WE ARE BLESSED

Last Sunday we had quite a scare at our old farmhouse ! I went away with my daughter Jodi. I started back our lane and my husband was coming out the lane. We each stopped. He says I smell something in the house , but everything seems okay . I come back the lane and go into the house. First thing I see is smoke in the kitchen and in the living room. I call my husband and tell him something is wrong the house is full of smoke. He says I will be right there.  I go outside and look at our chimney , thinking it is the flu and we have a flue fire . I see flames coming out of a metal grate beside the chimney . Oh my God, I think to myself our house is on fire.  One of my biggest fears ! We live in an old , about 200 years old , farmhouse.  It would go up in no time  ! My husband gets home and I tell him there are flames . He gets his portable radio for Walker Twp. Fire Co. and calls in the fire . He tells them it is a working structure fire at his residence. ( My husband has been a member of the Fire Co for almost 50 years ) . Most of the firemen know our address and as soon as they heard Jim on the radio , they were out their doors , before the tones even went off. My husband had run down to the  basement and saw the flames. He got the garden hose and put out the fire. The fire trucks came and all the firemen . They were wonderful .  We were so touched by all the firemen who showed up to help us  ! They are like a family to my husband and he was near tears , we both were !  I had called our daughters and they both came with some of the grandkids and my brother showed up also. The firemen cut the carpet in the living room to make sure the floor was okay . They were here about an hour . Some of the firemen tried to get Jim to sit down, but he wouldn't . All of us said , if this has been a weekday and Jim and I were at work, we would have lost everything  ! Our home , our belongings and things you could never replace. We are so lucky and so thankful God was watching over us on last Sunday , March  20th  ! We are Blessed !

Wow, I have not been on here for ages !! 2015 ??  I better do better !  It has been beautiful weather here in Central  PA . I even dug out my capris . It could stay like this , but I don't think we will be that lucky !

We are having a Birthday Party for my Dad tomorrow. Of course we have to have lots of food. And cake of course ! He will be 83 years old.  He had a stroke a couple of years ago , but is still doing pretty well.

Dad is the one clear on the left of the picture. This picture is from our 40th and Mom and Dad's  60th Wedding Anniversary Party back  a couple of years ago. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD !!!!!!!! 

Our littlest grandson was here yesterday . He was all excited that Papee was going to bale hay . The hay will only be used for bedding. We have had rain , rain, rain and more rain !!  This hay got rained on way too many times to be fed to our animals.  Papee got the baler and wagon all hooked up to the tractor and away they went. I walked up later to check on him. He was watching Papee bale the hay. I took my Kindle along and took some pictures of them . 

Some of the hay bales didn't make it on to the wagon. So our grandson was helping out. We got the hay baled and had about a load and a half. We took the wagons to the barn and decided to unload the hay then . And of course our grandson had to help . 

Here he is all ready to help unload. He was a big helper to Papee and me. He pushed the bales to the front of the wagons. Papee put them on the elevator and just tumbled them in to the hay mow. For as little as he is , he is a good little worker  !! 

Our oldest grandson  JP  just graduated from Bellefonte High School. We are so proud of him. He had some struggles , but he worked hard and made it  ! He is helping his Dad with his lawn care business right now. But he has plans to enlist in the Marines. We will worry about him , but will be so proud of what he is doing ! CONGRATULATIONS ....JP !! 

Double Wedding Anniversary Celebration

Last night we had a Wonderful night with family and friends ! We had a party for my Mom and Dad's 60th Anniversary and my husband's and my 40th Anniversary . It was such a special evening. There was loads of food . We had ham platters, meatballs sandwiches , pasta salad, tossed salad, macaroni salad , relish tray and dip, fruit tray and dip, wine, soda, beer and cakes. There were  some of the family up from Florida. They stayed at my Mom and Dad's house and camper.  We have been having lots of picnics and had a campfire here on the farm the other night.

For years my husband always teased my parents promised them $10,000 to take me off their hands. He told them he was still waiting to get paid. So my parents had a huge check made up for him in that amount.  LOL !  They presented it to him at the party.

