We say good-bye to July today and will welcome August tomorrow, Sunday

 TERRY

Here it is 8:20 and Terry has been up for about an hour.  BUT as I write she is sound asleep again with the paper on the bed.  I would say she is the same as the last few days.  However she did not go out into the living room yesterday and that makes it maybe a week or so that she has been happy just being in the bedroom.  I do know that the bed is much much more comfortable than the couch.  I am going to see if she is up for her covid shot today as she has not had that and it actually is kind of a big decision if she should get it or not.  We will see.

I do not know what happened yesterday.  I just forgot to blog and I thought I had.  I did make a trip to Costco yesterday and that was my excitement for the day!  Think I am getting old!!!   Today I will venture over to the tennis courts at 9:00 as now days it seems there is tennis on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.  

Darn darn double darn as I know I made some mistakes on the 2022 calendar that has been ordered.  I do have a remedy for it but it would have been nice if I had waiting a few days to order.  But I guess IF that is one of my biggest mistakes of the year life is not so bad.  

I am having a terrible time losing weight.  But this morning I noticed the reason why.  As I sat at the computer on the desk I glanced down at the waste basket and there were TWO wrappings of an ice cream bar!  Now I wonder no more.

I saw this picture in the paper with the note that this lady was doing an ironman!!!  I thought it was pretty funny!  An ironman race is real as they swim, bike and run.

Here it is almost 9:00 and time for tennis.  I am going to post but may add another after tennis.  I am only half finished with my FP for the day.  AND as I sign off Terry is still sleeping.

Happy Birthday to Elspeth, the youngest of the South Bend Lees

 

This is what one looks like after having a delicious piece of leafs!  Elspeth turns 8 today but if you were to meet her you would think she is older.  She has it all.  Good looks, physical ability, smarts and more.  She is a gal who will make a difference in the world.  Elspeth, Grandpa and Grandma Terry wish you the best today and keep on being the wonderful young girl that you are!!!

TWO, the count down to August 2021

 Terry

Well here it is close to 5:00 PM so Terry has been up for a LONG time.  The day has gone fast.  Terry had an appointment at 11:00 this morning for a chest x ray and when we arrived home she was worn out.  As I write she has her eyes closed but I am sure she is not sleeping.  WE did not use the wheelchair as I parked near the front door and she used the walker.  If I had to say something about her strength I would say she is still doing fine with the walker BUT she is not as steady as in the past.  She did say as she was walking that she did not have the balance that she has had in the past.  Now it will be a wait and see approach as we are hopeful of getting results of the samples we brought in Tuesday and the x ray today maybe early next week.  Not sure they will be that fast but it would be nice.  I think tomorrow I need to have her in another bed for a while as I wash the bedding on her bed.

I played tennis this morning and it was kind of interesting.  One of the guys we played with is older but in his day was a much better player than any of the rest of us playing this morning.  Notice I said "in his day" as he turns 78 tomorrow and I would say being 78 does not mean you are not an OK player but he has had some injuries etc.  Anyway for the most part he is happy, a fun guy to play with or against etc BUT not so much if he is behind!!!  There were several serves to him that, I know, some were in the service area but he called them out.  It did not get out of hand BUT kind of interesting!  I finally, on the last call that I was certain was in and he called out I just said, John, it is your call so it was out BUT I know it was in.  I just had to say that.  It went over like a lead balloon!  In tennis the receiver of the serve has the say if it was in or out.  The server can ask for a look at the clay but that is all.  One time it was pretty funny as he called it out and then went over and used his racquet to show that it had landed out.  This is after we had played more than an hour!  Do you think you could pick out where that ball hit when there had been 100s of balls hit before that??  Anyway it was a fun match and just a little interesting.

I will be kind of uptight until we get results from Terry's doctor.  I guess I need to be careful as we may not hear for several days.  She has this cough and I just am so concerned about her lungs.  I am hoping that we get good news and SOON.

Terry does not have any upcoming appointments for some time.  She does have an appointment in a couple of weeks with her neurologist which I think is on the 11th.  At that time he will talk about the memory tests that took place it seems a long time ago.  Actually by the time we see him it will be almost two months.  It seems strange that now, in the down season, it still takes a couple months to see the doctor.

I will finish today with a couple pictures that went on the calendar that I sent off to Shutterfly yesterday.  Don't worry, I will not post all 125 pictures that I used!!!  AND I did order a couple extra just in case anyone wants one.  I promise they are a great picture history of the Lees.

This is brother Dave sitting in his basement office some time ago as he has not been with us for more than a year.  He is holding Janet's Pig that her daughter Esther has now. It is a good picture of Dave as he was. 2 1/2 years older than I BUT he always looked younger!  When he was 22 and I was 19 they carded me but not him and that was kind of fun.  Not so much when he was 65 and I was 62 and people were sure he was younger!  Darn it that is the same thing I run into with John Mouw.  He looks younger than he really is and for some reason I always look older than I am.  I am pretty sure Dave was in his 70s in this picture.I am pretty sure he had this "innocent" and maybe there was a reason I don't look so young!!!

Here is Roxanne and she was as full of fun as she looks in this picture.  Roxanne was a dynamo with her personality and looks.  Well when you had Glorine and Ronald for parents you would expect that, right!  It was so so sad when she died at the age of 50, I think a brain aneurysm.  I did not get to spend a lot of time with her but I do believe if you went to a party and she was there she would have been the star!

Well here it is now almost 5:30 and time to sign off for the day.  Not much planned for tomorrow, the last Friday of the month.  AND I really enjoyed my FP today.

Mid week and we head towards the end of July

TERRY

It is 1:30 and as I write Terry is sleeping.  She has the paper on her tummy with zzz coming from the bedroom.  She has been awake since about 7:00.  She has an appointment to get that chest tomorrow to get that chest x ray.  I thought we could just walk in but NO.  We brought the samples in yesterday for the lab work and I then intended to drive over the the hospital and get things finished but they told me we had to have an appointment so tomorrow it is.  Terry seems about the same but with somewhat of a decline in her energy.  She has not gone out to the living room for the last 6 days as she enjoys her bed with the TV on.  

