Category: MusikHaus

General news about the doings of the Feiszli household

MusikHaus

Happy 2025!!!

It’s time for another report from the Florida Feiszlis. My last post was in June – so long ago that I had to go back and read what was written.

So, what I wrote was this:

…we have felt displaced and unsettled since September 28th, 2022. The hurricane [Ian], Michelle’s sister’s death, rebuilding, clearing a path through the ensuing finances; have all created a sense of displacement. We are always thinking “what next?” In late July we will leave Marquette for a two-month rental home in Cape Coral, hoping that our Babcock home will be completed by mid-September.

Since then, Michelle and I have navigated, as with all our life together, a myriad of life events with the same sense of adventure always encountered: 1) selling our “forever” home, 2) finding a rental for two months, 3) moving into what should be our new “forever” home, and 4) funding a pool.

Very importantly, our daughter Rachel and her partner Parker moved to Florida in June. It was a sudden decision on their part, but a very welcome one for us. They are now only 40 minutes away from us and it makes us very happy. Jackson and Nathan are still in Rapid City (SD), but Nathan’s (very large) family is in that area, so it is OK for them to be there. We will look forward to their visits here and the Feiszli Oasis will always be ready for them.

We left Marquette Blvd on July 25th. Much sadness, many tears. We poured our hearts into that home and rebuilt it after Hurricane Ian with the intent of staying there. We loved everything about it. Left it better than when we found it. Sold it for about $100,000 less than we had hoped to get for it. From there we moved into a rental home in Cape Coral. Our poor animals had no idea what to think of that. Loki, at least, enjoyed the opportunity to chase the myriads of rabbits in the vicinity. The cats no longer had easy access to the outside as they did in the Marquette home, Tiger did get out occasionally under supervision. The drive to work for both Michelle and I was much lengthier. The benefit of being there was that we were able to save money since we had no mortgage or utility bills. We had nice neighbors, including a couple next door with a new baby and a young man across the street whose dog was very interested in Loki.

Meanwhile, at Babcock Ranch, construction on our new house seemed to be heading towards completion. Without going into gory details, the entire process was controlled by the builder – they owned the survey company, the mortgage company, the title company, the construction company, the homeowner’s association … you get it. But NONE of them seemed to talk to each other. We finally received a closing date for the end of September. But the final walk-through/inspection was scheduled at the same time as the closing! What? While at the final inspection we received a call from the title company (owned by the builder) wanting to know why we were not at the signing. Hmmm. Furthermore, the construction manager was fired by the builder just days prior to our closing. The guy who hosted us at the closing inspection was pressed into service at the last minute from another community by the builder. Luckily for us, he turned out to be our neighbor from the Cape Coral rental! He had already identified problems with the home that we would never have caught and created a list of issues that needed to be resolved.

So, on September 25th we took possession of our new home. Some of you may remember that on September 26, Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida as a Category 4 storm, unleashing widespread destruction and claiming more than 230 lives. 

As Helene intensified in the Gulf, it passed west of us. We received plenty of wind and rain. Less than two weeks later Hurricane Milton, the second-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded over the Gulf of Mexico, made landfall near Siesta Key about 70 miles northwest of us on October 9th. We watched both storms go by in our new home with little effect on us other than heavy winds and rainfall. The rest of Florida and the southeastern United States could not say the same. Rachel and her two roommates from Punta Gorda evacuated to our house because, although they were on a second-floor apartment, we knew power would go out and roads would be impassable. It was days before they could go back to their apartment due to power outages, gas shortages, and road closures. Our old neighborhood on Marquette? Got flooded again. According to my former neighbors, our home was the last one sold on the block prior to Helene. Everyone there is now trying to get out but cannot sell. So horrible.

Though we’ve been here since September, there are many issues still ongoing. Who knows what was going on with the firing of the construction manager and the builder’s internal politics, but our house seemed to take the brunt of disregard. We have a 12-month warranty to resolve most construction issues and almost every day we file a report on something that was not done correctly. In addition, we’ve begun our pool construction and so are overseeing that as well – tile and coping have just been completed! Our lanai furniture is stacked up in the spare rooms and the garage. Our neighborhood is still very much a construction zone, so lots of trucks, workers, and noise. But at night we are reminded that until recently this was wilderness. Tree frogs routinely visit our patio door – much to Tiger’s delight. And, as if to welcome Michelle to the neighborhood, we were visited by a family of sandhill cranes – her favorite bird.

