Sympathy

My sympathy to all the DeFor family upon the death of Erna--mother. grandmother & greatgrandmother &friend. It was so great that her family got to see her & say goodby. Our weather has been perfect these last few days but the leaves are starting to turn so we know it will be getting cooler. I am getting a new washer & dryer on Wed.--a stacked one. Pat is taking my old washer but could not take the dryer as it is 250 volt & their basement is not wired for that.I am going to call the grandkids & see if they can use it. Mary Beth just came to visit so I am going to send this & maybe write more later.

Mini Trip up North

This past week I went with Pat & Pudge to Duluth & to Tower Mn. We got ahold of Matt in Duluth & went out to eat then we went to the house he is renting with a guy from LeSueur Mn. It is an old house & it is really neat. I liked the old door knobs. It has a big kitchen & Matt says he likes to cook.Also a neat fireplace in the living room. We left on Mon & went to Fortune Bay Casino & Hotel(near Tower) Pudge played golf in afternoon but had to go to a different town so Pat went with him intending to shop & look around the town. Well ther wasn't any shops & not much town(I can't remember the name) but she found a library so spent the 4 hrs therebut she enjoyed it .I went to the casino & played for a little bit . Had a $25 coupon from the hotel for casino then got $5 for signing up for card & $5 for sr. citizen.Good deal! So I played with their money Almost the whole time I was there . The next day Pudge played golf again at the casino &hotel golf course .Pat & I went to the Indian Museum which was close by--it was really interesting.Pat found some really nice cat tails by road so she picked them to bring home.The weather was just perfect & we had a great time.
I was glad to hear that Erna had gotten better.And that Hans & Heidi got to visit with her.Maybe that was why she rallied knowing how much her family loved her.
I like this hi speed internet & I have to learn how to send pix.

Labor Day weekend

I have enjoyed looking at all the pix that everyone sent of our cruise. I just got hi-speed internet on Sun. thru Comcast. I did not know they worked on Sun but they did. I am just trying to get used to it--I think I will keep my Yahoo email address as I am used to that & everyone has it.
Pat & Pudge were gone for the weekend. They went to Hayward Wis. to Jim & glorias cabin & then they went to Chicago-I think on Mon. SO it was pretty quiet around here until yesterday afternoon. I went for a ride on the Patty wagon(golf cart) Went to Pats house to check on the tomato plants then I went to the Roman Market restaurant to get a sandwich but they were closed so I headed for home. As I was coming down Warner Road I heard sirens so I pulled over & the ambulance & 2 police cars went by--they turned onto the same road I was going to turn so I took off & when I came to the top of Faversham Rd I saw the ambulance in my driveway-I hurried down & my garage door was open & rescue squad & police were coming out the door!!I said "What is going on ?"& police said my emergency signal from Life Alert had gone off! I have no idea how that happened but I must have leaned on somehow --They then called my responders #1 is Pudge & they got him in Chicago( their home calls go to his cell phone). I imagine they called Denny #2 & Barb Parent#3 But they were not home so at that point they call the rescue squad. The policewoman told me they had searched the whole house. I think they were glad when I came tooling up on the golf cart!! I stayed outside for awile talking to neighbor & in the meantime Pudge had called Kari to see if they had been to my house that day.When I got into the house Kari was calling me so I called Pat & pudge to tell them what had happened .While I was talking to them Gemma came rushing in & was happy to see I was OK. Pudge had called her to find out what was going on!! Enough excitement for one day!! & for one week!

more about our trip

I forgot to tell you about our plane--We were at the SeaTac airport waiting for our flight homewhich left at 12:30 pm-- We had about an hour to wait & we were at the gate when we saw a notice on the board that tells about flight etc.--the notice was asking for volunteers to take a later flight and would be given $300- Pat. Denny & I took advantage of this & got a voucher for $300 and a voucher for $10 for food. The next flight left at 4:10-the time seemed to go really fast.
Denny went today to get his airline ticket to LA as he is going there the end of the month for his niece's wedding. He used his voucher & he still has $33 credit!! Well worth the wait!

