Tornado warning

Coleman was in the news yesterday.  I was watching something on TV last night and in between shows they mentioned that they would cover the tornado in Coleman on the 11:00 news.  I had to listen to that story.  When the story came on they said that the tornado touched down on the corner of Weinert and Lewis Roads.  NOW, even though I have been away for many years I still knew right where that was.  Weirnert Road is the road that Leo has his property on and of course Lewis Road is the road just to the east of the farm.  So it came down about a mile away from the farm.  The story was short on the TV so I came upstairs and checked it out on the computer.  Sure enough it was that new house on that corner that was damaged a little and several things were blown around.  I sent  a text to Leo and he hadn't even heard it.  We talked today and as far as he knew his place is fine.  Later on I called Uncle Vernell's house and confirmed that there was minimal damage to any other property. It was a narrow path that went north east from that area and mostly just knocked down some trees.
I had a nice talk with Marilyn (Vernell's daughter) and then with Vernell.  Their house is now turned into a temporary convalescent home.  Vernell is doing well, getting stronger every day.  However, Jack his son also suffered from a heart attack this past week and had to go and get some stints put in some blood vessels so he is  recuperating too.  Jack has moved over to Vernell's house temporarily and Marilyn and her husband are taking care of both of them.  Marilyn and her husband are retired so they were able to move right in and help the guys.    I'm sure that is quite a task, keeping those two resting and recovering.  Aunt Glenna is still in the nursing home but they are hoping the physical therapy that she is receiving will make her strong enough to come home soon.

SO, that is my news from Coleman.  Leo is working the afternoon shift for a couple of months so he was going to take a trip down there and check out the damage, maybe today.

Spring weather arrived in full force here today with temps in the 60s.  Global warming is helping us out.  I am looking for my flowers to come up soon now that most of the snow has melted.  It will be interesting to see how many of those over 300 bulbs that I planted actually produce flowers.  I will keep you posted.

Dream, dream, dreaming.

Is anyone good at interpreting dreams?  Lately I have been having a lot of dreams about the farm.  It might have started when I was talking to Glen and Leo about sorting through some boxes I have stored in my basement.  Glen and Penny are coming into Michigan in June.  They are stopping here to go  on a motorcycle ride with Leo and Bud.  I suggested that we might use some of that time together to sort through those boxes of  'personal items' that I have stored in my basement closet.  We left these items to sort through later because we needed more time to decided what to do with them and Glen wasn't here to help those last days.    Anyway, I had this dream the other night about sitting on the front porch talking about the things that we gave away to family and some of the things we threw away.  However, Mom was in the kitchen looking for some things.  I remember this one statement that I said  about cleaning out the house, having the funeral but Mom was back, looking for things that she needed and adding more things to the house that we would need to clean out again.  Strange dream isn't it????  Eva might say that I have some 'unresolved issues' with the things that I threw away or parted with.  

 I found these pictures of that last cleaning weekend.  Yes, that is the pile of things that we had to finally dispose of in some way.  I don't know if we threw them out or what but nobody wanted them.

 Eva bought these shirts for her kids.  Don't they look cute.

 We all said goodbye on the back porch.  Notice that there is an old stump next to the house.  Eva took that stump home and it is in her garden.

 Matt loaded up his truck as much as possible.  I think he was suppose to bring a trailer and take the tractor home that weekend but the old Suburban didn't want to make the trip up north.

Doug DID fill up his trailer and truck for the trip to Grand Rapids.  All this picture needs is someone sitting in a rocking chair in the bed of the pickup to complete the look.

Well, a little walk through memory lane for the family.  Maybe my dreams will be sent your way and you can have a good dream about some time you had fun on the farm.

Michigan weather, you gotta love it

Yesterday it was 59 degrees on my car thermometer.  The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day.  It was hard to believe that just the weekend before we had a blizzard.  The snow was melting and we were hoping for spring.  WELL, it is snowing again outside my window.  After it rained last night and melted most of the snow, we are getting a few more flurries today and the forecast is for maybe a couple of inches.  Michigan !!!!!!

Today the Kingsley Third graders are traveling to Grand Rapids to attend the Shrine Circus.  I DON'T miss that field trip.  It is a long and exhausting day, being in charge of all those students and parents.  I still love going down to help Molly and the other third grade teachers.  I often am asked to teach for an hour or two so that the teachers can work on individual testing.  I enjoy those moments of being back in front of the classroom.  It is an easy thing for me to do and I am thankful for the opportunity.  However, just like grandparents, I can leave at 3:30 and not worry about ALL the added responsibilities of being a teacher.  I think I have found the correct blend of my need to work with children but having my freedom.  A volunteer/consultant is a nice feeling.

I am back on the GRID

WOW, what a weekend.  Friday night the blizzard hit Traverse City.  We lost power about 10:00 that evening.  We went to bed to keep warm and because there really wasn't anything else to do.  It came back on in the night for about 30 minutes and then again later for about 10 minutes.  Just enough to wake us up and tempt us.  

In the morning Bud went to his office and I hung out for the day trying to keep warm in front of the fireplace with a book.  It came back on in the late afternoon and we went to dinner with some friends.  We had planned to attend a blues concert but that was cancelled.  Some friends were without power so they came over and spent the night with us.  Their power went on so we had breakfast together and a quiet Sunday afternoon here.  We were still without cable TV and internet but our home was warm.  

Monday was a quiet day.  I was planning to do some sewing and reading, still no internet and cable but lots of things to do.  THEN the power went out again for about 5 hours.  It did go on in time to fix dinner and then we went to the blues concert that was rescheduled from Saturday night.  

