Catching up!

I don’t even know where to start,  i haven’t been able to get myself to write anything since Shelly passed away, that has been 3 years ago already.  Oh how my life has changed in this time.  I see things so differently now.  Shelly’s passing left an emptiness that no one or nothing else will ever be able to fill. Dr. Has diagnosed me with broken heart syndrome. I never knew that was a real thing before.  Life goes on, it will never be the same but we must go on living, even though I must admit that there have been plenty of times that I have thought I couldn’t go on. Some how God has given me the strength I need to make it though each day. I have learned we are given one day at a time, so I take it one day at a time or one step at a time which ever it takes to get though. The next morning, God willing I open my eyes, and am given another new day, a new start to try again.
     Last year was not a good year right from the start. On Dec. 5th we made a trip to Hutchinson to visit with Wayne’s sister, Sherry, who was not doing well. On the way home we hit a deer and totaled our car.  Then on Dec. 13th, my sister, Jodi fell on the ice and broke her femur.  She got home from the hospital on Dec. 21st. January started by having Jodi laid up,  then Paige, our great granddaughter,  had her adenoids  taken out on Jan. On the 12th.  Two days later her Mother, our granddaughter got shingles.  On the 17 th we had our baby  “ dog”   Stella spayed.  Two days later, on the 19 th, Wayne had his teeth pulled.  Then on March, 29 th  Wayne’s Uncle Buck passed away.  April 3rd, we went to Embarress, Mn.  to Bucky’s funeral.
     On April 4 th, I got the another shock to my system as I had been in to town for a hair cut. After I stopped up at the cemetery to spend a little time with Shelly. Then stopped over at my Mom’s  for a short visit.  On my way home as I came around the last curve  about 300 yards from our driveway, I came across a lady that had taken her own life. I would never wish that on anyone.  I don’t think I will ever be able to get that picture out of my mind.   I keep thinking how much Shelly would have loved to be here to watch her granddaughter grow up, and then someone else can take their own life like that, seems to belittle how important life is.  Guess it is something I will never understand, she had to be hurting so bad in order to do that, I can’t imagine how troubled she must have been.  My heart aches for her family.
     On Wed. June 12th, which would have been Shelly and Darby’s  9 th Anniversary, my Aunt, Barbara passed away.  She has been poorly for quite awhile.  But took an abrupt turn for the worse,  she passed away from  sepsis.  Her funeral was on June 17 th. The following Monday.  Darryl and Mary brought their camper out to our place and stayed the wk with us. We had a good time. That Thursday night during the night I got sick,  passed out while heaving and fell.  Got a real good shiner,  and hurt stomach.  Darryl and Marry left for home the following morning.   The next Thurs. June 27th,  I took a turn for the worse and Wayne took me to TRF to Dr.  They transferred me by ambulance to Fargo, where they did surgery on me ASAP.  I had two perforated ulcers and a tear in my intestines. I was full of infection, an had sepsis. They told me I wouldn’t have made it through the day.  I was in the hospital for 2 wks.  Got home from the hospital on July 11 th.  But had 3 drains coming out of my stomach.  Got them out about a month later.  Then found out that they found I have an aneurism in a main artery at the entrance to my              .
     On August 12th,  Wayne’s sister Sherry passed away. We went to Hutchinson for her funeral which was 18 & 19 th of Aug.  on August  28 th I met with  Heart Surgeon, Dr. Tygen, in Fargo. Then on September 17 th,  I had surgery to see what they could do with that aneurysm. They had 3 different things they wanted to do, but were only able to do one, which was to place some coils around it to hopefully take some of the pressure of the artery.  They were able to find out that I had it in 2014, but no one had caught it. I can thank Dr Vogels, my surgeon for my stomach for finding it.  But anyways they can tell just how much it had grown since 2014.  They pretty much told me that it is like having a ticking time bomb in there.  They lots of time burst at 20 whatever that means, and mine is right there at 20. So I have learned that each and every day I get is truly a gift from God.  I am so thankful each day to wake up and open my eyes and realize He has given me one more day.
     So last year was really not a good year and now we are in 2020.  Uffda! Corona Virus, What can I say. We have been  keeping ourselves pretty much quarantined ever since the middle of March.  So it has been about 6-7 wks now. Seems longer, we  usually don’t mind staying home but when you are told you have to stay home it isn’t as fun. Can think of all kinds of places I would like to go.  This wk I have been busy making masks,  for family, friends and neighbors.  I made 56 of them. Quit now for awhile, have been working on new curtains for kitchen and craft room today.
     This evening our granddaughter, Kodie made and delivered supper to us. Her new guy and two little ones and sister Kassandra were with.  We had to keep our “social distance” of six feet apart. But got to visit around the campfire for awhile. Was so good to see them all.  Oh how I miss being able to  hug.  It is so hard not to be able to give those little ones some hugs and loving.  The supper was delicious, Swedish meatballs, gravy, mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. Very Good.  What a precious gift!   Speaking of precious gifts, I received another precious gift this week.  My neighbor and friend, Carol  made me the softest beautiful  gnome quilt ever. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT.  Life is GOOD!  Full of precious surprises and moments.

