Monday, May 26, 2025

Rainy Week

Well, posting this past week took a side path when a tummy virus went through all three elementary schools and ended up with Mimi for the weekend. No picnics at my house.  I am just going to pretend I didn't lose any days.

Our Tuesday Morning Planned Breakfast on the Beach
This afternoon (Wednesday) we are sitting in our warm living room while thunderstorms rattle the windows. We spent our first morning free of preschool searching at four stores for a Hot Wheels semi truck to go with the railroad on my living room floor. We were not only successful, we found one in his favorite color - blue. 

A view from the causeway to the where we would have breakfast on the deck overlooking the lake.
Monday was a busy day with school buses, preschool water day (it was warm enough for swimsuits and the slip 'n slide), my church board meeting and kids for dinner.  Some had asked how we are able to help all these needy households. We do receive donations from three churches, individuals and companies. We also have been the beneficiaries of two trusts who send payments quarterly. Even all this is not enough for all our requests.  There is a separate St Vincent de Paul in our area (they have their own monies and 501c3). We work with them, a few churches with smaller funds, a group that a retired business owner in the southern part of our county and various state and federal agencies in our county to try to come up with what they need. And this requires that these households contact all the places we refer them as we all have separate application processes. There are social workers who assist those who cannot navigate the system on their own. Unfortunately several households are experts at navigating the system. We do prioritize the elderly, children and the disabled whose funds are limited. It is a juggling act.

Repping my grandson's band merch on a freezing day at the
amusement park. 

So enough of that.  Meanwhile Tuesday happened. My daughter took the day off since it was our youngest grandchild's last day of preschool. She dropped off both of her children and we went to the amusement park with our passes and planned to use our food passes to get breakfast on the upstairs deck of the pavilion next to the lake. 

Not the delicious fancy egg breakfast we envisioned, but it worked. 

The fact that it was freezing cold by Tuesday and the clouds made for a very gray morning did not deter us. But after we drove to the park, parked, went through security, went through the gate and hiked to the pavilion, we discovered that there was no breakfast upstairs due to a "private event". . . It was already 10:30 so we decided to do lunch since we needed to get back. 

Showing mommy and grampa how to mix something scientific. 
We made it back in time to meet stepdad, grampa and Gramma Nancy at the preschool for the science presentations and experiments that signal the end of preschool. 

A science experiment with food coloring, making bubbles to print on white paper. 
It was fabulous. 

Creating an explosion to frighten mommy and the teacher. 

The grand finale frightening students, parents and grandparents.
Then, we switched car passengers. My daughter, my grandson and I headed to my granddaughter's school pickup and we all headed back to the amusement park for supper. 

Still repping the band merch.
By the time we got there it was very gray again and the skies were threatening. The wind had really picked up off the lake. Did that stop us? No. 

How we spend our summer vacation. 

We went through security, the admissions gate and headed to the back of the park to try some new dishes at one of our favorite restaurant.  Are we crazy? Yes we are. 

Chicken strips, macaroni salad and biscuit. 

Chicken fingers, potato wedges and biscuit. 

My daughter, my grandchildren and I all have season food passes that give us two meals a day, four hours apart. We have now paid for our passes in meals. 

My daughter choose the 3 sides option with a side of chili, a side of macaroni salad, a side of grilled brussel sprouts and a biscuit. 

And my 3 side choice with a side of chili, a side of chicken and dumplings (like a soup but delicious) and broccoli and cheese casserole with a biscuit.

As you can see, the food is pretty darn good for an amusement park and the portions are more than enough to share.  Her family usually has one meal at the park and then when they leave in four hours, they get sides of fruit and salads to take home. I think four of the seven I take during the summer now have meal plans and if we all order chicken and fries, it is enough for the table.  For Easter I got everyone season drink pass and try to encourage lemonade over soda. 

I worked in the church office on Thursday with no clients and came home sick to match the child on the couch with a bucket. Friday we had two children on couches, Saturday morning a third child sick during siblings games with a high fever.  

I finally rose from the depths on Monday and even showered - just in time for grampa to go down. 

Tomorrow we will put one on the bus (hopefully) and then I am taking the same two back to the amusement park for the day to flee grampa's germs. And because it is the only day of sunshine this coming week.  


Monday, May 19, 2025

Sad Sunday

 As I have mentioned before, we have a scanner at our house that picks up some public services like police, fire and EMS.  Not local to my town, though, who scrambles their signals.  This happened when my son was promoted to police detective and, despite his claims, I hold him responsible.  

