Grand kids, great grand kids, dogs and ducks abound at my house.

This is what I call two little great grandsons at my house.  These pictures were taken when the son was here a few weeks back.  Those two belong to the grand daughter, September.  The little one is on Sam's lap and the big one is being held still by Great Grandma Lou.  Those kids can move faster than I can blink.  See the little one there has already broken his arm once and healed it up.  He could crawl up on furniture and leap off way before he could walk.  He started walking when he was 9 months old and running at 9 1/2!  The older one was raised on Baby Einstien and I think he started Calculus when he was 3.      

Now these little play pretties belong to the Grandson, Jason.  He in turn belongs to my middle daughter, Dona.  This picture is over a year old, but aren't they little blondies?  The pictures of my kids when they were small shows them all to be very blonde.  Course it helped that my husband, their father was a platinum blond German guy.  Drop dead gorgeous, but that is neither here nor there, so to speak.   Dona was the only one that kept the blonde hair.  She does not use anything, it just stayed blond.  But aren't these little honeys precious?

You met 3 more of my great grand kids back in Longton last summer.  Now understand this and why I do it this way...these are great grandkids that can be traced back directly to my and Earl's blood line.  I got a  ton of grandkids when I count the steps and the step greats would be completely over the top, but those kids have other grandmothers that can rightfully lay claim to them on both sides of the family.  Mine are reduced to just me.  Grandpa has been gone many years, so it is just me left to hold down the fort here, so to speak.  I keep thinking someone of them will be interested in a little of the family history, but so far not much.  So I continue to blog away and have them printed and stuck in a drawer so some day, if some one wonders, there will at least be a tiny peek at my life.  Not so much to see what I did or did not accomplish, but rather so they can see where their roots are planted.

I never dreamed when I ran barefooted down the country roads in Nickerson, Kansas what lay ahead for me, nor behind for that matter.  But now, when I look back I can see it so clearly.  I have become my mother!  Mother had 1 son and 5 daughters.  I ended up with 2 sons and 4 daughters.  Six either way you count.  Mama worked her whole life to raise us kids.  I worked my whole life to raise mine.  She never really got done and neither have I!  She ended up with 13 grand kids, mine total 8.  Then she ended up with 20 greats and I total 7.  So while I was the most prolific of her children, I am whittling the numbers down.

Oh, it is a little early in the morning to think so hard.  It is shaping up to be a very pretty day, so I think I will grab my gloves and head out to do some raking and burning.  But first maybe one more cup of coffee and let me look at pictures for a bit.....life is good!

Time to dig out the bike and dust it off for Spring!

Well, Spring is going to be here pretty quick and I want to be ready!  Here is the bike and it is going to get ridden just pretty soon.  I keep thinking I am going to get a new bike and I almost did.  I found a really pretty Lavender one at Target for only $104.00, but you know how it goes.  This bike has lots of memories and if it could talk it might get me in a bit of trouble!  Look at that seat!  Isn't that pretty?

This bike came off the neighbors junk pile and it used to be blue and rust.  I mean real rust, not the color.  So, Tim pulled it off the pile and brought it over to my garage.  Then began the transformation.  He took it all apart and made sure everything was there.  Tires were all right, but the tubes were shot.  New tubes, oil the chain, sand the frame and then came the best part, he and Chris painted it Lavender!  I had Goop! for the tubes.   So off to the store to buy the new seat.  That is called a tractor seat, in case you wonder.  The handle bars are some sort of ram's horn.  Total cost to get her road worthy was $26.99. 

You do realize this is a balloon tire bike and has no gears and to stop I pedal backwards.  I never could figure out the gears on those other things and the concept of squeezing the handle bar to stop was totally foreign to this girl!  I have another balloon tire hanging up in the garage that is a complete hoot to ride.  It is a boys bike and bigger than this one, but I did ride it some several years back. OMG!  Ryan, the grandson was probably 10 years old then which would have made it more like 15 years ago.  He damn near got me killed on that thing.  I know he is reading this, so I am going to let you be the judge here.

This thing had Ape Hanger Handle bars which are wonderful to hang onto and ride.  However, it also had knobby tires for God only knows what reason.  Course Ryan had his little bike he jumps with which I forget what they are called. But off we went over to the highway where there was a Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Going to eat a  little lunch and ride back, cause that is what grandma's and grand kids do...eat.  We stayed on the sidewalk where there was sidewalk.  A small section of the sidewalk was gone, so I, being the cautious one, dismounted and walked it around the 7 inch drop.  Of course, during lunch I was chided for this.

