Dad's Journal

Awake: 6:02am       Temp 60       sleep 6+15       sunny      overnight @ Nicktown.

We ate a small breakfast, skipped the KK, got in the Toyota & began driving out our driveway ...when a rather large truck pulling a large trailer & carrying a large Bulldozer...came our way on St. Paul Street. It's a one lane street & he's bigger than we are so I pulled into Chuck's driveway & let him pass. "That Bulldozer is here for us" I said to Kathy. We turned around & met the operators Dave & Steve. They are going to remove the topsoil where our house will be sitting. We couldn't talk long as we had an 11:00am rendezvous with Albert in Indiana, PA, the brick man.

But before meeting Albert, we had (4) large bags of boys clothes to drop off @ the Foote Castle...from Carlene & Bob. We spent about (20) min visiting with the Foote boys & then drove further into town to meet Albert.

Albert told us to: "follow me" as we toured some nice homes in Heritage Oaks neighborhood. Then the Sterling Hills Estates neighborhood; driving slowly; sometimes getting out of our vehicles to look closer @ a brick pattern/color. It was in the Whites Woods neighborhood that we found a home with brick that was new to us: not baked but concrete & had a gray & white look with a tinge of blue. Not only did we get up close & personal, but we talked with the owners for a good (30) min about their brick & where it was made. Now Albert has the job of finding out if this brick is available. We returned to his brick studio where he took our address & showed us a similar brick ............. He'll let us know. Dinner: BLT's, cantaloupe, & a peach.

Lights out: 11:34pm.

Awake: 8:10am      Temp 63      sleep 7+16     sunny & warm     overnight @ Nicktown.

Kathy made sourdough pancakes with all the trimmings for our breakfast. She didn't know for sure if the starter, which had gathered some mold, would work anymore since it's been over (8) months since we've had our sourdough pancake breakfast. But they tasted great & we are still alive & well.

After I finished the dishes, I called Gary & we updated each other in about (7) min; then Rosemary & Kathy updated each other...which took nearly an hr. Go figure?

We had things to do inside today....relating to our house building. We both spent hrs on our respective computers.

Dinner: Pepperoni Hamburger with sautéed mushrooms, cottage cheese & pear salad, cantaloupe, & we shared a peach. Evening movie: "Murder Most Foul" with Margaret Rutherford, Ron Moody, Charles Tingwell, Andrew Crickshank, etc. When Miss Marple is lone jury member who believes defendant is innocent, she sets out to prove it. 1965. A British movie; usually they add a star to pump up the rating of a movie; this time, they should have pumped it down.

Lights out: 11:47pm.

Awake: 6:51am    Temp 51    sleep 6+49    sunny    overnight @ Nicktown.

We skipped the KK meeting this morning, had a small breakfast & then motored to Ebensburg to attend the 10:30am Funeral Mass for my nephew, Eric. We were talking with some of our relatives outside the church when the hearse arrived.

We joined about (50) other people, family & friends, inside the church where we prayed for Eric & his family.

After the Mass, everyone was invited to join Emily & her children to share in a light lunch at the #3 pavilion in the park in the town of Revloc.  We motored the 4 miles to Revloc & joined Emily & others. We had a fairly long talk with Emily, a tough lady who has a lot of things to clear up, but we feel she will be able to meet & beat that challenge.

We also met Emily's friend, Dave, who has become an important source of support for her & her sons. Soon the time came to say goodbye to Emily & her boys + Corinne.

Then I dropped Kathy off @ Wal-Mart for grocery shopping while I visited the Yamaha dealer & purchased a starter solenoid for Al's Big Bear Quad-runner. I was suspicious that Al had a faulty starter solenoid so in lieu of making a trip back to Ebensburg, I decided to purchase one now. After I picked Kathy up, we made another stop @ the West End Market, & then returned to Nicktown.

I changed clothes & started trying to figure out what was really the problem with Al's Big Bear Quad-runner. At first, I couldn't get the engine started using the normal starting sequence. The Solenoid was not kicking in. I was about ready to replace the solenoid but instead, I loosened & tightened the battery connections, & everything started to work as it should. I took it for a test drive, starting & stopping the engine along the way & it all worked fine.

