Snow and Sparkly Things

There are four inches of snow at the snow stick.  So we must have got a whopping two inches in that last snowfall.

The white snows helps clean up things a bit.

These are my Cousin Todd’s trees.  The sky was blue and the temperatures were cool but we went for a ride anyway.

The Mother and Daughter bracelets arrived at their destination safely.

They sent me a thank you photo!  These are Peyote Even Stitch Bracelets made with Japanese Delica Beads.  I am experimenting with some different patterns.  I like this pattern very much.

Staying busy

We got some snow…finally.  I was too busy cleaning kitchen drawers and cupboards to get a photo…between that and watching the last of last seasons Blacklist and a nap the daylight was shot.

It turned cold and the wind is wicked.  I went to a meeting with Far Guy just to make sure he didn’t run off with some other gal who likes to cook keep him company.

I think I have the taxes ready to go to the accountant…one more go around and I will be done with them.  Yeah for me.

Bought some of those Superball 500 Million Dollar Tickets…so now I have Island Homes and other nonsense on my mind.  Lets see a home in Hawaii, maybe another in the Bahamas and a summer island home up on Lake Kabetogama or Namakan …maybe with a houseboat on the dock.  AND a new Dodge Charger…red.

I finished Jen’s bracelet and a couple of other “special” bracelets and got them in the mail.  I should have taken photos of the finished projects…but I didn’t.

Far Guys Medicare Card is supposed to be in the mail…they said it could take up to four weeks…they must have a mail room that sucks.  After six months Social Security finally changed our address…talk about slow movers.  We talk to them just about everyday….I am certain that we have a phone log record a mile long.

 

Wagon full of Rose Wave Petunias at my parents home last summer.

Wistful Wednesday: Far Guy

Far Guys Air Force career began in 1972 with an envelope from The Selective Service System.  Years before he had been assigned a number during the Vietnam Lottery.  His birthdate drew a 89.  The letter came in the mail and his Mother cried.

I was stunned but indifferent…it is what it is.  He would pass the physical and be drafted into the Army which meant he would end up on the ground in Vietnam.  Unless the Air Force would take him…they did and he was to be trained as a Non Destructive Inspection Specialist after Basic Training at Lackland AFB Texas.

Well he went to Texas alright but instead of heading for Chanute AFB in Illinois he was headed for Lowry Field in Denver Colorado.  Somehow the Non Destructive Inspection class was cancelled or full.  What now?  They would put him where the Air Force needed men the most.

He would become a 462.  A 462 was the Air Force Specialty code signifying the Airman would be a weapons loader including machine gun repair and missile launcher repair.  At Lowry he was trained on all weapons and missiles…including nuclear weapons.

This was his class that he graduated with in 1973…probably around June 1st 1973.

Far Guy is third from the left in the back row.

In the photo is an Air to Air Missile and the smaller rockets pictured  are 2.75 Rockets.  They have different colors depending on the warheads.  Blue is inert.  Some rockets had white phosphorus or red phosphorus, some had dart like flechettes one inch long, some were made for air bursts and some for point detonating.

We enjoyed our time in Colorado.  We lived a couple of miles from the base in a one bedroom furnished apartment with a pool.  Every chance we got we would head for the mountains…Trica was just little she celebrated her first birthday in Denver.  Our dog Snuffer was two years old, there was a field across from the apartment building where we walked her.  We were there from mid February 1973 to about June 1 1973.

Holes in trees

The  rat- a –tat- tatting noise echos through the woods.  It sounds like something is being attacked.

Someone is looking for a new home.

The woodchips fall to the forest floor.

This tree is at the end of our short driveway…luckily the old piss popple tree (Aspen) is leaning away from the road…and the wind is hardly ever from the east.

This is the culprit and we are feeding him.  He is a male Pileated Woodpecker. The bird book says “His diggings oval to oblong holes, indicated his presence.”

That and his rat- a- tat- tatting.  FYI usually they will not bother a healthy tree…just ones that have bugs and are dying anyway.

Mason and I are watching this tree.  Mason ( Great nephew) is our resident lumberjack or lumberMason he lives next door.