Cruise & other stuff

The cruise was just fantastic!! I liked it that there were so many people on the ship that we knew-we were always running into someone you knew. Pat ,Gloria, Darcy (Glorias sister)Denny & I got to Seattle about 9:30 am on Thurs. WE had reservations at Holiday Inn Downtown --Gloria & Pat looked for a cab to take us to hotel & They got a limo for same price as cab. That was the first time I had ever ridden in a limo! We went to Pikes fish Market & ate lunch there then I went back to hotel for my nap.We went to a restaurant noted for its sea food for supper.Then when getting into cab to go to hotel I shut the car door on my left leg--Now that really HURT! &did it ever get black & blue. It did not bother me on the ship unless I bumped it but I kept putting ice on it the first few days. On Sat after we got home it started to hurt & get prickly sensations like a bunch of needles & kept it up on Sun. so I went to Dr. yesterday & it had developed a surface blood clot. The Dr. numbed my leg(not enough) & then made a small incision & pushed the clot out. I have to go back Fri. to have it checked.
The scenery in Alaska is just awesome.WE saw whales, dolphins, glaciers, mountains--Linda Pat Gloria Darcy & I took a train tour in Juneau that followed the old gold rush trail-That was fantastic.
Our room said it could sleep 3 but when I walked into room there was no couch like I expected but a bunk bed!!Well guess who was the lucky one to get that?No, not me --I could not have climbed the ladder to get up there so Linda was the unlucky one. She did good!!
I have not had access to internet since Aug 4--Juno could not get it so Pudge sent for a disc & had to reinstall Juno so now I can get on but I am going to change to Comcast & get high speed
internet. I know Pat sure likes theirs now & she gets on the computer more.

From Liz

I just checked my blog & I haven't written anything since May!! Where does the time go? For someone who is retired with nothing to do I sure find myself not being bored & always keeping busy with little things --like being on the computer for a couple of hours reading other peoples blogs & the email!!. And then I look something up --like a recipe & the time really goes !!
We were all disappointed that Ginny&Allan & Linda could not make it to Minn. but it was a wise decision with all the flood waters in Wis & S. Minn.
I finally got Vics old boat & trailer sold--I put an ad in paper on a Wed & it sold on Sat. It was Bryans boat now but he had bought a different on so did not use this one anymore. Got $400 for it which I was surprised as it was an OLD boat!The money went into Abby & Annas college fund.
Pat & I did go to Jamies school for Grandparents day She had drawn a pix of me & Pat-FUNNY! I was real skinny & Pat was fat ! I think she got her drawings mixed up!
Mary & I are going to casino at Hinckley tomorrow & stay ovemight.We have a coupon fpr a free room & that works great as I can go take a nap & then come back a play the slots some more!!
Now the weather is nice we(pat &I) have been riding around on the golf cart(the Patty Wagon) Went to library yesterday.It is fun to run around with it--You ought to see how the people laugh when they see a white-haired old lady driving it!!
Lynn lets see some blogs now.

News from Liz

Sunday I went to a baby shower for Emily(Dianes daughter). It was at Diane & Daves new house in Blaine.Their house is really,really nice .Has lots of windows so gets lots of light-they have a screened in deck(very smart for Mn.& allthe mosquitos)& that looks out over a pond & some woods & a cornfield. Diane said the farmer planted the corn for the wild life & they reallyhave it. They have seen deer ,wild turkeys, beaver in the pond just in back of their house & sandhill cranes. We saw the cranes on Sun. Janet came on Sat & spent time with with Donna before she left on Sun for the Ukraine. Emily got a lot of nice baby things at the shower. There were 3 babies there--one was only 10 days old!! Janet is in a Sweet Adelines concert on May 17th & Diane & Dave are going -they are going to pick me up.Pat will be in Hayward Wis. so I didn't think I would be able to go but this will work out fine. Fri. I am going to Jamie Lorch's School for Grandparents Day. We were to write a letter & tell what it was like when we started school. I think mine might be a litte different as I started school in a one room schoolhouse.YES we had to walk to school-rain,snow or shine. We were on a farm which was only about a mile from school. The teacher had all 8 grades-there were aout 12 or 15 students altogether. There were little desks in front & then medium size ones & then large ones for big kids.I carried my lunch in a little tin pail with a cover.Lunch was usually a peanut butter sandwich, a cookie or piece of cake & some fruit like an apple or raisins. When I was in 4th grade the country school closed & then I went to school in town & a school bus picked us up. At the country schoolwe had to carry water from the neighboring farm .We had to take turns to get the water --we had a pailto carry the water. The toilets were outside toilets -one for boys & one for girls. In winter ther was a big old heating stove that burned coal & wood. The teacher would get there early in winter to start the fire so it would be warm when the kids got there. Interesting times !!