Simple Sunday

Just got this yesterday at an antique store in Croswell (MI). I love her dress.

Duker -day...when I accidentally escaped. (part 1)

My mom and dad have one of those invisible fences around our yard. I think I once heard my mom say that I have about 5 acres to roam in. And usually I'm pretty happy with that five acres. I can go in the front yard and I can go over next to the driveway. Plus, I have the whole backyard, the sideyard, and part of the woods. Yep, I'm one lucky dog.

Until, that is, someone decides to go beyond my fence and leaves me behind. Now I can can deal with them driving away. I mean, I want to go, but I know that I can't all the time. I know better than to cross my invisible line. Darn it though, when they take a walk in the woods or go on a four-wheel ride and go beyond where my fence allows me...well I'm just not happy when that happens. But I'm good. I may bark for a few minutes, but then I go about my business and wait anxiously for them to appear again.

One day, a couple of weeks ago, my dad took off on the four-wheeler and I really wanted to follow. I mean I really wanted to! We got to the place where I can't go any further and....and....my collar didn't buzz when I got close to that spot. Hmmm....I wondered if I should take a chance. "Go for it!" I decided.

It felt so good to run behind my dad (even though I stayed far enough back that he didn't even see me ☺) The wind through my ears, the cool swamp to run through, new territory and new smells. Then we got to a road and my dad crossed the road. So, I followed (luckily it was at the end of a dead end road). What the heck! When I saw him pull into a driveway, I recognized my brother, Jon and a whole group of people that I'd seen before at our house. This must be Jon's house! I've never been here before.

Cool! A party!

Then I heard Jon's friend Josh say to my dad, "There's Duke!" That's when my dad turned around and saw  me and he said, "That's not Duke." Then he looked harder and said, "D*&@%!d if it isn't Duke!" That's when my common sense kicked in and I realized that no matter how good it felt - This. was. not. a. good. idea.

Before my dad could say too much to me, I turned around and high-tailed it for home. It's lucky I didn't get lost too. I made it home in plenty of time to pretend like I'd always been there. It didn't fool my dad one bit.

The evidence was all over me. Swamp mud! Shoot.

And then my dad checked out my collar. Turns out I somehow lost a screw in this black box that's stuck to my collar and I guess somehow it got wet inside that box. And then the collar quit working.

I hear that my folks weren't too happy about having to pay $80 for a new collar, but they love me. It's for my own good after all.

I'm one lucky dog!

*From Duke's mom - Please if you're one of those people who don't like these collars...I've heard the arguments. These are not cruel. Duke (and Sosha) know their limits and don't get shocked (it buzzes/vibrates to let them know they're nearing the line). And we know they're not foolproof. But neither is a fenced-in yard, which is what Duke was in at first...before he learned to dig his way out. Over and over. We live on a busy road and have experienced the pain and anguish of losing a dog to the road. We do not want to go through that again.

A little request ☺

My daughter, Jamie, has a really important "meeting" today. She doesn't want me to talk about it, but I figure with the power of prayer, good thoughts, and crossed fingers it wouldn't hurt to make mention of it.

So please, if you're so inclined...maybe some prayers, good thoughts and/or crossed fingers for Jamie. Shhhh...it's a job interview. She doesn't want to jinx it by talking about it. It's been a long two years of teacher job searching and she's getting more than anxious to just get back to what she loves...

A year...

It's been a year since my mom passed away. I didn't have it in my to write two posts and I've shared some of my feelings in a post over at Beyond Little House. I know it's Laura Ingalls Wilder related, but that's often where my thoughts go. I hope you'll take the extra few minutes to go read it.

I've added the passage, in Little Town on the Prairie, which is what my friend Rebecca and I were talking about and what lead me to write my post of at Beyond Little House:

For the next Literary, there was music. Pa with his fiddle and Gerald Fuller with his accordion made such music that the schoolhouse and the crowd seemed to dissolve in an enchantment. Whenever they stopped, applause roared for me

It seemed impossible ever to have a more marvelous evening. But now the whole town was aroused, and families were driving in from the homestead claims to attend the Literaries. The men in town were on their mettle; they planned a superb musical evening. The practiced for it, and they borrowed Mrs. Bradley's organ.