Baby News

We got a new Great Nephew.  He was born to our niece Megan and her husband and joins big brother Teddy.  Eight pounds four ounces …he seemed so little when I held him.  It has been about a year since I held a newborn.

Jen offered to take photos of him.  He was either asleep or crying.  I got to take a few photos too.

His name is Harlow.  An awfully big name for such a little boy.  Although he is very strong and holds his head up really well for being just six days old.  He has lots of hair on the back of his head which is very dark… he seemed just perfect to me.

My other baby brother has left me in the dust…this is his eleventh grandchild.

I am crocheting Harlow a blanket…hopefully I will get it done before it gets too warm outside.  I  had my eye on some bulky soft yarn for a long time and when I found out he was a boy I picked out my favorite little boy color yarn…but it is still in the bag on my desk.

West Baden Springs: The Lobby and Atrium

Too bad I didn’t learn how to play chess.  Apparently is was “the game” back in the day.

The lobby had several chess boards ready to go. 

The lobby was decorated with many stained glass windows…perhaps left over from the seminary days.

This photo gives you some idea of the grand style in the lobby.  There were many seating areas and several library type rooms.

This is the atrium.  An architectural beauty.

The sky lights left in some warm light on a chilly day.

The center decoration must be made of tile.

All around the perimeter were ornate tile floors.

There were seating areas all over.  There was even a Grand Piano. And more chess sets.

There were balconies that opened into the atrium.

It was a fun place to visit.  Next time I am staying for lunch and a stroll on the grounds.

West Baden Springs : The Veranda

Oh my goodness that veranda was inviting!  It was a tad chilly so not many people were outside.  Far Guy’s sister is on the veranda.

I can only imagine the people that strolled here after dinner.

I had a blast on the front steps taking photographs.

Welcoming rocking chairs just invited you to sit for a spell.

I noticed the swastika on the railing…there was a sign that said “ The West Baden Springs Hotel Veranda Railing was constructed in 1915, long before the Swastika  Symbol was used in WWII.   Many cultures throughout the past 3,000 years utilized the Swastika Symbol to represent Life, Sun, Power, Strength and Good Luck.”

Perhaps you would like to go inside?   Tomorrow the Lobby and Atrium.

West Baden Springs

Back in November, November 2nd in fact…a day after the big wedding we went for a ride into the countryside of Indiana.

Looks like something out of a fairy tale doesn’t it?  Flags waving in the towers…damsels waiting to be saved!

The main gate.

Now that is some driveway.

It was chilly and it froze that morning.

Geraniums surrendered to the frost.

The Mums up on the veranda looked pretty good.

West Baden Springs Hotel is on the list of Historic Hotels in America.  It was built in 1902…and has quite a history.  It was a luxury mineral springs resort, a Army Hospital, a seminary and a college before it was rescued by a billionaire and partially restored…it reopened in 2007 there is a Casino nearby…French Lick.  It seems the only way the hotel could be completely saved was to partner with a casino group.

Tomorrow The Veranda

Quilt Barn in Wisconsin

I love old barns especially “Quilt Barns.”    I snapped this photo last November someplace along the Interstate in Wisconsin…not sure where…east of the Cranberry Bogs.

When ever we see a Barn with a Quilt square I like to get a photo.  The  Quilt Barn movement began in Ohio and has spread to other states.  Minnesota has some in the southern part of the state.

Barns are disappearing from our countryside, soon they will just be photographs in a museum.

Wistful Wednesday: Smallpox 1920

There was a small pox epidemic here in Minnesota in 1920.  Far Guy’s Grandma apparently had it.

From the Farm Diary:

December 28 1919 Sunday  Home thought Thresa had small pox kids and myself went to PR with Leo and got vacinated Esta came home with us

A Sunday…they must have went to the Doctors home.    Grandpa being a man of many words …didn’t say much more…he helped care for Grandma.  He took Esta back home on January 5th.  I think Esta was Esta Wilson a good friend of Grandmas.

THEN  17 days after Grandma had the small pox.

January 13 1920 Tuesday Finished wood in road cut brush  Marvin took small poxs

So apparently the vaccination didn’t work or the small pox was not as severe after the vaccination.  Again being wordy Grandpa doesn’t say much of anything else…he went about his daily chores.