The majority of Babcock Ranch is a nature preserve. Only 10% of its area will ever be used for residential housing and community buildings. In this Google Maps image, the Babcock Preserve area is the darker green area. The tan area is what is allotted for commercial and residential. Plans include a hotel, more grocery stores, gas stations, hardware stores, and medical facilities. My dentist is already here, and I may switch my PCP here as well. All that is inside the tan area. We went on the Babcock EcoTour and that 2-hour instructional tour showed us just a few of the various eco-systems that make up Babcock Preserve.

We are very pleased to know that Babcock is part of the Florida panther corridor – although I’m quick to say that I’d just as soon not meet one while walking Loki at night!

In late October we took a break and traveled to Cleveland to join the rest of the huge Feiszli clan to celebrate the wedding of my niece Emily. The weather was glorious as we caught northeastern Ohio at the end of the fall colors. I took the opportunity to visit rural Axtel, Ohio, a place I’d never been, to see the gravesites of my great-grandfather, great grandmother, and other relatives. Nice to touch a bit of the family history.

 

All five of the surviving Feiszli siblings were at the wedding as were almost all the eighteen nieces and nephews – most of whom are grown and have begun a new generation of grand-nieces/nephews. To make it more special, one of our surviving aunts was there. She and her sister are in their mid/late nineties! I had been away from the family for too long as I could not even recognize many of my younger relatives and vice versa. I left with a vow to be better at visiting.

Despite our current crowded living space, we hosted Michelle’s father and mother for a week over Thanksgiving. We had a great Thanksgiving dinner with Michelle’s parents, Rachel, Parker, and their roommate Hayden. With my job at Total Wine, I was booked into extra hours before Thanksgiving and through Christmas Eve and then again afterwards up to New Years Eve (the nature of that business). Michelle came down with pneumonia on Christmas Day. Sheesh. She’s in recovery mode now, but still walking wounded. We hosted Rachel and Parker for Christmas dinner. Loki was in attendance 😊.

We are mortified that we have not been more responsive to everyone until now. We appreciate all the cards and emails. All is well with us and we’re enjoying exploring and becoming a part of this new community at Babcock Ranch. The pool is approaching completion. When it is finished, we will be well on our way to finally being settled. We can clear the lanai furniture and plants out of the house, set up our oasis, and begin to enjoy the sunrises and sunsets. That’ll probably be March-April. After that point we will hold a few open house dates for friends so they can visit.

We hope you are all happy and healthy. Feel free to reach out anytime. We are mostly off all social media now, so contacting via website, email, text, or phone (I suppose the postal service still works, too!) is probably your best method to reach us. Best wishes for the New year.


Jim and Michelle

Jim and Michelle in future kitchen
MusikHaus, Total Wine, Uncategorized

It’s About Time

It’s been almost six months since my last post, Auld Lang Syne. That post was a 2023 review and, thus, written in a neutral tone. This post is just Jim, giving a quick update on the status of Michelle’s and my life. The reason for the lengthy span between posts is that there just wasn’t much to report that was new. Previous posts, especially this one, detailed our intention to build a new home and leave our forever home on Marquette Boulevard.

We visited Rapid City in January for a late Christmas with Michelle’s family. Never again in January. It was somewhere around -10F the entire time we were there. Unfortunately, I still have cold weather to look forward to this year since I have a niece getting married in Cleveland in late October AND I’ve been asked to guest-conduct the Parma Symphony in early December. So….

After returning from Rapid City and thawing out, we readied our home to place it on the market for sale. The worst time to sell our home. High interest rates, rising insurance rates, over-population, and an increasingly rabid right-wing political scene; have combined to make Florida a less desirable permanent home for many.

But we had no choice. We rented a storage unit to declutter. We fixed and painted-up. We began to live like renters in our own home. Every three days (on average) we had strangers traipsing through. Excruciating. For four months! We received several offers, some of them insulting. We were under contract several times, only to have contingency deals fall through or other issues stop the sale. Finally, as we approached June, we received an offer from someone who really wanted the property. The bottom line was far less than we had hoped for, but the market forces were against us. We accepted, just to have closure and move forward.

In many ways, we have felt displaced and unsettled since September 28th, 2022. The hurricane, Michelle’s sister’s death, rebuilding, clearing a path through the ensuing finances; have all created a sense of displacement. We are always thinking “what next?” In late July we will leave Marquette for a two-month rental home in Cape Coral, hoping that our Babcock home will be completed by mid-September.

There are many, MANY mixed feelings. We don’t wish to leave but feel compelled to do so. We’ll so miss the canal – even though it carries the threat of flooding. As recently as May 1st we were visited by a pod of manatees who spent close to an hour outside our back door. We leave behind the Key Lime tree planted in December of 2018 – it has never stopped producing fruit.

