Our company from Iowa is here. We went to the County Fair in Detroit Lakes Minnesota.
Seemed like old times…walking the Midway.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
We saw this beautiful old carriage outside a local antique shop.
Can you imagine your beau showing up to take you to a church service and picnic? I think they must have used some sort of step stool to get in and out..or maybe that was the part the handsome beau took care of…grabbing a gal around the waist and swinging her up into the seat…people were shorter back then…he must be muscular…but then he probably worked hard on the farm or in the woods. I wonder how many petticoats she wore under her long dress…was it hot? I bet she wore a pair of white gloves and clutched a picnic basket on her lap. As they ride along some curls escape from her beribboned hat as she giggles at something he says.
Heard on the news yesterday that the Minnesota Deer hunt will be very limited. IT WAS A HARD WINTER. Give me a break. This is the first year I have seen two sets of twin fawns in our area. Every night we see deer.
Belly deep in the neighbors pea field.
She can graze and walk along skimming the peas.
Even when Chance barked and I hollered “Get out of the peas” She stood her ground…she was bound and determined to get a belly full.
Smart aleck deer anyway.
Seems like we have enough deer in this area. Yet the idiots powers that be at the Minnesota DNR are limiting the antlerless (doe or fawn) permits in much of the State and in 95% of Minnesota only one deer can be harvested per hunter. So that means more deer ticks which means more Lyme's and anaplasmosis which brings people into the clinic and hospitals, more road kills which is good news for the Bald Eagles and the auto body shop repair people.
I saw a bumper sticker today it said “Hunt with your kids so you don’t have to hunt for them” It made sense to me.
I took a photo in 2004.
Adam was fixated with the bar on the Ferris Wheel seat, Noah was pouting about something. It might have been the skeeters…or he might have been hungry….possibly he wanted computer time and his Mom said “No we are outside not inside!”
Look at how little they are! Adam used to love to push Grandpa’s truck(Appliance Mover) all over the yard. We used to tease him that he was going to work for UPS when he grew up. We used to have a little car that Noah could drive around in the yard…and now he has his drivers permit.
Ten years later in 2014.
Adam, Jen and Noah
Never too old for kisses from your Mom.
The grand boys and their parents were here for a visit. The boys always make me smile…and since they are growing and continually hungry I got hugs for bowls of popcorn.
Adam is especially hungry…after popcorn and ice cream and chips I suggested an apple! He said “Great idea Grandma.” That was shortly after supper. He is growing right out of his shoes…literally out of his shoes…with toes making an appearance…he is going shoe shopping this week.
I am certain that I would not want his parents grocery bills especially since they have a very open door policy and many teenage boys come and go all day long.
Noah went to woodcarving with us. He did great! I think he may have found a new hobby! He gave up his time out on the lake to go with us.
The Grand boys
Mr. Hungry…and yes it says “How to pick up chicks” on his shirt. He went out on the lake with his parents and I heard he ate everything in sight. It takes lots of calories to grow big and tall.
Saw this sign at the fair last week. Seems fitting as we are headed for a heat wave and searching for ways to cool off. Yesterdays high was 87 F ( 30 C eh!) with as much humidity…it is the humidity that makes it feel so very warm.
In a few months we will be back to freezing our butts off instead of sweating to death whilst swatting skeeters and deer flies.
The Four O'clocks are blooming. These flowers are tough as nails and will bloom at the edge of the roadside where they must be rooted in Class Five or pure gravel.
They open up by 4 O’ Clock and bloom until the next morning when they wilt.
These are the individual blooms.
They are noted as being a highly adaptable plant and are native to Minnesota.
I usually look for a few down by one of the stop signs…but the ditch mower mowed them off. Last night we went for a longer ride and found these on one of the backroads that has not been mowed yet.
We are getting a warm spell starting tomorrow…and already discussing what our favorite it’s too hot to eat much for supper foods will be. Fruit and salad top the list followed by BLT’s and “wraps” that we make with chicken, lettuce, cheese and tomato topped with a little bit of salad dressing of your choice…mine was Ranch and Far Guys was something Chipotle…they were a hit last week when Jen came to visit and prepared supper for us. I think summer has finally arrived.
Last night we had a date. That would mean our usual Pork Burger, Cheese Curds and French Fries at the Hubbard County Fair. We have a standing date to eat, stroll down the Midway, and go through the 4-H exhibits every year.
This ride would have made me puke.
Something about being upside down and moving really fast…uffda that would do me in.
We really enjoy looking at all the exhibits.
Someone had a really good idea for a old bike…perhaps they should have had more time to execute their vision…but it is still a great idea.
We scored some free reusable insulated grocery bags from one of the Commercial Exhibits. AND I won a handful of plastic key chains at the Nudgers ( Penny Falls) on the Midway!
What fun at the fair!
Most evenings we go for a ride and check out the fields and look for wildlife.
A pea field in bloom with oats in the distance.
A corn field.
The wheat is starting to turn.
Almost amber waves of grain.
The farmers should be happy with the amount of rain we have received so far this summer.
It was 42F yesterday morning or 5C eh! It was brisk.
