Do I Ever Need to Catch Up...

If you are a new follower of this blog, let me just say that all the entries dated 2017 were actually written over a period of years and were transferred here in 2017. But I am behind! The last years of Grammie Ruth's life were largely taken up with concerns and cares of her. So this blog was set aside for more pressing issues. In health care, we call it "triage". That is, things are done according to the urgency. But life doesn't stay on hold waiting for us to finish what we are doing before the next event happens. So I need to catch up, for sure.

Let's look at some great grandchildren who have joined us over the past SIX years --

This picture of Isaac and Grammie Ruth is one of my very favorites.

Isaac is Erika's son. This photo was taken at Emily's baby shower when she was expecting Calvin. I wanted to get a "generations" picture, which I finally got. But Isaac and Grammie were having so much fun with each other that it was hard to get them to look at the camera. But we love that picture of what "family" is about!

The next Great grandchild to join us was Justus, Scott's and Kelsey's son. We were so happy to be in Wisconsin when he was born on the day after Christmas in 2016.

In this picture Grampie is holding him. This grandfather (and grandmother) surely do love the little ones that the Lord has sent into this family. We pray that they will grow up to be men of God.




And now I need to get more pictures and add to our great grandson collection!
We now have Callen, another Isaac, and Henry. In another month or so, we are adding Dallas.

That will make 7 great grandsons so far.

The Bible teaches us over and over about the blessing of having children. See what it says in Proverbs 17:6 - "Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.

Well Drills and Romance

This page tells us how our Grampie Ellery met the love of his life! I don't suppose your great grandfather set off to drill a well for the Nasons thinking he was going to meet the woman who would become his wife!

God's purpose and God's plans are always amazing to me. Wouldn't you like to hear more of this love story? We do have some interesting and beautiful old letters that can be shared in this blog someday.

The well drill shown here was an early one, but not the original one. This is the updated version from the 1940s and 50s.
It was a percussion drill and, oh was it noisy! Grampie worked very hard pulling the bit out and "sharpening" it with a sledge hammer over hot coals.

It is said that the original drill had iron wheels like a railroad train and that it was powered by coal. Can you imagine that monster going up and down the road belching coal smoke? It must have been a sight to behold.

Grampie Ellery took his family on drilling jobs whenever he could and they slept in a tent on a wooden platform that he had constructed for that purpose. Likely the platform was to help keep the inside of the tent dry.

Here you can see the back of what Grampie called the "Chuck Wagon". I remember seeing different stages of it's construction. It was a major leap from tent living to have the house built on the back of a farm truck. It had bunks, cabinets, table, stove, and the ability to run an electric cord to power the lightbulb inside. No refrigerator and no water, but several of us spent some happy days and nights on the job with our Grandparents.  Many of us enjoyed it at Cary Lake after our grandparents retired. It became a guest house of sorts at Grammie Muriel's request. What memories!

The Watson Family Enters Littleton

While Heather was living with Grammie Ruth, she wanted to learn some family history and so she began to ask and to record what my mother told her.

It is nice that Heather wrote the story verbatim. Anything in parentheses will be Heather's words. Otherwise, these pages are as Grammie Ruth spoke them.

What a great idea!

I would like to add that the Watsons thought they were the first settlers in what is now known as Littleton. However, the town is named for the Little family, who bore the honor of being first.

The year of my grandfather's birth will be on the next page of Heather's journal. He was born on December 17, 1895.

Grammie Ruth is in Heaven

                                                                                                                                                                      So much could be said about my mother -- your great grandmother.                                                                                                                                                                

Her Last Mother's Day With All Four of Us

On May 25, 2018 Carla and I were by her bedside as she slipped very peacefully from this life into the eternal presence of Jesus.

This was the whole focus of her life, really. It was to live for Jesus here and then to abide with Him forever.

She had a full life here, but she also had difficulties that are part of living in a troubled world. She tried to make the best of them and I remember saying to her many times over the years, "Mom, you are a survivor!"