Oh my I have to be careful here.  Terry has so little to look forward to so when things do not work out in the right way I get upset.  She sent out birthday checks to some family members and it being a month ago she has not heard back!  She so looks forward to those thank you notes and they always cheers her up but!  

Well I am finished with the 2022 calendar!!!  I will send in the order this afternoon.  I have spent much time and gone over it MANY times but you can bet money that there are some mistakes OR I forgot something.  I guess all I can do is say, "I did my best".  I would say with 124 pictures and 75 dates like birthdays, weddings, deaths etc there may be a good chance that something is left out or forgotten.  Anyway this will be the 5 year that I have made a calendar and I am sure it will the most complete and best!  We will see what my siblings think!!!

I got distracted and here it is past 3:00 and I have accomplished very little if anything today so far.  anyway I may post a couple of pictures from the calendar before I sign off.

One of my favorite pictures of Mom and Dad.  Dad is being silly with his broken leg and Mom has this big hug and smile on her face.  A great picture.

I am guessing this was taken in late 1947.  We all look happy!  Helen came a couple years later.

The end for today.  I will go through my calendar one last time looking for mistakes and then off it goes to Shutterfly later today. AND yes I did enjoy my FP today.  As I sign off Terry is still sleeping, unusual for this time of day.

July 27 and we march towards August of 2021

 TERRY

As I blog Terry is reading the paper.  She mentioned yesterday, when I remarked how short of a time it took to read the paper, that she now usually looks at the pictures.  I am going to try my best to get her the x ray this afternoon.  We will see.

I actually have tennis at 8:30 this morning.  Now it is pretty standard to only play twice a week so that is not so good for the game as IF I have any tennis skills it is difficult to maintain them at that level of play.

I have not kept track of the hours that I have put in to my 2022 calendar but a good guess would be some where between 25-30 hours.  I would say it is finished but will go though the entire thing this afternoon and then order tomorrow as the 40% off ends Wednesday.  We see stories of inflation well I am 100% certain that Shutterfly has raised their prices BIG time.  Anyway as I go through it today I am certain I will find some mistakes and also find places where I could improve.  This may be the fifth year or so that I have made one and in my opinion this will be the best.  I counted 130 pictures that I used.  Many of the pictures are complimentary from Dad's photograph talents.  

I sent a card out about 10 days ago.  The name of the street was "Louisiana" and I ended it with an "e" instead of an "a" and it came back!  I could not figure that out as that gets pretty close to nitpicking I felt.

I have cancelled the meals we get the last two weeks.  Which means I have been experimenting with some food.  I think I had a home run two days age.

I purchased a corn bread mix and made it in the cast iron skillet and Terry said it was delicious.  Mom used to make it and I am sure she did NOT have a mix but she would make it in a cake pan and we would have Karo syrup on it.  Terry and I do not have Karo syrup so Terry was happy with just butter on it and I used maple syrup which was good.  I actually said to myself, "Good job Carmen!"

No it is gettin near 8:00 and I need to get ready for 8:30 tennis.  Our court times are 7:30, 9:00 and 10:30 but now in the summer there are so few people playing a person can pretty much play at any time so we go at 8:30.  

A couple of pictures for the day.

I like this picture of Dave

Here is sister Helen and I like this because she is on the tractor and Dave and I would tease her a lot about not doing her part of farm work but really I think after I left home she had three more years of high school and I think she was Dad's right hand worker!  She will be thankful to me for the proof!!!   I see another International tractor in the background and I have no idea where or why Dad had that.  When Dave and I were still on the farm we had the International M that Helen is sitting on and the Ford tractor and that was it.  Oh my when I think back on our farm and Dad's approach to farming it was antique at best!  But it did provide us with what we needed.  Well I thought I could have used more money when I was in high school and would go on dates!

Time to sign off as the FP is low in the cup and I need to be sure I have a shirt for tennis.  On to another day in Naples FL were the temp will most likely be 93 or so and the humidity will be more than one really wants.

I just looked and yes, this will be year #5

Monday, July 26th and the start of the last week of July 2021

 TERRY

As I write it is 7:35 and Terry is still sleeping.  I would say she is holding her own but yes there are concerns as always.  At this time my two biggest concerns are theses.  She now seems content to stay in the bedroom.  I would say she has not ventured out into the living room for 5 or 6 days.  When I suggest it she just says she is fine.  The second is I probably need to insist that we get to the hospital today for that chest x ray.  I have concluded that IF I do not insist she will be fine just not going.  I think it is important as she often has this congested cough during the day and I want to be sure there is nothing in her lungs.  She says it is just in her throat but!

So here I am sitting at the computer with a full cup of (my all time favorite cup from the Delta Junction, Alaska) FP and actually I have very little to do OR to say today.  But here goes not much of anything.

I can not believe myself but I am about finished with my 2022 calendar.  I will not send them out for some time but it is 99% finished.  Well I say that but I am sure from time to time I will open it on Shutterfly and make a few changes.  The big thing that I may do as time goes on is add more pictures.  I like to put a picture of the person on the date of their birthday and I have several left to do.  I also need to check to be sure I have ALL the birthdays that I intend to put on.  What I do is put family that includes siblings and their children.  Well of course I have to have MY grandchildren on it.  I guess there are a few others as well.  I am surprised as I started this calendar with the idea in mind that if family knew when my birthday was I would get this flood of Happy Birthday cards!  Well that idea did not work is as I think this year I got a couple, maybe!!!  Don't be upset as what I just wrote is NOT true, that is about the idea but it is true about the cards!!!  