We do pickup most county bands, the turnpike, the state patrol, various ambulance services, and all kinds of stuff like snow plows and lately, a school walkie talkie from somewhere.  It is our background noise. 

We know it's a weird habit, but so many family, friends and neighbors call and expect us to know "what is going on" and what is up with the traffic.

Last night a family visiting from out of state was in the area.  There is a nearby community (larger than ours) where a big river cuts through town. Right on Main Street there is a four lane bridge with sidewalks. There are also smaller walking bridges to the north and south a ways and there is a railroad trestle with clearly posted NO TRESPASSING signs.  This city does a lot of fishing from the banks and bridges. And I often see people on that trestle. 

And you know what happened. Last night a train struck a group on the trestle. What I heard and what is currently being released doesn't quite match but I believe that two women, a mother and daughter, were instantly killed.  I also think a 12-13 year old was critically injured and lifeflighted out.  And someone actually rescued a six month old baby from the water, performed CPR until services arrived and this baby was also life flighted.  Both are in critical condition. 

And the crowd saw a five year old girl in a pink sweatshirt fly off the bridge and get swept away in a fast moving current. Authorities employed uncountable other agencies to assist in river walking, borrowed zillions of rescue boats, used regular drones until the thermal, infrared drones could get there, flew helicopters over the river and then switched to special copters with searchlights when it got dark. The train itself was carefully inspected. This went on from about 3pm to 1am.  And they had to stop. 

It takes your breath away. In a instant. The family was from another country, far, far away. Could they read the signs? Did the presence of others on the trestle make them feel safe?  I doubt there is an interpreter in my state that speaks this language. Why were they here? And I should mention that this is not the first similar incident in this community. Every few years a train hits someone on that trestle or someone falls off one of the bridges that is posted no trespassing.  

The whole community was glued to the drama with horrible sadness knowing what the outcome would be. I could hear the sadness and horror in the voices of every single responder.  There was a brief moment of hope late last night when a copter with thermal found a spot on the bank that turned out to be a baby deer. The speed of those on the ground, the rush of the spotlight, the voices of hope even though they knew there was no hope. 

A sad Sunday.  

Saturday, May 17, 2025

Another Week Gone By

The problem with only blogging once a week is that my memory doesn't go back that far. The other problem is I can't stop talking. And I have a shocking lack of photos. Let's see how I do.

Monday is a long one. It was the day of my church charity board and let me give you a list of circumstances.

Case 1: Husband, wife, child - he is a construction worker with diabetes and a septic foot. They spend as fast as he makes it, she does not work. Sick pay hasn't started. Owes $900 rent for May

Case 2: Husband, wife, 5 kids, her adult brother - homeless, not working found a 2 bedroom trailer but need almost $3000 in security & rent to move in. 

Case 3: Undocumented Mom with 3 kids who works in a motel, dad took off and disappeared, hours will pick up with nearby attractions opening, needs $546.42 to be current with rent and utilities. 

Case 4: Man missing one leg needs $231 May rent due to buying gas to drive adult daughter to cancer treatment 5 days a week. 

Case 5: Mom with 3 kids lives pay check to pay check, $2000 car repair

Case 6: Girl in 20's lost job when store closed. $75 electric bill

Case 7: Mom with 1 son needs $316 rent, I can't remember why

Case 8: Husband & wife in their 50's who can't manage money have $900 electric shutoff 

Case 9: Girl with baby needs 784 for deposit to get Metro apartment

Case 10: Husband and wife need 155.45 to pay electric bill 

Case 11: Disabled man, let adult son who did not pay expenses move in. Dad paid his court fines. He left but dad now owes $467.55 electric shut off.  He was counseled on a budget going forward. 

Case 12: Husband and wife short $500 rent

Case 13: Disabled man living with "friends" in a farmhouse. His sister got him qualified for metro apartment across from the city's lake with fishing and down the street from his medical appointments. He is in a motorized wheelchair and can drive himself both places. Needs deposit of $500. Near to sister so she can help him manage.

Case 14: Disabled man with issues, owes water $211, gas $187, electric $188.  Has a social worker who is going to try to keep him on track with bills. 

Came home and threw a quick supper together so I could make it to my Crime Podcast Club at the library. Another senseless case. We did spend a lot of time critiquing some podcasts who seem to giggle and get off topic. 

