Tues., 6/16/26, Baby Chandler’s surgery is today, hoed 4 rows in the garden, dug out milkweed around brick posts in front, weeded around big knock out roses, trimmed tree by deck, went to Sam’s Club, Meijer, Jacks and Panera, hail on our way home and when we got home, more heavy rain in the evening

Precious Chandler before surgery

Garden is growing well...

Yarrow is blossoming

Filled yard waste containers today

Before it rained and hailed

Weeded and looking much better

Kimmy got all the weeds out of this part of the front and the whole side in this picture.  It looks so nice!  Thanks again Kimmy

Beautiful sunset tonight

Maddy sent me his picture after surgery.  The surgeon did a great job.  

Stayed up until 12:30 a.m and then slept in this morning til 10.  That’s the latest I’ve slept in years.  Must be all that weeding I did last night.  Had messages from Kimmy and Vikki when I got up about Father’s Day.  Called Kimmy, then called Melissa and talked to them a while.  Kimmy said she couldn’t get a hold of Vikki, so I didn’t even try.  

Maddy messaged me to pray.  She and Alec were taking baby Chandler to Ann Arbor for his surgery, and the hospital called them and told them they didn’t have enough ICU beds, so they told them to turn around and head home.  Maddy called me and said Alec took his last two days off work, so she wanted us to pray that it would work out for him to still have the surgery.  I got the girls praying right away too.  About three hours later, I heard back from her and Chandler was just getting ready to go to surgery. Wow!  God is so good to answer our prayers.  We kept messaging through out the day, and his surgery went well, with no complications they are able to both stay in the room with him tonight, and we are praying they can stay at the Ronald McDonald House tomorrow night.  Thanking God.

I got 4 more rows of the garden done.   Did more around the edge too.  Happy to have the rain after planting 3 more rows of stuff last night.  I dug our milkweed coming up by my flowers in front by the brick pillars.  Dug all the weeds coming up around those. Will have to put preen down this time.  

We ate some cereal and drank our coffee, then I went outside and sat on the swing while I read my Bible.  Kit Kat joined me.  My orioles are at the feeders more again.  

Bill and I went to Sam’s Club.  He walked without his walker and cane and did great through the whole store.   He asked me if I ever got an ice cream there and I told him no.  Their sundaes were only 1.50, so he sat while I got me a berry sundae and him a brownie sundae.  They were really good.  After that he loaded the stuff in the Jeep  I helped some.  He is still not taking pain meds.  I am sure thanking God.  He carried everything to the door when we got home and I carried it to the kitchen.  

I went into Jacks and got some burger, hot dogs, buns and food for the finches.  The price went up.  I needed it so got it any way.  We went to Meijer and I did shop and scan and earned 5,000 M Perk points.  Yay!  We also went to Panera and got a free large lemonade to share later.  On our way home, it started hailing and raining.  We were glad is was small hail.

It stopped and then by the time we were home, it hailed and rained harder.  Then after that it quit.  I walked around and looked at everything in the yard and started talking to Laicey.  

I ran the pool filter for an hour and also discovered a chipmunk in the trap.  No bait was put in it.  I took him and let him go by his family by the river.  I talked to Laicey til I got home and prayed with her.

I made sirloin burgers, had left over potato salad and a cut up Nectarine for dinner.  Never did drink our lemonade, so will keep it in the fridge for tomorrow.  Put very little ice in it, so I took that out.  Messaged with the girls though out the day.

Worked on my blog.

  

 

Monday, 6/15/26, went to the dentist, went to Panera, went to Melissa’s, put Preen down around the house where Kimmy weeded, filled bird feeders and bird baths, went to Home Depot, weeded part of the garden, took garbage out, planted 3 more rows,

This fountain was my mom and dad’s.  They gave it to Bruce and Melissa.  I love going to Melissa’s and seeing it and hearing the water fall.  Bruce has had to do some repairing on the inside after all these years.  He’s done a great job.  I have so many good memories of my mom and dad when they got this and all the years they enjoyed it.  

Jack’s last day of school was last Thursday so he was home when I stopped over today.  He came and sat on the swing with me, Melissa and Wookie.  He is so great with dogs.  

