Lots of Stuff

Well I'm still dealing with my awful summer cold - I feel good a day or two and then boom it rears its ugly head again.  Once again I'm playing catch up with what's been going on since my last blog.

 

A week ago when I left work we had a torrential downpour - and of course I didn't have either my big umbrella or raincoat with me.  I just had my tiny umbrella that sort of kept the rain off my head.  I got soaked walking to the parking garage after work - but check out the double rainbow we saw from Gary's balcony later that evening.  It was pretty special for my lead pastor to stop by Gary's that evening to get to know Gary better - the three of us had a good visit.

 

 

Can't believe I'm 52 - wow.  I definitely don't feel 52 :)  Gary had asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I said either an Air Force or Dallas Cowboys shirt - so check out what Gary got me.  It was waiting in his mailbox Saturday evening when we checked his mail and I was really excited to open my birthday present :)  I can't even remember what all we did my birthday weekend - must be old age - but I know we had a really, really good time.

 

 

One thing we're working on at Gary's is his Autumn and Halloween decorations.  We bought two big pumpkins and then some little pumpkins for the table on his balcony.  We decided the mums were pretty nice looking so bought a couple of those too.  We made a huge step - buying our first Halloween decoration together - from Hobby Lobby - that was 50% off for a total of $2.50 :)

 

 

I did get a kick out of "educating" Gary about his Thunderbirds and blowing his mind when I knew what a certain tool was. Gary is former Air Force and that's what the Thunderbirds are - the Blue Angels are Navy.  I asked Gary which plane of the Thunderbirds had its number painted upside down on it - because that plane does the majority of air shows inverted.  He didn't know that the #5 is painted upside down on the airplane - I took great joy in knowing something he didn't about the Thunderbirds.  Then the best was when he asked me to bring his drill and I mentioned that his drill had a chuck on it - I thought he was going to fall over that I knew what a chuck was :)

 

One night Gary got his Xbox going and we played Black Ops.  Now I haven't played any "video" game since PacMac so this was HUGE for me to try to play Black Ops.  Of course he killed me like 10 times in the three games we played but it was still fun.  I don't know why I didn't kill him when his character was standing right in front of my character - but I couldn't.  Gary did admit that I was able to move pretty well throughout the game but I had to work on my aim :)

 

Gary is a Toyota guy and has a RAV4.  I've had two RAVs and really liked them but you can't buy them with a stick any longer.  I must have passed some test because Gary is letting me drive his RAV, and Gary doesn't let anyone drive his vehicle.

 

Yesterday was such a beautiful day that after we ate lunch we got on the bike and went for a bike ride.  We wanted to go back to where we had sat and talked on our first date - which was four weeks ago yesterday - but something was going on at the Isaac Walton League - so we headed for Gray's Lake.  We sat at a picnic table, enjoyed the weather, watched the people walk by and talked.  I decided I'd try to take a picture of us with my phone camera.  I think it's pretty cute and no Gary is not doing a fist pump or trying to bap me in the face.  He had his arm sitting on the picnic table and I told him to get it away from his mouth so his smile would show up :)

 

When we left Gary told me to sit on his bike because he wanted to take a picture of me on it - so there I am - Roni the biker babe :)  Then Gary told me to start his bike and I was like "really"?!  Turned the key on, pushed the start button and viola.  Gary leaned down and told me that no one has ever started any of the bikes he's owned throughout his life except him and the service guys at Garvis Honda - wow.

 

 

I found my cowboy boots that I've had for 20+ years, that I've never worn, that the cats attacked, in the back of my closet Saturday.  I showed them to Gary and he said he could make them look really good - and he did.  So check out my "cowgirlish" look that I wore to church yesterday.  I haven't worn a heel of any type for so long that it will take me a little time to get used to walking in them.  And I now know why Gary has his "strut" when he walks in his cowboy boots - I'm getting my own strut :)

 

 

Tonight Gary made supper for me - chicken, broccoli and rice with cheese melted on the top.  It was amazing!  Gary has also learned that I am not domesticated when I tried to make some soup and grilled cheese sandwiches the other night :)

 

Check out the collage Gary made today of a lot of our different pix.  The upper left pic of me is an old Glamor Shot picture from at least 20 years ago.  I happened to show the picture to Gary so he could see what I looked like with some makeup put on professionally - and my long hair.  Well, that picture is now hanging on the wall of Gary's office in his apartment.  The little boy and girl kissing on the beach was the picture of the first card I gave Gary.

 

Last Two Weeks: A Whirlwind :)

It's been a wild two weeks between meeting "someone", having a horrible summer cold and work - where do I begin?

