Elizabeth's Journal

Tummy Bugs and Wasps--Ugh

Dale brought home a tummy bug earlier this week and has kindly shared it with me, so today (Thursday) both of us were under the weather. Jonathan has been a little trooper with both his mummy and his daddy not 100% (he keeps checking on our percents); hopefully tomorrow we'll feel better, or at least one of us will.

[NOTE TO JOY: Don't read this part.] To add insult to injury, this evening Dale brought the Ozarka bottles inside the front door from the delivery we'd gotten this afternoon. Then he came and peered at the pantry to see if he thought he could eat anything, and next thing I know he's said a very bad word and has pulled his T-shirt off over his head. Turns out a big nasty horrible wasp, with two long great stingers, had come inside with him after he got the Ozarka bottles. He batted it off of him, but it stung his hand about 3 times on the way down. We found it lurking on a Crisco bottle at the bottom of the pantry, and Dale gave it some good hard whacks with a magazine. After that, we decided the little gecko in our bathroom could stay the night--we're done with bugs for now.

Excited about the Tour de France

I am so excited about the individual time trials--and who will ultimately win the yellow jersey--that will be held on Saturday for the Tour de France. This has been so fascinating this year; last year was the first year I watched any of it, and that was only because of Dale. I had absolutely no idea what it was all about--I thought it was a bunch of cyclists racing over many days to see who could finish in the least time. The fact that they race in teams, not as individuals; that there are actually many different "winners"--four different jerseys to be won (yellow for the overall winner, green for the sprinters, polka dot for king of the mountains--I think?, and white for the best young rider); that part of one's strategy might be to lead a breakaway for a while because that gives publicity to your sponsor . . . I had no idea about any of this, and certainly no idea about domestiques or team racing. Also, part of what makes it fun is the incredible quality of the OLN (Outdoor Living Network) coverage and commentators. One of my favorite things are the promos with Bob Roll--I laugh every time. Lance Armstrong's site has lots of interesting columnists and information.

Public Speaking to Criminal Justice Professionals

Tuesday morning I, along with three other women, am participating in another panel presented by the Texas Victim Services department. This will be my third panel; the first one was a couple of years ago, and the second a few months ago in Lockhardt. It will, however, be my biggest audience yet--I was told between 200 and 300 people (gulp!). I don't make any notes or outlines of what I'm going to say since that runs the risk of making what I'm going to say canned or rehearsed, but that adds to the stress factor a bit too.

Previously the panels have been part of training for criminal justice professionals--probation and parole officers, police department victim assistants, counselors, etc. I'm told that the group tomorrow will also include lawyers and judges. Last time I did this, I received an offer afterwards to speak at the federal prison in Bastrop, but I'm not too sure how I'd feel about speaking to offenders, even if they are white-collar criminals, which is apparently what the Bastrop prison has.

Anyway, I find these occasions stressful but worth it--the feedback from people who attend say that our viewpoints and first-hand accounts are amazingly insightful and valuable to them in their work, and if I can help a future victim by providing some insight to a criminal justice professional, then at the moment at least, the stress is worth it. Also, since I generally had positive experiences with the police and DA's office, it is nice to be able to say what was good about that and let people who work there know how much even a small gesture or effort can help--telling people about the way they do things right is every bit as important as telling them when they need improvement. But it will be nice when it's over!

What All Male College Freshmen Look Forward To

Tonight I went over to get my grandpa's chair from Jennifer & Stepan--now that they have their lovely new furniture, my old chair just takes up valuable space :-(. I managed to hang around long enough to get fed and then play a game of three-person cribbage (NOTE: everyone ask Jennifer about the new math).

At some point during the game, which was lots of fun and made me remember all the evenings Jfer & I spent playing cards in my condo when I was a senior and she a sophomore at UT, I realized there were three of us sitting around--and therefore we needed only one more to make us four, and who's coming to Austin next month? Matthew! So I said, Hey, when Matthew comes up, we'll have enough to play euchre! Jfer was excited too, until I had a second thought and mentioned that perhaps playing euchre with his two older (female and married) cousins and one of their husbands was not exactly high on the list of things that he's probably looking forward to as a college freshman. And then she said . . . well, I guess I'll leave that for her own blog . . .

Just Stuff

Dale had a very nice day on his birthday--bike ride in the morning (a tough group ride, which could have been better when all was said and done), nice cuddle with his boy, a movie in the afternoon, and then the 3 of us went to Pappdeaux for dinner. We hadn't been there since before Jonathan was born. Our meal was quite nice and we had a lovely evening, but I think for the price--next time I'd rather just go to our favorite steakhouse (Austin Land and Cattle Company).

He gots lots of nice presents and calls from friends and family, and for all 3 of us it felt like a special day.

