Back on January 22, my family helped me celebrate a birthday quite unlike any other. A few weeks before my birthday, I received 50 Band-aids. Junior band-aids the box said. With pictures of lions & monkeys on the box and on the band-aids themselves. Interesting, I thought. Never gotten anything like that before. And yes, I've only had one band-aid worthy injury since then but I did wear one of the jr. lion & tiger band-aids!

Later the same day, a voucher for a 50 minute foot rub! Ah, things are looking up! In a big way. It's hard to top a foot rub - and 50 minutes worth? Awesome! The voucher even had a punch list so that the 50 minutes was broken down into 5 minute segments, so I could divide it up and use it a bit at a time! How handy and thoughtful.

The next day brought 50 Q-Tips! I would never have guessed that one had I been asked what was in the package. I don't use them. Never have! Perhaps I will now. One of my children gave it to me. Of course I'll use them. Or share them with Brenda if she needs some extra!

I go to work! 50 proverbs! Typed. In 50 different fonts. On 50 separate hand cut sheets of paper. Taped to a wall in my office. Some good ones too! Like this one... " In every woman there is a queen. Speak to the queen and the queen will answer." I think I get it - now if I can just remember it - and use it!

Pretty quickly I was able to figure out that there was significance to the quantity of each item that was gifted, but it took awhile to figure out there might be 50 sets of 50 things coming! I just couldn't imagine that anyone could come up with, much less take the trouble to, continue this process.

Well someone(s) could and did.

I'll not tell you how old I am. I'll leave it for you to figure that one out!

Here is what I received ( along with a few comments & photos)

50 Band-aids

Coupon - 50 minute foot rub

50 Q-tips

50 proverbs

Coupon - 50 friendly funches (You may never have heard of these - ask Karmen)

50 Songs on CD (recorded by friends & family)

50 Writing utensils

50 Mark Twain quotes (If you haven't read much Mark Twain, you should!)

50 Pieces of paper ( writing paper; maybe you'll hear from me soon)

50 Reeses Peanut butter cups (The only candy that really matters)

50 states matching game

50 Aging brochures

Coupon - 50 minute back rub (AHHHHH)

50 Black jelly beans

50 tbsp metamucil (Orange flavored - not too bad)

50 Rolls of Toilet Paper ( Practical, this family of mine, eh?)

50 recipes

50 Paper clips

50 Stamps

50 Envelopes

50 Nuts ( Yes, someone counted out the precise amount)

50 Rubber bands

50 Matches

Coupon - 50 minutes free labor

50 Index cards

50 Toothpicks

50 Mini cookies ( And I got to eat them all - lasted longer than you might think!)

50 Staples (Yep, they counted them too)

50 Happenings in 1959

50 "Reasons you're the greatest" (Generous family I've got, wouldn't you say?)

Coupon - 50 hugs (Nice!)

50 Black napkins

50 "You know you're aging when…" sayings

50 Interesting facts

50 Twist ties (I think they were running out of ideas)

50 Tissues (Used them all on the way back from Oklahoma)

50 Thank you notes

50 Pieces of advice

50 Pennies

50 Pieces of poetry

50 Black balloons

50 Puzzles (2- 25 piece puzzles actually. I worked them all by myself!)

50 Lessons learned from Eldon (You probably don't want to know some of these!)

50 Stickers

50 Pieces of art (All originals)

50 - word word search

50 Neckties (These you have to see!!!)

50 E-cards

$50 gift certificate (Ordered some really good books from Amazon on African hunting adventures)

&

50 screwdrivers! (There is a story here)

When Elliott & I were still at home, we often were enlisted to assist Dad with his varied, numerous and creative, ongoing projects. Due to the scattered locations we might be performing these tasks (in the shop, the barn, the back 40, basement, garage) and a somewhat lackadaisical effort to put all our tools back where they belonged, we sometimes had difficulty finding a screwdriver. So after an effort to locate one, we would make our way back to Dad and tell him we were not able to find any. To which he invariably replied with a mixture of consternation and bewilderment, "We've got piles of them around here"!

We never did find those piles! However, after Elliott & I were gone from home, I believe Dad did some cleaning & organizing and guess what... he did have at least one good pile of screwdrivers.
And I got a pretty good pile myself now. 50 more than I had last year!

Wildlife Photos "Lite"

Grabbed the camera with the telephoto lens, the coat & boots and took a stroll through the woods in late afternoon looking for a shot! Found myself a place to hide in some deer habitat. A place with enough shelter to keep me dry in the on-again, off-again rain. Waited patiently, then somewhat impatiently. Nothing... Oh well, you don't see deer every time you walk around the farm. If you did, that would cheapen the thrill of the occasions when you do see them wouldn't it?
But guess what, there is some smaller wildlife around! In the front yard. Photographed through the dining room window no less. I'll try for the deer & turkey shots next time!

