Happy Leap Year!

I was going to try and upload a picture of one of our animals "leaping" for this post. I got this half-way decent picture of Pelé, but wish I had a photo of Linus that Mara took of him "leaping" off our deck - it was pretty cool! I also remember pictures of Maddie (Rob's dog) leaping off the deck into the lake. This one is pretty lame compared to those, and my dogs don't leap much, but Happy Leap Year anyway!

February got an extra day this year, so it decided to use it and dump some more snow on us! There were a couple of inches of new stuff out there this morning, and there is more lazily flying around in the air right now - nothing too serious. At least it is warmer than we have had previously, so the snow is bearable. So clean and white - don't want to think about the mess we will have this spring, as the ground is not frozen hard underneath all that snow. Oh well. At least it will seep into the ground better and not run off too badly.


Dan has been busy this past week (when time allowed) working on fixing some broken and cracked trusses in the barn. He probably wouldn't admit it, but I think he enjoys the challenge of figuring out how to fix things like that. That's the engineer in him. He and Josh have some interesting discussions when they get together....


Something to watch: Below is a link to a really neat demonstration of bridle-less, bareback horsemanship. It is performed in memory of the rider's father, who had died a short time before. Very impressive, even if you aren't into horses. A friend shared this with me and Cari showed me a shortcut to the link (thanks!). Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxUGEN9kS9o

Meet Dusti!

Meet our Lab, Dusti! Although she is the second oldest animal we have, she is our most recently acquired dog. Dusti will turn 7 in June and has lived with us for a little over two years. She spent several months with us prior to that when her previous owners, Alice Kolb and family, were mid-move/house building. The move back became permanent for two main reasons: Steve is allergic to dogs, and Dusti is allergic to Steve (just kidding!!!). She is allergic to something in the carpeting in their house, though, as she would become terribly itchy, break out and lose the hair on her belly when she spent any time in their home. We have no carpeting here, so it was a good match, plus we have room for the dogs to run in the yard (and outside of the yard, when the electronic fence is out of order - see earlier post).

When Dusti moved in, we also had another lab mix, Tira (pronounced Teer'a) besides Jack, whom you will "meet" at a later date. We have since lost Tira to leptospirosis (yes, she was vaccinated, but that only covers a few strains of lepto), which she contracted from a raccoon that all three dogs had killed in the yard. Only Tira was affected - but this is Dusti's post.

First and foremost, you will know Dusti by her "goosing" ability! EVERYBODY who comes to visit us gets the treatment (unless I am able to corral her first!). It's mildly annoying when you have long pants on, and downright personal if you are wearing shorts or a skirt! I guess it's just her way of saying "hello, how are you?", but it throws most folks off. Those who have already met her have learned to do the "Dusti-evasion-shuffle" all the way from their vehicle to the house! She generally saves the jumping-up-on-you for those she knows best (you know who you are, Linda(our pet-sitter), Roger(the keeper of the Cheetos), John(hangs out with Roger) and anyone of the Kolb persuasion). She kinda knows better when it comes to Dan and myself. You KNOW when you have been jumped on by a 70+ pound lab!

Probably because she was exposed to Hailey early on, or maybe it's just in her genes, but Dusti LOVES babies!!! She was in her element with Thomas and Sam around this past week and is really quite good, although the moms were a bit watchful. If she can hear them in the other room, she will sit and whine in the hall - "let me out - I have a baby to love!" And will nearly turn herself inside out, wiggling with anticipation.

Soon after Dusti came to live with us she had a bout of - (oh crum, I can't think what it is called - a tick-borne disease, but not lyme's or Rocky Mt. spotted fever). It has left her with a tendency to get gimpy in the damp/cold weather. Oh - it's erlychia (I'm SURE that's not spelled right, and spellcheck only suggested Elicia and other names!) So she has a bit of a stiff gait, but it doesn't seem to slow her down much. I'm getting her started on Gluc/Chond on brother-in-law, Ed's, recommendation. Hope it helps.

A yard just isn't complete without a dog or two sitting out in it, and alerting you when someone drives in or walks by, on our road, or on T, or sometimes even on highway 10, if it includes a siren.... There is one neighbor who just about always has his own dog in the back of his pickup (inside a topper) - but our dogs ALWAYS know when Dan Hoffman goes by! We can hear his dog barking as he drives by sometimes in the summer, but our dogs only need to hear his truck, and it sets them off! Where would we be without our "best friends"??

Belated Birthday Wishes for Rob Ramseier!

