Orange/Green Trees

It is about time I give you an update about those orange trees that were damaged by some kind of corporate crop overspray last Fall.

I was told by some “other” horticultural people that nothing could be proved.  It was almost as though they wanted me to shut up…imagine that.

They are showing some recovery, the new growth is green…but they still look a lot orange/different.

Since we drive by this stand of trees when we go to town, I can keep an eye on them. If they were my trees I would be a tad angry.   Hopefully they will recover completely over the next few years.

The pea field across from us was sprayed with Round Up before the peas were harvested…I think I reported on this blog that one day they were green and  in a few days they turned brown.  They have worked up the field and are irrigating it again.  The Canada Geese still like to spend evenings there.

 

That is the tree and field report for today.

Tiger Lilies

A long time ago Uncle Otto gave me some Tiger Lilies for the wildgardens that weren’t so wild back then.   They bloomed wonderfully then the deer found them….you can imagine what was left.  It didn’t matter how much special “deer stuff” I sprayed on them…they ate them flowers and all.

This year they have re emerged and are finally blooming.

There are even a few at the woods edge, where lilies were never planted.  Those deer or  birds must have helped spread seed.

I was happy to see these, they reminded me of the gardener that so graciously shared with me so long ago.

My Mother always had Tiger Lilies in her garden at the farm…out past the old outhouse…later exactly where the old outhouse was…the lilies liked it there.

We need rain, the grass is turning brown in sunny spots, the brush in the woods is turning yellow…leaves crunch underfoot in the yard.

 

Little Dancers

The Pow Wow took place last night nearby.  We went to watch the Grand Entry and to have some supper, I had taco in a bag and Far Guy had a fry bread burger and fries.

The flag ceremonies are always impressive, they honor the flags and our veterans.

It is always fun to photograph the dancers.

This year I tried to capture the smallest dancers.

A little Jingle Dress Dancer holding someones hand…might have been an older sister.

A feathers flying dancer…he loved those feathers!

This little Fancy Shawl Dancer must like horses, even her shawl was lined with horses and on the back of her shawl was another horse.

Pony tail flying dancer!

It was a fun evening, we had a spot to sit in the shade after a fairly warm day the shade was a welcome relief.   This was a busy weekend in our area.  In Detroit Lakes “We Fest” was going on and over in Park Rapids it was the Logging, Legends and Loons Celebration. We attended neither… too many people. 

The Dixie

A long, long time ago there was a summertime eating place in town, over on east highway 34.  It was called “Dixie Drive In.”  It was a fun place, all the teenagers hung out there or on Main Street in front of Schmiders.   Sometimes we drove back and forth between the two spots… up Main Street for three blocks make a U turn onto the other side of Main Street and back out to the Dixie.

The Dixie had car hops they would take your order and then you would roll up your window a bit and they would hang the food tray on your car window.   Jolynn our neighbor used to be a car hop at the Dixie from 1963-1965…they didn’t make much an hour she said “We started off at 50 cents and hour and after three years I made 75 cents an hour, plus we had to pay for any food trays spilled.”  One time a June Bug landed on her face while she was about to put a tray on the car window…the food and drinks went all over on the people inside the car.  Funny now but not at the time.

Cars were parked on either side of a center walkway.  There was probably room for 16 cars under the canopy…rain or shine you could drive in!

It was a place to see who was with who…a bit of teenage gossip. “Can you believe he is with her?”  Laughing, talking, visiting back and forth, climbing into someone else's car just to talk…radios playing on a warm summer night….cars starting up and leaving or cars cutting their engines and coasting in…arriving.

A hamburger and a chocolate malt…that was my favorite meal there.

Far Guy liked the hamburgers and the tator tots.   We took our children there when they were little.  I ordered some onion rings…Trica was convinced that they were boogers.  In later years it was a walk up place your order and hang around the window until your order was ready.

The signs have been in storage since the building was torn down… the building was replaced with a steel building that has several offices in it.

The signs showed up this week at Dickie’s place and we stopped and asked if we could take a photo.

The Dixie is only a memory now…a good one!

Adventures in Home Infusions

Home infusions can be an adventure.

Some days are even a tad exciting.

I opened a long handled sterile swab and it flew out of my hand; it seemed like it did a double loop in the air hit the fridge and then the floor…not so sterile anymore. There is no five second rule with sterile “stuff.”  Well that is why they make alcohol preps and I had lots of them.  