She was a hard worker and was always ready to serve the Lord and others. She was a multi-tasker and was in charge of almost everything she did, as others admired her gifts and abilities. She taught Sunday School, played the Church Organ, and held various offices in her Church for over 60 years. She taught elementary school during WW2 in one room school houses, and worked for the Clerk of Courts in Houlton. Working for Uncle Merle Nason, she supervised children picking berries, beans, and other crops. She did volunteer work: she served as president of the PTA, was on the board for an after-school outreach to teens in Houlton, and served for many years as a Camp Chief at St. John Valley Bible Camp. For many years, she did book keeping and did income tax accounting for individuals and businesses. She was office manager in a doctor's office, and also managed the office for Watson Well Drilling for a number of years until illness forced her to retire at the age of 85. All that, and more.

If she could speak to all of you today, I am sure she would say something like this:
"Of everything that I experienced in the world, there is one thing that remains the most important. That is my relationship with Jesus, my Lord and Savior. I have prayed for all of you that you would know the Gospel -- the Good News that Jesus offers salvation and eternal life to all who will believe.
There is nothing as important in all of life as knowing and serving the Lord. Jesus said, 'seek first the Kingdom of God...' and I pray that you will."

I am going to be posting some stories on this blog that Grammie Ruth told Heather. I know you will enjoy them!

Really Roughing It.

Our grandson Kyle

In the early days of building our camp on Cary Lake, we had to be brave. Well, we didn't HAVE to be brave. Mom invited us to stay at her place next door! But we CHOSE to experience life by making it a bit more difficult to enjoy our modern conveniences. This is a pictorial story of us staying at the camp in sub-freezing weather. That is, two of our grandsons and ourselves.

This is our Lakeside home when it had NO electricity, NO running water, NO interior walls or partitions, NO cooking facilities, NO beds.

Timothy and Kyle went with us in November night of 2011 to help work on this family project and I am sure they have some memories of how things were. And now YOU can get an idea!

Wayne with an air mattress

We had a chair that Brian gave us, so that was one comfort of home away from home! We had a battery operated light, so with that light on, we prepare for a cold one. We had lots of warm bedding, a sleeping bag borrowed from Jonathan, and some air mattresses to protect our bones and muscles and keep us ready to work the next day.

With no cooking facilities, we ate cookies before bed time! And the falling temperatures forced us into our cocoons ASAP!! We knew that if things became too difficult, we could always vacate our place and use Mom's couch and spare beds. But we DID IT!  The first sound I heard next morning was our door closing quietly. I looked out the window to see two boys heading to Gram's. I think they weren't about to use the alternative bathroom facilities!

Kyle fell asleep quickly and Timothy kept WARM! 

It was definitely an adventure and we had fun. 

Snow! Really?

A little earlier today I saw a photo that one of my friends in Monticello shared on the internet. It was big, beautiful flakes and I think the kind that drift lazily to the ground and wait for their companions to join them in making the landscape a fluffy, white wonderland.

Oh, when we were children, the glimpse of that first snowfall was so welcome, so exciting! We loved to play in the snow, making snowballs, snow forts, snowmen, snow tunnels. To us, the more snow, the better. We even loved to take our little shovels outside and help clear a path to the doors and clean up the driveway. Here you see Jim plowing out his and Mom's yard back in the early 60's.

Oh, yes! Snow is something that can entertain children for many delightful hours in the winter time. We loved the great outdoors, anyway. Every season had its joyous adventures. In the spring and summer it was the wind and flying kites. And it was watching birds build their nests and following the cattle around the pasture. It was smelling the apple blossoms and watching for the strawberries to ripen. It was "Hide and Seek." It was "Cops and Robbers". It was playing "Tag". Our fun was only limited by our imaginations and the weather. We couldn't play outside in a thunder storm. But there is absolutely nothing like putting on your swim suit and running outside to play in the mud puddles. (After all, the driveways weren't paved back then! In the fall it was potato harvest, autumn leaves, carving pumpkins!