Happy Birthday to Rob on Monday - shown here with his wife, my niece, Cariann.

Hope it was a good one!!! Love ya!

Family Time - Tears and Smiles, too

We have had an emotionally charged weekend, lightened somewhat by the presence of our two grandsons. There is something about a baby that makes you feel hopeful about the future and just makes you smile, even through tears. And there was no shortage of babies at the gathering in Grandpa Bacon's honor yesterday, either. Besides Hailey and Connor, Sam, Thomas and Wyatt, there was Reuben (Clark and SaraJane's grandson) and Stacey Bacon Myers' two little girls. Five of those were babes-in-arms, and most of them made the rounds with relatives. There was a wonderful turn out of friends and relatives, some of whom we hadn't seen in quite some time. There was more than one comment of "why do we only do this at weddings and funerals???" And promises to do something about that. We'll see....
Every day this week I have had to remind myself at least three times what day of the week it is. Time seems to stop during times like this. Our family had to return to their homes and lives, so it is once more just the two of us. The last of them (Josh's family) headed out about 7:00 this morning, stopping by the barn for a last good-bye before hitting the road. Sally and Scott, along with Sam and Hunter, headed out after supper last night and had good traveling. Mara and Mike, along with their two dogs, Linus and Lucy, hit the road soon after the funeral yesterday. Unfortunately, they had some bad roads to deal with and finally decided to crash at Josh and Debora's house in Ottumwa after about 8 hours of driving frustration. We haven't heard from them, but hopefully the last leg of their trip home was uneventful. Mara had classes today and Mike had work.
The house is quiet, but there are echoes of Sam's baby laughter and Thomas' grunts and coos. And I can still feel the warmth of all the good-bye hugs....

Tuesday AM

Well, a lot has happened in the last couple of days.

Starting on Saturday morning, about 8:30 when Roger called us to let us know that Grandpa Bacon had a massive stroke and was going to be transported to Riverside Hospital in Waupaca. Then the call from the Nursing Home about a half hour later - he had passed away before the ambulance arrived.

Within a couple of hours we had notified most of the family and some of the kids were heading home. Josh and his family arrived after chores Saturday evening with Sally and Sam soon after. Mara and Mike couldn't come until later in the day on Monday as she has exams this week. They are all here now, and the house is starting to stir. Thomas is laying here in my lap, just having finished his morning bottle. It's good to have family here. It's the first time we have had them all together since both boys were born. The reason sucks.

We'll be heading to the church in a couple of hours to say our formal good-byes to the Patriach of the Bacon family. Most of us have said our personal good-byes over the last couple of days, both in our hearts and in sharing stories and pictures together.

Pa/Grandpa will be greatly missed, although he will live on in our hearts and in our children's children.

Grandpa Bacon update

Linda and I went over to visit Grandpa Bacon this morning. He was dozing in his recliner when we got there, but roused and visited with us when we knocked on the door. His roommate, Bill, must spend most of his time somewhere else, as he has never been in the room when I have been there. I did see him out in the lounge area today, though.
I guess the last couple of days Grandpa has been having a bit of trouble with nausea. Apparently his breakfast didn't stay down too good today. He seemed in fairly good spirits, even so. One of the aides said that there was some flu going around in the home. Unfortunately, that is one of the hazards of being there. He picked at his lunch (fish and chips) but managed all the beverages (chocolate milk, cranberry juice, water and coffee) and the dessert - cheesecake. A well-fried egg may have done him in this morning. I suggested that he ask for scrambled next time.
The phone is in place, but the line wasn't hooked up yet. Hopefully it will be by 5:00 as the phone company promised. We ended up putting his phone from home in the room for him as Roger wanted to get one with an answering machine for the house anyway. Grandpa had mastered that phone, so there is nothing new to learn (important).
He told us about some of the physical therapy that he has been doing. He doesn't like doing it, and wasn't ready to agree that it would be helpful. How well the rehab goes will be, in a large part, up to him. Any encouragement from family and friends may be helpful. He proudly showed us the letter he received from Kyle, and he has had a couple of cards from Grace and Dick and some folks from the church, plus the pictures colored by Hailey.
When Linda and I signed in today, I also signed in a couple visits that Roger and the other boys had made. Dan and Roger were there Monday, Roger alone on Tuesday, Aunt Audrey and Judy on Wednesday, and also Helga Onan (Mike's Mom), then Roger and John on Thursday. I was pleased that he had someone come every day this week. That will not always happen, but it's nice when it does. Roger took his reading lamp there for him one day, and his slippers (he had sent them home but wanted them back) and I got his name put on those things today. Everything that belongs to him needs to be marked, so if anyone takes anything, please mark it first (just BACON is fine) or get a marker from the office. When he first went in they had us make a list of his clothing that was brought. I don't know if that list has been updated and I'm not sure how they keep track of that. I re-marked a shirt today that wasn't readable (the laundry gal was pretty sure it was his and he seemed to think so, too).
He is enjoying the sunshine that comes through his window, pretty much all day as he is on the south side of the building. He even noticed bunny tracks in the snow that led from the sidewalk right up to the building. There doesn't seem to be any action by the birdfeeder. Linda wondered if they had even unwrapped the suet before they put it out. If the snow hadn't been so deep there I would have gone out by it and shaken the feeder down, too. Next time....

