 |
| A beautiful model in Gerbing gear |
Who wants to buy Gerbings heated motorcycle gear, size small, $100.00? Ron really, really needs to update that on the BMWMOA site.
31 Dec: New Year’s Eve dinner is scheduled at Amore’s restaurant with Jon and Tina at 5:00. But first we arose, exercised, ate oatmeal, sudokued and walked the 2 miles to the lake and 2 miles back. Ron's weight has remained stubbornly high at 176.8 this morning. Blood pressure was 83/58 with a pulse of 62. Now that we are back home it is time to finish cleaning off the computer prior to a reboot. Wish me luck. Despite Ron's forgivings about noise and crowding, the dinner at Amore's was indeed very pleasant with great "privacy," no noise, and participatory conversation. Ron was able to order a plain baked potato and Cynthia a plain piece of salmon at $90 apiece (New Year's don't you know).
30 Dec: We are off to fitness training, followed by a walk to the lake, and then "running" errands. Now it is time for the second walk to the lake for a total of 8.3 miles today. YaaaY. Ron updated his financial spreadsheet with the Fidelity statements for the year. The goal is to have the RMD for next year calculated this January.
29 Dec: Ron really, really MUST calculate his RMD this year. No sense in giving Uncle Sam Biden more money to waste. Also the flowers need clipping to extend their beauty and fragrance. Ron finished both projects before our walk and even called Fidelity to transfer the RMD to his personal account. But then he capitulated to a teaser to watch the video of the Oracle of Omaha talking about the impossibility of the current economic situation - that is to say that it will not last but who knows how it will end. Warren Buffett is an entertaining speaker, especially throughout the interview with Bill Gates in 2017. We walked 7.8 miles! WooHoo
28 Dec: Ron hoped to be working on James Lea two weeks ago. It would be great to start today and spend two months dedicated to getting it ready for final additions this spring in North Carolina. Well, maybe tomorrow? We walked to our fitness training this morning, but boogied back to the condo instead of continuing to the lake, due to rain spritzles. Granddaughter, Kiira, and daughter, Roxanne, are diagnosed with Covid/Omicron, and we were exposed on Christmas Eve. So far we are ok. One benefit of our fitness regime is a strengthened immune system, and we kept that going with a second walk late this afternoon to the lake for 7.1 miles total. Ron continues to close open windows (on his computer) by finishing projects left open. After only a few more, he should be able to install the latest upgrades to Safari and reboot his computer.
27 Dec: And we must go grocery shopping for grapes, spinach, blueberries, bananas, and frozen mango. No telling what else. We walked twice totaling 6.6 miles.
26 Dec, Sunday after Christmas: After church, including a wonderful poetry reading and sermon, we lunched at the Yacht Club and then walked 5.0 miles. Ron has exhausted his enthusiasm for writing notes accompanying the annual letter to many, many people. It is depressing to be reminded of all the good friends who have "passed on" as he reads through the address book. Fortunately most are still living.
25 Dec: Merry Christmas! And many, many more. Now it is time for us to go on our morning walk. And then Ron spent the day sending the annual letter first en mass via blind CC and then individually. Here is that "brief" annual letter:
 |
| Cynthia is a photo shop whiz |
Those of you we visited out West this year hardly need to read this, but for those of you in the East, this will all be news (except for those of you who read our blog - WhereIsRonNow.blogspot.com - or follow us on Cynthia's Facebook page).
I owe a vote of Thanks to cousin Vince's wife, Janet, who said that she follows us on our blog and Facebook. That prompted me to realize that I could send Christmas cards alone without this annual letter (to follow via e-mail). Consequently I actually mailed Christmas cards on Dec 23 and 24 (not quite in time for Christmas, but a lot sooner than most years).
24 Dec 2021 (as we ride to Christmas dinner with Cynthia's family in Texas) Everyone seems to be doing quite well, what with new great grandbabies arriving several times a year now, three more due in the next six months. Life is good.
Our year just past was far too eventful for us complacent retirees. Our plans to give papers at the National Genealogical Society conference fell through, so we opted instead to repeat our Western travels of last year.