This all seems gloomy, but it really isn’t. There are wonderful things.

The morning sunrises and evening sunsets continue to be spectacular. The sky has a particular color of blue that is unique to this place. When it rains, it is still warm. Everything is green, and flowers are always blooming. Our lanai looks like a jungle as the plants just keep growing. We have a rosemary bush that is at least four feet wide and four feet high. The bougainvillea are always flowering. Michelle gets to see baby calves running around every day she drives to work since cows calve all year round.

We’ve watched in awe as our new home rises from the ground. It was well on pace to be finished by July, but everything has ground to a halt for the last month as they await flooring tile. Everything that can be accomplished while waiting has been done, but now the builders are at the mercy of the suppliers. We have thousands of photos, far more than can be posted here, but here are a few that document the process.

Our daughter Rachel is moving to Florida! She and her boyfriend Parker are moving to an apartment complex in Punta Gorda, just north of Fort Myers. They’re excited to begin a new chapter in their lives, and we are happy that they will be closer to us.

Michelle’s job as the Assistant Clinical Director at the Florida Civil Commitment Center continues to challenge and gratify her. Michelle is changing the ways things have been done to make better clinical work. She is reducing clinician work stress, corporate liability, and resident failure. Proud of her. Still working too hard, but hopefully, there will come a time of better balance.

 

At Total Wine, I am mentoring two other colleagues as they attempt to pass the examinations for the Total Wine Professional program. There are several areas of the store that have become my responsibility: Burgundy, Alsace, Rhone, Germany, Austria, Tuscany, Piedmont are among them. I also have the joy of maintaining what I refer to as “the Black Hole”, otherwise known as the Highly Rated section. This is what people first see when they walk in the store and consists of selections that have earned high ratings from various reviewers at Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast, Vinous, etc. Many customers rarely venture any further into the store than that. I can spend an entire shift finding items to stock there, only to have a customer come in and fill up their entire cart, leaving my shelves bare.

Photo courtesy of Jamal Carter, Asst. Manager, Fort Myers Total Wine

 

I’ve also begun to study for the Cicerone certification. What’s that, you ask? Beer, of course. This is an independently issued certification, not one administered by Total Wine. I decided I didn’t know enough about beer, so why not? Total Wine will pay for me to take the exam twice. If I can’t pass it in two tries, then I’m on my own. I plan to pass the first time. Learning much about original gravity, SRM, IBU, and top vs. bottom fermenting.

So, “what about music?” you might ask. We don’t sing. Church choirs are out. I work every Sunday and Michelle often goes to work on Sundays as well, so she has flex time off when I’m not working. But music isn’t completely forsaken.

I still do transcriptions and editions. My brother-in-law, Randolph Laycock (Ph.D. in music from Case Western) is the long-time director of the Parma Symphony. For his holiday concert in early December, he often features the individual sections of the orchestra – strings, woodwinds, brass – by themselves. In 2022 he asked me to arrange something for the brass. I arranged the Tschenokov Spaséñiye, sodélal (Salvation is created) and Rachmaninov Bogoroditse devo (Ave Maria); completing score and parts and getting them off via email just minutes before Hurricane Ian blew out our electricity and then flooded our home. My attention was elsewhere when the orchestra performed the music (I’m told it went well).

This year he requested another piece for the brass. There are many thousands of public domain compositions that lend themselves to brass transcription (hello, anything from the Venetian School – Gabrielis, Schütz, et al).

But no, I decided to do something that requires 1) asking a living composer permission to mess with his creative work, and 2) navigating the minefield of obtaining permission from the copyright holder to make such an arrangement. Sheesh.

Frank LaRocca is a vastly under-recognized living American composer whose niche is traditional Roman Catholic Latin liturgy. If you have never experienced his music, do some internet searches and listen. It is beautiful, intense, complex, and engaging. Even his infrequent forays outside sacred music are amazing (check out America, the Beautiful). LaRocca’s setting of O magum mysterium is a masterpiece and I long thought that it might lend itself well to a brass transcription.

Luckily, Frank was open to me potentially hacking up his music. I spent two-three months obsessing over it and then tentatively sent him the score. I was relieved when he approved. Whew! Then I showed the score to Rand and he loved it. Next step, the publisher.

Walton Music. Cool. I shared a taxi with Gunilla Luboff when we were both in Stockholm to celebrate Eric Ericsson’s 80th birthday. Well, that was in 1998. Walton was sold to GIA Publications in 2013, and I know no one there. Taking a shot in the dark, I visited their website and sent an email to their VP of publications. Long story short, GIA graciously gave permission for the transcription and performance for a very minimal fee, which the Parma Symphony paid.

