Happy Labor Day!

 

Photo Memories - Mike's School Photos

I've shared a couple of Mike's first grade photos. They are just delightful to me and I am so very thankful that his mother held on to them. I love seeing what he looked like all those years ago and imagining what sort of child he was.

I've found several other school photos and decided I would share them in a post. I've tried to parcel out some of the photos to his two children but I also want to record some here where they will be all together.

Mike is not certain which photo matches what grade. But, we have sort of put them in a chronological order as best he can remember.

First Grade

Since Kindergarten wasn't a part of the public school system back in the day when we were in school, we think this photo is one that was taken at about first grade level or about five years old. Look at that buzz haircut! Can't you just feel the velvety softness of it prickling against your palm? 

He tells tales about a barber here in this community who would cut his hair and often would nick his ears. That made me chuckle. 

My great uncle was a barber and Mike said he got haircuts from him sometimes. We both talked about how Uncle Carroll always gave patrons a piece of bubblegum after cutting our hair.

We are guessing that the photo above probably came next in his timeline. I'll bet if he had smiled big for the first photo, we would have seen a snaggle-toothed little fellow. This one sort of looks like those missing teeth have been replaced by new ones and a new hair style has been adopted. 

What a mischievous look he has! His auburn hair and a similar tint of shirt tells me it is a fall school picture in all likelihood. 

I am impressed that his mother sent him to school in that shiny white turtleneck. I'm wondering if it looked that pristine when he stepped off the school bus in the afternoon. I'm also guessing this might have been a time in his life where the barber might have snipped his ears a little. (I'm guessing he probably was not still as a statue sitting in that barber chair!)

When I look at this photo, I wonder how on earth his mother got him to dress up so much for a picture. I'm wondering if it was a school photo or maybe one made in a family portrait session at their church. He still has that impish look to him, though.

This is kind of how he looked when I first remember meeting him. I was in fifth grade. He was not dressed up in a fancy collared shirt and sweater vest and didn't have his hair combed into a nice, neat curved shape because we were at the state fairgrounds with our dairy show calves. Yet, that is the smile I remember. I like to think of this as his Opie days. He really did remind me of a young Ron Howard back then and this photo is proof to me. 

The photo above is one that is a window into fashion of the 1970s. Those floral stripes were all the rage and so were the larger collars that were in the previous photo and this one. Mike claims he was quite the ladies' man at this point. I, of course, roll my eyes but I was a bit smitten with him shortly after this, myself! Again, the auburn locks were probably part of the magnetism.

I hate that this photo has such a glare. Mike played football in middle and high school and obviously he was not one of those 'pencil-necked' guys that a former co-worker used to reference as a high school football coach. Mike has fond memories of those times and tells tales about hauling hay and playing ball - football, baseball, and softball during those years. 

These were the days that folks like my father and Mike's father were fussing about guys wearing such long hair. Mike says he wishes he could grow his like this today!

We both think this photo was taken during the time when we dated as high school student. He probably was somewhere between the ages of sixteen and seventeen in this picture. Oh, the youthful innocence of those days! Very little responsibility and big dreams. Ten foot tall and bulletproof with lots of swagger!

Finding these school photos has made me notice how much his grandchildren share many characteristics. It has given Mike the opportunity to share some long bygone tales of his youth. It makes us smile at the fashions and hairstyles. One thing I really like about all of them is that he is smiling in them. I wish boys would smile in their photos today so that years down the road their descendants will notice what a happy childhood is like. I think most of the young guys today try to look macho and tough and don't smile for photos as a result. Yet, most of them are full of smiles and giggles and laughter hanging out with their friends.

I'm inspired to dig through some of the things Mama has given me and share some of my own school pictures soon. Stay tuned!

Photo Memories - Mike's First Grade

Yesterday, I shared a look into Mike's first grade classroom. As a former school teacher, when I first looked at this photo, I thought, "Boy! I'll bet he was a handful!"

That's Mike in the center of the front row - between the girls.