My damn fountain has stopped working AGAIN. I went out on the deck this morning and it was totally silent. I had just bought a new pump before I went to Kansas, and last night it was working--but today it is not. I tried plugging it into another outlet, but no luck. [lots of profanity inserted here] Am not sure what I will do now--may see if I can exchange for a new one, although I no longer have the receipt. Never hurts to beg, though--I mean ask.

Got the question from Jonathan yesterday morning . . . "When are you going to have another baby?" For now he is pretending that his little stuffed Paddington Bear is his brother. He also likes to pretend he's Eamon and I'm Jessica. Last week, after Kathleen & Matthew were here for the night before his UT orientation started, he pretended that I was Kathleen and he was Matthew. After our visit to Houston for Matthew & Courtney's graduation party, he pretended I was Felicia and he was Felicia's son. I love the way he loves his family and friends.

I am hard at work on getting in all the data I've collected recently to my genealogy program. I've decided to aim for entering new stuff for an hour a day, and maybe within three months I'll have gotten through all this. There's lots to do! Short-term I am focusing on making a CD with Grama Sprong's info on it, both for Carol and for myself.

Finished an interesting book this evening, but I don't think I'd recommend it because the father in the book was a pedophile and he beat up his children. Very good book, but who wants to recommend that to someone else? Oops, that didn't come out quite right, since someone else loaned it to me. What I mean is that I think it should come with a warning label. It was very well written though, and I certainly wouldn't not recommend it--just a warning about contents.

Jonathan's birthday is this Sunday, and we're having a small do about 1:30 p.m. with cake, ice cream, and party hats. Anyone who wants to come is welcome, and Jonathan would be thrilled to see any family member or friend who shows up. (Particularly if they have chocolate-covered raisins.) Sorry I haven't sent invitations--too busy what with the trip to Kansas. Time just goes by so amazingly fast these days.

The Stage is Set

Okay, I have done my middle-of-the-night work, and Dale should have a nice smile on his face when he gets up in the morning. Presents and birthday cards are piled high on the kitchen island and encircled by a "Happy Birthday" banner. Foil decorations hang from the light fixtures over the breakfast table, and another "Happy Birthday" banner stretches across the bay-style window that looks onto the deck. I cleaned up the remainder of Jonathan's toys that were out, so the room looks nice and tidy.

And I haven't even put out all the presents! Jonathan's and mine to him are being kept back, and they'll appear while he's on his bicycle ride in the morning. It sounds as though we may aim for a birthday dinner at Pappadeaux; I don't think we've been there for about five years. As long as they have chocolate cake, Jonathan will be happy, as he's determined that's what kind of cake his dad needs to pick for his birthday.

Happy Birthday, Dale!

"Why?" Stage of Development

I clipped a Committed comic panel a couple of months ago--this should make anyone laugh who's seen Jonathan within the last month.

A mom, with neatly folded laundry ready to be put away in her hands, has swirling, enlarged eyes in her head as she listens to her small child say, "Why can't I have my own shark? Where do snails go when they die? Will asparagus root in my stomach and grow out my ears? Is there a cure for snot? If I let my toe nails grow, will they fall off in my shoes? If I don't give a mouse a cookie, will he eat me? Why can't I hop on Pop? Why? Why? Why? Why?"

The additionally funny thing about this is that Jonathan is standing next to me as I make this entry, and he's reading everything I write out loud as I type it. He likes the "why why why why" at the end, no surprise there!

Settling In After Vacation

I just spent a fun evening with some different family names--I entered the Lucio information that Jennifer had given me last summer, so that her (and obviously Meredith's & Danny's cousins, aunts, uncles, etc.) family information now goes back at least two generations on both sides of her family now in my database. It was a nice mental break for me, and I got to clear out a file folder that's been hanging around for a year now. I like checking things off my list!

Going on vacation was good for me--I've actually enjoyed cooking this week. (It helps greatly that Dale is now (and has been since his parents were last here) doing a great deal of cleanup in the kitchen.) This evening I did my own shrimp boil for the first time--some celery, an onion, black peppercorns, a lemon, some bay leaves off of my bay tree, and some thyme as well as a whole bunch of parsley from the herb garden. Simmer for 10 minutes, remove, then add shrimp and boil for two minutes. It was very, very tasty. I may never use that liquid shrimp boil again.

Yesterday I also did a quick side-dish stir-fry of zucchini (that's courgettes for you English people) and bush beans, the latter of which came from my garden. It's fun picking produce from my own backyard.

Recap of rest of farm visit, thru 5 July 2003

I've been checking the blogs out and everyone seems to be going into the summer doldrums (although some, like Kathleen and Leah, had the spring doldrums too). Hence my burst of postings here. It was fun to read Stepan & Jfer's blogs about their recent California trip, though, and Rita's pic of fireworks was nice.

