On Sunday, we met up with Doug's niece, Mandy, her husband, Mark, and their two boys. We had dinner at Famous Dave's and had a nice visit. I only realized now that we didn't get a new photo with them. Here's one we took back in September when we saw them at our sister-in-law's house in South Carolina.
On Tuesday, we had a SW Florida IBEW Local 252 Retirees Reunion at the Fish House in Bonita Springs. Tom and Michelle Pahl, Jeanne and Stan Kasprzycki, Stan's sister and brother-in-law (their names escape me now) and Doug and I all met for dinner and story telling.
Rick Murphy is in the area but wasn't able to join us because of a prior commitment. If you are a 252 retiree and reading this, please let me know if you are in this area in the winter and we'll be sure to include you next time.
On Thursday, we drove to the Ft. Myers satellite office of Local 349, Miami. Those of you that know Doug know that he almost always wears an IBEW shirt. Whenever we are travelling, we always stop at a Union hall so he can buy a shirt (or five). Local 349's jurisdiction stretches from coast to coast down here which is why they have an office in Ft. Myers. This office is not only the business office, but also has a training facility. When we got there, we met Adrian who is the instructor. As I recall, he topped out in 2002 and became the apprenticeship instructor in December, 2013. He's been to the NTI in Ann Arbor. Small world, huh?
We spent about 45 minutes talking with him. He is energetic, well spoken and truly understands the meaning of brotherhood. We meet the nicest people when we visit Union halls across the country and Adrian is a great example.
We did grab a few hours at the beach a couple of afternoons to get the proverbial "bump"on our tans.
When we go to the beach, we always take sandwiches. For those of you who worked with Doug, yes, he still loves his Lay's potato chips and always takes them with us. One particular day, he had them in a baggie and had left it laying on the blanket. We were wading in the shallow water looking for shells, When I turned around, there was a seagull pecking away at the baggie trying to get to the chips. I informed the gull that chips weren't good for him and he should go look for some fish. Even though I put the chips up, he stayed close by. I don't know if he wasn't giving up on the chips or if he liked the fact that I was talking to him.
It's been a good week and the weather has been great. That is, until now. With the dip in the jet stream that is bringing snow to the north, it is pulling up moisture from the Gulf of Mexico which is bringing us some rain today and cooler temperatures. But that's okay with me. It will give me a Saturday to sit with my book and my ever present cup of coffee.
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