Tuesday we took a trip to the bank. I handle all our finances and have been doing online banking since Covid and learned that any accounts or investments I have created since then are only in Mr Merry's name. I found this out when I tried to move some bathroom money and needed his signature. So we updated and added me to my own money. 

My son and grandsons came to dinner and I used some diced ham from the freezer and made a delicious casserole also using the cream I bought for soup at Easter that I forgot to add. 

Later I found out that my long time friend battling ovarian cancer had died the night before. 

Mr Merry with the gingham shirt and umbrella
Wednesday was a day of rain and one of my grandsons who lives about 45 minutes east of us was playing soccer in our town. We grabbed umbrellas and went to the game. Here are some soaked cousins I rescued from the playground.

Our Homeless Task Force met on Thursday morning. I feel like we are not even putting our finger in the dike anymore. The good news (?) is there is some grant money to move homeless families into apartments. The bad news is that the government requires they must meet "Fair Market Value" and determined that is $625 a month in my community. Two bedroom apartments in my community are going for $1000-$1800 a month.  And the other bad news is the agencies that receive federal funds (like a homeless crisis worker who works one on one with the displaced) will be defunded if they pass the proposed budget. 

It was almost 80 degrees when I got there . I crawled under the desk and found the fan. 
Then I went to office hours at the charity. We had 3 previous applications:

Case 1: Girl with baby, was working 2 jobs, lost childcare for 2nd job so is doordashing with baby at night. Hours cut at first job now. On waiting lists for metro rent and county babysitter.  Needs $775 June rent. 

Case 2: 2 men, both on disability $560 behind on rent

Case 3: Mom with 5 kids, Has a good job, barely gets child support just makes it and has expensive car repair. Has eviction for $980

I only had one client, a family with mom, dad and 2 adult children with only a daughter currently working cleaning horse stalls for a neighbor. Another church, who was much more sympathetic than me is paying this months rent and water bills leaving us the electric shut off. 

I then went home and made some delicious fried chicken for my son and grandsons for dinner. 

This brings us to Field Trip Friday. Earlier in the week I twisted my ankle so a trip to the amusement park was out. We saw skunks on our front porch and back deck so went on a futile search for repellant and ended up ordering it on Amazon. We then searched for a reasonable price for Coke Zero for my husband at four stores. There is no reasonably priced beverages in aluminum cans. I tried to go out to lunch but our partner in crime demanded a lunchable. 

He build an Equinox out of this insanely large box. 
Today we are behaving like children and went out for ice cream for dinner. On the way 3 deer crossed in front of our car. We did make it to the ice cream shop. Then, as soon as we arrived home, yet another squirrel climbed the guide wire to the transformer in our cul-de-sac and committed suicide plunging the houses after us on the line into darkness. It has taken over 3 hours for the repair crew. I can count at least four other times this has happened and I bet I can think of a lot more instances, too.  Squirrels will never learn. 

We were thinking of driving an hour and a half to go to a dollhouse show, but my ankle still isn't great so that made my decision. 

And that was our week. I did not do much more cooking since I can only cook too much and we have been eating leftovers. Tomorrow I plan to grill some steaks and enjoy the fresh asparagus that my ex-daughter inlaw dropped off when she brought her kids over to get breakfast and the school bus. We did plant asparagus for the first time this year in Mr Merry's Victory Garden. I am not sure how many years it will take. He has replanted cucumbers 3 times now. 





Saturday, May 10, 2025

A Week in Review

I believe that I can sleep in tomorrow morning and boy am I looking forward to it. Of course I will probably wake up early and spoil my plan. 

The blog stopped last Saturday night as I returned from my genealogy conference. We were up early the next morning to attend the church service at the church where our youngest grandson attends preschool. 


We then jumped in the car and drove 1 hour and 45 minutes so we could catch my oldest granddaughter's performance in Willie Wonka. 


She was in the "chorus" so she had several outfit changes. Here she is in the crowd when they announce the golden ticket promotion. 


She was a ballet dancer behind one of the golden ticket winners.


She was the featured squirrel when a boy fell into the nut sorting machine. (here she is dancing with Willie Wonka during the following set change). 


She was also an Oompa Loompa in the blue uniform shown modeled by a co-star behind my posse after the show.


And me with both granddaughters.

Afterwards we went out for pizza. Since I hadn't eaten anything all day, I ordered a small chicken bacon ranch pizza and ate the whole thing. We got back home at 8:30 pm. 

