Here we are at November 1st, 2022

 It has been toooo long since I posted so will try to post how things are going.

It seems that my health is kind of OK.  My left side continues to be fine but my right side is slowly or not at all improving.  I can do everything with my left side but my fingers are somewhat numb as well as my right leg.  It does not impair me in any way so for that I am thankful.

I am settled in at 2094 Niles in St. Paul in my house which I am sharing with son Travis.  I GUESS I am getting ready for winter which I have not been here for several years.  Snow will be something I have not been in for perhaps 12 years and I can honestly say I am NOT all that excited about!

Terry is in GA near her daughter.  I have not seen her for several months and miss her terribly. From time to time I get the urge to jump in the car and drive to GA and I may still do that but I am not sure about driving 1100 miles!

You may ask why are we 1100 miles apart???  Well I had two strokes and Terry is in bed 24/7 so her daughter took her to be close to her and my kids brought me to St. Paul.  At my age I am not crazy about having others make decisions for me but it happens and that is life for now.

I am excited for Thanksgiving to come as ALL of the family will be here and that will be grand.  I just hope that the weather is good.  I will have to get a family picture for sure.

For now I am good.  I hope everyone is gearing up for the holidays and excited about them.  I THINK I am excited but really there is streak of sadness in all that has happened over the last many years BUT one needs to be positive and keep your head up as I try. 

To everyone who reads my blog I hope health is good and the holidays are a joyfully time.

  

Not sure this blog is posting but will try

 Here we are as we are nearing winter time.  It is 7:00 PM and the temp is 41, a bit chilly I would say.  I will try to catch up on what is happening in my life IF that is possible.  

+I admit I have forgotten how to do some of this stuff as the two stokes I have had left me forgetting how to do some things.  SO it is Audrey's 14 birthday today.  She is a wonderful young lady and I wish her the VERY best in the coming year. I tried to post a picture but forgot how to do it.

Well how about that I figured it out.  There she is maybe at the age of 2 or so.

*I am in St Paul in my house and am so so so wishing Terry was with me but that is not the case.  She is in FL and will soon be in GA near her daughter.  With my two strokes we got separated and when we will get back together is anybody's guess.  I miss her dearly.

• I have had two strokes and am NOT back to myself yet.  My left side is 100% but my right side is perhaps 85%.  I can do pretty much everything but have some tingling on an ongoing bases.  Will it get better, I am not sure.
• So my life is not what I would like it to be.  Terry is not with me.  I am in cold MN for the winter and NOT in Naples.  Which means I will not be playing tennis this winter and perhaps not any time in the future.  
• With may strokes the kids brought be to St. Paul and Terry is pretty much in bed so will be in an assisted living home in Peachtree city GA next week.  That is where her daughter lives.
• With my right hand not doing so well I am going to make this short BUT I promise to TRY to get in to blogging kind of on a regular schedule.  
• As for now I am kind of doing fine but I would so so like to be with Terry.  Perhaps that will happen again.
• So for now I hope all are doing well and I hope things work when I try to post this.

October 3, the first Monday of the month

 Here I am having did my 5 block block already and ready for what the day brings.  What the may be is perhaps a given.  Perhaps another walk, some more computer, some TV and then sitting and wondering what my life looks like in the future!!  I know:

*Our farm is way way back in the past and where our farm was is now a wheat field

*Devils Lake ND is only a memory even tho I lived there for 8 years and that is where the 3 boys were born.

So here I am I St. Paul.  Yes my 30 years of teaching here are way in the past, perhaps 15 years ago!!!

My beloved Gail is no more and I miss her greatly.

My wife Terry no I miss her as we have not been together for several weeks.  She is in FL and here I am in  Minn.

So on with my life of late

I am here in my house and a blessing is my son Travis is living with me.  Also daughter Cynthia is nearby and that is good.  

After the two strokes I am trying my best to rehab my physical being.  I do exercises every day and go on at least 2 walks a day.  Are they helping.  Well I would like to think they are but IF they are the progress is very very slow at best.  Yet I have no complains as I can do pretty much anything but do have some numbness in my left side.  It may be I have that to just keep my humble.!!   

The neighborhood has a way of bringing back many memories.  IF I sit at the computer in the early AM I kind of relive memories as I watch kids, big and small, walk to school.  The memories go all the way from walking to Wood Lake School which was a mile and a half to the big yellow bus coming and of course to sitting with special gals on the way home from football and basketball games!!!  The memories are many and for the most part GOOD.  Notice I said most part!  Of course one can NOT live on memories alone.  Live goes on and yes one needs to live for the "now" and the future and not on the past.  So what about the "now" and in the future?  Well for now Terry and I are 2000 miles apart and that is difficult but then life can be that way some times. The future is up in the air for sure.  It seems that Terry is holding her own and my health seems to be stable for now.  What tomorrow or next week or next month brings is anyones guess.  

So I choose to live one day at a time and be thankful for what is.  I know at the age of 75 and a history of 2 strokes the physical state I am in I give thanks as it is pretty good taken everything into consideration.  

I will leave things at this.  I may try to mow the lawn to get some of the leaves up today and then of course get my exercise in too.  Other than that I will take what comes and be thankful for what God has given me.  I am hoping family, friends and all are in good health and enjoying life as the days pass by.

Checking in again

 Well we are into November and I amWAY behind in on my blog. I will try to give an update on things here in St. Paul.

*As of today I am in St. Paul and Terry is in Naples.

*Terry is in an assisted living place with 24 hour care.  Terry needs help to get out of bed.  However she does eat well and seems to be doing OK.

As for me I have had two strokes.  At this time my left side is 100% and my right side is perhaps at 80% or better.  I can do all the daily things I need to do but I do have numbness on the right side.  

*I would like for us to be together but for now I am in MN and Terry is in FL. 

*The last time I talked to Terry's daughter Kim she did not give me any idea of when OR if Terry would travel to to be near Kim. in GA.

I guess that is enough for now.  I do hope everyone is doing well.

Carmen

Here it is a week later

Terry

People are thinking Terry should be in rehab and I could go to to St Paul.

I will make this short.  My hands are not working very well.  It looks like it is a ways for either of us being  OK.  I will try to keep you updated when I get better.  Please keep Terry and I in your prayers.  

Here are at mid week, July 13th

TERRY

Terry is the same today.  As I write she is reading the paper in bed.  I do need to get her out of bed and put clean bedding on as it needed to be done a few days ago.  But at this time all is good.