 On that Friday they wrapped the organ carefully quilts and horse blankets, they loaded it into Mr. Foster's ox wagon and took it carefully to the schoolhouse. It was a beautiful organ, all shining wood, with carpeted pedals and a top climbinb up in tapering wooden pinnacles, tiny shelves, and diamond-shaped mirrors. Its music rack was a lace pattern in wood, with red cloth behind it that showed through the holes, an on either side was a round place to which to set a lamp.

The teacher's desk was moved away, and that organ set in its place. On the blackboard Mr. Clewett wrote out the program. There was organ music by itself, organ music with Pa's fiddle, and organ music with the singing of quartets and duets and solos. Mrs. Bradley sang,

Backward, turn backward,
Oh Time in they flight.
Make me a child again,
Just for tonight.

Laura could hardly bear the sadness of it. Her throat swelled and ached. A tear glittered on Ma's cheek before she could catch it with her handkerchief. All the women were wiping their eyes, and the men were clearing their throats and blowing their noses.

Simple Sunday

This picture wasn't in the greatest shape and isn't as old as I would normally look for...but how could I resist these happy babies? ☺

Duker-day! The Toby Edition.

My brother Toby...

In the first few weeks of our lives, Toby and I were inseparable.

We were a couple days old here.

And then Toby went off to live with a very nice family and I ended up staying with my family. Life goes on.

A couple of years ago, Toby's sister wrote a very nice note to my mom. She wanted us to know that they are so happy that we let them adopt Toby and that he is the best dog ever (well...maybe second best ☺). They love him very much. I'm happy that Toby and I both have such great families! She sent pictures to my mom too. So, we got to see what Toby looks like now. Except that my mom, dad, and sister got to visit Toby once so they already got to see him all grown up...they didn't take me with them.

Toby ↑ and Me ↓ Do you see a family resemblance?

I don't either...

Obviously Toby and I share a love of water. I think that Toby's family has a pond so Toby can swim whenever he wants...I'm a little jealous.

 Just yesterday my dad was telling me that he worked for someone who is a friend of Toby and his family and that Toby is doing great. Maybe someday we'll get to see each other again...I wonder what would happen.

My girl...

Thirty-one *shhh* years ago, on this very day, I gave birth to the most beautiful baby girl I had ever laid eyes on. She was an angel with her blond fuzz and big blue eyes. She was named Jamie Lynn, born on 7-21 at 7:02pm weighing 7 lbs. 2oz. and 21 inches long.

Jamie was probably 2 days old in this picture. I am 19.

In honor of her 31 years of blessing us with her beauty, grace, humor, and always being there for us, I am sharing some of my favorite pictures...

The original Cabbage Patch doll. ~ six months old

With her best friend, Ruby, who used to escape by crawling under my mom's buffet. Jamie at about a year and a half soon learned to follow!

This picture was intended to be of only Jim and I, but my brother-in-law spotted Jamie just out of the shot and...one of my all time favorites. She is 5 1/2.

She's about six here, telling her dad an important (I'm sure ;-)) secret.

Love this one of her and her Popop. Jamie's about 7 here.

At 8 1/2, she wasn't thrilled at first that we gave her a baby brother, instead of the baby sister that she insisted would be named Bambi. I think she got over the disappointment.

You notice that Jamie, her dad, and her brother are all wearing pink toy earrings here?

Love this picture of my mom and my children in 2000.

A very proud moment. College graduation in 2004.

Happy Birthday, Jamie! I have a feeling that this will be a great year! I love you! ♥

 P.S. There were so many more pictures that I could have included. It was tough to pick and choose! :-)

LauraPalooza - a year late...or a year later.

Over at Beyond Little House, there's been a LauraPalooza 2010 reunion of sorts going on for the past week or so. Today is my turn to share my memories and hopefully other attendees from last year will chime in with theirs. Don't know what LauraPalooza is? Head on over and check things out. I'm already planning to go to LauraPalooza 2012! *Did I provide you with enough links? I want you to be well informed!*

Today, because I've been meaning to for a year, I'm going to share the pictures from our trip. Now, mind you, I have over 20 pictures here. I have about 160 from the whole trip. I didn't include them all.  ☺

The Masters Hotel in Burr Oak, Iowa. Laura never included Burr Oak in the Little House books but they lived there for about a year. They moved there in 1876 to help run The Masters Hotel for a time.

