Batty

One morning my other baby brother opened the large doors to his shop.  A bunch of bats flew out and one hit him in the nose and scratched him.

My other baby brother

After some discussion he was started on a series of rabies shots. He has one more shot to go in the series.  The shots are given in the upper arm.  He will be glad when he can put the shots behind him.

Years ago my parents had a fireplace without a screen on the chimney, the bats would come down and hang on the window of the fireplace…my brothers would get out the badminton rackets and slowly open the fireplace door to release the bats and they would swing at the bats flying around.  A great after church activity.

At our resort we watched the bats, they flew out at dusk and back in at sunrise, I would sit on the edge of the bed and watch them…they lived behind the chimney.  One year they decided to live between pieces of plastic that covered the door to nowhere…Far Guy collected a couple of bats in a peanut butter jar so the bats could go to school with one of our daughters.  As I recall…I startled them with a long handled tool and Far Guy captured a couple as they fell. (The door to nowhere was a door and a screen door about 10 feet off the ground with no steps outside the master bathroom…I put a nightstand in front of the door so it couldn’t be opened.)

When you are out on the lake at night the bats fly right over your heads.  Some tourists are unnerved with that activity. ( especially women who think that the bats will get tangled up in their hair)

We have a house that is made for bats because they eat so many bugs…skeeters are a delicacy for them.

Nowadays they say most all bats carry rabies…years ago we didn’t worry about it.

Nose and Glasses

Finally after a year and numerous visits to the eye doctor I have prescription glasses that I can read with.  It was a struggle.  You probably cannot tell but the metal frames are charcoal and torquoise.

I am happy to put that all behind me, Miss “B” was not working when I picked them up…Far Guys favorite eye glass gal was working…we will call her Miss “M” for Minnesota Nice…

Far Guy had surgery yesterday.  He had a very suspicious growth and the last time I went with him to the Doctor I mentioned it and the Doctor and I agreed that the growth needed to go…basal cell carcinoma, we hope the margins are good and it doesn’t grow back.  The Doctor took out quite a chunk, I was surprised at the amount of blood and tissue that was removed…in small towns you can go in the procedure room.  Far Guy was certain that they would take half of his nose off…but 4 stitches later he looks pretty good.  I am glad he had it done…waiting would have just made it grow and be more difficult to remove.  FYI…Compound W didn’t work and neither did honey as those were the treatments that Far Guy has been farting around with for a long time.  Enough is enough!

I am happy to spend a few days at home whilst he recouperates…quiet days…he had me so stressed out yesterday my only recourse was to have a really long nap.

Shoes

When you are young you wear pretty shoes, when you are up in years you wear comfy shoes with socks.

This is our youngest daughter and her father from my perspective.  They were talking and I had my camera in my hand…and I captured a “shoe moment.”

Our oldest daughter is struggling, Maddie is moving to Michigan and taking Hey Mikey with her…yes it is sad, we will all miss her and Hey Mikey too!   But Michigan isn’t the end of the earth although according to our oldest daughter you can see it from there, now a days with Facetime, emails etc you can keep in touch better than in the olden days of collect phone calls or for goodness sake… letters….remember them…hand written and put in the mail.

Today one of Far Guy’s cousins will bury their son he was just 50 years old and died of cancer, they would be thrilled if he had just gone to Michigan.  Last spring I had a second cousin die of cancer, I saw her Mom over the weekend and she shared a photo that looks just like her daughter in the clouds. I am certain she wishes her daughter was just in Michigan.

We cannot travel in anyone elses shoes, nor would I want to.  My heart goes out to everyone that has suffered the death of a child. 

 

Old World Photos

Busy me, listening to the chatter of four girls and one little boy, all the while giving them some direction!  It was a good evening and we got some good photos. They all love Chance and everyone got a photo with him too!

I did some interesting “stuff” in Lightroom to a few of the photos.  A little different it is called Old World.

This photo makes me smile.

I took the time to take a photo of each child with their Mama because multiple children seem to always be grouped together. Each child was also photographed by themselves.

The girls ended up with flowers in their hair!  This is my niece Stacey and her children.

Wistful Wednesday: Jordan, Gavin and Aubrey

Everyone is getting so tall! 

The twins don’t look like twins anymore…and Miss Aubrey is such a sweetheart.  They came on bikes or stopped by just to say hi like when they used to live next door…but now they live far away and just come to their Grandparents a few times a year.  These kids give the best hugs…and you don’t have to ask for them either!  They stopped to visit and pet Chance and tell him he was a good old boy.  They met Far Guy along the road walking and were encouraging…even though he is an old guy. 

The Twins in November 2010 back then they wore glasses.  I snapped this photo when they were laying on the floor at their house watching tv one afternoon.

Aubrey  November of 2010

Seems like just yesterday that they were little.

Say Cheese

I have been taking photos lately… mostly people.

 

“Well… I already said cheese today!”

This little gal is a corker, she and I could get in lots of trouble together if only she lived closer.  She is one of my baby brother’s grandchildren. She and I share the same middle name …Joy.

