Chance: Rabies Clinic

Hiya it is me Chance.  This is how it went down.  Far Side says we are leaving at 1PM to go to the Rabies Clinic. I don’t have rabies but I had to go anyways.

I didn’t need a Rabies shot but I needed a Lymes shot…you know so I don’t get Lymes from the ticks. As we were coming Odda and Putz were going…they were all done….we should have gotten there earlier.

We waited in line a long time…and hour and ten minutes.  Far Side said “They don’t have their shit stuff together.” They didn’t… there was a real line up at the desk where you pay.  Some dogs had never been there before.  When it was my turn Patty said “Hiya Chance” and got my record and agreed with Far Side that I just needed a Lymes shot.

Here was my view most of the time.

There was cowering, there was barking, there was peeing and there was even pooping. One dog  peed so much it ran down the sidewalk.  I was told to leave it..I did.  Several other dogs were so scared they pooped…and it was really stinky and their masters didn’t have doggie bags either…what were they thinking?

Anyways I am good for another year.  Far Side says “Cross something off the list!”

Slipping Cows

In early spring the first of the wildflowers to bloom are the Caltha palustris.  Also known as Marsh Marigolds or Cow Slips.  Picture the flowers growing out of hummocks in a swampy pasture and you guessed it…slipping cows.

Far Guy saw these first.  Just to prove he was not seeing things we turned around and went back to have another “look see.”

There they were amongst the brown…blooming. A REAL sign of spring for us here in Minnesota!!

The color yellow always cheers me up, and I must admit it is my favorite color for flowers…but you probably knew that already.

Grands Photo Project

We have a wall here in the house that holds photos and “Stuff” which stir up good memories.  As we unpacked we just hung up “stuff” willy nilly and kept adding to it.

I knew I would eventually want Graduation photos of all the Grands on that wall.  Savannah was already there.  I knew I would want them all in matching frames.  So I purchased five new frames.

After I brought them home I took pieces of paper and thumb tacked them to the wall approximately where they would go.

Far Guy got out his tape measure, he measured everything…the walls…the frames…how far it was from the floor…he wrote everything down and did a bunch of figuring…and made a map.  Highly technical for me who just would have “eyeballed it and stuck a nail in the wall.” 

He very patiently measured and measured again, I held the pencil and made marks for the nails.

Those five frames are the only thing on that wall that match.  Lets just call it an eclectic collection.

In the next few weeks I will have 8 x 10’s of all the grands and when it is time for them to graduate their photo will become permanent.  While I was at it everything got cleaned in that corner of the house!

Wistful Wednesday: Find a Grave Lost and Found

I have been struggling with corrections to Find a Grave.  Some people are very nice…others not so much.  One local gal is all messed up.  I finally asked that the grave be transfered to me and I will straighten it all out.  Whether or not she transfers it to me remains to be seen.

I flit here and there adding obituaries.  I suppose I should have some rhyme or reason to my madness but I don’t.

One of Far Guy’s Maternal Great Uncles was missing from the local cemetery.  He was either missed or entered under another name.  I finally gave up searching and added him myself along with a photo of his gravestone.  This is a photo of him with his siblings.

That is Bernard or “Bundt” on the far left, Frank and Ernest or “Ern”.

Ethel, Amy and Meade (Far Guy’s Maternal Grandmother)

This photo was taken in October of 1967 in Detroit Lakes Minnesota.

Their brother Loren died in 1949 and Robert “Dave” in 1955.

This family still has one person missing. Ethel, I think she is buried in town at the Catholic Cemetery, I am 98 % possitive it is her…but I will make a trip to the Library to see if I can find an obit…or maybe I have one in my stacks of obits upstairs.

I urge you to check on your deceased relatives, to make sure the info is correct and complete if they are listed at Find a Grave.

May Baskets!

I am still in the design phase of this years May Basket.  It involves a small sherbert container, paint, paper, chennile stems and of course candy.  The candy part is easy! 