I called Al to see if he could come over & check it out himself...which he did, & he agreed that all was ok. He walked over with his grandson, Sammy & his granddaughter, Lydia, & gave them a slow ride on the BIG BEAR across the alley to Al's home.

K & I walked to 6:00pm vigil Mass, & afterwards, stopped @ the Nicktown Bar for a Shock Top beer.

Dinner: BLT's, with cantaloupe.

After our dinner, Nick Skyped us for (53) min; we talked mostly about their house hunting & our house building as well as Nick's work & upcoming speaking engagement in San Francisco.      

Evening movie: "Murder Most Foul." We watched ½.

Lights out: 12:54.  

   

Awake: 6:21am      Temp 48      sleep 6+08      sunny      overnight @ Nicktown.

After our KK meeting, Kathy, Debra & I exercised for (1.5) hrs.

Back @ our motorhome, I had a phone call from Tim @ the Codes office. He told me the address we have (125 Saint Joseph Street) is not recognized. I told him that we have a paper issued on August 30, 2001 from the Cambria County Department of Emergency Services stating 125 St Joseph St. as our address as well as our 911 address; the document was signed by June F. K. Then Tim explained that since all of these yrs, (125 Saint Joseph St.) had no house on it & it was discontinued. The address where you are planning to build a home is: (135 Saint Paul Street). He also said that he will notify the post office in Nicktown but we'll need to inform family, friends, & businesses of the change. He also said that he would shoot this address over to the planning committee & the permit office. I mentioned to Tim that all of these yrs, we thought it was strange that our property address did not resemble the area we are located @.

And with that call finished, our builder, Bernie announced that all of our permits have been satisfied & the excavators will begin digging on Wednesday, September 1st. Gosh, that was sure good news.

Meanwhile, K & I are beginning to resemble the 60's cult with our hairstyles. So, out came the chair, clippers, thinning shears, etc. This was Kathy before her favorite barber casually gave her a thorough trimming. And "voila", here she is folks, Miss Nicktown herself. And this is me after my snazzy hair was restyled. Around 6:30pm, we motored to Ebensburg to attend to my nephew Eric's wake @ Matevish Funeral Home. A fair number of people were there (@ 50). We got to meet & were very favorably impressed with Eric's older children, Martin (21 yrs old & an Iraq vet) & Lauren (18 yrs old, beginning college @ IUP tomorrow) along with their maternal grandmother.

They admitted that they had not seen their father very often & did not really know him. They also got to meet their half brothers (Jacob, Maxwell, & Joey) for the first time.

As would be expected, a rather somber atmosphere prevailed as friends & relatives gathered to share their condolences. A prayer service was led by Fr. Gaus.

Back at the motorhome we had a light supper: sweet red pepper with tomato soup & multigrain bread.

Evening movie: "Petulia" with Julie Christie, George C. Scott, Richard Chamberlain, Shirley Knight, etc. Brilliant film, set against mid-60's San Francisco scene, about recently divorced doctor and his relationship with unhappily married kook. Terrific acting, especially by Scott and Knight, in one of decade's top films.1968. Kathy & I both misled ourselves during the beginning of this story & consequently, bad mouthed what was happening. Kathy therefore payed little attention & fell asleep while I slugged through the scenes...until, I finally realized what was really taking place.Then it was too late for a recovery. Some other time, I'll watch it again.  

Lights out: 11:58pm.

Awake: 6:23am      Temp 60      sleep 6+32      mostly sunny      overnight @ Nicktown.

We walked to church this morning to attend daily Mass. We were a smidgen late due to: our Suzuki's car battery had died overnight. In (5) min, I disconnected the battery posts, cleaned & reconnected them to their posts. No change! So we walked everywhere we had to go today; fortunately our trips were short.

Kathy did (3) loads of laundry this afternoon. Then we walked to the community center & spent some time with Dr. Gerald, Jackie & Brianna talking about setting up a trust. We didn't finalize anything @ this time, but we will be working on this later this fall.