As I make my daily French Press coffee I was reminded of the time when I started drinking coffee.  It was the fall of 1966.  When going to college I worked under the Work/Study Program.  I think that meant I needed to work to earn money to pay for college!!!  Anyway the longer story is this.  The work study program was part of my $$ package when I started college.  The first year I worked as a janitor in the Churchhill dorm which was mainly for jocks at NDSU.  I worked one day during the week and then on Saturday and Sunday mornings.  The week day was fine as I went about sweeping floors. cleaning bathrooms etc but the weekend was a bit different.  Most of my time on Saturdays and Sundays were spent cleaning up after the Friday night and Saturday night parties.  I will not say what most of my time was spent doing but it was the kind of thing you wanted to make sure to not do it as a life long job!!!  Well to start my sophomore year I WANTED a change and now.  I landed in the barley department where two doctors worked.  They were very nice and the work was mostly fun.  The most fun was when I worked there in the summer of 1967.  Several times a year I was asked to put a small tractor in the back of a pickup and head west to Casselton.  It was there that the barley department had their experimental blots.  That meant there were rows and rows and rows of different varieties of barley and it took pretty much the entire day to cultivate between the rows.  But I got away from my point.  Big Don was my boss.  At times I would work on Saturday or Sunday and during those times I was by myself but when I worked during the week there were others working in the green houses too.  The first time I worked during the week big Don came over to where I was as said "time for lunch break".  When I replied I real did not need that he just said when you work here you need to take breaks.  Well for the next 20 minutes or so we sat around and shot the bull so to speak.  Well what is one to do when EVERYBODY has a cookie in their hand and a cup of coffee in the other hand.  You want to be social so you do the same.  Now I promise you they did not have FP and in fact it was far far far from that kind of coffee but it was hot, kind of tasty and I drank it to be social!  That was the beginning of my coffee drinking.  Later in the year I resorted to a new coffee pot to keep me awake the nights before tests.  And so the story goes.  To be honest I can not remember how I came to start making FP but I promise you it is a step above Folgers and maybe even two steps above Sanka which Mom and Dad drank in their later years.  I did not drink coffee until that time in college BUT I tasted the coffee that Mom brought out to Dad in the field.  Mom would fill a pint jar with coffee and bring it out to Dad in the field for lunch.  I did taste it once and that is probably the reason I never drank coffee until later in life!

Well this is the messy kitchen I woke up to so now that my blog is finished I will get busy and clean it up. Some how the day always goes better when the kitchen is clean.  As I close today I have very little on my agenda so maybe I should get a book from the library.  Some times in Naples I have read 25+ books in the winter and for some reason I have not gone to the library for some time.  Maybe today is the time.  

At 8:50 the temp is 84 with highs in the low 90s today so I will keep the AC on!!

Here we are at the second month of July AND it is John's birthday!

 TERRY

Terry is doing about the same as in the past few days.  I would say that she is staying the same and that it good.  We took a trip this morning but will talk about that later in the blog!

Here is John AND it is his birthday today.  I will not say how old he is but will say he was born in the same year as brother Ronald.  BUT in case you do not know this picture is a few years ago!!!  A man of many talents and he certainly put them to good use over the years.  I do think that at his age now if he needs building done or the like he may spend the money to hire it done.  I will say that still, at his age, he is doing and doing and doing.

I feel like I have put in a days work and it is still not noon.  Terry had an 8:15 doctor appointment this morning to have he hurt foot looked at.  It was a challenge to get her into, out of, into and out of the car as we went to the Dr.   He looked at it and said we should come back in a couple of weeks to have it looked at again.  Not much news for a whole lot of effort.  But she is again home and in bed and feeling OK.  They would not give her any pain meds but said she could take Tylenol to ease the pain.  Hopefully it will get better and hopefully FAST.  I know, I should have had the bed rail up from the beginning BUT!  I am wondering if I can take the afternoon of now that I have put in a full day in the first half???  I know, being a caregiver you are on call 24/7 and that is OK.

I am making progress on my 2023 calendar.  It is slow slow work and I am not sure.  I know there is no hurry but when I start working on something I like to finish it AND if you believe that I have some land in the everglades for sale😀.

With Terry's appt with the Dr. at 8:15 there was no tennis for me today.  I do think I have tennis tomorrow at 9:00.  With few people here now if we play we always play at 9:00.  I would like to play at 7:30 but some do not like the early time and MOST do not like 10:30 as by that time the temp is pretty high.  IF we had played at 10:30 we would have finished at noon.  The weather here at noon had a humidity of 63% and a temp of 89.  Better at 9:00 FOR SURE.

Some of my thoughts today are times with Ronald and John.  John had a boat and water skis so he provided  many trips around the lake and at the age of 10-16 that was a wonderful thing.  The lake days are no more and they were a long time ago.  Actually where we spent hours and hours swimming etc there is NO swimming now.  The Wild Life has it and so to speak it is now for the "birds".  I have always thought that wildlife is important BUT really is it more important than the human race as the lake was the only place to swim and boat for many miles and miles.  Anyway I as so so thankful for the years we had the lake when I was in school.  Now of course thee are not the number of people that lived there when I was at home.  I can think of 5 farms that are now farmed by one or two families.  So the people are fewer and the birds and animals are more so to speak.  I think some people call it process and some would have other names for it!!!

Well at this time it is past noon so will end my writings for today.  For those who read this take care and stay safe in this covid era.

Here we are att the second Sunday of July as it is July 10, 2022

 TERRY

Terry is awake with her phone in her hand and the TV on but has said she does not want the paper yet.  I am guessing she will be reading the paper with tennis on as the morning goes on.  I would say she is same same today.

I saw this in the paper and thought it was good for a laugh.

This may be true for some of us!!!

Terry has a Dr. appointment tomorrow and I am sure we will make it but not sure how to get her into the car.  With the injuries left foot she can not put any weight on it so will have to think of something to make it work.  I imagine one could call for help but I am sure we can do it.  

Not a lot to say today.  I may just go into a "memory" and call it a day.

It was the summer of 1957.  It was a Wednesday and Dave and I had been picking rocks ALL day.  Picking rocks was not our favorite job but of course it had to be done as some of our land grew great crops of those ugly things!  So Dave and I would make a game of it.  A kind of round rock could be a shot put and we would see who could get it in the rock wagon from a certain distance.  A kind of flat rock would serve as a disc and the same thing would happen, try to get it in the wagon from a ways out.  Then when we got to the rock pile it was throwing rocks to see who could hit a certain one in the pile.  This went on ALL day and it seemed that at the end of the day there were still a field of rocks out there.  At best we could wish the crops to come up so one could not drive in the field any more.  

Anyway the day was kind of uneventful and as the sun came close to setting we parked the wagon and tractor and mounted the big and little bikes and headed up to Lake Tweaukon for a bath.  Dave Brough a jar along and for the life of me I could not understand WHY!  It was kind of late so our swim was short as we used soap and water to get clean.  When it was time to head home Dave said we should take the road that goes east of the lake.  Just as a person went down a slight hill there was a bridge where the creek went into the east end of the lake.  As we approached the bridge I knew for certain why the jar.  There were fire flies all over the place.  Dave and I caught maybe 20 or so and put them in the jar.  When we got home we showed Mom what we had.  After a short time and after Mom had looked at them we let them go.  To this day I am impressed with fire flies and the light they make in the dark.  

Well another day and not much new.  I am in the middle of a 2023 calendar and I will work at the for a while.  I never play tennis on Sunday and I will not play tomorrow either as I was asked to play at 9:00 but Terry's Dr. appointment is for 8:30 so I think the next time I play may be Tuesday.

So here we are close to mid July.  Tomorrow is John M birthday.  I am wondering if they have sold their house yet.  I do think John and Jude plan to become residents of AZ after they sell in MN BUT they will keep the A frame if I remember right.  

So I am finished for the morning and I think I will spend some time watching one of the Grand Slam tennis events this morning.

As I write it is 7:40 and Terry is in bed and not wanting the paper yet.

 TERRY

Terry's left foot is bothering her a lot.  It was injured when she fell out of bed about a week ago.  She does have a Dr. appt. early tomorrow so we should fine out if there is more damage than we thought.  She did go to the hospital after the fall and they said her little toe was broken BUT the foot remains very bruised and bothers her a lot so hopefully we find out more tomorrow.  I am not sure how I will get her into the car as she can not put any weight on her foot BUT we will make it work.  Her appt is early, like 8:30 so we will have to start getting ready to get into the car maybe by 7:30 or so.  Another day and another adventure for sure!!!

