It was a beautiful sunny, 75 degree day in the Valley of the Sun, but our group of 11 over-worked retired retailers found themselves in side the General Store being sheltered from this perfect Arizona Day. I am afraid that the Covid staffing shortages made it logistically difficult to service the patio tables so we had to limit ourselves using our quiet,indoor voices. First and foremost, we have to recognize that Dennis Palmer was in attendance. He must have gotten special approval to be there by wearing an ankle monitor. I am sure his probation is almost over. He looked great and passed on that Janette finished her 101st marathon……and is currently only running half marathons. Dennis indicates that he is still taking the trash out without having to stop to catch his breath. On a more serious note, he did indicate that he seem to have developed a blood clot about 1 month ago and spent several days in the hospital. It is suspected it could have been related to his booster vaccination that he had just received. Good news… every thing is now great.
Brent Keil is leaving Tuesday for his big European adventure flying in Barcelona and then getting on a ship after a few days going to Monaco, France and Italy…nice to be back enjoying seeing the world. Kevin Tripp took a break from doing his taxes to visit with the crew. I think he is concerned about Bidens plans to add a surtax for billionaires…
Jerry Ostermann is heading by to Illinois for a brief stay and then returning to the sun. Dave Schoenbeck is about to join quite a group of close friends on their annual golf outing.. Neil Stacey, Jake Jackson, Tom Dieterle, Bob Potter, John Eversman to name a few..I think they were looking for recommendations for non alcoholic beers and cocktails. They always were very responsible.
Frank Stock was taking a break, thank heavens, from working on the stock market. He has been focuses of late on a septic system replacement and a slab leak repair. Nothing like spending $15,000 or so on something so romantic.
It was great to see Bill Harbecke after several weeks. Seems his wife recently had a should repair or replacement, which requires a 3 month recovery…not fun. Why does that happen?
Lee Hoekstra was down from Prescott sharing some ole photos of a 2012 alumni golf outing…didn’t recognize too many because they were a bunch of young guys and gals.
Pat Johnston joined the group just to have a piece of cherry pie ALaMode…and, after he finished it, he sort of talked.
I do believe I originally missed Curt Larson. Now that he is a home owner in Queen Creek we seem to take him for granted. He indicated that Wally Fairfield is in town and that they and many others will be going to Jack O’Connell's service on Saturday. As a side note, Larry Wahlstrom passed on the breaking news that yesterday, Bob Cook shot a 78 and he just turned 84. Fantastic!
It was great to see ole friends, as always. Gerry