August 8, 2015

Celebrating Our 50th Anniversary

(a little late)

August 8, 2015

Table decorations for Anniversary Dinner Saturday evening

This blog will cover Saturday, the day we actually celebrated our anniversary.  I was up early and leaving the other two ladies in my cabin sleeping, I headed to the bird blind.

 Our youngest grandson was usually the first one up in the camp and he would be out riding his bike or looking for food in the kitchen.

 Often at the blind I would encounter one of the granddaughters.  She loves taking photos and is usually eager to let me know what she has seen.

I spent an hour or more in the blind before heading to the lodge to find a wonderful breakfast of biscuits hot out of the oven and the smell of bacon cooking.  Just as a weekend in the country should be!

The birding had been productive and was each time I went to the blind.  Here are a few shots of the visitors at the blind.

Female Cardinal

Male Cardinal

Tufted Titmouse

 Male Painted Bunting

Northern Mockingbird (Texas state bird)

Lunch Saturday was sandwiches, salads, and chips.  Kids were in and out of the pool or soaking wet from sweat.  They hiked, rode bikes, played games, and generally had a wonderful time with cousins.

Shortly after lunch, Ron and I were banned from the lodge so that the family could decorate for the evening supper and celebration.  We were both ready for naps, so it did not take much to convince us to leave.  After I slept a while I returned to the bird blind and took more photos.

 Male Lesser Goldfinch

 House Finch

Our youngest grandson telling us it was time to come to dinner.  He was telling me to come and for Ron to stay put because Ron had been teasing him.  Ladies first!

We had gifts to open

There were two large displays of photos besides the ones on the tables

The tables were beautiful

The food was lasagna, french bread, salad, and two cakes for dessert

There was a box of lovely cards from many of our friends

There were some unique gifts and I will share more about them some day soon if I don't forget.

 There are a horse and a donkey that wander the property and

 we enjoyed each encounter with them.  They seem to enjoy being

 near each other and near people, so we saw them often.

Everything was beautiful and the candles on the tables were even more lovely as the sun went down.

What an outstanding day!  We loved it.  This banner was hanging in the window.  It hung on a pole for my parents 50th anniversary.  Traditions...

August 7, 2015

The Start of Something Beautiful

August 7, 2015

On June 5, Ron and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary.  It was a quiet day for us.  We closed the office and drove up the valley.  We did a little shopping, ate lunch at a new Bar-B-Que place, and then spent the afternoon with Jeff and Barbara after they had signed the papers on their new house.  Ron changed the locks on the house for them and then late that evening the four of us went out to supper.

On the way to the ranch for the weekend celebration

We wanted to celebrate with all of our family, but early June was not a good time for some of them.  They all settled on early August for a family gathering to celebrate the event.  It was a great choice.  Two of the daughter-in-laws, spent countless hours on line searching for the perfect place to have our gathering.  The agreed on place was Quiet Hill Ranch in the central Texas Hill Country.  The dates were from Friday afternoon August 7 through Monday morning August 10.  It was an outstanding weekend.

Sign at the gate to the ranch

The reason this blog entry and the ones for the next few days are late is that there was no internet service there and only a couple of people in the group even had cell phone service.  For Ron and me it would have been about a 30 minute drive to an area with cell phone service.  That actually made for a very relaxing weekend for all of us.

The owners live at the base of the hill and the rentals are at the top of the hill

Ron and I left Brownsville early Friday morning after loading supplies for the weekend.  Ron did all of the driving and I slept a little, read a little, and sewed a little.  We arrived in Fredericksburg, Texas about noon and window shopped for a couple of hours, buying nothing in the historic downtown area.  Then Ron located a quilt shop for me on the edge of town and I did manage to do some shopping there.  It was a very nice, clean, fairly new shop and I enjoyed looking at what they had to offer.

The back door of the lodge at Quiet Hill

By the time we finished it was almost check-in time at Quiet Hill Ranch and we decided we would just have sandwiches for lunch when we got there.  It was further out of town than I had expected and way out in the country!  We passed cattle ranches, farm land, goat and sheep ranches, and the scenery relaxed us more and more with every passing mile.

Jeff's family is in that white van in the valley 

and from the top of the hill, we watched their arrival.

When we arrived, we checked out the lodge and cabins, selected our cabins, and began to unload things.  Diana and the kids arrived soon, followed later by David when he got off work. Next came Jeff's family.  They were loaded down with food and bikes, and 5 of their 7 children who were eager to start exploring and swimming.  The other two couples were delayed by road construction and were very late arriving.  Jeff's other two children had been spending time with Bob and his wife and were the next to arrive, with Stephen and his wife being the last to come.