It is cloudy out but I think I can get in a tennis game this morning.  I have played very little tennis this week and it will remain that way for the summer.  There are a few guys here but they think they are too good for some of us so our numbers are reduced to maybe a hand full.  It does not bother me to reduce my playing time but it would be nice to play say 3 or 4 times a week which I think it will be a challenge to get that much in.  

People of Praise is having their 50 year celebration in the twin cities this weekend.  I am guessing there will be much activity and many guests coming in from out of town.  I think it goes through the weekend.  It would be nice to be there but that is not to be.

We are now in the rainy season.  I would say you could almost set your watches by when the thunder and rain come in each afternoon.  Really there is much more thunder than rain.  I would say in the last few days we have gotten between .2 and .5" each day.  One thing it does is it gets things growing and greening really nicely.

With time on my hands now I have time to think and remember about times past.

I perhaps have written about this in the past but will do it again.  Larry and I went on a Saturday evening cycling ride in July of 1966.  We rode to Forman where many of the kids we knew were from but did not hook up with any.  So after riding around Forman and stopping at the ice cream stand we headed back home.  I would say as we arrived back at Cayuga the time was perhaps 10:00 or so.  In Cayuga the main road goes right past the two liquor stores, past the implement dealer and out of town going south.  Well Larry was maybe 20 feet ahead of me as we entered Cayuga.  As he went past a parked car a drunk put the car in reverse and back into me.  It put my cycle on the side and my left leg was burned from the exhaust.  The sheriff was called and I think nothing happened to the guy.  The next day Larry, JoEllen and Patty came out to the farm to see how I was.  I was fine but I had a permanent scar on my upper leg from the burn.  I do not know but it seemed that the drunk simply went home with no consequents of any kind.  I guess the sheriff felt the young motorcycle guys were in the wrong!!!  In the two years I had my Harly 250 Sprint that was the only accident I had and of course it was NOT my fault.  As I remember it now I wish I had taken some action but back then I just let it go.  

So here it is about 8:15.  I will clean some things up in the house and then get dressed for tennis.  I will be a bit rusty as I have not played for a few days but then with the state of my game a bit of rust may not be that bad!

Here we are at the second Friday of July

 TERRY

Terry has been up for some time and is now reading the paper.  She was watching TV when I woke.  I would say there is nothing new so that is good.  Another day and we take life as it comes!

I received a bill from the hospital yesterday.  I do not remember how long I was in but I am guessing it was less than a week.  The bill was $40,500.  They said I owed $300!  It would be next to impossible to figure out what everything was so without going into detail I send in the $300.  

Again NO tennis today but I do have a match tomorrow and that will be good.  I am guessing that now with summer in full swing and maybe 90% of the players gone tennis is going to be maybe twice a week and I can live with that although I would prefer to play much more.  

There is nothing on the agenda today so maybe I should get some work done.  I have been doing a little work on a 2023 calendar so I may work on that some more.  I also have my guitar out and maybe, just maybe, I will try to work on that this summer.  I am not sure Terry can stand the noise so I may have to be kind of quiet!

I also have not talked to Joan for some time and actually have not talked to Helen for some time as well so I may give them a call.  Quinn, Joan's son, is dealing with a major illness and I would like to find out how he is doing.

As I sit at my desk here I have on the wall the Certificate of Registration of my book with the library of congress # etc on it.  It makes me kind of want to write another book but not sure I can come up with enough different things to write about.  Maybe!!!!

I did something that was GOOD and BAD the other day.  I made potato salad.  It is good because it tasted so so good but it has tooooooo many calories in it.  I stood on the scale this morning and the numbers were NOT good.  So I have a plan and on a daily bases I will see if I can stick to it.  The plan is a secret but will report on it on the 18th.

I think I am finished writing for the day.  So will sign off and see what I can do for the day that is constructive IF anything.   I still have some FP left so will linger on the computer for a while.

OK so the photographer, me, did not do a very good job BUT here is Cynthia with Grandma and Grandpa Lee.  It was at their 50th wedding anniversary celebration.  As to WHY Dad could not smile is beyond me!

Here we are at July 8th and what happened to the last two days, don't know!!!

 TERRY

As I write Terry has the TV on and the newspaper but I do not think she is reading it yet.  She fell out of bed a few days ago and broke her toe.  We now have a rail up and perhaps I should have had that up before the fall but who knew.  She has an appointment to have her toe looked at in a few days.  Her foot is black blue and she says it often hurts so another look will be good.  She has not been out of bed for a few weeks.  That is not good and I need to encourage her to get into the wheelchair and out to the living room.  That is about it for now.

Here we are approaching mid July and the weather here in Naples will tell you that.  The days high temps usually are in the low 90s every day!!!  That along with the humidity makes it feel some days as if it is above 100.  I think the weather said yesterday it was 103 taking into consideration the humidity.  Not ideal for tennis for sure!!!

Really I have not been doing all that much.  Yes, of course, I take care of Terry and actually that takes much of my time but really there is plenty of time to do things and I just kind of don't get things done.  Well to be honest there is not a lot that needs to be done but I could arrange, clean or get things in order but most things remain as they are day in and day out!!!

I have make some progress on a 2023 calendar but I tell myself there is plenty of time for that.  I do enjoy finding pictures etc as I must have 1000s of them in print and on the computer.  

I will finish up with a story of what I really enjoyed in the summer when it happened.

A Sunday on the lake

I felt that Lake Tewaukon was MY lake.  In the summer Dave and I pretty much used the lake for our bathtub daily.  We had NO bathtub at home so when the days work was finished we would grab a towel, soap and washcloth and head the half mile north.  Dave always had the big bike and I the small bike.  If the wind was from the east the lake would be nice and clean.  If it was from the west there were be a film of green near the shore.  If that were the case we would need to wade out beyond the green water which would be maybe 5 feet or so and then wash up.  I would say almost 100% of the time we would be the only ones there.  

But on Sunday it would be different.  Up until I finished high school the lake was open for swimming, fishing etc.  After that the Wildlife took it over and it was for the birds, really!  But during the summers of the late 50s and early 60s it was a destination for Sunday.  There would be boats and many people having picnics in the afternoons.  There were times that we enjoyed people we knew from Cayuga as they came to swim and enjoy the lake.  The Saunders would sometimes bring their canoe with the sale on it and of course GAIL would come as well!!!  We would spend many a summers swimming, boating and just having fun.  It was a special time for me as it seemed like I was way way out of the loop in terms of friends.  We lived 25 miles from the high school and the kids from high school who went to the lakes often went to Silver Lake which was south of Rutland.  But there were time when Lake Tewaukon was a bee hive activity.  I would often get my golf clubs out and play my one hole golf course from the house to the ditch by the mail box.  If or when a car went by that I knew I would jump on my bike and head to the lake.  I had this stretch swim suit that was blue with a while band around the top and I thought I was pretty hot!!!  It is fun to remember back on those days.  After I left home the Wildlife took over the lake and I am not sure if swimming is even allowed now.  It is a like for the birds so to speak.  The families right by the lake were bought out by the Wildlife and forced to move.  It was at that time that Ricky had to move but I think it took place after he left home.  Anyway, for sure, during my last three years of high school Lake Tewaukon was an oasis of fun as I felt I was alone during the week.  Dave had left home after my freshman year of high school so it was up to me to find things to do when I was not doing farm work.  It was then that I made my golf course, cleaned up the old hog barn, cleaned up the old shed that blew down and other things as well.  Dad was into hunting.  Dad was into photography.  Dad was not into improving the farm in any way.  I say that not to criticize but just to say that was who Dad was.  

