Volunteers

I managed to get three sunflowers out of the five or six seedlings that were in the ground under the bird feeders.  Volunteers is what they are called, seeds you never plant but come up all by themselves to bloom.

The wild gardens have lots of volunteers.

Liatris and Rudbeckia in the wild gardens….and a whole lot of raspberry canes.  I suppose if we left them alone we would get raspberries….I mow the entire area every fall. 

Now for different types of volunteers. All the hoopla from the All School Reunion is over.  Far Guy did an excellent job getting arrangements made for his class get together of 47 years.  Just down the road Jo and classmate Barry planned their 50th Class Reunion.  I saw all the work that went into both events.  All the volunteers that made the weekend a success deserve a big thank you!  Unless you have done it yourself or helped you have no idea the hours that are spent.

We ordered prints of the photos from Far Guys Reunion and one day this week they will all go into the folder he has full of class memorabilia. The last of the bowls and misc. items left behind have been returned to their owners. All three of “the old farts” that worked so hard are exhausted and wondering what to do next …besides relax and look back on what a good time they had.

The Field: April through August

One day last April we decided to follow one spot in a nearby irrigated wheat field through to harvest.

Come on along to see the changes as the spring/summer progressed.

It was harvested last week..so ends our photo taking of that field until next year.

Bread or Cake ?

The Class of 1968 has some real gems.  Ann is one…she  baked some Artisan Bread.  On Facebook I mentioned that she should open a bakery!  At the Class Reunion she sent a whole loaf of her bread home with Far Guy…oh my you have never tasted such a wonderful bread.

It was almost too pretty to slice…but we did!  It was AWESOME.

Far Guy must really learn how to bake.  It is a King Arthur Recipe.

He brought me home a piece of the Medicare Cake too.  Chocolate…it was  good but not near as good as the bread.  We scanned a Medicare card and then Far Guy took the scan into Paintbrush and changed some things around.  He printed it out and took it to the bakery in the grocery store…I believe they have a special frosting decorating machine that does photos or scans.

Far Guy took a photo…ignore the camera strap….he is still learning.

 

Yesterday Far Guy went to town to help decorate the class float for the parade.  It was hot.  Chance and I stayed home and worked on some projects.

One of the Class of 1968 banners.

I guess their class motto was “We are not flowers in a greenhouse, but Pine trees in a storm.”

I did not remember that …but if the Class President and the Homecoming Queen say so then it is so.  Their float had some falling over Christmas trees on a flat bed trailer and people in lawn chairs. (Probably so they won’t fall over and break a hip or something.)

My Class didn’t do anything for the parade.

Chance: Left at the Groomers All Day

Far Side got me up early…I know the drill.  If just she and I go someplace it is to run an early morning errand or I am headed for the Groomer.  I like the early morning errands much better than the groomer.

Georgia was waiting for me and I about wagged my tail right off when I saw her.  Far Side ordered the usual…with emphasis on hypoallergenic shampoo and no perfume.  I had to stay a little longer than normal.  It was a real busy day for the groomer.  Usually I get a little vocal and sing for them and they call for my ride. Today I had to wait a while after I was done…Far Side called and told them to give me a cold drink of water…she knows I get so very thirsty on grooming day.   They said they would…but who knew if I drank anything or not…only me and I am not telling.  Keep them guessing thinking I was thirsting to death.

Far Side was off taking photographs and Far Guy was at his reunion…so I was stuck at the groomer…serenading everyone.

As soon as she could slowpoke Far Side came to get me, she had a thermos cup full of cool water for me…I sure slurped that down. All that singing dries you out!  On the ride home the car thermometer said 102 F or 39 C eh.  The house was cool when we got home…we ate supper and enjoyed the cool.

Then she decided she had to take my photograph.

I look tired, I am tired, going to the groomer wears me out…but I am clean and ever so handsome. At least that is what she who made me wait a long time for my ride said.

Big Weekend

This weekend is an All School reunion in Park Rapids, Minnesota.  Anyone that graduated from High School there is welcome to attend.

Far Guy being The Class of 1968’s babysitter has worked on his class scrapbook and brought it up to date.  A classmate of his dropped off a photo that she found recently.

Home Ec. (ICK) Class everyone is wearing their creations.  I am not in this photo but many of my classmates(1969) are along with a few from 1968, 1967 and 1966.  I think the photo was probably taken in 1966.

Some of the classes decorated windows downtown.  The Class of 1968 has the window in the Pawn Shop cause Royce was in the Class of 1968.

Class of 1968 Road to Medicare…they all turn 65 this year. 

Far Guy ordered a cake that looks like a Medicare Card.  He made all the arrangements for a meeting place and has banners to put up…etc. All the details have kept him busy.

I invited a former classmate from Texas and his wife out to lunch the other day, ham sandwiches, salad and fruit…I even used the good blue plates and real napkins instead of paper towels.  They are RVing it for a few weeks and were appreciative of the lunch invite.   We knew each other in High School and were friends, since then he and I managed a web site for our class…which finally became a Facebook page.  He has not been back in the area since 1979.  We had a good visit.