Making the calendars is a labor of fun, love and emotions.  I enjoy doing it but the hours looking for just the right pictures is not all that fun.  The emotions come to the surface once in a while as I find pictures that have a story behind that may be great but may be sad as well.  I guess what I like the most is looking at the calendar each day and remembering something that a picture brings to mind.  An example is this as the month of July 2021 has pictures of loved ones who are no longer with us:

• Oh my I could go on and on about memories of Ronald.  One of the best is when I gave him ALL my money ($10) and he brought home a baseball glove for me.  I still have it in the closet upstairs.
• Then there is Charlie.  We visited Charlie and Glorine in Strawberry Point Iowa and had a fun time.  Also Charlie was always fun to talk to.
• Then there is Mike.  Gail and I visited Helen and Mike at least once on AR.  I still remember our drive so that Mike could watch his grandchildren for a few days.  He brought almost the entire house with him for the visit!
• In the lower left of the July calendar is Dave.  I could fill a book about Dave and I and most would be GOOD.  It is here that I tend to pause and have a tear or two.
• Then there is Roxanne.  She and hubby came to visit the MN State Fair and we lent them our pickup so they would drive around.  I have a picture of them standing in the driveway.
• Well in the lower left is Gail.  I would say we had a wonderful marriage and life together.  But often when I see that picture and smile I think of her 9 months struggle with cancer.  At that point I may need a Kleenex or maybe even a paper towel!
• Lastly on the middle left is Janet.  So many memories.  I wish I still had the fuzzy sweater she knit for me.  I didn't wear it much as it was kind if itchy!
• That is it for July and one may note that I did not include Mom and Dad.  No reason, just put pictures of siblings I guess.

So after saying all that I ALMOST am ready to rethink my 2022 as each of my siblings gets a month.  I am hoping that I am not sad for the three months of Ronald, Janet and Dave!  For sure when the month of Helen comes up I will think of kind of a wild person!  AND Joan, I may think of a task master when we were alone on the farm at times Mom and Dad were gone.  She ALWAYS made us do dishes which of course was very nice of her but at the time I hated it!

SOME PICTURES FOR THE DAY 

This may be my all time favorite family picture.  I would say it is a darn good looking family.  It looks like Helen loves her Daddy.  Had to be either Christmas of 1950 or Easter of 1951

I think this was taken 30 years later??  Not sure when!

And taken 70 years after picture #1
You get the drift, then there were three!

That is it for the day.  The FP is all consumed and I have the entire day ahead.  I HAVE to get Terry in for the x ray today and will drop off two samples at the lab that the doctor wanted me to do.  Actually that sounds like a busy day for an old guy like me.  I am wondering if anyone can tell who is the oldest and who is the youngest by looking at that picture???  When I look at it I now understand why when I went to Costco and they were letting people in an hour early who were over 60 years of age they just waved me on in!!!

Time to sign off as I am excited about my first job today.  I am going to make corn bread in the cast iron skillet.  I will just have to remember to use a hot pad when I take it out of the oven!  My problem is when it is done, and if it's good, I do not have any Karo syrup to put on it.  Maybe maple will do!

July 25, the last Sunday of the month

 TERRY

The state of my world is this:  Terry is the same as she is in bed with the paper.  SW Florida is the same as the temp is in the high 70s on its' way to the high 80s.  AND I am the same as I sit with my FP drink and type away on the computer.  So no news is pretty much good news for now.  As I opened the garage door to go out and get the paper I was reminded by the heat that I AM IN FLORIDA!!!

Terry and I have no plans for the day.  With Terry being not very moble going to church is really not a realistic thing so it is often listening or watching it on the television.  I talked to Terry yesterday and said we must get those chest x rays this coming week.  She agreed but we will see what she says when I bring it up Monday!  She just is most comfortable in her bed with the TV on.  It has now been several days since she walked out into the living room.  Of course that is NOT good in any sense so I do take one day at a time and try to get things moving in the right direction.  

I am guessing the TV will be on most of the day tuned into the Olympics.  Terry did watch some yesterday and I joined her for a while.  We saw the US get a gold, silver and bronze in swimming.  We also watched the best US women's volleyball team win their first set.  Those gals are so athletic and agile as they play in the sand.  One of them is 6' 5' and puts her height to good use.  I think there are two women team but not sure.  I watched some of the men's match and they lost.  They are not as fun to watch if you get my drift.  OK I just said that because I thought it was funny!  I should look at when the men's basketball play today as it sounds like their team is a bit shaky at best.

You may find this unbelievable but I think there may be something to it.  Here goes:  When I was in grade school I would classify myself as a severe stutter.  I remember getting up in front of the class when I was in the 6th grade as Mrs. Fox, our teacher, had us doing oral book reports.  I had my report down pat and was good to go.  I stood up in front of the class and could not say a word.  I just stood there like a frozen mackerel.  Finally, is seemed like an eternity, Mrs. Fox said I should sit down.  Now that was stuttering at its' worst but it was a big deal with me.   First of all Mom and Dad NEVER brought attention to it but they did some things that maybe helped.  They tried to make sure I got enough sleep.  They never put any pressure on me to talk in front of people and other things as well.  But, today, here is my story.  I read in the Parade today about Emily Blunt, the actress.  As a child she was a stutter.  They said maybe she grow out of it as when she started to play parts she was not herself but someone else and that helped her out grow the problem.  Now here I was in the 50s mainly.  (I did this my myself).  I would play ball as it was me and the south barn wall.  After I cleared the barn yard of all the cow pies etc I had the perfect ball field.  I would be Hammering Hank at bat and hit the ball a mile.  Then in the field I would be Warren Spahn the pitcher who won all his games.  All the while as I played ball I would talk to myself as I I was in another world where stuttering was not an issue.  I may sound crazy but I think that had a lot to do with the fact that by the time I got to 8th grade it pretty much was not an issue AND now it is NO issue as I may talk too much.

That is my story and I am sticking to it but REALLY I believe it had a lot to do with the fact that I out grew stuttering as one knows that is pretty unusual.  I could also mention I had this problem of chewing my finger next to my thumb on my right hand.  No I guess I won't admit that as it sounds like I may have been a strange child.

Here is a pretty darn cute picture of Dad after he had his broken leg fixed.  It warms my heart as Mom looks so so happy.  I know it happened in the fall because with the cast on he hunted deer around home and got his by driving and then getting out and shooting.

