Mom's Story - Installment #16

Hello again,

Well, once again this week has flown by. It's a sure sign that you are getting old when yesterday was the 4th. of July and today it's the 22nd. already. I just don't think that we're having THAT much fun.

It's hot, hot, hot down here the past few days. It's always amazing as to how fast everything dries out and the ground starts cracking after just a couple weeks without any significant rain. Even my little zinnia beds were looking pretty dry so got some needed watering last night. And it goes without saying that the tomatoes are demanding water daily. But, they are producing, so we're eating fresh vine-ripened tomatoes every day for lunch and supper.


We closed on the sale of the 32 acres where we had the horses last year and got the hay a few cuttings. We are glad to be out from under that whole thing. Didn't need it in the first place, so were glad we found some young folks who did and do. They have 6 horses down there and are planning to build as soon as they get their house sold, so I think they will be fine neighbors. If we ever decide to quit riding horses, the 17 acres with the barn and pond will be up for sale as well, but we're still enjoying our equines.

Well, here's another piece of Mom's story. I hate to say it, but it's getting toward the end. I know there were so many more things that could have been included in this story, and perhaps with more time, she would have thought of some more stuff from her childhood and earlier years. But, I have what I have and that's all that there is, so that's what you're getting as well.

Hope you are still enjoying it.

****

Donna and Wil always drove us to Oklahoma & to Texas to see Joan and Bill Babcock till Les passed away in Jan. 2000. Joan was already home before he died and Bill drove up from Oklahoma as soon as he heard about Les’s passing. Joan stayed for a month to get paperwork done, and I came back with her and stayed till Palm Sunday in April 2000. Then she drove me home in the 1992 Mercury. Donna took her to the airport in Milwaukee and she flew back to Dallas.

I got two great grandchildren within 5 years, Maddie Helen Peterson and Molly Elizabeth Peterson, and they live in Sheboygan. Lots of parties those years. (Note: she had a great-grandson this past June, but unfortunately never got to know it. I know she would have been as thrilled as we all are.)

In February 2004, I had my left hip out in Mercy Bone Hospital in Oshkosh. Dr. O’Laughlin did this one. Was in the hospital four days and then went to rehab at Lomira Nursing Home for months. Donna and Wil had to take me to the doctor two times and I had lots of company while in Lomira.

After I went home in June, I had lots of hurts and tried lots of stuff but nothing helped. Ruth Weis did my cleaning.

In 2004, after Christmas Joan came up to Milwaukee on Dec. 29^th. and drove me back to Oklahoma, Jan. 2005, for the winter. It was a good trip. In April my legs were lame so it was decided I should not be by myself on the farm.

We went home in May and I came back to live here in Oklahoma with Joan and Bill. I like it here in winter. It’s spring all the time and I can’t expect Joan to come and get me again every fall. She gives piano lessons every day.

Bill gave Joan a surprise 60^th. birthday party at the Fellowship Hall at the church. A lot of people came. Bill bought cake and ice cream for 100 people. It was fun. Two days after the party, on Friday, Martin and Sylvia and Gary Adler came. We had a great visit and they left on Saturday at 11:00 AM. It was nice weather – 76 degrees.

The garden Bill fixed for me was coming up but it didn’t grow very fast. By the end of May the strawberries were ripe and Bill put netting over the patch to keep the crows from eating them and there are lots. We ate strawberries every day as much as we wanted and still had some for freezer jam. Delicious!!!

Well, that's it for this time.

JB

Mom's Story - Installment #15

My, my, my, my!!!! Where does the time go? It seems like just a day or two ago that I last posted another bit of Mom's story, and here it has been a week already. I really don't think that I've been that busy, but the days seem to fly by. It's gotten hot, but we've got a little rain along, so that helps.

We went riding this morning on an all-new spot. About a two hour ride I guess, and that was plenty. The sun was under clouds for most of the morning so that made it very pleasant. I wish I could tell you something hilarious that happened but nothing really did. The most excitement I had was when Blaze decided to jump a little ditch thing rather than wade through it like the lead horse did. I thought he'd just walk on through it as well, but, no, he decided that JUMPING over it was the way to go. Needless to say, I wasn't really expecting that so got a really good adjustment. Why pay a chiropractor when a horseback ride or two can do the same thing. I heard things crack in my neck that haven't cracked for a long time, but it feels really good, so I guess all is well.

One of the funniest things that happened was last week when Lacie was here. We went riding with a couple of our friends who gave us quite a trip. On the way back down the far side of the mountain, we came upon a black snake by the edge of the road. Tommy showed it to everyone and then proceeded to walk his horse right on top of it. It took off and then doubled back and wound right around Lacie's horse's left front leg. I don't even think she saw it, and I'm sure her horse didn't see it. He just walked right out of it. Good thing it wasn't a rattle snake or copper head. That's the first snake I've ever seen on the trail since we've been riding. This morning we came across two deer and two fawns so that was nice.