On a different note: be sure to check out the kids' blogs for pictures of Thomas and Sam together - too cute!!!!

Meet Racé!

I decided that on slow-news-days that I would introduce you to our pets, starting wih the oldest. First in my introductions will be Racé ("Rotchy"). He started out as Sally's kitty years ago, and we can't remember how old he is, but somewhere around 13 or 14 years old. He was christened Liberacé (thus, the pronounciation of the nickname) as he replaced her beloved Libby. And yes, he did play the piano by walking over the keys when he was a kitten. He is beginning to show his age this winter. It is the first winter that he has spent almost entirely inside the house. Most of the time you will find him just like this, curled up in a chair or somewhere in the warm sunshine. He varies between tolerating the other (much younger) cats to completely ignoring them. One night, recently, he woke me up by making a racket in the kitchen. When I went downstairs to see just what he was up to, I found him sitting on top of the breadmaker (a favorite perch, as it is on the bottom shelf of the bakers' unit), but he had bumped the door open and was sort of caught in the bread pan! The noise he was making was the pan banging in the machine. After a second trip downstairs, for the same reason (!), he got put in the downstairs bedroom with the other cats. We are hoping that he perks up some when the weather warms up. He really enjoys being outside when it is nice out, so we will see what the coming of spring does for his health.

Cool Eclipse, and other tidbits....

Lunar notes....
We enjoyed watching the Lunar Eclipse last night, sharing the experience with Josh and Thomas, and later Debora, over the phone. We had the better view as it was clear here. They were dealing with occasional cloud cover. Very neat! We bailed out while it was in totality, but figured that was anti-climatic anyway. Let us know if we missed anything by going to bed early!

Other stuff....
Dan called the phone company today and by Friday evening Grandpa Bacon will have a phone line hooked up in his room at the nursing home. His new number will be: 715-445-2728. We are going to pick up a new phone for him today, hopefully as much like the one he had at the house as possible, as he is used to using that and likes it. The two phones at the farm house work together, thus the need to look for a different one. We did not sign him up for long distance, but most anyone who visits him brings their own cell phone anyway, and he doesn't like to make calls. He can call Linda for free, and to Amherst for 5 cents/minute, if he wants to. In the two and a half years that he lived at the farm house, he called me twice (numbers were programmed into his phone), and probably none of the rest of you ever received calls from him unless Connie or myself was right there with him. This phone will be mainly for him to receive calls from his family and friends. We will get a cordless speakerphone, as that works best for him and will get it up there today so that it can charge up and be ready when his line is hooked up. Getting the phone has been his idea, so give him a call!

A couple of recommendations for when you call him:
There will be no answering machine, so just try back later if you don't get him.
As when he lived at the farm, please allow the phone to ring quite a few times so he can get to it.
Don't talk too fast (I tend to do this) as it is hard for him to catch what you are saying.
If you are soft-spoken, be sure to speak up.
He uses the speakerphone so it doesn't bother his hearing aid. Anyone in the room will hear your conversation, just as if you were sitting there visiting with him.

Lunar Eclipse Tonight!

There will be a Lunar Eclipse tonight, starting at 7:43 pm (here) and lasting approximately 51 minutes after it reaches totality - if I read that right. We should have a pretty good view as it is supposed to be very cold (i.e. clear), so bundle up and get out there - it is the last one until 2010!
(Thanks to Mike Syring and Marina Bacon for the reminders!)

Viewer\'s Guide: Total Lunar Eclipse Feb. 20http://www.space.com/spacewatch/080215-ns-lunar-eclipse-guide.html

Check out Mike's blog (address listed on the side of this blog) for more comprehensive information.

Good Morning!