Today I will work on them some more and see if my idea will work. The R and D phase can be complicated, I know what I want them to look like… getting them there is sometimes a complicated process.

May Day is on Sunday!  I think I am making 13 baskets.  I hope you will join me in giving one small homemade basket filled with candy or some other sweet treat or perhaps even some flowers to a friend or neighbor!

Ready Get Set Go…make a basket.

Need an idea?  Here is the link to the tutorial for this basket!

Rain and Naps

It began to rain in early afternoon.   After a late lunch at my parents with my other baby brother,“she who sees robins first,”  my Aunt Judy and her daughters and their husbands I had a long nap.  When I awakened just before dark it was still raining.

Sleepy, If I were one of the seven dwarfs lately I would be sleepy.  My Doctor switched my blood pressure medication.  Even with four Potassium tablets a day my Potassium was depleted daily.  I was sleepy and my large muscles hurt.  So with the new medication I am just sleepy, If I close my eyes I am asleep.  I am not convinced that I can do this medication long term.  I will see what my Doc says this week.  I have been allergic to a number of BP medications. 

The glass flowers that I left outside for the winter fared well.  Nothing broken. 

When the rain stops I will probably have to mow, the grass is green and growing. Right now it is a cold rain that I hope stays liquid and doesn’t turn into the white stuff.

Prom: Noah and his date

This is the first year that Noah has gone to prom. He wasn’t sure if he would go or not.  He asked Taylor to be his date.

We drove up North to take a few photos.  Luckily the rain held off.

I made a bracelet for Taylor, I had a photo of her dress and picked the beads and the design.  I waited to fit it at the last minute, I had to add a few more beads and make it a tad longer.  The second fitting was perfect!

Peyote Stitch bracelet with a multi faceted sparkly heart shaped button.

But first she got this wrist corsage.

Getting the flowers!

They went out for an early meal and then went to the school for group photos.

Then they came back and got the paparazzi!

Taylor and Noah

Part of the paparazzi (Noah’s Mom) fixing his flower.

After the photos we went back to the house, and soon it was time for the Grand March.

The first go round was very serious…

The second time was much cuter.  Noah had a Fire Extinguisher and Taylor threw candy into the crowd.   I took it that he was a hot date and she was a sweet date! 

The kids all had fun, some had horse head masks, others had shades and Hawaiian Leis, some even had grass skirts and coconut bras. But my favorite…

comfy feet!

After the dance the kids were all headed by bus to an all night venue of activities, in the morning they will be returned to the school and have drawings for door prizes.  A safe way to send Prom night!  There were 26 couples that went to this small town prom.

Spring busting out all over

I walked through the yard looking for spring.

Wild Roses

Double Flowering Plum.  I know you have to look real hard…but the buds are there.

Sedum that someone should weed.

Lilac buds

I know it isn’t much, but Spring in Minnesota might finally be here. I haven’t carried my parka away yet.  No sense in rushing the season.

We have one Robin who spends most all of his day singing high in a tree.  Calling for a mate… I hope she shows up soon.  Right now he still sounds hopeful.

Chance : Looking Handsome

I knew something was rotten in Denmark when Far Side set the alarm so she and I could leave the house real early.  Yup I was right…she took me to the groomers…she said “Give him the works, with hypo allergenic shampoo and NO perfume”…then she left.

She came along to rescue me later that afternoon and she remembered to bring the bowl of ice water….cause getting handsome makes you real thirsty.  Far Guy said “Don’t they have water there?”  Far Side said “Yes they probably do, but unless he is coaxed he won’t drink their water.” She knows me well.

I am real handsome now, my white is white again and I am trimmed all over. 

The grass is turning green again and I spend most of my day outside herding squirrels and crows when the weather is nice…like in not windy…I hate the wind.

I made it through the winter.  Somedays I have to wear the special halter cause I need help getting up and down the steps but for the most part I am doing real good for 11 1/2 years old…going on 12.

Finally a Robin and other birds

Spring might be here!

We finally had one lousy Robin high in one of the Oak trees singing it’s heart out last evening.