Jeff's family started unloading their van

While we had waited for the others to arrive, I took off for the birding blind.  The birding blind was the thing that settled the deal of renting this ranch for the gathering.  The kids all know how much I love photographing birds.  They know their dad loves the country life.  It was a perfect choice - maybe a cooler month would have been nice.  The birding blind was great.  I had not expected so many birds to be out and about in that area in the extreme heat (100 degrees and more).  There were lots of Cardinals (as many as a couple of dozen at a time), Painted Buntings, House Finches, Western Scrub Jays, an Orchard Oriole , hummingbirds that were flying too fast for us to identify, Lesser Goldfinches, Greater Roadrunners, and more.  What a fun time.  Over the time we were there, I took over 1,100 photographs.

This Roadrunner had just caught his supper

Part of the evening as we waited outside and talked while the late comers arrived, we enjoyed the cool evening breeze and the awesome view of the sky with no city lights around for many miles.  The Milky Way had not been so visible in years and the stars all twinkled and shined.  The grandchildren loved it although Jeff's children often get to see that kind of night sky when they visit their other grandfather in Kansas.

One of our grandsons and I were returning from 

the bird blind late in the day just after sunset.

That night I sat up late visiting with Stephen after he arrived.  It had been a long, but very good day.  It was very quiet on the top of the hill.  The only sounds I heard were the birds and sounds from our group.  In fact the next morning Ron saw the owner who lives at the bottom of the hill and Ron said everyone was having fun and he said, yes, he could hear that.  Sound carries well from the Quiet Hill to the valley below.

The lodge just before dark

August 6, 2015

Thank God for "Normal"

August 6, 2015

As I shared my blog the last couple of days, after writing them and then rereading them, I noticed there was not really anything in them about my deafness, my Cochlear Implant, my broken elbow, or the artificial piece in my elbow.  That is because those things have become "normal".  I don't think about them all the time.  There are still limitations and frustrations, but they are just a normal part of my life.  Other people my be limited by eye sight, strength, endurance, respiratory problems, or aching knees and hips.  We just learn to live with them.

Trying to lift anything heavy with my hand in an odd angle, will cause pain.  Washing my back in the shower does not cause pain.  I can reach all the areas that I need to.  The arm is not perfectly straight, but who cares?  Who notices?  No big deal.  The hearing is a big deal, but in general, especially at the office where I am usually only dealing with one customer at a time, I do fine.  If one of the machines is on, I have to turn it off to hear the customer.  No problem.

In two years, both problems have faded in importance.  Of course the hearing does impact my life all day every day, but I still don't focus on it.  The sound processor for the Cochlear Implant is not real comfortable, so when I get home, I usually take it off right away.  I did the same with the hearing aid.  I was invited to a tea today, but passed it up due to pressures of things I needed to get done at home, but it would have been very hard to hear anyway. 

Late last night after I finished my blog, the Chex mix was still too warm to bag up, so I made some candy while I waited and then of course, it had to cool.  It was late when I got to bed!  Then I was up early this morning for my allergy medication and allergy shots.  I was so tired that I took the wrong medication.  It was one I needed to take, but it was not the allergy medication.  Oh, well... 

After the shots, I spent a couple of hours working in the kitchen baking the cookies I had mixed yesterday.  Then I cleaned the kitchen while I hard boiled some eggs for egg salad for sandwiches.  I got that made and started a load of dirty dishes in the dishwasher and dirty clothes in the washer.  I managed to get them dry before I went to work.

At the office, I helped with customers while Ron went to run some errands.  When he got back I had a quick lunch and then went to pick Mom up to take her to her doctor for a visit required in order for him to renew a prescription.  We had to wait almost an hour and a half to see him in spite of an appointment.  When we were finished, I took Mom home and went to the pharmacy to take prescriptions the doctor had written.  From there I went to the office briefly to see if Ron needed me there.  He said it was quiet so I went and did Mom's grocery shopping and picked up one prescription but the other one she has to wait two days before her insurance would pay for it.  It doesn't matter that I won't be available to pick it up then, but those are the rules.

I loaded up the groceries and took them to Mom's house and Carmen helped unload them.  Back at the office, I took care of several chores and then left a little early to come home before we joined our friends for supper.  It was good to sit and laugh with them and enjoy our supper.  When we got home, I made a marinated carrot salad for the weekend and again cleaned the kitchen.  While I was making the salad, I watched the presidential debates.  Interesting.  There are some good quality men running for president on the GOP ticket.

