title explained

Onward and upward! something that you say in order to encourage someone to forget an unpleasant experience or failure and to think about the future instead and move forward.

My e-mail: jjmiller6213@comcast.net

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Good Times Back In The Day

Today's high temperature was:  62 degrees
Rain in the morning, partly cloudy most of the day
===================================

My Daddy was an only child.  I was his Mother's first grandchild and only grandchild for thirteen years--until my little sister was born.  My Grandpa died on Valentine's Day from pneumonia.  He and a group of other farmers were out in a cold, rainy day, hunting for a pack of coyotes that were killing the farmer's sheep.  Grandpa had a stroke and died a few days later.  He was 49, my Grandma, 48.

Our farm was just up the road, about 1/2 mile and I spent a lot of time at Grandma's.  She called me "Precious" until the day she died.  She had a poultry farm and hatchery, which she ran for the next twenty years, after Grandpa died--all by herself.  Up in the middle of the night to go across the drive to turn the eggs that were on racks in the incubator.  


Up early on a Sunday morning to "take off" the chicks that had hatched--usually 3,500 - 4,000 at a time.  Putting them in boxes--25 chicks to a section--100 chicks in a box.  I couldn't put the boxes together, because they were too stiff, but Grandma let me punch out the air holes.  Then, I'd play with the cardboard circles that had come out of the holes.


About 10:30, this guy would arrive to determine the sex of the chickens.  Tom--he was Japanese--apparently orientals were the best at this job.

Three boxes lined up.
The middle one held the chicks.
The one on his right was for the females (pullets)
The one on his left for the males (cockerels)

I'd sit up on a three-step stool and quietly watch.  He called me "Sweet Baby" and I knew him until he died, at age 87.

When the box on the left was full (males), Grandma took them down to the end of the hatchery and put them in a big bucket of water to drown them.  I was ONLY allowed to play with the Cockerels because Tom said, "You squeezed them and loved them to death."  The Cockerels were drowned because no one wanted to buy them.  You only needed one rooster to fertilize a whole flock of hens.

Notice the strong grip on the poor chick

My Grandma always put an extra chick in each section of the box.  So a customer paid for 100 chicks, but received 104--just in case.  If a couple of the chicks didn't make it, the customer wouldn't feel cheated out of their money.

She called it a "baker's dozen".  When I was in high school and helped her, I wondered about that.  A "baker's dozen" is 13, but she had 25 chicks in each section.  I never asked her why--apparently that was her version?
==================================



When I got a bit older-5 or 6, Grandma took me everywhere she went!!  I remember so clearly, one day she had to take her car into Byron, to the Standard Gas Station to get the oil changed.  I got to ride along.

This is not a picture of that gas station, but similar.

We went inside the "office" and waited for her car to get finished.  There was a glass ball machine with peanuts inside.  You put a coin in, pushed the little handle off to the side and peanuts came out of the flapper.  Grandma let me do it and she told me, "Put your hand under the flapper before you slide the lever so the peanuts won't fall on the floor."

OHMYGOSH!! Best peanuts ever!

There was a pop machine too.  We didn't have pop in our house to drink, so I hadn't ever had a taste.  Grandma asked me if I wanted some pop.  She opened one cover so I could look inside.  There were bottles inside, floating around in water and ice.  I spotted a red one and asked for that.


She reached in and pulled out the bottle with the red pop inside.  "Straw-Cherry," she said.  "That ought to be real good!"  There was a place on the machine to stick the top of the bottle in and pop off the cap.  She handed it to me...

I took a gulp and almost chocked.  That pop was so icy cold and so fizzy that is burned my tongue and throat. MAN!!  It was delicious!

Over on the other wall of the office, was a rack that held potato chips, pretzels and small cakes--cup cakes and Sno-Balls and.....Banana Flips!!!

                         
Grandma got me one of those too.  

Every time we went to that station--even if it was just to buy gas, Grandma and I went inside and I got an MS Straw-Cherry pop and a Banana Flip.  She'd usually get a handful of peanuts.  After the first time, she always let me get my own pop.  I cannot begin to tell you how cold that water was!!!  I'd chase that bottle of pop around as it bobbed and floated in the water and by the time I got it out, my hand, wrist and half-way up my arm was numb from the icy, cold water.
=====================

In recent years, I have bought other brands of Red Pop--Faygo came closest to the taste of the MS Straw-Cherry, but still, not the same. I still buy a Banana Flip every now and then, but nowadays, they taste so artificial that is hardly worth biting into it.