My knockout roses are blooming.  This is the biggest one.  It’s by the walkway so I always keep them trimmed down.

I got ready, had to take my antibiotic which I will always have to do since my hip replacement, and then had to be at my dentist appointment an hour later.  I had the best higeniest.  She did a great job and didn’t hurt me once.  She was telling me she wished she would have became a dentist. She sure was skillful and loves her job.  I asked her if she had a good church she goes to and she told me she didn’t, but reads her Bible and does a 90 day Bible study.  I told her about our church and told her she should come.  I hope she does.  My dentist came in and said he didn’t see anything that concerns him.  Yay!

I went to Panera and picked up a large Hazelnut iced coffee with vanilla creamer in it.  Then I headed to Melissa’s to drop off Evan’s tennis shoes he left in our Jeep yesterday.  Wookie gave me the best greeting.  He came and gave me a sweet hug and. just was so happy to see me.  Jack said all of their dogs love me or have loved me.  He was so sweet and happy about that.  Melissa gave me treats and got Vader so I could give both dogs treats.  Vader was happy to see me too, but not like Wookie.  We sat in the living room and drank our coffee and visited.  Then we walked outside and looked at her bird feeders and plants.  We sat on the swing after that and just relaxed and enjoyed listening to the water fountain.  Jack joined us and held Wookie.  Kimmy called and told me that we could take our Mantis back, and get a 4 cylinder one with easy start, on sale and only pay a little more than the one we got.  She didn’t know if Bill would want to put another one together.   I headed home and told him about it and he said it was easy to put together.  He went out and emptied the gas tank, took the wheels we added off, and loaded it in the Jeep.  We went to Home Depot and returned it and ordered the other one.  He didn’t use a walker or a cane and hasn’t had to take any pain meds.  Thank You Lord!  He doesn’t even have the walker in the living room anymore.  

God is so awesome!  

I preened around the front and side of the house where Kimmy worked so hard weeding and surprised me.  It looks so nice now.  Thanks again Kimmy.  I washed the hummingbird feeder and made new sugar water for it.  I filled two jelly containers that were completely empty.  They had half of another one to go.  I pulled some weeds out where the ground cover is and also in my flower garden.  Not many though.

I went in the house and Bill was napping.  I decided I would take a short nap, so layed in my recliner.  He got up and said he was going to pick up a thing he ordered for the Jeep.  I told him I was going to vacuum while he was gone.  I had already started Ruby the Roomba.  He laughed and told me not to work to hard.  Then I laughed.  I called Kimmy and talked to her for a while.  I also talked to Vikki and Melissa.  They got a good laugh out of what Bill said. 

We enjoyed sandwiches and leftover potato salad for dinner.  After dinner, I went out and worked up the soil around four rows in the garden and also about a third of the edge of the garden.  There were 4 deer tracks in the garden on the end towards the house.  I looked and it looked like it came between the middle part of the electric fence.  It didn’t eat anything and didn’t stay and got out but we didn’t see any tracks so it must have went right back out to the grass.  I need a camera in my back yard.  I used the 3 prong rake to work up the dirt so I could plant a row of beets, a row of kalarabi, and a row of Zinnias.  I hoed rows after getting rid of some weeds and then got it all planted.  

I watered my plants on the deck after that and washed my garden tools.  Then I emptied the trash bins in the house and then put it all together in the Big Blue trash can with the garage trash.  I took it out to the road after that.  Then I came inside and we snacked on some chips.  I read my Bible (Bill had already read his) and then we did our prayer book/devotion.  I worked on catching up on my blogs after that.

 

Sunday, 6/14/26, went to church, Evan and Lydia came over, went to Bavarian Parade, went to Debbies, Ben and Judith Bill’s second cousins were visiting from California, went to pray over Chandler,

Evan and Lydia at our house before leaving for Frankenmuth

Fred and Bill looking at Bill’s cane that was specially made by the Wood Carvers for Bill.  They do that for veterans and put all their information on.

