Change

Today's high temperature was: 81 degrees

Thunderstorms off and on

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

I hate change!!

Unless, of course, if it is my idea, LOL

Things are going to change around here--have already started.

I find myself spending way too much time in the morning sitting in front of this electronic wizard call the Internet.  When I do that (like every day all winter), I usually don't leave this room until nearly noon.

Ridiculous!!!

When I was a mother of four and had a nine room house to care for, I made a schedule for each day.  You know how I get obsessed and how I love lists and schedules--that sort of thing makes me purr.

I did certain chores on certain days.  EX: Monday--wash white clothes and bedding.  Clean bedrooms

Tuesday:  Wash light colored clothes and clean the bathrooms.

Wednesday:  Wash dark clothes and clean the kitchen.

Let's just say, it made my life a whole lot easier--I didn't have to try and catch-up on the weekends AND at least one room in the house was clean, LOL.

So, living here in a 960 square foot dwelling, with one occupant, it seems rather silly to have that schedule.  My biggest concern now is the enormous amount of cat fur that litters the carpet and furniture.

BUT--in the interest of trying to do something to make my life a tad more "in control", I have taken it up again, on a much smaller scale, of course.

The biggest challenge?  Up and out of bed by 8:00 a.m.  Sounds simple to most of you, I know, but to me--the one who used to go to bed at 4:00 a.m. and get up at noon, when I first moved here.  I have settled into the 1:00 to 9:00 sleep time.  

UP AT 8:00 a.m.--no matter what.

Out of computer room by 10:00

Monday--wash bedding, white clothes and clean bedroom

Tuesday - wash light colored clothes and clean bathroom

Wednesday--wash dark colored clothes and clean kitchen

Thursday--clean living room

Friday--clean computer room

Each Day:  11:00 - 1:00--walk, garden

1:00 - 2:00--watch Soap

2:00 ---appointments

4:00--6:00--read, garden, check computer, do computer research

6:00 - 8:00--watch news and 2 TV programs

8:00-11:00--TV, cross stitch, crochet or read

TO BED AT 11:00 SHARPLY~~~

Now that summer is coming, I need to be outdoors more--I need to walk more--I need to visit with neighbors more.  

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

As the self-proclaimed neighborhood meteorologist, I check the weather every morning.  I go to my pin-point weather map and look at the next 6 hours to see what might be coming out way.  If there is a threat--a really BAD threat, I call Dar, Pearl and Jackie and let them know.

So this morning around  11:30, I checked and didn't see anything foreboding on the horizon.  I sat and enjoyed my Soap and left here at 2:00 to go to the Food Pantry to sign up to shop there.  I came out around 2:45 and it was starting to rain.  By the time I got back to the main road--Grand River--it was raining so hard I could barely see the road.  Instead of turning right and coming back, a mile, to  home, I turned left to go up to the Wal-Mart in Howell.  

I was in the right hand lane, just putsying along, as was everyone else, and I just about swamped the car in a very large water puddle or small lake--whichever scenario you want to imagine.  So I eased up onto the higher interior lane and made it to Wal-Mart just fine.  

There was a severe thunderstorm warning for the area--I did turn on the car radio to hear that.  I found a parking space near the door and sat and waited.  By now it was lightning and thundering and I didn't want to be out in the midst of the tempest in case it thundered loudly and scared me.

Pretty soon, it let up the tiniest bit and I grabbed my two plastic bags of empty pop bottles and ran into the store.  I was quite drenched, but it had been hot and humid all morning, so the rain felt good.

I got my prescriptions and pick up a few things and started to leave.  It was only raining gently now.  BUT--I couldn't get out the exit door because three women in front of me were afraid of getting their new hair styles wet--or something, I have no idea.  So I excused myself as I edged through the pack.

One woman said to me, "Are you sure you want to go out? It's still raining."

