Fun Memories

Gretel and I were talking on the phone yesterday and one of the things we talked about was funny memories. I mentioned the time I dropped my iron (which I do alarmingly often). Only this time I dropped it onto a can of spray starch and punctured the can. I had starch dripping from the ceiling. It was very dramatic. Gretel mentioned the Thanksgiving that she and Martha were baking pumpkin pies. Martha balanced the spatula on the side of the mixing bowl. While the electric mixer was running the spatula fell into the bowl and she had pumpkin all over the kitchen. My mom mentioned the time she was trying to jam a can of "Pam" into her kitchen cupboard. She took the big plastic top off to help it fit. When she jammed the can into the cupboard it depressed the nozzle and sprayed oil all through the cupboard. Worse yet she had a hard time unjamming it to get it out of the cupboard. Hubby had a funny memory. He needed to buy a 12 volt automobile battery for some special use and he needed to make sure the terminals were a specific distance apart. He was buying it from Sears, so he whipped out his metal tape measure and stretched it across the terminals. Needless to say there was a large bang which caught every one's attention in the departments and melted the measuring tape.

The Garage Sale

Hubby and I filled both cars with stuff for the garage sale. I stayed all day (from 8 to 4). About 10am Hubby drove up to warn us that we had about 5 minutes before a large storm hit. We covered things with plastic and it rained hard for a good hour. Afterwards the place was like a sauna. We sold a lot of stuff at bargain prices but it was all for a good cause and it was lots of fun.

Getting Ready for the Big Garage sale

Tomorrow is the Lions Club garage sale. We make most of our money by renting out the spaces in the parking lot for other people who want to sell things. We do have our own booth though. I will work at the garage sale all day long but I am also bringing lots of stuff. It is such a good excuse to get rid of a lot of junk. Of course the trick is not to buy anything. I am even bringing some houseplants I no longer want. I am sure there is a ton more that I could part with, maybe next year.

Lunch

Yesterday, Wednesday, I had lunch with my Mom, only this week my sister-in-law came along. My brother and I are quite close in age. We don't do a lot of things together but when we do I enjoy his and his wife's company a great deal. We have a system for visiting Mom, not a formal system but we each know that twice a week someone is there to check on her. Mom says, "What do you want to do, take my temperature?" The truth is Mom is not likely to complain or even tell us if something is wrong, so a visit is kind of essential. A visit with Mom though is not a duty but a pleasure.
Last Saturday, Gretel was in town so we took Mom out to lunch at the Olive Garden. The waiter dumped 3 full glasses of coke on her. She was soaked from head to toe. The waiter didn't tell anyone and we didn't get any remuneration at all for her clothes or the inconvenience. I sent an email message to Olive Garden from their website last night and this morning they called to apologize and send us a $50 gift certificate.

Cattails

Hubby's rain garden has been doing very well and filling in quite nicely. He is very careful to keep the cattails extra watered and his effort is certainly paying off. He has about 6 cattails forming. This plant is a varigated cattail so it is a pretty plant even without the brown cattails. The big plant in the middle is a swamp milkweed which is supposed to attract Monarch butterflies. The purple flowered plants are spiderwort. He has day lillies planted in the front of the garden. Hostas are not supposed to like the wetness but they are surviving.

The C-47

Today Hubby and I flew to Cleveland on a C-47 which is the Air Force version of the DC-3. We left about 8:30 this morning and had an incredibly smooth flight across Lake Erie to Cleveland. We landed at Burke airport and toured the Women in Aviation Museum. Then we walked down the street and toured the U.S.S. Cob. That is a 1945 American Submarine. I was surprised how big it was. We had to enter and leave by crawling down the hatches. I often have nightmares about having to crawl through a narrow opening like that and not being able to do it. After that we had lunch at the Great Lakes Science Museum and then toured an ore freighter, the William G. Mather. Then we took a long walk looking for ice cream and took the plane back at about 4:30. There were only 12 of us on the plane.

Lion's Club Board of Directors

Tonight the Lions club had their Installation dinner. They installed the new officers and new board members. They also gave out awards. The top award went to Lion Patricia who is a nurse and for the last 9 years has volunteered to set up and be camp nurse for a camp for handicapped children. She is a bundle of energy and is 70 years old. I was appointed to the board of directors. At the meeting tonight all the Lions introduced themselves and their spouses. After hearing all the other Lions say their name and "this is my wife ----" I said "I am Lion Peggy -- and this is my wife" I really got teased for that.

