Retirement Activities.

A major challenge of Retirement is finding enjoyable activities that are compatible with your abilities. My early retirement years involved serving on various Boards, Travel, Gardening, playing Golf, etc. I was able to continue many of these early activities, with modifications, as time went on. By the time we decided to consider moving to a "Retirement Facility" last summer, I had given up on many of the earlier activities.  The new "lifestyle" provides the opportunity to do some of the things I didn't have time for earlier. One of them is working with the "thousands" of pictures we have taken over the years and maintained in an organized manner. I had visions of scanning and putting them on DVDs for family inheritance. I have worked the past couple weeks as to how best to do that with my new computer. However, today I had the thought of starting out with the selected pictures already in collages. This 1956 collage includes our taking Elaine's folks to CA, etc. This is one of 13 that I have put in a computer folder along with captions that can easily be put on a DVD, Flash Drive or whatever.

A Secular Good Friday

We received a treat this noon while eating lunch. The Easter Bunny came around with candy bars for everyone. It was really a King Size Bunny complete with ears and tail. The "Bunny's" Mother asked if I could send this picture to her cell phone. I had never done that but it worked. I haven't tried it again but may be better than E-mail in some cases. I continue to spend some time on the HP following up on some of the things that Eric showed me the other evening. I also resolved a problem with the "Mail inbox" of my Mac Book. I prefer that the newest incoming mail be at the top of the file but somehow it got switched to the bottom. After trying many things, I finally Googled the question and was told to just click on the "Date Received" heading at the top of the mail listing and that would reverse the order of the display. It worked. I can see how it got reversed by my attempting to open the mail message immediately below the heading and the cursor slipping up one line. That happens quite often in making corrections but can usually be easily corrected. I am convinced that getting to "know" a computer is a matter of learning and remembering "tricks". I have heard it said that the reason some of us have such flat foreheads is because when someone shows us a trick, we hit our forehead with a fist and ask: "Why didn't I think of that".

Elaine got  her hair cut and a Permanent this afternoon. After picking her up from the Beauty Shop, we stopped at the self service "Coffee Shop" here at Brookdale. While we had been there for meetings before, it was the first time for us to take advantage of making a cup of flavored Latte and having a cookie. We  weren't real pleased with the picture in the coffee shop, so I took another at the "Supper" table.

Momentous Day

This momentous occasion occurred this morning at the Title Services office where we signed and initialed off on documents to transfer our house to new owners. Amy had the papers all prepared and our Realtor (Chuck) had kept us informed of all cost for compliance requirements. This should take care of our involvement in the process, and the new owners will be coming in to do their signing and providing us with a check. This is the first property we have sold since the farm back in 1989. That was so simple in comparison with the number of documents in this transaction. It was 37 years ago that we bought the house from friends and closed the transaction at an Attorneys office without a Realtor involved.

Tim Javorsky entertained for an hour here at Brookdale this afternoon. He played 3 different saxophones, sang and did 21 old familiar songs. I find it interesting that entertainers like him can set up a program of accompaniment on a computer and he plays a sax or sings along with the music. He was pretty good and my favorite was "Danny Boy". Carolyn, Julie, Sadie and Jack also stopped up to visit. Jack had on his overalls and continues to make us proud of him. So does Sadie and she seemed to look taller today. We really enjoy their visits even when they're short.

Seward FASTMART

Yesterday I wrote about the demolition of the old Fast Mart building here is Seward that set right in front of this new, much larger building. They were still doing some "cleaning up"  of the old building ruble but it appeared they were doing business in the new one. Since we don't have a grocery store downtown, I expect they will carry a pretty good grocery inventory. With a good part of the Seward business in early 20th century buildings, it is good to have this "station" as well as the City Library and Jones National Band along highway #15, that looks 21st century.

This second picture was taken form the Civic Center parking lot and looking to the south across the new station. While merchandise in the Fast Mart building may continue doing business, it is apparent that it will take some time to get the storage tanks buried and pumps installed. This picture is the first one that I have ever downloaded  from my phone and sent by mail to this computer. I had a Computer Tech. over this evening to help me with some problems and questions with the new computer. He is with a computer firm in Omaha and works from home except for 2 days a week when he goes in.

