Still Alive

The annual Hades Family Run to the Beach has been canceled for this year.

Every year Mrs Hades' family has a beach week in Myrtle Beach SC starting the last Sunday in July. My father in law has a time share there (yeah, I know, time share, but if he didn't have it he would never take a vacation) and we go down to join in the fun. For the past couple of years we have rented our own room, and we haven't used it even once.

Last year was an epic year. My folks came out for it, along with my younger sister and my aunt, and they took our room. All of my kids made it down for a day, including the one from Wyoming. A good time was had by all and it was likely the last time my kids will see my Dad, he's not dying or anything but due to disability his travel days are about done.

Speaking of Dad, he was diagnosed with leukemia last year, prompting an unplanned Thanksgiving trip, but he stopped taking his meds a couple of months ago (with his new doctor's approval) and now Doc thinks he may not have had it in the first place. She is suspecting something else instead (something that non-medically trained me can't pronounce), which isn't as serious. So not all news in 2020 is bad news I guess.

This year due to the EpiPanic of 2020 (yeah, you can count me on the side that is throwing the BS flag, sure people are dying but I suspect the numbers are heavily skewed...or screwed, as the case may be, and the fear really pisses me off) and the fact that Mrs Hades got a new puppy ("Anything but a chihuahua" I said, so guess what she got) and the resort has a no puppy policy the room will be empty. I did try to get it rented out to cover the cost, but no one else was interested either so it sits empty.

So instead I am taking a trip up to Pennsylvania to do some volunteer work on the East Broad Top Railroad. It's been a while since the last time I was up there, Youngest Boy and I went up before I retired from the USN in 2004, but I did do some volunteer work there a couple of weeks ago. I took the Jeep, but that's not a trip I'll gladly make with it again; that Jeep is a real beast on the interstates. I have an appointment tomorrow to take the newly-engined Baja to the Subaru dealer to hopefully get the air conditioning straight (it works when it wants to; it is always on (problem one) but when it is hot outside the time between the off cycle and the on cycle gets rather long(problem 2)) and I'll take it next weekend, it's a much more civilized ride for the distance involved. And, if the AC doesn't get fixed it will be a good trip for the Mustang,it doesn't get the miles on it that it used to before Mrs Hades came along. Either way, Mrs Hades has approved the trip (she's not coming along, if she were we would drive her car as usual) as a birthday present.

Yeah, August the Deuce will mark my 54th orbit. Yay me. Beats the alternative I guess. Which is a reminder that Laura has been gone now for 10 years. I still miss her but I am loving my life with Mrs Hades, which seems to be a bit of a contradiction, doesn't it?

I think that should catch us up now.