Did ya know that a product called skin barrier…which helps protect your skin from the adhesive also sticks to your sterile gloves?

If you have the needle pointed at the port target a bit too much at an angle it won’t go in…stops just like that…I had heard this could happen… OH Lordy…I eased off the needle just a bit and pointed it downward…in like flynn.

We are clamp stupid…both of us.  Yesterday we tried to start the IV and it just sat there…clamps…there are two of them….we are idiots sometimes. Far Guy was just about ready to start cussing.  We did the same thing when it came time to push the saline…clamps won’t let you push in even a drop. Clamp on..clamp off.

I am training Far Guy how to mix the medication…it takes about an hour. Then it takes us about 45 minutes to do the infusion itself.  We don’t answer the phone when we are in the infusion process. There are enough distractions to deal with…making sure we follow sterile procedures as much as possible.

If you know of anyone struggling with chronic bronchitis or early onset emphysema they should be tested for Alpha 1 Antitrypsin Deficiency.  If Far Guys deficiency had been caught earlier he wouldn’t have so much lung damage.  The blood test is free…I had it done…our daughter Trica and our granddaughters are awaiting their results.

Far Guy gets real tired after the infusion.  He got an injection of Kenalog which helps with the shortness of breath.  That injection can last up to three months…BUT the Shot Nurse in the local Clinic didn’t know where to administer the injection…so she gave it to him in his arm…instead of his buttocks…where there is more muscle and the shot lasts longer.  Go figure you would think a Shot Nurse would know a thing or two or three. I was D.I.S.C.O U.R.A.G.E.D.

We are trying to do the best we can…and don’t need inept help…we are inept enough on our own.

Fields of Sunshine

Thank you Mr./Mrs. Farmer for planting sunflowers for me to enjoy… and everyone else that passes by.

Far Guy wanted to run an errand in town, it was partly sunny…could we stop by the sunflower field?  The answer was yes…what fun!  Chance and I waited together in the car whilst Far Guy ordered the cake for his Class Reunion and talked with Jackie about the posters that they will put up on Main Street. ( They are the class babysitters.) After a quick stop at the Post Office we were on our way home and stopped at the Sunflower Field.

If I were a farmer I would only plant Sunflowers and Flax…that’s it..only the real pretty crops.  The crops that make you smile!

The bees were busy.

Some of the heads  are starting to turn downward already.   One sunflower head can have between 1,000 and 2,000 seeds.  They turn downward naturally to avoid raindrops damaging the seeds with moisture and it also makes it more difficult for birds to eat the seeds.

There are many flowers yet to open..some are still following the sun…heliotropism…that is when sunflower buds (before the yellow ray flowers appear) follow the sun and return to the east before dawn to await the morning sun.  Following the sun makes them grow faster and keeps them cozy warm.  When the ray flowers appear(the bright yellow ones)they stop moving and  get down to the business of making seeds….and they all face east.

I hope the photos made you smile, I know I will enjoy them next winter when it is whatever below zero.

Wistful Wednesday : The Lemon Family

One set of Far Guy’s Great Great Grandparents were Lemons. 

Napoleon Bonaparte Lemon born May 10 1819 in Indiana.  He was the son of Mathew Lemon who was born in Germany.  * No mention of his mothers name?   He died December 20, 1905.   N.B. married Lucretia Allen who was born December 17, 1824 in Indiana.  She was the daughter of John and Mary Stewart Allen who were both born in New York.  She died June 10, 1911.

Both N.B. and Lucretia are buried in Linnell Cemetery just down the road from us.  Sadly I have no old photos of them. 

Napoleon and Lucretia were married possibly in Indiana.  They had seven children.

John Wesley Lemon born December 26, 1845

Zackary Taylor Lemon September 27 1948 in Monroe Wisconsin.  He died October 1, 1929.  Married Sarah Jane Slanaker.  She was known as Aunt Janie. They moved to Carsonville Township in October 1880 from Deerfield Township, Chickasaw County Iowa.  They were one of the first three white families to settle in this area. They had one child.

Phoebe Jane Lemon born November 27, 1849 in Monroe Wisconsin. She died November 13, 1936.  She married John Snyder/Schneider/Snider…John was a Civil War veteran.  They came to Carsonville Township with Zach and Aunt Janie. They had twelve children.

James Riley Lemon born November 16, 1851 in Monroe Wisconsin, he died August 2, 1921.  he married Thena Susan Grant.  They moved to Carsonville Township in 1886. They had twelve children.