After the Elder Estate meeting @ the social room, we visited the Krumenacker Hardware store & purchased a PVC pipe coupling & had the snapped off section shortened about (3) inches. A similar thing happened a few yrs ago; I ran over a PVC pipe when mowing the leach field with tall weeds.....both times I clipped a PVC pipe. This time, it was an easy fix, but I do need to put high stakes in the vicinity to mark their spots. Dinner: Mushroom, blue cheese hamburger with sautéed onions, brown rice, broccoli, cantaloupe, & green grapes.

After dinner, I got in touch with Dave & we get our 1991 Toyota out of storage for (2) months. To my amazement, it started right up.

Late evening, Al brought his Yamaha Big Bear Quad-runner over for repair. He demonstrated what it was doing & not doing. I let him know that I'll take a look @ it in a day or two.

Lights out: 12:13am.

Awake: 5:57am     Temp 58       sleep 6+30       mostly sunny      overnight @ Nicktown.

This morning K & I exercised (1/2) hr before the KK meeting, than another (45) min after the meeting. Debra joined us on the (45) min session. Albert, the brick man, called us from Indiana, PA. He wants to tour us around Indiana next week to show us similar bricks on homes in the city; we will most likely do that.

Today, we motored to Indiana & spent over an hr looking @ appliances, kitchen cabinets, toilets, sinks, faucets, etc. at Lowe's. Just looking & comparing prices. Next we visited the Foote family. Today, the plan was to walk around the UIP campus;

Melissa & the boys have discovered a "new" sand box (aka, volleyball court) & would like us to see it. I didn't time it, but the boys probably spent over an hr digging, making sand castles, etc. & quickly destroying them; the sand was new & moist so it had good qualities for artistic imaginations. Once an elegant sand castle, now just a heap of sand . Yes, it's a tunnel! network; but not enough time to complete the ultimate vision. The Foote boys also had their mid-day snack after they re-leveled the sand they were working with. From here, Melissa guided us through the Estee Business College building, past the convention center & eventually we walked past the football field & oval track.

Andrew & Matthew wanted to show us how they could run completely around the ¾ mile oval track without stopping...and they did it twice. When Nathan saw this, not to be left out, he joined the race but started out about ½ of the track behind. He did it, but was smart to take a rest about mid point. Then we continued walking & headed straight to the ice cream store. And Kevin, on his bike, joined us for the occasion. The walk back to the Foote Castle was almost routine, but then we saw something that rarely happens; Matthew & Andrew held hands, walking the last block or so together, calmly talking with each other...WOW! As we entered Nicktown, we spotted Theresa near the church talking with Rich; we've wanted to get together with Theresa, so we parked near the Nicktown Hotel & waited for her to show up. Then we all had a Shock Top beer @ the Nicktown Bar with lots of good talk.

Dinner: BLT, green & red grapes, cantaloupe, & potatoes chips.

Nick left a message on our land-line that he would call us later this evening after Jerry's bath & bedtime. We waited for his call...& finally realized: he most likely fell asleep with Jerry.

After comments from our sons, I realize the announcement of Eric's death sounded rather cold & cryptic. At this time we do not have more information regarding the cause of his death or funeral arrangements. Unfortunately, Eric's short life of only 47 years, was a rather difficult one.

He often made life choices which were to his detriment in spite of much help offered by his mother, uncle, & aunt. He did father 2 children by his first wife, but I do not know them.

He and Emily, married @ 13 years, have (3) wonderful little boys, Jacob, Maxwell, & Joey. Eric loved his boys &, they loved him, so it will be a major loss for them & an extra burden for Emily. More to follow in a couple days..

Lights out: 11:51pm.

Awake: 5:53am       Temp 60      sleep 5+11       overcast      overnight @ Nicktown.