******

Small pox was a winter-spring disease.  1/3 of the people who got it died.  It is passed through face to face contact. The incubation period was 7 to 17 days ( some references say 2 to 3 weeks) A high fever accompanies the rash which consists of lesions filled with fluid, after one or two weeks the lesions scab over and fall off leaving scars.   The rash is distinctive as the lesions are all in the same stage of development…no new ones form after the onset.  There were two forms of small pox Variola major and Variola minor.  Small Pox was only found in humans.

Marvin would have been almost six years old and Ronald would have been two years old.

Grandma marked this photo 6 years Marvin  +  Ronald.  It was most likely taken in the summer of 1920.  Marvin is Far Guy’s Dad.

There is no mention of anyone else getting small pox.

I was vaccinated on my left arm and Far Guy was vaccinated on his right arm…we both have pox like scars from the vaccination as I am certain most of you do also.  I remember when I got my vaccination it got all red and then it formed a scab and I picked at it and made it bleed. I think they stopped giving small pox vaccinations in 1972, I have heard they have enough of the vaccine stockpiled for every person in the United States should it ever become a problem again.

 

Chilly and cranky

It was –13 F on Monday morning, that is –25C eh!  Some people said they had colder temperatures than that..well whoopee ding for them.  Once it gets below zero it is just COLD for my old bones.  We will be cold for a few days and Thursday it may warm up again.

Far Guy still does not have his Medicare Card.  We have done all we can do…so we wait.

I still do not have my W2 forms from the museum…last week the treasurer said it was a problem with her computer, this week she says it is not her problem but some accounting firms responsibility.  So we wait.

Some people should just get off their hiney and do their jobs.  What do they do all day anyway?  In this day and age of email and faxes how and why would it take so long to do a simple task.

I will wait until February 15 for my W2 form and then I am turning them into the IRS.  No more Mrs. Nice Lady.

I got called a nice lady yesterday…it was quite obvious that he is a new acquaintance…most of the people that know me well just laughed out loud.

Wild Turkeys February 1 2015

Area observations

The orange trees are still orange.

Some thoughts:  If the chemicals they used on the fields turned the trees orange what does it do to people who breathe it in?  Or the deer or wild turkeys…or those magnificent Bald Eagles?

We went to Detroit Lakes to the Antique Mall.  I bought some more old photos…not a surprise…it was fun to look at four different walls other than ours.  The sun was out even if it was chilly…barely above zero.

Come summer there will be road construction along Highway 34 from Height of Land to Akeley… that ought to make some tourists real happy.   They are putting in a few passing lanes on this very busy two lane highway….you know for those who must pass because everyone else is driving the speed limit yet those pulling boats and campers just have to get there faster!

 

Piles of brush on the roadsides.  I know that several areas of Lady Slippers were marked, I hope they were all dug last fall.  Whatever seeds are in the ground will be moved around a bit now…when that happened in 1969 along this road twenty years later there were many more Lady Slippers…so it is not all a bad thing.  It just looks different for now.  FYI  it takes twenty years for a Lady Slipper seed to grow into a flowering plant in the wild providing it finds exactly the right fungus to grow on.

We know lots of back roads to avoid this road and avoid them we will next summer.

Sunshine Daydream

Now that is a lovely name for a rose.  Yellow is one of my favorite colors for flowers.

Sunshine Daydream Rose

We had a little cold sunshine here yesterday.

I took a late afternoon sleep nap where I dreamt that Chance had seven puppies and I was so pleased…Far Guy couldn’t figure out how that could happen…because of course being the practical one he knows that Chance is a neutered male.  Me not so much I was enjoying the puppy breath and lots of squirming little black and white puppies crawling all over me!  I didn’t care where they came from…I was having a blast!

Then Far Guy woke me up and said “Sweetie supper is ready.”   AND there were NO puppies.  I felt like covering my head with the pillow and going back to the wonderful puppy dream.  Instead I got up and dined with the guys… a soft taco with lots of lettuce. 

Yellow Knockout Roses