I took this picture from my end just as Vikki was taking one from the other end.  Bill, Fred, Amanda, Riley, Emma, Bridgett, Bethany, Peyton, Abi, Jacob, Kimmy, Jared, Vikki and Eli.  You can’t see Evan and Lydia, but they are down there at the end too.

View from Vikki’s end.  You can see Eli, Evan and Lydia from her view.

Bridgett, Bethany and Peyton at the Parade

Lion’s Club float Debbie, Tom, Ben and Judith (cousins from California) are on

Debbie with cousins Ben and his wife Judith from California.  

Ben and Judith

Jerry and Tom screwing legs on the plywood table Tom made long ago.

Emma, Lydia, Evan, Eli and Peyton in the pool

Bridgette, Bethan, and Peyton

The kids all having fun swimming

Papa and Jack

 

Melissa and baby Riley (Amanda’s baby)

Matthew, Judith, Debbie, Riley, Emma, Amanda, Tom and Ben

Tom, Jared, Kimmy, Vikki, Jacob Melissa, Evan, Isaac, Eli Jack, Bruce and Max (with Vader)  second row:  Matthew, Judith, Peyton, Me. Front row:  Matthew, Amanda, Riley, Emma, Debbie, Bill and Ben

Jack, Ben and Peyton

Bill, me, Ben and Judith

Ben, Vikki, Melissa and Kimmy

Got up early so I would have time to mix up the potato salad.  Went to the early service at church.  Awesome worship and message.  Came home and Bruce was in the driveway waiting with Evan and Lydia.  They are going to the parade with us, because Jack has to sing in Angel Voice Choir for the graduation at his school.  They will come to Debbie’s later.

We hung out and Bill and I ate a piece of pot pie because we hadn’t eaten breakfast.  The kids weren’t hungry.  I packed cool clothes in case it warmed up and packed drinks and snacks, then we left for the parade.  We got the last parking spot in the close parking lot where we usually park.  It was raining lightly, so we waited in the Jeep for a few minutes, til it quit.  Tom and Debbie had an area roped off for our family to sit.  We set up our chairs.  Vikki, Isaac, Peyton, Bethany, and Bridgett were there and Kimmy, Jared, Jacob, Abi, and Eli were there.  Debbie and Tom’s friends, Janet and Jerry were there too.  Fred came and we walked with him to 7 -11 to get hotdogs at a stand that is always in the parking lot for the parade.  Amanda came with Emma and baby Riley.  Matthew sat in front of his church and passed out stuff.  We got back to our seats, took pictures, then the parade started.  It was longer this year and was really nice.  When it ended, we all packed up pit stuff and went to Debbie’s.  Janet, Jerry and I were helpers this year with Debbie having a broken arm.  Amanda helped some too, but was busy with the kids lot.  All the kids love swimming, especially since the pool is heated.  We ate snacks, then around 4:30 ate dinner. We had a nice time visiting with Ben and Judith, Bill’s second cousin and his wife who live in California.  We haven’t seen him since he was 10, but are Facebook friends with him.

Got to talk to them about the Lord which we always love and got to share the many miracles God did for Melissa and her family.  

We left there, and went to Maddy and Alec’s house to pray for baby Chandler and his upcoming surgery Tuesday.  He is such a smiley sweet baby.  We visited for a while, then came home and I put pictures on my blog, then went to bed.

Sat., 6/13/26, Went to Faith Rider’s meeting, went to Tawas Chapter’s Ride and Seek, Kimmy, Jared, Ad am, Eli and Isaac came over, Vikki, Peyton, Brigette, and Bethany came over, Got home and Kimmy had weeded all of the weeds around the rest of the house, I made pizza, got drumsticks out and also frozen strawberry pops out, Eli and Isaac swam, then the girls swam. Jared power washed our pool lounger chairs and did a perfect job, and then hooked the hose up and started it to water the garden, Vikki, Kimmy, Isaac and Eli moved bird feeders and trimmed dead branches

Group we rode to Tawas with.  Bill, Joaquin, Julie, Jim, Elaine, Karen and Miles

Miles and the rest riding in front of us and us in the Jeep.  The water and the weather were absolutely beautiful.

