With sadness

It is with great sadness that I have a death to report in our family. Our daughter-in-law's mother has passed away quite suddenly. Trav and Erica are back in the states and will be here until they have all business taken care of. It will be a really hard Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years holiday season for them all. A mother-daughter relationship is one that is very special. No matter what the age, it is a loss that takes a long time to overcome.
Please keep the kids and her family in your thoughts and prayers. They will need them in the upcoming months.

Back to normal?!

After two days of doing laundry....everything from bedding and towels to hunting gear....I finally can see the end..... I have been doing one load after another and have finally managed to get to where there is no more.... One of the bad things about going on a trip. Eventually, you have to get back to the everyday things that you went on the trip to get away from.
It has been a very cold couple of days so putting everything back in the 5th wheel has involved a quick trip out and 'dumping' and getting back to the warmth of the house. The next couple of days are suppose to be nicer and hopefully we will be able to get everything back to the place that it belongs. I have found that over the last week that I have to have some kind of order in my life. Living in the 5th wheel with everything moved around and out of place was extremely hard..... Having to get stuff up and out of the way to work on the carpet was a necessity...but after a while.....I had to get some 'order'. I have been wondering.... is that part of my genetic make-up?....part of my German background? I wasn't that way as a teenager or even in college. It seem to take hold while living in Germany. But was it there all along....just waiting to take over.
There are times that things just have to get done....no matter what. I have to put things up and get stuff tossed out or moved out......or better to find a new home somewhere else. Guess that I will just have to put up with it. I can push it aside for a while but....eventually it come back. Some kind of order...not 'dress, right, dress', but not total disarray either....
Anyway....we are about to get back to some kind of normal....no piles of clothes, hunting gear, and towels....all over the floor. No piles of papers all over the table. Not even a pile of catalogues to go through. That is not to say that everything is clean and orderly...but it is getting there. After getting through the craft fairs and getting most of that stuff put up and getting back from the trip....and getting most of that out of the way....you can actually see some of the house! Hey, I have also got all the mail done and the bills paid and the accounts all balanced and put up laundry and groceries, and...... and...... and..... Have been a very busy person for the last two days.
Now if I just had somewhere to put all the plants that have had to come in for the winter.... They are all around the house and You should see the garage!! The ferns on the front porch did really well and are very large. Now they are a wide strip of green in the garage...along with the geraniums and window boxes from the deck. All to wait for spring....and warmer weather..... And me too! I really dislike cold weather and being stuck in the house. Hurry Spring!
You are too far away.....!!
Now back to regular life...... and waiting for the next trip to 'make some more memories!!'