Here are Janet, Joan, Dave and myself.  I am guessing this was taken in maybe 1950 and if that is correct Janet was 12, Joan was 8, Dave was 6 and I was 3.  It is funny as I look at old pictures.  We had a house that was warm and really warm in the summer but it was far far from fancy.  We had enough food but NOTHING fancy.  We had clothes that often came from Aunt Ragna in CA.  But with all that we did not have on most pictures we always had a smile.  INTERESTING!!

So I close today with a thankful heart for where I came from.

Here we are at July 3rd and ready for the fireworks tomorrow!

 TERRY

I would say Terry is doing fine today as she reads the Sunday paper this morning.  She has the TV on but mostly has her face in the huge Sunday paper.  All is good for now.

There has  been much rain in FL but not here.  Well actually we did have a couple inches a few days ago but not in the last while.  We have clear skies and sun so it looks like no rain at least in the early hours today.

I did get in some tennis yesterday.  Usually I do not play on Saturday but I had not played for a couple of days so went over to the courts and there were 6 guys there.  On Saturday it is a just show up and who comes plays.  Four guys play and then after 4 points we rotated two out and two in.  I am thinking I played for an hour out of the hour and a half.  At this point I am not concerned who I play with as my mind is often not so much on the court as it is with home things as one could guess.  So with the guys I usually play with there are NO 4 star players if you get my point but then I am not a 4 star player either so!!!

I think I am going to the grocery store to pick up some things for a meal.  I will do that later in the morning.  

I am tired today.  I woke up several times last night to take care of things that needed to be done.  The good thing is in our relaxed life style I should be able to take a nap today.  I remember growing up how I absolutely hated it when Dad would take a nap Sunday afternoon.  Of course I do not have any kids wanting me to hit fly balls to so it is a bit different I would say.

Sundays are a good time to relax and think about what was way back so here is a story about that.

There were cats looking for a treat

It was sometime in the winter of 1958.  There was much snow on the ground and the temp seemed to be close to zero or below but as was the everyday happening we needed to milk the cows in the evening.  I kind of liked to in some ways.  By milking time which was 5:30 or so it was dark.  So before going out to milk the 5 cows I would take the kerosene lantern off of the nail in the entrance and light it before going out to milk.  Tramping through the snow the crunch of my overshoes in the snow almost sounded like music as I made my way out to the barn.  When I opened the barn door the warmth of the cattle and hay made it seem like not so much work.  Before I got down to milking the cows I opened the door to the hay barn which was the north third of the barn.  Our barn was one story as opposed to most farms that had two story barns.  I took a big fork full of hay and threw it over the pen to the calves in the first pen.  They were calves that I had played with in the summer after they were born but I knew they were headed for the sale barn in the spring.  It almost made me sad as I looked at each one and felt I was kind of responsible for where they were headed.  After feeding the calves I gave each cow some hay and a hand full of oats that I had in the pail.  We had a steel bin full of oats that would be sold in the spring but for now a handful of oats for each cow was their treat.  Finally after feeding the calves, feeding the cows and checking the water tank to make sure it was full of water I begin to get to my main chore, milking.  I hung the lantern on a nail on the west wall and settled in to milk the cows.  I started with Betsy and I knew she was not all that good for much milk so it went pretty fast.  They I milked lumpy as she had a lump on her jaw so our name for here was not all that creative.  Of course with the first two cows I had to fill the dish for the cats. I did not see them until I filled the bowl with milk and then they seemed to come out of the wall but of course they were in the shadows waiting for their treat.  My last cow was my least favorite as she often tried to fuss and kick.  So I would put the kickers on.  The kickers were a short chain with a cup on each end.  You would put one end on the leg and then bring the chain around and put the other end on the other leg.  If she tried to kick she could only move her leg a short ways and I make sure I keep the milk pail far enough from her legs so the kick would not reach the pail.  We had Shorthorn cattle and they were beef cattle so by the time I finished milking I probably had a pail and a half only.  Well I would have had more if there were not cats around!  So with the lantern and half a pail of milk in one hand and the other pail in the other hand I headed to the house.  I would leave the milk in the entrance as that was where our milk separator was.  I knew Mom would have things ready so all I had to do was pour the milk into the separator and turn it on.  The cream would come out of one spout and the milk would come out of the other.  The cream was used for cooking and for breakfast food and we would sell the milk in 5 gallon cans as we would bring it into Cayuga to Benny Flash.  We also brought our eggs to sell to Benny Flash.  

As the years went by there were major changes.  Dave went off to work in the summer and then off for good when he graduated.  There came a time when we did not milk any more.  I remember Mom would go over to a neighbor and buy cream that actually was thicker and better than the cream we got.  I know because when I ate cream and bread it was so so good.   

I suppose one could call those days "the good old days" and really they pretty much were.  I know we did not have much money BUT we seemed to get by and for the most part us kids did not go without anything we needed.  Oh of course we could have had newer clothes but that was not so bad.  We could have had fancy meals but we had good meals.  I am sure when I was in high school I felt I could have been a better person with more things but actually that probably was not true.  Really the only thing that I really wanted and never got was a nicer car!  OK so our car was old but it was pretty well kept up and only failed me once when I was dating.  I perhaps have written about that and it was not a great story.  But still I was aware that driving a 1952 or 53 Ford in the early or mid 60s did not impress the girls in the lest way!  As us kids grew and left home Mom and Dad were able to have better cars and that was good.  

So I close a chapter of my life that in many ways was a good chapter.  Of course at the time I felt I had less than most kids but really back then there were many with less for sure.  

I close today with somewhat of an anxious spirit.  I am not sure.  Maybe it is health but I do not think so.  I think it may be just the fact that our family of 8 is now down to 3 and that is sad.  But what is one to expect?  Time marches on, we all get old, right!  I am hoping all the grandkids have a fun holiday as we celebrate July 4th and give thanks for the wonderful country we life in.  May the month of July bring good things to all.

Hello July 2022 and Happy birthday to John Paul as he is now 4!

 Here is John Paul and oh my does he have the LOOKS!  For sure he looks nothing like his grandpa!!!  John Paul, may you have a great day and a wonderful year as you journey on towards being 5.

Well here we are at July 1st and here in Naples we are into summer in a BIG way.  The weather shows that daily the temps are 91,93,94 or even higher.  AND the humidity is high much of the time as well.  Well IF one lives in Naples in the summer you play in the morning and stay in the AC the rest of the day.  BUT IF one is in Naples it probably is by choice so do not complain.  As for me I would enjoy being back in St. Paul for the summer but the home that Terry has here is much much better for her so we are here for the summer and will make the best of it.  I actually have no complaints and one of the great things is there are NO bugs to speak of so things are good.

I will probably go 4 days with no tennis.  Terry came home yesterday from the hospital in the morning so I cancelled my tennis and today through Sunday I have none so IF I play on Monday and am terrible I can use the excuse that I have not played for a while!

It looks like Gail's side of the family, the Saunders, are getting together in the cities on a Saturday this month.  I suspect some of the kids may go and in an e-mail Allen said they are expecting about 60 people to show up.  Any kind of get togethers are few and far between with the covid so many families have not been together for some time.  It looks like it is an all Saturday event.

