She's a Farm Girl Now

I went out to Sam and Shelley's to babysit yesterday afternoon for a couple of hours. Life at their house is interesting, to say the least. It's a good place for boys...

This is Fred. Ben's pet turtle. Oh, excuse me, he will immediately correct me that it is a tortoise. He outgrew his smaller tank, so Ben constructed a new home for him. He hand cut all the boards and nailed them together. He rigged all the lighting. He completed the project all by himself at 9 years old.

Guess where he put it??

On top of his bed!
He now sleeps with Joe on the bottom bunk.

I had to go to school to pick the older boys up, because Ben couldn't ride the bus home. He was transporting something special!

Baby chicks! This is what he rigged up as a place to keep them until they get too big.

After the chicks were settled in, we went to the garage to see if the mommy cat had any more kittens in the flower pot. There was only one newborn kitten there.

Not to be outdone, Nate and Joe have a project of their own going. Can you guess what this is all about??

It's their pet rock village! Notice the hospital.

This is Joe's rock house. The rock is in the bathrub. And notice the toilet he made, complete with ......

We went outside to play awhile. Tell me, does anyone need a dog this big??



The boys wanted to go out and get a picture of the two cows behind the shed, but I declined.

Hope you enjoyed the images of the afternoon. I have to admit, my daughter amazes me!



                                                              

There she is...Catherine!

If you have been in the Blm/Normal area the last few days, you may have noticed the Healthy Cells magazine that can be found at many businesses, doctor offices, etc. around town. The May feature has been distributed and Mercy Creek retirement center is the featured article. As you can see, Mom is on the front cover, as well as in other pictures in the article in the magazine.

                                                                                              



Here she is having a little snack in the Bistro.




Here she is in the front lobby. Some of you may recognize Bernice Bachman in front of the fireplace. Dave and I teased Mom about the gentleman she is so easily visiting with. We told her she better be careful! Her reply: "That's ridiculous!"



Here she is doing a little Wii bowling.

Mom says she is very happy with her apartment, the new building is beautiful and clean, and the food is good at every meal. We are glad that she has adjusted to the move and that she continues to be in fairly good health. She is 86 years old. Just be sure to speak loudly to her, as her hearing loss continues to be her biggest problem.



Preston moved to Sioux Falls, SD

 

New employer

 

Pines at Four Hills

 

Most of you have probably heard that Preston moved to Sioux Falls a little over a week ago.  He took a job at TCF Financial Corporation at the call center doing customer service work.  He has 4 weeks of training before the actual work begins.  Perry and I drove out with him (2 vans) and went apartment hunting with him.  He was able to get a nice 1 bedroom apt in southeaster Sioux Falls which is 12 minutes from his work and 35 minutes to our Lester, IA church where he has been attending.  Today they had about 7 more inches of snow which is quite unusual for this time of year.  Perry II and I are planning to leave Thursday morning to take him some furniture, etc. because he moves into his apartment on Friday.  Up until now he has been staying with Arnie and Myra Wulf who live in Sioux Falls and have a large home and are glad to keep him.  Perry and I are adjusting to the empty nest.  It's been 40 years since it was just the two of us. ---Carol

Stopping By to Say Hello

Greetings, All,
It has been a very, very long time since I've commented or posted anything . . . so thought I'd stop by the blog and say hello to everyone.  HELLO!  Some of you may have seen our little town on the national news for flash flooding. Last Wednesday we experienced a deluge and around 25 homes are uninhabitable and many more have wet basements and damage. Fortunately, we sit high enough that we were spared. Some of you others probably had some flooding also. Other than that, we are busy with work and grandkids - the usual. Tim opened an office in Monmouth, Illinois, as a second location, so he now spends 2 or 3 days a week there. I always enjoy checking in to read the posts, so thanks to you "old faithfuls" for keeping the rest of us informed and entertained. You older folks probably were aware that cousin, Merle Wuethrich, passed away - his funeral was Saturday in Eureka. Til next time . . .
Cathy

Here is a photo of one of my favorite scenes:  the beautiful rocky-bottom creek directly down the hill from our rear upper deck.  We often see a small herd of deer grazing on the grassy hillside during late evenings but they will scare easily and soon leap across the creek and into the woods.  One evening in January, we saw 9 deer grazing.  In this photo I was able to capture 5 of the 7 deer that were lazily grazing, yet nervous while seeing me.

