Basement Woes

I have, not just one, but two daughters at my disposal. Jackson wants to go down the basement anyways so they may as well do my laundry. What did we find down there. A river of rusty water leading from under the furnace to the drain. The water was rusty because the bottom of the furnace panel and a leg of the hot water heater were all rusted. Who knows how long that water has been running down the drain.

I may have mentioned in a previous blog about this motor that is mounted on the side of my furnace encased in an uncovered metal box. That enclosure was now full of water and it was dripping onto the floor from there. There is an electrical cord running from this motor and there is an electrical outlet very close to the cord but the cord is not plugged in. No one, not maintenance people, tradespeople, friends or family has been abel to tell me what this motor was and whether it should be plugged in.

So, I called maintenance Monday morning. Yes, they would come out, but if the problem turned out to be A/C related they would charge me for their time. So I called the A/C people. Last time I needed them it was $85.00 to come out and extra if they had to do anything. I was envisioning needing a whole new A/C unit. The City of Westland recently changed their code requirements and I have heard that the cost of installing A/C has tripled.

They couldn't come out until the next day (Tuesday). So I called maintenance back and said never mind, I had the A/C people coming out and that if it was not A/C related, I would call maintenance back. But in the meantime, could they send someone by just to tell me what that motor was for because no one seemed to know.

So the maintenance guy showed up. Erika went downstairs with him. He plugged in the motor and all the water disappeared. That was the pump to get rid of excess condensation while the A/C was running. He is a new guy with maintenance and he comes from Florida so he said he knew all about those kinds of things.

I cancelled the A/C repair guy, and alls well that ends well. Except for the huge rust stains on my brand new basement floor and all the diluted tile glue coming up through the cracks in the tiles. Erika tried to get the rust stains out with CLR but it didn't work. No biggie.

The best laid plans

Erika should be in her car with Jackson peacefully napping in anticipation of getting to Grandma's pool and going swimming with Aunt Gretchen.

That part of the plans has changed. Gordon't father died a little while ago and someone is driving Gordon from West Branch to Birch Run. Gretchen is on her way to Birch Run to pick him up and bring him down here.

I don't know how the rest of Gretchen's week will unfold. My deepest sympathy to Gordon and the Gerth family.

Ikea, Ukea, everybody kea

Our Ikea opens tomorrow morning. Steph called me yesterday afternoon to let me know she was in line and had been interviewed by the local news shows. I saw her on Channel 2, and saw her in the background on Channel 4. The first 100 people in line are promised a chair that sells for $72.00. Steph said she was number 5. There are lots of other incentives like mystery envelopes with ascending amounts of money and percentages off. When I first saw the circular I thought to myself that if I were an able bodied person I would like to go there. But I envisioned getting in the car at 8:45 to get there for the 9:00 opening.

The roofing people just set up all their paraphernalia in front of my house. What with the trucks, tarps and ladders, I'm glad I don't have any flowers and shrubs out there, and pity the folk who do.

Happy Birthday Kathy

Vacation

Rita is at the airport. She will be at Monica's tonight. Her vacation has started. I have done most of my packing. That means that if I had to, I could zip it up right now and go. But I don't have to so I will undoubtedly think of more things to put in it. Like, oh yeah, a bathing suit. I am using the smallest suitcase possible because we have to have extra room on the way there so that we can fill it with Kathy and her belongings on our way back.

I have committed Gretchen to watering Rita's plants each Wednesday that she is gone.

Kelly and his girlfriend (yes, remember Diana from Easter?) came by to take Rita to the airport. I didn't get to talk to them, I just saw her leaving.

No more home teams in playoff games and only one American left at Roland Garros. Go Venus.

Homecoming

I slowly open the back yard gate and peer down the alley. The alley looks empty, but Mama said that it was time. I step into the alley without letting go of the gate. I lean as far as I can into the alley, without letting go of the gate. And suddenly there he is.

I let go of the gate and begin to run. I run past Wally's yard. I run past Jefferies' yard. I run past Bobbie Moore's yard. I am very far from home. It is scary, but exciting. There is a dog in one of the yards. I can't see him because of the fence but I can hear him barking. It is scary but exciting.

Then I look up, and there he is. He is smiling and his arms are wide. I take a leap and he scoops me up. He kisses my face. He kisses me on the eye. The stubble of his beard picks my face. We are laughing. He's happy that I came.

He carries me high on his arm. I can see the dog now. He is still barking and jumping against the fence. Nothing is scary anymore because we are laughing.

We come to our own back yard. The gate is still open. I look into his eyes. I'm not supposed to leave the gate open. But he is still laughing and swings me down to the ground while he closes the gate.

Once released from his arms, I can run to the house and announce to everybody - "Papa's home".

Its raining

Its raining. Its raining hard. I'm all alone on the back porch. I have my pick of the big red rocking chairs. I like the bigger one better because I can sit cross legged on it and rock higher. There's thunder and there's lightening. Bernie told me that Bobby Moore's grandmother got hit by lightening standing in their back garden. But I am safe. I'm on the porch.

A little while ago, Monica was back there with me. Before it started to rain. We were playing cut-outs. We got matching cut-out books for Easter. Rita helped me cut out the dolls because they are on the covers and the paper is thicker and harder to cut. I cut out the clothes myself.

Monica gets mad when I put the same dresses on my dolls that she puts on hers. Its hard for me to decide what my dolls should wear. When I see what her's are wearing, it seems like a good idea.

Monica got mad at me and went inside. It was too windy to keep playing anyways and then the rain started. I liked the smell and the sound of the rain. Watching it hit the sidewalk.

Our sidewalks were smooth and flat from the alley all the way to the front of the house. That was good for roller skates but not so much for collecting rain puddles. There would be good puddles in the alley but if you jump into them barefoot, you might hit a stone or piece of glass. Alley puddles were better when it was colder and you were wearing boots.

It gets darker and the wind gets colder. I don't want to go in the house because I will run into Monica and she is mad at me.

Mama comes out on the porch. She brings me a sweater. She takes the smaller rocking chair, letting me stay in the big one. We sit together and watch the rain. I love Mama.

The company

Company was coming. The air was electrified. Houses were cleaned. Pies were baked. Larders were replenished. And, if the company came from far away, bedrooms and sleeping spaces were shuffled to accomodate. Possibly the reason for some of my time on McKinstry.

Company had to be shown the Detroit Zoo. Company had to be shown Belle Isle. Company had to be shown Edgewater Park, especially, the fun house.

One year, when Company included the Grandparents, we all walked to the home of Petit Noir who lived on Pearl near Vernor Highway to show them TV. On a Tuesday night, of course, so we could watch Milton Berle. That year we also showed them a Drive-In Movie and went to see Trail of the Lonesome Pines.

Dinners were planned. Dinners that required more than one table setting not including the children who were fed early and then pressed into service to fetch and carry, serve and clear.

After dinner the floors were cleared for dancing and entertainment. Children were encouraged to perform and so did the adults. At Ma'Tante Vonna's house on Clark Street there was a victrola in the living room with good dance music records. Squares would form up and Tony was the caller.

First couple lead to the right. four hands around and Birdie in the Cage. Birdie fly out and the gent fly in. Gent fly out and two couples swing.

After the dancing started nobody paid much attention to the kids. We got to play outside. It was dark out. If it got too scary outside, nobody noticed if you found a quiet place to sit just inside the doorway and watch.

When the party was at our house, and bedtime had been achieved, no one noticed if we crept down the staircase to listen.

Red Leaves

When I moved in here winter had a strong toehold and most leaves were off the trees. Across the parking lot, about 4 doors down from me is a lovely large tree. It is the focal point of the view from my living room picture window. There were a small clump of branches on that tree that were clinging to some red leaves. I kept waiting for the leaves to fall. They never did.

All through the winter, through the snow and ice, winds and rain, those sturdy red leaves hung on. Then spring started to spring and most of the trees around here started to bud. This tree remained bare. When other trees were visably green, this tree started to bud.

Ah, I thought to myself, now those fragile red leaves will be pushed off by the new buds. I have been checking it faithfully every day. I search the ground beneath the tree for fallen leaves (from my easy chair, of course, I don't go outside and search). I've never found any.

The tree is quite green now, and because I know where to look I can pick out the red leaves. There they sit. Red leaves among the green.

Dinner with Elise and Larry

My dinner with Elise and Larry was in no way remarkable. Elise got married the same year I did. We stood up at each other's weddings and it is always delightful to spend time with them.

Many years ago Larry suffered a stroke and he has been fighting long and hard to regain normal functions. There is a slight list to his stance and a slight slacking of facial muscles that advertise him as a stroke patient. But, he has regained his speech and motor skills and seems to enjoy a high quality of life. His mind and memory are the equal of any of us this age.

When I arrived at the restaurant (Ram's Horn) they were already seated so I joined them and over dinner conversation told them about my recent encounters with advanced arthritis. As we were leaving, I pointed out a walker with a seat attachment and said that that was what I was going to need when I got to the walker stage. The man it belonged to said "just take it." I said I would if I thought I could outrun him, but no.

After dinner they came over to mine to see my new place. As we walked from room to room (not that many) Elise and I had to find a place to sit while we chatted and discussed. Larry was content to stand and pace and check things out. He even went down and checked out the basement. My point here being that among the three of us he is the most fit.

My Cousin Elise

I had dinner last night with Elise and Larry.

For those of you who are generationally challenged, Elise is my first Cousin, daughter of my father's sister ReJeanne after whom I am named, because she is my Godmother. Elise and I were close growing up, partly because we were close in age and because among we siblings, her mother liked me best (duh).

I remember spending parts of many summers at her house on McKinstry street just a block away from Clark Park. Elise was an only child in her early years and quite spoiled. Her father was called Petit Blanc. It was a nickname but we didn't know that at the time. He came by that nickname because he actually had a twin brother who was called Petit Noir.

