On This Date in 1999 (January 23, part 2)

Except for Andy, it’s basically a lazy afternoon. JoAnna is stretched out on the couch channel-surfing, Eddie is watching TV in the kitchen. I just completed a letter to JoAnna’s folks and thought I’d get one started to the other side of the family. Andy and Meaghan have been playing together for the past three hours. The board game Risk. Hide and seek. And now they might be over at Meaghan’s house or ice-skating at Meadows Park, for all I know, although I don’t think conditions today are ideal for skating.

Before I forget. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!! 54 years! I know things over the past few years have been tough for you, Mom, but I’m sure you have lots of wonderful memories of a great relationship.

On This Date in 1999 (January 16)

Back on the computer. Andy and Meaghan are working the controls of Playstation. JoAnna just concluded a “kitchen cabinet” meeting here with Shirley Abrahamson and two other women on her campaign staff.

Andy’s basketball game was scheduled to start at 9:00 this morning at Glacier Creek Middle School in Cross Plains. The person responsibility for opening the school either overslept or forgot. The teams are supposed to have a half hour to warm up, but the doors weren’t unlocked until a few minutes before nine. Luckily, Andy’s coach knew who to call. Otherwise the game would have probably been postponed.

Middleton rocketed to a 19-0 lead over Waunakee in the first quarter. Their opponents didn’t score a point until almost ten minutes into the game. (They play 7-minute quarters.) Middleton seemed to lose its focus in the second quarter, scoring only 4 points, while Waunakee scored 7. The final score was 45-17, Andy’s team scoring 11 points in each of the last two quarters, getting into a consistent groove. Andy looked a little tentative in the first half. He said he hurt his right hand during gym class this week, and he did look like he had some trouble holding onto the ball, especially when rebounding. He looked more aggressive in the second half. I thought he scored 2 points, but he says he scored 4. Maybe I missed something, but I thought I was watching the game pretty closely.

The weather today is great. When I went outside to warm up the car this morning – the windows having been turned into frosted glass – I was surprised at how springlike the air seemed. Of course, we’ve been suffering through some intense cold, so anything above 30 degrees is going to feel almost tropical.

On This Date in 1998

We “fell back” last night, reverting to Central Standard Time after returning home from a family outing: 5 o’clock mass at St. Bernard’s (granting Mom her wish), dinner at Old Chicago, dessert at Michael’s Frozen Custard, and video rentals at Blockbuster. The boys and I used up our extra hour right away, Andy and Eddie staying up until ten o’clock (eleven o’clock officially) watching a video in the family room while I read in the living room. The movie they were watching, The Bushwhackers, a misadventure starring a way-too-manic Daniel Stern (the tall, skinny bad guy in Home Alone) about kids at a summer camp, was so lame that I couldn’t tune its nonsense out. JoAnna decided to add her hour to a good night’s sleep.

Back to the present. JoAnna just left for work. (It’s a few minutes before 9:00.) The boys are watching TV, and I’ve already been able to check off a few chores on today’s to-do list. No big plans for today. I’ll probably take the boys shopping to buy Halloween costumes. Party City had a glossy flyer in today’s paper showing their entire inventory, or so it looked. Target is next door and I have a short list of purchases I want to make there.

Our beautiful weather continues. Yesterday was ideal – clear sky by the early afternoon, temperature in the low 60s, just a slight breeze, thin cloud cover every now and then, with scattered showers in the forecast. Our late-October warm spell is supposed to continue through Wednesday.

The Orioles, Andy’s football team, tied their final game of the season yesterday, 6-6, which gave them an 0-6-1 record for the season, excluding an exhibition game they played under the lights last Tuesday evening against the 5th graders in the Middleton recreational football program. (They lost bragging rights, 24-7.) Andy played fullback and tight end, positions he had played mostly in practice. He did a great job, catching two passes for a total of about 25 yards. On the second reception, he was a single defender away from running 50 yards for a touchdown. I don’t understand why the coach didn’t put him at this position more often, especially since it was one that Andy expressed an interest in from the first week of practice. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that, in yesterday’s game, Andy accounted for half the Oriole pass receptions for the entire season. The offensive line was generally so ineffective that pass protection was not a term in their vocabulary. I had planned to bring along my camera to the game but, unfortunately, left home without it. Watching the game along the sidelines, I was positioned for a great shot. Andy showed no fear. He held onto the ball tightly and charged ahead for as much yardage as he could mange until he was tackled, seemingly not worried about being hit.

From football to basketball. Tonight Andy has try-outs for the 5th grade team in the Tri-County league, which would be a step up for him: more games, travel to venues beyond Dane County. If he doesn’t make the cut, he’ll play in the recreational league as he has done for the past three years. Eddie decided he wasn’t interested in playing basketball, but we did, with his permission, sign him up for indoor soccer, which starts in early December.

I was the featured speaker at the Friends of the Library annual meeting yesterday afternoon, which was scheduled to start one-half hour before the kickoff of the Wisconsin-Iowa game. This was the first time the Friends had attempted a program of this nature, and I was pleased at the turnout. About 20 showed up for a short business meeting and my presentation on how the library will eventually expand into 10,000 square feet of unfinished space on the lower level. Even though the library is only 8 years old, Middleton’s service area has grown dramatically in that time and it shows no signs of abating. Use of the library has more than doubled since 1990, and we’re actually running out of space in some areas. I just bought some shelf extensions for the adult audiovisual collection (videos and books on tape, specifically), but this purchase is only a short-term, stopgap solution.

Our current long-range plan for library service covers the years 1997 to 2001. It is here where we address the development of a plan to use the unfinished space on the lower level and a reconfiguration of the main level. Our plan for years 2002-2006 will address the implementation of this plan. Ten years ago, when we were putting the finishing touches on the original building program statement, we thought we’d have sufficient space for 20 years. In fact, some futurists would have told us that we’d have much more space than we needed, since library as they were then configured, shelves filled mostly with books and other print materials, were becoming obsolete. There was, and still is, much talk about virtual libraries, where the connection between people and information is exclusively through computers. I would have predicted then, and I stilt predict now, that this revolution will never happen. Books have been around for 500 years and are not going to suddenly disappear. The participants in the focus group discussions a consultant conducted for the library last year made this fact very clear. As much as people appreciate the improvements that technology has made possible in libraries, access to information that would have taken weeks to obtain through our traditional interlibrary loan channels, they still expect the focus to be on books.