FROM DAKOTA ATTITUDE

Farm Fresh Eggs taste better

Thirty-five years ago, Dorothy began reaffirming her commitment to Albert in a unique way: raising chickens.  "My husband doesn't like bought eggs."  Dorothy says, "That's my first priority for having chickens."  Can Albert really tell the difference? "You damn right I can, ' he declares.  From 150 hens, I have gotten as many as 135 eggs in one day Dorothy says.  Some are sold locally, and others are sold in the grocery store in Walhalla.  A funny side story here is one time Terry and I were visiting the Lees in Madison.  I was up but Terry was still in bed.  Leo races downstairs, knocks on the door and says in a loud voice, 'Grandma Terry, come up for breakfast we have farm fresh eggs!" To this day I get a chuckle out of that when it comes to mind.

Well here it is creeping up towards 9:00.  I do have a load of clothes to put in and then do some things for Terry so will sip my last of the FP and see if I have much get up and go today!

Oh my I am late today

 TERRY

Here it is 5:45 and all is OK today.  Terry is in the bedroom with the TV on.  She closes her eyes from time to time but for the most part she is awake.  She found a station on TV that show the old old shows like "The Rifleman", "Gunsmoke' etc etc and she is enjoying that.  She has eaten very little today but says she is not hungry.  She said she had a fit full sleep last night as did I.  She had several times when she had this hollow cough and I do not know what that is.  But as I say another day.

I do not have much to say today.  No tennis and actually the next time will be Tuesday so my game is NOT going to get any better that way.  Wait a minute, I am 74 so just maybe I have topped out!!!

I have spent MUCH time over the last three days working on a 2022 calendar.  It is almost finished and I do believe it will be the best one I have done BUT I realize that is not saying much.  I will tweak it now from time to time and then perhaps order it next month some time. I know that is early for Christmas presents but what else do I have to do.  Oh, wait there are many papers waiting to be filed or thrown but they will wait for sure.

A couple of pictures from our farm after it burned.  Going over the pictures brings many memories and much sadness.  I know it was good for Mom to move into town BUT losing ALL of the farm like that just seems no right.  The bottom picture is the barn and of course the top is our beloved Red truck that was so fun to double clutch and drive down the road.  It is almost hard to believe to this day that the fire just destroyed everything.   Well it did not destroy memories but everything else.

That is about it.  I enjoyed FP this morning as usual.

Friday July 23rd as we get close to the last week of July 2021

 TERRY

Here it is 9:15 and Terry is still reading the Naples Daily.  I think she is almost finished.  I would say she is same same today.  I am hoping we can get to the hospital for that X ray as she was not up to going out yesterday.  We will see!

Before I got on my blog I was on Facebook and there were several things about the September 18 reunion in Lidgerwood.  I think it is a reunion of Bergen Church, Marbro Township and maybe ANYONE who was in that area during the 50s and 60s.  There were several pictures I think of vacation Bible School.  Bergen Church was on one side of the road and a school was on the other side of the road.  Anyway here are a couple of pictures of those days.

I have Dave, Helen and I circled with Linda Lee and Judy Lee to Helen's right.  This had to be vacation bible school as we are in the picture and went to Cayuga but most of the kids went to Lidgerwood.  

Here is the kid that I knew as Chuckie but his name is Charles of course.  He and I would sit together during church and the BIG thing was seeing who could just open the hymn book closest to the page of the song we were to sing next!  I think the score was kind of 50/50!!!  It looks like his lunch pail is the COOL one of the day!

No that is about all I have for today.  No tennis but will see if Terry is up to going out today.  I did have my FP and it was super good today!

Tennis today

 TERRY

As I blog this morning, it is 7:45, Terry is sleeping.  As I read the paper at the kitchen table I could hear that she was restless and coughing some but now she is quiet and as I peeked in on her she was sleeping again.  IF she is up to it we will have a big day today.  She said she would like a shower so that happens after tennis.  If she is not too tired out we will then head to NCH hospital for her chest X ray AND if she still has any energy left we will stop on our way home for her covid shot.  I have mixed feelings about her getting the shot but she does want it so it will happen.  

Here we are about half finished with the summer season and I would say I still am not used to Florida summers.  The norm is high humidity and temps in the low 90s.  I have tennis from 8:30 to 10:00 and when I come home there may not be a dry spot on my shirt!  

I do have some concerns about Terry as the days go by.  She now seldom goes out into the living room but rather stays in the bedroom.  The times she does walk to the living room she usually only stays a hour or so.  Also I do want her to get this chest X ray as she does seem as if her chest is congested much of the time.  Of course that could also be just something in her throat that bothers her.  I do have vials to take to the lab for when she has a coughing spell and also for a BM but am waiting to get samples so I can bring them in.  

It seems that this caregiving is kind of a full time job especially during this month when we do not have any in home care.  I think Sonia will be back here come August at least that is what she said.  I know she is concerned about her mom who she is visiting in New York State so we will see.

Actually kind of a good thing over the last couple of weeks is I have gotten to experiment with more cooking.  The down side of that is Terry now eats so little most of what I make either goes ON me or into the garbage and I am NOT good at throwing food away.  I have this recipe for tomato pie that I may make today and with it I will be making the crust instead of buying it.  Time will tell IF it is any good.  If there are people who read the blog often and they do not see anymore about the tomato pie that means it was a bust!

I think these pictures are the day of Glorine and Ronald's wedding or at least close to the day in the top picture.  Darn, for some reason I can not remember that day at all.  I think it was the next summer or so when they stayed with us for the summer and Ronald worked on the Wild Life Preserve.  I still have fond memories of how Ronald was always doing something like that summer he built an outdoor shower near the clothes line west of the house.  I could also talk about the TV he brought, the rifle he gave me, the rifle he gave Dave, the trailer he built that summer, the deer carrier he built for deer hunting and the list goes on as he was a man of much energy and many talents.  There are times I think about his death and then about Roxanne's death and wonder if it was kind of the same thing.  BUT I admit that as one gets older there are many many questions that come to mind with NO answers.

No it is 8:10 and I need to dress for tennis at 8:30.  Terry is sleeping and I do not like to wake her so I may just leave a note IF she is still sleeping in 15 minutes.  

AND I will leave the last sips of FP for after tennis.