The summer I turned 12, Grandma made a pact with me.  Every Friday evening we would go to "the show".  The theater was located in a town (Durand) about 12 miles from home.  Because I was so tall, in order to get me in with the children's price, Grandma carried a copy of my birth certificate in her purse, to prove my age, LOL.  The movies that poor woman had to sit through...........ah-hh, but that is a story for another time.


Grandma and me.  All the time together.  Grandma and me.  

She was everything in this world to me!


                    


Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Prayers Answered--Hopes Revealed--Wishes Granted

Today's high temperature was: 65 degrees
Sunny and nice all day
==========================
Man!! Am I ever on a roll and I hope this good stuff continues.

I had prayed that my 3 girls would want to get with me on Mother's Day--Pammie is going to church with me.  Answered prayer.

Now--you remember we talking about this kid?
http://judeself.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-weekend-neighbors-white-headed.html

How I adore this kid, like one of my own grandkids
and
he calls me Grammie.


 and..how I adore this kid who IS one of my own
and
she calls me Gramma

...and how I hoped and hoped--all year--that they would go out on a date?  Remember me telling you that?

Karen called last night.  Matt has asked Maddie to the Senior Prom and she said YES!!!!!  AND I am invited over to Karen's house where a whole bunch of kids are going to gather to get their prom pictures taken!!!  May 17th.

OH.   MY.   GOSH.

Maddie was at ballet practice, after school, and Matt drove out to her house.  He had construction tape, chalk and a bottle of Ketchup.  He got Karen's husband, Mark, to help him.

They put up the construction tape.  Then Matt laid down on the driveway, and Mark used the chalk to draw his body shape on the cement (like in a murder investigation).  Then, Mark put Ketchup on Matt's shirt.

Mark and Karen hid in the garage and when Maddie drove in and saw the construction tape--she slammed on the brakes.  She walked up to see Matt laying there.  He sat up and said, "I will just die if you don't go to Prom with me!"

OH.   MY.  GOSH.

I have never heard of anything quite so sweet, cute clever and romantic!!!

I have  had not only a request to God answered, and now hopes revealed.  But...I gotta be cool.  Karen said that Maddie is already saying, " He wants to hang out all the time!!!  I just want to be friends.  Why are boys so needy?"

So--there will be no gushing from Grandma.  I will just yawn and take their pictures and say, "Have fun", and then when they drive away, I will squeal like a little kid!!!!!!!
===============================
A wish was also granted today--my FB friends have been posting pictures of the Baltimore Orioles that have come to their feeders.  I had one last year--the first Baltimore Oriole I had even seen in decades.  I was wishing he would come back again this year.  I had his saucer/dish hanging out for him with grape jelly in it.  The squirrel had enjoyed a nice lunch, so I moved the feeder out a bit from the porch.  Today at 4:00, my Precious Man arrived.  When he flew away, I quickly cut an orange in half and took it out to put in the feeder.  He came back, but apparently, he doesn't like oranges as much as he likes the grape jelly because he only ate the jelly.  Maybe I need to sprinkle some sugar on the orange?

He is a much brighter orange than the one last  year.
===============================================
Now--if Jennifer would just come over to talk--everything would be perfect in my world!
===============
Dar was banging on the door at barely nine o'clock and had another woman with her...Shelia.  I was still in my nightie, but I invited them in.  They wanted me to type up a petition for them to get signatures to take out an older trailer that is next to where Shelia lives.  So I got it done and handed it to her.  Dar grabbed it away from her and read it out loud.

Shelia said, "I don't even understand half those words.  It sounds very legal and everything."

Dar said, "I told you.  Judy knows how to do these kinds of things."
<I don't really--I just fake it>

So off they went with their pens, going door to door to get their signatures and turn the petition in to the office.

We, the undersigned, all residents of Lakeview Lane, in the Sylvan Glen Manufactured Home Estates, 
request that management of said park, would remove the old, Blue and Cream mobile home located at
6477 Lakeview Lane
The home has been empty for many years, is in extensive dis-repair and an eyesore to our community.
Thank You

They completely forgot to ask me to sign it.  Hee Hee Hee
===============================

I worked outside today.  The garden over by my shed is going to be planted with Zinnias this year.  I am done with trying to grow vegetables!!  I surprised myself by, digging it up--way down as far as I could and turning the soil.  Then I raked it and put on a nice coating of Preen.