Earlier this year, the library board hired the architectural firm that designed the library to create a public service floor plan for the lower level and recommend a better means of access between the two levels. I shared the 3rd revision of this plan with the group yesterday. We based our reconfiguration of library services on one of the most frequent complaints we have heard since day one – “The library is so noisy.” And you probably recall from your visit in 1990 that the current plan is a very open one; except for a change in the color of the carpeting, there is no physical division, for example, between the children’s area and the rest of the library. The reality of supervising a space three times the size of the previous library with a very small increase in staff dictated the need for this openness, for using shelving and other furnishing to set off the various sections of the library. As a result, the library is indeed a very noisy place at certain times of the day: during story times, after school, and into the early evening, practically all day on Saturday. Based on our collection and staffing size, we are the most heavily used library in the state. Libraries in Middleton’s circulation range of 350,000 to 500,000 items annually, generally own twice the number of books and other materials and have 50% more fulltime equivalent staff.

Seeing the need to create a quiet study area in the library, we have decided to move the following pieces of the library’s service program to the lower level: the reference desk, the reference collection (including special collections for consumer information, careers and education, personal investments, and business directories), CD-ROM databases, internet computer stations, back issues of magazines and newspapers, and the adult nonfiction collection. This area will also include a variety of small clusters of seating: tables, study carrels, and upholstered chairs, similar to what we already have now. The lower level will also include a small meeting room, two study room, and a Middleton local history room. In a separate area, we plan to create Friends of the Library store out of the unfinished space that they currently use for their book sale room.

How to connect the two levels? Well, we currently provide access to the lower level via an elevator and stairwell from the main lobby, but since this route bypasses the circulation desk, we needed to consider an alternative. What we plan to do is create an additional stairwell where the reference desk is now located and add a second elevator at the east end of the building. (I hope I remember to include a photocopy of the floor plan. That might help you visualize what I’m describing to you here.) The reconfigured library will still have just a single circulation desk. Creating a second one on the lower level would make the library’s operative too staff-intensive. A self-service checkout unit will be provided on this level, though. (We introduced this service in August. People who have no fines or other stops on their library cards or items on hold to pick up are now able to check out books, magazines, and videos on their own. The machine doesn’t accommodate books on tape or compact discs yet. Self-service now accounts for 8% of our monthly circulation. Some people are intrigued by the new technology; others use it to avoid waiting in line to have a staff members check out their materials. )

Those in attendance at yesterday’s Friends meeting responded positively to the plan. I felt a sense of relief as the other staff members working on this project, as well as the members of the library board, feel that we are very close to a final plan. The next step will be to reconfigure the main level. In this space, we will be able to expand our children’s area and provide more space for the display of our popular materials: new books, paperbacks, and audiovisual.

With JoAnna planning to work yesterday afternoon, Andy agreed to watch Eddie while I was at the library. Then Meaghan showed up, and I didn’t want to leave the three of them at home. Twenty minutes before I needed to leave the house, Joey Kracht invited Eddie to play at his house. The Krachts, whose son Alex is Andy’s age, used to live down the street from us, and the boys would play together all the time. Since they moved to another neighborhood in Middleton, their play dates have been more infrequent. Eddie is usually content to entertain himself or join Andy and his friends at school to play with him. I encourage him to invite one of his friends at school to play with him. (Picking up where I left off five hours ago.) This is another example of how different Andy and Eddie are. In his free time, Andy always has to be in the company of friends.

Like today. As soon as we returned home from buying Halloween costumes – the Grim Reaper for Andy, a Star Wars stormtrooper for Eddie – Andy called Meaghan. (Party City was a popular place. In spite of their huge selection, many costume styles were either out of stock or not available in a particular size.) The kids have been playing street hockey on rollerblades for most of the afternoon. (Most of their playing surface is limited to the driveway, actually.) Matt Ziegler just stopped by to join the fun.

I’ve tackled a variety of chores today. I spent a couple hours outdoors, the sky a gray dome by the time, pulling up annuals, cutting down the peonies, sweeping off the patio, and reorganizing the shed to make room for some patio furniture. I started packing for the WLA conference, for which I plan to depart early Tuesday afternoon. My first commitment, the WLA board meeting, is scheduled to begin at 6:00 I washed or cleaned off Andy’s football gear – pants, jerseys, pads, helmet – and put most of it into a grocery bag with this Thursday’s schedule for equipment check-in, which Grandpa Richard will have to drive Andy to, since I’ll be out of town and JoAnna not doubt working late. No school on Thursday and Friday, by the way, due to Wisconsin’s annual teachers’ conference. Traditionally, it has been held at the same time as the library conference.

I still need to go grocery shopping, but that can be postponed until tomorrow, if necessary. I don’t mind leaving Andy and Eddie at home together but feel very strongly that either JoAnna or I have to be here when any of the boy’s friends are present. That’s especially true right now, when one false move – stumbling over our uneven driveway or some other version of wipeout – could result in a serious injury. Fortunately, the kids don’t seem to lose sight of safety issues during their games.
You asked for gift suggestions, Mom, and maybe I can append a few to the end of this letter. I won’t be able to get the boys’ attention for another hour or so.

While working outside this afternoon, I started to listen to the book on tape version of The Good Earth, by Pearl Buck, another classic novel, like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, that I previously had no interest in reading. I can see why it’s such a popular books; the story is a very compelling one.

Eddie just walked into the room.

“Aw, I want to go on the computer,” he whined. “You’re always on the computer.”

I guess it’s time for me to close.

On This Date in 1998

And it was. A Subway kind of evening, that is. For the boys, anyway. Around 7:30, I called JoAnna at her office to get an indication of when she’d be home. She was just about ready to leave, actually, and asked if I could pick up a couple entrees at Grand China, a take-out restaurant just three doors from Subway, while the boys ordered their subs. If this family is any indication, no wonder the Madison area is such a mecca for restaurants.