When the dust settled, I mentioned to Rand how I was jealous that he would get to conduct the piece. He immediately invited me to come guest-conduct the performance! I was reluctant to accept until Michelle heard about it and said, “Of course you’re going to do it!” So, here I am in June already sweating about a performance in December. Déjà vu, remembering all those summers getting ready to pull off a spectacular December concert in the Our Lady of Perpetual Help cathedral (or at St. Martin’s Academy, or the Rapid City Civic Center). Hope I can 1) find my batons, and 2) fit into my white tie and tails, and 3) survive Ohio in December.

I turn 71 next week. Michelle turned 53 in April. Rachel is now 27 and Jackson will be 31 in August. I turn your attention to the title of this post: It’s About Time. It is, indeed, all about time. Time is inexorable. Do not waste any of it. Enjoy every second. Be happy. Be as healthy as possible. Love one another. Be kind to those less fortunate.

Till next time…… 

Choralis Constantinus, MusikHaus, Total Wine

Auld Lang Syne

Greetings from southwest Florida. 2023 was a strange year.

 We began the year just having gotten back into our home after having it flooded by Hurricane Ian’s wind-driven Caloosahatchee water. Much of the year was spent assessing, repairing, remodeling, and dealing with contractors and insurance companies.

Meanwhile, Michelle’s sister Jennifer was continuing her fight with pancreatic cancer in South Dakota. Michelle took almost all of her allotted time-off from her job at the Florida Civil Commitment Center to go back to Rapid City to spend as much time with Jennifer as possible.

Thirdly, 2023 marked Jim’s seventieth year on the planet, a significant event for anyone’s life – a marker where one begins to reflect on what is no longer to be and what is possible in the future.

January/February

  • Michelle flew to South Dakota to visit Jennifer, our kids Jackson and Rachel, and her parents.
  • During that same week, Jim was visited by Bob Colaner, one of his best friends from college days, who was down with his wife Barb and friends. He spent a day driving him around Fort Myers. Good times remembered and fun seeing him again.
  • Throughout January and February, much time was spent dealing with insurance companies, mortgage companies, repairmen and other entities relating to putting our home back into service. We had numerous workers in the house to complete restoration from Ian damages.
  • Jim had his annual review and got a whopping $.25/hour raise (Gotta love capitalism) BUT was allowed to take a $100 bottle of wine and a $100 bottle of spirits home. Must always look at the bright side, right?

March

Jennifer and her daughter Elizabeth arrived on February 28th for a week’s visit. It was a glorious week because everything seemed to work out in Jennifer’s favor. Fantastic weather the whole week.

We went to Busch Gardens –  roller coasters, cheetahs running, giraffes eating out of our hands, and many other once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

The next day we traveled north to Crystal River to experience a personal manatee adventure with River Ventures. The three girls got into wetsuits, joined by a personal tour guide who took them snorkeling. Jim stayed on the boat with the captain and talked boating. The previous few weeks had seen a dry spell with no manatees seen. But on this day, there were manatees aplenty, along with a wild dolphin hunting fish. One momma wanted to present her baby to Jennifer. Hours were spent interacting with dozens of manatees who wanted to say hello. 

The following day, we toured Fort Myers Beach, still recovering from Hurricane Ian. Homes and churches still destroyed; piles of debris still being collected. We drove south to Bonita Beach, where the destruction was no less terrible. On the way back home, we remarked how southwest Florida would never be the same. Well-funded developers are buying up destroyed properties and rebuilding them into upscale properties. The middle class will likely disappear from this area.

On Jennifer’s bucket list was to see the Atlantic Ocean. So, the next day, we drove across Florida to Jensen Beach, a peninsula jutting out into the ocean. Had lunch at a restaurant right on the beach. We then walked along the beach and it didn’t take long for Jennifer and Elizabeth to begin playing in the surf. We returned home late that night tired, but with great memories.  We are happy that Jennifer had that time with us. Good meals, shared experiences, and treasured moments.

April/May

Jim’s sister Sue and husband Rand came to Florida to spend their annual time-share vacation in Sarasota. They drove down to Fort Myers and we had some fun running around together, as well as visiting the Fort Myers Beach devastation (again). Later that week Michelle and I drove up to Sarasota to spend another day with Sue and Rand. Good times just walking the beaches, talking, and eating good food.