Better yet, with most of you aware of my adolescent fetish of looking for arrowheads, I was overjoyed in September to have an 11-year-old guest, Levi Manz, of Latty, Ohio find a beautiful 2" spearhead in this creek -- about 50 yards downstream from my very own backyard.  Then, about 3 weeks later, on September 30, 2012, my own 3 grandboys were exploring the creek like they often love to do, and Carter, age 8, found a 1.5" spearpoint in the creek, directly behind our condo/home!  This creek has produced about 5 other arrowhead/spearpoints about 1 mile downstream, but never this close to home. Both local September finds are between 1,500 - 3,000 years old, minimum.   Hard to believe by many, but yet true.
If any of you would want to go "hunting" with me sometime, I'd love to take you to some good "hot spots" for some great outdoor exercise and scenery.

Square Foot Gardening

This will be repeat for some of you, but I thought I'd share my latest project. As you know in MI I had a rather large garden (that got bigger the first 3-4 years I was there and then smaller every year after that), but there isn't much room in the backyard here. My friend and I still want to make our salsa and I like using my own tomatoes and peppers so I'm using the square foot gardening method here.

Here is my stash of items to build 2 4'x4' boxes. The box is 6" deep and the "soil" mix is equal parts peat moss, vermiculite, and compost.

An unconventional method to building the box, but it worked for me.

One box completed and placed.



Here are both boxes placed, filled with mix, and planted. I plan to put some beans in the remaining squares.

 

My BSF group gave me the square foot gardening book as a going away gift. I've really enjoyed reading it and putting this together. I'm looking forward to this different way of gardening and adding items to the various squares into the fall to keep having fresh veggies for a long time.

 

Has anyone else tried this? I'd love to how it worked for you.

A FEW PICTURES

We're basically done with our "redecorating" project and thought I'd share a few pictures with you. It's a BIG change from the black wallpaper in the family room and the flowered wallpaper in the kitchen/dining room. Fortunately, we got it done just in time for Jerry to begin working in the yard - which is his very favorite thing to do - really!

Three Grand Ladies

Mom had this picture and I asked if I could post it...isn't it a good picture of the three of them? Do you know where they are? And where do you suppose they were going? I knew Aunt Florence better than Aunt Hilda...but I know the latter was a live-wire. Do you have any stories, unique traits, or memories to share?





Sippy cups

Judy's post about the kids getting their own drinks reminded me of one of my favorite memories of two of Mark's kids.

One summer day I was wrestling on the family room floor with Lindsey and John Michael who were probably 4 and 6 at the time.

After a bit of rather wild play I realized JM was gone and soon he came around the couch with 3 sippy cups of ice water in his arms. "Hey guys, I got us all some water."

Lindsey was old enough to realize that a 30+ year old woman didn't need a sippy cup even if it was Aunt Rhoda and exclaimed, "John Michael!!!"

I, however, gladly took my cup and drank. It was the only time I remember drinking from a sippy cup.

Progress!

I had three Steffen boys here for a short time yesterday. Dave fed them pancakes, which they love, if you remember to get it right. Syrup for one, WARM syrup for another, and plain and dry for the third. But the real fun for me came after the pancakes....they were able to pretty much get the microwave popcorn out of the drawer and open and into the microwave. I popped it and put it in their bowls for them. ONE bag PER kid, at their specific request. I got one complaint that one kid took "one piece of popcorn out of my bowl!" but they all three ate it all gone.

Then a near miracle happened.

"I need a drink!"

Well, I responded that Grandpa says they are all old enough to get their own drinks. "You know where the cups are and the milk is inside the fridge and the water is in the door of the fridge. So go help yourselves."

They all looked at me like I had lost my mind, but I didn't move, and shortly all three had a drink in their hands.

That is PROGRESS in the right direction for me! Of course, I did have to scrub the toilet this morning! They do THAT themselves, too!