On Facebook there’s a thing going around to write 25 random things about yourself.  I thought I’d share mine here for those who don’t have facebook.

(in no particular order)

1. I’m so proud of my kids.  Not only are they really good people they are the funniest people I know.

2. I love living near Blanchard. The grocery store has 4 aisles of groceries, we have Co-Op gas, electricity, phone and DSL and many of our neighbors are Amish.

3. After 21 years I still love the mystery of being with those who are dying.

4. I miss my brother. A lot.

5. My mom taught me unconditional love. I hope someday I do it as well as she does.

6. My politics are much more liberal than I ever dreamed they’d be.

7. My husband is the kindest and smartest man I’ve ever known.

8. I have 3 goals in life… 1). Never learn to play golf. 2). Never go back to Las Vegas. 3). Never go to Frankenmuth.

9. My sister and I are closer than any 2 sisters I know.

10. Piloting an airplane is something I’ll never get enough of.

11. I’ve never smoked a cigarette or a joint. I kind of regret the second.

12. My daughter in law is wonderful. I love having her in our family.

13. I’m a huge Shel Silverstein fan.

14. My singing voice is horrible. I don’t care. I love to sing.

15. I am the 10th generation on my mom’s side to live in Isabella county.

16. My mom and my step mom share an aunt and uncle. But my mom and step mom are not related.

17. I am still close friends with the girl I sat next to my first morning on the bus in kindergarten.

18. I once worked with a mass murderer. He killed 7 people. I thought he was a nice guy, until then.

19. I’ve been through more difficult things than most people I know, yet, my life and relationships are rich and wonderful. Life sure is an interesting ride.

20. I do not miss my youth.

21. I once got 2 speeding tickets on the same day.

22. I cannot be with my sister without giggling uncontrollably at least once during the visit.

23. I love glass. I make stained glass and collect abstract Caithness Glass by Colin Terris.

24. I love being in my 50s! It truly is the best decade.

25. My New Years Resolution was … Do Less. I’m looking forward to getting around to that.

We took a fun ride down the Silver Springs today.  There are wild monkeys here in huge groups.   We got very close to them as they came over to our boat.  Adrie was afraid they were going to jump in the boat and bite her.

Tomorrow the kids are spending all day at Disney.  Im staying here and helping out with some things.  The weather is perfect 78 today.

Jon, Susie, Adrie and I are heading to Florida tomorrow to visit my dad and Joyce.  He’s having some physical problems and I am going to check on him.  The kids are looking forward to a get away and we’re all excited about some warm weather!

Dad only has dial up, so I’m not sure how much I’ll be posting from there.

Stay tuned…

We saw the movie Gran Torino yesterday.  I really enjoyed it.  I especially enjoyed the Hmong.  We had a large Hmong population here in Mt. Pleasant at one time.  I got to know many through hospice.  Their death and funeral rituals are very interesting.  Here is a summary… Hmong Funerals

One of the best parts of my job right now is spending time with the hospice patients at hospice house.  Tonight was one of those nights where every part of our new building was in use …doing just what we needed it to do.   We had 4 referrals today for patients in their own homes (or nursing homes).  So this evening one of the RNs was out admitting one of the patients.  A suicide survivor’s support group was going on in the meeting room.  We have 3 residents at hospice house.  One is actively dying tonight and has a large family.   The chef made a nice meal for everyone in the family (we’re talking 20 people and a dog).  The family has settled in for the vigil.  Some are in the patient’s room, some sleeping in the room next to him, some in the family room watching TV.

Our other two hospice house patients have no close family.  A distant cousin or nephew from Florida stop in to visit.  One of those patients, a wonderful man with a deep booming voice moved in on Monday.  As the ambulance drivers wheeled him in the door I met them there and the patient said, “I’m the sick one”.  I told him the stretcher gave him away.  It turns out he is a cemetery buff, a genealogist and a local historian.    We’ve spent quite a bit of time talking about cemeteries and he helped me identify some symbols on headstone pictures we’ve taken.    The one symbol I’ve never been able to identify has stumped him too…but he is going to try to figure it out.   Tonight as I was getting ready to leave his room he started talking about “this amazing process of dying”.   He asked a bunch of questions about the process, what he should expect, etc.   I assured him he would be comfortable and his death would be graceful and gentle.

As I left his room he said to me… “I’m still kicking….but I’m running out of buckets”.