The boys camped out in the family room. Being the wonderful big brother that he is, Andy allowed Eddie to be part of the group. JoAnna and I adjourned to our bedroom and watched the Badger football game, which was broadcast locally even though it was being played at home. Exciting, sometimes nerve-wracking game. Wisconsin looked unbeatable in the st quarter, taking a 14-3 lead, then the game took a 180-degree turn as the Boilermakers scored one touchdown and two field goals and knotted the score at 17-17 at the half. The third quarter looked like a continuation of the 2nd, with Purdue moving the ball effortlessly. Fortunately, turnovers prevented them from scoring. Then late in the quarter the Badger offense fired up after the defense intercepted a pass and returned it 50 yards for a touchdown, Wisconsin taking the lead for good. The Badgers are off to their best start (6-0) since 1993, when they last went to the Rose Bowl. Wisconsin does not play Ohio State this y ear, which would probably have been the showdown game of the Big Ten season.

Another gorgeous day today. JoAnna convinced all of us, Matt included, to attend 9 o’clock mass. (His family belongs to St. Bernard’s parish.) Andy, Matt, and Meaghan played together all afternoon, mostly at Meaghan’s house. With Dad as his chaperone, Eddie spent an hour rollerblading up and down a section of Elmwood Avenue, soliciting popcorn orders for a Cub Scouts fundraiser. The goal for each scout is $63 and he exceeded that by $27, and that’s before he’s made visits to the library and to JoAnna’s office. Eddie is a member of troop 340, which includes 6 other second-graders from Elm Lawn school. He was a Tiger Cub last year and really enjoyed the experience.

Once Eddie and I returned home, he watched TV but I tackled a more ambitious agenda. I continued to clean the mildew off the exterior of the house. I mowed the front lawn, a chore I thought I’d be done with for the year, but the unseasonably warm weather keeps the grass growing as if it’s mid-June. Most of the leaves are still on the trees and green, an unbelievable scenario for this time of year.

JoAnna worked almost 8 hours today. She returned home in time for a spaghetti dinner, which included salad (the already chopped up and bagged variety) and garlic sticks (the Pillsbury variety). The sauce was courtesy of Paul Newman, but I actually boiled water to cook the pasta. 

Everyone else is in bed right now. (It’s 9:20, and a few minutes ago I turned off the mute when I noticed that Atlanta’s bats had finally come alive.) The boys, of course, should be in bed, but JoAnna complained of having a stomach ache (is that a bad review of the meal I fixed?) and a general rundown feeling. I’m sure I’d feel the same way too if I hadn’t taken a real day off in more than three weeks. I’m glad the election is less than a month away.

On This Date in 1998

Although the week started off on a soggy note, the gray dome of the weekend remaining in place, we found ourselves basing in warm sunshine by Thursday. It was tempting to play hooky, but I had a full schedule: a meeting of LINK, the automation consortium of which Middleton is a member, in the morning; a staff meeting in the afternoon, and a stint as guest lecturer for a class at the library school in the early evening.

When I dropped off Eddie Thursday afternoon, the living room was sset up with lights, microphones, and a camera. JoAnna and I had offered Jon Erpenbach the use of our house to film a commercial for his Senate campaign. It was shot just inside the front entrance, a moment in the life of a candidate knocking on doors to introduce himself to the votes, Drew’s mom, Kathy, filling the role as the woman of the house. (Drew, if you recall, is on Andy’s football team, and Kathy’s husband, Brian, has been one of Jon’s best friends since high school.) The boys would have jumped at the chance to be in this commercial, but their services weren’t needed this time.

Yesterday I worked from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. without a break, but by the time I returnred home it was too late to do anything outside. Before picking up Eddie, though, I did take care of one chore on my household to-do list. I cleaned Eddie’s bedroom windows, inside and out. The two of us stopped at a fundraiser for 2nd Congressional district candidate Tammy Baldwin on the way home, where we met JoAnna. Andy, of course, was at football practice, and it was my turn to pick up the boys, so I had to leave in the middle of Tammy’s remarks, a political pep talk, for the most part.

The Middleton High School football team traveled to Beloit yesterday. We aren’t big enough fans to follow the team on the road. If Andy continues his interest in the sport and plays on the team when he’s in high school (which is only 4 years away!), then we’ll make the road trips. Middleton lost a heartbreaker, 14-10, Beloit scoring a touchdown with one minute left in the game. The loss eliminated the Cardinals from the state high school playoff picture. Last year, Middleton won the Division A championship, so for some fans, this season has been a letdown. The coach’s wife even wrote a letter to the local newspaper, complaining about callous and degrading remarks uttered by fans during the games, loose-tongued people who obviously didn’t realize who was sitting near them.

As a result of conflicting schedules today, I wasn’t able to see Andy’s game. The Orioles traveled to Sauk City, 20 miles northwest of here, to play an undefeated team that had beaten their previous opponents by an average margin of 30 points. We saw Andy’s defensive coach (and his family) at Pasqual’s last night after football practice, and he mentioned to us how big some of these kids were, about 8 tipping the scales at 140 or more. (Where do they find these kids?, is what I want t5o know. I used to think that Andy and his friend Ross Hellenbrand were big for their age. Maybe in Middleton, but not elsewhere, it seems.) Consequently, I was pleased to learn that the Orioles lost by a score of 7-0. Andy played both offense and defense today and, according to JoAnna, looked like he was really into the game. A couple times on offense, he was wide open, but the quarterback was unable to get off a pass in time. The offensive line remains the Orioles’ Achilles heel.

Eddie played in a soccer tournament today, a total of three games between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. His team, the Sailfish, tied the first one (2-2), won the second (1-0), and tied the third (2-2). With ten seconds left in game 3, the Sailfish had a golden opportunity to score, the right forward having an open shot 4 feet in front of the goal. He could have dinked the ball through. Unfortunately, he got way too much loft on his kick, and the ball bounced off the wooden frame at the top of the goal. Everyone on the sidelines groaned. The team had made a furious second-half comeback from a 2-0 deficit, and it would have been great to see them snatch a victory just prior to the game-ending whistle. Eddie played defense most of the day, a position he enjoyed and at which he excels. At Wednesday’s game, his coach raved about Eddie’s tenacity. He exchanged high fives with him as Eddie ran off the field at the end of the game. Then, as we were walking back to the car, I overheard him say to his assistant coach, “If it hadn’t been for Eddie’s defense, we would have really been out of that game.” As it was, they lost 2-0.

