A Sign of the Times

I finally did get to squeeze in  little more "Me Time" this week. It seems I'm in the sign making mood lately. Most likely, because I took some painting supplies to some children just down the road. I felt their pain over being bored to tears, so I wanted to give them something to do,while their Mother worked. Their Mother and Grandmother work in a small General Store three miles from my home. Pop and I drop in there 2 or 3 times a week for breakfast. The prices are really reasonable, and there is always a gang of coffee drinkers and breakfast folks to talk to. And you know by now,that that's Pop's favorite thing to do. Talk,drink coffee, and socialize.The owner of the little store lets the Mom bring the kids with her to work since there is no way she could afford to pay a baby sitter for four kids on what she makes there. She does drive a school bus during the school season, but with school being out, the kids need to be supervised, so she brings them to work with her. They try to keep busy, but they still get really bored at times.I hate being bored myself, so I know how they must feel, away from their own home, with no supplies close at hand.

I love making signs, but I don't get into the mood to do so that often, since it is a quiet, sit down job, and most of the time, that is not something I can make myself do. Kinda like reading a book. One must sit and be still do do that, too. Crocheting or quilting, likewise, but in the Winter months, those tasks seem to come easier for me. No yard to mow, no veggies to can, no wood to cut,you get the picture.

I am so proud of the door sign shown above. On the lettering, I used a stencil, but the coffee cup and flowers, I did free hand, nothing to look at. I usually need a pattern to paint anything from. I even impressed myself. Now I'm off to hunt Bear,but you'll need to check out my next post to understand. Later!

Another Surprise!

                                 

As I have mentioned before, we have trained our Bluegill to come to the edge of the pond, nightly, where we feed them. Usually crackers, oatmeal, or cornbread. We hear they have store bought food just for the fish, but we have not been to town to check on it yet. Nevertheless, we feed them daily. It is such a thrill to watch them eat. We have gradually built up the number of fish in our pond, to around 100 plus Bluegill,maybe a half dozen Catfish, and a Bass or two. Low and behold, yesterday, we could see lots of tiny fish, and I do mean tiny, at the feeding site.It was unreal seeing them. We had no clue when or if we would have the privilege of doing so.The water is really clear at times, especially when the sun is hitting in the pond just right. The conditions were great yesterday, for us to see the new baby fish.We hear that Bass eat baby Bluegill, so they will be having a feast, if that is so. Much to our dismay. I hate to even think about that, but Mother Nature has her own way of keeping the necessary checks and balances in this big world, so who are we to judge.

A Pleasant Surprise!

This week we had the pleasure of a big surprise. The baby chicks have hatched. Since we forgot to record the date on which we had set the eggs, we were greatly surprised when we walked into the hen house and there sat the mother on the ground, covering several of her new chicks.Four to be exact, and they appeared to be a couple of days old. Evidently, with all of the hustle and bustle around here, Pop did not look that closely when he did the evening chores. He has so much company, sometimes he fails to check on them at all. Nevertheless, the Old Mother Hen and the babies had managed to jump down from the upper row of nests, where she had been setting,to the ground. Amazing how the babies can do that and survive. They all four appeared healthy, so we gathered them and the Mom up, and put them in an enclosed cage, hopefully,away from the snakes. A dreaded fate for some chicks.There were a few eggs still in the nest, so I checked them out. Only one of them had pipped.  I helped it out of it's shell and took it inside the house and dried it's feathers with the hair dryer, hoping to help it along. The Mom did not seem quite intent enough,to me, anyway, to nurture it along.She was too busy scratching for food, for her new family. The next morning,all five babies were still thriving. The Mom had scratched the remaining eggs aside, so we discarded them and left her to care for her new family of five babies. That's just enough to satisfy our desire to nurture something for now.

Bloom Where You're Planted

  I have never had a real planned daily agenda. Mom always tried to have a plan for each of her days, barring the unforeseen tasks that pop up unexpectedly for us all.My life is a crazy mixed up life. I do what I think needs attention the most, then I branch off to other less important things. Some times, doing things I really enjoy.

