Shaklee Scour Off

A couple of years ago we had to replace our electric stove top.  We chose a nice-looking white, sealed top new one which turned out the devil to clean.  We tried products recommended by the maker and stuff (Bar Keep's Friend) a woman at a local kitchen shop told us about.  They worked but required a lot of scrubbing followed by thorough rinsing to remove residue so that it would not burn into the top.

Sue's caregiver, Linda, is a Shaklee representative.  She told us about their Scour Off product, one made of all-natural ingredients, the main one cherry pits.  It works about a hundred times better than anything else we have tried.  If anyone is interested in this stuff, or other Shaklee products, e-mail Sue and she will provide Linda's contact info.

Happenings

I just wanted to update some current events while I have time. Rose took me to Dr. Hogan, my neurologist, on Tuesday.  The company that was providing my trial medicine decided to end the testing abruptly and, having won FDA approval, will put the medicine on the market in September.  Meanwhile, I no longer can get it, so Dr. Hogan rearranged my medications.  [We will decide in the Fall whether to try to get the new med again.  We do not know how much they will cost.]

Rose and I think the company has acted irresponsibly as seizure medications are critically important and should not be changed abruptly.  Dr. Hogan and the nurses who work in the clinic agree.  So, our feelings toward the company are very negative, especially since I have gone to a great deal of trouble for several years to take part in the study.  We were already angry because a few years ago the study coordinator told us the drug company would provide the meds at no cost to test subjects like me, should the FDA approve it.  Later, I was told they would not provide it.  Naturally, a new drug like this will be extremely costly when first introduced.

I go back to see Hogan on June 21st.

Linda and I are going to the lake Friday morning. She's staying with me until Wednesday when Goldman arrives.

More but breakfast is ready.

NEWS FROM JOE FELIN

Sue and Joe (Felin) exchanged newsy e-mails recently.  Here they are:



"Hello Joe,

Rose is over in Kansas and has an appointment with Pauline's guardian this afternoon.  She is also going to see Pauline.  I'll update the blog after her appointment.  The snag Margaret ran into in trying to arrange her burial in the Marshfield plot was that she needed an attorney.  Shirley has a niece who's a licensed attorney in Kansas and said she will help us.  More later.

Wish you would come up.  What color is your GMC?

Love. Pepe ["Pepe" has been Joe's nickname for Sue for 60+ years.  Long story behind it.]"


Joe's response:


"Sue, thanks for the News.

Rose always come through!  I doubt if Pauline has many visitors.

We made the "Cemetery Run" yesterday. (Sunday)  & noticed flowers were on the monuments at Pauline's family plot.

Unusual is the fact none were at our family plot until we added the ones we brought and took pictures  before and after, then sent them to Don & Vita. They always have the Marshfield Greenhouse set up a wreath at Mom & Dad's tombstone. Maybe I can e-mail some pictures later. Usually we make the trip on Memorial day itself but we went one day earlier this year.

The Turnbo Creek  Run portion of our trip was truncated as we first went to Fordland Cemetery, then Marshfield Cemetery, then Welch Cemetery with the idea of going through Northview and on to Shockley Ford (low water bridge) then Shockley School, our old farm. the former location of Anderson Rural School
and via Hix Hill RR Crossing to Interstate I 44, thence return to Springfield.  (No restaurant stop as we did not leave Springfield until about 1:30 P.M.)

The big change in our plans occurred when we arrived at Shockley Ford.  The Road was closed and the crossing bulldozed out.  We will be checking to  see what is taking place. Even though Webster County experienced some heave rains recently, Shockley Ford was never damaged severely so we feel it is undergoing some planned upgrades? After turning around at Copper Head Corner (Shockley Ford) we came back through Northview and on home to Springfield.

