Catch up

I am still real tired as is Far Guy.  He has seen the Doctor for a follow up and is still wheezing and coughing. ( The Doctor says that this flu/crud takes time to recover from.) Next week we go to the University of Minnesota for an appointment.

I am finished with Physical Therapy for my injured hamstring/sit bone.  The next step is injections...they suggested that I see how it goes. I do the whirlpool and heat packs here at home.

I saw the Hand Surgeon, I have Dupuytren's Contracture.  He will do surgery once my fingers start to curl....he said it is slow moving and right now only one finger is affected.  I am to keep massaging my carpal tunnel scar tissue daily...he won't do surgery on that either until my arm sleeps during the day.  He said "use what ever pillows you can to support that whole arm all night long."

We attended the Confirmation Party for our Great Niece Hailey on Sunday, it was a nice party with lunch at my other baby brother's home.

We got to see new baby Erwin he has a head full of black hair! He looks a bit like his brother Harlow.  Erwin is now 12 days old.  He weighed 9 Ibs  7 oz when his was born.  Our niece Meg is very busy with four children under the age of six.  Erwin is # 14 Grand for my other baby brother.

My baby brother and his bride are here for the summer at their home on the lake.  We haven't seen much of them as we have been recuperating.  We did get to see our two nephews Logan and Kirk and Great nephew Turner briefly.  They flew in for the weekend to work on a Zipline.  Logan lives in Seattle and Kirk in New Jersey. They will be back later in the summer.

Only two Doctor appointments this week... practically a week off.

I am still crocheting nests for Wildlife Rescue Groups.  It is something that doesn't take lots of concentration!

There you are all caught up.

A Nuthatch at the suet feeder.  His nickname is Assup.

Far Side

Wistful Wednesday : 1961

I found this old photo from 1961

I was ten years old. 

That is most likely my birthday cake.  My baby brother would have been seven and my other baby brother almost one.

This photo was taken in the first remodeled kitchen at the farm.

My mother made my baby brothers shirt and that bib overhauls my other baby brother is wearing.
She sewed the curtains too they were a pale yellow with a brown design. 

Note the days of the week flour sack embroidered towels hanging next to the old rotary dial wall phone...with a short cord...it was beige.

The plaster of paris fruit hung in the old kitchen too...and must have been a favorite of my Moms since it appears in the new kitchen.  The new kitchen had birch cupboards with stainless steel hardware...and a double sink.  The linoleum on the floor was a medium green color...it was a tiny hex pattern...I scrubbed it many times.
Far Side

Brothers

My brothers had a busy day, first they set up a Stingray Tree Tent.  I heard they didn’t read the instructions. My older brother is collecting “cool toys”…I asked him what was next on the list a few weeks ago…this is it. His grands are gonna love it!

It is a way cool tent.  You hop on the bottom part and then open the zippered trap door and go “upstairs.”  It is anchored to three trees.

Far Guy is inside.

You can lay on either level, the top one being the one with no bugs.

We have skeeters now.

After a quick trip to town for steaks, they got some landscape bricks from us and built a firepit to cook up the steaks.  I made potato salad.  The meal was rounded out with other salads, fruit and Smores. My parents and my Aunt Anna joined us…then they all went fishing and we came home to fed Chance and woodcarve until the skeeters drove us inside.

My Brother

Fifty-Five years ago today was a monumental day in my life. I was two and a half years old. My brother was born, I had to learn to share my parents attention. He had colic, he made everyone tired. My parents walked the floor with him for many, many months.

I learned many things by having a brother, how to accurately pitch a baseball while he played either catcher or batter. We played "horse" on our improvised basketball court, we practiced game winning free throws for hours. We played badminton in the front yard. We went fishing and swimming together. We learned to hunt and shoot a rifle together. We learned how to ride a motorcycle as young teens. We learned to drive the old farm truck around in the grain fields. We both joined 4 H at the same time. I guess I am a bit of a tomboy..because of my brother.
In the winter we played endless card games like War, and Rummy. Checkers, Chinese Checkers, Sorry, Monopoly and Parcheesi were our favorite board games. We collected Baseball cards together.

When we got older sometimes we were a bit physical with each other, I was bigger and stronger..so I usually won. We would take turns slugging each other in the upper arms..the first one to cry lost. We played a terrible game, where you spit on two of your fingers and then hit the other one on the exposed forearm..welts would line up on his poor arms. We played the horrible pocket knife game (Chicken) with bare feet, both of us escaped any major stab wounds to our feet..either the knife was dull or we were good knife throwers. We had major arm wrestling competitions..sometimes I would let him win those.

My brother loves sports, he lives and breathes football, softball and soccer. In his free time..he coaches, referees and umpires in the rain..because he lives in Oregon..far away from Minnesota. I miss him some days, like today..when I would just like to grab him and give him a big hug. Happy Birthday to my brother! :)

The summer of 1954, our Dad , my brother and me! I was amazed by this photo, I never realized before how much my brother looks like Dad.