Mar 04
I usually don’t write anything on weekends, but I couldn’t resist this. When I quit working a few years ago, I intended to spend most of my free time on genealogy. And, for the most part, for about 3 years I kept up pretty well. But, this past year a lot of my time has been devoted to my family who live here in this world with me.
I do a lot of reading and fit genealogy in too. That’s where I learned what how I could make a lot of money from genealogy.
(Don’t bet on this method!!!)
Mar 02
In the past week, we have really had it. Stuff has been falling from the sky, snow, rain, ice, sleet, a little of everything. The GD’s were here for a couple of days, but the older wasn’t feeling good, so I took them home. Thank goodness, the roads and the sky were clear that day.
Yesterday, it was snow, ice, rain, rain, rain. The basement of our little old house is damp, and the sump pump is working overtime, a regular spring occurrence. I had a meeting this week, and once again volunteered to do things I really have no business doing. I guess I will learn, but who knows when?
The internet connection just blinked and went off. With the new router I have I usually have to investigate to see if it is me or them, the power or the phone line. As soon as I thought about what to do, everything just came back on. Since the power was blinking on the unit and the lights remain on here in the dining room, guess it was the phone line.
The cats have spring fever, they run all over, play roll and generally cause more confusion than usual. One nice thank was that one of the cats, the darker colored one who is called Squeaks or Lucy or Lucifer, or hay you, stop that, really took up with GD1. She rubbed, came close, and let 1 pet her and play a little. That made a little girl real happy. The other cat is shy and scared of quick movement, and so is not comfortable around the children. She usually runs upstairs and hides under a bed.
Now, back to the work I said I would do—and it’s Friday, so I’d better do it!
Feb 26
Today, I read a post on a mailing list that brought a bunch of stuff back, so here goes:
Until last August, D2 lived on old US 131, which is also called Mackinaw Trail and 210th Avenue, just south of Ashton and about 6 miles north of Reed City, Michigan. Across the road was the retirement home of the writer of “The Old Rugged Cross”, George Bennard.
An article here, about the area mentions a cross on the location where his home stood, “A large cross on the west side of Mackinaw Trail marks the spot where Bernard lived.”
Another says, “After writing this hymn, George Bennard went on to travel and preach for another forty years. Although he composed several other hymns, none was to become as popular as his first. In 1958, at the age of eighty-five, he “exchanged his cross for a crown.” George Bennard was honored in his hometown of Reed City, Michigan. Near the house where he died, the city officials erected a wooded cross that stands twelve feet high. On it is a plaque that reads: ” ‘The Old Rugged Cross’–Home of George Bennard, composer of the beloved hymn.”..”
On a location described above, quite visible from the living room window D2’s old home, stands the cross. The location features a bench, and small parking area. There are flowers in the summer and a man comes regularly to water them. Last winter, the cross broke, but a new one was made and erected, and the ritual continued through the summer. Each time I went there the view of the cross and park reminded me of my childhood. I grew up in Cadillac and any drive south toward Grand Rapids took us down that road, which at the time, was the US 131 main highway. We’d see the cross from the highway. Every time we asked about the cross, and every time Dad would explain that the man that wrote the song lived there. And, in the early 50’s, he was living there. Somewhere in those cloudy memories there is a Saturday (or Sunday) morning radio program featuring “uncle Glenn ?”. It was a Christian program, and began and ended with, “The Old Rugged Cross”. We sang that hymn plenty in church, too!
There is a museum, like most local small town museums, a real gem, and is located just off the US 131 freeway on US 10.
Papa and I visit local museums whenever we are in a new area and have the time, and you should too.
Feb 22
You would think, having raised three children and experienced the addition of five grandchildren to my family, I would have calmed down and could roll with the punches by now. Perhaps my perfection expectation will never take complete leave. I can stand the messy desks, some messy tabletops, and the cat or kid toys on the floor.