I met his first grade teacher when Mike's father died. She was such a sweet woman. She gave Mike a big hug, when she saw him and was all smiles. He was so proud to introduce me to her. She must have been a remarkable woman and teacher because he certainly remembers her fondly.

Later, Mike was reminiscing about the teacher and his time in her class. Here is what he had to say about her:

Her class was so fun. We learned so much in there and got to do so many fun things and she loved me. She always had my desk right beside hers. 

At that, I burst out laughing. Mike didn't understand why I thought that was so funny. Then, I explained that generally, the teacher will put a student's desk right next to hers when she needs to help him stay focused and keep him from distracting the other children. Often, it is the child whose desk is right next to the teacher's who is the behavior problem in the class or is someone who talks a lot or someone who has a hard time sitting still or staying in his seat. Sometimes it is the child who needs a little extra teacher attention to get his work completed.

Bless him!

The look that came over his face!

Then, he said, "Well, I think it is because she loved me!"

And...

You know, he probably is exactly right. She probably did love him so much. She may have struggled to get him motivated or to keep him on task and get his work done, but she still probably loved him immensely. At any rate, after all those years, it was quite evident that she loved him enough that she came to the funeral home for visitation when his father died and she was still smiling at him and taking delight in his sharing her as a part of his past.

I'm not sure if the photo below is Mike's individual first grade photograph but it is certainly one that was made at about that time. When I look at this photo, I think, what's not to love?

 

Old Photographs

I have been sifting through photos that were my mother-in-law's. 

There are boxes of them. 

It is slow going.

I am perplexed at what to do with a lot of them.

I've brought a stack upstairs and Mike took a look at them and identified some rather quickly. So, photos of the nephews and nieces will go to my sister-in-law. Photos of Mike's cousins will go to his Aunt Peg or cousin, Scott. We will keep some, give some to his children, etc. 

Then, there are those photos where Mike cannot identify folks. Some, he says, "That may be such-and-so, who lived in..." Some, he says, "I think that is..." Then, there are some which he says, "I have no idea who that is."

Basically, I am sorting them into groups and placing them into zip bags for now. Bags are labeled for this relative or that relative. But, what about the ones that he cannot identify? Well, for now, they are going to my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. I'm taking the attitude that I can just pass the burden of a decision off onto somebody else!

The great thing about old photographs is that they let us have a window into times past. We can take a look at fashions and clothing styles. Some of these are really interesting and some of them are quite revealing. Take a look at the outfits, or 'fits as the kids say, in this Family Portrait Gallery. The lace work on the blouses of the women in the older portraits, for example, are absolutely beautiful. It is also interesting to note that one of the male ancestors is sitting with his pipe. Who smokes a pipe these days? For that matter, smoking of any kind is a habit that is far less taken up than it was when I was a young girl.

Another wonderful thing that has come from sorting out the photos is the stories Mike tells about different relatives or how things were on different holidays and family gatherings. Many of our childhood experiences mirror one another's but some of them are so very different from experiences I had as a kid.

Mike's mother was a school secretary. So, there are several sheets of annual school photos of her. Mike and I had a chuckle at the different hair styles and glasses styles that she had over the years. Of course, it is also interesting to see the progression of age in all of them.

Some of my favorite finds were Mike's school photographs. In many of them he is uncertain of the grade he was in at the time. But, it is such a fun thing to see him as a child and to hear the stories he tells about a teacher or event which took place at that time.

Mike's School Photo

The class photo above had been ripped in half and I didn't find the other half. So, the teacher is not included. Don't you know that Mike, pictured front row and center of the photo above, was quite the handful? We both chuckled at him having the hem folded up on his jeans - probably to allow for longer wear and enabling his parents to get their money's worth out of the school clothes investment. Even though it is a still photo, I'm sure that if it was one of the modern day motion photos, Mike would be wiggling! Sadly, he cannot identify any of his classmates by name as this was probably his first grade class picture and he's lost contact with most of those folks over the past sixty years. However, it really makes me smile and I am so glad his mother held onto it.