     I think by getting people and families to stay home, social distance, God is really bringing families together, they are actually learning how to do things and enjoy things together. Which is a huge Blessing in disguise.   I Thank God for this day and my family.  He is so Good all the time!  We, I know I have said this before but maybe nw that I have broken the ice again, I will get on here more often.  Thanks for having patience with me.  Love and Hugs for this old gal in the woods. Goodnight and sleep well.🌷💜🌷💜🌷

Shock and heartbreak comes to our family

Okay, so I haven't written in quite a while. We have had a devastating shock to our family. On Mar. 14th our son-in-law, Darby came home from work that afternoon to find our daughter, his wife, Shelly had passed away unexpectedly. Our lives were pretty much turned upside down and inside out.  Shelly had been working from home since last August, as she has been having lots of back pain and been doing lots of Doctoring. In fact I had been with her two weeks before this to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, where she had been through 6 days full of testing, poking and proddings.  They found that she had been misdiagnosed so took her off the strong medications she was on.  Now they told her she had deterioration of the spine and the worst they had seen for anyone her age. She also had an aneurism in her heart and her heart was beating way faster than it should be. But they sent her home and told her both medications she had been on are known for speeding up the heart so could be to blame for that, so they wanted to give it 6 wks for all that medication to get out of her system, then they would recheck. For her spine they gave her infusions in her spine 2 days in a row, a total of 5. The guy told me when he brought Shelly back out to the waiting room after them that she was one strong Cooky, she had about the highest tolerance of pain he had seen, as most people don't take those infusions like she did, as he patted her on the shoulder.  But the cause of her death as we have been told was something all together different from what she has been battling these past few months. She died from a pulmenary ambulism. Which is a blood clot that traveled from her heart to her lungs, they say she was probably gone before she hit the floor. Oh how I hope they know what they are talking about. I have to keep telling myself that what they say is so, I couldn't bear the thought of her suffering. This has been the greatest shock in my life. Shelly was my go to person for everything. She lived only 3/4 mile from us we spent so much time together.  We spent many evenings riding around the woods with our atvs together. This past winter and even this spring we would have a few games of whist or rummy just about every evening. Some nights she would be in so much pain that she could hardly hang on to her cards, she was shaking so bad, but loved playing cards and I think it maybe helped her through the pain as it helped her take her mind off the pain for a bit.  As I look back I know that girl really suffered the past year, but she never really complained. I know she was really sick and tired of being sick and tired, as sleep was something else she got very little of. Guess if nothing else I can be thankful that she is no longer suffering and in pain.  But I miss her so much, my heart aches for her and for the day I will get to see her again.  The time since her passing has been like a whirlwind, life keeps on going when in my heart and mind I feel like I'm at a standstill and everything is going on around me.. I go through the motions but really it all feels like a dream I have a hard time remembering so many things. I never knew that when people spoke about a broken heart and the loss of loved ones that you really do feel an actual pain and ache in your chest, at times I have thought maybe I was having a heart attack it hurts so bad, I can't explain it any other way but than it  feels like a part of my heart has been ripped out of my chest, it hurts so I find myself gripping my chest at times.  I have lost several loved ones before, But this time has been so different, this was my baby, my little girl, it is not the way life is supposed to be. Parents are supposed to go before thier children, they are not supposed to have to bury thier children, no matter how old they are it is just not right. Having make her funeral arrangements and pick out her casket, all those things she was supposed to be the one doing that for us. This is just not right. I am so proud of my family they stepped up and really did an awesome job, for Shelly. I am so thankful for them each and every one. We are so very blessed, our family is so close, so loving, thoughtful and kind. I can't begin to put into words the love I hold in my heart for each and everyone of them.  They did a wonderful job making the plans and doing so many things that made her funeral day one that she would be so proud of, I know she was smiling that day for sure...  Enough of this for tonight, I will try write more on all this later. Goodnight world.

