The Curtis Clan - Spring 2019
Spring Equinox to Summer Solstice
Bethany and Randy started spring off with a date night to see Michael Bublé Concert at the Enterprise Center (Kiel). Bublé’s strongest performances were his homage tributes to crooners like Louis Prima, Bobby Darin and Elvis though his most distinctive songs were the covers he chose to redo with stronger percussion like Feeling Good (Nina Simone) or Cry Me A River (Julie London). A great entertainer.
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Bubble concert photo op board
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Cate’s 15th Birthday
Cate’s 15th birthday came on Saturday with little fanfare other than the standard gather of in town Sage family. She decided to forego a party with friends after considering who to invite and not invite and what activities to include as too much hassle. She prefers a lowkey approach to most things including her birthday.
| Cate with a baby copperhead (she kept it for a day) |
Cate at 15 |
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| Mugging for the camera |
High noon on the Cate cat clock |
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| Classic Birthday Cake Portrait |
And with the candles a flame |
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Jane and Henry playing Happy Birthday on the cello Nothng but class for Cate
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Who's getting an Owl at Tuxelia?
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Paid work looking a lot like play
Randy had a return to Honolulu for the first week of April to meet with the regulators from Hawaii, Guam, Saipan, CNMI and American Samoa (9-day trip). It was a good series of long day meetings but our colleagues we were listening to their concerns and took a team approach to resolving the issues as opposed to the previous climate. On Saturday Randy HAD to go visit a number of FUDS on Oahu. Although the first two were essentially pleasant hikes he might have elected to do on a day off anyway (i.e., Makapuu Lighthouse and Heeia Fire Control Station). The last FUDS visit looking for a pillbox in the jungle overgrowth however was no holiday. On Sunday, it was a busman’s holiday to hike up the ~550 feet to Diamond Head Fire Control Station just because he never had before.
| Which one is for work and which one for fun? |
Somedays at work are terrific...wait this one was for fun |
| Makapuu FCS |
Diamond Head FCS |
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Sunrise at Makapuu
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Amy Sage at 70
On Saturday, April 13 we celebrated Amy (i.e., Gramy) Sage’s 70th Birthday with a dinner at our house catered by Pasta House (a great deal by taste and sanity) with the adults. We followed dinner at our house with deserts at Rosemary’s where all the grandkids were hanging out eating pizza. It was a terrific family gathering made more special with all the children and their families coming and her sister and husband Katie and Don coming too. A welcome weekend break (mostly) to working on the Goff house.
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Amy and Bethany
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| The Dinner Hosts before the guests arrive |
Amy and Alvan |
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Our Wedgewood Museum
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| Bethnay mixing the Pasta House salad |
Amy with 3 of 5 kids |
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| The whole Sage tribe (sans grandkids) |
Enjoying appetizers |
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| Fireball shots with Amy |
Post Fireball Smiles |
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Watching the slide show
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| Everyone, even Don, in full smiles |
The Curti |
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| Happy hugs for Aunt Katie |
Pile of Sage Men chilling on the couch |
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3 generations of sisters at Sunday Brunch at VanGwenJoe's
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More 7320 Goff
Weekends continued to be consumed with preparing the Goff house for sale with tearing out the old kitchen and appliances around it coming at the end of March (thanks Van, Alvan and Uncle Barry’s truck). The decision to tear out the 25 year old kitchen remodeling efforts hurt and was a mental mind shift but it was clear from the home sale comps run by Bethany’s real estate friend that we would need to do so to sell the house at the top end of the market as opposed the lower end. We had long since decided to avoid the easy solution of “As is” condition with dozens of We Buy Ugly Homes and similar real estate vultures’ pleas that filled the mail box offering a quick, no hassle solution (leaving out the offer would be for pennies on the dollar). To be honest, we momentarily reconsidered that thought as the process wore on more than once. This Old House, HGTV and other home improvement pornography make the house flipping look so easy and quick but the reality is different. Duh!
A window of opportunity to have the floors sanded and refinished opened up on April 8th so the weekend before was spent rushing to have EVERYTHING off the floors and out of the house including the refrigerator and the kitchen cabinets. While the rest of the house was ready for floor refinishing, the kitchen was not as the electrician and plumber both chimed in about needing to rip into the walls to complete their work, which isn’t exactly ideal for painting much less for installing a new floor. After a flurry of effort, we opted to wait as everything took longer than expected.
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Maybe the gentle massage of the pnuematic chisel will make my arm feel better...
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As an added layer, we proffered use of the Kenyon Court house to Amy and Alvan to use while they moved out of their West Drive home in order to stage it for sale. This led to a flurry of cleaning and improvements, almost exclusively completed by Bethany, to get it ready for them though others helped moving a washer and dryer over (Van); hooking up the Goff Ave dishwasher at Kenyon Court (Uncle Barry) and Maplewood Plumbing replacing the bathroom sink in April.