It's a Good Thing

I think we are all familiar with Martha Stewart's labeling of things as "A Good Thing." Sometimes, when I stumble across something that I really like, I want to label it like Martha Stewart does. 

Not long ago I noticed that the night light we had been using in the guest bath had gotten broken. This isn't a big thing and certainly not something that I wanted to drop everything and search for. However, I do like having a little light in the bath at night to, hopefully, prevent stumbling around. Yet, not having to turn on that light that brightens everything up like day time.

So, when Luci and I recently noticed that the bath in the basement needs a night light, I put night lights on my list of things to be aware of in my net surfing/scrolling and when I am out and about shopping. After a couple of weeks, an option popped up that I was curious about.

At this point, I don't recall if t was a recommendation from some blogger, whose posts I follow or if it was something that popped up in a social media feed as an advertisement. At any rate, I found something that works beautifully.

This small little night light takes up very little room. It comes as a pack of two. It is adjustable to suit different lighting preferences. Just click on the image above to learn more about it. I'm not being compensated for this post. I just thought I would share something I really like. A Good Thing.

I love the little sparkles that the bubbles in it make. It is just enough without being too much. I put one in the guest bathroom and one in the basement bathroom. The photo below shows how it looks in the basement bath.

Today I noticed...Sometimes a quick fix is better than a total transformation

A few weeks ago, Luci came for a visit and stayed a couple of days. Grandchildren Days are a long tradition in our family. 

I usually try to plan some sort of project or adventure for us and also provide some down time where the grandchild can just relax and and some space to themself. This time, our adventure was testing out the basement bedroom. I have begun transitioning the bedroom into a guest room and had stagnated. One of the things I've read is that a person needs to sleep in the guest room every now and again to see what it needs when a guest might stay there. So, Luci and I trekked down the stairs to test things out.

Right away I noticed that the room needs a fan. She and I, both, felt that the room was a bit stuffy. So, Luci crept back upstairs and got the inexpensive fan that is kept in the guest bathroom for just such situations. I made a note that some sort of fan needs to be added to the guest room. A quick fix that worked for now but really will need revisiting.

Later that night, I noticed that the bathroom needs a night light for those trips when a visit to the facility is necessary but a bright, wakeful light is not. No quick fix for this one during the wee hours but it will be revisited.

We also discussed that the wall facing the beds needs a clean-up and some sort of artwork. The TV that was mounted on the wall there has been moved to the office. So, there are holes where the mounting screws were and black marks from the equipment that was there.

Eventually, the wash stand will be gone as it was given to the bonus son. So, I'm pondering what might sit there and have a good purpose in that space. In the meantime, something needed to be done to the wall.

Filling the holes and painting is an option. However, I'm not - and never have been - fond of the grey color that is on the walls everywhere down there. Grey seems institutional to me. Plus, the walls were painted about ten years ago and even with left over paint, the color probably won't match seamlessly. 

So, I decided to just cover as much of the unsightliness up and move onward. 

I had come across a vintage map tucked into some pictures and papers that were my mother-in-law's. So, I held it up to get a feel for things and decided that might be the ticket for now. I sat down one day shortly after Luci's visit and measured the map and ordered a simple frame for it. 

I think it will be perfect for the start of some sort of gallery wall. Smoothing the map out was simple and popping it into the frame was easy. This was nothing transformational but it was a quick fix that sent my mind wandering about what else might be a fun look for this room.

I've got a few directions I could take using what is posted on this map. I think the details really add to it!

It is an Interstate Highway Map of the United States. I'm not sure how old it is but it obviously was intended for travelers who wanted to get somewhere fast. There are other features and keys on it that I really like as well.

I love how it explains the different interstate highway shields. I don't think a lot of folks know this information. Because the map does not include Interstate 840, a radial or alternate room that bypasses Nashville, that tells me that the map was printed before the road was started in 1991 and completed in 2012. So, this would make the map be at least 30+ years old. 