Experiences like this are why I love hospice.

Linda and I (and our families) had a great time yesterday for her birthday.  We went to Harbor Springs then lunch and Ice Festival at Bay Harbor.

One of the best parts of my life with Linda is the times when we giggle so hard we cry.  It happens darn near every time we’re togther.  It even happened last night on the phone with Mom.  I made her this sign so every day she remembers everything will be fine if you just giggle.  You can see other pictures of our day together at Linda’s blog

Happy Birthday Linda!

Tomorrow is my little sister’s birthday.  We’re heading to Petoskey today to spend some time with her and her family.

She’s the best sister imaginable.    Always there with a listening ear and of course our giggle fests are legendary.

Five days until Linda turns 50.  The torment continues.

Here is the bustline she wishes she had…

My god you look hot in leather.

Today is my friend Patti’s birthday.   We met as preschoolers (when our parents got together to watch the colorized version of the Wizard of Oz).  This picture is our class at Winn School (1964).  The class was a combination 2nd and 4th grade and we were the second graders.  Eleven kids were in our second grade, ( 4 girls).  The guy would would eventually become a step brother, Gordon, is the boy in the front row all the way to the left.

Here’s the picture without any text:

Today is also nephew Blayne’s birithday.  Blayne and Carrie got married this summer and now live in Marquette.  Happy 31st Blayne!

We all went out for a MoMeal tonight and had a chance to enjoy our favorite waiter, Duane.

We met Duane last year on Adrie’s birthday at Italian Oven.    Since then we always ask for Duane’s table.  It sure was a fun MoMeal.

Adrienne is 21 today!   Happy birthday to the best daughter a mom could have.  During the past year she’s gone to school, completed her program and gotten the job she wanted.    I’m so proud of her!

9 Days Linda Sue!

Mom wrote:

Are you being mean to my little Linda???????

As an oldest sister I have a solemn duty to torture my little sister.  She is turning 50 in just 11 days.    I have an assortment of pictures of her to post as we get closer to her birthday.

First, let’s start with how she looked last year at this time.

Stay tuned…

We’ve had a nice quiet weekend with a few projects and a sick kid.

Adrie got sick Friday night and early yesterday morning I talked her in to letting me come and get her so I could take care of her. She has a nasty cold/flu bug and maybe even mono. She had herself checked for strep throat before she left work Friday night. That was negative.

So she slept the day away on the couch. Last night she was feeling a little better and wanted to go home so I took her back into town. Today she rested there. Hopefully she’ll be better soon.

We got on a massive cleaning binge this weekend and got rid of a lot of unneeded items.  Some went to Goodwill, some gotten rid of via freecycle (www.freecycle.org) and some put away for a garage sale in the spring.

For the first time ever we dug into the “Militia Room”.  This is a room we discovered after we moved in.   You access it through a trap door at the back of our bedroom closet.  The room is drywalled, carpeted, wired and about 4′ tall at the peak.  We’ve put off season clothes and little used things back there.  Much of it we haven’t even looked at for several years.  So it is all gone except for a few off season clothes and our luggage.

I’ve got one more day off work, although I have some contracts to work on in the morning. Rob is leaving at 4 for Louisville. I’m heading to Big Rapids to have my flight review. Every 2 years pilots have to spend a couple of hours working with a flight instructor on the ground and flying to see how the pilot is doing. After the flight review I’ll stay for the Big Rapids Flying Club meeting, then head home.

Our HD TIVO receiver died last week. So we’re living without TIVO. It is darned near impossible for us. They are supposed to be around tomorrow to fix it for us.

Oh…and Rob found this great website via our favorite website: metafilter (ask.metafilter.com). The webiste is full of 28,000 bird videos. http://ibc.lynxeds.com/

And…my sister turns 50 in 15 days. Damn. She’s old!

That’s the news from Blanchard.

I have 3 pieces of good news today…

1.  Jonathan took a big test and passed and is being promoted to Assistant Manager of his store.

2.  Jon, Susie and Adrie all got the last week of January off and we’re going to head to Grandpa Demlow’s for a few days.

3.  Mom and Linda BOTH posted on their blogs today!  Amazing!

We’ve had a very quiet New Years and spent New Years Day relaxing at home.  Today will be some projects around here and updating my flight log book to wrap up 2008 hours.

It is really windy today, but I’m hoping to get some air time over the weekend.