Out with the guys

Our company from Iowa is here.  We went to the County Fair in Detroit Lakes Minnesota.

Seemed like old times…walking the Midway.

Horses three abreast, this Allan Herschell Merry Go Round is a beauty…even better since we knew who bought this Merry Go Round when it was brand new. ..our good friend Joe who died in 2012.

We wandered through the commercial exhibits and found some old cars.

A 1953 Desoto..the old guys there talked our ears off.

There is a lot of talking your ears off going on around here. Our Iowa friend got a new car (a Ford) the backseat is reasonably comfortable…but I cannot stretch out completely….I kinda miss that old Cadillac..he said it got horseshit gas mileage.

Wistful Wednesday : Roots Part Four

This week I want to talk about my Great Grandfather Isak’s brothers and sisters.  He had many.  Most were half brothers and sisters.  Greta Johanna, Born July 10, 1836.  Karl Henrik Born February 23, 1839. Johan Gabriel Born June 28, 1840 and died February 1, 1897.  Abraham Gabriel Born June 21, 1841. Isak Gustaf Born October 10, 1842 and died March 13, 1843. Olaf Born October 29, 1843 and died April 24, 1844.  In 1843 their father Gabriel died.  It must have been a sad year for Liisa Greta Lahti Yliniemi.

Some time in 1852 Liisa Greta must have been lonesome.  She took up with a farm hand and had some children.  The farmhands name was Juho Mattias Ala born January 4, 1825 in Kittila Finland. He was employed at the farm of Gabriel and Liisa Yliniemi from 1841 to 1862.

Children born out of wedlock to Matti and Liisa were:

Greta Matilda Born August 25, 1853 and died May 29, 1941

Greta Matilda and her husband Hans in Finland.

Isak (My Great Grandfather) Born September 19, 1857 in Muonio Finland.  Died December 9, 1932 In Minnesota.

Then apparently there is another child….because Verniel has a photo of him.

The photo is labeled Isak’s brother Emanuel Isaacson Yliniemi.  Born April 15, 1860.

That would have made Liisa Greta 46 years old when she gave birth.  Maybe there are more children..who knows for sure?

I don’t know about the rest of you but having an old photo of relatives helps them come alive instead of just names and dates on a sheet of paper.

Summer is flying by

Where does the time go?  Who turns the pages so fast?  It seems as if the summer is disappearing before our very eyes.

The grass is turning brown in some spots…especially spots in the sun.  I am mowing about every ten days now instead of every seven days. I have finally made my peace with the lawn mower’s hydrostatic drive…will wonders never cease…goes to show you even old people can learn new stuff.  I am a sight to behold on that mower with every inch of my body covered except my face…I had one small spot of Poison Ivy earlier and since then I cover up when I mow.   Soon the grass should go dormant.

My Mother had some real pretty petunias.

Our Wood Carving group was featured in an area publication called Boomers.   The reporter took photos and wrote a great story.  She featured the Christmas Ornament that I designed…and now people have been calling wanting to purchase them.  So now we have to work on those orders.

We have 63 Christmas ornaments completed and ready to go for Christmas….a few more and we will be done with that project!

It doesn’t help that we have spent most of the summer recuperating from “the crud” we had this spring.

Health Update: I have almost completely recovered, I have some lingering tiredness.   Far Guy still has his cough and his oxygen saturation numbers are down, he has seen a Pulmonary specialist and will go on oxygen when he exercises and as needed for his COPD and Emphysema.  Some days he feels just fine and other days he feels just rotten. His lung function is down to 27 %.  Not the news that either of us had hoped for. We have to be real proactive with his health, stay away from sick people and germy crowds, and not wait around if he gets a cold.  The specialist said that 50% of the time it will be a bacterial infection that needs to be treated promptly. 

One day at a time.  

Summer in Minnesota

We saw a pair of Sandhill Cranes in a hay field.

I am not sure what the bird was that was sitting on the hay bale.  We usually don’t see Sandhill Cranes in the summertime.  I have seen them in the spring and fall when they are migrating…but only one other year have I seem them in the summer.

Summer is advancing quickly.  The temperatures at night are cool.  52 F or 11C eh.  Quite cool for July night time temperatures.

The Fireweed is blooming.

We are getting company from Iowa this week, an old friend will spend sometime with us…I am not sure I can call him an old bachelor…he was married once upon a time and has a daughter and a grandson.  I am certain he will show up in a tank of a vehicle…picture some old Cadillac with leather seats.  Last time he was here whilst he was driving all over the area I could stretch out full length in the backseat and have a nap when I became bored with the men’s conversation. 

The neighbors shared their company from Oklahoma this past week, we had several nights of meals together followed by a rousing card game called “Oh Hell.”

 

Along the road

The golden glow of the evening sunset makes the purple and yellow wildflowers shine.

Bee Balm and False Sunflowers

During our evening drives the heavy fragrance of the Common Milkweed hangs in the air.   We saw two Monarch Butterflies in our yard! That is two more than we saw last year.

Common Milkweed

We saw this one night and it caused quite a bit of excitement.

It was a skunk digging holes and acting funny.  It was down on the corner.  Yesterday after running an errand we saw a sail skunk at the edge of the road and it wasn’t even smelly…imagine that.  I hope those two skunks are one and the same.

Far Guy and Chance walk the area where the skunk was seen…I would rather that neither of them get skunked.