Time for bed and sleep!

August 5, 2015

A Lot of the Day Was in the Kitchen

August 5, 2015

Much of my day today was spent in the kitchen.  Early this morning I mixed up a batch of cookies to be baked later tonight or in the morning.  Then I mixed up and baked a recipe of chocolate chip cookies.  While the cookies baked, I cleaned and sorted some things in the kitchen.  Also, I did some laundry and gathered a few items to pack.  I cleaned out a couple of shelves in the refrigerator.  This evening I have spent several hours in the kitchen making Chex Mix.

The Chex Mix in the photo above is cooling while three more large pans are in the oven.  While that was going on I fixed supper for Ron and for me.  We ate different things so I made two suppers.  I have washed a few dishes and tried to get a few other things done, but my progress is slow.

It was about noon before I went to the office.  Ron had a job up the valley this afternoon and while he was gone I sewed a little and got 4 more blocks made, leaving me only 9 more to make until I get the size I want for the quilt.  I took care of some bookkeeping and filing at the office as well as paying a couple of bills.  That seems to be a constant job.

After we closed this afternoon I needed to stop at H.E.B for syringes for my allergy shots.  They need to be a specific size and I have not found them anywhere else and this time H.E.B. was out and had to order them.  I forgot to stop there yesterday.  From there I went to Kohl's and used one of their coupons on an on sale bathing suit for our family weekend.  I think that will be the only way to stay cool in Texas this week.

It has been a good, busy day.  There is still a lot I need to do for our family gathering this weekend with our kids, to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary.  Our anniversary was actually 2 months ago today, but this was when the kids could all get away.  What a fun weekend we have ahead of us.  If you don't hear from me, just check early next week after all the partying is over.

Some of the cookies I baked this morning.  Yummy!

August 4, 2015

Happy Birthday to Our Youngest Son

August 4, 2015

The biggest thing that happened to him

since his last birthday, was his wedding.

How can it be that our "baby" is 35 years old?  I just can't believe he is that age, because I was almost that age when he was born, making me almost 70!  Wow!  I remember asking a lady at our church who was at the time probably in her mid-80s, "At what age did your friends become the ladies, instead of the girls?"  She said she would let me know when it happened because it had not yet happened.  What a wonderful attitude.

Stephen in many ways had a different family time growing up than the other boys.  He was 5 years younger than the next oldest and 13 years younger than our oldest son.  For a long time, he was the only one of the boys still living at home.  Then being a young single adult for a lot of years, he had a lot of alone time.  Now he is happily married and no longer alone.  He sent me some photos this evening and it looks like his sweet wife had a birthday party for him.  God meant for us to find a partner in life.  I am glad our sons have each selected a wonderful wife to share their lives with.

Here, it has been a good day.  I got up before my 5:00 a.m. alarm and took my antihistamine.  When Ron woke me, I told him I had already taken care of it and to wake me again at 6:00.  After the shots, I spent some time on the computer and then did a little work in the yard - emphasis on the word "little".  Then I had my shower, breakfast, and headed to the office. 

It was a busy, profitable day at the office.  I helped often with customers.  Ron left mid-morning and ran a long list of errands and checked on some jobs.  He got back just in time to help two different customers with large orders.  While he had been gone, I caught up on paper work and bill paying.

Then before eating my lunch, I sewed a little while, finishing 4 quilt blocks that I had started last week, bringing my total to 141 blocks.  I can do the quilt with either 143 or 154.  I have not yet decided which size it will be; probably 11 blocks wide and 14 long, meaning I need 154 blocks!  13 more!  Plus borders. I will need 320 inches of borders and currently have about 132 inches.  Actually that is a little over 40% of the way around!  The end is in sight.  Wonder if I can have them done by the end of August and then I have to put them all together!  A lot of work still to be done.

After lunch I worked on a deposit and took it to the bank.  Back at the office, I worked on locating two pieces of information I needed; one for Ron and one for me.  His was easier to find than mine.  He had taken my car in for brake work, so when we locked up the office, we went to pick it up.  I stopped and got supper for me after I dropped him off, and he got supper for himself and for his mom.  I went to the house and unloaded things out of Mom's car and  returned it to her.  I visited with her for a bit, and then Ron picked me up when he finished having supper with his mom.  Thankfully our moms live fairly close to each other.

