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.