Journal: Toolboxes, Quiches, and Nests, Oh, My!

 

Last Monday, Memorial Day, when we were on our way to Kurt and Victoria’s house, the wind was gusting well over 50 mph.  On Highway 22, we met a smallish pickup pulling a long bumper-pull camper, probably about 33-35 feet long.  The wind was blowing them all over the place, and they weren’t going slow.  They went way off onto the shoulder... then crossed the center line... then back again, and the trailer was rocking wildly from side to side.  We feared they’d go onto the shoulder and then come shooting back into our lane as we passed.  We pulled far onto the shoulder on our side as they went past.  They needed to park that thing before they ended their holiday badly, and took someone else down with them!

Later that afternoon, Hester sent a picture of Larry holding Baby Oliver at Kurt and Victoria’s house.  Oliver was grinning all the way down to his toes.  Babies do full-body grins, when they really mean it!

Tuesday after he got off work, Larry gave a large toolbox that used to be my father’s to our nephew Kelvin’s son Jason.  Jason is the same age as Caleb, and one of his best friends.  Larry put quite a few tools into the toolbox. 

Here is the paper I typed up to go with it:

 

The church gave my father this toolbox for Christmas when I was 12 or 13; that would’ve been in 1972 or 1973.

The program was over, and we had finished passing out gifts and bags of candy and nuts.  Daddy and Mama walked up to the front of the church, and Daddy thanked the children, the musicians, the teachers, etc., for the program.  He always loved the Christmas programs.

And then a couple of the deacons came wheeling that big toolbox down the aisle.

Everyone was grinning as our head deacon presented the toolbox to Daddy.

Daddy looked it over, sliding drawers in and out.  He turned and faced the people.  “I do believe,” he said, looking over the congregation, “you have finally given me a gift I don’t have to share with Mrs. Swiney.”

People laughed.  But then they grew silent when Mama reached over and very quietly pulled open one of the small drawers at the top.

“I believe my silverware would just fit in there,” she said in her soft, ladylike voice.

The people didn’t just laugh, they roared.

____________________________________

 

We are happy you will have this toolbox.

 

With love,

  Your Great Uncle Larry

      and Great Aunt Sarah Lynn

It occurred to me after I posted last week’s letter that I had forgotten one of the young couples:  we have not four but five young couples who will be getting married in the not-too-distant future.  The couple I forgot:  Tony and Lauren.  Lauren is the granddaughter of one of Larry’s cousins.

Thursday as I was scanning photos, I found duplicate small albums of old family photos that my mother had put together back in the late 1990s or early 2000s.  The albums were with some things I brought home from Loren’s house.  I decided to take one of the albums to him next time we visited.  One of the photos is of Mama and Daddy, taken July 1, 1944, when Daddy was in the Navy.

In one of my own albums I found an old picture that my mother gave me in the summer of 2000.  It’s my parents with Loren in September of 1938.  Loren would’ve been about one month old.  I scanned it, printed it on photo paper, and put it in a silver frame I found at Loren’s house.  

I would take that to him, too, along with a framed photo of Daddy and Mama with Larry and me at our wedding. 

That evening, I texted Larry, asking him to bring home some milk when he got off work.  He did – from Teddy’s cow.  He brought eggs from their chickens, too.  Mmmm... that milk is so rich and good.

I would not have known Larry came home over the noon hour Friday, except I heard him outside making some piece of machinery roar/fade/roar/fade/repeat. 

I texted him, “Wow, you’re noisy.  It sounds like you’re torturing a warthog.”

He responded, “Just a welder that needs a muffler.”

Of course, he cannot hear how dreadfully loud it is.  Fortunately, there are no napping babies in our neighborhood.  😏

That afternoon, he went to Verizon to ask about my tablet and hotspot/data, which has been extremely slow.  The last time he was there, they supposedly upgraded the amount of high-speed data from both hotspots – his phone and my tablet – but nothing changed on the tablet.

They told him I should be able to use the hotspot on my phone.  I tried it once, some time back, and got a notice telling me that I would have to subscribe through Verizon and pay a monthly fee.

