What a Christmas present!

Russ and I are at a point in our lives when we are constantly trying to weed out excess "stuff". This year we are giving each other the obligatory socks, spatulas, and candy as stocking stuffers but there will be no presents under the tree. All of our money needs to go for 2x4's, spackle, wire, and sheetrock. But we got a wonderful gift when James contacted us with the news that he needed to be in Washington, DC for a week just before Christmas and was willing to find a flight here to spend a weekend with us. It happened to be the same weekend we had planned our family Christmas party down in Cincinnati at Ammon and Victoria's so he was a pleasant and very welcomed addition to the group!

Yes sir, yes sir, 43 bags full!

The last big, messy job for awhile has been finished! Despite a hurried trip back to Home Depot for more insulation, we managed to put 43 bags of cellulose in our attic in one afternoon. This first picture is of our set-up. The instructions mention "positioning the machine somewhere outside your home". Although the hoses are long, we didn't figure they would make it up to the third floor as well as going along the ceiling from one end of the house to the other. So we had to have the whole mess inside the house. It's difficult to get the full effect of the incredible dust all over everything. Russ and I both wore masks which started white and ended up totally grey,along with our hair and skin. The air was a veritable grey fog as well!
But we are happy and relieved to have the job finished. Russ was a little concerned about the weight of the insulation in the ceiling since it hasn't ever had anything more than animal bedding and feces up there! But we got it cleaned out and re-filled and it didn't collapse and it smells much better up there now.

A Victorian Christmas

I'm not going to manage a Christmas newsletter this year. So if you're looking at this, you're one of the lucky ones to get a Christmas greeting from the Fellows as they continue to work on their Dayton 1920 home. It is getting better every month. I thought I had a "before" picture of the living room but I can't seem to find it. This is the "after" picture. We patched and painted the walls and ceiling and sanded and varnished the floor. The fan/light fixture was installed by Russ a couple of months ago.

November images

I finally got our camera back. These pictures are several weeks old but I wanted to post them to show some happenings in the fall here. This first one is our oldest grandson, Tanis, in a pile of leaves. I never did get a picture I could use of the tons of leaves we collected but this is just one small part of the ultimate collection of leaves. This next picture is the day after Thanksgiving when we got Ammon and Victoria's stuff all loaded up and headed to Cincinnati. The move went very smoothly, thanks especially to their new church ward in Cincinnati who had lots of representatives at the new apartment to unload all the stuff. Along with the family who were all so helpful, Ammon and Victoria were moved in in record time!
This third picture is the next day, again in Cincinnati, at the baptism for Janna terHorst. Russ and I are really enjoying being near so much of our family. There are still too many who are still too far away but it looks like it's going to continue to be that way. We'll enjoy whatever time we can have whenever we can have it!

Sorry- still no pictures

I haven't gotten my camera back yet so I still can't post any pictures. I had wanted to post a picture of the leaves we collected. Here on our 1/2 acre lot we have many trees so in the fall we have many leaves. We collected leaves a couple of times and spread them in our future garden area as mulch, hoping for a good vegetable crop next year. But we would have had leaves as tall as us if we had put all of the leaves there. So we spent a day raking and hauling on a tarp the remainder of the leaves to the curb to be sucked up by the city truck. We had a "leaf bank" (rather than a snowbank) that ran the extent of our front footage, about 100 feet, from the curb to the sidewalk, about 4 feet, and piled about 3 feet deep in places. It was quite impressive. Despite the work necessary to clean up the leaves, we love our trees. They provide shade in the heat of the summer, shelter from wind, clean up our air and provide oxygen, and look nice. They're worth it!
I have been thinking a lot about Paul's writings in the New Testament and his phrase "a more excellent way". I see littered yards, filthy homes, broken windows, boarded up buldings and hear about drug addictions and the desperate crimes committed to support the addiction. I hear the obnoxious booming beat coming from the stereos in way too many vehicles, sometimes the value of the stereo is greater than that of the automobile in which it has been installed! I know Dayton is not the only city with these problems. But I wish I could convince so many people of a more excellent way to live. I would show them peace rather than desperation. I would have them clean and well-ordered rather than slovenly and unattractive. I would have them desire success and inner satisfaction rather than the unending lust for more things that will just deteriorate and need to be replaced on and on and on..... We don't have to be perfect, indeed we can't be perfect in this life. But we can strive to be better.