A two full page article in Sunday's News-Leader featured Martha Jean Andreatta-Myers four-level house.
They built it about 40 years ago and it is just south of Marshfield beyond where Bill Felin & family lived but on the west side of the hwy and aboutg 1/2 mile farther south at the top of the hill. View to the north overlooks Marshfield.  The White Oak Road (as we remember it)  has been changed and a new road builtrunning east-west from where the Myers house is located and it comes out on the old White Road adjacent to where the Ira Dillon-Lucien McDonald lanes were located. You might be able to pull up the NEWS-LEADER.com article on the WWW?

Sue, thanks  for the invite to the lake, but Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day are good days for me to avoid the lake. My new car's color is gray but looks more white when it is wet or after dark.

Bro Joe"

Joe's e-mail reminded us of Memorial Days when we were kids.  Mother always insisted we accompany her on visits to obscure cemeteries to visit the even more obscure graves of long-dead ancestry.  Now, we wish we had paid more attention.

News about Mary Pauline Austin (nee' Felin)

Shirley and I drove to Hutchinson, KS, on Friday for the funeral of her brother-in-law Saturday.  After the funeral I went to Great Bend to see Mary Pauline.  She is a resident in the Great Bend Health and Rehab Center, 1560 K-96 Highway Great Bend, KS 67530.  She did not recognize me.  The attendants said she had slipped in the past couple weeks.  The two aides that I talked with seemed genuinely fond of her.  They told me she often asks for Nadine (her long-dead twin sister) and can put together a string of curse words when riled.  They also told me she could be very funny.

Pauline has a guardian conservator, Art Jaske, a man appointed by the state social services.  Mr. Jaske met me at the Center where we talked for some time.  He knew quite a lot about Pauline, Ralph (Nadine's widower), and Pauline's parents, Uncle Bud (Edward) and Aunt Lois.  He told me that some years ago he had lived near them and admired the way they kept the yard and house.  Mr. Jaske is responsible for eleven people in his care.  He seems to be a very caring man.  He looks in on Pauline a couple times a week and said that until a few weeks ago, she knew who he was and what he did.

Mr. Jaske also told me some of the events of the last two and one-half years, since Ralph died and Pauline was moved to the Center.  Ralph and Pauline had wills, but no one found them before the six months limit on implementing them had expired.  As a result, Ralph's three nephews got half the proceeds of the sale of the house, Pauline got the other half, a grand total of $2300.  Ralph and Pauline had a woman who was supposed to be caring for them, I suppose running errands, shopping, etc.  No one knew the name of the person.  When neighbors hadn't seen either Ralph or Pauline for several days, they investigated and found a pretty dire situation.  Mr. Jaske said Pauline's credit card had a balance of $20,000 which he believed she had nothing to do with.  He, as guardian conservator, took care of the credit card issue, the sale of the home, and now is responsible for the on-going care of Pauline.

In our conversation Mr. Jaske explained that he had a good deal of experience in this line of work, beginning years ago because he had two Down Syndrome brothers he helped care for.  I told him about Lydia Orso and her wonderful wedding.  Turns out, he had seen the news report of the wedding on television.

One of the things I wanted to accomplish while in Great Bend was to insure that eventually Pauline's final resting place will be in the family plot in the Marshfield, MO, cemetery.  Mr. Jaske helped me arrange that.  He had already set aside a $2300 death benefit so the expenses of transportation and burial will be covered.  I have to contact the funeral home in Great Bend that has the burial policy and give them sufficient information to insure Pauline's eventual interment in Marshfield.  I will do that tomorrow.

I am posting a photo of Pauline.

