High School Football…What a GREAT TIME!

 

 

This past week has been a mental challenge, to say the least.  While hoping our elders will adjust to their new assisted living home, we feel that they are not happy at all and rest assured we have been told so..After 3 weeks they still call it their prison cell ..This does not bode well for them being in a safe place so we may travel this Winter.  Time will tell, and if they want to go home, we will move them back, BUT…they MUST  have some help  pretty much full time.  Somehow I don’t think this idea will “fly” either…

“God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.”….If Den and I have learned ONE thing from this, it is reflected in this serenity prayer…Aging gracefully, that’s what we want to do.. and NOT burden our kids mentally or physically…OK, enough about problems..let’s get on to some really  FUN stuff we did this week!! HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL!!!

  Last night we drove 20 miles to Kaneland High School to watch the Kaneland Knights football team play Streator…Our granddaughter, Taylor, is a freshman now and a proud member of the Kaneland Knight Poms..WOOT! WOOT!  To make a fun time even MORE awesome, the sunset was absolutely spectacular over the football field.

Taylor LOVES to sing, dance, and be on stage..What better place than a football game??? (As an old, decrepit ex-cheerleader, I TOTALLY understand!)

They put on quite an extensive half-time show..and the sky and the sunset were incredible!!

There is something invigorating about High School football and Fall…and young talented people enjoying it all…I have to interject that this school has one of the top football programs in the area, and draws from a huge rural populace.  They also have an excellent curriculum and many great elective programs…The Heiser kids are very fortunate to be in this school district…Peyton will be a Freshman next year, and Campbell will bring up the rear as a Freshman in 2018…Holy Schlamoly, I will be 70 and MacGyver will be 76!!…Rest assured,( God willing and the creek don’t rise), MacGyver and I will still be in the stands at those games!! I sure wish we lived closer to our Wolff cubs, but we are very mobile and plan to be a part of their lives as much as possible.

These wonderful cool Fall evenings have made for great campfires on our deck..I have all the Autumn décor’ out ….

 

….and Thursday night we had a spectacular full  moon as it came up in the East…

 

 

Is it just me, or is that moon absolutely HUMONGOUS????

 

 

 

 

I think I have verbalized this before, but Fall is my favorite time of year.  The farmer’s around here are late with their harvest…MacGyver says it will be about 10 more days before he goes into the corn…This will make me a farmer’s widow yet again for another year…I’m not looking forward to his absence, considering the snarl we seem to be caught up in, but he can get away if needed and that’s a good thing.. I also intend to go down to visit the Wolff family the 4th of October for a few days.  Just because Dennis is “tied up” doesn’t mean I have to vegetate, right??

Thanks for checking in with us, and not giving up…Oh, I forgot to mention that the reason I took so long to blog is that we got a new desktop computer..and it has Windows 8, which means I am now on a learning curve that has turned into one continuous circle…Bear with me!!!(and speaking of bears, HOW ABOUT THOSE CHICAGO BEARS????)

Autumnal Anticipation

Farewell Summer, Oh I’ve had fun, but Fall is what I love!

Bright new colors catch the sun, crisp clear evening have begun,

And OH, that Harvest Moon above!

OK, Jack, bring on your frost.  We’ll have a campfire every night.

And fallen leaves that trees have lost, from chilly winds they’re gently tossed,

As flocks of geese begin their flight.

Oh, Fall, I relish all you bring as yet another Summer ends,

And different birds begin to sing.  Oh, I’ll be loving everything!

I welcome you, my Autumn friend!! 

                              D. Cave 08/30/2011

 

 

 

Tailgating, Cross Country..and Law West of the Pecos

 

I just had to post this picture.  My new header pic was taken at the Jersey Lilly in Langtry TX…Today at a garage sale I purchased a book called “Pictorial History of the Wild West”, by James D. Horan and Paul Sann.  I happened upon this photo of the Judge Roy Bean’s “courthouse”in that book. (Al of the Bayfield Bunch would love this book)…I remember going to Langtry, TX in 2007 to visit the place he was infamous!  I am going to post a couple more photos of that trip..I am a real history freak (a freak in many ways)…

Who is that old cowpoke leaning on the bar, anyway???…..Oh yeah, he’s married to that cowgirl “wanna be” on the right..