Reading the section above made me wonder how many of these will survive and be accessible for travelers with all the cuts that have been made recently by our federal administration. Below are the lists of scenic, historic, man-made, and recreational wonders that are marked on the map.

It might be fun to add some travel posters or vacation spots, images of historical places, or scenic photographs. So, while a total transformation was not made by framing and hanging this vintage map, ideas have been generated and the wheels are turning!

Wildlife Friends

 Once again, this summer we have some wildlife friends who are allowing us to watch them grow and live. I mentioned the doe that had visited and munched on my flowers a bit earlier in the summer. Well, evidently the doe has a couple of babies. They have spent so much time in the yard lately that they don't even seem phased by our coming and going at times. 

There is also another doe with a baby who is a bit older and larger than these twins. They graze the yard, nap in the yard, and just generally hang out around our house.

The babies are cute and the mamas are beautiful. It also gives us a bit of a worry that they might get down onto the highway and get hit by a vehicle.

I watched them for a few minutes one afternoon and I thought one of the babies was going to go into Mike's barn!

They will look up at us and cautiously watch us to see if we are going to come toward them. When we stand still, they just go back to munching on the grass and ignore us.

What's been happening here lately?

 Well, I've had good intentions since my previous posts. Good intentions and pocket change can get you a piece of bubble gum, though.

Since I posted last, we have been busy. Well, busy for us - two old retired folks. It's funny how busy takes on a different perspective once a person retires. I had a good friend tell me that she and her husband noticed that things which once were scheduled as after work tasks became a day's focus once they retired. So, dental appointments, trips to the grocery, etc. that were squeezed in after work became the agenda for the day after they retired. I think Mike and I have adapted that sort of situation as well. Not that he hasn't been super busy. I just don't pencil as much onto my calendar as he does!

He's put a second cutting of hay in the barn. He's cut several acres of grass each week. He's mixed up and bagged up over 150 pounds of sausage. Plus, he's squeezed in some work at the Cemetery and other tasks. I've done some straightening and organizing. I've done some cleaning out and donating. I've done some digital uploading of information for documenting Cemetery information. 

When Mike took on the Cemetery Manager job last year, I volunteered to be the Cemetery Association secretary. There had been no digital documentation since 2014. So, ten years had raced by with only paper documentation of burials, lot sales, etc. So, my scanner has gotten a good workout. I've been creating spreadsheets to make information easily searchable. I've been checking one list against the other and sorting out differences. It is a thankless job but one that is already proving helpful. 

I've also enjoyed the freedom to read quite a bit. What a luxury! I can put a load of laundry in to wash and sit down and read until the load is ready to be transferred to the dryer. What a treat!

We took the chance to get away between hay crops and went to watch our oldest grandson play baseball in the state tournament. What fun! Yes, it was HOT! It was also great to get away from the responsibilities of home and do a bit of relaxing while also enjoying getting to spend a little time visiting with family that we don't have the luxury of spending time with on a regular basis.

We also got to watch the other two grandson's exhibit their cattle at a local livestock show. It was fun to see them learning and working hard. It was also great to see their competitive spirit being applied in the show ring and sharing some of the hard work that they had been doing at home.

Finally, we also had the opportunity to spend time with one of the granddaughters. Luci came to visit and spent a couple of nights here with us. She was great help to me in a cleaning and organizing project. She also was fun to visit with and catch up on what is going on in her life as a new fifth grader.

Today I noticed...Gossip spreads like wildfire

Is social media the new water cooler or beauty shop or coffee shop or little country store?

I've spent a bit of time browsing social media this week as I was waiting for various reasons. It can be quite the entertaining pastime. I am just amazed at all of the information people post online for the world to see. 

Oh, don't get me wrong, I enjoy updates about family members and friends and their families. I appreciate community information and recommendations about local happenings and businesses. Some of those posts kept me from getting stuck in traffic when there is a parade or community event or helped me to find a business to address an issue we have here at our house. 

