Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday was my folks' 67th anniversary. For me, the 4th of July is less fireworks and Independence Day celebrations as anniversary celebrations. When I was little, I remember thinking that the whole world was celebrating my parents' anniversary.

Later, as I grew older, I understood that they had chosen the 4th because it was the day after Dad got his wings while in the Air Force.

Nearly every year we would celebrate the 4th and the Anniversary in a different place. My dad was in the Air Force, so we traveled to many different places. Every year, just about, we would have a different type of celebration.

There are 2 that I remember the best.

The 1st was in Japan; we, along with many other military families, sat on a hill overlooking a river and watched the magnificent fireworks that the Japanese put on. I don’t know if it was actually on the 4th or not, but it was magnificent and I don’t know if I’ve seen a better one, since.

The 2nd was in Deadwood, SD. My folks took their motor home and parked it on the street; there was a big wingding party with lots of street sales and good picnic foods offered. We had the whole family there, except for Candy and Wayne, who lived in Oklahoma that year. Cara kept a deep dark secret; she had collected Candy at the airport so that Candy could join us for this celebration. The funny thing was, Mom and I were in the motor home when Cara and Candy arrived. I was excited to see Candy but kept my mouth shut (a hard thing to do) until Mom could say hi to Candy – but the thing was – Mom didn’t register that Candy didn’t BELONG there at that time and just talked to her normally. It wasn’t until Dad came in and was surprised that Mom realized the trick the girls had played on her!

The fireworks were set off in the Deadwood open mine pit so we were fairly close to the base of the fireworks. Dad mentioned that when he saw fireworks, it reminded him of being in a bomber with flak from the ground shooting up at him. His explosions were dangerous, ours were just noisy and pretty.

Which reminds me of a dear friend, Joanna. When living / working at Historic Murphy’s Landing, the “gang” would have a get-together, picnic and joint fireworks watching party. Joanna would say, every year, the same thing. Let me see if I can remember it closely. “In other parts of the world, the noise like we are hearing is fearful and represents war-fare. In our country, it represents freedom from fear!”

So, how was YOUR Independence Day celebration? We had brother-in-law Wayne come over for hamburgers and brats. Norm and Wayne played cribbage (as always) and got the food cooked outside in between rain downpours (we got about ¾ of an inch in 24 hours) and we ate inside. Then Norm and I watched the PBS special display in DC. I enjoy fireworks if I’m comfortable and they aren’t so close that the noise is deafening. I enjoy them more if I can hear music while watching the display. Then a surprise after the special – a “Prairie Home Companion” special at Tanglewood. I listen to PHC most Saturdays on the radio, and it’s a great pleasure to see “live” the people I listen to so often.

It was a beautiful day, yesterday. We had sunshine, overcast clouds, rain and comfortable weather. The rain didn’t bother us as we were not picnicking or going to see fireworks. Near sundown, Norm called me out to see the fog and the moon. What a beautiful sight on a lovely 4th of July. You have a beautiful day!

Fog in the pasture

Full moon above the barn

Summer Sheets

Here in Minnesota, it takes a long time to go from winter flannel sheets on the bed to the summer light-cotton ones.

This year, especially, it has been a long time. Every time I planned on switching, we got a cold spell. In fact, I just recently gave up my flannel pajamas for my summer cotton nightgown because of the cold nights (is that too much information for you?).

Last week we had a heat wave with daytime temperatures in the 90s (30s C, Happy Owl), with a heat index ranging from 98º to 104º (again, Celsius, Happy Owl, would range from about 35º to 40º). And what IS a heat index?

I found this online to help you understand what the Heat Index is.

The formula for heat index is based upon the lookup table presented by Steadman (1979). This table was derived with a complicated set of measurements. The table can be mathematically analyzed to produce an approximate equation for the heat index:
Heat Index = -42.379 + 2.04901523T + 10.14333127R - 0.22475541TR - 6.83783x10-3T2 - 5.481717x10-2R2 + 1.22874x10-3T2R + 8.5282x10-4TR2 - 1.99x10-6T2R2

Well, I’ll just depend on the weatherman or a chart for heat index - how about you?

Any-who, it was mighty hot last week. We had the air conditioner on, which I don’t like, much, but I do like it better than the heat. I was tossing and turning at night because I was so hot in spite of the air, when it dawned on me ….. I still had the flannel sheets on the bed!

We changed to the summer sheets for a hot night, but sure-as-shootin’, we got a storm that night, the weather pattern changed and now we have COOL to COLD nights again! Ooofta! Last night was almost too cold for 1 wool blanket (plus the sheet) but I refused to get the other blanket pulled up from the bottom of the bed no matter how chilly I was. One has to have SOME standards in one’s life, correct?

It reminds me of my brother. When he lived in Minnesota, he told me that he never took his storm windows off until June 1st. “You never know,” he said, “what the weather is going to do until then!” Well, I can’t breath without fresh air in the spring. It never gets THAT cold that you want storms on after April 1st around here. If we have storms, they don’t last that long. With storms up, you can’t open windows for the fresh air that is so necessary for life (to me, anyway).

Speaking of not breathing without fresh outside air reminds me of the continual fight Norm and I have about our bedroom window. In the winter, when the temperatures are around 30º or higher, I figure that we could crack our window, put another blanket on the bed and sleep well. We always turn our heat down to about 60º at night anyway, so opening the top of a double-hung window is not going to make the heat turn on (the thermostat is in the living room), but Norm claims he’s freezing and closes it when he comes to bed, if I beat him there. Why can’t he just put another blanket on? Then, in the middle of the night, as I’m gasping for fresh air, I will try to sneak over and crack it DOWN even just an inch. Unfortunately, the window squeaks when it goes down (and Norm will not fix the squeak, for some unknown reason) and Norm hears it, so he gets up and closes it again.