En route to Great Bend, I stopped at the cemetery in St. John and found brother Bob's grave.  I could not find his son, Bobby's grave.  [Many of you probably remember that Bob and his family speak of trips to "Hutch" and Great Bend as if they were right up the road.  Believe me, they are quite a distance apart, as I discovered Saturday!]

adults at the lake for Memorial Day Weekend

kids at the lake Memorial Day weekend

Holiday Weekend

Just Beth and some of the kids are up this morning and they're playing with their computers. I believe they all type faster than I do. Doug took them on a long boat ride yesterday and Doug said the boat was running well. The kids also did a lot of swimming and playing with their computers. I'm not sure if Goldman knows how to post pictures on the Family Gazette. If not, we'll forward them to Rose and ask her to post them. Mad Dog cooked ribs and pork steaks on the grill for dinner last night. We're having hamburgers tonight. Brother Pete called yesterday so I knew it was Saturday. It was chilly in Idaho. Kelly and the boys were wild turkey hunting and were going to Pete and Janet's later. Janet is doing very well. For some reason, my computer won't let me make paragraphs unless Rose looks at it and does something so this may all run together. I asked Brother Joe to come this weekend up but haven't heard back from him. More people are up now so II'll quit for now.

Rose in Kansas

I just wanted to post this bit of information. Rose and Shirley are today in Kansas for Shirley's brother=in=law's funeral and while they were there Rose went to see Pauline. She didn't know her and only talks sometimes. She does still call for Nadine and is incoherent most of the time. She was in a wheelchair. While there, Rose met with her guardian and made arrangements for Pauline to be be buried in the family plot in Marshfield. Rose also went to the cemetery and found Brother Bob's grave but could not find Bobby's. I'll update more later.

Current Events

Tomorrow is the first day of the holiday weekend. Goldman and I (Sue) will leave for the lake as soon as he gets off school. We'll probably hit some traffic here in St. Louis county but should miss a lot of it.

I walked at least 2.48 miles yesterday and probably even more. My fitbit isn't working right so I wore mine and Rose's when I thought I was doing more than mine registered. I also did my 20 minutes on the exercycle.

 Stephanie and Dan's daughter-in-law, Nicole, who is their son Nathan's wife, graduated last weekend with a doctorate in pharmacology. Quite an accomplishment!   The family went to Kansas City for the ceremony. She has taken a position with Costco (where she has worked while in school) after several offers.

 My friend Liz and her husband Dave became grandparents for the first time this weekend.  Their new grandson's name is Brayden.  Liz and Dave haven't seen him yet since the new parents live in Montana. Liz is flying out to meet Brayden on Friday.  She sent some pictures and I think Rose is going to post them.   [Liz, Brick and I used to work together at GMAC.]

Shirley got some bad news late last night. Her brother-in-law passed away. He and her sister Estelle had been married 66 years. They live in Kansas, somewhere near Hutchinson.   Shirley and Rose are going to drive out for the services and will leave in the morning.

Brother Donald called me one day this week. He wasn't sure if any of his family would be at their place at the lake for the holiday because his grandsons are quite involved in sports.  He said it may be August before he and Vita can get there.

Exact Replica

Wanted to add these notes. It was French Onion Soup like the old Famous-Barr stores served. Linda used their recipe and it came out just like Famous-Barr and no one or any place else can make it so good. Rose and I had some after I got back. I did 1.9 miles and 20 minutes on the exercycle yesterday and needed the exercise after Linda's cooking.

Onion Soup. Second Attempt to post

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Sent with Genius Scan for iPhone.

Waiting for Memorial Day Weekend

Sunday morning and daylight and daytime has come. We're having our coffee and looking at our computers. Joe's update was wonderful and we would like more from other members of the family and other readers. One of our pasttimes is watching for humming birds. We're not very busy at that so I do exercising and Rose practices her guitar. Needless to say, I have lots of time on my hands.

 Goldman and I were going to go across the river to see Jack (the friend I worked with who sang "Amazing Grace" at Denny's funeral) who's in an extended care facility in Belleville.  When I couldn't get a hold of him, I finally called his daughter who told me he was just leaving a hospital in Alton where he had minor surgery.  He did not have his cell phone.   I left my number and hope he calls soon. I last talked to him on Mother's Day.