Wow - what a good turnout we had in the Town of Amherst yesterday! We started with 824 registered voters, but added 42 more, I think and our total voter turnout was 437 - over 50%! And some of those who registered yesterday were actually having to re-register because of name/address change, so they were already on the original list. Not bad for our little town! It was kind of funny though, because here Obama only beat Clinton by a couple of votes and Huckabee beat McCain by 20 or so - some different than the state numbers. That was our only ballot for the day, no referendums or anything.
We have the Trega Foods dinner today in Black Creek - hope the roads are better today! Waupaca County reportedly ran out of salt on Sunday (remember I mentioned the roads weren't even plowed?) and the ice was allowed to build up on Hwy 10 quite badly. There were several accidents, at least one that Dan saw (after the fact) someone was being loaded into an ambulance. What's the saying? "Heads will roll..." Later in the day they were out there busily trying to break up the ice with the plows. Too little, too late for some folks.
Mentioning Trega Foods, the milk company has been sold to another entity. Trega will remain in the name, but it will no longer be the Wagners, et al. Can't remember the name right now, but imagine we will hear it again and again today. I don't think too much will change for us.
Have a great day and stay warm - dangerous wind chills today here!

Happy Birthday to Dr. Kyle Onan!

Happy 30th Birthday Kyle! (Connie and Mike's oldest, pictured here with his new nephew, Wyatt Stone)

Election Day!

For those of you in Wisconsin, anyway, today is election day, so get out and vote! As an election Chief Inspector, I will remind you that you may only vote for ONE person today, or your vote will be thrown out as ineligible. Contrary to what you might think, your vote will matter today as nothing is set in stone yet.
I will be working at the Town of Amherst today, from 2:00 pm till the votes are all counted after the polls are closed at 8:00 pm. That doesn't get to be too terribly late in our township, as we only have a little over 800 registered voters. We hope to see a good percentage of those folks out today and are all ready to register new voters as well. So get on out there!

Monday Morning!

I don't know about the rest of you, but I love Mondays! Maybe it's because we don't just work Mon-Fri, but it's rare that I feel down on a Monday. It is especially good if we get Monday morning in (no chores), but that isn't the case today as we had yesterday off.
Our Sunday off was pretty low key, with the snow and all. We hung around the house until mid-afternoon and then headed up (in the snowstorm!) to Iola to visit Grandpa Bacon. He was doing quite well, and nearly achieved celebrity status by having the only visitors for the afternoon. I think I heard the words "foolish", "crazy", and "brave" as to our being there. I think the first two fit better than the last. The roads there, including highway 49, had not been plowed all day and it was pretty much just following the tracks of the vehicle that had gone before. Didn't see too much other traffic that didn't have a snow plow hooked onto the front, but that was okay as it was not desirable to be meeting anybody on the road. We had the parking lot to ourselves at the nursing home.
Grandpa was tickled to have had visitors on Saturday: Alice, Matt, Sara and Hailey, with Connie and Mike stopping in later on. Alice had told him about the houses being burned that day, and while it saddened him he had expected it and wanted to know how it went. Don't think I'll share any pictures with him, though. He was quite chatty and we visited until they came and got him for supper. We walked down to the dining room with him and met his table-mate, Leonard. Then I gave Dan a brief tour of the home and we headed down to visit my folks in Rural.
The folks were glad to see us, too. My Dad had a bit of trouble with his tractor when he was plowing his driveway and Dan was able to help him out. We didn't stay too long as the snow had not let up. We ended up with about 12" out of it. It quit last night sometime after we got home, but it is snowing again this morning. We are hoping that Sally and Sam have decent roads to travel from Ottumwa to Baldwin later today.
The picture here is one that Mike took in Kirksville, when the kids all got together Friday evening: the Bacon siblings with their respective sons - Josh with Thomas, Sally with Sam, and Mara with Linus. Love it, but it's missing Debora and Mike!(and Scott, but he wasn't there)
Even with all the snow we got, the fire is still smoldering at the big house, but I didn't see much evidence of it by the little one. That could last for several days. Roger made the comment this morning that the night light at the corner of the milk house threw quite a bit more light down our road (easier to see walking up at 5:00 am) and also we were able to see the lights in the milkhouse from our window upstairs yesterday morning. It will look very different after the debris is hauled away - probably not until Spring. The car that may have been visible in some of the photos came with the firemen, and they assured us they would come and haul it away.
Happy President's Day everybody!! Don't forget that tomorrow is Election Day!