Ma'Tante Jeanne and Petit Blanc had three children born at 7 year intervals. That's why I'm thinking they each had the "only child" experience.

Sitting in the kitchen on McKinstry, watching Ma'Tante Jeanne cook was not like watching my mother cook. I had watched my mother make hamburgers. She opened the butcher papered package of ground beef and tore off little chunks and made patties. So now I prepared to watch Ma'Tante Jeanne make hamburgers. She opened the butcher paper and dumped the whole lump of ground beef into a bowl. I thought to myself "WTF" or something similar that would have been appropriate for the times.

Then, this aunt of mine, of whom I was quite fond, took an egg and broke it right over the meat and started mixing them together. I had to leave the kitchen so I don't know if that was the only thing she put in there. Of course, I didn't eat my hamburger at dinner. Ma'Tante Jeanne knew I was a picky eater and was quite kind about it.

Another McKinstry kitchen memory is of the rhubarb that grew in their back yard. When Ma'Tante Jeanne harvested the rhubarb to make pies she would give me and Elise each a stalk with a mound of course salt to dip it in. Ah, good times on McKinstry.

I'll save the story of dinner with Elise and Larry for tomorrow's post.

Doctor, doctor

OK, the pain in my left hand and wrist has passed the point that I expect it to go away on its own and I went to the doctor. She tested my strength and flexibility, took some blood work and sent me to the other side of the building for a series of xrays. I remembered to mention the pain behind my left knee so they xrayed that too. I forgot to mention the bottoms of my feet since that has been a lot better for a while now.

The Xray lady came in holding the same chart file my doctor had and led me to the xray room. She sat me on a rolly stool at the foot of the xray table and started to position my arm. It started flat on the table. I could do that. Then she needed it turned away from me. I could almost do that. Then she said, now turn your hand so that its facing you. I wanted to ask her if it said anywhere on that chart that my problem was a limited range of motion. She got all her wrist pictures and said While I develop these you can climb up on the table and lay flat on your back. I almost cried but didn't mention how many pillows it takes on my bed for me to lay on my back. Then she started with straight leg, bend it this way, lean it that way. Man, what a workout.

The prize goes to the person who said arthritis. It seems my left arm is consumed with arthritis from shoulder to fingertip. Also the knees. She gave me some samples of Celebrex. I took one as soon as I got home, about half hour ago. I can already feel less pain and more range of motion as I type. Why, oh why, didn't she give me one of these before the xrays?

I Burned

So far this year, I have caulked, I-Poded and now I have burned a couple of CDs. Am I a new age woman or what.

And, since I spent the whole day at the Casino Windsor, and I know its Tuesday, I didn't get any pea soup. Maybe next week.

Wednesday

Today is Wednesday. It is the time on Wednesday that, if I were a working person, my workday would be over. It is the time on Wednesday that I often say to myself, "Damn, I didn't get any Pea Soup."

There is a very nice little family restaurant across Wayne Road from my complex named Rana's. Rana's has a very nice soup bar. Tuesday is Pea Soup day. I love their Pea Soup. There comes a time on most weekends when I think I will have to get to Rana's for lunch on Tuesday and have some Pea Soup. Some Tuesday mornings I remember this and make a concious decision to wait till later in the day and get some soup for dinner instead. Then it is usually about this time on Wednesday that I say to myself, "Damn, I didn't get any Pea Soup."

I have been wearing a wrist stabalizing brace on my left wrist and as I type this the start menu keeps popping up. I'm not sure what key I am inadvertently bumping.

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All About Jan

Jan Suchy has written a book. Jan and Gene were my next door neighbors for the last 22 years. Gene has been the treasurer of Holliday Park since before I moved in and just retired from that post last year. Since he retired our carrying charges have gone up twice. I know, gas prices, etc. But they didn't go up when Gene was managing the money.

Anyways, about Jan. The title of her book is Three Heavenly Lives. It chronicles her childhood years growing up in Dubuque Iowa, her 19 years in the convent and her 30 odd years of married life. I'm assuming it was self-published and since she isn't in the business to make money, she is selling the book for $5.95. I bought one and finished it yesterday. Those of you who know her will believe me that there is not a harsh or offensive word about anybody. Except maybe herself. She tells of a time while she was in the convent and one of her sisters (there were 9 siblings) left the Catholic church and joined the Lutherans. She wrote her sister a letter telling her she was going to hell. She also tells how deeply she regrets that letter and that sentiment.

One of her stories that I had heard before is that after she accepted Gene's proposal, he set a date for the wedding a year away and told her that she would need a dowery of $5,000.00. He later explained that he wanted to make sure she was not just trading the security of the convent for the security of marriage. He wanted her to know that she could make it on her own. When she presented him with $9,000.00 before the wedding, he offered to double it if she decided she didn't want to get married. But she did.

Something I didn't know about her was that she suffered two miscarriages in her early married years and ended up with a hysterectomy.

In other news, I learned that the guy who bought my unit died before he ever moved in. It seems that the wife is going to move in anyways tho.

Springtime Tulips

I had lovely tulips on the side of my house. Overnight they sprung almost full grown. Beautiful red tulips. Crap. I don't want to take care of any flowers. When I bought this unit, I made the lady pull up all the flowers and lay sod right up to the bricks.

Whoever laid the sod probably didn't even know those bulbs were down there and now they have presented themselves. Yes they are beautiful, yadda, yadda. But, in my case, beauty is in the eye of the caretaker and that makes them ugly to me.

I sent my resident daughter outside to pull them up and she did. The next morning I saw them sitting in my trash and could see about 20 buds waiting to open. So I called Jeannette and she offered to adopt the plant and put it in her backyard. Now when I look at them at her house, they can be beautiful again.

Alien among us

I mentioned in my Slacker post that we had been to the Windsor casino last Thursday with Martha. We liked it so much we decided to go again on Tuesday the 18th and Jeannette made the reservations. When we get on the Windsor bus we have to show our proper ID so the bus driver will know that there will be no problems at the border. Usually we flash the passport pictures and get on the bus. This day, there was a little delay getting on the bus and after flashing the picture page, Martha closed her passport and the bus driver saw that it said Canadian.

He asked to see her green card. He asked a little belligerently. She didn't understand the request, not having had a green card for almost 25 years. Jeannette tried to find out why he thought she needed one. The way I understand it is that a green card is necessary for aliens who wish to live and/or work in the US. Martha lives is Quebec City, Quebec, Canada and was just here visiting Jeannette for the week. The bus driver was listening to no one and kept hollering "Lady, let me do my job." It was the day after Martha's 85th birthday and she was visibly shaken.

The upshot was that he wouldn't let Martha on the bus, and she and Jeannette went back home, got Jeannette's car and drove to Windsor where they met up with me and Rita for the day. Rita and I took the bus anyways in order to get our $15.00 bus packets, then we drove home with Jeannette.

We heard the driver explaining to some of the front passengers who had witnessed the demonstration that Martha would have been able to go over on the bus, but she would not have been able to come back. Bringing her into Canada would have been no problem since she was a Canadian citizen resident. He is not allowed to bring any Canadian citizens across the border to the US on his bus without sufficient entry documents.

Jeannette got the full explanation from the bus company supervisor when she called to complain. She still lodged a complaint against the driver for his intimidating, belligerent manner, and failure to explain at the time.

The Sheedy Scoop

I had dinner with Rita's family and here's all the Sheedy scoop.

Jerry and Linda have been in their new house long enough to know that they really like it. Jerry and Neil have facial hair, Kelly not. Kelly brought a girlfriend (name, Diana) Neil, not. Linda just got back from a trip to Las Vegas with her siblings. She has 3 sisters and a couple of brothers and they are close and do trips together. This new house is close to one of her brothers.

Kelly is laid off from his good job and hopefully it is temporary. Since he started this job and had good insurance he has been to a sleep clinic. He has a pretty severe case of sleep apnia. They outfitted him with an apparatus that sits next to his bed and to which he is supposed to hook himself up in order to sleep well. They found that he quit breathing an average of 72 times per hour, and the longest non-breathing interval was 125 seconds. He tried holding his breath for 2 minutes (after an inhale) while awake and couldn't do it. He finds being hooked up very tedious and has been told to try wearing the apparatus while awake for increasing intervals in order to get used to it. There is a surgery that could be tried, but they told him that many people end up using the machine even after surgery.

Slacker, Me

I don't do anything. I can't just blog about casino experiences all the time. Martha (Jeannette's Aunt) is in town and we have been to Windsor and Motor City. We were supposed to do MGM on Tuesday but are going to Windsor again. That's our favorite.

My feet have been hurting really bad. I go from hardly being able to walk to not being able to walk. In the not able to walk stage it hurts slightly less when I'm sitting and slightly less than that when I'm lying down. Its been more than a week now. I'll give it another week then think about seeing a doctor.

I get sunshine in my living room in the afternoons and it gets pretty hot in here. I can't open the front door cause that's where the hot is coming from. Yesterday I was smart enough to open the side door and got a nice cool breeze. Today its cold again and there's no sun.

I am going out to dinner today with Rita's family. Happy Easter to all of you.

How Quickly we Spoil

We had a couple of days of weather in the 60s and I am thoroughly spoiled. Getting off the casino bus last night it was quite a bit colder than it had been when I got on at noon.

The full tank of gas that came with my car is almost gone and I saw gas at a reasonable price (the fact that I can call $2.46 a reasonable price means that George W. is truly winning) but I wouldn't stop and pump it because it was cold outside.

I figured if it went up 5 or 10 cents in the next couple of days (as it is wont to do) that's a dollar. I would have paid someone a dollar to pump that gas.