I just need to say a couple of things about the picture of the month.  Dave and Marlys were married for just short of 55 years.  Of course Marlys could do many things and do them well but I am more in tuned with what Dave could do and that was pretty much everything.  He did many things with cars.  He learned to play the guitar.  He was a master woodworker.  Just to prove that here are 2 pictures of the guitar that he made from scratch for me.  Notice the thin strips of wood in the first photo.  Now you need to be a master to get that done.  It is a beautiful work of art and it plays, not by me, wonderfully.

I think he put in something like 300 hours into making it.  

Well today is the beginning of July and here is perhaps a typical day in July way way back in 1955 on the farm.

It was still dark in the west bedroom that Dave and I shared but we did hear Mom saying that we had a busy day and we needed to get downstairs for breakfast.  We took as long as we dared as we knew what was in store.  No, it was not Mom's breakfast that we wanted to avoid but rather it was the days works.  As Dave had his usually breakfast food which consisted of cornflakes with fresh milk from our farm Mom was good enough to make me some eggs.  Of course they were farm fresh too.  As we finished eating Dad said we should get out to the barn and milk as he wanted us to spend the day on the land to the east of the farm picking rocks.  I swear that land was a goldmine for rocks.  The land we farmed down south, which was uncle Jims, was almost rock free but our land near the farm to the east grew better rocks than grain in my opinion.  Anyway we knew what was in store for the day.  Of course Dad would not be there to help us pick rocks.  He would be doing something at the farm or be doing something with pictures.  The day went as well as possible.  Dave and I would make a game of rock picking so we kind of made slow work of it.  How can a person make picking rocks fun?  Well you can look for certain kinds of rocks.  You can take smaller ones and see how far you can throw them.  You can hang on to the back of the wagon and pretend to ski.  Really, there are all kind of ways to make the terrible work fun but there is a price to pay.  In a day you probably do half a days work.  

Anyway that was our day and as the rock picking came to an end for the day Dave got on the "big bike" and I on the "little bike" and with soap and towel in hand we headed up to the lake which was only a half mile to the north.  There had been a west wind most of the day so as we arrived at the lake the first several feet of water was GREEN.  Well all one had to do is wade through the green water for maybe 6 or 7 feet and then it was fine!  So after a lake bath we headed home in the semi-darkness of evening.  We had NO TV so we had the choice of playing some games or going to bed early and talking ourselves to sleep.  Really after a day of rock picking the choice was usually to be in bed by 9 or so.  As I lay in bed deep in thought I felt I could hardly wait as in a week or two ALL the crop land would have growth and there could be NO more rock picking for the summer.  I had not heard the forecast for tomorrow but I was sure the only thing that could save us from another rock picking day was rain.  Maybe, just maybe, it would rain and Dad would have something in town to do and Dave and I would be left to ourselves to play ball or throw knives or maybe just climb up on the barn roof and dream of days far away that were filled with things that we never had on the farm.  I am not sure those days every came.

So here it is 9:30 and I am sure I can find something useful to do but do I really want to do any work???  Maybe I should just put another pot of FP on and find something interesting to do and avoid the messy kitchen or the clothes that need to be washed!

Here we are two days from July as it is June 29

 TERRY

Terry is good today.  She is awake and reading the papers.  No change is good as she continuers to be OK and in a good mood.  So we will take one day at a time and rejoice in God's goodness.

Dave is celebrating his 78th birthday in heaven today.  Here is one of our cute little puppies with Dave.

One of Dad's few picture that was out of focus but maybe it was my fault when I copied it.  Here is Dave and I can't tell but it may be his 3rd birthday.  The plants in the background were pretty small.

Dave and his fluge horn.  I don't know how old he was here but I am guessing he was in his upper 60s.  He always had this youthful look!

He not only learned to play the guitar but he BUILT it also.  What a talented man he was.

I miss brother Dave a lot.  He and I were pretty close as we were 2 1/2 years apart.  Brother Ronald was 11 years older than I so by the time I was 7 he left for college.  Don't get me wrong.  Ronald was GOOD to Dave and I and did many things with or for us but not on a daily bases like Dave and I.

Not much today.  I play tennis at 9:00 and that is about it.  I may go to Costco for a couple of things but that is it.  MAYBE I should clean the house a bit, MAYBE!

I have my FP coffee so I will be good for the morning.  Yes we have HOT weather here.  I would say most days it is in the low 90s with some days having high humidity.  

Here it is 8:30 and I had better get dressed, get my tennis things and head over to the courts soon.

Here we are at Tuesday, June 28th

 

Today Mary and John celebrate their 20th anniversary.  Wow, their life is full of many good things.  Their children Henry, Liam, Audrey and Elspeth keep them busy but Mary's many many projects along with John's many projects make for a full and wonderful life.  Congrats on 20 years and may the next 20 be as exciting and full of life.

As I write Terry is reading the paper and I would say is doing about the same.  Today may be a busy day as I need to change the bedding and several other things need to be done.  But Terry keeps plugging away and is doing as well as one could expect.

We are now into the summer and there are not a lot of people still here so tennis is winding down to some degree.  I have tennis only this week on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.  So today I should, I said should, get some work done so we will see.  I do think I need to make a couple of trips to the store but that should not take long.

I have begun to work on a calendar for 2023.  I have a problem.  I have TOO MANY pictures to chose from.  Well I will have to narrow things down big time in order to get it done.  As I scanned through my slides I found pictures that I had totally forgotten about so not sure I will use them or not.

Well no tennis today so we will take a walk down memory lane but if you, the reader, have things to do go ahead and do them cause there is nothing all that interesting about my life but I do enjoy sharing some of it from time to time.  So as I enjoy my FP out of my favorite cup here goes.

My three hole golf course

I had finished my one hole golf course from the house to the ditch by the mailbox.  But that just was not enough as it was short and even though I used 3 balls at a time it just did not do.  So I came up with the idea of going north across the creek to Bert's pasture.  The grass was always very short and there was a lot of space to I took a shovel, three long sticks and 3 coffee cans.  I thought I would make kind of like a triangle course so I could just go around and around.  It took me all after noon and I had some things to figure out.  His pasture was full of gopher holes and I indeed needed to avoid them but I could avoid them ONLY if I hit the ball kind of straight and that was not a given!!!  Oh, there was the other problem of mature that the cows left behind but I could not do anything about that.  So I kind of walked around the pasture and picked out a place that I felt the cows used the least.  My golf hole at home was 90 yards as that was the distance from the house to the ditch where the mailbox stood.  So I determined that I needed more space and walked off a triangle that had pointes at least 150 yards between the holes.  I made a three hole course in the afternoon and to this day I wonder if Bert ever figured out what was in his pasture.  The story was I never used it very much.  First there was the problem of mature and that just could not be avoided.  I mean I could not tell the cows to stay out of my golf course.  The second problem was all the gopher holes.  There were many and they were ALL over the place.  I think I used it maybe a half dozen times but TOO many ball got lost down the gopher holes and if that did not happen they may end up in a fresh mature so it did not take long for me to decide that my one hole course at home was the best.  I mean I still could play Player, Palmer and Nicklas with three balls and it had to be good enough.  Luckly enough I decided to scrap the 3 hole course before I lost too many golf ball down the gopher holes.  

So after my experiment I settled in to my home course and made the most of it.  I still could use the hedge to the north of the house to practice my short shots by hitting them over the hedge but that had its problems too.  I had cleaned up the area where the garage had been BUT once in a while I hit it way too hard and it ended up in a dirt field that was by the pasture.  I mean it was easy to find a while ball in the black dirt field but that got old after while.