I replied, "I won't melt," and just to show those wimps, I casually strolled to my car, popped the trunk and slowly put my groceries in the back.

What a bunch of wussies!!!

Weird Day

The high temperature today was:  72 degrees

Humidity: 55%

Rain/Severe thunderstorms/Tornadoes

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

Awake again at 6:30--what is going on here?  Felt very rested so, I got up.

I heard that we might get hail today so I went out and lugged my big planters (geraniums) up close to the porch steps.  I wanted to bring them up on the covered porch, but I could not lift them!!

Thunderstorms rolled through around 9:30--loud thunder, so to stop that nonsense, I put in my ear plugs and cleaned the bedroom.  When I was finished, so was the thunder.

At 3:00, a weather bulletin came on TV, so I sat down to watch.  Tuned in the Detroit channel and they had their radar up and zoom in on the storm that was carrying the rotation.   I came in and brought up The Weather Channel map that I have on my computer to pinpoint how the storm was going to progress.  It was about 15 miles south of us--traveling on an easterly path, so I had no reason to get panicked.

All of a sudden, the dang siren down the road went off.  I looked out my windows and cars were speeding by and out of this park.  Now--what is so weird is that usually I AM the first car out of this place and heading for the little hospital to seek shelter, but, I knew where the storm was, so I didn't even think about leaving.  

Within seconds, my phone rang.  "WHY AREN'T YOU LEAVING?  THERE'S A TORNADO COMING!!"

"Dar!  DAR CALM DOWN!! There is no tornado on the ground--there is rotation in the storm and it is nearly twenty miles south of us!!"

"OH MY GOD!  JACKIE CALLED.  SHE HEARD THE SIREN SO SHE TOOK OFF UP TO WOODLAND!" (the little hospital)  YOU ALWAYS RUN--I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU ARE STILL HOME.  I WAS GOING TO RIDE WITH YOU!"

"Dar...from now on--if you don't see me leave--don't panic.  Okay?  It is way south of us and it won't come anywhere near us.  The stupid siren goes off if there is a tornado warning for ANYWHERE in this country!  Turn on channel 4 and watch."

"OKAY!"

Pretty soon the phone rings again.  Pearl says, "Where is everyone going?"  I told her and she said her usual, "Well, there has never been a tornado hit this park.  We aren't ever going to be in a tornadoes path."

and I did my usual, "A tornado can hit anywhere and if it has never hit here, then the odds are against us for a first time.  Everyone left to go up to Woodland, but the tornado is way down by the country line."

I no more than hung up and Dar called again.  This time she was calmer and was laughing.  "Jackie just called.  They have over two hundred people up in the lobby at Woodland and...she wants to come back home and security won't let anyone leave the building!"

I did call Maddie as the rotational storm was going to pass right over their house and I wanted to make sure she knew and was in the basement.  She was safe and not a bit afraid.

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

I sat and watched the weather radar all afternoon on the news channel--then at 5:30 the siren goes off again.  Severe thunderstorm with torrential rain, high winds and quarter sized hail just west of Howell heading toward Brighton.  I ran into the computer room and brought up my pinpoint weather map again.  It looked like the storm was going to go a bit north of where I live.  The weather guy on TV said it was traveling down I-96 and Grand River.  I lived 1/4 mile north of I-96 and about a block south of Grand River.  Hm-mm.

Thankfully, the near the storm got to Howell, the more it fell apart and I only got rain--heavy rain, but none the less no wind or hail.

Tomorrow afternoon, we are going to get this same weather, as the cold front moves in and meets up with our saturated, humid air.  OH--I can hardly wait!!!

Then--we are going to get night time lows in the 30's.  So--there has got to be a way I can get those two big planters up on the porch so I can cover them, the tiered planter and my planters on the porch railings. Covered up each night the rest of this week.  SHOOT!!

