grandma's kids

Today we have some pictures of D'Artanyan and Audrey playing in the back yard. This was such a perfect day to be outside, and mom and dad were moving to their new place, so the kids had some fun at grandma's house.

D'Artanyan taking his little sister outside to play.


D'Artanyan was the train, and Audrey was along for the ride!
A quick shorts change for Audrey, as was needed, and its now time to play football! 1-2-44 Run , run, and tackle.. what fun

They had the umpire to check for anything hurt, that had to have licks of love.. but all was well, and Dartayan knows how to give a "soft" tackle, and Audrey loved it. laughing all the way

now time for some serious tree activities. ( brings back memories guys!!)

O.K. grandma says lets play, Hide the toy game. so into the house to hide the eyes. While I hid the toy, D'Artanyan counted to 10 then they bolted out of the house to find the hidden toy.
D'Artanya finally got it, as it was hidden in my hanging plant, but I had to do the "hot/cold' hint, before it was found. I think Audrey was having more fun, just running and playing with her little wagon and stuffed lion, but that was just fine, as he enjoyed the game anyway.

Now its time to take a shot for grandma.. sitting on the bench that Larry made for me last year.

Bella had to be right in the middle of all of the fun. She really missed the playing when the kids were gone. Are they the cuties kids.. oh ya...!

Portland Head lighthouse

HI all, today I am posting something I thought was really wonderful. My daughters' grandmother-in-law, took up a class to learn to paint. She is doing very well in it, and has learned she has some really unexpected talent in this area.

Sometimes life is so busy when we are younger and raising our kids, that we really put our self on the shelf. We don't have the time, and often the money to explore avenues of our lives that are talents that we haven't developed. She has all her kids grown now, and her husband passed away some time ago, so now she has time to explore other avenues of interest.

She is currently painting pictures for all her kids, and grand kids. I hope she lives a long time, as she has 12 kids and a whole bunch of grand kids. ha.

She did this picture in oil. I framed it to go with my other lighthouse pictures that i have decorated my sun room in. I wanted to share this with everyone, as I do believe that when someone puts some of themselves into a project like this and then gives that to you, it really should be shared .

This picture is of the Portland Head Lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth Maine. It was commissioned by President George Washington to be build in 1791. It was the first lighthouse commissioned to be built after the Revolution. enjoy!!

Delivered,Tested and It works

HI all, I am so happy today. I had Larry in the area from all his Welding trips, and he helped me take the portable shower that I had been working on over to Kathryn's Wednesday, put it up and tried to get it to work.. oh horrible.. I couldn't get the water to go into the pipe and out the shower head, or the hand held unit, except for just one little gush, and then it would stop. Larry was wonderful and made about 3 trips to Westlakes for an assortment of possible things to solve this problem. Nothing worked..Oh what to do.. well I tired all sorts of things, and decided to go home and get dinner and come back on Friday.
I did some Internet searching, and called the company that made the shower mixer unit for advice. We talked for a while, they said they would get back with me on this.
In the mean time, I and Larry decided today that I would check out the anti-scald device that was on it, as that is the only thing I knew might be a problem. So.. I turned the device to off.. and put the handle back on and we hooked up the hose in the bathroom to the hot, and the kitchen faucet for the cold.. turned everything on and WALLAH...!! it worked just perfectly. Great pressure, perfect temperature control. So I am celebrating today for Kathryn, she can finally have a shower and feel clean all over again.
I am eagerly waiting to see if it all works out for her like i think it will. And Ken will be assisting her with her first shower, so I hope it will be handy for him too.

Portable Shower

Well its finally done! I finally got the Portable Shower done that I have been working on for some time. I think it will do the trick just fine and Kathryn will finally be able to have a nice hot shower and wash her own hair. This shower doesn't require any plumbing or drains to work and is complete able to be taken down and put up again in a matter of 15-30 min. It can be carried in the back of a small pickup or a van.

this is a picture of the inside of the shower

Here is a closer picture of the inside :

I had to have the shower head extend out far enough so she could wash her hair, and I also put a device on it so she can just reach up and turn the water off or on from the shower head, if she wants to. I also added the same device to the hand held shower. This will allow her to have only the shower overhead, or her hand held one going at a time, or if she wishes, she can have both of them going at the same time. Her handle where she turns the water on/off/ hot/cold, still works like normal.

This is a how it looks with the shower chair

Next is a picture of the back where all the pipes , pump , and hoses are:here is a picture of the part of the pump that sits in the basin to extract the water, its called a puddler:

This next one is a view of the side of the shower, with the opening open, so someone helping a person shower, doesn't have to be inside the shower, but rather, can assist from outside the shower, and hopefully, not get too wet.

and the shower had to have a name:

This last one is the shower with the curtain drawn

The entrance of the shower has a one inch ramp for easy in and out.