 This week, the corn was ready so that had to come first. I have cut off the cob and froze about 25 bags of corn. Two cups per bag.That was approximately 200 ears of corn. Pop did help a little after I made him feel guilty for not helping me more.He does have his own responsibilities toward keeping things running mechanically, but he has a lot of down time,too. Lots more than I do.

The grass mowing is always my job,simply because Pop is not neat enough with it to suit me. I do agree, I have way too many flower beds to keep up, but I compare it to Pop's smoking. He is forever asking me why I do not give them up. My reply is always the same, "Because I enjoy them too much".

I have been cleaning some of my flower beds lately, removing plants that have bloomed and gone to seed. I take the seeds and scatter them all around the new property.Hopefully, some of them will escape the Spring and Fall mowing of the fields.

We've had a few baby chicks to hatch off this week.Not that we needed more chickens, but we do love their presence, plus they satisfy the need to nurture something at all times.

The corn and cucumbers have been great this year, but our tomato crop is not doing as well. My guess is too much rain. We have had more rain this year than I can ever remember for this time of the year.Thank God for the Amish all around us. They have plenty of tomatoes.

I know there is a long list, somewhere, of all the things that I really need to get to, so I'm off to get to it. Maybe I can slip in another few minutes to paint another sign.I managed to squeeze in the one pictured above, while cooking my corn, before bagging and freezing it.

Gettin' Down To Business

This is our view each morning as we drink our morning coffee. It is like a stage where all of the wildlife put on their performances for us to see. I've not been able to get a really good shot of the activity. It all unfolds so quickly. I plan to set up an action cam of sorts one day, but for now, I have too many more important fish to fry. My son-in-law is deep into picture taking and will need to give me a few pointers, when and if he has that extra little bit of time to spare. It seems we are all in the same boat when it comes to having enough hours in a day to accomplish all that we'd like to do.

Nevertheless, the topic of this post says a lot in regards to the performances we have been watching for the last few weeks. It seems there has been a nest of 5 baby crows being raised in the trees just along our yard, and there has been a nest of 2 young chicken hawks being raised nearby. We have watched them coming and going for weeks now. It seems the two sets of birds have been playing together, testing their wings, and scavenging for food in the pasture fields. It all looks so innocent as they interact together. Today, things appeared to get a little more aggressive. I don't know if the hawks would actually attack and eat the crows, but I do know they eat a lot of young small wildlife, and domestic chickens, if they are running loose. We keep ours pinned up for that very reason. Only time will tell how the next few performances will unfold. Hopefully, we will get the opportunity to watch them a bit longer, before they go out into the big world and live out their lives, far away from our little stage.

Anticipation

This is one of the first things I noticed when I awoke this morning and looked outside my kitchen window while making our morning coffee.I have been waiting patiently,well, maybe not so patiently, for this flower to bloom. I have doctored it all Spring with Miracle Grow and/or horse manure tea, hoping it would be heavenly when it finally bloomed. It was indeed, worth the wait.It grew so tall, I had to put a stake beside the plant for support. Between the dogs playing in the yard, and the occasional high winds we had this year, I was not sure it would survive long enough to bloom. And then I put so much fertilizer on it, I feared it might be all stems and no flowers. I know some plants do that when they get too much nitrogen.

The rains have finally subsided, so now I can get back to my yard. That's where I spend most of my time when the weather is not so hot, but I am afraid those cool mornings and evenings are coming to a halt now since Summer is here. The heat will be unbearable if it's a typical Summer.All the flowers will stop blooming and the grass will no longer be that beautiful, lush, green carpet which I love to mow.Life goes on! 

As Different as Night and Day

My two Grand Children are as different as night and day.

This is my Grand Son,John, and he is definitely not a climber, but he was so proud of himself the day of Pop's Surprise 75th Birthday Cookout. He wanted everyone there to see him climb the tree.

