July 2018 – Page 2 – Asbery's Echoes

Almost Done

It took us all weekend but we are finally almost done! We had rain, lots and lots of heat, bugs galore, one minor blood drawing mishap, a few “words”, took a break to go to supper at Belva Deer with Dad and Mom but for the most part everything went pretty smoothly and the fence is up! And it turned out beautifully! We searched in Pinterest until we found something we both liked. Joe sat down and figured out how to build it and here it is! It’s not a very long fence as you can see but it’s going to help tremendously I think with blocking the view from the gravel road although Joe thinks we should extend it onto the end of the deck that butts up to the patio. We’ll live with it for awhile and see how we feel next spring. I’m guessing we’ll end up extending it. Now we just have to wait for the dirt to dry out so we can fill it in and put the blocks back down and then it will be finished. I love the way it turned out and am blessed to have a husband who can envision what I want and then build it for me!

Almost There

This is going to keep us busy this weekend – if it doesn’t rain. We are so close to finally getting our deck/patio/whatever you want to call it done! Earlier this week we trimmed the tree that overhangs this area. It had so many dead branches and branches hanging over the house and hanging so low we had to duck to walk around the patio. That was a job I’m glad is done! There is going to be a decorative fence of some sort here. Right now there’s the driveway and then the old garage is situated between the driveway and the gravel road which gives us a little privacy from the road. Once that comes down it will be wide open – and we will also be able to see the back of the neighbor’s house across the way which means they will be able to see our patio/deck. Not what I want. They are great neighbors but I live in the country for many reasons – and privacy is one of those reasons. (I want to be able to step out my backdoor in my pj’s without being seen!) So – we’re going to put up a decorative fence. I’m hoping we can get it done this weekend. Then if the heat ever breaks and the bugs ever leave – we can sit outside in the evenings and just enjoy this area. Next year I can concentrate on decorating this space and the fence itself – something to dream about and plan over the winter! !

Grandpa Asbery

I ran across a beautiful pattern by Lori Rippey called Crow Hill and I knew I had to stitch it but I wanted to tweak it a little to pay tribute to my Great Grandfather Asbery Bond. I never knew my great grandpa but I’ve heard stories and I’ve always felt drawn to him. For years there was a little county park named Bond Hill after my Bond ancestors over by the Richland area. They donated the land to the county and up until recently the county kept it as a small county park but I just discovered that it’s no longer there. So, I saw this pattern and thought it was perfect. But then I stitched it. And I do love it – but – all the stories I’ve heard of Grandpa Asbery portray him as an outdoor person who spent the majority of his time living in a cabin on the Skunk River and this picture just doesn’t seem to fit him.

After sharing this picture on Instagram with an explanation as to what it represented to me I received a response from someone who is a distant relative. She wrote that we were related through Asbery Bond. I had known we were related and through the Bond side of the family but wasn’t exactly sure how. She went to school with my daughter so is a lot younger but she’s interested in family history and doesn’t know a lot about this side of her family. To make a long story short, I dug out some old family history with the intention of photocopying everything and giving it to her. Of course as I was digging this all out I just had to sit down and read some of it and I realized that my Bond Hill stitchery just isn’t accurate at all. There was no way this grand old home in any way represented Grandpa Asbery. One of his grandchildren, my dad’s first cousin, wrote that Grandpa Bond was a “throwback to Daniel Boone and many other early Americans.” He also wrote that Grandpa lived in a one room cabin or what he stated would be considered a shack today. My dad has always talked about the cabin where Grandpa lived during the summer months along the banks of the Skunk River.

So – I don’t think this is a fitting tribute to Grandpa Asbery Bond. I’m going to have to do more than changing the Crow Hill to Bond Hill and the black birds to blue. I’m thinking a cabin should replace the grand old home and there needs to be an American flag to represent a very patriotic man who fought with Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders. But I love the birds so they will stay although maybe black crows instead of blue birds like the original pattern. And I like the flower as it looks like a wild Black-Eyed Susan to me, something that would grow wild along the banks of the Skunk River. And maybe even a skunk if I can design a realistic looking one. There’s also a story about Grandpa serving skunk to a visitor one day. I’ll have to share more in another post but Great Grandpa Asbery Bond sure seems to have been quite the character. I missed out on knowing him here on earth but I sure do look forward to meeting him someday, God willing!

Knee High By The Fourth Of July

Picture taken at Dad and Mom’s – not on 4th of July but the 8th – it’s a tad bit taller than Drew!