I am just amazed that some folks thing their entire life needs to be chronicled for the world to see. Most people don't have filters or privacy options in place. Yet, they post so many details about their own life and the lives of others out there in a public forum for the world to see. Not only is it a safety concern, but, what makes folks think the world needs to know that they went to dinner somewhere or to a concert or whatever? What makes them think it is a good idea to announce their whereabouts?

I've really learned this week that lots of people really need a good course about how to use social media safely, securely, and with purpose.

One of the things I saw this week was a question posted asking what was going on at a private individual's property - and there were pictures - and no permission was acknowledged about posting the pictures of another individual's private property. Next, there were several responses with erroneous information. That was followed by comments and opinions. Then, a comment to clear up some confusion related to an erroneous response by somebody who was in-the-know, followed by more erroneous information and disputations, and so on it went. The whole thing was started by somebody sticking their nose into business that was not theirs at all and other somebodies joining in on the gossip. 

Whatever happened to keeping one's business private and keeping out of other people's business?

 

Today I noticed... People get too involved

As I was cruising through social media today, I noticed that a lot of people really get involved in social media a lot more than I do.

Somebody had posted a photo of a person getting into a vehicle and reported that the person had parked across the street from an acquaintance's house, got out of their vehicle and walked across to the front porch with a package. Then, took a photo of the package on the porch, picked up the package, and went back to their vehicle A detailed description was made of the person and her actions.  

Then, the 'reporter' said she got out of her own car and asked the suspicious person if she wanted the package taken inside to the homeowner. The package was turned over to the 'reporter' and the person drove away.

The whole incident seems rather odd to me. Why would anybody take such actions with a package? Why would they, then, turn the package over to a stranger who claimed the package would be given to the homeowner? What really was going on there? I don't even know why I paused and read the post. However, even with all the questions that came to my mind did not comment but I certainly was in the minority.

Folks made suggestions about sending the photo to the police. They made suggestions about telling the homeowner to report the incident to the police, to the proper shipping company, to the product seller, and all sorts of reporting.

A couple of folks posted their own bizarre interactions with an unusual delivery situation - tales which had nothing to do with this incident and were nothing like the incident.

As I am reflecting on what I read, trying to decide what I might do, I just keep shaking my head. Many of these people were perfect strangers to the delivery person, the homeowner, and probably even the 'reporter.' Yet, they felt they should offer suggestions, advice, and their own tales of woe. While, it made for interesting reading and I did just sit and shake my head for a few minutes, I also wonder just what it is that made people get so involved in something that was not even their own issue.

Patriotic Decorating

I've always enjoyed celebrating and decorating for Independence Day. Not only is it a good reminder to me about how fortunate I am (at least for the time being) to be able to live in the country with the most freedom in the world. 

Years ago, one of our granddaughters was spending some time with us and we worked together to craft decorations that I look forward to displaying each and every year in my Patriotic Decorating.

When I hung his little banner of flags so carefully stitched, I was smiling the entire time. Once again I was remembering the sewist.

When she was working so diligently at stitching the flags to the ribbon, she was concentrating and quiet and working hard at stitching.  Then, her stitching got looped around the ribbon and had a bit of a tangle. All of a sudden, she exclaimed, "Grand B, we have a situation here." 

We worked together to get it all straightened out with no "situations" in our finished products. She learned how to stitch and how to take the stitching out and stitch again.

I couldn't help but smile at her little snaggle-toothed exclamation then and I think of it every single time I get that banner out to hang it up for celebrating.

My, how time does fly! When I finished hanging the banner this week, I sent the photo that starts off this post via text to that little sewist, who now looks like this...

What a situation!

Happy Independence Day!

 

From our house to yours.

Wildlife Friends (Part 2)

 Last week I wrote about seeing observing some of our wildlife friends and enjoying their beauty. 

On Tuesday, I was watering my flowers and admiring their prosperous growth. My flowers really have provided me with joy this spring/summer. They have bloomed prolifically and all the rain we have had made it easier for me to take care of them as well.