One of the side benefits of the Ritalin is that is has made Eddie a more focused soccer player. Last spring, and even at the beginning of the season, his head would drift in and out of the game. Now he plays with a little more intensity and with a greater awareness of where he is supposed to be in relationship to the ball. Of course, the primary reason for this drug therapy is to improve Eddie’s classroom performance, and already, during the first three weeks of his being on medication, we feel that he has made big strides. Eddie has been able to stay focused while working on his nightly homework assignments. We haven’t had to deal with any outburst caused by his frustration when something doesn’t come easy for him. I should probably call his teacher ext week to see if she’s noticed any corresponding improvements at school. We’ve had no reports of classroom disruptions or recess run-ins. From this evidence you can see that we’ve been operating on the no-news-is-good news principle for the past three weeks. Tammy Baldwin’s fundraiser was hosted by the boys’ pediatrician and his wife, and he was pleased to hear our report about the positive steps that Eddie had made. And it’s not just related to behavior. His reading comprehension increases each week. His special classes, 45 minutes each day with a reading specialist in a small-group setting, are really working wonders for him. It also helps him that JoAnna or I, depending upon who’s home, work very closely with Eddie each night, giving him encouragement and praising his hard work.

Surprised about the results of the second round of baseball playoffs so far? The Padres certainly made everyone sit up and take notice with their two-game sweep of the Braves in Atlanta. And now I see the Padres have a one-run lead going into the bottom of the 7th. In San Diego. With the fans tasting the possibility of a sweep. The Fox network is certainly not looking forward to a San Diego-Cleveland World Series, since those two cities represent relatively small markets. The Yankees, of course, guarantee at least respectable ratings, and the Braves have developed a national following as a result of their presence o Ted Turner’s Superstation. I’m hoping that Doc Gooden can put another nail in the Yankee coffin tonight. And you know he has to be motivated to do so, after being considered expendable by Joe Torre.

Earlier in the week, I investigated the possibility of consolidating three of our loans: mortgage, auto, and personal equity line, which add up to around $1,150 in monthly payments. Our bank is offering what they have dubbed a “Turbo” loan – faster approval, less paperwork – at an interest rate of 6.99% for anything between $75,000 and $99,000. The current principle on our debts adds up to $70,700, but the extra $4,300 will allow us to get the kitchen remodeled: new flooring, baseboard, countertop, and refaced cabinets. With a ten-year repayment schedule, our monthly payments will be $870.

Andy’s friend Matt is sleeping over tonight. Meaghan is here now and the three of them are playing games – until a few minutes ago Slap Jack, it sounded like, and now they are setting up the Clue game board right next to me in the family room. Eddie’s on the sidelines, of course, wishing he could play, but I told him to watch the first game to get an idea of how it is played and maybe he can join the second game, if their collective attention span lasts that long.

JoAnna went to her office after dropping off Andy. She probably won’t be back home until 7 or 8. It’s almost 7 right now so I should think about supper. Let’s see… we had Mexican last night, and JoAnna ordered pizza for delivery on Thursday, and I treated the boys to McDonald’s on Wednesday after Eddie’s soccer game. (This fast-food review will give you an indication of how busy this week has been.) Looks like it might be a Subway kind of evening.

On This Date in 1998

I sent you one of my regular reports just two days ago. Here I am back on the computer again, ready to transcribe the continuing saga of Life in Middleton. I thought I’d try a change of pace tonight by using different points of view, none of them my own.

If Andy wrote you a letter about what happened in his life the past two days, it might go something like this. 

After school I rode my bike to the library. I can’t go ho mater school now because I went to Meaghan’s house yesterday and didn’t let Dad know where I was. He was home from work since he had to work at the library in the evening. He called Meaghan’s house at quarter to four to find out where I was. I told him I’d be home in time to get ready for football practice, but before I knew it, the phone rang and it was Dad again. He sounded mad. He asked me if I was planning to skip practice. I just lost track of the time.

While Dad was at the reference desk this afternoon, I sat in his office and finished my math homework. I called Meaghan and she stopped by the library for awhile. She had to leave at 4 and go back home since her dad was giving her a ride to karate. I checked some books out of the library before going home. Dad didn’t make me stay there until he left. Even though I’m not supposed to, I watched TV until Dad and Eddie came home. 

Dad was cleaning the mildew off the front side of the house when I asked him if I could play outside. Meaghan came over and we played catch with the football in the street. Dad kept looking over at us, but he didn’t say anything until Meaghan missed a pass and the ball started rolling down the middle of the street just when a car started coming up the block. That’s when Dad told us to play in the neighbor’s yard. T hey have this big open space that they let us play on. We walked over to Meaghan’s house and played catch on the street in front of her house. Her street is only a block long so there aren’t as many cars on it. When it started to get dark, I saw Dad riding his bike down the streets, and I knew it was time for us to go home. Once Dad cleaned up the kitchen and put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, we played State the Facts. It’s a game like Trivial Pursuit only all the questions have to do with states and cities. At 8:15, Eddie and I took a bath and then the three of us all sat in the living room and read. Mom worked late and didn’t get home until quarter to 9.

And here’s Eddie’s spin.