"Grandma!  It is a tiny drop and you can do it.  Just get your speed up and pull back on the handle bars and you will be fine.  You can do it, I know you can."  Ah, sometimes old ladies hear a different drummer and it all seems to make a lot of sense.  He was a kid and he could do it; sure I could do it!  I would make him proud!

Did you ever read Casey at the Bat?  That flashed through my mind as I pulled back on the handle bars.  As that knobby tire caught on the edge, I heard the swish of the bat, and as I landed on Highway 50 East with the Ape Hanger Handle Bar implanted firmly in my ribs, I realized, "There is no joy in Mudville, mighty Casey has struck out!" 

Now, Ryan, I know you remember this a little different, but I am proud to say, you will always remember this Grandma with a laugh.  Right?  I will remember you as the grandson who tried to kill me.  But even as I write this, I can see your little face bending over me.  I can see your eyes and I had no idea you could open them that far!  But what I will always remember is what you told your mother, between your gales of laughter!  "Oh, mom, you should have seen it!  Grandma was like in slow motion.......over, over, over....SPLAT!" 

Now, I know you ride a little bit different bike, one called a HOG and I mostly try to stay on the edge of the road and try not to get hit by a car, but surely we still have something in common.  Hey, come pick me up and we will go cruising!  Or maybe I will just make you some cookies since that is what grandma's are supposed to do!

Now be sure you vote in the poll up there on the left.  Got a bet going on this one!

Sister Patty and her little brood, or some of them.

Here is sister Patty and if you look at the last picture down at the bottom, you will find her husband Bill.  I had him up here, but he jumped back down there.  Guess he wants to be the last in line. 

Now Patty is my second child.  Debbie was the first.  Patty lives in Western Kansas in a very small town.  Well, not in town, per se, but out in the country on the other side of the river.  She is retired from the library in that little town.  Bill works some where driving a truck.  He is usually home at night and if not Patty is where he is located.

 

This is Patty and her brother, Sam.  This was taken last week while Sam was here on his way back to Dallas, Texas.  We had a nice little family reunion.  The only one not here was Debbie, and that is just too far to drive to sleep on the floor!

Patty's hobbies are all art related.  She did all the art work for the Library when she was there.  Even designed their tee shirts.  She also is very accomplished in cross stitch.  I have several charcoal drawings and they are of professional quality.  She sure did not inherit that from my genes!

This is her oldest grandson, Javan.  He is a pistol and smart as a whip.  He was born out here in Colorado, so he is a transplant back to Kansas.  Seems to have taken root rather well!

And this is the little Kaison.  He is such a serious little fellow.  But he does love his granny Patty and his Grandma Lou.  Not to say that Javan does not, just that Kaison is a lot more demonstrative.  Kaison usually shuts his eyes at the exact moment the flash goes off, but I got lucky this time.  Might be because he loves his Uncle Sammy!

Here is the mother of the children and Patty's oldest daughter, September.  She and her kids and beloved live in Western Kansas, near Patty.  She has just completed her Master's Degree and is thinking about going for something else.  Doctorate?  I do not know.  I was lucky to make it though the college I took.  She is smart and gets on the Dean's list, and I know she got that from me!  Woohoo!  See that bear?  I made that for my dear husband who was a trucker.

And here is Patty's youngest daughter.  This one is my little Indian, Savannah. She and her chosen one live farther away so we do not see her that often.  They have one daughter to whom Vanny is a step mother.  If I ever had a step mother I would want her to be like Vanny as opposed to that witch Cinderella got...

Ok, now I am down here where Bill is supposed to be and that rascal has ran off again.  Ok, I got him again!  I better get this published before he gets away again!  He is not in the habit of taking off, just that he does not like to be seen online and in print.  A very hard working man and one of my favorite son-in-laws.  That is saying a lot since I only have 2. 

That is it for today.  Next time you meet a family member it will be my middle daughter.  Well, middle child and she is not that anymore.  I adopted one later so she lost her place in line. 