Wow here it is late afternoon and I have accomplished NOTHING today

 TERRY

There is no news that is new about Terry.  She did her usual reading the morning paper.  Then she rested her eyes much of the morning and I never know if she is sleeping or not.  She is now watching TV.  She has not been into the living room for a couple of days and that is not so good.  She does need to get that chest X ray and I told her she needs to let me know BUT it has to happen this week.  She continues to have this throat which bothers her and she is often clearing it.  Without asking I made her a lettuce, cheese and ham sandwich.  The bun was almost a dinner bun, not very big, and she did eat half of it and said it was very good.  I could be mistaken but I will not be surprised if that is all she wants to eat today.

Well I am on my way in a fairly big project with pictures.  I am trying to get them somewhat in order which is a TALL order to say the least!  I am thinking I have a long way to go but today has been a good start.  AND there are still papers on the dining room table begging to be tossed, filed or whatever.  It seems they just lie there and laugh as I walk by several times a day!

No tennis today but I think tomorrow we are on.  Rusty had a Dr. appointment today and have not heard from him so don't know if he will play or not.

I got a note from Mike M.  He was in the foursome when we played golf about a month ago.  He asked to buy my book after that.  I got a note today from him saying he really enjoyed it and he is looking forward to book number 2 and maybe there is a Lee Trilogy in the works!  I guess I never thought about that but it is interesting.  

Pickles is pretty funny sometimes.  It is in the Naples Daily.

When I was out the other day I stopped at Ace Hardware and just looked.  I saw this Yeti lunch bag and thought that would be nice.  Yeti products are VERY good.  I then asked myself, "Do I really need a lunch bag?"  I decided No but picked it up to look at it.  I saw the price of $79.95 and said with a sigh, "Even if I did need one after buying that I could not afford to make myself lunch anyway."  I guess there was a reason they had the price printed on the inside of the tag!!!  I should add that the price was actually no surprise as IF you buy a Yeti product you are pretty much buying the best that is out there.  A medium size cooler probably sells for $300 and up.

No, here it is almost 4:30 so time to sign off.  AND yes the FP was finished about 8 hours ago.

Kind of normal today!

 TERRY

Nothing new to share about Terry.  As I write she is reading the paper in bed with the TV on.  I will talk to her today about WHEN she may be willing to go to NCH Hospital to get a chest X ray.  I really want to have that done this week but I know she does not like to go places.  WE will see.

Here I am. as it is 7:48 and I am not sure if I have tennis today or not.  I will have to call.  One of the guys has an issue with his foot so he cannot play and I don't know if we have someone to take his place.

My title today is about the day.  Our normal is like this.  

• I wake up and get the two papers which are the Naples and the WSJ
• Then I put the water on for my FP
• Usually about that time Terry wakes
• I take the sports out of the paper and bring it in to her and turn the lamp on
• I then put the hot water for my FP and settle in at the kitchen table with the sports section
• After I finish the sports and the WSJ I settle in at the desk for my blog and as Terry finishes the paper she turns to the TV and after a while she may close her eyes for a while!

That is what I mean by the title of my blog today.  So now, if anybody is reading, you know how our day starts much of the time.

I do not really have plans for the day. Maybe I will get some papers taken care of.  Maybe I will have tennis.  Maybe I will be strong enough to NOT over eat as I stepped on the scale this morning and ex-haled loudly!!!

I can hardly wait to finish the current coffee that I have ground as a friend Heidi brought gave me some from her trip to Africa!  I am excited to see if, when I try some, it has a hint of elephant etc in it!!!  Well maybe NOT but I am thinking it is going to be good.

Here is a picture that I really enjoyed.  It is one from John.  We have Mom, Grandma, Henry (Grandma's brother who lived with her for a while) and then our family with Bennie and Eveleyn's family.  

No this is about it for the day.  I need to call to see if we are playing and IF we are I had better get dressed.  The remainder of the FP will wait for a while.

The doctor we saw!

 TERRY

Terry's dr appointment was short but when we arrived home she was exhausted.  We did not get any answers but really accomplished what I wanted to get done.  She has a walking paper for a chest X Ray and then a couple of containers for specimens from on top and bottom if you get my language.  Also came home with new throw up bags.  Now I know that does not sound exciting BUT as she pretty much throws up some every day the bags get a little used and not so good to have around.  No follow up but the results of the specimens will go to the doctor and she will get back to us about them.  I am guessing that will take some time.  After we got home Terry had about a two hour nap.

Here are a couple of pictures

The top has Janet above sister Helen on the right and Joyce with sister Gayle on the left.  Below, just a few years later we have Helen again on the right and Gayle on the left!

Here is Dad's sister Amanda with her husband and two kids.  I know the boy's name was Lee but I do not know the girls name.  I never met Amanda's husband as I think they were divorced but I promise Amanda had some interesting Lee blood and much of it spilled over into the girls in the Ruby/Lawrence Lee family.  I will say no more!!!  I should add that the traits I refer to are wonderful!!!

It is mid afternoon and I am finished.  The FP is long ago history but still enjoyed.

Sunday evening, July 18th.

 TERRY

Terry is about the same.  Yesterday she had one of those days where she slept a lot and today she was awake most of the time.  She will see the doctor tomorrow and I hope to get some answers to a few of meh concerns.

I guess in my old age I have a one track mind.  I got this idea (a secret) and worked on it much of the weekend.  I am guessing when it is finished I will have put a lot of hours into it.  Anyway I just did not think of the blog.  

I have a list of things that I want to bring up to the doctor tomorrow as Terry has be a bit concerned.  I will try to remember to blog AFTER the doctor visit tomorrow.

No rain today but we had thunder bumpers much of the afternoon.  It still may rain before dark.  I really have little to say tonight.  I guess I have my mind on tennis at 7:30 tomorrow and then Terry's appointment after that.  I will have to quit tennis 15 minutes early to get Terry to the doctor.

It was a lazy day today.  The car did not leave the garage as I viewed church on line again.  Terry got a call from her daughter but that was it for the day.  So I am going to close for tonight and try to be sure to write AFTER Terry's appointment tomorrow.  I had a double pot of FP but my day was as usual!

There are a lot of people I know on this picture that was taken about 1949. Some include Roger, Dave, Karen Joan, and women like Mom, Grandma, Alta, Nina, Dorothy and many more!