That Time of Year Again.

     Here it is another deer hunting season come and almost gone.. I have never been quite into this hunting thing. I didn't grow up in a family where hunting was ever a big thing. My Dad was never a "hunter" so to speak. He did go deer hunting one time with some friends up North of Salol, he got turned around and was lost for 13 hours, it was way late into the night when he finally made his way, by the sound of car horns, out to a trail. He was soaking wet, cold and getting pretty frantic by that time. He said he wasn't scared until the wolves started howling. Then his mind went into full gear, He never went hunting again.
      My Grandpa Dewey would hunt, but his hunting was never made a big deal either. He would always get his deer, usually right close to home. They always kidded him, he bought a big box of shells when he bought his rifle and had got a deer with each bullet that was gone from that box. He was a good shot, and always hunted for the meat more so than for fun.
     When I was 13, Our neighbor's son and my close friend, Timmy was shot while hunting. I remember sitting with him on the school bus the night before. All he could talk about was how as soon as he got home they were packing and moving to the woods for the big hunt. He was so excited to go hunting. The next morning the phone rang before I was even out of bed, I can still see the look on Mom's face, pure shock, when she told us Timmy had been shot. That was one of the lowest and worst times I went through during my childhood.  What an empty space one person can leave in your heart.  It is hard to imagine how quickly a person can be GONE FOREVER!  That is a pretty good reason for me to not be a fan of guns and hunting.
     Needless to say I had kind of a hard time realizing what a big deal hunting season is to some people,  especially when I met Wayne and found out just what a big deal it was in their family. They would move to the woods for the whole season, staying in campers. Hunting seemed to be the only thing on their minds for those two weeks every November. When we were about to be married that was the only stipulation, I was never to come between him and his hunting.  There were times I felt sorry for myself, and really felt like he put hunting before me and the kids. Over time I have come to realize what a special time this was for the guys, and after all, they were all family too. When I sit back and listen to them reminiscing and telling stories of hunting seasons past, I see first hand what a treasure it is for them to have these memories. I even have tried the if you can't win em join em effect, I found I loved sitting in the stand watching the deer. I even did shoot one, one time we were hunting by home and someone had wounded a deer, I was told to "go to the highway and don't let him cross the highway!" Yea right! When I get to the highway the deer has already crossed and is heading for the next woods. Guess what I do, cause I'm just a dummy at hunting and don't even know the rules. I shoot right out the pickup window, and miss of course. The deer goes into the woods, now what does jolly miss hunter do? Better follow, can't let it get away. So brave me goes into the woods, I'm just about to step over a fallen tree when Oooops, up jumps the deer, she was laying right on the other side that tree, I had almost stepped on her. Better take it a little easier. I get just about through the woods and there she is, laying down again, poor thing, now what do I do, I have to try remember how Wayne told me to shoot this gun. I have to put this poor girl out of her misery. I aim for right behind her ear shut my eyes and pull the trigger. Then I start to shake, and cry don't think I will ever get over that feeling of actually killing that innocent  deer. Never again, It is just not in my blood. Sorry guys.
     We moved to the big woods ten years ago, and hunting season has changed drastically for my guys ever since. No more hunting camp, as so many of the hunters have passed away or moved away.  It will never be the same. Wayne hunts pretty much alone these days, he goes out right from the house, and sits in his stand or goes for a ride or walk around the woods. It will never be the same. Our kids and grand kids all hunt, but they pretty much hunt with their families and have gone their own ways. I sometimes wonder, if it is because we live right here in the woods, not far from where they always had their camp, or what. Our daughter's family usually hunts up by her husband's folks, north of Greenbush and our son and his kids usually hunt by their place south of Wannaska. They probably have better luck in the farm country especially this year as the weather is so beautiful,  in the 70's.  Sometimes my heart aches for Wayne, but he just seems to be happy hunting. He loves his quiet time in the woods. But deep down I know he misses the good old days too. He never complains.
      Sunday marked 20 years since my Dad passed away, it was kind of ironic as his funeral was on the first day of hunting season, The guys had to put off their hunt for a day. The next day Merribeth, Shane's first wife got her first deer, a beautiful twelve point buck. They always thought maybe Dad had something to do with that, he really had a soft spot for Merribeth, and he knew what hunting season meant to them all.  Two years later, my cousin, Dale passed away from cancer. The guys had always said that someday they were going to get a buck right from the camper. No one had ever seen one from the camper until that deer season following Dale's passing when the guys were sitting in camp having coffee and Wayne says there is your buck,  Jerome get your gun. Jerome got his buck right from camp that year. I think maybe there was some help from Dale that time...
     Sunday evening Darby, our son-in-law,  got a nice ten point and last night our grandson, Hunter got a nice ten point. So there was some excitement, for sure. They are busy making treasured memories, to be told in the future. I will probably never get a love for hunting, but I sure do love my hunters and all their treasured stories for sure. Below are pictures of Grandson Hunter and his buck, and our Son, Shane, Grandson Hunter and Great Grandson Nash with Hunter's buck.