Miscellaneous images

I'm posting three pictures that are unrelated except that they all have something to do with my life. The first one is our grandson, Martin, who has been busy with a new activity: a special needs cheerleading squad. The picture here was from his first big competition. His hair is actually red, that's not a glitch in the computer image. For an autistic kid, he is quite a ham on the stage! He worried about "not winning" but he did really well, thanks to his "cheering buddy". There are some young men and women who are experienced in these cheerleading routines who sit in front of the stage giving cues to each of the members of the special needs team then will actually go up on the stage when needed for support on lifts or other potentially risky maneuvers. It's wonderful to see these kids succeeding at what they do! This next picture is partly to show two of my cute grandchildren but more to try to show the creativity of my children. Russ and I are blessed with 4, and one adopted, and one from Argentina who lived with us as an exchange student, children who are intelligent, capable, and willing to make a good effort. Lisa made this "Optimus Prime" Halloween costume for Aaron. You can't really see the amazing paint job very well in this picture but Russ and I were quite impressed with the quality of this costume. We're proud that our kids have followed in our tradition of trying to do something more creative than purchasing the cheap pajama-like department store Halloween costumes.
This last picture is the fenced-in northwest corner of our 1/2 acre lot. You can see how close our backyard neighbors are. This area will hopefully be a wonderful vegetable garden next summer. That is, if the trees don't shade it too much. Angela and Lisa did a lot of work to start cleaning out the years of growth crowded into it then Ammon spent many hours finishing clearing out the roots and stumps and remaining vines. True to the nature of city living, we also found countless pieces of trash here including broken toys, chip bags, candy wrappers, broken glass, pieces of wire and wood, cans, and on and on. Russ and I are looking forward to some day living away from people who don't seem to care about cleanliness and order.

More progress and changes

Our son Ammon's family has been living with us for several months now. During the time they have been here their family was increased by the birth of our 15th grandchild who holds our family record for the smallest baby- and she wasn't even early! Anyway, Ammon moved here hoping to better his career. He has gotten a good job with a subsidiary of Johnson&Johnson in Cincinnati. He has been commuting for about a month now. Victoria found out about an incredible deal in an apartment closer to Ammon's work so rather suddenly, they will be moving. This big old house will be empty without the sound of our giggling young grandsons and the newborn cry of their sister. We are excited for them to be in a place of their own sooner than expected so they can have their own stuff. After spending a year with our "stuff" in storage, we can truly empathize with feeling like a permanent visitor.
Russ and I got the insulation done under the kitchen. It was nice to walk into the kitchen barefoot in the morning and not have the floor be uncomfortably cool. Also, the water came out of the kitchen tap hot much more quickly. The job wasn't too long or uncomfortable but I did take a shower immediately afterward. I'm just not a fan of cobwebs in my hair, dirt all over my back and knees, and fiberglass everywhere on me! Now all we have left to do of the really dirty type work is to clean out the ceiling of the third floor and insulate that. We have windows to cover, too, but that won't be dirty...........just expensive.

More winterizing

This is a picture of the south side of the house, the side on the driveway. The windows at the top are both new replacement windows that Russ put in. You probably can't see it in this picture but the corner near the downspout and behind the gutter had been pretty well chewed away by the fuzzy-tailed rodents (squirrels) that live in abundance here. Russ had to wrap the corner with aluminum which should be more difficult for their busy little teeth to penetrate! It was the areas at the base of the roof and behind the gutters all around the house that I crawled into to clean out years of accumulated bedding and animal droppings. The little bit of roofline you can see at the bottom left of the picture is the kitchen. I have posted pictures of the transformation of that room earlier. At the beginning, there was just an open porch on the back of the house. Later it was closed in and made into a kitchen. We're thinking seriously that this house is older than the approximate 1920 building date we were given. I intend to do some research. If anybody has any advice as to how to go about doing research on the age of a home a century old, please let me know.
The picture below shows the inside of the back wall on the third floor where we have been adding insulation. Since the lower two floors of the house have exterior walls consisting of three layers of brick, we can't do anything reasonable to insulate them. However, the third floor front and back has walls we can insulate. We still need to do the top of the ceiling of the third floor and under the kitchen floor. That should do it for insulating.