Here we are on the THIRD Friday of July 2021

 TERRY

Terry is doing ABOUT the same but I do have some concerns.  I have made an appointment for her next Monday with her primary doctor.  Today she has been sleeping a lot and as I write she has her eyes closed.

It has been a slow slow day and that is not all bad.  I have been watching some of the OPEN which is in England.  I love to see the kind of golf courses they have over there.  At one time a golfer hit his shot into a small tree.  The commentary was that was the ONLY tree on the course!  I guess one of the reasons I love those kind of courses is it reminds me of my 3 hole golf course that I set up in Bert's pasture to the north of our farm.  I did not play it a lot AND the reason was there were too many gopher holes AND cow pies on the course!  That is not "pie" in the sense that you eat it!!!

Now that outhouse puts ours on the farm to shame!  Someone had a fun time building it and perhaps using it as well.  Not sure I would have wanted to use the lower half if the upper half was being used!

Here is Grandpa Sampson and Uncle Jim's house in Veblen.  I loved that house as it was so clean and free of clutter.  Dave and I would spend time in the basement where all they had down there was a toilet in the middle of the basement and that was about it.  They had a large garage to the left that is not in the picture. They did have an outhouse too.  Mom would drive down to Veblen to visit her Dad.  Dad would not go along but Dave and I tagged alone and played while Mom visited.  To this day I can see and hear Grandpa asking us if we wanted a bite of his "chew"!  He would deposit it in his spittoon which was on newspaper right by his favorite chair.  Some time after Grandpa died Jim sold the house and then he lived with Obert and Bertie for a while.  The house is still there in the Southeast corner of Veblen.

I actually did get some work done on papers today.  Actually I got a lot done but there is still more to do. 

Not much else to say today.  Of course as it is now 4:00 PM the FP is history of long ago so will only say that it hit the spot this morning.  Terry is currently still lying in bed with her eyes closed but when she wakes up I need to make a quick run to the store.

Here we are half way to the month of August!

 TERRY

It is 7:00 AM and I have been up for an hour.  The Naples paper has been looked at (notice I said LOOKED at) and the WSJ has been paged through as well.  AND as I write Terry has not made a sound.  I am hoping she sleeps in a bit as I think she has been waking up at night.  As I leave the bedroom the door is always open but this morning I did close it to almost shut hoping she can catch some much needed sleep.  Health wise, about the same.  Again I mentioned a cover shot and she said she wants one and would let me know when she is ready to go in for it.

We had an interesting evening last night.  Our normal mode of operation is to watch Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy from 7:00-8:00.  Well just as they got to the final question in Jeopardy the TV went out.  Most of the time when that happens it comes on right away but not last night.  I tried several things to no avail.  Finally I encouraged Terry to go into the living room to watch as I tried to fix it.  I finally called our service and they decided that our little black box like this

went out and we needed a new one.  I said I could come in tomorrow (that is today) and get a replacement.  Then I had this idea and I would say it was kind of smart!!!  We have a small TV that can be turned and we can watch it from the kitchen table.  I am guessing it has not been turned on in several years!  BUT I went into the kitchen and presto there behind the TV was the very same box.  After a few minutes of disconnecting and reconnecting we had TV in the bedroom again.  So Terry had her "go to sleep aide" again and all was good.  I will go in this morning and exchange the bad box for a good one but we will have no need for it now.  I mean as long as we keep the kitchen TV it should be working even if we never use it.  

I do not have tennis today.  One of the guys texted and said he could not make it this morning so my next tennis will be Saturday as far as I know.

OK you can call me weird if you want but I was so excited to see this picture.  Dad is on the "M" tractor and I am not sure who is on the haystack bucket but this picture tells HOW we did our haying.  EVERYONE else in the neighborhood baled hay but we stacked it.  We had the highest stacks of anyone.  Dave and Joan usually were in the stack in the late 50s and early 60s.  Dave would relate to you how UPSET he was one year when he had to stack hay on his birthday!!!  Pretty funny I would say.

I an trying to figure out who all these guys are.  I would say they look like trouble for sure!  I know Dad in second from the right and Halvor is second from the left.  I think on Dad's right is Harold but not sure.  To Halvor's right it could be Rollof as it kind of looks like his son Roger.  I am wondering if the man on the far left is George but not sure and the guy on the far right I have no idea.  It is a wonderful picture.

That is about it for this morning.  I (almost promise) to get more work done today on the papers that are ALL over the house.  I am almost finished with the FP so I should be able to work.

Here we are at Wednesday, July 14th

 TERRY

Terry is doing the same as I see no change for the better or for the worse.  As usual we will continue to take life one day at a time and see where life takes us.  AND as is often the case as I write she is reading the paper OR as she now says "looking at the pictures".  I asked her the other day why she used to take maybe an hour and a half to read the paper and now it is often a half hour or so.  Not reading much and looking at the pictures will certainly cut down on the time!

OK so Sonia is gone for the month and ALL things around here have to be done by me, I or myself!  So here are a couple of pictures from yesterday. 

This is the picture from Hello Fresh where we get meals.  

This is my version of the meal.  OK so it looks kind of messy and maybe not as perfect as the picture of the recipe BUT really it tasted very good.  I thought for a guy who is just a tad bit better at biking or tennis or photography I did an OK job.  Maybe not an A but certainly passed with a high grade!  I have another meal for tomorrow so will see how that turns out.  

Well here is the laundry room.  Those are clean clothes and I just have not had the time to put them away.  Really you should be proud of my work even tho it is not 100% like a homemaker.  I mean I try really hard and I think I KIND of have things under control.  Really all I have to do is fold things and then put them away in the right place.  I am learning and I think If I were to give myself a grade it probably would be at least a B+ and maybe even an A- but then that is kind of bragging so will settle for a B+.  

So I admit.  Going it alone is not the best nor it it the easiest but I am kind of making the best of it and the house is still standing.  Actually in terms of the meals I canceled the ones for next week and then will pick them up the following week.  I may find that it is a good idea to get meals every other week as Terry is eating so little.  Terry just is not eating all that much so truth be told there are times that food goes to waste.  Well sometimes it goes to waste into the garbage and sometimes it goes to waste on my waist line!!!

