Thanksgiving 2023

Monday was the six week mark for my hip replacement.  I was supposed to have an appointment that day, but it had been canceled and rescheduled for 10:00 Tuesday  morning. 

When I headed out the door Tuesday morning I  saw the European mount on a bench beside the sidewalk. Our neighbor had dropped it off for Evan. I stopped to take a picture of it.

I was going to send the picture to our family chat so Evan could see it. That's when I noticed a missed call from Gunderson.  I listened to the message which said my appointment was canceled. "Please call this number to reschedule." I'm glad I caught that! 

 After calling Ellis to let him know I called Gunderson to reschedule. Looking at their schedule the gal said I could see Shelby next week on the 30th. The message had said it looked like there were several openings for Wednesday. (Maybe a half hour had gone by) When I mentioned that she looked again and said Shelby had no openings. "But I could get you in with Aaron/Erin." I didn't ask if this provider is male or female.  I just said, "I'll take it." (Who knows if Shelby would be available next week when the day came. I didn't want to risk it.)

So I had another day to putter around my kitchen and attempt to bring order out of chaos.

My reclaimed stove - minus a stack of dirty pots and pans.

A beginning of cleaned off counters and empty sink. The dish drainer is still drying dishes. 

I found the top of my work station. An old table that Ellis redid for me. It is a flat surface so guess what? It was piled high with stuff. 

Now I can roll out some pies or make a pumpkin roll and have a place to cool baked items. 

Of course this stuff has to go somewhere. 

I will say right now I have a war going with mice. They're using the kitchen drawers as a maze/exercise tower. If the dish cloths are in the drawer the mice either chew on them (depending on the fabric) or leave evidence that tells me they were there.

All the traps are empty. Do you have a method of reducing mice in your house? 

A cat is not an option, unfortunately. 

At 9:50 I noticed a message on my phone saying Are you here? You have an x-ray scheduled for 9:50.

I called again and repeated my line. My appointment was canceled but now I see the x-ray wasn't canceled, etc. The gal I talked to was very nice and said she'd cancel it and reschedule it for tomorrow. 

Wednesday morning we drove to LaCrosse WI. We listened to Odyssey on the way. The exciting episodes when Eugene and Katrina disappear and Whit and Jack's car is  rammed into at the post office. They give their pkg. to a woman with a gun. And we find out Mitch is dead!? How is this possible?

I cannot believe how efficient they are at Gunderson! Ellis dropped  me off a smidgen past nine. I walked to the elevators (no wheel chair) and Ellis met me there after parking  the car. We checked in on the second floor. Went back for an x-ray. Then we saw Aaron who showed us the x-ray taken today compared to the one taken during surgery.  He said everything looks good. He said it's okay to start driving bus. He answered all our questions.  

I was startled to see that the clock in the car said 10:00 when we pulled away. I don't have to go back until next year! We are so thankful!

We got supplies to put together sweet potatoes for our Thanksgiving lunch at Maranatha Bible School.

Ready for the oven.

                    Happy Thanksgiving!

this brought back memories

This morning I read Krysta's blog post here and immediately started forming my own blog post in my head.

.... a  weird thing that writers do every now and then.

Thoughts on preparing for birth.

In 1982 when we were expecting Jeremy to join our family we were in the middle of putting a chimney in our house. It was the last week of September in Montana. We still had a week before my due date. I mean, what's the rush? The weather is cold - we have no heat in the house - what could go wrong? We just moved over to Dad and Mom  Harshbarger's for a day or two while the guys worked on that. 

Jeremy announced that he was on the way in the middle of the night (early morning) of October 1st. We drove to the hospital and as we were driving lazy snowflakes slanted across the darkness in front of our headlights. 

I remember Ellis talked to my sister-in-law and told her my contractions were 4 - 5  minutes apart. She later mentioned to me that she couldn't understand why we rushed off to the hospital if my contractions were 45 minutes apart.

