Keys

My key to the Methodist church was always on the key chain with the pink plastic wrist band.  After I took the key off and handed it to the pastor this week, I looked at the rest of the keys.  There were three other keys and I had no idea what they were for.  I had been unlocking the church door for a decade and never used the others.  

I came home and looked at my other keys which hang on a key holder in the kitchen.   

My car key comes with an electronic device that automatically opens the car doors.  There are three other keys there, too.  One opens the front door but what are those others for?  Gary thought one might open the lock on his storage unit.  We'll have to try that out.  

Then there's another set of keys, on the left of this photo.  I have no idea what any of them unlock.  On the right there two other keys that were hanging there.  No idea what those are for either.  

Of the nine keys, I only have use for two that I know of. 

I guess I will keep all of them in a drawer in case.  You never know. 

.....

Wade's latest vampire story is at http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com 

So far, we've written 36 short stories between us since the end of September, quite a record. 

We began monetizing (accepting advertisements) a couple of months ago. Though we don't select them ourselves, two days ago, one of the advertisements was for President Barack Obama.  Pretty good for two small town writers from Wisconsin! 

Gardening

     Gary left early this morning to help his Aunt Shirley tame her lawn on the farm in Dixon, Illinois.  Me, I stayed home to work on my own property.
     I planted some more ground covers on the front terrace.  This requires digging up the strip with a shovel, removing any weeds manually, grinding up the remaining soil with a hand tiller, then planting each type of ground cover.  So far, I've planted stonecrop, creeping sedum (two kinds), pink creeping phlox, and something called snowy mountain.  Tomorrow, I'll plant more creeping phlox, lavender this time.  Then there's bugleweed, sweet woodruff, vinca, and some smaller hostas.  The idea is that the plants will cover the entire area in two years time.
     Around each planting, I sprinkle alyssum seeds.  The alyssum should hold down some of the weeds and allow the ground covers to grow slowly.
     I worked on the little brick path on the north side of the driveway, pulling weeds, and replacing one broken brick.
     I dug up more of the vegetable garden, again using the hand tiller, and put in the tomato plants I started from  seed in February.  I've put in three kinds:  Roma which can be dehydrated and saved for soups over the winter, a giant variety of beefsteak which will be good in BLTs, and Rutgers about which I know very little.
     I put more annuals into pots, some hanging from the deck and others that are set in odd places as surprises for my visitors.
     On the west side of the house, I had to pull out Jerusalem artichokes that had taken off and grown past the hosta border.  I did that once already in April, it's an ongoing problem.
     I helped my neighbors, the Dorns, dig up some rose "suckers" for their mothers.  It's a lovely old rose bush, planted by a previous owner for his wife.  My guess is that it's at least 75 years old and still bearing the loveliest pink blossoms.  I took a bit of it for my yard as well.  Both bushes are in bloom now and the air is sweet with their scent.
     Debby said she had been running this morning and passed a place where a man was selling hostas from his yard.  She liked the variety and asked him how much.  "Fifteen dollars a plant," he said.  She was appalled. She never buys plants for her garden, just gets bits and pieces from mine.  She now appreciated how much she saves this way.
     I gave her some canna tubers a few years ago.  She grows the tall flowers every year, then digs up the roots and stores them in her basement.   By spring they multiply and she gives the extras away, too.  This is a good thing, because I lost track one fall and didn't dig mine up.  This year, I asked her for a few and started all over again.  That's what neighbors do.
     I ended the day sunburned, mosquito bitten and happy.


     

Three Accomplishments

It was a windy day here in Wisconsin, so windy, gardening became next to impossible except for potting up some plants.  Just as well, because there were so many other things I had to get done. 

First, Gary and I went to Seymour's city hall to get our absentee ballots and cast our votes to get our governor recalled.  The election will be on June 5 and we expect to be camping again by then. We sincerely hope that this governor is recalled.  He has taken a state I've been proud of and made it an embarrassment.  Most pundits say the recall is about unions, but there is much more to it than that:  the environment (we're the state of John Muir, Aldo Leopold and Gaylord Nelson and deserve better), gun laws, larger class sizes,and cronyism. There's the state government turning against women by overturning equal pay laws, attacking Planned Parenthood, and suggesting single women are abusing their children.  

