Pecan Grove (www.pecan-grove.net) Pecan Grove and Senior Residence

All are doing reasonably well at PG.  We’ve had much to be thankful for in August.  Rachel and Jeanette visited and Jack took the following group picture with all the residents.  Back row: Roger Cleveland, Mary Jane Pike, Rachel Potter, Jeanette Coker, Betty Lawrence, Jean Hagemeier and Teresa Goff.  Front row: Frances McPherson, Bea Jecmenek, Doris Crawford, Naomi Nicholson and Esther Potts.

Kathy and I had the privilege of taking Naomi with us to Milford NH convention.  She traveled well and really enjoyed herself.  She still glows when she talks about it.  The following pictures show her with the workers and riding a golf cart.  Craig Dean is driving the cart but I know who is in control! 🙂

Linda Ronhaar took Esther to Yellow Springs OH convention and for a visit with her relatives in OH.  Here’s the workers picture with Esther, and Esther with old friends Bill Houston and Duane Hettich at Morrow OH.

Visitors this month included Warren Berger, Shaun and Sandy Schleuter (from Washington state), Sharon and Sara, Emma and Joyce.

Two of our full-time staff, Brisy Valdez and Salena Thorburn are headed back to college this fall.  Salena will continue to work one shift on the weekends.  We’ve hired two new full-time girls from the local area, Andrea and Jennifer.  The picture below shows Andrea and Jennifer with Brisy.  The second picture is of Travis, Jamie and Aliyah Bolt.  Travis works at PG.

Dad (Jack), Karin and Don Waldo all had birthdays in early August.  Both our daughters, Karla (mother of the twins) and Karin are expecting!  So if all goes well, by May next year we’ll double the number of grandchildren we have from 2 to 4.  The second picture below shows Karin and her husband Patrick Kelleher, with Maren (one of Karla and Brendan’s twins).  Karin is the assistant manager at the Sr. residence, and Patrick is starting to work at PG also, so we’ll see a lot more of him.  Once Patrick starts, if everyone is there, there will be 5 of us working in the barn for 2 different small businesses – Don Waldo, Jason Munckton, Patrick Kelleher, Travis Bolt and myself.  We often head down to the Sr. residence for lunch with the residents.

So far the pecans are doing well.  There’s still a drought here, with less than half the rain we should have had to date, but Samuel keeps the irrigation systems going and the little rain we have had sure helps.  The Pawnee pecans should be ready for harvest by the end of September, with the other 4 types ready later in October.  We’ve had a good cutting of hay off of the hay field for the first time, so the farming activity is increasing.

Speaking of Naomi… at bible study this morning we read 1Th 5:26 Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss.  She tossed a Hershey’s  at me and grinned like a mule eating huckleberry’s in the winter time!  I complained that it didn’t have any holes in it.  We need to be careful, Roger doesn’t approve of humor during bible study.

Ken

All are doing fairly well at PG as July finishes.  The weather has been hot, but we’ve had some rain, so the pecans are doing well and everything is green.

Our daughter, Karla Furrow, comes to PG most Tuesdays with the twins, and teaches an exercise class.  Her in-laws, Ron and Anna Furrow, and their granddaughter Aubrey were with Karla for one of these visits in July.  Karla found out she was expecting again (only 1 this time), so we had everyone sign a long orange poster.  The following pictures show the exercise class, Furrows…

I’ve done fairly well in recent posts… not too many pictures of the twins!  I’m making up for it with this post!

Dale, Patty and Josh Maki have visited PG to see Patty’s mom, Frances McPherson.  Dale and Josh haven’t been well… Josh is doing much better.  Dale started treatments today.  Jason Munckton joined us in July.  He’s working with us in one of the small oilfield businesses we run from PG.  He’s shown below programming with Don Waldo.

Kenny and Salena had purchased fireworks for July 4th, and didn’t have a chance to use them, so last week they did a fireworks show for the residents.  We were surprised how many stayed up (or got up 🙂 to watch.

Kathy and I are traveling today with Naomi to Milford NH, for the convention starting tomorrow.  We haven’t been to Milford since we lived near there, 1980-1985.  Naomi is very excited to be going back.  Esther is to go back to Yellow Springs, OH, in a few weeks.

