Letter to Kentucky

Hi Tommy and Carolyn,

Jean and I met with my mother this week to decide our itinerary toward reaching the magical land of Florida to her winter residence in Rockledge, Florida.

Our first discussion addressed the question, “Is it still there  -- Florida and her residence?”

Some of her fellow campers are already there.  Hurricane Irma destroyed the office and their recreation hall according to people already there.  The office, where people pay rent and get their mail, is sort of mobile so it keeps people guessing where it will be one day to the next.  I guess they are doing that to keep the residents’ minds in shape.  As far as my mother’s place, she lost a few shingles and her air conditioning/heating system.  The A/C, heat was replaced this week and so she now has some place to call home.  You can infer because her buddies are down there, Florida still exists.

The next discussion involved the time we should cross the Kentucky state line. 

We decided we would leave the State of Wisconsin on Thursday, October 26 and drive straight through.  The problem occurred during our discussions defining the phrase “straight through”.  We decided no one’s plumbing system can hold out in a car for eight hours and so the “straight through” probably means more than the 8 hours Google Maps proclaims as the time to drive to Kentucky.  Because of this uncertainty of arrival time, we decided to reserve a space in the Best Western in Lawrenceberg.  My mother reminded us about our status in Milwaukee and she wanted the status to be more certain than the Patterson status in Milwaukee.  Right now, with Marian and Drew we have no idea whether we are welcome within the city limits as far as the Patterson family is concerned.  With that concern in mind, she did not want to chance you two meeting us at the state line and telling us to go back north.  We booked the room in Lawrenceburg until Saturday, October 28^th.  We will then move onto the next destination from there.  We hope to spend most of Friday, October 27^th with you – assuming you don’t meet us at the Kentucky state line and tell us to go to West Virginia.

Our next stop on that Saturday may be Chattanooga, Tennessee where Brett, one of my mother’s grandchildren, resides. After Chattanooga, the next destination is Valdosta, Florida where we will rent a room at the Hampton Inn and Suites for the night.  October 29^th is the last push to Rockledge.  We can take a leisurely push to Rockledge on that Sunday because the Green Bay Packers have a bye that week and the people at the campground will not be sitting at her doorstep waiting for the beginnings of her Packer party.

Jean and I need to discuss the route we will take to return to Wisconsin. We will assume that if we are not met at the Kentucky state line going down that we can drive back through Kentucky, assuming Google Maps lets us go that way, without any concern from the Kentucky Pattersons.

Let me know if you have any trouble with this itinerary.  We still have time to adjust our timetable so we can take my dad’s favorite route by going through Michigan.

Thanks.

Ralph

Woodmans

Woodmans

Woodmans is a large grocery store which has several locations. Our Woodmans is located on the southwest side of Madison.  Woodmans is a grocery store where you will find a number of state employees shopping for food.  In the Madison grocery store ranks, Woodmans fits into the budget of most state employees.

Before retirement, my wife had me tag along while she occasionally shopped after I returned from work.  Now at retirement, I am allowed to accompany her during the day for these shopping adventures.

Shopping at Woodmans is an experience each time you shop at Woodmans.  There are two types of people that shop at Woodmans -- those that know what they are doing and those that do not.  The clueless people walk around not knowing where anything is located and are in danger of being trampled by people who do.

My wife knows what she is doing at Woodmans.  She compiles a shopping list each week and then organizes the items on her list by the grocery aisle which houses each item.  Milk is never the first item on her list.  The first item is always bread or a bread product.  She has shopped Woodmans so much she automatically knows which aisle the product is located in.  She gets incensed when Woodmans changes the aisle locations or she makes a mistake, misses an item, and then causes her to retrace her steps to corral the missing box of cereal, can of tomatoes, etc.

Me, on the other hand, are one of the those that do not know what they are doing.  My role is to push the shopping cart and try to keep up with my wife in sight.   It is work to keep up because she  tries to limit the amount of time in the store as much as possible and the outlay of the store is better when you are on foot rather than pushing a shopping cart.