Getting ready for winter

I'm including an old picture of the way the house looked when we first bought it. It's difficult to see details in a small image on the computer but you can see we now have new windows on the third floor, cleaned up and replaced windows in the door and the big window on the porch.
In this side view of the house, you can see new replacement windows on the right, first and second floor. The windows on the left are in the staircases and are more unusual windows so we will eventually make storms for them. For this year we may just have to put plastic over them. We haven't had snow yet but we're pushing into cold weather and getting tired a little bit. We'll see. We still have some insulating to finish and the two front big windows on the second floor need something for the winter, too. They're too big for any conventional storms.

I'm still here

Apparently blogspot is having trouble with the photo posting application. I have tried several times in the last couple of days to post pictures with no success. We are currently continuing to work on preparations for winter. We have the top floor nearly all insulated and we have either replaced full window units or added storms to most of the windows.
We made it through Halloween okay. This was our first Halloween in a "city" and we were concerned about possible pranks. We had a dozen or so trick-or-treaters, mostly small children with adults or older siblings accompanying them. They came on the evening before the 31st on what is called around here "beggars night". It is the publicly announced night for trick-or-treaters to make their rounds and they even designate hours, 6-8. That was nice so that you don't get people ringing your doorbell at 10 when you are headed for bed! Our little church branch had a trunk-or-treat in the parking lot of our building downtown on the night when we had a branch party and chili cook-off. Ammon was the only judge and did a great job!

Don't read if you have a weak stomach!

Today I worked at making our third floor smell better. Over the decades this house has been standing, various critters, mostly squirrels and raccoons, have managed to work their way into the eaves and knee walls areas to set up house. They must have found it very comfortable as evidenced by the amount of bedding and thickness of the layer of manure. I thought about taking a picture of the work I was doing but it was pretty dark where I was and I figured it wouldn't show very well. Besides, you probably don't want to see it. First we have to scoop out the bedding which has included raggedy tee shirts, socks, and other unrecognizable "soft" materials. There have also been nut shells and I even found a steak bone. EEEUUU! (Is that how you spell it?) Then we have to scrape the hardened layer of manure with a spackle knife. Last of all, I brought up buckets of bleach water, which had to be emptied fairly often and refreshed, and a scrub brush. I scraped the black sludge along, cleaning in up with paper towels. Interesting stuff, huh? Afterward I took a long, soapy bath. It was a dirty job but somebody had to do it and now the upstairs is smelling better. I think I will only have to do that one more time to finish all of the areas to be done. Have I mentioned that if anyone is interested in a "working" vacation, you're welcome here! We'll provide instructions, tools, meals, and a bed- not in the eaves. I wonder if this work would work on a resume for employment at a zoo? That's the bulk of what you do when you work at a zoo or animal reserve. Put it in one end and clean up what comes out the other.................

Before and after....and after

For my birthday, Angela took me to get my hair done. I have never experienced the application of aluminum foil to my head to achieve a "natural" color to my hair. Fortunately for you, I don't have a picture of the process. Here is a picture of me on Sunday when we had our family get-together then a picture of me after getting my hair done. It's supposed to have taken years off my appearance. What do you think?

This other picture is of the front room on the third floor. I thought we had taken a "before" picture but, alas, I can't find one. But you can appreciate how nice it looks with the walls done, a set of new windows and carpeting (not exactly authentic to the 1920's but we have to make some concessions to comfort and modern improvements!). This room will be the place for our grandkids to be able to just play, relax, watch movies, and whatever. The view from up there is pretty cool, too.

Happy Birthday to us!!

Sunday we had Angela's family (except Scott who is away for a week or so), Ammon's family, and John's family here for a dinner celebration of Russ and Mary's birthdays. One picture is taken from the living room toward the dining room, the other is vice-versa. Our house becomes more of a home with every pleasant occasion such as this. We are still working but not feeling as harried and not having so many doubts about the outcome. We shall endure and succeed!