                                                       Me and my husband

My Mom and Dad 

We both danced to Alan Jackson's REMEMBER WHEN ~~ Such a Beautiful Song  ! It was a night we all will remember for years  . Thank you to all our family and friends who came to join in the Celebration !

40 YEARS AGO!

It is so hard to believe that tomorrow will be our 40th Wedding Anniversary ! We have had 40 years of living on our farm , raising two daughters  and enjoying our five grand kids. We are so very lucky to live on this beautiful farm , in the old farmhouse my husband grew up in. For years we have walked up the lane towards our mountain ground and the view is incredible !

 

We have worked our farm , growing crops , baling and unloading hay and straw  . We have probably unloaded at least a million bales in 40 years!

We have had thousands of family picnics over those 40 years. We had loads of great food and fun. We always had a fire and we all sat around and talked and enjoyed our time together . Sometimes my brother brought his guitar and played music for us.

We had a very small wedding . My dress was made by a  relative. It was a blue flower print long dress. I can still remember my flowers. They were white carnations with a  tinted blue edge with baby's breath  .

We had our reception a couple of weeks later . It was held at our Fire Hall. We all made the food and

decorated the Hall. The Hall was filled with lots of family and good friends to share our life . We ended up having to stop the reception early....the power went out !

I can't believe how young and skinny we were  ! LOL ! Where did the years go ? We have raised two wonderful daughters who we are very proud of ! 

When I look back on our 40 years there have been many happy, wonderful times ! Years of taking the girls to the barn . First as babies in a stroller  . Then as they got older they had chores to do at the barn. They would help feed calves, clean out the troughs, sweep floors  and other chores. A farm is a wonderful place to raise kids. So many fun things to do and so many places to explore ! I know they have very special memories of growing up here . 

Our five grandkids have all spent hours with us over the years on the farm. It was always one of their favorite places to be when they were growing up ! Getting tractor rides with Papee, playing in the barn, petting the cows and calves . A lot of our cows were names by the grandkids , using the names of their favorite cartoon characters.

 

 

 

 

We have had so many wonderful memories over these 40 years . Some of them also sad . The year milk prices were so low was a terrible year. We thought for sure we would lose our farm and our home . There were so many nights I would sit outside in the yard  and cry , worried sick we were finished! One  night as I was sitting outside , Jim came out and saw me crying. He came over , put his arm around me and I cry and cry. He hugs me and tells me it will be ok. We will make it through this . And we did , with help from family and friends  . We were blessed ! We have had so many blessings over these 40 years together  . I feel so very lucky to have this wonderful man !  Of course there are plenty of days I could bop him over the head or throw him out a window too !

 

In August  my parents will also celebrate their 60th Wedding Anniversary . This summer we are having a big party to celebrate both our Anniversary's together . Family is coming up from Florida to celebrate with us. It will be a time of fun  and family   and wonderful memories !

Snow Aagin !

I can't remember a more snowy winter  !  We got more snow yesterday and some ice in central PA. We probably got another 8 " . We were lucky ....  some places in PA are without power because of heavy ice. My husband plows for the Township and went out about 4 am. Then got home and had to fire up the tractor and plow our lane . Now they are calling for  maybe another storm on Sunday .  But the grandkids are loving it  ! The littlest grandson loves to be out side ! Yesterday he and I walked out the lane and got the mail. Then we shoveled a path to the bird feeders and fed the birds.  He loved it  !

Summer is here !!

Summer is here for sure !! One grandaughter had a soccer game today , It was sooo hot !  Those poor kids were even hotter than we were I am sure , with running all over the field.The other grandaughter has a game tomorrow. I sure hope it is cooler. It isn't til 5:45 so maybe it will be !

Last night we unloaded 2 loads of hay . It wasn't as hot as I thought it would be up in the barn. No more hay til later next week. My husband , myself and our neighbor all unloaded. Then another neighbor just happened to stop by and got  to join in the fun of unloading !