Isn't it strange how some kids hit the ground looking for adventure, and usually the dangerous kind. Not John. He has never been one to try anything that might get him hurt. He is not the typical adventure seeking type child.

Now his sister who is three years older, is another story,indeed. She's not so much into seeking out danger, but she definitely loves to try new things. Leah, our Grand Daughter, who is twelve, takes after Pop in that way. She would follow him over a cliff, and try anything he would try at her age. That doesn't leave out much. She loves to take on new challenges and usually ends up mastering them all.

This picture was taken a couple of years ago, and Leah has progressed from the Honda to the Artic Cat and now to a John Deere Gator.She has yet to try the lawn mower or farm tractors or regular vehicles, but I suspect that will come any day now. She wants to do it all and NOW.  John is content to stay in the house and do computer games. We try to discourage a lot of that, but he is bored to tears with other things. Hopefully, he will either grow out of a lot of it, or become another Mark Zuckerburg. One can only hope.

Busy As A Bee

I do have Honey Bees now,and they are not the only ones that are busy around my yard.The weather has warmed up a bit, but even though Mother's Day has come and gone, there is still a chance for another frost.We haven't broken our garden yet since we had a few days of rain, and too, with the cool days we've been having, we felt there was no need to rush things.Nothing grows very good until the ground warms up and then there are the cutworms.They are really bad when it's this cool.Pop says we can put a paper collar around the tender stems of the things we set out, and then there is the nail trick. You can place a nail down in the ground,about an inch or so,just up against the stem of the plant.That sounds like a lot of extra work to me, especially since the later garden catches up and many times, overtakes the early plants. Many plants simply do not do good when the air and ground is too cold, however, there are many vegetables that prefer the cooler temps.Onions and radishes are about the extent of the cool weather crops that we grow.

my new raised bed in progress

We've recently got acquainted with,Dan, a new comer to our area.He has been in the Army for 20 years and just recently retired. His parents, and I assume he,too,were living in Alaska.Now they have all relocated. His parents to West Virginia and Dan to Kentucky.Dan is a young man,say fortyish, and he has gone 'hog wild" with his newly purchased piece of land. He has 60 acres to play on and he does just that. Anything that interests him, he has around him.I guess with him being a single man and having a decent retirement from his service to our country, he can afford to play all he wants.He has animals of every kind. He has a new orchard. He has honey bees. He has every piece of woodworking tools known to man. He raises strawberries.I could go on and on, but one thing he has caught my eye, and I just had to have one. I have had raised beds in the past, but nothing like his raised beds. He has three. All made from railroad ties.They are waist high.An arm span across, and approximately 30 feet long each.Now that's my kind of gardening. Pop has never cottoned to that kind of garden,so I didn't pursue it to heavily. It got the best of me though, and I came home from our visit and began to assemble one for myself. I don't like to spend money needlessly on anything if I have something already at hand, that will serve the same purpose. I scavenged through all of the left over lumber piles around the property and found enough supplies to make a decent raised bed. I have worked on it for a few days now, and I think I finally have a raised bed to suit my needs. This year, I will be filling it with grass clippings,home made compost,dirt, worms and all of my garden refuse.Hopefully, by next year, I will have it in great shape.

Teach a Man(Woman) to Fish.........

Blue Gill

Largemouth Bass

How does that go? Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.

I never really cared to fish in my lifetime, and never knew it was something that you needed to be taught. I thought you just put the worm on the hook and wait till one bites, then you reel him in. I found out last night that it's a little more complicated than that. I didn't mind worming my own hook, although Pop thought I needed to let him do it for me,and I guess I shouldn't have been so independent and let him do it. Men do better when you act helpless. It makes them feel needed,but I never was much at pretending to be a wimpy needy woman.