Yes, Jody, the combination of the window fights and the fan fights at night makes for restless nights, sometimes!

Fortunately for me, when the weather turns warmer (above 60º at night), Norm does not object to the window open and even allows me to open the bottom of the double-hung window to get MORE fresh air in.

When the window is closed, it’s harder to hear my robin greet me at sunrise – about 4:30 these days – and to hear my mourning doves sing to me in the morning. Even when I turn over and go back to sleep after hearing them, I love knowing they are singing out there just for me!

Spring and Fall are the best times, for me, to let the windows stay open. Hot summers, Norm feels, require air conditioning at night as well as during the day. Winters, like I have said, are a fight onto it’s own.

This summer, I have been awarded with a lovely rose blooming. Jill and Eric gave me 2 roses for mother’s day, one year. The pink one has 1 or 2 blooms every year, and it growing larger, so hopefully it will give more in future years. The yellow one has never bloomed, but this year there is a bud on it!!! I am so excited about that one opening!

It is finally (after last week’s horribly hot weather) cool and breezy and wonderful out. Sunshine, temperatures in the 70s (20s C, Happy Owl) make for very pleasant, beautiful days. You have a beautiful day!

Bragging time!

It’s not often that I brag about my grand girls, do I? (Hmmmm!)

Well, it’s time to do so (again? Nah! First time!). Joy brought Bitty and Bubba down last Wednesday and then headed home on Thursday. So Norm and I had these two girls for nine days, all to ourselves.

The girls had met Rachel, a daughter of an employee at the Farm, sometime last year and re-acquainted themselves with her during Margaret’s graduation party. So when they came down for the nine days, we made arrangements for Rachel to join them for a day; they spent the whole day together, all three of them, and had a fantastic time. There are hopes that this can be repeated again this summer.

On Saturday we had a demonstration at the local Historical Society; the girls were very helpful in getting ready and were a great asset in demonstrating. Bitty took over the antique spinning wheel that belongs to the Museum and did a fantastic job of spinning and talking about how the wheel worked. Bubba did some embroidery, but mostly ran errands for Norm and I, as well as visiting other people who were demonstrating that day.

This wheel was brought over from Norway and made in 1872

Saturday evening, niece Cookie brought grandniece Binni over to spend a few days. On Sunday, Bitty went to church with Norm while Bubba and Binni helped me get ready for brother-in-law Wayne and his grandson to come over for lunch. Monday night we took Binni halfway back to her home and Cookie met us to collect her.

Any time there is a table and more than one person, there is a card game - usually cribbage

The three musketeers

The rest of the week was mostly just the girls and I, but they spent a lot of time with Norm, too. I hardly had to do anything but cook meals (for which I received many “thank you” statements from both girls). They washed dishes, set the table, hung laundry out and brought it back in. They did the chores, collected eggs, checked on the sheep’s water and watered it. They helped me with my small fountain outside, cleaning it and adding water when needed. If I needed something brought to me while resting my knee, all I had to do was ask! Whew! And now that I’m alone, I’m overwhelmed with all that they did (and allowed me to NOT do!).

Rainy day chores

During this whole time, I was in total awe of these two young ladies (and they ARE young ladies, now). Bitty turned thirteen (!!!) Monday and Bubba is nearly eleven. They are beautiful, pleasant to be around and very intelligent and wise for their ages.

When they were little, I was hesitant to agree with Joy about home schooling (as if I had anything to say about it!), but now I can see that for these two girls, it was the right decision.

For awhile, I worried about social life for the girls but have found that they have plenty of friends, both in church and in their twice-monthly “Co-Op” where skilled parents teach science, art and physical education. Plus, both girls make friends very quickly with strangers, so find someone to talk to and play with where ever they go, if there are children their ages.

I also worried, especially about Bubba, since she was very slow in starting school work and extremely slow in showing interest in reading. Imagine! A child of my family that was NOT reader! How horrible would that be? But patience, in the form of a loving mother / teacher, soon won out over her statements that she “could NOT read!” Now Bubba almost always has a book in her hands!

Intelligent? Yes! Clever? Yes! Funny! Yes, yes!! My girls are caring, sympathetic, helpful, loving and kind. They are always reading – whether it’s a fiction book or a history book, they always have a book at hand. I am so proud of these girls – they are respectful of everyone they meet. They love my friends and accept them as friends of their own. Both girls make friends very easily because they are so friendly, themselves.

After having them for so long, it was time to take the girls home (sigh) so last Friday was the day, as Bitty’s birthday party was on Saturday. Bitty had several young women join her and Bubba was allowed to ask a few of her friends, as well. I watched the whole group, ranging from eight to sixteen and not one time did I see an attitude of “she’s too young to join us” – the older ones enjoyed the younger ones. At dark, the youngest ones went home and the older ones spent the night in a tent outside.

Norm and I went shopping for Joy, as she needed last minute items for the party. Bubba joined us because she wanted to get Bitty a present by herself, with her own money. After much discussion, she decided to buy Bitty some flowers. These were given to Bitty as we were starting to eat the burgers and dogs that Ken had cooked on the grill. I copied the note that Bubba wrote to go with the flowers.

“Bitty – I can not believe you are 13. We were so young a long time ago. I love you. I hope you like the gift. Love, Bubba”

My precious granddaughters! I love them both so much! If I were blessed with more, I would love them equally. If I am not blessed with more, then I will continue to pour all my Grandma love into the ones I have, which deserve all I can give them.

Two Grandpas, two granddaughters.

It is a beautiful day today (even without my girls, who are home helping Mom instead of here helping me!). You have a beautiful day.