(Note of Apology: My apologies if the pictures of the fires upset anybody. That was not my intention. There were people who weren't able to be here who were interested in it. Those of us who live here, and near here, have had the last several years to say our good-byes to the old home. We have witnessed it's demise, which was hastened by the practice that the fire department got in on it before last Saturday.)

House Burns

View Album

Get your own

The crews got here around 9:00am and left somewhere around 2:00pm.
(Hint: if you put your cursor on top of the slide show and double click, it will open another window that is bigger and easier to view.)

Friday Afternoon Update on Grandpa Bacon

I just got home from visiting Grandpa Bacon at the nursing home. When I got there, I saw him sitting in the dining room and he saw me right away, too. He was at the table in a wheelchair, hooked up to a nearby concentrator for his oxygen. His table mate never did come for dinner, he may have been gone for the day or something, so we were able to sit and visit okay. He had a real good dinner, which he cleaned up entirely. They wisely give portions that an older person would be likely to finish, so that helped. It looked good and smelled wonderful.
He was full of news: they had just finished moving him back over to the south wing (the nicer one, remember?) and had taken him to the dining room a bit early to facilitate moving his things. I gathered from him that Husky Hansen's family preferred for Husky to have a private room and had requested that Grandpa be moved elsewhere. Nothing to do with the dynamics between the two men, but the room was awfully crowded and it could not have been easy for the nursing staff to work with, either. His new room number is 115 and he shares it with another gentleman. I never saw this fellow, either, as he wasn't in the room the entire time I was there. Grandpa said that he had met him and Bill was quite a talker, but given to bit of profanity occasionally. They each have their own TV, but I don't know how well that will work as the other fellow is hard of hearing, I guess. The window bed is Grandpa's, so that is nice. The sun was shining brightly this afternoon and there is a bird feeder set up right outside the window. When I left a little before 2:00, he was sitting in his easy chair with his feet up and looked like he was ready for a nap. The nurses foraged around until they found enough oxygen tubing so that he could make it into the bathroom (still needs help with that) without having to unhook, or move the concentrator (which they did before they found the tubing). The less commotion there is for him, the better. He doesn't like feeling like he is putting somebody out, but he will have to learn to ask for what he wants and speak up for himself. The staff seems quite willing to accomodate, but they have to know what he wants.
He will welcome visitors any time. His room is in the south wing, facing Iola Street, so the easiest way to get to his room would be the entrance at the west end of that wing (SW corner of the building). Catch the first hall to the right after the entryway, go most of the way down it and 115 is on the right side, the second to last room. When you go, please be sure to sign the guest book that should be either on his nightstand or the tray by his bed. Thanks!

Sam Day-care, plus news tidbits...

On Valentine's Day, I was fortunate enough to get to go and do day-care for Sam! What fun! I got up there on Wednesday night - almost ahead of the snow - and spent all day on Thursday enjoying Sam! We even got to go and visit Wyatt and his mom, Andrea. What a cutie! I hadn't met him before, although Sam had. Andrea is a great mom! (see her blog for pictures - email Andrea for a link). The picture of Sam with his Gatfly was a self-portrait, taken in the mirror. It took a few tries before I got the aim right. He was so sweet, sleeping on my shoulder. I took the family shot as his folks were getting ready to head off to work in the morning. Quite a nice looking family! Sam is such a busy little boy, spending quite a bit of time in the saucer-seat and also playing on the blanket with a myriad of toys. His dexterity is getting quite good - but beware if he gets hold of your bottom lip. He likes to play "rearrange Gatfly's face": your bottom lip would look better over by your right ear, and your nose should just be removed altogether! We got along pretty well, and Sam must have thought so too, as he was awake nearly the whole day - didn't want to miss a minute of our time together! (my interpretation of the situation) I made supper for the family and then had to head out soon after so I could get home before it was too late. I had an uneventful trip home, and was kept occupied by my memories of the wonderful day - thanks Sam and fam!

Grandpa Bacon Update

I haven't been back to see Pa since we moved him in (I'm going later this morning), but Connie visited him yesterday and said he seemed to be settling in quite well. They rearranged the room a bit to optimize the space, and she said that it was working out better. I think that Grandpa and Husky are getting along fine, communicating as best they can. What matters most is that Grandpa feels comfortable with the situation, and I think so far, so good. I will try to update every few days, here on the blog.

House Burn

As far as I know, the burn is still set for tomorrow morning. The Fire Chief expects them to be all done and pulled out by early afternoon. I imagine the old buildings will burn fairly fast.

Happy Belated Birthday to Neusa!!!