We set up our chairs on the bank of the pond, and proceeded to load our hooks and cast out our lines. That casting was a bit tricky. I think I finally got the hang of it, although I need a bit more practice before I say I know what I'm doing. That little trigger button on the reel, you know. It takes a few tries to get the hang of pressing and releasing it at just the right moment. We took two small cane poles with us, but thank goodness Pop had the ones with the reels in his truck, too. If we'd had to use those cane poles, we might still be out there trying to catch a few fish. We ended up with about a dozen small blue gill and one small bass. It's much more fun catching them and knowing you'll be throwing them back in the water at our home, then it would have been trying to scale and clean those tiny things. I hate the cleaning process. That is another job I never cared to learn. It seems, around here anyway, once you learn a job, it's yours for life. I say, "No Thanks! I don't need another job."

It'll be iffy as to whether the fish survive. Sometimes they die from the trauma of being hooked, but many times, they go on to live normal lives, although it may be a short life. Especially, once the grand kids learn there are fish in our pond. Pop says they will multiply fairly quickly, but I haven't done any research on the gestation period for fish yet. I'll be putting that on my "Need To Do" list.

The picture of the blue gill is from the Outdoor Alabama site.

The picture of the bass is from http://fish.dnr.cornell.edu/nyfish/Centrarchidae/largemouth_bass.html.

Green Eggs and Ham Anyone?

 

 

The weather is fairing up and the chickens are beginning to lay a little better. Being housed up all winter,slows things up a bit in the egg department, but warm weather brings them alive once more.Pop has debated many times as to whether we need to sell the whole flock or not. During the winter months, the cost of feeding the hens outweighs the benefits we get from keeping them year round. He and I could get by on one dozen eggs a week, most weeks,but then we would miss them so.We have always had chickens around. I think more for nostalgia than anything else, but there comes a time when even nostalgia must fall by the wayside,especially with the economy being in such a mess.If we could let them roam freely,full time, it might be different, but when you raise a garden, you need to keep that in mind. With the cost of fencing being as it is,too, that is almost out of the question.It would take a huge fenced in area to keep the chickens in grass. They tend to kill a plot of grass quickly.I guess we could fence in the garden, but then my flowers would fall prey to the chickens.It seems it's a catch twenty two no matter which way we decide to go.I love my flowers and my garden, but we love the chickens,too. For years, I had to tolerate Pop's prize beagle hounds tearing up my flowers,and now it's the chickens. Many times,over the years, I've considered throwing in the towel on my flowers,but I keep trying to find a happy medium where we can all live together and be content.You'd think after 35 years, I'd have found it,by now.I guess there's one way to look at it. 

No man lives long enough to conquer all of life's challenges.

My First Attempt at Making a Purse

I was feeling kinda restless tonight,and couldn't make myself sit still long enough to watch a Western movie with Pop,so I went down to my sewing room with the intentions of starting another little quilt.That didn't seem to interest me either. Then I stumbled across a piece of fabric that cried out Purse to me.  I decided to give it a try. It's not totally finished yet,and I will continue to tweak it a bit more, but I am pleased with it,up to this point. I made a lining for it to match the trim and I will attempt to make a bow a sorts for the face.Bows are really in, right now on purses. At least, that my plan at this moment.

 I don't have a clue as to what made me think of making a Purse.Possibly the fact that I bought one today for $20.00.It appears to be a factory made purse, but the quilted look and the colors caught my eye, so I decided to treat myself to it.Something I don't do that often is buy anything new.

I'm not real pleased with the new purse's wide opening. I hope to come up with a plan to fix that on my home made purse, and if it works out, I'll try it on my store bought purse. I have a plan.Now to see if it works.I think I could really get into making these purses.That would be another great way to use up some of my small fabric pieces.

A Family Tradition

Mom tried to make quilts for the new babies in the family,so I may have to follow in her footsteps and continue the tradition. Mom had a new Great Granddaughter,Brooklyn Paige, born just a few days before she passed away, but she did get to hold her for a few minutes,a day or two before she died.I am pretty sure she would have tried to make her a quilt, although her eyesight was just about gone.She would have managed some how to get the job done.