Good Improvements

This shows the early demolition stages of the Seward Fastmart building at Jackson and Highway 15 (6th street). It has been in the construction stages for some time with the new facility completed in back of the old smaller one. There will be pumps out in the nearly quarter block area that at one time only had room for a few pumps and some difficulty for 18 wheelers to get to. Additional land was acquired to make the new setting possible. Nebraska Highway 15 is a main north-south route through eastern Nebraska and carries a lot of truck traffic. 

Closer to home, some needed changes were made at the parking lot that is close to our Patio and "back door" We haven't used the lot much this winter but will as the weather warms. It is a busy lot and one car was taking up 2 spaces by the way it was parked. I pulled in to take the picture which I showed to Jim and today, he got the car moved down to the other end of the lot. The 1st spot at the left end is reserved for a Brookdale vehicle. 

Kiwanis at Concordia

Our Kiwanis Club met this noon at the "Dog House" in Janzow on the campus of Concordia University.  Thank you to Devin Smith and the staff for helping us with the meeting.  Dr. Brian Frederich stopped by with a  welcome. There were 40 Kiwanis members in attendance, many of them with Concordia connections. I was impressed with the number of staff involved with the 600 students in Athletic programs. That number represents half of the CU enrollment. One of the young coaches sat across the table from me, and I suggested that he looked a lot like Grayson Allen, the Duke star that didn't get the roll on his last-second shot last night. Drew Olson, CU Women's basketball coach, also talked about their dropping the NIA Final recently. They had a great season and will be back next year to win it all.

NCAA Basketball

I apologize for this NCAA Basketball Bracket not showing up very well. My interest in the Final Four  and National Championship went down considerably this evening with Duke's overtime loss to Kansas in Omaha. I didn't get my picks made until after the 4 "Play in" teams were determined so here are my "scores". In the first round, I picked 22 of the first 32 winners. I had 7 of the Sweet 16 winners, only 3 of the Elite 8 and just 1 of the Final Four. I had Duke beating Virginia for the National Championship with North Carolina and Villanova in the Final Four. With Loyola having knocked off several higher seeds, they could become a "Cinderella Team" by winning it all but Villanova, Kansas and Michigan will each  have their chance. Our interest in Duke Basketball goes back to the days when son Tim was a student there and kept some statistical information on the games. He and 3 of his old Buddies usually get back down to see a home game in Cameron Stadium once a year. One of his friends has season tickets which is their way in. It seems to me that the game of basketball continues to evolve. There always were some "fine lines" that determined  blocks and charges but the acceptable physical contact today makes is a more different game than what it was just a few years ago.

Interesting Day

Schweitzer's had a "Sports Memorabilia" Auction at Harvest Hall here in Seward today. I went down early while Elaine was at the Beauty Shop and was impressed with the amount of very interesting items. I heard that the merchandise was all owned by a fellow from Lincoln. The inventory would have filled a good sized sport store. Feature items included a Dodger Baseball shirt worn by Sandy Koufax and a Manning football jersey. The display of balls, bats, plaques, etc. reminded me of the New York Yankee Museum in the new stadium when we visited it in '09. It would take someone like Darin Erstad to gather in such a collection. 

Had the Auction been held a year ago when we were in our house, I don't know what all I may have bought but didn't get anything today. Ken Baldinger drives the Brookdale van and also the County Handy Bus and took 10 of us "Residents" on a Field Trip to Dwight, NE, this afternoon. It was nice to get out in the country even though it was a cool, cloudy day. The Grotto at the Assumption Church was most interesting and in contrast to the simplicity of former Poet Laureate Ted Kooser's Office. The sign in the window says: "poetry repaired".