Dear old friends

One of the greatest blessings in life is friends. New friends can be exciting but old friends warm our hearts with their never-ending love. Since we joined the LDS Church in 1974 we have acquired some really wonderful friends. Recently we were fortunate enough to be invited to the wedding reception for Melissa Randall and her new husband. We only had to go as far as Columbus, a mere hour away, to see Vance and Krissy Randall. Our daughter Angela and her husband Scott accompanied us. We are so happy to be able to include our children as some of our very best friends, too. We are now living within a very short distance of Angela, Ammon, and even our "adopted son" John and their families. Spending time with them is the highlight of our life. We miss Lisa and James and their families. What an awesome age we live in that allows us to regularly communicate with loved ones no matter how far away they are!
Melissa looked beautiful and we couldn't be happier for her. We pray for her eternal happiness.

Life in a city

There is no picture with this blog because I'm going to write about something that is gone. When we first moved here to Dayton, we were warned repeatedly that this is part of a city and we should be wary of the possibility of theft that is fairly common in cities. We were quite concerned for the first several months but nothing happened so we relaxed a little. We still lock our doors and try to be careful, but we let our guard down a little. Yesterday Russ went outside to climb up on the roof to work on the chimney and found the ladder we recently purchased for that purpose was gone. The value of the ladder is enough to be upset about losing but not enough for an insurance claim and certainly not enough to trouble the police who have much bigger concerns around here. Besides, since it was fairly new and had no identification on it, there would be no way we could positively identify it as ours. I guess the best we can learn from this is to be less relaxed about our belongings and grateful it wasn't anything even more valuable.

She's here!

Brooklyn Celeste Fellows arrived officially at 11:18 am on October 4. She weighed a tiny 5 lb 1 oz but was 19 onches long. Here are her two big brothers proudly holding her merely hours after her birth. We are hoping Victoria's recovery goes well but we know it will take awhile. Grandma and Grandpa are happy to spend time with Jeremy and Kadon while Mom and Dad are at the hospital for a few days getting to know Brooklyn.

Needle and Thread rather than Hammer and Nail

I need to get back to working on the house and pictures of our progress on it. But for right now, I want to report on what I have been doing to help prepare for the arrival of our most recent grandchildren. Lisa purchased a more feminine nursery set, shown in these pictures. The rocker and ottoman were ones she already had with blue covers with some stains. To make them newer and more coordinated, I used some lavendar cotton and applied pieces of a valance she didn't need for the window and made covers for the seat, back, arms, and ottoman. Also, the car seat they got for Elliette had a cover that wasnt' particularly "cozy" so Lisa picked out a red/black print to coordinate with the seat and stroller combination and I made a cover with a newborn baby head support that's removable.(Seen here in the picture on the hospital bed next to proud big brother, Aaron.) I have also been making covers for nursing pillows for Lisa and Victoria as well as covers for the cushion of the changing table for Victoria's baby. All I have left to do is the blessing dress for Brooklyn and since she won't even be born until the day after tomorrow, I think I have time to get that done!

This is Grandma holding Elliette Angela Elizabeth McCurdy. She is eating well and sleeping about as well as newborns will sleep. Her brother loves her and she has impressed all of our family with her sweet beauty. Her dad is TDY in Virginia until the end of next week then Grandma can go home to be with grandchild #15! Speaking of Ammon's family, great news- Ammon has a job! He will be earning a good wage with a well-established company so we are all thrilled. Congratulations to all around in our family. We're making great strides! (Grandpa is still in Ohio working on the house. Pictures of that will have to come later when I can get home to download them to post.)

She's finally here!