Another Year Older

I had a wonderful Birthday, oh my goodness how the time does fly when we are having so much fun!  Ole & Shelia were here in the morning for coffee and blueberry cake. They brought me a basket of garden goodies, carrots, potatoes red, yellow and green peppers, tomatoes, potatoes and an onion. Also a jar of crab apple jelly she had made from their crab apples, what a great gift, I love it. Kayla is bear hunting so Jemma spent the day with me.  Kodie, Nash and Paige came out in the early afternoon.  Us five gals made a trip into town to make a few errands in the afternoon had to bring my stuff up to the church for the annual meatball supper Saturday night. Then we stopped by Mom's for a bit, she got to see those two little ones a little and even held Jemma the whole time we were there.  Shelly, Darby, Shane & Melanie brought out supper, Jake's Pizza, potato salad from Earl's, ice cream from the Dairy Queen and Melanie made Sunshine Cake for dessert. I over ate for sure but, it sure was good at the time. I also got so many nice gifts, a box Lori made me from cd cases, pretty neat. A lantern/candle from Mom, bottle of wine from Kayla, Tyrin and Jemma,  Beautiful flowers from Kassandra and JimBob, Tickets to go see Oak Ridge Boys Christmas Show on Nov. 27th and a bottle of wine from Shelly & Darby, Bear Welcome sign and a bear/tree cut out picture from Shane & Melanie, Kodie had Luella Erickson, my first grade teacher "favorite  teacher" call me over messenger, so we could see each other while we talked, that really made my bday special.. I got a beautiful towel set from Jodi and Jerome.  So many phone calls and cards from, Nadine & Dave, Darryl & Mary, Cheryl & Doug, Diane Anderson, Rhonda Rothenberger and Linda Simmons to name a few...  Also 180 some birthday wishes over FB. Very humbling to say the least, to think that so many and each one has played a part in some way in this journey of mine. Made this old gals day, that is for sure.

Hey, I'm back!

  Wow, this blog business has sure been put on the back burner. It has been just about 2 years since I last  posted in here. Man I don't know where to begin so much has happened in this time… We now have 3 great grandchildren.  Granddaughter, Kodie has two, Nash is 3 and Paige is 17 months. They are real sweethearts, and there is never a dull moment when they are around.  Granddaughter, Kayla was married October 3, 2015 to Tyrin Hagen. They gave birth to our newest great-granddaughter, Jemma on June 2nd 2016. She weighed in at 10lbs. 3oz. and lots of dark hair.. She is a real cutie.
  My Husband, Wayne or I refer to him as "W" retired in June so has been a real busy summer around here.  Lots of catching up to get done, off the to do list that have been waiting for the "someday when I retire" to get done.  Also seems the is always so much to do, and so little time to do it, Guess we must just be getting that much slower in our "Older Age".  We sure are having fun trying though.
W has bought himself a horse and joined the Roseau Co. Posse last year. He is loving spending time with our son, Shane and grandson, Hunter riding horse and in the posse. Also he has been spending a lot of time helping them with the haying and farm work, which never seems to come to an end this year. There has been so much rain, that they have been having a lot of trouble getting the haying done. Hope we can see and end to that in the coming week.
  This summer has been unusually hot, humid and rainy. Today I am thankful for the cooler weather, fall is upon us, it is the 1st day of September already. We went for a ride in old big red this evening, it was quite cool, only 50 degrees. It is suppose to get down to the low 40's tonight, won't be long and there will be frost on the pumpkins.  Uffda!
   I am posting a picture of my latest project.  I have been doing so much crocheting for babies and hats for the little ones the past few years that I wanted to try something a little bit different, I had fun doing it and am loving the way it turned out. I will more than likely give it away, don't know who to yet. But will just enjoy looking at it for awhile first.
I am really going to try to make an effort to do a much better job at posting in here. So will see what happens, it's so easy to put off. But this has been on the back burner far too long. I really want to give this a better shot.  But for now I think I should try to get some sleep. Good Night all
Love & Hugs from this old gal in the North Woods.