Shown in the picture above with "our" grandson, Thomas - hope you had a wonderful day! Felicidades!!

Grandpa Bacon is moved in!

Grandpa Bacon got moved into the Iola Nursing Home this afternoon. It went pretty well, considering. Linda and I had gotten there earlier to personalize his room with pictures and some familiar belongings. We thought he was going to be sharing a room, but when we got there it was set up as a single. A nice, bright room with a window onto the street and residential homes across the way. The van got there around 1:30, with Connie arriving about the same time. They went down to check in and soon someone came and told us that Pa had asked to be moved in with Husky Hansen (from Amherst) in the other wing. So.....we took everything down that we had put up, and traipsed over to the north wing to find a room approximately 2/3 the size of the one he would have had by himself (at least initially) in the south wing. Husky has had a stroke and isn't able to communicate very well, although he tries pretty hard. There is almost room enough to change your mind with the two beds, two wheelchairs, two walkers and Pa's compressor. Like Sally said, he is still in control, so I think he was okay with everything. He never saw the first room. I brought home most of the framed pictures that I had taken (except for the one of Grandma and Grandpa together) and transferred all the pictures of the grandchildren that I had to the bulletin board already up on the wall. There seems to be a lot going on, with activities, etc. and all the staff were very friendly and welcoming. I think he was getting tired when Linda and I left a little after 3:00. Connie stayed a bit longer than that, but I see her car over at the farm house now. (4:20)
Grandpa will enjoy seeing anyone who is able to come and visit with him. Also, I am sure they will get him going with some type of therapy soon. We wish him well!

Birthday Boys!

First off, since it is his first birthday - a BIG happy birthday to Erik Ramseier. For those of you on the other side of the family, he is the younger child of Cariann (Mathwig) and Rob; older sister is Elyse (soon to be 4).

Also it is the 24th birthday of Steve Hansen - Mike and Lorrie's youngest son. I don't have an updated picture of him (hint, hint) so you will just have to use your imagination. Picture a handsome young firefighter.... ;)

Have a great day, boys!! Love to both of you!

Bacon's Answer to the Labor Problem

Here at Bacon Farms, we have solved the labor problem by hiring Smurfs and Ewoks! They are very efficient workers and come pretty cheap. The Smurfs work for strawberries and other fruits, but strawberries are their favorite - so the economics of hiring them depends on the seasonal availability of the fruit. They are especially good at milking the cows. The Ewoks are lovable teddy bear-like creatures that work for the love of it. They like to work out in the barn doing the cleaning and feeding the livestock. Ewoks generally are only seen in the colder weather, while the Smurfs will work year round, except when it is really humid and hot. As you can see, neither one likes to have their picture taken, so I respected that and didn't show their faces. A Smurf will freak out if you try to take a picture of them, face on, and the Ewoks will actually run off. They are very dependable creatures and easy to have around. We have not run into any problems as far as their legal status, to date.

Photos: top - A friendly wave from a Smurf; middle - an Ewok heading out to feed the calves; bottom - a Smurf milking a cow

Grandpa Bacon

Connie and Mike took Grandpa Bacon into the ER yesterday and he was admitted with pneumonia. For those of you who might not know, he is on oxygen all the time and other than going to the doctor, he is pretty much house-bound (by choice). We went to see him today and he had a room full of visitors! Connie was there with Roger, and Alice had come from De Pere. Grandpa was in very good spirits and looked pretty good as he was sitting up in a chair. Connie thought he was doing much better than yesterday, for sure. He is getting antibiotics and fluids, too, as he was dehydrated. The nurse came in and took his vitals just before Dan and I left and everything was right where it should be. He said that Doctor Strohbusch (Alice said it was two different beers put together, so that is how I spelled it - don't really know) stopped in this morning and mentioned nursing home. This is not at all upsetting to Grandpa, and when we stressed that it was up to him he said he would rather someone else made the decisions. The Dr. said that Iola had openings right now. That is where my Grandma Jensen was and I remember it as a pretty nice place. I don't know if it was brought up as an interim thing or if he was thinking of a permanent move. At any rate, it will need to be discussed soon as they only plan on keeping him in the hospital for a few days.
Many thanks to Connie and Mike for looking after him yesterday and making the right call of taking him in. A lot of Grandpa's care falls on Connie's shoulders, and I hope she realizes how much we all appreciate it. Kudos!

Burn Date Set for Farm Houses

I hope I am not jumping the gun in posting this.

