The Long Weekend- Clio

We arrived at Angela and Ethans about 4 pm. I was rather tired from the driving. Angela fixed a delicious supper, pesto-pasta chicken. She has developed into a first rate cook. It gets dark early, so we took a star hike around the apartment complex.

Monday morning, Ethan left for classes and we took the kids and Angela to McDonalds for breakfast. Then we went to their SKIP (Successful Kids=Involved Parents) activity. It is and hour long program for pre-schoolers. There were about 10 children there. Most of the time was open play time with a story and dance at the end.

We shopped with Ang for a couple items, then headed home via Sault Ste Marie where I had some Scout business. We were hurrying since we missed Buddy, but stopped for a brief visit with a policeman just outside of Marquette.

The Long Weekend- Austin

After the dinner Saturday night, we drove to Kokomo and spent the night at a Super 8 which honored the AARP discount.

We met grandson Austin for breakfast at Cracker Barrell. He seems to be doing very well. He is working at Kohls 30 hours a week and taking computer classes at Indiana Vocational and Technological School IVTech. He is doing well with the classes and anticipates going to IU-Kokomo in computer science after getting an associates degree.

He is in a city basketball league.

I wanted to visit with brother John in Rochester and Jim Clary in Peru, but we started getting bombarded with calls from Angela and Anna that they wanted to see us ASAP. So we heeded their pleas and headed north after apologetic telephone calls to John and Jim.

The Long Weekend- Bloomington

The 80th Anniversary of Mu Chapter of Alpha Phi Omega was the main reason for the trip. I was an undergraduate when the 40th was held, so I felt it was time for a return. When I was there, the fraternity was all male. It became co-ed sometime in the 70's. In my day, the membership was 25-30 and it was going down. It is very vibrant today with a membership of 100 and a pledge class of 40 this fall. They are very active with service projects.

There was one brother who pledged in 1961 and 3 from my pledge class and that was all from the 60s and early 70s. Kent Smith was the brother from 61. We chatted with him and his wife and it turned out that he was the program director at Camp Buffalo in 1963, my 3rd year there as a camper. I didn't clearly remember him, but we had a lot of acquaintances in common.

Dennis Williamson and Paul Irwin were from my pledge class. Both had gone into professional Scouting, Paul briefly and Dennis for 7 or 8 years. Both stayed in Bloomington, Paul with the university and Dennis with the Health Department. Paul is currently an advisor to the chapter.

We drove around IU and I showed Susan the highlights from my years there. More was the same than different. The memorial union was much the same. The dinner was in Alumni Hall which had not changed at all.

I am about the 6th from the left in the group picture.

The Long Weekend- Fort Ben Harrison

The military hosts "retiree appreciation days" around the country. Our area is served by Fort McCoy, but their day is always in early September which is a very busy time for me with Scouts so I have never attended. I noticed on a website that the one at Ft Ben Harrison in Indianapolis was the same day as the APO reunion, so I availed myself of the opportunity to attend. We picked up some information on benefits and had lunch with the group. The Chief of the Air Force Reserve spoke and said that today's reservists are doing a fine job.

I saw Don Bloodgood from Lafayette who is a retired Army Reserve officer and was on the council executive board for Sagamore Council for many years and had a good conversation with him.

The Long Weekend- Dr. Pat, Amber, and Griff

We left's H.O.s at 7:30 am and drove to Elwood for a breakfast rendezvous with Dr. Pat, Amber, and Griffin at Richards Restaurant. We had a good Hoosier breadfast and a good time catching up with the Elwood Joneses. You probably read on Pat and Amber's blog that Pat will receive his Ph.D. from Ball State in December. He plans to teach a class there the second semester and continue with his school psychologist job.

The Long Weekend- Harry and Linda

Susan and I took a Friday to Monday weekend road trip to Indiana... about 1,500 miles in all. We drove to Harry and Linda's on Friday. After one of Linda's delicious suppers, we went to the Civic Theatre's presentation of Fiddler on the Roof, which is my favorite musical. Andrew and Angela were in it in Logansport years ago and we try to see it every year or so. Being a community theatre rather than a high school production, the vocalists were the best live ones we have heard and the theater was very comfortable. A wonderful evening was had by all.

We had some time to chat. Harry related that his bee hive had flown away, likely due to "Robber Bees." He plans to start with a new hive in the spring. We did get to sample his honey, hand cream, and lip balm. Great stuff.

Tech savy old folks

We did our first Skype visit with Angela's family this afternoon and had a lot of fun with it. Angela "called" us, we are not sure how to call someone. Our skype name is susandewey.jones. Also, I helped Al set up a blogsite.