http://www.blogger.com/html?blogID=4316350785635987648 Cave Dwellings: May 2013
Cave Dwellings

Buckhorn Creek, Lake O' The Pines, Jefferson, TX

Thursday, May 30, 2013

SURPRISE!! ANOTHER BLOG AND IT’S ONLY BEEN 2 DAYS!!

  All of you who know me and are use to my sporadic bouts of creative urges,  know that I just cannot be counted on for any kind of schedule…And…you know I could NOT let one of my grandkids graduate from 8th grade without  pictures….

Taygrad

Taylor Kate Heiser, age 14…graduated from Kaneland Harter Middle School last night…Crying face

101_3857101_3858101_3855

About 400 graduates filled the gymnasium and about a gazillion parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends attended…IT WAS PACKED!  Tay’s Dad, Tim, raced up to get a video of her getting her diploma…With my past record of doing nosedives into the floor, I decided it best if I waited until after the ceremony and took pictures outside, where I couldn’t trip over anythingSmile with tongue out.

101_3862101_3861

The only 2 women in the Heiser family…Tim and the boys have their hands full…(Tim was in shock when he realized how beautiful his daughter was getting, all dressed up!)

101_3863101_3864

Yes, Tim literally has his hands FULL!!

101_3860

I cannot, for the life of me, figure out WHERE they get this silly sideSarcastic smile!!

I love this following quote, and think it is sooooo says what I want to instill in all my grands and step grands….

“My wish for you is that you feel the full breath of possibility. That you feel your fears and act anyway. That you listen to what's calling you. That you find the sacred in the ordinary. And that love + kindness embrace your heart always.” -       ~ Kelly Rae Roberts

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

A GOOD OLD FASHIONED FIRE DEPARTMENT WATER FIGHT

  Lately I have been rudely reminded that I am growing older..Trust me, I DO accept tolerate the usual aches and pains of normal aging.  As my Dad use to say, “Hey, at least I’m still on the right side of the grass”…I must interject here that my Dad ran a cemetery, and he was very aware of the wrong side of the grass…Lately, I find that on our walks I sometimes find a new squeak that needs oiling, or a little “twinge” in a hip or knee…I try to pride myself on NOT being a stumbler, faller or fainter…yet.  But I didn’t count on an extension cord reaching up and grabbing my foot, causing me to do a header in our bedroom a week ago while I went to open a window…And, what do you do when you suddenly see the floor coming swiftly at you??? Why, you reach out to break your fall, of course…My left hand kept my pie hole from being buried in the carpet, but my left shoulder screamed out, “YOU IDIOT!! I THINK YOU BROKE ME!!!!” …and I feared that I really did…

After lying on the floor, assessing the damage and feeling like my shoulder was on fire, I decided to get up and see just how bad this could be…Well, the pain was proof that I did,  indeed,  do some kind of damage…but not sure what kind. I thought maybe I should visit the Valley West Hospital ER so they could Xray it, so away we went..I gotta say that Dennis and I are becoming regular ER “groupies” this last year, what with helping our elders, who have visited there on numerous occasions..Long story short, I didn’t break anything.  But on the follow-up to visit last Friday to our GP, I confessed that my shoulder still hurt like..well, like a 6 on a 1-10 ,(that’s how the docs ask you about pain now).  Dr. Erik suggested that if it is no better by Thursday, I should have an MRI…We shall see… I am NOT a big fan of MRI..When I get in that tube and look at the top only inches from my nose, I feel like an extra in “Buried Alive”….Soooooo… how was your Merry Medical Memorial Day??

Memorial Day in small towns around here usually consist of BarBQ, Beer Tents, a carnival or two, and Fire Dept.Water Fights…Sandwich didn’t have anything going on, their water fights are on July 4th, so Den and I went over to a town about 2 miles from here called Somonauk. ( This should look familiar to fellow blogger Ingrid's hubby, Al. He was raised in Somonauk, and it hasn’t changed much, Al!)  Somonauk ALWAYS has a BBQ feast and water fights for Memorial Day…and this year they did not disappoint..

2013-05-27 13.17.03

 

For those who have never experienced an old fashioned fire department water fight, let me give you the skinny on it…Various town fire departments have 5 fire fighters who are on their water fight team..These teams travel in the summer to various celebrations to participate in tournaments, not unlike basketball playoffs.  A regulation bucket is suspended on wire above the street, attached to it so the bucket can slide easily..Each team tries to push that bucket with the water stream coming from the 2 1/2” hoses…The first team to push that bucket and hit the end poles behind each team wins.  Then they switch ends and do it again (sometimes the wind direction can affect this, hence the side change). They  have double eliminations, so a team can fight their way back from a loss..and yesterday there were 16 teams..Yep, this could go on all day long!

Kelly does some water fighting with Oswego Fire Dept on occasion…and Dennis use to do a lot of it when he was on the department in Sandwich..We would grab the kids, diapers, bottles, sunscreen and strollers,making sure to throw some beers and pops in the cooler.  Then we would all jump in the station wagon and spend the summer visiting surrounding town celebrations so Den could water fight…And, I might add that they get some pretty neat trophies for this !!

Nope, doesn’t take much to entertain us small town folkNyah-Nyah!

