Guess whats in the Trunk?

We recently went to California, for our annual 4Th of July/family Reunion.
While there I was determined to visit one of my now deceased, aunts home, where one of my brothers now lives. They had been cleaning out OLD stuff, that they had no interest in anymore. I was given a nice old trunk, and allowed to fill it with lots of old pictures, letters, and other things of interest to me.
One thing I was trying to do, was find any information I could on family members who had lived, or had immigrated from Ireland.
We are planning a trip back there where my grandfather and grandmother, on my dads side, came from. I would love to be able to see the old home place and also see where they went to school, church, ect. Sort of get a little idea, of how and where they lived.
Well we got our trunk all filled with wonderful items to explore, and had it mailed back to Mo. It is to the UPS's credit, that only one little picture frame, had a broken pane, and everything else was in perfect shape, upon arrival.
I have a huge allergy to insecticides. Moth balls are insecticides, and this old trunk, at one time, had those moth balls in it that so many people use, and it has permeated a lot of the papers and boxes in the trunk. We have tried to "air" it outside, and I have been only taking a few things out at a time to examine the contents, for information on anything that may help me find answers to where my dad's parents lived in Ireland.
as a results, I now am feeling.. soooooo tired, and draggy, which is how the insecticides effects me.
I feel like I have a lot to do, and no energy to do them.
My husband kept saying that he didn't think it was a good idea for me to be in that trunk, after he detected the moth ball smell, but dumb old me.. I was like a moth to a flame, drawn to find out as much as I could about my ancestors.
So anyone who may have any idea, how to get rid of that moth ball odor, please post your answerer.. Thanks.

California 4th # 2

My computer, or the Internet is just not working very good with me today. I have tried to do this post 3 times.. so will post what I can today, and do some more tomorrow.
The saga continues with out grand and glorious 4th of july in California, among the redwoods and mountains.

Kathy standing dressed in black (Vern's daughter) And her husband Mike seated at the table.. and.. wearing pink pants.. Maxine's.. Lonnie's mom
Kathy has lost a lot of weight since her little boy was born. She is a vegetarian, and all this meat being cooked.. is yukky!!!
We always have those at the picnic that want to show off.. Here is Lonnie, impressing Tracy and Danial, with balancing the Pepsi can on his thumb. Lonnie's wife has seen it before... and Lonnie's brother, (yellow shirt) Mathew, just cant bear to see it again. more tricks. this one is a flying UFO.. Terry (far left in black) is wondering why Romona's dog, Daisy, isn't chasing it. Daisy is just NOT falling for that old trick again!

4th of July family reuion in California

Our trip to California was a wonderful change of pace. Its a lot slower out there, and cooler too. You dress very casually, as you will get dirty.. lots of dust... lots of rocks, dogs, and kids.

At Uncle Verns home, where David, Jason and Tracy, Dad and I were welcomed and stayed. Arriving at Uncle Lyle's house where the reunion takes place each year. Lyle talking to Jason, me with my picture album for all to enjoy.
Frank Alves at the grill.. he makes steaks, and hotdogs!! Frank is Maxien's Husband
Aunt Ramona on the Old-Fashioned way of grilling chicken.. look how happy she is.. her daughter Leslie is observing and learning from mom, and Leslie's husband is glad he wasn't drafted for the job.. Aunt Sally, is being Sally.. sort of at a distant and wringing her hands.. saying "Gosh, I hope she doesn't burn herself.. what will she do if that happens, She wont be able to drive that big bus of hers anymore".
Uncle Lyle at the grill, doing hamburgers. He also has not gotten the modern day grilling figured out yet either.. but oh those where good... Dad testing the final products.. just to make sure they are not done wrong, and that he gets enough to eat.. don't want to starve, or appear to be unappreciated of the hospitality. doesn't dad look good.. hes the best looking one at this thing.

Here is Shonnie (Aunt Ruby's oldest girl) with her niece, and her twin boys. Me with my Coat.. ya.. it was cool.. but not for the local folk.

The twins with their big brother, Hovenal.. don't ask me what their names are.. cant remember for the life of me.
Dad giving Lonnie and his baby girl advise on what to eat and its all good! David trying to figure out who that big fella is? Lonnie is Maxine's son. Maxine is Vern's adopted daughter by his second wife. The girl standing next to Lonnie is his wife.

Lonnie's wife, Lonnie, Danial (Aunt Ruby's grandson, and Tracy Lee!! We all love each other.. notice the hugs!! What a bunch of great people!

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.