Looking at the Flowers

Every morning Hubby and I walk around the yard looking at the flowers, checking to see what is blooming. Hubby's rain garden is doing very well, the spider wort add a dash of color until the swamp milkweed starts to bloom. The rose garden is looking lovely and the delphiniums are spectacular. We might get our first crop of elderberries as they are in bloom. As we were walking around this morning a Baltimore Oriel sat on the fence surveying the garden with us.

The Plant a Row Garden

Today Hubby and I volunteered at the Tollgate Farm. This is a farm run by the Michigan State Extension Service. Today we worked on their plant a row garden. This is a vegetable garden where the produce is donated to the local food banks for the hungry. We were weeding and putting down newspapers and straw in the aisles between the rows and putting mulch around the plants. It is a lovely garden with lots of tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, onions, carrots, cucumbers, corn, eggplant and chard. There were about 12 people working there today and things move quickly with that much help. There was a killdeer bird who had her nest on the edge of the garden and she was really upset with all of us being there. She squawked and did the broken wing feint and everything else she could think of to keep us away from her nest. I am sure she will sleep well tonight.

The Mail Box

My Grandmother was an artist and so is my daughter, Martha. However, even though I would love to learn to draw I don't seem to be very patient with it and my talents are limited. I bought a "One Stroke Painting" kit and decided to try and paint the mailbox. I am thrilled with the result! Hubby put the box up for all to see.

My Allium is now open and is well worth the wait.

Prairie Home Companion

Saturday we went with some friends to Ann Arbor to the Hill Auditorium to see Garrison Keillor and the Prairie Home Companion Show. It was really delightful. It is the first time I watched a radio program. The music was great and of course the monologues were wonderful. It is a little alarming to go to a program you like and find everyone there has gray hair, but such is life.
We have had so many thunderstorms lately. It could be worse. We could live in Iowa. My heart goes out to those people. Gretel called just as a storm was breaking out. She wished Hubby a "Happy Father's Day" and then Hubby said "I'll let you talk to your mother before the power goes out." He handed the phone to me but before I could get it to my mouth, the power went out.

A Lion Member

Today I ran a few errands and stopped at Jo-Ann's. ( I never run an errand without stoppping at Jo-Ann's.) When I came back to my car I was surprised to see a plastic bag hanging on my side view window. I looked inside and it was filled with pairs of eye glasses. That's what happens when you have a Lions Club Member sticker on your car window. Needless to say, I was very pleased and I will get the glasses where they should go.

By the way the allium is still opening up.

Martha's Quilt

While the power was out I was looking for things to do that didn't require electricity. I did a lot of counted cross stitch and then I worked on Martha's quilt. Martha is the only one of the children who dosen't have a quilt. That is because she still lives at home. She picked out a beautiful pattern years ago called "triple star/sawtooth star." It means a lot of cutting little pieces. There is no hurry because Martha is not moving out soon but I work on it every once in a while. I like the quilt and aim to have it finished when she graduates.(and moves out) The only problem was when I went to sharpen my pencil and realized the pencil sharpener was electric.

No Electricity

Sunday night we had an electric storm nothing very bad, a little wind, nothing much. After the storm passed, the lights went out. People not far from us had a terrible storm with trees down and talk of tornados. Our power stayed out until Tuesday evening. Of course it was very warm without air conditioning because the temperatures were in the nineties. Everything in the refrigerator spoiled and the things in the side by side freezer thawed. It is funny how even in the daytime your routine is changed by no power. I swept and dusted, no vacuuming, or laundry or using the sewing machine or computer. Hubby was lost without the weather channel. We lit a little candle for the bathroom as it has no windows and was therefore very dark. Since we have comcast for telephone, that went with the power. When I was a kid we had well water and that would have meant no water too, but we didn't have that problem. We even still had hot water. When it got too dark to do my counted crossstitch or read ( I know Abraham Lincoln used to read by the light of the fire, but my eyes aren't that good) we went to bed. We got lots of rest. One neighbor had a generator and I understand his wanting one, but they are very noisy and spew nasty diesel fumes, especially when the rest of us need to open our windows. Now we are all back to normal with a new appreciation for the microwave, the electric coffee pot and the electric pencil sharpener.

Politics

Well Hillary has conceded, maybe that will give us a short news break from politics. We have seven children between Hubby and I and they have probably seven different views on politics, ranging from far right to far left. Some like to talk about it more than others. Hubby is quite political and has his political blogs. It isn't that I don't have an opinion it is just that I don't like to argue. My ex-husband and I had different views on politics and his response was the reason I differed from him was that I wasn't informed. I hate it when people send me political emails, Some are funny but most of them are nasty and filled with half truths. I think my friends and family will note that I have never sent out a political email and it is not because I don't have an opinion or that I am uninformed. It is because they don't bring out the best in people.