Our first eventful event occurred soon after we got our second covid shot on the second of March. We commenced this year's trip a day late by riding to Fredericksburg (in Texas Hill Country) and joined Cynthia's clergy colleagues for dinner. After a delightful dinner, we retired to our hotel for the night, interrupted at 4 AM by a loud THUD as Cynthia hit the bathroom floor after passing out. I rushed in to the bathroom and discovered her passed out but groggy on the floor. She passed out a second time in my arms after I helped her to her feet. Then she wobbled back into bed and awoke in the morning complaining only of sore ribs, presumably injured when she bounced off the tub on her way to the floor.
Since she declared herself reasonably OK, we walked a few blocks to a wonderful breakfast restaurant, enjoyed breakfast, and returned to the hotel without any difficulty. Cynthia declared herself to be feeling well enough to ride all day to Lamesa, Texas, and all the next day to Carrizozo, New Mexico and all the next day to Springerville, Arizona where she suddenly decided that it was time to visit an emergency room for those ribs that were still sore.
Luckily, Springerville hosts the regional hospital with very good doctors, one of whom examined Cynthia, X-rayed her ribs and found no evidence of a recent break, ran a CT scan of her head and found nothing there, and ran a CT scan of her liver to be assured that the liver was not lacerated. All those tests came back A-OK, so that should be the end of the story - - - right - - - except that the last CT scan revealed a nodule in her left breast. Frightening news for a breast cancer survivor.
Once we were comfortably ensconced in Sedona, Arizona, we pursued diagnostic mammogram, MRI and biopsies of nodules in both breasts. One was an oil cyst and the other scar tissue. End of story - - - except that the doctor left little clips in her breasts to indicate that those nodules have been examined and are harmless.
Other than that our year proceeded as a carbon copy of last year. We stayed three months in Sedona hiking every day and enjoying a new restaurant we discovered on the southern edge of town. Then we visited friends in Santa Fe, New Mexico for a couple of weeks, without ever seeing more than two or three friends at a time, but at least we didn't have to wear masks all the time everywhere.
Things changed again when we went to Pagosa Springs, but this time due to elective surgery. Cynthia had a sagging sagittal band that had become very irritating by allowing that extensor tendon to slip off its associated knuckle and then POP the finger straight with an associated pain. The surgery was a success, but Cynthia's hand was encased in a brace for three weeks and mobility limited for six weeks. That meant that we couldn't safely get Cynthia seated on the motorcycle to ride to more interesting forest hiking, so we had to be satisfied instead with hiking through the neighborhood to the lake two miles distant.
After a month in Pagosa Springs, we relocated to Butte, Montana as we did last year, this time detouring through Georgetown and Berthoud Colorado to see a friend and a cousin. (Ron got a traffic citation for 75 in a 55 downhill one day on that leg.)
In Butte, Montana, things were back to same old, same old - - - except that the smoke from California wildfires occasionally completely obscured the nearby mountains, again limiting our hiking. On those days we walked the flatlands of the nearby cemetery for our exercise. Cynthia bought cookies for the cemetery staff the day we left town.
Our ride east to Medina, Minnesota was plagued by strong winds trying to force us off the road every day. On the second day, the winds were quite chilly out of the northeast and left Ron somewhat loopy by the time we arrived in Miles City, Montana. Ron remembered a marvelous drug store lunch counter where we ate nice salads last year, and we serendipitously parked right in front of Vintage and Rustics, an "antique" shop that houses an authentic, working old fashioned lunch counter with marvelous mirror running the length of the counter. Ron had not remembered the immense table of mouth watering pastries strategically located between the door and the lunch counter, but while eating our custom-ordered salads, Cynthia remarked that those pastries were practically irresistible. Whereupon Ron (being loopy from the cold wind) suggested that if she wanted one, he could finish it for her. Long story short, we consumed a cinnamon roll, two caramel pecan rolls and a quart of ice cream, after being so diligent about our diet for ten years now.
Great grandson Hudson is now three years old, and upon being informed that Cynthia is his great grandmother, immediately began calling her great great grandmother. Isn't that a sweet promotion?
The rest of the year was indeed a carbon copy of last year. We visited friends and family in Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois. Cynthia flew back to Texas from St. Louis on November 1st. Ron stayed behind to visit sister and friends in Illinois, riding back on Dec 1st to 4th in much, much warmer weather than last year.
