Enjoying the 500!

For the first time in about 50 years, the telecast of the Indy 500 race was not blacked out locally! The stands at the race were packed and the race had a surprising winner: Alexander Rossi. After the race, we turned on the Cub game and it appears they will win again this afternoon against the Phillies. Just recently, we weren't able to watch a game because the game was blacked out! I just don't understand that. We are 200 miles from Chicago and even farther from Philadelphia. Oh well, we see many games and when it's blacked out we are able to watch the action on our computer. It's not the same as seeing a game live -- a favorite app of mine shows each pitch and who is on base, etc.

Thinking back to last week -- we drove to Evansville again on Tuesday morning for Pickleball at the Indiana State Games. We both played singles matches and I was defeated 11-0 while Ray did a bit better but also eventually came in third against two others in age group play. My only competition was from Fort Wayne and she was excellent! The younger age divisions had larger numbers of players giving each person the opportunity to play more games. For me it was the best of three and I was out after two games.

On Wednesday we played mixed doubles against two other doubles partners. Even though the other doubles players are in our age divisions, they often have a long history of playing including backgrounds in tennis or other sports. We've only been playing about 9 months and were soundly defeated. I could have been humiliated or felt depressed with our showing, but enjoyed the experience. Whether we do it again depends on if we improve our games in the next year.

We planned to stay overnight since the singles and doubles matches were on two consecutive days. After the singles match we drove to Angel Mounds State Historic Site. The interpretive museum is full of many displays giving insight into the lives of the natives who lived in the area from 1000-1450 A.D.

Angel Mounds State Historic Site is nationally
recognized as one of the best-preserved
prehistoric Native American sites in the United States.

Ray poses in a dugout canoe in the museum.

Life size model with a painted backdrop.

Depiction of village life.

Replica wall that surrounded the village.

Ray waves from the top of the highest point.
Later we learned that climbing on the mound is prohibited.

View of the surrounding area and museum from the top
of the largest mound. The view doesn't accurately portray the
actual size of the main mound.

We walked quite a distance following the paths that have been mowed in order to reach the biggest mound. The 400 acres are used for cross country races at various distances. That explains the different paths that are cut through the high grass.

After leaving Angel Mounds we did a bit of geocaching and found two caches but weren't successful on the third one. We were back home again by Wednesday late afternoon with medals from the games. 

Just recently we've had a chance to catch up on some movies I recorded when one of the premium channels had a free preview. The two most recently watched are diametrically the opposite: Fifty Shades of Grey and American Sniper.

Now that the 100th running of the Indy 500 is history, I'm wondering what Indy will do as an encore. The build-up to today for the last few months has given the media plenty to talk, write or tweet about. I'm guessing the fall election will now take center stage.

Change of Routine

Most weeks are routine. After breakfast we head out for some sort of physical activity or workout. However, we changed it up a bit this past week. The Indiana Senior Games are currently underway in Evansville. We can drive there in about 2-1/2 hours which we did Thursday afternoon to participate in the 5K road race. Lovely day and beautiful start at 6 p.m. (Evansville is on Central Time). Ray decided to enter this year so he wouldn't have to stand around and wait for me. He was the only one in his age division. A lady about a year older than me and I were the only runners in our age group. Genny had a good start and was about 100 yards or so ahead of me during the first two-thirds of the race but at least not widening the gap. Then suddenly during the last mile I realized I was narrowing the gap and passed her. She is probably a very good runner but didn't have endurance last Thursday night. Both Ray and I received gold medals with "50 and Fit" on the face of the medal. We drove home and made it to bed a little later than usual--about midnight.

We spent Friday puttering around the house and picking up a few groceries and getting gasoline for the car so we could return to Evansville early Saturday morning (5/21/16). This time the weather wasn't as nice. Ray participated in the 5K race walk on the track at William Henry Harrison High School. No one was disqualified but then it seems there were no judges! Again, Ray was the only racer in his age division so he received another gold medal. I took a few photos as I watched the race and planned to post them here, but Flickr is having some major glitches today and I'm unable to load those photos. I was happy to get back in the car after the race as my fingers were getting numb. I should have worn a heavier jacket.