It was much more fun when I got to Fargo when I enrolled at NDSU in the fall of 1965.  I ordered a FANCY set of clubs which included the a driver, a 5,7,9 and putter with a bag.  I ordered it from Direct Buyer club for the sum of $35!!!  That was what I used when Dave and I would golf.  We would golf at El Zagel if we did not have the time to play 18 holes.  ONCE we played Edgewood but that was too long and too expensive.  Our go to course was the Ponderosa about 15 miles east of Moorhead.  It was very hilly and woods but very fun.  I am not sure it is even open now.  My golfing when I was alone was the Town and County south of Moorhead a bit.  It was a nine hole all par 3s and it was short but fun.  

So my golfing days pretty much came to a close in 1968.  I transferred to Minot where Gail was and after marrying in June of 68 Gail graduated in 68 and I graduated in 69 as we settled in Devils Lake at the School for the Deaf.  I have now, years and years later golfed once in a while the last couple of years but I am now old, rusty and not so good.  Well I admit I NEVER was very good but I was a bit better than now.

So you have may golf history which is boring.  I close today with an empty FP coffee cup and MAYBE some energy to get some work done but I did say maybe!

Here we are as we begin the last week of June, where has the time gone?

 TERRY

Well there is nothing new for Terry.  As I write she is reading the paper in bed.  I have some concerns as she has not been in the living room for 2 or 3 weeks.  I perhaps need to encourage her in that as I do think it is good to be up and about a little.  But same today as yesterday and time moves on.

That is NOT a picture of our tennis match but it kind of could be!!!  I do have tennis at 9:00 this morning but as it stands now only twice this week.  It seems like the last of the late people are leaving for up north so it may be difficult to get matches from now on.  There are a few people who stay here all summer long but they are kind of a click and it is difficult to break into their groups.  Actually I would play if asked but I would not invite myself as they have their ideas who they want to play with if you get my drift!

One of the favorite days of the summer was the Sunday when Moms's side of the family would meet her relatives from the Minnesota side for a picnic in Glenwood MN.  That was about half way to the cities.  It would be an all day event with FOOD all the time.  Of course for the adults there was talk, talk and more talk but for the kids there would be swimming and sometimes a ballgame.  It was before interstate roads so we took the back roads to get there.  Dave would sit on Mom's side of the car and I would sit behind Dad.  To past the time we would could horses on our side of the car to see who could get the most.  BUT really the favorite things was when a Burma Shave signs came up.  Among my favorites were:  Her chariot raced 80 per.  They hauled away what had Ben Hur.  Of course there were many signs along the road and I think they are no more.  Maybe they felt they distracted drivers.  We visited a place in Wisconsin where they had all of them up on the wall.  

The day was always special for Mom.  It was her side of the family and it seemed that in visits to relatives we mostly went to Dad's side so the one Sunday in the summer was for Mom.  Of course the relatives from the Twin Cities did not get up often so that was fun.  I am not sure but I think those get togethers were maybe in the mid 50s as I do not remember them after that.  I do remember Ronald and Janet were part of them so it had to be very early 50s.  Of course you could almost bet that if we wanted to get on the road by 9:30 we would be late because Dad would decide to change oil in the car that morning!

We have a cooler day today.  Actually for the next 3 days it is supposed to be in the high 80s but most of the time it seems the highs are in the low 90s.  How about that, a cooling trend as there are not 90s for a while!

That is about all I have to say today.  Time to get ready for tennis and try to beat the heat.  

John Mouw called yesterday and it was fun to catch up a bit.  It sounds like they will be out of their house in a month or so and then will be in their much much smaller house up on the hill until they head to AZ again in maybe a couple of months.  If I remember correctly they will become residents of AZ.  Time moves on the lives change and that is all part of life.  I have half a cup of FP left so will stay on the computer for a bit but will sign off of my blog.

Here we are on the last Sunday of June 2022, it is the 26th!

 TERRY

Yes Terry is doing fine as I write this AM she is still reading the newspaper as the Sunday is always very large.  It is still one day at a time and with each day we give thanks for the life we have.  

Late August of 1962

It was early Monday morning of August 27, 1962.  I would be doing the last of the fall plowing in the afternoon but this morning I was headed to school where football practice would begin.  Yes, our first game was perhaps 3 weeks out but today we would begin fall practice and I was excited.  This would be the last year of being in the Wild Rice Conference which really made no difference to me but it did mean that next year we would be in a different conference and that would mean MORE games.  BUT what I was really excited about is it looked to me as if I would be in position to start games.  One of the ends Bob Z was coming back as a junior but the other end was a senior and I felt I could fill his place.  As the fall practices started it was a sure thing, I would be starting.  I liked basketball but what I really loved was football.  As we got into the fall Jack G. and I had the right side of the offense and defense and it would stay that way the entire season.  We lost one game but really the focus was next year when we would go into a different conference and would have more games.  It was a good season and actually the rest of high school football was good.  In my junior year we tied for first place in the conference.  It may not have been true but I felt that IF coach Hanson would have allowed me to play in the final game we would have won that too.  I had been spiked in practice as one of the players had not checked his cleats and had lost   cleat.  That meant on his right foot he had a screw and as he stepped on my leg in practice it cut a gash in my right leg.  I had it sewed up but the coach would not allow me to play in the final game.  Now my not being in the lineup maybe made no difference but I felt IF I had played we would have won. We ended up tying for first place and the reward was a bus trip to MN to watch the vikings play the Colts in a Sunday game.  It was a LONG ride as we left early Sunday AM and came back late Sunday evening but it was a fun trip.  When the season ended I as voted to be captain the next year.  Coach Hanson was gone and the next year we had a season to forget but the memory is still fresh and was a reminder of how fun Football was and how I enjoyed knocking people down.  No, it was not a violent thing I just remember the satisfaction of tackling and running the ball.  Even tho my senior year was not a winning success my 4 years of football were certainly one highlight of high school.  

So here we are at mid afternoon and it is warm out or should I say HOT.  But I will pretty much stay inside for the day and maybe watch some sports AND get some things cleaned up in the kitchen.  So much for another day but at 732 Wiggins Bay Dr. things are OK.

Here we are at the last Saturday of June 2022

 TERRY

As I write Terry is in bed with the paper and the TV on.  I would say she is same same. 

Well 85 years ago today Mom and Dad married.  I would say, without bragging, that they had 6 children who were pretty special.  Few couples endeared the hardships that they experienced.  First they lost Ronald at the age of 27.  Then they lost Janet at the age of 28.  Then the entire farm burned in 1982.  I would add that they had their faults, as most people do, but they did their best to raise a family of 6.  Mom pretty much gave everything she had to her kids.  Dad, not so much, but I would say he loved us all.  For all they gave us I am thankful for having them for my parents.

Well it is Saturday and I am not sure if I will play tennis.  I may ride over to see who is there, if anybody shows up.  I would say that of the tennis players who play on a regular bases at least 90% of them have gone north for the summer.   AND I do not blame them as we would be gone as well if Terry were well.  It almost is useless to look at the weather day to day as it is the same same same.  Lows maybe in the high 70s and highs in the low 90s!

