This was the weekend of the Parkton Cup. We gather at Ed and Lynne’s house, play croquet, eat food, and drink drinks. The weather promised to be very hot and then rainy, but it cooled off early and the rain never occurred. We even had some sunshine. Ed and Lynne remodeled their house. It was a stunning job. The prize for the furthest travel went to Rick and Suzy, who came from Texas for the wedding and stayed a week for the Parkton Cup. There’s a few pictures on the website.

Mark and Jiajia have been married for a year and a half, but thanks to Covid, they did not have a ceremony or a reception. They corrected that this weekend. The Reeds came up Friday. Kathryn and her friend Cicada arrived a couple of hours before the ceremony started. Having company gives Danita an excuse to do some cooking. Among her creations was a sausage bread that came out particularly good. The Reeds, Kathryn, and Cicada stayed at our house while we stayed at the hotel. You can see a few pics if you visit the web site. Poor Mira was completely overwhelmed. She demanded that only Mark or Jiajia could hold her, no matter what. So Mark held her during the ceremony. Either Mark or Jiajia held her the entire weekend, with only a few short exceptions. The ceremony and reception were flawless.

This morning, Danita and I hosted a breakfast at the hotel. We were very pleased with the quality and quantity of food. The service was impeccable.

Dani and Gayle couldn’t make the ceremony, but they met us at Mom’s place just a half hour before we arrived. They plan to spend a few days with Mom. Their major objective is to take Mom clothes shopping, but I’m sure they will end up doing many other things to help Mom get settled.

When we got back to our house, we faced a crisis of unimaginable proportions. The hamburger food truck we planned on using for dinner with our neighbors was cancelled. We decided to do a two-family “self-drive food truck”. Jeff and I will get the burgers, and we’ll eat them at their house. That was the easy part. We’ll see how much futzing around is required to decide where to get the burgers.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

Here’s a pic I took on the car train. Mom is in Charlestown. There’s a branch of PNC bank at Charlestown. She has a PNC bank account set up. Her direct deposits, online addresses, and online phone numbers have been set up. Her furniture is assembled and in place. Many pictures have been hung. The kitchen and pantry are organized. The TV and computer works. We lost one TV in the move. It was a small, inexpensive unit. Its value is less than the insurance deductible. As mom constantly reminds me, it’s not done yet. We’re working on it, but it will take some time.

Mom has made great progress finding her way around Charlestown. She goes to the restaurant and checks her mail. (She got a delightful card from Mark and Jiajia.) Tomorrow, Danita and I are going up to take care of a few things, but our main purpose is to make sure Mom gets on the bus to the grocery store. After that, I need to take some time to catch up at home. Plus our neighborhood office got a new router I need to install. And our website needs a large number of updates installed. Mom has her first visit with her new retina specialist Friday August 6. I’ll provide the transportation. Hopefully I’ll have time to visit the hardware store and get a few things Mom requested before then.

Today it was my team’s turn to count money at Church. Church staff did all the counting during the pandemic. They were delighted to have us start back up last month. This was our second time counting post pandemic. The staff requested several changes in our process. Our new associate pastor hasn’t mastered the fine art of opening the safe, so we got started late. Somebody seems to have taken a group of elementary students over to the sanctuary — I counted and wrapped 209 pennies in the poor box collection. (Lucky me to get the job of counting the Poor Box.) There was lots of discussion and quite a bit of tension. But everybody kept a positive attitude. We got the job done about an hour later than normal. I wanted to do a slow-mo walk out of the building, but it was raining so nobody would slow-mo with me. We’re still trying to figure out when we are next due to count.

I hope this finds everybody doing well. We are anxiously looking forward to Mark and Jiajia’s wedding celebration this weekend.

Everything is on the truck. The condo is locked up. We got to the Car Train 3 hours before the train leaves. There’s nothing to do now but wait for dinner at 7. We know the train isn’t insanely late because we’re in the lobby instead of waiting in a long line in the car. With luck, we’ll arrive somewhere near 9 tomorrow morning. Below you can see crew boss Paul shortly after he found out they missed a dozen glass figurines, and the shuttle truck with everything Mom owns.

With no wall hangings, no furniture, no rugs, and a ceramic tile floor, the living room had an amazing echo. Mom couldn’t stop yodeling. We were so early we stopped in Sanford for an ice cream lunch. It was excellent ice cream.

This is so unusual I wouldn’t believe it if it were in a movie. Friday, Mom’s garbage disposal started leaking. We were still trying to figure out whether it was a leak or a spill when an electrical outlet shorted out. There was plenty of smoke and stink. Fortunately, our realtor has a good handyman. He was able to stop by Friday. He verified the electrical problem was s short and made sure it won’t short again until he can fix it. Then he verified the leak was from a rusted-out garbage disposal. So as it turns out, it’s just two old things that gave up the ghost on the same day. Repairs will be simple. Mom was understandably quite upset, but she was settled this afternoon.