 

2013-05-27 13.37.032013-05-27 14.05.532013-05-27 13.37.09

The guy above was the official who stands in the middle of the street, making sure everyone puts their water streams to meet together on the street pavement.  On his signal, he put his arms in the air, signaling the start of the “fight”.  Keep in mind that these hoses are very hard to control if they get away, and no one wants to get a shot of THAT right in the face, so this guy also can stop the contest if he spots anything seeming dangerous to the crowd of people watching.

2013-05-27 13.38.442013-05-27 14.00.572013-05-27 13.17.18

Obviously, the apparel had no rules, except the fire coats, helmets and boots. (ME LIKEY THEIR STYLE!)…This gives new meaning to “fly by the seat of your pants”…and there were some real interesting pants on display!!..

2013-05-27 13.33.36

2013-05-27 13.55.172013-05-27 13.55.34

Yep, that’s a lady fire fighter on the nozzle….darn good job,too! I AM WOMAN, HEAR ME ROAR!! They do allow you to bring a cooler and a beer or two, as long as everyone behaves. We have been to a gazillion water fights and no one has ever ruined it by getting “stupid”…Annoyed

Well, if you never got to see what water fights were like in hometown America, you just did. As all of these little towns are growing, I hope this never goes away… Tomorrow evening, MacGyver and I are going to Sugar Grove to see our granddaughter, Taylor, graduate from 8th grade…Seems like just yesterday she was little bitty…and now she is almost 15!!

Tay9101_3720

OK, Now I am making myself a little misty eyed here…Life marches on, right?  I need a little humor from Erma about now…

“Everyone is guilty at one time or another of throwing out questions that beg to be ignored, but mothers seem to have a market on the supply. "Do you want a spanking or do you want to go to bed?" Don't you want to save some of the pizza for your brother?" Wasn't there any change?”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   ~Erma Bombeck

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

A soccer game, a landmark catches fire, …and a “momentous” ocassion….WHAT-ever….

Last Saturday Dennis and I drove up to Kaneland High School soccer field to watch Taylor and Peyton play soccer…They both belong to the same team, and the coach divides them up so they can play each other…This can get to be pretty competitive when a brother and sister are in combat for the soccer ball!

101_3805101_3794101_3777

Peyton scored the only goal and his team won…Both kids are very aggressive soccer players, getting in there after that ball…

101_3793101_3789101_3780

101_3792

Campbell prefers to “ham” it up on the sidelines with us….

Some of you may remember the blog that I posted when they moved St. Paul’s Catholic Church from one end of town to the other…It was October, 2010….They moved it about 1 mile to the North side of town so they could keep the original sanctuary and build a couple els for additions…Below are a couple photos I took of that move….

100_8431100_8437

Well, last Monday, that same church caught fire and burned pretty much the entire inside of the sanctuary….Here are photos I took on our walk Tuesday AM..

101_3840101_3841

101_3842101_3843

…Very sad for the entire congregation that worked so hard to make this their new location…I’m thinking they will rebuild part of it, but it won’t be the same, for sure.

This last Mother’s Day, I scored some pretty nice “bounty” Gift with a bowfor my years of slaving for my children ..JUST KIDDING, KIDS!!!!

101_3770101_3771101_3772

Terrie made me a “chandelier” of black beads, Chris sent me some new “mustache” wine glasses, and Kelly and Cindy got me the drink to put in them! SCORE!!!!

101_3818101_3819

Obviously, MacGyver does not require a fancy glass for his beverage of choice….(I hope Judy notices I disposed of my lighthouse sweatshirt as part of my evening ensembles!)

…And speaking of evening ensembles, I found someone who rivals “moi” in that department…

 

101_3844

I GOTTA find out where she got that dress…I already have the knee highs, pearls and baseball cap..Hmmm…I DO need the orthopedic shoes, thoughRolling on the floor laughing!!

Today is a momentous significant important noteworthy frightening day in my life.  Today I am officially 65 years old..Surprised smile!! Birthday cakeNow relying on the government for not only my Social Security money, but most of my medical care…Like I said…FRIGHTENING!!  And while I am secretly very happy to his this milestone (my mother never saw her 65th birthday), I embrace every day I get in this life!!! Oh, and MacGyver surprised me with the gift of a Kindle Fire…This is going to be very interesting for me.  I am NOT a techno-geek and get extremely frustrated just using our desktop computer…What really scares me is that the Kindle is much easier to pick up and throw through a window than the desktopAnnoyed…..

I know, this is a very long blog that really is going nowhere…I will close with an update on my neck surgery…I went to see my svengali, Dr. Ghaderi, for my 6 month check-up…He was very pleased, as am I.  I will only see him one more time in November for my 1 year check..There is one area on the scare that he might want to inject to decrease the thickened skin…I don’t have a problem with it, but he is a perfectionist….First I will refresh your memory with a “before” picture….Do NOT let small children or sensitive pets view this without an adult nearby…

2012-11-20 10.16.22

This “turkey neck” runs in our family…(someone pass me a barf bag, please)

AND NOW, AT 65 YEARS OLD THE NEW AND IMPROVED ME,  TAKEN BY DENNIS YESTERDAY..(DRUM ROLL, PLEASE!)……

101_3845101_3846

THANK YOU, DR. GHADERI…I AM VERY PLEASED!!!!Thumbs up