New Plants

This morning Hubby and I went to Tollgate Farm which is run by Michigan State Extension Service. It's a beautiful place and we have volunteered there in the past. Today they had their annual plant sale. We bought a flat of pansies, a weigela shrub, bleeding hearts, astilbe, columbine, false Solomon's seal, European ginger, ostrich fern, lady's mantel and a pink turtle head. All for $30. We got them all planted. I say we but my job is to say "Put it here." I am trying to expand my shade garden and Hubby is still working on his rain garden. Out big garden project this year is to replace the front walk and driveway, which means redoing much of our front plantings. The outside skin of the allium burst, so it won't be long.

Allium

Two years ago in the fall I bought a $10 Allium bulb and planted it. Last spring it came up with a nice bud and some animal ate it clear off before it even had a chance to bloom. This year as soon as the allium came up, Hubby put a wire cage around it. There are two buds and one is a good three feet tall but it still hasn't opened. I check it every day. Last Wednesday at the Master Gardeners Association we heard a talk on alliums. They are in the onion family and the stems smell of onion. They are edible but I have no intention of eating a $10 onion. They come in white and different shades of purple and are supposedly very hardy.

The Power Washer

Hubby rented a power washer today from Home Depot. He wanted to knock the loose paint off of the eaves and around some of the windows. It was probably a good day to do that because it went up to 85 degrees with 70% humidity. He was soaking wet when he finished. I ran around inside with lots of old towels mopping up where the windows leaked. It worked pretty well now, when it dries it is time to paint. Painting is not Hubby's favorite activity. My Dad used to say that if ever he was sent to Hell they would make him paint.

Hubby is Wierd

I always knew Hubby was eccentric. When I told Martha that eccentric people are more interesting, she said " Well, then "Hubby" must be beyond your wildest dreams." Hubby loves cats and they love him too. Since Arnold has moved into our house and likes to play with the Venetian blinds in the middle of the night, we keep them pulled up halfway. We dress in the bathroom. Arnold also likes to bat at the picture on the wall over our bed. We took that down. I have embroidered 3 matching pictures that I am waiting for Hubby to frame. I wanted to hang those over the bed anyway. Last night when I came into the room Hubby had his projector screen up in front of the windows - "for privacy." Now I am pretty game about cats walking over us at night and I really kind of like having a cat snuggled up at my side, but who's bedroom is this anyway!

Mad at Hubby

Do you ever get so angry with your spouse for something you know is not important but it still makes you mad as Hell? Hubby and I are taking Spanish classes. He had Spanish in High School and lived in El Paso for a year or so. I never had Spanish. I took Latin in High School and German in college. I have a lot of trouble with aural memory so much so that I was excused from memorizing my pieces for my major standing jury for my music major in college. I really struggle with the pronunciation in Spanish. On the way home from class Hubby started in about the rules for pronunciation as being very straight forward and implied I wasn't really trying to learn. The trouble with husbands is that half of the time they are too dense to realize you are madder than Hell at them.

Tonite I am Cooking

Today I walked to the grocery store to get the ingredients to make Quick Chicks. It is a vegetarian dish with chick peas, pineapple, tomatoes and spinach. It is not one of those things Hubby would cook but I like it and he could use a break from cooking. Tonight is our last Spanish class unless we can find something for the summer. It has been fun although every time my daughter Gretel talks to me in Spanish I can't understand a word and vice versa.

Plumbrook NASA Center

Yesterday, Hubby and I went to Ohio and picked up Mary and the Brain and took them to Sandusky, Ohio to the open house for the Plumbrook NASA center. It was really neat. About 6000 people were there but they had lots of buses. Even with a security check ( you needed a picture ID and your bags checked) the line moved quite quickly. They had lots of activities for kids and I got posters and pencils and stuff for the grandchildren, even bought them all T shirts ( shown below). We toured the control room and the two vacuum chambers where they test rocket engines which will be used in space. The one chamber went deep into the ground and the other is in a huge dome. The second one was available for us to walk through. They had lots of exhibits showing the Mars rover and how they tested the balloons they used to cushion the landing. The tour lasted 3 hours and was well done. Poor Mary's knee was pretty swollen by the end, but she insists she is not handicapped and didn't need a wheelchair.