Mom is just having too much fun!

Several weeks ago, Mom's new couch and curio stand were delivered to her appartment.

I thought this would get her in the mood to move out of the old house, but, she has been just too busy.

Each time I go out to see her, more treasures have appeared out of nowhere, for her September rummage sale. Things I have never seen before! More pots, vases and canning jars brought up from the scary part of the basement, where they use to store potatoes for the winter. Can't move this week!

Friends, relatives, neighbors, have been popping in to visit the old farmstead, and to see Mom's flowers, now at their peak. Can't move this week!

The county fair begins on Wednesday. Mom has pots, mossy green stuff, and flowers everywhere. She is entering her prize-winning arrangements. Can't move this week!

Longevity

These cute kids are my nieces and nephews. The youngest, Shane, is now almost 14. The tall one, Wayne, now has a 4 year old of his own. Kay, the redhead, has 3 little boys.

Marie and Leslie are city girls with exciting careers.

The "little girls" are now college girls. Kelly just graduating and beginning her life as a nurse.

My father lived to be 94, and my mother will be 89 in September.

It is hard to figure out why some people live long lives. I can think of at least two factors that contributed to my parent's good fortune-flowers and grandchildren.

You just can't die and miss out on seeing the new pink day lily that you planted last September, and you can't die if your grandsons are coming for dinner on Saturday.

"Hustle out there"

Sunday is Father's Day. This will be my first Father's Day without Dad. Men are hard to buy gifts for, and Dad didn't need or want for much.

Fortunately, he enjoyed reading, so we often bought him a new book. Later in his life, I didnt buy him anything, but gave him fresh walleye and blueberries. Sometimes, I just took him for a ride to the Dairy Queen.

In this photo, he is modeling an antique catcher's mask that I bought him at a junk shop. Dad was a catcher, and loved baseball.

Growing up playing ball, I learned about "Hustle" from Dad. It is a baseball term for running on and off the field between innings. It had a lot of carry over value to life.

"Fashionably late" was not acceptable in my family. We never walked into church as they played the first hymn, or showed up at a game as they were playing the star spangled banner.

We "hustled" just to be a little early.

the haymow

My grandfather, Dad and Uncles logged and sawed the lumber for this barn in 1940.

Just look at the structure of the loft. They didn't hire an archetect, and probably didnt even have a blue print for the building. They didnt have electric saws or nail guns. Every piece of wood was cut, fitted, and nailed in place by hand.

I see my Grandfather is still watching me. I feel like I am trespassing. I wish I could tell him how much I appreciate this barn.

central heating

Many people might not have a clue what this picture is.

To me, it is a clothes dryer.

This heavy grate sits in the middle of our old farm house, above a wood burning furnace.

The furnace provided all the heat for our home. My 88 year old mother still prefers to use it over the oil furnace that was later added. "Nothing warms the house like a wood fire".

As a kid, we would congregate here to warm up after playing outside, or from the school bus. We left our wet mittens to dry here.

On wash day, a folding wooden clothes rack would straddle the grate. Here, we would carefully hang a weeks worth of wash for a family of 6. Larger items like jeans and towels would be draped over the upstairs railing. The wood fire was stoked all day, so the clothes would be dry by evening.

No front loading, large capacity, 99 settings, electric monster. No, this clothes dryer just required a load of fire wood and a little patience.

"that's a real antique"

My sister and niece were here this week. They came to stake claim on the antiques that my Mom is sorting through in preparation for her move.
I should have taken a picture of the dining room table, but I put my camera down and lost it among the pink and green "depression glass", cake plates, and other charished dishes that Mom had taken out of the "china closet".
These are beautiful old pieces, some given to her and Dad as wedding gifts, others she collected at auction sales or recieved as gifts. Before we arrived she had already sorted them into piles for each of my siblings, assuming that what she liked, we would also be thrilled about.
Mom sometimes seemed a little offended that we were not as enthusiastic by a pink cream and sugar dish (the pink ones are her favorite), but were more intrigued by a silly old electric hair dryer, or my Dad's collection of dirty old baseballs, or the old hat box full of potential costumes.
Mom must have said a hundred times, "now this is a real antique"!
My sister did take several boxes of treasures when she left, and I had my own box full too. I told her to just slap me, if I even thought of taking another dish.
How many cake plates does one woman need???? Can you take a store bought cake out of the box and serve it on an antique cake plate?????

the "dinner bell"

In the center of Mom's flower garden is an old school bell that came from her parent's farm. They call it a dinner bell. I suppose, to let the farmers know that dinner was on the table.

I have never heard the bell ring! "Dinner", is at noon, not 12:08, or 12:27, but noon. No one in my family has ever been late for dinner,so the bell remains speechless!

self portrait

Sometimes, you point your camera and are totally surprised by the result.

My grandfather homesteaded this farm in 1904 and built this barn after the original one was destroyed by a tornado. The barn still stands as a landmark in the community.

I didnt know my grandfather, but only saw pictures of him. Pictures of a very handsome, stoic man that never revealed if he had a sense of humor, or had a playful nature. Possibly, because this hardworking man was trying to provide for a "better life" for his American family. He spoke German to his Swedish speaking wife.

In futher examination of this photo, I have come to the conclusion that it is a self portrait of my grandfather.

the play house

When my sister and I were young, our grandfather came to visit us and built us this "play house".

We spent endless hours playing with dolls, dressing up, and making mud pies.

When we were too old for these activities, the playhouse became home to saddles,blankets, bridles, and other horse necessities.

I don't know if I ever thanked my grandpa for building this little oasis that great grand children still are having a good time in.

My sister and I should really put on a mudpie demonstration for today's generation. She had just the right recipe of dirt and water that mixed together would set up in tin molds. (looked just like a bundt cake) Priceless fun!

Mom's wheelborrow

I have often thought about buying Mom a new wheelbarrow. But really, what is wrong with this one? It is a little bent up and rusty, but way more user friendly than the new ones that are either cheap plastic or oversized industrial types.


This wheelborrow is made for a women. You can't put more on it than you can move. It is not made for someone that is impatient, or in a hurry.


This well worn, efficient garden implement has always just sat in the yard, usually half full of spent flower stalks, or discarded daylilly roots. There is not a parking spot for it in the garage. This lovely old wheelbarrow is part of the landscape beside Mom's flower garden.

Farside cartoons

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If I was married to Gary Larson, the cartoonist, instead of Butch Larson, there would be a Farside cartoon to illustrate wht happened yesterday.


Growing up on the farm, there were always cows and flowers. I had no idea that the cows were responsible for the beautiful flowers that graced my Mother's garden.


Each year for Mother's Day, Mom would ask for a load of "black dirt" from the pile behind the barn . This secret addition of decomposition resulted in her many prize winning floral arrangements at the Beltrami County Fair.

A few years ago, Mom dicovered that cow shit came all packaged up in bags. So, yesterday, Butch went to Fleet and bought her 6 bags of cow manure.

You have already pictured the cartoon; cows doing cartwheels in the pasture, rolling on the ground with belly laughter, turning over in their graves,etc.???

But wait! Fleet was all out of cow manure and Butch had to substitute sheep manure. Picture the stunned faces of the day lilies............

april fools

This is the house that I grew up in. It is haunted! Haunted with a rich family history, dating back to 1904.

My father was born in this house, and lived his 94 years here. He died on New Year's eve, but my Mother says his spirit is still in the house. She occasionally hears him clearing his throat.

Mom is going to move into a senior appartment in September, after her flowers are done blooming.

What will become of this haunted house?