TeamReedBlog.2020

I always get a little weepy when Alison goes back to school. I don't know how I'm going to be when that school or job is several states - or an ocean - away. It's not that I don't want her to go. I want her to have an awesome, travel-filled, productive and happy life. I just want to be part of it. I should be happy that she wants to come home and spend time with us - and I am. But every time she leaves, she's that much closer to a life that doesn't really need me in it. Poor me.  I say that knowing full well I'm not poor at all. She is a healthy, smart, lovely, kind, entertaining and happy person who still wants to spend time with us and who makes us laugh out loud on the regular. That makes us wealthy beyond measure, and I'm grateful. Instead of trying to make a mad dash to some new locale for her short Fall Break, we stay-cationed (if that's still a thing) and treated ourselves to fabulous meals at places I highly recommend to you: Root and Bone i...

"Let's go to Lafayette and take a bike ride with Ali," I said. I'd envisioned a trek through Celery Bog , maybe some other trails in and around Lafayette and West Lafayette. She's starting her senior year at Purdue, so she's got a far better sense of the local geography now. She neglected to remind me that the western portion of Indiana isn't as flat as central Indiana. It was in the mid-80s with a slight breeze as we pedaled from her new studio apartment following her. It was super pleasant, and then, she took a turn through a residential area muttering to herself about how she thought this was the top of the hill.  We dutifully followed her and then were flying down a mile-plus long, gorgeous, curvy strip of Happy Hollow park, braking to avoid the families and walkers who were also out enjoying the weather. It was just  dangerous enough to be exhilarating without scaring the pee out of you.  We survived to the bottom without injuring anyone. And then, sh...

I can't say that I really knew my Uncle Bill - my father's brother. He was an intimidating figure to me in my childhood, and made even more exotic because of his wife, Gudrun, who he'd met while serving in the U.S. Army in Germany and convinced her to move home with him. If my memories of family stories serve correct, she didn't speak English when she arrived, and their union caused quite the stir. She was, and remains, drop-dead gorgeous with an accent that captivated at least one little redneck girl who had yet to wander far from the Clay-Greene-Sullivan county confines of Indiana. He rejoined the Army after a short stint home, went to Officer Candidate School, flew helicopters in Vietnam where he earned the Bronze Star and probably a chest of other medals (He rarely discussed his service) and traveled the world as he advanced to the rank of Colonel. He passed away last week after his last battle, this one with Parkinson's disease.  I hope you have time to meet hi...

 I've said this before, but I don't think I can say it enough: I have amazing, awesome, wonderful, smart, forgiving, funny, lovely friends. And there's a lot of them. More than I can detail here. I don't know what I've done to deserve them, but I'll just say that this is the rare occasion I will say the word, "blessed" is about the only one that fits. The Showgirls let me in back on our FOB-JEK days and I've been grateful ever since. I'm not sure our waitstaff is ever as pleased as we are to spend an evening together, but we do have fun. Thank you, MadDawg Madison. Please let us come back... My Bunco Club hasn't rolled dice in months, if not years, but we don't let that get in the way of a good time. Again, I apologize to the crew that waited on us at Union Jack. Neither of these photos shows the whole crew, but I'm sure over the years, I've fully represented.  I'm feeling a little friend sentimental because I'm still a ...

 Jeff and Ali bought me a hibiscus last year for my birthday and while I didn't believe my neighbor that the beauty would return after Indiana's beast of a winter, she did. It's kind of glorious, which seems a little braggy, but I have very little to do with it, so I'm just going to say it: it's beautiful and I love it. A chipmunk also loves it and has a hole near it, which I've closed off with a stepping stone slab. I suspect there are other routes to whatever mansion the little rodent has created down there, but I don't want him damaging this plant's roots. The Captain had suggested flooding the little guy's home, but unless it does harm to the plant, I'm going to just make it inconvenient for him. My sister, Donnna, once poured gasoline into some groundhog holes in her yard and torched the poor suckers, who had been pillaging Donna's vegetable garden.  I didn't tell PETA, and I'm sure the statute of limitations has expired on her v...

There's something charming about grown men gathering on a back porch oohing and aahing over the  souvenirs a friend has just brought back from vacation. Like moths to a flame, the beer nerds from central Indiana came buzzing to our house yesterday within minutes of Captain Reed parking his craft beer-laden Subaru. He'd driven to Maine and back on a circuitous route that took him to Fattey's Bottle Shop, the City Wine Merchant and Noble Root in Buffalo, NY, Fiden's Brewery in Albany, New York, Tree House Brewing in Charlton, Mass., the Armsby Abby and Austin Liquors in Worcester, Mass., RSVP Discount Liquors, Bow Street Liquors, the Bier Cellar and Allagash Brewing in Portland, Me., Maine Beer Company in Freeport, Hill Farmstead in Greensboro Bend, Vt, the Craftsbury Vermont "Genny," Freak Folk Brewing in Waterbury Village, the Stowe Public House in in Stowe, Vt., and the State Liquor Store/Beverage Warehouse in Winooski, Vt. Those were added to the assist fro...

 No one tells you when you buy a house of all the things that come with it. Sure, you're living the American Dream, and you can run around naked in all the rooms if you want. You get to decorate and clean it (or not) as you see fit, you can plant flowers and landscape to your heart (and budget's) content, and it can be a haven for when you need a break from the big, bad world. But they don't really talk about how much a new roof or appliances or furniture can cost.  And they for sure don't tell you that after 70 years of water running through galvanized pipes, this is what the inside of said pipe looks like. 🠊🠊🠊🠊🠊 I DID warn you. Gross right? Made me super grateful for the water filter we use to create drinking water.  We learned about it when we thought we were getting our water heaters inspected but ended up getting new pipes, a water softener and a tankless water heater.  It's part of our spring of super un-fun home improvement. Or, as James put it, "Na...