Robert B. Lemon was born May 15, 1855 in Monroe Wisconsin.  He died December 27, 1919.  He married  Martha Etta Michels.  Martha was born May 27, 1862 in Winneshiek County Iowa.  She died July 19 1943.  They had eight children. (One of which is Far Guy’s Grandmother Almeada Clara) In 1885 Robert and Martha were living in Basset Iowa but in 1887 they are living in Carsonville Township, Becker County Minnesota.  I wonder what the B. stood for…maybe Bonaparte?

Prudence Lemon was born July 23, 1857 in Monroe Wisconsin.  She died September 28 1907.  She married a Mr. Hillard.  They had three children, later she married a Mr. Yost.

Emma (Amy) Lemon was born December 18, 1860 in Monroe Wisconsin, she died July 21, 1944.  She was married to Moses Dodge Cummings they had two children.

Well there is a bit of research to do backwards on this part of the family.

What was Napoleon Bs mothers name?   Where were N.B. and Lucretia (I wonder did they called her Lucy?) married?   What did they do in Monroe Wisconsin beside have children?  What happened to John Wesley who was born in 1845?  When did they travel to Carsonville Township?  and why? ( I assume it had something to do with three of their children settling here.) What was Robert’s middle name…starts with a B.? 

Well I guess that will do for now.  I have all the names of those children mentioned….forward research should be updated at some point.  Just think N.B. and Lucretia had 38 grandchildren.  I have one copy of a booklet that was written in 1983 about this family…I bet there is more info online than what I have here. More resources become available every day for those into Genealogy.

Well…I have this all set for next winter when I might have some time on my hands.

In the yard

The Hummingbirds are still active, I think we have three of them although they never visit the feeder at the same time.  They do sit in the trees and wait for a safe opportunity to visit the feeder.

Some birds have left, the Robins and Goldfinches have moved on.  Our resident Nuthatches, Chickadees and Woodpeckers remain.   The Yellow Bellied Sapsucker is here once in a great while. 

The Liatris and Black Eyed Susans are blooming in the wildgardens.

You know Fall is approaching when you see the first of the Asters blooming.

Aster August 1 2015

The nights have turned cool.  Into the 50’s F or 10 to 14C eh!  If you leave the windows open you close them by morning.  Good sleeping weather.

Evening Drive

Sunday evenings ride gave us a deer count of five.   Most of those deer were in the pea field down the road a bit.  Steve grows peas to feed to his hogs.  The peas were beaten down by winds last week…last year the deer were belly high in the peas.

  They were pretty hungry.

Last week the corporate farmers combined the pea field right across from our driveway.

We are glad that dusty mess is over with.  The wind was out of the west that day and blew that dust right at us.

Last night the Canada Geese were homesteading on that pea field.

Apparently they left some peas behind for the geese.  I didn’t know geese ate peas but they must like them too.

Sunset and the neighbors barn.

 

Someday Projects

I finished the photo frames, yes I painted them and then sealed them and put in the new photos and hung them up.  Cross a project off the list!

Before

After

I “found” another frame upstairs it doesn’t match exactly…oh well.  My OCD is controllable some days.

I decided on a basic brown paint, I may switch the accent colors in the bath from green to brown sometime over the winter.  I like browns…brown is an easy color.

Finally got my permit to carry in the mail.  In Minnesota they are good for five years.  This was something I wanted to accomplish since last winter when we purchased my new handgun.  Far Guy has his Permit to Carry also, we took the class together…he is a better shot than I am, but with practice we will both get better.  We learned a few things in the class….so it wasn’t a total waste of time…I could have done with less stories.

Summer is 2/3 over, August is usually our hottest and driest month of the year.  So far our grass is still green and growing.  I mowed again yesterday mulching up some of the leaves that fell in the gale force winds the other day.  I also weeded our itsy bitsy flower bed.

I was able to complete a few more Christmas Ornaments, the count now stands at 49.  Progress is slow but sure.

County Fair

Our County Fair is this week.  We decided to go over on Friday because that seemed to be the coolest day to go.  Years ago the fairgrounds used to be grassy with shade trees…not so much anymore, it was dusty.

We walked through the Commercial Exhibits and picked up another reusable insulated grocery bag!  Then we headed to the 4-H exhibits to see how my cousin’s daughters did.

Bailey my cousin Scott’s daughter is a great seamstress.