Scott, Lew and Abigail

Barb (Suzie dog) Miles and Ron

Dan and Joaquin

Dan, Dan and Joaquin

Cindy, Lew, Miles, Ron and Bill

Russ and Marsha

Bill, Joaquin, Dan and Valerie

Julie and Jim

Lew and Cindy sharing before the ride

Ron and Barb sharing about RFS

Denny, the president of Kingdom Riders Sharing

Brittany sharing

The Assistant pastor of the church and Denny sharing

Any praying for our group ride

Valerie sharing about the ride.  She’s the road captain.

Bikes taking off

Riding to the Light House at Tawas Point...we followed in the Jeep

Riding to the Tawas Point Light House

Tawas Point Light House

Us at the light house

At Lumberman’s Monument

Selfie with friends Cheryl and Arnie

At the Bear Store

Dan in the big chair

The dam we passed

It started to rain hard so we put the top of the Jeep up quickly

This one was before the rain started

Bill and I with Paul Bunyan in the background

More time visiting with friends

Valerie’s mom and JessiLee were blessings at the registration table and also helping with food for everyone after the ride.

We got up early so we could get ready and get to Faith Riders meeting for breakfast at 8 and meeting, then leave with the group at 9 and ride to Tawas for the Ride and Seek.  They are a new group and this is their first ride like this.  We love the people in the Tawas chapter too and wanted to support them and be there.  They were all really happy and surprised to see us.  Our nephew, Freddie helped the chapter set up the tents in the morning.  He attends their church.

It was a nice ride there.  We put the top down on the Jeep so it was kind of like we were on the trike.  We all hung out in the church parking lot and visited with everyone til it was time to ride.  Then we all took off in groups, but ended up in places with a couple of groups at. time.  We all had to take our picture with the things designated at the stops.  It was fun!  I asked Bill if he wanted me to put the stops in my maps, but he said no.  Then, on the third one, he said he thought we missed a turn and I should put it in.  We went a little out of our way, but it was a beautiful ride on winding nice roads.  We caught up with two groups at the Bear Store where they have a bear and other live animals.  The bear wasn’t out.  We all had ice cream there and sat at picnic tables and ate.  We went to Lumberman’s monument after that.  We took a picture by Karen’s bike for our Michigan CMA challenge ride while we were there.  We hung out with Cheryl and Arnie while we were there.  Such a fun day!  We headed back to the church and the pastor was cooking the hot dogs and they had chips and cookies also for us to eat.  We left after that and headed home.  Kimmy had called and said Eli and Isaac picked going to our house to swim as what they wanted to do.  She called me and asked if they could so I of course told her yes.  Adam went too.  About an hour later, Vikki called and said she knew Kimmy was at our house, but Peyton and her two friends from BayShore wanted to go swimming too.  I told her of course too.  We got home and walked out to the back deck and I could see Kimmy weeding along the deck.  She looked hot and tired.  I went and thanked her and gave her a big hug.  I also told her to stop.  She was almost done so finished what she needed too.  I started pulling some weeds with her.

Vikki and the girls got there.  Bethany came in the door and said hi to me and said she was starving and asked if I had anything to eat.  I started making pizza’s in my little Ninja oven and also put two in the big oven.  I had pot pie if anyone wanted some too.  We had drumsticks and frozen strawberry ice cream bars for dessert.  The boys had already swam and then changed.  The girls went swimming and stayed in a long time.  I asked Jared to show me how to hook up the power washer, because Bill hadn’t shown me yet.  Jared not only hooked it up, he washed the four white pool lounge chairs perfectly.  He also, after winding the hose up, took it out and hooked it up to the garden sprinkler and turned it on for me.  Vikki, Kimmy, Eli and Isaac, chopped dead branches off my tree with all the bird feeders and moved the feeders to live branches that needed to be moved.  It looks so nice.

Everyone left after that.  Kimmy had to get home to boil eggs for deviled eggs and I had to make my potatoes and cut them, cut celery and cut onions for the potato salad.  I already had the eggs boiled.  

After that it was like 11 p.m. and I worked a little on the blog posting pictures.  To be finished later.