I continue to tell people that I had the perfect life as a bachelor, but leave it to God to improve upon perfection. And I continue to tell Cynthia that I love her just the way she is.
And I deluded myself into thinking that I could write a short annual letter. Welcome to the reality.
Merry Christmas !!
Next year we intend to travel east, God willing, so we look forward to visiting ALL of our friends east of the Mississippi.
May God bless you, comfort you, and give you peace.
Love from Ron and Cynthia
24 Dec: Our family gathered for a Christmas dinner at Marvino’s Italian Restaurant, followed by Christmas Eve service with Ron, Cynthia, Jon, Tina, Lindsey, Roxanne, Ali, Kiira at dinner, joined by Rachel, Ryan, Blaire, Jill, David, Julie, Lamar, and Jade at church. Into our stillness God comes and is known. We are thankful for family and friends, Ann Marie and Dale J, sent this beautiful bouquet. With Jon and Tina’s marriage on May 13, we add two adult grandchildren to our nest, Chad and Lindsey.
 |
| Lookie all these happy people waiting for food |
 |
| Thanks to Ann & Dale for a lovely bouquet |
23 Dec: We first walked to the fitness center for Cynthia's scheduled training by Erin, then walked to the Cafe on the Green for lunch (after an interminable wait), and then returned to the condo for Ron to address more Christmas cards. We are enjoying a leisurely day, followed by our second walk totaling 7.5 miles today. Ron has been sleeping very well recently following his eat-only-cornbread and three pretzels evening diet regime. But now he needs to sign another dozen cards to get them into the mail tomorrow morning.
22 Dec: We were scheduled at 10:30 AM in Brenham, Texas to be fitted with eyeglasses, but the technician just gave us a prescription. We are very disappointed to walk away without glasses after spending 3 hours driving to get there with that expectation. We then stopped at the post office to mail Ron's Christmas cards and purchase more stamps for the remaining cards already signed and addressed. Once we returned to Montgomery, Ron bought more cards at the Dollar Store for his next thousand best friends. We lunched at Magnolia Diner, grocery shopped at Wally World and signed a release at First American Title. Our walk this afternoon was very pleasant and totaled 5.5 miles
21 Dec: The arthritis pills apparently worked a miracle overnight. Cynthia walked to the fitness center without pain and enjoyed another hour long training session at 10:00 AM, a great good! We enjoy Erin, the exercise, and the feel-gooder benefit. After exercise, we walked to the lake and home. Ron bought Christmas cards yesterday and decided to send as many as he can get addressed before Christmas without the typical annual letter. To which end, this blog entry is finished. 6.3 miles
20 Dec: Smooch, we are sleeping in this morning! We did, too. Ron walked before noon, whereas Cynthia has an appointment with a nearby doctor who specializes in arthritis treatment. The doctor prescribed pills to combat arthritis inflammation.
19 Dec, Sunday: Thank God that we survived another week. This morning we went to church, had Sunday brunch at the Yacht Club and walked our usual at 3 PM. Ron walked again after dark but turned around after two blocks in increasing rain. Cynthia completed a syllabus for a weekly Wednesday Workshop on prayer, Listening to God, for the month of February. And her HS Class Christmas letter is now complete, ready to be mailed by Friday.
18 Dec: And we awakened on yet another wonderful day that God has given us !! Today is raining. Thank God that Ron rode the motorcycle to the shop yesterday instead of today. And suddenly, it is time for our noon-thirty flu shots at Walgreens. Ron also gets a DPT booster, now required to visit our newborns. Three great grand babies due in the next six months. All done. We are both all shot up, and we accomplished grocery shopping too, for toothpaste, frozen mango and flowers to make Cynthia a happy girlie. Ron's back is no longer painful after about six days, starting with extreme pain for certain movements, diminishing gradually daily. After dark Ron put on his worn out shoes and walked to the lake and back, talking to Ed on the cell phone for the entire hour.
17 Dec: BMW will be blessed with maintenance, although that means Ron must get outta bed before 7 AM (but failed 7:15 instead). Ouch! We retirees don't appreciate disruption of our leisurely mornings. Ron arrived at exactly 9:00 on the dot, despite leaving at 8:19 and stopping at Walmart to put air in the rear tire. Cynthia spent the day housecleaning, doing laundry and broke a fingernail completely off trying to lift the king size mattress to tuck the fitted sheets under the corners. You might not need to know, but it hurts. Ron spent the day organizing his notes about Bankston DNA and is nearly ready to put that puppy to bed. He did manage to walk a mile or two looking for food without any real success, given our diet.