The crazy woman from next door (Tami) walked over and told me she is putting in a big (?) garden.  Our lots are small--I don't know what she means by big, but I can't even imagine her taking all the sod off a big area--anyway, she is planting watermelon, muskmelon, corn, tomatoes, beans and green peppers.

"Do you know how much room you are going to need to have a large enough garden for the melons to grow?" I asked.

"Oh, well...they can just grow out onto the lawn."
<that is going to make mowing the grass quite a job>

"Do you have a tiller or something to break up the sod?"

"Nope.  I'm just going to dump a whole bunch of dirt on top of the lawn and plant."
<I do believe her maiden name was Clampett!>

"I see you've got your raised garden all cleaned up."

"Yep.  It was quite a chore.  One I haven't been able to do for five years."

"I would like to put my beans in there--maybe some peppers too."
<Say what?>

"I already have seeds to put in here," I said.

"Oh.  What are you growing?"

"Flowers."

"Flowers!  If you let me put some veggies in there...I'll share them with you."

"Nope.  I want to put flowers in here this year."

"Can I borrow your wheelbarrow?"

"Sure.  It's right there in the shed."

and off she waddled.

Can you even imagine?  To tell someone you'd like to use their garden space for your own stuff?

I just don't play well with others!  I need to move back out into the country where my nearest neighbor is 1/4 mile away!
=================


Slippers turned out good--very comfy

Pammie loves making slippers for everyone, so I am going to give her the instructions and the rest of this variegated cone of cotton yarn.

(Do you notice in this picture--my right leg is larger then my left.  It has been like that since I had my left hip replaced--about 1/2 inch more around.  Weird)

Monday, May 5, 2014

Mundane Monday

Today's high temperature was:  56 degrees
Not a bit of sun!!!
============================
I called Pearl and asked if she wanted to run across the road and go to the garden center with me.  She has already purchased all her annuals, at Wal-Mart, but she said she'd like to go to see what they had.

She got in the car.  "What are you buying today?"

"Nothing really--too early, but I did want to look at their succulents and see what I could put in the big coffee cup container I have."

"You mean Cactus?"

"No. Succulents."

"Same thing."

"Well...not really."

"Don't correct me.  Just let it go.  Cactus and Succulents are both the same."
<okay, then.>

I was disappointed.  I wanted this:


but they didn't have any of the colored, small Kalanchoes, so...I got this and planted them:



 There is a bit of pinkish coloration to two of them, which should be okay with my bright pink, dark blue/purple, chartreuse color scheme this year, but still.............pout.  I wanted the bright pink ones!

It is weird to me.  I used to have Hens and Chickens in my rock garden.  They wintered over real well and came up the next year.  I thought I might have to take in the Succulents during the winter (I did last winter and they all died), but these are good up to Zone 4 and can be wintered in a garage or shed--just so they don't get too wet.  I am in Zone 6, so this winter, I am going to wrap the planter in some burlap and put in my shed and see what happens.  Succulents have always been a normal plant in my garden--I didn't think a thing about them, but it seems nowadays--these little devils are expensive AND--you couldn't buy a regular, run of the mill Hens and Chickens if you wanted too, LOL.

Pearl ended up buying more geraniums, some Ranunculus and some Cosmos.  She has these in her enclosed front porch.  A good place to "harden" off the annuals.

When I got home, I took some pix of my Woodland Childhood Remembrance area.


Lots of the May Apples are up and have spread
A couple Trillium over by the tree

A white Violet

A purple Violet 

Some, what we always call, May Flowers 
All of these should be in full bloom by now, but....this cold spring we are having has slowed everything down.  I still don't have one yellow blossom on my Forsythia.

My small garden in the front is doing well.  The Daffodils are starting to fade, but the Tulips have come on, along with the Grape Hyacinth, and I see the Iris and Lilies are coming up.

I haven't seen a sign of all the Hosta's I transplanted last year.

It is just taking so darn long!!
==================
The very nicest thing happened yesterday.  Pammie called.  She has been making crocheted lap robes for the homeless shelters in the Detroit area--she has quite a stash.