I want Kathryn to use this shower and let me know what all might need to be changed,if anything, to make it useful for her and anyone else that might need one. I am thinking of selling something like this if this proves to be as useful as I think it will be. I also toyed with the idea of just keeping one or two on hand and renting it to people that maybe wouldn't need to buy one, but would only need it for a few weeks, or months.

My Idea is to make one for a man, and one for a woman, the difference for the man's shower would be the outside curtain. It would have a more manly color/print, maybe a camouflage or something like that. But other than than would be basically the same shower.

I got that Idea to make one to rent out, when I visited a lady who lived in a nice older two story home, and she had knee surgery. Her doctor sent her home with the instructions not to walk up steps, for about 6 weeks, among other things. When she got home, she realized she couldn't go upstairs where her shower was, and had to stay on the first floor where they only had a half bath. She was only able to wash up in her sink, and she really hated that. If something like this had been available to her, she would have rented it. I am just betting there are other people with similar problems, and needs.

Davids Birthday!!

Howdy all,
today is David's Birthday! He should be feeling pretty good about that. Its also my youngest sisters birthday, Aunt Threasa. She is in her late 40's. wow how time passes.
Aunt Ramona wrote and said the fruit trees are already in bloom. She also said to say hi to all the kids. So HI!
I am still working on my shower for Kathryn. Coming along slowly, but getting there. Hopefully it will be done before the Passover, and Days of Unleaven Bread.
Tracy and Jason returned back from their 9 day cruise on Sunday/monday.. around 12 midnight. ha.
I discoved some really wonderful gluten free crackers.. yummy!.
Larry should be coming back this way.. the end of this month.
Dad is working hard these days, and glad for it, the market forcast for his type of work doesn't seem to be so good. ugg.. well Mark. we may all have to pack up and go live with david. now that would be a good birthday gift for him.. what do you thing.. hey!!.. love to all mom

Kids at home

Mark and Meg visiting with Dad and Jason and Tracy. Getting ready for their much needed Date Day. I think they had dinner at the Olive Garden.. I love that place.

Tracy and Jason were down for the weekend, and it was a perfect time, as they got to see their nephew and niece. What a great bunch to have at this home. I loved it.

First we had to corral the wild hopping beast that lives with us, this is not a good pic, but its part of the story.

Then the kids played and played, running and having a good old time, D'Artanyan was in his normal "Kill the bad guys" mode, and Audry was watching the dog in the cage, with a lot of speculation!

After a time, we tried to let Bella get used to not jumping on the kids. D'Artanyan doesn't have a problem with it, but Audry is the same size as the dog, when the dog is standing up, and she didn't like it one bit. She eventually got to where she would squeal and Bella would leave her alone. ha. but in getting to that spot, Tracy took a great picture of grandma and granddaughter. I love this pic.

The kids played and had a great time with all the toys I had picked up at garage sales and had left over from when you kids were little. Mostly stuff you all had gotten for the Feast. As that was the only time you all got toys that were of any quality, or that was made to last a lifetime. ha.

This shot is Audry making a run for it and Bella playing with D'Artayan, who has her toy. That old hallway has had a lot of kids running and playing in it. brought back such good memories for me.

Of course Jason and Tracy were here too and I got this great picture. Jason was glued to the TV and we had to pry him away from it for just a minute for this shot. ha, but isn't it great?

D'Artanyan has the dogs toy and he keep her busy tossing it down the hallway for her to retrieve. Sometimes Bella was "the Bad Guy"; I think boys just need dogs. Audry on the other hand, was not taking her eyes of that jumping beast, she did not trust Bella one bit. ha.

Dad doing what dad does best, and Bella checking to see who's OUT THERE. ha..by the time Jason and Tracy had to leave to go back to KC, Audry had finally learned how to keep that BEAST away from her. She would squeal at Bella, and Bella would stop and turn around and leave her alone.

All in all we all learned how to play together and live in harmony: what a great day, what good memories.

.

Sickly mom

HI to all. I haven't posted for quite a while. Been feeling under the weather, so to speak.
Not sure what I had, just so terrible tired and listless, with fever that came and went, and then a lot of coughing that was only encouraged when I tried to talk or breath. humm. anyway, feeling better today but still feel tired.
I will be going out to take care of Mrs. Cottingham early afternoon. She is 98 years young. Her daughter and granddaughter have done a marvelous job taking care of her all these years. So I am glad to be part of their team, too give them help when they have to both leave the home to do important things.
We are expecting freezing ice, and snow tonight, but as always, in Mo. that can change on an hourly bases. ha.
Jason and Tracy were down for the weekend. So good to have them here, been the first time in about a year.
Had both D'Artanyan and Audry here for a little visit this past Sunday, and got a few good pictures of them and Tracy and Jason. Will put some on, in my next post.
Hope all are well and doing good.. take care.. mom