 Goldman and I will go down to the lake this Friday, leaving as soon as he gets out of school. Scott and the boys are coming from Louisville, also Friday but it's a long way. Beth is coming from Kansas City.  Doug and Suzanne and the kids will get there Friday evening, too. Groves will be there but has to leave Sunday.  Mad Dog will have the air conditioner turned on Friday if we need it.

I see Rose's photo of the two servings of Linda's onion soup (Famous-Barr recipe) did not get posted.  I'll ask her to try again.

Linda's Famous-Barr Recipe

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Sent with Genius Scan for iPhone.

Onion Soup - as good as FB!

Update from Brother Joe

Joe sent Sue the following e-mail with news about his family and his birthday:

"Subject: blog 5-17-13

Busy around here so I will give it my best shot to report the latest happenings.

 

Bittersweet 79th birthday as it was our daughter Beth's retirement party today at Ozark Technical Community College, also our son David's last day as an instructor at OTCC. He and another graduate of  Missouri University of Science and Technology, formerly the University of Missouri-Rolla, known as  one of the world's leading technological research universities, (right Bebe, Mark, et al*) have gone in business for themselves. Granddaughter Lydia came home for her mom's retirement party, then headed back to Liberty, MO for the graduation of some of her college friends. She will return home again this weekend.  Next year (2014) she will graduate.

 

Yesterday's was Beth's birthday, next week is her mom's birthday and June 6th is our other daughter Lisa's birthday. Lisa's husband jack still has his leg in a cast but is recovering on schedule.  His dad, a WWII vet, is in a retirement home. Maybe Lydia posted his picture on the blog during Christmas holidays?

 

My biggest birthday gift was "to me from me".  The new GMC Terrain is doing fine except all the new electrical gadgets are challenging.  Sticker shock hit me twice, first was the car cost, then the sales tax. Now I am going to buy a smart phone so I can use it in the new vehicle.  It also has on star but so did the van I traded off.  I never used on star.  Dave calls my new car a truck.

 

Another unexpected gift coupon was a free (up to $15.00) entree at Houlihans Restaurant.

 

The birthday cards and wishes are the best of all though!

 

Our latest volunteer at The Railroad Historical Museum is Brian Madden**.  He picked the two busiest days of the year for coming on board. He noticed a new ? painting on display.  It is of a Campbell 66 Truck line tractor/trailer and it looks like the artist is the same one that did the Marshfield Square paintings.  Further research continues.  We have what someone on the www dubbed the ggggf of the smart phone on display.  It is the telegraph key like originally used when the Morse code was state of the art.

 

Where I worked 36 years (TAMPER out of Columbia, S. C.) the service manager had a painting of an old cowboy, beard and all, and a notation.  "There is a hell of a lot they didn't tell me when I signed on here" Very timely for Brian and the museum also. 

 

The Springfield Cardinals Baseball team and also the St. Louis Cardinals both won games tonight, I think?

The Springfield Cardinals played in Arkansas.  Several of the former Springfield players are now full time players on the St. Louis Team.

 

goodnight all

Bro Joe"

*Joe is referring here to Bebe (nickname for Sabrina, daughter of Margaret and Norman) and Mark, Sue's stepson, who also graduated from the University of Missouri at Rolla, an engineering school.

**Brian Madden is our cousin, the second (of three) son of Curtis and Virginia Madden.  Curt was a brother (one of two) of our mother, Margaret Marie Madden Felin.

 

Joe's Birthday

It's Brother Joe's Birthday and he'd best give us a report of his celebrations. I'm at the lake but going back to St. Louis this afternoon. Linda and I have been here since Tuesday. Linda is a great friend and helper. I''ll update more later but wanted to wish Joe the Happy Birthday.

View from deck at Sunset--Lake of the Ozarks

Petunias

Lily

Lake Delight

Sue and Linda planted flowers today at the lake.

Lake Delight

Sue and Linda planted flowers today at the lake.

