COUNTING

 Numbers and I have always had a love hate relationshiop.  I had to repeat eighth grade general math.  Ugh.  I remember knowing my numbers as a child, my Aunt Ollie had me ask Central for three numbers but I kept reading the numbers on the dial.  In the first grade, we had a test write out number one through ten.  I remember asking a classmate how to make a six.  Later on when learning to read a clock, I always got them backwards.  The only times I performed well at math was algebra felt like telling a story only with numbers.  I got a good solid B for Geometry because I typed up the theorems using blue and red ink. As far as checking accounts are concerned, always remember the bank decucts before it credits, therefore you may NOT have enoiugh money in the bank to cover that thrice bounced check.  Um hmmm. Fortunately, Kindle does math like a genius.  Thanks Alexa. 

BUS RIDES

 Bus Rides I have taken.  When I was little Dad was working in eastern Oregon.  For some reason Mom needed to return to Emmett.  I think she may have been pregnant with Richard.  So Dad put us on a Bus to Ontario.  I remember smelling the very strong smell of onions.  Moms parents probably pickes us up in Ontario.  I do not remember if we took the bus back. Dad probably came and got us.  

During school there were lots of bus rides.  One of the more memorable one was the bus driver pulled over so we could listen to one of the Freedom Seven flights.  The other more memorable one was to attend the 1965 A1 basketball championship in Pocatello, we won and I screamed myself hoarse.  Lots of fun. 

Next was a bus rideMare Island To Reno, Nevada.  I was to meet Sue my first roommate.  The ride was memorable in that a drunk couple got on, got drunker, argued and were kicked off the bus somewhere along the highway. Got to Reno an met a handsome cousin of hers who had hemophila and took factor 8.  

The next bus ride was the summer I moved to Petalum.  I took the bus from Petaluma to Santa Rose to enroll in the college.  I was not working yet so did not attend.  I wish I had after I started working.  

After I married I was asked to be escort on Vickies senior trip.   We went to Disneyland although it was not long after the big quake.  We saw freeways knocked down. The driver got us there and back and did a very good job.  I had forgotten that there were very few places to sit down in Disneyland.  

The last bus ride was when I decided to go back to Idaho.  I borrowed two hundred dollars from Tony and gave them a beautiful seascape.  The bus ride was uneventful I cauhgt the Grayhound in Philo and rode it to Novato.  Over all the buses seem to attract odd folk.  But an inexpensive way of travel.

MEMORIAL DAY

 Today, I was thinking of all my relatives who served. Great Uncle Al served in the Coast Guard.  His brother Isaac was in the Army.  He got the flu around 1918 and died.  They are both buried in St. Cloud, Minnesotta.  Charlie Berglund did not serve during WWI or WWII.  He stayed at home, farmed and raised his family.

My father served at a Volunteer and was in Alaska, Kodiak and Matanuska valley.  My Uncle Carl was in the Air Force and served in Japan. Uncle Paul was in the Air Force.  My first husband, Mike, was in the Army in Viet Nam and discharged with schrapnel and a Purple Heart.  My present husband, Tim, served in the Air Force and was mainly in Texas.

My Mother's brother, Tater, was in the Army and served in Europe.  He was wounded and recovered in England and hated English food. He helpe free POW camps.   Grandma Horn showed me the telegrams from the Army and his Purple Heart. 

My husbands Father, Vester, joined the Army in 1943, he served in Hawaii as a medical corpman, which is a close as a Seventh Day Adventist can get to being a military objector. He spent some time in the brig for refusing to pick up cigarette butts on Sabbath.

My brothers, Richard and Phil both served in the Navy.  Richard spent two terms in Viet Nam; once on a gun boat in the Mekong and a second one as a Dog robber.  He loved the sheer chicanery of that job.  Richard stayed in twenty years.  Phillip was in about fifteen years.  He worked on Raytheon equipment then and when he left the Navy he worked for Raytheon and traveled to Spain and Italy. 

Gentlemen, thank you for your service.

OWIES 2024

Well, I have learned a couple of things due to recent events.

Last Tuesday, I turned wrong at Davita and extravasated.  The needle punched into tissue and was very ouchie until the maching was turned off. Got immediate swelling of right forearm.  I was taken off about two hours early.  So Vicks Vapor rub applied to bruise works surprisingly well. Heparin will be held until this coming Thursday.  Now it only itches and is UGLY!

Then last Wednesday, I got a can of beans out of the large drawer.  I turned backward to it to push it shut.  My lovely wool socks were no good.  Gravity won, I crashed my right hip on the edge of the drawer.  Tim and Carolyn got me up.  Plans were made to empty that large drawer and put goods in pantry. I now have left over quart jars and lids are now stored in that drawer.  I have to add several more canned goods to the pantry from the cupboards below the microwave.  Yay!!!

Also Phil called today to march me one more time to replace printer driver. Viola!! It now prints, Now I can blog and print to my hearts desire.  It is a good day Thaank you brother !!!

CONVERSATIONS

 CONVERSATIONS:

I had a nice chat with family members over the holidays.  I called Richard a few days ago at Davita.  We rebuilt most stories and then some. 

He and Cathy have been on a few quad adventures above Riggins.  They watched a herd of elk through a surveyors tran both he and Cathy saw Dad at their kitchen table a few weeks after Mom died.  He was holding a cup of coffee with a Berglund grin on his face. They have also seen some of their older dogs that are visiting them.  

