Tomorrow is Tax Day for 2011 taxes.  It is also my “age change” day.  After many years in the insurance business I am all to aware of halfway point when the nearest birthday is the one ahead not the one behind.  Also I am exactly one year away from Required Minimum Distributions from my IRAs.  The last birthday that fazed me was 39.  This coming one suggests that I may have to stop claiming to be “late middle age”.  I will not go willingly into old or elderly or . . . although we both know that we are no longer kids – our “kids” are in their mid 40’s – we don’t feel particularly old.  We still drive the coach comfortably, if more slowly than we used to.  We still love to hike and swim (well I like to swim) and getting out in a small boat with paddles is lots of fun.

I am looking forward to finally getting a diesel pusher to replace Gee 2.  Gee 2 is also getting on.  There are plenty of miles left in it and everything works just fine.  The front cap bears the signs of many rocks and pebbles thrown up by passing trucks and cars over the 99,500 miles so far and the reminders of some of our learning experiences show on the corners, most recently a traffic cone that was badly placed left a rub mark on the right front, I’ll rub that out when I feel like it.  The carpet and upholstery shows the expected wear of eight years of use (well 4 or 5 years if you allow for the fact that we average about six months use each year).  Time for us to move on.

The weather has been weird this year.  We have had more warm weather than we are used to and yesterday, south of Charlottesville in the mountains, the temperatures were in the 80’s and today it could get as high as 90. Then it will go back down to normal temperatures – mid 60’s later this week and there will probably be a frost by the weekend (I made that up, but you never know these days).  We will take the hot while can get it.  People around here would appreciate some rain, as would those in Texas.

My construction projects on the farm have been minimal this visit.  Most of the building is done and the time devoted to the boys baseball really cuts into time for much of anything else.  Fortunately the field is only 15  minutes away including the drive to the highway.  I have done a fair amount of cleaning and maintenance on the coach while others are doing other projects.  This upkeep is habitual, I really do not like seeing things less than perfect.  The car has had new brakes and front disks installed to recover from the damage the Meyers Lemon caused –  that was one expensive lemon.  The clutch was adjusted and that cost us the cruise control so it is in the process of being readjusted so we can use the clutch AND have cruise control.  Dan’s mechanic Robert Hunt is really great and I do appreciate his expertise.  If you are ever south of Charlottesville and have a car that needs service give me a call and I will provide the contact information.  He operates out of his farm yard and is a retired Toyota Service Engineer, very knowledgeable and skilled.

I am off to see Robert one more time for a final clutch adjustment.  Tomorrow we visit Malena’s dad and on sunday we will drive up the Skyline Drive and camp in Front Royal to have some time with David Lovenheim and Terry.  Then we think we will change plans and stop in the Lancaster PA area for a day or two before going into New York.