New Car Woes

On the car's one week birthday, we came out of the restaurant and the boopy thing didn't unlock the doors. I had to manually use the key. Can you imagine. The next time I needed to unlock the doors, it worked. Then again it didn't work. The door unlock and the trunk release are on the same button. Hit once to unlock doors and hold down to release trunk. When it didn't work, none of it worked. Before I called the dealer I tested the other buttons. While the unlocky part wasn't working I pushed the remote start button and the car started just fine. Then I had to open the door with the key to get in and stop it.

So, I called the dealer, got my salesperson's voice mail and told her my problems. About a half hour later she called me back and said that the guy was going to be there at 11 if I could bring it in then. I could, and I did. When I got there she noticed my book and we discussed a book she was reading called My Sister's Keeper. It just so happened that Erika had loaded that book into my ITunes file and it was going to be the next book I listened to. She showed me to the waiting room without ever mentioning my problem.

After an hour and a half, she came in and told me that the guy had to get a part that was at another store and that he thought that if he put in a longer delay it would work better. "Good", I said, "because it is a real pain when the doors don't unlock and I have to open the door with the key to push the inside trunk release and ... She looked confused and laid "unlock??" He's fixing the starter. I told her no, the starter works fine, its the unlock button that doesn't work. Oh, she said I'd better go tell him. Good Grief

A half hour later the guy comes in and apologizes for working on the wrong thing but says he needs a pick up a relay that will only take a few minutes to install, and rather than have me wait for him to go pick it up, he takes my address and says he will come out and install it at my house tomorrow. (today, now) Hopefully it will all work out.

Long suits and shortcomings

In taking a little stock here I find that my shortcomings have nothing to do with my height and my long suits are all in my head.

Among my long suits, I have excellent reading and comprehension skills, very good reasoning power, and a good memory. I know a lot of stuff and have always considered myself a pretty smart cookie.

In the shortcoming department, I have absolutely no physical talents. Any physical attributes I might have had are quickly falling by the wayside. I used to be a pretty good dancer. Ballroom, square dancing, line dancing and even in grade school days, tap dancing. I learned the steps easily and executed them well.

I was an excellent typist. My last testing at a temp agency after I retired and decided to work temp jobs had me at 82 wpm with 0 errors.

I was a good singer. School music classes and performances. A talent show and Karaoke on cruises, Glee clubs, church choirs and even just with the family. I loved to sing.

All the physical pieces of me that used to allow me to do those things either just don't work, or hurt when I use them.

Keep in mind that I am still very grateful for all the things I can still do. I can still walk, just not very far. I can still sing, just at the very low end of the keyboard. I can still type, only the backspace and delete keys on my keyboard are the most used.

When I am 100 years old, and I don't remember any of your names, and my body is just a drool machine, remember that in my head there is still a lot of singing and dancing going on.

Cracked Up

Sean's comment line "Youth isn't all its cracked up to be" cracked me up. However, after I finished laughing, I began to wax philosophical and he is, of course, absolutely right. The more I waxed, the philosophicaler I got. (Is there any kind of award for the best made-up word?)

Nothing can be "all its cracked up" to be because nobody cracks anything up to be something unless its something they haven't got. And if its something they used to have or expect to have in the future, they tend to dwell on the good parts.

While you're taking the good with the bad, isn't it nice that the good stays with you and the bad tends to disappear.

Almost twins

Jeannette and I picked up our new cars together on Thursday. She sold her car on Monday night and since I was going on an overnight gambling trip Tuesday, she used my car for the next couple of days. Thursday afternoon she left work early and picked me up to go pick up our cars.

After the paperwork, our sales lady had them pulled up one behind the other in the service bay and it turns out they are exactly the same color. The names of the colors are different because they are two different models. Mine is a Focus and the color is Tundra, hers is a Fusion and the color had a different name.

When I looked at the color swatch, it was blueish grey. Now that it is sitting in front of my house in sunny, cloudy, rainy and even snowy weather, it looks mostly grey.

I love how clean it is, inside. I was never one to accumulate a lot of litter inside my car, but dust will out. And the day I wash windows inside my car is the day after I wash them inside my house.

Monica's back

For any of you that had stopped checking Monica's blog (I still checked it every day, just in case) she's back. Now if we can just get Marcel to start blogging. Note to Monica - Since we always like to see comments from our non-blogging brothers, there is a selection at the top of this "create post" page that says "Moterate comments" when you click on that it directs you to a "Comments" page where you can select who may comment on your blog. If you select "anyone" it will allow anonymous commentors.

On the birthday front, we (Rita and I) spend Rita's birthday on an overnight gambling trip. I think all future birthdays should be casino related. We had a great time. I wanted to buy her a birthday dinner and ended up paying for our first breakfast stop at Tony's at Birch Run (you Michigan people know what I mean). We shared a breakfast that included eggs, hash browns, toast and ham. After we had both eaten our fill, they could probably have served that plate to another table. The servings are that big. We did finish the ham and the toast. We asked for the hash browns extra crispy but only the top was crispy. The good news was that even tho we only ate the crispy top parts, it was still enough for both of us to eat our fill. There was still a pound of mushy hash browns on the plate. If we had been on our way home, instead of on our way there, we would have brought all those potatoes and eggs home and had enough for a week.

At Mt. Pleasant, we were able to use the points from our playing cards towards our meal. In fact, when you put the card into the machine to start playing, it doesn't say you have x amount of points, it says you have x amount of dollars and cents. You just presented your card to the cashier and she swiped it. So. I got $6.75 off of my $7.75 soup-salad-drink and desert bar that I had for dinner. Of course after that my credit was back down to zero and I didn't notice where it was at right before we left.

I found out later that we could have done that at Little River also. I had a $5.00 coupon that I had received in the mail from them tho so dinner there was pretty cheap also.

You young folks take notes about this stuff so that you don't have to learn it all by trial and error after you retire.

Hey Dude, I got a Dell

Can you tell, I'm typing this on a new computer. Well, used, but different. Erika's University was selling their used ones and she picked one up for me. Lyle did his magic on it and then Gretchen spent a couple of nights transferring all my files. She was up till midnight last night, poor thing. But she did get my MSMoney to work. I use MS Money for Windows 95 and I like it. I don't want to be new and improved. If she hadn't been able to get it to work it would have been a deal breaker.

Oh, yeah, and I bought a new car. It is another Focus 4 door sedan. The color is blueish grey and they call it Tundra. It is pretty much exactly like the one I have with a couple of extra things like an extra safety package (anti-lock breaks and side airbags) that just happened to be on it. I did have them install a remote starter tho since I will be parked at the mercy of weather I can pre-heat and pre-cool.

So, new house, new car, new computer. One would think I had won the lottery, but sadly, I'm broke.

Not a very warm welcome

After 5 days in Indiana, I got home this morning to a very cold house with no electricity. I couldn't check my e mail, I couldn't watch my tapes; all I could do was bundle up under a comfy throw and read my book.

Rita had already left for her Tuesday schedule so I couldn't call her to find out exactly when the electricity had gone off or if there was any information about when it would return. I hadn't been listening to the radio at all on the way home. (IPod)

I finally called Gretchen at work and she said it must have gone out sometime between 3:30 AM and 6:00 AM, the two times she was up medicating for her cold. She was under orders to change my VCR tapes on Tuesday morning but she couldn't do that without electricity.

Around Noon, I thought I may as well go to the casino in Windsor as sit here in the cold all day. As I pondered that, I realized that that way I would miss all my programs tonight for sure even if the electricity came back on because all my tapes were full. Since I had just been to the casino yesterday, I thought going back today was a bit much, even for me.

About five minutes after I made that decision to stay home the lights came back on. I am sitting pretty, in a nice warm house, all VCRs reset and reprogrammed. I have checked all my e mail, caught up on all the blogs and now will settle in to start watching tapes.

Life is good.

P.S. Rita stopped over on her way home a little while ago and she never did lose her electricity.

I love the irs

There's a sentence I'll bet none of you ever thought you would see in print.

All my life, from the time I had taxable income (soda jerk) I have prepared and filed my own income taxes. They have ranged from the simple (1040EZ) to the complicated (schedules involving rental property, income and expenses).

Near the beginning of this century I ventured into Tax Cut and e-filing on line.

I liked that very much, but the Tax Cut itself was a big pain in the neck. The delux program came with free e-filing (after rebate), free state tax program (after rebate), $5.00 rebate from Best Buy, $10.00 rebate from I don't know who all. Anyways the rebate forms were way more complicated than the tax forms and the whole thing still cost me about $45.00.

This year I went to irs.gov. They make you choose a company from a list of companies and I just took the first one OLT.com (On Line Taxes.com) I was able to fill in all my information, they did all the math. Because my income is below (way) $50,000.00 my e-filing was free. There was a $7.95 charge to e-file the state return. The forms were available in printable PDF form but for an extra $4.95 they are sending me a printed copy of all forms.

I love those guys.

the survey

I did this morning's blog before I read about the survey. So there's another new one under this.

4 jobs
Soda Jerk
Typing Pool
Secretary
Bookkeeper

4 TV shows
Amazing Race
Big Brother
Grey's Anatomy
Coronation Street

4 movies
Dirty Dancing
White Christmas
Absence of Malice
Pretty Woman

4 Foods
Steak
Soup (pea, chili, veg)
Chicken Fingers
Pizza

4 places I have vacationed (not counting visiting family)
Caribbean
Europe
Thailand
New Hampshire

4 places I have lived
Detroit
Melvindale
Westland


4 places I'd rather be right now
Kewadin
Las Vegas
California
Anywhere Jackson is

Hip or What

Who's the hippest grandma on the casino bus. Why, its that lady wearing the IPod earbuds. I went to Windsor on my own yesterday so I was under no obligation to talk to or listen to anyone. Erika loaded a new book for me this weekend. I don't even know the title but it is about the "Petit Yayas". I listened to my book all the way to the Windsor then shut it off through customs and into the casino. Inside the casino it was very, very loud. It was very, very crowded. It was free Paczke day.