The condo sale is still a go. In fact, the deadline for the buyers to back out without losing their deposit was Friday. The buyers are back in NY. The kitchen should be patched up Monday. I’ll be down Tuesday.

Mom’s bank is Chase. They don’t have any offices in Howard county, and none near Charlestown. PNC has branches right inside Charlestown. Danita and I already use PNC. I figured this would be an easy deal. I made an appointment and went down to the bank. My “personal banker” set up an account for Mom, but ** surprise ** it’s on hold until Mom can be physically present to sign her name. Then he told me he could issue Mom a credit card. It turns out he couldn’t until Mom is present. Along the way, he said many other things that were anywhere from irrelevant to untrue while not providing a useful answer to any of my questions. Then he told me that West Chester Financial Advisors was using my social security number. He obviously couldn’t help with that either. I called the call center, who also couldn’t help. I escalated the issue and got to talk to a competent person a few hours later. It turns out a business EIN (tax ID number) can use the same digits as an individual’s SSN. The numbers are easy to tell apart. The EIN is xx-xxxxxxx, the SSN is xxx-xx-xxxx. The competent person told me the personal banker should have never said that. For one thing, I was authenticated to discuss my SSN, and not business EINs. I had no right to know West Chester Financial Advisor’s tax ID number. Unfortunately, I plan to meet with this same personal banker next week. Maybe he’ll be competent enough to open Mom’s new accounts. If not, we’ll be in Charlestown the next day. We can try the Charlestown branch.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

JaMM came for a visit this weekend. (Jiajia, Mark and Mira). We had a good time. JaM got to do some shopping and had a grown-up lunch at a real restaurant. Mira was not very happy about having grandparents when she visited a month ago. But this time she decided grandparents are OK, and can sometimes be fun. Mark found a phone app that plays notes and flashes lights when Mira touches the screen. She loves playing with that app. while Mark and Jiajia were out, Mira saw my phone and grabbed for it. It didn’t play any notes. The phone was no good to her. She tossed it aside and went on to more interesting things — like Bongo drums.

Mom had quite an exciting week. Her condo went live, asking $109,500. I thought the price was too high, but the realtor advised we wait two weeks before lowering the price. She had a bid the same day, before the professional pictures were posted. The next day, she got two more bids. We asked for “best and final” offers. We got three bids for $120,000. We couldn’t believe it. We chose one bid. The bidder accepted, and within 24 hours they had backed out. Their kids convinced them not to do it. Fortunately, our second choice bid was still interested. We signed the contract. The house will be inspected tomorrow. We hope to settle August 9.

We also signed the contract for the movers. I bought car train tickets. I’ll go down to WPB July 20. We’ll load up the trunk with stuff. Then Mom and I will head back north. We should arrive here July 26.

Lots of excitement this week on all fronts! I hope this finds everybody doing well.

Danita and I celebrated independence day by watching the Columbia fireworks. They always do a blow-out job with the fireworks, but this was by far the biggest display ever. It was great fun.

Mom celebrated her independence day by signing the contract to move into Charlestown. “Old eagle eyes” found a $1000 mistake on the finance page. That’s pretty good for a 91 year old. Hopefully we’ll be able to send the signed contract back tomorrow. We also hope to find out this week exactly when the movers will be packing up and loading Mom’s condo. And the condo should go up on MLS this week. There’s plenty of action in Florida!

We’re looking forward to Mira visiting us this weekend. We’ll let Mark and Jiajia come along as long and sleep by the wood shed.

That’s it for us this week. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

We eat at breakfast Panera once a month or so. Danita has a loyalty card. Sometimes they have a bonus we can use. Every once in a while, they offer one free bagel a day for a month. I spend a month driving to Panera and bringing home a bagel. Panera offered Danita one free bagel a month. They also offered a free coffee subscription for 3 months. That’s a really big deal because coffee costs more than the bagel. I was able to get my own loyalty card and also sign up for the free coffee subscription. Now Danita and I are visiting Panera for breakfast every day. We get 2 bagels and 2 coffees for $1.37. That’s a deal that can’t be beat.

I use a GPS when I bike. I had a nice unit from Garmin, designed specifically for biking. It lasted two years and then it died. That was a bummer, but I decided to buy another one. The new one lasted less than 2 years and died. It would be silly to buy still another $200 GPS. I put my smart phone in a plastic pouch and started looking for GPS apps. It’s relatively easy to find an app that works well, if you don’t mind spending $50 / year. I do mind. I spent hours surfing for a better solution. I found it in Komoot. It’s a strange word. I don’t have any idea how to pronounce it. But I got a map that covers anywhere I am likely to ride for free. If I decide to ride somewhere else, I can buy another map for a few bucks, or I can buy maps for the entire world for $30. There’s no monthly fee. Maps and routes are stored on the phone, everything works without using cellular data. Best of all, the app works brilliantly. Voice prompts are well timed and easy to understand. I can import GPX files (those are routes) I already have. If I want to create a new route, their routing program works better than the one I’m using now. The only disadvantage is that it seems to be hard on the phone’s battery. I’m not sure whether my phone will last for my longer rides (over 4 hours). I’m sure I’ll come up with a decent answer. I’m not sure whether I’ll ever learn how to say Komoot.