After having contractions for nearly 20 weeks, our daughter Lisa finally gave birth to a 7 pound 4 ounce, 18 1/2" lovely baby girl, Elliette McCurdy at 12:41 pm Sunday, Sept. 9. (yet another September birthday to add to the family) Keith took Lisa in to the hospital at 2 am then had to report to work at 8 am, while Lisa was still in labor, to fly to Virginia for 2 weeks TDY (temporary duty yonder for those who might not understand all of the government-type acronyms). There was great disappointment all around even among the hospital staff that he had to leave. Grandma took 3-year old Aaron to a friend and neighbor of Lisa's then went to the hospital to be "coach" for the remainder of the time. After being there for about an hour, the door opened and in came Keith! His flight was postponed due to inclement weather at their destination. We were all thrilled and, very shortly after, Lisa experienced even greater pain, despite the epidural, a sign of advanced labor and the imminent arrival of their second child. This was a wonderful experience for me. I have given birth to 4 babies but never witnessed someone else giving birth. Lisa did really well, succeeding after only about 3 or 4 pushes. Tears sprang to my eyes and I gave Lisa a hug and kiss (as well as I could over the arm of the hospital bed and while she was being given stitches (20 or more!). Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Bowker are driving from my sister's in Alabama to my other sister's in Louisianna today and will stop here on the way through to see their latest family addition. The birth of a baby is the renewal of innocence and a sign that God hasn't given up on the world!

A grandmother's perspective

We are blessed to claim 13 grandchildren with #'s 14 and 15 arriving soon. It is so interesting to pass through each phase of life and recognize my thoughts and feelings as nothing new. It seems that every generation bemoans the lack of respect and good manners in the younger generations. Each generation of grandparents fears for the conditions of the world as their grandchildren come of age. I think it really is getting worse, though. There were certainly questionable morals in ancient Roman and Greek civilizations but they didn't have the technology we have to allow access for "the masses". They didn't have widespread pornography, even in the homes of "good" people. They didn't have people who made money making movies of everything from sexually abusing innocent children to brutal murder. They didn't have the deep fear of fellow human beings that seems to permeate our world. Even in what we call third world countries, people fear oppression and abuse by those who hunger for ever- more power and wealth. We have very few "simple farmers" who just go about taking care of their own plot of land, raising their family and living until they die, worn out from hard work but having loved ones surrounding them. I have been attending a birthing class with my youngest daughter. It has surprised me to hear many young, healthy women express refusal to undergo, naturally, the pain of childbirth (I am, of course, not including complications of birth which require more medical intervention). I wonder if it had been more prevalent, would I have insisted upon anesthetic to avoid what has been a very natural pain for billions of women over hundreds of years? I don't want to believe the human race is getting weaker at the same time we are getting more decadent. Do we distance ourselves from pain, by using complicated weapons instead of knives and clubs, watching repeated violence in movies or other media until it means nothing to us, or numbing ourselves with our drug of choice? I know we are spoiled beyond the wildest imaginings of nearly anyone but truly forward thinking science fiction writers of the past. We have "reality" shows about survival, but I wonder how each of us would fare when in a desperate situation without the promise of some huge amount of money and fame? I hope we would expose the hero rather than the savage in us. I think we have the potential to be stronger and more capable than we sometimes give ourselves credit for.

Sorry- still no pictures

Waiting and waiting......... That's the name of the game these days. I am still in Florida waiting the arrival of grandchild #14 who is to be named Elliette McCurdy, that is, unless there has been a huge mistake interpreting the ultasound pictures. I have managed to do some yard work in spite of the heat but there is only so much to be done on Air Force base housing. I have recovered a rocking chair and ottoman as well as making covers for a baby car seat and stroller. Yesterday Lisa tried to keep walking by using an exercise machine of her friend's after we came in out of the rain, hoping that would get something going. She was having some pretty good contractions while she was on her feet. But she was exhausted after nearly two hours and sat down to rest. The contractions soon stopped, much to her disappointment. The main reason she is so anxious to have this baby is that the Air Force is sending her husband away soon and she doesn't want him to miss the birth. I guess this little baby is not important enough for the Air Force to work its schedules around!

IT'S HOT!!

I don't have any pictures to post at the moment. I am in Florida with Lisa's little family. The summer seemed to have started pretty mildly everywhere and has now turned beastly hot everywhere. I understand that it got so hot in Ohio (while we were in Houston where they're more accustomed to such heat) that they closed school the day after they opened it! We went swimming at an outdoor pool on base today in an effort to get some exercise and "beat the heat". It was only semi-effective because the water was pretty warm. Still, we can't complain. Air conditioning is a wonderful invention! I really don't know how people used to get anything done without it. Even now, I see the lawns need mowing but nobody seems inclined to feel like doing it. If it would just drop below 90 I would be willing to do yardwork. Meanwhile, Ammon has been working like a fiend clearing what I was hoping to use as garden space but haven't gotten to working on it much. He has been doing wonderful work for us at the house in between applying for jobs and going to interviews. Children really can grow up to be wonderful blessings to their parents no matter how frustrating they may be when younger.

