Trying Not To Give Up

Stubborn little 3 yr old sapling.

Chester Returns for a Visit

In the spring of 2010 we had a duck show up with 3 babies. We also had one that had 8. The mother of three had issues with other ducks in the pond. It was as if they were out casts, constantly getting picked on. One day we noticed that the mother wasn't around but her babies were. Then after a day or so she showed up. We had seen other young, presumably, first time mothers abandon their young after about a month or so. Problem was she had been injured. Her left leg, wing and side had been injured when she was attacked by some animal. I figured she had saved her babies and kind of sacrificed herself.

We had feeders out for other birds and the ducks would always get underneath to get what was dropped, however, this mother and her offspring would be chanced off. Now there was plenty of food in the pond but, they do like cracked corn and I guess it was a treat. I started hand feeding, tossing food to her only, so she could get healthy. I called all kinds of animal care places but no one would do anything....part of nature I guess plus she had babies.

About six weeks later one of her babies showed up the same way. This baby died, it was injured just too much to help. It was a sad way for it to go. It laid on the bank of the pond one day, drained of energy as it was very hot. I put food right down in front of it but it barely ate. I even made sure it had water by digging a hole near it. We were working out back and noticed the duckling start to move towards the water. It meandered out near the middle, rolled over on its back and literally drowned itself. The mother of the eight started quacking. All the babies, hers and the two of the injured duck got on the bank and huddled together. This mother was a seasoned mother and, like elephant matriarchs, knew what to do and directed the funeral, if you will. They stood in attendance for over a half an hour constantly looking at the corpse. Only the older female and the injured mother stood in the water.

Well, life goes on. Earlier this year the injured mother duck came back but not with babies. She had a male with her. They spent a day or so here and then left. Yesterday she showed up again, with the male and came back again today. We started calling her Chester because of her limp, couldn't think of a good female name to represent the limp. As you can see the foot and leg are there but as she swims the foot and leg leave the water. When she stands on the ground the foot is kind of curled up and is only more like a crutch for balance.

Maybe next year she will be back and have some more babies.

Western Auto Sales Receipt

From Feb. 20, 1942 a receipt for what looks like 1 Def (defrost ?) Fan and 15 ft. of wire. Maybe for the truck he drove. Mr. Apple had a GMAC loan of a little more than $36 a month for a new Chevrolet. Check the price. Second picture is the backside of the receipt....an add for oil.

Red Apple Grill

Below is the menu for the Red Apple Grill, circa 1942 and earlier. Clifford L. Apple was the owner/operator and passed away in December of 1942. He was my wife's grandfather.  The Red Apple Grill was located at the intersection of SR 4 and SR23 south west of Marion, OH.  Today this intersection is a double lane highway interchange.  He had two professions, the Grill and he was an over the road driver.  He drove for CCC Trucking, Cleveland~Columbus~Cincinnati. I have some of his route logs showing what he made for a trip.  It wasn't much as you will see when I get them ready to post.  I also have a monthly budget ledger he and his wife Myrtle (May) kept. 

Not sure what the Price Clerk thing is at the bottom of the second page with the 1944 date.  Can't ask the question as both the of the grandparents have passed on as well as all four daughters he and May had.

Final Monthly Posting

One year ago I started out taking a picture looking out the same window looking east from my house. I focused on a tower in the distance and tried to figure ways of showing how the scenery changed and the position of the sun in the early hours of the day. I had not planned on the time change and felt bad that I went from 7 to 8 and back to 7 to try to get the shot. In retrospect I should not have let this bother me and just stuck with the local weather report telling be what sunrise was suppose to be. I use suppose because I couldn't say they were correct if I couldn't see the sun on a cloudy day.


So, with that said I will present the first morning shot taken on Nov. 1, 2010. As you will see in the last picture I was a little early but the sun is coming up behind the trees on the right hand side of the picture. It looks as if it was going to be a great day.

This picture is the April 1 shot. As you can see it is north (left) of the tower out in the distance. This is almost a due east view. It is also a little after sunrise with the sun so high up. This is 6 mos. into the study. Here too you can see the sun is up in the left corner. The big problem I had with this was that we had so many days of clouds this year. I believe we had already had almost a years worth of rain at this point. A couple of months before this my sump pump was running 24/7 plus a battery backup was running to keep up plus a third pump that I had to run a hose from to a drain.

 

Moving forward, finding a sunny morning we find last months photo. Look at where the sun is. Almost dead-on the tower. I believe, I would have to look it up to be specific, that the time was before seven o'clock. And now to end this endeavor.

The first picture is sunrise for me, when it just breaks the tree line. The second shot is just to show what 5 minutes in time can do to your lighting, color and that time does move. It is time to scroll back to the top and look at the first picture. Boy was I lucky to get clear days on the same days of the month of two different years.

Enlarge the first and last picture. Doctoring for clarity, watermarking and getting rid of the electric boxes was done.