By late April, we finally got contractor commitments for the plumbing and kitchen/ bathroom remodel with the looming “deadline” of Randy and the girls leaving for Alaska at the end of May having given up on the delusion it might all get done in April. Working weekends expanded to taking days off to work there in April / May and doing things in the evenings. Ripping out the last of the kitchen subfloor, exposing the bathroom plumbing in the kitchen, ripping out the walk-in -in shower earned Randy a fine case of tennis elbow that lingered for months. We spent Easter Sunday finishing moving 5 CY of dirt around the yard to level it out, particularly the back yard. Improvements like the contractor installed window replacement and floor refinishing made huge quick differences, albeit costly ones.
| So that's what 5 Cubic Yards looks like |
Jane and Cate powering through the dirt pile |
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| Exposing the pipes in the kitcien for the plumber |
And after the plumber made the whole a bit bigger for the 2 inch drain pipe |
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| Bethany painting trim before the new window install |
Ripping out the walking in shower |
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As for our home on Tuxedo, improvements and nice to have maintenance have been temporarily deferred.
May
May began with WGHS Orchestra Concert, which was Cate’s last one as the new orchestra teacher was not her favorite (or Jane’s). Switching to Guitar 1 seemed like a better choice for her than another year of the elective. We ended the evening with the family tradition of Dairy Queen.
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Outside the Senior Entrance of WGHS before the concert
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Cate started May by getting her driver’s permit and beginning lessons with Dad on 4 May. She delayed doing this through April to avoid having the permit expire before she got her license when she turned 16 and have to take the written test again. We were pretty aggressive in getting her driving time in the next four weeks before the Alaska trip.
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Cate with her learner's permit
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3 Curti sporting their summer cuts
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In mid-May, Jane’s Girl Scout troop went hammock camping at Camp Tuckahoe, bringing along Randy as the other required adult from the troop leader. The other adult volunteers for the troop dropped out when their kids did but with a couple additions, the troop remained just under a dozen girls. The planned super easy hammock camping went awry as the “standard” hammocks provided were too long for the “standard” distances between the brand, new and untried hammock hitching posts added earlier that spring (somebody had to be first). This made the 1-minute job of hammock setup with carabiners a multi-hour task involving lots of knot tying, and retying, which Jane excelled at having gone to GS CIT training the year before. Adding to the fun was a steady drizzle during most of the setup. Happily, the rain stopped at 4 pm allowing things to dry out a bit. Still it got down to the high forties overnight and it took some effort to line the hammocks for the unseasonably cool temperatures as well as get into and out of them. Randy chose the easy solution of bunking in the storage shed on a cot. It was stinky but dry and all to himself. As Sunday, was Mother’s Day the troop opted for the super easy and quick option of toasted bagels over the fire with cream cheese for breakfast before breaking camp and heading home.
| Hammocks set up, finally |
Troop 1000 at Tuckahoe |
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We celebrated Mother’s Day with a Townie Sage Brunch at Rosemary’s. Cate made the cheesy potatoes for the Curti contribution. That afternoon we took in Sound of Music on the big screen and Blaze Pizza ?? take out while watching the SNL Mother's Day show.
| Mothers' Day with Amy and her girls |
Sage Townie Brunch |
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The middle of May saw the girls preparing for exams and the family doing as much of the big work at Goff as possible, including repairing the massive holes in the wall the plumber created for a 2-inch diameter pipe; power washing the plastic fence and railing. Reassembling the mortice front door lock with help from Goff neighbor Richard Entz became a minor deal as a simple 5-minute job ended up lasting a few hours but could have been far worse if we had to call a lock smith.
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Britt filling in hole after the plumber was done (Note the new windows)
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The new kitchen floor and resealed floors looking good
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| Tina cleaning the woodwork |
Britt laying construction paper to protect the floors |
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| Painting the back door in the garage |
Painting the front door |
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Movies taken in by Clan Curtis during Spring 2019 included a screening of 1986’s Top Gun on the big screen at Ronnie’s; Avengers Infinity War again in preparation for Avengers End Game; the bawdy Wedding Crashers (Jane will be 17 soon and able to watch ANYTHING she wants legally); the excellent Book Smart on opening night at the Hi-Pointe and Late Night.
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At the Hi-Pointe for Book Smart
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| The girls outside Union Station |
protesting at the Women’s Reproductive Rights Rally |
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The least week before the ALCAN trip included a number of pleasant evenings:
• Taco Tuesdays at Fuzzys for Bethany and Randy with margaritas with a couple of complementary Modelos just before we were ready to leave
• Dinner at Maggiano’s Wednesday with the whole family.
• Thursday the opening night of the 2017 musical Be More Chill down at the Grande Center. The high school sci-fi musical’s opening lines provided a great segue to the pending journey: Ca-Ca-Ca-Ca-Come On, Ca-Ca-Ca-Ca-Come On, Go Go.
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Taco Tuesday at Fuzzys
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Magginos
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Be More Chill St. Louis premier
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The next day Randy and the girls left for Alaska.
Bethany stayed back and held the fort down at Tuxedo and continued to work at the Goff house, painting and working with the contractors while they put the kitchen and bathroom back together. In July, she joined the crew in San Francisco.
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Bethany and the dogs saying farewell
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| Bethany and her folks at Old Warson |
Old Warson blue fountain after Blues Stanley Cup win |
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Father's Day with the Sages at U-City Pasta House
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