After I had lost $30.00 pretty quickly, I sat at a nickle poker machine and played one nickle at a time and listened to my book for about a half hour. I still had 3 of my $5.00 left at that point and took it out and went to play Babushka. I won $35.00 on that and started my day all over again. At the poker machine I could listen to the IPod pretty good, but back in the general population, the background noise was too loud.

I did listen to it all the way home, and just this morning noticed that I had almost no battery left. Something I will have to learn to check before each outing.

Rolling Over

Tim said it could be done and we did it. We is kind of a misnomer, my part was mostly pointing out to Erika what she was doing wrong and saying, "if I was doing it I would ,,,".

I got a picture-hanging kit with eye screws and wire and everything. I felt so professional. Erika wanted to document each step with pictures a la Treebeau but its a rule that the camera has to be where the baby is and she came here this weekend sans baby.

Anyways, we hung the mirror with a longish wire and put three cheap thin washcloths rolled up behind the top part of it and it is perfect. I roll over in bed and can watch TV out of my good ear. Y'all know what I mean.

Over and Out

Even if I decided now that I wanted to move back into 33908, I can't. The final water bill came (who knew they charged $25.00 to issue a final bill) and the final accounting I got from the office turned out not to be a check, but an invoice.

Rehabbing the unit to Holliday Park specifications turned out to cost much more than I had anticipated. There were several things I knew were going to be fixed and charged. One of the things I didn't anticipate was them spending 1 1/2 hours cleaning the refrigerator (at $48.00 per hour), that I thought was already clean. Another is the removing of the full length mirror in the hallway (six screws). They charged 1/2 hour labor for that. The list is long.

Another reason there was nothing left in the kitty for me, is that I anticipated receiving $750.00 for the aluminum siding program that is supposed to be picked up by the new buyer and returned to the seller I paid it as a new buyer of 34721 and the seller got it. Well they are not returning that to the seller anymore. Somewhere between becomming a buyer and a seller, they started a new aluminum siding program so they are keeping my $750.00. It could have been worse, they charged the buyer of my unit $1,875.00 for the siding program.

I have had time to absorb the shock of it all, and have decided to just pay the thing and get on with my life. So, this is me getting on with my life.

I loaded EZ Christmas onto my Ipod today, all by myself. Next I'm going to hit Rita up for all of her Time/Life albums.

Ipod Mama

I love it. Gretchen loaded two of my three CDs last night and if I hadn't had trouble learning volume control I would have taken it to bed with me. This morning I figured out the volume. Gretch got pictures loaded for me too. We only put on 15. I just found out how to put a few favorite songs in an "On The Go" file. I'm going to take it with me to the casino today to show Jeannette.

This was a great choice of birthday gift and I don't need another one, ever.

Lovin' the Olympics

Just kickin back and watching the Olympics all day. This is the life. All you hard working people, this is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

I love being so close to Canada that I can watch the Canadian channel all day. They start very early morning and run a lot of the events live and give color comment on the canadians. Then during prime time when everyone is running tape I go ahead and watch the NBC channels and get a lot of the color comment on the american competitors.

Its really funny to hear the canadians pronounce "Flying Tomato".

Feeling Old

I just got a package delivered to my front door. Its a birthday gift from my girls. Its an I-Pod. A pretty high tech gift for a low tech mentality. I am sure there will come a day when I will like it very much and use it often, but first comes the tedium of learning how to use it. I'm guessing my first lesson should include what/where is a USB port. I think I've got one because Erika plugs in her camera and jump drive while she's here,

Then it will be a matter of locating the music and books to download from the web. I was told it could hold books.

For now, I'll just keep the box here near my computer and look at it to get used to having it. I had a cell phone for almost a year before I made a call, so it could be a while. In my defence, my first cell phone was for emergencies only, I had a 5 minute per month plan and paid $4.95 per month.

So, a big thank you to my wonderful amazon girls. I know they will be providing as much instruction as its going to take to get me up and running.

Closure

The sale of my old unit closed yesterday. I got my check from the buyer (for the carpeting and misc.) and will get the check from Holliday Park (for balance of equity and authorized improvements minus whatever they charge me for misc. repairs etc.) as soon as the final water bill comes in. I am also waiting for the final electric bill.

I will exercise on the the percs of the new place when I walk (that's right walk) up to the clubhouse on Friday for dominos.

The Snow is Back

Winter is here again. It only makes sense. We had winter in November, some spring in January and the first few days of February felt like Fall, so now its Winter again.

They predicted 3" of snow by 6:00pm last night and then about 8" by the time we got up this morning. I figured I would shovel at 6, then again before I went to bed and when I got up. At 6, there was nothing but wet. Before I went to bed there was a dusting on the grass but just wet on the pavement and cars. When I woke up this morning (I stayed in bed watching the super bowl stuff till almost 11:00) the sidewalk cleaner guy had already been by and there's about an inch on my steps and on the grass and cars. If the sun comes out it should take care of that. If not, I'll shovel tomorrow in time for the mailman.

I got a nice surprise when I opened the door to check the show. I had my first newspaper. I ordered the sunday paper (in lieu of TV Guide, which I hate) and the girl said it would start on the 12th, but it started today, Woo,hoo. I am very pleased that it was double bagged and not a bit wet.

I am also pleased with the City of Detroit for all the Super Bowl related activities they are putting on for the general public. There was a day that I would have wanted to be down there with my kids experiencing all that, but that day has passed for me. The TV coverage has shown lots of participation with no incidents. I figure that if local coverage is just hiding the bad stuff, it would come through in the national coverage anyways, so I believe it is pretty peaceful.

There is a guy named Bettis that is playing in the Super Bowl who comes from Detroit and a big fuss is being made over him and his family. I think that's great, and I'm going to root for his team to win as soon as I find out which team that is.

Normalcy

I've been back for a couple of days now and am beginning to achieve normalcy, or would that be normality.

If you've been reading Adrienne's blog you know all about the cruise in much better prose than I could have done. We had a wonderful time and Adrienne turned out to be one of those people who was born to cruise. Considering that I did everything she did, but that I did it all sitting down and being pushed in a wheelchair, one might wonder why I am still feeling so exhausted.

On the house front, I just called Detroit Edison and had the electricity taken out of my name. I turned in the keys before I left for the cruise and authorized maintenance to complete any repairs or adjustments they felt were necessary to finalize the sale. They did have a buyer that gave a deposit so whenever their final closing is, I will be getting a small check for my equity in that unit. Small because most of my equity was transferred to this new unit.

I am busy watching all the shows I taped while I was gone. Fate shortened that chore for me when the VCR in the kitchen died and two whole tapes didn't tape. Also one Living room tape messed up so I only have 32 hours to watch. I am about half done. In the meantime I have to continue taping the current shows until I catch up with the back ones.

Life gets complicated when you travel.

Lazy farmer

I doubt if the kid was Farmer Jack himself but damn.

I did a load of shopping at Farmer Jack this morning. I don't usually shop there but they had pop and milk on sale and those are my staples.

I came to my car with a cart full of stuff, and as I opened my trunk along came a cart picker-upper. I was glad to see him, anticipating help. He stood there with a hand on the side of my cart, never looked directly at me and waited until I had unloaded everything into the trunk. When he didn't offer to help, I was too angry to ask. As I put the last 12 pack of pop in the trunk, I was going to say "That's alright, I've got it", but he was gone with the cart already.

I caulked

I want my dull and boring life back. I want to go days at a time without having to leave the house or think about anything but the book I'm reading and Law and Order. I think I can see it on the horizon.

My emotions are fluctuating with the frustration of dealing with contracted trades people and the guilty twinges of how much others are doing for me. Even Sandra (Erika's Mother-in-Law) who got my humidifier working and explained to me how to fix the leak in my shower doors. The shower doors, that I hate anyways, but accepted when I bought the unit, were leaking and left puddles on the floor. This morning, after letting the area dry thoroughly, I put down some caulky stuff. I expected it to be clear but it was white so I had to do the whole front instead of just the problem spot.

Jeff, (step-father to Karl's daughter, Stephanie) spent many many hours here on Monday, his holiday off. He connected the cable in the rooms the cable-guy refused to drill holes for. Jeff drilled the holes and hooked everything up. He installed my gas dryer to the gas line that had been capped, and went over and capped the line at my old unit. He had to go back and forth to Lowe's a few times. Then to top it all off, when he was done, he couldn't get the furnace to kick on again. He had the instruction book and followed everything it said but the house got colder and colder. I felt bad because he was feeling bad and I assured him that I could call maintenance in the morning.

I ended up spending the night at Jeannette's (hence, the shower here didn't get used and had a chance to dry out) and when I got home from the Windsor casino, the house was nice and warm, and the work order left by maintenance said it was a faulty switch and they replaced it.

I have a little over a week before Adrienne gets here for the cruise and I intend to spend it reading and watching tv (on cable in every room, yeaa). Oh yeah, and packing.

I'm Home

and I am a happy camper. After a few false starts I know which way to turn and which parking lot I belong in. Rita and I have set some ground rules about getting into each other's business and carrying on our lives like we did before.

Erika has got everything unpacked and set up for me. It will take me a while to know where everything is and I can re-arrange as I go along, if necessary.

Now I can start concentrating on packing for the cruise.

What a Guy

The first of three people who are checking out my unit just left. He was the appraisor. After he called for an appointment I recalled that one of the papers I had signed was authorization to charge me $65.00 for this service. He checked the humidifier, air conditioner, marble sills, storm doors and handrail. These are the authorized improvements for which the coorporation will assign fair value to charge the incoming member.

I asked if he needed me to go to the basement with him and he said no. So I went further and asked if he would bring up my ice chopper on his way back up and he did. Then he went further and he scraped the ice off my porch before he left. Title line, What a Guy.