I tried it again – and lo and behold, it works.  They must’ve upgraded the wrong device!  I changed the settings on my computer and printer/scanner to connect with my phone instead of my tablet, and now everything is much faster.  After trying and failing a couple of times, I got the scanner working, using the new hotspot.  That thing is finicky.  Or at least the HP Smart app is finicky.

Levi sent a picture of the metal sign we gave him for his birthday; it is now hanging above his bedroom door.  It probably should’ve gone to Nathanael rather than Levi, since Nathanael will be 16 and have his driver’s license in a few days, and Levi is only 12; but Levi is the one who saw it at Loren’s house and drooled over it.  Nathanael and Levi share a room. 

I told Nathanael, “Well, we give you permission to look at the sign.”  😅

I looked online for the phrase, “As a matter of fact, I do own the road,” and found a small tack pin with that line for Nathanael.  I also ordered him a key ring souvenir of the narrow-gauge steam engine at Durango, Colorado, as they have gone on that train a couple of times and enjoyed it.  

I think we’ll also give him a large wooden car that used to be Loren’s.

That evening, Larry gave Janice’s nephew Adam one of Loren’s toolboxes and some tools, and a few other things he spotted in the garage that he thought he might use.  Larry talked him into one of those hand trucks that converts to a cart.  Adam said he didn’t think he’d use it.

“I used to think that, too,” said Larry, “but now I need to use one when moving heavy things.” 

He told Adam about carrying that heavy recliner a year and a half ago, and winding up having a mini-stroke in one eye.  Adam, who has had a couple of surgeries on his back, changed his mind and took the cart.

I made a quiche for supper that night, using lots of eggs, smoked turkey chunks, macaroni and cheese, fire-roasted potatoes and vegetables, corn, and Campbell’s Jazzy Jambalaya soup.  It filled the 4.6-quart French oven that Lura Kay gave me a little more than half full.  It was heavy.  

I baked it at 375° for 40 minutes, and it was absolutely perfect.  I’d like it better without macaroni and cheese (Larry likes it best with macaroni and cheese), but I wanted to add the cheese mix that was in the box, and didn’t want to leave the macaroni in the cupboard bereft of its cheese mix.  I would’ve used scalloped potatoes instead, if I’d’ve had any. 

New mulberries

Judging by the state of larder, refrigerator, and freezer, I’d say we’ll soon be a-needing a good trip to the grocery store.

I almost made it through another album that day before running out of steam.  I now have 28,822 photos scanned.

Saturday, Joanna sent me  a video clip entitled, “Animals yawning are so cute.”  The video was of a pelican gaping hugely.  Not one wee little dinky bit cute.  🤣

I replied, “‘Cute.’ That’s in the eyes of the beholder, right?” 

I told her the following story:

Once upon a time when I was 12 years old, I was with my parents on our way to Newfoundland.  We were at North Sydney, Nova Scotia, waiting for the ferry, and I was standing next to a short pole on the dock.  It had a wooden carving of a brown pelican sitting on it.

Only it wasn’t wooden.

It was real.  And it suddenly clackity-clack-clacked its bill at me.

I’m not jumpy, but I was astonished.  And its breath smelt baaaaaaaaaad.

Early that evening, later than I would’ve liked, we went to see Loren.  We didn’t get there until 6:30 p.m., and he was about to get ready for bed.  But the advantage in this was that he was in his room, so we went in there and were able to visit with just him and no one else.  His window looks out onto the central courtyard. 

I pointed out the roses, spirea, and salvia that were blooming, and Loren said, regarding the spirea bush, “Yes, I just trimmed that bush!  It always gets those long, scraggly branches shooting out.”

It actually is one of those that gets straggly and needs to be trimmed; but I’m quite sure he didn’t do it.

He was very pleased with the album of old pictures, though he did not remember (until I told him) that our parents have passed away. 

He said, regarding Mama, “Nobody told me!” and about Daddy, “Oh, yes, I do remember that, now that you say so.  When was it?” 

He was amazed when I told him it will soon be 30 years since Daddy passed away.

Handing him the silver-framed picture of Daddy, Mama, and himself as a new baby in 1938, I asked, “Recognize these people?”