But we moved on to the Lutheran cemetery where we planted flowers at my parents' and my sister's grave.  Gary was a big help because the ground was like cement from the dry weather.  As we worked, we watched farmers in the far off fields trying to work the land.  Dust rose up from the dried fields.  We've had so little rain in the past months that we are nearing a state of drought.  We pitied any farmer who didn't have a cab on his tractor. When Gary lifted a shovel of dirt, the dust flew over us both.  I had grit in my teeth.  

We poured water from the cemetery's pump on the geraniums and dusty miller, but if the drought continues, within a couple of weeks, everything will die.  We'll be camping so there's not much we can do about that.  

Later on, I went to the United Methodist Church and spent over an hour filing music, so that I could leave the choir room in good shape for the next director.   I was going past the church a little later in the day and saw the pastor leaving.  I caught her and gave her the key to the church.  That's that except a stack of paperwork that probably can be thrown out.  I'll go through that this summer.  

That was quite enough to accomplish in one day.  It was still to windy to garden, so I took a long nap. 

Tonight, thunderstorms are moving around the state, but it looks like no rain will fall here.  Tomorrow I will be hauling water again.  

Imaginary trekking

Years ago, I began walking around the world...in my mind.  I headed west to Black Creek, six miles away and kept on going.  At first, I just walked around the United States, going south to Texas and then west to Arizona and the Grand Canyon.  By then it was in my mind to accumulate enough miles to walk around the world. 

On my imaginary walk, I've done 18,354 miles thus far.  Although I mostly walk here in Seymour, I keep track of the miles and mark them on maps.  I followed the west coast of the Pacific up to Alaska, crossed the Bering Strait, hiked through Russia and on to its former satellites. Today, I arrived in Belgrade in Serbia.    

It's 206 miles to Budapest,Hungary, using the roads on a map of Europe I ordered through the Internet.  Europe is so much smaller than Asia that I feel I am trotting right along.  

I am hoping to finish my walk by the time I turn 75.  One step after another.   

                                      ****

My grandmother was born on May 23.  My parents married on May 23.  My son Chris was born on May 23. And my long time pen pal Helene Machetot of Gien, France was born on May 23.  

A day to remember friends and family for sure.

Happy Birthday, Helene and Chris!

Another Look

Gary returned from Laura Lake this afternoon and immediately began to help me with my gardening.  First, he mowed the lawn, then he began to move yard waste from the gardens to his trailer, parked over at Elaine's house.  I waited to help unload the wheelbarrow, holding my camera.

As I watched him coming up the hill, I looked down at my yard and then it hit me.

Up until now, I had concentrated on this flower bed or that, weeding, dividing, transplanting.  There were so many weeds, so much that was overgrown, that I thought of it as a jungle and despaired of ever getting it in shape. I was looking at it in small segments  But this evening, watching Gary I saw the whole thing below, I thought, wow!  I am making progress. 

The vegetable garden is almost planted. The peas and onions are up.  In another two weeks, our vegetables will come from our garden, not the grocery store. There are some parts of the yard that are complete.  Paths are clear, benches wait those who want to sit and contemplate for a while.  From the back yard deck, we can sit and look down at it all. 

I'm not done, it's a far cry from that.  I think I will be working on it all summer.  But the worst of the jungle has been tamed.  

I'm satisfied.  

June Flowers in May

It has always been a rule in Wisconsin that we don't put seeds or plants in the ground until the Memorial Day weekend.  Last year we had snow and freezing rain for most of the month of May and thought nothing of it

This year, spring started in March.  By April, I was planting onions and peas and the perennials were coming on strong.

It's still a week to Memorial Day.  My vegetables are growing, including tomato plants.  I should have fresh peas by mid-June.

As for flowers, none of these should be blooming in May yet here they are.

Last year, I left on my western tour on June 17 and never saw the irises or blue monarda in bloom.  This year, the irises began blooming two weeks ago.

Neither did I see the chives flowers though the wild phlox were just beginning when I left.

And in the middle of a phlox patch, peonies are peeking through  When did that ever happen in May?

The poppies have taken over the gardens, so I will be digging over half of them up.  I hate throwing away good flowers so will put them out by the sidewalk with a sign saying "Free to a Good Home".  

But the big question is what will be growing the rest of the season?  