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

Other than all that excitement--I got an e-mail from the boy who is taking Madeleine to Prom and he is so excited!!!  I saw a picture of Maddie's dress.  It is gorgeous!  Demure and elegant.  A long skirt, lace top that covers her shoulders--in blush pink.  

I saw a picture of a friend's grand daughters dress and the dress looked like something a saloon girl from the old west would wear.  The bodice was like a bustier--you could see the stays and her skin through it.  Not appropriate to my way of thinking.

Maddie gave me a few of her Senior Photos.  One I didn't get, but may go back and get, she is standing in the middle of Main Street in Brighton in her ballet tutu and toe shoes doing a pirouette!  In the middle of town!!!  I guess that studio does a lot of those kinds of shots.  Lots of comments from passing cars I would think?  This is the photo I got to put in a 5x7 frame.  The other two are for my wallet.

Mother's Day--Without a Mother--Without a Son and Daughter, but......Nice

The high temperature today was:  75 degrees

Sunny and pleasant

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

I woke up at 6:30 a.m.--the earliest I have awoken since my hip surgery two years ago, LOL.  I got up too.  By 9:00, I was ready for a nap, but Pammie arrived and off to church we went.  Everyone knew instantly that she was my daughter--we have that whole looking alike thingie going.  How wonderful to sit with her, stand with her while we sang out old familiar hymns.  The last hymn, we stood arm and arm.

Today's sermon was on "Reconciliation" and how Mother's are the reconcilers of the world.  "Be nice to your little brother."  "Tell your sister you're sorry." Pammie and I were both thinking of how I could achieve reconciliation with Jennifer.  As we were driving, Pammie said, "I've said a few things to her Momma, but I won't get in this middle of this because I think it is just plain stupid.  I don't understand it!  I don't understand how family members can hold a grudge so long with other family members.  I couldn't be that way."

Of course not, because Pammie is like her Momma and her Momma's side of the family and Jennifer and son Mark are like their Dad.  My ex and I were having an argument one time and he brought up something that had happened 22 years before.  I didn't even remember it.  He was still seething about it.  Ridiculous!!!  I have apologized to Jennifer, over and over.  What else can I do?

So, Karen invited us down for lunch and we had the perfect picnic out on their new deck.  Grilled Hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, baked beans and fresh veggies and chocolate chip cookies.  Madeleine was there and Karen's two sons, Marcus and Stephen so I got to see and talk with them.

After my Mother died, I hated Mother's Day.  I didn't want to even celebrate.  My best friend Arlene, felt the same way--her Mother died a couple of years after mine.  Then one day, we decided that we had to be happy for our children who wanted to celebrate us--so we sucked it up.  Still on this day, I always get a tear because I remember when it was Grandma sitting at the end of the pew, Mother,  me next to her and my children next to me.

Today, I made Pammie sit in the pew and I sat on the outside--just like when she was little.  "So you can keep an eye on me?"  she asked.

"Yes...and don't fidget!"

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

Grand daughter Madeleine told me today that she had decided what to do after graduation.  She is going to the near Community College and take a nursing(?) course for one term.  Then in January, she is going to a mission in Guatemala.  Help the women and children mostly, but help build houses.  She figures after being there for six months, she will know better if she wants to study something like that or go into another field.  She has never, ever mentioned wanting to be a nurse.  I think she just wants to be a "helper" to the world.

Grandson Stephen, going to be a Junior at MSU has been accepted in the Medical program there.  He still doesn't know his speciality, but he figures after being involved in all things medical, it will come to him.

Marcus graduated college four years ago.  He is a Nuclear Engineer and works for the Fermi Nuclear Energy plant near the Michigan/Ohio border.

Karen and Mark have done such a wonderful job raising those five children.  I have always been amazed at their parenting skills.  Plus, Karen and Mark go every five years or so to Marriage weekends put on my their church.  They have a fabulous marriage--they are truly a team.  I am so very happy for them.  Wish my three others had such good lives.

