Stormy Days

Margo's father has adjusted well to the assisted care facility and Margo returned to Pine Island a few weeks ago with severe leg pains that turned out to be from a cyst and disk pressing on the spinal cord from a back problem.  She has had back problems for many years, but probably did something to aggravate it helping with her father and was left barely able to walk with so much pain in the leg.   She spent some time at Mayo and got a steroid shot in the back and things are calming down again and she is mobile and getting back to snow-shovel ready again.  I think we will see her at Cushing by the weekend.  The house will have to go from bachelor style--mostly meaning I have every table covered with computer stuff in various stages of repair or disrepair.  

I spent several days in Pine Island too, and while there tried to fix a rear tire on the WD Allis Chalmers that was shot.  Got some used replacement tires and and a new tube and put it together twice, but still leaks.  It appears that the valve stem was not properly put into the new tube and even with a patch it is still leaking--where the round stem is vulcanized into the tube.  

   Back to Cushing where I arrived just in time for a storm to come through last night and knock over some trees and make a small mess of the yard and gardens.    I think Margo will be up to Cushing for a couple of weeks after having been away since April with her Dad. She will see the pretty yard flowers after the storm flattened them rather than standing upright!

An old large Macintosh apple tree came down.  Rotten at the core. 

A pond where no pond existed in the neighbors corn field.  Lots of corn and hay flattened

Next to Jensen's garage in Cushing

West of Cushing two huge trees down in a yard 

Storm clouds gathering can be pretty, but destructive when they arrive. 

The garden did not fare well

Some home-sawn jackpine to fix the barn wall on the south and the old rotten tractor tire to be used for a fire ring (in a brush pile maybe).  

The south end of the 100 year old barn is pushing out.  Needs some work before the insurance man will insure it this year.  I think it is highly cosmetic and some structural work.  Will pull in the studs, nail new ones next to them and then try to nail the siding back in place (or maybe just cover the whole thing with red tin!)  Note the blue cinder blocks -- I remember in 1950 or 51 when Dad had the wood bottom of the barn removed and the blocks put in new.  He, his brothers and the Fors carpenter crew did the work a section at a time.

Yesterday with the Macintosh apple tree the big spreading one on the left.  Below--this morning. 

Gave a tour to some Polk County Endeavor's folks yesterday at the Cushing Museum.  We all had a great time.