I am going to help out with photographs for the Class of 1965, and then come home.  There are way too many people in town this weekend for me.  The only thing my class has planned is to decorate a pontoon for a flotilla on Sunday afternoon when it will be 90 plus degrees.  The rest of the reunion weekend with beer and music so loud you cannot visit just doesn’t appeal to me.

It is our daughter Trica’s 25th Class Reunion.  They have a party planned at the bowling alley/eating establishment.

Oh Deer!

The deer are out on the bean fields in the evening.

6, 2, and 4 point bucks…

Healthy looking critters….must be all the peas and beans in their diet!

Deer silhouette

I can see you but I am too well hidden for you to see me!  A fawn with spots was trying to hide from us.

Our evening drives often include deer sightings.  Chance thinks it is great fun!

Wistful Wednesday : The Lemons Part Two

I knew the headstone had to be someplace in that cemetery.  Sometimes the names run all together in my head.  Good thing the cemetery is just a mile down the road.  Now that these graves have been “found” we will put flowers there too.

This is the headstone for Robert B. Lemon and his wife Martha E. Lemon.  They are Far Guy’s Great Grandparents on his Mother’s side of the family..

Robert B.  May 15, 1855  -  Dec. 27, 1919

Martha E. Lemon  1862 – 1943

Death Came Suddenly to Mrs. Robert Lemon, Ponsford Pioneer

Mrs. Robert B. Lemon, aged 81, one of the very early pioneers of Ponsford vicinity died suddenly Monday evening at her home.  Death followed only a few hours of illness, and came as a great shock to the relatives, neighbors and friends, as she had been up and around the house as usual earlier in the day.

The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Michels, Martha Etta Michels was born May 27, 1862 in Winneshick County Iowa where she spent her young life and grew to womanhood.

She married there almost 60 years ago to Robert Bruce Lemon and eight children were born to the union.

The family came to Becker County about the year 1885, making the trip overland by team and settled on a homestead in what is now a part of the town of Ponsford.  Mrs. Lemon had spent all the years in Carsonville Township, seeing the country develop from a wilderness into a land of fine farms and homes.

Mrs. Lemon was a splendid neighbor and friend at all times and especially in times of sorrow or distress.  In her home life she was a devoted wife, mother and grandmother.

Mr. Lemon preceded her in death December 26, 1919.

“Grandma” Lemon as she was affectionately known, is survived by three daughters and five sons, who are Mrs. Curtis Abbott,  Mrs. Ira Burlingame and Mrs. James Robinson and sons Ernest, Bernard and Robert all of Osage vicinity, Loren Lemon of Henrietta Township, Hubbard County and Frank Lemon of Nehawka, Neb.  There are 17 grandchildren, three great grandchildren, also a sister Miss Lucy Michels and a brother George Michels of Bassett, Iowa.

Funeral Services will be held Friday afternoon at 2o’clock at the Baptist church in Osage, Rev. C. H. Peters officiating.

Pallbearers will be J.A. Mc Grane, H.H. Chilton, Brice Stephens, Lawrence Siegford, Arthur Mayberry and W.T. Mc Grane.

Burial will be made in the Linnell cemetery in Carsonville township.

The son Frank, of Nehawka, Neb and grandsons Ivan Burlingame of Camp Barkeley, Texas and Hugh Robinson of Scott Field, Ill are relatives from a distance expected for the funeral.

Well that obit answered a few questions from last week.  Robert’s middle name was Bruce…and here I was expecting it to be Bonaparte!

Robert and Martha are Far Guy’s Great Grandparents, Mrs. Curtis Abbot (Almeada Clara) is his Maternal Grandmother.

I did not recall that they lived in Ponsford proper.  I know they lived just down the road from us about two miles, they farmed and the bachelor boys Ernest (Ern), Bernard (Bundt)and Robert (Dave) had a sawmill there.

From Ethel (Burlingame) Kivinen (a grandaughter) April 2009.  Ern, Dave and Bundt were bachelors and they never married.  They continued to live on the Lemon Homestead (Located South of Hwy 225, and 3/4 mile west of the Linnell Cemetery)  They had a sawmill at the farm, they farmed and took care of their Mother.  One day Dave came walking across the fields to the Burlingame’s (Amy and Ira)  Dave said “Amy needs to come home to help take care of mother.”  The next day they up and moved.   Ethel says “Grandma Martha was a heavy lady.  Grandpa Robert died of Cancer a long time ago in 1919.”

Martha is on the far right.  I don’t know who the other people are?  Could be neighbors or friends or it may be her sister Lucy and brother George from Iowa.

The lane going to the Lemon Farm.  I remember when it was a two track road, I used to watch out the bus window every morning on the way to school.

The farmstead was in the center of this photograph.  Far Guy says he can remember when the foundation of the barn was still visible.

Bit by bit I am getting this part of Far Guy’s family history together.  His Mother paper clipped a note to the newspaper clipping that has her grandmothers name and birth and death dates noted.  The newspaper clipping is taped to a piece of cardboard that nylons used to be displayed on…you know the old kind…where they were stretched on the cardboard and then packaged.  The newspaper clipping has been covered in Saran Wrap and taped securely.  I will put it away again in my Obituary box upstairs.

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!