I have prospective buyers coming today. One, a man, at 3:00 pm and the other a couple that live here in Holliday Park at 7:00 pm. I have actually travelled with the wife, Karen Moore (for those of you who have travelled with me, Karen usually rooms with her mother, Barbara Long). Karen's mother-in-law is on the list but out of town right now so Karen and her husband are going to come look at the place for her. Karen's mother, Barbara already lives here in lot 27 and will actually be about three doors down from me in my new place.

It is a little more intimidating to show my home, with all its flaws, and the disclaimer that I need a buyer that will accept the place "as is" when its somebody I know rather than a stranger.

Long Day

Boy, yesterday was a long day. It started at about 4:30 a.m. and continued for at least 19 hours. Of course, the first five of those hours revolved around MGM Casino. Erika is a champion. I lost count of how many trips she made between the two house shlepping stuff over. I even stopped going with her at some point yesterday afternoon.

She did a stellar job on the basement and had it all vacuumed and everything by the time Ron (prospective buyer) came by to look at the place. This is the second place he has looked at and he said the first one was not as well maintained as this one. I really expected that I was at the bottom of that list, but maybe there are some real slobs around while I am more of a wannabe.

The dishwasher didn't get so much wired on Wednesday so I am meeting the electrician over there Monday morning. Also there was a puddle of water under the sink and Erika met the plumber over there this morning and hopefully that is fixed.

Mail was resumed here as promised and as of today I have received everything I was waiting for. One thing was a form from an investment company that needed to verify my and Erika's signatures and it was going to be so handy getting it while she was here to sign it. The postmark showed that it was mailed 12/7 and it was delivered about 2 hours after she left for home today.

No Wishy Washy me

So, I went over to the new house to leave a note for the cabinet installers and what should I find, but the cabinets all ripped out and the installers on the job. I told them why I was there and they already knew that I wanted a dishwasher. I told them I was having second thoughts because the electrical was going to cost $150.00 and I didn't even know how much the plumbing would cost. "Well", the guy said, "I could probably let you know that part in about 15 minutes because I have encountered a plumbing problem when we took out the cabinets and the plumber is on his way over here". (note - the problem encountered belongs to the corporation and not to me). So I gave him Rita's phone number and went over there to wait for the call.

About a half hour later he called and said the plumber was there if I wanted to talk to him. I went over. The plumber from Dearborn Heights Plumbing said he could plumb it in for $165.00. He asked if I had the dishwasher yet. I said No, there was one on sale at Sears that I was going to get if everything worked out but I hadn't bought one yet. He showed me the problem that because of the flooring, it created a ridge between the cabinet line and the floor and if the cabinet was set in place, it would not just slide out to put the dishwasher in. He said if I had the dishwasher he could do the work right now and avoid having to take it apart later. I said I could go to Sears right now and buy it but I don't know when it would get delivered. Plumber guy said if I bought it right now he would go pick it up for me and come back and install it.

I said "what about the electrical". Installer guy said that could be done through the floor and the unit would not have to come out for that part. Installer guy also said he could do the wiring but he was not actually a licensed electrician. I said "Oh, no, I know these people at Holliday Park, I will need licensed workmen if this needs approval". Installer guy said "I have an electrician that I use, let me call him and see what he can do".

So I get in the car and go to Sears to get the Kenmore dishwasher that was on sale for $299.00. The one on display is black. I asked the salesman, do you have this in white. Let me go check he says, I say, if not, do you have this other one, the Fridgidair (that was on sale for $210.00) He says, I'll check them both. Alas, he comes back and neither one is in stock. Can I have this one from the floor? The white Fridgidair? Oh, no, he says. We can't do that. I explain that I have a plumber in the palm of my hand that will come by in a half hour to pick up a dishwasher. Come with me he says. He has a G.E. discontinued model marked down to $149.00. Sold, I say.

So I go back to the house, give the receipt to the plumber and he leaves to get the dishwasher. In the meantime, installer guy has talked to his electrician and he's in the neighborhood and can come over and do the wiring for the $150.00. Electrical guy will need a check. Plumber guy has agreed to bill me. I came home to get my checkbook. I can cover the $150.00 but just. My automatic deposit of S.S. comes on the 3rd Wednesday of the month and that comes late this month.

So I am a very happy lady. For less than $500.00 I have an installed dishwasher. And better yet, my new cabinets will be installed for this weekend and me and Erika can start moving the kitchen stuff. Also, I like the cabinets very much because instead of that silly half shelf in the bottom cabinets, the top shelves of the bottom cabinets are sliders.

So, floating on a happy bubble, I called maintenance when I got home at about 4:30 to see what I had to do to get it approved. Watch out for the big bubble bursting prick. Well, first, he says, you fill out the request form and we tell you whether you can get a dishwasher or not. Then if you get the OK your contractors have to pull city permits - Wait, I say, the dishwasher is already installed. Well, you can't do that, he says. To whom am I speaking, I say. My name is Russ, he says. I say, you are the one who was supposed to call me this morning to let me know whether the dishwasher was something that even needed approval. Well, he says, I've been tied up all day. Well, I say, while you were tied up, I have had a dishwasher installed. Well, he says, they may make you take it out. Whatever, I say. I'm done with him.

In other woe whoas, I went online last week and changed my address with the Post Office with a start date of 12/26 and I haven't received any mail since. I called the post office this morning and she was sorry for the inconvenience, but they don't get the internet information, all they get is notification that the address has been changed. So they have a forwarding order. I said, I was there yesterday and nothing has been forwarded. (there are a few things I have been waiting for, not the least of which is my medications) Well, the forwarded stuff wouldn't get there that fast, but if the start date hasn't been reached yet, the forwarded stuff should come back to them. They will resume delivery here today. Yeaa If the meantime, if my medications are among "the forwarded stuff", that is in limbo somewhere I still have a 16 day supply on hand. It should get sorted out by then, right?

Woe after woe after whoa

The good news is that my cabinets have been delivered and the installer has been notified but not scheduled as yet. Lauri, the maintenance lady suggested that I go over and put a note in the existing cabinet that I plan to have a dishwasher installed so they won't bolt in that particular cabinet.

Then she asked me if I had turned in that request to the improvement committee. I didn't think that a dishwasher was an authorized improvement but she wasn't sure about that.

It also turns out that a newly installed dishwasher has to be plumbed and electrified and stuff like that. I called Family Heating and the electrification will cost $150.00. They do not do the plumbing and have no idea what that might cost. I am starting to like my portable better and better.

More Paulette

My name is ReJeanne Paulette Beauregard
My address is 8354 Navy St., Detroit, Mich.
I was born today Friday, February 12, 1937 at 4 o'clock p.m.
My mother Alberta Dalpe
My father Azarias Beauregard
Dr. Edgar, Vernor Hwy at Springwells, Detroit, Price _____
Nurse Mde Monty paid $5.00
God father Louis Langevin
God mother Jeanne Beauregard
Baptised Sunday, February 28, 1937 at 2 o'clock p.m. at St. Gabriel Church, Vernor Hwy at Norman
Weight 8 3/4 lbs
I was supposed to have Dr. Durocher but he was gone to Florida on a vacation and he had Dr. Edgar to take care of me. Doctor arrive after I was born
Sat up August 27
First tooth August 28
Second tooth September 2
Start walking December 22, 1937
Had Doctor Ashe care for mouth troubles (gums red) July 1940
Toxin - Anti-toxin treatment first shot July 16, 1940 by Doctor Ashe and second shot August 16, 1940 by Dr. Edgar. Dr. Ashe was gone on Vacation
Had measles (rougeole) April, 1941 No doctor care
Broke her right arm (joignet) July 1941, Fixed at Delray Hospital by young Dr. Durocher
Broke her right arm again at the elbow October 24, 1941, fixed at St. Mary Hospital by Dr. Falk
Measles (3 days) April 1942

More Aunt Monica

(translated from the French where necessary)

My name is Marie Monica Agnes Beauregard
My address 8354 Navy, Detroit, Michigan
I was born today, Wednesday, July 17, 1935 at eleven o'clock p.m.
My mother Alberta Dalpe
My father Azarias Beauregard
I had no doctor because I was born before the doctor arrive - but I was taken care after birth by Dr. Durocher (paid $20.00) I had Nurse Monty
My Godfather Georges Blanchard
My Godmother Agnes Bresko
Baptised Sunday August 4th 1935 at 2:00 pm at St. Gabriel church on Vernor Highway at Norman, Detroit
Weight 8 3/4 lbs
First smile July 28, 1935
I had measles December, 1935
First tooth March 3, 1936
Second tooth March 12, 1936
Stood alone September 19, 1936
Had Whooping Cough (coquelouche) April, 1936
First steps October 2, 1936
Had toxin anti-toxin treatment first shot July 16, 1940 by Dr. Ashe, Vernor Hwy and second shot by Dr. Edgar August 15, 1940 (Dr. Ashe gone on vacation)
Had measles (rougeole) April 1941.

That's where that record ends. For the new record, congratulations Monica on your third attempt at retirement.

When I first read through this record, I missed the ditto marks under the word March for the second tooth and I read it as 12/36. I pictured this poor baby with only one tooth for nine months.

Walk Through

The resale lady, Christy did a walk through on my house this morning and made a note of all the things that the new buyer would have to accept "as is" if I was not willing to change them. There is very little that I am willing to change. I plan to take down the changing table and the cabinet in the downstairs bathroom and that's about it.

I put a value of $1,000.00 on the improvements that I can charge for which include the new carpeting in the living room, stairway and hallway; the ceiling fans in the hallway and bedroom, that she said could be considered decorative lighting; and I also plan to leave all the window treatments and the hall mirror and rugs in the basement and basement stairs. I have extra electrical outlets and a phone jack in the basement that Taj installed and the phone jack in the living room that Jeff put in when I got my computer.

For a person that likes to do their own decorating this will be a pretty good place.