Trailing her with the shopping cart is not easy.   The first obstacle is the produce section.  Woodmans has a lot of produce but not much area to maneuver.  Each time I approach the produce section with the shopping cart I shudder.  I know I will fall far behind my wife if anyone is talking with an acquaintance, the friendly Woodmans people are restocking, or if someone dumps produce on the floor.  All of these potential roadblocks occur and when they occur simultaneously waiting on the Madison Beltline in a traffic jam is preferable than trying to sort out the mess in the produce area.

If you survive the produce area then there are other hurtles to overcome.  People love to park their shopping carts in the middle of the food aisle.  By doing that they ensure shoppers from either direction cannot pass. These people stand to the side of their shopping cart scratching their heads, discussing what can is needed while talking to their spouse on their cellphone, or yelling at their kid strapped into the shopping cart which decided to cry because the kid had an audience   The shoppers from either side try to be polite by clearing their throats, talking loud, smiling, or trying to move the impeding shopping cart out of the way.  Sometimes the delayed shopper's gambits work and sometimes they don't.  As for my experience, the delayed shopper strategies never work and so I am constantly trying to either find my wife because she is now in a different aisle or sprinting after her trying to keep up.

Woodmans also has a silent obstacle.  Woodmans has a cadre of electric shopping carts.  From my observation most of the people driving these silent killers do not need them.  They should walk like everyone else.  But I must admit an electric shopping cart looks like a lot more fun than pushing a manual cart.  The challenge for us manual cart people is you never know when an 89 year old grandmother will whiz past you on her electric shopping cart.  Getting passed in an aisle by an electric shopping cart is a sobering and humiliating experience.

If you get past the milk, ice cream, and pop aisles in Woodmans then you are close to Nirvana, the checkout lines.  There is a strategy to getting through the checkout lines.  You must conduct reconnaissance on  each checkout line and assess the checker and the bagger. If either of these two people are slow in what they do, you move to the next line.  I also discovered another Woodmans' rule.  The shortest checkout line may be longest checkout line because the machinery will break down or the person before you forgot something in the back of the store that they need to get before checking out.   This rule is the equivalent of the laws of gravity because it is always true.

I learned a lot while experiencing the Woodmans' experience during the daytime.  One of these days my wife said I may be allowed to go solo.  I am not looking forward to that day.  However, if that day occurs then I know the Woodmans' Liquor Store is the next store in the shopping center.  I will then plan to visit that store for liquid assistance before I try to get past the produce section in the main store.

Leg Pain

I have two bad legs which needed multiple operations over my lifetime.  The worst one is my left leg.  My left leg became painful on Saturday, August 12.  It was so bad I needed crutches to get around. I called my doctor and they had no openings.  They suggested I go to urgent care.  Jean and I went to urgent care on Monday, August 14^th.

We rolled into urgent care. I did not need crutches to walk in the door.  I paid the $25 copay, registered at the front, registered inside urgent care, sat down, and we were whisked into a room within 5 minutes.  The nurse took my vitals and determined I was still alive.  She said the doctor would be in shortly.

The doctor, Susan Montgomery, did show up.  She was a middle aged woman and she looked at me with suspicion.

“What is wrong with you?”, she asked in a very condescending voice. 

I  responded. “I have extreme pain in my left leg.  It is pain that comes and goes.  Right now it is less but Saturday night it was really bad.”

She looked at me not believing me.  I think she thought I wanted drugs.

“Let me look!”

I showed her my left leg with the abundance of scars from prior leg operations.  Her face softened.

“So you say this has been going on for a time?”

“Yes, and it got really bad on Saturday.”

Susan smiled.  “I want to have some X-Rays on that leg.  Then we will see what is going on.”

A nurse escorted me to X-Ray and they took eight X-Rays on my left leg and foot.  They then led me back to the examination room.

