Journal: Garage is Done... & Remembering Aleutia's Puppies

Until a friend mentioned it a few days ago, I had forgotten that at least two of our children, when they first started talking, well before the age of one, said words backwards.  Keith was just 6 or 7 months old when he said “GUB!” and waved a hand wildly at a bug.  Joseph, at about age 1, called our friend Tom, ‘Mot’. 

Hester would take the ‘s’ off the front of a word that started with an s and another consonant or two, and put it at the tail.  For example, she said ‘poonce’ for ‘spoon’, ‘tuffs’ for ‘stuff’, ‘tickers’ for ‘sticker’, ‘tripes’ for ‘stripe’, ‘coolce’ for ‘school’, ‘nakes’ for ‘snake’, ‘treets’ for ‘street’.

She was a little past one year old when, sitting in her high chair, she requested in her sweet little voice, “Me mores?”

As usual, I promptly said, “Can you say, ‘May I have some more, please?’”

And she, little parrot that she was, immediately stated, “May I have some more, please?”

“Ohhhh, you ruined it!” howled Larry.

haha

That was about 32 years ago, for Wednesday, June 08, was Hester’s 33^rd birthday.

Because she and Andrew had gotten me and other members of the family soft Irish wool scarves when they went to Ireland a few years ago, and Hester had once remarked that she wished she would’ve gotten herself one, too, I hunted for one on eBay.  I couldn’t find any large rectangular Irish scarves like she had given me, but I found this Merino wool cable knit button-wrap scarf by Aran Woolen Mills in Ireland.

We also gave her a frosted glass globe paperweight, a wicker and wood handled basket, a hair clip from Lilla Rose, and a silver brooch.

That afternoon, I returned to the title company to sign one more paper that got overlooked Monday.  I paid the bills, including one of Loren’s for his monthly medication, Sertraline.  It’s a small amount – under $15 a month – as his insurance pays the rest.  It appears to be working very well for him.

Tuesday night, I worried about the little female cardinal on her nest in the lilac bush just outside the kitchen window, as we were having 55-60-mph winds.  It was too dark to see the nest or the bird, but the bush was sure getting blown violently about.  But the nest held on, and the bird was still in it the next day, so I guess all is well, though I do believe that nest is a little the worse for wear.  Still, it’s amazing how tough those frail-looking nests really are, isn’t it?

Wednesday evening, I sent a note to Hester, telling her there would be a gift bag for her in the Mercedes.  

And then, when church was over, I got all involved doling out notebooks and stickers and glossy one-sheet calendars to small Tucker grandchildren who look a lot like they belong to me.  😉  That was Jonathan, Ian, and Malinda.  I told Jacob I had something for him, too, but it was home on my dresser, as it needed batteries.

It only took those few minutes of visiting to make me forget all about Hester’s gift.  I walked out of the church, climbed into my car, and departed without making sure she had retrieved the bag.

Larry, having gotten home from work late, had come later in his pickup.  He arrived in time to finish singing the second song.

My sister Lura Kay has been sick.  Robert asked us to pray for her.  They think she has a virus that settled in her back.  She’s in quite a lot of pain.

When we got home, we changed clothes and then hurried off to get some batteries for the thingamagidget I wanted to give Jacob.  It was a little electronic thing about the size of my hand, with a keyboard and other buttons on it – and it has the entire King James Version Bible on it.  It needed the flat disc type of batteries.  We got a couple, stuck them in the gadget, and went to Jeremy and Lydia’s house to give it to Jacob.

After dropping off Hester’s birthday present (and getting a huge hug from Keira), we did some grocery shopping at Super Saver, then went home for a late supper.

I’ve gone from scanning albus with photos taken in 2000 to an album from 1992-93.  Here are the children’s school pictures, taken in October of 1992.  Keith was 12, Hannah 11, Dorcas 10, Teddy 9, and Joseph 7.

One time when Joseph was a wee little guy, we drove past a lake, and he pointed out something blue floating in the water.  “What is that?” he asked.

“It’s a buoy,” answered Larry.

There was a bit of contemplative silence.

Then, “Are the pink ones ‘girls’?” queried Joseph.

Thursday afternoon I received the notice:  the New York Beauty quilt has been accepted in the Grand Rapids AQS Quilt Show.  The show will be held August 17-20.  We are not planning to attend the show.

I walked into the laundry room to put a load of clothes into the dryer and start another in the washer, and discovered that the Mandevilla from Jeremy and Lydia was blooming like anything.  Isn’t it pretty?

I finished scanning an album and started on the next, passing the 29,000-photo mark.

Here’s what our kiddos looked like at Christmas time in 1992: Teddy, 9; Keith, 12; Joseph, 7; Hannah (holding Calico Kitty), 11; Hester, 3; Lydia, 1; Dorcas, 10; and Aleutia the Siberian husky.  I sewed the girls’ dresses – velvet bodices and taffeta moiré skirts and sleeves – and the boys’ suits.

