Email from 8/29/2015

Good afternoon everyone!

It has been a slow couple of weeks for news around here.  Maureen and I seem to be just sitting around waiting for our home purchase to close which is finally just around the corner.  We have an appointment at 12:30 PM, Tuesday, September 1st, with an attorney to complete the transaction.  Did I mention that in North Carolina, all real estate transactions must be completed with an attorney.  Is there any doubt that there was an attorney or two on the legislature that pushed that law through?  Nothing like a little guaranteed business to put food on the table when there is no one around to sue!

Last weekend, when I should have been writing last week’s update, Maureen and I traveled to Normal, Illinois, to see John and Veronica O’Doherty and spend their 35th Wedding Anniversary with them.  We made arrangements for our dog Buddy to stay at a local kennel, but since he’s been such a great traveling companion, at the last minute we decided to take him with us.  More on Buddy later.  So Normal, Illinois is the quintessential small town farming community with fields of corn and soy beans for as far as the eye can see.  I’m sure it is quite different from what they remember with all of the auto malls, shopping centers, chain restaurants and the like that have popped up outside of the main towns over the last 35 years since the O’Dohertys got hitched.  Actually the older downtown was very nice and still had that Fußgänger (pronounced fussganger/translates from German to English as “pedestrian” or foot-passenger) appeal with the small shops and family owned restaurants right on the sidewalks.  Maureen, Buddy and I were able to spend that Saturday in town at the “Sweet Corn Blues Festival”.  I forget how many bushels/ears (tons) of corn were consumed over the weekend but I do remember it was an impressive number.

That strap you see on Buddy’s nose in the picture above is not a muzzle.  Despite his diminutive size, Buddy can pull like a sled dog.  That strap is part of a “Gentle Leader”, and I love him to death but that device is quite likely responsible for my not strangling that dog.  Buddy is not always happy about having it on but I’m much happier having him around without him constantly trying to drag me down the street.  It works great and I highly recommend the gentle leader as a means of maintaining harmony between you and your own miniature Clydesdale.

Sunday was the big anniversary party.  35 years ago John and Veronica were married in a small but beautiful country church just down the road from the Larkin (Veronica’s maiden name) family farm.  And then immediately after, the O’Dohertys and Larkins, both being of Irish decent, migrated across the street to the Merna Tap Bar & Grill.  Now as the story goes, at least as I understand it, on some unspecified date after the wedding, a tornado came through Normal, passed by the Merna Tap, crossed the street and reduced the church to kindling.  I would have loved to have been able to see the church but I was just as happy (maybe more so) to spend their anniversary with them in the pub that catered the reception!

Buddy was in puppy dog heaven.  We went out to the Larkin family farm a couple of times.  Just the portion of the property carved out for the house and barns was so large that even Buddy was content ranging within the confines of that acreage.  Although he disappeared from view a couple of times he trotted back to the group almost every time he was called which is unusual for him.  I think he might have been afraid of getting left behind.  When we finally get settled I’m going to have to get him into an obedience class. 

John took some pictures of the Larkin farm with his phone camera which he as asked me to share with you.  I will as soon as he shares them with me, which I’m informed will be sometime this weekend.

(The Larkin “Field of Dreams” baseball diamond)

I finally got to attend a practice with the North Buncombe High School soccer team that I’m supposed to be working with as a volunteer assistant coach.  Initially I was told that I had to undergo a background check and complete an on-line “Concussion in Sports” course.  The background came back Ok, thank you to everyone who didn’t give me up, and I thought I was done.  But then I was instructed to get a physical so I had to go find a doctor in our new health care network and get that taken care of.  Then I received by email a packet to be completed with my financial information, checking account for direct deposit and W-4 tax withholding forms.  And yes, you are remembering correctly, I’m volunteering my time.  So I get all of this paperwork done and then I get a call from the Athletic Director.  Before I can interact with the student athletes I have to come into his office read and sign another concussion protocol form and watch a power point presentation on high school athletic participation.  First thing the next morning I’m in his office taking care of business.  And oh by the way, state law requires that I complete the National Federation of State High School Associations on-line “Fundamentals of Coaching” course.  OK, I’m on it.  But first, the principal interviews all new staff including volunteers.  I get to meet the principal, and all-in-all it was a pleasant interview.  At the end of the interview, the principal shakes my hand and says, “welcome aboard.”  So I get back to our apartment, log on to NFHSLearn.com and bring up the Fundamentals of Coaching course.  OMG!  You get 12 hours of credit for completing this course.... because it takes 12 hours to complete the course!  Actually I finished in about 11 hours so I cheated them by an hour, but OMG!  Anyway, I finished the course, emailed my certificate of completion, and just showed up to the away match that evening without asking if there was anything else.  I figured I was welcomed aboard by the principal, and if they need anything else from me they’ll find a way to let me know.

Maureen starts Monday evening as a volunteer teaching an English as a second language class.  As far as I know she hasn’t had to do anything to get started.  What’s that all about?

As I alluded to at the beginning of this update, we are scheduled to close on our new home Tuesday, this week.  We have a general contractor, painter, carpet installer, wood floor refinisher, new furniture delivery, moving van all lined up ready to rush in and make this house our own right away over the next two weeks.  However I just can’t seem to get an electrician lined up.  Either the job is too small or they are all too busy to be bothered.  It’s starting to look like I’m going to be the one moving that light switch so the door can be widened downstairs.  And the can lights are just going to have to wait.  Depending on how our move-in goes, getting utilities, cable and internet set up, and whether or not I get electrocuted or burn the house down, it may be a couple or three weeks before I have the opportunity to provide another update.  And you never know, there just might be one more 12 hour coaching course I have to complete....

Wish us luck!

Rick, Maureen and Buddy