<I used that rocker to rock all my babies>

She has found that she her love of crocheting has come back.  Jennifer is working pro-bono for a group that helps the homeless, so she takes these in when Pammie gets a stash.

Anyway--Pammie asked me I would like for her to come down next Sunday and go to church with me on Mother's Day.  I was just speechless.  I have been pondering about this since March.  Thought how nice it would be for all my girls to attend with me, but realizing that Jen probably wouldn't and Karen would want to go to her own church with her children and thought--it is quite a drive for Pammie to come down here.  

BUT--she is and I am thrilled beyond words.  I know that she will probably wear one of her new skirts, so I have to dig in the back of my closet and find a dress that still fits to wear.  Last year, she came down for lunch with Karen and me.  Maybe she and Karen will get together and think to do that again, which would be fantastic, but if not--Pammie and I can stop after church and get lunch.  Whatever--I am just so happy!!!




Friday, May 2, 2014

May Promises

Today's high temperature was: 51 degrees
Cloudy and sprinkles all day!
=========================
When I was little--Kindergarten or there abouts.  My Mother always held May Day as a big deal.  I suppose that is why that date is my favorite day of the year?

She saved these all year long.  We seemed to eat a lot of cheese because, we had a lot of these boxes stored in the pantry.


On the last day of April, she would take me down to the woods.  She dug up violets, both purple and white or yellow.  The anemones, which we called May Flowers.  A Jack-In-The-Pulpit, if we could find them.  A Trillium and a May Apple.

We'd come back to the house and she spread newspapers on the kitchen table and started planting.

She lined the boxes with aluminum foil and stick the plants in with extra dirt she had dug up from the woods.

The Jack In The Pulpit and May Apple went at each end, the Trillium in the middle back and the Violets and May Flowers in the front edge of the boxes.

                                                                   


               

We never--ever, dug up a Lady's Slipper plant.  They were too pretty and to hard and rare to find to try and transplant one to our garden.  Besides, they were protected by law, but...I suppose all these other woodland plants were too, LOL.

After the boxes were planted--usually 4--she'd line them up, water just a tiny bit and the next day--May Day--they were ready.  I always took one to my teacher.  Mother gave one to Grandma and Great Grandma and took one into town and gave to a shut-in lady she knew from church.  If she made an extra one, she sat it on the windowsill above the kitchen sink and a few weeks later, planted the plants in her shady garden.

I have gone back to those same woods and dug up plants and transplanted them here, to a shady spot in my garden.  My own Home-Woodland-Childhood-Remembrance Garden.
====================

It caught my eye yesterday.  I can barely see it from my recliner, but when it dances in the wind--I watch.

To the right of that little black arrow

There it is!!
I have no idea where he came from.
The only thing behind him is a mile long open field.
He tugs at his anchor branch--I don't know if he is trying
to get away, or if he is hanging on tightly, hoping not to
be blown away.
A brown plastic bag.
=====================================
Dar came to the door this afternoon, just as I was leaving to go to the dentist.
<small things I am grateful for>

I got my new crown glued on today!!!!  I can't quite explain how wonderful this is.  NO--I don't like all the drilling it takes to prepare the tooth.  NO--I don't like the numbie shot in my jaw, but...I have not been able to chew on the left side of my mouth for over 4 years.  At first, I was afraid to break tooth #12(upper canine), but after I had the root canal and crown, that tooth was very stable.  BUT tooth #18 (lower, left) kept falling apart.  My dentist has repaired it about twice a year-FREE-for the last 4 years.

In February, she told me we needed to do something before it was totally and completely destroyed.  It would not hold a filling any longer.  I thought to have it pulled, but then....I decided to spend a little more and have it crowned.  I have a lifetime guarantee on this crown--of course, at my age--I don't think a guarantee like that really comes into play, LOL


Now--you with weak stomachs might want to look away.  I have a photo!!!!!



Pretty new crown.
As you can see--all my molars are merely a bit of tooth
shell around a whole lot of filling!!
NO--that is not an arrow tattooed onto my tongue.
That is tooth #18--I need #19 crowned also.  I also need the two big molars (# 30 & #31) on the other side done also.  I already have 4 crowned molars above these.

I want to get them done.  ME--who has been terrified of dentist's and dental work for most of my life--until the last 8 years with this dentist.