Yet Again, more Theresa

Its only fitting that after not giving her a thought for sixty odd years Theresa can be the subject of another blog.

In things I brought home from Papa's house after he died, I have all the information about Mama's funeral. It turns out that it was at that time that Papa bought the headstone for Theresa's grave. There are receipts for two headstones. One for Alberta Beauregard, at Our Lady of Hope Cemetary and one for Baby Theresa Beauregard at Holy Cross Cemetary.

Theresa's is described as pink marble with a baby angel and a cross. Almost makes me want to go see it.

Movin on

We are doing so good. My linen closet is all set up at the new place. I just kept a couple sets of towels here. My bed linens normally live in a dresser drawer so they are not an issue.

The toy cupboard is empty and everything is boxed up to bring over after Jackson gets up from his nap. Toy cupboard is a euphamism for a bottom kitchen cupboard unit that we had in the basement on Navy that the kids kept their toys in. The cupboard is in my basement here and used for various storage as it will be in the new place but to our family it will forever be a toy cupboard.

We will be doing more packing tonight to bring over there in the morning and then I will be ready to gel for a couple of weeks. Erika will be back the weekend of the 16th to take care of any other stuff that can be done before the truck move.

Bought and Sold

I never want to buy or sell a house again as long as I live. I closed on my new place today. I did a final walk through with maintenance and I have the keys. The new cabinets have not yet been installed. The new basement floor is the same tile that is in my present kitchen. The kitchen tile in the new place has some nice blue in it that matched the counter tops. The new counter top was already there and it is beige. Good thing I'm not a matchy type person.

I went in with the attitude that I was going to read everything before I signed it. I got over that.

I have rescinded my present unit and the new one is my primary residence. I have parking lot tags for the new place, but they can't throw me out of here till 1/30/06.

I have a truck reserved for 12/26/05. Jeff is going to pick it up at 4:30 PM and we have it reserved until 12/28/05 at 4:30 pm if we need it that long. I'm thinking we can probably bring it back on the 27th but Jeff is in charge of that and whatever he says goes.

Gretchen is having Christmas dinner at Tonya's (Spicer) and her family will be here until Wednesday. I don't know Erika's timeline yet.

Steph is coming over this afternoon and I want to take a card table and chairs over to the new place and maybe move some of the clothes from my closet (and my new Joy Mangano designer hangers). I just thought of bringing a couple of lamps over also since there are no light fixtures in the bedrooms.

I can't believe how stressful this all is and I think I am starting to understand what heart palpitations are.

A Better Way

We all knew that Papa was pretty shrewd and could always find the best way to get things done. Even though that could be a trait that might become annoying to a wife, this is one of the times it paid off for him.

More Baby Theresa

I came across this in the packing, it starts in english and goes into French after the Godparents, so that part is my translation

June 30, 1934

My name is Marie Therese Beauregard
243 Campbell, Detroit, Michigan
I born today, Saturday at 8 O'clock a.m.
My mother: Alberta Dalpe
My father: Azarias Beauregard
Doctor Durocher - paid $30.00
No nurse
Godfather: Eddie Beauregard
Godmother: Germaine Laplante
Baptized Sunday July 1, 1934 at 3 O'clock in the afternoon at Holy Redeemer Church at Junction and Vernor Highway in Detroit, Michigan
Weight - 9 1/2 lbs
First smile: June 30, 1934
Died - July 2, 1934 at 7 O'clock p.m.
Buried July 3, 1934 at 3 O'clock p.m. at Holy Cross cemetery.
Description of my place at the cemetery
Holy Cross Cemetery, Detroit Michigan
Burial No. 30943
Grave No. 841
Lot No. 2
Section N
Deceased baby Theresa Beauregard
Undertaker A.L. Kent Co.
Office 8850 Dix Ave, Phone Cedar 0545
Supertendant residence 8930 Dix Ave. Phone Cedar 0545

The cause of her death, (my translation) Something broken in her stomach and she was spitting up black blood. (written French) Quelques chose de brisee en dedans de son estomac et elle remoyait du sang noir.

Flowers
grave blanket of white carnations from her father and mother
crown of white and yellow roses from her Godfather and Godmother

Serious packing

Its beginning to feel a lot like I'm going to move. Stephanie came over today and we got into some serious packing. The entire linnen cupboard upstairs is empty. The other hall cupboard has only towels and toiletries that I'm bringing with me. Stephanie took home a lot of stuff that I didn't want to just throw out or give to Purple Heart. Gretchen had already taken all the pictures with her. We went through and discarded a ton of greeting cards I had been saving for some reason.

There were a few other things mixed in with the greeting cards that Steph made me save. Like a letter from Adrienne that began with the sentence "I hate Gretchen" and the last sentence was the same. Steph thought Adrienne would get a kick out of getting it back.

We went through the green folder in my dresser drawer. It was a multi-pocketed folder wherein each of my children had a separate pocket in which I kept report cards, school pictures, birth certificates etc. It didn't take long for the green folder to overtake the whole drawer.

You now each have separate folders and Steph took all of Karl's stuff.

Its really just a drop in the bucket, but it seems huge right now.

Camping and Salvation Army

From John

Spending a week every year at the Salvation Army Camp (summer camp) with Ma (but no men were allowed). Maybe you and Monica might remember this as well.

from Monica
Do you remember at that Salvation Army summer camp there was a little boy who took a liking to ma, and he would sit next to her at the table with us to eat. One time when ma had a piping hot cup of tea, he rolled his hands over the steam of her cup, saying, "oh, that's nice & warm." Ma said to him "get your hands away from my tea!" (You know, little boy-dirty hands and germs and all.) I wouldn't have wanted his dirty hands rolled over my tea either.

from Paulette
I think we went to this Salvation Army camp just one time. Rita was 12 and I was 8. It was just mothers and children. Boys were housed separately but because Gabby was only 6 (or maybe 5 if it was before his birthday) he was allowed to stay with Mama and us. The little boy of the dirty hands belonged to a woman who was housed with us. She had one other daughter with her who was about Rita's age. I thought she was much poorer than us because her daughter did not have a bathing suit and went swimming in her underpants. Mama was scandalized, and thought she was too old to be doing that.

Families whose boy children were housed separately were still seated together for meals which is why the dirty handed (and they were always dirty) kid was at our table. It was cold when we were rousted out of our beds in the mornings and made to go to the dining hall for breakfast and he did like to warm his hands over Mama's hot tea.

On Sunday morning we were obliged to attend the Christian service with songs and sermons but that wasn't enough for Mama, after the service we met in our cabin and got down on our knees to say the rosary. Since the other lady was also Catholic Mama offered for her to join us. She accepted and called her daughter to come in. When the girl was leaving her friends to come in she explained to them that she had to go in to say the "rosalie or something like that" and she would be back shortly.

We learned lots of songs and games and did crafts. Mama got rid of us for long periods during each day and she didn't have to fix any meals, so it probably was more of a vacation for her than for us.

Somebody in the parish had told Mama that this camp was available to the underprivileged and I remember going on the streetcar with her and having trouble finding the building on Bagley where we had to go to sign up. I don't remember if any of the other kids came with us or not.



from John
Going to day camp one day per week in the summers.

from Paulette
Oh, boy, Day Camp. We used to have to walk, early in the morning, to the pick up spot. One year I remember being picked up at Wilson School, another time at Harms School. We would bring a bag lunch and the busses would take us to Rouge park where we would have organized games and crafts. There was usually a day during the week that was designated as Swimming day when we went to Rouge Pools (I think that's what it was called). After my first swim day Marcel asked me if we had swum with black kids. I said yes, we had and he said "And did it come off." I thought that was a mean thing for him to say. We had very little contact with black people and I don't remember being acquainted with any of them or having any interaction other than sharing a swimming pool.

Farms, Paper Drives and Ice Cream

Farms
from John
Going to the Ford garden with Pa where we used to pick our own vegetables.

from Monica
I don't remember going to the Ford farm to pick vegetables. I know that Marcel & Bernie did some planting, etc (farming or whatever) to grow those vegetables, and miraculously we had all of these tomatoes (maybe you, Gabby, helped to pick them, but I don't remember ever being there myself). Pa would wash all of the tomatoes, and he had these little wooden pint boxes he would fill them with tomatoes, and we would put them in the wagon & go around the neighborhood selling them for 10 cents a box. The neighbors were always glad to see us when we came by with those great tomatoes. Sometimes, to my chagrin, a person would go through a few of our boxes and create their own version of 10 cents worth.

from Marcel
Ford Trade School had gardens for the boys to work on. Henry Ford believed that everybody should know how to farm, just as he did when he was a youth. We always ate the corn that we brought home but had a surfeit of tomatoes. I was so pleased that I did not have to go and sell those tomatoes and felt a little sorry for you girls having to do it. Only now I find out you did not mind at all, and it was easy.

from Bernie
I DO NOT REMEMBER ANY OF YOU CLEANING THE HOUSE. I DID PLANT AND PICK TOMATOES THOUGH.

from Paulette
It was only recently that Marcel mentioned that Mama used to let us keep part of the money we got for the tomatoes. I don't remember ever seeing any of it. Maybe that's why Rita used to be able to buy us broken chips at the Better Made place on Vernor on the way to the show. I remember one year getting and being expected to eat purple corn. I remember the wonderful smells coming from the basement when Mama made her "ketchup" after the tomato harvest.