After 10 minutes of waiting, the Dr. Montgomery knocked and walked in.

Her approach was 180 degrees different from the time we first met.  She was very friendly.  “With that leg I have no doubt you have constant pain. The X-Rays show you have bone on bone by the knee.  You probably need a knee replacement. I will refer you to an orthopedic surgeon.”

So, I have a scheduled visit with an orthopedic surgeon on September 1^st.   September could be a painful month.

The moral of the story is once somebody like me retires, the body immediately falls apart.

Hayward Vacation 2017

     The annual Hayward vacation which occurred from Saturday, July 22 to Friday, July 28 was a vacation tempered due to the death of Uncle Stan Garnsworthy and his visitation on July 28th and subsequent memorial service on July 29th.

     This was our 11th year at the Virgin Timbers Resort located on Moose Lake, 20 miles east of Hayward. This year we moved to a bigger cabin, cabin 3.  We needed the extra room because we had six people rather than five.  Amy's boyfriend Dan joined us this year.  Cabin 3 had one more bedroom than Cabin 2.  It also had a larger porch than Cabin 2.  Both Cabins 2 and 3 had great views of Moose Lake.

     Cabin 3 had its peculiarities.  All of the bedrooms were at a tilt.  None of the flooring was level in the bedrooms.  Cabin 3 also retained its archaic wiring system.  The porch was lighted with Christmas tree LED lights. The LP gas stove burners had to be lit manually.  The wiring system could not handle more than one high amperage appliance at one time.  Cabin 3, unlike Cabin 2 in prior years, did not experience mice, hornets, or bats.  The lack of wildlife and the increased space made Cabin 3 much more livable than Cabin 2.

     Virgin Timber Resorts had new owners in 2017, Chris and Tammy.  Chris was a middle-aged guy with a Fu Manchu beard, piercings between his eyes and other places on his body, and many tattoos.  Chris worked in IT in Texas before he and Tammy bought the resort.  Tammy appeared did not have visible tattoos or piercings.  They both had two daughters, four dogs, and cats.  Chris upgraded the wifi system but apparently had an aversion to cutting the grass around the cabins.

     Besides us the people attending included the Butlers, Foxes, and McDermotts.  The Butlers included Jane, Keith, Hannah and Hannah's boyfriend, Ben.  The Foxes were Dave, Donna, and Anna,  The McDermotts were John, Karen, Jake, and Jake's girlfriend, Jensen.

     Chris and Tammy changed a few things at the resort.  The main boat dock was cut in half due to some disagreement between them and the owners located next to the resort.  Many of the rowboats used in prior years now sat in a graveyard located at the back of the resort.  The fish house was also moved near the center of the beach.  

     The weather was cloudy and dreary for the first three days and nice the last three days.  The fishing was the same throughout the vacation-- dreary.  I took my usual number of fish from the lake, zero.  Most of the other people fishing had similar luck.  They spent significant time fishing and not many results.

     John'a boat, the boat used for water skiing, was out of action until Wednesday because it needed a replacement part.  After significant fishing frustration, Dave's boat, the fishing boat, was taken out of Moose Lake and moved to Spider Lake on Thursday.  Spider Lake had significantly more fish than Moose Lake.

      We made our usual pilgrimage to Hayward on Tuesday.  Laura, Amy, and Dan spent some time in the shops.  The highlight of visiting Hayward was eating at Perkins and shopping for cooler ice at Walmart.

      The vacation itself could be classified as ho-hum.  The Butlers rented the pontoon boat on Wednesday.  We burned four piles of wood on Wednesday night.  We had a pizza party in the bar on Tuesday night. We played some cards and board games.  We ate well.  We relaxed.  For those reasons, the vacation was a success.

      A new plan was hatched for fishing in 2018.  John's boat will stay at the resort.  Dave's boat will move from lake to lake and not be put into Moose Lake.  The new plan hopefully has better fishing results.  