Today my husband had to fix the manure spreader . After that he decided to start cleaning the one calf pen in the barn. It has to be done with a pitchfork so it takes a long time.  He puts the manure spreader back by the pen and we can throw the manure right into it. He got it about 3/4 done and I went out to help .  He got to the far side of the pen . So he forked it over to me and I threw it into the spreader . EXERCISE, EXERCISE !! Wonder if people would pay to come clean calf pens and unload hay for a summer trip ?? I bet there are actually people who would do that !! Come and work on a farm and be around the animals      ! Hmmmm... will have to think about that ! Well, maybe not , I bet the insurance we would have to pay would be huge !!

After we finished the calf pen I had the bright idea to spray weeds ! What was I thinking , as hot as it was ?? I needed to spray by the ditch, by the milk house, around my flower garden , down by the spring and down the one bank. I think I may have overdone it !

Before supper my husband and I sat outside and had a glass of iced tea. Boy, did that taste good ! Good and COLD !! I have come to the conclusion we ARE NOT as young as we used to be ! LOL !!  when we both tried to get up put of our Adirondack chairs it took us awhile !! LOL !!!!

I cooked cheese burgers on the grill for our supper. Then we finished off our night going to our daughters to have cake for our grandsons 13th birthday !

Memories

My parents and three brother's moved from Pennsylvania to Florida the same year I got married. So while my kids were growing up my parents were far away and didn't get to see them much. That was before the days of computers and cell phones and Facebook. I would tape the girls on a cassette tape and mail it to Mom for her to hear the girls talking or singing. The other week my brother found some of the tapes at Mom and Dad's and put it onto a CD. He gave me the CD last week. I put it in the car to listen to on the CD player.The girls were about 5 and 2 on the tape . As I am driving up the road it starts and I hear this sweet little voice saying a poem from a Christmas Program at our church and then singing Jingle Bells . Next I hear the younger daughter singing Jingle Bells or at least trying to sing it like her older sister did. Hearing those little voices was wonderful. It brought back so many memories of when they were that age . You forget how little they sound . It brought tears to my eyes to hear those little voices . The older daughter got to hear herself on the CD the other day when she was in my car. She loved it too ! What a special memory to have and to be able to share it with the girls and their kids. The grand kids want to hear their Mommy's singing on the CD. I can't wait for them to hear their Mom's singing Jingle Bells and Rudolph. I will treasure this CD and listen to the girls singing over and over !

New Year not starting out very well !!

Our New Year is not starting out very well. Dad is having these health issues. They are still working on Dads' blood clot and are still waiting to hear from the heart Doctor. Then my husband has this cough he seems to get every winter. He hasn't been to work since last week. He can't sleep upstairs in our bed. As soon as he lays back he starts coughing. He tries to sleep on the recliner. But that doesn't seem to work very well either. He hasn't had much sleep the last couple of nights. Neither have I .... I wake up hearing him coughing up a lung. He went to the Doctor and they put him on prednisone  and  is to use an inhaler. Plus he already takes allergy pills  every day . Plus his blood pressure pill and his acid reflux pill. When we had the dairy cows , all he took was acid reflux pills and a vitamin. Ever since we sold the cows , he is on all this medicine now ! I told him I am thinking of trading him in for someone younger and healthier ! LOL  ! This morning I took him to an office in State College for a chest X ray. They called and said the X ray was normal. So that is good. This afternoon they called in a prescription for a cough pill. I went and picked them up. Hopefully they work on this cough  and he gets to feeling better soon!

New Health Problems for Dad

Dad now has some new health problems to deal with. His leg was bothering him and was swollen. We took him to the Doctor and they said go to the hospital and have an ultrasound done on the leg. To check for a blood clot.  And that is what it was. He is on a blood thinner and Mom has to give him shots in the stomach. He has to have blood work done about every other day. To check for a level in the blood. They want it to be about 2 . It started out at .9  and then went up to 1.6 . Then it got up above 2 and that was too high. So they were to cut back on his blood thinner and quit the shots. He goes again on Wed. for blood work again.

