September 5th Dave Wrote

Hello everyone --
I deleted the rules from this message because they were broken. (I missed my Sept. 1 deadline!)

Anyway, here's a belated update from Carol and me. A lot of things have happened since I wrote the last letter just before our July reunion in the Poconos. I went to lunch one day soon after the Pocono week-end, stopped at the car dealer near the diner, and 2 hours later had purchased a new Chevy S10 pickup truck. It's the first time in my life to own a new vehicle. I found that one can spend a lot of money quickly in a car dealership. I called to get Carol's permission before I bought the truck, and when she later told the boys about it, Matt suggested to Nathan that even if they did not like the color or details of the truck I bought, they probably should not tell me because "this is a new experience for Dad and we don't want to discourage him!" Actually, I'd been thinking about getting a truck for some time and the dealer just happened to have something on the lot that met my criteria for functionality and price. Considering how much I hate shopping of any kind, I think that God must of put that truck on that dealer's lot just for me because he was really tired of seeing me nurse along those big old sedans that I have been driving for the last 20 years.

Both boys left for college during the last month, so Carol and I are now "empty nesters." Everyone seems to think that we should be upset to find ourselves alone again for the first time in more than 23 years, but so far we think it is great. We enjoy having our kids at home, but we also enjoy going to bed on week-end nights without wondering what hour of the night it will be when they come back into the house or what they are doing that keeps them out so late. I do miss the boys, however, when there is something heavy that I want to move or when I think about all the chores that I must now face alone on week-ends: things like mowing lawns, burning trash, moving fire wood, etc. Nevertheless, Carol and I are really enjoying the freedom of setting our own schedules again without concern about who and at what time someone will be expecting to find a meal prepared as they come through the door.

Matt left for college (Coastal Carolina, near Myrtle Beach) in mid-August, and it was just two weeks ago that we took Nathan up to the State University of NY at Cortland (i.e., SUNY Cortland). We rented a utility van, drove to Cortland (about 360 miles round-trip) to drop off Nathan, then returned home, loaded some furniture for Matt, and visited Mom on Sunday afternoon and enjoyed an evening hymn-sing in the tent that was there for the annual sale that was held the previous day. Then it was on to Myrtle beach to see the apartment that Matt and his friend had rented. We stayed overnight with Matt, then spent several days of vacation time in the vicinity of Williamsburg, VA. We enjoyed visits to the Jamestown Settlement historic site and to an old plantation on the far side of the James River. We had a nice time, but the weather was miserably hot and humid. We both agreed that we would never retire to the south. One can dress against the cold, but there is no way to avoid the misery of high humidity unless one confines ones self to air-conditioned buildings.

We returned home the Friday just before Labor Day, then spent most of the week-end getting our lives back in order. We anticipated walking into a stuffy, hot house that was rather a mess when we left it a week earlier. We were pleasantly surprised to find that Sara had stopped in earlier that day, had turned on the AC, and had cleaned the house!

Nathan seems to be enjoying is first few weeks of college. He had planned to share a dorm room with a high school friend, but his friend backed out at the last minute and stayed at home. Nate was assigned a new room mate just a few weeks before he left for school. He talked to the fellow once or twice on the phone, but I think he was a bit nervous about how they might get along. (In Nate's words: "I hope he won't be a dork.") We met both his room mate and his room mate's parents when we took Nate to Cortland, and we were rather impressed. Nate reports that they are getting along just fine.

Sara and Terence bought another house in Newburgh. They are doing painting and some renovation inside and hope to move into it in the next few weeks. They own an apartment building that they rent out, but for the last year they lived in a different apartment in a better neighborhood just across the river. Their new house should be a nice change from the various places that they have lived over the past five years.

After spending much of August helping our boys get set for their departures to college, Carol has spent most of the last week working to prepare our church basement for opening day (Mon, Sept 8) of what will be her 13th year running Sunbeam Nursery School. She enjoys the work, but I complain that it doesn't pay very well (especially, since she does it on a volunteer basis!).

In early August, I spent a week at professional meetings in Charlotte, VA. After attending these meetings nearly every year for the past 26 years, I really look forward to them both as a time to catch up on what is changing in my professional world and as a time to catch up on the personal lives and stories of many friends. I skipped the meeting in 2002, however, because of other conflicts (such as the Rosenberger reunion in the Poconos, among others). As a result, I was surprised this year, when meeting several friends for the first time in two years, to note that they had aged considerably. Why does it seem that many of my friends are getting old faster than I am? Perhaps I am missing something? (I stopped looking in a mirror several years ago as an alternative to taking anti-depressants!)

I spent some long hours this week prepping for a field tour at our station that occurred today. I had to pull together data from a varietiy of field experiments that we conducted this summer for presentation to the pesticide company representatives that attended the tour. I finished my prep work at 1 AM last night. Having completed that annual chore, I now move the the next hectic phase of the season wherein we attempt to get fruit samples harvested from experiments before the season gets ahead of us and apple drop to the ground. It's a great time of year to be in an orchard, and I love it even though I sometimes wish I didn't feel so rushed.

I hope all of you are enjoying the beginning of fall and another school year. I'm sorry this has gotten so long. However, if it wasn't long and detailed, you might not believe that I really was too busy to get this letter off on time! --