Month: July 2015

Today is National Hot Dog Day!    Did you know there is evidence that a hot dog like food made the trip during Homer’s Odyssey?  Did you know the town’s folk of Vienna claim to have developed the first modern hot dog in 1487?  Did you know little cans of Vienna Sausage paired nicely with the hardtack Christopher Columbus provided his crew on their voyage to the New World?  It is for good reason we honor the delectable treat!

My top 5 hot dog memories:
#5- My First Foot Long! Spending time with my family and Uncle Phil and Aunt Jane someplace in the Ohio boondocks! I was maybe eight years old. The idea that someone could eat that much hot dog was thrilling. It took a little while but I managed to put it down with the encouragement of my Uncle Phil and a little root beer.

#4- Two Chili Dogs, please!  During an outing to San Diego with my old friends the Jones family, the hot dog vendor pulled up near Mission Beach.  It was sometime in late July, 1974.  We all had worked up a bit of an appetite hanging on the beach. I had a taste for hot dogs, but I caught the scent of the chili.  How awesome the two would come together.  It was a beautiful day.

#3- Any Spring Day at Goodyear Stadium! First it is Spring Training with the Cleveland Indians.  Second, a round of golf is usually already behind us and I am hungry.  Third, Bertman’s Stadium Mustard is trucked in with the bats, uniforms, balls, and gloves from Cleveland! Sitting in the warm sunshine eating a dog dreaming that this season’s Cleveland baseball club will win a World Series championship. It is awesome.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it, can’t wait until next Spring!

#2- Nothing better than a Trojan Dog! The girl’s soccer concession stand at Paradise Valley High School offers the usual assortment of drinks and treats. But, the best dog in the middle of a cold, wintry soccer season is the Trojan Dog! Demand always exceeds supply so get it early. For only $1, it is perfect!

#1- Ok, there is something better than a Trojan Dog and a hot dog during Spring Training. A hot dog at Progressive Field in Cleveland is heavenly. The first time was 1965 (at old Municipal Stadium). The Indians were playing a double-header with the Kansas City A’s. “Sudden Sam” McDowell threw one game for the Indians while “Blue Moon” Odom came out of the bullpen both games for the A’s.  The most vivid memory? That hot dog.  Talked into trying the “Stadium Mustard” by the teenage vendor, my taste buds have never been the same.  In 2014, the last time I was in attendance,  there was still magic wrapped in that aluminum foil.

I hope you have fond hot dog memories! Enjoy the day!

I want to be more fit.  Well, “more fit” would suggest I already am fit.  I’m not confident that is true.  I know that there are three key components to reaching my desired fitness level.  And my friend Fitbit will undoubtedly help me reach my goal.

First, sleep!  Okay, this seems like a simple thing to do.  I am retired now, so, naturally I will sleep longer.  I have reduced my level of stress and commitments.  I don’t have papers to grade nor do I have a standing 7:30AM appointment with thirty-five students.  My friend tells me I wake-up an awful lot at night and sleep nearly 6 hours per night.  That is better than the 4 1/2 hours I was getting a year ago.  Thank you, friend.  Maybe I will eventually get that 7-9 hours all the health articles recommend.  Maybe I’d sleep even better if I quit reading articles that made me worry about how little sleep I get.

Second, eat right.  This is a tough one.  Keeping track of calories taken in and calories burned off seems like a simple way to figure out if I’m leading a more fit lifestyle.  A more fit lifestyle would lead to drop in weight.  But hold the phone, not so fast.  When you eat, what you eat, how much you eat at one time, and a whole lot of other factors contribute to eating right.  Also, gaining weight could be the result of exercise and training, which would be better than gaining weight eating chips and salsa while watching NCIS reruns.  This all seems so complicated.  This may be where my friend and I just don’t communicate well.  My friend wants me to input everything I eat in a day so it can calculate the net gain or loss of calories.  Inputting all that information can be time consuming and tedious. Maybe this is another reason I am not sleeping well.

Third, do something.  My friend counts my steps.  Recently, my friend decided to not just count steps, but judge the value of my steps.  I felt better when it just counted and didn’t judge me.  My friend knows enough to differentiate between steps taken moving from the couch to the refrigerator and the steps that are much more demanding and rigorous, like the steps taken moving from the couch up the stairs to get that all important sleep.   I was surprised how many steps I take some days.  I just know that none of the steps are taken running.  I hate running.  Maybe my friend will help me adjust my attitude and I will learn to enjoy running in retirement.