I will write a little about my freshman year in high school.  Well a big event was the homecoming dance.  Dave did not go so I asked Dad for the car and went.  Why?  Not sure as I NEVER was a dancer in any sense.  Funny as Dad loved to dance and he went to every dance in the country.  Mom went too but not so much to dance but rather to socialize.  Anyway I drove to Forman and became one of the freshman guys who stood on one side of the dance floor and WATCHED.  At one point one of the gals came over to where the boys were standing and told me JoEllen wanted me to ask her to dance.  WHAT!!!  Well I guess I did get up the nerve to walk across the gym floor but I never thought the gym was so far across!!!  We  danced or at least were on the floor and did some kind of movement.  She put her head on my shoulder and a shiver went up and down my spine.  We must have been on the floor as the dance ended because I then asked her if she wanted a ride home.  Well she must have been a little more experienced than I as she said it would be OK to take the long road home.  Really I, at first, did not get the idea but I caught on!!!  Well the night ended up with my very first kiss.  We kind of went together the rest of the year as least I thought we did.  Summer came and I became just another boy I guess.  Following up we again became more than friends as seniors in high school.  BUT she went off to a summer camp and then the fall came and we went to different schools.  I think we had one other conversation much later in life at a high school graduation where we found out that our lives were kind of similar but miles apart.  So much for puppy love I would say!  Now, at kind of an advanced age, I can remember and have some good chuckles!!!

Well here it is 7:30 and I THINK I may TRY to get some things done today.  I will go over to the courts at 9:00 ready to play but not sure if anyone will show.  I do want to make some good food for Terry today but have not yet decided on what.  

So as I drink my FP and reminisce about the past it is time to sign off and live in the real world!

Here we are on the last Friday of June, 2022 as it is the 24th

 TERRY

Terry was awake at 7:00 looking at her phone and now she is reading the paper.  It looks like a day like most days with her doing OK but in bed.  One day at a time and we will see.

I think it will be a good day.  Here I am sitting at the computer with a large cup of FP coffee so it is off to a good start!  I have tennis at 9:00 and then I promise myself that I will get some work done.  What work? Not sure but I will get it done

Every once in a while I sit back and remember.  This morning my thoughts are with Ronald, Janet and Dave.  I think I loved all of my siblings but yet the one that I spend so so much time with was Dave.  He was 2 1/2 years older than I and 3 school grades ahead of me but we did so so much together.  Work and play often was rolled into one!  While picking rocks we could make fun in that.  Now I would say when you CAN make fun out of picking rocks that is amazing.  The fall plowing was fun too and I can not even figure out how we made fun out of that.  AND then in our free time we made wooden guns and playing cops and robbers or maybe it was cowboys and Indians!  AND yes there was the corncrib for a back ground as we played baseball and at times we could get Ricky to play with us as he lived half a mile north by the lake.  

Then there was the awful summer of 1960 I think.  Dave kind of had it with Dad.  I say that but yet he did more things for Dad in his adult life than I ever thought about.  BUT with Ronald and I think John was still in Kulm too he got an offer to work for a farmer west.  He jumped at the chance to earn money and to be honest get away from Dad as well.  So my ping pong guy, my hay stacking guy, my rock picking guy, my play baseball guy and much more flew the coop so to speak and left for the summer.  There would be no more choke cherry eating in the truck as we waited for Dad to get the combine full so we could unload it.  Of course I did not blame him in any way but my workmate and my playmate was gone for the summer.  Oh, I found things to do when not working on the farm but it was not the same.  I spent time cleaning up the old garage that had fallen to the weather.  I spent time cleaning up the old hog foundation that had been an eye sore for so many years.  And yes, I spent more time on the roof of the barn dreaming of days ahead when I felt I could travel the world and see more!!!  But it was a good lesson.  It taught me that life moves on and there is no promise that next week will be the same as this week. 

Today I will recall the LAST day of school at Wood Lake.  We knew that it was the end of a time.  Next year we would be loaded into a bus and for the next 9 years I would spend hours and hours in a bus going and coming home from school.  I figured out that if you counted a work week as 40 hours over the next 9 years I would spend about 50 work weeks in that yellow school bus!!!  Yes, it was not all bad but that is a lot of time sitting and sitting waiting to get to a place and going home again.  Anyway here I was going to my last day of county school.  

It was May 27th and the last day of school.  Our teacher said we would not do any work on the last day.  What we did do was WALK to Lake Tewauken and have a game of ball and then have a picnic.  We would make a ball field on the SE corner of the grounds and have a great time.  We then had a picnic and that was it for the day.  The lake was only a half mile from our farm so when it was finished we just walked home.  It was really a fun but really a sad day for us.  No more walking to school. I admit that some of the time we would have liked a ride but those times were few and far between.  It was walk the half mile south to the road and then head east for a mile to the school.  Often we would see Aunt Bertie in her kitchen window as we walked past her house.  Country school was comfortable and safe. It seemed like our own little place were we could learn, enjoy recess and noon lunches with peaches etc. from the government.  Often we would hope the teacher would allow us to have an extra 5 minutes to play ball or play in the snow.  I admit that in the fall it did not take long for us to feel at home in Cayuga but going from 12 kids in 8 grades to 24 kinds in grades 3 & 4 was kind of a shock.  

So school was a learning situation in more ways than one.  I found out in Cayuga that some of the kids were not all that nice.  I really found out that the school hot lunch was OK but I really liked the lunches Mom made better!  In high school I got into sports and that was wonderful.  I must say I did get interested in the opposite sex as well and that was OK but IF I were to do it over I may do things differently.  

So what I did find out was life is ever changing.  AND one does not always have choices as often things happen and you have no control so roll with the punches and make the most of it.  Well here it is time to get ready for tennis and see if I can hit any winning shots on the courts today.

I skipped a day!

 TERRY

As I write it is past noon.  Terry is finished with the paper and I suppose I need to find something to eat for lunch.  Today, yesterday and tomorrow seem to be kind of all the same.  So we take it one day at a time and try to live in the moment!

I did not have tennis today.  The tennis players are becoming fewer as the summer months hit.  Many, I mean most players are now in their norther homes for a few months.  And some of the players whom I have been playing with over the last few weeks are headed north as well so the tennis days may be few and far between.  Actually the way I feel that maybe is not a bad idea.  For some reason I have been kind of feeling not normal.  Nothing serious but still not as I would expect to feel and that may be due to OLD age so to speak.  I tend to THINK a bit younger than 75.  Yes, there are many many players who are that age and older but still 75 is not the new  45 for sure.  

I do have some projects to keep my busy for some time so I will try not to miss tennis so much IF I only play once in a while.  

I tried to post a picture of Mike Petteway as he would have been 78 today if my math is correct.  He and Dave were only 8 days apart in age but they both have passed on and they are so so missed.  

No I am just not in the mind set to write a lot today so will close it for now.  Maybe I should just try to get some more order in this house but it is not really an interesting thing for me to think about now!!

Here we are on the right date and I will even post it today!!!

 TERRY

Terry is awake, is reading the paper and has not even turned on the TV yet!  I would say she is about the same as the past days.  

I do have tennis at 9:00 AM.  I did go over to the courts at 7:30 and they are dry but there was nobody playing at that time.  This time of the year few play but usually there are some but not today.  

Other than tennis I have nothing planned for the day.  Maybe I will do some work on a 2023 calendar as I started that yesterday.  OH, I could clean up the house, do the dishes and get some work done on folding clothes etc.  Yes, there is work to be done around here IF I get to it.  I do have a trip to Costco later today for some things.  

About two weeks ago we had a new fridge put in as the old one gave out.  I have never had an appliance that I could not hear when it is on.  IF I take notice and listen I can tell if it is on on running or not but as I do things around the house I do not hear it.  I did check the temp and it is working!!!