We learned in May that Markus and his ensemble cantissimo were planning a series of concerts performing the music from the Choralis Constantinus edited by Jim for the CD that came out in March 2022. One of these concerts was to be in Konstanz June 14th on his seventieth birthday! We had been reluctant to make any plans to leave the country due to Jennifer’s condition, but after her visit here in March she seemed to be holding her own. Michelle went back to SD over Mother’s Day (May 14th) weekend to spend time with Jennifer, her mom, and the kids. At Jennifer’s insistence we bought tickets for Konstanz to celebrate Jim’s birthday, hear this concert, and visit old friends and haunts.

Before, after, and in between these visits, we continued our efforts to recover from Hurricane Ian:  selling the camper and truck bought after the hurricane, replacing furniture and appliances, repairing damaged things we decided to keep, getting the tile floors cleaned inside and paving stones outside. One of the last pieces was to restore our shower tile in the master bathroom to make the shower useable again. We made many decisions in our crisis mode after Ian which cost us dearly. In retrospect, we should have done much of the work ourselves because we would have done it better. We’ve actually had to redo much of what we paid to have done. But we have learned some things and have decided to move forward even in these uncertain times.

June/July

If you have been reading Jim’s blogs on Feiszli.net, you know how June went. We were set to leave for Konstanz on Friday, June 9th. We packed on Thursday, only to get a call from Jennifer’s doctor telling us to come to Rapid City quickly. Jennifer’s cancer spread. She made the decision to stop all chemotherapy treatments, developed a systemic infection, and had entered into hospice care. We quickly booked one-way tickets to Rapid City because we had no idea when we would be returning. Jennifer was barely responsive when we got there. She passed away in the early minutes of Monday morning, surrounded by family and friends. The next week was spent with funeral arrangements and family matters. We returned home on June 20th.

During Jennifer’s illness, Michelle had been a “show up when I can” employee at the Florida Civil Commitment Center and elected to step-down as a team leader, returning to a primarily clinical role. As a team leader, she had been responsible for two teams of clinicians – running both teams in the absence of an appointment for her original position. She was apprehensive when she returned. “Are they going to still want me here?” “Do they consider me reliable?”  Evidently, they missed her.

Shortly after returning, she was asked to consider becoming the Assistant Clinical Director – one of the top four administrative positions in the facility. She now supervises the clinical team leaders and clinicians; the vocational, educational, and recreational departments; provides supervision for licensure for new clinicians.  It is a huge step forward in her career and a great compliment to her work. Here is the announcement of her appointment:

Michelle Feiszli has accepted the role of Assistant Clinical Director. Ms. Feiszli has been a valued member of the Clinical Department and FCCC team since 2018, bringing with her years of relevant experience and clinical expertise. Throughout her time at FCCC, she has impressed in her roles as a clinical therapist across multiple treatment tracks, as a member of the assessment team, and in leadership roles with the Conventional and Corrective Thinking teams. Ms. Feiszli’s dedication to her work and our mission at FCCC are evident in all that she does and has earned her the respect of her supervisees, her peers, and administration.

In July, Jim got back into teaching when he was asked to step in on short notice to teach a course on Old World Wines at the Naples Total Wine store. He enjoyed being in front of a classroom again – especially one in which the students were eager to learn about the subject matter. The store manager told him he was welcome back anytime.

August/September

After Jennifer’s passing, we decided that we should cease putting off all the things we planned to do “someday”. In early August we traveled up to Tampa to attend a concert by Pentatonix – a little mini-vacation Thursday through Saturday. We stayed at the Tampa Riverwalk Marriot totally enjoying the concert on Thursday night. Friday, we went to the Florida Aquarium on a rainy day and saw some amazing things. We ate great meals, Ubering all over town, and came home late Saturday evening.

Late August brought another hurricane scare. Category Three Idalia came roaring up the west coast of Florida almost duplicating the path of Ian. We watched aghast as the water once again crept up the banks of our canal almost reaching the pool wall. The water stopped there but the PTSD was real. Another two feet higher and the water would have again been into our garage and pool. Even before Idalia, we had expressed to each other how this house no longer felt the same. It had become much like our last home in Rapid City – a bookmark holding our place until the next major event. Enough. In early September we visited Babcock Ranch, found a 55+ community just being built, and decided to start over. Jim’s last blog details what Babcock is and why we made such a drastic decision. Read it if you haven’t.

In late September in a matter of two weeks we lost our oldest cat, Dusty, to cancer. It was fast, too fast. We still miss him.

The following Monday, Michelle traveled to Denver with her two bosses to attend a professional conference staying until Thursday. Upon her return, we went straight from the airport to dinner and then to the Seminole Casino in Immokalee to hear Mary Chapin Carpenter and Shawn Colvin perform live in an intimate setting. Returned home late but was worth it.