That is a lot of excitement for us old folks.  We still have a lot of snow.  I think that they said we received about 18 inches.  The snow was really wet and stuck to the branches and power lines.  Today the wind has picked up a little so those large clumps of snow are falling.  It often sounds like someone is walking around on the roof as they hit and then roll a little.  The sun is shining and it is suppose to get up to the high 40s today.  Michigan weather!!!!  

 Thursday night we helped celebrate Charlotte's 16th birthday.  All the kids were home from school to help her celebrate.  There is one addition to the group, Danielle is David's girlfriend.  We met her for the first time and she is very nice.

 The birthday girl asked for pizza as her birthday dinner.

 Jack was home for Spring Break.

 Brittany was also home visiting.

 David and Danielle make a great looking couple.

 Charlotte asked for a ukulele for her birthday.  She has started taking guitar lessons and is now taking up the ukulele.  She is also a great singer.

 The newly engaged couple were happily watching the events.

 Birthday cake

 All those candles.  It was a great birthday party.

 Sunday afternoon we went to look for places to hold the wedding reception in the summer of 2013.  This is a beautiful place on the water just a little north of where we keep the boat.  I didn't take a picture of the view but it is a beautiful view of the bay from this place.

David and Danielle were checking out the chairs.  I couldn't get them to sit next to each other.

SO, all in all it was a great weekend.  We celebrated the 16th birthday, met the new girlfriend, learned to live without power and the internet, and were reminded what a great life we have even without the technology.

TIMBER

Yes, the Christmas tree came down.  Bud did it this morning before leaving for work.  We are having a bit of a thaw in the weather and a big storm is coming our way tonight so this was his 'window of opportunity'.  I'm not sure if this is the latest that it has been up but I'm sure it is close.  That may seem strange since it has been such a mild winter here but it seems that the weekends were either snowy or cold so he kept putting off going out and working on it.

NOW on a more sobering note, I boasted too early about my memory in my last post. You know the old saying "Pride goes before the Fall" well my memory didn't serve me very well yesterday.  I was trying to get ready to go out to Kingsley on my regular volunteer visit and I couldn't find my car keys.  I looked in all the usual places but finally gave up and used my spare key. When I arrived back home I resumed my search, blaming Bud for probably hiding them or maybe even taking them to work by mistake.  I knew that they had to be somewhere in the house because I drove myself home on Wednesday night and unlocked the door with those keys.  As a last resort, I decided to try the garbage and there they were in the bottom of the garbage pail.  The lucky thing for me was that Bud hadn't emptied that garbage bag because yesterday WAS garbage day.  So the lesson is, don't boast.  My father always told me that but I am a reluctant learner.  

Speaking of Dad, his youngest brother Vernell, was hospitalized this past weekend.  He is back home as of Wednesday.  He has some blocked arteries in his heart but has decided that open heart surgery is not what he wants at this stage in his life.  Aunt Glenna has also been in Tender Care in Midland receiving physical therapy to become stronger.  Those of you that know them, please keep them in your thoughts, both Vernell and Glenna and their children.  They were both Youth Leaders in the church and dedicated many hours to helping the youth in the community.  Later they worked very hard to help build the Senior Citizen Center in Coleman.

Enjoy the weekend, we are 'hunkering down' for the blizzard starting tonight.  I think that Glen sent it our way.  I talked to him on Sunday and they were getting one there.  Thanks Glen.

Memory and Movies

Saturday I arrived at the grocery store without my list (not a totally uncommon problem) and I was frustrated because I really didn't want to go back home and get it but I didn't want to come back again because I forgot something.  SO I decided to try and remember the list of items since it really wasn't that long and I just made the list before coming to the store.  I proceeded to do my shopping and was pleasantly surprised when I arrived home, found the list and discovered that I HAD remembered everything on the list.  I guess that my mind hasn't gone to "pot" too much since retirement.  It must be all that problem solving I do while making my quilts that keeps my mind sharp.

Sunday evening I decided that I wasn't going to watch the Oscar Awards since I really wasn't impressed with the movies this past year.  We rented Money Ball on Saturday and that was the final movie on the list of 10 that we hadn't seen yet.  It is a rare year that we have watched all the movies before the awards especially since they expanded the list to 10 movies.  We really didn't have a favorite and thought the list was kind of 'lack luster' without any 'stars'.  However, I did get sucked in to watching the last about 45 minutes of the show and once again I was disappointed.  The best picture category winner was about my least favorite movie on the list with only The Tree of Life below it.  I thought the Help was a much better movie as was Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close if you were looking for a 'message' movie.  I rarely agree with The Academy  anyway.

On another note: I SURE WILL BE GLAD WHEN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY PRIMARIES ARE OVER.

IF

IF I were tall
IF I were short
IF I were thinner
IF I had straight hair
IF I had curly hair
IF I were rich
IF I were younger
IF I were older....

Sometimes we live our life full of IFs instead of LIVING our lives.
There have been a lot of changes in my life the last few years.  I am constantly trying to keep the IFs out of my life (especially number three)  I have a very blessed life. Many of my blessings come from YOU, my family and friends.

IF you would indulge me for this moment and give me the opportunity.  I would like to thank you.  You enrich my life in so many ways and I am so thankful.

On a funny/silly note, MAYBE this will excuse me for not sending out Thank You cards at Christmas.  SO... on a late note, I am thankful for all the blessings and gifts you bestowed on me this past holiday.  The time we had together, the material gifts which I have enjoyed and the laughter we shared either in person or over the phone or through Skype.  (It isn't too late to be thankful for Christmas since we still have our tree up on the deck waiting for a snow free weekend.)

Enjoy the blessings of the moment, day, week and year.