June 25th, Thursday

somehow this failed to get posted on June 25th
TERRY

Really nothing new about Terry this morning.  I did talk to her yesterday afternoon and she seemed to be in good spirits.  She did have something happen Tuesday late evening that she talked about but I want to call the nurse this morning to see what it was.  She said when the Dr. came in yesterday morning he told her she gave them a scare.  I need to find out what that was.  I am hoping to make some headway on a place for her next week.  

Mom and Dad were married on this day 85 years ago, 1935.  I would say they did a great job in raising their family of six.  At times when I sit back and "remember" I focus on the good things and the good times.  There were times that were difficult, times that one would like to forget but really isn't that LIFE?  The six of us kids certainly knew what "little money" was and we knew what "love" was as well.  If I am honest here I would say that they were far from perfect but then if there are perfect parents anyplace I would certainly be very surprised.  As I look back on the way Gail and I raised our children I hope they forget some of our mistakes!  It would even be better if they forget ALL of the mistakes!!!  THANKS Mom and Dad for your love, your care and your sacrifice.

This was our garden last Monday.  I know that it would not make the Better Homes and Garden magazine but at this point it is doing well.  So far I have enjoyed lettuce and radishes out of it.  I have seen tiny cucumbers and peppers on the vines.  Also the beans are going crazy and there is also a row of Dale Binde's wheat and that looks like a bumper crop in the making.

I will do a little more work on the Kitchen windows today.  I would like to have them ready for a coat of primer by tomorrow and then a coat of paint after that.  We are looking at an extended period of heat after tomorrow so not sure when I will get finished.  It may sound like I am looking for an excuse to not work and I think that is not the case, I THINK.

I need to get out on the lawn this morning with another round of weed killer in certain spots.  I may change my way of mowing the lawn as well.  It seems that the back gets more shade and therefore grows a bit more because it does not get too warm so I may just mow that today and leave the front for another day.

How about that, we have raspberries ripe for the picking!

The summer of 1954

It was a hot North Dakota summer day.  Dave and I had the morning to do whatever as Dad was gone when we woke up.  Mom had asked us to pull some weeds in the garden as we had neglected to do ANY work in the garden for several days.  I liked to cultivate between the rows with our hand push little cultivater pretty much like the one below.

Now it was not hard to push this between the rows to kill the weeds BUT to pull weeds was another story.  So the garden task of pulling weeds went by the wayside and Dave and I decided that it would be a better use of our time to make some wooden guns and play.  We had many guns already but it was always fun to get an old scrape of wood and make more.  For some reason Dave decided to get kind of fancy and he drew a really fancy looking gun on the wood.  With coping saw in hand he started sawing it out of the old wood.  I got impatient and went over to see why he was so slow as I wanted to start the cops and robbers game.  By accident I brushed against the wood and Dave's new fancy gun was in pieces!  AND the race was on.  There was an old bat in the corner of the shed and with one hand Dave scooped it up and the chase was on.  I remember Mom yelling "YOU BOYS STOP IT BEFORE SOMEONE GETS KILLED" as I raced past the kitchen window with Dave not far behind.  Now Dave was 2 1/2 years older than me and I am sure he was faster BUT when my life seemed to hang in the balance I did out run him.  I raced past the gas pump and towards the corncrib.  Dave finally gave up and went back to the shed to make a new one.  About a half hour later Dave did have his new gun and all was good.  Actually as the cops and robber game got a bit old we did start to feel badly and wandered over to the garden to pick weeds in the peas and tomatoes.  At lunch time we did get a talking to from Mom as she was not a happy mom.  Dave and I just kind of glanced at each other with a barely notable smile and ate our fried egg sandwich with Mom's dill pickles as a side.  

No I was up way too early and already, 6:30 AM my FP is gone.  I think I will make some breakfast and then get to work on the windows.  I took out a cube of pesto last night so it should be ready to spread on the eggs.  I may have to find an old newspaper to read as I prepare breakfast as Travis did not work last night so I have no current paper.  Well to be honest it seems like now the paper is same old same old stories every day so maybe I can skip the reading for this morning.