Shelly on Vacation

Lake

It's Tuesday morning, and Linda and I are going back to the lake and try to get there before noon.  Has been a while since I've been there.  The temperature is supposed to be - finally lake weather- hot. The forecast says there may be some rain but that's okay.

 I walked 1.78 miles and did 29 minutes on the exercycle yesterday.  I do the 20 minutes on the exercycle everyday but have had a cold so haven't been walking as much.  Feeling better now,  I'm going to take it up again.

Linda will be here very soon, so I'd best finish getting ready.

Fishing and the Guys

Rose is inserting a link to the article in the paper about the woman who stays with me at the lake some of the time and her family.  Rose's update will come first because I type so slowly.  Brother Joe came up to the lake one day while we were there and met Linda.   I'm in good hands.

I haven't been to the lake for a while, so I'm really looking forward to tomorrow.  Ten old fishing buddies used it this weekend, and they have had this annual fishing excursion for years. Some had been in the service, and most are now married and have children.  The boat did get fixed and returned.

Joe bought the GMC Terrain and Rose, the Toyota Prius C.  I think it was Pete who said they buy cars every 15 years whether they need one or not.  Pete had some advice in his Saturday morning call.   'If the guys aren't catching big fish down at the lake, use bigger hooks.'  He also wanted to know what Rose is going to do with the 'Company 'Car'.  She's going to let me and Goldman use it this summer.

I had to take a break and have breakfast before I finished this post. I've been talking to one of my old GMAC (now called ALLY} friend who is now working in their Chicago office.  It's Liz, and her husband is Dave. She can't retire yet so has to work in Chicago, and Dave is self employed in St. Louis. They have two sons. One and his better half are expecting a baby any day out in Montana and the other is getting married next Saturday. The two events could coincide.

MORE ABOUT THE WEDDING

Last month Sue, Shirley, and I were invited to a wonderful wedding, that of the daughter of Sue's caregiver, Linda Orso.  Local news channels covered the wedding, and we posted a link to the report earlier.  Now, a columnist for the Post-Dispatch has written about the event and about the families of the bride and groom.  We especially liked Linda's quote at the end of the article:

“I always tell parents that the initial diagnosis is like a death. You have to mourn the death of that dream baby, and then start to build new dreams for the baby you have.”  True about so many things in life!

Here is the link:  http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/columns/bill-mcclellan/mcclellan-an-unexpected-wedding-for-a-special-woman/article_563d811c-2055-5729-96ec-598149851643.html

HUMMING BIRD

The first humming bird appeared on May 1, Mother's birthday, and I forgot to post it but wanted to keep track of it for following years. We've had some beautiful weather these last few days. Scott and Brayden got back from their field trip on Wednesday and had good weather in Chicago, too.

 Chris and Shelly left at 4:30 this morning for their vacation in St. John.  Goldman, being the good friend that he is, got up that early to take them to the airport.  He probably went back to bed before having to go to school.

 Brother Joe bought a new GMC Terrain, and Rose is contemplating buying a Toyota Prius C.  Each of them buys a car about every 15 years whether they need to or not.  I talked to my old friend, Liz., (who I worked with back when it was GMAC and is now Ally).  She is working in Chicago and is expecting her first grandchild soon. Both the parents are chiropractors who live in Montana, and it's difficult for them to relocate. Liz's second son is getting married here about the same time. Liz was helpful with the General Motors sibling car discount information for Brother that I wasn't sure how to get for him.

Good News Again

Good news to post today. Margaret is finally out of the hospital.  Like Janet, she is having occupational and occupational therapies at home, but is is certainly relieved to be out out of the hospital. She is staying with her daughter Stephanie temporarily. Her cell phone number 636-577-1809.  She left the hospital on Tuesday.

 Scott and Brayden get back from their Chicago field trip this evening.  Scott will probably be happy to be home while Brayden is probably dreading school tomorrow.

 John and Jana, I'd like pictures of the girls like the one of Brayden at the Sears Tower and more.  Have a wonderful trip!