Some friends were sharing pictures of their vegetable gardens.  One lady had a big, healthy stand of rhubarb.  Just looking at the photo gave me lockjaw!  I love rhubarb.  Rhubarb sauce on soft vanilla ice cream... rhubarb-strawberry (or peach or blueberry) pie... rhubarb-apple crisps or cobbler... 

I had a stand of it for a while, but a harsh winter and spring killed it.  Then the following year I found it again!  Figuring it had reseeded somehow, I carefully tended it.

It grew up to be... burdock weed. 😦🤣

Once I planted several rows of corn.  It was all stunted because of bad soil.  Only one lonesome stalk had an ear on it.

And then Victoria, at age 6, picked it, when it was only about 5” long!  She came joyfully skipping into the house, waving the ear of corn, and laughing, “I found a baby corn on the cob!”

She looked quite crestfallen when I informed her that it had not been ready to pick.  Feeling like the Wicked Witch of the West, I assured her, “It’s okay; you’ll still be able to eat it.”  

I cooked it – just enough – put lots of butter on it, and let her have it for supper.  She was delighted, and let me have a teeny, tiny bite, just to assure me that it really was good. 😅

Here’s a picture I scanned that day.  I was 31, and it may have been Easter; not sure.  Get a load of those sleeves!

The weather system in a nearby town was out of order for the last week, and was registering temperatures over 200° several days in a row.  Our weather announcer told the populace to get out of town, quick – and then hastily assured everyone he was kidding, kidding.  There are always those literal folks who just hang around, ready and waiting to spoil a good joke.

On February 7 (or maybe a day or two earlier), 1993, our Siberian husky, Aleutia, had two puppies.  After I got Aleutia and the pups settled nicely in the half-bath off the kitchen, I called Hester, 3 ½, to come in there.  “Be very quiet,” I whispered.

She immediately tiptoed.

Coming to the door, she stopped abruptly and stood stock-still.  “Puppies,” she breathed.

She stood and watched and watched.

It wasn’t long before the older children came home from school.

“I walked in there,” she told a couple of her brothers, “and Aleutia had puppies!”  She turned both small palms up.  “And they hadn’t been in there, just a little while before!”  She looked at them hard, contemplating.  “She must’ve gotten them out of the cupboard!” she decided, and then stared when they burst out laughing.

Here she is, holding one of the puppies, when it was just 3 or 4 days old.  

Hester with Chukchi

We named one puppy Yakutat and the other Chukchi.  They would not keep those names.  The friend who adopted the little female puppy Hester is holding named her ‘Ollie’.  (No, I don’t know why.  I asked her – the girl, not the puppy – and she didn’t know, either.  And no, it’s not short for ‘Olivia’, nor ‘Olympia’, nor yet ‘Olga’.)  Loren and Janice adopted the male puppy with the mostly black face.  They named him ‘Bullet’.

I got 186 pictures scanned Friday.

One day last week, I got a phone call a nurse who works with the doctor who cares for the residents of Prairie Meadows.  She told me all was well with Loren; she was only calling to tell me that she would be calling me from now on after they visit Loren, in order to let me know how he’s doing.  That’s good.  I have disliked the lack of information; but I know they’ve had trouble keeping nursing homes staffed for the last two years.  Everyone has more than their fair share of work to do.  I don’t want to be the one complaining; I want to be the one showing the staff that I appreciate their work.  It isn’t an easy job.

Joseph with Yakutat

I didn’t visit Loren Saturday, as I usually do.  I’ve had a stomachache for two or three days.  I have no idea if it’s contagious, and I’d sure hate to make him sick.  Some of our children have been sick, too; so I imagine whatever it is, it’s contagious.

Since we didn’t go to Omaha, Larry was able to finish cleaning Loren’s garage out, at least as much as needed.  Whatever is left will be Roy’s or his father Tim’s. 

I got 100 pictures scanned Saturday, bringing the total up to 29,406.

Teddy with Yakutat

It’s 91° here, and the poor little mama cardinal is not sitting on her eggs, but, rather, standing over them, wings outstretched, to keep them as cool as possible, and to prevent the evening sun from shining on them through the leaves.  She’s panting, in order to keep herself cool.

Tomorrow will be hotter than today – and the strong winds we’ve had has broken both of my bird baths, so the birds don’t have that way of cooling off.  😕

Wow, I just found that little electronic Bible on Amazon, and it’s $394.00!!  Good grief.

I scrolled down to read the reviews.  After several complimentary ones, someone wrote, “This isn’t worth $275!!!  Barely $50.”  Evidently the price has gone up since he wrote that.  I really don’t think they make these little devices anymore.

This was one of the few things in Loren’s house for which we didn’t find a box, instructions on how to put it together, more instructions on how to use it, warranty and guarantee papers, and the original receipt – all marked, IMPORTANT! KEEP!

We found stacks and stacks of 25-year-old instructions on how to put their various pieces of furniture and appliances together.  I’ll bet that came in handy for all those times they took things apart and put them back together again!