Meet Pierre

Mom & Dad have grown to like the Great Pyrenees breed of dog and the last one they had died last summer after a long, leisurely life. For some time, my folks did not think they would get another dog but recently they heard of some pups available nearby. So they went to take a look and this little guy won them over. His name is Pierre and he's a dandy.

A dog & a farm are meant for each other.

Dad introduces Pierre to the camera....

Brenda sweet talking Pierre!

Close up and personal!

Mikhail Gorbechev in Eureka

Interesting day in Eureka. Especially for someone with a camera and a bit of an interest in history. Mikhail Gorbachev made a visit to Eureka College, college home of former President Ronald Reagen. Since the campus is only a couple blocks from home, it seemed inappropriate to miss such an event. So, camera in hand, I headed to campus not knowing what kind of access I might have. Access? No problem! Stay off the sidewalk he was walking on and don't move toward the man suddenly. That sounded reasonable. No press pass, no ID, no problem!

So here are a few photos... Interpreter Pavel Palazchenko, Mikhail Gorbachev and Dr Arnold, President Eureka College.

Accompanying Gorbachev was his daughter, Irena.

With the Ronald Reagan bust & memorial in the background, Gorbachev & Arnold chat.

This was the most interesting part of what I witnessed because I could hear the conversation from where I was standing. I'll get to that in a moment.

These next two photos include a section of the Berlin Wall. If I understand correctly, there are only 3 sections of the Berlin Wall in the US that were "officially" sent by the German government. This is one, here in Eureka. Another is at the Reagen Library in CA and I don't know where the third is located.

Gorbachev stated that people ask him what his impression of the "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" statement that Ronald Reagan made at the Brandenburg Gate in 1987 while giving a speech as part of the 750th anniversary commemoration of Berlin.

Click to see video of "Tear down this Wall" speech.

This is what Gorbachev said this morning as nearly as I can quote...

"We didn't think of the Berlin Wall in nearly the same manner as the West. It wasn't that big an issue to us. And I aslo knew that Reagen had at one time been an actor!" (This Gorbachev said with a smile on his face)

"I also knew that if there was any single person in the US with whom I could work, it was Ronald Reagen. He was a declared conservative and if a conservative was willing to work with us, we were willing to work with him." When asked if there was anyone else in US government who could have come to terms with the USSR if it hadn't been Reagen he was working with, his reply was, "I don't think so. We learned we could trust Ronald, Nancy and George Schultz."

Interesting???

The best close-up photo I got.

And finally, the press and security surround the entourage as they make their way into Cerf Center for lunch. I headed home for my leftover lunch and then back to work!

Basement Project Continues

The basement laundry room project continues at a pace normally associated with turtles, snails or perhaps even sloths. The past couple weeks I've been working on it somewhat more frequently and progress is being made.

I took timeout from the basement to redo a closet in the bedroom that Karmen used for years. Took out some lathe & plaster and two bats. Not the baseball type bats either. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of the bats but if I'd had a camera in hand, the best photo would have been Brenda madly making her escape from the bedroom when one of the bats came flying out of the closet toward her. I finished the closet remodel, so back to the laundry room it is.

After sanding some of the drywall joint compound a couple days ago, I came upstairs. Brenda sent me directly to the shower. I didn't even get a chance to give her a hug first!

Ever wonder what to wear when it's below freezing?

Brenda took her first grade class outside for recess yesterday. It's below freezing and enough breeze to put the wind chill into the teens and merit winter clothing - or so it would seem.

One of the girls came up to Brenda and said she was really cold. Brenda looked down noticed she had sandals and no socks! So of course the question was, "Where are your socks & shoes?" The answer? My daddy said this would be OK to wear today!

I hear people wondering occasionally how those hearty souls who live way, way up north survive? I'm thinking that dressing for the weather might be the secret!!!

Processing

OK, so back to the hunting bit. This post is dated February but these are December 08 events. Kyle and I brought home 5 deer from the Friday - Saturday portion of the second season. Fortunately the weather was cool enough to allow the meat store in the garage until we could get the butcher shop going. Which we did with some assistance from Doug, Mark & Trevon. Actually, Trevon (see last photo) isn't quite ready to lend much assistance but when he gets a few years older he should be good help because he sure studys what is going on and takes it all in. Here are a few photos.

There is a ham in the photo somewhere!



I believe the situation here is 1 Down, 1 in process, 3 to go.



Trevon looking things over.