Fun & Not Fun

Hello All

Just a little update while we await our return trips to Duke for testing and doctors meetings on 8/24 & 28. A lot has been going on with Annette and I over the past two weeks and I thought I might share some of that with you.

Two weeks ago we spent a week down at Myrtle Beach, right on the Inter-Coastal Waterway, at Annette's brother's, Oscar, second home. He has a beautiful place down there and was gracious enough to let us use it for a week. My oldest daughter, Jackie, and her family came up for about 5 fun filled days and my mother flew down from NY for two weeks with us here and at the beach. We just had a marvelous time. We swam, jet skied, tubed, water skied, pontoon boated long leisure trips, went shell hunting along the ICW, and spent one night at a great amusement park for the kids. It was one of the better vacations I have every had. Even my Mom, who is nearly 86, got out on the jet ski with Annette and had a bang up time. We all took some wonderful memories away from there with us. Thanks again Oscar.

Well, for me, that was backed up by the next week of "payback." I own a rental home in Wheeling, WV. I am in the process of selling it, as I have a buyer, but it needed new roofing and the 16 windows needing recaulking and painting before the VA would give the buyer a loan. I was feeling good and tackled the job along with the help of one of my friends in Wheeling and my brother and his buddy who came down from NY to put on the new roof. My friend and I spent 3 days on the roof in advance of my brother's visit stripping off the two layers of old shingles, removing all the old nails and putting down new felt paper. We also bought all the supplies in advance and were ready for when my brother and his friend showed up. When they arrived they jumped on the job and finished the whole roof in basically one full day. Unfortunately they also picked the hottest day, in the last 408 days in Wheeling, and it was a killer. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of stripping and putting on roofing, trust me, when it's 90 degrees out and sunny, on that roof it is more like 120. Now I remember why I went to college. This was the "last" roofing job I will ever do but we got it done and it looks great. Thanks to Rock, Dan, and Bill for their help. I was up there for a week splitting my time between roofing and painting. Plus the 9 hour drives each way on each end. It was a tough week and I'm glad it is over.

The day after I left for Wheeling, Annette headed out for two weeks of visit with her sister Margarete and her brother-in-law Hall in Southwestern Oregon. They have been having a good visit and even had a side trip to Chicago to provide family support for her sister's grandson who had to have an operation to remove a tumor. Thank God the proceedure went well and the prognosis is good. She is also getting a little time to play some golf and just catch up with her sister. She will be home on the 19th.

Well, I guess that is it for this update. My next one will be after the 28th and we pray it all goes well. Enjoy your summer and remember we always love company and have extra room should you need to get away and are thinking about Fayetteville, NC.

Drew