October/November/December

The last three months of 2023 have been a blur.

  • Multiple meetings with the builders of our new home, choosing colors, appliances, flooring.
  • Making plans to put this house on the market which include such things as renting a storage unit to clear out much of the house, contracting with movers, getting anything and everything wrong with this house fixed, painted, and gardened.
  • Meeting with the pool builder to plan the pool for the house (we’re not living without a pool!)

Michelle’s mom, Diana, came down to spend two weeks in November. It was nice for them to spend a lot of time together. She got the grand tours of Fort Myers Beach, the model of our new house and the homesite, Pine Island, downtown Fort Myers, and a trip to Arcadia, where Michelle works. Much sitting by the pool and talking. Diana and Loki bonded almost immediately. He missed her when she left.

We are both working quite a bit. Michelle’s new position requires her to be at the facility often to extinguish emergencies. And Total Wine is never closed. Thanksgiving to New Years are the busiest weeks. So, we both worked Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Eve.

To punctuate the lessons learned in 2023, we had a dear friend in Konstanz pass away unexpectedly on December 29th. Axel Zweidinger was the second Konstanzer that Michelle met when Jim first took her to Europe. A huge bear of a man, he was funny, smart, loved toying with the latest gadgets, and we would have almost certainly spent some time with him had we gotten to Konstanz in June. Now we won’t see him again.

Jim remarked the other day that we haven’t really had a routine since October 1st, 2022 when Ian turned our world upside down. Ian was really the gift (?) that keeps giving, lol. We hope that everyone who reads this had a much more pleasant and rewarding 2023 than we have had. But we are healthy, we love each other, and we love living in Florida. We look forward to 2024 to start the next chapter of our lives.

Reach out, stay in touch with loved ones and those who have made an impact in your lives. Wishing everyone a blessed New Year with health, love, and opportunities.

MusikHaus, Uncategorized

Time After Time

 

 

If you don’t know this exquisite song by Cyndi Lauper, it was released in 1984 and speaks to no matter how much time passes, the singer will always love the person they’re singing to. One of the best renditions was done by Eva Cassidy (Time After Time – YouTube). Michelle arranged an acapella version of it for my fiftieth birthday which was performed by both Dakota Voices and the (now-defunct) SDSMT Master Chorale – more on that later.

 

Right now, the song speaks to us because we have made the decision to leave this home which was supposed to be our “forever” home.

 

 

When Category 4 Hurricane Idalia came into the Gulf of Mexico this August we again watched the water rise in the canal behind our house. We packed up, prepped the house for flooding, and waited anxiously for high tide to pass. Another two feet higher and the water would have again been into our garage and pool. Yet, even before Idalia, we had expressed to each other how this house no longer felt the same. It had become much like our last home in Rapid City – a bookmark holding our place until the next major event. While we made 4112 Wildflower a beautiful place –so much that it sold within 18 hours of being placed on the market (See left, Zillow is still using the photos from when we lived there), it was always a placeholder for the future. 13480 Marquette was supposed to be our last home, a place for us to grow old and be happy. In 2022, Hurricane Ian changed all of that.

While Michelle has always been open about the trauma she retains from Ian, I had suppressed it. It was not until last week that I experienced my PTSD moment. I was searching for the manuscripts of music from my career – transcribed arrangements, published editions, reference pages about Isaac, many vocal and brass arrangements. They had been in a plastic tote, categorized and labelled: music for brass choir, music for vocal ensemble, music relating to decades of Isaac research – most of it in my handwriting prior to digital music notation.

I frantically searched through everything in my office closet. I searched the attic and every other closet in the house, becoming more and more agitated. Michelle did her best to calm me down, but I was devastated that the material was missing. Finally, after several hours, Michelle (my resident mental health counselor) explained that it had been exactly one year since we came back into the house and began to assess the losses. One of those losses was that tote. OMG. I had blocked out the fact that much of my life had been erased which caused me to experience the same sense of loss TWICE!

It was a defining moment. We had created our dream home in Florida, but now recognized on the anniversary of Ian that we had to let it go and begin again. We love this home and feel terrible about leaving it. But:

  • Climate change is real. The storms will continue to become stronger and more frequent. We were lucky for four years. But, we very easily could have gotten hit again this year (and still might … hurricane season doesn’t end until November 30th) ).
  • We would not be living at this address had I not been hell-bent on having a boat and being able to access the Gulf. Four blocks further away from the river than us, homes were not flooded. However, EVERYBODY lost power for at least three weeks while Florida Power and Light repaired downed power lines and such. That’s not as devastating as being flooded but is still an issue that will not go away.
  • We cannot ignore the fact that we are getting older. At some point, we will not be able to continue as we are now. We’re sure we could not handle another flooding in this house. The yardwork in the endless Florida summer is becoming a chore rather than a pleasure. Michelle’s two hours of daily driving is very wearing. So, we need to find another forever home.