He smiled, then pointed at first Daddy, then Mama.  “These people right here,” he said, “had this little twerp” – he pointed at himself in the photo – “and he grew up and turned into me!”  😄

He thanked us several times for the pictures and for the Nebraska magazine as we told him goodbye and headed out a little while later.  He never seems troubled at all when we go away and leave him there; I’m thankful for that.

We ate supper at Panera Bread.  We both got broccoli cheese soup.  Larry got a big bowlful; I got a ‘cup’, which turned out to be merely a slightly smaller bowlful.

I also got a Strawberry Poppyseed ‘half-salad’ with Chicken, made with chicken, romaine, mandarin oranges, fresh strawberries, fresh blueberries, and pineapple (only they were out of pineapple), tossed in fat-free poppyseed dressing and topped with toasted pecan pieces.  I ordered apple chips, bacon bits, almond slices, hard-boiled eggs, and... what else? can’t remember... to go on it.

Panera Bread’s ‘half-salad’ is not small.

Oh! – sunflower seeds; that’s what else.  And raisins, too, I think.  I wound up making my half-salad kinda pricey.  You do have to pay for the extras.  But, oooeee, it was sho’ ’nuff delicious.

All entrées come with a big chunk of a French baguette.  Those baguettes, while soft on the inside, have chewy, tough crusts, and Larry has a good deal of trouble biting into them.  He finally followed my lead and tore small pieces from his baguette to put into the soup, rather than dipping it.

We traveled to Omaha under interesting skies.  It got quite dramatic around sunset.  There were storm clouds scattered around all over the place, with the setting sun shining through them, so the sky was intense, all azure blue, gold, and bright red-orange.

Here’s a photo taken near Columbus by a lady named Libby Finochiaro.  She posted it on a weather group on Facebook, and it has since been reposted by the NWS on Twitter.

No wonder they call supercell cloud formations like that ‘motherships’.

I got a few good cloud-and-sky photos, too, but nothing like that one.  Dramatic Skies

After church yesterday, we stopped by Jeremy and Lydia’s house so Larry could take a look at Jeremy’s truck and tell him what to do about a notice he kept getting.  Lydia assured him that the oil and grease in and on the truck would perfectly match his suit.  🤣

The trouble, it turned out, was that something having to do with the crane’s computer needed to update, and a popup notice would show up, but Jeremy had turned the truck off before the update was complete, thinking it would pick up where it left off the next time he started it.  It doesn’t; the truck has to stay on until the update is complete.

The notice is gone now, though; so evidently he left the truck running long enough somewhere that it finished updating.  So all is well.

Then we went to pick up some roast, potatoes, carrots, and onions, fresh out of the oven, that Victoria had for us.  Kurt carried Baby Willie outside to the car to see me.  I talked to him... he stared... and then Kurt said, “It’s probably your sunglasses.”

Oh!  I’d forgotten I had them on.  I pulled them off, grinned at Willie, and he absolutely beamed at me.  Grandma was back to ‘normal’.  😅

Then Violet had to scramble up (with her Daddy’s help) to give (and get) a kiss – but she had a drip of gravy on one side of her mouth, so we rummaged up a Kleenex to wipe off her face. 

I said, “You were planning to put gravy on my cheek!” which of course made her giggle.

At 5:00 p.m. it was thundering, and a gentle rain was coming down.  We rarely receive ‘gentle rains’.  We were glad when it quit before time for the evening service, so we didn’t have to go dripping down the aisle like drowned rats.

Someone asked me about the geese I posted photos of last week, photos I had recently scanned.  I took the pictures at the Ft. Morgan, Colorado, park in August of 2000.  These are White Chinese geese, and that bump above the bill is called a ‘basal knob’.  In some species, the females don’t have one; but in the Chinese goose, both male and female have them, once they are mature.

After church last night, we came home, changed clothes, ate a quick supper, and then, on our way to Loren’s house, stopped at the Dairy Queen for banana splits.  There was a piece of paper taped to the outdoor lighted menu listing all the things they could not make on account of a lack of supplies.  Cheesecake Blizzards were on the list.  That was okay; we wanted banana splits.

Larry pulled up to the speaker, placed the order –

“We just ran out of bananas,” said the girl apologetically.

Aarrgghh!  We were all polished up for those things!