I brought him home and then went to get groceries.  We have a new Wal-Mart near us that has been open a couple of months, but I had not been there.  I went there for my groceries and did not even try to look at the rest of the store; only went through the food part.  It is large and currently is nice and clean; but like every where, prices just keep going up!

This was just a very nice day.  Nice customers, a lot accomplished, a little time in the yard and a little time at the sewing machine.  All those help make it a good day.

August 2 & 3, 2015

Another - Two for the Price of One

Or - Helpers, Helpers Everywhere!

August 2 & 3, 2015

This blog covers two days since I was in McAllen a lot of the time and forgot to take my laptop computer.  Sunday morning, Ron and I were up early for my allergy shots.  After I gave myself the shots, I spent time cleaning house for a couple of hours before getting ready for Sunday School and church.  We had a wonderful group in class - 24 and on our roll we have 26.  Of the two who were out, one works on Sundays and comes rarely and the other is taking care of her elderly mom and takes her mom to her own church when she is caring for her.  If her mom doesn't go, she is able to be in our class.

What an amazing group we have in our class.  They really care about one another and help in any way they can.  There are so many things they have done over the years to show their love to us.  We love this group of friends.

Our worship service was good.  A group that had just come home from a trip to Uganda spoke.  It was our school superintendent for the church school and a couple of staff members.  They had spent about 10 days over there leading a week of training classes for teachers in Christian schools in Uganda.  A group went last year and not only did these go this time, but also a few others from the church school.  They were also able to see some of the area and the animals.  The first of three teams left for Nepal to help in earthquake cleanup and construction.  This was a group of 3 to meet up with others.  There is a young couple and another man.  The young man teaches in the church school.  We have an amazing church school staff!

Ron and I came home for lunch and relaxed for a while before I went to McAllen to help with Jeff and Barb's 5 youngest while Barb is out of town.  It was good to have time to visit with Jeff after the kids settled down.

The guest bathroom prepared for me

When I arrived, the older girls helped me with my things and then took me to the guest room.  (See the photo at the top of this blog.)  Their mother had helped with the bedding before she left on her trip, but the oldest had turned it into a 5-star hotel, with a rose on the bed and one in the bathroom on the towels.  The end of the toilet paper was folded to a point as they do in the hotels.  There were hotel sized shampoo and conditioner bottles waiting to be used.  The quilt on the bed is the first double wedding ring pattern quilt that I completed.  I made this as a wedding gift to Jeff and Barb when they married.  It is now in the guest room and it was a joy to sleep under it last night.

I spent much of the evening talking to Jeff and the children as they were finishing their supper and then the children went off to play leaving Jeff and me to catch up.  He told me a lot about a recent business trip he had made to Chicago.

This morning (Monday) I was up before Jeff left for work.  All but one of the children had already gotten up.  Jeff may get me for sharing this, but some things never change.  He was running late as he was looking for his shoes.  Where were they?  In the closet he wants for his clothes off the master bath.  Where they belong.  I am not sure, but his little cleaning daughter could have put them there.  I didn't ask.

The youngest boy clearing the patio she he and I could wash it off.

The time at Jeff's was filled with helpers.  It started with the girls bringing in my things.  Then the welcoming bathroom and bedroom.  This morning the oldest granddaughter fixed scrambled eggs for breakfast for those who wanted some.  She is a very neat cook, cleaning up after each egg was cooked.

Cleaning the patio

After breakfast, the youngest boy and I spent time outside cleaning the patio.  He cleared it first of all furniture and assorted other things.  Then he worked hard washing it off with the hose before and after I scrubbed it with the broom.  The youngest girl cleaned the refrigerator front with the stainless steel wipes and enjoyed seeing how good it looked after her efforts.

Tools of the trade:

Security blanket and special wipes to clean the refrigerator

So much has been going on for this family for months that the youngest is needing a little extra attention.  Her pacifier was a constant during the day, and she let me rock her for a long time during the morning which she will usually only take in small segments of time.

Cuddle time

When it was lunchtime, two of the children didn't want macaroni and cheese so the older of the two little boys offered to make sandwiches for himself and his next oldest sister.  He did a good job and put away all the fixings when finished.  The utensils he used went in the sink without me saying a word.  The mac and cheese took longer than I planned and the youngest got hungry.  She just about wiped out a big bowl of grapes while my back was turned.  Oops!

