Catching Up--June 2021

June events from my calendar entries:

June 1--nice visits with friends, a Marco Polo from Cousin Pam, long phone convo with Debbie, then Melinda and the boys came out.  

June 2--Cleaned out the little flower bed, washed down front of house, John worked on combine. 

June 4 -- We attended Rebekah's first dance recital

June 5--Jon sprayed, John replanted corn and ran to Osage for a hydraulic hose. We spent time on the hill with the Rausch family. 

June 6--Went to Isaac's baseball game. Jonathan planted soybeans.

June 8--John installed new upstairs A.C.

June 10--All John's biopsies were negative but extensive surgery may still be recommended

June 11--Rausch family set up swimming pool.  

June 12--Bekah and Jon came this afternoon. Bekah went to Mel's, I made supper for all. 

June 13--Cleaned addition. John finished planting at the overpass.  

June 14--Bekah spent a.m. w/Mel and p.m. with a tired Grammy. I made lunch for all.  

June 15--John's appointment with surgeon. 

June 16--Did paperwork for John's appts. this a.m., made and froze 2 cherry pies, phone convo with Debbie.  

June 17--Bekah day. She spent the morning with Aunt Mindy and boys, p.m. with Grammy.  I made lunch for all.  John is working long hours anticipating possibility of being out of commission for a long recovery time following major surgery.  

June 18--Bekah day, same schedule as yesterday.  John began moving hay.  

June 19--Father's Day at Melinda's...great food!  Jon did brisket, ribs, and pulled pork.  

June 20--It rained for about 30 seconds today but did bring temp down from 100 to 85.  

June 21--Daniel's first day weightlifting.

June 22--Need rain desperately.  

June 23--The little boys came out this pm. D had school physical and got his new phone!  

June 24--It rained .20.  Did some good housekeeping jobs.  

June 25--Melinda and the little boys brought Daniel out for a "Daniel/Grammy day" but then stayed as storms moved in.  3.5" rain!

June 26--Johnnie to ER--sent home ok.  Jon and Nic on vacation

June 28--Isaac got 5 fillings and stuffies #107 and 108.  

June 29--Cut up 6 watermelons and delivered to Evan L. Evans memorial dinner. 

June 30--John had a two hour MRI and preop interview in Topeka.  It rained hard, and we witnessed a near wreck right beside us as we left Topeka (in Pauline).  

Our Daniel is growing up.  After having received an excellent homeschool education for grades K-7, he began the public school this fall as an 8th grader.  We are so proud of how well he has adjusted and grateful to the Lord for answered prayer.  

Catching up--May 2021

Each evening I write a sentence or two about our day on a calendar I keep on my dresser. I am always confined by the 1.5 inch square space and so my daily entries are brief and don't include everything we did in a day. Here are May's entries:

May 1--Grilled hamburgers and made cinnamon rolls and iced coffee for Mel & Bri.  John putting cattle out--got kicked. 

May 2--Planted a row of beets and 3 rows flowers, 3 pots of impatiens, and planted petunias in the cast iron pot by the road.  

May 3--Jon here for lunch, made supper for Bri & Mel. John planting Jon's corn on Jim's.  

May 4--prayers for a troubled friend.  

May 5--Mindy and boys had a car accident but praise the Lord no one was hurt. So grateful. 

May 6--Nap this afternoon. Set out some plants.  John moving cattle.  

May 7--Watched boys for several hours today, fun!

May 8--Watered all 20-some tomato plants and porch flowers.  

May 9--Wonderful Mother's Day--I didn't cook, ordered pizza and the kids brought sides!  

May 10--Eye exam. The Pfizer vaccine has been approved for ages 12-16. 

May 11--Grands busy with baseball.  We took the two youngest boys to practice in one town while Mel took oldest grandson to practice at a town twenty miles away.  Cold, in the 50's, windy.  

May 12--Stewed a chicken, baked a roast, browned 3 pounds of hamburger. Hemmed pants for Daniel.  John took ten cows to sale. 

May 13--Got a tetanus shot (no pertussis) -- had cut my hand on a barbed wire fence. Did some writing on my current book.  Grilled a dozen hamburgers. John applying fertilizer.  

May 14--Headache and bodyaches from tetanus shot. Jon here for lunch. He did some spraying, it rained this evening. 

