Hen23's Journal~Goodbye

[Henrietta23]

My hubby left his fishing rod on the porch and my yellow lab/golden retriever mix got a trebble(sp?) hook THROUGH his tongue...one barb down and two barbs up....at 7am, as I just got out of the shower. Had to flag down my neighbor to get some wire cutters to cut the tips of the barbs off. Then had to take him to the vet to have him put under so they could cut it out of his tongue.

Don't you just love animals.......

I've assisted in similar procedures when I worked in a vet's office. I've lost my nerve for it some since then though. And it's harder with my own beasties. Fish hooks have frightened me ever since! That and being around a bunch of Cub Scouts at camp who were a little wild with their casting!

 

[Henrietta23]

My uncle has been reading through my grandfather's old journals and sharing bits with family by email. Granpa was born in 1906, was an avid gardener and an elementary school principal. He's been gone for a few years now. Our recent memories were of an angry, blind and deaf man who was not easy to be around. Prior to that he was an angry man, worried about his aging wife and alcoholic daughter. It has been refreshing to read some of his earlier journal entries and remember that was not the sum total of the man. Here is what my uncle shared from the journal today:

Things I did and didn't do from birth to age 20


Learned to:


Walk and talk
Read and write
Dress myself and ride a bike


Learned how to:


Harness a team of horses and plow a straight (almost) furrow
Milk a cow and plant a garden
Drive a car and splice a rope
Swim (but not very well)
Shave and row a boat


Other things I did:


Smoked my first cigarette (11/11/18)
Had my first taste of an alcoholic beverage (Dandelion wine at Grandma's house)
Kissed my first girl (Can't remember who)
Wore my first long pants
Walked up and down Washington Monument
Rode in a Pullman Car and watched Babe Ruth play baseball
Received 100% in geometry and failed Latin III
Finished college in 3 years


Things I didn't do but wished I did:


Learned to dance or play bridge
Learned speak a foreign language or play a musical instrument
Fly a kite
Turn a handspring
Throw a curve ball

 

[lorihadams]

That's pretty cool!

Wish my great grandma had kept a journal....THAT would have been a fun read, she was a pistol!

 

[Farmfresh]

Grandma Nettie did. OH MY... If I ever need to prove that schizophrenia runs in my family I have that document to back me up!

She was quite a homesteader, a very nurturing and loving Grandma, but certifiable!

 

[Henrietta23]

I wish he'd shared more of it. But of course as kids we weren't interested. I'm looking forward to my uncle sharing more. He sent an excerp from the week before my wedding that brought tears to my eyes. My grandfather never told me he loved me. I knew he did but that one entry proved how much.

We are off to a cook out at friends' house from church. Jay is a big time barbecuer, the real thing. He is from the south, knows what it's supposed to taste like and has spent years perfecting his recipes. I've been drooling for hours anticipating his pulled pork. He started it on Wednesday or Thursday. Another friend showed up this morning and there was talk of beef brisket. A low carber's paradise! I made buttermilk coleslaw with homemade goat's milk buttermilk. Mmmmmm! I used stevia instead of sugar. If I do say so myself, it tastes purty good!

 

[lorihadams]

I am so jealous of you right now.

 

[Henrietta23]

Oh it was gooooooood! Beef brisket, pulled pork, ribs....
I think there was salad
Off to the Civil War today. Last weekend it was the Revolution! Pictures later.

 

[Henrietta23]

DS slept until 9:40! All this war stuff wore him right out! The Cub Scouts had a great time yesterday, "loading" the canon and building a pontoon bridge. They were a younger crowd so some of the bigger ideas were lost on them but they loved the hands on aspect of it all.
Today it's raining so we will get more accomplished inside. I'm sorting clothes and organizing the computer room/office. We each have desk space in here and they become dumping ground in the summer when we're off from school/work. I'm hoping it doesn't get too humid. It's comfortable now.
We do need to head to the library to return a few things and DH forgot his glasses and needs them so we will run by his school and leave them on his desk. I'm kind of mapping out our schedules since we all have different start and end times this year. My mom is waiting to hear if she is eligible for a long term sub position which will factor in too, because she won't be available for dropping off DS if she gets it. I like that in his new school before and after school care is on a day by day basis. In the public school you had to sign up for it and pay for it whether you needed it every single day or not.
I'm also making lists of lunch ideas for DS and me. We kind of graze all summer and got out of the habit of "lunch".
I will have to tackle my closet soon. Not fun. I haven't lost any more weight. I have not been as good as I had been during the school year, avoiding carbs. Once I'm back in a routine I hope that will change again.
The ducks here are going to be the death of me. When I went out to milk last night 6 of the 7 mobbed me hollering for food. I filled their feeder thinking #7, the infamous Miss Quackers would show up. Nope. I looked around. Nothing. She is my oldest duck and has never gone broody. Didn't cross my mind to look for a nest. I thought maybe she'd been hurt by the wire the other day worse than I'd realized so I expected the worst. DS and DH came out to help me look. DS found her back by the stone wall in the same spot the sisters were on their nest last month. 4 eggs under her. Nonononononoo NO ducklings! So we took the eggs and she went to bed.
Well, back to it. Glad for the rain! It smells nice, and sounds nice too.

 

[freemotion]

Finally caught up on your journal. I am still going back and forth between computers, as dh is on the "good" one every spare minute, trying to find and load all our programs and such. Hope to be able to post a picture of Daisy's fiance for you soon! He is supposed to work on the photo program today.

Please post more from Grandpa's journal. He was a bit younger than my two Grandpas but it is so interesting to see what he had to write. None of my grandparents kept journals or wrote letters much, to my knowledge. My father's mother wrote the occasional letter, but I don't think my dad kept any of them, unfortunately.

 

[Dace]

How great that you get to read some of your grandfathers journal....I wish I had something like that from my grandparents!