Jeremy Ellis arrived later that afternoon. Before I came home - after two or three days of lollygagging in the hospital - the chimney  was in and the furnace up and running. We moved to Minnesota when Jeremy was about five months old.

In 1987 the guys at church were in the middle of building a new church/school near Blooming Prairie, Minnesota. Instead of prayer meeting September 2nd we had a work evening. The women gathered in Frieda Yoder's dining room and worked on sewing projects. The guys were getting an area ready for school. One bathroom was being finished and the front entrance was set up to be our little (temporary) school room.

I remember we brought Jeremy's bike along and he was zipping around the driveway. I felt the familiar contractions 4 - 5 minuets apart right in the middle of hemming a baby blanket for the church nursery. We hugged Jeremy goodbye and went off to the hospital  to get a baby brother or sister for him. He spent the night with Grandpa and Grandma.

Evan Jared arrived in the wee hours, September 3rd.

Life with two boys was exciting. It became even more so when a little sister joined them May 10, 1989.

Did I have freezer meals made ahead? I can't remember. I had a suitcase packed and arrangements made for my sister to come over and stay with the boys if we had to leave in the middle of the night.

May 9th was a beautiful spring day. We went on a school picnic at Todd Park. In the afternoon when we came home we briefly talked about planting the garden, but then decided to call it a day. Fortunately,  we were able to wake Trenda up around midnight. We piled in the car and headed for Austin the minute she drove in our lane. Florence Deanne arrived a couple hours after we got to the hospital. 

Getting a name ready is part of the process, right? I think Ellis and I spent a lot of time reading baby name books out loud to each other. Oh, the many conversations involved in naming a child. For instance, why did we name Deanne - Florence Deanne - instead of Deanne Florence?  We wanted her to have her Grandma's name, but also have her own name. We thought Florence Deanne flowed better than the other way around. 

We looked for names that were unique but not too far off the wall. Ellis overheard a news reporter asking the nurse, "When's the last time you had a Florence here?" And he could almost see the eyes rolling when the nurse replied, "It's been forever!"

The reporter was doing an article on Mother's Day and talking to the nurse on duty. Since Deanne was the only baby in the nursery at that moment she got her picture in the paper. Held by the nurse who thought, "This baby has an old-fashioned name, poor darling!"

Jorgan Thayne has to spend his life explaining his name to strangers. When they first hear the name almost invariably the first thing they say is, "Jordan?" 

I started saying, "It rhymes with Morgan," when I said his name. Thayne is a variation of Thane ... an author's name. I have enjoyed reading Elswyth Thane's historical novels through the years. Her Williamsburg Novels begin with Dawn's Early Light, Yankee Stranger, Ever After and The Light Heart. She follows up with Kissing Kin, This Was Tomorrow and Homing. 

That's where the name Thayne came from. Another point of interest is my sister is named Maria Layne. Ellis and I both like Layne and thought about using it for Jorgan's middle name. Then we thought, "No, better not. What if Doug and Maria want to name one of their children Layne?"

When Jorgan was just a wee baby we got the exciting news that Doug and Maria adopted a little girl born in Haiti. Her name is Jaimie Layne and her birthday is five days after Jorgan's. We have twins in the family! Jorgan Thayne, born April 10, 1994 and Jaimie Layne, born April 15, 1994. 

That brings us to Krysta Dawn who arrived March 30, 1998. 

I got to choose Krysta's birth date. She kept on moving around and being sideways instead of head down. The Dr. said, "Choose a day, come in and turn the baby and induce labor." I said, "How about Wednesday?" She looked at the calendar and asked, "Do you want your baby to be born on April Fool's Day?" 

Maybe not. 

So I chose Monday of that same week. That's how it happens that Krysta does not share a birthday with Aunt Edith, Ellis's sister, who turned 50 that year.

Wash the baby clothes. Fix the freezer meals. Prepare for child care. Clean the house, but don't go overboard with that nesting instinct and get all tired out before the big day. Take walks. You're getting ready for a marathon. Drink water. Choose the soothing music and comforting Bible verses.

