May 20th Dave Wrote

Hello, everyone --

I was wondering earlier this week why I hadn't gotten a family e-mail lately. Then I realized that I was the one who was overdue to write!

Since the last time I wrote, the fruit trees have gone through bloom, both Matt and Nate have come back home from college for the summer, and Sara had two impacted wisdom teeth removed. Matt is working in the dining hall at Mohonk Mountain House again this summer, and Nate is working as a runner/server at the Giilded Otter, a restaurant/brew pub just a mile from our house. Nate is also taking an on-line psychology course that he needs to get out of the way before fall term. Both boys did really well in their classes last term. Both of them had the highest GPA's of their college careers to date, so they must be doing more than just having fun while they're away at school :)

Sara has known for at least 3 or 4 years that she needed to get her wisdom teeth removed, but she kept putting it off until they finally hurt enough motivate some action. We were a bit concerned because the teeth were badly impacted, having never broken through the gum, and the doctor said that removing them could possibly damage a nerve that would result in permanent numbness in her lower lip.

Sara had the two problem teeth removed on May 7 and seems to be recovering with no long-term ill-effects. Jordan spent that week-end with us and we had a good time together.

This spring has been one of the coolest we've had in a long time. The first apple flowers in my orchard opened about 26 April and there are still a lot of open flowers on some of the late varieties. That means that bloom has already lasted about 23 days whereas apple bloom usually extends over only about 12-17 days. As usual, trying to time my field experiments to fit around the weather is a challenge, but that's what keeps my job interesting. Because I need to apply sprays before the wind comes up, I see more sunrises this time of year than at any other time. Seeing the sunrise from our hilltop orchard a perfectly clear, calm morning when the trees are in full bloom is just one of the little perks that goes with doing field work on apples.

Carol and I are enjoying evening walks together either before or after supper. We often walk through the cemetery as the sun is setting over the mountains behind Mohonk, and we marvel at the beauty of the place where we live. When the walks precede supper, we often end up sitting down to supper about 8 pm. I'm also trying to get back into running condition, but I find that it's a little harder to get into shape every summer. Sometimes Carol and I both feel like we "creak" a bit when we stand up after a long drive or after sitting in one position for a long time.

I'm still taking care of our church lawn and outdoor landscaping, plus I have an endless list of projects to finish at home. We put on new screen doors at our house late last summer, and I still don't have any door handles on latches installed on them.

Then Nate removed the old linoleum tiles in our bathroom over Easter break so that I could install new ones before they got back for the summer. Since that didn't happen, we now have four people using a bathroom with a bare plywood floor. The first time that Jordan visited after the floor was removed, he at one point went racing to the bathroom, then came to a screeching halt by the door and said, "Hey, somebody took your floor." Carol said it was OK because we were getting a new floor. When he came out, he asked if that was our new floor. When Carol explained that we hadn't yet put down the new tiles, he said "Oh, g-o-o-o-od!" Apparently he didn't think that marked up plywood was the "in" style for bathroom floors!

I hope you're all enjoying spring. I'm becoming more and more aware that we only get a certain number of springs to enjoy. Perhaps that's part of the wisdom we get from taking regular walks in a cemetery. Or maybe I'm just getting old!