and is available all year regardless of the season! It is also a lot more expensive than blueberries.)

Digital photos

When our camera got stolen, we finally purchased a digital camera. Overall, we enjoy it. However, we made the mistake of waiting too long to sort through the digital photos (somewhat like all of the paper photographs I have scattered throughout my life!), and had a real problem in organizing and saving them.

This almost decided me to take an anger management class, but overall, it was a good learning experience. I did learn to stay away from SAMS photo processing and use Costco instead. Walgreens is also good, but a lot more expensive.

Overall, I'm pleased with the quality of photos, and I love the convenience.

Now, if I can just learn to print my pictures right after I take them....

Bicycle

I've been getting back to my bicycle, assuming the weather still stays dry. I haven't gotten to where I can ride in the rain yet.

I usually get up around 4:00 a.m., walk for the paper (about 2 miles), read the paper and drink coffee until 6:00 a.m. and then go out for a bike ride with Aliene.

If it is raining, I'll go over to a club and ride on the stationary bicycle. Otherwise, later in the day, I try to ride again, especially on weekends. On weekdays, it depends on whether I have a meeting that night etc.

Hopefully, this will all help me lose weight. For some reason, my weight has been especially stubborn this time. Even if I don't, I enjoy the exercise.

Routine 7 9 05

The new house is progessing. We went out yesterday and made final "option" pricing selections. Next week we will probably make (or at least start) selections of colors etc. Aliene will enjoy that! Soon we will commit to the lot etc. and hopefully the house will start.

I got tired of feeling like I was being taken to the cleaners (so to speak) by local home lenders and I submitted an application to E-Loan. We received approval of a loan about .8% of a interest rate less, which is a considerable amount on a house loan! We'll see what happens, but at least the E-loan rate is affordable. We will use local lenders if at all possible.

Apartment life is actually still ok. The Lakeland Champion Hills apartments are professionally run and relatively quiet, for apartments. Our air conditioning went out Thursday and it was quickly fixed.

Routine

We have lived in the apartment a month now. Not bad overall, we do miss our garage! I didn't realize how much I used the garage until I didn't have one. (Kind of like water, I guess.)

I'm trying to get back into bicycling again after a period of not bicycling due to bicycle problems. Apparenlty the problem was the rim, which I thought from the beginning.

We are now starting the process of buying our house. We have selected the plans and the lot. Now we need to finalize the house "options" and the financing and hopefully we will be moving into our new house within five months!

Memphis had a real haze/smog cover last weekend and the first several weekdays. I had to take Aliene to the Little Rock airport and the haze lasted all the way and really got bad in Little Rock. Reminded me of the movie "Soylent Green", which I saw in 1974.

Aliene was flying to Oklahoma City to take care of her house. It is just too expensive to fly from the Memphis Airport on short notice. Little Rock has Southwest Air (need I say more?). Northwest is great (usually it is non-stop) if you have time to buy your ticket well in advance.

We do have our tickets to Boulder for the Courter Reunion, and we also have reserved a Mustang convertible, so we are plan on enjoying a real vacation! We are stopping to see Aliene's brother in Colorado Springs before the Reunion. We will be at the Reunion hotel on Friday night.

We are now "homeless"

The deed is done. Our house has sold “closed” and we officially no longer own the house. We greatly enjoyed the house and will miss it. We currently are staying in the apartments in Lakeland. It’s not bad at all, they run a good operation.

Obviously we are also looking forward to our house being ready, but since it hasn’t even been started yet, we will have a wait!

As always, the pain of change is also the excitement of change and the excitement of the possible.

Rantings and ravings

Aliene’s “epidural” went ok. She is tired, but glad it is over!

We just got back from a meeting in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. This area (Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge etc.) is extremely hard to get to, and, quite frankly, Pigeon Forge is just trash, and Gatlinburg is somewhat more interesting, but, what’s you’ve been there, you’ve been there! I don’t know why Tennessee organizations insist on going there, but… There are so many other interesting areas in Tennessee that I would prefer going to.

We are enjoying our apartment, but looking forward to moving to a house. We are still looking at house plans etc. and trying to select the “right” plans.

I am getting my bicycle fixed (new wheel) and hope to start biking on a regular basis again. I have missed it. I do walk several miles each morning when I walk for the paper.

Life resumes, goodby old house

I mowed the yard at the old house today, perhaps for the last time. The buyer looks like she will qualify for loan and the "closing" of the sale may be moved up from June 28.

The apartment hasn't been bad at all thus far. Some things are more convenient (just call the office if something is wrong with the apartment!), some things aren't (no garage), but overall it's ok.

We still haven't selected the plans for the new house. Some of the houses we really like, but the bedrooms are really small etc. The developer keeps raising prices, so we may just decide to purchse somewhere else! Probably not, we like the concept and we have found one plan that we really like. We would like to get a third car garage (not for the garaage, but for the space for exercise equipment storage etc.), but we don't like any of the plans that include a third car garage.

I took my bike over to have the wheel replaced. I just don't trust the front wheel anymore. I wasn't riding it much because I was scared the tire would so flat. Being very mechanically uninclined (I can't even change the bike tire, much less fix a flat), it is important I not have a flat!

I've resumed walking in the morning. I have a nice route, a circle route, which helps avoid boredom.

the Internet is back!

I am pleased that I now have my wireless broadband internet back! I was getting restless using dialup! Broadband is so much better and I am really happy to have it back!

We are just about moved out of the house. It is sad to leave a house we liked so much and lived in for almost four years.

8th Anniversary!

Today, June 7, 2005 is Aliene and my 8th Wedding Anniversary. It has been a really wonderful eight years. I do have to admit that 8 years ago, we never thought we would be in Tennessee, although we are happy it worked out like that!

We are comfortably moved to our apartment. It isn’t bad at all. The apartments are well run and relatively quiet, which is important to me.

We still haven’t selected our house plans, although we have narrowed it down to two plans and we have at least tentatively selected one. We are waiting for the sale on our house to “close” before we make any final decisions.

Moving

The move is generally complete, thank goodness! We finished moving Saturday night around 2:00 a.m. (actually about 2:45 a.m. before the got the truck back). We aren't used to those hours anymore!

Of course, that is just the first part, now comes sorting etc. We are leaving a lot of stuff packed, since we don't know when we are moving to our house. We are currently living in an apartment, which actually is nice. It is well-maintained and relatively quiet and the staff is responsive to problems.

We have a lot of items in the "PODS", which is really quite a device (and also quite expensive, so I hope it isn't too long before we move!).

Moving Day!

Today is our "moving day". We are moving to "temporary housing" while the house is being built (it will be some time, since we haven't even signed anything yet).

We had some good news. Aliene won't need an operation yet, they are going to try some other treatment first. THAT makes us feel good! We weren't looking forward to moving that then her having an operation Wednesday!

Moving blues!

We are starting to pack and prepare to move. We hope to get an apartment while our house is being finished.

Moving is never fun, but it does help me to weed out stuff I don't need anymore! Aliene is actually going most of the work. I'm busy trying to "weed" items.