I'm so happy to think about a little granddaughter coming to that busy house on 2nd Street!

Brooke's Wedding

My favorite color is blue. Isn't this beautiful?

At each place a charcuterie in a jar (plastic cup). Originally Trenda thought about rounding up cute jelly jars for this. I'm glad she simplified that. I didn't get there in time on Friday to help. Maria got in on washing the fruit. Fruit, cheese, slices of meat folded in fourths, cucumber slices, small tomatoes - all arranged in the cup - why didn't I take a picture of one? 

My mom with five of her great grandchildren.

Where was Ezra? These beautiful people are Trenda and Jerry's grandchildren.

                   Here comes the bride!

There's the invitation which was hanging on my bulletin board at home. Ladina sent a picture so we had an address for the church.

Inside the church. I've never been to an orthodox wedding. At first Allen was going to keep the babies in the basement until the ceremony was over and join us for the reception. Then Allen and Krysta changed their minds and brought them to the service. They sat right behind us so we got to help show them books and keep them distracted. Jasper was almost sleeping. The twins had wonderful naps ahead of time. They all had lunch in their tummies. All in all they were quite charmed with looking at the chandeliers, pictures, stained glass windows and hearing the words chanted along with soft, harmonizing songs. 

The pictures are backwards I realize now - starting with the reception and then the ceremony. In real time it was the other way around, of course.  Credits go to my sisters.

Thank you!

Welcome to the family, Will.

November

No sooner was I done taking pictures of trays and posting them that I realized a few were missed. I'll continue that another day.

We just spent a weekend "up north" for our niece's wedding and now are on the way to southern MN after all the festivities. 

Krysta and little ones, Mom and I traveled up on Friday. The babies were napping so we drove until we were past the cities then stopped at McDonald's for a late lunch. We found one with play equipment. 

After the babies licked ketchup off their chicken tenders and munched on some fries and drank chocolate milk they got to run off energy in the play room.

They were amazing travelers. We loaded everyone back in the van and started off again. The trip takes five hours - if you don't stop. We made it in a little over six hours.

Without any meltdowns !! The only stress observed up to that point was a pacifier that had been chewed off. The nipple part was gone when we pulled into Jeremy and Janine's yard for supper. This little girl has sharp teeth! 

After supper we drove to a cabin beside a lake. As soon as drove down the tree lined lane we lost service for our phones. It's a good thing I finished my Norwegian lesson on Duolingo before we got there.

Ladina sent a basket of toys along. The babies were "happily" entertained while Krysta unloaded the van. By this time they were missing Daddy and Papa. They were in a new place (again) and now it's time for Dad to show up! Dad and Papa were still driving north and nowhere to be found.

My leg was yelling at me so I wasn't much help with unloading luggage. Jasper and I looked at books and hooked up a toy wagon to a toy tractor multiple times.The twins were fast asleep in a very short time. I told you these babies are pretty amazing, right?

The highlight of the day was hearing gravel crunch in the lane when the guys drove in close to midnight. They both worked all day and then drove five hours to get there.

This will be continued --

         A picture on the wall in Ellis's office

On another note, Ellis and I got home safe and sound before it got too late this evening. 

Tonight I'm remembering my friend, Lorraine. She died unexpectedly in April 2020. Today is her birthday. Sometimes I picture Lorraine and her daughter, Judy, taking care of our granddaughter, Pearl. 

Happy Birthday, Lorraine!

Trays

Collecting trays for the fun of it just sort of happened - all unbeknownst to me. 

Someone gave me a tray that has legs and is super neat for breakfast in bed.

        After that it just kind of snowballed.

    I found this tray at a flea market one day.

              Sometimes they are metal, 

              sometimes made of wood.

                                Long 

                                 Short

                               Round

                             Red or Blue

                           

                               Small

                                  Large

          This is the one that started it all. 

         Year after year it hung on the wall.

