50 Years

Fifty years ago this summer I graduated from St. Anthony School of Nursing. We had our reunion this past weekend. I attended the get together on Friday evening and the Mass and banquet on Saturday evening. I skipped the lunch on Sat. There were twelve out of the fourteen that graduated, present, at one time or the other. Some we hadn't seen since graduation. Four are still working. Some always worked, some intermittently through the years. All had children but one, who never married. One had divorced, but the others are still married. One that wasn't able to attend is in poor health and widowed. The other lives in Texas and had prior commitments.

Congratulations, Calvin!

Swimming vs Manning

We had a cooler breeze than I expected last night at the swim meet, and the mosquitos didn't attack! It was a nice night to be out and about. Jefferson easily won. Jeff swam the breast stroke for the Medlay Relay, the open free, breast, butterfly and anchored for one of the two freestyle relays. As anchor he and the other anchor slowly paced each other to the finish and I don't know which touched first. They didn't care, but the coach was complaining that she couldn't time splits that way. They were enjoying the time. It was the last race of the night and no competition from the other team.

Back to the 50's

Friday morning we headed to St. Paul for the Back to the 50's Car Show. We spent the day Saturday at the show. There were over 12,000 cars of all kinds. Many were really fancy and high dollar and some that would take a lot of work and dollars to make decent. Also there was a building full of crafts and some tents of crafts too. Plus there were all kinds of shops and concessions. Too much walking, but my foot did much better than I expected. The black Ford was Pop's favorite! All the crafts were my favorites. We had a good time and a nice place to stay, but always good to be home.

Swim meet against Guthrie Center

We went to Jeff's swim meet last evening. They had a home meet last Tuesday when I was working the election, so I couldn't go. He had another out of town meet Thursday, that I skipped. He has swam a little bit of everything so far this summer. Last winter he swam only freestyle. Last night they had a second in the Medley relay. Then He had first in both freestyle and breast. The free relay got a first too. Funny happening at the meet: This little eight and under, blond boy was up on #6 block. Sheila (Coach) was telling him what he need to do and etc. on this event. He turns, looks at her and sighs and tells her, "Don't worry!" It was nice weather for sitting out at a meet last night. There is another home meet on Thursday.

The Attic

Yesterday we (Us, Paul and David) got busy getting things out of the attic that we didn't want destroyed or taken. Paul had worked Sunday on burning old checks and said he had done 1966-2002, some of which were in the attic. We started on the attic again. Had to get going on it when it was still a bit cool. The oldest checks we found were 1942, but didn't dig into the bottom or may have found older. Most everything anyone wanted had already been removed. As a genealogist this Bible was a great find! It was marked on the front page as belonging to Great Grandpa George Washington Haynes and purchased in 1868 at a cost of $5. It's very dusty and stinky. The Old Testament was hardly worn, but the new Testament is in shambles. Leafing though, I was disappointed that there were no family pages of names, dates and etc. entered. I brought it home and left it in the garage, as nothing that stinky gets into the house! On examination I found glued to the back cover, an obituary of Oliver Drake. He was a brother of G.W,'s wife Phebe Drake Haynes and had died in 1889. It has the married names of Phebe's sisters, that I had never seen before. So more names to search!!! Always it seems with genealogy, any answer leads to more questions!

Bell Tower Weekend

Johnny received The Bell Tower of Fame award this year for his work in the dairy industry. (Dr. John F. Smith officially, but he spent too much time at our house to be anyone but Johnny) We had a good weekend. Dan and Nancy were here for his 30th Class reunion. Joan was too busy to be here for her 25th. Jerry drove in the parade to advertise the car show. Mara opened her card and presents we had here that weren't going to be at her party next week. Saturday was her REAL birthday, so she got to open them. (Joan, she was more than ready to dig into your gift. And I'll try to get a picture of your class's float on facebook. I have problems getting pictures to load there.) Karen had company this weekend too, so she was in her glory. They watched the parade in our area. The crowd just gets bigger each year.

Dance Recital

Abbey's senior dance recital is this weekend. A dress rehearsal on Thursday started things off. Performances were Friday night, Saturday afternoon and evening and the last preformance starts at 2:00 this afternoon. Abbey was in four numbers. For her senior dance, she teamed with a good friend, also a senior. She enjoyed her group of preschoolers. That group came with new and unexpected problems every time. She loved it! The biggest was the toto's itched and they had to be watched from scratching in embarrassing areas, to taking them off immediately! Also she had two sets of twins, one of which didn't get along side by side the first performance. Abbey always loves one dance with wild hair. Joan and her girls came for the Saturday afternoon dance. Of course they had to stop and see the duck before they headed home. Abbey has danced since she was two. She started a year earlier than most. The instructor had a daughter Abbey's age and they started at the same time and turned three a couple months before their first recital. (She had a smile most of the day. She has a hard time remaining 'stone faced' for the serious numbers. The sparkle in her eyes gives her away!)

Elementary Track Meet

Yesterday afternoon the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders took part in the annual end of school track meet. Calvin took part in the softball throw, and helped measure the girls contest. Everyone takes part in 3 events. He ran in the 200 and the home room relay. The last races each home room has everyone run, as they compete against each other. Some runners longer distances and some less, but everyone takes part. His classroom won their relay, he placed second in the 200, and did well in the throw. Teresa was a great announcer. She knows everyone's name and keeps everything positive. They use the high school track.