  T

The Friday before Labor Day (8/30) a friend from work texted me wanting to know if I wanted to meet her and her guy at Denny Arthur's which is a dance club for "more mature" people :)  As I walked into the place there was a sweet looking motorcycle outside that I looked at.  Julie was waiting for me and I met her guy - along with another couple.  Then Gary appeared - the guy that owned the sweet looking motorcycle.  He was a friend of Julie's and must have been in the bathroom or something when I arrived :)  One thing led to another and I got a motorcycle ride that night  and some dancing too :)  I told Julie that if Gary wanted my phone number she could give it to him.

 

Saturday 8/31 Gary finally texted me around 4:00 pm and we texted back and forth for a while and then he called me and we made a date to go to the zoo when I got out of church the next day.  So Sunday, September 1st was our first date - at the Blank Park Zoo.  After the zoo we went back to his apartment complex to get his bike out to go on a long bike ride.  We stopped and talked for a long time to get to know each other and pretty much have seen each other every day since then :)

 

Below is a picture of him that I have framed on my desk at work.  While I really wanted Gary's picture on my desk to look at during the day - I also had to realize it was time to take Mike's picture home.  That was kind of hard and kind of not.  The one picture of Mike, Butler and Milly had been on my desk for many years - at all the different jobs I had.

 

 

Work is starting to get crazy but we haven't hit full-blown busy season yet.  And this past week I have had the head cold from h-e-double toothpicks.  I have lived on Alka Seltzer Plus continually and it's just now starting to get better.

 

On 9/11 Gary wanted to make me supper - wow - so the picture below is him cooking burritos for us.  And man were they good.  Then we went for a bike ride - it was the first evening that the weather wasn't so hot.  We rode to Gray's Lake and looked at the flags they had placed for all those that lost their lives on 9/11 - it was something to see.  We rode through downtown DSM and I showed him the building I work in, then he showed me where he had worked 23 years before they closed the doors last year.  Then back through downtown to head back to his apartment on the south side.  Let's just say listening to his bike echo off the buildings was way cool.



This past Friday we had food day in "honor" of the Iowa/Iowa State football game.  The building I work in right now has a patio area on the rooftop so we were able to grab food and head up there for our lunch hour - check out the view.

Friday night after work a bunch of the "kids" and I headed out for a while to socialize - and help the "old lady" turn a year older.  Ok it was a week before my birthday but it was fun.  Check out the picture below that has maybe 1/3 of my department in it.  Julie - remember my co-worker that introduced Gary and me - we headed out to Denny Arthur's around 8:00 that night to meet our men.



Gary gave me a ride home on his bike - I had left my car downtown since Julie and I had carpooled.  Well I learned that it's very important to make sure your foot is on the foot peg and not on the exhaust pipe of Gary's motorcycle.  Basically the bottom of my shoe - it was made of rubber kind of - melted all over his pipe.  I got off his bike and saw what had happened and thought "crap".  Gary walked over to that side of his bike, looked at his bike and didn't say anything...not one word.  I'm like, "this is not good and I don't want to look at him."  But I looked up at Gary and he just looked down at me.  Fortunately he was able to clean up the mess on his exhaust pipes and they look good as new.

Yesterday I wanted to go to Pella to see Dad and how he's doing downsizing before his move.  I asked Gary if he wanted to go with me and he said "yes".  So I took my guy to meet my dad :)  They seemed to hit it off pretty well.  Gary also got to meet my niece Chrissy.  I had fun showing Gary around uptown and introducing his to Dutch letters.

A little about Gary - he's 61 and lives on the south side of DSM.  He was in the Air Force and was an airplane mechanic on an A7/D Corsair II.  He has his B.S. in Geology - he wanted to be a geologist.  He is a welder in DSM and works really, really hard.  The past couple of weeks with the hot days we've had have not been the best working conditions for him.  He went to church with me last Sunday and met lots and lots of my church family - and he felt very comfortable there.

As we were driving by the Air National Guard yesterday we saw this plane, a C/17 Globemaster II, which is a troop carrier.  It was really cool to look at.  And it's really neat to listen to him talk about all the different aircraft the USAF has had and currently has.

The kicker was yesterday after Pella when we were talking about the Thunderbirds - these are the Air Force planes that do air shows.  The Blue Angels are the Navy equivalent.  When Mike and I were in Las Vegas many years ago, we toured the Thunderbird part of Nellis Air Force Base and learned something that Gary didn't know - and I took great pride in letting him know "his girl" knew something about the Thunderbirds that he didn't.  The plane with the #5 on it has the 5 painted upside down on the plane since this is the plane that does most, if not all, the inverted flying during one of their shows.  With the 5 upside down on the plane and when the plane flies inverted - the 5 looks correct to everyone on the ground.

This morning was my first Sunday to team teach Puddles (3-4 year olds) with my senior pastor's wife and it was a riot.  Check out the kids listening to Danielle as she was passing out animal crackers after the story.

Well - who knows about Gary and me but let me just say he's a pretty special guy and we'll see what God unfolds for us.