Years ago, I put in a device called an AP (short for Access Point) to provide WiFi around our community pool. You never know when you’ll finish your book and need to download another one to your Kindle reader. The pool simply must have WiFi. The WiFi was marginal but it kind of worked and most people were happy. The AP stopped working after a little over a year. I came up with another AP that worked kind of OK, until it also stopped working, this time after several years. Right about that time COVID hit, and interest in poolside WiFi dropped like a stone in deep water. Recently, the board decided to upgrade our existing security cameras and add a new one. A new camera means a new cable. I talked them in to running two cables — one for the new camera and one for a wired Ethernet connection to an outdoor AP. With an wired connection, any old outdoor AP works really well. I got it set up this morning. It’s just in time. The pool has been open, but residents have to bring their own chair. Most people our age don’t want to do that, so the pool hasn’t been very popular. The board expects to allow residents to use shared furniture at the pool starting in a few days. That will make the pool very popular. And the new WiFi is ready — right in the nick of time.

That’s it for this week. I hope this finds everybody doing well.

I’m in the dog house, and I’ll be here for a while. I locked Danita out of the house. Danita usually goes to bed after I do, watching TV in the basement. Sometimes she decides it’s too much effort to go upstairs and just sleeps in the basement. Wednesday we were feeling stressed and decided to have a wine and snack evening. When I went upstairs, I locked the door to the basement. I don’t remember locking the door. We’ve never locked that door before. I’m not even sure I understand why there is a lock on that door. But there is a lock, it was definitely locked, and it didn’t lock itself. Danita didn’t have her shoes or her keys. One can unlock the door with a screwdriver or other tool, but we don’t keep any tools in the basement. Danita tried knocking on the door, calling out for me, and calling my cell phone. I was out of it. Nothing woke me. The next morning, I got up early as usual and went through my morning routine. I finally got down to looking at Email and found a transcribed voice mail from Danita. I turned the door knob around so it’s impossible to lock anybody out.

We’re slowly getting closer to getting Mom moved to Charlestown. We expected the welcome package Friday. Unfortunately, the last person in the approval chain wasn’t available. Hopefully we’ll get the acceptance tomorrow.

Our neighborhood has started in-person parties. We missed the first one. Last night we had “Picnic on the Porch”. We had a boxed dinner and live Bluegrass music. The board decided they didn’t want the musicians singing. The idea was that singing musicians might spew more viruses. So the group was instructed not to sing. That lasted for a while. But musicians are musicians. Those who like to sing will end up singing. Everybody was having a good time and nobody objected to the singing (including our board president), except our events coordinator. She tried to stop the singing, but nobody paid attention to her. Poor Carol. She tried to do the right thing.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

It rained all day Friday. We had just one activity but it was a doozy. We spent 5 hours at the Science Center. Fortunately we were able to walk when the rain wasn’t heavy. B & E hadn’t seen the Science Center since they were tots. We all had a good time playing with the exhibits. As usual, I slept through the planetarium presentation. The pictures show them making jigsaw puzzles. The ride home was exceptionally slow, thanks to the weather. We had lasagna for dinner. Danita was smart. She used two smaller pans and froze one. So actually we had half a lasagna for dinner. I won’t say how much the kids liked it, but I will say there was one small piece left at the end of dinner.

Saturday it was time for the kids to go home. We went to the Rocky Gorge mini-golf. This outdoor course opened not too long ago, but it is actually a very old course. It had been closed for quite a while. Somebody bought it and repainted. The unique thing about this course is the original owner didn’t buy any of the hazards and decorations. He built everything himself from scratch. It is a fun course, including the last hole, billed as “The world’s longest mini-golf hole”. I believe it. Balls roll down a long, curved, banked hill. Everybody gets their ball to the bottom of the hill in one stroke. We had two holes-in-one this time. Both Nana and Bryon got one. In addition, Nana hit Bryon’s ball on one hole and knocked Bryon’s ball into the cup. Bryon got that hole in one stroke, but it wasn’t a hole-in-one. Unfortunately, there was no reward for the extraordinary display of golfing prowess. It was time to go home, clean up, pack up, and get ready for the flight home.

Everybody had a great time, bla bla bla. But wait! There’s more! The plane was delayed. The flight scheduled to leave at 7:15 actually left at 10. Here are some pics. Bryon isn’t in the golf pic because he was miffed. He kept on walking on the walls. It’s an old golf course. Walking on walls was definitely not the best idea. After asking him 3 times to stop, he did it again. So I reminded him in a more vigorous manner. Overall, the kids were on their best behavior and we really did all have a great time.

I hope this finds you doing well.