Brayden in Sears Tower Viewing Deck

Scott and Brayden are on his class trip to Chicago this week.

Chicago

Thank you, Jana, for that lovely update from Kansas. Rose is cooking breakfast as I type. Scott and Brayden are on a school bus en route to Chicago for a 3 day field trip. Scott is a little old for field trips but Brayden is a more 'field trip' sort. The one thing Scott wanted to do was go to Wrigley Field and see the Cardinals play the Cubs. This outing wasn't on their agenda and the group had to stay together so, though they may get to see Wrigley Field, they won't get to see them live. Scott better send some pictures of the sights they see.

Hello again from Kansas City.  Jana and I wanted to check in since it has been a while.  We have had a busy couple of months.

Ellie turned 7 on March 30th and we had a party for her at Emerald City Gymnastics.  We had 14 of her classmates there running around screaming and having a good time.  She got a lot of good loot and both her and Kaitlyn were able to burn off enough energy to sleep like stones that night. 

A few weeks after that, we had our family party at our house. I stayed up all night smoking a pork shoulder for dinner and I must say, "Nailed it."  Tricia, Karen and the boys, and my family were all able to make it and the girls got a ton of great stuff and had a wonderful day.  One of the girls' presents was a trip to Great Wolf Lodge which we took that following Monday.  We rode waterslides and swam in the pools there for 9 solid hours.  The girls really enjoyed it and I must say that Jana and I enjoyed it as well.



Last Saturday, Jana and I ran in a Warrior Dash with a group of our friends.  If you aren't familiar with that, it is a 3 mile race where you have to complete obstacles like climbing over cargo nets, crawling through the mud under barb wire, and jumping over fire.  It was a balmy 55 degrees and overcast but we had a blast and I even got third in the beard contest.  The next day, to celebrated my Dad's birthday, we went to the Royals game.  We got to the stadium early and tailgated for a while before heading in to the game.  All of the kid activities at the park were free so the kids had a good time and the Royals won 9-0 so the adults had a good time as well.

Kaitlyn turned 4 on May 4th so we had another party for her at Ernie Miller Nature Center.  They had a fun animal show where they got to see an owl, a ferret, and a snake.  The kids loved the show and had once again, Kaitlyn got a bunch of great presents from her friends.  Now comes the hard part of finding room for all of this stuff.  Jana and I decided that we may need to purge the system a little bit to make some space.

Finally, Ellie is playing soccer and softball this spring.  She is really enjoying both and has improved a lot in the past year.  Kaitlyn will be playing T-ball for the first time.  This will be her intro into organized sports so we are excited to see how she does.  We suspect she will stand in the dug-out and be too shy to actually play!

We are looking forward to our trip to Chicago over Memorial Day weekend.  We bought our train tickets and the girls are excited since they've never rode on a train like that before.  We just hope the weather is nice!

John, Jana, Ellie, and Kaitlyn

Regular Saturday Morning

Saturday morning and I'm waiting for Pete's call.

 Rose wanted to keep record of the date the first humming bird appeared this year.  It was May 1. That was also Mother's birthday in1906.  Donald called me that morning as I was looking at a collage of photos of her I have at the lake house.

 Chris and I went down to the LakeTuesday afternoon, and Mad Dog had dinner cooking when we arrived. Chris had to attend some meetings so Mad Dog cooked again Wednesday evening.  I like baseball but hockey is a foreign sport to me. One evening the guys switched back and forth between the two sports. I prefer baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals.   Chris and I came home Thursday.

Janet's Home

I just posted yesterday but I had some great news to post and wanted to tell everyone what happened yesterday evening. I called Idaho Falls and Janet answered the phone. She was HOME. After that long siege in the hospital, she was finally HOME. She is truly a remarkable lady. She agreed, all our prayers have been listened to. She doesn't usually like to be mentioned in the Family Gazette but this had to be announced.