Then last week I took them for his regular appointment for an ultrasound on the artery in his neck . This is the same artery that was blocked the other year , which caused his stroke. They did the surgery on  the artery to open it up. They do this routine ultrasound about every 6 months. The last time they did one the artery was about 59% blocked. Thursday's ultrasound showed severe blockage, maybe in the 90 - 99 %  range! They set Dad up for an CAT scan  this morning. I took them to the hospital . His appointment was at 9:30 am. They did the scan , now we wait to hear from the Doctor.To see if the ultrasound was correct and he does have blockage. Once they get the results we will  go from there. More than likely they will decide to do surgery on the artery again.  We are hoping for the best !

Dad

It will soon be a year since my Dad has his stroke over at Centre County Grange Fair. There have been so many changes in his life and in ours. It is so sad to see how he can't do so many things he used to do. He would spend hours on the computer and could figure difficult things out in minutes. Now he can no longer even figure out how to get on the computer.He used to go to the basement and work on his jewelry . He made beautiful pins, earrings and necklaces with his gems and rocks. He tumbled stones and has beautiful slabs of rock.Now he can't get his left hand to work right . He can't do the fine work to fashion a wire wrapped gem or fit the small beads on the wires for a pair of earrings. ( The loss of his left hand is worse because years ago , when they lived in Florida ,he cut his hand with a table saw. His hand was terribly cut and required months and months of surgery and therapy. It was unbelievable how they were able to sew his hand back together . So he never regained full use of his left hand even after all the therapy . It was already weak and the stroke made it worse. )So in about a month he will be selling all his many, many gems, rocks and equipment. It has made us so sad for his sake that he can no longer do something he loved. He has collected so many rocks from so many places.He always loved showing people the many rocks he has . He could tell you where they all came from and what they were called. My Dad was a very, very smart man . He was in the cable industry for years and years . He could tell you anything you wanted to know about cable . Now, he can't even figure out how to work the remote for the TV. He can't push the right buttons . Now , since the stroke , his brain does not work the way it used to. If you sit and talk to him , you would never know there is anything wrong with him. But when he has to use his brain , it just isn't there anymore. He tries to put a large pot inside a small pot. He has trouble with dressing himself.It breaks our hearts to see this man, who was almost a genius , now at a 2 year old level of thinking. A stroke is a terrible thing to happen to a person. The person they were is lost . But we are lucky that he knows who we all are and can still function to a point.But it is very hard on Mom to deal with her husband being like a 2 year old sometimes. Dad always did a lot for Mom. He can no longer drive. Which is hard for Mom . She has to drive all the time. We try and drive them places to give her a break now and then. He can't be left alone for very long. So friends or family stay with Dad to give Mom a break. Our Dad was never an affectionate person. He never showed you he cared. The stroke has made him very emotional. He gives us hugs now. And he cries very easily now. Other people have told us that happens when someone has a stroke. Dad's life and ours have been changed in many ways. But we all do the best we can and keep going .