I found this at a rummage sale in Washington state. I couldn't bring it home on the plane so JoAnna used it in her house for a year or so.

If ever you need trays for an event - large or small - give me a holler. I will loan mine to you.

assembly line

The subject of butchering chickens came up.

Let me tell you my first memory of my parents preparing chickens for eating. 

I was knee high to a grasshopper. We were out by the barn and Dad was chopping heads off the chickens with an axe. He gave each one a toss on the grass where they proceeded to flip and flop about. And bleed. One of those headless creatures began to chase me. I couldn't run fast enough. Soon I was splattered with blood from head to toe. 

Well, I've always loved fried chicken so I guess I wasn't scarred for life.

A few years later, Mom and Dad raised some more chickens for eating. My sisters and I  probably got involved with chores: giving the chickens their food and changing the water.

It seems that Dad and Mom butchered those chickens when we were at school. The freezer filled up with processed chickens and the pen outside got emptier and emptier.

Remember those wide mouth water jugs we used to fill with ice and water and take along on trips? Maybe we each had a cup of our own to drink out of. Or maybe we had one cup that we all shared.

I remember Mom getting up early and frying a chicken (with the skin on, we used to eat the skin, can you believe that?) Then she filled that wide mouth jug with hot chicken, screwed the lid on and took it with us on trips. The jug was insulated and kept everything piping hot. When lunch time came we had finger licking yummy chicken to eat. 

Hopefully we were at a park where there was a pump with water so we could wash our hands afterwards. 

The two bravest women I know are Esther Geigley and my mom, Leona Skrivseth. (And the most patient)

They provided their daughters with sharp knives, stood them in an assembly line and taught them how to butcher a chicken from start to finish. 

I'm trying to remember if Dad chopped all the heads off the chickens before he went to work. Or did he let Ladina and Lorraine chop off some of them? 

Then we plunged them up and down in boiling hot water until the feathers would come off. That was probably our first job,  plucking feathers. Next, singing any hair that remained.

We were outside. This is early morning before it got too hot. Picture saw horses with plywood on them to make a table. Plastic tablecloths covered the plywood. Dish pans with cold water to put cut up chicken pieces in. 

We were given the easiest jobs at first, cutting the skin between the legs and the body. Cutting the drumsticks and thighs apart. Carefully cutting open the gizzard without opening the sack inside.

I have a feeling Mom and Esther were competing to see who could cut up a chicken the fastest. We watched with bugging eyes. How in the world did they do that? 

Sometimes they left the chicken whole, just removing the guts and we washed out the inside and froze them that way. Most of our jobs consisted of rinsing the pieces to make sure they were clean and packaging them for the freezer. 

I remember watching step by step and attempting to butcher a chicken from start to finish. I didn't  do it often enough to learn all the steps. 

The only way to get  the job done is have a crew to help. It makes me shiver to think of doing this job by myself. 

One last memory is helping at a butchering day at Dad and Mom Harshbarger's place. For some reason we took our chickens home to finish cutting into pieces. I was slaving away trying to get those slippery creatures in the freezer.

Meanwhile Ellis came home from work with  chills. Not a raging fever, instead when Ellis gets chills he doesn't have a proper temperature. He can't get warm, no matter how many blankets are piled on.

It's too bad I hadn't read James Herriot's story of how a farm lady treated him when he came in soaking wet. A roaring fire place to sit in front of. Feet in a pan of hot water. A gigantic mug filled with hot ginger tea to sip on. He was soon steaming inside and out.

That was the end of my butchering days. I only take the skin off chicken pieces now or, better yet, buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts. 

I'm not as squeamish as my friend's daughter who won't eat a drumstick because, "Eww, what's this?" when she finds a dark vein near the bone.

On second thought, I might remember butchering turkeys with my sisters-in-law on the farm. It's all a dark memory that I try not to think about any more. 

Definitely it is the camaraderie and conversations and laughter and working together that make those days possible.

Otherwise - forget it! 

 

Please, don't get me started on cutting up a deer.