This not so great photo is the proof!

Earlier in the evening we were at the neighbors where Robins have been hanging around for days.

We also watched a Bluebird.

Along our nightly route we saw a Hawk and then Turkey Vultures devouring a Raccoon carcass.  No deer but our ride may have been a tad early for them.

We had a beautiful day, it was about 58F or 14C eh!  Far Guy was busy all day long with outside projects.  I Spring Cleaned the Dining Room, it would have been done before but my Cook Book Collection required some extra cleaning reading.

Wistful Wednesday : Grandma Tracie’s Brother “Charlie”

Charles Henry Frederick Carl became known as “Charlie.”

So what do I know about Charlie?  He was born the fourth of fourteen children and the second son.  He had two older sisters and one older brother Frederick Ernest Albert better known as “Albert.”  Charlie was born  on November 1 1884.  His siblings were stairs steps at ages 3, 2 and 1.

Charlie grew up, he married ( In about 1904) Nettie D Copp who was born in Nebraska about 1883.  They had three children together Loucille ( or Lucille or Lucile) who lived in California, Curtis Feb 6 1909 to June 5 1971 who never married as far as I can tell and Mable who died before her Father Charlie died.

Charlie and Nettie farmed and nearing retirement they were custodians at the Harrison County Home until it was abandoned. 

Charlie died on September 15 1947, a Saturday afternoon of a heart attack while mowing his lawn at his house on North Third Avenue in Logan Iowa. He was 62 years old.
 
This is a photo from the photo album that Aunt Skinnie  (Frances) kept.  As far as I know this is the only photo that this part of the family has of Charlie and Nettie.

Grandma Tracie never talked about her brothers, I didn’t know she had brothers for a long time.  She had four brothers Albert died in 1958, Charlie in 1947, Ferd or “Ted” in 1941 and Fred in 1967.   So they were all gone and rather than speak ill of the dead she didn’t talk about them at all. 

From stories handed down one was a horsethief and the others left their farms and their bank loans in the middle of the night in late 1929 or early 1930 and no one knew where they were for years.

Firsts

I saw and captured my first photo of a Butterfly this spring.

I believe this is an Eastern Comma Butterfly. I didn’t take Entomology in College, I took Soils that semester. I helped some of my friends collect bugs but that is all.

I am still waiting for the first Robin in our yard.  “She Who Sees Robins First” ( my sister in law) had one in her yard on Saturday.  There were twenty or so Robins at Josh and Missys all last week…they are at the end of our driveway but do you suppose we have any in our yard…no.  Our neighbors must have real tasty bugs in their lawns.

I am patient, sooner or later they will be in our yard…I bet if I started up the lawn mower they would magically appear.

Back to the Butterfly, I think they overwinter and hatch out in early spring… this one seemed sleepy and slow…hence the photograph!

It is fun to see something emerge from a winter’s nap.

Far Guy thought he heard a Loon down on the lake.  I sat outside for a long time one evening and didn’t hear a thing but a siren drawing near and then receeding far away.

Eighteen

Maddie was eighteen years old yesterday. 

It seems like only yesterday that she was born.  She once said she was switched at birth.  I told her “I was there when you took your first breath, I cut the cord and I left Intensive Care with you and your nurse when your Mom had to stay behind.  I didn’t leave your side until you were given back to your Mom.” Switched was not a possibility.

Our oldest daughter Trica with Savannah and Maddie. April 1998

When she was little some of her hair stood straight up.

She is still trying to find out what color hair she should have, yesterday it was black.  She is planning a trip to Wyoming to check out a school there.  She thinks she wants to be a Vet Tech now, a few weeks ago she thought about being a Nurse, I am not certain she knows exactly what she wants to do…but she will figure it out.  She says now that she is an adult she can get a tattoo or piercing without parental permission and she can get into the casino.

We went out for Sunday dinner to celebrate the birthdays.  Maddie was eighteen yesterday and today her Mother is …well older than she was yesterday.
Happy Birthday Trica and Maddie!