Ricketts Glen Walk

We took a day while my niece was here from Florida and drove to Ricketts Glen State Park to walk along the falls . My niece , her friend , Mom, Dad, my one daughter and 2 of the grandaughters all went. At the start of the trail it says....Dangerous Trails and can be very slippery. At 2 pm we start . Only my niece, her friend , my daughter and the grandaughters started down the steep trail. Dad did go a short ways , but then turned around and went back to sit with Mom. There are 22 falls along the trails. they range from 11' to 94' . My niece and her friend only went part way and had to leave. They had to leave in time to get to the Allentown airport for their flight home. So the grandaughters and my daughter and I kept going on the trail.( That was our mistake ... we should have turned back too ! ) But , we kept on going. Lots of dirt paths , then stone steps , some that were 2' high to step down to the next one. My daughter had to help me numerous times. We see lots of beautiful falls and huge, huge rocks. The trail kept going down and down and I keep thinking on the way back it is going to be UP and UP ! Not good ! We reach a point where the trail splits and we rest awhile. Up we go now , more paths and more 2' rock steps ! More falls on the way back up. By now it is about 5 or 530. Soon we see a sign that points this way towards the parking lot. So , of course we think oh good we are close !! NOT !! We keep going up and it is really steep . We go awhile and there is a huge rock. Good place to sit and rest . Thank God, we sit and let our heartbeat get back to normal and we can breathe ! On we go . More steep trails , more 2' steps and more falls. By now I could care less if I ever see another falls again !!!!! Rest , Breathe , Climb , Pant , Rest , Breathe , Climb , Pant and on and on ! My daughter and I sit there gasping for air and start laughing and laughing . We say to each other I think I am having a heart attack ! On we go...Finally see a sign that says.03 miles to the parking lot.YESSSSS ~ almost there !! Do you know how long it takes to walk .03 miles ??? a long time !! Next sign says .01 miles to the parking lot. We tell the 8 and 9 year old girls to run and tell Grammy and Papee we are coming and are ok ( alright, we ARE not ok , but we are still alive !! ) And of course they go running off , full of energy still. About 6pm or so my daughter and I stagger into the parking lot and collapse by Mom and Dad . The next time family visits and wants to walk the trails at Ricketts Glen I will pass !!!!!!!!!!!

Hyner View

My niece was recently up for a visit from Florida. We decided to take a picnic and go up to Hyner View near Renovo , PA. I had 3 of the grandkids with me in my car. My niece , her friend and Mom and Dad went in another car. It took about 2 hours to drive there . We had our picnic of sandwiches, chips and cookies. Then all walked over to the View. Absolutely breathtaking ! I think even the grandkids thought it was great !

Spring has Left !!

Well , I  think spring has left us ! We had such great , sunny  and warm weather . And now it is windy , cool and some nights pretty dang cold . We still have a coal and wood fire in our furnace. This time of the year our old farmhouse gets pretty chilly without a fire going. Hopefully soon it will warm up enough to let the fire go out. My husband got home from work at the Township yesterday and we went down to the brush and cut and loaded a big load of wood . We unloaded it by the cellar door. We also stacked some down in the cellar . It should keep us going with the coal for awhile. We had a Wonderful Easter . We all went to my Mom and Dads and ate way too much. The older two grandsons helped me hide the Easter eggs for the other three. Sure didn' t take them long to find them all. Then it was dessert time.The weather stayed nice long enough for us to sit on the deck and enjoy the sun. But by later afternoon it started to cloud up an got chilly.It was so nice for us all to be together and enjoy the day !

Beautiful Words

I had to share these words from my one brother Ken , who lives in Florida. His daughter was up for a visit for a few days to see her Grammy and Papee . ( many of you know my Dad had a stroke this past summer and has had a rough time and it has been very hard on my Mom also ) . Kareen took this picture of them and posted it on facebook. My brother had these words to say about them.
" You are looking at the most honorable man I have ever met in my life , who has never done anything but respect everyone he has ever met and treated them accordingly and the most caring woman I have ever met who would give you the shirt off her back , if it would make you feel better . I have been truly blessed . Love You Mom and Dad , wish I was able to help you out more ." I thought those were the most beautiful words you could say about your parents. And I know all 4 of us kids feel the same way about them.

Family

We had such a great time while my 2 brothers and other family were here visiting for a week . We did so many fun things. Had lots of picnics and ate way too much food of course ! Mom and Dad had a picnic at their place the one night. It was nice enough a bunch of us sat out on the deck to eat . We sat there for hours just talking and enjoying our time together. This is the first time in years and years we the bunch of us were together. There was my brother Ken, his daughter Kareen, her girls Michaela and Layla , her friend Jake, Kens daughter Keena , her husband Adam and their son Brock, Kens boys Kyle and Kole and Koles kids Kayden and Khloee, Kens daughter Kalley and her husband Brock. My other brother from Florida , Terry was up too. It was so nice for us to be able to sit and visit and talk about when we growing up and sharing so many memories. It was such a very special time. The one Sunday we went to church and my one niece took our picture.And this isn't even all of us . There are quite a few more !