Ken

The residents at PG are doing fairly well.  Jean had some bad days in July and hasn’t regained her full strength.  She’s decided to give up her car.  She’s the only resident that has had a car, though she seldom drove it.  Frank continues to loose weight gradually.  Now he’s 210 lb fully dressed.  His confusion and short term memory continue to get worse.  When his mind was clearer he insisted on one shower a week (whether he needed it or not 🙂 ).  Now he’s not sure what day it is, so he takes a shower every day!  In spite of the confusion, he keeps a wonderful spirit, and a sense of humor.

We had lots of visitors in August but didn’t do well at getting pictures.  Here are 2 pictures of a visit with Selna and Diane Thorburn and Diane’s sister Doris Kopitke.

Clarice Berry came to visit with her brother and his wife, Carroll and Cindy Smith.  The second picture is of Kathleen Stancliff (one of the 4 full-time staff at the residence) on her birthday surrounded by Serenity, Hailee and Dixie-Rose Chandler.

Three birthdays close together in August are Karin (our daughter who works part-time at PG), my dad, Jack, and my sister, Ronda (the manager at PG).  Here’s pictures of Karin and Jack.

Here’s a picture of all 3 together at Brent’s house.  The second picture is of Esther and Bea visiting on a bench down by the lake.  Both are nearly blind, but each evening they walk together down to the lake.  Esther insists that this little 7 acre lake is a river :).

The pecan trees are loaded with pecans!  Some are so loaded that the limbs are breaking from the weight.  The first picture below shows a tree that looks like it has been destroyed by the weight of the pecans.  The second is of a doe and fawn in the hay field.  These 2 deer are often seen by the residents around the building.

I wrote July’s post from Israel and included 2 pictures from there.  After Israel Kathy and I went to Montenegro (to see the McSpadden’s) and then to France for the convention.  We lived near Paris from ’90 – ’93, and love to go back about every 2 years.  This shows the workers there, and then our good friends Andre and Julia Bilbao and their daughter Ainoha, who live in Shanghai but were at the convention in France.  Andre (who’s French) lived with us for one school year here in Texas in ’95.

I’m not sure if I can write a post without a picture of the twins.  Here are the twins chilling.

Ken

All at PG are doing well.  We’ve had many visitors in July.  Visitors are certainly appreciated!  The following pictures show Eldon, Ruth, Pam and John Badertscher with Esther Potts.  The second picture shows the same group visiting with the residents.

Sharon Morgan and Carrie Franks came to visit Dale and Patty Maki.  Patty brought them to PG for a visit.  Ralph and Dee Hart came back again, shown here with Evelyn Wilson.

Doug, Elaine, Karen and David Beaman visited as well as Jon and Mae Nelson.  Jon helped with the construction of PG… good to have them back.

Ron and Anna Furrow (the other grandparents) visited with our 2 twin granddaughters, Maren and Maven Furrow.  Frank Porter had his 73rd birthday.

On July 4th some of the kids did a fireworks show for the residents.  The picture shows them sitting on the back porch ready to watch the show.  Early in July we had a lot of rain and a problem with the lake overflow, so the lake level was too high.

Recently it seems there is always a Naomi story.  She insists we get her some bug tapes, like the ones you usually see hanging in the cook house to catch flies.  She hangs them outside her window (bug tapes are meant to be used indoors), and then is very impressed by the number of bugs she catches!  We have tried to explain to her that she now lives in one of the bug capitals of the world!

I’m writing this blog update from Rosh Pina, Israel (just north of the Sea of Galilee).  Kathy and I arrived in Israel July 18th, and will be leaving tonight for Montenegro for a few days to visit the McSpaddens, and then on the France for the convention.  Some of you have been getting my messages about Israel and are probably tired of hearing about it.  For those who haven’t, here’s 2 pictures.  The first is of Jerusalem taken from the Mount of Olives.  The second is of a Saturday evening bible study in Haifa.

We’ve had wonderful days here, touring Israel, understanding a little better the history and context in which Jesus lived, and enjoying sweet fellowship.  Israel has been much more enjoyable than we ever expected!

Shalom,

Ken