Dad picked me up at After School at 5:30 and as soon as I saw him I realized I was going to have to walk home. He had his brief bag slung over his shoulder. IF he had driven the car, he wouldn’t be carrying anything. It was a nice day to walk, though. I carried my jacket for awhile but asked Dad to take it when we were about halfway home. Although Dad seemed eager to start washing the outside walls of the house, he asked me what I wanted for supper. I told him pancakes even though I had them for breakfast the other day. He made the batter thick, the way I like it. I ate four big pancakes. Dad was impressed. When Meaghan came over, I went outside to play catch with her and Andy. They even let me walk with them to Meaghan’s house after Dad yelled at us not to play in the street. I was in my room for awhile when Andy and Dad started playing this board game that we played the other night, but I decided to join them since there was really nothing to do in my room. I answered a couple questions that Andy didn’t know, like Los Alamos was the place where the first atomic bomb was made. Instead of taking a shower, Andy and I took a bath, but we didn’t stay in the tub as long as we usually do. I looked at a Waldo book while Andy and Dad read. Mom came home about 15 minutes before it was time to go to bed. She tucked me in. A few minutes later, Dad turned on my light and turned off the Beatles tape I was listening to and said I had to do some homework for my special reading class. I had to read off a list of 7 words and then read 5 sentences that used these words. Dad had me do this twice, and I think he was very pleased with how well I did. He even had me spell the words without using a piece of paper, and I got every one right. Dad gave me a big hug and some words of encouragement before he turned off the light, turned on the tape player, and left the room.

On This Date in 1998

A holiday postscript.

Labor Day was a very lowkey holiday for me. In fact, I was on my own from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Andy spent most of the day with Meaghan and Matt at Meaghan’s house. She has a trampoline set up in the back yard, which seemed to be the big attraction today. I could hear their voices occasionally seep through the open windows and sliding glass door of the family room. Matt’s name might be unfamiliar to you. He’s a classmate of Andy’s and was also on Andy’s soccer team the past two years. He’s playing soccer again this fall, on the team that Andy will play for next spring. He lives about three blocks from our house.

JoAnna and Eddie traveled to Janesville to walk in the holiday parade there as part of the Erpenbach contingent. The parade started at 1:00, but it was 2:30 before they got moving. Obviously, a big parade.

I spent the day doing a variety of domestic chores and other activities. Laundry, which I just finished folding before sitting down at the computer. Reorganizing our bookcases, of which we have half a dozen of various sizes. Watching the Cubs-Cardinals game while eating lunch. (I missed seeing McGwire hit his 61st home run when it happened. I saw it on replay at least four times.) I even took a bike ride, taking a circuitous 20-minute ride to the library to pick up a book on tape. I had left in my office on Friday. Late this morning I finished listening to The Road to Wellville, by T. Coraghessan Boyle, a sometimes uproariously funny novel that skewers the health and nutritional fads of the early 20th century as promoted by John Harvey Kellogg at his Battle Creek, Michigan, sanatorium. The book is very well research, has at least a half dozen fully-developed, three-dimensional characters, and creates a wonderful period atmosphere. Boyle has a very literary style of writing but is also a very good storyteller. I think you might enjoy this book, Mom.

JoAnna and Eddie returned home shortly before 4:30, just in time for Eddie’s soccer scrimmage. Instead of watching him play, JoAnna and I did a lit drop for Rick Phelps, who is running for the 2nd Congressional District. Tomorrow is the primary election in Wisconsin, and that is one of the key races in the Madison area.

We had some friends here yesterday for a chicken barbecue. JoAnna made pasta and cucumber salads, and that was all we needed. (Our guests brought four pints of different varieties of Michael’s frozen custard – our favorite.) It was hot and sticky, so we ate on the patio, the bugs leaving us alone until we had finished eating. We moved inside around 7:00 and played sheepshead for a couple hours. Just a friendly game. No money exchanged hands.

I found it interesting that both boys wanted to be part of the group last night. Andy actually joined us during the meal and participated in the conversation. Before playing cards, we watched the Chiefs-Raiders football game, and Andy was practically giving us a play-by-play. I’m surprised he didn’t put on his uniform.

It cooled down today, although the weather was still very pleasant. Good sleeping weather is in store for tonight. The temperature is going to sip into the mid-40s.

On This Date on 1998

At the halfway point, this summer is shaping up as quite an exceptional one. This past weekend was especially enjoyable since the focus was on our (third) annual Bastille Day party. 

Thursday morning I had LINK (library automation consortium) meeting at the public library in Wisconsin Dells. At 12:30, I met JoAnna and the boys, plus Meaghan and Joey Erpenbach, 6-year-old son of Jon and Kathy, at a prearranged site, and we spent the afternoon at Noah’s Ark, a mammoth water park. (And I do mean huge!) I kept an eye on Eddie and Joey at one of the smaller wave pools and a kiddie play area, while JoAnna and the two older kids went on some of the water slides. The boys and I eventually explored other areas of the park. We took a leisurely ride on a large innertube, floating along a shallow, canal-like channel called “The Lazy River”. We waited less than a minute to get a tube. The lines for the slides that we saw during our walk were long. I think the boys would have become impatient waiting 15 minutes to do something. At 3:15, we regrouped with the other half or our party at the wave pool where we had started out. Everyone but Andy, that is. As four o’clock approached, Andy was still nowhere to be found. JoAnna and I started to worry that something might have happened to him. All of a sudden, I noticed the distinctive lime green of his swimming trunks and breathed a sigh of relief. As it turned out, he had been waiting for us by the concession stand, taking Mom’s instruction of “we’ll meet back here at 3:15” too literally. She didn’t mean at the exact point she was standing when she uttered these words, but that’ show Andy translated them.

I drove back to Middleton along, Eddie wanting to be in Joey’s company and Andy not wanting to split up with Meaghan, who was going to a Brewer game as soon as she got dropped off. Because of the delay in waiting for Andy’s appearance, JoAnna had to get home pronto. I wanted to stop and get something to eat, as I’d had only a grapefruit for breakfast, a small piece of coffee cake at my meeting, and no lunch, since the meeting ran longer than expected and I couldn’t join the other librarians for lunch. I was starving and felt a headache coming on, so I stopped at a McDonald’s and ordered a couple chicken fajitas (the only thing on the menu that I actually like) and a lemonade to go. I almost chugged the entire contents of the cup, so thirsty was I after spending 3 hours in a very warm sun. I could feel the heat rising off my shoulders and back as I drove along U.S. 12, skirting Baraboo and the Devil’s Lake region, taking the scenic, though shorter route instead of joining the speed demons on the Interstate. Once again I hadn’t used any sunblock. I accepted the full-ray treatment.