I've calculated 10 hours riding in a car on these two trips. Spending that amount of time in a seated position is a definite change in routine.

A few hours later, Flickr is working like it is supposed to so I'm able to add a few photos.

We're seeing the 2016 corn crop sprouting everywhere
even though we've had lots of rain and planting is delayed.

We picked up our welcome packet and walked across
the pedestrian passage to see this view of the Ohio River.

We saw hundreds and maybe even a thousand or so orange
barrels north of Bloomington as construction proceeds on
converting State Road 37 to I-69. This scene, however,
was photographed in Evansville.

On Thursday evening Ray is ready
for the 5K Road Race.

Ray in the black shirt is 13 minutes into the 5K
race walk finishing just shy of 36 minutes.

Halfway

Today being the 15th of the month, means that we're halfway through the month of May. Of course, we like to grumble about the weather when it's not to our liking. I'm trying to stay positive even though we had gray skies, rain, wind and cool temperatures. I know that before long we'll have summer weather and then, once again, we're tempted to grumble because it's too hot or humid.

The past week was pretty ordinary. We did play bridge with Mike and Jan, former neighbors, who surprised us with the news that they are looking for a house in Florida and probably will be moving there sometime later this year. The old neighborhood on Oak Creek Drive continues to change with people moving away and new families moving in.

Not much else to write about at the moment, but I hope to return in about a week with another episode. Have a happy week everyone!

Less than a week later, my Mother's Day Gift
were in full bloom.

Mother's Day 2016

If you read last week's post let me assure you that I now have my iMac back. I had to restore from my backup and that worked pretty well. Seeing the copy of the work record sent to me by email, I'm grateful that everything was still under warranty. If I had to pay out of pocket, it would have been about half the cost of a new computer. I also received my new phone and still need to load some phone numbers -- it's definitely an improvement over my old one.

As most everyone knows, Tuesday was primary day in Indiana. The day before our phone rang at least four times with calls from candidates. Our mailbox was filled with flyers every day during the last days before the Primary. Quite unusual to have this much attention from major candidates who visited the state many times during the last week. But now all is quiet -- at least for a few months before the fall campaign begins.

Yesterday morning Ray and I spent a couple of hours working outside on the church ground. He did some touchup painting on the picnic shelter and I picked up sticks and branches that had fallen during the winter and the recent windy days. We then headed to Freedom Park and used the trail for our long workout. Had a few raindrops at the beginning of my run and then as I finished. Perfect timing.

Blue Heron

Blue Herons are skittish and I didn't know if I could get a good photo yesterday afternoon when he  was traipsing on the edge of our retention pond. I walked slowly and quietly and took quite a few shots using my telephoto lens.

Hydroponic Tulips

Ray and I enjoyed a delicious dinner with Nancy and Joe this afternoon. Josh, Kylie & Jayden and Dustin were also there as were two other friends of the family. I came home with these tulips from Josh & Kylie. Nancy's friend Vicki also gave me a pretty candle holder. Yesterday I made a rhubarb pie to take and thought it was pretty good except the crust was a little tough. Nancy and I conferred on planting seeds in the garden they are planning in the back yard of their neighbor. They already have several tomato plants in the ground.

Before we headed to the Martin's we had a Skype visit with Bart and Persephone. Christy poked her head in the conversation several times. 

I hope all my dear readers had a beautiful day today. We finally had sunshine late in the afternoon and the Cubs swept the Washington Nationals with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 13th inning. What more could you ask for?

An Unusual Week!