Challanges

I took this picture of the Google Chrome home screen with my phone but would like to learn how to do it on the HP Workbook Windows 10 with the "Print screen" button or whatever the process may be. Jon did a great job setting this up for me a week ago by putting icons at the base of the screen to open my favorite programs. Then at the upper part of this pictured page are several favorite sites, such as: The Crow's Nest, etc. One of the sites is: Clarkson Polka which opens U-tube and plays polka music. What was interesting was that I added Leo Lonnie Orchestra which I wrote about yesterday.

It brought up his Dance Band playing at the Starlight Ballroom near Wahoo. Lonnie even played the saxophone on some selections. This site also brought up several of the old Nebraska Polka Bands. It was also possible to choose the songs you wish to hear. I can see spending a lot of time on this site while working on other matters. Meanwhile, tonight we are watching a lot of basketball. Duke will be meeting Syracuse in the second game from Omaha later this evening. Go Blue Devils

Pain and Polka Day

Lonnie Piitz  entertained at Brookdale this afternoon. He plays the accordion, sings and tells interesting stores about his family, farming and his Dance and Accordion Bands. He  had led his Dance Band at an event in Council Bluffs last night, hauled a truck load of corn to Columbus this morning and was a few minutes late for playing here. He took requests after playing some of the old standards and Elaine got him to play and sing the John Deere song with the "pop-pop's". There was a good-sized crowd with most of us able to relate to his stories about the 47 Black Angus baby calves added to his herd this spring.

I spent over 2 hours at our Dentist Office this morning  having the second upper-front tooth worked over. I had the crown replaced on the other upper-front tooth  a few months ago which was rather routine. There was enough decay in the "stub" of this one that he had to do a root canal, insert a pin and put on a temporary crown. It will be replaced with the regular crown in a couple weeks. I made him aware of my decision to not have him work on anymore of the identified problems with my old crowns unless they develop                 untolerable pain.

Computer Techniques

I spent close to 3 hours today in resetting the default font and size on our new HP Notebook computer. With the Home page opened in Word, thee are the two normal "ribbons" below the "Home" level and also a "ribbon" below the others showing categories of: Clipboard, Font, Paragraph and Styles. At the right end of each is a small box. Clicking on the one in Font brings up "Font" in which you can select Font, Size, etc. After selection of your choice, click the "Set as default" box and also the "O.K." box. I also wrote up the steps in Scanning, Processing and mailing a picture for my personal use.

       Click on Printer icon at base of desktop > Go to “Open New Scan” at top, left of the screen > Choose “O.K” and the picture will be scanned and appear on the screen along with a listing of scanned items above the picture.

     Double click on the listing line, it will bring up a new screen with the picture. There will be a box at the top, right of the screen between the – and +. >Click on the box, it will bring up a similar looking screen with the picture and an opportunity to >Choose “Edit & Correct”, click on it to bring up “Edit”, >Clicking Edit will bring up “Crop and rotate” as well as “Enhance”.

      Click on the “Crop...” box which brings up the picture and opportunity to crop it, flip or rotate it. >Proceed to crop and click “Save”. That will bring up a screen with “This PC >Pictures and an opportunity to > Enter a “File name” and >Click “save” which will bring up a full screen picture and an opportunity to print, share (Mail), etc.

Computer Set-up

I did some cleaning-up in the west room today and got rid of the old keyboard and monitor from our '07 HP PC. I have a lot to learn on the new HP Notebook and HP Desk Jet Printer that Jon set up for us when they were here last week. I have learned to do some of the basic operations on the new machine but still rely on my old Mac Laptop for much of what I do. (Including writing this blog sheet, etc.) I have kept our old '12 HP printer which works fine for printing, copying and scanning but was unable to get  hooked-up to the new Notebook. It is handy for Elaine to use to make copies for which she often has need. I don't have a remote printer connection but am able to use the old one for printing from my Mac with a USB connection. Among the things I have learned on the new "set-up" is how to scan pictures, process, store, and put them on a DVD, if desired. We have moved literally thousands of prints up here and one of my objectives is to fix up a "package" of pictures for each of the kids. I felt that putting them on DVDs was appropriate, but Jon talked about "Flash Drives" being more practical. I have used Flash Drives to store all of my blogs pages for the past several years.