Just Making Great Memories

When things start happening to you.....sometimes you have to look at it as 'just making great memories'.... of course that is after you have pulled your hair.....cussed a little.....barked a couple of knuckles....and maybe screamed in frustration. (And some time has passed.)
For those not living in Missouri....it is Deer Season. Saturday the 15th of November at dawn was opening of the 9 day firearms season. This year we tried something just a little different. Tom has always gone up to the kids farm for the opening weekend. I usually have craft fairs on the first three Saturdays of November. This year it worked out that only two weekends were busy. So the plan was for Tom to take the 5th wheel up to Versailles and set it up at a RV park there and I would come up on Sunday to spend the week. I did not want to be out on the farm with all the hunters as that was just toooo much testosterone for me to deal with. And that way I could have some time to do a little sewing. I took a sewing machine and some material for a project or two. That was the plan.....somewhere along the way.....it got a little changed and ended up much more experience and memories than we had planned.
Tom did take the 5th wheel and did get to the RV park to get it set up....but..... It turned into more of an ordeal to get it set up. First he had to get to a place that the sewer dump and the water faucet was on the right side. That was easy.... Then he had to hook everything up. He found that our 10ft sewer hose was not long enough to reach....not even if you really stretched it. In really trying to make the hose longer, he unraveled the last foot of the hose. So, he went to Walmart and farm center to look for a longer hose. He found that Walmart only had 10ft hoses.....and with two of those and what was left of the hose we had....that would be long enough. But Walmart only had one coupler to connect two hoses..... Off to the auto parts store and....they only had one coupler! Two couplers and three hoses and that made it long enough to reach. Also in the process he had to get a longer water line hose! But after about three hours of playing 'seek and you will find'....he finally got it all together. Now all this is happening on Friday late afternoon. And you know that he is going to have to get up before the dawn to drive out to the kids farm and find his 'penthouse' tree stand in the dark!
There were a few other minor problems like.....'blowing the breaker' on the 5th wheel and then not being able to find the fuse box. Of course, I (being the one at home) knew where the box was....but he (being the one at the 5th wheel) did not. After having looked everywhere, and practically tearing the whole place apart, and having more than a little help.... it was finally located behind a very large tote box that is filled with all his hunting clothes. Just another minor problem.....taken care of.
Next.....he did get out to the stand and all the guys did get to hunt. It has almost become a tradition that the 'new' guy gets the best shots..... And that our daughter-in-law, Michelle, gets the largest buck! This year was no exception. Unfortunately, Michelle's buck was at the bottom of a deep ravine and they took our big truck to go get him. All made it down without too much trouble. It is always the getting out that is the problem. We did find out that all the time we have been using the 4 wheel drive switch on the dash, that it has not been engaging the 4 wheel drive. Meaning that after getting up the first section and turning on the 4 wheel drive on the dash.....and only burning the tires and spraying dirt and rock chips everywhere, they got out and looked around and found that the tires were missing some tread, and that there are 'lock outs' for the 4 wheel drive! ( They can be put into automatic.....and then you can use the 4 wheel drive from the dash....but were not set that way!) Once the wheels were locked.....right on up the side they went. Amazing how that works. But.....as the story goes...... the inside tires on the dual wheeled back were missing a chunk or two of tread! (After we thought about it, we realized that the tires had been on there for a long time and that it was probably time to get new ones anyway......) Okay...... now we have a longer (although, patched together) sewer hose and clamps, a new water hose, one new fuse, and will have ,four new tires!!! And this all the first two days....
I got up there late on Sunday to find all the hunters busy cleaning and cutting way too many deer. It seems that some of Mike's friends like to hunt....but don't care to eat venison. So they brought their animals to Mike for him to have and gave some of it to a family in need. The hunters were in the process of skinning and cutting up 14 animals. I think that the main ingredient of dinner that night was......800 Motrin!! But all who want it will have meat in the freezer for the winter.
Monday morning Tom and I took one whole deer and 4 large trash bags full of only meat to the processor to be turned into deer burger, chops, steaks, and roasts. Luckily, the weather was 'cool' so that the ice chests.....a large number of them....could be used to transport all the meat.
Tuesday morning started out a lot colder than we wanted. Some time just before we got up, the propane gas tank went empty. (Now there are two tanks and we started with them both full.) It seems that if the temperature is below 40 degrees that you have to manually change the tanks so that they both go down equally. Of course it is a lot colder than 40 degrees and we did not know that we needed to change the tanks. So the one tank was totaly empty....and since it was the one that all the heat was running on. When it went empty....the heat went off!! And because it was really cold....the water hose froze. So, we also had no water. Great way to start the day. Tom took the empty tank and got it filled after we called the place that we bought the 5th wheel from to find out what the problem was.....and Amazing!!! The heat came right on and up the temperature went on the inside..... Then he left the hose out in the sun to unfreeze it...... After getting new tires on the truck and breakfast....we went back to the 5th wheel to get the water going. Just a little bit of work and ...... there was water!! We did a couple of other errands and got back to the 5th wheel a couple of hours latter ...... There is water coming out of the back of the 5th wheel....just like a small fountain...... And you can guess what is coming next! The faucet was left on in the kitchen......full force.....and the tanks were closed......(with it hooked to the sewer, we could have left the tanks opened and flowing directly into the sewer....but didn't).....after 25 gallons ...... the water had no where to go but out of the sink down on the floor and off to the lowest corner....all the way at the back! Not having it totally level meant out the back end..... That is across the one little area that had carpet and padding.
We went to work immediately with towels to try and get all the water up...... But saw that was a loosing battle....really we needed a shop-vac or better yet a carpet shampooer!! A carpet shampooer really pics the water up fast! Off we go! In all of Versailles.....at every place we could think of .....not one place rents carpet shampooers..... The local supermarket used to but when Versailles got a super Walmart....the supermarket went out of business...... Walmart used to but quit a couple of months ago......and no one else has picked up the slack!! We bought a small shop-vac and worked for about an hour and half before we gave up and realized there was no way we were going to get all the water out of the pad and carpet......Next step is to rip up the carpet. Well they put this carpet down like it was the last one on earth and it was meant to be there the next hundred years...... There were staples every quarter to eighth of an inch! And the pad has these industrial strength staples that are going to take a jackhammer to get out! Once we got it started....it could be ripped up for a couple of inches at a time by taking a good hold with two hands and just yanking......a little at a time...... but it was also the side with the slide out and was that part really stapled and under everything. Seems that they lay down the carpet and then put the cabinets on top of it!! But with a lot of pricked fingers, barked knuckles, and the dullest knives to cut wet carpet you could have....it did get out.....well almost all out...there is still a part that we are not going to get out with out some real TOOLS. Mike came to help after school was out with a real knife. So now we have a small heap of very wet carpet and pad in the back of the pick-up with 5 empty ice chests. But at least with the help of fans we can get the wood under floor dry..... well almost all of it dry....there is still that part that is going to need some real TOOLS....
At this point....just laugh.....because we have already pulled out what little hair we do have.....and have had to use about half of the band-aids that were left in the box from the 'hunters' doing their job on the butchering....(not just the cutting of the meat.....really butchering some of it..... and every now and then getting a little too much skin to go with the deer). The air was just a little blue from the verbal abuse as well as the humidity from the wet carpet and the heat. And we have not had enough time pass to really make it all 'funny'. I am sure in the upcoming ..... months that we will start to see exactly how funny this whole thing was..... Right now it was just a learning experience and...... Just Making Great Memories.......