I expected to see a dark blue Buick in the driveway when I returned home. JoAnna’s folks and Albert and Cyndi were spending the weekend with us. We needed to be on the road at 6:00 to get to our evening engagement on time. “It’s unlike Larry and Alice to be late,” I thought. Then I realized the cause of their delay. Albert, the “Herman” of the Richard family. JoAnna, of course, expected all along that her family would be arriving at the last minute.

Our destination: American Players Theater, near Spring Green, Wisconsin, about a 45-minute drive from Middleton. APT is an outdoor amphitheater that specializes in Shakespeare and other classic plays. They produce five plays each season, with an overlapping schedule so that most of the plays are put on throughout the entire season, which this year runs from June 11 through October 4. APT has been in operation for 15 years and survived some financially and artistically shaky early years. Its operation is now on a solid foundation. I’m almost embarrassed to say that this was only my second trip there.

We arrived 45 minutes before showtime (7:30), which gave us time to enjoy a snack of bread, cheese, fruit, and wine that JoAnna had packed in a picnic basket. Dozens of picnic tables are found in clusters along the shaded, uphill pathway leading the parking lot to the theater. All of the tables seemed to be occupied b y the time we arrived. Fortunately, a group was packing up as we approach the table they had been using.

It was a beautiful evening to watch a play outdoors. The temperature was in the low 80s and a gentle breeze was blowing. Because of our delay in ordering tickets, we were in the last row of a section that provided pretty much of a straight-on view of the stage. The setting is intimate, so there are no bad seats. The theater itself accommodates 600-700 people, I would guess.

We saw “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde, a noted British author/playwright/poet and bon vivant. “Earnest” is considered to be his masterpiece. It was written in 1895 and wickedly skewers the British upper class. Two cases of mistaken identity give the play its momentum. More than 100 years later, the play is still very funny, even for someone who might know nothing about the British class system. The audience laughed uproariously at times, and the actors’ excellent sense of timing kept any of the lines from being drowned out. All of the actors are professionals, and the small cast (7) of “Earnest” was splendid, very much a crowd-pleasing ensemble.

Halfway through the first act, a full moon started to rise above the tree line a little bit to our right. It added an almost magical touch to the night.

We returned to a somewhat messy house. We’re not that happy with Ross, our current regular sitter for the boys. Ross is only three years older than Andy, and JoAnna and I agree that we need someone who can provide more discipline, especially as Andy becomes more intransigent about following orders from his parents. (I’m sure that sentence has a familiar ring!) Andy and Eddie almost see Ross as someone to pal around with. They were set to play baseball when we left the house. Nothing that the boys touched during the evening had been put away. The kitchen was in disarray. Jess, our previous regular sitter, had always been good about cleaning up after himself and the boys. (Although when we mentioned this to his parents Saturday night at our party, they half-kiddingly said, “Doesn’t sound like anyone we know!”) It wasn’t that we returned home to a disaster. JoAnna and I need to find a sitter with a better sense of responsibility. Of course, this fall we begin our experiment with Andy and Eddie staying home on their own when we go out. At least for short periods of time. Then we’ll learn how responsible (or irresponsible) Andy can be.

I had to work on Friday as I had been invited to attend a business meeting of the WLA Foundation, the fundraising arm of the organization. That only took up an hour of my morning, but I returned to the library to cover for lunch breaks since we were a bit short-staffed that day. I didn’t get home until nearly 2:30 and found JoAnna, her mom, and Cyndi busy with food preparations for the party. I had a number of errands that took up most of the rest of the afternoon: pick up a tent we had rented (a 20’ x 20’ white-topped canopy), make a beer run and pick up the wine that JoAnna had special ordered, get jelly wicks for two chafing dishes, buy shrimp and spicy sausages for a couple dishes that JoAnna would be preparing later in the day. Andy had a baseball game at 6:00. JoAnna took time out from her work to accompany her dad and brother and me. Cyndi was taking a nap, after a hectic day at Wisconsin Dells, an outing she and Albert took with the boys, their second visit to the Dells in two days. They rode on one of the “ducks” and went to Robot World. Alice kept an eye on Eddie, who had his eyes glued to the TV.

Andy’s team had a 2-0 lead going into the bottom of the fifth, Andy having scored one of the runs. Their third pitcher of the game, though, had problems with control. He was letting go of the ball too soon most of the time, so his pitches were inside, sometimes on the back sides of the batters. He actually hit two batters. Toward the end of the inning he started to lose his composure, but the coach, who was umpiring at the time, gave him the necessary encouragement to stick it out. The team couldn’t rally in the top of the 6th and lost the game 5-2, only their second loss in 10 games so far this season. Later the coach told me that if he had realized Andy had some relatives in the stands, he would have let him pitch.

After the game, we returned to the house and ordered a couple pizzas for delivery. JoAnna resumed her cooking and baking. Cyndi made placards for the various dishes that were going to be served, so that our guests would know what they were sinking their teeth into. Al worked on the menu that I enclosed with this letter.

Sleeping arrangements for the long weekend were as follows: JoAnna and I gave up our room for Larry and Alice. Al and Cyndi slept on the futon in Andy’s room, and the boys slept together in Eddie’s bed, which is where Andy has been sleeping for most of the last couple weeks anyway. Eddie still doesn’t like being alone in his room at night. A couple weeks ago bought a Coleman air mattress (double size) and a battery-operated pump. When I tried to fill the mattress Thursday evening, I couldn’t get the pump to work, so JoAnna slept on the couch and used my sleeping bag and pad, which had been in storage for more than 12 years, and I slept on the floor. One of my errands Friday was to stop at K-Mart to exchange the pump. Fortunately, I had kept the sales receipt, although the clerk never asked to see it. I held it in my hand throughout the transaction, but I could have been holding my list of errands for all she seemed to care. Friday night we were able to try out the air mattress, which we found comfortable, certainly much better than the lump mattress folded away in the family room couch. The last time we sued it, I couldn’t sleep at all. That’s why we bought the air mattress.