You may be asking, “What if Michelle changes jobs?” About that. After stepping down from team leader to clinician and taking a lengthy leave of absence to spend as much time in Rapid City as possible prior to Jennifer’s passing, Michelle came back to the Florida Civil Commitment Center (FCCC) unsure of what her status would be. Michelle had been doing double-duty, acting as team leader for TWO teams, supervising a total of 12 clinicians and had stepped down from that to spend time with family. During her leave of absence, they finally hired another team leader for the other team of 6 clinicians. She was immediately reinstated as a team leader for the other group, supervising 6 clinicians and one clinical assistant. So, her job duties were reduced for about a minute. Three weeks later, the Clinical Director came to inform her the FCCC Executive Management Group had chosen her to fill the newly opened Assistant Clinical Director position, and would she be interested? Short story: She went through the cursory hiring process and is now in charge of 5 team leaders, 14 clinical therapists, 5 clinical assistants, 4 recreation therapists, the vocational specialist, and the education specialist; all of whom serve nearly 600 residents. Her boss, the Clinical Director, handles the legal and political aspects of the FCCC and Michelle oversees the in-the-trenches clinical work. In five years, she has moved into one of the four top administrative roles in her facility. So, that answers the question that began this paragraph. She is unlikely to cease her work at the FCCC anytime soon.

 

Enter Babcock Ranch. Babcock Ranch is an area of immense size, encompassing both Charlotte and Lee Counties. The Google map image to the right gives one an idea of the enormity of the whole Babcock system. Michelle’s icon is where we presently live. Approximately ninety percent of Babcock Ranch’s total land will always remain undeveloped as a nature preserve, including more than half of the area owned by the community developers. The following bullet points are from the community’s PR flyers:

  • More than 90% of development is located on previous pasture, farm, and mined land.
  • The town layout utilizes best water management practices and filter marshes for water quality, setting a new standard for watershed protection, flood control and demand reduction.
  • All landscaping uses native trees and plants and 100% use of reclaimed water for irrigation.

It gets better:

  • Babcock Ranch is the nation’s first town utilizing on-site solar generation facilities to produce more clean, renewable energy than it consumes. State of the art solar facilities supply the town and the broader region with clean, renewable, integrated power.
  • Two 75-megawatt Solar Energy Centers with battery storage make Babcock the largest solar/storage project operating in the U.S.
  • Solar panels on commercial rooftops throughout the community further expand generating capacity. Even the exercise machines in the fitness centers are hooked to the grid to generate electricity as people exercise!

Babcock is a self-sufficient town with grocery stores, hardware stores, doctors, rehabilitation, and veterinary clinics. It has its own school system, police force, and each community has its own community center with tennis and pickle ball courts, swimming pools, and clubhouses. When Ian came through, Babcock went on as if nothing had happened. No electrical outages, no flooding. Business as usual.

Michelle and I decided to investigate what it would take to get a home in Babcock. We discovered that a 55+ community was just starting up and so went to visit the model homes that the builder had opened. Being among the first to visit, we were able to select a prime lot for a two-car garage home. We called Stacey Bohannan, the realtor with whom we have worked since coming to Fort Myers. The question was whether our house might sell for enough to build at Babcock without too much backsliding financially. Turns out, she firmly believes that we can pull the whole thing off. Gulf access homes are still greatly desired – indeed nearly everyone on our block and the surrounding streets have simply restored their homes and don’t seem to share our fear of being flooded again.

We took the plunge. We must look to the future and so signed a contract to begin building a new home. At Babcock, we’ll be within walking distance of the 55+ clubhouse. All lawn care is provided by the community (HOA fees will be offset by the fact we won’t have to carry flood insurance anymore). Medical facilities are onsite, geared toward the 55+ crowd. This location will eliminate 20-25 minutes of Michelle’s drive each way. Jim is further from Total Wine but there is another store in Port Charlotte that will be the same distance, so there are options.

It’s frightening and exciting. A whole lot of balls in the air are being juggled. I am again spending all my spare time getting this house ready to be placed on the market. Stacey’s target date is January 1st. If history is any indication and the house sells for our asking price quickly, we may then need to move to temporary lodgings until our new house is finished. So, once again, we are living in uncertain times. Sheesh. Pray for us poor fools.