The trip to the farm was so nice and relaxing--it felt I was there for two months instead of two weeks because it was so different from life here--more relaxed, I didn't have to think about meal planning or grocery shopping, and it wasn't humid! Mom has also acquired a wonderful habit of making a whole pot of coffee in an insulated carafe when she gets up (she's always the first), and when I'd get up in the morning, all I had to do was get a coffee cup and pour. Very nice treatment!

On Friday, 27 June, Daddy and I paid a visit to the genealogy section of the Mid-Continent Library in Independence, Kansas. It's amazing how fast the time goes! We spent about six solid hours there looking stuff up. Didn't find out too much exciting but did get lots of useful data. The first thing we did was to look at the microfilm of the original passenger manifest of the boat that the Karls came over on in 1850. We were hoping there might be a more specific location in Germany that was listed as their origin, but no such luck. In a different source, I did find one of the children, Valentine Karl, with a tombstone inscription of "born Rhein, Bavaria", which coupled with some other stuff has led Daddy to focus on two particular towns as possible origins of our family. Further progress is up to him since it requires German. Also did some searching on the Keneficks, Dohoneys, and McCulloughs, but didn't turn up too much. Frankly, part of what was useful in this trip was helping me learn what things I want ready when I go on a research outing. Luckily I was able to plug my computer in somewhere, and before we left Daddy scanned a bunch of things with his scanner and laptop. Technology can be a wonderful thing.

After all that research, it was 4 p.m. and we were hungry. I managed, very appropriately, to find a restaurant called The Rheinland Restaurant, within a five-minute drive. It was staffed and owned by Germans, with reasonably heavy accents, and very tasty--we had beer, bratwurst, and spaetzle. Yum.

Jonathan spent quite a few happy hours playing in the little pool Daddy bought for him, although there was one unforgettable moment the day before we left when he and Mom tumbled over the side and nearly went down the hill--water started pouring out over the edge as he was pushing Mom against it, and the next thing I knew Mom's legs were up in the air, and they were in the mud outside the pool instead of in the water inside it. After that Mom and I had to sit in the pool with a beer each to calm down. Pretty nice thing to do on a hot afternoon of July 4th, though.

In the evening of the 4th, we went to Atchison to see the local fireworks show. I thought in my city-girl way that it couldn't possibly last any longer than half an hour (would be too expensive), but we left after 45 minutes in order to get the little guy in bed, and it was still going strong. So much for my snooty ways. Before it got dark enough for fireworks, there were games down on the football field, and Daddy was lucky enough to appear right when the balloon toss for adults was announced. He was game enough to be my partner, but I dropped my catch the first time around--I was afraid to hold onto it too hard. Guess I need more practice.

One thing interesting that I did was read Grama Sprong's diary from 1932-1935. Halfway through I stopped reading and started transcribing it, not only so I could have a copy but so I could send one to my cousin Carol. It was neat to read Grama's comments about being around Grandpa (they were already engaged when the diary starts, and they married 2 Dec 1933)--young and in love. She also liked to shop for clothes, and she was already quilting.

Last but not least, Jonathan absolutely loved his Gator rides with his Boppa this year; last year he was a little uncertain and required sitting on Boppa's knee to do it, but this year he happily occupied the passenger seat. They had a little routine: go to the shop, Jonathan puts the door up, they drive out to the mailbox to check the mail, then down to the creek, then to see the cows. Then park the Gator in the shop. If I hadn't known all that when we were still in Kansas, I'd know it now--every day, multiple times, he rides his little car around the kitchen island, pretending he's driving his Gator to check the mail (the mailbox is apparently at the entryway where the wineglasses and telephone are), then he drives around the island some more and parks the Gator in the shop, which is by the pantry door and division of the kitchen from the den/lounge. He's very cute about it.

All right, I have more than made up for my lack of blog entries. Hopefully this will inspire some of you others out there--you know who you are!

Grama Sprong's Death, 1 July 2003

As everyone knows by now, I was unable to see Grama again--I did visit the next day but she was no longer there. We got a call about mid-morning that she had died. Not unexpected, not even unwelcome as I wrote in the last entry, but still emotional.

After lunch, Mom, Jonathan, and I went to Lawrence and spent two hours at the funeral home, Rumsey-Yost--and that's even with all the arrangements Mom had already made! Astonishing how much there is to do! Jonathan was fantastic and very well behaved, and good company as well.