This is the way the new "set-up" looks. I still like to use the mouse and key board  at a lower, more comfortable level on the computer desk. The new Notebook has small left and right pads in addition to the regular pad but I haven't used them. I'm really just using it as a computer and monitor. We have a very active "Team Mates"chapter here in the Public School, and I wonder if it could be reversed and some computer savy student might come over and "Mentor" me on Windows 10.

 

Casing "Knife" for Smoked Sausage.

Dave Oates took his home-made sausage samples to Kiwanis today and then provided folks here at Brookdale a chance to enjoy them after playing Bingo. This is the Sausage Grinder that was in the Flowerday family for a number of years. Elaine sold it to Dave a few years ago and she wrote a little story of its history. Today she gave him a little "Casing knife" that her Dad had made and used with the following "story".

    "My Father made a special "scraper" from a small green tree limb. It was about 7 inches long and one end "shaped and sharpened" to resemble a knife. The hog casings would have been thoroughly washed, then slipped over a broom handle to provide a solid base for using the "Knife" to scrape away any waste material. A Lard-press would be used to stuff the sausage into the casings. They would be "tied-off" at certain lengths and taken to the Smokehouse.  The sausages were hung above a "Fire-Pit" in the center of the small building and apple wood kindled to

smoke but not flame. The pit would soon be filled with live "coals" which fully cooked the sausage and give it the delicious smoked flavor".

    Dave was very appreciative of receiving the casing scraping knife to be reunited with the old Flowerday sausage grinder. He and the staff here passed out samples of over a dozen varieties of sausage and cheese along with crackers. There was a good-sized crowd of residents . Many, like us, even took along home some for later.

Building a Wall

We have heard a lot about building a wall lately and when Google used this image on St. Patrick's Day, it reminded me of a wall that Elaine and I built some years ago. It was a "dry" limestone  retaining wall built in front of our first house. The native Greenhorn limestone came from the old house on the family farm where I grew up. The house was rebuilt in 1950 with the limestone walls replaced with cement blocks. Elaine and I had bought our first house about the same time.

It was a little house here in Seward and their first home when my folks were married. The front yard had a drop-off of about three feet to graveled Bradford street. We had no garage and parked our car out front on the edge of the street. The wall widened our parking area, and we built concrete steps to get up to the stepping stones in the yard. It made the house much more attractive. The house changed hands many times over the years but the wall remained until a couple years ago when it was replaced with concrete parking. During this past week, we brought a chunk of the Greenhorn Limestone up to our patio area here at Brookdale from out house where we had kept it all these years.

Jon, Mary and Anna's Visit

Jon, Mary and Anna flew in to Omaha last Sunday evening, drove out to Seward and have spent a lot of time with us all week. They are staying down at the Cobblestone and will fly home to Virginia tomorrow. They ate a French Toast supper with us here at Brookdale this evening. We have utilized Jon's technical knowledge and Mary's medical know-how throughout the week. Jon continued to stay in touch with USDA back in D.C with messages. One of his final jobs here this evening was removing the hard drive from the old PC that "went dark" a couple weeks ago.

Jon brought a new Computer and Printer-Scanner home early in the week and has them set up and operational. He is familiar with Windows 10 but I find it most difficult. I spent as much time as possible working my way through programs that I will use most frequently, making notes and asking questions. I even dictated the scanning, processing, mailing steps to Elaine. After we finished eating tonight, Jon sat down at the nearby piano and played Scott Joplin's "Entertainer". It went over big with the few remaining diner's and the staff. When he finished, one lady asked him if he knew any others. That gave him the lead to tell the story of how he plunked away on the piano when he was about 10 years old. I suggested to him at that time, to pick out one song and learn to play it correctly. He did just that but went on to be an accomplished musician on a variety of instruments. But he never misses the opportunity to tell the story. We really enjoyed their visit.