As I was sitting at the desk yesterday and remembering back on the farm I thought of some ways I spent my time.

Well to be honest I spent much time wanting to be someplace that would have been more exciting.  Not that the farm was boring but as a young kid the outside world always sounded more exciting.  I am now at the age of 75 and I promise living in the outside world is NOT always exciting!

 I did have some golf clubs.  Ronald gave me a #9, #7 and a #3 iron.  At times I would take the #9 and go north of the house.  We had a hedge about 2 feet tall that was about 10 feet long.  I would take a plastic ball and the #9 iron.  I would see how close I could stand to the hedge and pop the ball over it.  NOT all that exciting but for me it was kind of fun.

Dave and I used the vise in the garage a lot.  It was huge and not really used for much but that was what we would put a piece of wood in and use a coping saw to make a wooden gun.  Of course after making a couple of guns we would have to play cops and robbers!

We had the north part of the barn for hay.  I would say it was about 1/3 of the barn which was only one store.  Many farms had two story barns with hay on the second floor but not ours.  Much of the time there was enough space in the hay part to play.  Dave and I put up a 5 gallon pail with the top and bottom cut out and put it up on the wall for basketball!  I would spend hours in the barn pretending I was a STAR player and usually my team won!!!

Then there was the south side of the barn.  In the summer the cows would be in the pasture all the time so I would put the scoop on the Ford tractor and smooth out the barn year near the barn.  I would then use a rubberized ball to throw against the barn wall and play baseball.  I often would be Warren Spahn and behind me would be Eddie Matthews, Joe Adcock and the rest of the Braves.  Of course we would play against the Yankees and even though in real life they lost 2 of the 3 World Series to the Yankees in my ball field the Braves always won!

As I have said many times in the past one of my favorite things was to climb the light pole by the barn door and lay on the west side of the barn roof.  If I were waiting for Dad to come home I could see the car two miles to the west.  Or I could close my eyes and be any place in the world by flying in a HUGE plane.  By a big margin it beat doing any work that I was supposed to be doing!

At times I would take the 22 Winchester rifle that Ronald had given me.  He cut the barrel down and made the stock to fit me.  I THINK I actually became a fairly good shot when blackbirds perched in the groove of trees be the shop.  I became a good friend of all the cats we had as they viewed the birds as a feast!  As I have said before IF either Dave or I took our rifle out the other one had to stay in the house.  That was a result of cousin Robert being in a shooting accident where he died.  

One of my favorite things was after a rain.  We had a low spot in our driveway and water would always settle in that spot.  It took great skill and thinking to drain it after a rain!!!

Enough of the past today.  I have tennis in about a half hour so I need to be the the "real" for a while.   

 

 

 

 

We are at June 20th, 2022

 TERRY

Terry is awake and reading the paper.  I would say there is no change today.  

Well I have tennis at 9:00 AM and that is about it for the day.  Today is a holiday so I have no idea what is open and what is closed.  I did send something off in the mail that was important and they said it would not arrive until Tuesday because of the holiday.

I have begun to work on a 2023 calendar so I have pictures all over the place.  I have not decided on a theme and am open IF anyone has a good idea for a theme for 2023.  I was not sure I would do a 23 calendar but I have time on my hands so why not!

I am not sure if I mentioned Dave's birthday 2 weeks ago.  He would have been 78 if he was still with us.  He was an amazing man.  Fixing cars to making wooden things to playing music he could do it all.  I do think he would have been a renascent man if I understand the meaning of that!  He actually took after Dad in that regard as Dad could overhaul an engine.  He could wire a house.  He could make gun stocks and of course his photography skills were amazing.   I would never compare myself to either Dave or Dad but I promise I can make a mean cup of coffee IF that counts for anything!

As I sit and think about what to write about today some of the thoughts I have are:

• Much of the time when I think about the  "past" deer hunting comes up.  The deer, the people and the landscape were all great.  AND of course grinding up 100+ pounds of deer meat with almost unlimited burgers that day was the best!
• I think about driving cement truck in the summer.  One summer when I had to quit because of school we had to wait 6 weeks for my first pay check.  Somehow we found a summer check that was never cashed in the file that carried us over until I got school pay.
• The 3 summers I went to summer school for my masters were interesting to say the least.  One summer I was in a room by myself.  One summer I stayed at Gail's aunt and uncle's house and one summer I stayed with community people.  Each summer I left early Monday AM with a cooler of food that carried me over all week.  NO money to eat out and I usually could make my schedule so that I could arrive home on Thursday.  I don't think I ever thanked Gail enough for caring for the boys during that time.  As one can guess at times they were more than a handful.  I do remember Mom and Dad coming to my graduation and then having a picnic afterward.  I was honored that they would come way up to Grand Forks for that.
• Of course I can not forget staying in a tent at a campground outside of Lincoln NB for 6 weeks as I went to summer school.  Twice John woke up in puddle of water!  We invited friends from school over more than once for dinner over the fire.
• I still can feel the bump bum as I drove to school in Devils Lake with chains on the car over snow covered roads.  Devils Lake must not have had good road plowing.
• How about after school snacks when we went to Wood Lake School!  Sometimes when we arrived home after walking the mile and a half there on the kitchen table would be crackers filled with frosting.  It was a special treat.

No that is enough of memories.  Of course there are many many many more but maybe another time.  I am going to get ready for tennis as it is close to 8:30 and tennis is at 9:00.  As one can see my childhood was a bit different than most kids today and for sure different than my grandkids for sure.  Times change and sometimes I wonder if it is for the better!!!

Here is the beginning of a serious woodworker who made beautiful things.

I guess I needed to tell him about the right saw but Aaron made it work!

Some how  I did not post this yesterday so here is Monday's blog on Tuesday!

Here we are at June 18th

 TERRY

Terry is reading the paper as I write.  She woke up about 7:00 and is doing fine.  I would say over the last few days she is good.

 So it is 8:30 and I just may wander over to the tennis courts this morning to see who is there.  I usually do not play on the weekends but I may today.  If there are too many or too few I will come home.

I will again try to get a an important letter off today.  I tried Thursday and it did not get there as I over nighted it.  I will try again today but will require a signature so that should help.  We will see.

Well here it is the 19th as I got sidetracked and did not finish yesterday.

First a happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there.  I hope the day is special and you Dads get the praise that you deserve.

I will spend most of my blog on the day, Fathers Day.  I am so thankful for Dad.  Was her perfect?  No, in fact he was far far from that in some ways.  BUT I loved him and as I grew up I wanted to spend time with him.  During the times he would hit fly balls to Dave and I in the yard I could see him playing baseball as a young man.  In the first years of his marriage the local guys had a baseball team and the girl friends or wives would be there to watch.  I thought he was probably a very good player!

He was a very talented man.  He could overhaul an engine.  He could shoot with the best of the guys.  He could wire a house and he did several of them.  He was unmatched as a photographer which he did for a living as I think he took 100s of wedding pictures.  

I craved spending time with him.  I really don't know why as he was not a big talker but just to be with him was grand.  He was a doer.  From bale hooks to rope making to using the forge to make things he could create what he wanted.  So I have great memories of Dad on this day.

On to our family.  I am so proud of John, Aaron and Mike.  They are great fathers and deserve the very best today.  I hope they have a great day.

I really have little to say today.  I think I will let it be as it is with my writing and sign off for now.  I do have my FP so will linger on the computer for a time before I go on to something else.

Dad where he shined, hunting and photography.