But there you have it from Western Kansas, near Garden City, and the one place I lived that was hotter than hell.  Well, maybe not, but 110-115 degrees was nothing unusual.  I had 3 kids while I was there.  Fond memories.

The babies at 10 days old!

Look at this mess!! Those little guys think they are big geese! They are so damn cute! They get out there and run with the big geese and even bite at the stickers. If they are going to eat the stickers, I will love them to death and they did not learn that trick from the big geese. Big geese only want grain and nice green grass. They also like weeds, but only certain weeds and only ones that do not grow in the back. Just the front, so I can pull them and toss them over the fence to them.

I think if you click on this picture it should get very big. These guys made the first trip to the pond for a swim at 7 days old. Before that I had a container in the shed in which they would paddle around. I guess it was called a swimming pool! Duh!! Container, indeed! They have not quite started to get pin feathers so we are not sure of the breed these guys/gals are. Will not be really sure until they are about 2 or 3 months old. They, of course, are still making the peeping sounds.

Oh, and guess what I found in the duck house today!! Seven eggs! That means they are laying again and if I am not real careful they will hide a nest somewhere and I will be blessed with a bunch of ducklings! Had one hen surprise me with 13 babies one year. Not looking favorably on that prospect.

Ok, that is it from the farm for the day. Oh, man, I remember when I lived with grandma and great grandma and we lived in Plevna, Kansas. The high school was exactly one block from grandma's house on main street. When I came out the door of the school to go home for lunch I could hear the Farm Report blaring on grandma's old brown upright radio all the way home. Only time that radio was ever turned on was for the noon farm report and then everyone in the town of Plevna, population 103 (everyone of which I knew) could hear it whether they wanted to or not!!

Sorry about the change of subject, but sometimes the old mind takes a turn and I gotta go with it! Have a great day!!

Here he comes! The Baby is crawling!

Here is the little Jayvan working his way across the floor.  Not really working too hard, he is actually moving pretty fast!  He knows what he wants and he knows how to go about getting it. In this case he wants Grandma Lou! I am Grandma Lou to everyone under 30.  Mostly because I am Grandma, cause I got 20 of the grandkids and a bunch of great grandkids. Not real sure, but I think I have about a dozen or more of those counting all the steps. But there are a ton of kids who call me Grandma Lou just because someone else does.  Before the Grandma Lou business it was Condom Grandma, but that is a whole 'nother story!

Now here is the little fellow and he has arrived at his destination and pulled himself up to give me a big smile! Now isn't that cute?  This is what makes life worth living.  This and the fact that someone will come and pick him up at 5:00 PM!  Life is good, but makes me miss all the other little ones out there who are too far away to come and play for a few hours.

Now today I am going to have this one and his 11 weeks old cousin.  Not for very long though, just long enough for me to thank the Good Lord that I have  the child bearing years behind me!

You all have a good day and remember "This too shall pass!"

Adoption in Fayetville of Russian boy really wasn't what she wanted.

Hey! Wait a minute!  I changed my mind. What was I thinking?  Those thoughts flashed through my mind many times after we adopted Bret when he was eight years old. Lucky for hm, I did not know about that loop hole. I should have just called him a cab and got on with my life. Not really.

Putting that boy on a plane to Russia has probably traumatized that kid beyond repair. Could you picture yourself at 7 years old leaving your homeland and flying to another country only to be slapped back on the plane and sent back to your homeland? I know first hand that the kids who are taken, or thrown away, by the birth parents, can and do suffer rejection. DUH! There minds are not developed enough to set down and methodically decipher all that has happened in there short lives. So they react.

Their reactions are not understood, by the adults as reaching out, but rather as pushing.  In order to gain your love, they need to push and most humans do not react well to being pushed away. They think of it as being pushed away.  I was well acquainted with the people who ran the mental health facility. I was there for the anger management, attachment disorder, and the sports programs to build self esteem. We had the lying, the stealing, and the threats of running away. Been there, done all that. Social Service was not the only group available to help, but they were paramont. It is not in their or the children's best interest for the adoption not to work, so every effort is made to transition.

So rather than haul old Bret off and get on with it, I chose to stand and fight. Now, I may not have the most successful kid it town, but I do have a funtioning member of society. He isn't in a gang, he is a very soft hearted and kind to animals, old people,  and babies, so I don't think he is a serial killer. True, he does not run out and do chores when I first tell him, and sometimes not the second or third time, but he really feels bad when I wind up dumping the 50 pound bags of feed. Or at least he says he feels bad.