There’s an old saying around here, Knee High By The Fourth of July, which pertains to the field corn. The farmers hope for the corn in the fields to be knee high by the Fourth of July. I think they made it this year! Not only did it surpass being knee high but it’s tasseling too! The corn is loving this hot humid weather. They don’t detassle much anymore but I don’t know anyone my age that hasn’t detasseld a corn field at least once in their youth. Dad was never going to allow me to detassle because he knew what went on in those cornfields between the teenage boys and girls but then my softball team contracted a field so he let me be involved since it was all girls. By the time we were done – I sure was wishing he’d said no! I think you either loved it or hated it and I definitely did not love it! It was hard, dirty work. I was short and couldn’t reach the tassles. It rained almost the whole time we were out in that darn field. We had a machine to ride but it got stuck more than it ran and we were constantly pushing it out of the mud. You’d go out first thing in the morning and have to walk through spider webs. The only positive about detassling corn for me was the money I made – I bought my own saddle! The next summer I worked at the local Tastee Freeze. I could make more money in a couple of weeks detassling than I could the whole summer working for Mort and Julie but I didn’t care. I loved working at the Tastee Freeze! But I still love looking at the corn fields.

Gravel Roads

I love gravel roads! I love when we take off in the car for a drive and Joe decides to head down a gravel road. I really like taking off with Joe on the four wheeler on the gravel roads around our house. There’s just something about the unknown – not knowing what you are going to see over the next hill or around the next corner. Of course we live in southeast Iowa so there’s not much that’s going to surprise you – even when you don’t know the road. But I love seeing the old houses and old barns, the cows and pigs and the corn fields and the timbers. We were actually headed to Bettendorf while on this gravel road. Joe left his billfold at the campground when we went home to get cleaned up and rather than backtracking to the highway from the campground he took gravel. I was okay with that – I’d much rather travel a gravel road than drive along on the highway anyday!

Back To Normal

I love our small town parade. So much patriotism, lots of kids, old cars, horses and fun! See the green and gray building in the background? This old car belongs to an old schoolmate of mine and his passenger is an old friend who worked with my mom at the bank. Her husband was my government and econ teacher in high school. My dad had his barbershop in the right half of that building for years. And there was a laundromat on the left side. Once in awhile my sister and I got to go over to the laundromat and visit August and get a bottle of pop! Now I get my taxes done there and I get my hair cut in the back. At one time the upstairs of this building was a hospital – that was long before I was born!

Wow – we had a busy last few days! We sold shave ice on the 3rd and the 4th, the weather was unbearably hot and humid (which is good for selling shave ice but hard on these old bodies!), our freezer decided to misbehave during this time so we dealt with that, the 4th of July parade, getting the camper ready for camping on the 5th, the freezer apparently had some stale water in a drippan underneath that provided us with one horrible horrible smell that had to be taken care of, finally made it to the campground, had beautiful camping weather, managed to get in lots of stitching and relaxing, babysitting Bayah at the campground Friday night, a wedding reception in Bettendorf on Saturday night for my cousin, home with the camper yesterday, over to Dad and Mom’s last night to retrieve all our meat to put back in the freezer that is now up and running again. We had lots of fun but today I’m thankful to get back to normal!

Drew got to watch the parade with two of his buddies he hadn’t seen school let out in the spring!

Braxton won the greased pig contest in his age group – he was so proud!

There’s nothing better than breakfast prepared by the hubby over an open fire!

Drew put a few miles on his scooter over the weekend!

Little Miss Bayah spent the evening with us while Daddy, Mommy and big brother went bowling to celebrate a birthday. Drew was thrilled to get to spend some time with her!

Since it was just Joe, Drew and I camping this weekend we had a lot of free time – I chose to stitch – of course!

Tea and Cookbooks

I’ve made a batch of sun tea every day since I started making it earlier this week. Joe has been drinking it like crazy since it’s been sooo hot out. Yesterday I decided to make two containers to try and keep up with him! It looks so pretty sitting in the sun!

Does anybody still use these old cookbooks? They were a staple in my house for years. I have a small collection but always went back to the same two. They are literally falling apart and have to be held together with rubber bands. They are stained and ripped and falling apart and I’ve written in them. I would write the date I tried the recipe and what we liked or didn’t like about it.

I don’t hardly use them anymore. The reason why I even pulled them out was to get an old tried and true no bake cookie recipe. Now I find myself getting recipes off of Pinterest and Facebook. I print off the ones I like and keep them in a binder. I use my binder all the time – it’s handy because I can pull out the recipe I want, it’s in a plastic sleeve so I don’t worry about it getting dirty or ripped or stained. Or I go to my computer and find recipes I have saved. These “new” ways work great. But I think I need to pull these old books out again. These recipes are tried and true comfort food recipes. They use basics from the pantry. Things I usually always have on hand. And there’s just something about these old books, there’s something about picking out a recipe to make that was submitted by someone I know. A lot of these people are gone now but seeing their names brings back memories. I think the younger generations are missing out on something not having these wonderful old cookbooks to use. They are like old friends to those of us who use them!