On Monday we drove to Indy's north side to the Apple store. About mid-March I experienced what is known as a kernel or panic attack when my new iMac suddenly shut down. Ten days later, the iMac had its 4th attack and I called Apple. In our phone conversation we couldn't replicate the problem or come up with a reason for the problem. I was assigned a case number and asked to call when the next episode happened. The next attack was nearly a month later. I was able to get an appointment the next day and the technicians could't find the reason for the attacks but suggested we leave the iMac for a more exhaustive investigation that would take 24-48 hours. Since I hadn't made a backup we returned home and during the next couple of days I was able to take care of that -- and back to my first sentence -- that is why we were back at the Apple store to leave the iMac.

The next day we received a message that they, indeed, had found a faulty processor on the main logic board -- at least that's my recollection of the message left on our voice mail. However, the fix would take 3-5 days since they had to order the part. I'm hoping that we'll receive a message tomorrow that the part has come in and we can pick up the computer. The only happy part of this whole story is that the computer is still in warranty!

We picked up our mail when we returned from the Apple store. Besides political advertising, I had a letter from TracFone, my cell phone provider. They are no longer supporting my particular phone and are sending me a new one! Free! The cell phone we've had for a long time is not a smart phone -- I don't think there were smart phones when we purchased this one. I have no idea what brand or type of phone to expect. Should be interesting.

Yesterday was a day for ducks! We had rain nearly all day. When thinking about the recent rainy days I remember last Tuesday. The skies were threatening when Ray and I went for a walk. After a short walk with him I decided to return home and he continued on his way. Not much later, I realized that rain had started but I knew that Ray had an umbrella. The next time I looked out the window I could see that the rain was very heavy and wind driven. A few seconds later, a thoroughly drenched husband opened the door telling me that he ran the last 500 yards with the umbrella blowing backwards several times. It was several days before his shoes dried out.

I'm in the habit of entering give-aways sponsored by IndyStar and was delighted to win another prize several weeks ago. The prize was a VIP pass to the inaugural IndyStar Indiana Sports Awards scheduled for April 28. The venue for the event was Lucas Oil Stadium and included a plated dinner. We arrived at the stadium about 5:30 and found our way to one of the top levels via several escalator rides. The VIP event included wine or beer and a some delicious appetizers for about 100 people. The 100 people included the presenters of the awards and other dignitaries.

This view should give an idea of how high we were in the stadium.

Enjoying a glass of wine as we wait for other VIPs to arrive.

It wasn't long until we recognized the arrival of the guest speaker. Not much later, he obliged and had his photo taken with Ray.

Andrew Luck, Colts Quarterback was the Guest Speaker

I also had my photo taken with Andrew but a few minutes later we recognized two other athletes who were also part of the evening's proceedings.

Tamika Catchings and Stephanie White posed with me.
Stephanie is the Indiana Fever Coach and Host for the evening.
Tamika is a WNBA all-star and plans to play in her 4th Olympics in Rio.

When it was close to 6:30 everyone at the VIP function was asked to take the escalators to the lower level where the main event would take place. 

View of a portion of the crowd waiting for the awards to begin.

We found our assigned table and met a swimmer from Avon High School and his parents. Each category had three nominees for both male and female athletes. The young man at our table received the top award! Not much later, the award for football was announced for Brandon Peters also from Avon. The irony was that the Peters family was sitting behind us and we didn't know they were there until Brandon received his award. We had never met Brandon - who, by the way, is going to Michigan in the fall - but had met his parents and grandfather when we were still visiting the Plainfield Rec Center. We haven't been back since we moved to Greenwood a year ago. It was fun to spend a minute with them before we left for home.

It's been an eventful few days and with lots of sunny skies today we decided to look for three geocaches that aren't far away. No luck at all. 

But, on our way home, we stopped at a friend's yard and came home with an armload of rhubarb. Before our evening meal I managed to make a rhubarb-strawberry coffee cake (a new recipe). The recipe only called for two cups of diced rhubarb so I have much, much more that I can use for a variety of dishes this week (or maybe freeze some).

We usually don't have this much going on but I hope you've enjoyed my narrative.