Czech Pictures for Learning

These pictures were taken in the fall of 1993 when my sister, Vivian and Ed; brother Don and Gladys; joined Elaine and I on a trip to Europe. We went to Chaslov in the Czech Republic where our Vrana Grandparents had migrated from to the USA. A lot of planning went into the trip. Each of us brothers and sister had relatives or friends over there that facilitated the trip. Ed being able to speak Czech fluently was also a big plus. I had met Miroslav on a USDA mission a few years earlier, and he had been over here on business. The other two couples had been over to Prague earlier and met "Uncle Nick" who was a great host who insisted that we see "Old Town" at night with the old buildings all light up.

This picture was taken at the home of Miroslav and his wife (in the foreground). Now fast forward 25 years and find that these pictures were scanned on the new HP computer, printer set up that Jon is providing us to replace the one that he helped us get set up 10 years ago. While I was able to process pictures routinely with the old  computer, this new one with Window's 10 is totally different. I spent a lot of time  getting these two processed and made some notes along the way. I may even go through the several steps tomorrow and dictate them to Elaine. And, may do that with each of the programs I use.

Our Old House

The new shingles are on and the gutters and down spouts are scheduled to be installed tomorrow. Fortunately, there will be insurance help on the roof. This is just part of what has been done to complete the sale. We have really appreciated the help of our Realtor, Chuck Kotera with Woods Bros. here in Seward. Chuck has worked back and forth with us, the buyers and contractors  toward completing the sale. This is the 6th house we have lived in and sold since we have been married and has been by far the most difficult. It seems that many regulations have come into being since we bought and sold. A good Realtor is a necessity these days.

Making Sausage

Dave Oates calls Bingo here at Brookdale once/week and stopped by to visit with Elaine about Sausage. Dave is a Kiwanian involved in many volunteer activities and a long time sausage maker. He and Elaine established a lasting bond a few years ago with her sale of the "Flowerday Family" sausage grinder to Dave. She wrote a story about the grinder's history and her memory of its use when she was a little girl. Dave treats the Seward Kiwanians to sample a variety of his sausage creations and will bring the samples up for the Brookdale Bingo players and others in the near future. He wanted to make sure that Elaine would be in the audience to hear his comments and to add her story. While Elaine's family made sausage with beef and pork, Dave has gone exotic using everything from snake to buffalo. Elaine is also writing a story to go with a little wooden "knife" for Dave,  that her Dad made and used to clean casings which he filled with sausage.

Brookdale Dinner/The Kitones

Jon, Mary and Anna flew out last night from Virginia and spent the day with us. They are staying down at the Cobblestone Motel and have a rental car. We all ate together this evening here at Brookdale. The Kiwanis Kitones sang to a full house here this evening. Rev. Andrew Ratcliffe was honored in his last performance with the group as he leaves to fulfill a call to Minnesota. He sang a couple solo parts and had their little daughter along. I sang with the group when he brought her as an infant. People like him are our citizens best hope for this country's future.

Tiger and Big Bucks

I watched the Velspar Invitational with Tiger Wood all afternoon and suffered with him as a putt lipped out and others fell short.  But his long game was great. We go to supper early and I missed his 44' birdie putt that put him  9 under and just 1 behind the winner, Paul Casey. Watching golf was a pleasant diversion from all the basketball we've seen lately. It was also disappointing that Nebraska didn't get a wild card bid to the NCAA, 68 team Basketball Tournament. I may fill out a bracket again this year and will root for Duke. While they may not be among those teams favored to win it all, if they play as will as they have on occasions during the season, they could. I understand that Bagley might be the #1 draft pick which will end his college career.  With the short number of years that Professional Basketball players are able to make the "big bucks", it's hard to criticize them for grabbing them when they can. I didn't get my first college degree until I was 41 but wasn't distracted by the wealth that they are if they go back.

