Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Izaac at Camp Stanhope this week.



On the left is a picture of the three remaining orphan kitties at our house, taking over the older cats' beds (Noel's in this case). The runt was having some major breathing problems again the day before yesterday, so I read some info online, and sprayed a little saline up its nose. It seems to have done wonders for her breathing! She wasn't even eating and of course, it was Sunday, or I'd have been calling our favorite vet.

The other picture is Alex and his dad, (great-uncle to Izaac) kissing Izaac on Sunday of party-week. Izaac visiting this week, and he is VERY interested in the kittens. Sometimes he's really gentle, and sometimes, not-so-much. But at 14 1/2 months, he's probably pretty normal with them. He's got a little bit of a cold, but it doesn't seem to bother him much.

Thursday, July 24, 2008


This is John relaxing Monday with the three kittens after their first trip to the V-E-T. They are doing okay, except for their ear mites, so dear Dr. Stribe gave them their first distemper shot, and put some stuff in their ears and on their backs to prevent more mites (and other bugs/heartworms). The only real tragedy we had for the party (besides forgetting to serve a few other veggies and dips and condiments and baked beans) happened before the party.

On Wednesday morning when I got up "Mrs. 8:30" (momma to 6 kittens, 3 who have other 'forever' homes and 3 who are now in OUR house) was laying deceased under the pine tree in back. Some animal had killed her in the night (we didn't hear anything) and she had apparently fought to let the kittens escape. Two were up the pine tree and one came out from the garage/dog door.

So we got the three into the house and haven't even spent much time with them yet, but they seem to warming to us (only one was a little 'skittish', and she isn't so much now) very quickly. Out oldest cat, the (witchy) Queen (who whapped one last night when it got too close, but not severely) seems to be having the hardest time with the new ones. The other two pretty much avoid them. Bogie is starting to act a little curious about them, as long as they don't interrupt his dinner!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008



This is a shot of most of the family at the Watermelon Day parade. From front left is: (Uncle) Pat Montag, (Aunt) Mary Montag, (John's mom) Jean Walker, and (Uncle) David Montag. Second row: Don and Ann Smalley, Fumi Montag, me, Peggy Montag (Boomer's wife), Kathy Hutchinson (John's sister), Samantha Walker (our daughter), Seth Montag (Boomer and Peggy's son) and Pat Montag (Boomer and Anne Weber's mom and Seth's grandma). Third row: John D. Montag (Uncle Pat's son, John's cousin), John Walker, Anne and James Weber, Boomer Montag (John's cousin, David and Pat's son), and Mick Hutchinson (Kathy's hubby). I think Maria and Claire were taking this picture because they aren't in it.

More Party/Reunion Pictures



On the left is Alex (our son), Ann Smalley (John's sister), Pat (Dix) Montag, (John's aunt), and Anne Weber (Pat's daughter, John's cousin). They are all listening to the story of the Church on the grounds of the Sac County Historical Museum on 7/16. It's a really beautiful little building. We all toured the buildings before having lunch at "The Hub" for yummy chicken and noodles and home-made pies.

In the right picture is David Montag with his back to the camera (John's uncle, married to Pat and dad to Anne Weber), and Fumi and John D. Montag (John is John's cousin....Fumi is John D's wife). They are at the entrance of the cute church.

Monday, July 21, 2008

The Big Bash Was a Big Success!


The picture on the left shows our relatives gathering for the Watermelon Day parade in Stanhope on Saturday morning. It's not quite everybody, but it shows Claire (sitting on the curb) and my Uncle Charlie (sitting in the chair behind the green chair at left), because they didn't get to the Cubs game on Friday evening. (Samantha seems to be missing from this picture, too.)

The other picture IS the PERFECT Iowa Cubs game we all attended Friday evening. (The tall Titlest=hat in the front doesn't belong to us.) That's Joe Markey with his dad, Bob, in Cubs' jerseys in the front row of our group (far left in the picture). We had four rows with 8 seats in them, but didn't fill every one.

The weather had been 'threatening' for most of the day, but we headed out anyway, and it turned into a fabulous evening, the the Iowa Cubs victorious (over Nashville) and the fireworks afterward were fantastic!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Flooded field on 6/8, and today, dry and colorful!



Just a quick post to say the party preparations are going really well, with the pork loins and turkey breasts smoking in the garage (which give off heavenly smells throughout the house--yum) and a few odds and ends to finish before the fun starts
here on Thursday evening.

Kudos to my daughter, Samantha, (who's big 21st birthday is this Friday) who will be joining the ranks of the full-time workers in a couple of weeks in the Financial Aid Office at Grand View College (where she has worked a work-study job for three school years). She will continue to take classes and graduate a smidge later than originally scheduled, but tuition will be FREE!!!!!

Alex, on the other hand, will graduate next April with two degrees (well, he'd better, or I think his dad may do serious damage to him if he doesn't graduate by then), the original BSRN, and Psychology.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Friday's edition of rain and outside kitties




Iowa is known as an 'agricultural' state (which would not surprise anyone I know, and probably not anyone in this country!), but I get a kick out of 'wind farms'. There is a 'wind farm' northeast of our house about 15 miles (as the crow flies, driving it might be a little farther).
At night, the tops of the windmills flash a red light (for the planes?) and most of the flashes are synchronized to flash all at one time, but there's a bunch of them that aren't flashing at the same time as the others now, so it's interesting. I can see them from the north side of our house on a clear night.

