Surprise Adventure

Today's high temperature was: a record 86 degrees

Too dang hot for me!!

Hazy and cloudy and sunny

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

This is what greeted me when I woke up this morning.  

He's just hanging out..with his little

hand holding onto the feeder post

Cute little fella.

On Easter Sunday, when I had supper with Merle, Pearl and their daughter--the daughter told me that her Mom was disappointed because I hadn't visited with her every other day like I used too.  I told her that most days, during winter, I couldn't get out of my own house and up the 50 steps to Pearl's house with all the icy ruts in the street, without taking my life in my hands.  She said she knew that, but..."Mom has been depressed lately and she told me of the "adventures" you use to take her on.

Yes--two years ago, Pearl couldn't remember the street number of a house she lived in 20 years ago.  So I put her in the car and off we went to find it.  Then, she had to drive all over the county, showing me every house she ever lived in.    Last fall, I called her one afternoon and said, "Do you want to go on an adventure?"  and I drove her out into the country north of here to take her up and down roads that had beautiful Maples in brilliant fall colors

Last night I called her and asked if she'd like to go on an adventure with me today.  I needed to go up to The Farm and thought, I'd take Pearl along and show her where I grew up and stuff like that.  She said "yes!"

I had thought of an idea last night--for a nice surprise for Pearl, but I didn't tell her in case, it would make her nervous or if the surprise fell through.

Just before I got in the shower this morning (9:00) I called to see if she still wanted to go.  "Yes, I'm all ready."

<Yikes>

"I'm just getting into the shower.  I'll be up to get you in an hour."

"Why do you get up so late?"

"Hey.  It's not like we are going to the ocean and have to get an early start.  We are only going to be gone about two hours.  Get yourself something to eat and a cold drink to take and I'll be there as quick as I can."

I pulled into her drive at 10:15.

"I hate your car.  The door is too hard to close."

"I hate this seat belt!  I never can figure out how to fasten it."

"Why are we going down this road.  I've never been on this road."

"Why are you driving so fast?"

<speed limit was 55, I was going barely 50>

"It's hot in here, don't you have air conditioning?"

"No--turn it the other way.  I don't like it blowing on my face."

By the time we got to Byron, she had settled down a bit and was regaling me with stories of where she lived and grew up and.....

I drove around town and showed her where my school was, our church, the burned out business district and all the time, she kept talking about her life.

"...and there's the golf course.  I spent most of my 30's and 40's there," I said.

"Did I ever tell you about when Vic was little?"

One of my biggest Pet Peeves are people (usually women), who don't listen to what you are saying because they are thinking of what they want to say.  They interrupt.  Even if you quit in mid-sentence, they don't even realize you've quit speaking.  My two neighbor's Dar and Tami are like this.  Pearl has become like this.  I think in her case, it's because, she gets a thought and she wants to tell me about it before she forgets.

So--when we got to Pammie's house, I pulled in the end of the driveway, stopped, and told her about the place.  Then up the road a piece, I pulled into the driveway in the woods and showed her where all the wildflowers grow and where I wanted to build a house.  We got to the corner and I stopped and pointed out the (school house) little house I wanted to rent last August and I pointed out my son's farm--where I was born and grew up.

Then I drove on down to my sister's and slowed down.

"Why are you slowing down?"

"This is where my ancestor's settled and where my sister lives."

"Why are you pulling in the drive?"

"Because I want to say Hi to my sister and get a pot from her that she borrowed last fall."

"Well--I'm not going in."

"Okay.  You don't have to."

Of course, my sister came running out and convinced Pearl she should come in...for a minute.

"Well, I do have to use the toilet."

So in we went and Pearl went potty and then Susan showed her the downstairs of the house and the new kitchen and the family room.

"Oh yes.  I know all about these houses.  My grandparents had a house like this."

Half hour later, we left.  She wasn't too impressed nor did she care one whit about why or how my ancestor's ended up here.

I started down the gravel road, to take a different route home.

"Why are you driving on gravel?"

"Because I want to take you on a different route home."

"Oh.  I hate gravel roads.  It rattles my back."

"I'm only going twenty-five miles an hour.  You should be okay."

Six years ago, when I first met Pearl, in our conversations, she told me of a family they were friends with--neighbor's of theirs.  "Janet and Jack Cyr were their names."

At that time, I said, "Oh my gosh!  I've known them since Kindergarten!"

Pearl hasn't seen them in thirty years.  So.....I thought I'd take a chance.

I drove down the road for about three miles, trying to point out wildflowers and flowering bushes along the way, and then I turned on the road where they lived for the last thirty years.

I spied a car in the drive with Florida plates and figured that was their car.  So...I pulled in the driveway and parked.

"Why are you stopping here?"

"Oh.  I'm just curious."

"Do you even know these people?"

"Well, a friend of mine used to live here and I wondered if she still did."

"You're going up to the house when you don't even know for sure who lives here?"

"Sure.  Why not?  This is Byron.  No one is going to shoot me."

and I jumped out and up to the door---knocked and Janet came to the door.

"OH MY GOD!!! Judy!  I haven't seen you in an age."

"I didn't know if you still lived here or not.  I have someone in the car that you know and I wanted to surprise her."

"Who?"

"Pearl Ott."

"Oh my gosh!!  How do you know her?"

"We're neighbors and she once told me that you guys used to be neighbors and friends."

Her husband had come to the door by then and was glad to see me and I led them out and told them, "Go over to her side of the car and see what happens."

The minute they walked in front of the car, I could hear Pearl squealing.

So we all trudged up to their porch and they each got  caught up with kids and grandkids and great grandkids--it was great.  I just let them do most of the talking.  The only time Pearl spoke to me was to ask what year her oldest child was born.  :-)

Janet did say to me, "You've got a birthday coming up."

"Yeah," I said.  "And, yours is two weeks after mine, July second."

"How in the world do you remember my birth date?"

"I have no idea." I said.  "Now, if you asked me what I ate for supper last night...I couldn't tell you."

An hour later, we started for home.  She wanted to go the "normal" way home so I took her the main way and through Howell, her home town.

When we got home at 2:40!!!  Merle came out to the car and you should have heard Pearl.  Telling him all about having seen the Cyr's and now that she knows where they live, they should go out for a visit.

So--my trip up to The Farm to get the pot, was great.  The adventure for Pearl was great.  My surprise worked and I'm glad.  I am so glad they were home!!!

To tell the truth--I am exhausted.  She does like to badger me, LOL
==================

I took a walk down the service drive to see if I could get a closer look at the brown plastic boy bag caught in the tree.  There he is--top center

Rock-A-Bye Boy Bag, in the tree top.....

This is on both sides of my walk--our wetlands

If we were in Florida, you'd expect to see a few

alligators.  I looked real hard--we have none!

Thank Goodness.

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?

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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!

                    

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!!!!!!!

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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)

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!!!

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!!