Well, here's some more of Mom's Story.

Enjoy.

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On Dec. 20^th., 1997, Joan and Donna gave me a surprise 80^th. birthday party at Bublitz restaurant in Lomira. Donna and Wil and Greg and Dawn and Connie and Les and I were all planning to go out for dinner for my birthday. When we got to the restaurant, they took us to the back room and there were a lot of the relatives and friends and neighbors all yelling “Surprise!!”

I couldn’t believe my eyes. My sister Jane and brother Herb and his wife were there, and Stan and Sharon, and lots of nieces and nephews and their families. And so many neighbors were there as well. It was really a shock.

I started walking through the guests hugging them and laughing, and all at once I came up one aisle and there was Joan with her video camera. I was SO surprised!!! I had no idea that she was going to be home. We had a really good meal, and the girls got me a cake, and give me a necklace with the number 80 in gold letters all embedded with diamonds. Bill and Joan’s son-in-law, Phillip Stone, made the necklace for me. It was really beautiful.

After we finished eating, Joan read a poem titled “Now That You’re 80”. and Donna and Connie sang “I Won’t Take Less Than Your Love”. Then Joan sang a song she’d written for me called “Out on Howard’s Farm”. She played it on her autoharp and Donna played her guitar. It was to the tune of “Out Behind the Barn”. It was funny. Jane even started dancing around the tables. That’s always been her song. And she sang another song with her autoharp called “Mother Is Special”. She had everyone crying.

I got some really nice gifts, and when Donna mailed out the invitations, she put a little note paper in each one asking them to write down something special they remembered about knowing me. There were lots of those little notes in the box. They made me cry. It was a really nice surprise party, and then Joan stayed up in Wisconsin through Christmas. Bill didn’t come along, so she drove up herself.

******************

Well, that's it for this time.
JB

Out of the mouths of babes.

I saw a cute story while I was in the waiting room at the dentist office Tuesday, and thought I would share it with you.

It seems that a young couple with a little 3 yr. old daughter had moved to a new town back in the 20's or 30's. This town was dry, and all of the residents were solid teetotalers or at least gave the outward appearance of being teetotalers. Shortly after they'd settled into their new home, the lady of the house was invited to a social gathering with a group of the town elite. She decided to take her little daughter along as she was always very well behaved and quiet.

They sat in the parlor sipping tea from dainty little china cups and engaged in boring conversation that would put anyone to sleep. The little girl was sipping her tea very properly as well. Finally, after a while of this, she leaned over to her mother and in her clear childish voice said, "Mother, let's just pretend this is beer."

Mother smiled weakly at the other ladies, and left shortly thereafter. Needless to say, she was never invited to another social gathering with that group again!

I thought that was really cute. And so typical. If kids hear it at home, don't be surprised when it pops out of their mouths.

Another good example of that is two little boys who take piano lessons from me. They were going to Bible School last month and rode the church van to get there. The driver told us that the minute they got on the van and away from their Grandma, they unbuckled their seat belts and started cussing like sailors for anything that came along. I've met their "PaPa" and I imagine that they hear quite a bit of that kind of talk at home. I told Bill that someday when he gets a chance, he ought to question them about it, but I don't think he's had the opportunity yet. They've never talked like that around me, but then, someone is always there with them, so guess that's why.

Changing the subject - we had a really good week with #2 granddaughter, Lacie, while she was up her on vacation. Granddaddy is FINALLY recovering from all the riding she put him through. Pretty hard - a 70-year old trying to keep up with a 20-year old. But, he did rather well. I knew I wouldn't have that much riding in me, but did manage for two pretty good ones while she was here. The Saturday before we left, the three of us and a couple of friends of ours took off up one side of Short Mountain just south of us. It wasn't horribly steep, but the trail was very rocky and just a steady pull up. By the time we'd only gotten about a quarter of the way up the trail the horses were really sweating. It was a real workout for all of them.

We made it to the top, and then went down the other side to a creek. Walked the horses across the creek and then got off to eat lunch. It was really a nice place for that. The remainder of the ride wasn't quite as long, and we sure didn't get any flack from any of the horses about getting back in the trailer to RIDE back to the house. I think they were as glad to see the truck and trailer as we were. I did fine until we quit and then I thought I would DIE from the heat.

But, after a few days rest, we're ready to go again. Last Tuesday we rode about 4 1/2-5 miles down to some friends' house, got off, had coffee with them, then loaded up and rode back to the house. That was a good trip, too.

I'm not playing in the bluegrass gospel group any longer - gas too high, and I'm kind of burned out with it, so I have a little more time to spend on other music endeavors. A group of kids from our church are coming once a week to play recorders so that's fun.

Well, it's about time to add another segment of Mom's Story, so keep an eye out for that.