Just a note

Russ and I will be leaving on Monday to go to Houston. We will spend a few days with his family there then he will be driving a rental truck back to Ohio with furniture and other family things his mother is giving him as she moves into a smaller place. I will drive from Houston over to Florida to be with our daughter Lisa until her baby is born. I don't know how much I will be able to get on the computer or to post blogs while I'm there. I'll do my best.

Youth conference

Russ and I just returned from chaperoning at a youth conference in Nauvoo, Illinois. It was fun, educational, hot and humid, and wonderful. We were impressed with how well-behaved LDS teenagers are. The families and missionaries that act as tour guides and performers there in Old Nauvoo are just incredible. The LDS church encourages people to develop their talents and IT SHOWS!!!

OOps

This isn't what I intended to put on here. These are pictures from a CD of our recent family reunion. Oh well, they're cute so I guess I'll post them. Martin in front of his house and Lisa with Keith and Aaron in the other picture. Some day I'll get the hang of this computer stuff......

Gratitude and tar babies

Russ and Ammon made it safely across the country with the rental truck. Four young missionaries, along with our ever-faithful, ever-hardworking daughter Angela, came to help unload. We were so grateful for their help. Most of the things went into the garage we have been working so hard to make more weatherproof. Some came into the house, filling a formerly empty living room and adding more life and homie-ness to this big old house.
This picture is Russ and me on top of the garage, tarring the metal roof. We have found some really interesting things as we have worked on this property. As a matter of fact, as I cleaned out the garage floor before filling it with stone, I was reminded of a song Russ used to sing regularly- the only "Thanksgiving carol" I've ever heard of: Alice's Restaurant. Only instead of putting garbage in a church where the pews used to be, someone, or maybe many persons, collected it in the garage, along with other areas of this half-acre. I found lots of glass- enough to make me wonder if there used to be a glass shop in there, lots of miscellaneous tools (not surprising in a garage, even bones (fortunately none big enough to make me suspicious of their origins) and lobster claws (someone here ate well!). Among the toys, food wrappings, broken pottery, and old pens there have been even larger strange objects, one of which was actually a "tar-baby". In an area along the driveway we found a very heavy, black, cylinder which puzzled us at first. At this point I can't remember exactly who it was that realized what it was but we found out it was a tar-baby. It could have been put into some sort of melting device then the liquid used to tar something. We took the tar-baby to the dump because we had no way to actually make use of it and went to good old Home Depot and bought our tar in liquid form in cans which we carried up the ladder to the roof and sloshed a good thick coat all over, to make sure the inside of the garage stays dry and the metal no longer rusts. Our work on the property continues but at a blessedly more leisurely pace.

End product of our society

Today the odor at the dump was quite pungent. I was glad my pregnant daughter-in-law hadn't accompanied me. Russ and Ammon are in Utah loading up Ammon's household goods to drive them here to Ohio. Victoria was tending her two boys so I loaded up the piles of construction debris into the truck (3 hours worth of picking up old wood, roof parts, pipes, etc), drove to
Angela's house on the other side of Dayton to get a few odds and ends she had to contribute, then drove to the "waste management facility". Many eastern cities have had to resort to these facilities. When we live in such close proximity to each other there is no place to put what used to be called a "dump" because no one wants the pollution in their vicinity. So they erect a huge steel building and everyone piles their garbage in it, then it gets hauled away.......to somewhere. People who have known me for very long have probably tired of hearing me say that I think every citizen of the earth should visit a dump at least once in their lifetime. It's a rather rude but pertinent awakening for those who carelessly throw unwanted things away easily because they were piggish about taking more food than they needed or they don't want to bother repairing something or taking it to Goodwill. I really don't think it is truly civilized to not think about the end product of our society. We can put on airs and think we're too clean to deal with garbage, but, let's face it, we all create it and should all be responsible in dealing with it. Our garbage most likely far outweighs our works of art at this point. It's what we create.