We skipped the KK meeting today & motored to Altoona via the Buckhorn on State road-36. We figured it might be closer & besides, I don't remember driving on the famous Buckhorn? Turns out, it was very scenic & (7) miles closer motoring on State road-36...& the "Beautiful Bath by Folcarelli" was on the east end of Altoona anyway. We looked @ bath tubs: toilets, showers, etc. Greg was our salesman & he was quite the gentlemen + very casual & patient. We did not make any firm decisions. However, just down the road from Folcarelli's we did make a decision......to buy a small bag of pretzels @ the Benzel Pretzel factory ....for a small lunch. Next, we found the Belden Brick & Stone Co. We looked more @ stone samples then brick samples. However, Kathy would still like to see the brick that we think we like on a house to get the big picture; the guys @ Belden Brick encouraged us to check out Frankstown up on the hill. We did & we were glad we did as it helped our degree of comfort? Ah, the big picture! As we arrived on St. Paul Street, going to our motorhome, there was a small crowd gathered on the street; neighbor Chuck & some family were taking delivery of his new Quad-runner. What a beauty.

His kids & grandkids were admiring the bright red machine.

Dinner: Crab cakes, rice pilaf with golden raisins, corn on the cob, cantaloupe, & grapes.

My brother Don called to let us know that our nephew Eric was found dead in a motel room, no further details at this time.

Lights out:11:27pm.

Awake: 6:21 Temp 61 sleep 6+21 overcast overnight @ Nicktown. "Happy Birthday" to Eriko in Queen Anne, Seattle, WA. After our KK meeting, Kathy, Debra & I exercised for (1.3) hrs.

Bernie called on our landline; he told me the powers-to-be need one more permit satisfied; the fireplace. He gave us a phone # for J & O, Fireplace & the Beautiful Bath.

We left Nicktown around 1:30pm, motored to Duncansville & spent over (2.5) hrs with Joe, learning all the ins & outs of the modern fireplace of today. Joe has been in the fireplace business for (34) yrs & has (42) different fireplaces hooked up in his store. Here we have a very small sample. This particular fireplace could possibly be the one for us. We spent so much time @ Joe's that we ran out of time to visit the Beautiful Bath by Folcarelli in Altoona.

Dinner: chicken noodle soup with Nicktown made noodles, bread, cherries, cantaloupe, & peaches

Nick called us when walking home from work, with more discussion about buying a house & his future speaking engagements, next in San Francisco.

Lights out: 12:42am.

Awake: 6:53am      Temp 67     sleep 7+08      light rain...off & on all morning      overnight @ Nicktown.

Around 12:30pm, I motored to Barnesboro & purchased (5) gal of diesel fuel for the Bob Cat in the event the rain would stop..... & finally it did, around 3:00pm. Then I continued mowing the remaining 1/4th of the open field weeds, finishing close to 8:00pm. Dinner: BLT's; we duplicated our meal of last night, with home grown tomatoes (so good!), cherries & cantaloupe. Again. Kathy washed the dishes for me...& to show my appreciation, I gave her (2) blocks of my Lindt dark chocolate candy. We watched ¼ of the movie: "Rachel Rachel."

Lights out: Midnight.

Awake: 5:25am    Temp 67     sleep 5+18      mostly cloudy      overnight @ Nicktown.

I didn't attend the KK meeting this morning due to waiting for a tractor to arrive. Around 9:00am, Bernie called to let me know that a tractor should arrive shortly.

(20) min later, in came a vehicle pulling a long trailer; it's a nice looking Bob Cat with a rear mower & a front bucket. I was given a short briefing on the mower controls & hydrostatic system & then I was left alone to "cut down those weeds."

I had brunch @ 1:30pm, then continued mowing until I had about 3/4's of our field property cleared before the fuel gage was close to the red line. Good enough I thought. The temperature was in the mid 80's today....and the Bob Cat kept its cool but I was sweaty.

After cleaning up, K & I attended the 6:00 pm vigil Mass @ St. Nicholas.

Dinner: BLT's, with home grown tomatoes from our friend, Jean, cherries & cantaloupe.

Kathy was nice & washed the dishes since I was a little tired. But, we had enough energy to finish watching: "The Wild Bunch" with William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien, Warren Oates, etc. Peckinpah's best film won instant notoriety for its "beautiful" bloodletting, but seems almost restrained among today's films. Aging outlaws with their own code of ethics find themselves passé in 1913 and decide to retire after one final haul. 1969. I am not a cowboy/western fan, but this movie had such an interesting review that we voted to watch it. It changed the way western movies were made after this was released; less graphic. Yes, it was a bloody good show.

Lights out: 11:45pm.