Till next time,
JB

Mom's Story - Installment #14

Well, it's time for another installment of Mom's Story. These weeks sure seem to fly by. We've had a busy one, but will save that for another post. Enjoy Mom's story.

In September of 1987, Joan and Donna along with Leslie and Randy Miller, the preacher at the 1^st. Baptist Church, surprised us with a 50^th anniversary party at the Gazebo in Fond du Lac, WI. The kids came to church with us that morning and the girls even sang, and then we came back home till it was time to go out to eat. Wil and Bill both put on wigs and acted silly. We’ve got good pictures of the son-in-laws with hair.

Then we left to go to Fond du Lac to eat. The girls were taking us someplace special since it was for our 50^th anniversary. I had wanted to have a party and invite the relatives but Les didn’t want one. When we got there, they led us back to a back room and there were all the people from church, and Bucky and his family, and Sharon and Tom and other old friends and relatives. What a surprise.

Les wasn’t too sure he liked the idea but after we ate and the girls sang some special songs for us, and he had a chance to visit with lots of the old neighbors who were there, he was pretty happy we had a party.

It was a really good time and we got some nice Golden Anniversary gifts. When we got home, Randy and Leslie came to the house afterwards and we had supper and a good visit.

JB

She Can Cook!!

Our #2 granddaughter, Lacie, is up here this week for a visit. She hasn't been up since last fall, so it's really nice having her around. She and Granddaddy are spending a LOT of time "horsing around". I told him that it was really nice that he had someone to play with this week.

She got up here Sunday mid day, and by that afternoon, they were on the trail. Monday morning we got situated and the three of us went on a nice LONG ride across the highway and back in the woods. It was a good ride - no major disasters. We were planning to make a ride that Bill and I did back 4 or 5 months ago. We enjoyed it then, and said that Lacie would like it as well.

So we started off through the church yard, up the road behind the church, past our new high speed internet tower (which, by the way, is now providing 5 bars of cell phone service IN OUR HOUSE!!! We've NEVER had cell phone service in our house before.) And the trail continued up the dirt road, through the old dump, across the pipeline and then up the little trail we'd found through the woods. Eventually we came back to Hwy. 259. And, that's where the similarity to our previous ride ended.

Being a true MALE, William decided to "take a different trail" back to civilization this time. It was heading in the same general direction as the one we took before. Couldn't hurt. We'll see some new territory. No problem!

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! We're riding along on a very "not very ridden" trail deeper and deeper into the woods, when lo and behold, there's a fence crossing our path. OK! We'll just backtrack a bit and ride up alongside it because it's bound to end sooner or later. Well, he was right. It did. Right into another cross fence. Now we were really blocked.

So, we turned around once again, and headed back the way we came. No, I shouldn't really say that. We just found ANOTHER slightly used trail that our "fearless leader" thought sure would take us where we wanted to go. But as luck would have it, we came across a pretty good sized tree blocking that path. Now, all three of us were pretty sure that our horses could have gotten over that tree. And if we'd been ABSOLUTELY sure that they would just neatly step OVER the tree trunk, and continue on, we'd have probably tried it.

BUT, there's always that teensy-weensy little chance that they would try to LEAP over it. And vaulting was definitely NOT in the program for Monday morning. I could just picture Blaze deciding to jump, getting in stance to jump, beginning to jump, and then, just at the last minute, changing his mind. Of course, by this time, my body would have already been in motion and would have probably continued on the set path - over his head, over the tree, and hopefully still in one piece on the ground. WE WERE NOT GOING TO TAKE THAT CHANCE!! Flying through the air on a quiet Monday morning in June was not my idea of a FUN ride.

So, once again, we turned back and started up another trail. We actually made it back to the highway and proceeded riding up the ditch to the road we were trying to find. Luckily, by that time the horses were pretty well pooped out, and the traffic didn't seem to bother them at all.

Our ride lasted about 2 1/2 hours all tolled I guess. Lacie and Bill, tough-butted people that they are - have been riding at three times since then. NOT ME!!! I'm so sore I can hardly sit much less THINK about putting my "tender" nether regions back in a saddle. I'm sure by tomorrow I'll be feeling much better, and maybe by Friday, I may even attempt another ride, but for now, the Granddaughter/Granddaddy duo are on their own.

Anyway, back to the title of this post. Last night Lacie "cooked" supper for us. She made a really mean Taco Salad. Huge taco salad. All the while talking about "slimy" lettuce. Actually, a little wilt in lettuce doesn't bother me too bad, but apparently doesn't do a thing for her. But, the salad was really good - we ate way too much and have lots left for lunch today, so I was quite impressed that she did it. She said taco salad and guacamole where her specialties - but, alas, no avocados, so no guacamole. But, we had refried beans (out of a can), and plenty of taco salad, and life is good!

Have a great week.
JB