If she is looking down from her new home, I am sure she would be so proud that I took the time to make a quilt for Brooklyn. I decided to make one for Brayden,too. Brayden is one of Mom's Great Grandchildren who spent a great deal of time with Mom since he was born and he was by her side  every single day, when she was dying. He is four. He would crawl up in the bed and snuggle up close to Mom. She loved that child as if he were her own. He could bring a smile to her face any time he entered the room, even though she did not have strength for anything else.He was such a blessing to Mom during her last few months of life.I know she would have wanted him to have a quilt,too.

Mom is at Peace....

We took Mom to her final resting place,by Dad's side, on March 15, 2013. She passed away on the 12th which was my Grandfather's birthday. Hopefully, before long, I will be able to get back in the normal swing of things, although right now it seems things may never be back to normal again.Mom was a big part of my life, and it will be awhile before I get over missing her.There was hardly a day go by, during the last twelve years, that I did not call or visit her. My sister, Rita, and I were by her side the last two months of her life.Watching her slowly drift away was the hardest thing I have ever done in my lifetime. I was in and out while helping with Dad,during his last few weeks, but I was still working back then, and could not be there as much as I would have liked, but with Mom, I am now retired, so I was able to stay with her, around the clock, when it was necessary.With only two of us sisters working with Mom, it got very rough at times, but when you love someone as we did our Mother, the rest of your life can wait.Thank God we have understanding husbands and children. They understood that we had to do what we were doing, and they supported us in every way they could. 

How Many is Too Many?

 

 

 

I feel at times, I have a real problem.I cannot stand to have just one of anything. In this case it is bath towels. This is only a  few of my bath towels,however, I don't usually buy them new. Many times I will pick up nice bright colored towels at various Consignment stores or Goodwill stores,if I find them cheap enough. I know how expensive they are when purchased new, so I try to refrain from caving, when I see a new color that I'd love to add to my collection.. I haven't done any shopping in these types of places, lately though.I have had so much else on my mind, shopping just doesn't take precedence in my life, at this point in time.

The Good Old Days!

Yes, those were the good old days, when you could pull out the old hammer and saw and whip up something your child, or in this case, grandchild, would love and play with for hours on in.My grandson has all the modern conveniences,and at times, I am convinced that he has way too many.They are a good example of folks who like to keep up with the Jones's.They have IPads or IPods, whatever they are called, they have cell phones, they have mp3 players, they have a Wee. They have hand held computers with all sorts of games to play on them.I'm not real sure if those are the correct names,because I'm not into all of that computer stuff,but they are.That's why I was so shocked when the grandson requested me make him an army gun.I made it to his specifications.It had to have a handle of sorts on the under neath side. I'm not into guns neither, so I had no idea where the handle should be on an army gun.Not sure if it was an American gun or a German gun,but he is only 6 and probably could have given me the specs on it, with no problem. His Dad is into War memorabilia, and John absorbs it all like a sponge.He has war games on every type of computer they own.Personally, I feel all the war business he is learning, is what makes him very destructive with things around him.We hold our breath when he's near our big screen TV.Most usually when he is here, he has his gun and sword that I made for him, and he's roaming around the yard, talking to his imaginary army buddies,discussing what tactics they will implement for their next maneuver.He has the jargon down pat.

(Written 2 years ago-my grandson,John is now 8)

Wives can be so thoughtful and creative.