16 Dec: Our fitness appointment was at ten AM, and we walked there on time for Erin to work us out well. Dr. Cynthia has a Dr. appointment in the Woodlands, with stops at Jeff’s Jewelry, cleaners, and wally world for blueberries & bananas. Our readers may wonder why we post Dr appointments, and shopping details on a blog. The IRS demands mileage proofs. We give the IRS a link to the blog. They might quickly forget about us. Ron washed the motorcycle preparatory to maintenance tomorrow, went for his walk at 8:21 preparatory to arising at 6:30 AM.
15 Dec: Clergy Christmas Luncheon somewhere, sometime. Clergy invited, including the Rev. Dr. Cynthia Forde. We had to be out the door by 10:15 to arrive at the new synod offices in time for the luncheon. A fun time was had by all (although our diet took a tumble because the soup had forbidden ingredients). Ron weighed 177.2 this morning; lets''s hope the soup didn't sabotage his weight too. We did get in a nice walk at 4 PM and Ron walked a second time at 8:45 PM.
14 Dec: O what fun! This was a great day, like most every day we wake up But, on this day, we boogied off (Cynthia-speak for walked) to the fitness center to begin working out for an hour twice a week with a personal trainer. Erin is lovely and is trained to work with seniors. We continued our usual walk to the lake and home. A late afternoon walk on the point, behind the Yacht Club, brings our total to 7.5 miles for the day. Ron intended to walk another time at 8 PM, but became absorbed by a sudoku and walked later until 10:15.
13 Dec: What fun things to do today? How about another walk to the lake and more genealogy DNA? Fun, fun, the fun just never stops. Oh, and Ron MUST get air in the motorcycle tires and lose weight - he was 179.4 at weigh-in this morning. Also necessary is more groceries, but Cynthia needed to write a list, and Ron indeed got lots of groceries (but no pretzels yet).
12 Dec, Sunday: Bill and Merry S. are meeting us for brunch at 11:30, unless Ron misbehaves in church and has to write on the blackboard fifty times, “I will be gooder.” We did indeed get to church on time at 10 AM and enjoyed another wonderful Sunday brunch at the Yacht Club with Bill and Merry. Much conversation about everything under the sun. Late afternoon we walked to the lake and back, our usual 4+ miles and counted 36 deer. A couple of the bucks had large racks of antlers. Ron decided against a second walk this evening and is ready for bed at 8:30.
11 Dec: Somehow, it got to be noon-thirty, and then one-thirty, and here we are, the un-walked Smooches. The weather outside isn’t frightful (48 real feel) but inside it’s so delightful. Cynthia baked banana and oatmeal cookies… yummy. Finally, we did walk, 4.5 miles with real feel 43. Ron is delighted to have completed his DNA projects for the moment and is looking forward to working again on James Lea. Another one-walk day.
10 Dec. We are exercised, oatmealed and ready to take an early walk, because of delays, early became late. The wind-whipped autumn leaves swirled all around the parking lots. At 2:30, we dressed up for dinner at Paul’s home with Jon and Tina. Cynthia had told Ron that Jon would pick us up at 5:30; just a slight miscommunication: we were due at Paul's, an hour and a half distant, at 5:30. Zoe returned home from college, after finishing her first semester junior year. Cheryl made Greek lemon chicken soup, no added fat, low sodium, served with toasted pita bread topped with avocado. Delicious! Fyn decorated the Christmas tree. Ron, Zoe and Fyn discovered a compatible passion for jigsaw puzzling. It was late by the time we returned, so today was a one-walk day.
