The end of our first week in August

Day 50, "Every picture has a story"

Mom and Dad's grandchildren on their 40th anniversary in 1975.  They would live to celebrate their 50th also.  Pictured are Becky, Coleen, Lisa, Quinn, Bryan, Roxanne, Esther, Bobby, Aaron, John and Travis.  In this picture they range in age from Esther who is 17 to Coleen and Aaron who are 2.  Coleen gets the prize for being the youngest by a few months!

Here are the grandchildren.  Mom has that great smile and Dad, well he has kind of a smile but not really!  As far as I know where the grand children live varies from the west coast with Becky to Tennessee where Esther lives.  Sadly, Roxanne died a few years ago and it actually would have been her 55th birthday today.  Occupations vary from military to education to TTY operator to pastor and more.  Some of the states where they live are are OR, TN, IN, WI, MN, ND, and UT.  Roxanne lived in SD.  I think I have them all.  When this picture was taken Ronald had died and Charlie was married to Glorine.  Also Janet had died and Judi had married John.  Mom endured so much grief with the death of two children and yet to come after this picture was the destruction of the farm from fire. I think Mom was so resilient yet there was no mistake her grief was deep and lasting.  I have not doubt that there were other griefs that were difficult to endure that were never shared.  Ten years later we gathered at Joan/Ron's cabin in MN to celebrate Mom/Dad's 50th.  I do not remember who came to that but I do know there were a lot of people there.  I know that Mom and Dad would be so so proud of the many things their grand children have and are doing.

Here I am enjoying the results of 0.6" of rain last night.  We are supposed to get more rain today and again tomorrow.  The lawns and gardens are so happy.

Some progress on the steps yesterday.  The 11 1/2" tread came and Terry got that sealed.  I did sanding and repair on the skirtboard and there is more sanding to be done after filling in holes.  I do not think this will turn out to be a "quick" job BUT am confident that in the end it will enhance the house and will be something we can be happy with.

No, the FP is long gone, Travis has delivered the papers for today and I will try to get a small amount of work done before we head to Norma and Wayne's for lunch.  I always enjoy visiting them and of course Terry is ALWAYS delighted to spend time with Norma.