While reading over Ms. Lottie's blog,it brought back memories of a couple of creative birthday's I had for Pop.
That was years ago, and before I got into blogging and picture taking, so I have no pictures of either. Once I had a huge pig roast. We had people and food galore.We started roasting the pig around 5 o'clock one evening.Pop's friends for the neighborhood and his job, began coming in about that time. Of course we would have to cook the pig all night, so that group of friends stayed through the cooking process.They was nothing ready to eat at that time, so you can imagine what they were doing while visiting,and I don't mean playing horse shoes. By the time morning came, a few of us were still awake,sitting with and attending to the pig,while the rest of the group were asleep(some were simply passed out) on any and everything that resembled a bed.As daylight unfolded, that portion of the party goers began to awaken and head for their perspective homes. The meal preparations for later in the day, were beginning anyway.Later in the day, others(the non drinking folks) would start coming in for the meal. We had a Bluegrass band lined up to play, since Pop loves Bluegrass music. We had met many musicians,in time who were willing to play(and eat) for our little party.We did have a little container for donations for the band,but they were all close friends, so they didn't mind playing for their food.My memory of much of the festivities has faded over the years, but we would love to tackle another Pig Roast in the near future, before we get to old to pull it off.

School Lunches

(another of my posts found under my Drafts)

Frieda has posted lately about one of her favorite desserts as a child in elementary school.Peanut Butter Bars.We had a similar dessert, which was my favorite in grade school,also,but without the oatmeal. I,like Frieda, had to take my lunch, except when I was old enough to work in the cafeteria, then I got free lunches.That was before they started the free lunch program for low income families. I would work for maybe an hour or two, helping the lunch ladies, then eat my lunch for free, with my class,when they came through the lunch line. Years later, I went on to work for the school system,with the same county in which I grew up. I retired from that job in 2005,after  27+ years of service.

I have saved many of the recipes we used before the schools went to their new programs. Now all of the baked goods are produced at a Central Baking Center. There are one or two schools which are centrally located in the county,that have all of the state of the art equipment, and they have a crew that comes in nights to do all of the baking for the entire county.Twenty plus schools.Then a truck loads the baked goods and delivers them to the schools by serving time, whether it be breakfast or lunch.Each school turns in a list of all of the baked goods they will need for the following month.The lists are all combined and the ladies know what they are scheduled to bake that night.Then they are separated and labeled per each schools requests.It is an amazing program, but since the lunch ladies at each school no longer did the baking, the recipes became obsolete at each school. Since I worked there so many years ago, I had access to some of the recipes, and,too, many of the same recipes have shown up in local cook books all over the country.School lunches get a lot of flack from many kids and their folks, but personally, I have always enjoyed the school meals. I guess if the truth be known, some folks are just plain spoiled and have never ever been truly hungry.

One of the programs our schools use is dealing with commodity foods. The schools are given many food items, furnished by the government.The schools have always had lots of support that way. The school then lines up big Name brand companies,like Tony's Pizza for example, and have them to utilize the government product that we supply from our school program, whatever it might be, and make it into their final product. Thus our kids get Tony's Pizza, at a lower price to our school. Many of the food items coming through our schools today have been processed by big companies in a similar manner. The spaghetti sauce, the chili base,
the sloppy joe, the barbeque, and many others come prepackaged in five pound packages. The lunch ladies only need to assemble the remaining ingredients to make the final dish.I have always been amazed at our county's School Lunch Program.We had one of the best programs going in that area. We had a great Director. She retired a year after I did, and she is now working in Washington,D.C., working with the school lunch programs nationwide.

Brendie, maybe she will get to visit New Zealand, one day, and give you all hope for your lunch programs there. You never know.

Dr. Oz Would be so Proud of Me.

our 2011 sweet potatoes

I like to watch Dr. Oz when I can, and he is teaching me many helpful things on improving our nutrition and diet. Not that I hadn't heard most of it before,but it just reinforces all that I have read and studied over the last 30 years. I love to read anything pertaining to improving your health through nutrition. There are so many myths circulating about different foods,nutrients,supplements,etc.,you don't know who or what to  believe. I tend to believe a lot of what Dr. Oz advocates. I like the fact that he tells what he believes no matter what the medical profession says about a product or procedure. It is my opinion that the medical world sees only the dollar amount they can get out of you,and no amount of persuasion will change my mind on that.