Here are Jeremy and Andrew.  The pictures were taken on February 14, 1993.  They would both become our sons-in-law in August of 2008, the weddings eight days apart.

Hester, who is also sick today, wrote to ask how I was feeling.

Now, my mother taught me that ‘How are you’ is a salutation, not a request for a doctor’s report.  The answer is ‘fine’.  “Just say ‘fine’!” she admonished.

That’s stornry good advice.  But it’s different when it’s your own daughter, right?  Especially when you’re exchanging health reports, right?  Right.  😊  I told her how I am:

I feel kinda ‘UGH’.  Like that.  😂

I keep thinking, Surely there’s something I could eat to make me feel better!

So I try frozen blackberries, red raspberries, and blueberries. 

Nope.  That wasn’t the ticket.

I try Townhouse flatbread sea salt and olive oil crisps with The Laughing Cow spreadable cheese wedges, creamy, light, and MADE WITH REAL CHEESE!!!  (Thanks, Caleb and Maria.)

Nope.  That wasn’t any good, either.

I try some scrumptious, Tropicana orange juice with pulp.

YIKES!  That was definitely not good.  I gulp a bit of Mylanta.

Okay, now I’ve recovered enough to try some Reser’s Fine Foods Red Skin Potato Salad.  “Delicious year-round!” it assures me on the lid.

Bleah.  They lie.

Daddy’s going to bring me some diet Mt. Dew and Campbell’s chunky chicken noodle soup.

I might be sick, but I ain’t a-gonna get skinny any time soon, huh-uh, nosiree!

I hope you’re feeling better soon.  Mamas aren’t supposed to get sick!  Just ask Baby Oliver!

Love,

Mama

 

 

Yakutat

Look what I just read in an old journal:

 

Caleb discovered a newly-wrapped present, a big one, addressed to him, under the tree.  He studied the tag.

“Hey!” he said in excitement, “It’s to me!” He frowned.  “What else does it say?” he asked.  “I can’t read it if there are too many words,” he explained.

Teddy read it to him.  “It says, ‘To Caleb, from Daddy, Mama, and kids.”

“Oh,” responded Caleb.

He wandered away, and was heard commenting quietly to himself, “I have a present from Daddy, Mama, and some little baby goats.”

Chukchi

One evening, Caleb was eating a slice of ham.  He pulled off the rind, and ate it.

“I ate the crust right off my ham!” he remarked.

(I quickly trimmed the rest for him.  Yuck.)

Later, he was dipping a carrot into the vegetable dip.  Hannah, feeling mischievous, quickly gave his hand a small push, causing him to get a bit of dip on his thumb.  Caleb was amazed.  This sister of his is usually so helpful!

“Hannah!”

He licked off his thumb, and sat crunching his carrot, smiling at her, until she, unsuspectingly, dipped her carrot.

Quicker’n a wink, SQUISH!  He pushed her hand down suddenly until every single knuckle was covered with dip.

Hannah was amazed.  “Caleb!” she gasped.

He giggled.

Joseph came into the room just then.

“Look what Caleb did to me!” exclaimed Hannah, holding out her hand for Joseph to see.

Joseph, surprised, asked Caleb, “Why’d you do that?”

Caleb answered in typical four-year-old rationality, “Because she was dipping her carrot.”

Hannah laughed.  “Why else?” she asked her little brother.

Caleb grinned.  In triumphant tone, he replied, “Because she did it to me!!”

Everybody went on munching their carrots.

Then, smiling at his sister, Caleb told her, “I like you, Hannah!--you’re lots of fun!”

 

This little puppy wasn’t even 10 days old, her eyes barely beginning to open, when her spunky nature was revealing itself.  Here she is, toothless, but attempting to take a big hunk out of her very own mother’s face.

But look at Aleutia’s face in the next picture.  Isn’t that the height of patience and doggy love?  That dog could nail and dispatch a bunny or a squirrel before they could blink.  And yet she never failed to be gentle and tolerant with her puppies.

For the last time, we put out trashcans at Loren’s house tonight – well, it’s Roy’s house, now – for the garbagemen to pick up in the morning.  Or maybe we put out garbage cans for the trashmen to pick up.  One way or a-tuther.  Tomorrow after work, Larry will pick up the garbage cans that are ours, put the one that will be Roy’s back in the garage, and we’ll be all done.  That is, except for switching the trash bill into Roy’s name... and except for paying the people who will be redoing the roof and gutters.  Then we’ll be done.

Here’s plucky little Chukchi, yapping at the camera I was pointing into her face.  

And there’s the calmer little Yakutat, who had learned to say, “ARROOOOOOOOooooo!” just like his mama, albeit in a higher octave than she.  Can you see that his little mouth is open in an ‘O’ shape?

And now I shall take my queasy self to bed.  Neither the diet Mt. Dew nor the Campbell’s chunky chicken noodle soup helped much.

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