Well, it’s finally officially football season.  Enough of those stupid pre-season games…LET’S GET ON WITH THE REAL DEAL!! As you might guess, this family supports the Chicago Bears, and never misses a chance to find a new way to tailgate…

Just put a TV in the back of your PT Cruiser (making sure it’s tucked in the garage in case of rain), drag over a couple picnic tables and some coolers of beer and YOU TOO can tailgate in style!!

Our weather here has finally cooled off and Fall has arrived…Yesterday, Dennis and I attended a Cross Country track meet in Sandwich that our grandson, Peyton, was running in.  Both our daughters were in track in high school.  I never did enjoy running for any reason when I was younger…And now that I am much older, running would require some adult diapers and an EMS team right following !!

That’s Peyton leaning on his knee …They still use a blank gun to start the races here…..In the last pic, Pey is second runner, grimacing like he is going to drop…

 

 

Here is Peyton (front) coming down the home stretch…RUN, PEY, RUN!!

 

There were almost 50 runners and Pey finished 29th…Not bad for a kid who never has been in track before..and for only his second  race!! I hope Peyton will continue to enjoy this sport.  His Mom and Dad are both runners, as are his Aunt Chris and Uncle John..There must be something in the gene pool here..Some of it must come from MacGyver, who was big in track and field as a pole vaulter…OK, you just know I have a picture somewhere on this computer that I can post of  MacGyver pole vaulting, right?? RIGHT!!!

 

 

In closing, I just gotta show  you what our neighbor across the street has been building in his driveway…At first I thought it was a playhouse for kids, then it began to evolve into what I quickly recognized, having seen a few in various campgrounds as we travel…

TRA DA!! A Teardrop Camper, all painted up and ready to lie down in…(you obviously cannot stand up)..If there is anyone out there who is of small (very) stature, isn’t claustrophobic, likes his TV on the ceiling, and only has a Volkswagen to tow with…here is your poison!…Just for the record, I love my hubby sooooooo much….just not THIS much!

Fair pictures..and a Happy Anniversary!

  This will be a short blog…A few “dust ups” with the elders and we are headed up there tomorrow….The Wolff family came up last weekend for the fair and Saturday a few of the family went out to the Sandwich Fair…

Kelly’s wife was working the EMS tent, so he joined myself, The Wolff family and the Heisers (Tim joined us later) in walking out to the fairgrounds.  We were very lucky to have the two older Heiser kids along to help take the 2 Wolff cubs on some rides.  Tay and Peyton took them on bumper cars, the fun house, the tree house, and of course we had to play the Mouse Game.   We had to have a few corn dogs and lemon shake-ups…

The object here was to go up that rope ladder and ring the bell at the top…Taylor and John Wolff both tried. John fell off before Tay did..So much for the “marathon man”.

…Then Campbell and Aiden had to give it a try…to no avail….That guy who ran this made it look sooo easy ( pic on right in black shorts)..I still think there was some switch they pulled to make it tough after he was done showing off!

Then Peyton tried it…and John Wolff wanted one more try….Sorry, John…stick to running.  In the end, none of our family made it up that rope…At $2.50 a try, that rube made lots of money on us!

Our 3 kids…left taken Saturday afternoon at the fair….Right, taken Saturday night at the tractor pulls. I opted to stay home with the kids and forego the tractor pulls. Been there, done that..too loud. But,  MacGyver went, along with our cousins and kids…They had a great time and I enjoyed my time with the kids..in my element  toasting marshmallows by the campfire..in my “ensemble” surrounded by youth..

Tomorrow is our Kelly and Cindy’s anniversary.  They were married on Sept. 11th, 2007 on Dingle Peninsula in Ireland…

Happy Anniversary you two!!!

“Once Upon ATime…There WAS Time!”

  ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ..Oh, excuse me.  I nodded off for just a second there…Well, what can I say about this week that would fully explain it?  Maybe a few well chosen adjectives would suffice…Hmmm…OK, how about tearful, traumatic ,satisfying, frenzied, heartfelt, soul-searching, challenging, tiring (definitely), head-spinning, …and finally HARD!  Yup, we actually moved our elders into Assisted Living at The Alden Gardens in Aurora, IL…No, I can’t say that they were “kicking and screaming’..not in a word.  But, they were very reluctant and spiteful to be there.  MacGyver and “moi” loaded up a few belongings of theirs and started getting them moved last Wednesday.  We couldn’t actually move the bed until Friday morning because Aunt Jeanette was still sleeping in it at home. They had to be in there Friday afternoon by 1PM, so needless to say Den and I were hustling our buns off to get them there in time…and we did.

 

 

This is the only picture I will show you taken from their new diggs.  They are not quite feeling comfortable about any photos of their “jail cell” (as Jeanette calls it), but I am hopeful that within a few weeks they will adjust.  I took this photo from a screen porch just outside their room on the second floor.  My apologies for the screen, but you obviously can’t have a patio on the second floor without screens to keep everyone who WANTS out from trying to escape. Truth be told, I don’t see too many who are NOT happy being there.  We can only hope our elders will settle in within a couple weeks.  They will be there one week tomorrow..and tomorrow is Jeanette’s 98th birthday. Den and I are going up to have “High Tea” with them in the afternoon. This could go either very well..or very, very bad.

 

Last Saturday Den and I went to a 40th birthday party of a good friend who grew up with our kids.  They live out in the country and have a lovely home that totally reminds me of The Walton’s….with one big exception…the huge pool in their back yard…

 

That young man in the cap and yellow shirt in photo on left is Tom Hohmann, the birthday boy.  What a great party it was!

I took those last 2 photos from this porch…Checkout that looooong table!! “Good Night, John Boy”.

Other than the “storm” going on in Aurora , we also had a Heck of a storm here in Sandwich last week!  It started off with rain and lots of it..and then we heard the pitter patter of …nope, NOT Rudolf…WHAT THE HAIL??

We were beginning to get a tad worried about our Hiker …and our house windows.  The tornado sirens went off, but by the time they sounded it was about over…What Den and I didn’t need was any more drama this week.

With all of the stuff going on between here and Aurora..and Montgomery, I nearly forgot about Den’s EMS experience in our garage.. NO, Dennis was NOT the patient..It seems a very young Cardinal wandered/tried to fly into our garage and couldn’t find his way out.  He was getting stuck up above the bays, and it was a really hot day.  Den tried to catch him, but couldn’t quite get him.  Finally,the little guy got so tired that Dennis could grab him…

“This long-legged gray haired dude is certainly persistant..NOW LET ME GO!!! I WANT MY MOMMY!”

Rest assured that no Cardinals were harmed in the capture of this youngster, but the mother bird was calling MacGyver some choice words..and giving him “the bird” !!

Yesterday was opening day of the Sandwich Fair (DeKalb County Fair).  Usually we go out a couple times, this year once is enough.  Besides, our daughter Chris (triathlon girl) and her hubby, John (Boston Marathoner) and their 2 boys, Aiden and Maddox ( the Wolff cubs) are coming in tomorrow night to stay the weekend…I, for one, am anxious to get to play with anyone under the age of 90, at this point…

                                                  Mimi and Papa’s “Wolff Cubs”, Maddox and Aiden..

I cannot bring this blog to a close without wishing a Happy Birthday to our oldest child and only son, Kelly…Forty-three years ago I had a 48 hour labor delivering this kid…and there was a fire in the boiler room of the hospital so there were firefighters running through my labor room…Kelly HAD to become a firefighter!!

HAPPY 43RD, KEL!!!

“The older I get, the more I see there are these crevices in life where things fall in and you just can't reach them to pull them back out. So you can sit next to them and weep or you can get up and move forward. You have to stop worrying about who's not here and start worrying about who is.” 
                                                                                                   ~ Alex Witchel