Expert with making PB&J sandwiches (peanut butter and jelly)

After lunch, naps were in order for the two youngest while the oldest and I changed the linens in the guest room for their other grandmother's stay tonight.  Little Miss Cleaning Princess, fixed the rooms again to perfection.  At one point I asked her sister where she was.  She just rolled her eyes and said, "Cleaning."  I asked what she was cleaning and she said, "Mom and Dad's bathroom."  It sparkled when I looked at it later.

Jeff had taken the children to the library before I arrived and they had checked out a book on various activities and a couple of videos.  They spent time making things from the book and begging to do others that were going to have to wait for their dad.  They watched some videos and were really good children.  We had a good time.

They played with my camera a little and here is one result, below:

We moved a bird feeder away from the house.

As for my hearing: sometimes I have trouble understanding them if they are talking fast; if they are working on something and their heads are down; if they all talk at once.  The house is large and two-story.  I have trouble telling where sounds come from and who is making them.  I have trouble hearing in the breakfast table area.  In that area, the ceiling heights change and I think that could be a factor.  But all of it was worth the effort.  These children know how to have fun, alone or in a group.  They love the new house and all the room in it.  They love the yard and I am sure this fall it will get a lot of use.  Today it was HOT outside.  It was around 100 degrees as we worked on the patio.  I had a good time and tomorrow will be a catch-up day at the office.

August 1, 2015

Saturday Sunset

and the Rest of the Day

August  1, 2015

The beautiful sunset

Saturday was a nice day.  In some ways it was not our typical Saturday, but there are times I wonder if we ever have a "typical" day.  I had decided not to have Carmen come clean.  There were a few things I needed to do and one was to sleep late.  I actually got to do that.  It was 10:00 before I got up.  I had hoped to spend some of the day sewing, but I was able to do very little of that.

One square made and one cut out.

When I got up, the first thing I did was check my phone.  Ron had left early and I wanted  to check to see if I had any messages.  He had sent one that my friend Pat had found a garage sale with some quilt items.  I decided to go there before I took my shower, knowing it would be hot out.  I located the place on the map before I went and was soon there.  I found a crib quilt kit that had never been opened and still had the price tag on it for $59.95.  I bought it at the garage sale for $5.  As I talked to the lady I mentioned that my granddaughters love to sew.  She went in the house and brought a basket of scraps - the leftovers from some quilts she had made, and gave them to me.

The scraps the lady gave me.

All of those scraps needed to be washed.  They smelled musty.  So I finally got them all washed, but not yet ironed.  I have ironed some of them.  Lots of the fabric is cut into strips and other pieces are triangles and squares of all sizes.  Some are portions of pieced sections that were left when the quilt was finished.  There are blocks that seem to have been practice blocks.  The girls and I will have fun with these fabrics. 

My garage sale purchases

I also bought a bookcase and a file cabinet.  When I say "file cabinet", it is not in the usual sense of the term, but it is a piece of furniture that could be used as a night stand or an end table and the top opens to storage for hanging files.  Ron cleaned up both pieces for me.  Sometime in the early afternoon, he also mowed the back yard!!! 

A few of the fabrics

A funny thing about the garage sale is that I saw some fabric napkins decorated with quilt pieces and bought them.  The lady said that a customer had come and bought the place mats, but didn't buy the napkins.  I told her that was fine, I only was interested in the napkins.  Later at the reception following the memorial service for the lady I mentioned earlier this week, I thanked my friend Pat for telling me about the garage sale.  As we talked about what we bought, she mentioned buying place mats with the Dresden Plate design on them.  I told her I had the napkins.  She didn't know there were any napkins.  So I will take them to her at church this morning.  She will now have the entire set.

 The napkins

There were a lot of people at the memorial service, especially considering that the lady had not lived her in a long time.  What a precious family she has raised.  It was a nice service.  They said she had battled the brain cancer since 2000.  15 years!  What a fighter.

We had picked Mom up for the service and took her home afterwards and I borrowed her car so I can send mine in for work on Monday.  I stopped at Wal-Mart on my way home for some soft, bland foods.  I am still fighting some stomach upsets and don't know if I need to blame it on the allergy shots or the procedure I had done a couple of weeks ago.  I will find out when I go back to the doctor when he has all the lab results.

Pink sunset glow

When we got home I washed 4 loads of the fabric scraps the lady gave me and ironed some.  Then as I went to put a load in the dryer, I looked into the back yard and saw a pink glow all over the yard from the sunset.  I grabbed my camera and took some sunset photos.  It was a nice end to the day.