Saturday morning and afternoon were devoted to party preparations. I mowed the front yard, even though I had just done so on Monday. The rain and humid weather we had through mid-week must have created greenhouse-like growing conditions. We set up the tent (the centerpiece of our back yard on Saturday as you can see from the pictures) and I did some last minute weeding along the south side of the house, along the path all our guests would take to get to the back yard. I also had another series of errands to run. Experiencing no complications or setbacks, we were ready to party in advance of 4:30.

Along with the pictures, I’ve enclosed a copy of the invitation we mailed out and the menu we had displayed on a signboard in the driveway. After having been driven indoors by thunderstorms the past two years, we were hoping for perfect conditions. And we were blessed. The sky remained cloudless all day. The temperature was right around 80 degrees. The humidity was low. A gentle breeze kept the air moving. We had fogged the yard a couple times during the early afternoon and lit citronella torches and candles about an hour before the party started. That effectively kept the bags away until dusk.

Our party has turned into quite a production. Extensive menu. Canopy seating and serving area. A separate bar table. People made frequent comments as to how much planning must have gone into the party. And indeed there was. Our expenses easily exceeded $500, but that was of no concern to us. This is our one big event of the year, and we’re not about to cut corners.

There were probably 50 to 60 people in our backyard during the height of the party. In fact, unlike the past two y ears, people didn’t must make an appearance. They enjoyed the setting and the food and the interesting mix of people – and didn’t want to leave, which was fine with us. We wanted people to have a memorable evening. One of the most commonly asked questions I heard was “How old is that maple tree?” People were impressed with its girth and span. I also heard many positive comments about the landscaping, a nice reward for the hundreds of hours that JoAnna and I have put into improving our yard.

It was a wonderful event. Everything proceed just as we hoped it would. Among the guests: Mim and Tom, Carolyn and Jim. I don’t know why it took us three years to invite them. We also invited some of our neighbors this year and some couples associated with the baseball and soccer teams.

Hope you enjoy the pictures and the other enclosed materials.

We send you our love and love forward to seeing you soon. Right now our estimated day of arrive is Monday, August 3. I’ll try to give you an estimated time of arrive in the next letter.

On This Date in 1998

The past four days could almost be viewed as a mini-vacation. JoAnna and I took Thursday off, and I worked only a half day on Friday. Wednesday was the last day of school for the boys.

The boys and I went to a Brewers game Wednesday evening. This was supposed to be a family outing, but JoAnna had to attend a meeting of the Dane County Airport Commission, of which she is a member, at 5:30. The game was scheduled to begin at 6:35, a half hour earlier than usual since the game was being televised on ESPN. JoAnna couldn’t afford to miss this meeting as her appointment to the Airport Commission had been controversial, the former chair of the county board of supervisors, a Republicans, speaking out against her selection. So Meaghan came with us in JoAnna’s place.

Sitting in the back seat, Andy and Meaghan kept up a steady chatter of conversation on the drive to Milwaukee. They get along so well. At Eddie’s request, we listened to a Beatles tape. Getting to the huge parking lot surrounding County Stadium was not the chore I expected. I picked up our tickets at the “will call” window, and we found our seats after a stop at on e of many souvenir stands. Meaghan bought one of those oversize foam hands, index finger pointing skyward in a “we’re number 1” gesture. Andy bought a miniature wood bat with the Brewers logo on it (why he felt he needed some worthless thing like this I don’t know), and I bought a hat for Eddie. He was the only one without his own spending money. We quickly found our seats in the family section, 20 rows behind home plate. Very good seats, actually. Most of the people in this section were older adults. I didn’t see many parents with younger children. No drinking or smoking is allowed, so choosing seats here is one way people avoid dealing with belligerent, obnoxious drunks (known to be a fixture at baseball games) and polluted air.

The Braves were in town, for the first time in 33 years, when the team deserted Milwaukee for Atlanta. We saw the final of a three-game series, the Brewers getting swept 5-2. The home team staged a rally in the bottom of the ninth, which got the remaining fans revved up. It looked as though at least 30% of the 19,000+ in attendance headed for the exits at the end of the 8th inning. Gotta beat the traffic.

We waited for the crowds to thin before leaving our seats. The worst of the parking lot gridlock was over by the time we reached the car. Andy and Meaghan resumed their chattering – they never seem to be at a loss for things to talk about—but the two of them and Eddie had fallen asleep by the halfway point of our trip home. It was 11:30when we dropped Meaghan off.

JoAnna and I painted Andy’s room on Thursday. What an improvement. The walls were dirty and pocked with nail holes. We had to use a scraper to remove all of the two-sided tape we sued to display the boys’ sports team banners. I had never really liked the color we had chosen the last time we painted this room. A beige with too much of an orange tint. I stopped at Mautz paint store last week and picked out more than a dozen “neutral” color samples. Side by side we were able to determine which one were actually more green or blue or orange than tan. We selected a “Silver Mink”, which looks great. It’s a very neutral color, exactly what we wanted for this room, even though it can’t be classified as tan.

Outside of the baseball game and the painting project, it was a relatively lowkey weekend. Andy spent most of his time playing with Meaghan and Nick. They went swimming at the indoor pool on Friday evening and at the new outdoor pool on Sunday, Eddie accompanying them both times. The outdoor pool was scheduled to open on Thursday, but the weather was too cold. Ditto Friday. After last Monday’s beautiful introduction to June, we experienced an extended cool spell, weather more suitable for the end of April than the start of the kids’ summer vacation. A couple mornings I was tempted to run on the furnace.

Both JoAnna and I have been dealing with summer colds this past week. Nothing major, just a slight runny nose, slight congestion, slight cough. It’s more of an irritation that ailment. Unfortunately, it just won’t go away. JoAnna felt extremely rundown Friday after work, spending most of her evening sacked out on the couch in the family room. That’s when I did some more reseeding in the back yard and swept al the maple “droppings” off the patio.

JoAnna and I went grocery shopping Saturday morning, while Andy was at Nick’s and Eddie was at his baseball practice. Whenever my wife accompanies me on these trips, we end up spending a small fortune on food. Not so bad this time. She wanted to select some items for her lunches and easy meals at home. The boy’s baseball schedules will make a regular suppertime a challenge. But then that goal has always been a challenge. She doesn’t always want us falling back on high-calorie, high-fact options like McDonald’s, which, of course, the boys would choose every time.