 

The Visitor Center in Burr Oak

If you read Farmer Boy, then you know the Wilder family. They moved from Malone, New York to Spring Valley, Minnesota in the 1870's and Almanzo, Laura, and Rose lived with them for a year in 1890 to 1891.

The Methodist Church in Spring Valley (attended by the Wilders). They have a wonderful historical museum there. It was definitely worth a stop.

I know I shared this already. My "Laura" friends and I with LIW biographer (and presenter at LauraPalooza) John Miller. Yeah, I'll point out again - Dean Butler (there in the background). Yes, the Dean Butler of the tv show was there. I was never into the tv show much, but I greatly admire this man for what he has been doing.

I'm just so in awe of these women - Jonni, Sandra, Rebecca and Sarah Sue (I think Lauri may be in there too). They know their Laura (Ingalls Wilder)!

I would like to think that, even though I wasn't named after LIW, that it was somehow the reason that my parents gave me the name.

Amy Lauters is making the opening remarks. And so begins the conference.

 There were so many speakers that I can't name them all for fear that I would forget one. I enjoyed listening to the scholars and authors, the panels, and...who'd a thunk that you would ever see a physics professor talk about the seed wheat trip that Almanzo and Cap took and to listen to a meteorologist who did research on the long winter that Laura wrote about. My goodness, I could go on and on!

William Anderson, Laura Ingalls Wilder biographer and expert. I have now heard him speak three times and I learn something new about Laura every time. And he's from Michigan!

Panel of Laura homesite representatives. I believe all of the homesites were represented. :-)

Panel of authors, William Anderson, John Miller, Pamela Smith Hill and Amy Lauters.

Dean Butler and me. He was so gracious about signing autographs and having pictures taken.

Sometime after the trip, my mother-in-law complained that we were spending money on luxury vacations. While I'll admit that the college dorms we stayed in were excellent, I wouldn't call them luxury accommodations!

Neither Jim nor I ever had the "going away to college" experience so the whole thing was kind of fun.

Though I'll admit that I never would have roomed with him in college! The scandal!!

 

Panel: Wendy McClure, Erin Blakemore and Sandra Hume - Loving Laura in a Lindsay Lohan World.

There was even a spelling bee. I was too chicken to partake. Several attendees dressed the part of Laura, however this was one of my favorites...as Mrs. Wilder, the author.

Our last event...the tin pail luncheon. I miss my old, but new friends!

And, if you've heard of Maud Hart Lovelace, the author of the Betsy Tacy books, you will know that she grew up in Mankato. I became a Betsy-Tacy convert a couple of years ago so this was another must see before we left town.

And then the trip became all Jim's. He picked our stops for the whole way home. It's the least I could give him in appreciation for coming to this conference with me (and even sitting in on several of the speakers). Plus he took the many pictures!

Remember to check out my post over at Beyond Little House. I would have loved to go on and on! If you have any questions or are interested in more reading about Laura, check out Beyond Little House or send me an email! :-)

Simple Sunday (with a little extra)

We recently drilled a well for a couple who are in the 80's. When Jim and I dropped the rig off, the wife (Mr.S) was telling me about their dog, Tina, and she had to go get Tina so that I could meet her. As I admired Tina, I told her about our dogs and she wanted to see them. I ended having to go out there a few times to run things to Jim and a couple of times I brought our dogs. Mrs. S was so thrilled to meet Duke and Sosha. Sosha put her head out of the car window and this woman closed her eyes as she gave Sosha a little hug. I could tell that she just loved dogs. You could see it in her face.

She wanted to exchange pictures of the dogs. The next time Jim had to head out there I made sure that I had a photo of Duke and Sosha for Mrs. S. Jim had to stop there on Friday and Mrs. S showed him the place of honor she had given Duke and Sosha right on her fridge. She had a picture of Tina for us and even offered Jim a magnet so that we could hang it on our fridge.

I decided that before Tina gets her place on our fridge that she deserves to be admired by all of you!

Tina S. -- one dog who is very well loved!