I think I am going to take a quick trip to Costco today as I have no tennis and getting to Costco at 9:00 us old folks get in and have the store to ourselves until 10:00.  It is a good thing to get in and get out without a lot of people in the store.  The faster I shop the fewer items I can put into the cart!

Well Florida is living up to it's rainy summer reputation.  We have gotten rain 2 of the last 3 days for a total of 1.1". As I look at the forecast it shows possible rain each day and that usually comes in the mid to late afternoon.  

As I read the WSJ this morning Dave came to mind.  On Wednesdays there is always a story about some kind of car and I often would cut that out and send it to Dave.  

There is NO tennis today so I guess that means work at things at home.  I have made some progress on the papers scattered around but there is still more to do.  I guess that is on the menu for the day.  

Actually I need to clarify something I wrote about yesterday.  I mentioned that I needed to get into the shower and scrub some areas of mildew.  Just to be sure one understands that is scrub the shower walls and floor and not the person in the shower!!!

No I am kind of running out of things to write about so will sign off for the day.  I have an entire cup of FP left so will linger on the computer while I enjoy every last sip.  

Here we are at July 13, 2021 AND happy to be alive!

 TERRY

Terry is same same.  She has be quiet lately but when I ask her how she is doing she always says OK.  I asked her this morning if she wanted to get the cover shot and she said yes.  I said I would wait for her to let me know when she wants to go do that.  A person can pretty much go to any place that have given shots in the past and just walk up and get the shot. 

I will start out with a couple of pictures today.

Mom and Dad on their wedding day, June 25, 1935

Mom and Dad after nearly 56 years of marriage as this was 1991.  They did not quite make it to 60 as Mom died in the fall of 1994 after 59 years of marriage.

I played tennis today and Rusty and I prevailed 6-3 but my game is less than good at this point.  It is difficult for me to get my mind into the game.  It still is fun but would be more fun IF my game were better!

I may make a trip to Costco today to get some things.  I may wait until tomorrow as OLD people can get into the store an hour before they open to all.  One can get in and get out quickly.

I really have little else to say.  Here it is past 11:00 and I have done nothing to make the day one of progress.  Actually I do need to get into the shower and scrub some areas where there are small spots of mildew.  It is not a big job but it needs to be done.

My FP is all finished for the day so I should have some energy to get to work.  Not to brag but I did get some things done yesterday!

We start a new week, July 12th

 I woke up at 5:50 and Terry was not much behind me so we started the day early.  Here it is 7:30 and it is the usual with me blogging and Terry with the paper.  Terry is doing the same so no news there.  We enter our second full week without our in home help as Sonia is in New York and will be there most of the month as I understand.  So it is full time house cleaner, full time dishwasher, full time cook and the list goes on.  At this point I have kind of kept up!!!

Naples certainly is in the rainy season.  As I look at the weather pretty much every day it shows a 40%-60% chance of rain.  Yesterday we got .55".  The rain mostly comes in the mid to late afternoon.

I have no certain plans for the week.  I do know that I will have tennis Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and I do wish I would play at least one more time during the week but most of the guys are not here in the summer so it is what it is.  

I have been copying recipes off the internet so I can do some cooking BUT.  Terry just has not been eating much and most of the recipes make a lot more food than we ((I) can eat so I just do not know what I should do going forward for the rest of July.

Oh my but I have NOT been losing weight.  I may have to do some kind of crash thing.  I so do want to lose weight but darn it---being home most of the time and having time on my hands just makes it so difficult.  I guess another way to put it is I just do not have much self control.  In most ways I would say I do but when it comes to diet NO.  The bad thing is I so like the taste of food so I find myself eating when I am not hungry because the taste of food comforts me.  Sounds crazy I know but that it the way it is.

Again, I am so enjoying the pictures John Mouw sent.  Here are a couple.

I just think this is so darn cute and I am kind of sure it is Ronald and Helen.  Ronald was 14 years older Helen and it just does not seem like he is 14 here.  Maybe it is Joan as that would make Ronald 6.  That does not seem right either so maybe if family sees this they can tell me the story.  The more I look at it the more I think it is Joan.  AND whose car it that???  By the way it looks like Ronald needs his shirt mended!

Here is sister Janet as a cheerleader at Lidgerwood High School.  I have no idea what year or grade but my guess would be her senior year which was maybe 1955.  By the bars on the letter she had to be a senior as I am guessing she would have gotten a 4th bar at the end of the year.

John Mouw filled me in on the picture of the truck and car yesterday.  It was great reading his letter about where they were going etc.  I think it was their leaving North Dakota as he joined the Army and they were headed to training.  I do not remember the truck or car but then I must have been around 12 or so.

No here it is a tad past 8:00 and time to sign off.  I vow to get some work done on papers today.  I would post a picture of things this morning and then again tomorrow morning BUT then the pressure would be on to get work done and at this stage of life I do not like pressure!!!  For some reason the FP was a tad strong this morning.

Here we are on the second Sunday of July, 2021

 TERRY

Terry is the same today.  As I write she is in bed reading the huge Sunday paper.  She still is dealing with the tacky cough that has me concerned.  

I am not going to write a whole lot today as I want to watch the tennis final which starts in 15 minutes.  Well I probably will not watch the entire match as it may last into the afternoon as the winner has to win three sets in the men's final.  BUT here are some pictures that are worth looking at and again they are compliments of John.

I promise you Dad was in his glory in this kind of setting.  I THINK Dad is upper right, Halvor is lower left and maybe Harold or George Lee are upper middle.  Lower left I have NO idea and the woman I do not know either unless it is Alta but not sure.

Here is 4 of the Lee girls.  From left to right we have Lenay, Janet, Joan and Joyce.  I would say they were pretty darn good looking!

I had NEVER seen a family picture of John Mouw's parents and siblings.  Tracy and Edith were wonderful people.  I will also post a kind of recent picture of John as today he turns 85 years young or 85 years old depending on the day!!!

It seems to me that John has weathered life in a very good way!!  Hope you have MANY more great years John BUT at your age do not celebrate too much today!