However, I really like my routine to keep itself together. I get up, I delete the spam from all my addresses, having wasted 5 or so minutes verifying that is really is spam; I shower; I comb my hair; I dress; I scoop out the cat boxes; I dust, vacuum, and dust mop; I put in a load of wash—you get the idea. Busy Mom calls these things cows. Then I settle down to the task of the day. This week, it’s a web site. Step Dad needed a ride to the eye doctor yesterday, so I picked him up and off we went. Good thing, he had some pictures of his eyes taken and was not in driving condition when the appointment ended.
Arriving back home, I found a note on the table indicated Papa had a fever, was sick to his stomach, and was in bed. I had whatever the bug was the day before, so the sick thing was not much of a surprise. Luckily, his fever was gone and he was “ok” this morning. The bug we had isn’t fun, but it is fast.
Today I am cleaning up the germs, kinda. I wiped the keyboards, door handles, flat surfaces; washing sheets and clothing, running everything in sight through the dishwasher. A routine buster is what it is. Busy mom calls these things zebras. OK, whatever they are called, the always bother me more than they should. Now, I’m looking for the groove, my routine, or whatever it is that I really should be doing.
Your reward for reading this far is the SPAM SUBJECT OF THE DAY. Several of the trash e-mails I received today came with the subject line, “wobbly spider”. ??? It’s a change from the pill, insurance and investment thing, but what idiot, computer or what/whoever thought I would find that important enough to open?
Feb 20
Papa and I went to the camper show yesterday Saturday. Talk about up and down. We went in and out of many trailers and class C motor homes and decided we will stick with Lex for now.
Lex has some drawbacks, but is already in our drive. Using him requires no payments, no hustle and little thought. Just add food, gas and go. When Papa retires, or perhaps a little before, we will consider campers again. We will probably look a lot more before then, I always like to look.
Feb 20
It’s pretty nice out here today. I know that because at 5:30 when we got up, the temp was still 32, above freezing. I put the garbage out and didn’t freeze, even without a coat. I’m working on a little project so that will keep me off the street for a while.
The news of late yesterday/today: merge of Sirius and XM. We have Sirius, and we do get a lot of use out of it, especially on long road trips. We’ll see how this plays out. Lucky for us, they don’t have our current CC number, so there won’t be any automatic renewal at current prices.
Feb 19
Monday, Monday, can’t trust that day
Monday, Monday, sometimes it just turns out that way
-John Phillips
Monday has been and is a profound topic, in my experience. When I was in school, Monday didn’t have the appeal of Thursday or Friday. Same thing at work. Sometimes I wonder why being sad on Monday is such a big deal. I guess it’s the symbol. Monday represents the start of a scheduled period for the work world, at least as we used to know it. The fun and relaxation of the weekend give way to the reality of the problems left on one’s desk on Friday. And so on…
Speaking of fun and relaxation, Papa and I saw Bobby Osborne and the Rocky Top X-Press at the Huron Valley Eagles on Saturday night. Bobby did a couple of great sets. It was a treat to see him without his hat. That is unusual and he was asked so many times about it that he felt obliged to explain how he had put in in his car and forgotten it.
We also saw a lot of friends and acquaintances from around the Detroit area. In the crowd, Pete Goble, Wendy Smith, Mike and Monica Adams, the Mitch Manns family, Andy Ball and more. It was nice to see Ben Luttermoser on bass with Roy Cobb. Granny happens to like Ben’s bass playing. Hear why, or learn something about my diverse musical taste, on the Mountaintop Trio MySpace. At least listen to the 3rd tune, Minor Swing. Also had an opportunity to visit for a minute with Matt DeSpain, hoss of the resonator guitar. He plays ‘em, and he made the one he plays. Papa took a few photos, you can see them on his site.
To finish the thought, back to the real world, on Monday, some work, less play!
Feb 18
What did I do to get me so much spam traffic overnight? I’d hardly had any, and there were twenty-three (23!) this morning.