Paper drives
from John
I remember going up and down the street collecting newspapers with my wagon for the annual
church paper drive. Did any of you do that?

from Monica
Paper drives, yes St. Gabriel School would sponsor it once a year. They made it a contest between the grades. I remember one year my 5th grade class won. We had such a sport of a nun, she even made up a song for us which we sang every day during the drive. How could we lose? I think we got a day off from school as the prize. What a payoff!

from Paulette
Was that just once a year. It seems like it was pretty often. It must have been for several days at a time because I remember bringing my wagonload to the school driveway and watching them load it (and tally for my classroom) and heading out again to get more. And then starting all over again the next day. One year our nun assigned a "buddy" so no one would be canvassing alone. I got stuck with a lazy little Mexican boy named Manuel (we pronounced it with three syllables)


Ice cream
from John
Going to the out door ice cream social on the corner of Mulane and Gartner (I think). I think it was a church or VFW that sponsored the event. I think you were supposed to pay to get in but I used to just walk in without paying. Boy that ice cream was good (and all you could eat).

from Monica
Once a year in the summer the Baptist Church held an ice cream social on their church grounds. The congregation purchased coupons for ice cream on a paper plate. It was outside with big tables to sit. It was just at the end of our alley, and we would walk over there and look through the fence at all these people, with these heaping plates of ice cream. Once in a while, a man would walk over and give one of us a coupon & we would go through the gate and get a plate of it. I don't think I ever tasted vanilla ice cream any better than that!

from Marcel
The place that had the ice cream socials was the Masonic Temple on the corner of Lawndale and Senator. Ernest Butler was a member of the DeMolay at that Temple.

from Paulette
Marcel is right it was a Masonic Temple. The lot right on the corner of Lawndale and Senator was vacant and that's where the ice cream social was. The temple was next to that on Lawndale and then Pop's grocery store. Then the Navy bar, and right on the corner of Navy and Lawndale was a cleaners. On the corner of Mulane and Gartner was a store we called Kretchman's (sp). Do any of you remember the Red Store (corner of Mulane and Senator) and the Brown Store (on Mulane between Senator and Whittaker)?

I don't remember looking at the ice cream through the fence (was there a fence?), I remember being given tickets and standing in line for the ice cream. I just assumed it was all free. Probably the Masons took pity on us poor little Catholic children.

Beaches & French Fries

From John
Going to Jefferson Beach with the whole family on Sundays and swimming in Lake St Claire. Ma would bring a picnic lunch. I remember once Rita brought Jim Sheedy and he accidentally stepped in Ma's apple pie. I remember we all had bad sunburns and we hurt all the way home in the car.

from Monica
Lake St. Claire-During the summer, every Sunday we went on a picnic over there (summers are short in Michigan), always got sunburned pretty good from one week to the next. One year Sunday was immediately followed by the 4th of July and we HAD to go again. I felt like I went dragging and kicking the whole way; my skin burned so bad already. Didn't we use suntan lotion in those days? Remember the Uncle who had a French-fry stand over there, and he would give us these paper containers full of hot French-fries, he had some sort of vinegar to put on them. Ummmm so good.

I don't remember Jim stepping in the pie on a picnic, but I do remember that during the winters, Ma used the back porch, right in the corner by the door, to keep big pots of soup for the next day, no room in the fridge for that. And Jim was leaving, going out the back door and he wasn't looking, and stepped on the cover of that pot, and it caved, and his foot, shoe, pants, and all we soaking wet with cold soup. He was so embarrassed, I felt bad for him. Of course, we didn't have soup the next day.

from Marcel
I do remember the apple pie incident. My recollection is that we ate it anyway. The person with the french fries was not an uncle, he was Paul Gelinas. His trick was to put orange rind in his grease which gave it additional flavor. Paul was a piano tuner by trade.

from John
I don't remember actually eating the pie but now that you mention it I recall Mama arguing that since it was covered by a piece of wax paper it would be OK to eat. Yuuuk.


from Paulette
Before we started going to Maceday Lake it was to Belle River in Canada. Then for some reason we stopped going to Canada and started going to beaches way on the east side of detroit. Jefferson Beach, Willow Beach and finally St. Clair Beach. We used to go swimming every Sunday during the summer. Mama would go to an early Mass and while the rest of us were at church she would pack up the lunch and other paraphernalia and it would all be sitting on a corner of the back porch when we got home. All we had to do was change clothes, load up the car and we were on our way.
Before we had coolers like we use today, Papa used to have a big galvanized tub covered with a tarp and he would get a block of ice and cool his beer in it. I don't know if they also cooled soft drinks, I know we never got any.

There were usually extended family and friends there also. I'm pretty sure it was at St. Clair Beach that Paul Gelinas had the french-fry booth. Mama told me he got the good flavor in the french fries oil by frying fruit and putting in a teaspoon of vanilla. She started doing that and I continued that with my kids, but the only fruit I ever had was apples. In later days Paul opened a fast food restaurant on Vernor near Dix. Where the muslim temple is now.

I remember getting home on Sunday nights, sleepy, tired, and sun burned. I also remember the year that the 4th of July fell on Monday and we had to start the whole cycle again. I guess we usually had a week in between for the sunburns to level out a little. That day sitting crowded in the back seat was more torture that usual. I don't remember if we sang that day. We three girls, sitting in the back seat is where we did a lot of singing and harmonizing. Whenever Marcel was with us he joined in. I don't remember either of the other boys ever joining in.

I remember having to unload the car and take care of putting away the picnic stuff and hanging out the wet bathing suits and towels when we got home. Ma always said she would get everything ready but when we got home her shift was over. She went in the house and relaxed. I adopted that attitude with my own family.

Schoolgrounds, Shows and Johnies

From John
Playing baseball at Bennett school and climbing the school roof to get free balls. I used to climb the side of the building using the ledges and window sills. When I got older I would carry Pa's ladders to the playground to get to the school roof. That is where I got almost all my baseballs, one basketball and one football.

Do you (Marcel) recall trying to teach me to play football in the Bennett school playground? I do. But I don't remember ever actually carrying the ball much less catching a pass.

We all had some fun back then even though we had little money and our fair share of family problems.


From Marcel
I remember climbing the side of that school myself. The first time I had seen it done was by Buck Mulligan. Given the finger strength at that time it was easy.

from John
Climbing that school by the ledges seems a lot scarier today than it did when I was 10 or 12. However, I doubt it is any riskier than the rock climbers do these days (and they are old enough to know better).

From Paulette
Bennett schoolground - if we had a nickel for each hour we spent there. It was just across the alley and through a yard and across Senator. I remember that Mama was able to stand on the back porch and look for you guys and send us to get you to come home to dinner. I also remember that Mrs. Clark, across Navy from us used to holler for Donald.

I remember the guys climbing up on the roof to get baseballs but I thought it was just when one was hit up there and it had to be retrieved to continue the game.


Movie shows
From John:
Going to The Capitol (movie theater) on Vernor Highway on Saturday morning. We got to see two full length movies, a comedy and some newsreals all for about a nickel. I think Ma gave me the nickel just to get me away from her for almost the whole day. On the way home Bob Mealback and I would recreate the action scenes from the movie. I distinctly remember pretending to be Zorro (or Superman). We would get home late in the afternoon (for supper). Those were fun times.

Bernie, I vaguely recall that you were an usher at the Capitol. Do you recall the emergency exit door near the right front of the theater. The door latched on the inside and it lead out to an outdoor corridor that opened out onto Vernor. Bob Mealback and I used to sneak in to the show through that door sometimes. One of us would pay to get in then sit near that exit. When the usher was not looking he would quickly open the exit (which was shielded by a curtain) and the other(s) would run in and quickly sit down as if they were there all the time. What a thrill! We got the idea by seeing others do it first. Did you ever catch anyone doing that?

From Bernie
I WORKED AT THE CAPITOL FOR 2 YEARS. SERGEANT YORK PLAYED AND IT WAS VERY POPULAR. IT PLAYED FOR OVER A WEEK AND I SAW IT ABOUT 30 TIMES. IT WAS ON TV LAST MONTH AND I SAW IT AGAIN. IT WAS STILL GOOD.


From Monica:
So you went to the Capitol theatre on Saturdays? So that's why you were never around when the 3 of us girls cleaned the house on Saturdays and always ended up in major arguments over who was going to do what rooms, etc. And Ma would walk to the grocery store on Saturday mornings and do her shopping. Pretty sharp mother we had.

from Bernie
THERE MUST HAVE BEEN MORE ARGUING THAN CLEANING. I DO NOT REMEMBER THE HOUSE EVER BEING SUPER CLEAN.

from Paulette
I was never aware that Gabby was going to the show on Saturday afternoons. Its like the Capitol was the "boy" show and the Rio was the "girl" show. So if we cleaned house while you were gone to the show, what did you do on Sundays while we went.

Johnies Sweet Shop

from John:
Walking to Johnies and trying to talk Rita into serving me a free ice cream float. She never did. Later I tried it with Monica but she never did either.

from Marcel:
There is only one Beauregard that would do what you asked, all others would refuse.

From Paulette:

Monica worked at Johnies first and he was so pleased with her work he asked if there were any more at home like her and lucky for him there was. I started at Johnies on March 1, 1952. Rita never worked there. I don't remember you ever trying to get anything free from me, but it wouldn't have worked. I don't think I ever even ate a spoonful if ice cream that I hadn't paid for. I wish I could say I have been that honest all my life but when I used to do my income taxes while I had the house on Navy with the rental unit upstairs, I would drop to the bottom line to see how much I could get away with getting back and then work up to itemize my house income and expenses.

I loved working at Johnies. That's where I got my first taste of bookkeeping. I was working there when Social Security taxes first came into his life. It meant a lot more work in doing payroll and I was there to help him figure out the forms and the deductions. I think the deduction was 1/4 of 1 percent each from the employee and the employer at that time.

It was also during that job that I gave up the idea of ever being a teacher. Bernie dropped a comment about the time I was starting high school that we girls should become teachers and we could make as much as $2.00 per hour. Well, while working at Johnies and watching those kids from Wilson that used to come in after school, they were horrid. The day they bragged that they had made the teacher cry, and that they had thrown her chair out the window, I decided that wasn't for me.