A tad bit late on this Saturday

 TERRY

Terry is the same today.  She had a short nap this AM but has been awake since.  As I write she is in the bedroom with the TV on.

I am not sure where the day went!  Here it is past 6:00 PM and it seems like I have accomplished nothing today.  I did have tennis this morning and it was fun BUT my game was off to put it bluntly.  After tennis I took a swim and then did watch the end of the women's tennis on TV.  Tomorrow I will watch the men's final and that will take up most of the AM.

So we have made it through the first week with Sonia not here at all.  I would say the week went pretty well but did I miss Sonia's two hours each day?  For sure I did.  It seems that dishes, food, care for Terry etc just go on and on and on.  I had better say, in defense of Terry, that she does not need a lot of care but I am always concerned.  She has been in the mode of not being hungry at all and that is not good.  I did, without asking, make half a tuna snack for her today and she ate most of it.  I did not ask as most of the time lately when I ask she says she is not hungry.  I am sure I can make it through July without help coming in BUT for sure I will be ready for Sonia in August again.  Terry is very good as she is OK with me being gone for periods of time but really I do not like to do that much.  Today I was home except for the tennis.  Tomorrow I will not have tennis and I may squeeze in a trip to the grocery store.  The days seem to go by so fast as it will already be July 11th tomorrow.

I have a huge mess in the den and living room with papers ALL over the place.  For some odd reason I have not been in the mood to work on them so about last Thursday I kind of shut down BUT I do need to pick things up again very soon as looking at papers all over the place can get one down for sure.

I have a couple of pictures today to put up.

Here is a picture of Ronald and Glorine on their wedding day.  For the life of me I can not remember that day but I know I was there.  I do not even know what church it was in except to know it was NOT Bergen.

I am pretty sure this is Esther.  It certainly is a cute picture.  When I first saw it I thought maybe that is Roxanne BUT then I realized it looks like it was on their wedding day so NO.  Often as I look at the family that Mom and Dad had with kids, grandkids and great grandkids I say to myself, "Darn, there are some mighty good looking gals and guys.

I have NO idea what this picture is all about.  I do not recognize the pickup or the car.  Of course it is at our farm.  It was a picture that John sent so maybe he know but I have no idea.  At first I thought it was John or Ronalds car but I do not think that is the case.  

As I finish up my blog today I admit the day has not been all that good in any way!  I lost in tennis.  I got no work done.  AND my mind is just in so many places.  I may have to stop looking at some of the picture that I have been posting.  Pictures of the burned out farm ended up sending me into a sad state.  Of course it brought back many many wonderful memories but then the thoughts of Mom and Dad losing the entire farm on top of losing their two oldest children to early deaths put me in a sad mood.  OK so as one looks at this picture you can tell that our farm was NOT a well kept, modern farm BUT it was home and it was the place that so so many memories were made and I will say the memories are wonderful.  OK so maybe there were some not so good memories but I have forgotten them!!!

Enough for this Saturday evening.  Time to spend the rest of the evening with Terry.  And yes, I had my FP this morning and it did start the day out much better then how it ended!!!

Here we are on Friday, July 9th, 2021

 TERRY

There is nothing new concerning Terry.  Here it is mid afternoon so she is well past the paper etc and is now watching TV as she does close her eyes from time to time.  She is still bothered by those darn kind of dry heaves as she had that early morning again.  It seems funny but one of the things I notice is she is finished with the paper in not a lot of time.  I am guessing that if she spent 90 minutes with the paper a few months ago now she is finished in maybe 30 minutes.  When I asked she said she just kind of looks at many of the pictures.  She has been tired the last few days.  So it is one day at a time as usual.

I am really enjoying the stick of pictures John M sent.  I say that and it is true but of course there are many many sad moments as I look at them.  He sent several pictures of the burned out farm.  Now I arrived the evening of the fire and stayed with Mom and Dad for a couple of days but I did not take any pictures.  I mostly spent time with them and then searched for some things in the burned house.  IF I remember I did pick up some things of Mom's.  So here are some of the pictures.

Here I am confused as I think that is the road that went past the place but I do not know what some of the tings are in the distance.  Yes this is our gas pump which I think Dad did not use any more as the gas barrel under the ground had a leak and he put in an above gas tank near the barn.

Here is our beloved "Big Red" as we called our truck.  You can see just behind the cab is the hoist that tilted the box as we unloaded grain.  That was maybe one of the more modern things on the farm as I do not know if others farmers had that on their trucks BUT I assure you that we had maybe the oldest truck in the area!  Dave and I had MANY MANY happy times in Big Red and a close call too.  The front windshield cranked out for a nature AC unit!!!  I the back ground you can see the combine that almost looks kind of un scathed by the fire.  

Here is what was left of the tractors.  Th one on the right was not on the farm when I was at home.  The one on the left is the one full of memories "for sure".  The reason I know we did not have the one when I was home is ours did not have the little raised canister on the top.  Our "M " had the exhaust coming out the top and we always put a tin can on the top if we thought it would rain!

this is what was left of the barn.  Dave had stored several things in the barn when they moved to Iowa so that is what you see.  To the left is the gas tank that Dad used.  MANY memories in and out of the barn and they were pretty much ALL good.  The grove of trees that you see in the back ground is pretty much all removed now as it is farm land that Robert Lee has.

The pole that you see is the pole that was right by the barn door and was the one I would shimmy up to spend time on the barn roof dreaming of what my life would be in the future.  I assure you my dreams did not come true in any sense of the word!!!  Actually as I look closely at the picture I think I am wrong.  The pole that one sees was our light pole with the yard light on and all the things that you see on the ground were in the old granary that had more hole in than a paper target!

That is all for today.  I am really happy to get the pictures but so so sad that all of that happened to Mom and Dad.  AND yet I promise you that losing the farm did have some hidden good for Mom AND I know that losing the farm was not in the same category as losing Ronald and Janet.  THINGS are nice to have but life is precious.

A short time after the fire Mom and Dad sold about 75% of the land and then the last of the land was sold after Dad died.  

So that is it for today.  I had my FP a long time ago so life is good for today.