The Amazing Race

We didn't quite have the resources to have individual camermen following each family but here are a few shots from one of the reunion highlights for the week. We held our own version of the popular tv show "The Amazing Race". It was a little more localized, being all in the Dayton area, and considerably shorter and cheaper. However, it was fun for everybody and gave everyone a sense of happy competition and satisfaction of completion. Each family was a team and was armed with a Dayton map and given their first clue. After that, they had to complete a challenge to get their next clue. They had to find things, climb a rock wall, put together a large geography puzzle (the fastest time, despite the young age of the contestants was an amazing 1 minute 10 seconds) and there was an obstacle course. The youngest in the family had to pull the oldest in a wagon, then they had to each swing a hammer at a nail until it was driven home in the board, then climb a step ladder to transfer beanbags from a pile on one side to a bucket on the other, and last of all, they had to hit a target using a slingshot for water balloons.
Now we're going to start working on plans for our next reunion, 2009 at the soonest. But with our family spread all over the world and moving constantly, planning ahead is essential. But now we'll be back to working on the house. Siiggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh............................

Awesome Reunion

As with most gatherings of human beings, one of the highlights of this past week of the Fellows Family Reunion has been the meals. Each night a different family was responsible for planning and preparing dinner. We had a pleasant variety and everything was fully appreciated. Although it was mostly every man for himself as food was being served, no one went hungry and there was much of caring and sharing outside of specific family lines. Cousins helped cousins, aunts and uncles comforted and cared for nieces and nephews. We had several full-family activities and lots of free time to just chat or run errands. We practiced a song and sang it in Angela's ward for sacrament meeting and it went very well. There is something really rewarding about being hearing a lovely well-blended choir that is all your blood relatives. We had originally hope to perform a service project but what with little ones who needed naps and pregnant people who needed to be careful and not all being in the same house all the time, it just never worked out. But there was lots of service done within the 27 members of the family.

Satan's weed

When we helped Angela's family move into Ohio a year ago we had our first up-close experience with poison ivy. We had grown up with the saying taught to scouts and at girls camp "Leaflets three, let it be, berries white, take flight". That makes a nice, easy-to-remember saying but you still may not be able to recognize the plant in real life. Despite the fact that I handled lots of poison ivy- in fact, I bagged it all in trash bags after several members of Angela's family were stricken badly enough to require going to the emergency room twice- I never had a reaction. So a couple of weeks ago, I was working out in the garage area and determined I would pull out a huge poison ivy vine that had been sprayed with Round-up but was tenanciously growing back. My concern was mostly for our grandkids so they wouldn't be affected by it. Apparently, younger skin is more tender and reacts more easily. About a week later, I had a couple of strange spots show up on my forearm. I didn't think much of it because Russ and I have gotten numerous injuries since starting this house project. As the days went by, I got more rash spots and swelling. I don't know if you can tell by these pictures by my left hand/wrist is swollen quite bit and I have numerous rash spots all over my arms, face, neck, chest and ankles. It is even spreading to my legs. The original reaction is to whatever part of your body is exposed to the actual oil in the plant which is the worst in the roots and stems. After that, your body can go into a larger systemic reaction resulting in huge, itchy, eventually oozing welts. (The last picture is an attempt at a close-up of the welts on my swollen wrist.) It is not at all attractive but the worst part is the itching and swelling so you can't sleep, your eyes get all puffy (not that my old, wrinkled face didn't have problems before), and you basically feel miserable. I have so enjoyed having all my family here for our reunion, even with the poison ivy reaction. But I'll be glad when it's over- the poison ivy reaction, I mean.

Another before and after!

The ladder nearly takes up the whole downstairs bathroom. We're pretty sure it was originally a closet under the stairs to the second floor but was later made into a tiny "necessary room". Russ and Dad are shown here replacing the plumbing underneath the floor, in the cellar or basement (whichever you want to call it). Then you can see the after results! The bright yellow is supposed to make it look bigger and brighter. It's actually a sloped ceiling but it may be hard to tell in the picture. The ceiling is the underside of the stairs to the second floor. I will work on the specific decor later.