But back to the topic: Snow. The photo you see here was from the late 40's. Left to right are cousins Andrea, Lory, and me. We are on our grandfather's snow scoop and we found it delightful when he or another adult pushed us around the yard once the work was done! The two dogs, I think, felt a lot of responsibility for us. "Puppy" on the left was Andrea's and Lory's dog. And "Brownie" belonged to our grandparents.

I am not sure when it happened, but over time I lost my adoration for snow and winter time. Oh, I still love the changing seasons but for me a month or less of snowy weather would be fine! We used to go outside in the snow with our children and grandchildren but to be honest, I would rather watch out the windows and take photos to save the memories!

Here, through a window, is a photo of Isaac, taken about 65 years later on our back deck! He wanted to help his great grampie shovel the snow. He loved every minute of it! Things are so different in some ways, but so unchanged in others. The snow, the child, the shovel, the dog! There is a sweetness to it.

In thinking on these things, I am reminded of the Scripture in Genesis 8:22. ""While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease."
These changing seasons are evidence that the Lord is faithful! They are blessings from HIM. Thank you, Lord! 

We Love Gardening!

Written For Our Grandchildren --

Gardening has always been important to us. When your parents were young, we had two big gardens. One was east of our house and the other was on the west. And we had some great adventures from turning the soil in the spring to harvesting in the fall.

In the early days, Gramp used to come home from work almost every day for lunch. Day after day, he would go to the garden before he ate to see how the garden was going. And he would always announce to me what he saw. "The beans have sprouted".  "The squash is blossomed". "We will need to pick the peas." He simply loved it.

One year our corn was growing beautifully! It was tall and green and just about ready to harvest. I looked out the window just to admire it one day only to see that the neighbor's cows were having a gourmet meal in our corn patch -- twelve rows of it! I went out the door with a broom in my hand and headed to the garden, yelling at those four or five Holsteins. They knew I meant business and they ran in every direction knocking our corn down in the process. The promise of corn on the cob dwindled dramatically in only a few moments of time. Our neighbor was so sorrowful over what happened that he brought us two sacks of peas from HIS garden.



Every fall we were able to can and freeze large quantities of vegetables for our family to enjoy until the next harvest time. Our children -- your Moms and Dads -- were always very helpful in planting and gathering! And they also enjoyed helping themselves. It was common to see our children pulling carrots to eat fresh, shelling peas for a snack, picking and apple or berries, or eating a ripe tomato.
It was just part of the joy of gardening!

Growing fruits and vegetables has, indeed, been a tradition for us. That and apple picking at nearby orchards after we moved to Glenburn. I remember the times that we took some of our grandchildren and their parents to the orchards nearby. It was something that we really loved to do. This year we went by ourselves. But we did pick enough to share!

This spring I thought Gramp shouldn't plant anything. He has the aches and pains of age and I am not able to do much to help him. But he said he wanted to plant a few things. So he planted a row of green beans, a row of beets, about a dozen summer squash (zucchini and yellow crookneck), and around a dozen tomato plants. He planted some cucumbers, too, but they didn't survive.

What a tomato harvest we had! And because the frost was delayed for about a month, the plants continued to produce until nearly the middle of October. We blanched and peeled quarts and quarts of whole tomatoes for the freezer. We cooked tomatoes with summer squash, onions and peppers to freeze and we had more than 30 packages of those.

We made ketchup, tomato soup, and spaghetti sauce. We also froze some beets and made pickled beets -- a favorite. We have also been working on apple sauce. Are we ever stocked for the winter!
Not only are we well stocked, but we had some to share with others. By the way, half of the fun of gardening is to share!

And what about next year? Well, I am thinking already that it would be fun to have a few things to eat fresh. We will see.

The growing season is evidence of our Lord's faithfulness to us and His provision for us.
The Bible says, "While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease." - Genesis 8:22