This is her last year in 4-H.

My cousin Todd brought his daughter Sally over last week to show me the photos that Sally wanted to enter….she had about 12 photos and could only enter two.

Sally’s Turtle

Sally’s Black Squirrel

Both girls are as sweet as they can be, their Dad’s and Mothers should be very proud of them…I sure am.

There is lots to do at the fair…you can milk a cow.

Look at the spuds and wonder if the Amazon Box is really such a good display piece?

Visit the Allan Herscheel 3-Abreast Merry Go Round that used to belong to a friend of ours.  The horses are showing some wear from being handled roughly.  In the olden days the horses were wrapped in their own padded quilts before they were hung in the truck.

It was a good day at the fairgrounds. 

Nuts or little Assups

We have been entertained by the Nuthatch babies (Assups) this week.  They can fly just fine, but they don’t want to go onto the suet holder to eat….so they sit on the branch and squawk and carry on until their Mother or Father puts suet in their mouth.

It is hard to tell the babies from the parents.

A parent feeding a baby.   The only time the squawking stops is when their mouths are full.  One day there was two parents and two babies…there was lots of noise. We have been encouraging the babies to go onto the feeder…. we make a great cheering section!

Almost a Quiet Day

Chance and I had a day at home yesterday.  Far Guy was off with a friend for the day, it was an Air Force Base trip and took all day.   They left early and Chance howled up a storm because he was left behind…just what I wanted to wake up to.  Eventually I convinced Chance that the world was not coming to an end.  I had a rotten night…nightmares filled with Undertakers…go figure.  I was certain that someone died at 3:45 AM but the whole day went on without death news. 

We made new Hummingbird syrup and hung up suet for the birds and then tsk tsked about the sunflower that our friends the %^$# squirrels broke off.  It was getting nice and tall too….the buggers.  The wind was gale force all day long, the yard is littered with leaves and branches. A certain dog was positive that trees would come crashing down on him if he was outside ALL by himself.

I worked on Christmas ornaments.  I also worked in my garage for awhile….sorting through a bunch of Shiny Brites from a garage sale.  Then I headed for the greenhouse/woodshop and looked over my glass projects.

Brought out a new glass flower that was a pain in the butt.

It was supposed to be six piece glass flower but turned out to be seven because the blue goblet on the bottom cracked so I glued a vase inside the goblet…it may last awhile …we will see.  I glue one piece at a time and wait a few days and glue more as the pieces come together over a week or so.  I have lots of room out there and I make good use of it!

I put supper in the slow cooker, then I decided to paint my picture frames and have a nap.  Those frames will need several coats of paint.

Far Guy came home to a sleepy me and an overjoyed dog.  So ends another day in the fast lane.

Wistful Wednesday: Almeada

What good is a first name if no one ever calls you by that name?  Far Guys Maternal Grandmother’s real name was Almeada Clara.   She was mostly known as Meade..or Meady, but I have heard a few people refer to her as Clara.

I found an old polaroid of Meade and an unknown bride.  Near as we can figure one of the Nurses was getting married and stopped by to see some of the residents.  Far Guy’s Dad took this Polaroid Photo.  It is not marked, I sent a copy to a few relatives and no one knows who the bride is.

The only thing I can figure out for sure is that it was taken in the Nursing Home in Detroit Lakes Minnesota and it was taken before 1990…because Meade died that year.

However this photo reminded me of two things.  Notice all the glasses and cups on Grandma Meades tray.  She liked to line up her coffee, milk and juice just so…and her water was nearby.  By the time this photo was taken her eyesight was not very good…and if the drinks were lined up she could find them.  At this point in her life she had been deaf  for 40 plus years (Tuberculosis).   Her Magic Writing Pad/Magic Slate and a magnifying glass are on the bed.  She never learned sign language so everything had to be written on the Magic Slate, she would read it and them answer verbally.  She talked quite loud and had a very distinctive voice.

Back in the 1970’s and 1980’s we would stop to visit her every few weeks…she loved seeing the girls.  They were mostly scared of her, the loud voice and when she would reach out to touch or hug them they would become frightened.

Far Guy’s Mom came to visit her Mother regularly… she visited at least once a week if not twice.  Far Guy’s Dad patiently drove her the 45 miles over and back again from the visits.  One time Meade asked her “Who is that man you are with?  He sure has been hanging around a long time.”

That story when related to us made us all smile.