At $800.00 a tooth--I fear this health benefit will have to wait a while.  I got my new crown put on an 18 month, no interest loan.  44.50 a month--which I can handle.  I could not handle a $177.77 payment per month, if I got them all done.  Luckily, the rest of my teeth--the front and 6 year molars are not filled and in really great shape!  Now--I can pretty much eat anything I want to--probably gain weight!!  NO!!!

There is no need for comments as to how big my mouth is--okay?
==========================
I started the other slipper/shoe--when I got to this point, I DID think about cutting the yarn and keeping it for an oval "rag" rug for my dollhouse bathroom. LOL

Who knew--squirrels love Grape Jelly and Oranges in dish for Baltimore Orioles!!


Thursday, May 1, 2014

Throw Back Thursday

The high temperature today was: 46 degrees
Cold and rainy all the dang day!!

=========================

This poor little guy was sitting right outside my computer room window
In the rain.  He looked directly at me and said,
"It's so cold the worms are still sleeping underground!
I AM STARVING!!!"
==================================================

I remember, when I was very small, during the war.  My Grandmother had a metal can that sat at the top of the upstairs.  I think it was a milk can to hold cream after the milk had been run through the separator.  It was filled with white sugar.  I never realized the importance of this until years later--when I heard family talk about it.



When the first hint came out that "we" might be involved in WWII, my Grandmother, along with all other women in the area, started buying sugar and storing it.  Hoarding it, I suppose would be a better name for it.  You see when food became rationed, sugar was one of the hard to get products.  Only a certain amount was allowed to buy.  One never knew how many birthday or wedding cakes would have to be made during the rationing of food.  One never knew how many quarts of fruit would be canned or jams and jellies made.  One would not want to run out of sugar!

My Mother also had a "sugar can" in our pantry.  It was yellow--a New Era potato chip can.  Hers only had about 10 pounds of sugar in it.  Grandma's had about 20#.


Read that paragraph under the NOTE.
Do you honestly think ANYONE  admitted they had sugar hoarded at home?


Gasoline was rationed.  Cigarettes were rationed.  My parents didn't smoke very much, but they each got their allotted carton and gave the extra packs to our neighbor--my now step-mother's husband.  He'd pay them for the packs they didn't use.  I suppose that was government fraud, wasn't it?

Every person had a ration book.  Even children.  Every family member.  This is mine--I was 3--1942.  When we went to the store, whatever product was purchased took a certain number of stamps that were
inside this book.  It seemed everything was rationed.

.  



Hardly anything new was purchased.  If something broke, Daddy fixed it.  We took the paper label off every tin can, took off both ends, put them inside the can, and squash it with our feet--then stored the cans in a very large bin in one of the sheds.  During the year, a truck came to take away the cans and any other scrap metal we had.  

During the summer, a team of kids came out from the Big City (Flint) to gather Milk Weed pods--the silk was used in making parachutes.

Of course, living on a farm we had all the milk and eggs we needed, and we had quite a bit of fresh produce from the gardens and lots and lots of canned produce to last the winter and of course--rabbit, squirrel, chicken, venison and beef to eat.  

Now I realize how my Grandmother became a rich woman.  She had a poultry farm and hatchery.  Lots of fertile eggs from the hundred hens to incubate for baby chickens.  People flocked to her farm to buy a box (100 baby chicks) so they too could have layer hens, eggs, chicken to eat and can.  Even town people were allowed to keep a flock of chickens in their back yard.

I do remember clearly hearing a statement my Grandma made the day after Truman was elected.  I was in the 4th grade.  I heard her tell my mother, "Start saving sugar.  We will soon be in another war."  She was right--Korea, but...nothing was rationed during that "conflict'".
==============
Does anyone remember this?  If I was lucky enough, when I was at Grandma's, I got to squish the yellow coloring encased in that "button", through the white stuff until it was colored evenly.


I was told it was a very important job and I did it perfectly.  We had cows, but for some reason, we didn't churn butter in those days.  I don't know why.

Can you imagine eating that stuff?  Grandma's treat for me was a slice of bread, with oleo on it, and a nice coating of white sugar.

Chewing the lead paint off my crib rails.  Living in a house that was insulated by asbestos.  Sleeping in a bedroom, where the fine dust from the rough plaster on the ceiling drifted down all the time.  Having every childhood disease known to man.  Always drinking raw milk.  Drinking water out of the garden hose on a hot summer day.  Spraying our garden with pesticides and air planes spraying pesticides over the fields.  It's a wonder I have lived this long!!!