The next morning I put kids on the bus, ran one to preschool and dashed to the grocery for ingredients for the election potluck.  We did a "Cinco de Seis" theme so I did a crock pot of shredded chicken for fajitas. I had my church board meeting and then packed for Tuesday. I misplaced my new book "Mrs Lincoln's Dressmaker" which I thought would be perfect for election day. 


I did not make this fabulous melon. 


As you can see, we had enough food to feed all of us and I believe every single person who voted in this no big controversy issues only election. 
We also had more cookies than a Christmas Cookie exchange. We arrived at 5:30 am to set up and I got home at 8:30 pm.  I think I am getting too old for this. 

Wednesday I was up early to fix my hair and drive to my high school girl friend's house to pick her up for lunch. Unfortunately there is a lot of road construction. My gps said they would route me and then took me down every country road in two counties, many that even I had never heard of.  We went to lunch and I ordered another chicken bacon ranch pizza. I ate half. After taking her home, my gps was able to guide me back to my house by taking 2 state routes to the road that takes me to my house.  I think she hates me. 

Thursday was my day in the church charity office and I ate the rest of my chicken bacon ranch pizza. So 3 days of chicken bacon ranch pizza.  Thursday evening my son and grandsons come to dinner and we had leftover chicken fajitas from Tuesday. My grandson received a letter that he has been placed in a special program for his first year in junior high where he will complete junior high math classes in one year and begin high school math classes in 8th grade, allowing him to take college math courses for credit in high school.  I congratulated him, but told him I will need a dna test because I can't believe someone related to me could qualify. 


After dinner we drove another detour to another elementary school and made it just in time for the kindergarten spring musical.  This guy had a stunning dance solo. Several of the kindergarteners actually read parts and I was very impressed with them and my fancy dancer. 

 
Friday morning we were up bright and early for the preschool trikeathon. 


The kids complete a course (or maybe drive it four times if anyone is counting) while learning and reviewing safety rules. Like walking your bike across the street. 


They collect pledges to raise money for St Jude's Children's Hospital. Here they are stopped at a railroad crossing.


He would like you to notice that he is the only one without training wheels. 


Yes, another trip to the Amish nurseries. His mother gave us a list. 


And a woodworking project having nothing to do with my under construction bathroom. Stepdad had a tennis match (he is a high school coach) so mom, sister and he stayed for dinner, another night of chicken fajitas. 

This morning (we made it to Saturday) I had my monthly luncheon with my former library co-workers. We go to a pizza place in a nearby town and I usually order a chicken bacon ranch personal pizza. Today I went wild and ordered a chicken alfredo with spinach pizza. 


Here is my book for summer.  It was recommended by Connie at Far Side of Fifty. I read Chapter One and I am hooked. I may just read it over and over all summer long. And now I will have to order copies of this author's other books, too. It is that good. 

And these are my trillium pictures. Val at Mulewings went on a hike to find trillium today and it reminded me that our favorite grandchild photographer has a secret spot that blooms the first week in May.  Here are two more. 


Staging from Miss Merry's ridiculous large tea party collection, tablecloth courtesy of her large curtain collection.


And now we are back to Sunday tomorrow! Tonight I will be listening to my crime podcast homework in preparation for our monthly meeting at the library on Monday evening.  I am pretty sure there is something on our calendar for every day remaining in May.  

We are not having chicken for dinner tonight. 

Saturday, May 3, 2025

Genealogy Conference 2025: Day Three

 I arrived at the conference center at 7:30 am and there were already herds of tiny little girls with poofy hair and gigantic hair bows and impossibly long black eyelashes and red lipstick, all wearing matching cheerleading uniforms. It is impossible to describe the noise level in the lobby. Fortunately the competition was sound distance away. 


I picked up a cup of Starbucks which I diluted to a drinkable mixture with a cup of water and 2 creamers. And when I walked by the raffle tables, they called me over for a prize I won the day before!  I was actually buying extra tickets trying to win these and I am pretty excited. And yes, I could just buy the entry tickets but this is sport. 


I attended the first session for fun since I love case histories. It turns out the presenter has a connection to my town. I took her information for our local meeting program coordinator. The story was so heartwarming I almost cried. And the dna technique she used was something that could assist me in a mystery of my own - so I changed my schedule for the second class on her recommendation. 