Wow another summer has past us by

     Wow, Summer has came and went.  Now it is fall and old man winter is knocking on the door… It feels good to have the old wood stove fired up again, that is for sure.  Lots of changes for our family over the past months. Our daughter, Shelly and her husband Darby moved into their new home, up here in the woods, only about a half mile down the road from us. Our son Shane and his wife, Melanie bought from Shelly and Darby and moved into their new home by Wannaska, so they are now a lot closer to us as well. We are so very blessed to have our kids and families all so close by. I'm very thankful for that…
     Our neighbors, Dave and Nadine sold their place to Shelly and Darby, and they moved to their new home just on the east edge of Roseau.  Our other neighbor, Theda Borren moved to her new home in Thief River Falls. And our sister and brother, Jodi and Jerome bought a place just across the road from us, so will get to see them much more often now too. That will be their wkd home away from home, cabin in the woods.
     Also babies, babies, babies are in the air and soon to be everywhere… Our niece Alison and Garrett, were surprised, with the early birth of their son, Jackson on September 8th. He  weighed in at 6lbs. so was pretty good size for being at least 5 wks early. He wasn't due to arrive until October 14th.  All is well and we are so thankful for that.  Also more babies are expected to arrive in the coming months. Catherine and Aaron are expecting their first child now the first part of November.  Then our great niece, Jennifer and Mike are expecting their first, the end of December. It's a boy… Then niece Ashley and Nano are expecting a baby sister for Teagan in February around Valentine's Day.  And our Granddaughter, Kodie and Josiah are expecting a baby brother or sister for Nash, due sometime in March.. So we have lots to look forward to in the coming months…
     Wayne has been busy getting his trapping gear lined up today, it won't be long and he will be in full swing with that again.. Hope all goes well for him this year, he is excited as he got drawn for a wolf tag so hope he has good luck…
     Granddaughter Kassandra is in her second year at MSUM. She seems to be liking it and all is going well for her. She is home this wkd and was out this evening for a while,  so good to see her for a bit today..
     Granddaughter Mikenna is a senior this year, hard to believe how fast these kids grow up. She keeps busy with sports and working at the Holiday Station and also spending time with her boyfriend, Kameron.
     Granddaughter Kayla is working at Polaris and has a very nice boyfriend, Tyren. They have moved into a trailer house together, just outside of town.
     Grandson Hunter will turn 15 in December and has taken a big interest in rodeos and horses, and really enjoys spending time with his horses and hunting whenever he can.
      Granddaughter Kodie and her guy, Josiah are living in an apartment in Roseau, Kodie works as a guard at Polaris and Josiah work west of Roseau at Intercept Inc.
     Granddaughter Anna is living in Thief River Falls, and is working at Arctic Cat.
     Grandson Bryant is living in Grand Forks and is working for a place that makes those big wind mills, he is a welder there…
     Our kids, Shane, Melanie, Shelly and Darby all are still working at Polaris.   Shelly just got back a couple wks ago from spending a couple wks working in Poland helping to get a new plant up and running there, for Polaris.
    I'm just busy being me, go wherever the Lord sends me each day, seems someone needs me for something even though I can't do a whole lot, it keeps me busy and out of trouble, most of the time….
   That's about it for now, it's a little catch up on what has been going on in our little neck of the woods…  I really need to try to do better at this and get at it more often we will see, no promises, that is for sure…  I'm signing off for now, good night all..
 