12 kids

A half a dozen Grands from each of my brothers (They have more than this…one has 8 and one has 13)

They are a few months old (in the baby carrier) to age 14.

We went on an adventure to the Tamarac Wildlife Refuge.  They have a program called Wild Wednesday for children ages 3 to 7 but other ages of children are welcome.

The program was bugs and butterflies.   A volunteer read two stories about bugs and another gave a presentation on the life stages of the Monarch Butterfly, he had all the life stages in covered containers so the kids could see the progression.

Then we went on a walk and used nets to collect bugs…the kids were very impressed especially with the spiders.

After the bug walk the kids decorated butterflies and made masks.

The bigger kids had fun making masks.

Some kids just had fun putting cloths pins on their Grandfather’s hand.

It was a fun morning.

Chance: Company

I had company, they just got here and then they had to leave right away…one sleep and then they were off to the groomers.  After the groomers we got to spend another sleep and most of a day together.

They like my groomer.

Miss Miney

Little Elvis

There was one very unsuccessful photo of us together.

Far Side says it was a hot mess….my harness is off kilter and Miney is running away from the camera.

We used to play ball…not so much anymore.  Little Elvis chases squirrels. Miney and I just lay down and watch.

The harmonica was played…at least that was what they say…I didn’t hear it…Miney didn’t hear it. Little Elvis heard it…but he is not the most vocal singer.  It isn’t a chorus anymore.

I am still eating, pooping and peeing (outside of course) and sleeping a lot.  I go for at least two longer walks a day, if they get to be too long I go back home all by myself…Far Side says it is a good thing I still know where home is. 

Trail Cam: Birds

We unloaded the trail cam again, it is fun to see what visits our yard.

We have been seeing flashes of blue and thought we might have a pair of Bluebirds and now we have proof.

They like the bird bath.

The Pileated Woodpeckers are back too…these may be juveniles or a visiting pair.

Chokecherries: Part Two The Jelly

We had a real cool day on Wednesday, I spent the afternoon making jelly.

I have to be organized when I have a project in the kitchen…

It is nice to start out with everything not sticky….cause it will get sticky.

My recipe is 4 cups of chokecherry juice put in a large saucepan add 1 package of Sure Jel or 1/3 cup of Sure Jel from a jar and 2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice.  Heat and  bring to boil for about a minute.  Then add 5 cups of sugar, stir well and bring to rolling boil for a minute.  Put in jars that you have sterilized along with sterile caps and tighten the rings.  Put in hot water bath for five minutes after the hot water bath achieves a boil.  Take jars out and cool…the jars were heard popping as they sealed.

Clean jars waiting to be sterilized.

35 jars of chokecherry jelly, one jar was the tail end and only a partial jar which I will try in the morning on my toast.

We did five batches, Far Guy helped with transfering hot jars here and there.

From tree to the jar in 3 days.  We picked fruit on Sunday and made the juice…I checked the weather and Wednesday was supposed to be cool so that was a perfect time to make jelly.  I kept the juice in the fridge.  Some people can their juice or freeze it to make jelly in the winter. I am glad our project is over with!

Seeing Clearly Soon

When I left home for my Eye Doctor appointment Far Guy said “If I hear of a ruckas in town I will know it was you.” (There were no offers to come bail me out)

They made me wait a long time.  Finally they checked my vision with a machine.  No huge  changes.  As they walked me into the exam room the “B” gal (you can guess what B stands for)…stood at the counter with a smirk on her face. 

My Eye Doctor is a really nice guy …we discussed the problem and he knew what was wrong.  He wanted to double check so we went out to the waiting room where there are computers…he asked the “B” gal to find something on the computer so he could test my reading…well she picked the Mpls St Paul Obituaries. ha ha

The Doctor changed my reading glasses prescription back to the old prescription…finally.  “B” gal took the order and said she would call when the glasses came in…not a thank you  or have a nice day.   I wondered later if she wrote down the correct prescription…we will see or not see.

I would just as soon never darken their door again…it takes many great employees to make up for one bad employee…and she is a doozy.

 

Wistful Wednesday: 1977

In 1977 our daughters were 5 and almost 2.

Trica, Jennifer and my sister Julie age 11 who has her hands full.  The Boston Terrier was Annie.  I think my parents had two Boston Terriers named Annie.  This photo was taken at my parents resort on the north end of the lake. 

 

Otto

I had an Uncle named Otto, he married my Dad’s sister my Aunt Marie.  My Uncle Otto was a marvelous man, a lifelong educator, a artist and woodcarver with a wonderful sense of humor.

I have a Great Nephew who will carry on that strong name.

He has beautiful blue eyes and cheeks you just want to pinch…but I didn’t. Otto is about 13 weeks old now.  His Mother reports that he is teething but is a very easy going baby.

Otto is here with his parents and his brother and sister for a vacation at the lake.  Otto lives in New Jersy so this is the first time I have gotten to see him. Otto’s Grandfather is my baby brother…he has eight grands under the age of five and Otto is the youngest. They are all at the lake this week.