Nowadays, people are all in a tither over gluten, organic veggies and drinking water that has been filtered by osmosis!!
=================
Question--on the subject of food--do things taste different to you in the last few years?  Potato chips seem to have no flavor anymore (got rid of the trans-fat).  I made meat loaf yesterday--the same recipe I have made for 50+ years--my Mother's recipe and it doesn't taste right.  Maybe my taste buds are failing?  Maybe the quality of ground beef isn't as good anymore?  The last steak I had--3 years ago--was tasteless!!
=====================
BTW--the slipper/shoe is not difficult to make at all.  It could be written on one instruction sheet.  The inventor/writer of the pattern just likes to add a lot of extraneous stuff.  I have the first one done already.  










Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Glutton For Punishment

Today's high temperature was: 65 degrees
Cloudy all day
=========================

Ernestine--Bella--Sally, are you okay?


It seems that I get myself into more dang things.  Things that I think I can do--it sounds good at the time and then realize, after I have started a project that it is going to be really hard to complete it.

My friend Chris posted on FaceBook a pair of shoes that she is making.  Crocheted.  Cute as can be. 



I thought they would be fun to make and be a nice pair to slip on for when I run down to Pearl's or wear around the house.  The soles are made of jute--coated with Silicone to make them waterproof.  The insoles are a pair of Dr. Scholl's, covered in fabric.  Simple enough?

So, I got myself a cone of cotton yarn--thought I would make them in a variegated denim color.  I was going to start them last night.  I read the first page (page 1 out of about 10 instruction pages) and I can't even understand the foundation chain to get started!!!


Will I ever get these made?
Well--ya know--
Onward and Upward
I will try!

====================
I do not have a cell phone, but if I did--this is the one I would want.


=================
Last year, the Hummingbirds arrived on May 1st.  I have my two feeders up and this morning, put in more sugary, sticky liquid for them.  I loved when one built a nest right out these windows last year--hoping she will return to same spot--although her old nest fell during the winter.
================
Another friend of a friend dropped dead in his home--yesterday--age 52.  

I got to pondering on this sort of thing and realized how many people I have known that died like that.

My (ex) son-in-law's Dad and he were out on the porch, watching the sunset and talking and the Dad, fell forward and was dead.  Age 46.

One of my Dear Friends, was sitting in bed and told her husband that her chest hurt.  She thought she was coming down with a cold.  He went into the bathroom to get her an aspirin.  When he came back, she was dead.

Five years ago, the neighbor who lived in Dar's house, walked by and we talked for a bit.  He walked into his house, took off his coat and fell over dead on his way into the kitchen.  A wife and 3 little kids left.

A friend of mine in Byron--went outside in the early morning, to check the rain gauge, came back in, sat down in his recliner to watch TV and died.  Just the evening before, my BFF had seen him riding his bike and had talked to him at a ballgame.

Another friend--was playing cards with 3 other friends--he slammed his card down to take the trick, then fell over on the table, the other guys thought he was joking.

A guy I used to work for.  Was sitting in his office and slumped over on his desk.  He was only 45.

Bethie's son.  Age 52.

Strange "something"--blood clot or something that causes a pulmonary or cardiac arrest--aneurysm and--instant death and by the time the EMT's arrive, the person has been dead for many minutes and there is nothing to do.

Never more has the phrase, "You just never know", come to mind when these things happen.
================
This afternoon, I went out into the shed and dumped all last years potting soils from all my planters into the wheelbarrow.  Mixed in some fertilizer and new soil and I am ready to fill up the planters--whenever it gets warm enough to plant.

I am getting ready.




I was thinking this evening about the NBA/Sterling fiasco.  Other than it being illegal to record a phone call without the other person knowing and than selling it--Mrs. Sterling owns 50% of the Clippers team.  She has done nothing to break any of the NBA rules.  If she refuses to sell her half--how can they get the team away from the Sterling's?
===========
Got it figured out and on my way.  The toe area looks large, but it really isn't.  Of course, there is a cord along the top that pulls the shoe in to fit.  We shall see.  I may have to Frog it (ripit, rip it)

=================
Nice gentle rain out there tonight--I don't mind.