A Practice Retirement Day
Toby is becoming finicky about his drinking water needs. I've noticed for a while that he appears to appreciate freshly drawn tap water over a half bowl of stale water left over from the previous day while neither Allie nor Charlie could care less. I came into the laundry room where their water bowl is kept and he was standing in front of it looking at me and then back at the bowl. The other night during our small-group meeting for our church I could hear his distinct bark coming from the laundry room. I went to check on him and he was standing in front of his nearly full bowl of water. Apparently, it wasn't fresh enough. I refilled it and he proceeded to drink to his heart's content.
We were back in the studio on Friday for a few hours in the morning. We found Steve back in the cold shop working on some pieces. It was good to see him again as an illness has had him sidelined for a few weeks.
He came out later and sat at our bench to chat, observe, and give us some pointers. We're so thankful when he does that. It's always intimidating having him watch us but the trade-off is more than worth it for the wisdom he imparts. I honestly don't know that we'd be as involved at Foci as we are had it not been for Steve coming alongside us and shepherding us along. He's been a major inspiration and support for us.
We went to Outback Steakhouse on Friday night without a reservation. I'll have to remember to phone ahead next time. We had a 50-minute wait but we didn't really mind as we found seats right away in the waiting area in front and we had our smart-phones and conversation to occupy our time. (I managed to improve on my high score in Air Control to 320 and I'm now a certified Flight Director! If they only knew) We were seated in a quiet booth toward the back and apparently, our order of steaks took longer than it should have. The manager came by our table, kneeled down, and began to apologize for the delay explaining that our food order ticket got lost behind whatever machine prints it out on the line in back.
She asked us if we'd like refills on our glasses of wine and a dessert at no charge to make up for the inconvenience. I didn't feel it was necessary but I could tell Tammy was happy to have a refill so I agreed. We considered sharing a dessert but took a pass instead. It's still one of our favorite places for dinner.
We woke up to our first shovelable snowfall of the year this morning (4 inches) and I was actually somewhat glad to see it as it gave me a chance to try out my new Ariens snowblower. I went out last night and got it gassed up and ready to roll this morning. Yeah, I was looking forward to getting out there. I love it! The one thing I noticed most was how quiet it is for an 11-hp engine. As I said in my last entry: it'll be the last snowblower I'll ever need to buy.
I'm taking tomorrow off from work to celebrate Tammy's birthday. We've got a busy day planned with an early morning breakfast followed by a few hours of bench time at Foci and then an afternoon of bumming around in either Excelsior or Stillwater. Getting out of bed early enough to do all we have planned should be the only challenging part of our day. I'm looking at it as a 'practice retirement day!'
We were back in the studio on Friday for a few hours in the morning. We found Steve back in the cold shop working on some pieces. It was good to see him again as an illness has had him sidelined for a few weeks.
He came out later and sat at our bench to chat, observe, and give us some pointers. We're so thankful when he does that. It's always intimidating having him watch us but the trade-off is more than worth it for the wisdom he imparts. I honestly don't know that we'd be as involved at Foci as we are had it not been for Steve coming alongside us and shepherding us along. He's been a major inspiration and support for us.We went to Outback Steakhouse on Friday night without a reservation. I'll have to remember to phone ahead next time. We had a 50-minute wait but we didn't really mind as we found seats right away in the waiting area in front and we had our smart-phones and conversation to occupy our time. (I managed to improve on my high score in Air Control to 320 and I'm now a certified Flight Director! If they only knew) We were seated in a quiet booth toward the back and apparently, our order of steaks took longer than it should have. The manager came by our table, kneeled down, and began to apologize for the delay explaining that our food order ticket got lost behind whatever machine prints it out on the line in back.
She asked us if we'd like refills on our glasses of wine and a dessert at no charge to make up for the inconvenience. I didn't feel it was necessary but I could tell Tammy was happy to have a refill so I agreed. We considered sharing a dessert but took a pass instead. It's still one of our favorite places for dinner.We woke up to our first shovelable snowfall of the year this morning (4 inches) and I was actually somewhat glad to see it as it gave me a chance to try out my new Ariens snowblower. I went out last night and got it gassed up and ready to roll this morning. Yeah, I was looking forward to getting out there. I love it! The one thing I noticed most was how quiet it is for an 11-hp engine. As I said in my last entry: it'll be the last snowblower I'll ever need to buy.
I'm taking tomorrow off from work to celebrate Tammy's birthday. We've got a busy day planned with an early morning breakfast followed by a few hours of bench time at Foci and then an afternoon of bumming around in either Excelsior or Stillwater. Getting out of bed early enough to do all we have planned should be the only challenging part of our day. I'm looking at it as a 'practice retirement day!'
Comments
You should come to Rochester instead ;)
Vannevar...it was so nice. We spent the day running around together...glassblowing in the morning and an afternoon and evening spent kicking around Stillwater. I really want to stay a couple more years but I don't know how much more I have in me!