Say What?

I was in Fleet Farm last week when the guy running the register for the line I was checking out in said "Hi, Kevin" before it was even my turn to pay for my things. Hmmm...do I know him?  I wondered as I studied his face. A quick but obvious glance at his name tag followed. Hey, Doug, how are you? He looked familiar but I was thinking he was someone other than who he was. Then he mentioned my x-wife and it dawned on me who he actually was. It had been probably close to 25 years since I had last seen Doug. Both his wife and my former wife are Thai and we'd occasionally get together. I'm not sure I'd have recognized him if he hadn't made the connection first. We chatted just a bit before he had to resume his work and I walked out to my car. I was back in Fleet Farm a few days ago (it's my most frequented store) and made a point of checking out in Doug's line again. He asked if I had time for a rather "funny request". I said sure . His wife a...

I knew I'd eventually come around to thinking what I've heard from so many retirees before me: how did I ever accomplish all that stuff I did and still work a 40 hour week? I look back on all I used to do in the course of a week and I can't help but be impressed. But I do not want to go back to those days. This new routine is much more reasonable and appealing although it does at times lack in its ability to leave me with a sense of accomplishment. I'll manage. The sun sets so early now that there's little time to waste even in the morning putzing online or whatever because the afternoon soon arrives followed by darkness all too quickly. I spent the weekend working outside putting up holiday lights and mowing the lawn one last time to vacuum up leaves.  I'm pretty happy with the progress I made. The mowers have been washed and put away and I've got the snowblower positioned in its winter spot in the garage ready for use. Bring on the snow! I posted thi...

That little fall I took off my bike in the video I posted  last week proved to be more problematic than it may have looked. I suffered bruised ribs and the pain I experienced only worsened over the next few days to the point where I went to the ER at Ridges Hospital Sunday night out of concern that I had developed a clot and was experiencing another PE (pulmonary embolism). I wasn't.  The nurse practitioner didn't think I had anything to worry about with respect to another PE because I'm anticoagulated so she ordered an x-ray to check for a punctured lung. The results were negative and as we were discussing the findings I mentioned my Factor V condition as being the reason for my increased concern. She said she didn't realize I was Factor V (I mentioned it to the person checking me in) and ordered a CT scan. She said a Factor V situation changes her protocol. The CT scan was clear and I was relieved. I texted Tammy to put her mind at ease. A little after midnight (4 h...

I hate colds! Tammy has been dealing with one for the past week so I knew I too would soon be. It always plays out the same for me—one minute I'm fine and the next I can feel a sore throat coming on. After a day the sore throat is gone and the sneezing, coughing, and congestion take over. They're such a waste of time. I got together with some retired controllers a few days ago. I met Jeff Ofthsun, Ed Whitman, and Dan Abbene at Red Cross in St Paul where they were donating blood. They get together once every couple of months, donate blood then go out to lunch together. Jeff has a list of restaurants on a folded piece of paper that he's crossing off as they visit them. They offered up a few choices to consider and had me choose. I picked Burger Moe's . It was a nice enough day that we could comfortably sit outside on the patio. Not bad for November! No photo of us all. Perhaps next time. Time passes so quickly. Jeff has been retired for over 8 years, Ed for about 6 an...

It's rainy, windy and cool outside. A perfect day to put my feet up and sit by the fireplace in the sunporch and do very little. I'm taking care of Elaine while Tammy is out running errands. There's so much activity at our bird feeder forcing some go-arounds as there's no place to land. Elaine enjoys watching them. I walked a little more than 11 miles yesterday beginning with a 1.5-mile walk with the pups. I can't think of any other activity I do that is more relaxing. I've got nearly 60 Frontline episodes stored on my Nano which will oftentimes accompany me when I'm out there but sometimes I'll opt for quieting my mind instead and try and think of nothing at all, which is actually much harder than you might imagine. It takes practice. I've got my Shaman in the shop at Freewheel Bikes in Minneapolis having some work done so it's ready for cold weather riding. There's an upgrade kit for the RockShox front suspension that allows them to ...

I got up Saturday morning and drove to Bloomington to take some photos at Moir Park. It's a park a little more than 2 miles from where I grew up and one that I'd only been to one other time that I can recall and that was probably 45 years ago. I was talking with a friend about it on Facebook and it piqued my interest to go back and have another look. The one memory I have from that visit all those years ago was descending some concrete steps and how they led to a park that was so unlike the world above. The park was and still is a tranquil setting with a creek (Nine Mile Creek) running through it. I'm surprised we'd never gone there as a family for an afternoon picnic when I was a boy. When we finished our basement 11 years ago we purchased a Simpson's Pinball Party pinball machine with the idea that Rachel and her friends would have a blast with it. It didn't quite turn out that way though because pinball seems to be something that's of little interes...

Tammy's cousin Barb runs a non-profit that helps disabled adults plug into society in various ways. One of the ways is through a program of socializing with others while making crafts. Tammy took on the role of leading that group a few months ago and I've recently joined her. There's a fair amount of preparation involved but working with the people and seeing the satisfaction they get from being creative makes it all worthwhile. The group consists of people in Barb's program and adults at an assisted living facility where we set up shop once each week. Yesterday's project brought out a lot of smiles when people saw what they'd be making: a scarecrow and a Frankenstein on a stick. Trying to get everyone through the project can get a little hectic because not everyone arrives at noon when we start. Some straggle in as late as a half-hour after we begin and we just work with them and fit them in as best we can. I'm getting more sleep now than at any point e...