We have been waiting for two years for the Fire Department to set a date to burn the two houses on the farmstead. They have used the big house for extensive training for both firefighters and a bit for the SWAT team. If all goes as planned - the snow sticks around, there aren't any high winds to deal with and the temperatures don't plummet - the houses will be burned next Saturday, February 16th. The plan is for them to arrive around 8:00 am, start some fires and put them out for practice and then around 10:00 to let the houses burn down. It will pretty much be an all-day ordeal. They are taking care of contacting the electric company to get the overhead lines moved that need to be. We have to take care of covering the wells (one by each house) probably with big loads of sand that will be removed after the burn. We are hoping they can spare the spruce at the front of the house. They supposedly have some new chemical spray/foam to douse the tree with to keep it from catching fire. Our biggest concern is that embers get away and alight on the greenhouse structure that we have calves and young stock in. The Fire Chief claims that because the houses have steel roofs, they act like caps to keep the embers from escaping as badly. Hope so.

Will let you know if for some reason this date gets moved back again. Neither Dan nor I have said anything to Pa(Don) about it, and don't plan to until the day before or so. That's not saying someone else won't mention it to him, but he gets upset when he thinks about it - understandably so as that was home for nearly 50 years. March of 2007 marked 50 years on this farm, although the big house has sat empty since the new farm house was built in 2005. The little house has been unoccupied since John and Marina built their home on the hill - over 10 years now, I think.

In the intervening years, the houses have become an eyesore and because of the training the fire department has done, they are not all that safe to go into anymore. At this time there are no plans to build anything in either spot. The little house was too close to the road already, and they are not sure there is enough room to do a shed or anything else where the big house stands. We are responsible for dealing with the aftermath, so will have to arrange for whatever dozing or hauling away of debris is required. At any rate, the farmstead should look very different after next weekend.

February Special Days

I usually try to remind family of birthdays, etc., so thought I would post the ones for each month near the beginning of that month. A couple have already gone by for February, so I'm a bit late getting started. No anniversaries on my calendar for February.

February Birthdays

4 - Rachel Kolb (25)

5 - Linus (5) - also his "Uncle" Chris

12 - Steve Hansen (24)

12- Erik Ramseier (1!)

14 - Neusa Costa (Debora's mother)

19 - Kyle Onan (30)

25 - Rob Ramseier (old enough to know better :)

Amherst Crossing Guard

Looks like Amherst is going high-tech! Their brief trial of a stop light there didn't go over so well, so maybe they figured this was the next best option.

This picture was in the Stevens Point Journal and I also received several copies from Heidi Yenter.

Obviously the city plows worked around it. Wonder how long it took to get wiped out when the kids got out of school???

Got to Promote that Milk!

Here is a link to an article that I saw in the USA Weekend section of our Sunday paper. I thought it was pretty good, but wish they wouldn't hide this type of information in the back pages and without much hype.
http://www.usaweekend.com/08_issues/080203/080203thinksmart.html#fitsmart

Happy 5th Birthday to Linus!!!!

Celebrating 7 Months of Grandparenting!

Seven months of being Grandparents also means that Sam is 7 months old! Where has that time gone? I will take this opportunity to write SOS.

First off, most of what I wrote about Thomas previously could have been written about Sam, six months ago or so. But babies have a way of growing and changing, and Sam is no exception there.

He is very busy at this age taking everything in with the biggest, bluest eyes I've seen in a while. Besides checking everything out visually, EVERYTHING has to be handled and tasted - repeatedly. Never mind if it doesn't fit in your mouth the first time - keep trying! If all else fails, drool on it - if you get it wet enough, maybe it will shrink! Mom and Dad are wisely not fretting that the little guy hasn't started crawling yet. Why crawl when you can get all over the place by rolling? With each new accomplishment, there is no looking back and this stage of his life will soon be a distant memory.

One thing that stays the same for quite some time is the feel of a sleepy baby in your arms. The soft, damp curls around the edges of their hair, that deep sigh of complete satisfaction (the baby's as well as your own), the warm sweet smell - especially right after a bath, and their little fists clutched around your finger or on the edge of their blanket or your clothing. At moments like that you can easily forget (at least temporarily) that this same sweet child is capable of screaming at the top of his lungs for 20 minutes straight, or fussing for what seems like forever when his aching gums are bothering him. Little Sam hasn't had any teeth break through yet, but Mom and Dad must be sure there is a full set just waiting below the surface, ready to pop through at any moment, for all the discomfort he has had lately. Nothing changes the looks of your baby quite like getting those first two teeth, either, unless it is having the hair start to grow and thicken.