Now this next month is going to be busy.  Prom next Saturday and I have been invited to go to Maddy's house at 4:00 to see all the kids.  Madeleine's last concert.  Madeleine's last ballet recital.  Graduation, open houses--I have been invited to those kids I love--her friends, open houses.  I was going to Maddie's open house early and then leave so Jen could come later.  Today Karen told me to come early and stay for the whole thing.  "Jennifer's feelings are not your problem Mother.  You always come and stay for the other kids open houses.  Don't change because of someone else's snit."  OKAY!!!

Jennifer did not recognize me this year--again and my son didn't call, but still in all--I had a really nice day.

Saturday

Saturday's high temperature was: 72

An absolutely gorgeous day

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

Jackie lives directly across from me.  She sits in her chair and stitches all day.  Every hour, she makes herself get up.  She stood up and looked out her door and saw Pearl coming down the steps and fall, on the cement driveway.

Jackie ran over here yelling, "Judy!!  Pearl just fell."

I grabbed my phone and took off.

Pearl was laying on her back, blood pouring out of the back of her head.  I dialed 911.

Jackie ran into the house and got a towel to hold up against Pearl's head, to stop the bleeding.  Pearl was shocky, shivering and it was sprinkling.  I opened up Merle's truck and got his two jackets out and laid them over her.  Merle was away at the time--up the road at the small hospital ER with a kidney stone!

The EMT's got there pretty quickly, but that was about all they did right.  A guy jumped out of the ambulance and a woman opened up the back and brought out the gurney.

The guy asked Pearl how she fell.  <Who gives a flying flip--take care of her!>

He DID NOT check to see if she had any broken bones--hip--whatever.  He bound some gauze around her head and told Jackie to go in the house to get a wet cloth to wash the blood off Pearl's hand.  <Who cares about the blood on her hand!  Get her to the ER!>

Then--he grabs Pearl under the arms and tells her, "Stand up and walk over to sit on the gurney."

"She can't stand up." I said.  "She has severe arthritis in her knees, she has Neuropathy in her feet and has had two back surgeries.  <plus she weighs 200 pounds>  Can't we put a blanket under her and lift her onto the gurney?"

Meanwhile, the female EMT is standing there.  Oh sure, she has her blue latex gloves on, but other than that...

So, he yanks Pearl up--she screams in pain.  He lowers her onto her knees and then yanks her up and drags her a bit--scraping skin off both her knees.  He tries to get her onto the gurney and they have not locked the wheels so the gurney starts to roll away.  The female EMT just stands there.

I sort of push her aside and hold the gurney steady.  Pearl is screaming, "Help me!  Help me!"

Just then Merle gets home.  He helps the guy get Pearl onto the gurney, with me holding it still.

Pearl is shaking, I look down and see a sheet and quickly cover her.  It is still sprinkling.  The guy is so determined that she get the blood washed off her hands.  <Geez>

They finally get her in the truck and off they go to the little hospital just up the road.

The nightmare continues in the ER.  They look at her head and determine that she doesn't need stitches.  BUT--they do not clean the abrasion.  They take her for a CAT scan, but they don't put anything on her scraped up and bleeding knees!  

  

She came home 4 hours later.  No follow-up.  Should we keep an eye on her for nausea, dizziness, headache?  Could the knock on the head lead to a hematoma--swelling in the brain?  Guess not.

Now--this is the same hospital and ambulance that used to come here when Fred was in bad shape and they were great.  A scant three years later and this is how they operate?  I know that Merle and Pearl won't say anything or complain, but I am calling Monday and found out what the heck is going on.

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

I hurt so bad from walking and flower shopping for 3 hours yesterday that I could hardly move, but.....this is what I did for 5 hours Saturday afternoon.  I kept to my color scheme of Hot Pink, Purple or Dark Blue and Chartreuse.

Click on the pix to see them larger.

That blue pot and trellis, on the right, holds the Purple Hyacinth Bean seeds.