May 15--Watched Bekah this morning while Jon helped Bri with bathroom remodel at Brian and Mindy's.  

May 16--Washed windows on front of house, vacuumed and dusted. Heavy rain. 

May 17--Emergency dental appointment, the dentist removed a bridge for me and replaced it with a temp, I will have to have today's work replaced with a permanent bridge.  

May 18--rested, watched My Fair Lady

May 19--Got my new glasses.  Isaac has a spider bite. 

May 20--John had a colonoscopy with a scary outcome. He will have to have surgery. 

May 21--Picked up contrast barium for John's CT scan Monday. 

May 22--Washed bedding in downstairs bedrooms and cleaned upstairs.  

May 23--Neighbors' dogs chased our cattle, stranded one cow out in a pond.  John ran them off.  

May 24--Logan got a home run! Daniel got a good hit and scored! 

May 25--John picked up his new glasses. I got a lens check and remake.  

May 26--At home day, hot and muggy out. Daniel and Rebekah had baseball games.

May 27--Made and froze a roast in broth for the weekend, John worked on swather. 

May 28--Cleaned bathrooms, made spaghetti, walked (for exercise), John installed fan in swather air conditioner. 

May 29--Time with Bekah while Jonathan went to his 15 year class reunion. 

May 30--John mowed lawn & ditch

Mother's Day

Brian hanging out with the littles.  

Mother's Day flower basket from Jon and Nic.  

Rebekah whistling for me on a Facetime call.  

Whenever we go for a walk poor John almost always gets his photo taken.  I tell him it is because he is so photogenic.  

Catching Up--April, 2021

Both our oldest grandsons went on successful turkey hunts on April 3.  I watched the youngest grandson while our daughter worked at our church's annual Easter carnival.  

On Easter Sunday afternoon (April 4) I put 3 pies in the freezer anticipating our planned family gathering on the 17th.  I baked a turkey and froze the carved bird in broth.  I do holiday meals in advance, freezing everything that is possible to be frozen, including the mashed potatoes.  The broth basted turkey tastes better than ones I've baked on the day of a gathering in the past.  

On the 17th we had our family Easter gathering.  I always fill Easter eggs with quarters and the occasional dollar bill and the grands search for their own color coded eggs.  They open small gifts and stuffed animals from their Easter baskets then run outside, as the weather allows for the egg hunt.  

During the pandemic we have eaten out rarely, so when our neighbors, Dana and Lynna, dropped by to bring us KFC and a gallon of Brahms ice cream, we REALLY enjoyed the treat. They wanted to express appreciation to John for his help with burning pastures.  

We spent our first evening with dear friends Jim and Myrna in over a year on Saturday evening the 24th; we are all now fully vaccinated.  

On Sunday, April 25, Brian's dad, Roger, passed away. We are sad for our grandboys in their loss of their Grandpa Roger, and we love and are praying for Brian and his sister, Sara. We attended Roger's funeral on the 30th.  

What's more fun than watching a five year old girl in pink boots and hat, splashing in an April puddle?  

Top leftt; I ordered spring bulbs and planted them last fall and sure enjoyed the show.  I am not usually much one for yard art, but made an exception for Shaun the Sheep, a favorite of the grands.  Bottom left: with perhaps a too easy access to Amazon.com, I ordered this cute owl.  I love him, but the grandkids are dubious.  "Where's his other wing?" asked one of the five year olds.  

I  When I was a child, my Aunt Rose allowed my cousins and me to play in the back of her large closet. That closet was magical to us because there was a little door in the back that went into the closet of an adjacent bedroom.  It was so much fun to hide in one closet and then make an escape into an entirely different room!  I have never forgotten that fun, though as an adult I have shaken my head at the havoc we must have wreaked with any semblance of order in Aunt Rose's closet.  However, it was the memory of those fun times that caused me to create a play space in the back of my own closet for my grands. The attic gables slant down and make about an 8 foot by 3 foot area they adore.  Though there is no secret door, they seem to have just as much fun in the back of my closet as I did as a child at Uncle Wayne and Aunt Rose's house.  

Catching up--March 2021

March 2 we received our first dose of the Moderna vaccine against Covid 19--such a blessing.  

