The Milligan sisters
left to right - Trish, Holly, Sargie, Jeanne, Nancy

February 26, 2017 - Sunday

16 degrees/snow showers/breezy

Gladstone, Michigan

First off, happy birthday to my youngest son, Andy. I'm not exactly certain where in the world he is at this moment, possibly home in Maine, probably in Louisiana, but he very well could be working on a boat out in the Gulf of Mexico or some other body of water. At any rate, Happy birthday, buddy. I love you.

Once again, I find myself alongside the pool in a manmade tropical paradise while the snow falls and the wind blows on the other side of the glass. Since we have to drive home later today, it's not nearly as entertaining to watch as it was yesterday. Oh well, we'll make it just fine.

Saturday was a family day filled with shopping in the morning, talking and being lazy in the afternoon, followed by dining and dancing in the evening.

Since there was a thick coating of ice covering the vehicles, we let them warm up then scraped the remaining ice. We were about to pull out from the parking lot when sister-in-law, Jeanne, appeared and began scraping the ice from my backseat window. I think that girl has a future as a professional ice scraper!

The girls went their way, we went ours. I bought $29 worth of stuff at the local big box lumber store that I could have lived without, mostly scroll saw blades.

Brother-in-law, Ron, was teasing me about "photo moments" so it seems every time I saw a clerk who asked to help, we got our pictures taken.

This young lady really wanted to sell us patio furniture. 

We ended our morning excursion at a restaurant/lounge, the Log Cabin, scouting places for Saturday night's supper. 

The views out of the Log Cabin's windows are either of Lake Michigan on one side or of a gazebo, waterfall, and pond on the other. 

The four of us boys had a lot of fun playing the Train Game. Canadian Pacific Railway runs by the lounge and each time the train passed, we'd pay a quarter and roll five dice. The same number on all five resulted in winning the pot, around $200 dollars. Four dice would reward the winner with a free shot of his favorite beverage. I'm glad I didn't roll four dice. Who wants a shot of Coke? The pot grew by a couple of dollars yesterday as none of us won and no free shots were given out.

Another photo moment presented itself with our waitress, Ashley.

 

I learned that Ashley is student at Bay College majoring in Human Resources. She is a sweetheart and I found myself wishing I had a son with whom to fix her up. Sorry, Ashley, they are all taken.

I enjoyed making my own Virgin Mary, a non alcohol Bloody Mary, at the Bloody Mary bar. One of the guys later teased me that my drink looked more like a vegetable garden than something one would sip.

Let's see, lemon, mushrooms, hot pepper, celery, asparagus, celery, a pickle, and let's not forget several slices of pepperoni. Oh yeah, there was just enough room for a splash of tomato juice laden with tobasco sauce.

Sargie, being the big drinker she is, later had this very adult drink in the evening. 

I'm not sure what it is other than it's adorned with gummy bears and has crushed Oreo cookies along the rim. Looks like chocolate milk fills the glass. 

Watch out, Sargie and I are heavy hitters.

I had the best steak I've enjoyed in years at dinner last night. A 14 ounce ribeye grilled to medium rare and a baked potato with extra butter and sour cream. The diet will begin this coming week.

Sargie ordered some kind of fancy chicken noodle combination that was also delicious.

At the family's insistence, I later sat at the grand piano in the dining room and played. It's hard to believe that I once entertained crowds of diners for four hours straight playing the piano while they danced and sang along. The last time I played was a year ago last Christmas and I found my fingers arent nearly as nimble as they once were. I quit after a couple of songs before I could embarrass myself too badly. 

Dinner over, we spent the evening dancing and singing to the live music.

Uncle Donny and Trish tore up the dance floor. Jeanne and Boyd and Sargie and I later joined them.

One thing I'll say about Uncle Donny, (as Andy calls him) that guy can sure dance. I've taken to calling him Donny Travolta after John Travolta's character he played in the 70's disco dance movie, Saturday Night Fever. All Donny needs is the carefully coifed hair.

The evening ended fairly early and we made our way back to the hotel. Most of the family gathered in one room to talk and catch up. I made a token appearance long enough to eat two of Holly's chocolate chip cookies, then disappeared down the hall and went to bed. Sargie said she joined me around midnight. I wouldn't know. I was sound asleep.

Check out time is at 11 this morning. Since we can't pick up Brutus until 4:30 this afternoon, Sargie and I will, no doubt, do some shopping while we're in town, take our time, and eat a late lunch.

Thankfully, my girl is off for the next two days and it's not like we have to get home early so she can get ready for another week of work.

I think I'm going to wander down the hall and begin making noise, see if anyone else is awake and moving. This business of being the token early morning person can be a lonely proposition. 

After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...