Turning a Page

This morning I turned a page in the story of my life.

After years of directing the Seymour United Methodist chancel choir, I am done.  We ended as we have gone on, disorganized, confused, and actually pretty good.  

For years, I've told the pastors not to write down the name of the anthem we practiced in the church bulletin.  That's because about fifty per cent of the time we didn't sing it.  Key singers didn't show up on Sunday, we had to fit into a change of theme, laryngitis....anything can come up.

This morning, for confirmation Sunday, we had been practicing three anthems.  Our introit would be the Mormon hymn, "All is Well". Our anthem, "Walk Worthy," which speaks directly to what the confirmants should be in their church life, and our benediction, "Go Now In Peace."

The first problem was playing "Walk Worthy". It's a difficult piano accompaniment. I intended to be home by Thursday for three good days of practice on the piano. The car broke down on Thursday and I wasn't home until late until Friday.  I worked at it on Saturday and figured out it would still be fine if I adapted the piano part a bit, avoiding the runs and replacing them with chords.

Then on Sunday morning, I found I would have no tenor section, they were off at a family gathering.  I found two more tenors in the congregation.

I looked at the music and realized "All is Well" would require those voices. I rounded up two more tenors, Diane from the Cicero church who can sing tenor, and Stan, who is legally blind and therefore could not read the music. I threw out "All is Well", which they didn't know.  We switched "Walk Worthy" to the introit and used only the first two pages, which was mostly unison.  The piano part for those two pages was easy, too.

I pulled "Shepherd of Love" from the files, an anthem we know well, and which is mostly in SAB  (soprano, alto, bass).  I told Stan an Diane to harmonize the tenor part any old way they wanted. No one in the congregation knows the difference as long as it sounds good.  

"Go Now in Peace" is in three parts, too, which is good, because our bass, John had to leave after the anthem.  

So I ended my career as a choir director in the way it had always gone, disorganized, confused and chaotic.

We put it all together in fifteen minutes and it worked.  

Rummage

Today was the Seymour citywide rummage sale, with 75 sales on the map, and probably double that with people who decided to have sales on the spur of the moment.  

I set off early this morning to see what I could find.  Gary asked me to get a cup holder.  We accumulate more and more coffee and tea cups and instead of donating some of them to Goodwill, his solution is to get more places to hang them.  

I walked mile after mile, stopping at sale after sale, but I couldn't find anything worth buying.  This spring, I bought the jeans I needed at the Black Creek sales and some shirts at thrift shops.  There is only so much room in my closet and dresser, so I don't need extras.  The house is full of everything anyone could want.  

My only purchase for the entire day was a glass of lemonade by a child vendor for 25 cents. 

In the afternoon, I met Nikki, who was attending a workshop at the Muehl Public Library.  We had nachos at Kary's Mexican restaurant, then I took her around town to rummage.  I think by that time I had been at over thirty sales, so I knew where to steer her.  Her interest is in vintage kitchen gear so we went to Susan McMaster's sale.  Her Jim was a pack rat like Gary and there were plenty of antiques and collectibles around.  

Nikki zeroed in immediately on a Juice-a-matic, a metal juicer that must date back to the 1950's.  

At another sale, she found an old apron, but that was about it.  We came home to look at my gardens.  When she admired a banner I had hanging, I told her we had to go to the hardware store downtown where banners were a quarter each.  

She got four banners, but I will have to go back and get some more for her.  

And that was that.  No cup holder for Gary, nothing for me but a lot of exercise.     

Don't Panic

Yesterday, I was packed up and raring to get back to Seymour. I could spend Friday digging out plants which I could then sell at the citywide rummage sale.

At 11:30 I was on the road. At noon, I had passed Laona, Wabeno ands Townsend and came to the Shell station where I got gas and treated myself to a big ice cream cone. Then I drove through Carter and Lakewood until I came to the Lakewood Ranger station where I pulled in to pick up some camping information and find out why Morgan Lake was still closed when we checked on it on Wednesday.

The power steering on my car stopped as soon as I made the turn into the parking lot. The engine light indicated the engine was running hot. This was not good. I lifted the engine lid to let it cool and found that a belt was broken. Again, not good.

