Sandwiches

Tues., October 15, 2002 - This was my dad's birthday.  Had my hair washed, etc.  Nancy came after work & took me to "Jim's", a place that specializes in home health.  New "skis" were put on my walker -- take the place of the tennis balls (Called Greta to report on dental deal).  We then went to Staufers' Restaurant & had chicken fried steak, etc.  Was really good.
Wed., October 16, 2002 - Went to Book Club in evening.
Thurs., October 17, 2002 - Called Myrtle this morning.  Also called Marjorie C.  Tom came in evening & brought some special sandwiches.  The usual routine of laundry, shower & Rummikub.

Speaking of special sandwiches . . . Mitch, Mom and I hosted 15 of our family members (plus Tanner and Willa) for a meal Sunday at Mom's of traditional Danish open-faced sandwiches.  Well, we researched and were as traditional as we could manage.  We were a bit nervous as to whether everyone would like the nutty, malty Danish bread but very little of anything went in the trash at the end of the meal.

Afterwards, some of us played Squeak -- something we had not done after a family meal in a very long time.  Needless to say, it was great fun.  So glad everyone could come and that they enjoyed our efforts.  We should probably do it again sometime, I think.

Memorial Day 2016

Thurs., April 6, 1933 - Light covering of snow on the ground this morning, all gone by first recess.  Reviewed so much today my head is just about dizzy.  I hope Laurence does well tomorrow.  Read and listened to radio this evening.
Fri., April 7, 1933 - Seemed funny with Laurence gone.  Mom was here at 4:00.  We stopped in at Misfeldts.  I asked Marjorie about having our school picnics together.  We didn't make any definite plans, but I guess we'll take them to Norfolk.  We went out to Ola's, had supper there.  The baby is a month old.  He's grown a lot since I saw him last.
Sat., April 8, 1933 - Washed my clothes, ironed them and cleaned up the house.  I went down town this evening to the library.  Met Alma and we had quite a talk.  She accompanied me on my wanderings!  Mom was working a jig-saw when I got home.  I helped her finish it, of course.

Normal sorts of stuff for Grandma, so I'll veer off to 2016.

Yesterday was Memorial Day and I was lucky enough to get to ride to Winside with Bill and Tom and Bev.  First we attended Dorothy Jo's 90th birthday open house at the church.  From what I heard there were over 100 people there.  I tried to keep an eye out in case there were not enough chairs and someone needed mine to be able to sit for a while.

After that was over, we all headed to the cemetery, one of my favorite places as mentioned previously in this blog.  I had not walked around there with that particular bunch of folks before and therefore the conversations about this or that stone were different from different perspectives.

Lastly we stopped at the veterans' memorial by the courthouse in Wayne.  Bill wanted to see his name there.  Nice that the county is small enough that all veterans can be listed on the memorial, not only those lost in combat or otherwise passed on.  So, we stayed a bit and found other family members' and acquaintances' names.  The shadows were getting a bit long and my photography skills are not what they could be, but the photos above are (obviously) from the memorial.  Hats off to the committee that put the memorial together.

Then we had a most pleasant ride back.

Quite the nice day.

Sad day in the past, silly day in the present

June 5, 2002:  Hair appointment today.  Tom came for me.  Then to Merilyn's office to finish getting the card for cheaper cab rides.  Tom took me to HyVee -- I picked out groceries.  He went to Sam's Club to get me a new long distance telephone card.  Went to Book Club tonight.  Tom didn't stay -- he and Merilyn were planning an evening out for their 31st wedding anniversary.
June 6, 2002:  Had Nancy, Tom and Merilyn here for supper.  We played Rummikub -- Jeff came while we were playing.  I showered while Tom and Nancy did dishes.
June 7, 2002:  Long, lonely, dreary day.  Nancy called in late afternoon -- helped a little."

Poor Grandma.  She sure missed Grandpa a lot, even with the change in locale and routine and new friends and all that.  Hardly surprising, given how long they had been married.  June 7, 2002 was 64 years since their wedding.

On a cheerier -- albeit totally off-topic -- note, I had some fun with the sheep yesterday.

Right before I left to go to Lincoln for Mom's birthday ladies' breakfast (Mom, Nancy, Anna, Bev and myself), I was greeted by one of Frank's ewes that had escaped her confines.  Since I now have a bucket ready near the back door (I am always hauling water to one group of critters or another), I took it and rattled it like Frank told me to do, and sure enough the ewe followed me over to the pen.  Two of the ones already in there heard me and thought they needed to come out, but I managed to get everyewe where they needed to be and off I went.  I did not alert Frank since it is not uncommon for one ewe to get excited and jump the fence, so no big deal.

I came home to find 20 or so ewes out of the pen and just having a grand time all over the yard.  The last I knew we had 6 or 7 ewes with us, but obviously something was up.  My bucket was useless other than as a humorous and very momentary distraction for the ewes.  They went in the coop and tried to eat sweet feed and bird feed, but because they were closing the feed bags by standing on them, that didn't work.  They did manage to scare the life out of my one gimpy guinea and also knock over the brooder box; which is no small feat -- that thing is heavy.  They also momentarily raided the barn and left sheepberries and a couple of small piles all over the grass.  Well, I had to call in the troops (Frank) and he came over with a bucket of corn.  Our phone conversation was a bit funny; here it is paraphrased:

Me:  Frank, it's Mary.  I came home just now and there are sheep everywhere.
Frank:  I know, I opened the pasture gate. [more about the pasture gate in the next paragraph]
Me:  No, everywhere all over the yard.
Frank:  The yard?!?!?!?

Now the pasture is divided with a gate into two parts.  The 6 or 7 ewes were closed in on the one half and I would periodically put the goats out in the other half.  Well . . . Frank brought over the additional ewes while I was gone.  He eyeballed the gate to the goat half of the pasture from a distance away and thought it was closed.  I didn't know he was coming, so I didn't make a point to close it myself even though I normally do.  Because Frank had opened up the gate between the two halves (necessary since the number of ewes had gone up considerably) the ewes did a perimeter check and found the gate open and off they went.

Lesson for Frank:  Never trust the uninitiated.
Lesson for me:  Close the gate no matter what -- it can't hurt.

Now I get to collect extra fertilizer for the rhubarb from around the lawn.  Bonus!

I do not know if the photo for today was from their actual wedding day, or if there was a gathering with cake at a later date.  But a nice photo of a day Grandma surely remembered.