P.S.
I have been looking over my blog this last few days, since spending so much of my time lately,caring for my Mom in her home,blogging has had to take the back burner.Mom has Alzheimer's and requires around the clock care.I found several blog posts in draft, so I decided, whether that starting several new posts, I would look the draft copies over and, hopefully, send them along.

Mom's Therapy

As you might have read in my previous bog posts, my Mom has Alzheimer's.She will be 87 on January 30,2013.  The greatest change has come over her in the past few months. Some days she has minutes of being her usual self, but in a twinkling of an eye, she is totally lost as to whom we(her children) are, or where she is.Rita and I are constantly trying to think of ways to occupy her mind, since speaking of family only makes her worse. We simply must avoid any mention of other family members in our conversations. It's hard to do, since so much of our lives have evolved around our family in years past,but now that most of her children have abandoned her, we try not to mention any of their names.Most days,she does not even think she has children, much less know their names, but on occasion she is coherent, and speaks of them.
She made an attempt at several different types of crafts,but most seem to get her discouraged because she cannot master them.This day, she tried her hand at painting.since coloring pictures was too complicated. She got frustrated because she could not see well enough to stay in the lines.I tried to find the type of markers that only colored inside the lines, but found I had bought the wrong type.  I'll try again to find the set I had in mind.Free style painting seemed to appeal to her somewhat, although I think she only tried it to please us.She painted 2 pages before tiring of that.

When I am staying over with Mom, I always  try to bring something to do,myself.I find great pleasure in making these trays which I use a lot in my craft room back at my home.They are pretty and they hold lots of supplies,plus they are shallow, thus letting me see what is inside, without a lot of digging through boxes.I get to use up bits and pieces of my pretty fabric. I even made one to hold Mom's cards and letters.She loves bright colors, so I think she likes it.Cards and letters are on her mind a lot these days. She worries constantly(on good days) that we are not keeping up with sending folks Thank You cards for all of the nice things they do for her.Her church family has been wonderful,after they heard of Mom's rapid decline.They take turns visiting her and cheering her up. Most times, if she does know them, which is not often,she forgets an hour later that they were even there.We have plans of taking pictures of her visitors, just to convince her they were truly there. She is convinced we are fabricating stories of visitors dropping by.

Seeing Mom decline in this manner is hard, but we do get to hear lots of her stories of her youth on good days, but even those stories, she is convinced, were made up and not true when she hears them retold. We have heard 90 per cent of these stories our entire lives, so we feel they are as truthful as anyone can be,when remembering occurrences from their childhood.She has even filled in a few more minor details in some of her stories, that even I had not heard, and I have heard those stories many times.Whether they are totally factual or not,there is no one left to corroborate them. Most everyone from those days of Mom's youth, have passed on.I hope to pass some of her stories along in some of my upcoming posts,but now I must spend many of my days, attending to her needs.The stories will have to wait a little longer.

Oh,how time flies

This is a picture I had never seen of my older sister,Mary,of Nails in My Pocket.She tried blogging, but it just wasn't her "cup of tea"."Different strokes for different folks" as they say. I love blogging. I am using this post to see if I can post pictures once more. It would be such a shame, not to be able to do so, especially since Pop went all out and got me an amazing camera with lots of extras, for Christmas. I haven't had time to learn to use it yet, but hopefully, I will soon.In the meantime, enjoy this picture today. Mary was 17 when she graduated from High School. I'm not sure of her age her, but she was really young. She and her husband,Gayle,who is now deceased, married in 1966.He was 19 and she was 18. He passed away around the age of 48 with a heart attack.The have two children. She remains unmarried and spends her life,now that she is retired, caring for a small farm,her pet livestock menagerie, and helping any member of our family who does not have a good foothold on life.She has always been strong. I guess being the firstborn, you get that way early on.Daddy depended on her heavily, since there were no boys in the family for the first few years of Mom and Dad's marriage, then when the first boy did come along in 1951, he was so spoiled by everyone,he didn't toughen up right away.

It appears I can post pictures once again, if things don't change again,so look forward to lots of experimentation.