Retirement Start

     Today is Thursday, August 3, 2017 and it is my third week of retirement from DNR.  I really consider it my first week because two weeks ago we were preparing for vacation and last week we were on vacation.  This week was the first week when in prior years I would be working instead of writing this post.

     I was counseled by many people about retirement being the best thing ever.  I have no doubt retirement is a good thing but no one warned of an adjustment period.

     The beginning of July, I was working 10 hour days to keep up with my work and to get enough of the work completed so someone would not walk into a mess.  The annual emission inventory project for 2016 was completed for the state and the federal government before July 14th, my last day.  

      On Monday, July 31st, there was no DNR work to do.  I did not have to interact with a DNR computer or fellow DNR employees.  It was as if someone placed a wall in front of me and I could no longer pass through the wall.  My dreams were still about work. My body still woke up anticipating going to work.  But I did not have to go to work.  The wall was there blocking me from doing the work I had done for decades. It was a weird feeling.

     I now have extra time, 40 to 50  hours a week.  I am tired after coming back from work.  I can read a book.  I can bike.  I can do many things in which I never had time to do before.

     It is a weird feeling and as I get more into retirement I hope it this weird feeling will fade.  

Eulogy for Uncle Stan

 

     Stan Garnsworthy, age 64 years, died on July 20, 2017.  That sentence does not supply enough information on the person he was.  It is a simple sentence, devoid of feeling.
      You would expect a sentence to tell you what kind of person he was, wouldn't you?  He was a family man, an avid hunter, fisherman, and trapper.  He knew more about the outdoors than I will ever know.  He traveled to Ireland, Alaska, and many other places people only dream about.  He was thoughtful and knew a good laugh when he heard one.
      He worked for 3M for 36 years.   He climbed up through the organization.  By the time he retired he was head of a successful fuel cell program.  He believed in the work and the people who worked for him.  He retired at the age of 62.
   Then in March 2016, he found out he had esophageal cancer.  He had most of his esophagus removed. He had his stomach stitched upward so he could eat.  He went through the whole ordeal without complaint and determined to beat the cancer.  The operation was a success but did not get all of the cancer.  From that day forward he endured.   He hunted. He fished. He loved life.
     But the cancer continued.  The cancer never retreated.  There was no remission. As the cancer progressed, he could not eat.  He lost weight.  He had trouble walking.  They placed a rod in his leg.  He endured.   After some time he could not eat, talk, or drink.  He finally acknowledged the cancer won on June 20, 2017.  However, he would not give death satisfaction until a month later.
     Why did this have to happen?
      Stan and Sue built a cabin, his oasis.  Stan and Sue had a house on a river.  Stan had a loving wife.  Stan had two kids and two grandchildren.  Everyone depended on him.
     He also had family outside his immediate family.  He was a big brother to me because I never had a big brother.  Although I never hunted, trapped, and was a poor fisherman, he never held that against me. He also affected other people outside his immediate family the same way.
     You could see how much he affected people with his wake on July 28th and the church service on July 29th.  Many people shared grief and stories about his life. I could have shared a story but my feet and my mouth would not move when I had the opportunity.
     If he was there to listen then he should have been proud of his accomplishments over his 64 years.
     Same question, "Why did this have to happen?"
     Perhaps the answer has something to do with the world today.  The world today has much hatred, killing, and evil.  Maybe, just maybe, God was tired and needed someone to make it appear the world had hope.  He needed someone with integrity. He needed someone with a sense of humor.  In other words, he needed Stan.  What other explanation could there be?
      What other explanation indeed.  So you see the sentence "Stan Garnsworthy, 64 years old, died on July 20, 2017" should be replaced by "Stan Garnsworthy, 64 years old, was needed and left the earth to help on July 20, 2017".
       That is the more accurate sentence.  Stan will always be in our hearts and we will always need him to be with us.  We can take some solace that Stan was needed by a higher power.  We just hope the higher power appreciates him as much as the people who knew him through July 20th appreciated him.