I have always been a little bit afraid of DNA research and try to stick to paper. But I think even I can use the methods on this website, especially as the presenter explained it all to me in understandable words, step by step. I may try this tonight if I can stay awake. 


Again, chose this session for an interesting case history.  I did not realize that endogamy affects me too! And my husband's family.  This is when your dad's cousin marries your mom's aunt or two brothers from one family marry two sisters from another family.  Or, in her case, her mom and uncle married two people who were cousins.  And one of the cousins/aunts had a relative 2 back that married someone else . . . I can't remember but it all affects how you read your DNA.


I packed my lunch and ate at our local society table before attending this session. First, the presenter needs her own TV show. Great voice and what a personality. And she is a total expert. Amazing! She wove a story of tracing her 4th great grandmother through family documents she managed to unearth despite courthouse fires and a civil war and found a court case with accusations of adultery with one of two possible moms dying before the case made it to court. This could be a mini series. And then how she had to trace four family trees for all those generations to find willing participants for a mitochondrial dna test for the big bucks. And managed to solve that mystery. I was on the edge of my seat! 


I had attended a session with this presenter either last year or the year before. She had worked for the US government in Poland and did personal genealogy in her spare time so she knows every nook and cranny. I used what I learned before to locate an index of my husband's 2nd great grandparents marriage license but didn't know how to move forward. She showed me what to do next. And she had a lot of new websites and places to help find records. She always starts with a world history lesson and a geography of borders lesson and this great for the European history and geography challenged individuals like me. Poland changed shapes and governments and even disappeared for while between 1700-1945. 


And - call me queen of all door prizes. I was a winner again.  And this despite finding more raffle tickets that I purchased and forgot to enter left in my purse when I got home. 

This concludes the review of my genealogy conference. It was a challenge getting up this morning because I used some new information I received yesterday and stayed up way too late reading a 42 page 1800's court deposition where my new-to-me 3rd great grandmother sued a daughter-in-law and named her husband and all her children in the document. I am going to have a long week if I keep this up! 

Friday, May 2, 2025

Genealogy Conference 2025 Day Two

This morning the conference started an hour earlier taking into account the participants staying at the conference center and attending an early breakfast with a guest speaker.  

I tried my best to win some door prizes (spoiler alert, I did not) and remembered that I do not care for Starbucks coffee -too bitter 


My focus today was on my Mennonite great-great grandmother. This speaker was fantastic and I rearranged my afternoon schedule to attend another one of her sessions. 


I thought I was very smart to print little cheat sheets of each branch for easy reference to dates.  Well, I printed one for my husband's mom, one for my mom and TWO for his dad. Which meant I did not have a cheat sheet for my Mennonite grandmother. 


Due to the tremendous persecution of the Mennonites in Switzerland and Germany, they did not keep church records. And when they immigrated to the United States, they did not keep church records either. But they did pay taxes! And this session told where to find tax records and other civil filings. 

Another fabulous session. Every session was as good as the next. The presenters were all fabulous.  I have learned so much my brain hurts! And I am very grateful I bought the syllabus so I can refer back to the slides. 

No lunch today. I sat at my chapter table, visited with old friends and ate a delicious adult lunchable from Aldi. 


Okay, this was a for fun session. The presenter is a DNA specialist who focuses on endogamy. The session focused on an extended family member's origins and incorporated a history of family feuds in Kentucky at the turn of the 20th century and how she solved the motive of a murder with DNA. 


Back with my morning speaker who shared how to find all those civil records housed in Pennsylvania courthouses on different websites and the ones only available in person. 


Over 100 participants attended this session on a new feature on Family Search.  The room was completely full and people were dragging in chairs from other classrooms. 

I'm not sure how many people are attending.  There is a block of 5 rooms that hold about 50 people (the 6th room in the block is our marketplace). Then there is an adjoining hallway with two rooms that hold "93" and one at the end that is about that size, too.  Not all the rooms are full all the time. Thursday had less participants, many arrived this morning to attend Friday and Saturday. And there are always more that attend just on Saturday so they don't miss work. 

The convention center is huge and it has been nice that it is just our conference. But that was changing as I left at the end of the day. There is a giant cheerleading competition (the kinds with little girls and lots of lipstick) on Saturday and Sunday and the families were all checking in. They have set up barricades to keep the groups separate and I hope it works smoothly. The girls are very cute but the noise (mostly the parents in the hallway) can get very distracting. 

Miss Merry