Take a Box of Kleenex - - -

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Meet my first baby.

Keri Rachelle Broyles

She was sweet and spunky, all girl and yet a tomboy.

She grew up into a beauty - - - inside and out.
She's Keri Baker now.

She has a heart that really cares for others less fortunate than herself.

Now she's a mama to her own two babies.

But you know what?

God called her to leave her two babies,
Travel all the way to the other side of the world,
And share His love with hurting people.

She knew she was supposed to go,
And even though her heart struggled against it,
She packed her bags and went.
She obeyed.

You can read, in her own words,
What happened in the lives of others
And what happened inside herself
All because she obeyed.

Please go to The Baker Family
And read her words.
It will take you a little while,
But it will be soooo worth it.

Take a box of kleenex.

And before you click away from her page,
Please leave a comment so she'll know you were there.

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Our "Kids"

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Are kids no more.

Can you tell they're siblings???

Those apples fell together right at the bottom of the tree.

Korie (3), Keri (1), Kelly (2), Kyle (4)

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Reunion In My City

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Forty years ago today I was in Africa on the adventure of my life.

Just a little over a month before that, I had graduated from this institution:


Good old Lincoln High School in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin.

Sadly, there is now a NEW Lincoln in this town, though I doubt it educates its students any better nor provides more memories than did this, our beloved Alma Mater.

This weekend those of us, who could, from the LHS Class of '72 gathered in to celebrate our friendships and remember.

Yours Truly, Barb, Cindy, Claudia

We started our weekend celebrations Friday afternoon at my house with a gathering of four of the "girls."

Friday night there was a meet and greet event.

Memories were shared. There was laughter. There was catching up.

I must confess I didn't know very many faces in the crowd.

I also wondered how all of THEM got so old while I am still so young. HA! (No, I DON'T mean this particular couple, they look nice and young to me.)

When did this happen? How can it be that high school is 40 years behind us?

Cindy, Claudia, Perry, Moi, Barbie

Saturday morning the old "group" met for brunch.

Cindy and Barb went to yet another reunion event on Saturday night.

I guess I'm old after all, for I was about partied out and stayed home. Hmmmmm I wonder what excitement happened that I missed.

So, to all you young whipper snappers out there I say: Don't blink! Your 40th will be upon you before you know it!

Joining Unknown Mami
For Sundays in my City.

My city is Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin

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High School - - - Forty Years Later

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Dear Erin of Wedded Bliss Road, oh how I WISH I meant fauxty!


Here we are. Four "girls", high school friends all, who gathered at my house yesterday to visit.


We filled our plates with goodies - - -


Including these delicious chicken salad in mini phyllo dough tarts brought by one of the "girls" - - -


Then we giggled, chatted, and caught up for about three hours. One of them hails from Minnesota, one from Iowa, and the other from Washington (state). I'm the only one of the four who lives here in our high school home town.

We didn't catch up enough yet, so we're meeting this morning at 10 for brunch.


About 6:30 or so we joined others from our class at the "real" reunion.


By the end of the evening there were quite a few of us there but I'm ashamed to say that other than the "girls" who spent the afternoon at my house I really only knew one other guy from high school. Oh, there was the occasional name I recognized but they weren't folks I hung around with much.

Now, before you think I'm totally senile - - - there were 530 in the class of '72 and many of them I never even had one class with during the entire 4 years.

I kept looking around and wondering how they all got so old when I was still so young. HA!!

When we arrived my friends teased me that perhaps someone would confuse me with my sister. (That would be Sister Pam, my only sister, who flits in and out of this blog and its comments at will.) I replied, "Oh I don't think so - - - this is our class, not hers."


The words were BARELY out of my mouth when this guy hailed me with: "Keetha Heavilin!! Where is your sister???"

Sister Pam, he's covering up his name to see if you can guess who he is. Guess away before I tell you the REST of the story.


If only I had known back in the day that Clint Eastwood was in my class, just think of all the bragging rights I could have had over these many long years:

(Said in a deep, authoritative voice) "Well, I graduated with Clint Eastwood!"

(Lest you get too excited - - - it was a joke - - - he isn't really Clint.)

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Seven Fragments For Friday the Twenty-Seventh

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When I was on vacation I made multiple posts per day, but since returning home I'm pretty much postless. Thank goodness for Mrs. 4444 and her weekly fragmented party which has inspired me to scrape together some crumbs to share.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

How cute are these little party napkins? The flip-flop part is me to a "T" - - - but the other is just wishful thinking I'm afraid.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

My friend Eloise (pronounced E-Lois) gave me a little wooden village for above my doors. She has a village at her house that is very similar to this and she KNEW I'd been coveting it for a long time.

She happened on these at a garage sale.


Now we both have our own set, and I'm happy as a clam at high tide.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Evidently Fisherhubby got tired of his phone charger cord (I THINK that's his phone charger, it's SOME I-charger anyway) falling down to the floor when he wasn't using it, so - - -


He came up with this little invention to hold the cord in place. It's a large paper clippy thing clipped onto the hinge of his bedside table.

Sometimes he's pretty clever for a 14 year old.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Once upon a time SOMEONE in this house spilled HIS coffee onto the carpet.

SOMEONE cleaned it up with carpet cleaner, and for a while it LOOKED clean.

But - - - IT'S BACK!!!

I cleaned it away tonight, but how long it will stay gone I cannot say.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

I brought home just a few little decor pieces from my northwoods shopping adventures. The first is this Loon Family S & P set. it's hard to see, but there is a tiny baby on mama's back, or is that papa?