This long, shallow concrete planter is one that Mike had here when we joined forces. I have never had much that would prosper in it except Moss Roses or Portulaca, a blooming succulent plant. The picture above shows what they looked like when I first planted the four little plants out of a blister pack from the local greenhouse nursery.

Those things had really grown and were heaped up and full of blooms - about twice the size of what is shown above. I was so pleased with them and smiled over how well they were doing for a few days. I thought about taking a photo but decided I would wait till I finished my watering. Then, I was so hot that I forgot all about photo taking. 

The next day, I went out to water and noticed that the flag holder was rocking back and forth. I noticed it because there was quite a breeze but didn't think it was such that it would blow the little metal garden flag holder that doesn't even have a flag in it. But, I quickly set to filling my watering jug. My watering routine is to water the pots that are the furthest distance from the spigot first. So, I went to the pots at the ends of the retaining wall first.

Then, I went to the long, low, concrete planter. Boy was I shocked! Our wildlife friends must really like the taste of Moss Roses! Plus, she must have been munching right before I opened the door and bumped into the garden flag holder. 

I knew that deer don't like Lantana and all of the other pots down at the basement entrance have a little Lantana in them. So, I guess that is why they are still growing and looking pretty and not nibbled gobbled up. Every single pot that has Lantana in it is still completely untouched.

While I enjoy seeing these beautiful creatures munching in our hay field and yard, I don't really want them wiping out my flowers. So, next year, all the planters will have deer resistant flowers in them for sure!

Today I noticed...I REALLY like digital accessibility!

I have become a person who really appreciates and looks for ways to make almost anything digitally accessible. 

Since my retirement, I have volunteered a bit in our local community. One focus of my efforts has been with the Nolensville Historic Cemetery. I am in the process of digitizing all of the records associated with lots at the cemetery. Each lot is assigned a certificate of ownership. Since the 1930s, the deeds and certificates of ownership have been on paper and need to be digitized. Each of the sales receipts, each burial documentation, each transfer of ownership upon resale from one owner to the next has been documented with paper. There are more than a dozen four-inch notebooks full of documents. So, I am in the process of scanning page after page of documents and saving them to cloud storage. Plus, I am linking each document into a couple or three spreadsheets to make searching for information more streamlined and easier. Already, we have found this to be helpful and efficient. 

Win! Win!

The other day, when our daughter-in-law sent me a photo and explained that she is organizing her classroom library, my immediate thought was that we need to enter that information into a spreadsheet so that she has a digital listing and can easily search her inventory.

We can use her color-coding strategies that she is applying, include the author's name, title, and reading level information, (and more) as ways to label columns. This will make it easy and efficient for her to search and sort book information.

Of course, I volunteered to help out with creating the spreadsheets. This sort off nudged me to notice that organizing and making lists and files and documents digitally accessible is something that makes me happy - and does the same for others!

Hay Week!

It has been hay week here on the farm! 

Mike has been moaning and groaning about all the rain without a stretch of sunny weather because he had hay that needed harvesting. We are grateful for the rain and cooler temperatures that May gave us but he also wanted to get the hay out of the field. 

Well, on Saturday, the rainy weather gave way to hot, hot, hot temperatures. 

As I pulled out of the driveway to go to our eldest grandson's baseball tournament, Mike was beginning to cut the hay.

When I returned on Sunday morning, the field with the cut hay is what greeted me.

Mike had already fluffed the hay with the tedder. That process just sort of picks up the hay and allows air to help to dry it out. He was beginning to rake the hay into windrows to prepare it for baling.

Then, for the past couple of days he has been baling the hay. It yielded fifty-plus bales and one hot, sweaty, dirty guy.

Next, Mike and Stephen will haul the rolls to the barn and get it all stored away. It will make good winter feed for the livestock - ours and son, Stephen's. There will be a day or two of rest and hay will will come again later in the summer when the second cutting is ready for harvest.