April-June 2024 Recap
Soooo……..
Time flies, I’m getting older every day and having new experiences all the time. Here are some of them from the past few months.
April 1st of this year we were flying back from a wonderful visit with Kirsta & Mylo. They were great hosts as usual. Their home in Downers Grove, IL outside Chicago was very comfortable and relaxing. We enjoyed luxury dinner in the city, some nature walking, and top golf!
April 5th there was an earthquake in New Jersey! As a geologist that was very exciting for me to experience my first earthquake. It was significant enough to knock something over on a shelf and cause our chandelier to swing a bit.
A few times this spring I drove down to help Paul with the house him and my mom bought. It needs a ton of fixing up and I love taking the opportunity to help out and learn skills. The house is right on the Delaware Bay in Cape May Court House, NJ.
I accidentally shut my finger in the door of my work van, no fun…
My band played a couple gigs - a basement show in Trenton, and a battle of the bands networking event for industry professionals in my field of environmental engineering/geology. Speaking of work, I’ve been staying out in Elkton, Maryland for a borehole logging job intermittently and the site is beautiful. It’s mostly on farmland and the bedrock is a gneiss, which is highly metamorphic and very interesting to look at and interpret. I also did a bit of trail running a couple days after work, which is not something I’ve ever done before. It is in a beautiful park called the Fair Hills Natural Resource Management Area. The trails go through open fields, to dense woods, along a river, and back to fields. Amazing introduction to trail running.
We got to visit my Aunt Tracie who was diagnosed with ALS a couple years ago, and the disease is progressing as expected. It is difficult to the point of almost impossible for her to communicate since she’s almost entirely unable to move at this point. It is wonderful to see her though, we love her very much and wish we could obliterate the disease from existence. We were also able to see Sophia there, and Brennan flew in from Montreal so it was nice to see him too.
Three days IN A ROW we had overnight guests in June.
First, my sister and her family drove up for a night and we all went out on a “Pirate Adventure” on the Metedeconk River out of a local marina up the street. We all had fun except for Nicki who was seasick the whole time.
Next up was our friends from Hawaii, Chazz and Kim. We spent a late night catching up and then went to the gym early the next morning, followed by a stop at my favorite local coffee shop - Divi Tree. We wish they lived in New Jersey.
The third and final day our friends Keith and Felicia stayed over. We went to a birthday party that night - the singer of my band had a get-together at his place, and then we came home and “hung out on the couch”, which I’m realizing with age just means “fell asleep early on the couch”. The next day we went to the beach, which was a little chilly. So we had a pool party in the backyard that afternoon. Keith took full advantage.
When I’m not busy working, or squeezing in social time with friends and family, I’m still slaving away on our log home rehabilitation project. Progress is being made! The front of the house is finished and I am working my way around to the side. After the side is done, the back of the house is all that’s left. Ants are still present, but they seem to be running away to the areas that are not fixed up yet. So, as I finish the house, the ants will also be finished (insert evil laugh). For real though finishing the front of the house was a big deal, because it has been an eyesore when everyone that drives by can see the unfinished logs. I hope to have the house in proper shape by the fall!
Until next blog… peace out.