We are so thankful for the internet and digital cameras! We are able to keep up with Sam's (and Thomas') development in real time with webcam visits and seeing their frequent blog postings. We can't wait until the boys start interacting with us via the internet - what a blast that will be!!

Here's hoping that Sam cuts that first tooth quickly and feels like himself soon! Love ya sweetie!

The Prodigals Have Returned!

Most of you have been getting emails from us for the last couple of days about our missing dogs. Well, we got them back this morning - none too worse for the outing. For those of you who may not have met them, Dusti "the gooser" is a black lab (nearly 7 years old) and Jack "the wuss" is a 5 year old mixed breed (shepherd, collie, malmute, you name it).

They had taken off late morning on Saturday, probably chasing the squirrels that had been tormenting them here in the yard. The wire for their fence had gotten broken when the driveway was plowed out, so there had been nothing to keep them in but habit. We didn't think too much of it, as they had gone out of the yard before and returned when they got tired. We had to run to Plover to take the sawdust wagon back, and when we got home, still no dogs. At that point, Dan traced their tracks to the Towne's (at the Pipe House), in and out of Lynn Weise's, and then back in behind Mark Anderson's buildings. There he lost the trail. After a quick supper at the farm house (Connie had organized that earlier) we went out looking again. No luck. Again on Sunday morning after chores (and a nap) we took a couple of trips around the blocks, over as far as Farmington Church and back along Indian Valley Road. Then we had to fuel up, so ran up to Amherst. All these trips, nothing. I had tried calling the Humane Society in Waupaca, and also the HELP Center (dog pound in Waupaca, where we got Tira from). I got answering machines at both places, so that didn't help much. This morning I again called the HS - they only take surrendered animals, not strays. Finally I was able to get through to the pound, and yup! They had them! In fact, they had picked them up on Indian Valley Road, 6:00 pm on Saturday night!! It was our fault that they couldn't contact us, as the dogs were wearing their electronic collars for the fence. There are no rings to attach tags to on those collars. That will change now.

So, at 9:30 this morning, we ran into the pound in King and picked up our dogs. We had just licensed them a week ago Saturday, so everything was up to date and there were no hitches getting them bailed out ($7/day/dog.....). At least we knew that they didn't have to be out in the cold wet night - especially would have been hard on Dusti with her lymes-induced arthritis. They were very happy to see us, and have been sleeping in the utility room since we got home. At some point I will have to go after Jack to try and remove the many burrs that he picked up. Neither one of us is going to enjoy that. Dusti has had an aspirin and is resting comfortably. Dan will be stringing out a new wire this afternoon, I think.

Happy Groundhog Day!

I think any groundhog around here would have trouble seeing his shadow today, so here's hoping for an early spring!



Since this blog was started mainly to give the grandparents' perspective on our grandsons, I thought I would create a fun way to denote those observances. So, when you see TOT: it will mean that I will be sharing Thoughts On Thomas. And when you see SOS: there will be Something Of Sam.



In reflection, I didn't say too much about Thomas in telling of our visit there, so here is my first TOT: Anyone with any experience with newborns (Thomas still qualifies - he is so tiny yet) knows the feeling of snuggling them against your shoulder and having them melt right into you. It is a wonderful feeling and involves all of your senses as you inhale their sweetness; feel that warm little body next to yours; hear the little grunts and sighs (Thomas makes a lot of little noises!); drink them in with your eyes; and possibly best of all, that baby smell (I am not referring to when he is in need of a diaper change!).



One of the really fun ways to enjoy Thomas is to hold him so that you look into each other's faces: He gets such a serious look on his face as he appears to study yours. It is almost as if he is trying to memorize you. His smiles are infrequent as of yet, and mostly accidental (Mom and Dad may say otherwise...) so I experienced mainly his contemplative looks. Add to that his many, many facial expressions - involving wrinkling his forehead, way up over the top of his head and his very expressive mouth. He will do that same thing that his Daddy did when he was a baby: he will purse his lips, like he is whistling, when he pees. And yeah, I did not escape witnessing how he can pee up over his entire outfit while you are changing his diaper! He also let loose with the poops as I was trying to switch out the dirty diaper for a clean one! I think we went through two extra diapers on that particular changing. I guess Gatfly* needs to hone up her diaper-changing skills!
I think, overall, that grandsons are addictive: I can't get enough of them! Look for a SOS in my next posting!
* Gatfly is an acronym for Grandma At The Farm Loves You!