When I talked with Aunt Wanda she said that when Grandpa Berglund died, Paul was driving along some where and saw him walking along the road.  She also smells Pauls after shave. Awwww. 

I told him that Mom told me a dream she had about a year before she died.  She dreamed that her parents  came to her apartment and told her to pack they were leaving. When she woke she found that her suitcase was packed.  

Richard told me a dream where he was walking along a sandy beach on a Caribbean island while drinking a Corona. Guess what he found in the pantry the next day/ A Corona? No, footprints in the kitty litter.  

I told him the story from the retired Navy Seal.  He helped the Coast Guard with a sunken submarine with drugs.  I asked him to tell me something I would never guess.  So, he reported to San Die;go for submarine school.  He walked around to get oriented.  At the corner of one of the building was a very tall, very old palm tree.  It was planted in 1915 by Teddy Roosevelt during his second term as President.  

Richard replied, I got one for you.  A general was reporting to command a new Naval Base.  He inspected the troops and noticed that two seamen were guarding a bench.  He asked what they were doing.  Standing Guard.  Why. We do not know, General.  He was curious and started asking previous base commanders what they knew about the bench.  No one knew.  He finally contacted the fifth commander and when told the story, exclaimed.  "Isn't that paint dry yet?"  We talked about tatoos.  I told him about the nice tech who got a gorgeous red and blue octopus on her back and left arm.  She showed it to Scott a temp and he said he had a rooster on the back of his calf with a noose around it's neck.  Um, why? That is so he can ask, "Would you like to see my cock that hangs below my knees?"  I have since learned that Richard has one as well as Rocky.  Definitely a guy thing.  Yesterday the same young lady said that there was a new gentleman patient.  They talked about tatoos and agreed that some men got tatoos on the tool. Ouch.  She said she had seen one where the guy had racing stripes.  The man replied that if he got a tatoo of a One hundred dollar bill he could ask, "Would you like to blow a hundred?"  Again a guy thing.  I suppose women could do the same, Tatoo of an arrow above pubes that says "Insert Tab A into Slot B".  Erk.

 FAMILY HISTORY:

I asked Aunt Wanda why Uncle Al left. She said Charlie was dying of lung cancer this was mid fifties. Al came and painted the house. He wanted to bury him St.Cloud MN because there were five plots there. Nellie said no and asked him to leave. Pretty sure the exchange was less than amicable. Al stopped to talk with Paul and Wanda. They did not hear a thing until they got a telegram from St.Cloud VA.  Al was admitted. They drove to see him , visited and got things arranged. There was a brother, Ellis Berglund. HD was in his twenties, HD wad in the Army, on a ship. He got the Spanish Influenza and died, not married. U clearly Al was in the Coast Guard. He was married five times, one wife worked in the PO in San Francjsco. Al spoke Swedish, English and Spanish.

I asked about Aunt Dorothy who was Nellie's sister.

YOUR MAMAS KITCHEN

YOUR MAMAS KITCHEN: I watched CBS Morning the other day. A lady was explaining that she had not written a cook book, The title was a question she commonly asks when she is interviewing them. What did you mama's kitchen look like. Well then. My mother's kitchen was perfunctory, sturdy and well stocked. She cooked on electric. We have some favorite recipes and some childhood abuse foods. We did not appreciate fried calf brains nor liver and onions. I have since enjoyed fresh venison liver fried quickly in bacon. Yum, pass the onions. My Grandmother Berglunds kitchen was usually filled with chaos. She used a pressure cooker for most meat, usually pork roast which Mom thought was greasy. I thought it was tasty. Nellie bustled about the kitchen eating off peoples plates while clacking her loose dentures. She only canned raspberries and she was diabetic. I remember seeing the vials of insulin when I was a kid. Grandma Horn's kitchen was geared for farm life and hard work. The stove was electric. Beneath the sink were large half round containers that held 100 pound of sugar and flour. I was small enough that I could crawl inside the cupboards and hide. Grandma made fabulous pies, my favorite was pumpkin. Her spending money consisted of eggs and butter. Ollie would bring a five gallon bucket of milk. Grandma would skim off the cream until the milk was blue. The eggs and butter went to Albertson' in town. Her favorite fryng pan was electric. She used the cast iron skillet to make popcorn. She had a Paul Revere sauce pan used for Hawaiian Penuche. My mother in laws kitchen was built on a scale to fit her, she was nearly six foot tall. The stove was one of those wonderful fifties white enamal things with a warming oven for plates and two ovens. The counters were done in tile and when she washed dishes she let them drip off befoe wiping them down, saved on water, no harm was done. Lot of venison steak cooked on that stove. Grandma LaVann's kitchen was a wonderful farm house in the woods design. Her son Phil purchased Philco fridge and stove right after WWII. The table had tin barrels that contained 100 lbs of sugar and flour. Her first husband was a baker in the Navy during the Spanish American war. The table was his design. The rolling pin was rather dainty dowel. I loved that thing. The cupboards held gun in one section, rifles. The largest gun was an over and under combination shotgun, rifle, Would love to know how much that thing is worth. The dining room was built in cupboards to hold Franciscan ware, I believe it was Apple Blossom pattern. Lovely. Lots of venison cooked on that stove as well.