Goodfellows

From Gabby:
I read your input about Monica you mentioned getting charity boxes of clothes. That reminded me of the free (I think) salvation army shoes we used to get once a year round Christmas time (I think).
I remember Ma would take us all on a bus to somewhere downtown (I think). I was about 6 or 7 years old. I don't remember Marcel or Bernie being there but maybe
they were (there may have been an age limit). I remember the shoe place was a very very large room with a very high ceiling (about 15 feet high) and huge round columns rising to the ceiling. It was crowded and noisy. It seemed to me to be controlled chaos. The shoes were not very stylish but they were very well made and sturdy. I never got a choice of styles, If they fit I had to take them. Then we were good
till next year. Being older than me maybe you or Monica remember this better than I and can fill in more of the details and put it on your Blog.

From Monica:
Those shoes came from a certificate in the Christmas boxes brought to our house from The Good fellows. Berni & Marcel were too old, but the 4 of us each got a big, long cardboard box from the Good fellows. The girls box always had a doll, some underwear, and I donÂ’t know what else, but always the certificate to go downtown and get some shoes. We all rode the streetcar with Ma (I think that was our only outing once a year with Ma by herself). I hated those clunky brown shoes, but they did last until the next year.

From Marcel:
We got shoes from the Goodfellows, a Christmas Charity. There was an age limit and that is why Bernie and I did not go when you went. When Bernie and I went it was probably to the same place, with the same confusion and disorganization. I was struck by all the blacks that were there, each time we went. The Goodfellows were good at raising money and distributing Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve. Their motto was "No kid without a Christmas". I think our family owes something to the Goodfellows for the charity they gave us when we were younger.

From Paulette:
The Goodfellows and the Salvation Army are two charities that I never minded donating to. They were both a part of our lives. Those goodfellow christmas boxes were very exciting when I was very young. You can bet we never would have gotten dolls like that every year otherwise. In later years I remember going to the Rotunda and seeing all the dolls on display. The goodfellows used to pass out dolls to women in large workplaces and these women would dress the dolls and give them back to be distributed to poor little girls (us). They may still do that. I also remember a year when Mama and Mrs. Gervais dressed dolls for us. Mine was dressed in green, and the other two were yellow and purple. I don't remember who got which.

Oh the shoes. I don't know what "styles" Gabby is talking about in boy shoes. Those all looked alike to me anyways. But the girls. When all my friends were wearing Mary Janes and loafers, we had "nun" shoes.

I remember when Rita graduated in age from getting a doll as her special treat into getting a book. I felt very sorry for her but maybe she was of an age to like the book better. I don't know what Gabby got in lieu of a doll or a book but there must have been a "boy" treat for kids his age.

Weren't the Goodfellows the "Old Newsboys". Don't they still sell special edition newspapers on streetcorners to raise money to make sure there is "No child without a Christmas"?

Correction

You guys have to remember that these blog facts are not written in stone. They are the recollections of my young life. Turns out I was way wrong about the Eldege family boys' citizenship and birthplaces. The Eldege family moved back to Canada shortly after the birth of Laurent who is only 3 weeks younger than Uncle Marcel. So only John Robert and Laurent had citizenship as adults. Marc came in and applied for citizenship the old fashioned way. At the time he married Jeannette he was a green card holder and required to register annually.

Jeannette told me about a time that two immigration officers showed up at their house ready to pick him up for not registering. All of you must know by now that Beauregards are "take care of business" kind of people and those officers were just wrong. Marc convinced them that he had indeed registered (he must have had paperwork) and they left him alone.

Gabby and Monica have sent long emails about recollections of their own and ideas for future blogs. I have copied those into a file and will do some editing and put them into posts. Stay tuned for further developments

Scholarship & Citizenship

Mama and Papa became U.S. citizens. I know they had to go to school for this and I know that they both went to night school and completed their 8th grade education. One of them had completed grade 6 as a child and the other only grade 3. I forget which was which. This 8th grade education was completed in English so they first had to learn to speak and read and write in English.

One story from their English classes concerns the picture book used in their class. There was a picture of a girl holding a glass of water. The text under the picture said "She has a glass." Mama, who was the faster learner, knew what it said and was quizzing Papa. He looked at the picture, saw the word She (it should be noted here that the word she in French is a form of the verb "to shit" in fact it means "is shitting") and of course his answer was "The girl is shitting in the glass".

Mama was a quick study and loved learning and school in general. She told me of a time as a very young child when she was staying with one of her older sisters. Another side note is that Mama was the second last in a line of 14 children. Most of her siblings were a lot older than her. We knew and visited with her younger sister Reine, and one brother Euclid.

I know there was another brother Arthur who was the last remaining at the homestead (which in Mama's youth included a general store and the post office, but in later years might have been just the farm). Arthur married late enough in life that I was aware that it was happening and then the new wife inherited the property. I got the impression that it was an irritant but not a really big deal.

Anyways, this older sister was a school teacher in a one room schoolhouse that had attached living quarters, lets call it a bedroom, for the teacher. Mama was admonished to stay in the bedroom while school was in session. She just couldn't do it. She kept creeping out into the schoolroom. She liked listening to the lessons and figuring out the answers. Finally the sister brought a chair into the doorway, and let her sit just inside the bedroom with the door open so she could watch and listen. I imagine she recognized a kindred spirit in me when I asked as a toddler "Why don't you let me go to school."

We were working in the kitchen of the house in Allen Park when she told me this story. She paused and said "I can hardly believe I'm the same person as that little girl. But I know it was me, I've been with me ever since". (Rough translation from the French).

Citizenship was offered by this country of ours to all children born within its borders. Eldege had several boys that were born during his stay in Detroit. As far as I know they started with John Robert and ended with Marc. That would mean John Robert, Laurent, Julian and Marc were U.S. citizens. In order to maintain their U.S. citizenship they were required at some age to live in the U.S. and at different times, John Robert, Laurent and Marc all lived with us on Navy street. Could have been for weeks, months, or years. I just know they were there, and then they weren't. I assume Julian opted not to take advantage of maintaining dual citizenship.

I remember that being drafted into the service was a concern of each of them. I believe Laurent was 4F, possibly the beginnings of the ailment that he ultimately died from. Marc married young and started a family which exempted him but John Robert did indeed have to serve. I have never met a person before or since that was so bitter about his Army experiences. Get him to tell you about it sometimes.

What with having to serve so unwillingly in the army, you might say John Robert paid dearly for his citizenship and all of his children were citizens. John's first marriage failed at some point and his wife, Loretta, moved with the minor children, back to Canada. Things happened, laws changed, laws changed back.

John's son Paul, who lives in Fowlerville got caught in the middle. There is a 3 or 4 year period of either U.S. or Canadian law where dual citizenship was no longer offered. Where you lived at the age of your majority was your country. Paul found himself without U.S. citizenship. I don't know what his status is, but he was unable to get a U.S. passport. His recourse was to apply for citizenship through regular channels with the normal requirements of sponsorship and waiting periods. He was a little bitter of being caught in this position and he stubbornly resisted for years, but now with the tightening of our borders, and his mother guilting him that he won't be able to come to her funeral, I think he has finally taken out his citizenship papers.

How Many Beauregards

How many Beauregards you ask. Sean asked actually. Well, in the family of Leon and Louisa there were 14. Since you know there were 10 girls you can do the math. Besides Eldege, and Papa, there were Gerard and Robert.

Robert was hurt from a fall out of a tree as a child which left him crippled for life. I remember seeing him on our first trip out there and he was short and deformed and I'm ashamed to say, I was afraid of him. He never married or had children.

Gerard had a farm about a mile away from the old homestead and I can only remember 4 of their kids, so I don't know if there were more than that or not.

I already mentioned that Mama had 7 children in 10 years. My own first 4 were born in 4 years but the baby birthing championship goes to Pat who had 6 in 5 years.


In my scope of knowledge however, the longevity birthing championship goes to Yvonne (Eldege's wife) who had 16 children in 22 years. We know one only lived a few days and is buried in Detroit. Two others, Luc, born in 1939 and Francoise, born in 1941 had died before I became aware of the family.

This picture of the family was taken at the parents 50th wedding anniversary. As far as I know only Laurent has since died and they have 12 surviving siblings.

In 1996 I was in Canada for a birthday party the kids gave for their mother (her 94th birthday) and they did a count of progeny. She had 51 grandchildren, 105 great grandchildren and 17 great, great grandchildren.

I have been trying to keep a family tree for the Azarias family and I'll see how I can put that into a posting.

Surviving Tantes

These are the surviving Beauregard Tantes.

Julia, Monique and Alfreda in that order. The fourth one, Marie Clair was disabled by an anurism many years ago and lives in a nursing home.

The party Tim referred to is one I'm not familiar with and maybe he can fill us in on his impressions of the Canadian connection. The only guy I can think of that was ordained would be Dennis Pion (of the first batch of Pions whose mother was Flor). He became a Jesuit priest. His older sister Jennine married into the Bombadier family. Y'all probably don't know that Joseph Bombadier invented the snowmobile, branched into SkiDos, SeaDos and I think they are even into aeronautics now.

Dennis was Monica's age and was always one of my favorites because he was english speaking, even when we were kids. I can't remember why those kids spoke english. Their dad (Leo Pion) was a barber in the town of Acton Vale. I don't remember that being a big town or anything.

Come to think of it, I think my mother's parents were english speaking. They operated the general store of Roxton Falls which included running the post office. My mother told me stories of how her dad used to write letters for people who couldn't write their own and post them to America for them.

Papa met her at that store and was worried because she was a year older than him. Not that the age made that much difference, but it meant that she would be on the dating market before him and might meet someone and not be available when he reached the age of dating. Dating in those days meant that you visited the girls family on Sundays.

I recently learned from Rita that when a courtship got really serious the young man was welcome to visit on Thursday evenings also. So, when she first started going out with Jim, he was allowed to come over on Sundays and Thursday nights.