On the 7th John hurt his leg as a steer butted him against a cattle panel.  We were thankful he had no broken bones.  

Son-in-law Brian picked up an upright freezer we purchased from Menards and brought it home for us.  We have so appreciated the extra room.  I like to make and freeze meals in advance; makes it so much easier to feed our crew.  On the tenth of this month we brought home the meat from a steer we'd had processed and we had room for it all!  

Brian and Mindy celebrated their 17th anniversary on March 27.  I took them ribeye steaks and sides.  Other cooking this month included a spinach salad for a friend who has been in the hospital, sack lunches for Jon and Jonathan as they did farm work, fried catfish, several loaves of homemade bread, chicken noodle soup, and a huge pot of vegetable soup.  

We celebrated our 47th anniversary March 30. Melinda and her boys made homemade pretzels (Poppy's favorite) and brought them to us.  

John bought a new bull at the Woodbury sale on March 18.  

I shampooed the downstairs carpets this month.  

All the adults in our family were vaccinated against Covid this month and toward the end of the month we resumed indoor family gatherings. Such a wonderful time. The Lord has been so good to us.

 

The first strawberry shortcake of spring always tastes so good!  Bottom middle is one of the batches of honey butter I made from the honey harvested by son-in-law Brian.  It was wonderful with homemade bread!  

I refurbished my office this month with a new rug and sofa cover.  Happy with how it turned out. ;

Grandson Daniel used oil pastels to create the lovely butterfly, upper right. The pretty stained glass cross, upper left, reassured me as we walked into the sanctuary of a local church to receive our first dose of Covid vaccine. We literally received our vaccinations under the cross.  That was reassuring!  

Catching Up--February 2021

 It snowed about two inches on February 6 and was COLD!  The pandemic was still keeping us distanced from most family gatherings but we stayed connected via Facetime and Marco Polo.  I painted the cupboards in the upstairs bathroom, painted the walls white, and painted the old peach grout white.  What a difference!  

We didn't gather for Valentine's Day but I delivered heart shaped cupcakes to the local grands and mailed our granddaughter a Care Bear.  On the 14th it was just 2º out in the morning but -5º and windy by bedtime.  The morning of February 16 it was -17.4º.  

My good friend, Denise, fell and broke her hip February 18.  

Throughout the month I made and shared homemade bread, chicken and noodles, bbq chicken legs, grilled chicken breasts, bbq beef pizza, pies, and beef & noodles.

Grandson Daniel became a teenager this month.  I cannot believe it!!!  

White walls, getting rid of the peach grout and, and painting the cupboards blue helped this little bathroom to look SO much better.  

I felt so sorry for these deer who appeared in our driveway the morning of the extremely bitter cold.  I called John to bring some corn chop for them but they were gone by the time he arrived.  

We had lots of fun with Facetime calls and I often read books to the grands on Marco Polo.  

Catching up...January 2021

We received 3.5" of snow on January 1.  A video taken that day shows the grandboys and their parents having a snowball fight on the hill above our house.  Food prepared in January included potato soup, homemade pizza, homemade vegetable soup, stew, cinnamon rolls, roast, sloppy joe, homemade spaghetti sauce, morning glory muffins, lasagna, and a pasta/chicken dish.  

I painted the woodwork in the family room  and the kitchen island.  Brian and Mindy began remodeling their bathroom.  In national news, the horrible storming of our nation's capitol by radical Trump supporters happened on January 6.  

The grandboys built this snowman, and Grammy added the embellishments. 

This is Ina Garten's morning glory muffin recipe but I committed the sacrilege of cutting down the amounts of oil and sugar the original recipe called for--they were still good just not as good, I'm certain, as Ina's.  

My friend Debbie and I went through Jacquie Lawson's advent calendar together -- and what a blessing those daily communique's about the new treasures we found were during this year of Covid. 

The 2020 advent calendar them was Nordic, and gnomes such as this one Debbie gifted me were plentiful. So nice to have this guy as a memory of this special blessing we shared.  

Loved this walk on the Hill with my daughter and her boys.  

So many beautiful sunrises and sunsets in January.  

And here we are, walking up on the hill, enjoying the sunset shown below...

 I liked the way the island turned out and bought colorful braided rugs to celebrate.