At swimming this morning I caught a glimpse of how rumors get started. Luckily there was a male presence to nip the story in the bud. People think we go out to Diane’s Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings to swim for the healthy workout. Not so! We really go to sit around afterwards and chit-chat with a little swim thrown in so we have an excuse to be there. During that chit-chat session, I was getting my swim bag together when Jean, Judy and Kim got all excited because Diane had put a motor on her road bike. I know that Diane will be riding that bike this weekend at the Muncie Endurathon and, although I have a lot of respect for her as a doctor, a mechanic she ain’t. I went out and looked and, apparently, Mike was charging a boat battery that was sitting on the floor by the bike and the cord went into an electric receptacle behind the bike. The cord went right through the area where the bike’s crank is. I’m not sure how the girls’ logic made that leap, but it did. Rumor squashed!!! Diane will not be cheating at Muncie!

We missed Bill at the swim today. Nancy was having some pretty significant medical tests at 7 this morning (our thoughts and prayers are with you, Nancy and Bill) and as they left the cottage yesterday, Bill said he would either drop her off at Pennock at 5:30 or she could ride the transit bus ‘cuz he had to be at the lake at 6 to swim. I’m guessing they had a discussion about that when they got home and he decided, without any pressure, that he would much rather take her to the hospital and wait right there for the tests to be done.

Speaking of the cottage, we had the Sunday run out there yesterday. The temperature was 70 at 6:30 when I went out and dropped off the water and it must have been close to 80 by the time the run was in full swing. The humidity was high so it was a miserable day to run but we did it anyway. Most of the runners cut their run short, but a few die hards did the “hilly” 8.6 miles around the lake. Most of them wished they hadn’t, but not Pat. He had a ball out there stopping at the store in Prairieville for water, stopping at someone’s house for water, pouring water from the drinking jug over his head, and then missing the turn onto the South end of Sprague Road and adding .8 miles by turning back at the North end. While everyone else was whining about 8.6, he went 9.4. What a man!!!

I’ve gotten a few comments about some of my recent e-mails where I whined about my frustrations. If you wonder if I’m in some downhill slide, don’t worry. You all know by now that these e-mails are my therapy. You also probably know by now that I am a tad bit on the thrifty side (some people would say cheap) and it saves me the high cost of therapy sessions with a “shrink”. I’ll write an e-mail and send it out to all of you, but then on my copy, after each paragraph I’ll insert the standard comments like:

     How does that make you feel?

     You can’t be serious?

     How’s that working for you?

     Do you think that was the best choice?

     If you had it to do over again, would you do the same thing?

     What in the world were you thinking?

     What does your family think about that?

     What in blue-blazes is wrong with you?

I could have gotten the whole list from the psychology textbooks, but that would have cost money too, so I just watched Dr. Phil a few times and took notes. I’m much, much better now.

Just (Mentally Fit As A Fiddle But Physically Shot) Jack