The 8-second video is from Wednesday afternoon after I got my front brakes replaced in Webster City. Just as I headed to my car the skies opened and an hour or so of torrential rain and wind ensued. I went as far as the next parking lot and sat for more than 50 minutes. I finally called (son) Alex and asked if he could look at the weather radar and find out if I was ever going to be able to see to drive!

The picture on the right is Mrs. 8:30 being the good momma she has shown us to be by cuddling one of the babies. (It was fairly early in the morning and it was an 'ahhhh' moment.)

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Tuesday after Monday's turmoil weather...




The picture on the left is from Monday early-evening when Alex was busy with the carpet soaping-sucking machine in the living room. We had noticed it was getting really dark to the west, but it looked like it was going to miss us for the most part. (I was washing windows and around them while I didn't need to help move furniture.)

Then the wind REALLy picked up, and we went to turn to tv on to weather and discovered our county was in a TORNADO WARNING! oh my. The wind blew several pots off the deck--heavy ones, and broke one of my pepper plants, but other than some sticks in the yard, we must have been a long way from the tornado. oh well.

The living room and Prairie look MUCH better, and now we have the other half of the living room to clean, which is by the entryway, so it will probably be an all-morning job.

The picture on the right is one I took of Bogie early last week. It's a cat-in-a-cat-bag picture!

Monday, July 7, 2008

And then there were 3 (plus Momma)



Sunday afternoon I was in Des Moines watching Izaac play in a baby pool for the first time (by the time we got water in the pool it had clouded up and Izaac was tired from not napping).

My niece (Michelle) LOVES cats (like most of us in our family) and thought her grandmother's new 'baby' was so precious she talked her friend, B.J., into following me home and taking one home. (The new 'baby' at my mom's still doesn't have an official name--yesterday we thought of gracie for grace kelly, because my mom thinks the kitten acts like a princess, so Michelle voted for 'bella'.)

When they got to Camp Stanhope, we brought both the ginger and tuxie in, and after a little while B.J. decided maybe two kittens was the way to go, for entertainment purposes, etc. So they took them both! On the left is a picture of them this afternoon in their new apartment in Des Moines. They look pretty comfy.

Friday, July 4, 2008




The picture on the right is today's edition of the 'outside brood'--snoozing in the condo. Mrs. 8:30 is still taking care of them and enjoying any attention she receives.

The picture on the left is (Uncle) John and Izaac yesterday reading some books. Izaac LOVES to read when he's here. His favorites so far are: Bob the Builder, Brown Bear Brown Bear, and the Hungry Little Caterpillar. He likes a counting 'dog' book as long as we count the dogs and then 'woof' like all the dogs!

Thursday, July 3, 2008


This is Izaac 'enjoying' the German Ackley Band Wednesday Night in Stanhope. It's 16 seconds and just cute.

Izaac went back to Des Moines Thursday afternoon with cousin Alex. It's always a little quiet for a day after he leaves. I went out and tried to pull some vines out of the bushes near the 'back 40'. John worked on the patio fence today and repaired some steps.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Wednesday in the Park in Stanhope!

Tuesday was busy with John finishing the deck rail, and then painting the deck (all of it).

In Stanhope, IA, there is a tradition of Wednesday Night in the Park. It goes from June through the end of July, with various organizations hosting/cooking/cleaning in the park building for fund-raising. There are various musical ensembles that play after the evening meal of "maid-rites", hot dogs, lemonade and (mostly) home-made pies. So John, Alex and I took Izaac to his 'first' Wednesday in the Park!

Tonight the German Band from Ackley (near Parkersburg/tornado town) played while people enjoyed the music and even got up and danced under the shelter. The slogan for Stanhope is "A Slice of the Good Life", and we have found it to be true.

This is a 30-second video of Izaac in the park in Stanhope playing with our Pastor's new puppy. (Suzie is the pastor, and Marshall is the new puppy!)

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Busy Monday and Izaac at Camp!

Yesterday I got a BUNCH of weeds killed, along with a trip to Webster City to firm up motel reservations for the party later this month. I bought MORE weed-killer and a few other items, then back to the yard to kill another patch of weeds.

About 3:30 I was out of weed-killing ambition and ready for a shower. Alex called and said he'd like to meet me in Ames for supper and get a new phone (so he needed me to be there to okay it on our plan) and then he'd haul the mulch I wanted home.

While we were at the cell-phone store Izaac's mom called and wanted to know if we'd like to have a visitor for a few days, so I drove to Ankeny and met up with her and her mother and Izaac.

After we got home, Uncle Johnny and Alex had picked up and vacuumed in the house, and were looking outside under the back deck at an opossum. It was scaring Mrs. 8:30 and her brood (into the garage they went) so the boys 'took care of it'. I haven't had this much excitement on one day in a long time, and it WAS a long day!

Subscribe via email

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Subscribe Now: Feed Icon