Archie and his Folks

We were pleasantly surprised this afternoon when Tim, Carle and little Archie came to visit. They had been in town on another mission and had talked with Tim's Grandpa Don on how to find us. We have enjoyed Tim over the years including seeing him pole vault with Hastings College here at Concordia some years ago. He and Carle seem to have been made for each other and little Archie is just as special as what might be expected. He is approaching 6 months and will challenge my weighing 25 pounds when I was 6 months old. I doubt that my personality was as pleasant as his with a smile on his lips and a twinkle in his eye. Carle said that when they brought him back to her in the hospital and laid him on his stomach, he tried to raise up.

 We all took the opportunity to hold the big boy and get the benefit of his size and strength. He has wrinkles in his arms and legs but his wrinkles are not like mine. Tim has all the attributes that make for being a very good father. As I watch these young fathers like him and John (father of our Great Grandchildren), I marvel at their parenting skills. It makes me realize that I could have done much more to help when our four were growing up. Fathers like them could help solve many of today's problems.

Great Grandchildren Visit

John, Sadie and Jack came over this evening after a fish dinner at St. Vincent's. We always  enjoy them and they are very much "at home" here. Jack has always enjoyed setting on a lap and having someone read to him but Great Grandma is special. His vocabulary seems to grow at the same speedy rate as his physical body. John and Julie do an excellent job of parenting in my judgment. The kids do a certain amount of "testing" but they know who's boss. It is probably well that we don't have them alone very often because we would surely spoil them.  They have learned to entertain themselves to some extent which is good. Carolyn's backyard has been a major factor in that process. 

They shared my chair as we watched the "Irish Rovers" sing the Unicorn  and Puff the Magic Dragon songs. I told them about how their Mother enjoyed those songs when she was a little girl. So many things have changed in those 30 years since Julie was a little girl, that it's nice to be able to go back and listen to music from that era. The fact that we were 30 years younger might also have something to do with looking back on those days with wonder at all the things we were able do. I spent time today going through old files from a trip to the Czech Republic back in 1993 and marvel at the energy we had at that time. But, I also thought about how I was reliving and again enjoying things that we had saved for a day like today.

Birthday Cake with Jaudons

Elaine and I had the pleasure of sharing Charley's Birthday cake him, Ruth and Chuck.  Elaine had a 2:00pm follow-up appointment with Dr. Summa who gave her a good report, and then we walked on over to the Extended Care area of the Hospital where we joined the "party". Ruth has a very pleasant room and is receiving Hospice care with Charley across the hall recuperating from a hip problem. Charley is about 8 months younger than me and we have gotten together for many years on our birthdays. During the days we were playing golf, it was often on the course where we would shoot our age as we got a bit older. He   played most of the rounds with me when I set my 91 consecutive days of playing 9 holes.

Charley and Ruth had an Auction, sold their house, and moved up to Brookdale a couple years ago. They being there, along with a few other people we knew, had something to do with our decision to move there last September 1. I remember of calling Charley when we were considering Brookdale and asking if there was anything we should know about the Unit we were considering. Happy Birthday Charley, you are joining a group of us with big numbers.

Life at Brookdale

I went along with Elaine down the hall to the Laundry room today and got this picture of her putting clothes in one of the 3 washing machines available here at no cost to residents. There are 3 dryers as well.  Elaine has been a little reluctant to start using these facilities regularly since they are shared and she was so attached to the ones down at the house. After being up here for six months, it would seem that we should be well adjusted to the change, but I too keep making adjustments. This afternoon I worked on files in a 2-drawer wooden file cabinet. It is a substitute for a 4-drawer metal file cabinet plus the 2nd 2-drawer one. I'm finally getting around to doing the reorganizing for our current lifestyle.

We enjoyed telephone conversations today with Tim and sister Janice. Elaine has had many calls and notes following her weekend TIA. I don't know of anyone (other than family) who missed her at our table more than the 94 year old retired farmer that we eat with twice a day. There hasn't been a meal since she's been back that he hasn't told her of his concern and how nice it is to see her back looking so good. He lost his wife about 6-weeks ago and we have become pretty important to him. His wife had been in the Green House facility, and he spent every afternoon with her. While he has good family and Pastor support with calls and visits, our extended Dinner and Supper eating time is important to all of us.