July 2025 Update

I mentioned last month that my Uncle Erle and cousins Kevin and his wife Janet, Wayne, and Wes Wirth were going to come out here for a visit.  We had a great time meeting at a diner nearby with all of them, my Dad’s cousin, Priscilla, and lots of my family—we made quite a crowd at that diner!  The food was good, and the company was better.  We got several pictures, and here are three of them.

Uncle Erle and Priscilla

Uncle Erle and me

Our gang took up the two long tables and the two booths across from them!

Late in June, Krista had a chance to visit our daughter, Kortney, and her family in Minnesota.  She always has a wonderful time with them, and this time was no exception.  She even got to stay an extra day when her original flight home was cancelled and they booked her for the next day, so that was a nice bonus for all of them.

 

While Krista was gone, my future daughter-in-law, Kayla, and her family invited me and Jem over for supper one night.  Kayla and Levi had given me a Blackstone grill for Fathers’ Day, and Kayla’s dad, Lenny, is an experienced Blackstone griller, so he cooked Philly cheesesteaks for us and gave me a few pointers for when I start using my grill.  His food was delicious, and it gave me the courage to try cooking something for my family.  A week or so later, I made breakfast taquitos on my Blackstone, and, if I say so myself, they turned out pretty good.

 

We had some fun times around the 4th of July.  On the night of the 3rd, several of us went to our town’s fireworks show.  We didn’t have the best seats, but we could see the ones that were up high.  Then on the 4th, Ella had suggested we go to the fireworks show at Point Breeze on Lake Ontario.  That one we could see everything!  Not only were there the “official” fireworks, but several of the area neighbors had pretty impressive shows of their own.  We didn’t know which way to look!  Left, right, and straight ahead was all going at the same time!  It was actually a bit overwhelming!

 

We hosted a local family get-together on the 4th too with our usual lots of good food and fun times together enjoying the pool and nice weather.

 

My grandson, Emmett, turned one this past month, and his family hosted a party for him at the other grandparents house.  He was adorable and officially took his first steps!  I’m proud to say I helped by holding him up in front of his mom, my daughter, Abigail, who he was delighted to be able to walk to!

 

Our church had a Talent Show this past Wednesday night, and I, like usual, got up to be foolish.  I sang the song “Ticklish Reuben” that mostly consists of just laughing.  There’s one verse of words and two verses of laughing, so yeah, it’s pretty silly.  But it was fun, and people seemed to enjoy it.

 

Finally for this month, I unfortunately found out I have shingles.  It started about a week ago and was confirmed a few days ago thanks to my Nurse Practitioner son-in-law, Kevin, although I have to say that Krista was the first person to diagnose it.  It’s quite painful, although I’m able to manage the pain with ibuprofen and Tylenol and lidocaine patches.  Kevin was able to prescribe some anti-viral medications for me, which will hopefully limit the duration.  And I know that if you pray for me, God can heal me too, whether by Himself or through the medicines, so please do so!

 

Hopefully next month I’ll be able to report good progress on that health issue, and maybe more normal fun things too.