Then we went to the nursing home to pack up Grama's things--mainly just clothes, but a few pictures and letters, some birthday cards that had arrived in the last week. It was strange being there without her. I felt like she'd just stepped out of the room, but I knew she wasn't coming back. One strange thing is that Jonathan, who knew where he was since he'd just been there for her birthday luncheon, never asked where she was or when we were going to see her. Little kids are amazing sometimes.

On the way back to the farm, five brilliantly white doves/pigeons appeared out of nowhere and flew across the road in front of us. It was like something had been dropped out of a movie; they were so very white. And no, those birds are not native to Kansas. Mom figured they must have escaped from somewhere; maybe someone had gotten married the last weekend and had them released at the going-away ceremony. Anyway, it was a special thing to see.

Grama's obituary appeared last Thursday in the Houston Chronicle, and it also was in the local Atchison paper as well as the Lawrence Journal World. I originally wrote a much longer one, and Matt (from the funeral home) said he fell over when he got the quote back from the Houston Chronicle--$851!!!!! Good lord. So we dropped the picture and I cut the words down by nearly half, and the total amount was much more reasonable. I look at the obituaries with a whole new appreciation now, and in the last couple of days I have seen some that nearly made me fall off my own chair, knowing what they must have cost (MUCH longer than mine). I also learned that if you want it to sound good, write the whole thing yourself--I did that for the Houston Chronicle one, and it turned out okay, but the others I just gave a bulleted list, and they are a bit more choppy and I think left out some things as well as included some stuff Grama wouldn't have cared about. Anyway, I suppose that doesn't really matter. At least there's nothing inaccurate in them! From a family historian's viewpoint, that's very important.

Grama Sprong's Situation, 30 June 2003

[This is the entry I sent in e-mail when I couldn't access my blog via the dial-up connection at the farm :-( ]

Hello all,

Let me preface this by saying that I am not so egotistical as to assume that all of you check my blog on any regular basis--but I know there have been some e-mails recently that I've not responded to in a timely fashion, so I want to make sure everyone knows what my situation is.

First of all, I am dialing up to my Roadrunner account, and dial-up bites the big one (that's the most genteel thing I can come up with). My connection keeps getting dropped, which definitely hinders any blog entries. Compounding the dial-up issue is that when I tried to create a new blog entry just now, I got the message that karlhub.com was not responding, so go figure.

Also, it's been busy here at the farm. Mom was gone last Wednesday and Thursday in St. Louis, and Daddy & I kept little Jonathan busy. One night we ate at the good steakhouse in Leavenworth, and our table was a sight to see--the three of us sitting around the table, each of us reading our own book! I loved it.
Today I went to visit Grama Sprong. The nursing home had called over the weekend to say that she'd gone into a decline, and that was certainly true. I don't know if she registered that I was there or not. I had taken some lotions with me to rub on her hands and feet, and I did do that. I also held her hand a lot and nattered on about various things. After a while I decided to give her a break from my voice and just held her hand while I read my book. Then I sat off to the side while the aides attended to her and repositioned her, and after that I tortured her with some of my singing--some of my favorite nursery rhymes that I've learned for Jonathan as well as the song she used to sing me to sleep with ("O, Soldier soldier will you marry me...") when I stayed the night at her house. I also learned how to apply moisturizing cream to her lips and to drip water into her mouth with a spongy swab thing; she has oxygen tubes in her nose, and she was breathing with her mouth open, which had gotten very dry. She was unable to communicate with me at all, either by moving any part of her body or by speaking. She seems to be at the point where she doesn't sleep--her eyes remained open the whole time, without blinking, I believe. They seemed to have a cloud over them, or a film. The bottoms of her feet are purple because there's no oxygen getting to them. I spent about three hours there and intend to return tomorrow for a while. I feel that even if she doesn't know it's her granddaughter Elizabeth there, that at least she may get the feeling that someone who cares about her and wishes her well is there with her. I sure hope for her sake that this stage does not last long.

Jonathan is having a lovely time out here. Last night he saw his first rainbow in the sky, and he is loving to play solitaire on the computer with his Gram (when they finish a game, he says "our goose is cooked", which sends him into a belly laugh). He and his Boppa went into Leavenworth today to return a DVD and get a newspaper, and they also went to a park for about a quarter of an hour (couldn't stay longer due to lack of hat and lack of sunscreen--Boppa didn't want to get in trouble). When I arrived back at the farm from Lawrence, Jonathan and Gram were sitting out on the deck playing Kerplunk and having a lovely time. Every night after he's ready for bed, Jonathan gets to call his daddy on the phone and speak with him--he looks forward to it greatly. I'm sure I'll be persona non grata again upon our return to Austin! Dale will be the man of the hour then . . .

So, this is essentially the blog entry I would have written had I been able to stay connected to the Internet and had I been able to access karlhub.com.

Love to all,
Elizabeth