We had to change our Saturday evening plans when we learned that the movie we wanted to see, The Truman Show with Jim Carrey, was sold out. We ended up renting a video, Trains, Planes, & Automobiles, a rather silly comedy with Steve Martin and John Candy. The humor was very broad, something I wasn’t particularly in the mood for. I divided my attention between the TV screen and computer screen, where a game of Hearts completed with the movie.

On Sunday afternoon, more than a month after its delivery, I reduced the pile of shredded bark to nothing. I trimmed the evergreens in the back yard, creating a cozy little outdoor picnic nook. We have this beautiful yard (notice how I’m now singing a much more upbeat tune) that we don’t take the time to enjoy. After completing the yardwork chores Friday evening, I sat on the patio and just enjoyed the view.

Boxer is at least twice the size as when we first got him. He’s a very affectionate, playful kitten, sometimes too much so. We are trying to get him not to scratch and bite so much. Not that we’re all covered with scars. When Boxer get over-exuberant, we just put him down. The boys are very good with him and know how to deal with his friskiness.

He comes into our bedroom, purring and ready to play, at 5 each morning. Saying “no” or “go away, Boxer” doesn’t get results, so one of us, usually JoAnna, as I seem to have better luck tuning out Boxer, will take the cat out of the room and close the door so we can sleep undisturbed for another hour.

This is all I have time for right now. We send our love.

On This Date in 1998

It feels like we’re sprinting to the finish line of the school year.  Not that I’m in any particular hurry to get there.  The boys probably are, though.  For Andy, it will mean no  homework for three months.  For Mom and Dad, it will provide a temporary respite from tense confrontations over late and incomplete assignments.

Tonight JoAnna reminded me to check Andy’s assignment notebook, right after he told us he had finished everything he was supposed to do.  But when I reviewed his assignments item by items, I found out otherwise.   As a result, I made him sit at the kitchen table and complete the work he had previously blown off.  For the past hour, he’s been working on a crossword puzzle that uses vocabulary from a list of words in a science glossary.  He should have been able to complete it in 15 minutes, but initially he had trouble getting focused.  He had to sharpen his pencil.  He needed a drink of water.  Then he was going to have a bowl of ice cream.  I quickly vetoed that last idea.  Even when he returned to the table, he seemed unable to concentrate, a blank expression on his face, then a hint of stubbornness spreading across it.  In our bedroom, I shared an idea with JoAnna.  Andy’s weekend doesn’t start on Friday until his homework for Monday is done.  No TV.  No playing with friends.  No pizza delivery.  No videos.  One of Andy’s problems is that he won’t tackle an assignment until the day before it’s due, even if it’s assigned a week in advance.  I’m trying to get him to see the advantage of completing an assignment early.

Eddie seems to be making great progress as a result of his special reading classes.  He had some homework tonight, and, taking a cue from his brother, initially resisted the idea of doing it.  He read five little stories to us (“Sam has ham” – simple words used repetitively).  He was able to sound out all the words without our assistance.

JoAnna spent Saturday evening and Sunday in Two Rivers with her parents.  She made a presentation Sunday afternoon to the Two Rivers HistoricalSociety on the Richard family history.  Outside of the special election, that was her big project during the past few months.  She was expecting somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 people to show up.  Almost 200 attended!  Her family tree goes back to Acadia.  French-Canadian.  She has found a lot of information on the Internet, and I ordered her a couple of books on Acadian history from the State Historical Society library.  We’ll have to remember to bring along some of her research this summer.

In two more weeks, I’ll be done with my class at the University.  I won’t be teaching again in the fall, since UW has a policy that a “hired gun” like myself can only teach the same course two semesters in a row.  It’s been a great experience.  I feel honored to have been given this opportunity and very pleased with the feedback I have received from students and faculty.

I started the annual spreading of the mulch.  This year I ordered 7 cubic yards of shredded bark, up one from last year.  I started with the front yard on Saturday, a gorgeous day to be outdoors, which helped me to tackle the project with an extra dose of enthusiasm.  I removed some sod next to the evergreen trees at the north end of our lot, the mulch I spread here giving this area some much-needed definition.   It also helps to downplay the lawn blight.  It rained in Sunday so I wasn’t able to get started on the south side of the house, where no grass is found and a variety of perennials soak up the sun all summer long.  It did clear up by late afternoon, but by that time I was determined to finish the books I was reading (TheWishbones, a funny first novel by Tom Perrotta, 1990s New Jersey slice of life – a book that I bet Dale would enjoy reading).  Then after supper, the boys and I walked to a nearby ball diamond where Andy practiced his pitching (he hopes to be one of the starting pitchers on his baseball team this summer. 

Saturday night I took the kids (the boys + Meaghan and Nick) to see Paulie, a movie about a talking parrot, one who doesn’t just mimic what he hears people say, but actually has a mind (and a vocabulary) of his own.    It’s a cute family film, although I must admit I found it a little sluggish and treacly at times.  With the weather so lousy on Sunday, I thought we might take in another movie, but Andy was with Nick and Meaghan for most of the day, and Eddie was at a friend’s house for three hours during the afternoon.  Dad ended up home alone, stretched out on the couch of the living room, reading his book, enjoying the solitude.

Last week I turned off the furnace but fired it up tonight.  The temperature was 43 degrees when I woke up this morning, the wind chill at 20.  Tonight it’s supposed to get even colder.  Glad I didn’t try to plan anything this weekend.  There are a few areas of the yard where I’d like to fill in some open space with perennials.  I usually don’t even think about planting annuals until the Mother’s Day weekend, although some people around here will say wait until Memorial Day.  I can never wait that long.

            
I noticed the obituary for Levina Karlson.  Did you go to her funeral, Mom?  I was thinking of sending a memorial to the church.  I always associate city chicken with Levina, probably because it was one of the meals she served us at their house on Sixth Avenue.

I bought Barb a birthday card a few days before the deadline but never got around to sending it.  I wanted to enclose a note and perhaps pick up a little gift for her (and Dale, too).  But excuses, excuses – I just never got around to it.  Happy belated birthday, Barb!  We’ve been thinking about you.