I know fitness is the result of work and takes a strong character and fortitude.  It takes discipline and desire.  Fitbit, if a true friend, will help me get there.

 

 

 

 

Ten days ago I left Phoenix on a solo drive to the Quad Cities!  (Retirement has left me a little restless.)  The objective was to deliver a “new car” to our daughter in Rock Island, see her Quad City Eagles play a soccer match in Davenport, and get to the PGA’s John Deere Classic played in Silvis (not one of the Quad Cities) near Moline (the headquarters for Deere & Company), the third of the quad.  (Bettendorf is the fourth, but we only drove through it a couple of times).

Driving alone, and with orders from the boss to take it easy, I had time to think about all the places I’d still love to see some day.   The usual spots came to mind- Alaska, Hawaii, the Florida Keys, Vermont in the fall.  A trip to Europe is already planned.  Maybe an excursion to Australia?   The advantage of going solo was being free to make a right turn or left turn on a whim.  That is when I found sites and met people who told  pretty unique stories.  I may have a desire to head off to see distant places, but here are just a few of the encounters experienced between Arizona and Illinois.

First, there were the high school students working the counter at this little family owned restaurant.  Nice as could be and willing to talk about life in Farmington, NM.  They turned dinner for one into “a family meal.”

There was the motel owner in Garden City, KS who offered great customer service, and when prompted, shared how her family came here from India.  I met the director of the Coronado-Quivara Museum in Lyon, KS.  She had a skittish little dog (a rescued mutt) who didn’t take to strangers.  Apologizing for her dog’s behavior, she shared she was determined to upgrade the make up of the exhibit.  Discovering I taught history in Arizona, the director wondered aloud how I could help.   The barkeeper at the little barbecue place in Independence, MO poured a cold beverage.  After a little baseball talk while the Royals game played on TV, he shared he was  from Odessa, MO, and was, incidentally, a classmate of Arizona D-back’s relief pitcher Brad Ziegler.  (No, Brad didn’t throw side-armed in high school.)

I also met a man revisiting the site of the Sand Creek Massacre in southeast Colorado.  He came here as a child but was now in his late forties.  His Arapaho ancestors were some of the very few who survived one of the worst events in United States history.

Alaska is on my bucket list, but the Rocky Mountains will do for now…        

Finally, I look forward to seeing the sun come up over the Atlantic when we visit the Keys.  It will have to be pretty special to beat this sunrise on the Kansas Plains.

 

Oh, by the way, mission accomplished.

Where do you want to go?

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I love the Fourth of July!  The fireworks, the patriotism, the star spangled banner fluttering in the warm (or really hot) summer breeze.  Eating hot dogs, mustard potato salad, watermelon, and drinking my favorite chilled beverage (the one item on this menu that has changed with the times).

This year we celebrate Independence Day with our family!  A family, however, that has evolved in many ways since the last time we celebrated our nation’s birth.  But, isn’t that the way it is with all families?  This year we joyfully, happily, excitedly celebrate with our oldest son’s fiancé.  What a blessing she is for our son and our entire family.  Our youngest is celebrating in Chicago with the life-long friends she has made while attending college in Rock Island, Il.  We will miss her this weekend, but we know our family is blessed to have such a strong, loving, independent daughter.  (Is that the scent of another road trip in the near future?)  The most difficult challenge has been facing the changes in our parent’s health.  My mom and dad celebrated their 63rd anniversary this past year.  Both are 83 and have lived in the same home since 1964.  They are both upstanding patriots who have always honored our community and nation.

This weekend there are all kinds of exciting ways to celebrate:

1. Catch a fireworks show.  It is kind of hokey, but I enjoy the one’s synched to all those “America is awesome” songs.
2. Hang out with friends and safely(!) and legally put on your own little fireworks show. (You can buy, but don’t dare shoot them off!)
3. Take a few minutes to re-read the Declaration of Independence:                              http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html ).   It is a pretty good read.
4. Watch our United States Women’s Soccer team take on Japan.  Sunday is the championship match and will be shown on your local Fox station at 4PM Pacific time. Nothing says “I’m a patriot” better than rooting on our nation’s team to the  World Cup championship.
5. Have a picnic, but don’t let the stuff dressed in mayo get warm.
6. Drive a Chevrolet to a baseball game and then eat some apple pie.
7. Reach out to a friend, family member, or that someone special you have been dying to talk to for a very long time.   Maybe fireworks will happen because you took the risk… you know, just like Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, and Hancock did back in the day.

By the way, here is an awesome hot dog!  Happy Birthday, America!