So the headlines are Michelle’s promotion and our impending and somewhat insane move. In other news we have the following:

 

 

Our wonderful 14-year-old tomcat, Dusty, began visibly declining rapidly in September and was diagnosed with cancer. Rachel Francis (now 26 years old) discovered him under a snow shovel on her way home from West Middle School in sixth grade, a little abandoned stray covered in frostbite and ear mites. He grew into a 22 lb. monster who was the gentlest lover of a cat. After moving to Florida, Dusty developed diabetes but with two injections of insulin daily, it was being managed. Meanwhile cancer crept up on him. He was fine until suddenly he stopped moving, looking painful every time he had to eat or drink. It was a very sad but right decision to have him euthanized to end his suffering. Cancer sucks. It was so sudden. Everyone here is still missing him. Tiger and Loki have suddenly become best friends. Taco has become more of a recluse because Dusty was her big brother. It’s a big emptiness.

 

 

The boat is sold. Michelle is not an avid boater and has little time to just relax at home. Loki hates the water. He thinks water is OK for drinking and not much else. I can get him into the wading shelf of the pool by throwing his ball in it, but if it goes beyond that shallow area, Loki will whine and stare at it. Get on the dock? No way. Boating by myself has gotten old. So, good-bye to the SeaRay. Our neighbors across the street are snowbirds and wanted a boat to tool around in down here, so they took it off our hands (sniffle).

I had my annual review at Total Wine. Guess they’re gonna keep me. Hey, a $.25/hour raise! That’s about an extra $1.50 a day. Gotta love American corporate greed. I support the UAW, just so you know. At least I got to take home a free $100 bottle of wine (2018 Levendi Stagecoach vineyard Cabernet) and a free $100 bottle of spirits (25 year old Barrowman blended Scotch). Glad we don’t need my salary to eat.

Finally, to tie it all together, doing a Google search a few weeks ago, the SDSMT music department popped up. Intrigued, I began to read what was happening. It turns out that there is no longer a Master Chorale at SDSMT. Instead, there is an ensemble named “The Singing Engineers”. Hmm. OK.

Besides the fact that said name seems to disenfranchise the many science majors at the institution, the most interesting part is that the description of this music ensemble remains the same as that of the former Master Chorale. The official SDSMT website describes the “Singing Engineers” thusly:

The Singing Engineers is South Dakota Mines premiere vocal ensemble. An award-winning group, all members must be outstanding vocal musicians and in either University Choir or Concert Choir. The choir performs everything from Gregorian chant to vocal pop music, and makes appearances at professional music conferences, alumni chapter events, and prestigious venues in the US and in Europe.

Let’s forget for a moment that I was the author of those words probably ten-twelve years ago. More outrageous, it can be safely stated that no vocal ensemble named “The Singing Engineers” ever won an award, ever sang Gregorian chant, ever appeared at any professional music conference, or in Europe. This is false advertising at its most egregious.

The problem is, like my tote of music manuscripts, a great history has been erased. The work of hundreds of SDSMT students who were proud of being part of something unique has disappeared. The Master Chorale represented SDSMT in Anaheim, California in 1986 as an example of non-music-major vocal ensembles at the national convention of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME -then called the Music Educators National Conference). The SDSMT Master Chorale sang at numerous state conventions of both the American Choral Directors Association and NAfME. The Master Chorale won awards at international competitions in Ireland and Germany. Wow, as I typed this, Sting’s “King of Pain” came on my Pandora feed. Coincidence? The Master Chorale sang an arrangement of that piece at the Association of Irish Musical Societies gala concert in 2006. There is no “Singing Engineers” listed on that program nor is that name printed on the trophies that the ensemble won at that competition.  And, right after that, Coldplay’s “Fix You” began playing. Master Chorale arranged that and sang it as well. It is painful that the legacy of these SDSMT students has simply disappeared, just like my music manuscripts.

It also appears that the Interdisciplinary Sciences degree at SDSMT is now defunct. When I was Humanities Department chair, there were 22 fulltime and parttime faculty just in Humanities. Social Sciences had about 12-15 faculty members. The IS program was one of the largest programs on campus under the leadership of the late Dean Bryson. What a loss. Why not just close it all down and let Black Hills State do all the non-science and engineering courses at the University Center? End of rant.

 

 

Glad I’m retired. Total Wine has pressed me about being a manager. Sorry, I’m out. I like dogs, gardening, and a few people. Hope you are all well and happy. Michelle and I are. Even while addressing our new challenges. Looking at our pool lights in the evening and having a nightcap. Be well.