Larry told the girl, “Just give us the splits without the bananas, please.”

She acted surprised, but obliged.

Collecting our treats from the window, we hurried off to Hy-Vee, where we bought a cluster of bananas.  We then drove to Loup Park next to the powerhouse and right across the street from Loren’s house, parked beside the Loup Canal under a street light, and ate banana splits.  Mmmmm, yummy.

Double knockout rosebud

We then filled four cans with trash from Loren’s detached garage, and while I emptied out a tall old metal filing cabinet, Larry filled his pickup with things to bring home.  Why does that stuff expand, once we get it here?!  Too much stuff, too much stuff. 

This afternoon, I was supposed to go to the title company at 4:00 p.m. to sign the papers for the house.  But along about 3:00, I began getting warning notices about a big, bad storm that was approaching from the northwest.  It sported 60 mph winds, and had thrown down pingpong- and tennis-ball-sized hailstones. 

I finished washing the dishes and peered out the window, watching the dark clouds approach.  Thunder clapped, and fat raindrops started ker-plunking onto the porch.

Peony

I decided I’d rather arrive early and dry at the title company and sit in the waiting room for a while, rather than come sloshing in with water squishing between my toes with each step, and my hair streaming down my face and back.

I shoved my feet into sandals, grabbed my purse, and skedaddled out the door.  There was an umbrella in the Mercedes; but umbrellas aren’t much help when the winds are blowing at 60 mph.

When the rain came down in earnest halfway to town, I figured I was too late to arrive in any state of dryness; but I outdistanced the storm and walked into the building through only a few sprinkles.

I signed one paper after another, while the nice lady on the other side of the desk explained it all to me.  To my unedjeecated brain, she sounded exactly like adults sounded to Charlie Brown and his friends:  “Wah wah wah wah-wah-wah wah, wah wah wah-wah wah.”

At one point, she stopped and said, “You look like you have questions.”

I do?  What in the world makes me look like that?  Is there a question mark hovering over my head, or what?

I grinned at her.  “Oh, I have lots of questions!  But I just sign stuff and trust that everyone else knows what they’re doing.”

That made her laugh.  She thought I was kidding!  ha!

As she went through the pages, she remarked that she thought Roy was a ‘very nice young man’. 

I told her, “We think so, too.  We’ve known him since he was born, we’ve been friends with his parents and grandparents, my parents were friends with his grandparents and great-grandparents – and the same is true for his fiancée.”

It didn’t take long before all the papers were in order.  The lady gave me the check for the house, and I deposited it in Loren’s account on the way home.  Now we can rest easier about his long-term care.

Loren has not once mentioned his house since moving to the nursing home, nor has he asked about his vehicles.  Perhaps I should not be surprised about that, since he was telling me more and more often when I took him his meals that he wanted me to take him ‘home’; he wanted to ‘eat at home’.  He did not understand that he was home.

Clematis

Perhaps this lack of understanding made the transition to the nursing home easier.  I’m glad when I can clearly see that he is not at all unhappy.

After Larry got off work, Caleb followed him home, and Larry gave him his Cannondale road bike, along with a light and a helmet.  Larry has not used the bike for almost four years.

Then he drove out to Loren’s house and met Kurt there.  He gave Kurt an air compressor and a couple of other things, including a trouble light. 

“It was quite a trouble,” Larry told me, “getting him to take that trouble light!”  😄

Just a little more work, and we should be done with that garage.  We will leave a few items that Roy might like to have, and some things that he might need, such as spindles for the deck, and so forth.

Oh, my word!!!  I just figured out why the female cardinal is so often in the lilac bush beside the front window:  she has a nest in there!  She came flying in, ‘chip-chipping’ as she came, and then was suddenly silent.  I peeked out – and there she is, snuggling down on her nest.  🥰

A few days ago, I was awakened in the middle of the night by raccoons having some sort of a furry free-for-all fisticuffs (pawicuffs?) on the deck and in the back yard.  What a lot of whirring and chirring, fussing and feuding, squalling and bawling, growling and snarling!

Back to the photo-scanning!  Or photo-taking, perhaps.  😉

,,,>^..^<,,,           Sarah Lynn           ,,,>^..^<,,,