I found this dragonfly pottery mug in one of my favorite shops. I knew we NEEDED it to remember all the dragonfly love on the boat deck.


This is an antique teacup and saucer. It is so fine and thin it is translucent.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Since I'm pretty much incapable of GROWING flowers and keeping them alive (which is no easy task in a drought anyway) I found an old watering can and filled it with flowers and butterflies that can't die.

At least they can't die of natural causes.


* * * * * * * * * * * *


Tomorrow I'm hosting a few of my high school girlfriends for a little gab fest. I'm excited for this opportunity to use my party plate snack sets.


On the menu will be fresh fruit, chicken salad pastry tarts, cheese curds, eclairs, and sparkling cran-apple juice.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Now please hurry over to Mrs 4444's place
and see all the Friday Fragments!

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Seriously, What Is This Stuff???

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I heard distant rumbling.

The sky darkened.

Suddenly I heard "things" hitting the house, driveway, and patio.

What IS this stuff???

Stuff that appears to make the patio get wet????

What IS IT????

It's kinda hard to see through it for any distance.

What IS IT???

It splashes!!!

What IS IT???

I THINK it's making puddles in the street!!!

What can it be????

Fishserhubby was so perplexed he went right out to sit in it and see if he could determine what it was.

It only lasted about 10 minutes, then the sky got sunny once more.

Nary a dark cloud on the horizon.

But for ten whole minutes we got to experience something we haven't seen the likes of around here since early May.

Perhaps we only imagined it.

NOTICE: While all our grass appears to be dead, there are weeds that are THRIVING in desert conditions.

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Uh - Hum

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It would appear that once I get home from vacation my normal life is so boring I have nada to say.

We are fine - - - just slipping right back into our normal routine and rut.

Not to worry - - - FOOTBALL SEASON is coming and I usually have plenty to say then.

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2012 Northwoods Vacation Tallies

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Fish Caught by Fisherhubby - 313

Fish Fried and Eaten - 0

Fish Filleted and Frozen - 16

Mouse in Cabin Sightings - 6

Mouse Trap Clicks - 1

UFO Landings - 1

Sasquatch Visitations - 0

Red Foxes Peering in Patio Door - 1

Wile E. Coyote - 1

Hoppy Toads on Deck - 3

Keepie's Puzzles Piled-Up - 7

Books Read - 2

Dragonfly Love on Boat Deck - 2

(Just want to save these in my blog for posterity, as if posterity will care.)

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Returning To My Dry and Dusty City

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Yesterday Fisherhubby and I returned home from our very restful and enjoyable two week vacation in the northwoods.

As we wended our way toward home Fisherhubby, who is quite directionally challenged and may or may not be able to find his way out of a paper bag without my direction (eh-hem), missed the entrance to the interstate.

I knew where he was headed would take us quite a ways off the beaten path, so I began to look for a highway that would return us to the interstate.


In Wisconsin most of the county highways are assigned a letter of the alphabet rather than a number.

So we have P's, Q's, and even Z's all over the place.


When a county has more than 26 roads, it begins to use double letters.

Back to my story - - - I noticed on the map that the next road that would take us over to an interstate exchange was HH.

I told Fisherhubby that unless he WANTED to take a bit of a round about detour for the sake of seeing the countryside, he could take HH to the left a few miles ahead and that would put us right back on the interstate.

He said he was sure he wouldn't be able to find HH.

Oh I did bite and said, "Why not?"

"I won't be able to see it," says he.

"What do you mean you won't be able to see it????" queried I.

"Well," says he, "I don' t know my AA, BB, CC's."

"If you don't know them, how do you know they go AA, BB, CC?" I asked. (I do step right into his plots, don't I?)

"That's all the farther I know them." Says he.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

You may notice that my two above photos show progressively browner and crispier vegetation.

That's because I took those pictures in sequence as we got closer to our county. While we enjoyed 5 or 6 healthy showers/storms just 3 and a half hours north at the lake, only a few teaser drops of rain fell on our city.

The last photo is our front yard.

That's what happens when your lawn hasn't had more than teaser drops of rain since May.

It's called a drought, and we've got it.

And that's what's happening in our city, what's the news in yours?

Joining Unknown Mami
For Sundays in my City.

My city is Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin

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WE HAD A VACATION UFO LANDING!!!!!

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Now where's Sasquatch when you need him to make your vacation tallies complete?

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What Norske Nook is Known For

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My pecan fudge.


Fisherhubby's mounds candybar pie.

And yes, yes we are eating pie at 10:38 AM.

There's a reason.

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One More Roadblock

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Not so fast, spanky!!

I tried to pull the boat trailer over to the landing to pick up FH only to encounter this roadblock:


Naturally, being a lady and all, I can't back the trailer up so I had to walk back and get Terry.


He hopped in his truck with his handy dandy chainsaw and cleared a path for me in no time.

I TOLD you that was SOME storm this morning!

Now we're well and truly on our way - - - I think.

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Head 'Em Up And Move 'Em Out!!

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5:30 A of M I was awakened by a sea-sized gale threatening to come right in upon me.

I needed to be up early packing to leave anyway.

But not THAT early.


The hurricane force wind knocked the top out of one of our trees. Same tree another storm took out half of two years ago while we were here.


Today's storm picked up the neighbor's inflated party raft, cinder blocks and all, and deposited it next to our dock.

Oh well, we all survived, except the tree.

So, with that early rising bell, we are all loaded and ready to hit the road well ahead of schedule. I'm just enjoying a few minutes of AC in the peaceful cabin while FH pilots his little ship over to the boat ramp, then we're outa here.

Later gator.

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