I went into talk to the rangers who were concerned. They suggested that I go either to the Lakewood auto repair or on to the village of Mountain. They first started giving me instruction to the closest one, in Lakewood, but it was out in the country with lots of winding roads and turns on to other roads. I had no power steering. Not good, I said.

Wilson's in Mountain was right off the highway, a straight run. We called and they said bring the car in. I explained that I would be starting but stopping whenever the engine got hot. Good idea, the mechanic said.

I set off, thinking about my experiences with engine overheating on my trip out west last summer. Once again, I reflected that the good thing about getting into lots of trouble is that I know I can get out of the trouble eventually. In other words, as Douglas Adams wrote in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, “Don't Panic”, about the best travel advice I've ever found. I would be fine, plus I would get a blog out of it.

I left the ranger station and headed south on Highway 32. Luckily, this stretch is almost all down hill, so I coasted along until the engine was too hot again and pulled into the Riverview town hall, built after a devastating tornado wiped out the old one. No one was around. I spent the fifteen minutes cooling off period to call neighbor Elaine and son Chris to let them know I wouldn't be home to take care of the cat and they agreed to step in and help. I called Gary who said he would pick me up and take me back to Laura Lake for the night, almost a hundred miles round trip.

Then I sat and read a book for a while.

It was only five more minutes to Wilson's auto repair shop. They immediately looked at the problem. If they could do a bypass on the air conditioning unit it would be a cheap fix, but not many auto parts stores had the right belt for the right car. If they couldn't find the belt, it would cost around a thousand dollars. If they could it would be $250. They made the call and huzzah! Napa had the part.


It took Gary another hour to make it to Wilson's.  I used that time to finish my latest short story for Black Coffee Fiction.  http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com I finished just before he drove up.  

So the bad news is that I will not be selling plants at the citywide rummage sale but that seemed a lot of work anyhow. The good news is that I got to spend another lovely night at Laura Lake, listening to the loons, watching the hummingbirds and grosbeaks, and just relaxing.

This afternoon, I retrieved my car. Eventually, I'll pay off the credit card bill. All's well.

More Exploration

Yesterday our mini-corps of expedition left Iron River, Michigan on Ponozzo Road into the Ottawa National Forest. It was a bumpy and dusty gravel road with lumber trucks tearing around bends full speed, spewing dust on Gary's van which he had washed a mere thirty minutes before.

We persisted for twenty five miles until we reached the destination Gary had in mind, Perch Lake. He thought we'd find a good campground there, but instead we found most of the sites filled with pick up trucks and campers. It turned out Perch Lake is known not for perch but for walleyes. We didn't like any of the sites anyhow. They didn't have the shade we liked and the other half of the lake was full of cottages. There was no cell phone coverage and that meant no wi-fi. Worse, motorized boats were allowed. We love the quiet of non-motorized lakes like the one we're at now. We crossed Perch Lake off our list.

Instead of back tracking, we decided to keep going north and soon spotted another lake. We took a look and found Lake Sainte Kathryn. Here were beautiful sites, quiet, and cell phone coverage. (Gary wants that more than I do, though I admit it comes in handy.) We particularly liked site 22 which has a little staircase leading to a place to moor the canoe and even go swimming.

Then there was the Deer Marsh Hiking Trail nearby. I always look for places to tramp.

We continued on through Sidnow, a town that grew up around a Civilian Conservation Camp in the 1930s. Little stone columns show up all over the place, a sure sign that the CCC worked there. During World War II, the Sidnow CCC camp was closed and re-opened as a prisoner of war camp for Germans. Some of them never went back to Germany, but started families near Sidnow.

Down Highway 28 we went, heading east. For miles, the road was adjacent to the train tracks which were filled with abandoned railroad cars. We circled down south and wound up back in Iron River. WE went over to the Lake Ottawa Campground in the Ottawa National Forest to see if we could find the campground host, our friend Anita Joy. She wasn't there, but her camper was, surrounded by the usual plants and lawn furniture.

We were leaving when we caught sight of Marty Smith's truck. Marty came up from lower Michigan with his brother Dick for this first day of the camping season in the UP. We often camp in a spot adjacent to Marty and Linda Smith. We caught up on gossip, finding out that Anita is not in good shape, walking with a walker. This may well be her last year at Camp Ottawa.

And that ended our day.

Tomorrow: Don't Panic!!!!