View from the street

 View from up on the porch

View walking up to the porch 

View from my recliner :-) 

The first year I have done a tiered planter.

It is an experiment.

I am not sure that moss on the bottom layer will thrive,

I maybe should have put just polished rocks in there 

This may be a complete fail.  Guess we shall see.

All I know, it all looks so much better on my 

newly painted white and grey porch

then it ever would on just the regular stained one.

This is the most I have done in 4 years!!!  I also planted Zinnia seeds in the raised garden out by my shed AND I have some Lily of the Valley to put in my garden under the Lilacs bushes.

I think another half a Percocet is in order at bedtime tonight and then.......Pammie and church tomorrow and afterwards--lunch with Karen too!!!

You Can't Win For Losing

Today's high temperature was:  76

Rainy--sunny and humid--rainy

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

I never complained about winter--

I prefer cold temps to this humid stuff!

Temperatures in the 70's is just perfect.  Humidity of 50% or more, makes it rough on me.  

I went out to rake and refresh the 3 year old mulch under my Lilac bushes and within 15 minutes I was sweating like a hog!!!  About a half hour later, rain came, the sun went under a cloud, the breeze came back up and I went out and finished and was quite comfortable.

I got a phone call from Pearl.  She wanted to know if I knew the lady we saw yesterday, Janet's phone number.  "Is it in the book?"  "No.  Wait it wouldn't be in our phone book!"

<all the time I am trying to tell her, but...she just keeps on talking>

"I need to know that medicine she was talking about...for the arthritis.  I need something.  I can barely walk."

<Finally>

"She has a cell phone, Pearl.  Her number wouldn't be in the book and I don't know it.  But...the medicine she was talking about has Prednisone in it and----something they use for Chemotherapy.  I will try and remember and look it up."

"I don't feel right about yesterday."

"Why?"

"You should have told me who we were stopping in to see, instead of surprising me.  If I had just known, I could have thought of things to talk to her about."

"I thought the three of you had a good chat."

"We did, but....well, I just wish you hadn't surprised me.  Don't ever do anything like that again!"

"I'm sorry..." but she had already hung up.

Well--that took part of the fun of yesterday away.  

Oh well.

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

After my Soap, I decided to go shopping for plants.  It is supposed to be a beautiful day tomorrow and the nighttime lows all this next week are going to be in the 50's and it is suppose to rain a bit each day.

I went across the road to the Garden Center.  A young woman I know saw me and walked over, "Grandma said you stopped in yesterday and...you had Mrs. Ott with you."  (It was Janet's grand daughter).

"Yup.  We stopped in on our way home from Byron."

"That was so nice.  My Grandma was just thrilled."

Okay--so someone is happy about being surprised.

I got most every plant I wanted, but they don't have any Moss Roses as yet.  Then I drove up to Lowe's and found a small trellis I wanted and some more stuff that the garden center refuses to sell--Impatiens!!  I tried the garden center's replacement for Impatiens--Rosea Vinca (which all died last year) or the Sun Impatiens, which are too expensive.  If these Impatiens have the mold dust--I am going to try them anyway.

Then, I was out of food.  I wanted to come back home and unload--the entire back seat and floor of my car is covered with plants and the trunk had to huge bags of potting soil, BUT--I knew if I came home, I'd not get back to the grocery store.  I was so tired, but I told myself, "Just keep going and you can do it."  and I did.

I must confess, I probably did a bit too much today, what with the raking and walking all over two huge garden centers AND the grocery store.  I am very sore tonight and can barely walk upright.

SO--I will take a half a Percocet and sleep like a baby and feel good enough to sit out on the porch tomorrow and fill up all my containers!!!

I remembered the name of the arthritis drug.  It is mainly used for RA, which Pearl doesn't have, but maybe it will help her.  Methotrexate-Prednisone

Happy Mother's Day--see ya Monday.

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

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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.

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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!