11/11, 11:11

I just realized that it is 11-11 and after 11pm.....11th month, 11th day, 11th hour, 11th minute and it is the start of Fashing!! Party Time!!

For anybody who has lived in Germany....it is the time before Lent. From now til Rose Monday, Shove Tuesday, and Ash Wednesday it is party time. Time to get out and have a good time before the coming of Lent. This is when I miss living in Germany and Europe. (Besides missing the food, cheese, wine, and volksmarching!!) It sneaks up.... clobbers me over the head.... and makes me 'homesick'.

A busy fall is about over.

No matter how you look at it.....it has been a busy week. Fall is definitely here and gone. The leaves that were so beautiful have had the wind tearing them off the trees. The weather is much cooler and greyer. But that just means that we will have a great spring. For without the fall, and winter....there would not be a spring.

The election is over!! Just to get rid of the terrible commercials is a great relief. It has been going on for so long. And I suppose that as things go....the next one will start.....in the next few weeks. Too bad that we can't do what many other countries around the world do.....only allow campaigning for 6 to 10 weeks.....fast, furious....but over!

Our grandson, Mathew has been playing on the varsity team for the season and we have been going to Versailles (and some of the away games) to watch him play. He really is pretty good and will be much better as he gets to play more and gets older. The team has done well, and have been playing in the district and regional playoffs.

First there was the game at School of the Osage at the lake on a Friday night. (Not all that far for us to drive.) Then there was the election and I was a poll worker from 5am to 8pm. (Made a really long day!) Then the next day we drove to Mountain Grove to watch the team win the game and keep their season alive. (That made two really long days in a row!) On Saturday, I had a craft fair and was at that from 7am to 5pm....another long day. And then tonight (Monday) we drove to Versailles to watch them play the next round. Unfortunately, they lost. But except for a couple of stupid penalties and a couple of mistakes, they would have had a much closer game. They all played well. We are glad to be able to go and see Mathew play. Even the games that they were behind in....they never gave up. Hopefully, the team will continue to improve and will do much better next year and the year after.

The 'kids' will not be 'kids' forever. We have to get in all the time that we can now.....for it will not be that long before they are grown and gone. As time moves on.....the 'kids' are growing up and the rest of us are growing older. But we are proud of all of them. They have grown from youngsters through teenagers and are now grown with 'kids' of their own. And those are the 'kids' that are now repeating the cycle. We are all hoping that they learn from our mistakes.....but know that they are probably going to repeat some. We will hear the statement....'I wish I had listened to you when.......' and will hear our own thoughts when we were young just as winter follows fall and spring brings the beauty of new life.