6 Dec: Unfortunately Ron still weighs 177.2 lbs -1.3 lbs too much to afford to purchase pretzels. The Smooches were together until 10 AM when Cynthia left for Bryan, TX to celebrate Abigayle’s 8th birthday. Ron behaved despite being without adult supervision most of the day. The forecast for intermittent rain this morning was a dud - no show. The motorcycle tire had only 29 lbs air instead of 42, and Ron discovered a tiny nail in the middle of the tread. He did mail a sympathy card, collect various things from the storage locker, and purchase groceries before heading home at 4:45. Cynthia arrived soon after and limped and grimaced into the house with her newest foot pains, probably caused by reducing the amount of MSM she is taking and our long walk on concrete to the Cafe on the Green Saturday. Ron remembers that he went through this same learning curve with MSM about five times before he decided to never run out again.
5 Dec, Sunday: We did indeed leave for Church at 9:15, stopped at Walmart for cornbread and dined at the Yacht Club with Jon and Tina at 11:30. We had a great time, enjoyed visiting with Jon and Tina, enjoyed seeing all the familiar waitstaff and cooks at the Yacht Club, and arrived home in time for Cynthia to bake a birthday cake, a sweet potato casserole, red jello, and a veggie/fruit salad for tomorrow. Whew! Then we walked a total of 5.0 miles for the day, as recorded on Cynthia's Apple watch.
4 Dec: Ron surprised his weefee by arriving 3 days early! This was the best day of the trip. The roads were quiet and narrow, and there were many, many trees that shimmered practically iridescent with red, yellow and multiple shades of green leaves. And best of all, it ended with Smooch and SmoochSmooch reunited. Yaaay! We walked to fitness center, then to the Cafe on the Green, 5.9 miles. It was a shock to see absolutely no one familiar at the restaurant. We are happy! Route: US 59 S to R on TX 287 Loop around Lufkin (missed this turn) to R on TX 94 W (lovely, narrow, quiet road) to Trinity, TX, L on TX 19 S to R on FM 2821 W to R on TX 75 N to L on FM 1791 (lovely trees) to L on TX 149 (nice twisties) to L on FM 1097 to L on TX 105 E. 133 miles
3 Dec: Ron rode from McAlester, OK to Nacogdoches, Texas to enjoy a delightful evening of conversation with cousin ElaRuth. It was a longer ride than he had anticipated, 290 miles. It was quite the change to see green grass beside the road and multi-colored leaves still falling from the trees. Cynthia had excellent news from the retina specialist that her macular degeneration is stable, and she should pass her driver's license exam without difficulty. Route: US 69 S to Atoka, OK, L on OK 3 E to Antlers, OK, R on US 271 S to bypass Paris, TX through Mt. Pleasant & Pittsburg to L on US 80 (5 mi) to R on TX 42 S to L on I-20 E (1 mi) to R on US 259 S to Nacogdoches, L on NE Stalllings Dr for 2 lights to R on Appleby Sand Road, 1 light L on East Austin St, L on Briargrove, immediate L on 2116 Creeekview Bend (driveway straight ahead but bearing right) (no tolls) 290 miles
2 Dec: Ron plans to leave Kansas city today, but the big question is: Will Clarence get in touch early enough for Ron to visit him? Clarence did, but a crown and a filling fell out of his mouth necessitating a visit to a dentist. Clarence last visited his dentist 12 years ago, and since then his dentist died and more remarkably, both of his partners also died. Ron quickly decided to enjoy the warm day riding instead of waiting. After a long day’s ride, Ron arrived in McAlester, OK about 5:30 PM, and is lodged at the Comfort Suites for the evening. Denny’s, nearby, provided sustenance. Walmart had a banana and frozen blueberries to use for breakfast tomorrow. Cynthia is catching cold. Route: I-35 south to US 69 S to McAlester, OK. (no tolls) 290 miles
 |
| Cynthia's sunrise Dec 1 |
1 Dec: Smooch! Arise now and greet the morning! Ron plans to get started early, heading toward Texas by way of Kansas City, anticipating a warmer start, an unimaginable 60 degrees. Cynthia is happily anticipating his arrival Tuesday next. But early morning showers in Illinois dampened Ron's enthusiasm for an early start. He was not on the bike riding until 11:30 AM. Les and Joan in Excelsior Springs are forewarned of his potential arrival today. We had lovely visits until Joan received news that a beloved neighbor was likely dying, and she did indeed die before Joan could get there. Les showed Ron his newest craft projects and his lazer printer. The Comfort Inn in Kearney, MO is neither clean nor comfortable, but it is cheap.