I do know, however, that he does love me.  I know he appreciates that I chose to keep him and not let him filter down through the foster care system. Not that the foster care system is bad, but rather that being with grandmother is better. At least there is a connection.

So to the woman who put her son on the plane and walked away, I would say this: "You did what you had to do.  You based your actions on information you had at the time.  There may have been other choices, but you chose the path you walk. Walk forward knowing that we can not say what you should do until we have walked in your shoes. God Bless You!"

They have arrived, took sister Mary, and left!

Here are the culprits! This is Dorothy and Mike Flory. They live in Shawnee, Kansas. They both work and have strange hobbies. They have cows for pets and a farm for a hobby. It is calving time on the farm and with this weather, they keep pretty busy overseeing the birthing process as well as having full time jobs! Then to take time out to run out here and pick up Mary, my hat is off to them!

They arrived Saturday night, ate supper, slept, ate breakfast, loaded Sister Mary in the car and away they went! Now I am alone. Well, not really alone since I do have Bret, Daisy, Elvira, 10 geese, and 23 ducks, but I have nonetheless, lost my buddy.

And here is Sister Mary, all ready to go. She even has her purse hooked on her arm. Maybe they are going to stop and do some shopping! I do not like to shop, so we did not do that while she was here, except when we did it for survival.

Having Mary here was a definite treat, and a diversion to say the very least. You have to look back on our childhood to realize what a learning experience this really was. Mary was always the "pretty one". Dorothy was the baby, Donna was there, Jake was the boy, and Josephine was the oldest. I came in between Donna and Jake, so that made me the "middle child" and you know what the middle child was good for--nothing.

Middle Child Syndrome is what it is called. I am not a leader and not a follower, just kind of there. Or at least that is how it should have worked. But in our family, Josephine married and left very early, Jake attached himself to a farmer and then forged a new birth certificate and joined the Army when he was barely 16 and was never there. So, I then became the leader. Then I left.

But back to the relevant part. Mary and I were never very close. She was closer to Donna. Then she married Tommy when she was 13(?) and he was 15(?). Think that is right. They remained together and lived happily ever after until he passed at the early age of 52. So when the opportunity arose for her to come spend time with me we jumped on that. You really get to know someone when you set and talk for hours. We have a lot in common. We both lost our mother, both lost our husbands, both have grandkids, went to the same grade school. And on and on. Lot more than I thought. Might have to do this again someday!

But for now, I will savor the weeks we spent together, knowing she is safe at home with her family checking up on her. Guess I will plan a trip to Wichita, Kansas as soon as the snow melts!!

At Grandma's house we are!

This is the view from Grandma's deck! We went up to Rye yesterday to see Grandma. Actually she is Tim's Grandma, and no relation to me. When you reach the age of 95, which she will do in a couple weeks, you become Grandma to everyone under the age of 70. I still qualify! She is the sweetest and most alert lady I have met and a miracle for 95. She had a stress fracture in her pelvis and after 3 days it bed it had begun to "knit". Not me man!  If I am correct this is the view looking East.

This is kind of Southwest. All my directions are subject to being discredited and corrected. The only place I know my directions is Hutchinson, Kansas. I was not born with that little honing device for North that most people have.

This is the view looking West. East and West are both fairly steep dropoffs. North and South are a little more gradual. Actually, to my way of thinking, they are all steep and they are all dropoffs. You must remember I am from Kansas and my husband always referred to me as a "Flatlander" because I never knew if I was going uphill or downhill.

And here is the approach to the house. Do you see how it kind of sets there on the crest of the hill? This is like dying and going to heaven. I have a better view of the house, but for brevity's sake, I will not post it today. I will just throw it on someday.

 

I took these pictures with my cheap little camera, but am giving serious thought to some Amazon sent me literature on yesterday. I am trying to get a hold of someone who knows dates and place, but I think this house was located in Rye and was moved up the mountaing by Grandma. Well, she is the one who did the buying of the land, and hiring and honchoing the movers. She did a great job!

Gotta get busy. Today I am babysitting the great , great grandson of this lady. Five generations and there is one branch that has six generations! Have a good one.