Wow, the time goes by so fast, already March 10th,  this old gal has a hard time keeping up. We have been celebrating more birthdays, last Sat. Mar. 1st was our granddaughter, Kayla's 20th birthday, that day would've also been my Dad's 84th birthday, it's hard to believe he has been gone for almost 18 years already.  Then on the 3rd we celebrated our son, Shane's 42nd birthday. Uffda, but that one makes me feel my age. But I'm so blessed to be able to be here and see him be a wonderful father and to watch him  become a grandpa and to see his hair turning grey.
     We had Shane, Melanie, Hunter, Shelly, Darby, Kodie & Nash out for supper, and to celebrate Shane's birthday.  I fixed Uffda Tacos and made a german chocolate cake for dessert.  We had a good time, and so much fun with little Nash, he is getting to be a blast to watch,  he says hi now and loves playing hide'n seek with Hunter.. Hunter would hide behind the bar, Nash would slowly sneak up to the bar and peak around the corner, he new Hunter was about to scare him, but he would about jump out of his skin every time, turn on a dime and run over to me for protection, his little feet would hardly touch the floor.  We all laughed and laughed, I got simply weak from laughing…  Good medicine for the soul, for sure.
     Mar 6th was our step-granddaughter, Mikenna's 17th birthday.   Also got some sad news as Marlys Hulst passed away on the 6th, she had a massive heart attack.
     Friday the 7th, Wayne and I went to Fargo to shop for a vehicle. On the way we stopped by  the home in Roseau first,  so I could tell Adeline about Marlys. She set me aback as  I know she has been getting more confused as time goes by, but this was about the worst, that I have noticed, When I told of Marlys' passing,  she said "Marlys Saage?  Oh no, whatever will Clarence do now?"  I really didn't know what to say as Clarence passed away many years ago.  She said that twice.  Sure is hard to watch someone, especially a loved one, when they are starting to loose touch with the world as we know it.  I know I sure feel helpless and makes you just want to give them a hug and hang on tight.
     Well, anyways we set out for Fargo after that, and had some real nasty roads, covered with snow & hard drifts and blowing snow so it was real hard to see all the way to Drayton, ND. which is about 65 miles,  there we turned onto the interstate and then it gradually got better, by the time we got to Grand Forks, they were pretty good. When we got to Fargo, they had hardly any snow, what a difference a few miles can make.  It was almost 6:00 p.m. when we finally got there, as Wayne had went in to work at 2:00 am so it was almost noon when he got home from work and then we decided to go.  We checked into the motel and then went and cruised the car lots, pretty much found what we were looking for, picked up a burger and took back to the motel. Then went back the next morning to see if we could make a deal.  About 4 hours later, we had made a deal, traded off out good pickup, which was really the nicest vehicle we have ever owned, but we just didn't feel ourselves in it.  Think it was too fancy for us country folk.  We need an older pickup, that we don't need to be scared that it might get a scratch if the dog rides in the back and one that Wayne can use to haul wood and things.  We had thought we would like that nice pickup for pulling the camper, and thought we might like to do some camping once Wayne retires, but with the price of gas, campsites, and not to mention the work involved, we are now thinking that we might just as well stay at a motel, if and when we ever decide to go on any trips.  So a change of plans, meant a change in vehicles and we came home each driving one, Wayne a 2003 chevy pickup and me driving a 2011 Expedition.  Pretty nice, but by the time we were done dealing we were both feeling so punk,  that we couldn't even enjoy the drive home.
     Sunday, neither one of us is feeling much better today, coughing like mad, and such sinus, I sure do hate getting these colds, thought maybe we were going to make it through this winter without one, but not quite that lucky…  We did take a ride over to Warroad and met up with Shelly, Darby, Kayla and her friend, Cole for supper. So that was good, just to get out and get some fresh air, it is the nicest day we've had since last summer, got to about 36 degrees today and beautiful sunshine… Love it, gives one Spring fever, for sure.
     Today we were blessed with another beautiful day got just about to 40 degrees today, so good to see  and feel a little warmth from the sunshine… We took Wayne's (new-to-us) pickup for a ride in the woods today, Gunda got to even go with and ride in the back, she loved it.  Seen lots of deer, even they are loving this nice weather, it's been a long time coming.  Much appreciated, for sure… Thank You Lord…
     Also got news today as we got a new member to the "Holland Family" side,  Dakota Mae Grewen was born at 11:02 this morning. CONGRATS goes out to the proud parents, Addison and Emily Grewen,  grandparents, Kim and George Ransom and great grandpa Donnie Turner…. So happy for them, all went well and there waiting is finally over, she was 2 wks overdue so it was time for  precious little princess to make her appearance.
     Today also would've been Grandma Tillie's 102nd birthday,  oh my, how I miss her so…  Happy Birthday Grandma,  "I love you more today than yesterday and more tomorrow than today."  That was one of her favorite says to us when we would spend the night at her house and it was bedtime, that's how she would say good night and when she would sign our birthday cards etc…  Now I find myself using it at those times…  Love & miss her more than any words can say…..
     I'm signing off for tonight, this is a little catch up of how our world turns up here in this neck of the woods this past wk.  Until we meet again...